NPC companions are one of The Elder Scrolls Online’s best additions over the years. These helpful AI-controlled pals all feature unique dialogue, voiceovers, and quests. However, not every companion is made equal. Here are The Elder Scrolls Online companions, ranked.
6. Mirri Elendis
Mirri was actually my first companion when I chose to start playing ESO again. Unfortunately, I had no idea she was one of the least capable companions. As a Dark Elf Nightblade, Mirri excels at dealing magical damage and even has a powerful execute that can be used on enemies under 25%. She also has a pretty interesting ultimate that makes an enemy take 20% more damage for 3 seconds before she deals massive damage to them. Sadly, there isn’t much else in her kit that lets her do more, or be more than a damage dealer.
For example, her ‘Soul Thief’ skill line has three different skills that grants heals, but they either only heal her or you, don’t heal enough, or have too long of a cooldown without any kind of built-in activation if you or her go below 75% HP like many other companion healing skills have. This usually results in her healing you and then dying herself. Which isn’t made any better when her ‘Living Shade’ skills fail to effectively keep her alive compared to other companions that can summon shields with better damage mitigation.
Being my first though, she’ll always have a special place in my heart. Especially since her companion ability gave chests a 30% chance to have additional loot found in hidden compartments. This always made exploring with her a bit more fun at the very least, even if she’d end up on the floor far too often.
5. Bastian Hallix
Bastian is one of the original companions from the Blackwood chapter and is an Imperial Dragonknight. As such, his kit is a good mix of offensive abilities, damage reduction with shields, and a smattering of healing. You would think that such a balanced mix would make him the ideal companion. Unfortunately, because he doesn’t excel at damage, healing, or tanking, he isn’t really good at any one of those playstyles even when focused build-wise.
Bastian’s ‘Ardent Warrior’ skill line does decent damage and can set enemies off balance, but that’s about it. Meanwhile, his ‘Radiating Heart’ skill line can grant you and him some shields while increasing healing done, but when the other healing ability only lets him heal you or himself, that kind of buff feels a little flat. At least he can increase the damage of your light and heavy attacks by 15% for 8 seconds, but that’s all that skill does. He can just feel rudderless sometimes.
His ‘Draconic Armor’ skill line doesn’t fare much better either when one move allows him to immobilize enemies but the other lets him pull enemies to them but only when they can move. There just isn’t any synergy there. At least his ‘Drake’s Blood’ ability is a pretty decent self-heal as long as you build him for max HP.
4. Ember
At the #4 spot comes Ember, a Khajiit Sorcerer from the High Isle Chapter. As a companion, Ember excels at dealing damage in large chunks using executes. She can protect herself and heal herself some, but she is not the best for any kind of support. The reason for this is because of her ‘Playful Schemer’ skill line having heals that heal either her or you. While her damage shield spell protects you and her on top of healing some, it is simply not enough.
Then there is her ‘Mischievous Caster’ skill line. The skills in this line allow Ember to stun an enemy for 3 seconds, immobilize enemies in an area while healing herself over 8 seconds, and the last skill does slight damage over time while reducing her damage taken by 20%. Beyond her powerful damaging skills in the ‘Lightning Caller’ skill lines, her defensive and healing skills don’t elevate her beyond the #4 spot. Still, her consistent damage allows her to live up to the title of battlemage.
At least her companion perk gives you a chance to find hidden wallets that contain extra gold when you go pick-pocketing.
3. Sharp-as-Night
Hailing from the same chapter as Azandar, the Argonian companion, Sharp-as-Night is the other Necrom companion. Like Azandar, Sharp operates as one of ESO’s latest classes, a Warden, and is quite capable of healing and damage because of that. When it comes to combat and damage, Sharp is viable with a variety of AoE attacks and a long-range spell that sets enemies off balance. Additionally, his Ultimate is a powerful execute that stuns enemies for 3 seconds while dealing 150% of its already impressive damage to enemies under 25% HP.
As far as heals goes, Sharp-as-Night is very proficient at casting area of effect heals whenever someone is below 75% HP. He even has a healing spell that restores health whenever group members use light attacks, which is perfect for builds that weaves in light attacks between abilities. Beyond Sharp’s heals, his defensive spells aren’t as useful since they don’t grant barriers of any kind and instead focus on increasing resistances, immobilizing enemies with ice, and healing only himself.
If Sharp had better group or even self-protective abilities, or a bear companion (since he’s a Warden) he would surely be higher on the list. But even with what he has, he can still be quite fun to explore with, especially if you like to fish.
2. Azandar Al-Cybaides
Azandar is one of ESO’s newest companions from the Necrom Chapter. He’s a Redguard Arcanist that uses some of that class’ best abilities to deal damage, buff enemies damage taken, and heal. His ‘Quill Knight’ skill line is effective at taunting enemies, fearing them, and dealing damage from a summoned damage shield. While his ‘Revitalizing Researcher’ skill line is highly effective at, again, creating a damage shield for themselves and you while the other skills allow for healing multiple targets and granting recovery.
Finally, his ‘Scholar of Apocrypha’ skill line is what you’ll be interested in if you want some damage. But more importantly, this skill line features two skills that act as amazing buffs and debuffs. ‘Fate Omen’s Inspiration’ charges your and his weapons, applying ‘Minor Berserk’ that increases damage done by 5% for 8 seconds. While the other skill ‘Tendrils of the Colorless Sea’ deals AoE damage and applies ‘Minor Vulnerability’ that makes enemies take 5% more damage.
Azandar’s Ultimate does considerable area of effect damage and stuns enemies for 3 seconds. That on top of causing them to take 10% more damage for 4 seconds, it is easy to see how Azandar can be fantastic all-around support.
1. Isobel Veloise
Isobel is a Breton and Templar from the High Isle Chapter that will tank and support you like no other. However, where Isobel shines (and the reason she’s in the #1 spot) is her damage mitigation and healing abilities. One of her most effective defensive ‘Brilliant Shield’ abilities is ‘Solar Ward’, where she reduces her damage taken by 20% and gets a shield worth 12.5% of her max health for 6 seconds on a 7.8 second cooldown.
Meanwhile, all three of her healing abilities either heal on low cooldowns, deal damage while healing, or both. All while being area of effect heals for herself, you, or other teammates nearby. Isobel also does some amazing damage over time while boosting the damage of your next light or heavy attack. Her execute ability, used on low health enemies, does massive amounts of damage too. Additionally, her damaging abilities go beyond just being limited to a single target.
Finally, Isobel’s companion perk ability grants a chance to find packs containing extra loot after beating a world boss. This companion’s heavy armor also helps make her the perfect support tank. It’s these facts that make Isobel a companion that can do it all.
At the end of the day, any one of these companions could be worth using depending on how they synergize with your chosen class and build. Besides, if you’re like me, you’ll eventually level all of them anyway just to discover their story and interesting dialogue bits.
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