Companions

Discover all seven companions in Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire. Learn their locations, best class builds, and how to recruit them to your party.

There are a total of seven full-blown companions in the game. There are three companion-related trophies: - Gathering the Party for recruiting all 7 - Steadfast Ally for maximising your relationship with any companion - Burning Bridges for making a companion hate you.

Edér

Edér is available from the start of the game. You can choose to make him a single-class Fighter, a Rogue or a multiclass Swashbuckler. He works well as a single-class Fighter but his poor-ish Dexterity means that he's not so great as a single-class Rogue. Multiclassing greatly boosts his damage output. Here's a possible build.

Race	Meadow Human (Fighting Spirit)
Culture	The Dyrwood
Background	Farmer
Classes	Swashbuckler (Fighter / Rogue)
Role	Melee Attacker
Attributes	MIG: 16, CON: 16, DEX: 11, PER: 12, INT: 10, RES: 13
Proficiencies	Sabre, Medium Shield

Lvl	Level-up Bonuses
1	Constant Recovery; Knock Down; Sneak Attack; Crippling Strike
2	Disciplined Barrage
3	Escape
4	Fighter Stances; Smoke Veil
5	Confident Aim
6	Two Weapon Style
7	Mule Kick; Finishing Blow
8	Disciplined Strikes
9	Rapid Recovery
10	Charge; Persistent Distraction
11	Weapon Specialization
12	Vigorous Defense
13	Armored Grace; Devastating Blow
14	Deep Wounds
15	Unbending
16	Refreshing Defense; Sap
17	Overbearing Guard
18	Improved Critical
19	Unbreakable; Deathblows
20	Unbending Trunk

Although Edér starts off with a shield proficiency, you're probably better off taking him down the Two Weapon Style route to take advantage of Full Attacks from Fighter and Rogue abilities.

Xoti

You will find Xoti in Port Maje. You can choose to make her a Priest (Harvester of Gaun), a Monk (Sister of the Reaping Moon) or a Contemplative (Monk / Priest). Unfortunately, her Monk subclass is not a good one (she's unlikely to get many kills so her Monk abilities are just more expensive) and the synergy with Priest is not that great. However, if you make her a single-classed Priest, she will become redundant when you recruit Tekēhu since a Druid is a better healer. Here's a possible multiclass build for her:

Race	Savannah Human (Fighting Spirit)
Culture	Readceras
Background	Farmer
Classes	Contemplative (Sister of the Reaping Moon / Harvester of Gaun)
Role	Melee Attacker,Support
Attributes	MIG: 12, CON: 12, DEX: 15, PER: 12, INT: 14, RES: 13
Proficiencies	Hatchet, Buckler, Crossbow

Lvl	Level-up Bonuses
1	Transcendent Suffering; Swift Strikes; Holy Radiance; Blessed Harvest; Restore
2	Force of Anguish
3	Lesser Wounds
4	Dance of Death; Withdraw; Holy Meditation
5	Two-handed Style
6	Long Stride
7	Swift Flurry; Vile Thorns; Dire Blessing
8	Consecrated Ground
9	Efficient Anguish
10	Duality of Mortal Presence; Circle of Protection; Devotions for the Faithful
11	Enduring Dance
12	Rooting Pain
13	Enervating Blows; Wicked Briars; Barring Death's Door
14	Litany for the Spirit
15	Practiced Healer
16	Turning Wheel; Minor Intercession; Salvation of Time
17	Iron Wheel
18	Tough
19	Heartbeat Drumming; Wall of Thorns; Resurrection
20	Minor Avatar

Xoti gets big benefits from killing enemies but she won't be doing that with her sickle. You will want her to be using a reach weapon (quarterstaff, for example) so she can benefit from Dance of Death. Late game, you can find a great sword called Twin Eels which scales off the wielder's Religion score. At this point, you may to want have her fight with that instead. Since she gets 3 Wounds all at once when she scores a kill, Rooting Pain will trigger multiple times

Aloth

You will find Aloth at the Engwithan Digsite. You can choose to make him a Wizard, a Battlemage (Fighter / Wizard) or a Spellblade (Rogue / Wizard). Any of the options are good, although decent Dexterity vs. indifferent Might perhaps inclines him more towards Spellblade than Battlemage or nuker Wizard. Here's a possible build for him:

Race	Wood Elf (Wily Step)
Culture	Aedyr
Background	Gentry
Classes	Spellblade (Rogue / Wizard)
Role	Ranged Attacker, Disabler
Attributes	MIG: 12, CON: 10, DEX: 15, PER: 12, INT: 16, RES: 13
Proficiencies	Rapier, Scepter

Lvl	Level-up Bonuses
1	Sneak Attacks; Crippling Strike; Minoletta's Minor Missiles
2	Escape
3	Thrust of Tattered Veils
4	Dirty Fighting; Infuse With Vital Essence
5	Combusting Wounds
6	Two Weapon Style
7	Arterial Strike; Kalakoth's Minor Blights
8	Expose Vulnerabilities
9	Bear's Fortitude
10	Shadowstep; Essential Phantom
11	Pull of Eora
12	Withering Strike
13	Tough; Ryngrim's Enervating Terror
14	Rapid Casting
15	Call to Slumber
16	Toxic Strike; Arkemyr's Capricious Hex
17	Deep Wounds
18	Slippery Mind
19	Deathblows; Wall of Draining
20	Tough

Kalakoth's Minor Blights applies Sneak Attacks over an AoE. It does the same for abilities like Arterial Strike and Toxic Strike which is murderous. If you dump Aloth's skill points into Arcana, he can cast higher level spells from scrolls if needs be.

Serafen

You will meet Serafen shortly after you are able to set sail. You can choose to make him a Cipher (Wild Mind), a Barbarian or a Witch (Barbarian / Wild Mind). Serafen's Cipher subclass needs some explanation.

Wild Mind

Serafen may experience a wild surge when using a power. The possible effects are: - +5 Cipher Power Level for 3s - Power is cast twice - Focus Pool is filled - Target is pushed 3m - Random tier 3 Affliction inflicted on the target - +1 Empower point - -3 Cipher Power Level for 3s - Miscast: 1.5x Focus inflicted as Shock damage in a 2.5m radius - Target becomes invisible fo