Fight together in Blackwood and beyond
Companion Combat Actions
In combat, Companions will also attempt to block incoming heavy attacks, interrupt interruptible abilities, and break free from crown control effects, however, their timing is not perfect, and they do have a cooldown between uses.
Companion Death & Recovery
If a Companion dies in battle, they can be revived by using a soul gem. However, any Companion who is still defeated at the end of combat will recover within a few seconds of the battle concluding.
Customizing Companion Combat Abilities
Just like with your own character, when it comes to combat, you can customize how your Companion fights. The skills tab of the Companion menu provides a list of available skill lines and associated abilities which may be slotted into the Companion’s active ability bar. These abilities may have usage restrictions, such as requiring a specific weapon type be equipped or a target being below a certain health threshold. Companions attempt to use their abilities in priority order from left to right if they have a valid target and meet any associated requirements of the ability.
Companion abilities utilize a cooldown system to determine frequency of usage, with various abilities having an array of cooldown times.
Companions have a large pool of unlockable abilities available to them, which are similar to some abilities you may recognize from various player skill lines. These abilities provide the opportunity for you to customize your Companion’s combat role, including tanking, healing, damage, and any hybridization desired to perfectly complement your own ability configuration.
Companion Cosmetics & Appearance
Customizing Companion Appearance
You can customize your Companion using many of your own cosmetic collectibles. This includes mounts, costumes, and outfits. Companions have a default mount which they will utilize when you mount up, but this can be overridden through the Companion menu in your Collectibles UI. Costumes you have unlocked may be applied through the Collectibles tab as well, with any associated applied dyes being shared across your and your Companion’s appearance per costume.
Companion Outfits
Visiting an outfit station allows you to configure a dedicated outfit slot, with each Companion having a dedicated slot per account. You can apply this outfit through the overview screen of the Companion UI.
Please note that Companion’s head armor is always hidden and will not be displayed regardless of equipment or cosmetic override settings. Additionally, a small subset of mount, costume, and outfit collectibles may not be usable by the Companion based on gender, race, or other restrictions.
Companion Progression
Levelling Up Companions
As you fight with your Companions, they will gain experience and level up. With the exception of their personal quests and rapport, which collectively represents the relationship between each character and the Companion, all Companion progress is account-wide.
Companions are level one when unlocked, with a limited set of ability bar slots and a maximum potential level of 20. Companions level up via experience gained directly from combat.
As Companions gain combat levels, their hitpoints and overall power (which affects weapon and spell damage) increases automatically, additional ability bar slots unlock, and more class abilities become available. This includes the ultimate slot and ability, which unlock at combat level 20.
Experience increasing effects such as holiday bonuses and consumable boosters applied you will provide an indirect benefit to the Companion as well.
Companion Skill Lines
Companions have access to several skill lines, each with associated abilities. Most Companion skill lines have three active abilities which can be acquired through leveling up of that skill line. Companion abilities do not require skill points to unlock and do not rank up or morph over time.
- Class Skill lines increase with the combat level of the Companion.
- Weapon skill lines increase through combat experience based on the equipped weapon(s).
- Armor skill lines increase through combat experience based on the equipped weight of the armor on the Companion.
- Guild skill lines increase through completing specific solo daily quests associated with the guild, for the active Companion.
- Racial skill lines do not include active abilities and are immediately applied based on the race of the Companion.
Each Companion unlocks with some progress in a few skill lines based on their background, as well as with two combat abilities pre-slotted, so they are immediately combat ready. You can change these as desired.
Companion Rapport
Gaining & Managing Rapport
Rapport with Companions begins at cordial, starting with the introductory quest, and may go up and down over time, depending on your actions with the active Companion. All Companions have strong personal preferences which you can learn about through dialogue and experimentation in the world.
As rapport increases or falls, various thresholds will be met, with corresponding changes in the Companion’s dialogue with you. At higher tiers of rapport, the Companion will be inclined to share personal information with you and ask for assistance with associated quests. At lower tiers of rapport, the Companion may choose to part ways with you for a time.