The Outer Worlds 2 Companions Guide Find and Recruit Every Character

Step into the vibrant universe of The Outer Worlds 2 with a diverse crew by your side. Discover every unique companion awaiting recruitment, learn how to unlock their loyalty, and harness their strengths to shape your adventure. Ready to master the art of assembling your perfect team?

All companions in The Outer Worlds 2

In The Outer Worlds 2, players can meet a diverse group of companions, each bringing unique skills, personalities, and storylines to the adventure. These allies can be recruited by completing specific quests, making key decisions, or exploring hidden locations throughout the game world. Building relationships with your companions not only enriches the narrative but also impacts combat strategies and dialogue options, making recruiting the right team an essential part of the journey.

There are six companions in The Outer Worlds 2, and you can have up to two companions at a time. In order to change your party members, you’ll be given the option to adjust your party as you’re leaving the Incognito. Of course, if you want more options, you’ll need to recruit more companions, which basically involves finding them and choosing the right dialogue options to convince them that working with you is a good idea.

After you recruit a new companion, they’ll join you on your journey, but, if you have a full party, you’ll need to send them or one of your current party members back to the ship. Afterward, the companion’s quest line will start. You don’t need to complete their quests to keep them as companions, but doing so unlocks new upgrades. Just keep in mind that you must have a companion in your current party to complete their respective quests.

Without further ado, here’s a list of all the companions you can find in The Outer Worlds 2 along with where you can find them:

Niles -Paradise Island
V.A.L.E.R.I.E -Paradise Island
Inez -Paradise Island
Aza -Golden Ridge
Marisol -Golden Ridge
Tristan -Free Market Station

Niles

You meet Niles right at the beginning of the game, and he’s automatically added as your companion. Nile’s main ability is “Spread Out, I’ll Hold’em!”, which taunts enemies and makes him shoot three shots at a specific target.

Having Niles in your party also gives you access to his two traits:

Reflex Amplified: He has bonus evasion and a higher chance to avoid incoming attacks.
Field Tinkering: While in the party, you can talk to Niles and use the workbench without having to visit an actual workbench to craft items.

V.A.L.E.R.I.E.

Along with Niles, V.A.L.E.R.I.E. is one of the companions you get from the start in The Outer Worlds 2. This little flying robot is primarily a healer, and its “Emergency Protocols” ability heals you over time and will reduce the amount of damage you take for a short time.

With VAL in your party, its two traits become available:

Life Injection Module: When a party member’s health gets low, Valerie will heal them. This trait has a cooldown.
Integrated Bypass Repair: You may preserve bypass shunts when hacking devices if VAL is in your party.

Inez

A member of Auntie’s Choice, Inez is a solid damage dealer, but who can also offer good support with some of her perks, such as “Field Medicine.” Her main ability, “The Magic Bullet,” launches a volley of hot plasma at an enemy.

By choosing to have Inez in your party, you have access to her two traits:

Combat Drugs: At the beginning of combat, she receives a buff that increases her fire rate and accuracy.
Unlicensed Chemist: The amount of Inhaler Charges you receive is increased.

She can be found in Fairfield, and you recruit her after visiting Minister Milverstreet during “The Saboteur of Paradise” main quest. You’ll find her talking to Milverstreet about her contract, and you can take the opportunity to make a better job offer.

To ensure you can recruit her, we listed all the dialogue options we used to invite her to our party. Here are the options you should choose:

“Minister, let Inez fix her graft. Then you won’t doubt her efficacy ever again” (You unlock this option by meeting with Inez before the scene in the Ministry of Accuracy building, which is on the west side of Paradise Island.)
“Good for you, Inez.”

Next, talk to Inez at the entrance of the building for her to present a proposition to you, where you’ll select “You got a deal.”

Aza

The eccentric member of the Glorious Dawn cult, Aza is the silent assassin your team might need in The Outer Worlds 2.

Because she’s a melee fighter, Aza is more susceptible to taking damage and needing some healing. At the same time, she can easily help you against single or multiple targets – because of her ability “Spread the Message” which is a frontal cone attack that damages and staggers enemies – making her one of the best damage dealers in your party. Besides, she’s pretty funny.

When in your party, you can take advantage of Aza’s traits:

A Chaotic Purpose: Aza’s ability charges faster than the other companions, and she has two charges.
Hidden in Palin-Sight: While Aza is in the party, factions with neutral or higher reputation need a higher bounty to consider you an Outlaw.

To recruit Aza, you must be in Golden Ridge, the second major region in the game, and go to the Decommissioned Autonomous Extractorium area, northwest of the landing pad. The building is filled with enemies, so be prepared for combat.

Aza is locked in a room upstairs. Open the door and pick the following dialogue options to recruit her:

“I’m Commander. What’s a ’Glorious Dawn’?”
“And that ’truth’ would be.?”
“And your now deceased fellow ’enlightened individuals’ betrayed you? Any idea why?”
“I always enjoy some good revenge killing. Anything else you need help with?”
“Sure, what could possibly go wrong?”

Marisol

Marisol Delgado is a living legend and a former member of the Department of Preemptive Causal Redirection. A master of gadgets, Marisol can offer support to you and the rest of your team. Her ability “Torpifying Blast” shoots an enemy to stun them and make all your attacks against that target critical hits.

Marisol has two traits:

Gadget Optimization: She improves your ability to generate energy. Any kills performed by the party restores a small portion of energy.
Threat Analyzer: Using Tactical Time Dilation or the N-Ray scanner shows the enemy’s data, such as health, armor, and the weapon they have.

You can find Marisol at the Zyranium Manufactory VII in Golden Ridge, a place that you inevitably visit during the main quest “On the Trail of the Traitor.” When you meet her as Alva, she is locked inside a room, and you need to help her prove that she didn’t cause an attack against members of Auntie’s Choice. To recruit Marisol, you must help her investigate the facility and prove who the real perpetrator is.

These are the dialogue options we chose in order to recruit Marisol:

“Your Abbot sent me to find out who caused the explosion.”
“Svoboda seems sure you were responsible.”
“Tell me your side, then.”
“So you’re saying Proctor Svoboda is falsely incriminating you?”
“Say I’m inclined to believe you, what then?”
“I do that and you’ll come out?”

After checking the lab terminal and investigating a bit, you need to return to Marisol, who will be talking to Factor Métadier. Below, you find the dialogue options we chose during this conversation:

“You two seem unexpectedly cordial.”
“Guess we’ll take all the help we can get.”
“Records showed you fired the payload at Outpost Opportunity. Paper smelled weird, though.”
“That still doesn’t tell us who’s responsible. You think it might be Svoboda?”
“Can we prove the launch was altered?”
“Hm. Still can’t tell if you’re lying or not, Alva, but guess I’ll play along.”

Once you have progressed in the quest by investigating two buildings Marisol talks about, it’s time to get back to her and finally discover who’s behind the attack.

“Someone rerouted the launch coordinates and pushed processing settings past tolerances.”
“You seem like you’ve drawn a conclusion.”
“Yeah, she does. It’s obvious she was framing you.”
“Pleased to meet you, uh, former Endpoint Delgado? I don’t know what to call you now.”
“What’s a Department of Preemptive Causal Redirection?”
“She’s right. Enough pontificating. Time to make a decision.”
“I say we force the Proctor to reveal who she’s working with. With or without your help.”
“Always happy to save lives. There anything else?”
“Uh-huh. If she doesn’t talk, shoot her.”
“That’s that. Any thoughts about what to do next?”

The last part of this quest involves investigating a hidden terminal. Marisol will talk to you after the end of the mission, and here’s what you should tell her:

“Yes, I’m pursuing the head of the conspiracy. Augustine de Vries.”
“You alright? Can’t tell if you’re shaken or euphoric right now.”
“Help someone like you with mysterious ’unfinished business’? How could I say no?”

Tristan

Although loyal to the Protectorate, Tristan is ready to work with other parties if it means finding the answers he’s looking for. His heavy armor and suspiciously big hammer allow him to protect the party and apply some solid crowd control. Tristan’s main ability, “Judgement,” not only damages enemies hit by its blow but also taunts and knocks them away.

The Protectorate member has two traits active when he is in your party:

Supreme Arbiter Hammer: His weapon, Supreme Arbiter Hammer, can also be used as a grenade launcher.
Observant Adjudicator: Tristan has 25% chance to reveal hidden objects around you. This trait only procs if you can’t reveal these items by yourself.

Recruiting Tristan involves completingthe “Arbitrary Measures” side quest first. To unlock it, you must travel to the Free Market Station using your ship and go southwest from the landing pad to find the Free Market Bazaar. Enter the 2nd Choice bar where Tristan is talking to the barman, Barney “Bruiser” Bass.

Here are all the dialogue options we chose that unlocked the “Arbitrary Measures” side quest:

“What seems to be the problem here?”
“Why not let him have an audience with the Broker? Least he wouldn’t bother you any more.”
“Meeting the Broker sounds like it could be useful. somehow. Maybe we can work together.”
“Name. Ever worked with a partner before?”

With this out of the way, you can travel to Golden Ridge and complete the “Arbitrary Measures” mission. After talking to the Broker in the Free Market Station, you can find Tristan in the Free Market Bazaar. When talking to him, here’s what you must choose:

“Fine, but you have to follow my rules.”
“I will be dealing with people of multiple factions. No killing them without my go-ahead.”
“Seems reasonable.”

-Best companion pairings for different builds in Outer Worlds 2

The best companion pairings in The Outer Worlds 2 depend on your character build and playstyle, as each companion offers unique skills and bonuses that can complement different builds:

Melee/Heavy Combat Builds: Pair companions with high frontline or tank capabilities. Niles, who taunts enemies and serves as a tank, works well with Tristan or Aza, both strong melee fighters with offensive abilities. This combination maximizes durable close combat presence.
Ranged/DPS Builds: Combine high damage support companions like Marisol with VALERIE for healing and utility. Marisol specializes in stealth and high-damage bursts, while VALERIE provides healing and hacking assists, supporting sustained ranged combat effectiveness.
Stealth/Assassin Builds: Aza and Marisol together boost stealth damage and critical hits, taking down enemies quickly and quietly. Inez adds defensive grafts which can help survivability in more challenging stealth encounters.
Balanced/Support Builds: Pair VALERIE with Niles or Inez for a mix of healing, tanking, and utility grafts. This spread enhances both survivability and control in fights while also giving good interface and crafting support.

Additionally, companions provide various skill bonuses that can synergize with your character’s chosen skills, so consider selecting companions who boost your highest or strategically important stats. You can rotate companions based on upcoming challenges or mission requirements to optimize performance.

Overall, flexible pairings like VALERIE + Niles suit many builds due to mixing healing and tanking, while specialized builds benefit most from companions that align with their combat style, such as melee pairs (Niles + Tristan/Aza) or stealth DPS (Aza + Marisol).

Combining this with the previous information, here is a complete guide:

Build Type	Recommended Companion Pairing	Playstyle Benefit
Melee/Heavy Combat	Niles + Tristan or Niles + Aza	Tank frontline, strong melee damage
Ranged DPS	Marisol + VALERIE	Stealth damage + healing/support
Stealth/Assassin	Aza + Marisol	High burst stealth damage and critical strikes
Balanced/Support	VALERIE + Niles or VALERIE + Inez	Healing, tanking, graft utility across combat

This allows tailoring your companions to effectively support different builds and maximize performance in combat and exploration.

Let me know if you want more specific tips for individual companions or builds!

-Best companion synergies for stealth builds

For stealth builds in The Outer Worlds 2, the best companion synergies focus on maximizing stealth damage, critical hits, and survivability without breaking your stealth advantage:

Aza and Marisol form the core stealth synergy. Aza excels as a swift melee assassin with fast-charge abilities, perfect for stealth opening attacks and quick takedowns. Marisol complements with high stealth damage and stun capabilities that boost your critical hit potential and crowd control without raising alerts.
Supporting this duo with Inez adds defensive grafts that bolster survivability, which is essential for stealth builds that tend to be fragile when detected.
VALERIE provides valuable healing support and hacking assists, allowing you to maintain stealth or avoid detection by disabling security devices.
Focus on companions whose skills enhance silent takedowns, critical damage, and disruption abilities to keep stealth operative throughout engagements.
Pairing stealth-focused companions also benefits from skill bonuses that improve perception, silent running, and critical hit chances, boosting overall stealth efficacy.

In summary, the best stealth companion synergy in The Outer Worlds 2 is Aza + Marisol for offensive stealth damage, supported optionally by Inez for defense and VALERIE for healing and utility. This combination balances high burst stealth attacks with survivability and support for seamless, deadly stealth gameplay.