Hi,
I was wondering, who are the best companions to have in each of the groups. Unless they are all the same of course, then who is the most useful. I believe ED-E is useless except for the fact he carries a lot. I haven't had the chance to get Rex yet, and besides the non-human companions, I only managed to get Boone, Cass and Veronica. Until now I had Veronica so far, which I liked her. But bugged out and I can no longer use her.
I'm now using Cass, but she doesn't seem strong, and she doesn't use the weapons I give her, keeps using her own shortgun.

EDIT: I added a poll and you should vote what companion you prefer the most. I didn't list Lily and Gannon due to really, never actually hearing about them.

Raul since your weapons hardly deteriorate at all with him and he carries a .44 mag. EDE since you can detect enemies way before they detect you.

ED-E is a great companion actually his enhanced sensors pick up enemies well beyond the range they can detect possibly detect you, great for any stealth or sniping character. Rex dies plain in simple, low-hp and defense+melee equals death, ED-E can at least be set to passive so he won't chance after foes.[Rex doesn't respond well to passive] And remember you get to have one robotic and one human companion at a time.

For Cass give her a hunting shotgun and some ammo obviously[if you don't give the m ammo they won't use the weapon], I've also given her a light machine gun with a bunch of surplus ammo.

Now Boone, well he can be deadlier then you, he may be to good a companion, give him a sniper rifle or the unique gobi and he kill things left and right as he'll critically hit the head half the time which is almost always fatal. The most dangerous foes for him are creatures without vulnerable heads such as radscorpions[giant only] and sentry bots.

Cass whups some Mojave a$$ with the Cowboy Repeater+ (stock, tube, action) and the 500+ rounds of .357 JFP that I put in her inventory. Plus, who doesn't like to drink whiskey all the time with no negative effects?!?!?

For me the best companion is Veronika. She is the member of Brotherhood of Steel, she is nice and very good and endurable fighter. What a pitty I can't shag her.

I'm partial to Veronica. <3 Felicia Day's voice, and Bonds of Steel (finish her quest, have her stay with the BoS) is a HUGE upgrade to her armor. Portable crafting station is also useful.

The downsides with her are that she doesn't scale (she doesn't level up with you, so her HP stay low but she starts with 100+ Unarmed skill) and she's bugged to not get Nerve bonuses (so she svcks for high CHA people). For people with CHA 1 (lots of us) she's probably the best option with Power Armor/Ballistic Fist equipped. She solos Giant Radscorpions and Cazadors while yawning on Very Hard for me now.

Raul's anti-equipment degrade sounds sixy, but I think his melee is lacking and I prefer to have my companions use the really high end melee weapons compared to high end ranged so that they aren't svcking up my ammo (and most of their default ranged weapons svck compared to high end melee).

Humanoid: Boone for combat, Raul for support.

Non-humanoid: ED-E, for his mad perception-granting skillz.

ED-E rules!

I like raul, good character + good abilities.

Boone and ED-E, of the companions I've tried. Useful perks, and they don't give you too much backchat.

I watched ED-E take out 2 Bark Scorpions by himself yesterday while Boone was getting some others. They're so good together that I've started laying back and trying to watch. I'd rather not fight if they take care of business.

Ok Boone is best for combat but he just murders everything so I use Raul I like Raul because he always knows whos boss and is ok for combat . Saying that they all good in their own way depends on your perferance.

Not only is Boone a sniper god, but the two of you look so adorable in you matching berets.

I've tried 4 now.
Raul is just all around great.He can hold himself in battle, is fun to listen to and has a great perk.
Boone is a snore-fest and just plain out svcks in battle. (I have no idea why people call him OP when he misses 70% of his shots. >_<)
ED-E has died around 20 times on me. Awful. Only reason to get him is because of his perk and then just leave him at your house.
Gannon, his damage rivals Raul's and he is very accurate with his default weapon. He also have an interesting personality.

I've completed the game with Veronica, Cass, and Boone as well as both Rex and ED-E.

Veronica:
Great for on the Strip work. Give her power armor to keep her alive. For weapons she responds well to Love and Hate and ballistic fists.


Cass:
As long as you give her a riot or hunting shotgun with plenty of shells, she is an absolute terror in close range. Probably the best companion to someone who prefers to snipe. If those cazadors get too close, she wastes them with inhuman speed. My only gripe was she would blow through shells like crazy trying to hit enemies that were way beyond the range of her shotgun. As long as you can feed her ammo habit, she is a great pick for tackling vaults nd other close quarters bases.
Oh, I also recommend against using her on hardcoe. I was trying to snipe the deathclaws out of the quarry and next thing I hear was, "I'm gonna six this b****!" She went charging head-on against a pack of deathclaws. Although she did emerge victorious, I think it was pure luck and I doubt that outcome would repeat itself.

Boone:
What's that over there? Oh, Boone already killed it. If you're a melee character that still likes to get out of the house and wander the open expanses of the Mojave, bring a Boone with you. When handed a sniper rifle, Boone will swat anything within 250 yards like a fly. Though not his strong suit, he can still wreck in melee. If you plan to do a lot of melee make sure to give him a rebar club, he seemed to like that one the best of all the melee weapons I gave him (but I never tried the super sledge).

Rex:
Not really worth the amount of work it takes to get him. As others have said, his attacks are mediocre and he dies quickly.

ED-E:
His perception bonus is excellent and he can carry some weight, but the best advantage I found he had was storing my weapons in casinos. On my 2nd play through I found out if I gave my guns to ED-E before I entered a casino, they never searched him and were available anytime I needed them. It's also funny to hear the guards in Gomorra yell, "What the f*** is that thing?!"

I'd say Cass and ED-E are my picks for my future games. ED-E can detect enemy from afar, Cass with Cowboy Repeater or Hunting Shotgun (or later Dinner Bell or Riot) is unstoppable. She let's you get drunk with no penalty and addiction boosting your DT and CHA for tough encounters (and CHA boosts her!), that's kind of useful. If not her I'd pick Raul with the biggest meanest revolver I can find him (Danny Trejo's voice - priceless). I don't like the dog since I moved to hardcoe, he's freaking suicidal and no brain transplant can change that. Same goes for Veronica, she's really cool but it seems like she's made of paper and drops fast even in her fancy Power Armor so she's not really cut for hardcoe. Boone teases Legion too early and steals my kills initiating combat too soon, Lily is stupid, Gannon's quest is impossible to activate before you go far into the main quest.

ED-E is good for spotting enemies long before they appear, of course he's made me paranoid. The second I see a red blip, I repeatedly hit the VATS button until it targets something. Just in case it's a Cazador.

Cass is hilarious. Nuff said.
Raul keeps your equipment shiny and new, which is a good thing, considering how hard is can be to repair certain things. He's also hilarious.
Veronica and Arcade Gannon are both really interesting, well-written characters. Hell, they're hilarious too.

Boone is an "I win" button.

Haven't tried Rex or Lily yet.

Don't have your hopes too high.

ED-E’s rad.

By the way, I don’t call him “Eddie”, I call her “Edie”

REX is cool too, but ED-E works better with a sniper build. Plus she's practically a walking (floating) storage shed.

Plus, REX is an old boy, so I like to let him chillax at the 38

Lily's psychotic episodes are worth having her around just to witness. Boone is kind of OP-ed, but when you give him some great armor and a heavy hitting gun, he becomes invincible and you wont get many kills. Raul is good all around, get his Vaquero perk and give him a brush gun for some serious death. I pick a companion though depending on the role I'm playing. Raul for a gunslinger, Arcade for a scientist, Cass for the good cowboy, Veronica for a Paladin type build etc.

Eh, Boone is my favorite humanoid companion for his headshot skillz.

Besides him, Raul is always a good choice to save money from repairing weapons.

For non-humanoid, I'd have to say ED-E, because lets face it, he owns.

I've had Cass and Boone. Boone's definitely the deadlier of the two, but I lost him when we started waging a two-man war against those Legion scumsvckers. He got surrounded and wiped out. :sadvaultboy: Now I'm waging a one-man war against them. Anyone who gets their kicks by crucifying people deserves whatever pain, misery, and destruction I can throw their way!

Now I've got Cass, and I may just take your advice on that Cowboy Repeater... I have it, but I don't use it much because I found a plasma rifle.

I couldn't imagine losing Boone.

He is pwnage personified in a video game. Him and ED-E, rather.

Boone could probably hold his own in a fist fight with Chuck Norris.

True story.

Pic or it didn't happen.

Boone is irritating in the long run.

I just finished the game using Lily and I have to say she is a tank. Takes massive damage and distracts enemies for you to pick off. I cannot say I like her patter as much as Veronica who is a cool chick. Veronica's perk is not so needed since crafting opportunities are pretty rare and there is always time to find a bench.

Boone is pretty quiet but I like his sniper perk since it matches my style of play better than the others. He is also just as good with a melee weapon as with the ranged rifle.

ED-E is nice because you can pair him up with any of the others except Rex and he carries 210 pounds. He is not so good in battle but his perk lets you cheat on perception and use the points elsewhere.

I only used Rex for a short time. If you liked having Dogmeat in Fallout 3 then maybe he would appeal to you but I can do without him and wear a hat instead.

Raul, meh. He is always complaining and his perk is not that great.

Cass I feel sorry for but I cannot have a drunk tagging along.

Gannon is just creepy. I sent him home after one trip. I have heard his related quest is good, so I might give him another try.

Best match for me is Boone and ED-E

Well, I wish I could find a real life Cass, and Boone is my boy. I also prefer ED-E over Rex, IMO Dogmeat should have stayed.