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 Avowed Companion, from least to most effective.

4. Marius

My experience with Marius proved his playstyle incompatible with mine. While his passive skills aid early exploration, he's quickly outmatched by later Companions. He excels at locating items and plants but lacks combat effectiveness. Here's a breakdown of his abilities and upgrades:

• Blinding Roots: Roots enemies (upgradeable to stun, affect multiple targets, and inflict Bleed).
• Heart Seeker: A piercing shot that always hits (upgradeable to hit two enemies, increased damage vs. low-health foes, and reduced cooldown).
• Shadow Step: Teleports to an enemy and attacks (upgradeable to instantly kill stunned enemies, increased damage vs. low-health foes, and increased target count).
• Wounding Shots: Inflicts Bleed Accumulation (upgradeable to reduce enemy damage reduction, slow enemies, and further reduce enemy damage).

Marius's abilities primarily focus on crowd control and weakening enemies. Effective against certain foes, especially when paired with a melee Envoy, his overall power falls short for most of Avowed's Living Lands.

3. Giatta

Giatta, a support-oriented Animancer, utilizes magic for healing, shielding, and party buffs. While not a damage dealer, her utility is invaluable. Her protective abilities are crucial during challenging encounters like boss fights. Her abilities include:

• Purification: Heals allies (upgradeable to increased healing, enemy interruption, and increased ally damage reduction).
• Barrier: Provides temporary health to allies (upgradeable to increased temporary health, healing on barrier expiration, and protection from melee attacks).
• Acceleration: Boosts ally movement and attack speed (upgradeable to damage reduction, extended duration, and ability cooldown reduction).
• Reconstruction: Heals allies with attacks (upgradeable to increased healing for low-health allies, temporary health for full-health allies, and ally revival on enemy kill).

Giatta can also activate Essence Generators, opening otherwise inaccessible areas. While not top-tier, she synergizes exceptionally well with magic-focused Envoy builds.

2. Kai

Despite being an early recruit, Kai remains useful throughout Avowed. A formidable tank, he deals significant damage with minimal player intervention. His abilities include:

• Fire and Ire: Blunderbuss attack with high stun and taunt (upgradeable to ignite, increased stun, and reduced cooldown).
• Unbending Defense: Health regeneration and damage reduction (upgradeable to increased damage reduction, increased health regeneration, and a damaging shockwave on expiration).
• Leap of Daring: Stunning and taunting area-of-effect attack (upgradeable to increased area of effect, temporary health per hit, and increased attack damage per hit).
• Second Wind: Self-revival (upgradeable to increased health restoration, attack speed boost, and ability cooldown reset).

Kai's abilities are potent against various enemies, excelling in both single-target and crowd control situations. His self-revival makes him a highly effective, low-maintenance combat partner. He can even use fire to remove obstacles.

1. Yatzli

Yatzli, a powerful Wizard, boasts high-damage attacks and excellent crowd control. She's the closest thing to air support in the Living Lands. Her abilities include:

• Essence Explosion: Explosive arcane damage (upgradeable to increased blast radius, fire accumulation, and reduced cooldown).
• Minoletta’s Missile Battery: Volley of homing missiles (upgradeable to increased fire rate, range, and shock accumulation).
• Arduos Delay of Motion: Slows enemies (upgradeable to increased slow, area-of-effect slow, and frost accumulation).
• Blast: Area-of-effect damage on enemy hit (upgradeable to explosive damage for breaking blocks and walls, shattering frozen enemies, increased stun, and status effect chances).

Yatzli's potent abilities align with her fierce personality. She can also clear obstacles to access new areas. While recruited last, she's a valuable asset for the remainder of your journey.

Avowed launches on PC and Xbox on February 18.