Rogue Trader Strongest Companion Builds - Unfair Viable - Updated 1.5 - DLC 1 & 2

This is a guide aimed at giving newer players a skeleton to work with, so they dont have to worry too much about optimising and can focus on enjoying the game. It can also be used by more advanced players, that as they deep dive mechanics, want builds to compare their own plans to.

For this I will explain the roles of each companion. The options you have to build them and what I choose to play them as. These wont be their most optimised end game build but playable 1-55 builds not reliant on end game items to work OR being entirely reliant on buffers like some guides but something that will never require a respec with loot giving power spikes rather than coming online at ridiculous late levels or as said before, not being solely reliant on companion buffs like many creators do.

This spreadsheet will have all the builds covered, some alternative builds, builds for your rogue trader, builds from other creators, loot tables and some information to help you with space sections.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1rskX4sYcNm6Wqt4rtm8EQqRR4__yrEuxCEzjwoKlHOY/

The guide wont explain how to fully gear every companion at every stage in the game or their ability rotations or the best buff support but for those looking for guides on that this playlist will help: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrqfcSvSc1aUy6YKaBh-Yr27xSZlTQ3z_&si=Fklr4x8-ce003dqr

This guide is based on the youtube channel of the author, Revan619: https://www.youtube.com/@Revan619/

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3399032797

Rogue Trader wiki: https://roguetrader.wh40k.wiki/Warhammer_40,000_Rogue_Trader_Wiki

If you want to know how defences work in Rogue Trader I did a full write up here: https://www.reddit.com/r/RogueTraderCRPG/comments/1se2go8/lets_talk_about_defences/

In Rogue Trader there are 9 characteristics that you have the option to level up through play. This is a table designed to explain what they do and their benefits:

There are 13 skills in rogue trader, not to be confused with the 9 characteristics. These skills are used for various RNG roll checks throughout the world via intractables, dialogue and story book narratives.

You can maximise two skills in each of the three level tiers per companion. Some classes can also take one point in a third skill. You want your team composition to cover as many of these 13 skills as possible to get the best results, exp, rewards and bonuses to encounters.

When I plan my parties I think about what companions can effectively cover these checks based on the characteristics that best enhance it.


For my example team I am planning to bring the following five companions: Abelard, Idira, Cassia, Argenta, Pasqal. Based on the skills they can cover this means my Rogue trader will need to cover Medicae, Commerce or Coercion.

The checks increase in difficulty on higher difficulties which require more min-maxing to get the best results.

Jae has some unique bonuses that come from gaining reputation with the various vendors:
Drusians: +(2x reputation level) % to all resistance tests and +(4x reputation level) to Lore (Imperium)
Explorators: +(2x reputation level) % to armour and +(4x reputation level) to Tech-Use
Kasballica Mission: +(2x reputation level) % to dodge and parry and +(4x reputation level) to Commerce
Fellowship of the Void: +(2x reputation level) % to critical hit chance and +(4x reputation level) to Coercion
The Imperial Navy: +(2x reputation level) % to cover efficiency and +(4x reputation level) to Persuasion

Based on their origins, starting stats, homeworlds and base archtypes the 12 companions has various roles that they can be built to fulfill. Whilst you dont have to lean into them and can build them differently. This is the setups that I have found trivilise the game the easiest:


I highly recommend you read the basics of each archetype for every companion as I will not be explaining mechanics that are overtly explained in game when you select the archetype.

How does burst fire work?

This question should be more how does recoil work as burst fire is quite literally just auto hit attack that if the bullets on their trajectory path hits an enemy it always hits but that does not mean enemies cant dodge

effectiveBS = (40 + BS/2 + accuracy bonuses - recoil (if 2nd+ shot) ), capped betwen 30 and 95
central_line_chance = effectiveBS/ 2, but no lower than 30 and no higher than 95/2
slight_deviation = effectiveBS - central_line_chance
strong deviation = 100 - central - slight (or simply speaking the rest of the chance)
code is in RuleCalculateScatterShotHitDirectionProbability if you want to check it yourself later
central line trajectory probability can vary between 15% and 48%, with BS having half of the effect of Recoil per point. Slight caps at 95%, with the same tendencies. WIth in effective range

How does area damage work?

Area damage again seems like an auto hit but the way it works is even if the attack misses the damage still does half damage to enemies, however that does not mean enemies cant dodge the attack

To note, burst and area are two very different damage types which will not stack range abilities like concentrated fire. Concentrated fire will not increase the damage of burst attacks.

What is the psyker staff bug?

Psyker powers are neither melee nor range with their damage being auto hit, undodable and being entirely on psy rating and sometimes willpower. There are even some buffs that will use other stats

So what is the bug? Well psyker staff powers actually count as melee attacks. Will gain benefits from melee talents and abilities. Such as a pyromancy staff will gain damage increases from strength and reckless strike

Whilst this benefit applies to all psyker staffs, some range talents or universal talents will also benefit but there is a drawback specifically for pyromancy inferno staff abilities. Enemies can parry this if your weapon skill is too low or dodge this attack if your perception is too low, this means especially for pyromancy you have to treat this ranged inferno power as essentially a normal melee weapon attack to make use of it.

How does Initiative work?

Initiative is 1d10 + agi mod + 1/2 per mod - however it gets a little clunky because they alternate initiative blocks. So if two allies get the same roll and have the highest they both go first, then the next highest block of enemies, then back to allies then back to enemies.

It essentially forces all your low agility characters to go dead last and can cause ally clumps at the back depending on how many enemy blocks there are.

It gets even more borked by grand strategist creating new initiative blocks at the front and being pulled out of their own blocks then moving up enemies.

Abelard is the first companion you meet in Rogue Trader that joins you in the prologue. Prior to patch 1.5 Abelard was a vanilla imperial world warrior that mechanically was entirely forgettable but was very precious to players from a story standpoint.

Since the 1.5 patch drastically enhancing the Navy Officer origin, Abelard finally can match the memes to make an incredibly powerful frontline companion. Whilst you can build Abelard for the use of shields, they mostly only offer 2 deflection and add very limited stat based damage. Due to the use of fleet combat training that on successful critical attack or melee parry, Abelard is able to make an attack with his offhand weapon which makes it more valuable to be a high damage, high armour pen one handed weapon than a shield. The vicious solution reward from Eurac V in act 1 can also give Abelard +1 deflection at the cost of 10 agility which is a very small cost considering how initiative is calculated and that Abelard can build into perception for dodge reduction.

Contrary to popular reddit belief, Vanguard is bottom 1 in terms of tier 1 archetypes, adding very little to the win condition of battles and mostly slowing down your turns. Stronger options for Abelard are dual wield Arch-Militant, Xenos Weapons Executioner or even Agility built Assassin. Vanguard is low armour, low damage, low mobility and low attack economy compared to all the other advanced archetypes and entirely reliant on beacon of might + malpain shroud is late combat turns to do anything effective. Fleet combat training in essence makes Vanguard obsolete as it can offer the counter attack strategy to the superior archetypes which dont get movement trapped after attacking like vanguard which in turn means they are a better candidate to receive finest hour from an officer companion.

In act 1 the pneumo boots will allow Abelard to make 1 ap charge attacks. The Epiphany sword in act 2 will allow Abelard to make additional 1 ap charges on charge kill after the first to chain attacks. Malpain shroud in act 2 will allow you to turn temp hp into % damage from foulstone colony. Then the shop brought act 2 item invigorating resolve will allow any archetype to infinitely stack temp hp on resolve again, thus once again making vanguard kit not relevant. This sword setup with a strong offhand power maul or Axe will keep Abelard being a power house from start to end game.

In act 4 you can easily upgrade to the void veteran boots which will allow Abelard to gain a 0 AP charge on melee kill to essentially solo every encounter with ease. You can secondary slot a two handed weapon early game then upgrade to a secondary rock saw from the mid game.

Gameplay will mostly consist if using endure to tank the enemy attacks, reckless strike to guarentee a critical for an offhand attack then following the gameplan of your tier 2 archetype, in this scenario I am building Abelard as a Arch-Militant so will want to use wildfire to make area attacks to build versatility which will enhance both attacking and defence. Reckless rush will allow Abelard to not become movement trapped after attacking with daring breach combing another extra turn as well as MP generator.

For visual reference, the first video was made during testing the 1.5 patch then the second was updated recently once more testing was allowed thus moving away from shields to pure dual weilding.

When customising your own builds here is how I view talent priority access for Abelard

Highest

• Fleet Combat Training - This is the new Identity of Navy officer and should be taken on your first available common talent. Adding additional attacks on critical or parry counter attacks is huge
  
• Thick Skin - Extra deflection is nice in early game but not all that important but as a heavy armour user the extra parry is very strong and helps with FCT
  
• Rigorous Training - If you do not play an Arch-Militant, then this is the most important warrior talent to consider so that your charges do not end movement
  
• Impetus - This is a free damage boosts to your charges. With Pneumo boots and Epiphany sword this will be your main combat loop in act 2-3 with void veteran boots becoming your main charge tool in act 4.
  
• Always Ready. Very important to start with versatility stacks so that reckless rush gives the +3 stacks with the additional movement.
  
• All out. You want this with reckless rush so that melee attacks do not end movement, very vital for being a melee battlefield clear tool and it is why Arch-Militant vastly outshines the other base game Tier 2 archetypes.
  
• Flash fire. Lowers the cost of wildfire essentially allowing extra attacks for less ap so that you can use other abilities.
  
• Adaptability - increases the chance of critical hits thus making confident approach not worthwile as in the long term all it will do is lower your damage..
  
• Critical Versatility - free bomus critical damage %

Medium Priority

• Get off me! - can add knockdown on hits with an extra push which does benefit additional damage from at all costs. It is useful tool but often just extra rather than core gameplay
  
• Dual-Weapon Combat / Melee Weapon Specialist / Dual-Weapon Specialist - These talents open up additional attack economy and lower the cost of the special attack features of hammers and axes. Being able to yeet people across the battlefield is very satisfying
  
• Dependable - Free armour and allows arch-militant to out tank vanguard.
  
• Easy Target / Crowd Kill - Warrior damage enhancements with conditions.
  
• Distract / Dismantle - These are actually very good tools that activate your arch-militant damage talents
  
• Contempt for the weak / Preferred Targets / Exploit weakness - your main damage talents from arch-militant but these all require other talents or abilities to activate them. Read their conditions.

Exemplar Talents

• Degraded Defence - The most broken talent in the game that is free damage and what allows game breaking damage numbers
  
• Peak Condition - Turns HP into strength which free ups leveling options. Also allows buffs to turn into additional strength. Very OP for melee.
  
• Destroyer - Lowers enemy armour based on strength, combined with degraded defence and this will carry you through any encounter with far greater potency from your melee damage, especially useful with fleet combat training.
  
• Eager for battle - free 2 ap on turn 1 for both your regular turn and finest hour as well as daring breach. Potential for 6 more attacks turn 1 which is very very strong.

Abilities

• Taunting scream - if you plan on tanking. The best taunt in the game and vastly outclasses anything vanguard can offer
  
• Reckless strike - free damage increase which with reckless fury guarantees criticals to proc fleet combat training. The hilarious interaction is when you use this, you get an offhand attack then when the enemy makes their counter attack if melee and you parry you then make another fleet combat training attack
  
• Reckless Rush - more movement, not ending movement on attack, more stacks of versatility which also lowers the cost of wildfire. What more do you want?
  
• Wildfire - free attack economy
  
• Devastating attack - Many overlook this ability but with breaking attack not only does it apply a debuff, it also enables many of your arch-militant damage talents
  
• Breakthrough - when you have high agility end game (or early game if you go AGI), then combining this with rigorous training and shearing strikes just vastly ups your attack economy which can be further boosted by desolation. Even if you dont invest in agility, at end game you will buff agility high enough to make this worthwhile and void veteran boots will still refund you charges on kill.

Idira is an unsactioned psyker and as such has an always on chance to accidentally explode, die and take out the party with her whilst summoning a daemon from the prologue. That is right, the patch that said they fixed this was a lie. Even worse, sanctioned psykers like Heinrix or the Rogue Trader not only can only have these peril chances at 15+ veil degradation but can mitigate the perils to enemies with psyber raven ability warp buffer. Idira however cannot pass daemon incursions thus making her a terrible choice for the shimmering emulsion injection.

With that in mind from changing from 1.4 to 1.5 I have moved Idira away from being a buffing companion as she is more likely to kill your team than help. So in the early game she is built as an operative sniper which will progress into a psyker power focused damage dealer in the mid game but keep in mind the more Idira increases her psy rating, the more likely she is to explode and die.

BALLISTIC SKILL IS NOT WASTED ON IDIRA. READ PSYCHIC BARRAGE.

The above is in caps because in the last year I have received over 200 messages accross various platforms from people that dont read what the talents do then point out this skill investment, telling me I am building this companion wrong by wasting stat points on ballistic skill, despite even directly mentioning using Idira early game with the longlas as a sniper which can also be progressed into various other useful snipers if you want to continue this path.

Since launch there has been a psyker staff power bug. Psyker staff powers actually count as melee attacks. IE wrath of the emperor from a sanctic staff or Inferno from a pyromancy staff are melee attacks. Specifically Inferno can be dodged and parried as if it were a melee attack. However Biomancy and Sanctic staff powers cant be dodged and parried. All psyker staff power attacks will gain benefit from melee talents and abilities on warrior and blade dancer. Universal talents like ballistic calculations from operative and 'rack and ruin' from soldier will also apply.

Interestingly the pain bond feature of psyber raven when it retransmits damage to enemies will reapply damage multipliers such as weak hearts and degraded defence which can easily turn a 2k damage psyker power into a retransmitted 10k extra damage power. This makes overseer the best Tier 2 for Idira. Strategic adaptation can also increase her attack economy on kill as well as allow AoE buffs (though im not specifically building for them) and the heroic will allow AoE single target attack spells using the psyber Raven's willpower.

Early level gameplay will be using longlas, cruel fate in act 2 is an amazing Sniper for Idira, mid level gameplay will be using the psyber raven skill to link 3 enemies followed by a staff or psyker power for damage which by end game will suddenly get some obscene damage multipliers. Gear like spirit drape will be less valuable to a damage focused Idira but you could always drop sanctic powers to build into biomancy but keep in mind the more powers you use, the more likely Idira is to explode. Alternatively you can also build Idira for arc rifles.

For those of you that dont mind that Idira has a unique nerf that she cant pass daemonic incursions via warp buffer unlike every other psyker, then this section will be for you to help customise your own setup. As operative in 1.5 is still hot trash most of this will not focus on the operative talents.

Highest

• Psyker Minoris / Majoris / Terminus / Extremis - Straight increase in power for your psyker abilities and some talents. Should always prioritise these on common talent level ups where possible but always aim to get them asap as Idira cant benefit safely from shimmering emulsion. Be warned increasing psy rating increases her perils chance.
  
• Thriving in peril - means Idira's guaranteed psyker oppsies will also enhance team momentum
  
• Pain channelling - will allow excess damage to go to a new target
  
• Backdraft - taken from the pyromancy school, this will enhance all your damaging abilities
  
• Warp Buffer - whilst it wont save you from the instant death effect of daemonic incursions like it does for other psykers. It will pass all other forms of perils from psyker powers.
  
• Fatebringer - free armour penetration for allies receiving your buffs if you go into divination abilities or biomancy
  
• Fire within - increase attack economy when meeting the requirements. Very good for a character that doesnt have many abilities for this.
  
• Weak Hearts - This 10% damage isnt just useful for the initial attack but also applies to pain bond from the psyber raven and pain channelling which in some scenarios also get degraded defence boosts.

Medium

• Uncanny Sight - If you are going to engage in any operative talents or exploit mechanics this is probably the first talent you should take. The mechanic doesnt apply on extra turns so chances are from mid act 2 you wont even see exploits until an operative rework.
  
• Tide of Excellence - lightning arc is actually multiple single shots not an area attack which means every enemy hit with an exploit will proc tide of excellence. The reason this is not high priority is area attacks do not proc and consume exploits which means psychic assault or wrath of the emperor cannot active tide of excellence.
  
• Ballistics calculations - free damage increase at range if enemies have exploits, useless without exploits.
  
• Psychic Barrage - Adds ballistic bonus to damage of powers which makes early levels into ballistic skill for sniping not wasted
  
• Sacrificial Penance - if you plan to use overseer heroic to chain damage through the psyber raven this is very potent for enhancing the raven's WP
  
• Castigating Echoes - increases psy rating when channelling powers through the psyber raven

Exemplar Talents

• Degraded Defence - as always this is just free damage that is usable by the entire party
  
• Eager for Battle - free AP is free ap. Idira is quite AP efficient with spirit drape as it reduces the cost of buffs turn 1 which allows for more attacks with warp surge brooch

Abilities

• Pyromancy - if going the damaging path this is vital for opening up some very good talents
  
• Biomancy - this school opens up all your physical buffs. Metabolic overcharge also has some very good combinations with entrench
  
• Sanctic - Opens up the strongest staff in the game, the sanctified staff. Has abilities to stack defence and damage as well as many potent talents.
  
• Sensory Deprivation - whilst not the best it does have synergy with other talents and opens up the pathway to psychic assault.
  
• Strategic Adaptation - the only attack economy ability that Idira has for overseer path.

Due to the 1.5 priest rework, the unique Corruption Eradicator Helmet and One star power Armour. Argenta is the top ranged damage companion. No, a fortress world Rogue Trader, will not out compete Argenta for damage as a heavy gunner because they simply do not have access to her unique gear. If you really want to also be a soldier priest then it is better to build for regular bolters whilst letting Argenta keep the big guns or build a heretic fortress world priest for heavy guns to double up so you will be a great Luigi to her Mario but you are still going to want to give Argenta the best rate of fire gear in terms of compensator gloves and the tactical backpack. The MC using artificer power armour will however be more AP efficient for burst attacks.

The first thing you need to do with Argenta in the prologue is to put the unfading valor in the bin, it has 40 recoil, give Argenta even a scrap autogun or lasgun if the Rogue Trader is a soldier, then Argenta will be online from the prologue. Previously in 1.4 I had built into early shotguns for Argenta and whilst they remain Argenta's best secondary option, with the changes in 1.5 to priest you want to build for rapid fire bolters ASAP. Get litany of hatred online then tenets of retribution, give Argenta the modified bolter from the bunker act 1 vendor then watch her trivialise the entire game on unfair difficulty. It is unfortunately that simple. Cassia + Argenta = Easy Game.

I have redesigned the build so that heavy bolter Argenta will be online from level 21 so you will likely change from the imperial pride bolter to the act 2 heavy bolter at this point. Breaking point at level 22 and overpower at level 24 will give a really huge damage spike but even from level 22, Argenta from a bring it down self buffing with litany of hatred can heavy bolter rapid fire one burst the daemon engine on the derelict voidship.

Whilst I have allowed a level path at 29 to swap to heavy flamers you can easily keep to shotguns for the entire game as a secondary to build versatility for Argenta. Whilst Argenta cannot succeed lore imperium checks on unfair, the reason I have added it as an option is for damage min-maxers that want to use saint congnacious' scriptures as a damage item on Argenta for when they turbo buff with Officer, Navigator, Psyker and Master Tactician. Whilst a single officer grand strategist can allow Argenta to one burst the act 4 Changer of Ways boss on unfair, having extra buffers will make for more impressive reddit screenshots.

The path I went for was Argenta's burst path which is by far her strongest setup. However you can alter things to focus on non heavy setups or to go more for area attacks. Whilst this is obviously weaker considering the 1.5 changes to priest it is still doable.

Highest

• Litany of hatred - game breaking aoe base damage buff for the whole party. The build should be built around this. Take this on your first common talent option.
  
• Tenets of Retribution - Second highest priority as it is the second main damage dealer for bolt weapons on Argenta which scales with more willpower. Very good with ally buffs and chains of domination.
  
• Fired Up - For burst builds this is just free damage generation but very usable for all setups
  
• Unfaltering fire - Removes the damage restrictions on burst fire making them very potent
  
• Swift Slaughter - Some might prefer to take this later but I think having more access to revel in slaughter is very strong
  
• Heavy Weapon proficiency / Breaking Point / Overpower - Overpower is the talent that makes heavy guns vastly overperform, the required talents arnt bad and give a bit extra to the build overall
  
• Heavy Gunner - When going for any heavy weapon build this is vital for reducing the costs.
  
• Always Ready. Very important to start with versatility stacks so that reckless rush gives the +3 stacks with the additional movement.
  
• All out. You want this with reckless rush so that attacks do not end movement, very vital for being a battlefield clear tool and it is why Arch-Militant vastly outshines the other base game Tier 2 archetypes.
  
• Flashfire. Lowers the cost of wildfire essentially allowing extra attacks for less ap so that you can use other abilities.
  
• Adaptability - increases the chance of critical hits thus making confident approach not worthwile as in the long term all it will do is lower your damage..
  
• Critical Versatility - free bomus critical damage %

Medium

• Rack and ruin - free damage increase everytime you damage 3 enemies
  
• Distract / Dismantle / breaking attack - Enables many arch-militant damage talents and is always on
  
• Enough bullets for everyone - free damage on your 2nd attack for the turn
  
• Demolition Engineer / Point Blank - Vital for building area weapons like shotguns or flamers. I highly recommend against going for melta weapons in current version of the game as they vastly underperform.
  
• Preferred Targets / Exploit Weakness / Contempt for the weak - Your damage talents for arch-militant which require some setup to enable.
  
• Ingenious - very helpful for lower enemy saves when using abilities like kick

Exemplar Talents

• Degraded Defence - Yes you will see this on the list of every damage companion, it is free damage.
  
• Eager for Battle - Free AP is free AP and Argenta cannot use Artificer power Armour to lower her burst attacks to 1 so this is very useful
  
• Deadly Aim - With high perception investment it is just free damage
  
• Extermination - Whilst not as strong as fired up, very useful when combined with Argenta's firearm mastery
  
• Vital Points - this is a fickle talent but has a half chance to apply all your critical damage modifiers again. Very useful for when it does activate.

Abilities

• Rapid Fire - Should be quite obvious for a burst build. More attacks, more damage and more win.
  
• Concentrated fire - increased area damage and more likely to do full damage. Strong ability.
  
• Reckless rush - free versatility stacks with always ready and more MP whilst removing movement cost of attacks with all out
  
• Wildfire - Extra attack economy is very potent
  
• Devastating attack - incredibly potent on burst fire builds and needed to prime many other damage talents
  
• Entrench - can save excess AP and has great synergy with metabolic overcharge to bank AP to use later without the damage costs

Cassia is unironically a win condition. There is no doubt that officer grand strategist is the strongest, top 1, support option in the game. Even more so with Cassia having unique Navigator buff, debuff and damage options. Whilst you could build Cassia to be trash killer for easy finest hour generation with sororitas boots or go heavy debuff with castigation staffs, I found even on unfair difficulty all you really need is decsisive response, infusing staff and reveal the light to make Cassia trivilise the game. My build goes for zone of fear at level 12 into point of curiosity at level 17 but you could easily change to held in my gaze at level 12 then go for waking nightmare at level 17 then grab warp curse later in grand strategist. It is up to you.

The game plan for cassia, point the best companion carry to clear the encounter, give them voice of command, reveal the light from an infusing staff then get bring it down to start pumping damage. If your duo does enough you can probably generate a finest hour for another extra turn. From act 2 footfall you will have access to devestating staffs, sororitasa boots and stimms to allow for incredibly easy 1 turn setups. Killing 5 enemies with two lidless stares is pretty easy to get a finest hour from sororitas boots. If you plan to do this strategy a lot then you will want to take blood augury earlier, especially if you go for held in my gaze at level 12.

Grand strategist can seem like a complicated tier 2 but learning how the zones work is vital. Improvised strategy giving you a random stratagem can completely change the flow of combat. Whilst I dont build heavily into stratagems for cassia, on a non cassia grand strategist I do and it is very strong. Mend reality is a great AOE party buff if you are holding your infusing staff.

Cassia will mostly want to build Willpower, Perception and fellowship with a little bit of overflow into intelligence. The most important skill for cassia is persuasion to use with the black signet ring of the inquisition. Inquisitors tenet ability from the end of act 2 to act 5 makes the game difficulty evaporate. Cassia is also shockingly tanky as well as very nimble. Not having Cassia in the party is the first requirement for any challenge run.

Cassia is a very versatile character that could easily be built into Vanguard or Master Tactician if you so desired. The reason most builds will be grand strategist is solely because of the going first aspect to allow her to apply officer buffs and her unique infusing staff buffs from navigator powers. This doesnt mean you should underestimate grand strategist as pure grand strategist builds are still very potent.

Highest Priority

• Lasting Impression - This allows voice of command to leave half bonuses on always. Whilst many believe that once you have access to the sororitas boots in act 2 allowing for easy 1st turn heroics this loses value, I have found it will often stack with finest hour with patch attempts to remove this not being successful
  
• Decisive Response - The most vital officer talent reducing voice of command and bring it down from 3ap to 1 ap for the first turn of combat which opens up the allowance to further buff or attack. Jae not having this talent is why many consider her to be unusable.
  
• Focus - Unlimited ally stacking to ballistic skill and perception which is very strong for higher difficulties. If Be Vigilant! stacked it would almost be as valuable.
  
• Mastery of Time - stacks willpower when giving allies extra turns
  
• Eye of Oblivion - reduces enemy dodge by PER bonus for just being in line of sight
  
• Mind over matter - Wounds and saves are determined by willpower, obscenely strong talent
  
• Strange Vitality - WP bonus healing at the start of each turn and increased by each enemy killed as well as increasing Willpower by each navigator talent chosen.
  
• Undam the sea of souls - Armour strip when enemies are impacted by your navigator powers
  
• Pass Unscathed - Changes dodge to be calculated by perception, operative would die for this talent
  
• Improvised Strategy - basically allows you to use the whole grand strategist archetype with no investment
  
• Blood Augury - damage stacks and increases the damage of warp damage coming in when attacked by the navigator
  
• Unnatural Allure - increases fellowship and by every navigator talent taken
  
• Ebb and Flow - increases perception or AP between turns, very strong passive.
  
• Veil of Protection - Adds 10% + infusing armour to allies you target with powers

Medium Priority (some would be high for non navigator builds)

• Be Vigilant! - free weapon skill for your frontline fighters which is very important on higher difficulties
  
• Seize the initiative - free damage boost for allies acting from your grand strategist turn
  
• Fire at will - reduces the cost of backline ap
  
• Blurred Locust - improves combat locust
  
• Steel resolve / Inspiring speech - very useful for when using air of authority and helps really generate party momentum

Exemplar Talents

• Firebrand - more AP for allies acting from bring it down
  
• Eager Subordinates - increases ally damage when acting from extra turns
  
• Eager for battle - More AP for buffs or attacks which is vital for first turn grand strategist
  
• Combat Meditation - free willpower for an origin entirely focused on it is very good especially as you only use staffs on Cassia

Abilities

• Reveal the light - potent buff for physical tanking but also a generalist buff when holding an infusing staff, this is my first pick every run
  
• Held In My gaze - if going the damaging route having access to a 1AP attack that can stack damage is very strong. Not saying the 2 ap lidless stare isnt worth the cost considering it is also a stun
  
• Zone of Fear / Point of Curiosity - Whilst 1.5 gave a nerf to point of curiosity increasing it to 2 ap. It is still deadly for group enemies to blast as well as providing debuffs when using a castigating staff. If however you opt for devestating staff you can potentially make two lidless stare attacks to proc sororitas boots for a turn 1 finest hour
  
• Mend Reality - can lower veil whilst also being a party AoE buff when using an infusing staff.
  
• Air of Authority - Incredibly potent officer buff for building momentum in combat
  
• Combat Locust - basically the best stratagem in the game which can make your party unkillable in frontline. Has many items that can boost it to x7 increases.
  
• Blitz stratagem - hard to fit in with all the navigator abilities but this is one of the strongest tools on grand strategist

Pasqal is a very unique support companion. Whilst as of patch 1.5, Operative has still not recovered from the launch nerfs, making it the bottom 1 tier 1 archetype. Operatives are low impact in terms of damage, support and attack economy. There is no amount of coping that will change my mind that at level 55 with 100+ intelligence that the most this archetype can do is add 3% crit chance to the party with joint offensive or add +10 damage to ally attacks via joint analysis. Single shot type attacks have low support with at most the operative can add 15% via ballistics calculations when enemies are 5+ cells away AND have to have an exploit on them when exploits do not activate on extra turns. Even worse burst and area attacks are bugged for operatives, do not consume exploits thus cannot proc tide of excellence.

So what is the good news? 1.5 gave us 5 new plasma gun talents which work exceptionally well with Pasqal's unique tech priest origin and specifically overcharge protocols. This means Pasqal is a unique operative that can support the party with remove enemy dodge/armour, add a small increases to their base damage but also slowly ramp up some very strong damage. However it will never compete with a burst or area build soldier but it doesnt quite need to.

Bounty hunter is by far the best tier 2 for Pasqal. Grand strategist is not all that worthwhile for an operative, Assassin is the second weakest T2 archetype being entirely reliant on notes on weakness from act 4 to deal any damage (or the death aura build you will see on marazhai later) and Pasqal does not have the attack economy to make an effective Executioner. On paper Bounty Hunter should be stronger than arch-militant, it gains a lot of damage from attacks, generates a lot of ap, turbo stacks armour piercing and generates extra attacks when killing elite enemies. So why doesnt it out perform Arch-Militant?

Well operative being far weaker than Warrior, Soldier or Bladedancer is one reason, the other being there are not that many elite enemies to use most of the bounty hunter kit on. You often wont kill enough high tier enemies to activate expert finesse and excess armour penetration does quite literally nothing. If you have 120% armour penetration but enemies only have 10% armour then that extra 110% does nothing. This is why melta guns are so worthless.

The better news is overcharge protocols keeps winning. Everytime Pasqal interacts with a plasma gun he gains 10% damage. This includes shooting and RELOADING. With the new talents for 0 ap reloads on the rifles every shot then reload will generate damage. Whilst area attacks cannot consume exploits for talents like tide of excellence, they can still game the damage increase, so abusing area attacks on operatives for damage increases is very viable. Pasqal's machine spirit communion can also be upgraded to AoE spread exploits on extra turns. Then the final cherry on the cake is when you use claim the bounty, reload using the extra attack talent for plasma weapons, Pasqal can make a second claim the bounty attack as well as then make a normal attack. Even potentially use hunter's ambush with either self calibrating goggles or lidless strare stun to generate another attack with potential activation of deathdealer or expert finesse with reloads between all of the previous, giving Pasqal a lot of damage boosts.

On top of this Pasqal will also want to engage in normal operative gameplay of using analyse enemies on high tier enemies with expose weakness to reduce their dodge and armour for the party to kill.

The first video was from 1.5 launch with the updated video being after discovering the plasma gun exploits.

Whilst Arc rifles are very fun, not having access to reload reduction until act 4 with the skiitari armour really hurts this setup. A combination of the new plasma talents and Pasqal's Overcharge protocols make him uniquely powerful for plasma setups which cant be recreated by a Rogue Trader build. Honestly Tech Priest origin is entirely carrying Pasqal with Operative support for single shot attacks being abysmal. We can only pray to the omnissiah that operative gets buffs in patch 1.6 or 1.7

Highest

• Aiming Protocols / Scanner Mechadendrite - Pasqal suffers early from low ballistic skill and perception. When trying to shoot beyond your weapon's range it will half your ballistic skill. Whilst Aiming protocols states part about other weapons the ballistic skill increase is universal to all weapons. The extra perception really hurts enemy dodge
  
• Overcharge Protocols - I like to take this on a common talent and wait until act 2 where you have access to plasma guns but once you have it, overcharge protocols becomes your most vital talent with every interaction increasing damage. That includes shooting and reloading.
  
• External Power Block - increase attack economy for plasma weapons, very potent
  
• Plasma Bank - Reloading plasma rifles becomes free which drastically enhances the potential of overcharge protocols. Incredibly potent.
  
• Uncanny Sight - Whilst exploit operative mechanic isnt the best, this really helps to get it rolling by every main turn applying exploits.
  
• Tide of Excellence - very good with multiple single shots like arc rifles but cant be activated by burst or area attacks due to a bug.
  
• Hunter's Ambush - increases attack economy when shooting stunned targets, very useful with lidless stare or self calibrating goggles / helm
  
• Hunting Surge - increases damage when killing with critical hits, basically the identity of bounty hunter
  
• Heightened Concentration - increases armour penetration when you score a critical hit, if excess armour pen became increases damage this would be one of the strongest talents in the game
  
• Savour the kill - can give extra turns to setup exploits and use many different talents. Whilst you cant attack this is still very strong.

Medium

• Pinnacle of Weaponry / Filtering Protocols - Free increases for your plasma playstyle but not as important as the above list.
  
• Ballistics Calculation / Sharpshooter - both can increase damage but they offer very little in the grand scheme of things
  
• Expert Finesse / Inspiring Trophy - Can generate extra attacks and AP when killing high value targets. The only weakness is there arnt that many in combat encounters.
  
• Machine Spirit Scan Protocols - Actually very good for aoe adding exploits, the only issue is that only 1 is applied and it costs 2 ap.
  
• Safety training - you are likely to cause your gun to explode and this helps you not die

Exemplar Talents

• Degraded Defence - Whilst operative is a support archetype, Pasqal's unique tech priest origin combined with bounty hunter can make him a good secondary damage dealer so he will want Degraded Defence to assist allies whilst enhancing himself
  
• Deathdealer - increases attack economy which increases overcharge protocols.
  
• Deadly Aim - High perception means you get more out of this. It is often a toss up between this and vital points for me
  
• Extermination - As the trick to making Pasqal work is increasing his attack economy you tend to get a lot from extermination
  
• Eager for battle - Overcharging the plasma gun is quite AP intensive so getting this is very helpful

Abilities

• Joint Analysis - very strong in act 1 but drops off vastly from act 2. It is still better than the alternatives
  
• Tactical Knowledge - As it is hard to get exploits up with an optimised party, those not investing into extra turns and momentum may get more use from this making it quite potent
  
• Perfect spot - really helps with Pasqal's hit chances as the range on plasma weapons arnt the best until you get the long range aim lens.
  
• Claim the bounty - an extra attack which has a few glitches that can make it very strong. It will eventually do more than a normal attack.
  
• Cull the bold - damage increase and very useful before an overcharge attack
  
• Hot On the trail - can be used on savour the kill turns to setup an extra turn for when allies kill the target. It is unfortunately quite a slow mechanic.

Prior to patch 1.5, Heinrix was just a straight combat upgrade to Abelard. He did everything better and would just replace the same role. At the start of 1.5 I looked to change Heinrix to be a defensive paladin style bufer for the party which was very fun and effective. However, the developers then fixed shearing strikes with rigorous training opening the doorway to the most fun Heinrix build, a dual weild executioner with a secondary staff ranged option.

Remember in the Idira section where I mentioned psyker staffs are bugged and count as melee attacks? This means to make a GISH build you just make a melee build then give them a psyker staff in their secondary. Yes Heinrix can add agility to damage on a pyromancy staff, use reckless strike on it and even use WHERE IT HURTS from executioner to extra proc dot damage.

Early game you build heinrix for break through and shearing strikes with offhand veilrender to really stack up early game damage. Focusing on biomancy buffs early as Heinrix really benefits from shimmering emulsion injection to have 3 psy rating in act 1. Executioner is without a double the strongest tier 2 for Heinrix and shearing strikes with inertia boots from footfall act 2 will allow Heinrix to have obscene attack economy and MP generation. Due to the change in carnival of misery no longer allowing for map wide inflame procs I do not even build Heinrix for self ignite until act 3. Focusing mostly on bieng a dual weapon fighter using pyromancy staff for range attacks. By act 4 I pick up heavy armour solely for Psyker's Breastplate to be able to stack psy rating.

Heinrix has a lot of powerful gear options that come his way, in the early game you will need medicae gear as heinrix cannot stack medicae like a bladedancer. So mechanicus respirator and Diagnostor are a must in act 2. Offhand Veilrender will carry Heinrix all the way until you get access to two warp fire force swords. Initially you will primary hand cursebringer but once you get Incinerator this will become your new primary with cursebringer changing to your offhand. Warp surge brooch in act 2 will give psy rating attack economy turn 1 which is another huge upgrade and spirit drape will allow for 0 ap buffs turn 1 making Heinrix incredibly potent in act 2. By act 4 when you can secondary rock saws or higher tier pyromancy staffs, nothing can stop him. You can choose to stick with inertia boots from act 2 until end game or if you really want to deprive Abelard you can take the void veteran boots and Well-maintained rocksaw.

From act 3 when you have body of flames you can ignite yourself and warp surge brooch will keep your attack economy fine to map clear. As your pyromancy staff counts as a melee attack this will generate a lot of MP from inertia boots, you will tend to save where it hurts for your inferno casts as it has a lot of multiple hits. Hand of avolius will be great to have multiple bleed procs, dogmatic 2 will add more fire procs and biophysical distortion will add your toxin dots.

Level 28 if you really want to hyper attack focus you can change for fire within. Racking weakness with multiple sources of armour strip will be your highest damage increase and you will want to apply any combat buffs to intelligence to really up this damage.

The first video showcases the 1.5 launch overseer paladin build with the updated video being after the shearing strikes fix which is what this build focuses on. Final note, sword of faith is terrible and worse than normal melee as most damage riders do not apply to it. Sanctic talents and abilities like edge of dawn or hammer of the emperor do not apply and even degraded defence does not benefit it.

Heinrix has always been a direct upgrade to Abelard being a Sanctic Biomancer Warrior. Whilst he does not come with the free heavy armour proficiency you can very easily get to 45 strength, give Heinrix heavy armour, pump Toughness then with his biomancy self buffs he will vastly out tank Abelard. The only saving grace Abelard had was gaining fleet combat training in 1.5. Due to being a psyker Heinrix is so versatile that any tier 2 archetype is very powerful on him with various of builds on the spreadsheet but for now I will talk about his priorities.

High

• Desolation - This talent allows Heinrix to add agility scaling to damage. Thanks to executioner we never need to level toughness to be a tanky frontliner
  
• Shearing Strikes - now that rigorous training bug has been resolved this is just free attack economy and means Heinrix isnt limited to rock saws if he wants to be top damage
  
• Biophysical distortion - taking this on common talents early will allow our attacks to stack toxin damage which is vital for executioner and combined with dogmatic 2 conviction to add burn is the first step to make the strongest damage build in the game
  
• Psyker Minoris / Majoris / Terminus / Extremis - very potent when combined with shimmering emulsion to increase the power of all of Heinrix's buffs and talents tied to psy rating. You want to prioritise these on common level ups not archetype level ups
  
• Anatomy Expert - Allows HP to scale from medicae so we do not need to worry about toughness, not quite as potent on warrior as bladedancer but we can always take base and advanced medicae talents
  
• Sower of distress - with the 1.5 force repentance rework this is needed to proc dots
  
• Does it hurt / Sparks of the greater flame - allows dots to crit which is vital for the executioner setup, not so much non executioner setups
  
• Fragile Playthings / Racking weakness - currently why dot damage is so OP, every source of armour reduction can vastly increase dot damage into the thousands. Even if you have enemies hit 0 armour it still calculates the full potential armour reduction
  
• Characteristic Training: Perception - Heinrix cant naturally increase perception and needs this for act 3 on higher difficulties
  
• Master of Torture / All-Encompassing Agony - Free damage increases
  
• Hymns of Hatred - Psyker version of fired up and very strong

Medium

• Blade of light - can stack armour penetration to obscene levels
  
• Body of flames - if you do buiild for orchestrate flame base damage increases and relentless blaze. This talent is vital to survive your own burn dot
  
• Fire within - as Heinrix is the primary warp surge brooch user this is less valuable than for Idira but still a free attack as he wipes the battlefield
  
• Deep Laceration - Increases bleed build up but more useful once you have peak condition
  
• Impetus - Free damage on charge but as we will mainly be using shearing strikes, this is not as valuable
  
• Psalms of heroes - free psy rating increases when allies use heroic action
  
• Deterioration - increases the potency of enfeeble and some other damage sources
  
• Edge of Dawn - free damage increase
  
• Corpus Conversion - bugged talent and can infinite stack psy rating when you use buffs on allies until you use a damaging power.
  
• Easy Target / Crowd Kill - Warrior damage talents that get more potent with peak condition
  
• Perfect Anatomy / Destined - Can turn medicae into armour for perfect anatomy which can stack with sanctic Destined for even more armour
  
• Base / Advanced Skill: Medicae - Somewhat optional but very powerful on the build regardless as Warrior cant stack medicae as high as bladedancer

Exemplar Talents

• Degraded Defence - as this is a multi-hit setup this is incredibly powerful. Burst builds like rapid fire or rock saws vastly overperform because of this. It also applies the same to pyromancy staffs and somewhat to shearing strikes builds.
  
• Destroyer - lowering enemy armour with every melee attack that also pumps the damage gain from racking weakness is absurd on this build
  
• Peak Condition - Executioner can stack HP higher than any other setup so drastically gains a lot of strength. This allows Heinrix to stack Strength and Agility to damage

Jae is a very interesting character, probably the most well written female character in video games as it is not afraid to have her be an actual woman but also she is obscenely strong mechanically. Jae's cold trader origin makes her the only viable skill monkey companion in game. Due to intelligence being a terrible stat with only one boosting item in the game that comes in act 4 of dlc 2, be smart is not a valid or viable option. Jae can cover intelligence checks with fellowship which is the most supported stat in the game. Jae can also turn fellowship and lore imperium into armour with helm of determination, breacher's armour and saint cognacius' scriptures making her the best armour tank in the game.

Jae's only downside is her terrible base build, whilst 1.5 gave Jae access to the best finest hour upgrades, she still has terrible talents: March and Heroism. Leader's assault and commanding voice whilst not terrible are questionable in tier 1. Take aim is also not valuable on unfair and limited use on gimmick max slider runs. Jae needs decisive response to make her effective as a support damage companion. If March was changed to Decisive response and heroism was changed to Focus! then Jae would be the premier officer companion. Take Aim being swapped to air of authority with inspiriting speech being also worked into tier 1 would have been fantastic. It is however, what it is. Jae can be built effectively as an AoE buffer via servo-skull overseer, a tanky officer as a vanguard using gun parry bracers or as per my favourite, a dual gunslinger master tactician. Unfortunately a Rogue Trader Hive World Commissar Officer Master Tactician is a superior gunslinger, they do not have access to Jae's unique offhand origin talent or cold trader bonuses.

Mid game Jae will be slow to get going due to not having decisive response but she will act fine as an officer buff companion. Just dont think you will be able to effective support and damage before 36. Prior to 36 focus on giving buffs to allies and extra turns to allow them to stack linchpin / inspire. Once you hit 36, you can even double rotation buff yourself with linchpin, inspire, strongpoint, ferver then coming back for more linchpin and inspire before opening a burst volley and a pair holster infused second burst attack that you can press the advantage on. Whilst still giving allies officer buffs.

Another note to keep in mind, pair holster is an incredibly powerful item. Any Rogue Trader gunslinger build wants it, an executioner Yrliet build wants it and Ulfar very much wants it. Not enough to go around.

The video build takes fervour earlier than the steam guide but I changed my approach since 1.5 launch to be that of the steam guide

Well Jae's actual priorities are status and treasure but in terms of build crafting it can be a bit different. Jae's unique cold trader bonus would make her exceptional in any archetype roll IF they would just let us change her officer talents. March and commanding voice really hurt me on a personal level as either of these could be decisive response and the build would be fine. If they were Decisive response and focus as far as a level locked companion build goes I would still be very happy. Either way by stacking lore imperium into HP and Armour Jae can be grand strategist, Vanguard or my preferred Master Tactician.

High

• Decisive Response - Reduces the cost of voice of command and bring it down on the first turn from 3ap to 1ap which allows Jae to do a full buff rotation and two attacks. Honestly I dont consider her online until 36 when she can take this talent
  
• Focus! - Grabbing this is vital for unfair but can be delayed if another officer has it or playing on lower difficulties
  
• Reliance / Unwavering Motivation - You really want to get Linchpin and Inspire ASAP to get Jae's buffs up to really start supporting the party.
  
• Joint Offensive - Once Jae is able to attack and buff this becomes a key talent to get the build going but it can somewhat be delayed until you have more AP

Medium

• Stronghold - Using strongpoint on an ally that can use malpain shroud when also combined with invigorating resolve is simply game breaking and helps make the party unkillable
  
• Undisputed Advantage - Can be combined with an item that lowers the cost of press the advantage which really helps
  
• Stacking the Deck - Basically spending tactical advantage turns into fired up for the officer. If you build up rate of fire with priest support you can do similar damage results to most burst fire soldiers with just lower attack economy.

Exemplar Talents

• Firebrand - more AP for allies acting from bring it down
  
• Eager Subordinates - increases ally damage when acting from extra turns
  
• Eager for battle - More AP for buffs or attacks which is vital for first turn grand strategist
  
• Degraded Defence - As a support damage this is what helps keep Jae relevant in combat

Abilities

• Linchpin - your main tool for building the master tactician resource
  
• Inspire - your main damage buff from Master tactician for yourself or allies
  
• Stronghold - the ability which makes the party unkillable
  
• Fervour - When you plan on joining the fray, this double dip for your linchpin and inspire can allow you to turbo charge yourself or to support an ally and yourselves.
  
• Air of Authority - This with the upgrades Inspiring speech and steel resolve are vital to momentum gain for the party

Yrliet at launch could do 20k damage shots as an assasin which caused the greatest overnerf of all history to operative for some reason. Whilst assassin got relegated to being mediocre but still better than vanguard as a melee build, for a ranged build it is barely playable. Even worse Yrliet's operative build tries to reference talents no longer in game so she gets some random pointless talents for her base build. Even worse the developers made both Idira and Yrliet a low intelligence operative. You know, the intelligence archetype.

In patch 1.5 the developers decided they would buff Operative by giving YRLIET personally talents and gear to fix the attack economy issues. Why they didnt make this available to Rogue Trader operatives? Dont know. Anyway path of the outcast Yrliet talent, hunter father's armour from act 2 and the wonderer's potent rework makes Yrliet pretty viable as a support damage companion in act 2. Like with Pasqal bounty hunter is her best option due to the damage, armour pen and attack economy. Deadly accuracy added in 1.5 however is the most nothing burger of all nothing burgers. I thought on critical it would add base damage but no, it adds flat damage to the end of the damage you have have done based on perception. Hurrah my 400 damage shot becomes a 408 damage shot.

For path of the outcast Yrliet will want to focus on Aeldari snipers with many new and potent ones being added to act 4. I still build Yrliet to take drukhari weapon proficiency and drukhari equipment so Yrliet has access to weapons and armour in act 3 before you recovery your gear.

Heretic 2 with path of the outcast, hunter's ambush, expert finesse, deathdealer and snipers like eye of hecaton will really help give Yrliet more attack economy but damage and kills will never compete with a burst build. So keep Yrliet back and helping pick off targets with the party, Yrliet due to having high agility and perception will likely act before other damage companions so plan your turn around how you expect to follow up with those companions.

Yrliet has options for Assassin and Grand strategist but neither of these two offer anything as remotely as good as bounty hunter, especially considering openings do not proc on extra turns just like exploits which would give Yrliet two dead mechanics on extra turns.

Highest

• Path of the Outcast - Yrliet's unique increase attack economy talent.
  
• Uncanny Sight - Whilst exploit operative mechanic isnt the best, this really helps to get it rolling by every main turn applying exploits.
  
• Tide of Excellence - Yrliet mostly only has access to single shots so this acts as a weaker extermination talent
  
• Hunter's Ambush - increases attack economy when shooting stunned targets, very useful with lidless stare or self calibrating goggles / helm
  
• Hunting Surge - increases damage when killing with critical hits, basically the identity of bounty hunter
  
• Heightened Concentration - increases armour penetration when you score a critical hit, if excess armour pen became increases damage this would be one of the strongest talents in the game
  
• Savour the kill - can give extra turns to setup exploits and use many different talents. Whilst you cant attack this is still very strong.

Medium

• Ballistics Calculation / Sharpshooter - Yrliet is more reliant on these than Pasqal as she doesnt have a mechanic like overcharge protocols
  
• Expert Finesse / Inspiring Trophy - Can generate extra attacks and AP when killing high value targets. The only weakness is there arnt that many in combat encounters.

Exemplar Talents

• Degraded Defence - Whilst operative is a support archetype but Yrliet was intended to be a damage dealer. This is one of the only ways to really get her involved
  
• Deadly Aim - High perception means you get more out of this. It is often a toss up between this and vital points for me
  
• Extermination - One of the few ways for Yrliet to increase damage as range characters dont have direct stats to damage
  
• Eager for battle - Operatives tend to be quite AP hungry in the first round to setup

Abilities

• Joint Analysis - very strong in act 1 but drops off vastly from act 2. It is still better than the alternatives
  
• Tactical Knowledge - As it is hard to get exploits up with an optimised party, those not investing into extra turns and momentum may get more use from this making it quite potent
  
• Claim the bounty - an extra attack which has a few glitches that can make it very strong. It will eventually do more than a normal attack.
  
• Cull the bold - damage increase and very useful before an overcharge attack
  
• Hot On the trail - can be used on savour the kill turns to setup an extra turn for when allies kill the target. It is unfortunately quite a slow mechanic.

Ulfar is by far one of my most favourite companions thematically, with the other being Pasqal. However Ulfar is done quite dirty by gear restrictions. Ulfar is a soldier companion, their potential is determined by rate of fire gear which Ulfar simply cannot use. He does not have access to compensator gloves, tacticial backpack or tempestus elite carapace backpack, this means not only can Ulfar never compete with Argenta as a heavy gunner damage companion, it means he should not even try as he will be double dwarfed by Argenta's priest origin and unique gear.

In terms of Tanking Ulfar has incredibly high physical stats and HP however he does not have access to the warrior damage mitigation talents so once again Ulfar cannot complete with say Heinrix, Abelard or even Kibellah in terms of end game tanking due to Kibellah having access to Anatomy expert and perfect anatomy.

Ulfar also cannot use medicae or stimms so is much weaker than other companions in those terms but not "weak" overall.

In patch 1.5 Ulfar's unique flamers also got heavily nerfed making them not viable for high level play. Why? Dont know, maybe the developers hated the idea of flamers being viable. However Ulfar does have access to the only viable bolt pistols in the game but once again as another F you to Ulfar he cannot equip dual pistols. Moreover the developers also hid Ulfar's best melee weapons in act 5 right before the end boss so you will never have a battle where they are useful. What they did add is some very nice gear but this is unfortunately end game act 4 on Caligos Winterscale's world during the lab section. Whilst the gloves add practically nothing, the boots reset kick on range kill and the armour resets go for the throat on kill.

With this in mind I build ulfar to use broad expertise and armsmaster. This means Ulfar will have very high crit chance for both ranged and melee. Ulfar will also have very effective burst attacks at 1 ap after a melee kill and effective 1 ap area melee attacks after a ranged kill. With kick also being reset on range kill this means Ulfar can use the slicing symbol to generate a lot of free MP in act 4 with 1 ap burst kills giving another 0 ap melee kick thus creating a very effective kill loop for Ulfar to trash clear. Whilst Ulfar will never be the space marine power fantasy boss killer, he can at least live part of that fantasy killing trash mobs.

The Typhoon bolter is pretty funny but an entire ass gimmick.

Ulfar is locked into soldier arch-militant so does not have much in the way of build variety. Due to not having access to malpain shroud he will not be as strong as Abelard in melee, due to not being a psyker he wont be as strong as Heinrix in melee either and due to not having access to rate of fire gear Ulfar cannot compete with Argenta for range damage. Ulfar does have access to Astartes bolt pistols and melee weapons which are uniquely powerful so he is the best mixed attacker you can make but mixed attacker just isnt supported at all. Both flamer and plasma pistol versions of Ulfar are very weak so the best bet is to choose either Typhoon bolter or Annihilating Astartes Bolter. Burden of Servitude is also still bugged but that is an act 5 weapon so it is not that impacting. Unfortunately Ulfar's powersword and thunder hammer are act 5 exclusive and thus also barely not usable much like Ulfars two axes which come at the end of act 4 and outside the final boss in act 5. If you do want to build for power sword in act 5 remember soldier area talents like tenderise and point-blank also apply to melee.

High

• Broad Expertise - Basically enables mixed attacker by allowing Ballistic skill to increase weapon skill
  
• Armsmaster - The only useful feature Ulfar has going for him. Melee kills will lower his burst attacks to 1 ap and ranged kills will lower his melee area attacks to 1 ap. The loop will be using icebreaker sabatons from act 4 to do a 1 AP burst followed by a 0 AP kick which resets on range kill using slicing symbol to generate MP from kick
  
• Always Ready - Needed to start combat with 2 stacks of versatility and to get 3 stacks from reckless rush. Due to astartes origin Ulfar does not need all out.
  
• Dependable - Useful for hitting the armour cap on ulfar.
  
• Flashfire lower the cost of wildfire
  
• Adaptability - build up critical chance as you build versatility stacks
  
• Critical Versatility - build up critical damage as you build versatility which is very strong with fired up

Medium

• Swift Slaughter - Gets quicker access to revel in slaughter
  
• Breaking Attack / Distract / Dismantle - Enables many of the arch-militant damage talents
  
• Contempt for the weak / exploit weakness / preferred targets - the arch-militant damage talents that the above enables along with Devastating attack and kick.

Exemplar Talents

• Peak Condition - Vital for making Ulfar viable in melee
  
• Destroyer - Drastically helps boost Ulfar's damage and very good with kick resets as well as go for the throat resets from his act 4 gear
  
• Degraded Defence - Vital for any damage build to quickly build up damage
  
• Extermination - Ulfar can be very AP efficient so likes to have a lot of attacks which can be built up in damage with extermination
  
• Eager For Battle - Helps give Ulfar extra attack economy to use during finest hour and main turns

Abilities

• Wild Fire - increased attack economy
  
• Reckless Rush - Increased movement points
  
• Entrench - Can be used with metabolic overcharge to abuse AP on finest hour turns or to save AP if Ulfar gets stuck
  
• Devastating Attack - Useful to prime multiple Arch-Militant damage talents

Oh Marazhai. You would be the perfect companion if only you were level locked to 15 not 29 so I could make you an executioner then use your amazing origin which gives huge bonuses based on bleeding enemies. Marazhai unfortunately comes as a level 29 locked assassin meaning his damage potential is locked to act 4 when he gets notes on weakness.

However! Marazhai is a dark horse, did you know he is actually the tankiest, most dodge stacking and best map clear companion in the entire game? I bet you didnt and all you know about him was the reddit gooner bait.

Due to 1.5 fixing shearing strikes Marazhai can abuse the heck out of his unique undying rage gauntlets. Every attack stacks Marazhai's agility mod to his armour. If you use a scorcher on a finest hour turn or even after using daring breach you can make infinite death whisper attacks thus stacking armour as much as you like. On top of that you can then use bloodseeker klaive to aoe attack which will convert all enemies with bleed on them to having toxin instead which will then stack Marazhai's dodge. So even from act 3 when you recruit him, Marazhai is untouchable in combat.

From Act 4 things get even more interesting, by combining malign influence with lethality we can make a death aura build for marazhai where every willpower check causes direct damage to enemies. Using items like interrogator dagger, notes on weakness, self calibrating goggles and talents like lethal threat. You just nuke the map by moving about it, you can use slicing symbol to generate mp as well as swiftshroud cloak.

Honestly assassin has two options, mediocre "honest" play or game breaking death aura build.

Kibellah is a bladedancer. An archetype so powerful it breaks the entire gameplay loop of every other archetype in Rogue Trader. It is without a doubt top 1 in terms of damage archetypes for tier 1 which combines with executioner in tier 2 to be the most dominating damage setup. KIbellah's origin is not one I fully explored for this guide as I simply didnt need to directly invest into her bloodcult assassin traits, though I did take the gloves to proc blood explosions for passive damage buffs. Potentially you could customise the build to start picking those talents from level 30 but that would weaker the build's base damage before you gain peak condition at level 50. Kibellah's voidborn origin is mostly not be directly built into though you can take jinx or bloody mess at level 8.

The strongest build in the game is a psyker death world blade dancer executioner which takes facing the end and wounded beast to trauma stack intentionally. Whilst this build does take facing the end, I do not encourage actively taking traumas until much higher levels due to the drawbacks of ap and mp penalties and just enjoying small boosts early as injuries naturally occur.

With 1.5 death warden is now a default talent for kibellah which is a huge upgrade. As death from above got a small 10% dodge penalty cost added per every use of death from above that turn we build into parry from duelling mastery and dance partners to to keep ourselves safe from enemy melee attacks. Acrobatic artistry will double as an offensive tool to use more death from above but also a defensive tool so we do not end our turn in front of enemy range.

The gameplan of bladedancer is to use blood rush with blood oath to designate enemies and generate mp, the next attack will be a guarenteed hit that if killed will give back hp as well as once per turn givng +1 attack. Kills not caused by death from above will generate death from above which will allow even more mobility and opportunities to kill. Talents like guillotine will make death from above do extra damage for your turn jumps with acrobatic artistry and talents like sweeping motions will give you access to 1 ap area attacks to get more kills per attack. Death waltz is an insane ultimate which will armour strip, build damage, give free charges and make 6+ attacks. It is obscenely overpowered.

Bladedancer is very viable on all tier 2 but executioner clearly stands leagues ahead of all other tier 2 archetypes in terms of tanking and damage.

As you build into executioner weapon skill will stack into medicae and then that medicae will become crit damage, HP, Armour and even more damage. You melee attacks as an executioner will apply bleed, with dogmatic 2 conviction your criticals turn 1 will apply burn and with drukhari weapon investment your attacks will also apply toxin. So with all that in mind executioner wants to have very high attack economy to apply and trigger damage over time effects for very high damage output. Pain resonance gives you an aoe detonation ability for your dots, reckless abandon gives you free damage increase and exsanguination will give you even more MP. This build will also allow you to use agility instead of strength for damage with finesse.

Later your main damage focus will be applying as many instances of armour strip with gear like carmine crown, metal claw gloves, talents like fragile playthings and destroyer. This will cause your medicae to turbo your damage from racking weakness and items like voidborn's pride will turbo juice medicae on kill even more.

Solomorne is the DLC 2 companion. Soldier is not the best overseer cyber-mastiff user but it is not the worse either. Solomorne does not have access to the conviction pet upgrades which seems like a huge oversight as companions really should get conviction rewards to pets as you progress their stories to make overseer more viable. Whilst area builds focusing on shotguns like Arbites Vigilant will not output the damage of a burst arch-militant, they are still very usable and fun to play. Solomorne's main issue is he does not have the MP upgrade to firearm mastery or dash in his tier 1.

Solomorne will aim to use medium armour, keep his pet close for camraderie boost, get close to enemies to use point-blank with his shotgun, attach glaito before blasting with apprehend to trigger his swift justice passive and to give the dog follow up attacks when he blasts. Early game dual shotguns with cresendo is very potent for high attack economy and enemy clearing, you will need to rely on boots like inertia boots for MP generation as his other movement boot options dont come until act 4. Speaking of act 4, gunnery shield with double-barreled shotgun is a huge upgrade.

There are some potent item combinations that solomorne has access to like Vial of Falstow and Navy Breacher Boots to enhance his attack economy. Early on the pet damage can feel a bit impotent but via the use of advanced tracking and taking the dog for a walk, you can add a lot of flat damage to attacks. Multiple follow ups on an apprehend enemy can absolutely shread an enemy. One very potent combination against the forgefiend was using protect on Abelard, having Abelard hit the forgefiend which then created an infinite loop, the forgefiend would attack Abelard, the pet would then attack the forgefiend which would then cause the forgefiend to attack Abelard. The damage circle quickly kileld the Forgefiend.

Consolidation will be another useful ability for giving Solomorne movement to keep blasting enemies as well as Strategic Adaptation to refund attacks on kills. Late game you can even use strategies like passing over metabolic overcharge to Solomorne then banking that ap with entrench to use on a finest hour turn later.

Adamantium Alloys is currently bugged and when combined with pet protocols that enhance HP will allow glaito to have some obscene HP after buffs. Eager Subordinates will also enhance the pet damage. Whilst overseer pets cannot build stacks of degraded defence they will enhance their damage from when allies place it. Pets will also greatly benefit from AoE buffs and damage enhancements like litany of hatred or hammer of the emperor.

For lower difficulties you are somewhat free to take whomever you like but as you go above Daring you will need to start planning your compositions around the 13 skill checks. On unfair you need 200 in a skill check to always 100% pass as some skill check modifiers in act 4 are -100.

The easiest way to build a part is to have either the Rogue Trader be an officer Grand strategist or if the Rogue Trader is a damage build to have Cassia become an officer Grand Strategist. This will allow very easy 1 turn victories before the enemy can overrun the party as threat control does not really become available until exemplar levels with lethal threat and taunting scream wont cover the whole map with vanguard being useful for priority control.

Pasqal and Jae are the only two effective companions for covering tech-use and logic but Jae can cover 6 skills on unfair with no other companion being able to cover more than 2 skills. Something to keep in mind.

You will often one one front line fighter like Abelard, Heinrix, Ulfar or Marazhai. A strong range damage companion like Argenta or Solomorne. A first turn buffer like Cassia or Act 4 Jae with Commander's chrono. The last slot usually I rotate being Kibellah, Idira and Yrliet depending on whom I want in the party at the time but your decisions will need to take into consideration what role and skill checks your Rogue Trader is covering.

Be smart and calculated relations is a noob trap for higher difficulties as intelligence has no talent or gear support compared to fellowship. Just taking chartist pendant on a pure fellowship MC will cover more skills effectively as a skill monkey which could even then go into servo skull overseer to get a unique skill item.

My final piece of advice will be to plan your Rogue Trader first then build your party around them, not try to force your Rogue Trader into the party you planned first.