Avowed: Best Marius companion build

Wondering what the best build is for Marius, your second companion in Avowed? Marius is the self-proclaimed 'best tracker in the Living Lands,' and you'll run into him the midst of a bar fight. Crack some skulls together and Marius will gladly accompany you on the remainder of your quest, questioning your decisions with standard dwarven gruffness whenever he can. I'll be honest - Marius wins no points in the originality department when it comes to personality, as he sort of feels like the epitome of your typical outdoorsy dwarf in just about every other RPG.

That said, his abilities are useful, especially if you have no ranged attacks or Ranger techniques at your disposal. In this guide, we'll list the best companion build for Marius to ensure that he can support you from afar with bow attacks and nature tactics.

Avowed: Best Marius companion build

Each companion in Avowed has four main abilities, and each ability has a speciality that you can invest a point into. Marius' best build is as follows:

• Binding Roots (Constricting Roots)
• Heart Seeker (Sharpshooter)
• Shadow Step (Assassinate)
• Wounding Shots (Impeding Shots)

This list does not include Hunter's Sense, another one of Marius' abilities, since it's always on your in-game radial menu. Hunter's Sense lets Marius scan the environment for enemies, loot, and collectible plants. It's not an essential skill by any means, but it can be useful for picking up stuff, since the number one rule of getting by in the Living Lands (according to our Avowed Beginner's Guide) is to loot everything.

Binding Roots (Constricting Roots)

Binding Roots (8 second duration, 20 second cooldown) is very similar to Tanglefoot, an ability on the Ranger's skill tree. Both abilities entrap enemies in place with vines and are highly useful for stopping mobile foes from ganging up on you. Binding Roots doesn't inflict Poison damage, however, and focuses more on AoE, stunning, and bleeding enemies.

Constricting Roots, the stun option, is my choice here, because it ties in very nicely with Marius' Shadow Step ability, which we'll describe below. But if you don't care about ability synergy, all three specialities are solid - Grasping Roots is good for trapping a small mob in an area of effect, while the bleed accumulation from Thorny Roots really does add up over time.

Heart Seeker (Sharpshooter)

Heart Seeker (60 second cooldown) makes Marius shoot an arrow that always hits its mark and goes through all obstacles on its flightpath. I honestly don't pay attention to whether or not my companions are missing too much in Avowed, so it's easier to just think of this as a deadlier-than-normal arrow strike.

With that logic in mind, Sharpshooter, which increases the damage dealt by Heart Seeker to enemies that are below 50% health, was the specialty I went with. This turns Heart Seeker into a 'finish off that low health bastard' skill that's very handy for demolishing bosses. Twinned Shot, which makes Heart Seeker hit the next closest enemy after striking its original target, would be my second choice.

Shadow Step (Assassinate)

Shadow Step (60 second cooldown) is more of a skill I associate with rogues, but if you read our best Ranger abilities guide, you'll know that Rangers in Avowed are basically rogue/ranger hybrids. Anyway, this skill makes Marius poof in a smoke cloud and then reappear next to a foe, slashing them up to three times with his knife.

Take Assassinate for this one, as it instantly kills most sunned enemies and works wonderfully with Constricting Roots. Throw down the roots to stun the bad guys, then call Marius in to do some nasty wetwork. It's all in a day's job for the best tracker in the Living Lands!

Wounding Shots (Impeding Shots)

Wounding Shots is a passive skill that gives Marius' attacks the ability to deal bleed accumulation. Bleed is always a nice way to whittle down opponents in Avowed, especially if you're exploring a new region with underleveled gear and come into baddies with purple health bars, representing the fact that they're significantly more difficult than your current capabilities.

Impeding Shots is my preference here, which adds slow on top of that bleed accumulation. The other options, Exposing Shots and Maiming Shots, reduce enemy damage reduction and enemy damage respectively, and aren't bad. But we've focused thus far on entangling enemies, finishing off low health mooks, and assassinating stunned foes. Why not add slow to the mix to ensure that your dwarven friend is really laying down the status effects?

Marius may have the personality of a boulder, but as you can see, he's a decent guy to have out there in the wilds. Now go take a peek at our other companion guides for Kai, Yatzli, and Giatta. If you're more interested in your personal build rather than companions, check out our best abilities guides for the Wizard, Ranger, and Fighter. All newbies setting out in the Living Lands should also read our Avowed beginner's guide and our guide on all Avowed Treasure Maps. For the fashion-inclined adventurer, perhaps our guide on how to transmogrify will also be of interest.