Complete Loyalty Guide to Tyranny’s Best Companion: Verse

As with any Obsidian RPG, the evil-focused Tyranny (check out our full review) has its fair share of memorable companions. While some players love the steel monstrosity Barik or prefer the feral Kills-In-Shadows, the best dialog and combat versatility come from the foul-mouthed and insult-flinging Verse.

All members of the Scarlet Chorus faction earn their names, discarding who they were before joining the horde, and Verse’s title came from the beautiful songs of death she weaves on the battlefield.

Verse is discovered near the very start of the game in the Edgering Ruins after your first battles against the Guardsmen. Just simply ask her to join when dialog starts and don’t go out of your way to alienate her in the first conversation.

Love her crazy mohawk hair style? Don’t forget you can turn off any character’s helmet so it doesn’t appear in-game while still retaining any armor bonuses.

Basic Verse Combat Strategies

Verse acts as both a ranged (bows) and close combat melee (dual wielding) fighter, and can switch between the two options during combat.

Corresponding to those styles, Verse has two different talent trees to choose from at each level: Duelist for attacking with two short swords and exploiting vulnerabilities like a typical fantasy RPG rogue, and Skirmisher for focusing on ranged attacks that frequently have a fire component.

Typically it’s a good idea to start off any combat with an ability like Burining Iron as the enemies are closing in, then switch to melee attacks and work in coordination with the Fatebinder for combo attacks.

Verse can also permanently raise your dual wielding or ranged attack skills when you gain enough favor with her (see below) that she will agree to duel with you when you initiate a conversation.

 You want this whirlwind of death on your side!

Verse’s Combo Attacks

Verse automatically starts with the Fatebinder melee combo attack Blood Soaks Stone regardless of her loyalty or fear level. This useful melee combo requires the Fatebinder and Verse to be next to the same opponent and knocks the enemy prone while causing bleeding damage. This combo is incredibly useful in engagements where you are outnumbered and need some breathing room.

At loyalty level 3, Verse gains the ranged combo Death From Above, which launches several arrow strikes in a row that all have a high armor penetration.

If you go the opposite direction and inspire fear in Verse, fear level 3 unlocks the Fury’s Rage combo that deals damage in an arc to anyone around Verse and deals further fire damage over time.

Gaining loyalty with Verse has its advantages

Gaining Loyalty / Fear With Verse

While the bulk of your loyalty and fear meter changes with companions will occur as you interact with them during the story, keep in mind that anything you do in the game’s starting Conquest area will also play a role.

Anytime you do things to help the Scarlet Chorus and anger the Disfavored, you are likely to get a loyalty boost with Verse before even meeting her. Likewise, if you clearly help out the Disfavored at the expense of Scarlet Chorus lives in the opening segment, Verse will start with a higher fear ranking.

In particular, choosing to go to Apex in the second year of the Conquest and killing the queen gives a big boost to Verse’s loyalty. For more details, see our full guide to the Conquest section here. 

Typically anything you do to gain favor with the Scarlet Chorus during the campaign will also give a positive impact on your standing with Verse, and vice versa. Making the Scarlet Chorus happy and flipping the bird to the Disfavored at every point will rapidly build your loyalty with Verse (while killing your loyalty and raising the fear of Barik, if he’s in your party).

 Verse becomes more loyal and deadly as you earn her trust

There are several areas where the response you assume will make Verse angry will actually inspire loyalty. If she shows any sentimentality or weakness, call her out on it, especially when she’s discussing her dead former sisters. Mentioning that they couldn’t hold their own in a fight and deserved to die actually gains loyalty as she agrees with you, when normally such a conversation with any other character would drop loyalty.

Verse also likes to be caught and called out when she is engaging in subterfuge – if you catch her being evasive and figure out why, she’ll see you as a strong leader worthy of following.

Conversely, rigidly following the letter of law, praising the Disfavored or accepting their battle plans over those of the Scarlet Chorus, or showing admiration for Archon Ashe will drop her loyalty or raise her fear level.

There’s one dialog section that will cause tension with Verse, but which you have to go through no matter what if you want to reach the end of her conversation segments. Insinuating she is like The Voices Of Nerat in her ability to take thoughts and fighting styles from other people will drop her loyalty, but is necessary. Another paradox in Verse’s strange mind, she doesn’t want to be like the leader of the Scarlet Chorus, despite idolizing the Scarlet Chorus to an all-consuming degree.

That’s all you need to know to make Verse a useful member of the party and rapidly increase either her loyalty or fear to unlock the best combo abilities! Let us know what tactics you employ with Verse and if you’ve managed to unlock any hidden dialog with other conversation options.