Best Companions?

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I don't care what anyone says, Dakkon is crap. I'm basing that on many, many, many play-throughs of the game with a fighter, mage, and thief, often in the same game, sometimes kept solo-classed for the specialization bonus. Dakkon is only good as a fighter, and only good when fully upgraded using the dialogue quest that increases his abilities, plus strength tattoos, and only when Morte is tanking enemies with taunts while Dakkon dishes out the punishment from behind. No matter how low you get Dakkon's AC, he always, always get severely wounded and forces you to spend valuable healing spells and items on his worthless carcass. He's interesting to keep around for his dialogue quests (check the Circle of Zerthimon if you have enough INT and WIS) and a few other dialogue options, and the flexibility of changing classes if that's something you'd want to do. That's it. Horrible magic-user, by the way, even when fully upgraded.

Morte is a standup character who tanks well and whose taunts are very useful. Probably the best all-around NPC, especially when upgraded with good teeth, which is very easy to do. Only one decent side-quest, but he's still worth keeping.

Vhailor's a great fighter, but you get him too late. Also, you'll sometimes get him when he's many levels lower than you, which can be a real problem if you try to get him to tank stuff that's much stronger than him. If you have high enough INT and CHA, just turn him into some experience instead.

Even though the spells he gives you aren't that great, Ignus is a very good wizard and great fodder for the Grimoire of Pestilential Thought (especially the Power Word: Kill quest). His side-quest isn't much fun, but you're already in the Drowned Nations anyway.

Nordom is decent, but you get him rather late in the game. Also useful as fodder for the Grimoire quests. A real pain to find. Gets more tedious with each play-through.

Annah is somewhat useful for thieving (Nameless One is a better thief) and for backstabbing, running away, hiding, and backstabbing again, if you have the patience. That's about it. Not a frontline fighter unless you enjoy resurrecting her a lot. Doesn't really have anything to offer in the way of side-quests.

Fall-From-Grace is really weak as a party member in a fight. Basically only good for healing, and not even that great there. Just have Annah (or Nameless One, if he's a thief) steal infinite healing charms from the merchant in the Hive marketplace and you can pretty much give Fall-From-Grace a pass. The brothel's quests aren't that great but the music is really good in there.

Fortunately, fighting is a very small part of the game unless you want to fight more.

 

do you mean the glabrezu labeled "demon from moridor's box" that you find in Curst gone?? i didnt think it was possible to kill that damn thing!

I finished it with morte, annah, FFG, Dakkon and Ignus.

Never even ran into vhailor or nordom. where do you get them?

 

Yes, the demon in Curst Gone (~500 hit points and does incredible damage with a hit). I tried with the whole team (Nameless, Dak'kon, FFG, Morte, Nordon, and Annah) -- but frontal assault just ended with Nameless dead and everyone else going down fast. Annah got a good backstab in and gave me an idea for a different tactic. So (after reloading...) I sent Annah ahead with just the idea that she could hurt him and draw him to the group. I was having so much fun with the fade and backstab, the demon was dead before he made it to the rest of the party. ...And she sounds so cool when she hits with a backstab.

 

Yup, I think I used Annah to kill that demon as well...

Hmm. I've always thought of Dak'kon as essential: it's easy to get his Str up to 19 with tattoos, which instantly makes him a very good warrior, and after his upgrade, you can bump his Con to 20 for regeneration. Plus, especially in the beginning, I rely on his Power of One to buff Str, as well as Submerge the Will to help TNOs abysmal AC.

Morte, of course, remains the best damage soak, but Dak'kon can deal more damage.

I've always thought Vhailor was near useless: his AC and Str are too low, and he doesn't have enough HPs (compared to the characters you've had for awhile, where you could cheesily reload to get the better HP rolls). If I'm playing LG, I'll take Vhailor for the Str upgrades and perhaps to kill Trias, but then I'll dump him off somewhere (guarding your room with the Sensates?) If I'm CE, then it's fun to make him kill himself.

Annah's also a great fighter when you bump up her Str. Theoretically, you can give her a natural Str of 19 (with one +2 and two +1 Str tattoos and a +1 Str bracelet), but I find it better to rely on Str buffing (and maybe the +2 Str tattoo, to give better Str results; the other slots I would use to either bump up her Dex, say, to 21, or her Con).

FFG can be great as artilliery with her Call Lightning spell, which does alot of damage and is super effective on massed enemies. In fact, last time I played, I took out Curst prison entirely using Annah backstabs and FFG Call Lightnings. Everyone else just hung about. Spiritual Hammer (?), however, has an animation that goes on far, far too long. Her kiss also does a decent amount of damage, but it's still best to keep her out of melee unless necessary.

 

Hm, her healing frenzies are quite useful as well.
I wish she could pack some ranged weaponry, really...Her normal attack is pretty much useless. Bow and arrows, perhaps

 

Dak'kon - he is most usefull
Fall-From-Grace - the only cleric
Nordom - the ranged character

 

I took the latter two for pretty much the same reasons (and the dialogues, of course), but I think one can do without nordom - besides, wasn't ignus's attack ranged?

 

Of course he is ranged. But his attack isn't magical.

 

How do you upgrade Dak'kon? I think I missed that.

 

You need to be a wizard of fairly high intelligence and wisdom. Ask him about his teachings, and keep following the conversation threads until you've made him realise some fundamental errors that have been holding him back.

 

my main side char is pretty much annah for everything and morte+dak'kon for the dialog.

I gave annah as much dex items as i could and she pretty much never gets hit. My main character was also thief and 2 backstabbers = just about anyone dying with little resistance. I let ffg and ignus tag along cause i need the mules from time to time =P

 

hey everyone i have one question about this, i am about halfway through the game right now. I read in a really old computer gaming world a strategy guide by chris avelonne and he was saying that from a power gamer's standpoint the best party is: dak'kon, annah, Nordom, and morte (but only up until ravel). The reason is because this way everyone will get more experience and level up faster (with a small party). I'm wondering, if you had a bigger party, with, say five npc's instead of 4, what level would your party be at the end of the game, compared to what it would be with less npc's? would it be really different?

 

If I were to rank the joinable NPCs in order of usefulness, they would be:

1. Dak'kon. Probably the most useful of all of them, even though he starts off fairly weak. I usually give him the dread bond and the tattoo of greater might after I help him rekindle his faith in Zerthimon (even if I'm not a mage I'll temporarily become one) , which pumps his strength up to 22 for most of the game. When his karach blade becomes the 5d4 damage weapon, he really kicks ass. He is also useful as a secondary spell caster, and simply as a treasure chest of experience points.

2. Annah. Very underrated, IMHO. She is very benefiical if you want to be a theif, and fun to interact with when you are, though you will surpass her later in the game. Pump her up with appropriate tattoos (of greater might, greater action etc.) and give her the punch daggers you get from Lenny, and she can bring down most enemies by backstabbing them. With two theives in the party, I begin every battle this way. It's devestating. Plus, Annah becomes a tank later on. Along with Dak'kon, she'll eventually have an AC spelunking somewhere into the negatives.

3. Nordom. Another underrated NPC that is awesomely customizeble depending on your class and how much of the maze you've completed. He can dish out damage with his crossbows before the enemies reach you, though too often he states "crossbows cannot harm target" when he's ill-equipped. Close combat renders him a sitting duck. Once, when I was power gaming, I played through with only these three.

4. Morte. He is essential earlier in the game as a tank, given his resistances and upgrades, but later on he just sort of fades into the background. I am, of course, only speaking from a tactical point of view.

5. Fall-From-Grace. Weak in combat, but useful due to her healing abilities. Some of her later spells are quite potent too.

6. Ignus. Worth recruiting temporarily if you're a mage, if only to learn certain spells from him. I usually only bring him with if I'm playing an evil non-mage.

7. Vhailor. The most useless and overrated piece of armor in any IE game. Despite being a suit of armor, he's the most poorly defended character in the game. His resistances are even less than Morte's and his AC is nothing compared to what Dak'kon and Annah should have by the time you find him. Get him, allow him to give you a str upgrade, and then talk him out of existence.

Of course, if I were to rate everyone on a scale of 1 to 10 as far as usefulness and personality goes (the second part is completely subjective) it might be as follows:

Morte: Usefulness: 7 Personality: 10
Dak'kon: Usefulness: 10 Personality: 8
Annah: Usefulness: 9 Personality: 7
Fall-From-Grace: Usefulness: 6 Personality: 8
Nordom: Usefulness: 8 Personality: 7
Ignus: Usefulness: 5 Personality: 1
Vhailor: Usefulness: 4 Personality: 1

 

Heya, this is my first post here.

The best companion from a story standpoint is Morte. I believe him to be one of the most interesting and well-written characters ever to appear in any game. He's not just there, with a separate backstory, but inexorably linked to your own past. The fact that he is driven by what he suspects may be his own guilt to follow and help you through life after life, presumably for eternity is a mind-blowing sacrifice. Plus his story of the three wishes is one of my favorite all time chill-inducing moments. And you can hook him up with a prostitute! How do you beat that?!

The best companion in terms of usefulness would be a tie between Dak'kon and Annah. Dak'kon is a better straight melee character thanks to his Karach blade and upgrading him gets you a boatload of XP and one or two nice spells depending on your style of play. Annah can hold her own tanking at higher levels and she contributes by being useful disarming traps, opening locks, and backstabbing. Both can easily be bumped to -10 AC by the time you get to Baator. If you take the fighter specs at 7 and 12 you can have either of them wear the tattoo of the supreme warrior: bonus 3 to AC, 3 to STR, and 9 to HP. Basically their ability to take tattoos and Annah's to take earrings as well gives them a leg up on anyone else you can take into your party.

 

I've had Ignus with me almost every time, and I've played good, evil, even neutral a few times. I really don't understand this "only keep him temporarily to get the spells"-attitude that seems to be so prevalent here. I think he's great, characterwise and efficiency-wise. Best mage in the game. And that memory about him is one of those big chillers.

 

yeah, ignus definitely kicks ass. he's the first character in a game to ever creep me out. ever. and he's on my side