Khem val is totally useless and needs to die painfully.

[Maglen]

Used him from 1 - 50. Tried Xalek for half a level and put him on the back burner. You haven't said what your spec is. If you're a sorcerer, it's EZ Mode. Keep him geared, remember to activate his newly learned skills ( You have to manually activate them the first time).

[Nythain]

I love my Khem. He's the only companion I bothered to use with my sorcerer, from 1-50 like others. Not healing specc'd, actually I rarely bother to heal him. I bubble him, let him go at it, throw in my dps, bubble again as soon as possible, etc. Once he drops, IF he drops, then the target is usually all but near dead and a few zaps from me finishes the job.

 

He's also pretty good at rounding up targets into a nice Death Field/Force Storm area of effect, making clearing groups of trash pretty quick and easy.

 

Then again, I, like others presumably, have kept him geared up. Hell, he's currently decked out in centurion and custom oranges. Seriously, keep him upgraded, learn to play, bubble him, and he'll be your best friend if you're a sorcerer. If you're not, why are you using him instead of a better suited companion anyways?

[wardrich]

Sounds like a case of the OP not gearing up Khem as he levels. Had no problems as long as I kept Khem's gear up to date as a TANK and not a DPS. Later levels of 40's I had him in oranges and defense mods and he was pretty staunch.

[KelbornX]

You won't spend 200k gearing up Khem... I haven't spent a dime and my Khem has almost 10k hp at lvl 39. Gotta love all those extra commendations you get on every planet.

 

Buy an orange piece somewhere, buy mods, profit. I got my Khem the helm from Nar Shaddaa, chest from Tatooine, and weapon + pants from Taris so far. And my own gear is pretty up to date too with all those items mods missions rewards start throwing at you.

 

And to throw it at you again:

• Gear him as a tank
  
• Turn on all his abilities
  
• If you're a Sorc, learn to shield and heal him
  

 

At 34 you get Force storm and trash packs become an absolute joke. The only time you need to heal is on Toughs and Elites. Even then, if you haven't failed at gearing him he can take quite a beating.

 

tl;dr l2p (sorry, but it's true)

[DarthRaw]

Really, what purpose does he serve? His DPS is crap, and unless you spend 200k gearing him out in oranges every five levels, he is the squishiest and single worst tank in the known universe.

 

 

Can we either toughen him up or jsut remove him from the game? His constant emo bullcrap would be tolerable IF HE WASN'T USELESS. Unfortunately, this is not the case, making it either stupidly expensive, or impossible to level as a sorcerer. If you're thinking of making one, I would strongly suggest against it unless you have bags of money to throw at khem for gear, or perhaps if you're just a masochist and enjoy dying constantly because khem gets one shot on every pack of mobs with a strong in it =.=

 

Wow u must be garbage! I have a lvl 50 Sorc and kem is the best companion! I use him till i unlocked xalek. If u play assaian i guess u can go with a different companion like Andronikis but u obviesly have kem with lvl 1 armor cause with the proper gear, he is the best tank companion other than xalex( Which i have fully pvp geard and he kicks *** When i come across repubs on planets) If u are really complaining about kem you must suck. Your only LvL 30, gear him above you and just relax, you shouldnt have a probllem.

[WEMF]

If you don't like Khem, then just someone else! If you think Khem is squishy, you'll find your other companions even squishier. But yeah, the others have higher DPS, so pick your poison.

[Blue-moon]

Not much to add to what others have said really, one thing though - don't give him your old orange stuff (unless it's the odd piece or two), try to make sure he's mainly in heavy because it makes better use of armour mods than light.

[KekoSplit]

I find all companions extremely viable when they have good blue/orange/purple gear.

And it's fun to be able to choose to play with healer, a tank, or a dps companion, and they all do their job really very well.

 

None of my tanking companions can die to a single elite mob (or 2 strong, or 4-5 normal) even if I don't heal them at all.

But if you can heal them and you have Biochem, they are unstoppable. If you can't heal and don't have Biochem, they are still viable, but it may be better to use a healing companion.

 

Companions and class quests are by far the best part of this game and the only reason I'm still playing (and hoping they improve the rest - pvp, UI, bad fps in warzones, bugs...)

[SandsOfArrakis]

Well the truth is. I haven't used a tank companion since I got Andronikos on Tatooine. Since then I've been running around with a DPS companion. Ash mostly, Andro now as well.

 

I'm a healer (currently at 41) and I never had any problems whatsoever. Keep the gear you and your companion use up to date and you should do fine. I'm using orange gear. Got those from commendation medals from all the planets. Same goes for mod upgrades.

 

I do wonder though what OPs playstyle is. With the use of some CC here and there I blast through the game. Granted as a healer spec I can outheal the damage my companion and me take. But next to that I also get to deal quite a bit of damage as well. It's not that I'm only healbotting my companion to get through the game at all

Edited February 21, 2012 by SandsOfArrakis

[Vrell]

You need to feed your Khem some forceusers so he can grow big and strong. Im in mid 30s and he is my goto champ if things go bad. I dont even have him geard up to his lvl (no headgear, no implants, no ear...just noticed I still have a belt for lvl13 on him) and he just doesnt die if you dont pull 2 elites. Now I just send him and force storm the area until everything is dead.

 

Just use static shield before you send him in, put your HoT on him and DPS. easy.

 

Also if you are lvl30 and you cant afford spending few credits to gear him you are doing something wrong.

[Ghuldan]

Basically this is what I'm getting from this OP...

 

1. You are so set in the fact that you dislike Khem that no matter what anyone actually posts, logical or not you're argument will always be "No you're wrong, because of this this and this"

2. You ARE obviously doing this wrong because I level'd over half the way with Khem tanking and so did the sorc in my guild with no issues as well as most of the 50 dailies and quests.

 

You see I suspect you're doing 1 of 2 things,

 

1. Having him tank too much, that even a human player WOULDN'T be able to tank (IE: Trying to solo Heroic 2+) and you just aren't utilizing things like CC.

2. You are spec'd wrong/have bad itemization on both Khem and yourself doing subpar DPS and by the time you kill them, they kill you.

 

Something almost all of the community forgets is, companions aren't made to replace players. They will never DPS as hard, heal as much, or take as much damage as any given player of that same skill set. The reason being? They're a way to diversify the story AND offer assistance in story area's so you don't have to solo them, as for some classes it would be nearly impossible....

 

So before saying he is useless and have the community go in to an uproar (This thread being exhibit A) maybe take some time and analyse the situation....

 

 

Side note however. I have a question? because of your obvious hostile nature towards suggestion and opinions, do you play CoD? lol

[KorenoGamer]

HAHA... Pot, Kettle

 

You're obvioustrolling and IM the child?

You're obvious(LY) trolling

 

because believe it or not, a little proper grammar and big words isn't going to scare everyone in the internet.

ON the internet.

[crunchybacon]

Really, what purpose does he serve? His DPS is crap, and unless you spend 200k gearing him out in oranges every five levels, he is the squishiest and single worst tank in the known universe.

 

 

Can we either toughen him up or jsut remove him from the game? His constant emo bullcrap would be tolerable IF HE WASN'T USELESS. Unfortunately, this is not the case, making it either stupidly expensive, or impossible to level as a sorcerer. If you're thinking of making one, I would strongly suggest against it unless you have bags of money to throw at khem for gear, or perhaps if you're just a masochist and enjoy dying constantly because khem gets one shot on every pack of mobs with a strong in it =.=

 

I kinda like big ugly. If you gear him with orange and prototype gear he can dish good dps and I can't pull aggro off him.

 

I've had him tank 2 elites while soloing heroic+2s with no issue.

[TheVoidStalker]

Tank companions are not tank players. They do not tank everything.

 

They are damage splitters.

[jkcheng]

Having Khem around is like having a pit bull, everywhere you go people just get scared and move out of the way.

[Exiled-Phoenix]

Lol i havnt bought a single piece of equipment for khem, just got 3 orange pieces that i looted and i give him my handy downs from mods whenever i upgrade mine.

he tanks just fine for me, perhaps the problem is that you cant kill fast enough or don't know how to cc.

[Tadshackles]

I am a lvl 42 Sorc and my Khem has 11,347 hp. I have 9972 hp.

 

My Khem is a beast man! I got him oranges early on and use commendations to remod myself and him and was lucky enough to earn the orange weapon for him on taris.

 

All around Khem is my only pet I use. I used the effeminate imperial operative dude for a while but at the end, its all khem for me.

 

I see a lot of sorcs using Ashara but I hated her.

 

Khem is the man. If u don't like him as a sorc, you're doing it wrong.

[KelbornX]

Having Khem around is like having a pit bull, everywhere you go people just get scared and move out of the way.

 

Very nice analogy. XD

[drkside]

I honestly havent got a problem with Khem, I never heal him in battle unless its an elite or champion and if he dies he's done his job - to keep the damage off me - not that he does normally.

[TheVoidStalker]

if he dies he's done his job - to keep the damage off me - not that he does normally.

 

Exactly, it's like having an extra however many HP that prevents you from getting stunned/controled/interrupted.

 

Dismiss and resummon or get on your speeder after fights. Either is faster than getting yourself killed and getting back up.

[Vladnar]

Have found Kehm a very useful and worthy ally.

 

I play dps sith sorc and as long as you shield him before he starts and maybe reshield if a tough or long battle you shouldn't have too many problems.

 

Try gaining a few levels through pvp and coming back, you'll find it all easy as pie....well not exactly but you get the picture.

 

Good luck

 

ps, Khem Val, don't leave home without him.

[Ohanko]

There are certain melee mobs that deal a bit more damage than others, just as there are champions whose dmg is a joke. Maybe you run into those.

 

In general. even if you dont keep Khem geared enough -as I do-, you wont have problems.

 

After lvl 35 there are mods with +defence, absorbtion etc which you can use, and "yes" you have to spend some credits on him. I dont think anybody had ever "money" issues on this game.

 

If you have played WoW you will surely remember the so called beggars running around and asking for some copper. I've never seen anything like this here.

 

Saying that you wont spend money in gearing him, is a wrong tactic. The companion mechanic here is not like the pet mechanic in WoW.

[Adwynyth]

Learn to play your class and keep him geared. You'd have to trigger the world boss in Tatooine to have Khem get killed in seconds.

 

You know, I generally hate "L2P " posts, but this one is dead on.

 

I have 2 sorcs and I don't want any other companion on them.

[Sasheria]

shield pop in two seconds? who are you fighting? How are you spec?

 

I am using Khem right now until I get Xalex (which use same equipment as me) he is awesome. I use him when I was spec DPS and heal (WAY easier with heal and I can take on tougher foes)

 

but as DPS, khem's job is to aggro everything so I can force lightning, chain lightning or force storm everything to death. rinse and repeat. If he dies, dismiss and resummon = full health for Khem

[Granomir]

Khem is fine if you know how to use him and better if you know how to gear him. Most of the people in this thread do not seem to agree with the original poster. If you don't like Khem then don't use him, if you don't like your other companions I suggest you re-roll.

 

Or better yet quit, go back to wow and get your care bear Panda.

Edited February 21, 2012 by Granomir