In *Avowed*, Companions offer more than just engaging dialogue and narrative depth; they provide crucial practical advantages, from navigating tricky pathways to bolstering your combat prowess. This ranking assesses each *Avowed* Companion, from least to most helpful.
4. Marius
My experience with Marius revealed limited synergy with my playstyle. While his passive skills aid early exploration, he's quickly outmatched by later Companions. He excels at locating items and plants but falls short in combat. Here's a breakdown of his abilities and upgrades:
Blinding Roots: Roots enemies for 8 seconds, upgradable to stun, trap multiple enemies, and inflict Bleed Accumulation. Heart Seeker: A piercing shot that always hits, upgradable to hit two enemies, deal increased damage to low-health enemies, and reduce cooldown. Shadow Step: Vanishes and strikes an enemy (up to three times), upgradable to instantly kill stunned enemies, deal increased damage to low-health enemies, and strike up to six enemies. Wounding Shots: Inflicts Bleed Accumulation, upgradable to reduce enemy damage reduction, slow enemies, and reduce enemy damage.
Marius' abilities primarily focus on crowd control and weakening enemies. Effective against certain foes, especially when paired with a melee-focused Envoy, his overall power limits his usefulness for much of the Avowed journey.
3. Giatta
Giatta, a support-oriented Animancer, utilizes magic for healing, shielding, and party buffs. While not a damage dealer, her utility proves invaluable in challenging situations, particularly during boss fights. Her abilities include:
Purification: Heals allies (upgradable to 50% health, interrupt/knock back enemies, and increase damage reduction). Barrier: Grants allies a temporary health shield (upgradable to increase shield strength, heal on expiry, and provide protection from melee attacks). Acceleration: Increases ally movement and attack speed (upgradable to add damage reduction, extend duration, and reduce ability cooldowns). Reconstruction: Heals allies with attacks (upgradable to prioritize low-health allies, grant temporary health, and revive incapacitated allies on enemy kills).
Giatta can also activate Essence Generators, unlocking late-game areas and loot. While not optimal for all situations, she synergizes well with magic-focused Envoy builds.
2. Kai
Kai, an early-game Companion, remains helpful throughout Avowed. This tank deals significant damage with minimal player input. His abilities are:
Fire and Ire: A high-stun attack that taunts (upgradable to ignite, increase stun, and reduce cooldown). Unbending Defense: Regenerates health and increases damage reduction (upgradable to further increase damage reduction, enhance health regeneration, and unleash a damaging shockwave). Leap of Daring: Stuns and taunts nearby enemies (upgradable to increase area of effect, gain temporary health per hit, and increase attack damage per hit). Second Wind: Revives himself (upgradable to increase health restored, grant attack speed boost, and reset ability cooldowns).
Kai's abilities excel against both single, high-health enemies and groups. His self-revival and minimal micromanagement needs make him a highly effective partner. He can also use fire to clear obstacles like spiderwebs and roots.
1. Yatzli
Yatzli, a powerful Wizard, boasts high-damage attacks and exceptional crowd control. She's the closest thing to air support in the Living Lands. Her abilities include:
Essence Explosion: Deals explosive arcane damage (upgradable to increase blast radius, inflict fire accumulation, and reduce cooldown). Minoletta’s Missile Battery: Fires homing arcane missiles (upgradable to increase fire rate, range, and inflict shock accumulation). Arduos Delay of Motion: Slows enemies (upgradable to intensify slowing, create an area of effect, and inflict frost accumulation). Blast: Creates an area-of-effect explosion on enemy hits (upgradable to deal explosive damage, destroy obstacles, shatter frozen enemies, and increase stun chance).
Yatzli's powerful abilities and obstacle-clearing capabilities make her a valuable asset throughout Avowed, despite being recruited late in the game.
*Avowed releases on PC and Xbox on February 18.*
