Kenshi is a game that is best played however you want it to be played. While some players enjoy the solo experience of having one character and turning them into a feared legend that has Cat Lon quivering in his exile, others will start with a squad and build up to legions of followers.
Many recruits are generated randomly and can be found in bars and waystations across the continent but some are unique, one of a kind characters that can be recruited into your faction.
In this guide, I’m sending my self-insert character after some of the best that are out there so you can add them to your roster.
10. Ruka
Ruka seen here with Ryan after building their house.
Ruka is a dishonoured and dehorned Shek warrior. To be defeated in battle and survive is a huge no-no in Shek society. Thus her horns were sawn off of her head as a mark of shame to the rest of the proud and humourless Shek. A hardy warrior race who pride themselves in their battle prowess.
She can be found in the bars in the Shek city of Squin, making her one of the first recruitable characters that you may actually come across in your playthrough if you picked the wanderer start. As Ryan did here, in his previous adventures.
Approach her in the bar, and she will tell you her story before asking if you’re looking for recruits. If you are, she’ll be more than happy to join you.
The reason that she makes this list is that you can find her very early on in your playthrough. For an early player in the relatively low-level area of The Border Zone, she comes with some stats already built up. Level 10 in melee attack and defence, all the weapons except polearms and level 5 strength.
Her one drawback is that she only has level one toughness making her pretty easy to knock down and not much use in a fight when she will only last as long as you do if you’re a fresh start character as well.
But here’s the best thing. While most characters in Kenshi come with a fee to recruit them, Ruka will join absolutely free of charge. Just don’t do what this writer did and leave her in Squin mining copper. The Ruka in my playthrough died while I wasn’t paying attention to Starving Bandits. With no one there to rescue her, she bled out in the sand and is gone forever.
9. Hamut
Ignore what they’re saying in the background. Kenshi is not "dog s***".
Another freebie and definitely worth the trip. Hamut can be found in some of the United Cities bars in Drifters Last and Clownsteady. However, he is more commonly found in the bars of Shark within the Swamps.
He will cost you absolutely nothing to recruit as long as you engage him in conversation and share his views on slavery.
For personal reasons, Hamut has a very negative view on the very common practice of slavery. Kenshi is pretty brutal after all. With him in your party though, you can lead a revolution to emancipate the masses from their slave masters.
Hamut's stats.
Hamut comes with a pretty decent step-up in stats. Especially for someone who comes free of charge. Hell, you don’t even have to actually believe the way he does. As long as you can convince him that you share his views, he’s all yours, and you won’t even have to spend a single Cat.
8. Chad
Chad being very Chad
In the heart of Flats Lagoon is a strange town. Also called Flats Lagoon. Don’t think too much about it. The builders clearly had no imagination.
Flats Lagoon. A city on stilts.
A very interesting place to visit on its own merit, with some cool shops and some even cooler characters. One of them being Chad.
Chad has some tall stories. Take them with a heaping bowl of salt but having seen his martial arts skills in action, he may have actually punched a Beak Thing right in its beak.
In spite of the bravado that he wears on his sleeve, Chad comes with a pretty decent suite of stats ready to go. Especially for a martial artist. Arguably one of the more difficult skills to master when landing hits hurts you just as much as your opponents in the beginning.
He comes with quite the hefty price tag at 9,000 Cats, but given that he’s already a good few steps along the way to being a grandmaster black belt martial artist, it’s a pretty good deal.
Chad’s stats.
7. Agnu
Poor Agnu, locked in a cage in the Tower of Abuse.
Agnu is a soldier bot that is trapped inside the Tower of Abuse. He is the only recruitable soldier bot in the game without the use of mods and is definitely quite the character. Especially when you pair him with Beep in your squad.
Rescuing him will be a challenge. The Tower of Abuse is home to the thrall masters. Two psychotic skeletons who have been beheading and reprogramming their robotic brethren. Turning them into thralls that will attack anyone on site who wanders into Venge.
Even getting to the tower is dangerous for any organic characters in your party as Skeletons will attest to “The other one” that is still active in orbit.
“The other one” that they are talking about is an “eye”. An ancient orbital satellite that is still somehow functioning after thousands of years. Constantly blasting lasers into the ground throughout the region. If you have characters that aren’t skeletons, it's advisable to travel through Venge at night when the Eye isn’t active.
Agnu clearly broken from his experiences with a mind that’s been turned into mush.
After dispatching Ponk and Screamer The False, the two thrall masters with pretty hefty bounties on their heads, you can head up the tower and rescue Agnu.
“Let’s get you out of there”
Agnu doesn’t appear to be able to speak in anything other than growls and screams.
Agnu’s stats.
Besides coming with level 50 in strength, Agnu is a blank slate. However, as mentioned, he is the only soldier bot that you can recruit. He will heal 50 per cent faster than a regular skeleton and can detect NPCs from much farther away.
If not for the stats and the challenge of getting him, he is definitely worth it for Beeb’s shared dialogue. The two of them share a special relationship that is really lovely to see as you travel around Kenshi with them.
6. Bo
Bo sitting atop a rooftop bar in Black Scratch.
Bo is an Anti-Slaver who is found in the city of Black Scratch. She is always accompanied by another Anti-Slaver Jonin, as seen in the picture above.
Occasionally, the player must find Tinfist and align themselves with the Anti-slavers before she will talk to the player character. Other times, she will talk to player characters without meeting Tinfist first.
Although you must be on bad terms with the United Cities, the Traders Guild or the Slavers. You’ll also need to capture a noble of the United Cities.
She is a wanted character with a 30,000 Cat reward if you turn her into the United Cities. You can even break her out; she may join you after being rescued.
Bo also has the ability to ask Anti-slaver squads to bodyguard her and your party. Including Tinfist’s squad. Obviously, this is a very positive advantage to have.
Unfortunately, she wouldn’t talk to Ryan and his companions, so they left her in Black Scratch. A shame, really, as she has some very impressive stats. Especially when it comes to stealth and assassination.
Bo’s stats courtesy of the Kenshi Wiki.
5. Ells
Ells. He is very hard to miss as he is the fattest Shek you can find.
Ells is a down-on-his-luck rum thief wandering the streets of Sho Battai. A fun character and arguably the stealthiest Shek that you can find and recruit from the get-go.
Ells has a small bounty on his head for petty theft crimes. Arguably not worth it for the small amount of Cats when you can just give him 300 Cats and bring him into your squad.
Ells' stats.
Ells doesn’t have the most impressive stats, with the exception of being slightly stealthy and a rather good thief. It's impressive for a Shek when their racial debuff discourages stealthy gameplay.
Despite that, for the cheap price you can recruit him for, he’s definitely a fun character to add to your roster. Like most unique characters, he has an interesting backstory and fun dialogue.
4. Red
Red. A red-haired pickpocket in the coastal city of Bark.
In the top northeastern edge of the United Cities territory is the city of Bark. If you’re in a squad of five or fewer, you may have the good fortune of running into Red.
She will approach the player character and “Oops” some Cats out of their pocket. This will open the opportunity to engage her in dialogue and convince her to join you.
Choose the passive dialogue options, find some common ground, and she’ll join you for the chance to get out of that backwater city.
Not having the most impressive stats, she's a steal for the low price of 150 Cats.
Already quite proficient in the stealthy aspects of the stat sheet, she can come in quite handy if you haven’t got the most stealthy characters in your roster yet.
3. Hobbs
Hobbs can be found in the fishing village north of World’s End.
Everyone's favourite crazy old coot, Hobbs, can make a fine addition to your squad. If not for his stats, then at least for some comic relief.
After engaging him in conversation, he will tell you all about the legendary wailing banshee. When you take him on board, the crazy old drunkard will not remember mentioning a wailing banshee and will call you silly for bringing it up.
Still, he comes free of charge and has a leg up in some stats to boot. For packing your faction's numbers up or if you just want more Greenlanders for farming, you can’t go wrong with making this tired old man happy.
Hobbs’ stats.
2. Luquin
Luquin locked up in Tengu’s vault.
A legend in his own right, he is one of the few characters you can recruit with books written about him. He has even authored one himself, although that was probably more of a forced thing as it was on the order of Emperor Tengu, who locked him up in the first place.
Luquin’s crime was murdering a United Cities noble and sending death threats to others. Characters in the game world will sometimes reference him and his exploits. You can meet the legend himself if you’re strong enough or sneaky enough to break into Tengu’s vault.
The gang camped out near Tengu’s vault in preparation for the raid.
Breaking into Tengu’s vault will not be easy. There are iron-clad samurai guarding it. The very best of the United Cities forces will immediately attack intruders.
If you are on good terms with the United Cities, you can enter the vault and break him out, but be prepared for the consequences. Getting in might be easy, but getting back out will be tough.
Ryan sneaks in to bust Luquin out.
If you’ve got yourself a powerful endgame squad or a stealthy ninja, then Luquin can be yours if you can get to him. He will join you after you free him and get him clear of the vault. Starting the next chapter in the legend of Luquin.
Luquin’s stats.
His stats may not impress that much, but bear in mind by the time the player character reaches him, he has been imprisoned for 15 years. He’s probably a bit rusty.
1. Beep
A throwback to when Ryan met Beep.
Of course, it’s everyone’s favourite character. Arguably the most important character in the game. Beep. Beep is a hive worker drone of blank-slate stats, but that’s not what makes him so special.
Beep can be found in Mongrel, where he will follow the player character around. Beeping incessantly until he is acknowledged. After some brief conversation, the player can ask how much Cats Beep wants to join the squad. Beep will state that he doesn’t know what money is and will join you for free.
What makes Beep so unique is that his name is unusual, as Hivers will choose their names based on the first thing that they see. Beep will “beep” constantly. When waking up, healing, reloading saves and just randomly at any point in the game.
He is one of the few characters with in-game dialogue written by Chris Hunt. The developer of Kenshi and founder of Lo-fi games. Beep’s dialogue will change as he develops, becoming “Cyber-Beep” if he acquires a skeleton limb.
If the player recruits Agnu into the squad, Beep will declare Agnu his best friend and the two will have some back-and-forth dialogue of grunts and graahhhs.
All in all, he is a great character to have in any Kenshi playthrough. He adds some comic relief to the harsh and hostile lands you travel through. Protect him at all costs and make him the most powerful warrior ever.
Conclusion
Kenshi has plenty of unique and fun characters to pick and choose from when crafting your perfect faction. Many of them are randomly generated, but there are plenty with unique backstories and fun lines of dialogue to add some richness to the world you explore.
Whatever you choose to add, remember that their death is permanent. So make sure you’re willing to lose them or build them up before you go storming into the Ashlands.
