Phantom Thieves of Heart vs DIO: To Steal the World

Phantom Thieves of Heart

“

The Phantom Thieves will yield to no one, no matter who they are! Even if only one of us remains, we'll get back up and fight to the very end. And we'll definitely... definitely... take the world! — Morgana

”

The Phantom Thieves of Heart were a group of vigilantes and Persona users who use the Metaverse to rob individuals of their evil desires. Initially formed by a trio of students from Shujin Academy, in order to target their pedophilic gym teacher. The Phantom Thieves have since expanded their roster and targets to take down some of the most influential people in Tokyo's society. After stopping an increasingly notorious group of individuals, the Thieves eventually come across Dietman Masayoshi Shido and his Conspiracy to singularly control society, which is in turn just a ploy by the ancient god Yaldabaoth to control humanity. The Thieves convince the public to fight for humanity and they defeat Yaldabaoth, destroying the Metaverse in the process.

This is revealed to be fake when Akechi Goro, a former enemy of the Phantom Thieves, teams up with their leader Joker and reluctant ally Kasumi Yoshizawa to reveal the plans of Takuto Maruki, Shujin's former councilor. Maruki, who pioneered the field of cognitive pscience that allows travel between the real world and the Metaverse, is using it to manipulate reality itself so that everyone's pains are erased and under the control of Maruki's decisions. The Thieves decide to stop Maruki, and with his defeat end the Metaverse and restore reality to its original form. The Thieves disband when Joker returns to his hometown, and they all go their separate ways.

• Joker
• Skull
• Mona
• Panther
• Fox
• Queen
• Oracle
• Noir
• Crow
• Violet

Ren Amamiya, codename Joker, is the founding member and leader of the Phantom Thieves. Sent to Tokyo after being wrongfully accused for assaulting a woman, Joker enrolls in Shujin Academy, making friends despite being a loner. He accidentally stumbles upon the Metaverse and enters Kamoshida's Palace, awakening his Persona. With Ryuji Sakamoto and Ann Tamaki, he forms the Phantom Thieves of Heart to stop Kamoshida and other corrupted adults.

He aids the various new members of the Thieves in their struggles, and stops Shido Masayoshi and Yaldaboth. He and Akechi eventually reform the Thieves after they go their separate ways to stop Takoto Maruki from reshaping reality to suit his needs. With the final destruction of the Metaverse, Joker returns home with his name cleared.

• Royal Dagger: In close combat, Joker prefers knives as his go-to melee tool. Once used by a famous gambler, the Royal Dagger increases Joker's Luck.
• Tyrant Pistol R: In range, Joker prefers pistols. The Tyrant Pistol carries 8 rounds per encounter and boosts Joker's Magic.
• Grappling Hook: Joker carries a grappling hook on his left hand. It doesn't seem to have any limit to it's length, and can support both Joker and potentially one other person. It can be used for either travel or in combat via Joker grappling towards an enemy or suface.
• Superhuman Physicality: Joker, along with the rest of the Thieves, gained a practically superhuman physical status upon awakening his Persona. He can kick a person across a room hard enough to kick up smoke, shatter a large pane of glass with a kick, and fight with large Shadows in close quarters. He's fast enough to outrun machine gun fire, and dodge explosions and energy gun blasts. He can withstand being at the epicenter of large explosions, get slammed by large armored Shadows, and even survive the vacuum of space for a few seconds.

• Arsene: Joker's primary Persona is Arsene, the gentleman thief and rogue from Maurice Leblanc's crime novels. Arsene specializes in single target magic attacks.
  • Inferno: Severe Fire damage to 1 foe. Rare chance to inflict burn.
  • Diamond Dust: Severe Ice damage to 1 foe. Rare chance to freeze a foe.
  • Thunder Reign: Severe Electric damage to 1 foe. Rare chance to inflict shock.
  • Atomic Flare: Severe Nuclear damage to 1 foe.
  • Psycho Force: Severe Psy damage to 1 foe.
  • Demonic Decree: Half remaining HP of 1 foe.
  • Divine Judgement: Half remaining HP of 1 foe.
  • Dormina: Inflict Sleep (high odds) to 1 foe.
  • Pinch Anchor: Allows use of ambush-only skills after Baton Pass. Aresene's passive trait.
• Wild Card User: Joker has access to multiple Personas through the Wild Card, allowing him to switch between Personas one at a time. While worth mentioning, Joker will only have Arsene for this battle.

Ryuji Sakamoto, codename Skull is one of Ren's friends and classmates from Shujin Academy, the first to accompany Ren to the Metaverse. He awakens his Persona in Kamoshida's Castle, and forms the Phantom Thieves alongside Ren, Morgana and Ann Tamaki to take down Kamoshida and change his heart, which they do successfully.

As the story progresses, Ryuji begins to open up and become more of a humble person. When he is given the chance to return to his track team after exposing a plot by Kamoshida's accomplice to use the track team for his own profit and fame, he refuses, and decides to stay with the Thieves.

• Imprisoned Mjolnir: With a preference to bludgeoning weapons in the form of clubs, pipes, and hammers, Ryuji carries Imprisoned Mjolnir. Created by itemizing Thor, it takes the appearence of a large hammer which is used to shock opponents.
• Megido Blaster: At range Ryuji prefers shotguns. The Megido Blaster is a shotgun holding 3 shots per engagement and inflicts Burn damage.
• Superhuman Physicality: Like the other Thieves, Ryuji displays physicality beyond that of normal people. He could keep up with the acrobatics of the other members with a broken leg, outrun and survive explosions that were destroying a large palace. He's strong enough to push around large ice blocks, break apart concrete with charged up blows, and can hit the ground hard enough to knock back several Shadows. He's also durable enough to survive explosions, take punches that produce shockwaves and shrug off various status effects like being set on fire or electrocuted.

• William: Ryuji's Persona is William, the famous 'Captain Kidd' of the 17th century. William specializes in a variety of areas, in both physical and electric attacks and boosting the Thieves' attack power.
  • Ziodyne: Heavy Elec damage and inflict Shock (low odds) to 1 foe.
  • Maziodyne: Heavy Elec damage and inflict Shock (low odds) to all foes.
  • Agneyastra: Medium Physical damage to all foes 1x to 3x.
  • God's Hand: Colossal Physical damage to 1 foe.
  • Matarukaja: Increase Attack of party for 3 turns.
  • Fighting Spirit: Next Physical or Gun attack inflicts 2.5x damage for party.
  • Elec Boost: Strengthen Elec attacks by 25%. Passive.
  • Shock Boost: Increase chance of inflicting Shock. Passive.
  • Eccentric Temper: May increase allies' physical attacks by 80%. William's passive trait.

Morgana, codename Mona is a being created by Igor to assist Joker through the Metaverse. Taking the form of a talking cat, Morgana appears to Ren and Ryuji as they try to escape Kamoshida's castle, and becomes the unofficial mentor to them and Ann Tamaki in their creation of the Phantom Thieves.

Though initially boastful, he grows to reveal more about himself and his insecurities as more individuals join the Thieves, lashing out at new members in Futaba and Makoto due to a lack of confidence. Although he temporarily leaves, he returns later after realizing he needs them and wishes to become a true member of the team and a good friend.

• Claíomh Solais R: As a melee weapon, Morgana uses curved swords or sabres. He sticks with Claíomh Solais, a legendary weapon of Gaelic myth, called the Sword of Light in English. Alongside great cutting ability, it increases Morgana's mana pool by a small amount.
• Sudarshana R: Interestingly, instead of a gun like most of his colleagues, as a ranged weapon Morgana prefers slingshots. Sudarshana R is a slingshot that holds five projectiles per engagement and has a high chance of inflicting dizzy.
• Superhuman Physicality: Even Morgana is superhumanly capable, despite being a tiny cat. He can cut through large shadows, get up after being blasted underground by an attack, jump about a story in height, and can tank both shockwaves and explosions.
• Morgana-Mobile: In the Metaverse, Morgana can transform into a car, more specifically some sort of van. It can hold all members of the Thieves inside, and is driveable by any of the members, mostly Makoto or Joker. The Morgana-Mobile can survive being hit by debris and sustain attacks, however the form requires Morgana's concentration in order to be upkept.

• Zorro: Morgana's Persona is Zorro or Diego, the folk hero of Alta California in Johnston McCulley's novels and short stories. Diego functions as both the main healer of the team and in Wind attacks.
  • Garudyne: Heavy Wind damage to 1 foe.
  • Magarudyne: Heavy Wind damage to all foes.
  • Miracle Rush: Medium Physical damage to all foes, high critical rate.
  • Masukunda: Decrease Agility of all foes for 3 turns.
  • Mediarama: Moderately restore HP of party.
  • Diarahan: Fully restore HP of 1 ally.
  • Salvation: Fully restore HP of party and cure all non-special ailments.
  • Samarecarm: Revive 1 ally with all HP recovered.
  • Majestic Presence: Increases effect of allies' healing skills. May decrease SP cost. Diego's passive trait.

Ann Takamaki, codename Panther is a friend and classmate of Ren and Ryuji, as well as the third founding member of the Phantom Thieves. She was one of the victims on the receiving end of Suguru Kamoshida's abuses. With the help of the Thieves and the awakening of her Persona, they are able to defeat Kamoshida and put his crimes on public display by making him confess.

She becomes closer to Ren as the Thieves progress, and opens up about her fear of being alone again. With his help, she is able to focus on her modeling career and helping others in need.

• Dainaraka Whip: Ann prefers whips in close combat, using the Dainaraka Whip. It has a high chance of Freezing the target upon impact.
• Gungnir: For range, Ann prefers submachine guns. She uses Gungnir, yes, the submachine gun obtained after executing Odin in the Velvet Room during a fusion alarm. The SMG carries 12 rounds (each "round" is a 3 round burst which technically means it carries 36 rounds) and has a medium chance of inflicting a target with Despair.
• Superhuman Physicality: Ann, like the other Thieves, is quite physically capable. She can stand in the faces of winds strong enough to tear apart a palace, slam a Shadow with a whip hard enough to crater the ground, and cut a shadow cognition in two with a sword. She could outrun machine gun fire, and was durable enough to get up from Shadow Kamoshida's volley ball serve, which created a large explosion and take hits which could crater the ground and produce shockwaves.

• Celestine: Ann's Persona is Celestine, the famed 19th century French actress who was portrayed the fictional gypsy Carmen. Celestine specializes in Fire damage and debuffs, with additional healing abilities for her team.
  • Agidyne: Heavy Fire damage to 1 foe. Rare chance of Burn.
  • Blazing Hell: Severe Fire damage to all foes. Rare chance of Burn.
  • Tentarafoo: Medium chance of inflicting Confuse to all foes.
  • Matarunda: Debuff attack power of all foes for 3 turns.
  • Dekaja: Negate all -kaja buff effects of all foes.
  • Diarahan: Fully restore HP of 1 ally.
  • High Energy: Next magical attack inflicts 2.5x damage for party.
  • Fire Amp: Strengthen Fire attacks by 50%. Passive:
  • Pinnacle of Magic: May decrease SP cost of allies' magic skills by half. Celestine's passive trait.

Yusuke Kitagawa, codename Fox, was an art student at Kosei High School under the tutelage of famous artist Ichiryusai Madarame. After encountering the Thieves when he requests Ann to model for one of his paintings, he discovers that his mentor is using his student's art for his own credit and is a greedy fraud. Awakening his Persona in Madarame's Palace, he aids the Thieves in stealing the "Sayuri" self-portrait of Yusuke's deceased mother.

Becoming close friends with Joker after the encounter, the two of them help each other to reignite Yusuke's purpose and passion as an artist, eventually being the winner of an art exhibition and renewing his spirit.

• Usumidori R: Yusuke prefers katanas as a close range weapon, using Usumidori R, the sword of Minamoto no Yoshitsune. It has a high chance of freezing a target on contact.
• Providence: As a ranged weapon, since everyone in the Thieves loves to use a gun, Yusuke carries an assault rifle. Providence holds 10 rounds (each "round" is actually a three-round burst, so it's actually about 30) and additionally boosts his agility.
• Superhuman Physicality: I think you're starting to see a pattern. Yusuke, like the other Thieves, is strong enough to fight superhuman Shadows and survive direct explosions or attacks from Adam Kadmon. He seems to be one of the faster members of the Thieves, as he has been shown to attack with Usumidori so rapidly it appears to be in multiple places at once and outrun machine gun fire and missiles.

• Gorokichi Yusuke's Persona is Gorokichi, known in adulthood as Ishikawa Goemon, was a thief during the 16th century who attempted to assassinate Hideyoshi Toyotomi. Gorokichi specializes in Physical and Ice attacks, while increasing the Thieves' agility in multiple areas like evasiveness, accuracy, and speed.
  • Bufudyne: Heavy Ice damage to 1 foe. Rare chance of Freeze.
  • Mabufudyne: Heavy Ice damage to all foes. Rare chance of Freeze.
  • Myriad Slashes: Medium Physical damage to 1 foe 2x to 3x.
  • Vorpal Blade: Severe Physical damage to all foes.
  • Brave Blade: Colossal Physical damage to 1 foe.
  • Hyakka Ryouran: Increase Attack/Defense/Agility of party for 3 turns.
  • High Counter: 20% chance of reflecting a physical attack. Passive.
  • Speed Master: Automatic Sukukaja (agility buff) on user at start of battle. Passive.
  • Unparalleled Eyes: May increase allies' chance to avoid physical attacks. Gorkichi's passive trait.

Makoto Nijima, codename Queen, is the school president of Shujin Academy and chief strategist for the Thieves. Initially working to uncover their identities, she decides to align with them instead in order to take down the mob boss Kaneshiro who had been harassing Shujin students, and steals key research from her own sister Sae Nijima to further the Thieves investigation into The Conspiracy.

Growing closer to Joker, the two bond over several interests and side quests like stopping a pimp targeting students at the academy. Rescuing a friend of hers and putting an end to it, she wholeheartedly dedicates herself to her dream of becoming a cop.

• Gorodias: Makoto uses Gorodias, a pair of brass knuckles in preference to close combat to beat the shit out of her opponents. These brass knuckles have a high chance of inflicting critical damage to a target.
• Judge of Hell R: As a ranged weapon, Makoto uses a revolver. Judge of Hell boosts Makoto's stats by 10 points, holding six rounds with a single-action mechanism. The 10 increase to her stats not only improves herself, but her already massively tanky Persona, as you'll see in a moment.
• Superhuman Physicality: Makoto gets a little bit of extra in this category, like Yusuke, because she partakes in fighting barehanded. Makoto hits can crack walls, break through tile flooring with her stomps and even create shockwaves as an after effect. She can replicate Yusuke's speed by swinging so fast her fists appear in multiple places at once and is durable enough to survive large explosions.

• Agnes: Agnes is Makoto's Persona, known as an alternate name for Pope Joan, a 13th-century woman who deceived her way into becoming the Pope for several years. Agnes specializes in Nuclear attacks while also supporting and buffing the Thieves. Agnes also doubles as a car, so Makoto can literally just drive around and run over her opponents if she feels the need.
  • Atomic Flare: Severe Nuke damage to 1 foe.
  • Mafreidyne: Heavy Nuke damage to all foes.
  • Flash Bomb: Medium Physical damage and inflict Dizzy (low odds) to all foes.
  • Marukaja: Increase Defense of party for 3 turns.
  • Checkmate: Decrease Attack/Defense/Agility of all foes for 3 turns.
  • Mediarahan: Fully restore HP of party.
  • Defense Master: Automatic Rakukaja (defense buff) at the start of battle.
  • Nuke Amp: Strengthen Nuclear attacks by 50%.
  • Gaia Blessing: Increase allies' chance of inflicting Burn/Freeze/Shock by 50%. Agnes' passive.

Futaba Sakura, codename Oracle, is the Thieves' navigator and hacker. Scarred by the suicide of her mother, Futaba reaches out to the Thieves to change her heart, who agree to help her after they're threatened by the hacker group Medjed. Accidentally entering her own palace and awakening her own Persona, she discovers that her mother didn't commit suicide, but was killed for her research into cognitive pscience.

Over time with the Thieves, Futaba starts to overcome her fear of other people and becomes more outgoing, reaching out to her friend Kana. Revealing that her parents continue to abuse her, the Thieves steal the parents' hearts, and Futaba fully readjusts back to social life.

• Navigator Abilities: As the navigator, Futaba does not fight, but instead acts as support for her team through various means.
  • Moral Support: Chance to cast Kaja (random stat buff) or party-healing magic during battle.
  • Mementos Scan: Chance to fully map the floor of Mementos when entering that floor. As this battle is not taking place in Mementos, this is useless.
  • Position Hack: Chance to instantly Hold Up enemies when starting a battle.
  • Active Support: Moral Support may now Charge or recover SP.
  • Treasure Reboot: Chance to revive search objects in the area after battle.
  • Emergency Shift: Chance to swap current party with backups when 2 or more people are KO’d.
  • Final Guard: Chance to nullify a fatal attack to a current party member.

• Al Azif: Al Azif is the original name of the Necronomicon created by Abdul Alhazred in H.P. Lovecraft's Mythos. Being the navigator, Futaba does not use Al Azif offensively, but acts entirely as a support net to her team through recovery, heals, or guidance.
  • Analysis: Confirm affinities you have previously attacked.
  • Subrecover HP: After battle, 10% HP recovery for backup allies.
  • Subrecover SP: After battle, 1% SP recovery for backup allies.
  • Subrecover HP EX: After battle, 20% HP recovery for backup allies.
  • Subrecover SP EX: After battle, 3% SP recovery for backup allies.
  • Treasure Skimmer: Find out if a foe is carrying a rare item ahead of time.
  • Ultimate Support: Effect of strengthening/healing all allies may activate in battle.
  • Infinite Scheme: All-Out Attacks may defeat all foes and fully restore HP to all allies. Al Azif's passive trait.

Haru Okumura, codename Noir, is the daughter of wealthy food tycoon Kunikazu Okumura. She and Joker meet and become acquaintances at Shujin Academy, and learns of the Thieves after discovering a stray Morgana in the street. She temporarily teams up with him, and eventually the Thieves proper to steal her father's treasure in the Metaverse.

Haru becomes a vital member of the Thieves, growing close with Joker as she discusses the struggles of her family business in Okumura Foods. With help from Joker, she is convinced to stand up to the vice president of the company and is welcomed to the board with open arms.

• Fleurs Du Mal R: Preferring battle axes for close quarters, Haru wields Fleurs Du Mal, an axe forged from executing Beelzebub. It increases Haru's Magic, boosting the overall effectiveness of her talents, and additionally has a high chance of inflicting a target with dizziness.
• Yagrush EX: Haru uses a grenade launcher as a ranged weapon. Yagrush EX carries 1 explosive round, with a chance to inflict a target with shock and paralyzing them.
• Superhuman Physicality: Haru posseses superhuman physical capabilties like the other Thieves. She can break apart chunks of concrete by slamming her axe, slice through the Reaper in a single hit, and create shockwaves through a fancy manuver. She is agile enough to flip around in combat and jump about a story, and can tank a large explosion.

• Lucy: Haru's Persona is Lucy, an English courtier that inspired the character of Milady in The Three Musketeers. Lucy primarily focuses on Psychokinesis and Gun attacks, along with several defensive abilities.
  • Psiodyne: Heavy Psy damage to 1 foe.
  • Mapsiodyne: Heavy Psy damage to all foes.
  • One-Shot Kill: Severe Gun damage to 1 foe, high critical rate.
  • Makarakarn: Erect a shield on 1 ally to repel 1 (non-Almighty) magical attack.
  • Tetrakarn: Erect a shield on 1 ally to repel 1 Physical or Gun attack.
  • Heat Riser: Increase Attack/Defense/Agility of 1 ally for 3 turns.
  • Amrita Shower: Cure all non-special ailments of party.
  • Life Wall: Erect a shield on party to repel 1 (non-Almighty) attack.
  • Cool Customer: Decreases allies' chance of being inflicted by ailments by 50%.

Goro Akechi, codename Crow, is a renowned detective and reluctant ally of the Thieves. Born the bastard child of Shido Masayoshi, he was given his powers two years before the events of Persona 5 by Yaldaboth, and navigated the Metaverse, integrating himself with Shido as a personal hitman. Akechi went against the Thieves initially both publicly and under the persona, no pun-intended, of the Black Mask, but eventually pretended to join them. However his time with the Thieves inspired a change in heart, and sacrificed himself during their infiltration of Shido's Palace.

Returning after however, he testifies to prove Shido's guilt. He later meets with Joker after New Year's Eve, and brings the Thieves back together to stop Takuto Maruki, and is revealed to be an actualized version of the detective that came back to life when Maruki did. After resolving not to be a puppet to his reality, Akechi and the Thieves defeat him, being erased from reality in the process.

• Hinokagutsuchi II: Akechi prefers beam swords as a melee weapon. Despite looking like a lightsaber, they function just like regular fencing swords. Hinokagutsuchi II has a high chance to inflict burn on the target.
• Ancient Day: Akechi doubles down on the psuedo-sci-fi weapons here with Ancient Day, a ray gun. While it shoots lasers, it functions like a regular gun. Ancient Day boosts all of Akechi's stats and holds 5 rounds per engagement.
• Superhuman Physicality: Akechi isn't as crazy as the other members of the Thieves, but he's still quite scrappy and survive hits that would kill normal people, agile enough to move through the wonky environments of the Metaverse, and compete with the superhumanly strong Joker.

• Hereward: Hereward is Akechi's Persona, the Saxon hero who repelled the invading Normans and inspired the story of Robin Hood. Hereward relies on Almighty and Physical damage, being a powerhouse of a Persona.
  • Laevaeteinn: Colossal Physical damage to 1 foe.
  • Rebellion Blade: Colossal Almighty damage to 1 foe. Highly effective if foe is downed.
  • Megidolaon: Severe Almighty damage to all foes.
  • Riot Gun: Severe Gun damage to all foes
  • Debilitate: Decrease Attack/Defense/Agility of 1 foe for 3 turns.
  • Attack Master: Automatic Tarukaja (attack buff) at the start of battle. Passive.
  • Fortify Spirit: Reduce susceptibility to all ailments. Passive.
  • Evade Bless: Triple evasion rate against (non instant death) Bless attacks. Passive.
  • Ingenious Spirit: May decrease SP cost of allies' support/Almighty skills by half. Hereward's trait.

Kasumi Yoshizawa, codename Violet, is an honors student and gymnast at Shujin Academy. New to the school year, she makes friends and bonds with Joker while trying to balance her own struggles to meet her expectations. Accidentally stumbling into the Metaverse while waiting to meet with Joker, she awakens her Persona, but does not initially join the Thieves.

After discovering to have been Maruki's first patient, Sumire Yoshizawa, the twin sister of the dead Kasumi, having assumed her identity when Maruki rewrote reality. Having reassumed her identity as Sumire after being told by Joker and Akechi, she joins the Thieves to stop Maruki and rediscover her identity.

• Sword of Siniai II: Kasumi prefers rapiers in close combat. Sword of Sinai II has a high chance of inflicting dizziness on a target.
• Sahasrara EX: At range, Kasumi prefers lever action rifles. Sahasrara EX carries 10 rounds and increases all of Kasumi's stats.
• Superhuman Physicality: Like Akechi, Kasumi isn't as strong as the rest of the Thieves, however she makes up for it by being fairly durable enough to survive attacks from Adam Kadmon and evade various attacks from shadows, by them Physical or Wind. She was also able to move as a blur with a cognitive version of her sister, and can jump to heights beyond any normal human could.

• Ella: Kasumi's Persona is Ella, the alternate name for Cinderella. Ella specializes specifically in Bless and Physical attacks, while boosting the critical hit rate.
  • Kougan: Heavy Bless damage to 1 foe.
  • Makougaon: Heavy Bless damage to all foes.
  • Sword Dance: Colossal Physical damage to 1 foe, high critical rate.
  • Masquerade: Severe Physical damage to 1 foe 2x.
  • Vorpal Blade: Severe Physical damage to all foes.
  • Brave Step: Increase critical rate of party for 3 turns.
  • Ali Dance: Half hit rate of all incoming attacks. Passive.
  • Apt Pupil: Increase critical rate.

DIO

“

WRRRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!! — Dio Brando

”

Dio Brando, later stylized as DIO, was a vampire and stand user who aimed to achieve godly status and to eradicate the Joestar bloodline in a centuries long feud. Dio was born sometime between 1867 and 1868 in Northeastern London as the son of Dario Brando, an abusive alcoholic who treated both Dio and his mother extremely poorly. Due to an incident where Dario "saved" George Joestar's life (in reality, Dario was trying to rob what he thought was a corpse), Dio was adopted into the Joestar family after his father's death, who had been secretly poisoned by Dio himself. When he met Jonathan Joestar, he found himself becoming jealous of the boy's wealth and status, wanting it for himself. Dio took every chance to belittle and hurt Jonathan with his words and actions, even trying to steal his girlfriend Erina and KILLING HIS DOG.

Dio and Jonathan would seemingly reconcile, however in truth Dio was plotting to kill George and Jonathan in order to take the Joestar estate for himself. Along the way in his plans, he discovered a mysterious Stone Mask, something he initially planned to use to kill Jonathan. However, he found that after testing it on a pedestrian, the mask's true purpose was to turn people into vampires, a discovery that almost killed him. Taking the mask with him, Dio enacted his plan and returned to the Joestar Mansion, although he was confronted by Jonathan and his friend Robert E.O. Speedwagon, who alerted the police. Backed into a corner, Dio attempted to stab Jonathan, but instead killed George Joestar who moved to save his son, the blood of his adopted father staining the Stone Mask. Although the police opened fire, Dio very quickly rose once again as a vampire, and slaughtered the cops. Jonathan fought with the newly turned Dio and set fire to the mansion in order to kill him, though this was to no avail.

Dio would gather an army of zombies using his powers, enthralling even famous serial killers such as Jack the Ripper. With a combination of learning the ripple from Baron Anthonio Zeppeli and the rage of all his friends lost, Jonathan was able to defeat Dio and destroy his army of undead. Though this wasn't the end of him, as Dio returned as a head in order to hop into Jonathan's body after his final defeat, the two falling into a coffin that sunk to the bottom of the ocean for nearly a hundred years. Dio managed to successfully steal Jonathan's body, and was eventually discovered. From here, he would once again build up another cult of personality for him to exert his will.

He learned from Enya the Hag about Stands, a metaphyiscal manifestation of a person's soul, and began employing various Agents loyal to him in order to exert his will and achieve Heaven, a state where you are aware of your fate and the inevitability of it, in theory making everyone happy. He taught this philosophy to his friend Enrico Pucci, another stand user who he had saved and welcomed into his clique. In 1989, Dio's actions were made aware of by Joseph Joestar and the Speedwagon Foundation, who began working to take him down. Beginning with Muhammad Avdol and his grandson Jotaro Kujo, Joseph would form the Joestar Party (Stardust Crusaders) in order to take down Dio once and for all.

Though almost every member of the party was lost, barring Joseph, Jotaro and Polnareff, the party succeeded in dealing with all of Dio's minions and finally killing the vampire once and for all. The ripples from Dio's death would not remain isolated however, as the father of the Nijimura Brothers was mutated due to the flesh buds controlling him while in service to Dio as a side effect of his master's death. In 2011, an aged Enrico Pucci would begin making plans to enact revenge against Jotaro Kujo for Dio's death, a conflict that would embroil him with Jotaro's daughter Jolyne Cujoh.

• The World
• Vampire Abilities
• Knives

The World is DIO's Stand, a golden humanoid being that grants him mastery over time. It's nearly a direct counterpart to Jotaro's Star Platinum.

• Superhuman Physicality: The World is physically stronger than even most Stands in the Jojo setting. It can cave in human torsos with little effort, punch through concrete, and can punch faster than the eye can track. It routinely went blow for blow with Star Platinum, which could destroy gigantic diamond teeth, and surpassed it in physical strength. It's physical superiority over other Stands may be exemplified by DIO's nature as a superhuman vampire
• Time Stop: The World's chief ability, DIO can stop time for a number of seconds for everything around him except himself and the World, allowing him free reign to do as he pleases with the time given. This extends to not just DIO and his stand, but also objects he carries such as thrown knives or lifted stop signs. When DIO runs out of seconds and time resumes, whatever he actions he took in stopped time would occur in real time, often leading to devastating effect. While the ability to effect time throughout the series has been shown to negatively affect the users' stamina and even be life-threatening as a consequence, DIO's immortality allows him to use the ability with much less strain, if any at all. The number of seconds DIO's Time Stop will go into effect continues to grow, seemingly indefinitely, as he refines the ability and continues to use it, reaching a maximum of nine seconds before his death. He can also levitate while in stopped time via the World, though doesn't seem to use this anywhere else and may only be tied to this specific ability as a result. DIO starts with five seconds of Time Stop.

DIO achieved Vampirism through the Stone Mask, and gained a variety of both typical pop culture vampire powers and ones unique to Araki's take. These will only cover powers DIO used in Part 3 and won't count his forgotten abilities from Part 1 like the Freezing Technique and Stingy Eyes.

• Superhuman Physicality: DIO's vampiric physicality grants him superhuman strength, speed, and durability far beyond normal humans.
  • Superhuman Strength: He could tear and crush the heads of fully grown men with just one hand, send muscular and superhumanly durable men like Polnareff flying with a simple back hand, rip a stop sign out of the ground to use as a weapon, and deflected a projectile from Hierophant Green's Emerald Splash with just one finger, said projectiles being strong enough to blow off the door of a car. At the end of his fight with Jotaro, in stopped time he was able to lift a steamroller and drop it on Jotaro.
  • Superhuman Speed: Speedwagon compared DIO's speed to that of a cheetah. He also deflected multiple projectiles from Kakyoin's Emerald Splash.
  • Superhuman Durability: DIO has been shot in the head and chest, stabbed through the head by Silver Chariot, punched in the head by Star Platinum, take hits from Hierophant Green's projectiles, and can take a myriad of punches from Star Platinum even when his legs were broken and still stay alive. Any part of his body that can be damaged that isn't his brain won't keep him out of the fight for very long if he can find a person to heal off.
• Regeneration: Segwaying into the next ability, DIO is capable of regenerating damage taken, including lost limbs, even just as a head, through draining living beings of their blood through tentacles in his fingers. Though he was able to do this without needing someone to drain off in Part 1, he was heavily weakened due to being inactive for 100 years and having taken over Jonathan's body, resulting in his vampiric power being greatly diminshed, though not entirely depleted. He was able to retain this ability by draining the blood of Joseph Joestar and achieving a new high.
• Minion Creation: DIO can take control of others and enthrall them to his will through a variety of ways. Draining someone of their blood can turn them into a zombie, a lesser undead that isn't much stronger than a human on average, a lesser vampire by giving someone his blood, and control people through spores in his hair.
  • Flesh Buds: The spores in question, DIO's Flesh Buds pierce into a person's brain and allow DIO to take control of them while simultaneously eating the hosts' brain. They can prove potentially fatal if removal from the host is attempted, and after the fact, the bud may sprout tentacles and attempt to take over the intruder.

DIO carries a comical amount of throwing knives to use in battle. He typically uses them in conjecture with his Time Stop, surrounding an opponent with knives from all directions or throwing one an inch from their throat to kill them as soon as time resumes.

Dio's Minions

• Vanilla Ice
• Enya the Hag
• Pet Shop
• Hol Horse & J. Geil

Vanilla Ice was a vampire and stand user who was DIO's closest confident and the last of his minions to fall by the Joestar Group. Ice fought against the trio of Muhammad Avdol, Jean-Pierre Polnareff, and Iggy, managing to kill both Avdol and Iggy before being outsmarted and killed by a vengeful Polnareff.

• Superhuman Physicality & Regeneration Although he doesn't seem to be much of a physical fighter, Ice still has the physicality of a lesser vampire and displays such in his fight against the trio. He could regenerate from being stabbed, even through the head, and was able to punch Iggy so hard he flew from the ground into a wall and cracked the area around it (fairly impressive that Iggy could survive this). Only being bathed in direct sunlight was able to finally kill him.

• Cream: Cream is Vanilla Ice's stand, taking the form of a skeleton-like humanoid. The stand takes two separate forms, the aforementioned humanoid form and a ball-shaped void form, it's primary ability.Becoming a portal to a void-like dimension, Cream disintegrates any object which it touches, being an incredibly lethal weapon as a result. Cream is invulnerable to seemingly any form of attack in this state and becomes undetectable in the physical plain. Ice is unaffected by his stand's ability, and can freely enter Cream's mouth at will in order to guide it. It's drawback however, is that Ice is blind when using the stand, and needs to take a peak back into the physical world before attacking, revealing himself and leaving him vulnerable.

Enya is a devout follower of DIO and one of his closest confidantes. Enya was the person to awaken DIO's Stand after acquiring the Bow and Arrow and was also the mother of another one of DIO's henchmen, J. Geil. Sending out various Stand users in an attempt to stop the Joestar Group reaching Egypt she would eventually confront the group herself in Pakistan after J. Geil was killed by Polnareff. Defeated by Jotaro and captured, DIO dispatched another Stand users to trigger the flesh bud in her brain to kill her before she could reveal the secret of his Stand.

• Scissors: Enya uses a pair of scissors to cut open foes and use her stand's ability.

• Justice: Justice is Enya's stand, which takes the form of a large village-sized fog with a crowned skeleton's skull. It posseses several unique abilities.
  • Body Control: Through an open wound, Justice can absorb an enemy's blood and turn the wound into a perfectly clean round hole, allowing Justice to control the body part which has been damaged. This has been used by Enya to throw enemies around or force them to harm themselves. Justice can control seemingly any amount of people, Enya having used an army of controlled corpses in her fight against the Crusaders.
  • Illusions: Justice has the ability to cast illusions to throw off opponents. It has created a city over a graveyard, disguised dangerous objects as vehicles, and disguised the skeletal remains of the resurrected corpses controlled by Justice as normal people, although one could spot the difference given they had holes all over their bodies. Justice itself is sort of an illusion, as it's body is a giant cloud of fog, and thus cannot be damaged directly.

Pet Shop is a Falcon and the guardian of DIO's mansion in Egypt. Pet Shop carries out it's duty with ruthless efficiency and will kill anybody who attempts to enter the mansion even if they are animals or children. Pet Shop is encountered by Iggy by pure coincidence as he wanders around Cairo, initially ignoring him until he attempted to save a child Pet Shop was about to kill. Pet Shop then relentlessly pursued Iggy even following him into the sewers and underwater in order to eliminate him. Pet Shop was ultimately killed after Iggy clamped down on his beak while he was attempting to shoot an ice shard, causing his head to explode.

• Horus: Horus is the stand of Pet Shop, taking the appearance of a skeletal creature which the head of a pterosaur. Horus posseses cryokinetic abilities, able to generate large blocks of ice that can be used to crush cars, icicles to pierce dogs and explode hard enough to crater the ground, as well as create large blocks, walls, and freeze over the general area to restrict movement and defend Pet Shop from further attack. Pet Shop can also use Horus' abilities on himself, able to freeze over wounds and generate ice from his beak for attacks at close range. The ice itself is cold enough to create a temperature drop around itself, despite this being in Egypt, a very hot and humid country.

Hol Horse & J. Geil, also known as "J. Geil carries the team" are a pair of mercenary stand users who work in tandem to circumvent their respective stands' shortcomings. The two attempted to kill Jean-Pierre Polnareff, whom had a history with J. Geil due to the rape and murder of Polnareff's sister, and other members of the Joestar Group during their time in India, but were ultimately unsuccessful. Where Hol Horse would escape death, J. Geil was eventually tracked down and killed by the Crusaders after a lengthy battle.

• Emperor: Emperor is the stand of Hol Horse, taking the form of a unique revolver. While functioning like a normal gun, Hol Horse can control the trajectory of the bullets and make impossible movements like bending around corners, U-turns, and navigate without Hol Horse needing to physically see where the bullet is headed. Emperor carries effectively infinite ammunition, as long as Hol Horse isn't tired, according to Araki.
• Hanged Man: Hanged Man is the stand of J. Geil, taking the appearance of an intimidating mummy-like humanoid. Hanged Man appears in reflective surfaces such as windows, mirrors, shards of glass, puddles, and even a person's eyes through their pupils. With two wrist-blades, Hanged Man attacks the opponent with the sharpness to shear through flesh. Hanged Man moves between these surfaces at the speed of light, which makes it nearly impossible to damage, though it can be circumvented due to only being able to move linearly and will be forced to move if it's current inhabiting surface is destroyed.

Scenario

• Story Breakdown
• Win Conditions
• Map

The battle will take place in DFederal. Through an act of clever subterfuge, or pure dumb luck, during the chaos of the recent attack on the Penitentiary, a group of Grimlock have managed to secure the Hand of Vecna from a forensics lab, and have sold it to Dio through his mind controlled thrall, Daniel Mendoza, in the Underground Fighting Ring. The Thieves Guild lend the Phantom Thieves and DFederal Planetary a tip, pinpointing Dio's whereabouts within the neighborhood owned by his Agents in the Middle District, rather than Dio's personal home in the Lower District.

Through his informant in the Lower District, Pious Augustus, Dio is made aware of the Thieves' movements, and has ordered the Hand to be transported through DFederal's sewer system. The Thieves aren't aware of this, initially.

Phantom Thieves:

• Dispose of Dio and his Agents until the proper authorities arrive or lethally.

DIO & his Agents:

• Kill all members of the Phantom Thieves, preferably before they can reach Dio himself.

The battle will take place in a relative replica of Dio's Mansion in Part 3, adjusted to DFederal housing accommodations and interior decorations affordable for those in the Middle District.

Enya, Pet Shop, Hol Horse & J.Geil will be on the outside of the Mansion at the Entrance and in vacated houses outside, in concealed positions, acting as first line of defense.

Vanilla Ice will be in the Study Room on the first floor in the event that the Thieves breach the Mansion.

Dio will be in his Worship Room, on the second floor, presumably vibing and doing vampire things.

The Thieves will start the match by moving enroute towards the Mansion.

Notes

• The same parameters in Akechi vs Kira will be in effect here. Stands and Personas will be able to interact accordingly. The Thieves do not know that Dio and co. are Stand Users and that he (and Ice) is a Vampire. Dio and co. do not know the Thieves can use Personas.
• The Thieves are from just before the end of Persona 5 Royal. Dio will only have his powers from Part 3 and cannot carry over abilities he hasn't used since Part 1, despite what Heritage for the Future entails.
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