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Forums > Home› Neverwinter Discussion › General Discussion (PC)

Zentarim Warlock

raptoahraptoah Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 44 Arc User
in General Discussion (PC)
I heard that the Zentarim Warlock would be way better than ioun stones.
Can someone explain me how the warlock works?
how often does he give buffs? how long will the buffs stay? does the warlock itself do a lot of dmg? etc.

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Comments

  • zibadawazibadawa Member Posts: 1,266 Arc User
    edited January 2016
    Search the forums for posts concerning bonding runestones versus ioun stones. There's a very big one on the first page of posts in whichever subfora it's in, as I recall.
  • silverkeltsilverkelt Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 4,235 Arc User
    There are other better options then warlock.. one is even super cheap!




  • raptoahraptoah Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 44 Arc User
    And what? ^^
  • lantern22lantern22 Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 1,111 Arc User
    yeah . . . . and it is . . . . .

    come on, the suspense is killing me . . . . .
  • thefabricantthefabricant Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 5,248 Arc User
    lantern22 said:

    yeah . . . . and it is . . . . .

    come on, the suspense is killing me . . . . .

    Blink Dog. Of coarse, the shadow demon and lightfoot thief/mercenary are better then the blink dog, but those are more expensive then the zhent lock.
    Our Imaginary Friends are better than yours.
  • qexoticqexotic Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 841 Arc User
    The Blink dog works out more expensive than the Zhentarim Warlock at present AH prices when you include the 250k AD cost of upgrading it to the same rank.
  • mercedesmanmercedesman Member Posts: 200 Arc User
    I love my shadow demon... but cost is high.. also his shadow strike hit for around 150k
  • zibadawazibadawa Member Posts: 1,266 Arc User
    edited January 2016
    qexotic said:

    The Blink dog works out more expensive than the Zhentarim Warlock at present AH prices when you include the 250k AD cost of upgrading it to the same rank.

    Is there a reason to even upgrade it to blue? Rank 25 is good enough for all 3 equipment slots and runeslots. In principle you want bonding setups to have the companion die semi-regularly to get double stacks. Is it just slightly too squishy at green and meaningfully less too squishy at blue or something?
  • thefabricantthefabricant Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 5,248 Arc User
    qexotic said:

    The Blink dog works out more expensive than the Zhentarim Warlock at present AH prices when you include the 250k AD cost of upgrading it to the same rank.

    That is only if you intend to upgrade him. Blinky has a better bonus then the zhent lock and there is no reason to upgrade him if you just using him for bonding procs. If you are at the point when you min/maxing on active bonuses, you will probably want an epic blinky anyhow. If you just want a good companion for bonsing procs, its worth using him as well.
    Our Imaginary Friends are better than yours.
  • lirithiellirithiel Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 2,482 Arc User
    mercedesman said:

    I love my shadow demon... but cost is high.. also his shadow strike hit for around 150k

    I finally caved and bought the Shadow Demon yesterday and upgraded it to blue as finances allowed. It gets up 3 Bonding stacks very quickly. Haven't parsed its damage yet but I've heard they are DD beasts.
    Our pain is self chosen.

    The most important thing in life is to be yourself. Unless you can be Batman. Always be Batman.
  • mrgiggles651mrgiggles651 Member Posts: 790 Arc User
    lirithiel said:

    mercedesman said:

    I love my shadow demon... but cost is high.. also his shadow strike hit for around 150k

    I finally caved and bought the Shadow Demon yesterday and upgraded it to blue as finances allowed. It gets up 3 Bonding stacks very quickly. Haven't parsed its damage yet but I've heard they are DD beasts.
    Someone posted a video where the Shadow Demon companion soloed a 5 man HE. The monsters were obviously focused on person's toon, but the Shadow Demon did all the damage-killing.
    I wasted five million AD promoting the Foundry.
  • mlcxsmlcxs Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 19 Arc User
    super cheap and better then the zent... sellsword... am i wrong?
  • ghoulz66ghoulz66 Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 3,748 Arc User
    edited January 2016
    mlcxs said:

    super cheap and better then the zent... sellsword... am i wrong?

    Is certainly viable as a bond proc'r as it attacks 3x in one go. Encourage people to be unique. Not jump the bandwagon. I use my dire wolf on my HR, wayward wizard on my CW, and plan on trying out a dancing blade for my DC. Already have a purple cold iron warrior on my SW.
  • mlcxsmlcxs Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 19 Arc User
    edited January 2016
    http://prntscr.com/9rh2sf just for fun... and by the way i dont use it

    (not going to change my zent because i love is voice and look and when i change is for my cat... love to jump arround and not lose hp)
    edit for my pets choice
    Post edited by mlcxs on
  • qexoticqexotic Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 841 Arc User
    zibadawa said:

    qexotic said:

    The Blink dog works out more expensive than the Zhentarim Warlock at present AH prices when you include the 250k AD cost of upgrading it to the same rank.

    Is there a reason to even upgrade it to blue? Rank 25 is good enough for all 3 equipment slots and runeslots. In principle you want bonding setups to have the companion die semi-regularly to get double stacks. Is it just slightly too squishy at green and meaningfully less too squishy at blue or something?
    Probably no real reason to upgrade, though a Blue companion has higher stats to transfer than a Green one. However, I like to use my active companions for SCA Epic dungeons (never mind the regular in-game stuff) so they need to be at least Blue level to be viable. Epic is even better but that really is overkill and ridiculously expensive if you have to get there by the upgrade route. At time of writing, I have yet to upgrade any of my companions due to the high cost involved. I'm playing a basic Drow Mercenary on my HR just to see how well it works with Bonding Runestones but I will probably be going back to my Cat as a prefer him. Nothing to do with augments being better than summoned companions....I'm just a Cat Person and like having a cat following me around in the game :)

  • silverkeltsilverkelt Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 4,235 Arc User
    Green comps now have every slot unlocked at full rank.

    No need to upgrade really at this juncture, unless you want to.

  • seniorhobsseniorhobs Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 22 Arc User
    The reason for the popularity of the Zen Warlock is it's rate of attack and Bonding Buff uptime. You would still need rank 10 or greater bonding runestones for it to be better than an augment.

    It also has the benefit of attacking from range and thus not eating as many red ring of deaths, thus stays up and spamming it's attacks more. Of course some deaths are good because a dead companion rez's and can stack the bonding buff.

    -Dag
  • qexoticqexotic Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 841 Arc User
    seniorhobs said:

    The reason for the popularity of the Zen Warlock is it's rate of attack and Bonding Buff uptime. You would still need rank 10 or greater bonding runestones for it to be better than an augment.

    Well, not quite Rank 10s. A single Greater Bonding gives you 50%, so three would equal 150% which beats an augment. Three Rank 10s, i.e. Perfects, would be 195% at 65% each which is nearly double the benefit of an augment :)

    Just one thought, if you are going the Bonding route you might want to start soon as the price of even Lessers is still increasing as more people have worked out that they are a good idea....and not just on an Zentarim Warlock so the price probably wont fall back any time soon.

  • urabaskurabask Member Posts: 2,923 Arc User
    qexotic said:

    seniorhobs said:

    The reason for the popularity of the Zen Warlock is it's rate of attack and Bonding Buff uptime. You would still need rank 10 or greater bonding runestones for it to be better than an augment.

    Well, not quite Rank 10s. A single Greater Bonding gives you 50%, so three would equal 150% which beats an augment. Three Rank 10s, i.e. Perfects, would be 195% at 65% each which is nearly double the benefit of an augment :)

    Just one thought, if you are going the Bonding route you might want to start soon as the price of even Lessers is still increasing as more people have worked out that they are a good idea....and not just on an Zentarim Warlock so the price probably wont fall back any time soon.

    Lesser's bonding runestones have been a worse deal than bonding runestones for a while anyways.
    I8r4ux9.jpg
  • mightyerikssonmightyeriksson Member Posts: 842 Arc User
    thefabricant said:

    lantern22 said:

    yeah . . . . and it is . . . . .

    come on, the suspense is killing me . . . . .

    Blink Dog. Of coarse, the shadow demon and lightfoot thief/mercenary are better then the blink dog, but those are more expensive then the zhent lock.
    Sooo, in your opinion, the Mercenary is better than the Zhentarim?
    What does it do better? (not being sarcastic, I'm just curious)
    I've been thinking about getting the Heirloom pack for the Mercenary (playing on XB1)
    We just got the Zhentarim from the Winter Festival, and so far it works out pretty good for my CW, just wish we would get the Loyal Avenger items...
    Although I'm considering trying a Yeti to draw some aggro from my poor, squishy CW...
  • zibadawazibadawa Member Posts: 1,266 Arc User
    mightyeriksson said:


    Sooo, in your opinion, the Mercenary is better than the Zhentarim?
    What does it do better? (not being sarcastic, I'm just curious)
    I've been thinking about getting the Heirloom pack for the Mercenary (playing on XB1)
    We just got the Zhentarim from the Winter Festival, and so far it works out pretty good for my CW, just wish we would get the Loyal Avenger items...
    Although I'm considering trying a Yeti to draw some aggro from my poor, squishy CW...

    I'm not bonding cheese expert, but the mercenary executes several attacks in a row with his main attack and his other ability puts him in a good flanking position, making it easy for you to get combat advantage.

    As for the yeti, it's a pretty good choice for bonding to my understanding, but it can cause issues in group content as it can steal aggro from tank players pretty easily, resulting in issues with aggro management (bosses rotating more than you want, etc.).
  • urabaskurabask Member Posts: 2,923 Arc User
    edited January 2016
    Does anyone know a good non-defender companion with three defense slots that procs bonding well?
    zibadawa said:

    mightyeriksson said:


    Sooo, in your opinion, the Mercenary is better than the Zhentarim?
    What does it do better? (not being sarcastic, I'm just curious)
    I've been thinking about getting the Heirloom pack for the Mercenary (playing on XB1)
    We just got the Zhentarim from the Winter Festival, and so far it works out pretty good for my CW, just wish we would get the Loyal Avenger items...
    Although I'm considering trying a Yeti to draw some aggro from my poor, squishy CW...

    I'm not bonding cheese expert, but the mercenary executes several attacks in a row with his main attack and his other ability puts him in a good flanking position, making it easy for you to get combat advantage.

    As for the yeti, it's a pretty good choice for bonding to my understanding, but it can cause issues in group content as it can steal aggro from tank players pretty easily, resulting in issues with aggro management (bosses rotating more than you want, etc.).
    CWs have CA up almost 100% of the time just from feats anyways.
    Post edited by urabask on
    I8r4ux9.jpg
  • blazious11blazious11 Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 331 Arc User
    Anyone tried the Rebel mercenary? (not the drow mercenary, the rebel was a promotion companion)
    She has 1 sec cooldown Wicked Strike power (like the GWF), hits multiple targets, and tooltips says, it also debuffs opponents for 10% DR.
    I wonder if she's a good one.
    My story is truly a grand tale! Of course, any story about me is going to be grand simply by virtue of the main character.
  • thefabricantthefabricant Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 5,248 Arc User
    mightyeriksson said:

    thefabricant said:

    lantern22 said:

    yeah . . . . and it is . . . . .

    come on, the suspense is killing me . . . . .

    Blink Dog. Of coarse, the shadow demon and lightfoot thief/mercenary are better then the blink dog, but those are more expensive then the zhent lock.
    Sooo, in your opinion, the Mercenary is better than the Zhentarim?
    What does it do better? (not being sarcastic, I'm just curious)
    I've been thinking about getting the Heirloom pack for the Mercenary (playing on XB1)
    We just got the Zhentarim from the Winter Festival, and so far it works out pretty good for my CW, just wish we would get the Loyal Avenger items...
    Although I'm considering trying a Yeti to draw some aggro from my poor, squishy CW...
    Yes, in my opinion it is better. It is a melee companion, which means it dies more often, which means its CD's reset and it gets more then 3 stacks. Furthermore, it multiprocs bondings for some reason, meaning even without dying it normally averages 5/6 stacks. Finally, its attack is actually a little faster then the zhent lock.
    Our Imaginary Friends are better than yours.
  • zeusomzeusom Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 810 Arc User
    edited January 2016
    This was with Zhentarim warlock in trade of blades. What more is there to say.
    imgur.com/XZggsxX
    Sopi (aka Haxbox) SW [Synergy]
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  • wentriswentris Member Posts: 542 Arc User
    This thread ensured me bonding runestones mechanic is a very good thing, even though they may be OP. Companion variety was a problem - everybody always wanted an augment and nothing else really mattered - especially since gateway companion items shrank its itemization variety to "what kind of item costs less". Now people use a lot of different companions - currently because of bonding proccing, but also some people think about pet abilities (combat advantage, also companions have interesting abilities, like defense debuffs for targets, crit for party members etc.). Currently Zhentarim Warlock is meta, because nobody else was presented to people and people tend to follow what was shown to them without analyzing other options.

    And about bonding OPness - as somebody else previously stated - on ranks higher than r10, when they start to shine you are already heavily overgeared for any PvE content this game currently has to offer and it doesnt change that much if you have 5k or 10k power more - at this level your breeze through everything anyway.

    To sum things up - I dont mind balancing and tuning bondings down, BUT I do think its mechanic is a good thing and they should remain superior to augments - it brings more variety for players to choose from and brings devs more ways of making new companions interesting.
  • mercedesmanmercedesman Member Posts: 200 Arc User
    mrgiggles651 said:

    lirithiel said:

    mercedesman said:

    I love my shadow demon... but cost is high.. also his shadow strike hit for around 150k

    I finally caved and bought the Shadow Demon yesterday and upgraded it to blue as finances allowed. It gets up 3 Bonding stacks very quickly. Haven't parsed its damage yet but I've heard they are DD beasts.
    Someone posted a video where the Shadow Demon companion soloed a 5 man HE. The monsters were obviously focused on person's toon, but the Shadow Demon did all the damage-killing.
    That was me that posted that video.. I will try to see if I can get it to fight more on it's own and not have the mobs focus so much on me.. since that video I have let it solo TOS and GWD (not the epic ones of course).. I know it isn't a wondrous feet by any means but it is fun to watch and brings a new aspect to the game (for now)
  • frozenfirevrfrozenfirevr Member, Neverwinter Moderator, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 1,475 Community Moderator
    @wentris, I wouldn't agree. Practically speaking normal companions are not supposed to give you any stats, because that'd make choosing augments dumb and they'll be extinct. Augments are meant to boost stats whereas the other companions are supposed to act as an additional party member. Bondings are BS actually and are not supposed to exist. If they feel people are blindly choosing augments they should make these companions stronger (like a 1.5k intelligent player who knows how to play).

    Finally, Augments are supposed to give stats and Others are supposed to help you. @strumslinger, don't you think?
    FrozenFire
  • bluzeboy7bluzeboy7 Member Posts: 23 Arc User
    then why do bonding stones exist? You cant dismiss that fact by calling it "bs" lol
  • zibadawazibadawa Member Posts: 1,266 Arc User
    bluzeboy7 said:

    then why do bonding stones exist? You cant dismiss that fact by calling it "bs" lol

    Because cryptic aren't so good at designing balanced content. They seem to opt more to introduce progressively more imbalance that will drive the whales to open their wallets.
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