With Rogue Trader’s ever-increasing retinue of allies, you’ll have to consider which characters you want to focus your builds and party composition around. It is a tough task, especially since every character seems to have their own flavor of uniqueness, roles in a party, and other buffs that make them stand out a lot. To make your choices easier, we’ll look at the best companions in Rogue Trader, which is structured in a tier list format. Expect strengths and weaknesses and a bit more of a deep dive into their party roles.

Rogue Trader Companions Tier List: Best Companions¶

Below you’ll find a tier list of the best Rogue Trader Companions, featuring the base companions and the secret companions. We included the secret companions due to them having their own unique original talents, archetypes, and combos that can add significant advantage to certain party comps or roles. Be warned the tier list contains secret companions, which will have spoiler impacts on recruiting them.

Cassia¶

Cassia has the unique advantage of having her dedicated and extremely in-depth Navigator background. This is essentially Psyker magic on steroids, offering incredible enemy movement control spells, magic damage on controlled enemies, and other ally-supporting buffs to grant amazing sources of Temporary Wounds or statistical buffs, alongside offering great dodge reduction, the most important defensive stat in the game. Her Navigator spells are completely irreplaceable and one you will need to take with you on hard and above difficulties. The only downside is that you don’t need Cassia for the buffs on lower difficulties, as an extra damage dealer is more efficient than Cassia’s spells and buffs. It is not a bad weakness to have, really.

In addition, Cassia starts as an Officer, able to grant extra turns through her ultimate and base skill, alongside granting amazing fellowship buffs through her Archetype’s unique skill. Since Cassia can select a passive talent that increases her Fellowship per talents and skills under the Navigator tree, you get free synergy with the Officer traits more than any other character or custom character can. Throw in Grand Strategist to get even more battlefield spells to bolster allies and debuff enemies, and Cassia is the number one support character in the game. There’s no argument that Cassia is a needed character for every party.

• Read more: Cassia Build Guide

Argenta¶

Argenta was a popular character in the alpha and beta, with Run and Gun being a Soldier’s key skill. This made Argenta an extremely mobile character, dishing out a lot of shots. However, her Ballistic Skill and Perception got nerfed, meaning she is rather hard to get going, especially on harder difficulties in the early game. Yet, it’s not doom and gloom, since Argenta’s background can make her a very good horde control-type character. You can see this in her base acceptance of Flamer and Bolter weapons. While they are not strong, these weapons with a Run and Gun combo offer powerful horde clearing, while you can keep a Heavy Bolter type weapon or a sniper and chew through armor when necessary. Her most popular build at the moment is the Burst Fire Heavy Bolter, turning her into an LMG demon and it absolutely wrecks enemies. Throw in some recoil control, and she pretty much never misses her enemies, melting away 600 Hp when you’re allowed to Rapid Fire and Burst Fire in the same turn. For these reason she loves having extra turns and will solo carry your damage if you allow her to.

If you opt for the Arch-Militant archetype from level 16 onwards, then Argenta can start critting guaranteed at the cost of some damage. However, it’s not a big deal since there are items to enhance crit damage, and the key soldier talent of Revel in Slaughter and other stacking buffs mitigate the losses. It means Argenta can start snowballing her power and crit and shred those hordes as needed. Furthermore, Arch-Militant awards different methods of shooting and slashing with its Versatility Stacks, enabling you to do even more damage buffs for more horde killing or penetrating boss armor, too. Argenta is in a nice spot for serving up a horde control, and some boss killing, with many other builds you can spec her towards if you so wish.

• Read more: Argenta Build Guide

Incendia Choorda¶

Incendia is the first secret companion to make the Companion Tier List in Rogue Trader and the reason why is because she is a late game damage demon. Her role as a Operative and Assassin means she cna get some incredibly strong damage multiplier from her Weaknesses spreads, combine that with Aim for the Opening, some crit damage accessories, and you can hit onward of 2000-4000 damage with snipers. She easily beats Yrliet for late game damage sniping when talking about Raw numbers.

However, guaranteeing crits with Incendia is not always possible. So, Yrliet still maintains that position of securing free crits against bounty marked targets. It just means that Heretical playthroughs who lose Yrliet have a solid sniper companion if they do a little Iconoclast on the side.

Abelard¶

Abelard is low-key one of the best companions in Rogue Trader. He starts out a little weak until you start getting better Two-Handed weapons, and then he scales through the ceiling. Throw in defensive buffs to his Navy Officer background, and taking the classic defensive talents early sets up Abelard to be a machine later in the game. It’s very important to get those parry and dodge bonuses sorted early, otherwise he’s in trouble when it’s time to tank or assassinate. From there, you can either spec him with Taunting Scream to make him a tank, or set up as an assassin with Reckless Strike, and Abelard has to the tools to fit into any comp at any time.

• Read More: Aberlard Assassin Build Guide

Heinrix¶

While Abelard is a warrior capable of going into either a tank or assassin, Heinrix is his kindred spirit, albeit with a more dogmatic and Sanctioned Biomancy background. Like Abelard, Heinrix makes for either a great tank or melee DPS, able to use his Biomancy spells to buff his damage or defenses to tip him into a more tailored role. If you opt for the tank build, you’ll look at spells like Regeneration alongside offensive tools like Blade of Light for force weapon synergy. He’s certainly a fun character to experiment with a few builds and playstyles, and one players can consider bringing to their party if you have a slot for either role open.

• Read More: Heinrix Tank Build.

Yrliet¶

Yrliet is a companion you get in Chapter 2, who comes with some pretty powerful Aeldari weapons. Moreso, the character starts as an Operative, who is canonically supposed to be a Bounty Hunter. You don’t want to stray too far from that path, as there’s a plethora of free shots and crits. Since she is a sniper character, these crits are ruthless for picking off key targets and extra attacks are certainly desirable for high base damage weapons. Throw in some added Overpenetration, and you can double crit and overpenetrate enemies too, either using weapons like the Eye of Hecaton at the end of Chapter 2 or using some more Bounty Hunter skills to increase Overpenetration. No matter what you choose, the damage ceiling is through the roof with her. Overall, Yrliet proves to be a valuable party member and perhaps one of the best dedicated shooter companions in Rogue Trader.

• Yrliet Sniper Build in Rogue Trader

Pasqal¶

Pasqal is an interesting character, with his uniqueness of being a Tech-Priest offering powerful combat bonuses. Take his ability to carry another Two-Handed weapon in his main weapon group, which offers some very interesting Dual-Weapon builds if you’re so inclined. In addition, Pascal starts the game with an Omnissiah’s Axe, which offers a strong power weapon cleave and Attack of Opportunities that can make enemies bleed. He also has lots of tools to make him a great carrier for your Plasma or Melta weapons while also improving your parties accuracy through his own special abilities unique to him.

As for builds, he is forced into an operator, which is fine as he can strip away defenses and start pounding or blasting an enemy, which his team can also benefit from. Meanwhile, you can take him a s a Bounty Hunter and take advantage of more armor shredding or free crits to nuke foes down, while remaining tanky through Temporary Wounds. All in all, Pasqal is a solid support hybrid character that can melt foes and fill a niche in your party no mater what way you build your playthrough.

• Read more: Pasqal Bruiser Build

Calligos¶

The second secret companion in Rogue Trader makes his way onto the tier list. Calligos is a easy to recruit this heretical secret companion in act 4. Simply agree to hunt Xenos with him, kill the Aeldari on Quetza Temer and be a heretic and you’re golden. Once he’s in your party, he essentially is a warrior Arch-Militant, which is exactly what Ulfar should be. So, if you want that melee Arch Militant playstyle. building reliable Versatility, crit, and swing with kicks, melee hits and more, then Calligos actually works fine here.

Marazhai¶

Marazhai is a companion you get in Chapter 3, who is a Drukhari Warrior Assassin. The issue is that Marazhai essentially serves the DPS role that you want Abelard or Heinrix to take in your party, and so he only really has a spot if you want him in your party. Moreso, his only advantages are some better movement options via his background, and some added dodge since Drukhari’s are notoriously difficult to hit. So, he is likely the best-serving assassin role for a squad. However, your dilemma is a matter of losing Abelard’s Navy buffs and familiarity for Two-Handed Power weapons or Heinrix’s Biomancy magic if he’s playing the assassin role. If you got him earlier, we’d increase his rank in the Rogue Trader Companion Tier list, but he stays in the lower B position for now.

The other notable benefit is that he can also use Drukhari melee weapons. There are a few poison daggers or strong cleave-themed weapons that make him a great multi-target assassin or boss melter. It is time to take those melee weapons off Jae if you haven’t already done so or take the poison-tipped weapons and make a build from that. You’ll likely want to grab Dual Wield for him to get his build going and work on cleaving enemies down, rather than bonking the big enemies that Abelard and Heinrix can do with their Power or Force weaponry. There’s also a few bleed focused builds out there, and Marazhai does like bleeding via his toolkit, so there are some niche builds ahead for him.

• Marazhai Build in Rogue Trader

Idira¶

The only unsanctioned Psyker on the Rogue Trader Companion Tier List is Idira. Idira’s benefit is that she is a pretty decent support Psyker, using her Divination magic to buff allies through many means. Talents like Advise and Guidance buff her ally’s weapon skills by using Psyker skills in them, alongside other things like Unnatural Luck to negate a crit on an ally and Prescience for buffs to resistant checks or the ability to hit things easier thanks to its Perception buff.

Outside of those skills, Idira sadly doesn’t have anything special going on for her. She’s likely to make a decent Bounty Hunter, using Raid, Pounce, and other supporting Bounty Hunter-type skills and talents to aid allies in combat. But then you’re competing with Pasqal and Jae for a spot. If you want to make her more offensive, you are 100% reliant on getting the Warp Conducter Gloves, which are the only abusable way for Idira to increase her Psy-Rank and make her damage spells worthwhile. This will help turn her mid and late game power into something worth contending an Assassin, Argenta and Yrliet. But for the early game, she’s a much worse Pasqal and Cassia.

• Read more: Idira Build

Jae¶

Jae is another companion you get at the very start of Act 2, albeit missable if you fail to find her optional location. If you bring her along, you’ll find her only unique benefit is that she starts the game with both Aeldari and Drukhari weaponry proficiency. No other character can take these talents for a long period, giving her a unique option for certain builds and playstyles. These two perks alone make her very good for Chapters 2 and 3 since most of the Aeldari and Drukhari weapons are very powerful. There will be builds focusing on either melee, burst, or single shot, so you have quite a few options for her. In addition, recruiting her grants some very powerful melee items, so you can give them to her and make her a dual-wield melee character if you so wish. There are other good Xeno-themed weapons across a few planets too, so you have plenty of ways to gear here. Throw in her passive of Gunslinger and you have a companion who can abuse the Pair Holster and become a fairly decent pistoleer type character. Female Han Solo anyone?

If you want to make her a support, feel free to run her as a Master Tactician. The added damage ramps and defensive buffs work in favor of her pistol build damage, while still offering supportive elements to your main DPS and tanks. All in all, Jae functional fits most comps, only pulled down by the strength of Psyker support skills.

• Jae Build for Rogue Trader

Uralon the Cruel¶

Our final secret companion on the list is a Chaos Space Marine. Why both Space Marines are at the bottom of a tier list beats me, but hey, that’s Owlcatisms for you. Uralon is unlocked by going full evil in CHapter 4 and siding with Uralon on that planet after dealing with Calcazhar. If you recruit him, you get an Officer with Master Tactician, going for that role the Jae operates. Throw in some tanky assets with unique powre armor and space marine full cover, and Uralon can serve the role as a tank. He also has some fun where he summons demons too, which can add some extra memes to the fight. Uralon is not bad, it’s just hard from him to beat dedicated tanks like Abelard or Heinrix, depending on preferred build. If you want to slot him in that role, then feel free to, and you’ll find he works fine.

Ulfar¶

Ulfar suffers from a situation similar to Marazhai in that he’s a character you only get in Chapter 3. Furthermore, Ulfar is essentially a Soldier Arch-militant, taking the same roles that Argenta wants to use. However, the difference here is that Ulfar is more likely to start using Shotguns, Bolters and melee weapons, making him a more melee-focused Arch-Militant. There are certainly skills and abilities to support a melee Arch-Militant, with Kick, Martial Art, Reckless Rush, and Armsmaster being talents and skills worth looking at. As for defensive options, you have Dependable to make him more tanky in melee and in the open. However, if he was a Warrior and not a Soldier, Ulfar would make for a much more fun melee character running in with power or chain weapons like a true Space Wolf should.

The other benefit of Ulfar is that his model takes up 4 tiles, making him a excellent tool for controlling the pathing opportunities enemies get. It’s handy for making pathways harder to reach the likes of Yrliet, and Cassia, which cannot be undervalued, as it is a life saver on harder modes. Not to mention when he goes down he essentially becomes full cover, and gets back up after a few turns with restored HP. However, it is also a curse as it means you are forced to take a lot of talents with a lot of armor and doge improvements to make him work effectively. He also doesn’t get cover benefits since he’s bigger than the cover. So, again you are forced to turn him into a tank for those reasons.

The other negative is that most of the good Astartes gear is also locked behind the Drussians and the Explorators, so you are missing out on key items if you are not dumping your cargo and colony projects for rep into those factions. It’s something you need to consider when playing chis character.

Don’t get me wrong, Ulfar is certainly fun and serviceable, but don’t expect him to be great if you’re looking to min-max Hard or Unfair difficulties. He’s one for the normal crowd looking to add an iconic Space Marine to the squad if they so desire.

• Ulfar Builds for Rogue Trader

This concludes our Rogue Trader Companion Tier List. Hopefully, you now have a better idea of the best Companions in Rogue Trader and the types of builds and strategies each Companion can use for your party and builds. Feel free to check out the recommended builds for each character using the builds in their sections for an idea of playstyles.