In Avowed, the Companions not only enrich the narrative but also bring practical benefits to your gameplay. From opening new paths to enhancing combat effectiveness, here's a ranking of every Avowed Companion from least to most beneficial:
4. Marius
In my experience with Avowed, Marius didn't quite align with my preferred play style. While he offers some early-game exploration benefits, his utility diminishes as you recruit other Companions. Marius excels at finding items and plants during exploration but falls short in combat. Here are his abilities and potential upgrades:
- Blinding Roots: Roots enemies in place for 8 seconds. Upgrades allow stunning, trapping multiple enemies, and dealing Bleed Accumulation.
- Heart Seeker: Fires a piercing shot that hits the target regardless of obstacles. Upgrades enable hitting two enemies, increased damage to enemies below 50% health, and a reduced cooldown.
- Shadow Step: Vanishes and reappears to slash enemies with daggers up to three times. Upgrades can instantly kill stunned enemies, increase damage to low-health enemies, and extend to six enemies.
- Wounding Shots: Attacks deal Bleed Accumulation. Upgrades reduce enemy damage reduction, slow hit enemies, and further reduce enemy damage.
Marius' abilities focus on controlling and weakening enemies, making him useful against melee-focused foes with low health. However, his niche abilities limit his overall effectiveness throughout the journey in the Living Lands.
3. Giatta
Giatta, a support-focused Animancer, leverages magic to heal, shield, and buff your party. While not ideal for dealing damage, her utility shines in high-stress scenarios, such as boss fights. Here are her abilities in Avowed:
- Purification: Heals allies by 25% of their maximum Health. Upgrades increase healing to 50%, interrupt and knock back enemies, and boost ally damage reduction.
- Barrier: Grants temporary health to all allies for 20 seconds. Upgrades enhance temporary health, heal enemies upon barrier end, and protect Giatta from hits while knocking back melee attackers.
- Acceleration: Boosts ally move and attack speed for 15 seconds. Upgrades provide 15% damage reduction, extend acceleration duration, and reduce ability cooldowns.
- Reconstruction: Attacks heal allies slightly. Upgrades enhance healing for allies below 20% health, grant temporary health at maximum, and revive incapacitated allies upon enemy kill.
Giatta's ability to power Essence Generators also unlocks new areas for late-game loot. She pairs excellently with Envoys using Wizard builds focused on magic.
2. Kai
As the first Companion you encounter, Kai remains valuable throughout Avowed. A tank with effective damage output, Kai requires minimal player intervention. Here are his abilities and upgrades:
- Fire and Ire: Fires from his Blunderbuss, stunning and taunting an enemy for 10 seconds. Upgrades ignite the target, increase stun, and reduce cooldown.
- Unbending Defense: Regenerates health and increases damage reduction by 25%. Upgrades further reduce incoming damage, enhance health regeneration, and emit a shockwave upon expiration.
- Leap of Daring: Crashes down on an enemy, stunning and taunting nearby foes. Upgrades double the area of effect, grant temporary health per enemy hit, and boost attack damage.
- Second Wind: Revives himself by restoring 50% of his maximum health. Upgrades increase this to 75%, provide a temporary attack speed boost, and reset all ability cooldowns.
Kai's versatility makes him effective against both single high-health enemies and crowds. His self-revival ability ensures he's a reliable combat partner. He can also use fire to clear obstacles like spider webs and roots.
1. Yatzli
Yatzli, a Wizard, brings powerful attacks and excellent crowd control to your party. Her abilities make her the closest thing to air support in Avowed. Here are her abilities and upgrades:
- Essence Explosion: Explodes upon hitting an enemy, releasing essence and explosive damage. Upgrades enlarge the blast, add fire accumulation, and reduce cooldown.
- Minoletta’s Missile Battery: Fires a volley of enemy-seeking arcane missiles. Upgrades increase fire rate, extend range, and add shock accumulation.
- Arduos Delay of Motion: Slows an enemy for 10 seconds. Upgrades intensify slowing effects, create an area of effect, and add frost accumulation.
- Blast: Attacks burst into a small area of effect. Upgrades allow breaking blocks, destroying walls, shattering frozen enemies, increasing stun, and a chance to inflict Frozen, Ignited, or Shocked status.
Yatzli's potent abilities match her fierce personality, and she can clear obstacles to access new areas. Although you recruit her last, she's invaluable for the rest of your journey in Avowed.
Avowed is set to release on PC and Xbox on February 18.
