Bowdaar Is A Bad Tank: Proof!

[ShiningOne]

I read the posts, but I didn’t want to believe it. I figured most people just weren’t equipping him well enough. On that note, I imagined I would have an advantage because my alt has 300+ Synthweaving and knows most of the blue schematics for def-based Heavy Armour.

 

Thus, armed with a Bowdaar wearing all blues I set out on Tattooine – confident that my meatshield could do the job.

 

His stats:

Armour Rating: 1612

Damage Reduction: 21.75

Shield Chance: 25%

Shield Absorption: 20%

 

The result?

 

He wipes constantly, even on some regular groups. It’s embarrassing. My Knight’s T7 rules for tanking compared to this rug – and that’s what he spends most battles looking like: a rug.

 

I'm still enjoying the game, not trying to QQ. But wow what a big let-down.

 

Though considering how terrible he is, it does make his bio all the more amusing the read. “Undefeated” lol. Against what, baby Ewoks?

 

I hope this issue gets addressed, because I want a Wookie not a rug!

 

Thoughts?

[QuickSaveTV]

First of all, I love your post it was very funny!

 

I, personally use geared out Corso for tanking purposes, he regularly dies at ELITE enemies, but we go through content quite easily. He has some powerful abilities to tank, avoid damage and deal damage.

 

For Bowdaar, let me give you some general suggestions:

 

1. Make sure he has all basic equipment (7 pieces: Head, Body, Belt, Cuffs, Gloves, Pants, Shoes) for HIS CURRENT LEVEL.

 

2. Equip some implants on him ON HIS CURRENT LEVEL.

 

4. Equip a proper weapon and shield, preferably, defence oriented.

 

3. Make sure EACH AND EVERY SINGLE slot on him is equipped for HIS CURRENT LEVEL with proper stats.

 

P.S. - If even after all these steps he lies on the floor like a rug... just R.I.P. Mr Undefeated Champion.

[Santaner]

For giggles, I decided to gear up Bowdaar because his performance was always lacking during leveling. I managed to get him 3 pieces of T2, a piece of T1 (Yay for Knight gear dropping for my groups that don't have Knights >_>)and some other level 50 greens/blues/purples, just to see if he would be a boss.

 

At 1200 STR and 1100 Endurance, he's quite beastly, it's just that Corso is even better at tanking with less gear and Risha hits like a *train* with just over 1100 Cunning.

 

It's kinda sad how gimped he is, but I'll still use him because he's my Wookie

[kifa]

I see I am not the only one who discovered Blowdaar's shortcomings. Right from the start I knew something was wrong when I used him on Tatooine. He dies constantly. Hardly fitting for a wookie who is 'undefeated champion'. When you gain a companion and you have to swap out all his gear immediately to make him viable in combat, something is askew.

 

Put Blowdaar back in the oven, Bioware. He is not quite done yet.

Edited January 9, 2012 by kifa

[ARobb]

Thoughts?

Ditch Bigfoot.

 

I've been using Risha ever since I got her. She has not died once, and elites are no longer a problem for my gunslinger. Her 2 minute defense cooldown makes her a surprising good tank, and her DPS makes fights go by much quicker. And nothing is more sexy than roaming the galaxy with a femme fatale at your side.

[KryloKillian]

Corso is pure tank

 

Bowdaar is tank/melee dps, not as tanky as Corso, not as much DPS as Risha or Akaavi.

 

Risha is ranged dps.

 

Akaavi is melee dps.

 

Guss is heals.

 

The problem is you're expecting the guy who's basically a dual spec to tank as well as the guy who does only that. Whether it makes him more or less viable to realize he's supposed to have some DPS use or not is up to your personal style, I suppose.

 

I traded Corso out for him and had no problems, though that was mostly just because I dislike Corso's 'country charm'. But Bowdaar got thrown on the back burner when I got Risha. I don't need a tank if I have that much DPS.

[Kaezil]

But but I hate Corso. I kept gearing Bow and not using Corso, but then Risha "tanked" for me. (Sawbones 34) and she was better than Bow. The damage she took was about the same but her damage always made the fight shorter and I still rarely get aggro. I toss in a back blast and blaster whip and we end boss fights at 100%.

 

So, Corso may be even better? Where in preferences can I make him stop talking?

Edited January 9, 2012 by Kaezil

[Jeszh]

I don't know about this, really.

 

I (scoundrel sawbones) went into maelstrom prison with a 35 gunslinger and a 35 jedi sentinel.

 

We used the gunslinger's decently geared Bowdaar (3 items below level 30) as a tank and boy, is he good! He took almost no damage throughout the entire instance. We didn't need to cc anything and healing him was great. I used more time on just doing dps than healing.

 

The weird thing is that the gunslinger told me Bowdaar actually takes much much more damage when soloing with him than when tanking this flashpoint.

 

tl;dr

Bowdaar seems like an amazing tank for flashpoints but seems to feel squishy while soloing

[Cryowolf]

More Bowdaar hatin'..poor guy!

 

I can't stand Corso so I used Bowdaar from level 19 to 32. Had him in 3 oranges that I kept up to date with cybertech and the rest was greens. I had no problems with him tanking, except for the occasional time his tanking ability would turn itself off without me noticing. I doubt he died a half dozen times during the whole time I used him. I used him to finish up Taris, Nar Shadaa, Tatooine and a big chunk of Alderan.

 

He did the *dreaded* Lightspring first time with ease...I just don't see how people have him dying all the time. Where is the love? Maybe folks are relying on the AI to control him? I keep 6 buttons hotkeyed for companion abilities. I am the boss!

 

Remember almost all of your skills have relatively short cooldowns and can be used almost every fight. Don't forget to use them!

 

I have since gotten Risha and she is easier to gear since she get my hand me downs and I just keep her rifle top notch with my blasters. As someone else mentioned she has a defensive cooldown which is amazing. Spar went down like a cheerleader on prom night her first time out and not in a beneficial way to me, so Risha is still my girl.

 

I am looking forward to Guss, just a few more levels!

[OlBuzzard]

More Bowdaar hatin'..poor guy!

 

I can't stand Corso so I used Bowdaar from level 19 to 32. Had him in 3 oranges that I kept up to date with cybertech and the rest was greens. I had no problems with him tanking, except for the occasional time his tanking ability would turn itself off without me noticing. I doubt he died a half dozen times during the whole time I used him. I used him to finish up Taris, Nar Shadaa, Tatooine and a big chunk of Alderan.

 

He did the *dreaded* Lightspring first time with ease...I just don't see how people have him dying all the time. Where is the love? Maybe folks are relying on the AI to control him? I keep 6 buttons hotkeyed for companion abilities. I am the boss!

 

Remember almost all of your skills have relatively short cooldowns and can be used almost every fight. Don't forget to use them!

 

I have since gotten Risha and she is easier to gear since she get my hand me downs and I just keep her rifle top notch with my blasters. As someone else mentioned she has a defensive cooldown which is amazing. Spar went down like a cheerleader on prom night her first time out and not in a beneficial way to me, so Risha is still my girl.

 

I am looking forward to Guss, just a few more levels!

 

I'm not questioning the validity of what you are telling us .. BUT... I'd be currious to know what you are doing that is different. I too got tired of watching the Wookie play "rug-on-a-floor". TBH ... I'd prefer the Wookie ! BUT if it aint workin' .. it aint workin'.

[ikinai]

I'm not questioning the validity of what you are telling us .. BUT... I'd be currious to know what you are doing that is different. I too got tired of watching the Wookie play "rug-on-a-floor". TBH ... I'd prefer the Wookie ! BUT if it aint workin' .. it aint workin'.

 

Until I got Risha I used Bowie instead of Corso as a gunslinger, he rarely died on me, if he did, meh, things were usually dead or mostly dead to the point I couldn't finish it off easily. I hated Corsos hyuk ah'ma hick boy attitude and his stupid harpoon shot. I'm trying to keep the targets away, I died way more with Corso than I did with Bowie. But, that's just maybe because of my wanting to keep things at range, which Bowie does quite well, just target his target and blast way.

[Kitty_Whoopass]

Look at his stats.

 

When I looked at his stats for defense shield doesn't even show up even though he was equipped with a nice purple shield my guardian made him. Also if I remember right his offensive stats were showing AIM as his high stat even though he was being outfitted with tanking gear.

 

I'm pretty sure he's just fundamentally broken - like they have the wrong base stats programmed for him.

 

I'm going to recheck when I get home from work but for a melee tank, the stats don't even show up like they do for my Guardian. As though they aren't there or aren't being used.

 

Please everyone open a ticket - so our squeaky wheels can get greased.

 

EDIT: Also it's possible, based on reading this thread, that he's not broken for everyone or not always broken. He is definitely broken for my Scoundrel who is going up the middle tree (the sneaky tree, I forget what it's called).

Edited January 9, 2012 by Kitty_Whoopass

[Rhudian]

I've been running with Bowdaar as a sawbones, almost exclusively.

 

He becomes quite a bit better at general tanking when he gets his shield ability at... around 33-35ish?

 

His two AOE and one single-target taunt pretty much assure that nothing aggros me. And, given his terrible damage output, that leaves me to run around and kill four three to four guys by the time he knocks one down. Usually I don't even have to apply any healing besides slow release medpack until all that's left standing is a strong/elite mob.

[setanis]

Poor Bowdar. I used him from the moment I got him all the way till I got Risha and had no problems with him at all. He didn't take very many dirt naps and I like him more than Corso. Risha though is just insanely OP. My current problem is using Risha or Akaavi. Decided to keep Akaavi out for affection reasons though I'm having trouble keeping her up. Risha? No death. Bowdarr? Very stable in orange gear with mods. No love for Corso!

[Trackpad]

Kitted out Risha is actually silly.

 

I tried Guss for a bit. Kitted him out, but i'd still rather use Risha with hand me downs. Include the presence boost and she's almost matching me for damage. Just ease off the damage a bit and she can quite readily take agro off me. Likewise, spike it up a bit and agro comes back to me.

 

No need for a healer when I can just bounce agro on golds between the two of us.

[entropicdecay]

Bowdaar is good paired with sawbones. He tanks decently. Never any risk of him dying and I'm soloing elites and even champions without issue as long as theres only 1. I try to burn adds down in the first few seconds so I can focus on healing Bowdaar.

 

He doesn't tank as well as Corso but he does a lot more damage which is good since as Sawbones I don't do that much damage myself. Usually once I've killed adds and stabilized health I can help killing the bosses with blaster whip/back blast in between heals.

 

I might try using Risha. I kinda like the idea of killing things faster but I worry about how I will go against elites.

[Malake]

To me there seemed to be a bit of a difficulty spike hitting tattoine compared to what came before which made me think he was pretty weak. But changing back to Corso didn't really make things much easier and I didn't like it the way his grapple shot kept turning itself back on. Almost finished Alderan now, Bowdar is going fairly well and rarely dies.

[happysister]

i want to like Bowdaar. i really do, but Corso met my needs better. Akaavi works better for me too as far as melee companions goes.

[Fraxture]

I hate Corso with a passion. I would kick him out an airlock it if was an option

I am going to go with Bwodaar for now.

[SigDal]

Bowdaar gets alot better as you go. I found him quite weak on tatooine as well, but in the end he tanked sith lords at level 50 like a boss.

[Corran]

I read the posts, but I didn’t want to believe it. I figured most people just weren’t equipping him well enough. On that note, I imagined I would have an advantage because my alt has 300+ Synthweaving and knows most of the blue schematics for def-based Heavy Armour.

 

Thus, armed with a Bowdaar wearing all blues I set out on Tattooine – confident that my meatshield could do the job.

 

His stats:

Armour Rating: 1612

Damage Reduction: 21.75

Shield Chance: 25%

Shield Absorption: 20%

 

The result?

 

He wipes constantly, even on some regular groups. It’s embarrassing. My Knight’s T7 rules for tanking compared to this rug – and that’s what he spends most battles looking like: a rug.

 

I'm still enjoying the game, not trying to QQ. But wow what a big let-down.

 

Though considering how terrible he is, it does make his bio all the more amusing the read. “Undefeated” lol. Against what, baby Ewoks?

 

I hope this issue gets addressed, because I want a Wookie not a rug!

 

Thoughts?

 

from as early as coruscant you are given easy access to droid moddable gear. a droid companion is in fully modded gear damned early

 

if you have just blue stuff on a tanking companion it's not enough.

[Fatespuppet]

What I find humorous is that everyone seems to have a different opinion of all of the companions. That reads like a success for BW for me. i hope they continue adding companions so that there are lots of choices.

 

As for Bowdaar, I like having a wookie, but he died too much early on. First impressions being what they are I decided to go back to Corso. I used him for ages, but Now I've fallen in love with Akavi.

[Saviorofcamelot]

I read the posts, but I didn’t want to believe it. I figured most people just weren’t equipping him well enough. On that note, I imagined I would have an advantage because my alt has 300+ Synthweaving and knows most of the blue schematics for def-based Heavy Armour.

 

Thus, armed with a Bowdaar wearing all blues I set out on Tattooine – confident that my meatshield could do the job.

 

His stats:

Armour Rating: 1612

Damage Reduction: 21.75

Shield Chance: 25%

Shield Absorption: 20%

 

The result?

 

He wipes constantly, even on some regular groups. It’s embarrassing. My Knight’s T7 rules for tanking compared to this rug – and that’s what he spends most battles looking like: a rug.

 

I'm still enjoying the game, not trying to QQ. But wow what a big let-down.

 

Though considering how terrible he is, it does make his bio all the more amusing the read. “Undefeated” lol. Against what, baby Ewoks?

 

I hope this issue gets addressed, because I want a Wookie not a rug!

 

Thoughts?

 

Alderraan is a big jump in difficulty and I rocked the entire planet without dying while using Bowdaar. Obviously you're doing something wrong!

 

I agree Bowdaar needs a few adjustments but overall he can do very well when geared properly. I still use him to tank hardcore bosses and he isn't even wearing current gear anymore because I have been focusing on Risha.

[Vicelance]

When I first got Bowdaar he died faster than Corso but after reading threads on here I spent some credits on the Galactic Market for weapons and armor, and now he is much better than Corso, though I ocassionally find that he doesn't hold aggro as well as Corso.

[bsmolke]

I'm really tired of pulling the wookie up off the floor after any moderately difficult mobs. I'm a sharpshooter gunslinger and even though I burn through mobs, I feel like he's taking a ton of damage. I'm thinking about going back to Corso, since damage is not an issue, and being a gunslinger leaves me zero healing options for my companion tank.