Best Companions To Beguile/Proselytize Early Game?

[Urumi]

I always take beguile on serious runs and usually go for knollworms, crabs, and tortoises because of the armor, and eventually move on to rhinox and aim for a salt kraken. Have I been missing some great thralls this entire time?

[My name can't be thirtytwo chara]

The thing is, when you have domination (or if you're using robo-bros, a certain artifact...), enemies that you beguile at a low level then improve will get MP, SP, and AP. Normally that's not useful (other than the every 6th level all stats, which is valuable), but with domination you can apply these, to get allies with high stats and mutations or skills.

For animal enemies this isn't so useful, as they have low int -> low SP, and their weapons, being biological, aren't prone to much improvement. But humanoid creatures, which can have gear etc...

It's not a bad route. I don't really like to use domination as it costs a heckin lot of MP, but it's how you get the best allies.

The other thing to consider is the power of legendary creatures. All legendaries have bonus health, and almost all one random mutation. They, in general, will have better stats than all their peers.

In my honest opinion, the very best allies are legendary shrewd baboons. They have high 20s STR, INT, TOU, and good stats otherwise. They start at level 1, and by midgame you can easily get them to level 15 or so, assuming you can keep them out of the ally traps like acid. It requires a little juggling, but they have alot of potential.

Other creatures to consider are: Animated Walls (decent equip slots, decent stats, /high/ armour), Legendary Snapjaws, various leaders you gather with the faction system, and (for truekin) diplomacy droids.

The thing with this method, however, is that it requires alot of investment and building, and things like acid slugs, out of depth enemies, and Golgoltha can spell the end of a whole lot of time.

The alternative is, as you say, getting random strong allies from those who you're fighting. The extension of this method is using this instead of killing some enemies. Just convert them and move on, constantly switching allies. That's also fun. I don't think you ever get enemies that really steamroll your opposition this way though, as they're always about the same as that which you're fighting (other than the inspiring presence bonus).

I play alot of ally builds...