Bowdaar is the Worst

[DunsparrowSolo]

I was so pumped to get a Wookie sidekick as a scoundrel. I was Han Soloing all the dames. Then I began to notice something. At first I ignored it because -- you know -- Wookie. But slowly the feeling grew. Bowdaar sucks.

 

First he tanks like a wet paper towel. A gold enemy cuts through him in seconds, even with me chain healing him. Just get better gear, maybe?

 

This presents the second problem. Heavy Armor Strength gear is not easy to come by. Although some quests award Bowdaar-relevant items, its not enough to boost his survivability above the level of a fruit fly. Every battle is a race against time. Who will die first, the mobs or Bowdaar? I've Revived him more times than we've been told the economy is getting better.

 

Finally, there is his combat style. Bowdaar fights like a 3-year old let loose on a box of chocolate popsicles. He makes a mess of everything. A charge here, a Wookie Toss there. Pretty soon you can't even find all the mobs you're fighting, or they've been thrown directly into an elite patrol which hastens the countdown toward Bowdaar's own inevitable demise.

 

The best part is when Bowdaar Tosses some weak mob directly into a Champion, then Charges into him and dies instantly for a sweet Bowdaar-death + massive-aggro-on-me combo.

 

I know I can turn off Wookie Toss. I can also turn off Bowdaar entirely.

 

The final straw was a vintage Bowdaaar Wookie Toss of the last quest mob I needed over the edge of a cliff. Thanks, pal. How about you start leveling my crafting. Me and Risha got some work to do.

[HeavensTerror]

Yeah, Bowdaar is terrible. Only cool because he is a wookie. lol

 

Wait until you get Akavi. She is a good tank.

[DunsparrowSolo]

Yeah, Bowdaar is terrible. Only cool because he is a wookie. lol

 

Wait until you get Akavi. She is a good tank.

 

I have her, but she doesn't keep aggro off me. I don't see tanking stance or anything. Am I doin something wrong?

 

Right now I'm just using Risha as a DPS add and I tank myself.

[Beatzock]

My biggest problem with Bowdaar is that he has no freaking cross bow. I mean seriously, where is his god damned cross bow......

[Infanta]

Wait for Gus

[LElfiian]

I have her, but she doesn't keep aggro off me. I don't see tanking stance or anything. Am I doin something wrong?

 

Right now I'm just using Risha as a DPS add and I tank myself.

 

I do not believe so. She is more of a dps than a tank. They already give you two technical tanks. Corso and Bowdaar have similar moves yet Bowdaar does suck.

 

Risha and Akavi are supposed to be your dps girls then Guss has heals.

[Wallach]

Unfortunately Corso does seem to own Bowdaar pretty hard. I'm sure you could gear Bowdaar similarly, but between Grapple and Corso's ability to stay put while tanking instead of moving to melee range, he's simply more useful.

 

It's not too bad since I've come to quite enjoy having Corso around, but I did want to run around with my own personal Wookie. As things stand though he is definitely the companion I leave back on the ship the most.

[C-mot]

i use the tactic to take out the heaviest mob / boss with tranquilizer / droid hack in a group of mobs before i attack. after dealing with the lesser stuff i can concentrate on the boss.

this worked perfect with corso. i even got used to his harpoon - so i stood a bit in front of him before we start. when the action starts corso pulls the mob close and its back right in front of my scattergun.

 

Bowdaar's AoE attack always reactivates all mobs "on sleep" the moment he charges in and even agros "yellow" neutral mobs. so now whenver i use him i have to deactivate his area attack (thissetting will be lost the moment i use a speeder or change zones).

[SmugglerYakko]

I think the mistake I made was I picked up Bowdaar last on Nar Shada and then went off to Tattooine with his default gear which is NOT holding up against basic enemies. I working on getting him better equipped but it's a slow process and I don't want to use what little money I have (spent a big chunk of it on speeder training) to equip him.

 

In short, make sure you don't sell all the gear you and Corso don't use. Heck, I didn't even realize you could equip the droid on the ship until recently.

[Ilservian]

lol'd hard at your narrative. You painted me a picture with your words. Would read again. Also, I agree, currently using Bowdaar on Tattooine and I'm realizing I need to gear him up a bit more.

[Celerian]

He does seem surprisingly fragile for a supposed tank, but I guess I'm used to the "race to destruction" when fighting anything with a special frame since I play gunslinger. He usually buys me enough time before he takes a nap that I can mop up easily enough. Except for that last class story fight on Tatooine, but I don't think switching to Corso would've made a difference even if I hadn't been taking all the Bowdaar gear rewards the entire time since Nar Shaddaa.

[Scotland]

Hanharr was twice the wookie bowdaar will ever be.

[EwokLuvr]

The final straw was a vintage Bowdaaar Wookie Toss of the last quest mob I needed over the edge of a cliff. Thanks, pal. How about you start leveling my crafting. Me and Risha got some work to do.

 

Hah, yeah I had him throw a mob off a cliff too. I was kind of amazed, but if it was the last quest mob I needed we would've been having some words, too.

 

I already stopped using him too, for mostly those same reasons.

[Pherdnut]

Or is it that maybe Corso is a little too good? Sure, grapple can be a nuisance but I find I'm expecting a bit much from companions when running other characters. Except for T7 when you get him the first (temporary) time as a JK but I suspect he's way above your level at that point. But jeez, they had 20 and one came back? They should've been able to wipe out the Empire with 20 of those guys given how bad he makes your JK look on the first use. He was one-hitting left and right.

[Eroiqua]

I was a bit surprised when I read this. I don't have a problem with Bowdaar at all and in fact prefer him in any fights with multiple enemies (meaning almost all fights). I think I see a small difference in how Bowdaar takes (or doesn't take) damage versus Corso, but it's a pretty small difference; I certainly wouldn't describe Bowdaar as being like a tissue, or whatever. Perhaps I'm using Corso wrong, but I don't really think so.

 

I have noticed that sometimes Bowdaar's tanking stance turns off by itself.

[TheSkizzy]

I use Bowdaar as my primary companion. Everywhere I go, he comes with me. When I first switched to Bowdaar from Corso, it did seem like he was a bit more squishy. I am level 36 now, and Bowdaar is simply a beast. Fighting a gold star mob, I can fire a few Charged Bursts before I have to top him off again. I honestly haven't tried Corso since I got Bowdaar though, and I am also two levels higher than the mobs I'm fighting.

[SigDal]

I leveled all the way from 25-50 with bowdaar. Thrust me he gets better. The wookie toss should be toggled off any you press the keybind yourself when needed. There was not a single sith lord, bounty hunter or battle droid who could kill him before I killed them.

[Larce_Apollo]

Few things, sorta already pointed out.

 

1. His default gear blows, replace it immediately.

 

2. Turn off his AoE and his wookie throw. His AoE breaks stuns, and his throw gets you killed, use these manually when using him.

 

3. Some folks level through the game either barely at or below their expected level for the content, this makes him even weaker looking when you first get him.

 

If you get the Jedi-ish mod-able armor that he can wear make sure to stack out the mods in the gear often, try and get yourself a mod-able vibrosword or craft/get a friend to craft new ones for him constantly.

 

I prefer defense rating stat gear for him as well. Anything to increase his tanking = win.

[DAntiVirus]

I use Bowdaar as my primary companion. Everywhere I go, he comes with me. When I first switched to Bowdaar from Corso, it did seem like he was a bit more squishy. I am level 36 now, and Bowdaar is simply a beast. Fighting a gold star mob, I can fire a few Charged Bursts before I have to top him off again. I honestly haven't tried Corso since I got Bowdaar though, and I am also two levels higher than the mobs I'm fighting.

 

As a Gunslinger, I really don't have heals. I think I have 1 or maybe 2 but nothing major like a Scoundrel. So what do you all sugguest to keep my companions health topped off? I am a lvl 20 Gunslinger but I am still learning to effectively use my character and companions.

 

I do find it odd that companions cannot use med kits on their own, why can such an option be added?

[Alwaysthirsty]

Akaavi for tanking

Gus for healing

 

All others are my crafters/grunts.

[DunsparrowSolo]

Akaavi for tanking

Gus for healing

 

All others are my crafters/grunts.

 

I like Akaavi pretty well, but she's no tank.

[Crassius]

Finally, there is his combat style. Bowdaar fights like a 3-year old let loose on a box of chocolate popsicles. He makes a mess of everything. A charge here, a Wookie Toss there. Pretty soon you can't even find all the mobs you're fighting, or they've been thrown directly into an elite patrol which hastens the countdown toward Bowdaar's own inevitable demise.

 

The best part is when Bowdaar Tosses some weak mob directly into a Champion, then Charges into him and dies instantly for a sweet Bowdaar-death + massive-aggro-on-me combo.

 

Made me laugh.

[Scopker]

Used Bowdaar ever since I got him and never looked back. People that have problems with him don't know how to use him. Turn off AOE and he is golden and can tank anything, I wouldn't swith back to Corso even if I got payed to do so (also due to the fact that Corso is an boring twerp).

BTW I'm playing a sawbone scoundrel, maybe that is influencing me.

[StealthNerf]

I'm torn. I actually like his AoE since it compliments my thermal grenades.

 

Corso has three annoying habits:

 

1. His attacks are often utterly pointless. He insists on targeting things that are going to die to grenade attacks anyway.

 

2. His grappling hook drives me insane. It pulls mobs out of the AoE kill zone.

 

3. I often have to tell him to shut his mouth in story conversations.

Edited December 25, 2011 by StealthNerf

[Kelfred]

At first, with good gear, I thought Bowdaar was great. But as I started Quesh, he became more and more squishy until he was like a giant lemming, rushing to his death in every fight. I've had much better luck with Akaavi, especially when you get a good techstaff in her hands. One becomes available as a mission reward later on, as no one on my server make the darned things.

 

It seemed like I was endlessly spamming heals at Bowdaar in every fight.