Knight In Leather Armor
Badger Nutsack
I've been experimenting with lots of different recruits/companions in Wasteland 2 and I've come up with a guide for them. Make sure to tell me how I did!
Here's my list with drawbacks and good traits.
Keep in mind I have kept out Brother Thomas and Ertan because I've yet to reach them and the three rangers you can get if your party dies off.
Worst Recruits-
Gary "NaCl" Wolfe
He's a badass, a really good recruit for hacking and assault rifles, except he's ridicously annoying in combat. Sporting the highest rogue percentage of all of the recruits, expect him to go rogue constantly if all four of your original rangers don't all have high leadership stats. Unless you don't have anybody who has a high science, which is pretty stupid, he's useless besides looking cool.
Ralphy-A young boy you can get fairly easily over in Rail Nomad as long as you save him from drowning and getting blown up with his girlfriend, he is kinda useless. Low intelligence makes it pretty hard for you to give him many skill points into brawling, one of his only combat skills. Ralphy should only really be used as scrap merit or promotion.
Chisel-A good blunt melee character, but that's about it. His low intelligence prevents him from being flexible in anything else as he'll level up with a small amount of skill points. Chisel will stop you at the entrance to Rail Nomad if you made peace between the Assinsons and the Topkekons.
Dan Q-I've yet to get this guy, but I don't plan to. Dan Q is a charisma based character who can be recruited if you give the ICBM to the Servants of the Mushroom Cloud. Unless you don't have anybody who has a high Kiss Ass or Charisma, don't take him, as he is not good in combat at all.
Decent Recruits-
Rose-A very nice Surgeon, and is one of the most interesting recruits in my opinion. She is a former follower of Irwin Finster, able to unlock the door in Darwin village, she's a good combatant, but not outstanding like others. Keep in mind that you don't want her in the final battle as she will become hostile towards Team Echo.
Takayuki-A pretty good bladed melee and demolitions character. He can be found at Leve L'upe Mine after saving his mother, which he'll offer to be your body guard. If you need a tank, Takayuki is pretty good unless you intend on getting Corran Cain.
Lexcanium-A cyborg from Damonta, you can recruit him after you decide Tinker's fate in Damonta. Lexcanium sports his own unique Pugilism weapon, his robotic fist. While he is a bit squishy, when he attacks an enemy he will hit as hard as he can. Keep in mind that if Lexcanium is present during the final boss battle he will be turned against Team Echo and you will be forced to fight him.
Best Recruits-
Vax(Keep in mind you cannot select his gear as he isn't a real party member.) The strongest character in WL2, sporting a SMG that will two shot almost everything, Vax is the weakest recruit in terms of health yet with his deep AP Pool, he has pretty suicidal tendencies, as he'll run into the open and is incapable of taking cover, he'll probably die quite a lot. Keep in mind you will loose control of Vax and he'll turn hostile on the final boss fight, making him a powerful adversary. Make sure Vax is killed before the final boss fight, as his SMG will do 200+ damage on organics and 400+ damage on robots.
Vax is found at the bottom right corner of the map, South East of The Prison. You will need a Computer Science or Mechanical Repair skill that's pretty high to recruit him. Sadly Vargas or Angela Deth won't react to him even though he's a Wasteland 1 character and Vargas writes in his book about him missing Vax, writing that "he was the only robot I ever liked."
Pete "Pistol Pete" Petterson-Basically, Pete is your "Welcome To California!" gift. Pete is sports a high awareness and pistol skill, making him very powerful if you can get in mid-range of enemies. Keep in mind if you help the Leather Jerks in Rodia he will become hostile towards the player and Team Echo will be forced to kill him.
Vulture's Cry-If you do not wish to have a custom made of pre made sniper, Vulture's Cry is your girl. She has a pretty high Sniper Rifle proficiency and even comes with Animal Whisperer, which you can use to turn animals to your side. You can even name the chickens you find in Highpool to Hell Razor(hopefully he doesn't step in a mine like my HR did.) or whatever you want. She's a very well rounded Sniper and can be good for long term usage.
Corran Cain-A former Servant of the Mushroom Cloud who decided that blowing himself up in a irradiated explosion for your religion is a pretty dumb idea. Corran is basically Takayuki x2. Sporting a very high blade and demolitions skill, he is definitely a good replacement for Takayuki. His AP pool is also pretty good and with a few points into his Coordination and he'll run from one side of the map to another. Cain can be found at the Valley if you disable the ICBM at Silo 7.
Pizepi Joren-A young mutant girl from Darwin Village, she sports a high Energy Weapons and Smart Ass skill. Pizepi is essential if you do not possess anybody in your squad who is proficient in Energy Weapons as the common enemy at the end of the game and middle, robots and synths, both have Conductive Armor and are very vulnerable to energy weapons. Keep in mind if you reveal Darwin Village to have mutants inside of it she will leave the party. You can get Pizepi in Darwin Village after curing the mutants. Keep in mind you can keep most of the mutants alive, it won't affect her joining, but it's nice to be nice. Or evil.
Angela Deth-One of the original main Rangers from Wasteland 1, Angela is available at the start of the game after leaving Ace's Funeral. Angela will, however, leave the party forever when Team Echo arrives at the Valley of Titan, this is unavoidable even if she isn't with you. Angela is a good brute character, but do not rely on her too much as she's really just there to help newbies. Make sure one of your Rangers possesses Angela's skills so when she leaves, you won't be missing out on Brute Force, Weaponsmith, or Hard Ass checks.
Here's my list with drawbacks and good traits.
Keep in mind I have kept out Brother Thomas and Ertan because I've yet to reach them and the three rangers you can get if your party dies off.
Worst Recruits-
Gary "NaCl" Wolfe
He's a badass, a really good recruit for hacking and assault rifles, except he's ridicously annoying in combat. Sporting the highest rogue percentage of all of the recruits, expect him to go rogue constantly if all four of your original rangers don't all have high leadership stats. Unless you don't have anybody who has a high science, which is pretty stupid, he's useless besides looking cool.
Ralphy-A young boy you can get fairly easily over in Rail Nomad as long as you save him from drowning and getting blown up with his girlfriend, he is kinda useless. Low intelligence makes it pretty hard for you to give him many skill points into brawling, one of his only combat skills. Ralphy should only really be used as scrap merit or promotion.
Chisel-A good blunt melee character, but that's about it. His low intelligence prevents him from being flexible in anything else as he'll level up with a small amount of skill points. Chisel will stop you at the entrance to Rail Nomad if you made peace between the Assinsons and the Topkekons.
Dan Q-I've yet to get this guy, but I don't plan to. Dan Q is a charisma based character who can be recruited if you give the ICBM to the Servants of the Mushroom Cloud. Unless you don't have anybody who has a high Kiss Ass or Charisma, don't take him, as he is not good in combat at all.
Decent Recruits-
Rose-A very nice Surgeon, and is one of the most interesting recruits in my opinion. She is a former follower of Irwin Finster, able to unlock the door in Darwin village, she's a good combatant, but not outstanding like others. Keep in mind that you don't want her in the final battle as she will become hostile towards Team Echo.
Takayuki-A pretty good bladed melee and demolitions character. He can be found at Leve L'upe Mine after saving his mother, which he'll offer to be your body guard. If you need a tank, Takayuki is pretty good unless you intend on getting Corran Cain.
Lexcanium-A cyborg from Damonta, you can recruit him after you decide Tinker's fate in Damonta. Lexcanium sports his own unique Pugilism weapon, his robotic fist. While he is a bit squishy, when he attacks an enemy he will hit as hard as he can. Keep in mind that if Lexcanium is present during the final boss battle he will be turned against Team Echo and you will be forced to fight him.
Best Recruits-
Vax(Keep in mind you cannot select his gear as he isn't a real party member.) The strongest character in WL2, sporting a SMG that will two shot almost everything, Vax is the weakest recruit in terms of health yet with his deep AP Pool, he has pretty suicidal tendencies, as he'll run into the open and is incapable of taking cover, he'll probably die quite a lot. Keep in mind you will loose control of Vax and he'll turn hostile on the final boss fight, making him a powerful adversary. Make sure Vax is killed before the final boss fight, as his SMG will do 200+ damage on organics and 400+ damage on robots.
Vax is found at the bottom right corner of the map, South East of The Prison. You will need a Computer Science or Mechanical Repair skill that's pretty high to recruit him. Sadly Vargas or Angela Deth won't react to him even though he's a Wasteland 1 character and Vargas writes in his book about him missing Vax, writing that "he was the only robot I ever liked."
Pete "Pistol Pete" Petterson-Basically, Pete is your "Welcome To California!" gift. Pete is sports a high awareness and pistol skill, making him very powerful if you can get in mid-range of enemies. Keep in mind if you help the Leather Jerks in Rodia he will become hostile towards the player and Team Echo will be forced to kill him.
Vulture's Cry-If you do not wish to have a custom made of pre made sniper, Vulture's Cry is your girl. She has a pretty high Sniper Rifle proficiency and even comes with Animal Whisperer, which you can use to turn animals to your side. You can even name the chickens you find in Highpool to Hell Razor(hopefully he doesn't step in a mine like my HR did.) or whatever you want. She's a very well rounded Sniper and can be good for long term usage.
Corran Cain-A former Servant of the Mushroom Cloud who decided that blowing himself up in a irradiated explosion for your religion is a pretty dumb idea. Corran is basically Takayuki x2. Sporting a very high blade and demolitions skill, he is definitely a good replacement for Takayuki. His AP pool is also pretty good and with a few points into his Coordination and he'll run from one side of the map to another. Cain can be found at the Valley if you disable the ICBM at Silo 7.
Pizepi Joren-A young mutant girl from Darwin Village, she sports a high Energy Weapons and Smart Ass skill. Pizepi is essential if you do not possess anybody in your squad who is proficient in Energy Weapons as the common enemy at the end of the game and middle, robots and synths, both have Conductive Armor and are very vulnerable to energy weapons. Keep in mind if you reveal Darwin Village to have mutants inside of it she will leave the party. You can get Pizepi in Darwin Village after curing the mutants. Keep in mind you can keep most of the mutants alive, it won't affect her joining, but it's nice to be nice. Or evil.
Angela Deth-One of the original main Rangers from Wasteland 1, Angela is available at the start of the game after leaving Ace's Funeral. Angela will, however, leave the party forever when Team Echo arrives at the Valley of Titan, this is unavoidable even if she isn't with you. Angela is a good brute character, but do not rely on her too much as she's really just there to help newbies. Make sure one of your Rangers possesses Angela's skills so when she leaves, you won't be missing out on Brute Force, Weaponsmith, or Hard Ass checks.
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