Arcanum: Best Companions, Followers

Best Companions Arcanum

It depends on Arcanum Build and player aptitude, but the best Arcanum companions are usually Virgil, Sogg, Magnus and Gar. On maiden runs of Arcanum, Virgil is a must for his interjections and quest! For flavor, I'd say Magnus is great to have onboard as well.

Arcanum Companion Mechanics

• Recruit the companions you want as soon as possible. Why? Because they level up when we do, but they won't scale to our level when they're not in the party. The experience points required to level up increases with level. The higher we level, the more XP it takes to reach the next level. So say we're 30th level when we recruit the 8th level Magnus. Well, now we need to earn 28,300 XP for him to reach 9th level, instead of a mere 6,000 XP. Because he only levels when we level.
• Hit the F1 key to direct your companions. There is no Full Party Control. Among other orders, you can tell them to wait by right-clicking their portraits on the left side of the viewport.
• We have no control over the build of the companion, aka its leveling template.
• Companions auto-equip the most expensive items, which are rarely the best items for them. To force companions to equip exactly what you want them to, you must remove the more expensive versions from their inventories.
• Persuasion Master Arcanum bypasses alignment restrictions.

Companion Exploit

Any NPC can be made into a permanent follower by targeting them with Dominate Will followed by Reflection Shield, and then cancelling Dominate Will while RS is active. cf: Arcanum Spells. In addition, any buff applied to the NPC between casting DW and RS (such as Agility of Fire or Shield of Protection) will be permanently applied to the NPC. We can view their character sheet, equip them, and have them follow us about as per any legitimate follower. For merchants, we also net their vendor inventory.

Sogg is great for most of the game, but isn't as good as some other companions towards the end. Why? Aptitude. Sogg is of Neutral aptitude, meaning he doesn't get aptitude-based bonuses from magickal items, like some other companions do. In terms of tanking and DPS, companion warriors that develop strong magickal aptitudes (such as Dante) are superior to those with technological or neutral aptitudes (plus they get spells which can make other companions better at fighting).

Consult Arcane Platemail for an example of how the stats of magickal items scale based on our magickal aptitude.

The Dark Helm buffs MA by 20 points. But not just that, the effect stacks each time it is equipped.

Chukka Location

Chukka is found at the Gates Estate in Tarant. He can join the party Post-Black Mountain Mine if >= Charisma 12, Good-only.

Dante Location

Dante is found at the Sour Barnacle in Black Root (28th level = 50 MA, 44th = 70 MA).

Dog Location

Dog aka Worthless Mutt is found in Ashbury, outside the Hostelry. Dog does not count towards the party size limit.

Franklin Payne Location

Franklin Payne is found in Black Root, but he does not spawn in his home until we have Thanatos map-marked.

Gar Location

Garfield Thelonius Remington III aka Gar is found in Tarant: >= Persuasion 3, >=Level 9.

Geoffrey Tarrelond-Ashe Location

Geoffrey Tarrelond-Ashe is found in Ashbury, at the cemetery gates: Evil-alignment.

Jayna Stiles Location

Jayna Stiles is found in Dernholm: >=5 Technological aptitude.

Jormund Location

Jormund is found in Qintarra.

Loghaire Location

Loghaire Thunder Stone is found in the Dredge. He can join the party, post-T'sen-Ang.

Magnus Location

Magnus Shale Fist is found in Tarant: >=7th level + Good-only

Perriman Smythe Location

Perriman Smythe is found in Tarant, post-Qintarra.

Raven Location

Raven is found in Qintarra. She can join the party post-T'sen-Ang, after speaking with M'in Gorad about the fate of the BMC and the technological gate. 

Bow Expert, Water: 4, Necromantic White: 4

Elven Hunter's Bow, Dragon Skin Leather, Ring of Protection. You'll want to give her a better bow, such as Arcane Bow or Ellumyn's Bow. Stock up on arrows, too!

Sebastian Location

Sebastian is found at the Boil in Tarant, post-Qintarra, after speaking with Willoughsby and taking out Darien Maug.

Sogg Location

Sogg Mead Mug is found in the Shrouded Hills Inn: >= Charisma 9.

Thorvald Location

Thorvald Two Stones is found in the Isle of Despair: >= Persuasion 3.

Tollo Underhill Location

Tollo Underhill is found in the Dernholm Pit: Evil alignment.

Torian Kel Location

Torian Kel is found in the Ancient Temple: Evil alignment. See Ashbury for his quest.

Virgil Location

Virgil can join the main character at the Crash Site: focus in Necromantic White.

Vollinger Location

Vollinger is found at the King's Pub & Inn, Dernholm. He is a Molochean Hand agent.

Waromon Location

Waromon is found at the Bedokaan Village (Qintarra phase): Bow Expert, Melee Expert, Fire: 1, Nature: 2.

Weldo Rubin Location

Weldo Rubin is found at the Gateway to the Wastes.

Z'an Al'urin Location

Z'an Al'urin is found in T'sen-Ang. Being a Dark Elf, she cannot enter Qintarra: Earth: 4, Force: 4, Temporal: 3. Z'an Al'urin has a back-and-forth with Loghaire and Arronax in the Void.

The next four companions can only be recruited in The Void, which is at the end of Arcanum.

Arronax Location

Arronax is found in the prison of the Void (Fire/Force).

Bane of Kree Location

Bane of Kree is found in the Void.

Gorgoth Location

Gorgoth is found in the Void.

Kraka-tur Location

Kraka-tur is found in the Void.

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