Avowed: Best Yatzli companion build

Wondering what the best build is for Yatzli, your fourth companion in Avowed? Yatzli's the last companion you'll recruit in Avowed, though you'll run into her during a side quest once you leave the starting region of Dawnshore. She's an orlean, which is basically a furry elf/gnome combo in Avowed's world of Eora, and she is perennially horny for her beau, an older animancer that you'll encounter in the game's second major town. Cue lots of companion dialogue full of sexual innuendo!

Naughtiness aside, Yatzli is an experienced Wizard who delivers a real bashing to opponents via arcane missiles that drop out of the sky. In this guide, we'll list the best companion build for Yatzli to make sure that her big magic bombs land true on the battlefield.

Avowed: Best Yatzli companion build

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

• Essence Explosion (Concentrated Essence)
• Minoletta's Missile Battery (Horizon Strike)
• Arduous Delay of Motion (Exhausting Field)
• Blast (Explosive Blast)

This list does not include Dispel Illusion, another one of Giatta's abilities, since it's always on your in-game radial menu. Dispel Illusion lets Yatzli notice magical illusions in dungeons, which are marked with glowing pink energy. Unlike other forms of Elemental and Explosive barriers, you'll really only notice these in the second half of the game once you've recruited Yatzli, and she's necessary for bypassing them.

Essence Explosion (Concentrated Essence)

Essence Explosion (60 second cooldown) makes Yatzli toss arcane energy that blows up on impact, dealing Explosive damage, which is one of the somewhat rarer damage types in Avowed unless you've dipped your toes into the Fighter's abilities. All-in-all, this is a rock solid ability for inflicting pain on either a single opponent or a congregation of enemies.

I go with Concentrated Essence here, since it increases the size of the Essence Explosion blast to inflict maximum possible AoE punishment. The other options, Fire Aspect and Scrappy Casting, simply add on Fire damage and reduce the cooldown of this ability by 33%. You can get Fire damage in lots of other ways, so if I had to pick a second choice, it would be Scrappy Casting.

Minoletta's Missile Battery (Speedy Salvo)

Minoletta's Missile Battery (5 second duration, 60 second cooldown) is a real mouthful of an ability, but this is basically Magic Missiles from D&D, and a way more amped-up version of Minor Missiles, one of the starting Wizard abilities. It's a great ability for dealing killing blows and taking out pesky attackers in a jiffy.

I've gone with Speedy Salvo for the specialty, which increases the rate of fire and turns Yatzli into a magic machine gun. But you could also reasonably pick Horizon Strike, which increases the maximum range of Minoletta's Missile Battery. Missile attacks in Avowed tend to fall short in a way I've noticed more than other magic effects, so it's not a bad idea to go for greater range.

Arduous Delay of Motion (Exhausting Field)

Arduous Delay of Motion (10 second duration, 40 second cooldown) is a time stop spell that causes an enemy to slow for 10 seconds. This ability is very useful when fighting bosses, who have a tendency to rush at your character with a frightening speed that can be tough to dodge.

Exhausting Field makes Arduous Delay of Motion superior by converting it into an AoE skill, affecting all foes within a radius. Alternately, take Energy Sap to intensify the slowing effect if you'd rather just use this on bosses.

Blast (Explosive Blast)

Blast is a passive ability that makes Yatzli's attacks burst into an AoE radius whenever they hit an enemy. Simple and sweet, and if you're a melee attacker who's often in the fray, this ensures that Yatzli is always in the background ready to wreck any mobs who try to swarm you.

Explosive Blast is my pick for the specialty, since it blasts apart the environment as well, breaking walls and shattering frozen foes for bonus damage. The second best option would be Force Blast, which increases stun to enemies hit by Blast. You can probably skip Affliction Blast, which would be a decent choice if only it offered more than a 5% chance to inflict the Frozen, Ignited, or Shocked conditions.

I admit, I'm not the biggest fans of elves or gnomes in roleplaying games, so naturally I'm a bit biased against Yatzli...but even I have to concede that her companion abilities are something to be reckoned with! Now go take a peek at our other companion guides for Kai, Marius, 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.