test content
  • Games
  • Social
  • Arc News
  • Support
  • Zen
What is the Arc Client?
Install Arc
Forums > Home› Class Forums› The Guard Barracks

Summoned Companion: Dancing Shield vs. Chult Tiger

mebengalsfan#9264 mebengalsfan
mebengalsfan#9264
 Member Posts: 3,169 Arc User
in The Guard Barracks
I ended up getting an Epic Dancing Shield in one of my T9 runs and now have it sitting in my GF inventory. I don't see many players using this companion and I heard the debuff on this companion is better than that of the Sell Sword, etc... I know the Tiger has a very nice Active Bonus but I am focused more on the buff/debuff for the group with my support characters. Should I bind the Shield and use that as my summoned companion instead of buying the Tiger when it comes to Consoles as it is FREE vs. spending money on a companion.

I have enough AD at this point to make it legendary as well as I will be replacing my Priestess of Moonbow.

Comments

  • greyhawk#1973 greyhawk
    greyhawk#1973
         Member Posts: 236 Arc User
    edited March 2018
    I'm on Xbox, but my take would be to use the Shield - unless you routinely run with an OP or DC that uses one. It's the best debuff, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't stack, so you only want one in a party.

    The Tiger is more for dpsers, for the 5% damage for the first 25s of combat. Personally, I'd say the sword trio are better for a tank, as their debuff is an aoe, while the tigers is single Target...

    If you're tanking as a dpsgf then it's not as cute and dried. In that case I'd think the tiger would be a better pick.

    Hope you find the answer you're looking for!

    Edit:. Their* not there
  • dupeksdupeks Member Posts: 1,789 Arc User
    The one thought is that the shield is a defender companion. That means it can steal aggro from the tank so you need to know how to contain/control it.

    It also doesn't get expert/master striker bonus to power auras, and you get 3x defense slots for your bondings. Depending on the setup, it's a pretty significant hit to your personal damage output.

    I used to run the shield on my GF and OP, but both switched to sellswords at some point for the boost to personal dps.
  • vincentr6669vincentr6669 Member Posts: 235 Arc User
    I'd say for trash the Sword Trio is always better for debuffing because they have an 10% Area Debuff. The tiger should also have an AoE, but it is said that its AI only uses its single target attack which make him inferior to the Sword Trio for trash.

    For bosses then it is a matter of comparing the Shield and the Tiger. Last i checked the shield had 20% single target debuff versus 10% from Tiger, so in matter of debuff Dancing Shield wins. But the Tiger has 3 offensive slots and 2 rings, plus like dupeks said its expert/master striker bonus goes to Power/Crit/ArPen while Shield goes to HP/Def/Regen, so it is much better for personal dps.

    Since you are a more debuffing guy than a personal dps one the shield probably looks better for you, but remember that debuffs have diminishing returns, so in a high debuff party there won't be a huge difference between that 20% from shield and 10% from tiger, so you might as well just go with tiger anyway, after all there's a point in which diminishing returns hit so hard that your party gains more from your personal dps than from your extra debuff.

    Personally i'd go with Shield because it fits thematically a GF lol, also because i'm sick of every BIS toon having the same 5 companions over and over.
  • mebengalsfan#9264 mebengalsfan
    mebengalsfan#9264
         Member Posts: 3,169 Arc User
    vincentr6669 said:

    I'd say for trash the Sword Trio is always better for debuffing because they have an 10% Area Debuff. The tiger should also have an AoE, but it is said that its AI only uses its single target attack which make him inferior to the Sword Trio for trash.

    For bosses then it is a matter of comparing the Shield and the Tiger. Last i checked the shield had 20% single target debuff versus 10% from Tiger, so in matter of debuff Dancing Shield wins. But the Tiger has 3 offensive slots and 2 rings, plus like dupeks said its expert/master striker bonus goes to Power/Crit/ArPen while Shield goes to HP/Def/Regen, so it is much better for personal dps.

    Since you are a more debuffing guy than a personal dps one the shield probably looks better for you, but remember that debuffs have diminishing returns, so in a high debuff party there won't be a huge difference between that 20% from shield and 10% from tiger, so you might as well just go with tiger anyway, after all there's a point in which diminishing returns hit so hard that your party gains more from your personal dps than from your extra debuff.

    Personally i'd go with Shield because it fits thematically a GF lol, also because i'm sick of every BIS toon having the same 5 companions over and over.

    I decided to bind the shield and give it a whirl. I did go from the Moonbow companion to shield. I lost 20% crit and some recovery but overall I haven't really noticed any big change to my GF in chult other than the shield liking to pull undeed threat on enemies 100' away. Moonbow was always by my side for the most part. That is nothing new as all the sword trio do the same as the shield, so I'm use to stupid companions.

    Does anyone know how long the shield debuff last. The attack that activates the debuff is every 8 seconds. The sword trio attack is more frequent, so I know it is up often. Just curious if anyone tested it out yet.

    I previously used on my DC a Green Scale bowman and that companion provided 5% boost in damage for 5 seconds every 8 seconds. I wonder if the shield has the same timer for its debuff.
  • stark760stark760 Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 654 Arc User
    I didn't like the shield pulling threat, and it died a lot. The power you get from 3 offense slots from the tiger is ridiculous compared to a def slotted comp.
Sign In or Register to comment.