Rift Wizard 3 Companions Guide: All 5 Confirmed (2026)

This Rift Wizard 3 companions guide exists because no wiki page, Steam guide, or Reddit thread names a single one. That is not because the system is minor. It is because a companion, in this game, is a specific and different thing from the "allies" your combat log tracks every fight, and nobody covering Rift Wizard 3 has separated the two yet.

TL;DR: Rift Wizard 3 has 5 companions confirmed by name in official patch notes: Bard, Alchemist, and Valkyrie (added together on June 29, 2026), the Great Faery (added July 17, 2026, gained by clearing the Vault of the Fettered Fae with her alive), and Engineer (confirmed to exist by August 17, 2026, tracked under Level Rewards). None of the five have a publicly documented ability yet. This is different from the "allies" your combat log shows every run, which are spell summons and commandeered spawners, not the Companion system.

How many companions are in Rift Wizard 3? (quick answer)

Five, confirmed by name across three official patch notes: Bard, Alchemist, Valkyrie, the Great Faery, and Engineer. That is the complete count of anything the developer has called a "companion" in a Steam announcement to date. No wiki, fan compendium, or Steam Community guide currently documents this system at all, so this number reflects what patch notes confirm, not a number cross-checked against a closed, official roster page the way Rift Wizard 3's Realm 20 boss pool could be, since that system has dedicated hidden achievements locking the count. Companions don't.

Key takeaways

• 5 confirmed companions: Bard, Alchemist, Valkyrie, Great Faery, Engineer, all sourced directly from official Steam patch notes, not a wiki or community guess.
• Bard, Alchemist, Valkyrie were added together on June 29, 2026, under a dedicated "Companion Changes" patch note heading, six days after the June 23 Early Access launch.
• The Great Faery is the only companion with a confirmed unlock method: clear the Vault of the Fettered Fae and keep her alive through the fight against its Demons.
• Engineer is confirmed to exist by an August 17, 2026 balance note, filed under the "Level Rewards" category, suggesting it's a pickable in-run reward rather than a vault-gated unlock.
• None of the 5 have a documented ability, stat block, or full unlock condition beyond what's listed above. This guide says so directly instead of inventing plausible-sounding effects.
• Companions are not the same system as "allies." The combat log's "Allies Lost" and "Ally Damage Taken" lines track spell summons (Bone Knights, Void Slimes) and commandeered spawner units, a different mechanic entirely.

Overview: how this companion list was actually pieced together

There is no in-game codex entry, official website page, or marketing bullet point for companions in Rift Wizard 3. The store page's own "About This Game" description doesn't mention the word. Steam's Community guide section for this app currently lists exactly one guide, a general build guide that never mentions a companion by name. Two fan-run resources, a build/crafting compendium and a spell reference site, don't cover it either. Searching Reddit sitewide and within the game's own subreddit for each confirmed name turns up nothing beyond unrelated results from other games.

That gap is exactly why this guide exists, and why the source for every claim below is Steam's own ISteamNews API, read patch by patch since launch, cross-checked against the live Steam achievement API and the public achievement stats page. That second check matters because it's how the Realm 20 boss guide found its full boss pool: hidden, spoiler-style achievements with no description text lined up exactly with the 12 confirmed bosses. The same method does not work for companions. None of the 110 current achievements reference Bard, Alchemist, Valkyrie, the Great Faery, or Engineer by name, and the two achievements that come closest, Friendship (a hidden, no-description achievement) and Adventuring Party ("Win the Adventuring Party trial"), describe a challenge-run trial mode and an unlabeled spoiler achievement, not confirmation of any specific companion. That's worth stating plainly rather than stretching a loose association into a citation.

The confirmed companion roster

Every row traces to a live, fetchable Steam announcement, linked in the References section below. None of the five have had a follow-up patch note describing an ability, damage number, or stat block. If a guide elsewhere describes what Bard "does" in combat, ask where that came from, because it isn't in any official source published so far.

Bard, Alchemist, and Valkyrie: the original three, added together

EA Patch 1, released June 29, 2026, six days after Rift Wizard 3's June 23 Early Access launch, is where the word "companion" first appears in this game's official history. The patch notes carry a section header found nowhere else in the game's patch history: "Companion Changes," followed by three lines, "Added Bard companion," "Added Alchemist companion," "Added Valkyrie companion." That's the entire text. No ability description, no stat line, no unlock trigger.

The phrasing matters for one honest reason: "Added" strongly implies these three were new to the game in that specific patch, not present at the original June 23 launch. Whether the base launch build shipped with zero companions or some unnamed placeholder version of the system isn't independently documented anywhere this guide could verify, since no patch notes exist from launch day itself, only from six days later. This guide isn't going to guess at what isn't there.

Class-flavored names (a Bard, an Alchemist, a Valkyrie) suggest each companion probably brings a distinct role rather than being palette swaps of the same unit, similar to how the spell system separates fire, lightning, and holy into genuinely different playstyles rather than reskinned damage numbers. That's a reasonable inference from the naming pattern, not a confirmed mechanic, and this guide is drawing a clear line between the two.

GODEEPER: Companions aren't the only system this cluster caught cold. The crafting system creates entire passive effects no spell can replicate on its own. Rift Wizard 3 Crafting Guide: 8 Confirmed Artifacts →

The Great Faery: the one companion with a confirmed unlock method

The July 17, 2026 patch added the fourth companion under a "Vault Changes" heading, not "Companion Changes": "Added the Vault of the Fettered Fae; defeat its Demons and keep the Great Faery alive to gain her as a permanent companion." That sentence is the single clearest unlock instruction anywhere in this guide's research. You need to (1) find and enter the Vault of the Fettered Fae, one of the game's optional in-run vault encounters, (2) defeat the Demons inside it, and (3) keep the Great Faery herself alive through that fight. Fail the third condition and, by the plain reading of the patch note, you don't get her.

That same patch wave also confirmed two Realm 20 bosses, The Body Electric and Amaru, and a set of balance changes to The Gardener, all covered in the Realm 20 boss guide. Vaults, Realm 20 bosses, and companions all shipped content in the same patch cycle without ever being cross-referenced against each other in any community source, which is part of why a system like this stays invisible even to players actively reading patch notes for boss and build information.

This "Allies Lost" line reads Fearface, a spell-summoned unit from this run, not any of the five confirmed companions. The combat log uses "ally" for any friendly unit in a fight, which is a broader, separate category from the named Companion system this guide documents.

Engineer: confirmed to exist, added date undocumented

Engineer is the odd one out. It never appears in a patch note announcing its addition. The only mention across every patch this guide reviewed is a single line in the August 17, 2026 patch notes: "Buffed Engineer Companion," sitting under a "Level Rewards" header alongside "Made Reformation Shrines slightly rarer." Two things follow from that placement. First, Engineer definitely exists as a companion by that date, since you can't buff something that isn't in the game. Second, categorizing it next to Shrines under "Level Rewards" suggests you likely encounter Engineer as a pickable in-run reward option rather than through a fixed vault fight like the Great Faery.

What isn't answered: when Engineer was added. It could have shipped with the original June 23 launch, been part of EA Patch 1's "Companion Changes" batch without being individually named in that summary, or arrived in an undocumented hotfix between the announcements this guide reviewed. Guessing which is the exact kind of fabrication risk this site's research process exists to prevent, so the honest answer is: confirmed to exist, exact origin unconfirmed.

Companions vs. summoned allies: two systems, one confusing word

This is the single most important distinction for understanding why companion coverage doesn't exist anywhere else. Rift Wizard 3's combat log uses "Allies Lost" and "Ally Damage Taken" after nearly every fight, and those lines are packed with names: Fearface, Gnome, Storm Drake, Masked Wizard, Minotaur, Ice Belcher. None of those are companions. They're spell-summoned units (Bone Knights from the Conjuration tag, Void Slimes from certain equipment) and, separately, enemy spawners you can commandeer through specific crafted effects, both covered in the builds guide and the crafting guide. They die, respawn, or expire within a single run. The five companions this guide documents are different: patch notes describe Bard, Alchemist, and Valkyrie the same way they describe permanent monster or spell additions, and the Great Faery is explicitly called a "permanent companion" the moment you earn her, language the combat log's generic allies never get.

Another "Allies Lost" entry, this time Gnome, in a completely different run. Generic ally names like this rotate freely and aren't tied to any of the five named companions, reinforcing that these are two separate systems sharing one word in the UI.

Step-by-Step: getting the Great Faery, the one companion with a known method

1. Locate a Vault of the Fettered Fae portal. Vaults are optional side-encounters accessed through specific portal choices during a run, the same portal-routing layer covered in the pillar guide. This vault was added in the same July 17, 2026 patch that confirmed the Great Faery, so it won't appear in older runs or outdated guides.
2. Enter the vault and identify the Great Faery on the grid. Patch notes don't specify her exact starting position or whether she's immediately visible, so scout the room before committing to an aggressive opening.
3. Fight the Demons inside the vault. These are the vault's defending enemies. The patch note doesn't break down their composition or count, so bring the damage-variety and coverage habits the tips guide already recommends for any unscouted encounter.
4. Keep the Great Faery alive for the entire fight. This is the one hard condition the patch note states directly. If she dies mid-fight, the reasonable assumption is you don't get her, though the patch note doesn't explicitly describe a failure state beyond that.
5. Clear the vault. Defeating the Demons while she survives is what triggers her joining you, per the patch note's own wording: "keep the Great Faery alive to gain her as a permanent companion."

Tips for approaching a system this undocumented

Don't assume a companion behaves like its class name suggests. A "Bard" companion sounds musical and support-oriented by genre convention, but nothing in Rift Wizard 3's patch notes confirms that. This game already breaks genre expectations elsewhere, its spell tag system isn't a clean set of schools the way the name implies, so don't import assumptions from other roguelikes.

Protect anything that looks vault-specific before you know what it does. The Great Faery's fail condition (keep her alive) is the only one on record, but it's a reasonable prior that other unlock-through-combat companions, if any exist beyond the five confirmed here, might carry the same requirement. Treat unfamiliar named units in a vault room as protect-first until you know otherwise.

Check patch notes yourself before trusting a secondhand companion claim. Since this system has zero community coverage right now, any specific ability claim you encounter elsewhere wasn't sourced the way the roster and unlock method in this guide were. The Steam news feed for this app is public and free to check directly.

What isn't confirmed yet

Being direct about the gaps matters more here than in most guides, since there's no secondary source to catch an error if this guide got something wrong. Here's what's still unconfirmed:

• What any of the 5 companions actually do in combat. No ability, damage number, cooldown, or passive effect has been described in any patch note for Bard, Alchemist, Valkyrie, Great Faery, or Engineer.
• How Bard, Alchemist, Valkyrie, and Engineer are unlocked, beyond Engineer's likely Level Reward categorization. Only the Great Faery has a stated method.
• Whether 5 is the complete, closed list. Unlike the Realm 20 boss pool, there's no achievement structure locking this count. A companion could exist from the original June 23 launch without ever being named in a patch note, or one could ship in a future update this guide predates.
• Whether companions can die permanently, be replaced, or are limited to one active at a time. None of that is addressed anywhere in the source material.

This guide will get a freshness pass as this cluster's other articles do, and any of the above that becomes documented will get added with its source cited, the same discipline applied throughout.

GODEEPER: If undocumented systems like this one make you want a second opinion on what's actually confirmed for late-game content, the Realm 20 boss guide applies the same sourcing discipline to a system that turned out to be fully verifiable. Rift Wizard 3 Realm 20 Boss Guide: All 12 Bosses →

Frequently Asked Questions

How many companions are in Rift Wizard 3? Five confirmed by name in official patch notes as of this writing: Bard, Alchemist, Valkyrie, the Great Faery, and Engineer. No wiki or Steam guide documents the system yet, so this reflects what patch notes confirm, not necessarily a closed, final list.

What does the Bard companion do in Rift Wizard 3? Not publicly documented. Patch notes confirm Bard was added as a companion on June 29, 2026, but no source describes its ability, stats, or unlock method. Treat any specific claim about what Bard does as unverified until the developer documents it.

How do you get the Great Faery companion in Rift Wizard 3? Clear the Vault of the Fettered Fae and keep the Great Faery alive while you defeat the Demons inside. Patch notes confirm this directly: survive with her intact and she joins as a permanent companion for the rest of the run.

Is Engineer a companion or a level reward in Rift Wizard 3? Both. Patch notes call it "Engineer Companion" and list balance changes to it under the Level Rewards category, alongside Shrines. That suggests you pick it up as an in-run reward option rather than through a fixed vault or spell.

What's the difference between companions and allies in Rift Wizard 3? Companions are named, patch-tracked entities like Bard or the Great Faery. Allies is the game's combat-log term for anything fighting on your side, including spell summons like Bone Knights or commandeered spawner units, which are a separate system.

When were Bard, Alchemist, and Valkyrie added to Rift Wizard 3? June 29, 2026, in the patch officially titled EA Patch 1, six days after the game's June 23 Early Access launch. The patch notes group all three under a dedicated Companion Changes heading, confirming Companion as a named system.

Related Reading

• Rift Wizard 3 Review: 500+ Spells, Zero Classes (2026): Rift Wizard 3 review: 500+ spells and artifacts, an overlapping tag system instead of 8
• Rift Wizard 3 Mordred Boss Guide: Realm 21 Final Fight: Rift Wizard 3 Mordred boss guide: his multi-form fight, the summon-heavy corruption pressure, and the
• Rift Wizard 3: Hardcore Wizard Roguelike Hits EA June 23: Rift Wizard 3 launches in Early Access June 23, 2026. The open build system returns
• Rift Wizard 3 Builds Guide: Best School Synergies 2026: covers the spell-summoned allies (Bone Knights, Construct summons) that this guide distinguishes from companions.
• Rift Wizard 3 Achievements: All 110 Unlocks Explained: the full achievement list, including the Friendship and Adventuring Party entries referenced in this guide's research notes.

References

• Rift Wizard 3 on Steam: official store page, developer info, current pricing
• EA Patch 1 patch notes, June 29, 2026: source for Bard, Alchemist, and Valkyrie under the "Companion Changes" heading
• Beta Update patch notes, July 17, 2026: source for the Great Faery and the Vault of the Fettered Fae unlock method
• Beta Update patch notes, August 17, 2026: source confirming Engineer Companion exists, filed under Level Rewards
• Steam Global Achievement Percentages API, Rift Wizard 3: live achievement data checked for any companion-specific entries (none found)
• Steam achievement stats page, Rift Wizard 3: public achievement list, including Friendship and Adventuring Party
• Rift Wizard 3 subreddit: checked for community companion discussion; none found as of this writing