Good companions for TR?

reiwulf

I'd like to know your opinions on good companions for TR, (for levelling, solo PVE, group PVE, and open world PVP)
I know the stone is probably the best, but I want to know besides the stone and the cleric for levelling what others you think are good options. I have the fawn and it has worked nicely so far.
Any ideas?

chaoscourtesan

Anything is good for levelling, especially healers and tanky ones.
I preferred the cleric, but you already considered that one.

As for soloing after 60, anything that you can use to get combat advantage works great, so all I want is for it to survive and provide that service. But basically, I don't consider much of anything beyond active bonus, and using them to fill stat-gaps.

Maybe not what you were looking for, but it's what I do on both my TR chars, and it works fine for me. (They live for and by combat advantage.)

reiwulf

What do you mean "use to get combat advantage"? So, basically any companion that gets aggro on enemies then? Or are there some companions that give combat advantage as a bonus?

chaoscourtesan

They work same as another player. If you attack opposite side of an enemy they have engaged, you'll see the enemy's ground marker change from white to blue. This is the indicator for combat advantage. You can visibly see the damage kick into overdrive as if you flipped the turbo on. =D

(Especially if you have feated and taken Artifacts that boost Combat Advantage)

(You have combat adv when stealthed anyway, but I'm not permastealth, so this is how I manage to almost always have Combat Adv.)

Also- Some pets run around like chicken absent head.. they are useless. And some are too aggressive and can't stand the heat.. such as Mystagogue. He's only good for the active bonus stats.)

reiwulf

yeah, my cleric thinks she can kill enemies with her stick, it usually doesn't work too well XD
so basically tankier pets are good because they can stand better against enemies, granting me combat advantage, right?

chaoscourtesan

Yeah. I tend to add stats only on the stats that they come with.. And HP. They don't do enough damage for lifesteal, and defense \ deflect hasn't done much for me (on pets, except for those who have it as active stats.) So basically I just add HP when it comes to Defense.

My favorite is the Storm Rider that I ranked to blue.. she dodges well without generating extra aggro, and I pumped her power/arpen/crit/hp up. She does some damage, and stays alive pretty well. She's a promo pet though. One of the wolves or dogs might be nice.. a lot of people like the prone. I've used them.. but it seems to me they forget to attack sometimes, and just want to watch..

ghoulz66

You out of stealth most the time? Cause stealth puts you in combat advantage anyway.

chaoscourtesan

Nope, I'm in stealth about 80%, I think. Sacrificed a real encounter for shadowStrike, just to fill the meter. Some powers deplete the meter instantly. I mentioned that a couple posts back.. it's filling the small gaps in between.
So yeah, permastealths don't need a mate to play off in order to get CA.

I guess I should have mentioned that I developed the same habit on all 12 of my chars... only the two tr's have stealth. XD
It still gives me CA almost 100% of the time on the TR, and is the best use I've found for non-augment pets in general.

reiwulf

I'm in and out of stealth all the time. I have several loadouts depending on the occasion. For now (with my lv 40 Whisperknife) I have blitz, lashing blade and dazing strike. I usually, start with a blitz, then go into stealth and do a Disheartening strike and a few flurry attacks to end with a crit lash blade to the tougher mobs, after I use dazing strike to get another flurry in, and usually things are dead by then.

beckylunatic

The nice thing about a lot of the wolf/dog pets is that they prone when they have combat advantage, which they get every time you position yourself to get combat advantage out of stealth. It is quite useful when you get used to playing that way.

A lot of my TRs have a blink dog if only for the active bonus.

I'd say what is recommended is as dependent on your budget as anything. If you've got a lot of drake seals and don't need to spend them for gear/salvage, then the wererat active bonus is ok and the pet is essentially free. The flame sprite AP gain wouldn't be terrible.

In solo PvE, I might run the dire wolf on a combat TR, but a huge amount of the time I just use an augment companion on any TR regardless of build. I use a pegasus seal ring on them to take care of some regen between fights, and boosting stats to increase damage and having good life steal seems to generally help more when solo than having a battle companion.

The very best companion for a TR may in fact be a friend who plays a Guardian Fighter (if they can be trained to unslot all their knockbacks).

chestnut13

reiwulf wrote: »

I'm in and out of stealth all the time. I have several loadouts depending on the occasion. For now (with my lv 40 Whisperknife) I have blitz, lashing blade and dazing strike. I usually, start with a blitz, then go into stealth and do a Disheartening strike and a few flurry attacks to end with a crit lash blade to the tougher mobs, after I use dazing strike to get another flurry in, and usually things are dead by then.

You might consider changing your loadout. I run with Shadow Strike, Impact Shot, and Path of Blades. Fire off as many DiS's as you can, pop PotB (shreds mobs), stealth, DF, Impact Shot just before stealth runs out (or you can save it as it comes in handy if you get crowded or need to interrupt something), dodge roll, DiS's, Shadow Strike to get back in stealth. Remove IS and add Wicked Reminder for bosses. If you have soulforged, you should rarely run into a problem.

kozi001

levelling: cleric and get a stone ASAP

PVE:
my choice
stone
dancing blade
fire archon
blink dog
sylph
/lightfoot thief would be good if it wouldnt be so expensive

not a fan of stat pets. Maybe a power/rec type like Mystagogue.

blacksladdi

I use a defender pet that doesn't die in 3 hits. He holds aggro while i unleash dps into the monster, i use for for solo mainly.
in pve i use a wizard as they won't die to the many mob/boss melee aoe and they usually stay alive for at least half the boss fight if not all.
I sometimes use the healer or tank in dungeons if we don't have either its usually the tank companion though - some players like to run like scared chickens which messes with my flurrying.