Beyond their compelling stories and engaging dialogue, *Avowed*'s Companions offer invaluable practical benefits, from navigating tricky pathways to bolstering your combat prowess. Let's rank them, from least to most helpful.
4. Marius
In my Avowed playthrough, Marius (pictured above) proved less compatible with my playstyle than other companions. While his early-game exploration skills, particularly in locating items and plants, are useful, he's quickly outmatched in combat. Here's a breakdown of his abilities and upgrades:
Blinding Roots: Roots enemies for 8 seconds. Upgrades include stunning, trapping multiple enemies, and inflicting Bleed Accumulation. Heart Seeker: A piercing shot that always hits its target. Upgrades include hitting two enemies, increased damage against low-health enemies, and cooldown reduction. Shadow Step: A triple-strike attack after vanishing. Upgrades include instant kills against stunned enemies, increased damage against low-health enemies, and increased strike count. Wounding Shots: Inflicts Bleed Accumulation. Upgrades reduce enemy damage reduction, slow enemies, and reduce enemy damage.
Marius' abilities primarily focus on crowd control and weakening enemies. While effective against certain melee-focused foes with low health, his niche utility limits his overall effectiveness for most of the Avowed journey.
3. Giatta
Giatta, a support-oriented Animancer, excels at healing, shielding, and buffing the party. While not a damage dealer, her utility is crucial in challenging situations like boss fights. Her abilities include:
Purification: Heals allies. Upgrades increase healing, interrupt enemies, and boost ally damage reduction. Barrier: Provides temporary health to allies. Upgrades increase temporary health, heal on barrier expiration, and provide protection for Giatta. Acceleration: Boosts ally movement and attack speed. Upgrades add damage reduction, extend duration, and reduce ability cooldowns. Reconstruction: Heals allies with attacks. Upgrades increase healing for low-health allies, grant temporary health, and revive incapacitated allies upon enemy kills.
Giatta also activates Essence Generators, opening late-game areas. While her abilities aren't the strongest, she synergizes exceptionally well with magic-focused Envoy builds.
2. Kai
Kai, an early companion, remains helpful throughout the game. This tank deals substantial damage with minimal player intervention. His abilities are:
Fire and Ire: A high-stun attack with a taunt. Upgrades include igniting the target, increasing stun, and reducing cooldown. Unbending Defense: Regenerates health and increases damage reduction. Upgrades boost damage reduction, increase health regeneration, and add a damaging shockwave. Leap of Daring: A stunning AoE taunt. Upgrades double the AoE, grant temporary health per hit, and increase attack damage per hit. Second Wind: Revives Kai. Upgrades increase health restoration, grant attack speed boost, and reset ability cooldowns.
Kai's abilities are powerful against various enemies, excelling in both single-target and crowd control situations. His self-revival makes him a low-maintenance, highly effective combat partner. He can also use fire to clear obstacles.
1. Yatzli
Yatzli, a powerful Wizard, boasts high-damage attacks and excellent crowd control. She's essentially air support in the Living Lands. Her abilities include:
Essence Explosion: An AoE arcane explosion. Upgrades increase blast radius, inflict fire accumulation, and reduce cooldown. Minoletta’s Missile Battery: A volley of homing missiles. Upgrades increase fire rate, range, and inflict shock accumulation. Arduos Delay of Motion: Slows enemies. Upgrades intensify slowing, create an AoE, and inflict frost accumulation. Blast: AoE damage on enemy hits. Upgrades deal explosive damage to break blocks, destroy walls, and shatter frozen enemies, also increasing stun and adding 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.
