Top Avowed Companions Ranked by Utility

In the world of Avowed, Companions are more than just narrative elements; they play crucial roles in gameplay, from unlocking paths to enhancing combat. Here's a detailed ranking of every Companion in Avowed, from the least to the most beneficial for your adventure.

4. Marius

During my playthrough of Avowed, I found Marius to be the least synergistic with my playstyle. While he offers some utility in early-game exploration by helping find items and plants, his combat abilities quickly become overshadowed by other Companions. Here's a breakdown of Marius' abilities and their upgrades:

Blinding Roots: Roots enemies in place for 8 seconds. Upgrades can stun enemies, trap multiple foes, and inflict Bleed Accumulation.

Heart Seeker: Fires a piercing shot that always hits the target, even through obstacles. Upgrades allow it to hit two enemies, deal increased damage to those below 50% health, and reduce its cooldown by 33%.

Shadow Step: Marius vanishes and reappears to strike an enemy with daggers, up to three times. Upgrades can instantly kill stunned enemies, deal more damage to low-health foes, and allow up to six strikes.

Wounding Shots: Inflicts Bleed Accumulation with attacks. Upgrades can reduce enemy damage reduction, slow hit enemies, and further decrease enemy damage.

Marius' abilities focus on controlling and weakening enemies, which can be helpful in specific scenarios, particularly against melee-focused foes. However, his overall impact is niche and less effective for most of the journey through the Living Lands.

3. Giatta

Giatta, a support-focused Animancer, leverages magic to heal, shield, and buff your party. While not the strongest in direct damage, her abilities offer significant utility, especially in high-stress situations like boss fights. Here's a look at Giatta's abilities in Avowed:

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 by 20% for 15 seconds.

Barrier: Grants temporary health to all allies for 20 seconds. Upgrades increase temporary health, heal enemies upon barrier expiration, and protect Giatta from melee hits while knocking back attackers.

Acceleration: Boosts ally move and attack speed for 15 seconds. Upgrades grant 15% damage reduction, extend acceleration duration by 10 seconds, and reduce ability cooldowns by 50%.

Reconstruction: Heals allies slightly with attacks. Upgrades enhance healing for those below 20% health, grant temporary health at max health, and revive incapacitated allies upon enemy kills.

Giatta also powers Essence Generators, unlocking access to valuable late-game loot. Her support abilities make her an excellent match for Envoys using Wizard builds focused on magic.

2. Kai

Kai, the first Companion you encounter, remains valuable throughout your Avowed journey. As a tank, he can both deal and absorb damage effectively with minimal player input. Here are Kai's abilities and their upgrades:

Fire and Ire: Fires a Blunderbuss shot, stunning and taunting a single enemy for 10 seconds. Upgrades can ignite the target, increase stun, and reduce cooldown by 50%.

Unbending Defense: Regenerates health and increases damage reduction by 25%. Upgrades can further reduce incoming damage by 50%, enhance health regeneration, and release a damaging 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 per enemy struck.

Second Wind: Revives Kai by restoring 50% of his max health. Upgrades can increase this to 75%, provide a temporary attack speed boost, and reset all ability cooldowns.

Kai's versatility in combat, from handling single high-health enemies to crowd control, combined with his self-revival capability, makes him a reliable and low-maintenance ally. He can also clear certain obstacles like spider webs and roots, aiding exploration.

1. Yatzli

Yatzli, a powerful Wizard, excels in both high-damage attacks and crowd control, making her the closest thing to air support in Avowed. Here are her abilities and their upgrades:

Essence Explosion: Explodes on impact, releasing essence and dealing explosive damage. Upgrades increase the blast radius, inflict fire accumulation, and reduce cooldown by 33%.

Minoletta’s Missile Battery: Fires a volley of enemy-seeking arcane missiles. Upgrades enhance fire rate and range, and inflict shock accumulation.

Arduos Delay of Motion: Slows an enemy for 10 seconds. Upgrades intensify the slow effect, create an area of effect, and inflict frost accumulation.

Blast: Causes a small area of effect explosion on hit. Upgrades can break blocks, destroy walls, shatter frozen enemies, increase stun, and have a 5% chance to inflict Frozen, Ignited, or Shocked statuses.

Yatzli's potent abilities reflect her fierce nature, and she can clear obstacles to unlock new areas. Despite being the last Companion you recruit, her impact on your journey through the Living Lands is undeniable.

Avowed will launch on PC and Xbox on February 18.