Best Avowed Companions, Ranked by Helpfulness

In *Avowed*, companions are more than just story elements; they're invaluable assets, opening pathways and significantly boosting combat effectiveness. This ranking assesses each companion, from least to most helpful.

4. Marius

My experience with Marius proved his playstyle to be less than ideal for most situations. While his early-game utility in locating items and plants is useful, he quickly becomes outmatched by other companions. His combat capabilities are underwhelming. Here's a breakdown of his abilities and upgrades:

Blinding Roots: Roots enemies for 8 seconds, upgradable to stun, affect multiple targets, and inflict Bleed Accumulation. Heart Seeker: A piercing shot that always hits, upgradable to hit two enemies, deal increased damage to low-health targets, and reduce cooldown. Shadow Step: A triple-strike vanish attack, upgradable to instantly kill stunned enemies, deal increased damage to low-health targets, 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 melee foes and low-health enemies, his niche application limits his overall value throughout the Avowed journey.

3. Giatta

Giatta, a support-oriented Animancer, excels at healing, shielding, and buffing the party. While lacking in raw damage, her utility is invaluable during intense encounters like boss fights. Her abilities are:

Purification: Heals allies (upgradable to 50% health, interrupt enemies, and increase damage reduction). Barrier: Grants temporary health to allies (upgradable to increase temporary health, heal on expiration, and provide protection from melee attacks). Acceleration: Increases movement and attack speed (upgradable to add damage reduction, extend duration, and reduce cooldowns). Reconstruction: Heals allies with attacks (upgradable to increased healing for low-health allies, grant temporary health, and revive incapacitated allies on enemy kills).

Giatta can also activate Essence Generators, opening up late-game areas. She synergizes well with magic-focused Envoy builds.

2. Kai

Kai, an early companion, remains consistently helpful throughout the game. This tank deals significant damage with minimal player intervention. His abilities include:

Fire and Ire: A high-stun blunderbuss shot with a taunt (upgradable to ignite, increase stun, and reduce cooldown). Unbending Defense: Regenerates health and increases damage reduction (upgradable to further reduce damage, increase regeneration, and unleash a damaging shockwave). Leap of Daring: A stunning and taunting area-of-effect attack (upgradable to increase area, gain temporary health per hit, and gain bonus attack damage). Second Wind: Self-revive (upgradable to increase health restored, grant attack speed boost, and reset cooldowns).

Kai's abilities are powerful against various enemy types, offering both single-target and crowd control. His self-revive ability makes him exceptionally reliable. He can also use fire to clear obstacles.

1. Yatzli

Yatzli, a powerful Wizard, delivers high damage and exceptional crowd control. She's the closest thing to air support in the Living Lands. Her abilities are:

Essence Explosion: Explosive arcane damage (upgradable to increase blast radius, inflict fire accumulation, and reduce cooldown). Minoletta’s Missile Battery: A volley of homing missiles (upgradable to increase fire rate, range, and inflict shock accumulation). Arduos Delay of Motion: Slows enemies (upgradable to intensify slow, create area-of-effect slow, and inflict frost accumulation). Blast: Area-of-effect damage on hit (upgradable to break blocks, destroy walls, shatter frozen enemies, and increase stun chance and status effects).

Yatzli's powerful abilities and obstacle-clearing capabilities make her an invaluable companion, despite being recruited late in the game.

*Avowed releases on PC and Xbox on February 18.*