Tank companions are useless.

[Traumahawk]

I don't think it's as much a tank companion issue (though they were much better in beta) as much as an overtuned, over healthed silver mobs. It's really bad around 30, and at times, soloing a champion is easier to manage than two silver mobs.

[lollie]

unless we face a particularly nasty elite or two strong (silver elite) mobs.

 

LOL we're calling them silver elites now

 

Because this -

 

Bioware also greatly increased the damage mobs deals after level 30 because people said the game was too easy. So these two things combined make pretty much every non-healing companion useless. Leveling past 30 is also extremely tedious and frustrating because silvers basically crap all over you and take too long to kill.

Edited January 16, 2012 by lollie

[Onerats]

My Lord Scourge is also a terrible tank. I'm in the best stuff the AH has to offer for my level, but he still dies halfway though killing an elite. I'm a far superior tank, and I'm a sentinel.

[Bothan]

I don't find them at all useless. My gunslinger relies on Corso to keep him alive, and Corso does his job extremely well. I've seen others use Bowdaar, but in my experience, he lacks Corso's survivability. But then, I've also put more effort into Corso's gear. By the time Bowdaar entered the picture, he was already far behind.

 

My biggest complaint is that we have limited control over companion movement. I want to be able to issue a Move command to Corso, then click a spot on the terrain, to have him move to that location. Companion aren't particularly bright, and won't move out of AOE on their own. And setting them to passive, and waiting for them to casually stroll out of the effect, isn't particularly useful.

[justcallmetarzan]

Just to quickly comment on a couple other smuggler posts I've seen... Bowdaar has better survivability than Corso depending on the situation. One's a ranged tank, the other is melee. Apples and Oranges. The Bowdaar AI is a LOT stupider than Corso though. But as I progressed towards endgame, I started using Akaavi Spar as my tank because she has more survivability than either of the tank companions, even in level-appropriate gear.

 

Why, you might ask? Because survivability isn't just about hitpoints or mitigation. She puts the mobs down fast enough (STAY DOWN, FOOL!) that she doesn't need to be tanking 3 of them at a time. THAT'S good pve survivability in my book.

 

The real issue I have with our so-called "tank" companions is their just absolutely dumbfoundingly STUPID AI. It's so bad, we call Bowdaar by his other-other name - Bowtard. Here's his thought process tanking:

 

Oh, well it looks like we're in combat. Let me sit here a second and let the smuggler get the aggro. Hmm, her health is at about 80%, better look like I'm doing something. I guess I'll hit this thing. Huh? It's not attacking me. Better use my taunt. OMIGAWD LOOK AT THAT HOVERING CC'ED DROID!!! MUST HIT IT NAO! Oops, lookee - I'm dead.

 

Bowdaar constantly breaks CC's (as does Nadia [yes, I know she's not a tank, but close enough] and Qyzen). I actually had to respec DPS and use Theran on my consular because Qyzen's survivability is SO bad that I couldn't keep him up (no pun intended). So I respecced balance, pulled out my healing toon, and now I can just faceroll the groups of mobs that were killing Qyzan.

 

BW really, really missed the bucket on tank companions. Some of the other ones, however are great. I absolutely love Akaavi Spaar, Kira, and Nadia (four-way, anyone?). They are all great in combat, even taking on limited tanking roles. Risha is another great one from a storyline perspective, and I'm saving my smuggler for a same-sex relationship with her (though the are already VERY involved, trust me... if these walls could talk...). Tharan is also pretty good, and seems to be the obvious choice for a female consular, though he came on a little strong. I think I'll sleep with him to spite Holiday...

[Jackobite]

Been a good thread and I thank the op for starting it.

 

Iv read every post and I think Iv been given some hope, as a lvl 34 sage Q is god awfull for me but what I hope is, this is just a bad patch,

 

Im lvling and im not going to buy gear for a stupid companion every lvl, its not effective but I am now going to gear Q up hes not bad but it wouldnt hurt to pay out a bit to get him up to lvl.

then maybe I can relax a bit grinding.

[Areka]

I will say that the companions are one of the biggest mysteries to me. They tend to favour one advanced class over the other.

 

Companions are mostly there for solo content. So it's you and your companion. One person needs to have some heals really for bosses and the other needs to be able to handle damage doing some sort of tanking.

 

I don't understand why an inquisitor gets a tank companion as the first companion....why would an assassin need that? Sure for the healing sorc it's fine but not so much for the assassin. The healer companion then is the very last one? No, this makes no sense. Mako is a healer for the BH, that makes more sense because even the healer spec is in heavy armour and can take a punch. I really would like more companion choices at the beginning so you can choose a companion fitting your advanced class or simply getting two companions early on.

 

I am sure in one way or another it's doable but my wife's marauder really doesn't have enough options and the healer companion tends to take aggro to easily....so yeah, I don't follow how they run their companions.

Yes, the companions and the classes can be quite weird. Trooper seem to get his quite fast while others (like BH) seem to need an eternity for their second! And starting companion wise, yes, some classes seem oriented to some degree (it's not strange to read people advising not to play as BH healer because of the healer companion and how long it takes to get the second companion*).

 

* lets not count that droid from the ship... which is also healer

[Embrosil]

Well with my scoundrel I used only Akaavi, from the time I got her up to level 50. Now with my vanguard lvl28 I am using Elara and do not plan to change her. Not only she suits my play style, but she agrees with most of my answers.

Nevertheless I agree with the OP. Corso and Bowdaar are considered tanks, yet Akaavi and even Risha are much a better choice. Corso is good at the beginning, but later, DPS companions become more important.

Edited January 16, 2012 by Embrosil

[Battilea]

For my IA, SCORPIO is a decent tank now. But that's at 50, when I can actually begin to easily tune her gear to what I want it to be, so she's using level 50 purple mods, def/shield/absorption stuff, etc. And she's got her moves, like her 1x every 2 minutes buff and her attack that gives her 20% more armor. Though her armor resists still suck compared to what my blue/green wearing Sith Warrior has at 30, as do the quantity and quality of her cooldowns.

 

It helps, of course, that I'm a healer, so I can keep her alive. While she takes less damage than me, it isn't a huge amount less. Against most things, she'd drop far too fast if not for the healing factor. And so situations where her greater toughness is needed are few. I almost always use Temple instead, a medium armor DPS pet.

 

In the low levels, yeah, the tank companion is a lot more subpar. Kaliyo, in heavy armor, both of us wearing modded stuff, since I'm cybertech, had less resists than my Operative in medium armor, simply because I had a talent that gives me 4% resists. So her only edge was her shield, a 20% chance of absorbing around 20%, or about a 4% reduction in incoming damage. At the cost of a lot of DPS due to not using a DPS pet.

 

Tank companions could definitely use a bit of love. A bit more armor, say 20% tied to their tanking stance. The 20% armor attack moved so they get it at a lower level. Maybe an ability that lets them self heal but puts a debuff on themselves that reduces all healing for a period of time, something healers would turn off if they intend to heal the companion, but it would provide the tank pet with an extra bit of survivability for the non-healers.

 

That said, their threat generation is good.

[Ianjreid]

Yep they need a buff, terrible since nerf.

 

dps companions are almost as fragile, and that's not right.

[Gryphandor]

The tank comanions have issues. I have found in almost all cases. It is better to have a healer and you do the DPS.

 

Used Mako 95% of the time on my BH and got to 50 smooth and fast. I tried Blizz and Gault but both would often die or just get real close and require massive heals. So larger down time. Didn't like it.

 

For my leveling Sith Warriors I seem stuck with Quinn for both of them. DPS or Tanking. Now I can use Jaesa a bit but she just gets crushed in too many situations. Often not worth the risk.

 

Some companions need a boost.

[rickjamesia]

I got bored of reading around page 8 or so, but I had one thing to say. I don't think he's asking too much for his tank to be at least a little tankier. On my guardian I'm always surprised to find that Kira is doing much more damage than me, and stays alive quite a long time. There seems to be a disparity in that. This dps companion is extraordinarily effective, but this tanking companion is not. From a population-centric point of view, I want leveling to be easy for healers. There's never enough of them out there for me. If leveling as a healer is a less enjoyable experience than leveling as a damage or tank build, people may just stop doing it altogether. I want low level Flashpoints to still be popular once the initial interest wears off, and if all the commandos are leveling as Grav Round-spam, that's just not going to happen as easily.

[_Rammie_]

As a combat medic, using Tanno Vik is simply amazing. He holds the mobs superbly, and as a melee tank, he keeps them together. Mortar + Pulse cannon pretty much eliminates a group of standard mobs. And as a bonus, his DPS isn't that awful. On particularly nasty mobs where I have to heal for over 50% of the time, he does burn them down steadily. It's not the fastest, but I don't die and have a controlled and fun fight. I do not have to rely on luck.

 

What people shouldn't forget is that tanking is much more than holding aggro and a big healthpool. Having a huge healthpool is actually not all that important in my opinion. Avoiding damage with defense or having the shield proc is way more helpful for healers because it means less damage to outheal. If you neglect avoidances and the shield, then yes, your tank will suck and you might just as well have a DPSer tank and pray he keeps all the mobs off you. Or you just do it right and curse Bioware for giving that wonderful companion way too late

 

The only downside of having Tanno Vik as tank is that he's a meanie and I have to swap him out for most conversations to avoid affection loss/to gain affection with other companions. And his weapon is quite hard to upgrade unless you can craft techblades.

[quaesitor]

The tank companions are pretty good at generating threat and AWFUL at mitigating damage.

 

Companion defense was nerfed in beta, and it was hit way too hard.

 

At the moment, the value of extra DPS FAR exceeds the value of a tank's ability to defend.