Avanaco Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 This question applies ONLY to leveling AS A TANK. Ie. 30 points deep in shield at level 39: Is anyone using any companion OTHER than Elara? I like Elara, don't get me wrong. I think her character is pretty funny sometimes. I enjoy her character conversations. However, I'd like to see more of M14X for example (Minsc anyone??? All he needs is a miniature giant space mouse droid!), but as I'm a tank, there' almost no purpose. I haven't TRIED, but I'm guessing. Anyway, wondering what your experiences have been if you've tried other companions. (At this point I've got Elara geared NEARLY as well as I am though, so it would be hard to compare a companion in crafted greens to a companion with orange gear and decend mods.) I've also heard tank spec vanguards struggle bad with some of the later class missions, so I'm wondering if I should be forcing myself to diversify... heh. Discuss! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yoshirou Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 Imo, as tank you should use a full dps companion like Jorgen for the standard groups. Switch to Elara for Elites or groups with more than 1 strong enemy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trevalon Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 I would use Yuun when out and about doing easy stuff but any Trooper phase or group phase quest would pretty much force me into Elara unless I wanted to risk dying... I hate Elara and the fact that we were forced into using her much of the time really pissed me off... Yuun is the only alternative that I felt did enough damage to be really useful other than Elara...I guess Jorgan could too, but I didnt like Jorgan lol.. M1 and Vik taunt too much and pull agro too much which annoyed the crap out of me as a tank character... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dersu Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 I would use Yuun when out and about doing easy stuff but any Trooper phase or group phase quest would pretty much force me into Elara unless I wanted to risk dying... I hate Elara and the fact that we were forced into using her much of the time really pissed me off... Yuun is the only alternative that I felt did enough damage to be really useful other than Elara...I guess Jorgan could too, but I didnt like Jorgan lol.. M1 and Vik taunt too much and pull agro too much which annoyed the crap out of me as a tank character... Could you not simply turn off the high threat/taunt abilities of Vik and M1? I sometimes turn off Elara's offensive abilties to force her into solely healing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeathMerchant Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 I have no problem with Elara, imo a tank is great with a healer companion, shield spec dps is great imo, I have no problem killing things in a decent time. Also how can you complain about never losing health? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avanaco Posted January 1, 2012 Author Share Posted January 1, 2012 Could you not simply turn off the high threat/taunt abilities of Vik and M1? I sometimes turn off Elara's offensive abilties to force her into solely healing. I've tried doing this, and I can't get it to work. Companions seem to reset their own abilities. I think it's phase changes or being spawned when you drop off your speeder. Abilities that were turned off get turned back on etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zaphir Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 (edited) You can switch to other companions (Jorgan is ok in sniper mode to help bursting down elites), but it's a lot more hassle than just sticking with Elara the entire time. Another big issue with using another companion is downtime -- you WILL need to recharge/reload for a while after every pull. It can get very tiresome. Not much of a spoiler, but there is a storyline mission where you'll be forced to use two specific companions for a few pulls, but that much is bearable. I can't imagine doing an entire planet's worth of missions (50+ pulls) with a dps companion though... ugh. In the later levels (30+, and especially 40+) Mortar Volley won't oneshot pulls anymore, and mobs actually start hitting decently hard, get healing abilities and stuns, etcetera. Getting two silver elites in a level 45 pull is tough enough with Elara, heh. The two tanking companions are right out. There's a bug that constantly makes companions toggle their abilities back on when you zone/dismount (as mentioned above), which means both of you will be in tank mode and not really killing anything. I'm sure you can make it work if you try really hard, but imo it's not worth the aggravation and downtime / slowness of leveling. Edited January 1, 2012 by Zaphir Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avanaco Posted January 1, 2012 Author Share Posted January 1, 2012 (edited) Not much of a spoiler, but there is a storyline mission where you'll be forced to use two specific companions for a few pulls, but that much is bearable Thanks for the heads up - yeah, I don't mind minor spoilers like that. Hopefully there's enough warning so I can at least craft/purchase them some basic green gear? I haven't been gearing ANYONE but elara, honestly. heh. PS. I've been thinking of rolling a healing+CC or dps+CC class. At first I was thinking Scoundrel because I don't want to redo the same plot line back to back... but Commando looks so fun. Is Fourex an optimal choice for leveling as a hybrid heal/DPS commando? Or even a pure DPS command? Edited January 1, 2012 by Avanaco Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thelodian Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 (edited) at lvl 46 ive got elara and me in the lvl 40 pvp sets and jorgan in some hand me down orange and blues, i mostly stick with her for everything except stuff i out level for the sole fact that i never have downtime, ive found its almost the same amount of time for both of them except with elara i just chain kill groups all day and with jorgan i have to reload after every 1-2 pulls which is a pita sometimes. as for the others they've never been out except if im forced to use them since their gear is way below mine and forex/vik are tanks. im also an armormech so vik comes in handy for missions. Edited January 2, 2012 by Thelodian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avanaco Posted January 2, 2012 Author Share Posted January 2, 2012 I would use Yuun when out and about doing easy stuff but any Trooper phase or group phase quest would pretty much force me into Elara unless I wanted to risk dying... I'm working on getting Yuun now, but I'm curious - what makes Yuun better for DPS than Jorgan? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MasterPetricco Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 (edited) Why do we even get two tanking companions? To me one will always be better and then the other one becomes useless. I'd rather have a mix up of another kind of healing or another DPS or perhaps a CC based companion. I don't mind two DPS, because Jorgan is either single burst or AOE, where as Yuun is rogue based damage. From what I can tell when in evenish gear (hard when one is a droid) M1 seems to take more damage and produce more threat then Tano so what is Tano's good side? He is meant to be a demo expert and I figured that would be explosive based DPS but instead he's a melee tank. Right now I'm really only using Elara, once she's in good enough gear and you are, you make a deadly two some. I wouldn't be caught dead in Open World PvP with a dps or tank companion, it would have to be Elara. Edited January 2, 2012 by MasterPetricco Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chasted Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 (edited) I'm working on getting Yuun now, but I'm curious - what makes Yuun better for DPS than Jorgan? Yuun has greater single target DPS. His two combat stances are unique and augment his ability to burn a singular target to boot Think the two stances were: 1. 30% Armor Piercing 2. A chance on hit to start a damaging bleed Edited January 2, 2012 by Chasted Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sanzorz Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 I'm leveling as deep Shield Spec aswell on my Vanguard and I actually use Forex. The reason is simple. Mobs generally don't dent you due to tank gear, your dps is quite good and I went with the hazzle to equip Forex with only damage gear. Put him in Targetting stance for damage and turn off his Sonic Rocket that taunts. His damage is quite good due to using a blaster rifle. He's more mobile and faster shooting than Jorgan. Add in the Hook he gets and he pull in alot of mobs you can instantly Stockstrike in the face. The easy way on many pulls is to run directly into a group, apply Sticky Grenade and fire off Pulse Cannon. Forex does about 3-400 damage on his area nuke at lvl 37. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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