Companions: Best in game ATM

darvien19

Was wondering if anyone has tried all the in game companions (as of the betas)and compared each one as to what you may consider the best one to use as, lets use the wizard as an example

any input would be greatly appreciated.

bluesteel8

I bought the Rock guy tank with Zen on my GWF. Was fantastic until the mid 20's and just couldnt hold agro any more. I rushed trained him every level. I cant remember what level I got him up to but I bought him when I was level 3 or 4.

ranncore

I like the ioun stones, the cat, and the angel, because they are all small (don't clog up the screen) passive (don't attack enemies or draw unneeded aggro) and actually help (give you stat bonuses instead of doing piddly damage and dying in one hit).

ganndog

I suggest that you search for threads by krubar (name from memory) who has done a lot of testing with various companions and posted information; and is happy to share/help. The forums are generally very helpfull so I'm sure someone else will assist with info. I found the kelemvor cleric useless for cw but think its heals need fixing. The cleric you get from companion quest or later at lvl 27 was useful for heals. I also used the rock elemental as a tank type. I am interested in trying the ioun stone (sp?)as a passive companion for cw as people say its great for buffs.

darvien19

I plan at some point, when game releases to purchase many of them they will offer and try to compile some kind of stat on each..

iknow they said they are working on the mechanics more to improve the abilitys of them .. looking forward to see what they do as far as improvements

darvien19

thnx ganndog i'll do that

ganndog

darvien19 wrote: »

thnx ganndog i'll do that

Happy to help.

ranncore is obviously a fan of the passive companions which I wish I'd tried. I remember the ioun stone from the zen store. The cat I don't recall where you got it, and the only angel I saw was purchased with one of the currency from praying. Perhaps there is another?

krubar

ranncore wrote: »

I like the ioun stones, the cat, and the angel, because they are all small (don't clog up the screen) passive (don't attack enemies or draw unneeded aggro) and actually help (give you stat bonuses instead of doing piddly damage and dying in one hit).

You got a cat and/or a angel?

I did not know that a angel was passive. I did know that the cat was though.

To the OP, ya I tried out lots of companions. But as of beta weekend 3, the favorite companion that I liked using was a green quality cleric that you get in game. I thought the kelemvor cleric would be a upgrade but she did not work right. I never received any healing.

The dwarven earth elemental is a nice tank with I think extra defense or hps. He pulled aggro good on one target from what I could tell, but I only tested him at lower lvls.

The kobold uses two daggers and is a striker companion. He uses a sword knot for one of his equipment like a great weapon fighter but he is more like a rogue.

Tomb spider was one of my favorites. It is a striker and looks cool.

Ghost possesses minions so they will fight on your side and also has a ranged attack but it is kind of weak.

Ioun stones are awesome to use while your in a party. You get the stats from any runestones and gear you put on the ioun stone.

Kelemvor cleric is not that great in the beta weekend. I think she is suppose to have a life steal buff on you so that when you attack things you heal but it was not working for me when I tested her at low lvls so I did not use her much.

When game goes live I will probably buy a kelemvor cleric and a ioun stone. I want a ioun stone for party play and I hope that the kelemvor cleric will be working right. I think the best healer you can get is the angel which is purple quality. But you gotta have 50 coins to buy one so it will take 50 days of praying every day.

The best striker is probably the honey badger which costs 3500 zen. It is purple quality. I did not buy one because I wanted enough zen to buy two companions at lesser zen costs.

charezon

Excellent info, thanks a lot!

darvien19

Thnx krubar ... will try them all out after release:)

krubar

Ya those companions may be changed some when they are released at launch. I got those companions, except for the ghost, during beta weekend 2. Got the ghost at beta weekend 3. Between the two beta weekends, it seems that they did not do any work on the kelemvor cleric and maybe had not gotten around to working on any of the zen companions except for the ghost which I heard really sucked during beta weekend 1, which I missed. So they may have fixed the ghost before beta weekend 3.

darvien19

I like the idea that companions really buff/heal/dps , other than just walk at your side .. can't wait to get back into playing

Maybe we hear some good news this week

lanessar13

I prefer the Ioun stone for passive bonuses, cleric for healing help.

Man at arms and rock guy are about equal at the moment, with a little edge to the rock guy (health is slightly higher, more damage resist). The only reason I'd go MAA, is that the slots are easier to keep updated with green drops as opposed to the icon slot in the rock guy (mages apparently don't have icons working yet).

voqar

D&D is about grouping with friends. Sometimes you could hire henchlings but they weren't necessarily permanent buddies. This seems to take the henchling thing too far.

This also takes one of the more annoying things from SWTOR (companions) and does it in a generic and lame way. At least the companions in SWTOR had some degree of personality, quests and stories, and some relevance to the story and game. The companions in NWN are more muppetiy and have less of a point.

Any game based on D&D should be focused on grouping and should be encouraging players to group, not solo. Why bother making a game based on D&D if you're going to throw the most core concept of D&D out the window in so many ways?

Does WOTC still own D&D and have they abandoned all semblance of quality control and strict control over D&D that they once inflicted on computer game designers?

edit: nvm, just looked it up and WOTC was bought by Hasbro. That explains the complete lack of integrity and quality control on D&D based products, like this game.

bluesteel8 wrote: »

I bought the Rock guy tank with Zen on my GWF. Was fantastic until the mid 20's and just couldnt hold agro any more. I rushed trained him every level. I cant remember what level I got him up to but I bought him when I was level 3 or 4.

Getting a companion at lvl 3 that's possibly stronger than others isn't P2W at all, nope, not at all! Aweseom gameplay.

bluesteel8

voqar wrote: »

Getting a companion at lvl 3 that's possibly stronger than others isn't P2W at all, nope, not at all! Aweseom gameplay.

I dont know if Id call it P2W, in PVE it doesnt make much of a difference if you're solo or not at that level. But QQ away.

xarallei

ranncore wrote: »

I like the ioun stones, the cat, and the angel, because they are all small (don't clog up the screen) passive (don't attack enemies or draw unneeded aggro) and actually help (give you stat bonuses instead of doing piddly damage and dying in one hit).

What cat is this and where/how do you get it?

truwen

Tomb spider was one of my favorites. It is a striker and looks cool.

Correction, the spider is a controller. I was frustrated about the zen store companions because you can't know what they were before your purchase them. I hope they fix this before the game launches.

krubar

truwen wrote: »

Correction, the spider is a controller. I was frustrated about the zen store companions because you can't know what they were before your purchase them. I hope they fix this before the game launches.

What do you mean it was a controller? It acted liked a striker to me and did not cast spells like a control wizard.

You can get a cat at the trade bar merchant for like 600 trade bars I think. It is the merchant near the merchant that sells ID scrolls.

krubar

Also the only attack powers on a tomb spider was bite and claw, I think. There was not any control powers.

starkaos

Not sure how anyone can test the Cat and Angel since the Cat requires opening up lockboxes to get Trade Bars and the Angel requires 50 days to get enough Celestial Coins.

xarallei

starkaos wrote: »

Not sure how anyone can test the Cat and Angel since the Cat requires opening up lockboxes to get Trade Bars and the Angel requires 50 days to get enough Celestial Coins.

Lock boxes? Seriously? I certainly hope there are other ways of getting trade bars then bloody lock boxes. I hate those things.

rjax097

krubar wrote: »

What do you mean it was a controller? It acted liked a striker to me and did not cast spells like a control wizard.

Yes, the Tomb Spider was a controller, and yes it had NO control abilities only Bite and Rake which only did direct damage. But I did like it and plan to use it on at least one toon.

x0y1

xarallei wrote: »

Lock boxes? Seriously? I certainly hope there are other ways of getting trade bars then bloody lock boxes. I hate those things.

If it works like the other cryptic game then not so much.
In CO there was once a event for one free lockbox a day for free drifter salvage.On the other side with STO there are lobi crystals hidden with the rerun of the featured series and one free "test" box. Both have the same function as the one in NW. Can't say the are bad, because you can buy keys for the lockboxes from other players in the auction house without spending real cash for it.

And if the add stuff like this: