Tears of Metal companions guide: battalion troop types, command gauge orders, Recruitment Tent upgrades, veteran promotions, and co-op tips for Paper Cult EA.
Lead a Scottish battalion through co-op roguelike campaigns — troop commands, emblem builds, and four-player scaling in Paper Cult's Steam EA launch.
~9 min read
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Tears of Metal companions are the Scottish battalion troops marching behind your hero — archers, infantry, cavalry, and support squads you command through the special gauge. This page covers troop roles, command inputs, village upgrades, and co-op squad splits. Verified August 16, 2026 · Steam.
| Term | Meaning in Tears of Metal |
|---|---|
| Companions | Battalion AI troops attached to your hero general |
| Battalion | Full squad — hero plus recruited companion units |
| Command gauge | 3-bar special meter — 1 bar issues a troop order |
| Veterans | Promoted soldiers with permanent skills between runs |
| Recruitment Tent | Village building that unlocks extra companion slots |
Tears of Metal companions are not separate playable characters like the three launch heroes — they are persistent battalion units that follow Wallace, Ruadh Stonecrusher, or Vanguard Tracker into every skirmish. Store copy and preview footage consistently describe leading a Scottish battalion through Dragon Stone–scarred Highlands, and combat UI shows troop silhouettes holding flanks while your hero parries captains.
Each companion squad has a role: ranged volleys, shield walls, cavalry charges, or support buffs triggered when you spend one segment of the special actions gauge. Companions scale with emblem picks — especially Mark and Caithness clan emblems on the emblems database — and with artifacts such as Highland Warlord Emblem on the artifacts tier list.
Unlike charms or random artifact drops, companion headcount and veteran quality persist through village buildings. A player who ignores Recruitment Tent upgrades still clears Act I, but Act II elite rooms assume you can call arrow volleys or shield advances on cooldown — exactly when Tears of Metal companions matter most. Next: which roles to recruit first.
Your hero handles block/parry timing, emblem finishers, and boss mechanics. Companions thin fodder, apply pressure on ranged elites, and absorb stray hits when threat modifiers spawn arrow towers. If companions wipe, you can still win with hero DPS — but village currency and unlock events become harder because veteran promotions die with them.
Paper Cult demo tutorials route new players to the Barracks after first construction unlocks, emphasizing promotions before the next campaign push. Treat companions as long-term assets, not disposable summons.
Hub: recruit replacements, promote veterans, expand slots via village upgrades. Overhead map: companions auto-deploy at each node — no separate RTS micro. Combat: hold the battalion input (see controls) to issue orders mid-fight.
Early Access ships multiple companion archetypes — infantry blocks, archer volleys, cavalry shock, and specialist squads tied to battalion emblem picks. Exact unit names can shift in balance patches, but role splits stay stable: frontline, ranged DPS, flank / cavalry, and support buffers.
Use the table below when planning squad composition for solo runs or co-op squads. One player stacking all frontline companions while another brings zero ranged coverage is a common Act II wipe cause. Once roles are set, learn how battalion commands spend gauge.
| Role | Companion job | Best when | Pairs with hero |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frontline infantry | Hold chokepoints · absorb captain hits | Learning parry windows · Gilles boss | Wallace · Ruadh |
| Archer / ranged | Focus fire marked elites · clear towers | High threat branches · co-op Mark emblems | Vanguard Tracker |
| Cavalry / shock | Break shield lines · burst objectives | Timed rescue events · Act II splits | Ruadh · mobile heroes |
| Support / banner | Buff companion DPS · extend gauge value | 4-player lobbies · artifact synergies | Any — co-op support |
Mark clan emblems amplify focus-fire commands — one player marks, companions and allies dump damage. Caithness emblems favor block-first hero play while companions hold the lane. Orbs and Smite clans skew hero finishers; companions still benefit from any artifact that buffs battalion tempo or squad cooldowns.
Build planning lives on the builds guide — duplicate emblem families in co-op waste companion-scaling drops.
Act I: prioritize survivable infantry — tutorial teaches block while companions handle trash packs. Act II: add ranged companions before environment hazards stack; see walkthrough routing notes. Act III: support banners and veteran promotions matter more than raw recruit count — boss telegraphs punish unprepared squads.
Tears of Metal companions respond to battalion orders spent from the three-segment special gauge. One bar fires a focused troop command — arrow volley, shield advance, cavalry charge, or similar depending on your loadout. Three bars trigger a wide AoE ultimate that clears fodder; hoarding all three for trash packs leaves companions idle during captain fights.
Default binds: hold G (keyboard) or hold RB (Xbox controller) opens the command wheel — detailed in the controls guide. Releasing early cancels selection; call "spending bar" in voice chat before opening the wheel in co-op. The loop above in At A Glance shows the wheel in action.
Spend single bars during captain engagements so companions focus fire while you parry. Save triple-bar ultimates for objective defense timers, double-elite rooms, or act finale adds — not for three infantry standing alone.
Demo footage shows fodder dying quickly even without ultimates; the musou fantasy is elite control. Companion commands exist to solve elites and timed waves, not to skip every trash node.
Issuing a cavalry charge into a telegraphed AoE kills companions permanently. Standing in the same lane as archer volleys negates spacing benefits. If companions die mid-node, finish the fight carefully — replacements cost hub time and gold.
Companion slot count and recruit quality come from village buildings — especially Recruitment Tent, Barracks, and Settlement Outpost tiers on the village upgrades page. Paper Cult preview VO sends players to Barracks immediately after first construction unlocks; skipping Recruitment Tent levels caps how many companions deploy in Act II.
Treat hub spending as part of companion power — not just hero gear. Next section covers veteran promotions that persist between nodes.
| Building | Companion effect | Priority |
|---|---|---|
| Recruitment Tent | Extra companion slots · faster replacements | High — after Outpost L1 |
| Barracks | Promote veterans · permanent skill unlocks | High — between every act |
| Settlement Outpost | Gates hero unlocks · shop tiers | Critical — Ruadh path |
| Armory | Hero gear — indirect companion survivability | Medium |
| Apothecary | Healing items — hero focused, not troop revive | Medium |
Upgrade Recruitment Tent before ego-pushing Act II with minimum companions. Community Act I clears with under-geared squads still work; Act II captains assume you can field at least two role-diverse companion groups.
Currency from failed runs still funds tents — Paper Cult designed wipes to bank meta. Spend before restarting the same branch.
Some event nodes offer temporary companion reinforcements or charm buffs. Hub recruitment sets your baseline roster entering the map; event nodes spike power for one branch. Both layers matter — ignore hub upgrades and events cannot fix empty slots.
Veteran companions are promoted soldiers who keep permanent skills between campaign nodes — extra damage, tighter formation, or faster command cooldowns depending on promotion tier. Losing a veteran mid-run hurts more than losing a fresh recruit because promotions cost time and village currency.
Promote at the Barracks during hub phases — after Act I boss Gilles, before Act II push, and whenever you recruit replacements. The heroes guide unlock table ties Ruadh and Vanguard Tracker gates to Outpost levels; companion veterans make those unlock events easier. In 4-player lobbies, split roles using the co-op section below.
Visit Barracks → promote available veterans → fill empty slots at Recruitment Tent → buy equipment if Armory tier unlocked → launch next act. Skipping promotion to rush emblem nodes is how squads enter Act II with green recruits.
Highland Warlord Emblem (S-tier on artifacts tier list) raises battalion DPS for the whole squad. Chieftain's Horn spikes during boss weeks when commands align with horn procs. Split artifact duplicates in co-op — one player carrying two battalion engines wastes coverage.
Tears of Metal co-op scales enemy spawns with party size, but each player still controls one hero plus personal companion battalions. Four Wallace mains with identical infantry stacks waste emblem diversity — split companion roles the same way you split hero picks on the co-op guide.
Mark clan emblems shine when one player calls commands while another applies marks. Support players stack battalion-buff artifacts so frontline companions survive scaled captains. Village spending is personal — align Recruitment Tent upgrades verbally so one player is not fielding green recruits while others deploy veterans.
| Party size | Companion strategy |
|---|---|
| Solo | Balanced infantry + one ranged · learn commands early |
| 2 players | One frontline stack · one ranged/Mark support |
| 3–4 players | Dedicated Mark caller · battalion artifact support · avoid duplicate clans |
AI battalion troops attached to your hero — archers, infantry, cavalry, and support squads you command with the special gauge. They are the "Scottish battalion" from Paper Cult marketing, distinct from the three playable heroes.
Upgrade Recruitment Tent and related village buildings at the hub — see village upgrades. Some event nodes grant temporary reinforcements mid-run.
Yes. Veterans lost mid-campaign must be re-recruited and re-promoted. Boss telegraphs and bad command timing are the usual causes.
Fill the 3-bar gauge · spend 1 bar for a troop order (hold G / RB) · 3 bars for AoE ultimate. Full bind list on the controls guide.
Split roles — one frontline stack, one ranged/Mark support, battalion-buff artifacts shared across the squad. Details on the co-op guide.
Yes. Mark and battalion-focused emblems amplify command value; artifacts like Highland Warlord Emblem buff entire squads — see builds and emblems.
Matched by build plan, shared topics, and guide progression — not random related links.
