MagesKickass Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 So I just finished Balmorra, and am working on the bonus series right now, but as I look at Tanno Vik's abilities and stats, it appears that he is capable of being a tank, which is just what I need because I am a Combat Medic Commando. Up to this point I have used 4X as a tank, and have geared him for the job, but gearing Tanno Vik as a tank isn't outside the realm of possibility for me, but which one would be better? Any insight? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mozivicus Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 I prefer 4X, but only because I hear Beavis' voice in the background when 4X shoots flames at the baddies FIIIIIRE, hehe...... FIIIIIRE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medouneu Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 I've never found the Tank companions to be as effective as the other ones, and most other players (regardless of class) seem to feel the same way. When my Commando is specced for heals, I want increased DPS that the Tank companions don't provide, even when in their DPS stance. When specced for DPS, I find Dorne's heals keep me going non-stop, whereas when I bring a fully-geared Tank companion instead, I'm constantly having to stop to rest him up (or unsummon/resummon). If I were a Vanguard specced as Tank, I certainly wouldn't want another Tank with me, and would opt for a companion to boost my DPS. The only time I bring out a Tank companion is situations such as when trying to three-man a Heroic and we're lacking a player Tank. In this case, it's probably more of a question of whether 4X or Vic has the more up-to-date gear than anything else (although I'm partial to 4X myself). Honestly, I wish there were more good situations in which to use the Tank companions, and sometimes I bring one out simply for variety. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaoogaa Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 I like 4x because he does not have to charge in. Have him pull a ranged mob, and the melee mobs have to close the distance giving you a few seconds to dps before 4X starts to take any damage. He is usually standing next to me so his AE taunts pull off anyone that I have agro on. He will still fire his sonic missle at ranged mobs to tank them from range while doign a great job tanking the ones close to him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay_Stocker Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 i prefered 4X as a companion but as a armourmech is was easier to make stuf ffor Tanno Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rigsta Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 I found 4X to be the better of the two thanks to his ranged attacks. I found Jorgan and Dorne to be much better than both of them in practically every situation as a DPS commando though. Your mileage may vary as a medic, just bear in mind that with a tank companion you'll be spending much more time healing than you will with a DPS companion. Honestly, I had better DR as gunnery spec than either 4X or Vik :| Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Savari Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 4X unless they've changed it takes WAY more damage than Tanno. When I first got 4X I was excited, being a cybertech I beefed him up in fully uptodate armor, gave him a fully upgraded weapon and was sorely disappointed. Jorgan was standing up to damage that was taking 4X down and I was having to heal him constantly, even on trash pulls, then having to try and do damage... because well, his stunk. When I got Tanno he played a lot more like Qyzen or Khem Val. Solid tank, can take hits and stay up pretty good so long as you don't neglect his gear. My BIG issue with Tanno is the same one I have with Qyzen and Yuun. A TECHBLADE. Why the bloody ... are you going to put these in this game and then give us NO WAY of getting a decent one without having an armstech buddy or paying outrageous GTN prices? Most annoying is no oranges, meaning you have to buy a whole new weapon every few levels. My own Tanno is still using a lvl 37 purple at lvl 48 because there are none pre-50 on the GTN and I don't know any armtechs since changing guilds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
va_wanderer Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 4X had lessons I took to heart with Corso Riggs. Always manually engage 4X with Flameguard. Sure, he can harpoon one mob out for you.. It means a lot of his mitigation goes to waste when he's getting blastered to death at range. Trigger Flameguard and he'll run up close and cut loose instead. More effective tanking that way- part of IMHO why Vik is normally considered a bit more useful a tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
va_wanderer Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 When I got Tanno he played a lot more like Qyzen or Khem Val. Solid tank, can take hits and stay up pretty good so long as you don't neglect his gear. My BIG issue with Tanno is the same one I have with Qyzen and Yuun. A TECHBLADE. Why the bloody ... are you going to put these in this game and then give us NO WAY of getting a decent one without having an armstech buddy or paying outrageous GTN prices? Most annoying is no oranges, meaning you have to buy a whole new weapon every few levels. My own Tanno is still using a lvl 37 purple at lvl 48 because there are none pre-50 on the GTN and I don't know any armtechs since changing guilds. I know. They're putting moddable techblades in 1.2, but that feels like an eternity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Savari Posted March 16, 2012 Share Posted March 16, 2012 I really does. The only reason I'm not in a rush is so I can get a few more of the limited crystals bought before 1.2... I dunno, it just seems like with several companions requiring techblades or techstaves they would have already had that done. Maybe they should stop nerfing classes for pvp long enough to get something noteworthy done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ounkeo Posted March 16, 2012 Share Posted March 16, 2012 (edited) Jorgan, dorne and even Yun are much better companions than the 2 tanks you get. Tank pets don't get proper mitigation and rely on the shields to absorb all their damage. This is barely better mitigation than Jorgan, dorne and Yun. In Jorgan's case, his DPS is high enough that he can burn mobs down to easily negate whatever mitigation a tank pet can absorb. Same with Yun, who seems to be able to mow down just as quickly, but I much prefer Jorgan's AOE capabiltiies. Dorne is a showstopper all by herself. Her DPS is actually decent supplement to your own even in healing stance and she can comfortably tank 3 normal mobs all by herself. Let's put it his way, Dorne can tank better than our 2 tank companions and she'll even throw you a heal every now and then even if she is under pressure herself. I've got Jorgan, Dorne and Tanno geared up pretty closely (although Dorne is a bit better geared) and She and Jorgan outperform X and Tanno every time, support, heal or tank. they just do it similarly or better. Until they give the tank companions proper mitigation options, they will completely be overshadowed by the other companions. When I say proper mitigation, I mean, being able to stance them so their armor increase to at least cap at 40%. At the moment, all your companions mitigate 20-25% depending on gear. The shield your tanks get amount to roughly only 5% extra mitigation over time. Useless in the short term where you really need it. while Jorgan and Yun may lose 5% mitigation over time, they make up for it with about 30% more damage, now, in the immediate. Sorry I didn't answer your original question: Tanno is simply easier to gear up. you can give him your hand-me-down armor pieces or whatever drops you get. Droid parts are expensive and hard to come by at certain levels, and if you're using oranges, you spend most or all of your commendations keeping his parts current. random blues/greens and or quest rewards can't be used for X whereas Tanno can use everything you can. Edited March 16, 2012 by ounkeo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xaloc Posted March 16, 2012 Share Posted March 16, 2012 well, try to tank a champion 2 or 3 lvls below you with Arik and then tell me he can take de dmg X can... As a healer commando, and Cybertech (yes, i know its easy to gear up X as one)... X is doing really fine as my main solo companion. Tested on same elites/strong/champ.. and no other companion performed near X on tanking single enemy. Groups can be harder... X is not a great AE tank. Well, just my opinion... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uziforyou Posted March 16, 2012 Share Posted March 16, 2012 So I just finished Balmorra, and am working on the bonus series right now, but as I look at Tanno Vik's abilities and stats, it appears that he is capable of being a tank, which is just what I need because I am a Combat Medic Commando. Up to this point I have used 4X as a tank, and have geared him for the job, but gearing Tanno Vik as a tank isn't outside the realm of possibility for me, but which one would be better? Any insight? For me the biggest difference between the two actually boiled down to light side/dark side choices. I play a confirmed good guy and M1-4x pretty much always agrees with those choices (building affection) where Tanno Vik almost always disagrees with them (losing affection). So I just like M1-4x's attitude better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sotaudi Posted March 16, 2012 Share Posted March 16, 2012 The answer is, "It depends." Are they equally geared? If not, then, obviously, the one with the worse gear is going to perform worse. So assuming they have comparable gearing, you then have to deal with the situation because both have strengths and weaknesses. Vic is a melee tank while Forex is a ranged tank. Vik will charge into his enemies while Forex will basically hold his ground, pulling his target to him when he can. Vik, I believe, is a little stronger at AoE while Forex is a bit better at single targets. So it all depends on the situation as to which is going to be better. For instance, let us say you have an Elite with two normal mobs, one ranged and one melee. Nearby and beyond them, a wanderer is patrolling. With Forex, I would wait till the wanderer is out of range, then hit the Elite with Concussive Round. While Concussive Round is casting, I would order Forex to attack the ranged mob. About the time Concussive Round fires, Forex will pull the ranged mob to him. This will cause the melee mob to charge over to Forex. Now, while the Elite sits there drooling and checking his belly button for lint, waiting his turn, I can kill the two normals, using AoE attacks if I want, and I don't have to worry about the patrol inserting itself into the fight because he won't aggro on the CC'ed mob. Once the two normals are gone, Forex's pull should be off cooldown (or I can wait till it is). I can, then, order Forex to attack the Elite, and he will bring it to us, again, out of aggro range of the patrol. Using Vik in that same situation would be problematic. Using the exact same battle plan, this is what would happen. As before, the Elite would get CC'ed, Vic would attack the ranged mob, and the melee mob would aggro on him. However, Vik would engage by running up to the ranged mob, putting him where the mobs were rather than where I am. Therefore, Vik's AoE attacks would most likely wake the Elite, so he now has all three mobs on him, and because he is fighting where the mobs are rather than where I am, there is a good chance the patrol will come by and join in. I could disable his AoE attacks, which would prevent him from waking up the CC'ed mob, but that will make the fight last longer, increasing the damage he will have to take and increasing the likelihood that the patrol will add in. I could save the CC for the patrol, but then he is fighting the two normals and the Elite from the start, and, unless I can time the CC so it hits the mob outside his AoE range, I still have the same problem. Using Forex in this situation makes the fight much more controlable. Forex's pull can also be used to grab a patrol before it gets into aggro range of other mobs while Vik would have to run up to it, which has a greater risk of drawing in other mobs if the separation is small. This is especially true if the mob you are fighting has a knock back. That is not to say Vik is greatly inferior. You may want to fight the mobs where they are. For instance, there may be the danger of respawns or a patrol moving in if you fight where you are standing, so sending Vik in to attack then repositioning near the fight may be a better strategy. There may be a lot of normal and weak mobs. Sending him in to gather them so you and he can AoE them down may be faster. You can still do these things with Forex, but Vik is a little better suited to them, and there are more fights with multiple small mobs than like the scenario I described. I prefer Forex if I am taking a tanking companion along, but Vik is a good choice as well as long as you understand where they are situationally appropriate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Watcherzero Posted March 18, 2012 Share Posted March 18, 2012 (edited) I was rocking 4x in the 20's and 30's but now ive hit the 40's even geared hes just like paper, even trash mobs seriously hurting him so ive being using Dorne more and tanking myself throwing the odd complimentary heal on myself, its sometimes slow on mobs with 100k+ health but it gets the job done (though doesnt seem to work on swarms of enemies, the fewer the better even if the enemies are stronger, guess something to do with limits on damage avoidance frequency). I really dont like Vik as its really hard to work out what choices please him (says he likes money and avoiding self sacrifice) but sometimes responses are not always as cut and dry, plus whatever pleases him pisses off every other member of the team. Edited March 18, 2012 by Watcherzero Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smashbrother Posted March 18, 2012 Share Posted March 18, 2012 So I just finished Balmorra, and am working on the bonus series right now, but as I look at Tanno Vik's abilities and stats, it appears that he is capable of being a tank, which is just what I need because I am a Combat Medic Commando. Up to this point I have used 4X as a tank, and have geared him for the job, but gearing Tanno Vik as a tank isn't outside the realm of possibility for me, but which one would be better? Any insight? Tanno because he is a melee. You want a melee tank because it's less work. He runs in, aggroes everything, and you spam your aoe. 4X being ranged means the melee mobs will run to him while the ranged mobs won't, thus spreading them out and your aoe won't hit them all. Of course, you could manually tell 4X to go into melee range, or pull a ranged mob to him but honestly that is extra work you don't need to do with Tanno. Plus, it's easier to gear Tanno up then 4X. Good droid parts are few and far between. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smashbrother Posted March 18, 2012 Share Posted March 18, 2012 I've never found the Tank companions to be as effective as the other ones, and most other players (regardless of class) seem to feel the same way. When my Commando is specced for heals, I want increased DPS that the Tank companions don't provide, even when in their DPS stance. When specced for DPS, I find Dorne's heals keep me going non-stop, whereas when I bring a fully-geared Tank companion instead, I'm constantly having to stop to rest him up (or unsummon/resummon). If I were a Vanguard specced as Tank, I certainly wouldn't want another Tank with me, and would opt for a companion to boost my DPS. The only time I bring out a Tank companion is situations such as when trying to three-man a Heroic and we're lacking a player Tank. In this case, it's probably more of a question of whether 4X or Vic has the more up-to-date gear than anything else (although I'm partial to 4X myself). Honestly, I wish there were more good situations in which to use the Tank companions, and sometimes I bring one out simply for variety. Yea I tried using dps companions as a healer, but they could never hold aggro off me unlike the tank companions. So I end up having to heal myself, which is time I could have spent dpsing if a tank companion was with me. You never have to heal your tank companion in between fights dude. Just mount up and dismount. It takes all of .5 sec to do that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts