Companions. Whats the deal with them?

xanxus93

So I've started playing Neverwinter again and I've bee hooked again.
However something that I never really understood about the game is the companions, what are they there for?

I chose a Cleric this time around for the healing because I am a fighter and I take the brunt of the attacks so I thought it would be a smart idea to get me something that can heal, however from the point that I got my Cleric which I called Haru (Ill refer to his as Haru for the rest of this post) he hasn't really wowed me with his healing ability.

I've ranked him up to 20 and he doesn't have any "gear" or whatever its called for him and I just have no idea how to get the most out of Haru and it honestly feels pointless keeping him around cause I basically spam health pots in my encounters anyway.

And just to be sure that you understand I would get Haru "gear" but I have no idea how to go about getting him it in the first place nothing I pick up from encounters can be used on him so I'm baffled.

So what can I do to get the most out of Haru and any other companions that I decide to get in the future.

sgtpostal

lol frst off ditch him an get smethin like an good augment like bultte pup an then u wanna get polar bear cub owlbear cub an bear cub and the deepcrow hatchling u want bonding stones an the gear is easy enough an pretty cheap in ah to get as are thje low rnks of runestones (empowered best) or if u play the um camp u get high gear from it u can equip.
but basicaly since mod 15 hit the deck only comnp gear can go on comps an healers an tanks comps are still broke if i member right.
yes this is gunna take a bit since u new player but by lvl 80 this is wht u shld hav imo

xanxus93

sgtpostal#4408 said:

lol frst off ditch him an get smethin like an good augment like bultte pup an then u wanna get polar bear cub owlbear cub an bear cub and the deepcrow hatchling u want bonding stones an the gear is easy enough an pretty cheap in ah to get as are thje low rnks of runestones (empowered best) or if u play the um camp u get high gear from it u can equip.
but basicaly since mod 15 hit the deck only comnp gear can go on comps an healers an tanks comps are still broke if i member right.
yes this is gunna take a bit since u new player but by lvl 80 this is wht u shld hav imo

Ok so what your are saying is that I need to look on the AH for gear such as runestones and empowered is the best also just playing the campaign should give me better runes for my companions but with the latest mod companions are broken?

Also im trying not to spend money on the game right now because that is a whole commitment that I don't know if I want.

sgtpostal

xanxus93 said:

sgtpostal#4408 said:

lol frst off ditch him an get smethin like an good augment like bultte pup an then u wanna get polar bear cub owlbear cub an bear cub and the deepcrow hatchling u want bonding stones an the gear is easy enough an pretty cheap in ah to get as are thje low rnks of runestones (empowered best) or if u play the um camp u get high gear from it u can equip.
but basicaly since mod 15 hit the deck only comnp gear can go on comps an healers an tanks comps are still broke if i member right.
yes this is gunna take a bit since u new player but by lvl 80 this is wht u shld hav imo

Ok so what your are saying is that I need to look on the AH for gear such as runestones and empowered is the best also just playing the campaign should give me better runes for my companions but with the latest mod companions are broken?

Also im trying not to spend money on the game right now because that is a whole commitment that I don't know if I want.

no wht im tryin to say is that the ah u can get companion gear for your companions an then under the refinement tab on ah.... you can get runestones (bonding or empowered) once you get the runestones the empowered runestones will go into yoiur companions gear slots an the bondings will go in the bonding stone slots.. n no not the new mod companions that are broke but ALL healer and tank companions if i remember right (unless they fixed it yet) an playing the new undermountain campaihn requies you to be lvl 70 to start an playing thru the campaign will give you better GEAR for your companions not runestones
this doesnt really mean that you have to spend real life money to get these items but is more effective in getting the diamonds you need in game to get these items but if ypu have the time you can just spend grinding stuff out and earning the diamonds then buying what you need on ah

plasticbat

The first thing you want to pick up is to get bonding runestone because that will transfer companion stat to your character. You don't have to get the best companion until much later. The 'best' companion (and everything else) keeps on changing among mods. By the time you grind enough, the direction can be changed. However, bonding should be a safe bet for a while. You don't need to spend money unless you want stuff in a hurry.

thefiresidecat

don't bother with any of the things he mentioned. by the time you rank up enough for those to make a difference to you the meta will be different. any cheap augment will help. you can get bondings and comp gear off the ah. comp gear does drop in content but i'm guessing you are light years away from running that content. do your daily dungeons to get a little ad to buy those things. they're super cheap. comps don't do much for damage or heals at the moment. I think that changes next mod. bondings and gear will transfer stats to YOU to make you more powerful. I do recommend you make a ten dollar commitment to this game and buy vip. you'll get a daily lock box key which can help a bit and once you've levelled your vip up a bit it has a lot of perks that really make a QOL difference.

sandukutupu

My cleric has used the skeleton and on occasion swapped to con artist.

The old system these defended my cleric, out front taking damage, while I stayed to the rear and damaged at a distance. Not much has changed there.
In the current system they don't seem to damage as much and don't attack as fast as they did before.

Some people believe augment solves everything. No it doesn't, the augment cannot fight, block, or distract. All enemies will focus on you unless you are playing in large groups. At most, I think I play alone about 90 to 95% of the time. The only time I use an augment on my rogue, is for the stealth. Xuna is an awful rogue and they classified her as an invoker!!? She attacks everything within her sight. I will be fighting one mob and she will be off picking a fight with one or two other mobs, just to make my life suck even more! So I will swap between my Watler and Xuna on that rogue. Watler for stealth operations and Xuna for kill, kill, kill, and those over there too!

I never cared for this companion system, unlike Star Trek Online, you only get the one active companion. I am only citing STO because this engine was STO before it was remade into Neverwinter D&D. D&D called them retainers and I seem to recall high charisma allowed you up to three. Then there is a morale check and they would follow your orders (like the away team in Star Trek still follows my orders) stay here, don't fight, go there, guard this spot, etc.. I can't tell them to do squat. I would like to see retainer system as in D&D 5th edition but that would require them to put the old STO code back into the engine. Every time they make improvements, it seem to break elsewhere. So I won't hound them about it, but the fact remains, companions have never been all that great from the beginning.

tribbulater

Companions are still somewhat useful in game, just not as useful as they once were. The hope is that someday they may become useful again.

Some tips:
- Companions are mostly used currently to add to your own stats. That is why people suggest an 'augment' companion, but for general PvE play regular companions are fine too. Companions stats improve as they go up in rarity, thus, if you can afford an epic/purple companion, that will give you the best stats.

- Companions transfer stats to you using Bonding Runestones (and augments do it naturally as well). Look in the Refinement tab of Auction House, Runestones category, search Bonding Runestone, buy 3 of the highest rank you can afford. At present time, rank 8's are very cheap, rank 9 are a good price, rank 10 starts getting expensive.

- Companion Gear adds to their stats (which adds to your stats), so if you are level 70, go start the Undermountain quest from the scroll on the table behind Knox. That will give you 3 pieces of starter companion gear. If you are lower level, search the AH, Companions tab, Companion Equipment, for Epic gear (about 7-9,000 AD per). Pick pieces that have stats that you want to add to your character, then go back to Runestones tab and find some runestones to put into the gear rune slots. If you can't afford 3 pieces at 8k AD (ish) per, Rare/blue pieces are very cheap.

- Companions also have bonuses they can add to your character in the Companions tab of your Character screen, the 6 slots on the lower right. Buy an ENERGON epic/purple companion for instance, and it can add 24,000 HP to your char in a Utility bonus slot.

- Companions have a 'type' - Fighter, Mystic, Invoker, Creature or Beast. When you have multiple companions of the same 'type' they 'bolster' each other, which makes them a little more effective. So when shopping for companions, try to get a few extra of the same type as whatever one you will be using as your summoned companion, to beef him/her up a little.

Obviously all this will take some Astrals to spend, so run your Random dungeon every day, run the Dread Ring/Sharandar/Portal to Tuern quests each week, etc. to build up Astral Diamonds. Roughly 100,000 Astral diamonds would be enough to get you an Energon, a couple cheap blue/rare companions, a couple greens, 3 Rank 8 Bonding runestones, 3 pieces of Epic/purple companion gear and 6 runestones to put in them.

adinosii

The thing is, you can keep your bonding runestones and companion gear even if you switch companions....so focus on that for now. While leveling up, any companion is better than no companion at all - yes, augments give the highest stats, but unless you have high-ranking bonding runestones and a epic/legendary companion, the difference is not that big.

Now, when you hit level 80 and want to do "end-game" stuff, the situation changes and most players will agree that non-augment companions are inferior.

The other thing to consider is that you really want a set of 5 good companions for your offensive/defensive utility slots. You probably don't have 160 different companions, so go through the options for every slot and pick those that are best for you. You might want to buy one or two - I really recommend the Energon while leveling up...it is pretty cheap and gives 24.000 HP.

sandukutupu

Goro Thay has an orange rank Wayward Wizard, Phindar has been a pretty good meat shield. The old system Phindar could hold his own pretty well. Best of all he generates the greater threat level, all the bad guys focus beating the snot out of him. Meanwhile Goro Thay slips in and out attacking and retreating. As others have noted, the augments give you 100% of their stats. Unfortunately stats no longer matter all as; 1000 points = 1% (except the power and HP) an augment with 5,000 armor penetration is +5%, but then most of the commons stats are wasted above 65K. There are YouTube videos about all this "math junk" if you are really deep into it.

regenerde

Well, the regular companions are pretty much braindead after being hit one too many times on the head with the Nerfbat in Undermountain, and there hasn't been any usefull reply from the Devs on this matter either.

As allready menioned, you're better of with any augment, since most companions still behave rather strange and either do nothing or very little, or run around like headless chickens as soon as a fight starts, which might lead to adding more enemies to that fight...
Considering how hyperactive and well trained enemies somethimes act, it's not really understandable why companions can't at the very least be on a similar level.

Anyway, whatever augments or companions you choose to get or use in the end, do yourself a favour and don't buy any from the ZEN shop, aside being rather useless at the moment they're also too expensive even with a discount coupon or during a sale, and are only for a single character.

dionchi

Companions tend to be the best asset for new and low level players running through level specific campaigns, quests and dungeons(/skirmishes), then as a player progressed in the game with better experience, gear, boons with higher level companions and mounts, companions still served a purpose but they weren't nearly as useful as they were at lower levels...

At least that's how it used to be in my opinion.

Now unless a player has a Legendary (Gold) companion with high level bonding stones and runestones (the type a player typically has to buy) companions are pretty much next to worthless, boss/mob fodder who usually go down with the first hit.

Aside from how @regenerde put it so appropriately: "companions are pretty much braindead after being hit one too many times on the head with the Nerfbat...", I'm of the impression companions have been intentionally 'dumbed-down' to *ahem... encourage... more players buy better companions, but I couldn't prove it.

All I know is prior to the most recent changes several of my companions used to be fairly proficient at dodging powerful attacks, running away from mobs and bosses - not those same companions seem to be running into powerful attack circles and toward mobs and bosses... Coincidence, possibly - but with the recent Mod making so many changes in companion stats, gear and what kinds of enchantments they can and can't use, maybe not.

¢¢

frogwalloper

The augment makes an enormous difference for my characters that have one. I don't like it. I don't like that nearly all of my other companions are just about worthless in comparison. The only one that seems to still benefit from a non-augment companion is my rogue, and even then, I don't doubt an augment would be a better choice.

I think augments are too powerful, and non-augments are just too weak - their percentages and frequency of buff/debuff/ability/etc are way, way too low.

And as for healers... pfft. If they're not broken as is, they may as well just delete them.

frogwalloper

regenerde said:

Anyway, whatever augments or companions you choose to get or use in the end, do yourself a favour and don't buy any from the ZEN shop, aside being rather useless at the moment they're also too expensive even with a discount coupon or during a sale, and are only for a single character.

Really good advice.

demonmonger

> @xanxus93 said:
> So I've started playing Neverwinter again and I've bee hooked again.
> However something that I never really understood about the game is the companions, what are they there for?
>
> I chose a Cleric this time around for the healing because I am a fighter and I take the brunt of the attacks so I thought it would be a smart idea to get me something that can heal, however from the point that I got my Cleric which I called Haru (Ill refer to his as Haru for the rest of this post) he hasn't really wowed me with his healing ability.
>
> I've ranked him up to 20 and he doesn't have any "gear" or whatever its called for him and I just have no idea how to get the most out of Haru and it honestly feels pointless keeping him around cause I basically spam health pots in my encounters anyway.
>
> And just to be sure that you understand I would get Haru "gear" but I have no idea how to go about getting him it in the first place nothing I pick up from encounters can be used on him so I'm baffled.
>
> So what can I do to get the most out of Haru and any other companions that I decide to get in the future.

Send me a message in game
@demonmongerchild

I'll be home in 30 minutes

regenerde

frogwalloper#6494 said:

The augment makes an enormous difference for my characters that have one. I don't like it. I don't like that nearly all of my other companions are just about worthless in comparison. The only one that seems to still benefit from a non-augment companion is my rogue, and even then, I don't doubt an augment would be a better choice.

I think augments are too powerful, and non-augments are just too weak - their percentages and frequency of buff/debuff/ability/etc are way, way too low.

And as for healers... pfft. If they're not broken as is, they may as well just delete them.

Well, the difference in provided benefits between augment and a regular companion would be ok, if those companions would actually support us in a meaningfull way... but in most cases they do more harm then good.

So, it would be nice to either give them the same stats like augments and call it a day, or fix them.

sandukutupu

I have a battlefield medic for my barbarian, before the sweeping changes of mod 16 he was the active companion. I didn't need to monitor my health as he seemed to heal me pretty well. I did have to drink potions when he fell in battle but that wasn't more than once per encounter. The medic has taken a backseat to the wayward wizard and monitoring my health. Meanwhile I am upgrading all her beasts since she has an augment in there. Eventually it would be nice to return to the battlefield medic and stop drinking potions like an alcoholic.

greywynd

I've started using the Zhentarim Warlock on my ranger and rogue. Seems to actively engage and sometimes be the aggro magnet I need.

aslan3775

My opinion is that whether you choose an augment or an active companion is really a personal preference on how you play your character and what your character can use to survive. Some characters really benefit from the companion stealing all the aggro, while others do much better hogging the glory and smashing everything that gets too close. I absolutely agree with @regenerde that active companions are brain dead, with very few exceptions. I use augments on some characters and actives on others, and it isn't really for any particular reason other than i had Legendary companions before Mod 16 that were not augments and now I have a few Legendary augments. They both can work--just be aware, like @sandukutupu says, the actives can pull in mobs that you didn't intend on fighting. But augments don't actively help in a battle.

The comments above are all very insightful. I would just distill a few of those down to: 1) Use the bonding runestones, and level them up as high as you can to obtain stats from any companion that you obtain. 2) Raise the companion bonus as high as you can (12% is obtainable without too much nonsense and cost) so that your companion provides more stats 3) Do the Undermountain quests to obtain the new companion gear--again for the stat increase. 4) Have fun and play the way you enjoy

sandukutupu

Another thing I haven't brought up but this would be under number 4 on @aslan3775 list above. I have story's and detailed biographies on my 8 characters. Llorna Zorg has the Renegade Evoker as her husband, Count Byron Zorg. Others have several they mention but one main they travel with on a regular basis. There are some companions I had to think about long and hard such as, why is a female shield maiden of the Far North traveling with a pig? Here is my answer to that;

As Hladgerd Lothbrok passed by a farm she was taken by a sign that simply read "Talking Pig for Sale". Looking in the sty she glanced at the animal with profound disbelief in her heart. Surely if a svin the likes of you could talk, the farmer would keep you for himself. The pig spoke, "Ah a warrior maiden! Stay awhile and listen, I was not always a pig, but the great wizard and alchemist, Dr. Julius Strangepork. I fought many epic battles along side other great names such as; Oberon of Balder's Gate, Vahn, Kromlech, and Adrianna. I held a seat on the Council in Waterdeep. Alas as fate would have it, a Fomorian witch turned me into my present form, cursed for all eternity to remain a pig.".

It was at this point, the farmer stepped outside and lit his pipe. "Want to buy the pig?", asked the farmer.
"Yes, I will pay you for his freedom! Set your price.", she answered.
"Two gold coins." was his quick reply.
Digging out two gold from her bag, she paid the farmer and asked "Why do you enslave him such a manner and free him for such a pathetic fee?"
"Enslave?", the farmer looked at the pig, "That is what he owes me for the food and room.", then he leaned over and whispered, "He lies a lot too.".

Above all else, Have fun with it!

madrigal

if youre new and AD is low for purchasing augment companions, run a few daily dungeons , and buy a green or blue ql Watler augment..only a few k ad, but they generally boost your stats by 3x what you have without them summoned.its decent way to start levelling and be a little more overpowered, also give them gear with empowered runestones, and slot all your utility slots now with darks, for companion influence, and every other slot with azure, as the xp bonus is added to the other bonus in all off/def slots now...so you can cap out xp at +44% and also cap crit strike and defence using azure at the same time...while the darks and empowered will have you relying on watler to boost your power.
i have a level 4 character with 20k power, 26k crit strike 46k armor pen 28k def....mostly i dont see level 70 players with those stats

madrigal

aslan3775 said:

e, like @sandukutupu says, the actives can pull in mobs that you didn't intend on fighting. But augments don't actively help in a battle.


actually the watler taunts mobs, they look away when he calls them names, and you gain combat advantage

robai

Companions heal about 100 times less than they did before U16 (I mean heals during combat).
Similar story is for dps/tank companions.
In other words, they are all completely useless atm.
Whoever is in charge of this game should be fired.

Unknown

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bichitop

I started playing a couple of weeks ago and one of the things that immediately caught my attention was the wide variety of companions with different skills... I was so confused when I noticed that tanks didn't get aggro, healers healed for nothing and strikers hit for around 1/1000th of the damage my character does (or less). They seem to be basically walking buffs, at most.

Very disappointing.

flippy

bichitop said:

I started playing a couple of weeks ago and one of the things that immediately caught my attention was the wide variety of companions with different skills... I was so confused when I noticed that tanks didn't get aggro, healers healed for nothing and strikers hit for around 1/1000th of the damage my character does (or less). They seem to be basically walking buffs, at most.

Very disappointing.

healing companions still refuse to heal during battle

was watching yesterday during " extraction " mission from AI

combat would not end between waves so you can stand there and do nothing while you watch your healing companion do nothing too - even though you are at 1/2 hit points

Unknown

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cherryman1

pariswinters#7118 said:

they have a serious dilemma and it's understandable. If tanking companions did too much tanking then we really wouldn't need tanks at all. the same with healing companions and healers, and your "strikers" and dps.

another thing, the more effective companions become the more bot friendly they are, meaning botters can better pass off their botting because the companion is covering for them.

This reasoning also hurts the new players in RIQ because they don't get companions and their things from just playing as well as mounts. Those are the two BEST things to improve and get since they don't get scaled. This makes the new players have to grind the random leveling queue until they make enough to get mounts and companions to graduate into the RIQ. This has become one of the bigger reasons why players who I have asked why they are leaving the game have given for it.

regenerde

They could just scale the companion damage/healing with the player weapon damage, add some bonus percentage for the level of the companion, and companions would be usefull again in a fight.
In a party the companion damage/healing could receive a -10% per other player present, so in a full group they would run with -50%, that should do the trick for keeping healers and tanks relevant.

Besides, considering that some players allready have done tougher content without a tank and just one healer, i see no reason for keeping companions in this broken down state any longer!

And let's be honest here, unless they start really cracking down on players buying AD from those AD sellers or actually going after the main accounts of some botters, there will allways be someone botting the HAMSTER out of the game for profit in some way or another.

Last but not least, i'd say we had our fair share of changes aimed against "botting" or "AD selling" in the past which in the end only hurt the normal players, while the bottes and AD sellers allways found around. The Devs really have to stop and think about a different solution for these problems, and most importantly they have to think about changes that actually help real players...

I mean, when a new player can't find the way to communicate with others for 20+ levels, while AD sellers can have their characters broadcasting their advertisement in PE with level 15 on new accounts over and over again, something is clearly going wrong here.

bichitop

pariswinters#7118 said:

they have a serious dilemma and it's understandable. If tanking companions did too much tanking then we really wouldn't need tanks at all. the same with healing companions and healers, and your "strikers" and dps.

another thing, the more effective companions become the more bot friendly they are, meaning botters can better pass off their botting because the companion is covering for them.

I'm sure there's a big middle ground between "being useless" and "replacing players".

frogwalloper

I have to assume most players would happily swap out a healing companion for an augment or some other companion that helps with their dps - particularly when there's a player in the queue who's a healer.

And while I agree that healing companions should not not be as effective as a player or a top tier healing potion, they really ought to be more effective than dirt. When they're just as effective dead as they are alive, something's wrong. The devs have to see that. Right?