The Outer Worlds Companions: How to recruit every companion, how they affect your stats and what their abilities do
The Outer Worlds features six different companions for you to recruit across your adventures in Halcyon, and the range of combat and dialogue benefits they provide make them more than worth it. The companions you can recruit are; Parvati, Vicar Max, Felix, Ellie, SAM and Nyoka, and only two of them require a bit of legwork.
Each companion comes with a few different benefits. They'll provide boosts to your skills, and they all have their own ability to help you out in combat. They also have their own skill trees, where they have three perks unique to them and a range of more generic ones to upgrade them.
Besides that, companions are some of the most interesting characters in the game, each having fleshed out stories and personalities. Getting to know each of your companions can result in some of the games’ coolest moments.
A lot of questions are going around about whether or not you can romance your companions. Unfortunately the answer is no. The Outer Worlds doesn’t feature any romance options of any kind, so if you’re looking to get to know your crew especially well it isn’t going to happen like that.
If you're going hard on The Outer Worlds, we've got all the help you need - including guides for finding every science weapon, all character flaws and mastering the perks system.
Parvati
Parvati is the first companion you’re going to run into in The Outer Worlds, right after a rough landing in Edgewater. You’ll naturally run into Parvati when trying to progress through the story.
To find Parvati all you have to do is visit Reed Thompson in his office in Edgewater’s cannery. This visit is part of the story mission Stranger In A Strange Land and is unmissable.
After talking to Reed, Parvati will be assigned to help you in finding a power regulator. There’s no mission completing necessary to get her in your crew.
Companion Stats:
When in your party, Parvati will give you a boost to your Persuade, Engineering and Lockpick skills.
Unique Companion Perks:
Bonus Support Engineering: +10 Engineering
Mod Finder: +10% Chance to extract Mods in the Field
Synchronicity: +25% Tactical Time Dilation Meter
Companion Ability:
Overload- Parvati slams her hammer into the ground creating an electric shock wave. Human and animal foes will get Stun damage whilst automechs will have Knockdown.
Vicar Max
Vicar Max similarly resides in Edgewater, acting as the town’s vicar. Although he may initially seem like another person waiting to mess you about, Max’s personality gets a lot better and he starts to shine as a companion.
Talking to Max is an optional task given to you by Parvati, although to do it he can be found in Edgewater’s church. He’ll ask you to find a special manual for him in The Illustrated Manual side quest, which requires a short walk out of Edgewater to find.
Completing this quest will have Max asking to join your crew permanently in order to discover more about the manual.
Companion Stats:
When in your party, Max will give you an active boost to your Intimidate skill, Hack and Science skills.
Unique Companion Perks:
Bonus Support Hack: +10 Hack
Sermon: +20% Dialog Combat Effect Duration
Mad Max: +20% Science Weapon Damage
Companion Ability:
Trickshot- Max pulls out his shotgun after preaching to his enemy and shoots them, causing Knockdown.
Felix:
Your first quest after completing Edgewater will have you on the Groundbreaker, a massive docked ship.
As soon as you get off your ship, you’ll see Felix getting reprimanded by some of the Groundbreakers members. You can interact with him here where he’ll find out that you’re the captain of the big new ship stood in front of him.
Return to your ship later and you’ll see Felix stood there waiting to join your crew.
Although you don’t technically need to complete any quests to have Felix join your team, you’ll need to regain access to your ship after landing on the Groundbreaker, which means completing Passage to Anywhere.
Companion Stats:
When in your party Felix will give you a bonus to your Persuade, Sneak and Lockpick skills.
Unique Companion Perks:
Bonus Support Persuade: +10 Persuade
Bootlickers!: +20 Damage to Cowering Enemies
Rebellion: +20 Damage to Corporate Military
Companion Ability:
Dropkick- Felix hits his enemy with a Tossball regulated dropkick. It doesn’t do much.
Ellie:
Ellie can technically be missed, but you’ll easily find her by looking around the Groundbreaker when you first arrive. She can be found arguing in the Medical Bay.
Ellie will ask you to find her friend Jessie in the Medical Bay. This creates the mission Worst Contact. To complete that just use the ID cartridge to find her in the back of the Medical Bay and talk to her. She’ll ask you to talk to Udom Bedford, which just requires a bit of persuasion or the spending of Bits.
Completing this quest and reporting back to Ellie will cause her to join your party permanently as a form of payback.
Companion Stats:
When in your party, Ellie will give you a boost to your Engineering, Lie and Medical skills.
Unique Companion Perks:
Bonus Support Medical: +10 Medical
First Responder: +20% Heal amount granted by Medical Inhaler.
CPR: Recover 25% Health when fatally wounded.
Companion Ability:
Quickdraw- Ellie pulls out her pistol and fires off a few deadly shots, causing Bleed damage and disarming regular enemies.
SAM:
Sam is completely missable if you’re not looking out for him, but he can be found next to the crew cabins on the second floor of the Unreliable.
Interacting with him will unlock The Cleaning Machine quest. Talk to ADA and she’ll reveal he needs one last piece to get up and working. This piece can be found in Roseway on Terra-2.
Find this last piece and you’ll be able to put SAM to work on your team. He’s not very customisable, but he’s pretty strong.
Companion Stats:
When in your party, SAM will give you a bonus to your Intimidate and Hacking skills.
Unique Companion Perks:
Bonus Support Intimidate: +10 Intimidate
Bad Samaritan: +20 Damage to Automechanicals
Companion Ability:
Decontaminate- SAM jumps into the air and hits the ground causing acid to spill out from around him. This causes Acid damage and Knockdown to any surrounding enemy.
Nyoka:
Unless you decide to ignore SAM, Nyoka is likely the last companion you’ll be recruiting in The Outer Worlds.
When you reach the planet Monarch, you’ll be asked to speak to Nyoka for the quest Free Radio Monarch. You’ll find her in a bar where she’ll need sobering up before she can help you.
This gives you the quest Passion Pills which will take you to Abigail Edward for help. You can either intimidate her or find a body for her and she’ll give you the pills. Return them to Nyoka and she’ll join the crew.
Companion Stats:
When in your party, Nyoka will provide you a bonus to your Lie, Sneak and Medical skills.
Unique Companion Perks:
Bonus Support Lie: +10 Lie
Hunter: -20% Radius of Footstep Sounds
Exterminator: +20 Damage to Creatures
Companion Ability:
Barrage- Nyoka uses her LGM to deal Barrage and Burn damage to her targets. Barrage essentially acts as an armour damage mechanic.