Companions guide, highest difficulty & min-max approach

Just what the title says, a guide that focuses getting the most out of your companions. Playtested on highest difficulty to assess their viability, do note that companion preferences can vary based on your PC build.

Stuff that is & isn't in this guide

This guide aims to provide general guidelines on how to get the most out of your companions.
I will include:
+ Suggested Stat and Feat progression routes
+ Overall verdict on companions based on their combat prowess & out-of-combat usefulness

I will not include:
- In-depth comparisons between various attack feats (Power Attack/Flurry/Critical Strike). I will address this in one subsection, but I'm not keen on number crunching
- A list of sidequests with XP or item gains, there are other guides for that
- Equipment loadouts. I will mention "items to look keep an eye for" whenever necessary.

Known Feat / Force Power bugs

- Ranged attack feats Power Blast and Sniper Shot DO NOT STACK with Speed -related Force Powers! This severely diminishes their usefulness as you progress the game. Rapid Shot does stack with Speed FPs.

Feats you should aim for

Implant level 1-3 - Implants provide useful immunities and stat boosts, full list shown here: https://strategywiki.org/wiki/Star_Wars:_Knights_of_the_Old_Republic/Implants

Frontliners will want to aim for 2nd level in order to get highly useful Immunity:Criticals or Immunity:Mind-Affecting, grab 3rd level only if you've maxed out everything else.

Two-Weapon Fighting - Reduces Attack penalties when dual wielding or double-bladed weapons. In terms of damage TWF beats single-blade any given day, only reason you'd want Dueling is the Defense bonus it provides (only Jolee should seriously consider Dueling).

Toughness - Extra Vitality and minor damage reduction. Frontliners should always grab 2 levels of this, but Master Toughness is optional: It only adds +20 Vitality.

Conditioning - Extra Saving Throws. Good filler feats, but very low priorioty: you're not in any rush to grab these.

Flurry/Power Attack/Critical Strike - Discussed in next section. Pick one and focus on maxing it.

Flurry vs Power Attack vs Critical Strike

This debate comes up from time to time, while I haven't done serious number crunching myself I can provide some personal thoughts.
Keep in mind this comparison assumes you're playing on highest difficulty.

Master Power Attack - Yields +10 damage bonus per hit (+20 if Crit), but comes with -3 Attack penalty. While Attack penalty isn't too rough vs mooks, some bosses (especially final boss) come with respectable Defense value in which case Attack penalty does hurt a bit.
From damage perspective, a non-jedi dual wielder melee char can reach 2 Attacks per round : Non-critting Power Attack thus deals extra +20 non-crit damage. With Master Speed, a dual wielder can reach extra +40 non-crit damage, which is more lucrative.

Master Flurry - Adds 1 extra Attack per round at the cost of -1 Attack & Defense, fairly minor price to pay for such a good benefit. If your melee hits are consistently dealing more than 20 damage per swing, dual wielding non-jedis gain much better mileage from Flurry than Power Attack.
On the other hand Jedi with Master Speed reaches 4 Attacks per round -> 40 damage per hit is much harder to reach... in that case, Power Attack may be better goal to aim for. Assuming you'll never have trouble hitting any foes.

Master Critical Strike - Quadruples your Critical Threat range at the cost of -5 Defense. This one requires lots of planning and weapons with Keen modifier to get the most use, but it can hit for big damage. Defense penalty can suck from time to time, but generally offense is the best defense.
Personally I've never really tried Critical Strike feat line, but I can see why some folks like it and I definitely don't consider it weak when properly utilized. I hear Scoundrel/Consulars make great use of Critical Strike feat.


Overall, Flurry is my personal preference. It may or may not be the best pick, but I don't consider any featline considerably better or worse than the others.
- In terms of raw damage, Master Power Attack may have slight edge for jedis, but you'll also have to keep in mind some late game enemies have Defense 35 or even higher: Unless you're fully committed Soldier/Guardian and go all out in STR or DEX + Attack Bonus gear, that -3 Attack penalty can actually impede you.
- Flurry has Attack penalty too, but it's more consistent and thus more forgiving in terms of character builds + weapon upgrades.

TL;DR: Master Power Attack if you're playing all-STR "balls to the walls" Jedi Guardian with Master Speed, otherwise Master Flurry feels more consistent.

Various items you'll wanna keep an eye on

I won't list all the possible items since there's already some great item lists out there, for example this:
https://strategywiki.org/wiki/Star_Wars:_Knights_of_the_Old_Republic/Items

Instead I'll just put some general notes here:
- Anything that provides Immunity to Criticals is a must for melee tanks! Retinal Combat Implants are easy to find, but they require "Implant 2" Feat. Other options includes Bothan Sensory Visor (light head piece).
- Likewise, Immunity: Mind-Affecting is a godsent. If you get paralyzed/stunned, expect to go down quickly.
- Light Side players should speed their way to Kashyyk for two reasons: Circlet of Saresh grants massive WIS boost and Jolee is great for crowd controlling.
- "Electrical Capacitance Shield" belt (purchasable in Kashyyk) is worth every penny, because most end-game enemies, especially bosses, like to spam Force Lightning.
- Yavin space station has the best item shop in the game. If you beat him at Pazaak ten times you'll get a discount from his store (on top of 7500 credits off Pazaak)!
- Blasters and rifles pale in comparison to melee weapons & lightsabres, but you'll still want to use them on support characters: This keeps them out of the fray, letting them focus on Force Powers and such. Also, having 3 melee guys causes some headache with pathing during combat, causing them to bump into one another -> 2 melee + 1 ranged is preferred.

I don't have much experience with the droid companions, so I can't provide much in-depth expertise on their performance & loadouts. Sorry!

Quick note before moving on to companions.

DISCLAIMER: All pictures used here are from http://starwars.wikia.com/ unless specifically mentioned otherwise.
I do not own them, and I will take them down if asked to do so.

I'll list the companions in a chronical order, in which you're likely to meet them (past-Taris order may vary). Note that starting skills are BASE values, they may or many not be higher due to stats providing bonuses their respective skills.

Carth Onasi

Level 4 Soldier
Encountered: After Endar Spire (tutorial level)
Strength 13
Dexterity 16
Constitution 12
Intelligence 13
Wisdom 10
Charisma 12
Remaining 4

Skills
Awareness - 3
Repair - 1
Security - 1
Treat Injury - 4

Starts with regular Soldier feats, Two Weapon Fighting and Weapon Spec: Blaster pistols [14 REMAINING]

Comments:
Carth is rather flexible character due to being early available and for having low starting level. He can be molded into melee tank or kept as ranged pistoleer. Sadly, there are better options for melee tanks and Blasters simply don't deal much damage by themselves, leaving Carth into obscurity once you get past Taris... possibly even sooner because you'll get another Soldier companion before leaving Taris.
That said, he can mow down most early mobs before they reach a striking distance and in a pinch he can do melee if needed. Should you insist on keeping him for ranged fire support, Power Blast feats & DEX are probably the way to go. He still pales in comparison to others, but he's good enough in early game.

At least his own blaster (can be used by anyone) is one of the better ones, get it upgraded soon as you can.

Suggested Feats: Whichever role you prefer, really. I'd probably recommend the same Feats as with Canderous Ordo.

Verdict: Early on 7/10, later on 6/10

Mission Vao

Level 3 Scoundrel
Encountered: Taris Underground, after leaving the village
Strength 10
Dexterity 16
Constitution 12
Intelligence 14
Wisdom 11
Charisma 10
Remaining 5

Skills
Computer - 2 (non-class)
Demolition - 6
Stealth - 6
Awareness - 6
Security - 6

Starts with regular Scoundrel feats, Dueling and Caution [6 REMAINING]

Comments:
She may have low Vitality, but her wide assortment of Skills more than makes up for it. She won't find much success in 1v1 combat, but she can put Sneak Attacks into good use when enemies aren't focused on her: You can Sneak Attack enemies with ranged weapons long as you're less than 10 meters away from them. Leave her with a Blaster pistol, keep focusing on her DEX stat and start working your way towards Rapid Shot and Two Weapon Fighting to maximize her damage potential via Sneak Attacks (she gains just enough feats to max both Feat trees).
Pair her up with Consular jedi, immobilize whole enemy groups and let her rip 'em a new one.

Skill-wise, keep pumping Demolitions & Awareness & Security and toss leftovers to non-class skill of your choice (Computer Use is okay if you don't want other Skill characters in your group).

Suggested Feats: Master Rapid Shot (3 pts), then Two-Weapon Fighting (3 pts)

Verdict: 8.5/10 when properly utilized.

Zaalbar

Level 4 Scout
Encountered at: Taris Underground, Gamorrean Compound
Strength 20
Dexterity 13
Constitution 20
Intelligence 10
Wisdom 12
Charisma 8

Skills
Demolitions - 6
Awareness - 6
Repair - 4
Treat Injury - 5

Starts with Scout feats, Wookie Toughness, Weapon Focus: Melee and Power Attack [8 REMAINING]

Comments:
Mission's trusty companion "Big Z" is a real beast in melee. High STR and CON + his unique Wookie Toughness (stacks with regular Toughness feats) lets him dish out and take the pain. And with such low Defense he WILL take hits constantly. Keep pumping his already high STR, give him two weapons/double-bladed weapon and set him loose: He's a one (beast)man wrecking crew.
Only downsides that keeps him from being absolutely broken is his headpiece and armor restrictions, but keep in mind Scouts gain Implants level 1-3 Feats for free. While this restriction does keep him from #1 frontliner spot, he does get a healthy number of skillpoints. He can disarm mines (Awareness+Demolitions), fix droids (Repair) and he even has some proficiency with Treat Injury: Spend his skillpoints to fill the gaps, no reason to have multiple companions stacking on same skill (this tends to happen with Awareness).

Suggested Feats: Two-Weapon Fighting (3 pts), Master Flurry (2 pts), Master Toughness (3 pts)

Verdict: 8/10

Bastila Shan

Level 3 Jedi Sentinel
Encountered at: Taris Underground, after Swoop Track race
Strength 12
Dexterity 18
Constitution 12
Intelligence 10
Wisdom 12
Charisma 15
Remaining 5

Skills
Awareness - 4
Treat Injury - 4

Starts with regular Jedi Sentinel feats, Two Weapon Fighting and Flurry [5 REMAINING]

Comments:
The first Jedi companion you'll get! Sadly that's the only exciting thing about her, as Sentinels are master-of-none class with heavy emphasis on "none". Still, she makes an okay medic and buffer (Heal, Valor, Energy Resistance FPs). Due to her high DEX and low-ish Vitality, I prefer to hand her a Blaster so that she'll stay out of harm's way. I usually swap her out in favor of more effective companions, but feel free to keep her around for dialogues. Overall, she's in a similar spot as Carth: Early on she's good because there's no alternatives, but she quickly gets faded out once your roster starts filling up.
Sentinels unique feat Force Immunity does act as freebie Immunity:Mind-Affecting and thus frees up an equipment slot, but in long term that's not much to brag about.

You can either focus on her DEX and eventually she'll work alright in combat (even front line) or alternatively pump her WIS and she may work adequately as crowd controller support jedi with Circlet of Saresh... or, you know, just use Jolee instead.

Suggested: Master Two-Weapon Fighting (2 pts), the rest can be spent however you want. Master Rapid Shot (3 pts) if you want her to pew-pew from back row, I guess.

Verdict: 6/10

T3-M4

Level 3 Expert Droid
Encountered at: Taris Upper City North, before infiltrating Sith base
Strength 10
Dexterity 15
Constitution 14
Intelligence 20
Wisdom 10
Charisma 10
Remaining 5

Skills
Computer Use - 6
Demolitions (non-class) - 1
Repair - 6
Security - 6

Starts off with Droid Upgrade Level 1, Weapon Focus: Blaster, Combat Logic Upgrade, Blaster Integration, Caution and Gear Head [8 REMAINING]

Comments:
This little fella is all about skill points! Trash in combat, but the amount of skill points + high INT makes it a perfect skill-monkey. You'll never want to use it in combat, no reason not to pump everything into INT.
Swap it in and out whenever you need a hacker, lockpicker or droid rigger, then swap out for hardier companion.

Suggested Feats: Everything that raises it's already outrageous number of skills.

Verdict: Outside combat 10/10, in combat 1/10

Canderous Ordo

picture by Corbin Hunter at Imgrum: http://www.imgrum.org/user/corbinjhunter/2951355585/1354573921223367560_2951355585

Level 5 Soldier
Encountered at: Taris, right before getting into Davik's Estate
Strength 15
Dexterity 12
Constitution 14
Intelligence 10
Wisdom 14
Charisma 10
Remaining 4

Skills
Demolitions - 2
Treat Injury - 6

Starts off with regular Soldier feats, Weapon Spec: Heavy Weapons, Toughness, Imp. Power Shot and Rapid Shot [13 REMAINING]

Comments:
While his feat selections might suggest he's tailored for ranged fighting, he truly excels in melee combat.
As a Soldier, he gains plenty enough feats to max out all the important frontliner Feats despite his initial feats wonky placement. Unlike Zaalbar, he also gets to wear Heavy Armors & headpiece which further amps up his usefulness (hint: Fully upgraded Calo Nord's armor grants Immunities to Criticals AND Mind-Affecting powers, great armor that's obtainable early-ish in the game!). On top of all, he also comes with build-in regeneration to sweeten the deal.

Only downsides are his lack of skillpoints (pumping Treat Injury is the most sensible route) and Force Powers, but he still eats dark jedis for breakfast.

Suggested Feats: Two-Weapon Fighting (3 pts), Master Flurry (3 pts), Imp. Toughness (2 pts), Weapon Spec: Melee (2 pts)... hell, he still has enough for Implants Level 3.

Verdict: 9.5/10 in combat, outside combat 1/10

Dantooine - Juhani

Level 6 Jedi Guardian
Encountered at: During your Jedi Trials, Jedi Grove
Strength 13
Dexterity 16
Constitution 14
Intelligence 14
Wisdom 12
Charisma 13
Remaining 4

Skills
Stealth (non-class) - 5
Awareness - 8
Treat Injury - 8

Starts with Jedi Guardian feats, Force Camouflage, Toughness, Power Attack and Conditioning (6 remaining)

Comments:
Second jedi party member, she's pretty much set on Power Attack path. Might as well max PA and Two-Weapon Fighting, don't forget to grab Improved Toughness: That's all the Feats she's gonna get.

Despite her somewhat high INT she only gains 2 skill points/level, stick with Awareness and Treat Injury.
She has fairly good Vitality thanks to 14 CON and reasonable Attack & Defense thanks to 16 DEX. She'll never have Force Points nor Caster DC to serve as crowd controller, so stick with pumping DEX. She only gains 6 selectable Force Powers, your best bet is spending them on self-buffs: Master Speed, Force Armor. Luckily she starts off with Burst of Speed & Force Aura, leaving you just enough room for Healing/Cure FPs.

In combat, she'll serve as a shock troop, literally leaping in the heat of battle. She's about on par with Zaalbar in terms of combat, initially bit less muscle (can compensate with Master Power Attack & Master Speed) but tad higher Defense. Good pick if you need melee power at the expense of skillpoints, but I still prefer Zaalbar and Canderous.

Suggested Feats: Master Power Attack (2 pts), Two-Weapon Fighting (3 pts), Improved Toughness (1 pt)

Verdict: 7.5/10

Tatooine - HK-47

Level 6 Combat Drone
Encountered at: Tatooine Anchorhead, droid shop (must be purchased)
Strength 16
Dexterity 14
Constitution 10
Intelligence 14
Wisdom 12
Charisma 10
Remaining 4

Starts with Droid Upgrade Class 1, Combat Logic Upgrade and Weapon Proficiency in all Blasters, Weapon Focus: Blaster Rifle, Toughness and Power Shot [4 REMAINING]

Skills
Demolition - 5
Awareness - 5
Repair - 6

Ahh yes, everyone's favorite psychopath killer robot. I'll be frank, I haven't experimented much with it, but he does seem... bit weak in terms of power-playing. Blasters just aren't that great (they're much better in KOTOR 2), which contributes a lot to HK-47's underwhelming prowess. I'm not saying you can't get mileage out of him, but other companions can match the results with considerably lesser effort.

Verdict: ?/10, because I really don't have much experience with this fella.

Kashyyk - Jolee Bindo

Level 6 Jedi Consular
Strength 12
Dexterity 16
Constitution 12
Intelligence 12
Wisdom 15
Charisma 15
Remaining 4

Skills
Awareness - 5
Treat Injury - 4

Starts with Jedi Consular feats, Improved Dueling and Conditioning [4 REMAINING]

Comments:
Jolee is all about Force Powers, he starts with an arsenal of basic -level FPs and gains up to 17 more through the game!
His high WIS and CHA, accompanied by Consular's unique Force Focus feat, makes his Powers very hard to shrug off. Since he's firmly locked in middle of Light/Dark scale and he gains numerous FPs, you can mold him any way you want, be it crowd controller or Lightning spammer: Use him to round up the gaps in your FP collection. Don't let his mediocre physical stats fool you, he can single handedly tie down a whole group of enemies!

Just like Bastila, I like to give Jolee a Blaster in his secondary loadout when I want to assure he stays in the back: He won't have the Feats to spare for Flurry/Power Attack/Critical Strike, it's best to leave melee to Canderous, Zaalbar or Juhani. Keep pumping his WIS, as it is the most impactful stat for Consulars.

Suggested Feats: Master Dueling (1 pt), Master Toughness (3 pts) OR Imp. Toughness (2 pts) + Imp. Conditioning (1 pt)

Verdict: 8/10, 9/10 when paired with Scoundrel

Final words

Ideal party compositions vary greatly based on your PC: frail Scoundrel/Consulars will want a big sturdy melee grunts (Zaalbar, Canderous or Juhani) whereas hearty frontliner PCs benefits more from crowd control support (Jolee or WIS-based Bastila with Circlet of Saresh), crowd controlling Consulars will want Mission to capitalize on helpless opponents.

The verdicts are mere guidelines in assessing which companions fills their respective roles the best. Going with a full-blown melee grunt fighting force leaves you short with Repair Parts & Computer Spikes (and the cash you'd get from selling recovered mines), not to mention constant pathing issues. All-out physical hitters will also lack crowd controlling capabilities: Incapacitated foe doesn't hit back... and enemies can deliver surprisingly big bursts on highest difficulty level.

Based on my experience, most functional groups are either:
- 2 melee + 1 crowd controller
OR
- 1 melee + 1 crowd controller + 1 ranged DPS (Mission).

Sticking to these setups will get you through highest difficulty relatively smoothly.
Feel free to share thoughts and feedback in the comments below!

[ÄmJii]

@Darkus if it makes you feel any better, all you're missing out is a tiny bit of dialogue and XP. It's easy to hit the level cap soon after point-of-no-return anyway.

[Darkus]

The Vao Mission quest is buggy.
I negotiated with the natives for his release, but my brother was not in the Sand People Enclave.
I tried to restart, run to the port and back, even changed the planet.
Nothing comes out - there is no brother.
Talking with the girl does not help - she only says that you must immediately save your brother.
I read it, on the old forums they write that it is necessary to save the brother during the FIRST visit to the enclave, otherwise he will not appear. Are there no other ways? My first visit to the enclave was 10 in-game hours ago =\

[ლ(⇀∀↼ლ)]

I usually turn my MC into a melee demigod with just enough of a focus on FP to get stasis field and some buffs, I run Jolee and Canderous or HK-47
Canderous and HK get rnaged weapons and a ton of armor.
I prefer critical strike since by late game critical strike is usually a one shot and my def and HP is so high the def penalty is meaningless.
I use the power gloves from koriban and strength belt to maximize attack.
before any boss battles I buff my MC I can usually 1 or 2 shot Malak into the first cutscene by then end.
I use Zalbar until Tatooine which is usually my first planet to get HK. You can do pretty much all the pragmatic DS options and still finish the game with maximum LS alignment so I threaten the shop keeper. I usually make a pit stop on mannan to off load the gizka and start the genohadran and then start Kashyyk after Tatooine to get Jolee then leave and finish Koriban before doing Mannan, that way I can make sure to do the Kashyyk star map after the Leviathan.

[Valkinaz]

@ÄmJii what am I saying is that bonuses from heal are so low that you might just skip it. After that there is no difference either you go with droid or without

Late game? I wouldn't agree. To get regen you just need 14 Rapair. Thats lvl 9 character for consular MC with Utility belt and neutral int score.If we co with crossclass thats higher yes but IIRC you can use force valor stat bonus to get bonus to skill. Baragwin is more of midgame, yeah as I said you need to finish Dantooine and two planet of choise, but its far from endgame content. Scout 8 would come pretty damn close to getting regeneration though speaking frankly - only starting class worth taking is scoundrel

Outperforming Mission in damage? No, but mission won't outperform him in tankiness

[ÄmJii]

@Valkinaz
I appreciate the number crunching, but I honestly don't think the difference between Kits and Medpacks is big enough to tip the scale in droids favor.
Going by your numbers, Canderous using a Medkit and getting healed by Jolee i n the same turn would yield 68 + 37 = 105 Vitality restored. Droids don't get that luxury.

As for damage, I still don't see HK outperforming Mission with her Sneak Attack bonuses factored in. It becomes even more obvious if you set up Mission to use dual pistols.

HK's regen and Baragwin Assault Gun kicks in fairly late in the game, so their use seems fairly limited. It's far easier to set up Big Z or Ordo with Immunity gear and good melee weapons.

[Valkinaz]

I'd say heal is more of overrated power. Lets say lvl 20 Bindo is casting it. Since Bindo is gray, so no Circlet for him - his wis will be 18 and carisma will be 16. At this level heal restore 10+ 20(lvl) +4(wis) +3(cha). Thats 37 hp resored per cast. Sure, its for 3 people but if you go with CC + tank + DPS route it wont be often to have all three guys damaged at once. Meanwhile if we talk about droid, advance repair kit will restore 25+repair+intelligence. In case of 20 lvl HK-47 that will be 25+2(int) + (2*25)(Repair) = 77 hp per use. Now canderous using advance medpack would have restored 20+2(Wis) + 2*23(threat injury) = 68 HP max. So droid heals actually have better return then meatbag heals. If we go with Construction kits vs Life support numbers will be 112 vs 101. So yeah, droid has better return on heal per use compared to meatbags and almost 3 times better then 1 use of heal can provide

[Valkinaz]

Depends on itemization. Fully upgraded Baragwin Assault Gun from Yavin(need 3 star maps found i.e need to finish Dantooine and two other planets does 7-42 damage per shot in HK hands Thats not that small of damage. Only problem that its heavy weapon dew to bug and that means it is impossible to get specialization for it(superior targeting computer does not provide heavy weapon bonuses). T3 is more of outsider since, well it is locked into pistols and pistols are rubbish in first game.

Recovery is a bit of problem yes, but still - HK at lvl 13 reach 36 AC which is far from small amount. Add his natural regeneration, throw improved energy resistance on top and thats pretty damn good survivability in case somene resisted CC. And in case of big bad boss you can also throw in plague as for some reason most of meatbag bosses are not immune to poison

[ÄmJii]

@Valkinaz
You make a fair argument for the droids.
That said, even if/when they get nigh-untouchable AC, they're "just" tanks with sub-par DPS, while Canderous and Big Z can mow down mooks on their own and they can take a beating.
Best way to avoid damage is not AC stacking, it's about not letting your opponents make attack rolls at all: That's why Consulars are so important in Hard difficulty.

One disadvantage with droids is how difficult they are to keep healthy: Droids need to use their own action on using Repair Kit whereas Canderous or Big Z can either use Medkit or get healed via Cure FP, or even both in the same turn if needed.
Immunity to Mind-Affecting voids the vulnerability to Horrified and Stunned, meanwhile Plague gets removed when you cast Heal.

I'm not saying you're wrong. But I still don't see a compelling reason to use droids in place of humanoid "meatbag" companions.

[Valkinaz]

A bit pity that you discount both droids, despite them being pretty much best tanks in game. Sure, early on they are underwhelming, but later... Well here is the detail that it very easy to miss - droid armor ins't subject to maximum dexterity bonus and whatever dex score droid has all this score is applied. In case on HK with repairs its totally normal for him to have dex of 20(+5 bonus) around lvl 12. With plating from Yavin(AC 13, avaliable after 3 starmap i.e Dantooine and two planets) thats already better then best heavy armor can provide (flat 14 from Cassus Fett). Add passive feats that provide +4 AC and at certain level both HK and T3 are literally untouchable with melee or ranged attack rolls. Add their partial force immunity(can't be plagued, horrified, stunned, choked and I don't remember enemies specing into destroy droid)

[ÄmJii]

@Samus 2.0 "I usually just max out her defense and increase her strength to give her a better chance to stun."

Yes, I can see the problem. That's why I opt to give her blasters so she won't get into melee range (Sneak Attack works with ranged weapons).