Tank Companions

nightranger7477 · March 2017

Hello all, I'm currently running rust monster, energon, earth archon, harper bard (summoned) death slaad and was wondering elemental air cultist was worth upgrading? to replace earth archon for buff debuff tank Op? Pc players imput would be greatly appreciated as I'm on console. TY in advance.

trzebiat · March 2017

Earth Archon is very good for Prot OP, probably better to replace Death Slaad for another debuff companion (e.g. Chicken) or companion that gives straight damage boost (e.g. Air/Fire Archon, Siege Master). Young Yeti for active bonus would be good too when the damage part gets fixed. Galeb Duhr could also be a good choice.

oggycz · March 2017

For my devo pally I use chicken/rust monster for debuff, young yeti (summoned), and 2 archons for dungeons. For solo I use 3 archons, young yeti (summoned) and owlbear cub.

rubytrue · March 2017

While not technically a tank companion, I am currently leveling up a con artist (yes, 2 gold Con Artist from the Emporium) for the 10% debuff it offers (got to get it at least to blue). I've seen a few top end builds run this or Sell sword at legendary summoned....

rjc9000 · March 2017

I'd personally keep the Bard, the debuff is close enough to Con Artist, unless you needthe stats afforded from 3x rings.

A combo I'm liking is Chicken, Rust, Slyph, and the new Elemental Air Cultist. The Cultist I haven't tested myself (blah blah lazy blah blah essay blah blah Mass Effect Andromeda), but if it works, it sounds great.

mcgwarface · March 2017

For DPS.....Leg Fire Archon w R12 Bondings, Epic Air and Earth Archons, Owlbear and Rust Monster or Energon/Yeti

For Survival: Leg Frozen Galeb Duhr w r12s, Epic Seigemaster, Shadow Demon, Bullet Pup, Dread Warrior/Rust Monster

Or mix them

trzebiat · March 2017

rubytrue said:
While not technically a tank companion, I am currently leveling up a con artist (yes, 2 gold Con Artist from the Emporium) for the 10% debuff it offers (got to get it at least to blue). I've seen a few top end builds run this or Sell sword at legendary summoned....

Con is awesome. I'm definitely staying with mine and SKT rings. Extra defense slot actually is quite nice since I don't have any defense except gear and guild boon and I don't use Negation. With epic rings it's great to manage stats with 3 ring slots, any combination of Dod, Hellig and Krig depending on what stats you're lacking or want to focus on. It gets complicated once you get the legendary ones. Because Dod/Hellig is better on character for power sharing, they take the priority there. Losing defense slots may also be a disadvantage in some cases.

rjc9000 said:
I'd personally keep the Bard, the debuff is close enough to Con Artist, unless you needthe stats afforded from 3x rings.

A combo I'm liking is Chicken, Rust, Slyph, and the new Elemental Air Cultist. The Cultist I haven't tested myself (blah blah lazy blah blah essay blah blah Mass Effect Andromeda), but if it works, it sounds great.

I love the control resist from Sylph, that 50% really makes a difference. But with AA it doesn't really matter. I have and use Rust and/or Chicken depending on the needs.

elbowmedic · March 2017

I currently run lion (primary rank 40), energon, loun stone of might, owlbear, and based on where I am or who I'm running with pewter golem (FBI) or black ice prospector if running with a CW.
Switched to one of the augments for babytanking demo with a tank in training. I might switch back to the one that heals when you pop super just for the ring and defense slots. Since the the hill climb in FBI seems to be the only problem area. can tank orcus with his balls on your face dies while looking like a blue oxygen atom by a rock.

hawkblaze1954 · April 2017

On Xbox the Bard does not proc Protector's Camaraderie/Friendship. Is this working as intended?

michaelrn1982 · April 2017

I'm currently running Bullete pup (summoned, rank 40 with 3x eldritch runetones), sylph, will-o-wisp, rust monster and energon. The added bonus of a 75% CR and 25% CB (control resist and bonus) is a nice addition. I'll swap out the wisp for the chicken for bigger fights as needed.

thrill · April 2017

I use Con Artist (Summoned), Energon, Owlbear cub, Fire Archon. The last spot rotates between Seige Master and Rust Monster.

trzebiat · April 2017

hawkblaze1954#5209 said:
On Xbox the Bard does not proc Protector's Camaraderie/Friendship. Is this working as intended?

I think so since Harper Bard doesn't attack, he just uses his powers.

hawkblaze1954 · April 2017

I thought so. Kinda hoping that wasn't the case and it might be like bonding runestones, when your companion activates a power. Planned to use as the summoned companion. Bought for 1.5mil and a further 500k to upgrade to epic

.

trzebiat · April 2017

hawkblaze1954#5209 said:
I thought so. Kinda hoping that wasn't the case and it might be like bonding runestones, when your companion activates a power. Planned to use as the summoned companion. Bought for 1.5mil and a further 500k to upgrade to epic .

Wait, so you have Harper Bard? That's awesome, use it. It's probably better than Con Artist/Sellsword. He has power that increases summoner's HP by 10% - more power for Aura Gifts, plus power that increases allies power and crit. If I could get it bound (price on PS4 is 19 mil) I'd probably use it, but I have 3 legendary rings for Con Artist.

extremerugburn · May 2017

hawkblaze1954#5209 said:
I thought so. Kinda hoping that wasn't the case and it might be like bonding runestones, when your companion activates a power. Planned to use as the summoned companion. Bought for 1.5mil and a further 500k to upgrade to epic .

Just swap out protectors camaraderie/friendship for other mount insignia bonuses, Their are plenty of good ones to choose from.

littlebib · May 2017

I just found a blue Harper Bard in Shores (bound). I'm my summoned companion is the dwarf you get from Maze engine (2 offense, 1 defense, 3 rings - so really isn't bad). From reading this, it sounds like I should make the switch over to the Harper Bard? Other active ones are energon, earth achron, and a couple of other throw away ones.

volkihar · June 2017

How about the Dancing Shield for Prot OP?

thrilk · June 2017

> @volkihar#6493 said:
> How about the Dancing Shield for Prot OP?

The dancing shield is more popular with Guardian Fighters. Pally's don't need to stack defense. The shield has 3 defense runeslots. Most people run companions with more offense runeslots on a pally. I find the Con Artist, with 2 offense and 1 defense is a good compromise.

trzebiat · June 2017

volkihar#6493 said:
How about the Dancing Shield for Prot OP?

Good for Dev on single target for additional debuff (if there's no other Dancing Shield in party), but not for Prot. Since Dev damage on single target isn't that great, changing to Dancing Shield can on boss fight can be better for the team, depending on the group.

mazdaguy80 · June 2017

As a Devo Pally, I currently run: 3 archons at Epic (Air, Earth and Fire), an Energon at Leg, and my summoned is an Epic Lillend. I dunno why she is so overlooked, no one mentions her in this thread... 3 rings slots and 3 offense slots... it's so difficult to pass on this. I guess it might be because she doesn't have debuffing capabilites like Sellswords/ConArtists.... or perhaps it's because she used to NOT proc Protector's Camraderie/Friendship, but I believe that's been fixed... I used to use a Fire Archon as my summon, but I switched it to Lillend because get a good Talisman has been impossible....

Are there any other companions with 3 offensive runeslots, and easy to obtain gear (rings mostly) slots. I don't consider the following easy (cheap) to obtain: Sword Knots, Icon, Grimoire, Talisman, Waist and Neck.

I also have a Repentant Dragon Cultist at Epic, but not sure what to swap out with it. It's active is like a reverse Fire Archon's active, and has a summoned debuffing ability similar to SS/CA (although it's single target)...

volkihar · June 2017

thrilk#9892 said:
> @volkihar#6493 said:

> How about the Dancing Shield for Prot OP?

The dancing shield is more popular with Guardian Fighters. Pally's don't need to stack defense. The shield has 3 defense runeslots. Most people run companions with more offense runeslots on a pally. I find the Con Artist, with 2 offense and 1 defense is a good compromise.

I'm trying to avoid using Con-artist, Sellsword, etc 'cause almost all my toons have one, i'm looking for Harper Bard or some other debuff companion. I feel that some day the stacks on con artist gonna be nerfed. So 'cause i won a Dancing shield and my defense is less than 8k probably it would be a good alternative.

thrilk · June 2017

volkihar#6493 said:

thrilk#9892 said:
> @volkihar#6493 said:

> How about the Dancing Shield for Prot OP?

The dancing shield is more popular with Guardian Fighters. Pally's don't need to stack defense. The shield has 3 defense runeslots. Most people run companions with more offense runeslots on a pally. I find the Con Artist, with 2 offense and 1 defense is a good compromise.
I'm trying to avoid using Con-artist, Sellsword, etc 'cause almost all my toons have one, i'm looking for Harper Bard or some other debuff companion. I feel that some day the stacks on con artist gonna be nerfed. So 'cause i won a Dancing shield and my defense is less than 8k probably it would be a good alternative.

My base defense is only about 8k as well. My bonding gets it up around 16k or 57% or so. I find that is plenty when I add on 10% for being Protection, 10% from divine call, and 25% for CoP.

veywiil · June 2017

mazdaguy80#8291 said:
and my summoned is an Epic Lillend. I dunno why she is so overlooked, no one mentions her in this thread... 3 rings slots and 3 offense slots... it's so difficult to pass on this. I guess it might be because she doesn't have debuffing capabilites like Sellswords/ConArtists.... or perhaps it's because she used to NOT proc Protector's Camraderie/Friendship, but I believe that's been fixed.

I tested how this fires just to make sure it works like I thought it did, and my thoughts were confirmed. The lillend is a great healing companion, it does that very well. It attacks from a range, which can be weird if you are not used to that, which also makes things like Hati in FBI a little more difficult. The main problem with the lillend is that there is only 1 single attack skill. Audio drain. What this means is that Protectors (C/F) will not fire consistently nor will they stay stacked. The lillend does not attack often enough with audio drain in combat to actually keep you at 4 stacks. It also doesn't seem to stack them very quickly from my initial test.

Is 3 ring slots good? Yes. Is 3 offense slots good? Yes. Is the active bonus good? Yes. Does the one drawback of the lillend make it a bad summoned companion to use? In my opinion, yes. I have one in an active slot, but I won't summon it for dungeons, it simply isn't consistent in my testing, and it doesn't debuff. To me that's a dealbreaker, although that's just how I play.

Can someone clarify something while we are here? Do underdark rings proc inside of the companion buffing the stats you get massively? For example if a brutality ring procs inside of a companion will that buff their power by 4000, and what % of that is shared? Do I get that buff on me? Does the companion get that buff? Do rising rings work, but sudden do not? I was always unclear on the underdark ring interactions inside of companions, and still am. If there is a thread from a theorycrafter on this, that would be great. I didn't see one when I looked.

armadeonx · June 2017

I have a Lillend and gave it a fair try for a couple of weeks - I found that not only is the proc rate slow but it also takes too long to do the first proc so I switched it out.

All underdark rings have been disabled on companions, I'm not sure if the companion itself benefits but it doesn't share even if it does.

Tank Companions

Comments