Tank companion lack of survivability

[Count_Fooku]

Anyone else think tank companion's really could use some kind of survivability buff since the 60% armor nerf in beta?

 

Leveling a sniper alt with a tank companion, I find that without any good AOE dps, my companion loses most of her health on just a standard 1 silver, 2 normal mob pull. They are just extremely squishy now. None of the companion quest reward gear has any defensive stats on it either. You shouldn't have to buy expensive GTN gear for your companion just to level up.

 

Some kind of defensive buff or combat-usable 'Mend Pet'-like ability would be nice, especially for ranged classes that are squishy, lack any kind of heals, and have to rely on a tank companion.

 

Other classes like my Merc BH main can just AOE faceroll packs and run with a healer companion since they have heavy armor and massive AOE damage.

[atnasomus]

The heals are pretty weak from BH companions, even when I put Mako in healing stance and she has the best gear I can give to her.

 

The bottom line is that no companion will ever be as good as another player. Players characters have better scaling abilities and shorter cooldowns.

[GeneralShade]

I noticed that Khem Val seems to be a little squishier than I would've have hoped (post 30s). Sometimes golds will kill him or even a pair of silvers with a couple of normals. I spent a decent amount of credits to buy him respectable gear but it didn't seem to make much of a difference.

 

Glad to see I'm not the only one who is seeing this.

[delnorr]

i thoguht i was having this issue too but it turns out my own companion - in this case corso rigs is simply taking all the argo off me if i tell him to stop all the argo gos on me and im the one thats squshy and weak;

[Gohlar]

The heals are pretty weak from BH companions, even when I put Mako in healing stance and she has the best gear I can give to her.

 

The bottom line is that no companion will ever be as good as another player. Players characters have better scaling abilities and shorter cooldowns.

 

The healing ones need a buff. The tanking ones can kinda tank at least, the healers cant outheal a single weak enemy.

[Battyone]

I noticed that Khem Val seems to be a little squishier than I would've have hoped (post 30s). Sometimes golds will kill him or even a pair of silvers with a couple of normals. I spent a decent amount of credits to buy him respectable gear but it didn't seem to make much of a difference.

 

Glad to see I'm not the only one who is seeing this.

 

Hmmm honestly I turned over to Theran in healing stance back on Nar Shadda and stopped using the tank pet while soloing, seems to work better for me. (Healing specced 38 Sage)

[Sajikus]

I haven't had much trouble with squishiness involving Khem Val. Granted I am only 28 so my experience only goes to Tatooine.

 

Occasionally I find he gets hit like a truck (kinda wish I had a combat log to check this out further).

 

I'm Madness spec so my heals are standard and thus pretty weak. What I discovered worked best though was to be PROACTIVE rather than REACTIVE in keeping Khem Val on his feet.

 

If it's a gold enemy or a tough pack with two strong mobs, I usually make sure I shield myself and Khem before having him engage. I then shoot for a big heal on him if he falls to 60%. Then by that time the Static Barrier debuff should be close to finished so I can shield again.

 

I also use the medpacs that restore both my and my companion's HP. These have been lifesavers more than once.

Edited December 29, 2011 by Sajikus

[Chapfou]

None of the companion quest reward gear has any defensive stats on it either. You shouldn't have to buy expensive GTN gear for your companion just to level up.

 

right now lvl 44, i use the BH tank pvp armor for Kaliyo and it's all good. I've got no problem with silver or gold mobs of same lvl.

[Raximillian]

Yeah, Mako as a healer is really bad. And even when changed to her DPS stance, and disabled healings, she's not that good DPS either.

[Greyfeld]

The healing ones need a buff. The tanking ones can kinda tank at least, the healers cant outheal a single weak enemy.

 

Depends on what role you're playing. As a Shield spec Vanguard, with a focus on defensive gear, my healing companion can keep me alive through single elite pulls without too much effort. I can't beat super elites like I can on my Sage with my tank companion, but healing PCs always have that survivability factor going for them.

 

If you're playing a DPS character (as I assume the OP is, since he mentioned being a sniper), you're just not going to get as much mileage out of a tanking companion because you don't have any healing abilities. I haven't played as a pure DPS character yet, but I would assume the best combination for them would be a second DPS, so that you can burn through groups before they have the chance to really beat on you.

[Calimwulf]

I don't know. Companions shouldn't be better than player characters. I roll as a healer, so maybe it gives me a different perspective. I can not out heal player stupidity. I don't expect to. A Tank companion must have strengths and weaknesses. If it doesn't, once a DPS player gets into group content, his/her expectations are going to be set so high that there transition period is going to be rougher than heck. The same thing goes with a DPS persons expectations of healers.

[Juntts]

Agreed. Mine dies every 5 seconds and I keep having to heal her

 

*facepalm*

[Ralei]

I use Andronikus instead of Khem because Khem just seems so squishy. I'd rather tank myself -_-

[Gohlar]

Depends on what role you're playing. As a Shield spec Vanguard, with a focus on defensive gear, my healing companion can keep me alive through single elite pulls without too much effort. I can't beat super elites like I can on my Sage with my tank companion, but healing PCs always have that survivability factor going for them.

 

If you're playing a DPS character (as I assume the OP is, since he mentioned being a sniper), you're just not going to get as much mileage out of a tanking companion because you don't have any healing abilities. I haven't played as a pure DPS character yet, but I would assume the best combination for them would be a second DPS, so that you can burn through groups before they have the chance to really beat on you.

 

I play a tank vanguard also. It's just that in the fight where the healers heals you, you could have used jorgen and won faster with more health left.

 

There should be some reason to use the healer sometimes.

[Count_Fooku]

On my main Merc BH, Mako does pretty good healing for the most part. But I do have her gear decked out. All slots are filled and a good number of orange/blue pieces. I can't really complain too much about her healing. She won't stay in her healing stance though, I constantly have to turn it back on. It randomly seems to turn off. Her healing sucks when she isn't in her healing stance. Looks like a bug to me.

I haven't tried it yet, but I've wondering if disabling her DPS abilities would allow her to heal better by freeing up more GCDs? Just a thought there.

 

However, my sniper is having a much much rougher time compared to my BH.

[pewny]

from my experience the tank comps are only slightly better than the dps comps at taking damage. I have only tested with the trooper tank comp, consular tank comp, and knight tank comp. Two of them being droids and the other being khem val......all pretty crappy over all. Khem Val is about the dumbest comp i have seen, a tank with a melee weapon and aim as his main stat, and no easy way to keep his weapon upgraded = epic fail. good thing the consulars are waaay overpowered to make up for their crappy *** first comp.

[Chapfou]

Agreed. Mine dies every 5 seconds and I keep having to heal her

 

*facepalm*

 

it's all about the stuff,

with good and appropriate stuff your companion will do the job

 

 

like i said, i'm using kaliyo as a tank for every situation and it's fine

[Vandrago]

So another thread to make the game easier already...

[Count_Fooku]

So another thread to make the game easier already...

 

 

Every pull shouldn't be a challenge. Elite's and chamipion's should be a challenge.

[nubzz]

Playing a vanguard myself my heal companion usually does ok. Spotty sometimes but It's not a player. My only gripe about companions so far is when I send them out on a mission and they "report" back they will say things like "Nothing but perfection for you master" and then you look and it says they failed the mission lol.

[Greyfeld]

I play a tank vanguard also. It's just that in the fight where the healers heals you, you could have used jorgen and won faster with more health left.

 

There should be some reason to use the healer sometimes.

 

The problem with using a DPS companion as a tank is that you have more downtime, and a higher death rate. It's pretty much either kill quickly or die, which is fine if you're playing a DPS spec; but if you're playing a tanking spec (which I am), you just don't have the damage output to make the double DPS setup viable for anything more than trash mobs.

[Elear]

The healing ones need a buff. The tanking ones can kinda tank at least, the healers cant outheal a single weak enemy.

 

Sentinel here, there were some elites that I've finished with full health(on same level obviously) with healer compaion.

 

Also, T7 (tank) used to be able to hold elite and 2-3 adds for a while.

 

So I don't thnik they are very weak, just as strong as you need them.

Bottom line, their AI could use some love. Using CC on enemy and then breaking it with next skill isn't good.

[Muesliac]

Depends on what role you're playing. As a Shield spec Vanguard, with a focus on defensive gear, my healing companion can keep me alive through single elite pulls without too much effort. I can't beat super elites like I can on my Sage with my tank companion, but healing PCs always have that survivability factor going for them.

 

That is true. As Sniper, however, you have to rely on your -quite squishy, if you don't shell out for PvP armour- ranged tank for a long while. Your second companion is a melee dps with light armour, and your healer only comes along at the

end of Taris, around level 37[/i]. As soon as you have a healer, though, everything becomes much easier. At least, it did for my Sniper.

 

If you're playing a DPS character (as I assume the OP is, since he mentioned being a sniper), you're just not going to get as much mileage out of a tanking companion because you don't have any healing abilities. I haven't played as a pure DPS character yet, but I would assume the best combination for them would be a second DPS, so that you can burn through groups before they have the chance to really beat on you.

 

I don't know about other dps chars, but as Sniper, you are better off sticking with your healer for most fights (situational you might want to change for a tank). Groups of normal mobs are not a problem anyhow. They're mostly dead from your dps before they can do any real harm.

The problem is Elites or groups of Strong enemies. Dps companions don't add nearly enough damage to make up for the lack of healing in those situations. The Sniper is squishy, and it shows. Mostly it's better to stick with the healer or a tank. And our healer is quite capable, I have to say. At least, if you have the brains to let him patch you up and avoid unnecessary damage, and issue him some decent gear.

Edited December 29, 2011 by Muesliac

[Ianjreid]

They got nerfed just before release and it was pretty hard nerf, they do need a buff imo, my dps torian tanks almost as good as any of my tank companions at 50 with equal gear