In the immersive world of Avowed, Companions not only enrich the narrative and provide engaging dialogue but also offer significant gameplay advantages. From unlocking new paths to enhancing combat, each Companion brings unique abilities to the table. Here's a detailed ranking of all Avowed Companions, from least to most effective, based on their practical utility and combat prowess.
Marius
During my adventures in Avowed, I found that Marius (depicted on the right in the image above) didn't quite mesh with my preferred playstyle. While his passive abilities are beneficial for early-game exploration, allowing him to locate items and plants, he is quickly overshadowed by other Companions. Here's a breakdown of Marius' abilities and their upgrades:
- Blinding Roots: Roots enemies in place for 8 seconds. Upgrades allow for stunning enemies, affecting multiple foes, and causing Bleed Accumulation.
- Heart Seeker: A piercing shot that hits the target regardless of obstacles. Upgrades enable hitting two enemies, increasing damage against enemies below 50% Health, and reducing cooldown.
- Shadow Step: Marius disappears in a smoke cloud and reappears to slash an enemy up to three times. Upgrades can instantly kill stunned enemies, boost damage against low-health foes, and allow multiple enemy strikes.
- Wounding Shots: Inflicts Bleed Accumulation with attacks. Upgrades can reduce enemy damage reduction, slow hit enemies, and further decrease enemy damage.
Marius' abilities primarily focus on controlling and weakening enemies, which can be advantageous in specific scenarios, particularly against melee-focused foes with low health. However, his niche abilities and lack of sustained combat power make him less desirable for the broader journey through the Living Lands.
Giatta
Giatta, a support-focused Animancer, leverages magic to heal, shield, and buff the party. While she may not excel in direct damage, her utility in maintaining the party's health is invaluable, especially during intense encounters like Avowed's boss fights. Here are Giatta's abilities and their upgrades:
- Purification: Heals allies by 25% of their maximum Health. Upgrades can increase healing to 50%, interrupt and knock back enemies, and boost ally damage reduction.
- Barrier: Grants allies a temporary health shield for 20 seconds. Upgrades increase shield strength, heal enemies upon barrier expiration, and protect Giatta from melee hits.
- Acceleration: Boosts ally move and attack speed for 15 seconds. Upgrades offer additional damage reduction, extended duration, and reduced cooldowns.
- Reconstruction: Heals allies with attacks. Upgrades enhance healing for allies below 20% health, grant temporary health at max health, and revive incapacitated allies upon enemy kills.
Giatta's ability to power Essence Generators also opens up new areas for exploration and loot in the late game. Her support capabilities make her an excellent match for Envoys using Wizard builds focused on magic.
Related: Avowed PC Specs: Minimum and Recommended System Requirements
Kai
Kai, the first Companion you encounter in Avowed, remains a valuable asset throughout your playthrough. His tank-like durability and effective damage output require minimal player management. Here's a look at Kai's abilities and their upgrades:
- Fire and Ire: Fires from his Blunderbuss, stunning and taunting an enemy for 10 seconds. Upgrades can ignite targets, increase Stun, and reduce cooldown.
- Unbending Defense: Regenerates health and boosts damage reduction by 25%. Upgrades enhance damage reduction, increase health regeneration, and unleash a damaging shockwave.
- Leap of Daring: Crashes down on an enemy, stunning and taunting nearby foes. Upgrades double the area of effect, provide temporary health per enemy hit, and increase attack damage per hit.
- Second Wind: Revives himself, restoring 50% of his maximum health. Upgrades can increase this to 75%, offer a temporary attack speed boost, and reset all ability cooldowns.
Kai's versatility in handling both single-target and crowd control situations, coupled with his self-revival ability, makes him a formidable combat partner. Additionally, his fire-based abilities can clear obstacles like spider webs and roots, unlocking new areas for exploration.
Yatzli
Yatzli, a Wizard with a flair for fiery and powerful attacks, combines high damage with exceptional crowd control. In the Living Lands, she serves as a form of air support. Here are Yatzli's abilities and their upgrades:
- Essence Explosion: Explodes on impact, releasing essence and causing explosive damage. Upgrades expand the blast radius, 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 the slow effect, create an area of effect, and add frost accumulation.
- Blast: Causes attacks to burst into a small area of effect upon impact. Upgrades enable breaking blocks, destroying walls, shattering frozen enemies, increasing stun, and applying status effects like Frozen, Ignited, or Shocked.
Yatzli's powerful and versatile abilities perfectly complement her fierce personality. She also aids in accessing new areas by clearing obstacles. As the last Companion you recruit in Avowed, Yatzli's impact on your journey is well worth the wait.
Avowed releases on PC and Xbox on February 18.
