GreedFall: How to Recruit Every Companion and Build the Best Party

GreedFall has five recruitable companions in the base game: Kurt, Vasco, Siora, Petrus, and Aphra. You do not select them during character creation. Instead, you create Lord or Lady De Sardet, then unlock each companion through story and faction progress, with your own build deciding who feels essential and who becomes a situational swap.

The key thing many players miss is that GreedFall is not built around a blank-slate hero. De Sardet is a named, voiced diplomat tied to the Congregation of Merchants, so your party matters as much for politics and quest context as it does for damage. If you only want the practical answer, keep Kurt early, prioritize Siora as your safest all-purpose companion, and add Aphra when you need stronger ranged support. Petrus and Vasco are still valuable, but they are usually better as role-specific choices than universal defaults.

How character creation affects your companion choices

Character creation in GreedFall is more about build direction than appearance freedom. You are still De Sardet either way, but your early investment in attributes such as Strength, Agility, Mental Power, Endurance, Accuracy, and Willpower changes which companions cover your weak spots.

• If you build for magic or firearms, you usually want a sturdy frontline companion so enemies do not sit on top of you.
• If you build for melee, you get more value from companions who add ranged pressure, utility, or quest coverage instead of another body doing the same job.
• If you focus heavily on diplomacy and faction outcomes, companion selection is not just about combat efficiency. Bringing the right person can make quest scenes feel clearer and better aligned with the route you are playing.

Because you only field two companions at a time, GreedFall’s party meta is about coverage, not stacking favorites. The best team is usually the one that fills the jobs your De Sardet does not.

Complete GreedFall companion roster at a glance

• Kurt – early frontline bruiser and the safest combat stabilizer in the first stretch of the game.
• Vasco – flexible Naut companion who fits balanced parties and helps round out non-melee builds.
• Siora – native ally with broad usefulness in both combat and story-heavy sections.
• Petrus — support-leaning utility companion with strong relevance to diplomacy and Theleme-linked content.
• Aphra — late-arriving ranged specialist who is especially good when your own build already handles close combat.

Kurt is your first reliable anchor, Aphra is usually the latest recruit, and the middle order can blur a bit depending on how quickly you push different faction branches. That does not change the practical outcome: all five are story-linked recruits, and none of them come from a separate character-creation decision.

How to recruit every companion

Kurt

How to get him: Kurt joins automatically during the opening part of the game. He is tied directly to De Sardet’s position and training, so there is no hidden requirement, side route, or faction test to unlock him.

Why he matters: Kurt is the easiest companion to recommend to almost every new player because he gives you a dependable front line before your own build is fully developed. If your De Sardet starts with magic, firearms, or a more evasive setup, Kurt covers the one problem those builds feel immediately: enemies closing distance too fast.

Meta relevance: High early, still strong later. He is not just training wheels. He stays useful because GreedFall rewards having one party member who can keep pressure off you while you heal, reposition, or use abilities safely.

Vasco

How to get him: Vasco is recruited very early through the Naut-linked portion of the main story, around the transition out of the prologue and into the island campaign. If you are following the central narrative naturally, you will encounter him without needing obscure detours.

Why he matters: Vasco is easy to underrate because he is not as obviously tanky as Kurt or as specialized as Aphra. In practice, he is one of the better “glue” companions in the roster. He fits parties that already have a plan and just need a stable second slot that does not distort the whole composition.

Meta relevance: High, but more build-dependent than Kurt or Siora. He shines most when your De Sardet already brings either burst damage or crowd control and needs a companion who keeps the fight organized rather than dominating it.

Siora

How to get her: Siora is recruited through the early native-focused story content after you reach Teer Fradee and start dealing with the island’s local factions. Progress the main questline that pushes you into native territory and her recruitment opens naturally.

Why she matters: Siora is the companion that most often ends up in “best overall” discussions because she combines gameplay usefulness with strong story relevance. GreedFall constantly pulls you into faction negotiations and native affairs, so a companion who feels mechanically solid and narratively central is hard to bench.

Meta relevance: Very high. If you do not know who to bring, Siora is one of the safest defaults in the game. She rarely feels like a wasted slot, especially in long quest chains where you want a companion who contributes in fights and still feels appropriate in scenes tied to the island’s politics.

Petrus

How to get him: Petrus comes in through the Theleme side of the story once that branch opens and you begin working with its religious and political leadership. He is not a hidden recruit, but players can delay him longer than they expect if they keep putting off that faction route.

Why he matters: Petrus is one of the best examples of GreedFall’s party design. He is useful in combat, but his real value is that he fits the game’s social structure. If your run leans into persuasion, diplomacy, and managing faction relationships, Petrus often feels stronger than a raw damage comparison would suggest.

Meta relevance: High for utility-focused runs, moderate for pure combat min-maxing. He is a better pick when you want flexibility, quest context, and fewer awkward party mismatches during story-heavy missions.

Aphra

How to get her: Aphra is recruited through the Bridge Alliance branch, making her the companion many players pick up latest. If you spend a long time ignoring Hikmet and its related quests, you can delay her recruitment far longer than the rest of the roster.

Why she matters: Aphra is the cleanest ranged complement in the game. She works especially well when your own De Sardet is already handling close-range pressure, because she adds damage from a different angle instead of duplicating your job. That makes her one of the best upgrades to a melee-heavy party.

Meta relevance: High, with a sharp jump in value for warrior-style builds. If you are already sturdy and aggressive, Aphra is often better than another frontliner because she makes your team harder to kite and harder to ignore.

Which companions matter most in the meta

If you judge companions by how often they improve a normal playthrough, the practical ranking usually looks like this:

• Siora — best general-purpose companion, strong story fit, rarely a bad slot.
• Kurt — best early stabilizer and still one of the safest long-term picks.
• Aphra — best specialist add for melee-focused De Sardet builds.
• Petrus — strongest utility pick for diplomacy-heavy or faction-sensitive runs.
• Vasco — very solid all-rounder, but usually less defining than the companions above him.

This is not a pure damage chart. GreedFall does not reward party building the same way a loot-heavy action RPG does. Dialogue context, faction alignment, and how well a companion covers your build’s weak points matter almost as much as raw combat output.

Best party setups by De Sardet build

• Magic build: Kurt plus Siora is the safest general setup. Kurt buys space, while Siora keeps the second slot useful in almost any quest chain.
• Firearms or technical build: Kurt plus Vasco works well early, then Kurt plus Aphra becomes stronger once you want more ranged pressure and your own survivability is stable.
• Melee build: Siora plus Aphra is one of the cleanest pairings because both add value without competing with your frontline role. Petrus can replace one of them if you want more utility.
• Diplomacy-first build: Siora plus Petrus is usually the most practical mix of story relevance, faction coverage, and flexible combat support.

If you are not trying to optimize around one build, use Kurt in the early game, then rotate between Siora, Petrus, and Aphra based on the questline you are pushing. Vasco is the easiest balanced substitute when you do not need a specialist answer.

Common mistakes with GreedFall characters

• Treating character creation like it decides your story identity. It does not. De Sardet is fixed as a political protagonist, so companions matter heavily for how your route feels.
• Dropping Kurt too soon. Early GreedFall gets messier when you bench your most dependable frontliner before your own build can handle pressure.
• Doubling up on the same role. Two companions who only reinforce what you already do can make the party feel narrower, not stronger.
• Ignoring companion-related quest progress. GreedFall ties a lot of character value to relationships and faction context, not just stat blocks.
• Delaying Aphra by ignoring Bridge Alliance content. She arrives later anyway, but players who skip that branch can push her even farther back and miss one of the roster’s best ranged complements.

The short version is simple: GreedFall’s full companion roster is five characters, all recruited through story and faction progress rather than character creation. Kurt is your safest early pick, Siora is the most reliable all-purpose companion, Aphra is the strongest late specialist for melee-centered parties, and Petrus or Vasco become better the more your run values utility over brute force.