Avowed's Companions: A Ranked Guide from Worst to Best

Beyond their narrative roles and dialogue, Avowed's Companions offer significant gameplay advantages, from pathfinding to combat prowess. This guide ranks every companion from least to most effective.

4. Marius

Early game utility aside, Marius quickly becomes outmatched. His passive abilities aid early exploration (locating items and plants), but his combat capabilities are underwhelming.

Abilities & Upgrades:

• Blinding Roots: Roots enemies (upgrade to stun, trap multiple, inflict Bleed).
• Heart Seeker: Piercing shot (upgrade to hit two enemies, increased damage vs. low health, reduced cooldown).
• Shadow Step: Teleports to an enemy and attacks (upgrade to insta-kill stunned enemies, increased damage vs. low health, increased targets).
• Wounding Shots: Inflicts Bleed (upgrade to reduce enemy damage reduction, slow enemies, reduce enemy damage).

Marius excels against low-health, melee-focused enemies, but his niche abilities limit his overall effectiveness. He's not a worthwhile companion for most of the Living Lands journey.

3. Giatta

Giatta, a support-focused Animancer, prioritizes healing, shielding, and party buffs over raw damage. Her protective abilities prove invaluable during challenging encounters, like boss fights. She can also activate Essence Generators, unlocking late-game areas.

Abilities & Upgrades:

• Purification: Heals allies (upgrade to increased healing, enemy interrupt/knockback, increased ally damage reduction).
• Barrier: Grants allies temporary health (upgrade to increased temporary health, healing on barrier expiration, self-protection and enemy knockback).
• Acceleration: Increases ally movement and attack speed (upgrade to damage reduction, extended duration, ability cooldown reduction).
• Reconstruction: Attacks heal allies (upgrade to increased healing for low-health allies, temporary health for full-health allies, ally revival on enemy kill).

Giatta synergizes exceptionally well with magic-focused Envoy builds.

2. Kai

Despite being an early recruit, Kai remains consistently useful. This tank deals significant damage with minimal player intervention.

Abilities & Upgrades:

• Fire and Ire: Blunderbuss attack with stun and taunt (upgrade to ignite target, increased stun, reduced cooldown).
• Unbending Defense: Health regeneration and damage reduction (upgrade to increased damage reduction, increased health regeneration, damage AoE on expiration).
• Leap of Daring: AoE stun and taunt (upgrade to increased AoE, temporary health per hit, bonus attack damage per hit).
• Second Wind: Self-revival (upgrade to increased health restoration, attack speed burst, ability cooldown reset).

Kai's abilities effectively handle both single, high-health targets and crowd control. His self-revival further enhances his value. He can also use fire to remove obstacles.

1. Yatzli

Yatzli, a powerful Wizard, boasts high-damage attacks and superior crowd control. She provides a form of "air support" in combat.

Abilities & Upgrades:

• Essence Explosion: AoE arcane damage (upgrade to increased AoE, fire accumulation, reduced cooldown).
• Minoletta’s Missile Battery: Homing arcane missiles (upgrade to increased fire rate, range, shock accumulation).
• Arduos Delay of Motion: Slows enemies (upgrade to increased slow, AoE, frost accumulation).
• Blast: AoE damage on hit (upgrade to explosive damage for breaking blocks/walls, shattering frozen enemies, increased stun, status effect chance).

Yatzli's potent abilities and obstacle-clearing capabilities make her the top companion choice. While recruited last, she's invaluable for the remainder of the journey.

Avowed launches on PC and Xbox on February 18.