What companion to use as a cleric ??

frost168 · March 2013

Beta 3 is over, and I tested all the game gold purchased companions. I do not have a founder pack, nor tons of zen so could not try other companions. With that being said, we need a discussion on what companions were better for a cleric to use.

IMO man at arms rocked compared to the other <2 gold> companions. It kept and maintained agro from one mob fairly well, and as it leveled, it survived pretty well too. I had to keep it healed at lower levels, but I managed to get it up to level 14?? and it was doing quite well in the 40+ area. Overall I'd rate this one an A

I would rate the sellsword and rogue about equal. they did well, but didn't keep mobs from attacking me. They served more like a dot on mobs, doing damage to them as they focused on me. I'd rate these a B

The dog was nice, had a nice effect of knocking the mob down, but it was infrequent and the dog spent most of it's time wagging it's tail in a fight. Seemed it was very slow to attack, and when it did, the dog spent most of the fight running after mobs, rather than doing damage. I'd rate him a B-

The boar seemed to be a dog wannabe with no cool knockdown effect. was simply a Dot. rate this a C-

cleric companion. here I am split. I never leveled it passed 8 preferring the tank mobs, but broke it out towards the end and wish I had kept it out. The heals it gave me allowed me to focus on damage, changing out my spells to less healing, and more damage relying on the pet to heal me. the 20% heal every 9 secs was more than enough to keep me in the battles in the solo areas. Knowing i was getting heals kept me focused on doing raw damage. I did not play with him enough at the higher levels to see if he was worth it over the manatarms, but if the cleric doesn't change, the cleric companion might prove to be my new companion of choice. Something in this game has to heal.

thoughts on companions?

babylon · March 2013

The dog was fine last BW2, but in BW3 was hopeless. The dog stayed nice and healthy but I certainly didn't, and I took all the damage, not being able to heal myself properly.

Ended up taking out all my heal skills and slotting DPS, because the self-heals were that useless, it was *slightly* more efficient to try DPS mobs down, forget my dreams of being a healer class, and just chug more pots than any other class I played all weekend.

Would've tried the cleric companion next I think. Still not doing as much damage as a real DPSer though, and still far more squishy, so not sure any companion would've been ideal with the BW3 build.

quickthorn · March 2013

I didn't play the dog for long as I wanted to try GWF, but I wasn't impressed with the dog. I thought it looked silly too, disproportionately large. Maybe I'll try the man at arms another time, but only if they fix the cleric's aggro issues and do something about the self-heal nerf.

x0y1 · March 2013

quickthorn wrote: »

I didn't play the dog for long as I wanted to try GWF, but I wasn't impressed with the dog. I thought it looked silly too, disproportionately large. Maybe I'll try the man at arms another time, but only if they fix the cleric's aggro issues and do something about the self-heal nerf.

Nono the Men at Arms was awesome and he did hold agro very well with my cleric in BW3. We have excelent aoe tools so minions are not a big issue but vs. boss fights he was golden. He did have issues against mobs way higher lvl +6 but overall his performance was spot on and at last with his 3th skin unlock he looks like a warrior but we should mute him.

Spellsword performance was not so good. Maybe I was expecting a bit more aoe/cone dmg after playing a GWF. Could need a charge power. Plus point female npc.

Wizard from the gold shop was ok, used him in skirmishes/dungeons. His AI seems a bit week when he cast his aoe slow without mobs in range.......

Cleric no idea but you get one for free in a quest at the graveyard ~lvl 28/29.....

kaias2 · March 2013

i've started with the tank companion and it's interesting on the begining...
but due to the aggro problem of the cleric and the lack of AOE tanking of the pet, i've started to have some problems (lvl 28)...
He tank one target...great...but all the other are on me...i can't heal myself...i die, yeaaaah

thanks god everything went better with the cleric companion.
It's maybe weird (and sad Y_Y), but thank to her, i can DPS and she heal me pretty well !

x0y1 · March 2013

kaias2 wrote: »

i've started with the tank companion and it's interesting on the begining...
but due to the aggro problem of the cleric and the lack of AOE tanking of the pet, i've started to have some problems (lvl 28)...
He tank one target...great...but all the other are on me...i can't heal myself...i die, yeaaaah

thanks god everything went better with the cleric companion.
It's maybe weird (and sad Y_Y), but thank to her, i can DPS and she heal me pretty well !

Well solo play don't use heals (points to the 50% self heal nerf). Cleric can dish so much aoe dmg that no solo minion encounter should survive the first seconds after that your tank pet can do his job.

Setup for me was:

"Astral Seal" + "Sacred Flame" / "Chains of Blazing" + "Forgemaster's Flame" (use last one with divinty for heal) & "Daunting Light".
"Guardian of Faith" & "Flame Strike" as dailys. If you pet needs healing use divinity for "Soothing Light"

Works very well into the 30th.

Back to topic, did anyone use the Zen companion pets? The zen store did not show many information about the pets like what kind of abilities e.g. the spider would use (the need to fix that, the ingame npc store for the gold pets shows more data).

braxzana · March 2013

Not exactly the same, but my Trickster Rogue's experience with the cleric companion is worth noting --- the cleric companion makes an EXCELLENT tank for a rogue who has slipped into shadows. For a little while.

In a really TOUGH fight, the cleric will die. Actually the cleric dies pretty darned frequently... but in all but major boss fights where the boss summons a small army of foes repeatedly, the cleric can keep the foes' attention long enough for a trickster rogue to stab almost everything to death. Granted, the cleric usually ends up dead (well, 'unconscious' until revived) but that's still more time that the foes aren't hitting ME.

In BW #1 I tried the Man At Arms Companion and I was not impressed with his ability to grab aggro (heal aggro from the cleric may have been out of whack this BW #3)... nor was I impressed with his durability. The cleric seemed to survive far longer than I thought she would, many times. I alternated between two clerics (the one I got from the quest and the one you get as a reward later), sending one off to train and using the other one until the first was back from training, etc... splitting the time this way, by the time I was 50 they were each around 22nd level. If I had focused on just ONE companion, it would be higher level and things might have been MUCH easier.

iymala · March 2013

I started out with the control wizard but was not overly impressed. I concur with the assesment that the slows were often placed where mobs werr not.

I used the purchased wolf and had issues with him engaging too slowly and then just standing around. The same issues reported with the dog ai.

My favorite by far was the mercenary. He engaged quickly and shadowstepped to the mobs. He did great damage and stayed engaged. Both my fiance, who was playing a GF, and I used this when douing and with two out the extra damage was very noticable.

joeldgn · March 2013

I used the Cleric companion with my cleric, that way I could let the companion tank while I did damage. Seemed to work well with the heal aggro issues.

pallier · March 2013

my cleric used a cleric pet... why? extra healing support when you group, its heals worked 100% on you (didn't suffer that 50% reduction from heals), and it stayed ranged to help attack not getting into the aoe blast of many of the boss fights. as a bonus heals it did generated threat much better than any other pet so i could pull adds off you letting you escape or live long enough to kill things even if the pet died during the fight it buys you enough time to kill things.

siskaxx · March 2013

I used the bear. If I had more Zen I would have got the little rock elem to try, I hear he is better than the bear. The Bear would get agro and for the most part hold it. In the high 20’s low 30’s we had problems with the 2 and 3 packs of strong mobs. He would take one and I would jump around killing the 2 and 3rd. I was all DPS and did not have a heal on my bar. I max out the agro reduction but as stated here it did not help much. If there were more than one mob.
I like the bear a lot for a few reasons. One he did taunt and could hold one mob, has a lot of hit points and regents fast. Had a big foot print so if I do have to heal him I can get him targeted.

ranncore · March 2013

The dog is nice for soloing (knockdown for cc) but the cat is nice for grouping (reduces recharge time for skills).

But all in all companions are more cosmetic than anything else, especially in groups. In dungeon delves I've found them to be more of a hindrance than a help. Except for the cat, because it doesn't actually attack anything - it doesn't get in the way of my spells, clog the screen, and pull unnecessary aggro like most companions do.

iymala · March 2013

Oh wow, I did not play with the cat. I love recovery and would have used this in a heartbeat. I am assuming the cat was purchased somewhere other than the gold companion merchant.

I am interested in what abilities the Drow Panther is going to come with. I am hoping it is a striker or with the recovery group buff the cat apparently has.

healhamsta · March 2013

joeldgn wrote: »

I used the Cleric companion with my cleric, that way I could let the companion tank while I did damage. Seemed to work well with the heal aggro issues.

pallier wrote: »

my cleric used a cleric pet... why?

Yo dawg, me heard you like Clerics so we put a Cleric pet with your Cleric so you can heal while you heal.

ranncore · March 2013

iymala wrote: »

Oh wow, I did not play with the cat. I love recovery and would have used this in a heartbeat. I am assuming the cat was purchased somewhere other than the gold companion merchant.

It's an AD pet, and it's fantastic for clerics. Check it out next time you are in game.

irithae · March 2013

BW3 was my first chance to see the game. Cleric is specifically what I'll want to play when the game goes Live, so I enthusiastically rolled one up the minute the game came up Friday afternoon.

I only got to play to lvl 23 this weekend, so I know pretty much *everything* about... well, everything... will change by the time I can get anywhere near level-cap. For what it's worth, I chose to pick up a Cleric companion for my Cleric at lvl 16, and it worked really well. If I had aggro, she healed me; if she got aggro from healing me, and the mobs beating on her were killing her faster than I could kill them, I'd heal the bejeezus out of her until *my* healing grabbed aggro back

It's worth noting that I chose the Cleric companion because of the... uh... highly-tuned healing aggro experienced in my low-level dungeon crawls (yes, I found ways of dealing with it, and yes, I know the devs have told us it was unintentional and is being worked on). Given the BW3 aggro situation, I figured "if the tanks can't taunt mobs off of me, what're the chances an NPC tank will be able to keep their attention? Maybe I should have someone healing me instead."

When we next see the game, I wouldn't be surprised to find a lot has changed along with the aggro re-tuning, of course, and also having no experience at higher-level content I couldn't say whether a Cleric companion will be desirable for a Cleric player at level-cap. I was pleased with the result at low levels (I had half expected it to blow up in my face).

cwiyk13 · March 2013

pallier wrote: »

my cleric used a cleric pet... why? extra healing support when you group, its heals worked 100% on you (didn't suffer that 50% reduction from heals), and it stayed ranged to help attack not getting into the aoe blast of many of the boss fights. as a bonus heals it did generated threat much better than any other pet so i could pull adds off you letting you escape or live long enough to kill things even if the pet died during the fight it buys you enough time to kill things.

This. Exactly what I did BW3 and exactly why I did it. I wish I had picked the cleric companion back in BW2 when I received the free companion at lvl 16 so she would have been higher level during BW3.

healhamsta wrote: »

Yo dawg, me heard you like Clerics so we put a Cleric pet with your Cleric so you can heal while you heal.

Rofl.

x0y1 · March 2013

Found another thread with some very useful companion information.

http://nw-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?103711-Companions-after-BW3

I guess if we see another open beta, my next companion will be a ghost.......

jetah · March 2013

I'll try a Cleric for my Cleric next beta if there is one.

zebular · March 2013

I preferred the wizard companion on my cleric but I really loved the ghost too. I haven't tried the Ioun Stone on my cleric but I LOVE it on my mage.

l1zardo1 · March 2013

zebular wrote: »

I preferred the wizard companion on my cleric but I really loved the ghost too. I haven't tried the Ioun Stone on my cleric but I LOVE it on my mage.

Huge stat gains, what's not to love about the Ioun Stone

Had a wizard companion in OBW2 and it totally messed with my 'leading' mobs into my AoE. Much more predictable running solo.

xacius · March 2013

I played with the mage and did notice some issues. The mage companion at least would not attack at the clerics full range. You either had to run forward drawing the companion into range or wait until the mobs were within range of the mage. Once they were..like others have said..maybe I was expecting more AOE dmg and/or Cone dmg but it was mostly DD on a single mob. Overall I wasn't very impressed with the mage companion and if there is a next beta test or an open beta and depending on what they are going to do with cleric self heals..probably go with a cleric companion.

karenovy · August 2013

hey ppl =D
Is the honey badger worth for a cleric?

seisem2 · August 2013

karenovy wrote: »

hey ppl =D
Is the honey badger worth for a cleric?

If you are leveling, any dps pet will help you out for a while. When you are doing end game content, the only one that can be recommended is the Ioun Stone.

What companion to use as a cleric ??

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