7: Serafen
Best Pillars of Eternity 2 Deadfire Companions
Note: This article is ranking full companions only and not sidekicks.
Let’s start this list by saying no companion is “bad.” All of them have their perks, and can hold their own in battle. So when you’re going through the game and picking who you want to be your main party members, consider who you like personally as a character, how well they all mesh together as a team (both in-battle and personality), and ensure that whatever class you picked is well supported by the companions you choose to add. But for the purposes of this article, we’re going to go ahead and split hairs, and try to rank them.
Serafen has a unique combo class of Barbarian and Cipher, however in the former there are other choices that can give you similar frontline fighting capabilities, if you’re going to go for Serafen, consider going for Cipher or Witch.
However, that said, Serafen is great for characters that want to embrace a life of roguish pirate behavior and are a bit rough around the edges as he prefers those kind of interactions. However, if you’re going to play a pirate-hating character, Serafen will disapprove.
6: Edér
Best Pillars of Eternity 2 Deadfire Companions
Eder, a returning character from Pillars of Eternity 1, brings back his fighter and rogue talents to Deadfire. Eder is really nice to have around if you’re planning on playing a physically weak character with low athletics, as there are lots of times in the game where that is very helpful to have around. He has a natural bonus to it, and has two classes that like to mix it up, up close and personal. If you already have a fighter or other front-line companion, you can make him a rogue instead and allow him to play more of a support role.
However, considering you have other characters that can fill a somewhat similar front line role with Serefan and Pallegina (plus yourself potentially) he might end up being a bit overshadowed depending on your party makeup.
Just keep in mind if you’re planning playing a very anti-Eothas character, which might be many of you considering the context of the early part of the game, you’ll have a harder time gaining his trust.
5: Tekēhu
Best Pillars of Eternity 2 Deadfire Companions
Tekehu has a lot of versatility as either a support Chanter class, or as a powerful attacking Druid. The former can give your party members a huge advantage in tough battles where even a small increase in stats can be the different between winning and losing. If you go for the Druid, he can be quite powerful in battle, and plus, for as helpful as a chanter can be, who in their right mind turns down the opportunity to have a giant man-shark running around in your crew? What knocks Tekehu down a beg is that in either scenario, we found he can be a bit fragile and die often in combat. So micromanage him well so he doesn’t get pounded.
What’s nice about Tekehu is that he is quite easily to please. As long as you’re not going out of your way to make fun of, or hurt the Huana people, he’s more or less going to play nice with everyone which is a nice little perk. And trust me, when you get on his good side, he’ll make his feelings known quite quickly.
4: Maia Rua
Best Pillars of Eternity 2 Deadfire Companions
At the end of the day, you can’t go wrong with having a strong ranged attacker in your class and Maia Rua slides in very nicely. What’s nice about Maia Rua in particular is that she stands out above other Rangers with the unique Gunhawk subclass. This gives her a helpful bird animal companion that will increase her DPS and gives her some very helpful bonuses while using gun-type weapons. She can go at it as a hybrid Scout or Geomancer if you choose, but we’d stick with the pure Gunhawk class personally as those other roles can be more aptly filled by other companions.
Just try and keep her away from Tekehu unless you like constant bickering.
3: Pallegina
Best Pillars of Eternity 2 Deadfire Companions
Pallegina, depending on how your first game played out, will either return to you triumphant, or disgraced. Either way though, she’s eager and ready to mix it up once again and is a rock-solid tank/support class. In Pillars of Eternity 2, you can amplify her tanky/front-line capabilities by going for a Paladin/Fighter Crusader combo, or go for more of a support role as a Herald (Paladin/Chanter). Either way you go, she’s going to be a solid party member who can contribute and, most importantly, stay alive. The best ability is availability, and having someone that can do a little bit of everything, tank, fight, and support, without being on the floor all the time is as good a skill as anything. If you’re playing a Paladin yourself though, there are probably better options for you to have.
2: Aloth
Best Pillars of Eternity 2 Deadfire Companions
Every good party needs a nuker. A Wizard that can just blow things up from afar. Aloth is your guy for that as long as he’s still around. It’s really quite simple as to why he’s so high on our list. He’s the only pure Wizard in a group of possible party members. If you’re not a Wizard yourself, and you want someone in your party that is dedicated to using powerful arcane spells, then Aloth is going to be must.
Not only is Aloth powerful, he also has a wide variety of spells to learn that give him versatility and survivability if you so choose. Really, the only drawback of Aloth is that he’s going to take issue with A LOT of the possible companions you can have in your party. He doesn’t like joking around and irresponsibility, and between Eder, Serafen, and Tekehu (three front-line characters might I add), he’s going to do a lot of complaining.
1: Xoti
Best Pillars of Eternity 2 Deadfire Companions
Finally we reach our number one companion in Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire, Xoti. Xoti isn’t just a likable character that carries out her grim duty of escorting souls into the afterlife with a smile — she’s also a powerful healer who can mix it up in battle.
Xoti is one of the safest characters that you can inject into your party if you’re not really sure who you should add. And, if you’re not a dedicated healer, and have kitted out some of your other party members to be a support character, Xoti might end up being a must use.
You can’t go wrong with having a powerful Priest in your party (unless, perhaps, you are and even then you could make a her a Monk instead), and for that reason, Xoti shoots up to the top of our list.
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