So I know they made it so they don't get stats from items. But does the weapon really matter or is it just for show now? I was messing around on my sniper and decided to give Kaliyo a obnoxious looking blaster rifle instead of her sniper rifle. Was just wondering if weapons mattered or not.

The specific weapon doesn't matter, although there are some bugs around the visuals of companion weapons in cut-scenes, but they have to *have* a weapon or some of their abilities don't work.

I'm a dummy and thought she was using a sniper rifle turns out it was a blaster rifle but I was still checking what weapons to give her. Before I asked here I googled it and most said pistol/shield, but she can only use 1 weapon now it seems so I'm guessing it really doesn't matter anymore.

It depends upon the companion. Some can use a sniper rifle or a blaster rifle, some can use lightsaber or a techstaff, etc. But you can't use just any weapon. A companion that uses a rifle or blaster can not use a lightsaber, for example.

 

You can generally equip them with any weapon you can equip them with. Most companion dps skills require a weapon, but you can actually remove their weapon. The problem is that if you remove the weapon they want to run in and melee the enemies with their fists. 😏