Best Kai Companion Build Guide Avowed

Discover how to create the best Kai companion build for Avowed with this guide, including abilities, passives, training, and more!

In Avowed, the are four companions who will play a pivotal role in shaping your journey and success across the realm of Eora. Among the diverse roster of characters, Kai stands out as a versatile and powerful companion, capable of adapting to various playstyles. Whether you’re looking to maximize his combat effectiveness, unlock his unique abilities, or develop a support role that complements your character, crafting the perfect build for Kai is essential.

In this guide, we’ll dive into the best Kai companion build in Avowed, breaking down his strengths, optimal abilities, best passives, and tactics to ensure you get the most out of his potential.

Everything About Kai Companion Build in Avowed

Creating a companion build in Avowed can help you a lot in intense fights and turn the tides of battle in your favor. Choosing certain active abilities, as well as useful passives, is necessary for Kai to synergize well with your Envoy. Additionally, making optimal choices for Kai is less stressful than creating Envoy’s build. This is because you cannot alter Kai’s armor or weapons, nor does he receive attribute points. Consequently, the strength of your Kai build will depend entirely upon how you assign his skill points.

In Avowed, all companions have three active abilities to choose from, along with one possible passive. When a companion first joins, they will only have their first ability automatically unlocked.

Additionally, every ability and passive can be upgraded if you choose to spend another skill point on it. Each has three optional buffs that you can unlock. Moreover, you can choose to unlock just one, two, or all three in any order depending on your needs.

Finally, you can respec all of the skill points for any companion for a reasonable gold fee. The cost will go up the more skill points your companion has, however.

Kai Build Pros	Kai Build Cons
Aggro Ability	Aggro becomes redundant with Ranger ability
Self Revive Passive	No Healing
Mixed Range and Melee	Mild Damage

Features and Mechanics for the Kai Build in Avowed

Below are all the essential features and mechanics for a Kai Companion Build guide in Avowed:

• How to Unlock: automatically after reaching Claviger’s Landing post tutorial.
• Kai’s Training Bonuses (choose one at camp):
  • +2 Constitution
  • +2 Might
  • +1 Constitution, +1 Might
• Skills and Upgrades
  • Fire and Ire (Active)
    • Quick Reload (Recommended Upgrade)
  • Unbending Defense (Active)
    • Iron Will (Recommended Upgrade)
  • Leap of Daring (Active)
    • Leap of Pride (Recommended Upgrade)
  • Second Wind (Passive)
    • Soothing WInd (Recommended Upgrade)

How to Unlock Kai in Avowed

Finding and unlocking Kai as a companion in Avowed will happen automatically at the start of the game when you reach the docks at Claviger’s Landing. After playing through the starting tutorial area, you will use a boat to reach the region of Dawnshore. Walk straight up the docks and you will see a Militia Captain scolding Kai.

A conversation will start where you interact with the two of them. This will set the stage for the first main quest, which will send you north looking for the ambassador and the claviger. Kai will accompany you, and at the end of the conversation, he will automatically become your first companion.

Kai starts the game with the ability Fire and Ire already unlocked. Additionally, he has a utility ability called Firestarter. You can command him to use this to burn down brambles and vines. This is primarily used in exploration, to help you open passageways or find secret hidden treasures.

Kai Permanent Bonuses with Training

As one of your companions in Avowed, Kai is not only an ally in battle but can offer trainings that boost certain attributes. You unlock these trainings by speaking regularly with your companions. Ask them about themselves, your current location, missions, etc.

Kai’s training is very easy to unlock in Avowed and should happen within the first couple of times that you speak to him. Here are the dialogue options and the attributes they increase in Kai’s training:

• +2 Constitution: You can withstand a lot of damage. I want to know how to stay on your feet.
• +2 Might: You put a lot of power into your attacks. I want to learn how to hit harder with mine.
• +1 Constitution, +1 Might: Teach me a little bit of everything. I’m a fast learner.

Best Abilities, Skills, and Passives for Kai

Fire and Ire and Leap of Daring are the best active abilities for our Kai companion build guide in Avowed. Both can be used to stun and draw aggro, which fits Kai’s strength as a tank. Fire and Ire is a single-target ability that is best against strong boss enemies. Moreover, Leap of Daring is an area-of-effect taunt that can affect multiple enemies in a radius.

Furthermore, you can upgrade these skills to increase their damage and effectiveness in battle.

• Fire and Ire (Active): Kai fires a powerful shot from his blunderbuss, dealing high stun to a single enemy and Taunting them for 10 seconds.
• Unbending Defense (Active): Kai steels his mind to regenerate Health and increase his Damage Reduction by 25%.
• Leap of Daring (Active): With a mighty leap, Kai crashes down upon the enemy, stunning and Taunting all nearby enemies.
• Second Wind (Passive): When Kai’s health is reduced to zero, he revives himself by restoring 50% of his maximum health.

Fire and Ire

Fire and Ire is an active ability that Kai can use as a single-target stun and taunt. This is a great early ability of Kai’s to have, and when he first joins your party it will automatically be unlocked. Furthermore, the Fire and Ire ability has a duration of 10 seconds (how long the taunt will last) and a 20-second cooldown before you can use it again.

The best way to use the Fire and Ire ability is to trigger it when you are under a lot of pressure in a fight against a strong boss enemy. This can really help save you in a difficult early-game fight when a boss is hammering on your health pool.

Here are the three passive upgrades available for Kai’s Fire and Ire ability, which you can unlock with additional skill points:

• Extra Powder: Fire and Ire Ignites the target.
• Pure Lead: Greatly increases the amount of Stun dealt by Fire and Ire.
• Quick Reload: Reduces the cooldown for Fire and Ire by 50%.

We highly recommend spending a skill point to unlock Quick Reload, which will cut the cooldown time on this ability by half. Consequently, the cooldown and the duration will be exactly the same, meaning you can trigger it again immediately if needed.

Unbending Defense

Unbending Defense is an active ability that Kai can use to regenerate his own health and boost his damage reduction. These buffs will last for 30 seconds, while the cooldown before you can use it again is 75 seconds.

We generally don’t recommend unlocking this ability, but you may find it useful if Kai is struggling to stay alive and help you out in fights.

Here are the three passive upgrades available for Kai’s Unbending Defense ability, which you can unlock with additional skill points:

• Iron Will: Unbending Defense reduces incoming damage by 50%.
• Indomitable Spirit: Increases the Health regeneration of Unbending Defense.
• Retaliation: When Unbending Defense ends, it unleashes a shockwave that damages

The best upgrade is Iron Will because of the damage reduction it provides. An offensive Kai build can use Retaliation for more damage near him.

Leap of Daring

Leap of Daring is an active ability that Kai can use to taunt and stun all enemies within a radius of where he lands. The taunt will last for 25 seconds on all enemies, while the cooldown duration is a full minute.

Here are the three passive upgrades available for Kai’s Leap of Daring ability, which you can unlock with additional skill points:

• Leap of Pride: Doubles the area of effect for Leap of Daring.
• Leap of Faith: Kai gains Temporary Health proportional to the number of enemies hit by Leap of Daring.
• Leap of Conviction: Kai temporarily gains bonus Attack Damage proportional to the number of enemies hit by Leap of Daring.

We highly recommend spending a skill point to unlock Leap of Pride, which doubles the ability’s stun and taunt radius. In large-scale fights with lots of enemies this can help pull a lot of aggro off of you. However, keep in mind that these enemies will all be targeting Kai now, and you’ll want to watch his health bar.

Second Wind

Second Wind is Kai’s passive, which when unlocked will give him a free revive after he runs out of HP. This passive is really helpful to unlock early on, especially when Kai is your only companion. Even with only 50% of his health on the second start, it will keep him in the fight helping you out.

Here are the three upgrades available for Kai’s Second Wind passive, which you can unlock with additional skill points:

• Soothing Wind: Increases the amount of Health restored by Second Wind to 75% of Kai’s maximum Health.
• Rallying Wind: Kai gains a temporary burst of Attack Speed when Second Wind activates.
• Refreshing Wind: All of Kai’s ability cooldowns are reset when Second Wind activates.

We highly recommend spending a skill point to unlock Soothing Wind, which will increase the amount of restored HP to 75% of his max health. Refreshing Wind can be helpful, too, because it resets his ability cooldowns. However, if you are primarily using his two taunt abilities, this could deplete his restored health very quickly.

Level Progression for Kai in Avowed

Here’s a list of skills, passives, and upgrades to select with the Best Kai Build in Avowed:

• Skill Point 1: Leap of Daring
• Skill Point 2: Second Wind
• Skill Point 3: Unbending Defense
• Skill Point 4: Quick Reload (Fire and Ire Upgrade)
• Skill Point 5: Leap of Pride (Leap of Daring Upgrade)
• Skill Point 6: Soothing WInd (Second Wind Upgrade)
• Skill Point 7: Extra Powder (Fire and Ire Upgrade)
• Skill Point 8: Iron Will (Unbending Defense Upgrade)
• Skill Point 9: Pure Lead (Fire and Ire Upgrade)
• Skill Point 10: Leap of Faith (Leap of Daring Upgrade)

In Avowed, your companions will earn skill points as you level. However, they don’t always match up with your leveling progression. Therefore, expect to receive fewer skill points for Kai. For example, when your Envoy reaches Level 25 you will have a total of 24 skill points. Your companions, however, will only have 7 skill points.

Consequently, companions are only earning a skill point about once every 3-5 of your Envoy levels.

Best Companion Alongside Kai

Giatta is the best Avowed companion to use alongside Kai in our companion build guide. This is because their playstyles and abilities synergize easily into the ‘holy trinity’ if you are playing a damage dealer of any type. Giatta has a fantastic healing ability that she casts in a radius, and should heal everyone in the party. This pairs well with Kai’s Fire and Ire ability, which allows him to function as a tank and draw enemy aggro.

Companion 2: Giatta

• Active Abilities
  • Ability 1: Purification
    • Morphs: Essence Shielding
  • Ability 2: Barrier
    • Morphs: Greater Barrier
  • Ability 3: Acceleration
    • Morphs: Evade Attacks
• Passives
  • Passive 1: Reconstruction
    • Morphs: Overcharge

How to Play Kai Companion With All Main Classes

Kai functions as Avowed’s tank companion, so no matter what class you play as the Envoy he will serve many of the same functions. The best way to use his abilities is to manually rotate his taunts almost all the time to keep enemy aggression off of you. In Avowed, you can pause combat and then aim before triggering a companion ability.

Furthermore, always be on the lookout for range DPS enemies, especially healer DPS enemies. Prioritize taking these out first because one can kill you quickly with constant arrows, and the other can keep quickly regeneration enemy health, even as you are hitting them.

With Kai, you want to rotate the two taunt skills for maximum efficiency. First, use Leap of Daring as an opener, stunning and taunting groups of enemies as you rush into attack. Next, use Fire and Ire against the single-target, highest-threat monster. Only use Unbending Defense when Kai is in trouble and needs to survive awhile and remember that his passive will boost his healing.

Finally, you may struggle to keep Kai alive in the early game before you get Giatta. Before that, you will receive a special reviving godlike ability, which you can cast to get your downed allies back in the fight. This ability has a longer cast time, so first trigger the Shadowing Beyond ability from the Ranger tree. This will help keep enemies off you while you cast

Kai Companion With Envoy Fighter Class

The Fighter is an effective class to pair with our best Kai companion build guide because while he tanks, you can use powerful two-handed weapons to deal massive damage. Additionally, while Kai holds aggro, your Fighter can also prioritize using AOE abilities for great overall damage.

Here is a list of skills and abilities that you should activate for the Fighter class with Kai:

• Active Abilities & Passives
  • Ability 1: Barbaric Shout
  • Ability 2: Clear Out
  • Passive 1: Constant Recovery
  • Passive 2: Retribution

With a Fighter set up, you will want to send Kai in to attack with Leap of Daring first, for the stun and taunt. Then, wade in with your weapon and take as many enemies out as you can before the taunt wears off. Then, trigger the Fire and Ire ability at the boss so he can keep the monster occupied while you take out the rest of the small fry.

Kai Companion With Envoy Ranger Class

Kai is a good companion to bring along with your Envoy when playing a Ranger class in the early game, though that can change in later levels. However, gameplay will change somewhat because you want to prioritize your Ranger’s stealth abilities. Your first godlike ability gives you a massive damage boost if you can strike from stealth and this is a great way to start combat. Furthermore, you can boost the effectiveness of this strike with bonuses from totem passives.

Stealth gameplay becomes much easier at Level 5 when you can unlock the Shadowing Beyond ability, which essentially lets you go invisible for as long as you have essence to burn. This makes it much easier to sneak behind strong enemy bosses for a powerful strike.

Here is a list of skills and abilities that you should activate for Ranger class with Kai:

• Active Abilities & Passives
  • Ability 1: Shadowing Beyond
  • Ability 2: Tanglefoot
  • Passive 1: Survivalist
  • Passive 2: Evasive

Finally, after you reach Level 15, you can unlock an active Ranger skill called Bear Ally. This lets you summon a bear ally for 30 seconds. This won’t change much of your gameplay until Level 18 when you can unlock an upgrade where the bear roars a taunt when summoned. This is an incredibly effective ability but has the result of almost completely negating the need to bring Kai along in your group unless you really want to.

Kai Companion With Envoy Wizard Class

Kai is an essential companion to bring along with a Wizard Envoy because you will be playing mostly at range and want the protection of a good tank. Sending Kai in to initiate combat with Leap of Daring will keep a lot of enemies from attacking you. Consequently, you’ll be able to strike from range, focusing on the most important targets (like healers) first.

Here is a list of skills and abilities that you should activate for the Wizard class with Kai:

• Active Abilities & Passives
  • Ability 1: Arcane Veil
  • Ability 2: Fireball
  • Passive 1: Blood Magic
  • Passive 2: Armored Essence

Next, as soon as the taunt from Leap of Daring wears off, you’ll want to have Kai cast Fire and Ire at the strongest monster. While Leap of Daring has a 60-second cooldown wait, once you unlock the Quick Reload upgrade on Fire and Ire that ability can be triggered again as soon as the taunt ends. This will go a long way to improving your survivability, and let you focus on bringing enemies down.

Build Summary – Kai Companion

FAQs About Kai Companion Build in Avowed

Does race matter in Avowed?

Race in Avowed only matters for character roleplay, it does not grant you any additional trait bonuses. Playing as the Envoy, you will only be able to choose between humans and elves in the character creator. However, companions and NPCs will include other races such as the Aumaua, Dwarves, and Orlans.

What abilities should I pick for Kai Companion build?

You should unlock all three abilities for your Kai companion build in Avowed, including Fire and Ire, Leap of Daring, and Unbending Defense.

Can companion Kai’s skill points be changed in Avowed?

Yes, you can respec all of Kai’s spent skill points at any time during your adventure in Avowed for a gold fee. However, the more skill points you have, the more expensive the cost will be.

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