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What are some of the "better" companions?
shakota
Member Posts: 18 Arc User
I am a relatively new player here. No 70's yet, but going a little alt-crazy right now.
I am not looking for "best in slot" or "best for end game". I am looking more for simple PVE leveling and solo play.
Curious as to which of each type seems to offer the better stats, and seem to perform well for their class / role.
I found that Barbarian Shaman is a good leader / healer. The Apprentice Healer works better than I expected for one at entry level.
I found Water Archon is a good controller / dps. The Wayward Wizard works better than I expected for one at entry level.
I haven't found a defender / tank that I am fond of yet, but haven't tried too many.
I don't feel the War Dog helps much as a defender, I am rather disappointed in it's performance. The reduced threat is nice though.
I was able to get the Armored Orc Wolf, and it seems to be a good striker / dps. And the +100 crit is nice as well.
The "free" Damaran Shephard is rather weak, but the +100 crit is nice to have if you have the room for an extra companion.
I mostly play DPS classes (TR, CW, GWF, SW, HR and now a OP (healer)). So I am looking for someone to either support my DPS or be helpful in keeping mobs off of me.
Also, is a Leader always going to be a healer? And a Defender always a tank? I see some on the Zen market that are one or the other, but their skills make me 2nd guess their class.
Many thanks in advance.
I am not looking for "best in slot" or "best for end game". I am looking more for simple PVE leveling and solo play.
Curious as to which of each type seems to offer the better stats, and seem to perform well for their class / role.
I found that Barbarian Shaman is a good leader / healer. The Apprentice Healer works better than I expected for one at entry level.
I found Water Archon is a good controller / dps. The Wayward Wizard works better than I expected for one at entry level.
I haven't found a defender / tank that I am fond of yet, but haven't tried too many.
I don't feel the War Dog helps much as a defender, I am rather disappointed in it's performance. The reduced threat is nice though.
I was able to get the Armored Orc Wolf, and it seems to be a good striker / dps. And the +100 crit is nice as well.
The "free" Damaran Shephard is rather weak, but the +100 crit is nice to have if you have the room for an extra companion.
I mostly play DPS classes (TR, CW, GWF, SW, HR and now a OP (healer)). So I am looking for someone to either support my DPS or be helpful in keeping mobs off of me.
Also, is a Leader always going to be a healer? And a Defender always a tank? I see some on the Zen market that are one or the other, but their skills make me 2nd guess their class.
Many thanks in advance.
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Comments
Some Leader companions: are rather controllers, with no heals at all (e.g. Priestess of Sehanine Moonbow). But all Defenders have the aggro-amp trait, and are hence Tanks. This makes them somewhat unsuitable for later-on Bossfights, because the will steal the aggro from the party Tank. Also they - and the Mimic especially :^/ - are really cuddly and always will find new friends / toys...
Still, looking for an affordable, robust tank, Mimic it is. Don't forget to stash him when sneaking is asked for, then they're terrible spoilsports...
Karakla1, That's weird. I know when I go to my mail (in game) I can send to @shakota#7594 to get mail to myself.
Sune priestess is one of best healers, but not so good at procing bonding unfortunately.
For strikers i like only Hawk, but that coz i was owining one myself at some point. There is ofc Slaad which is one of best companions in game, or magus (and both r darn expensive). Also zen warlock. U never should consider striker companion as replacment of ur own dmg, Unfortunately. Tho Honey Badger is one vicious companion with nice aoe, but he is still bugged afaik, which makes him kinda useless
About controllers i have no idea.
Most if not any avialable companion in game u can find here: http://neverwinter.gamepedia.com/Category:Companion (it have upper hand on ingame collection coz of cooldowns included for most companions and boons for each quality)
(Sin)cerely
Kain
Controller - Most Controller stun/root/slow a group of monster or a single monster (1 or 2 times every minute). Some are debuffing monsters, like the Rust Monster Companion. As example: The Rust Monster uses two debuffs on enemies. One that reduces the enemies armor to allow you and your party to deal 5% more damage and it also reduces the attack damage from monsters by 8% (Corrosive Bites that partial destroy the weapons and armors of enemies as Fluff Text).
Defender - Plain Tanks. They often have different attacks in which they generate threat (in an AOE around them, cone in front of them, etc). DON'T get the Helmit Paladin Ghost. He is a horrible Tank and can't hold aggro (so far the only one that doesn't do his job, maybe because of another ability that allows you to heal a target that also the Helmit Paladin Ghost attacks). Most/All Defender get AOE Damage Immunity at Quality Epic.
Striker - Plain Damage Dealer. Their damage is far inferior as of an Damage Dealer Character or more specific as any class in the game. At Epic they deal like 2,000 - 3,000 DPS while even GFs have like 13,000 DPS and Damage Dealer Classes start at least at 20,000 DPS (fresh level 70 character). But they often has abilities that can increase your damage by reducing enemies armor or granting combat advantage and classes that lack of DPS it can be a nice addition. I made the experience that in level 5-60 Areas the Striker deals really good damage (Rank 35 Epic Striker) compared to a leveling character and can kill easily kill an enemie monster with very few strikes but this perk vanish more and more if you get closer to level 61 and the new areas.
Augment - They transfer their stats to your character which means you have three equipment slots more and three runic slots which is really nice. The augment companions are unattackable and doesn't attack and can't pull threat. BUT they are expensive.
Which is know the best class of companions?
Many say that Augments are the best because of the constant stat buff you receive and a few say Active Companions (Leader, Controller, Defender and Strike). But they are hard to compare because in a Dungeon Group they can add usefull abilities to your parties and can also transfer a part of their stats with bonding runestones to their Summoner.
Bonding Runestone have a certain % chance to activate a Buff called "Companions Gift" that transfer a certain % of their stats (hit points not included) that depends on their quality (+20% from Lesser; +35% from normal; +50% from greater and +65% from perfects). The Buff can stack up three times. Which simply means at Normal Bonding Runestones you get 105%. Each Buff keeps activated for 20 seconds which simply means they slowly start to stack and then slowly runs out (at it peak you should have allö three buffs for like 12 seconds in total before they running out and start from a new, imagine a sinus curve).
A full equipped GWF player mentioned in another thread that he used a maxed out augment and an maxed out striker and his damage was in comparsion only 2-3% lower as to the augment. So they are viable (every class of companions) and it depens what you like the most.
I quite like the war dog or wild hunt rider for tanking. The wild hunt rider has a sword knot slot, and you can get the companion-only one that grants them extra threat, pretty cheaply on the AH.
"Is it better to be feared or respected? I say, is it too much to ask for both?" -Tony Stark
Official NW_Legit_Community Forums
Sune priestess is pretty amazing for a GF. 5 ticks ranging from 8000-17000 per tick on my GF with 119k HP.
A proud member of "mythical horde of DPS GFs"
1). Is SW more dps or tank based?
2). Yes. I am panzer!
3). Get ACT if you want to celebrate your epeen.
4). Horniness will not stand between me and what I believe - "MM"
High price tag, initially, though it's an account-wide unlock, and hence the price should be divided by the number of chars you plan to use her on.
In the long run, beyond Lvl 70, I eventually almost always put them in the idle tab, though. Direct passive boon is just not good enough to keep her on the frontline, and there are other companions that give better boosts out of the slot... ...but occasionally pull them out again, e.g. for weaker parties. But they're only really useful when they're the active companion. And another drawback is that the first few seconds you have no buff at all, plus, in order to actually get the buff, you have to be near the melee.
Still, I never felt sorry for all that ZEN I spent for that bundle.
My Combat HR uses the War Dog, which does an amazing job of both tanking and proning mobs. Wish I had the War Dog on my Archer though.
The most important thing in life is to be yourself. Unless you can be Batman. Always be Batman.
and also the featured satirical comedic adventure "A Call for Heroes".
Stealthing also confuses/dazes the aggroed mobs, and increases her survival time.
But you got that right: she does neither damage, nor heals.
Another buff she gives is Combat Advantage, in the classical, basic sense: She stays close enough to the Mobs to trigger that, so you only have to go around them. Or wait until / make the mobs get closer to you. Then she typically stays on the other side, unlike other pets that come back to you...
"Is it better to be feared or respected? I say, is it too much to ask for both?" -Tony Stark
Official NW_Legit_Community Forums
barbarian shamans are good for pretty much everyone but tankadins and gwf's, tankadins dont need the temp hp and external temp hp mess with gwf's unstoppable. needs upgrade to purple to help it survive however as its a melee range healer. single target heal is a little lacking but the ae temp hp are really nice. load her up with crit gear. she tanks for my tr.....
battlefield medic: no pet will dump more hp to you and your group faster. load him up with commander gear and azure/profane.
priestess of something moonbow: best buff pet in the game , 15% crit at blue, 17% at purple from her moon beams.
i see tons of folks with the fawns. but i havent played with it.
tanks: all suffer from fairly poor ai. but once engaged do a reasonable job. and you cant send them in 1st to grab agro.
yeti: great. but needs to be upgraded to survive harder content. also really good in an active slot for tanks or if you run a different tank pet.
earth archon: ( buy at purple). amazing tank. good bonding proccer. good bonus.
war dog: if you're using a tank pet. having it lower your threat is a good thing. works better on single targets than groups.
strikers: if its not purple it should be a ranged attacker so it doesnt die all the time.
sprites ( all 3): reasonable dps ( for a pet) and who doesnt like more ap. all make good bonding proccers
z warlock: simply amazing bonding proccer. and reasonable dps.
fire archon/air archon: good dps. good proccers. good bonus.
death slaad: moderate dps. great bonus. stupidly expensive unless you got lucky during the 3 hour window.
intellect devourer: moderate dps. decent bonding proccer. the hold actually works. 3 defense slots however which is odd for a striker. recommended for warlocks (who can use the extra defense) or tanks that want bonding proccers.
and finally the scarecrow nice fast attack reasonable damage. and extremely easy to farm right now
controllers: most of them dont control very well. so unless you're using it for a buff or bonding. i'd recommend using something else.
the earth archon at purple does pretty nice damage and is one of the cheaper epic pets. so does the iron golem. the yeti at purple is also good. but really expensive to upgrade currently. the yeti also has the bonus of no listed cooldown and 3 offensive slots which helps his dps considerably. ai on the yeti is somewhat lacking compared to the archon. but once he's on a mob he sticks to it like glue.
The most important thing in life is to be yourself. Unless you can be Batman. Always be Batman.
the main reason i went commanders is for the 30% extra heals which adds more than the extra crit from avengers gear does. but crit > power on leader companions so azures/profanes for the offensive slots helps him out more. he has no attacks so he gains nothing from lifesteal which is what i load in the defense slots on all my non leaders gear. to be honest i didnt try radiants in the jewlery's defense slots.
...more than EqRank profanes. Might be more expensive, though.