Anybody else try companion ice staff taunt?

f047ys3v3n · November 2022

I built a tank / dps bastion companion for my kids account to help them out. The idea was for the companion to keep taunt while also doing some dps. I thought using the ice staff taunt would be good for this as the staff line has some dps abilities in addition to the taunt. Using a couple quickened pieces easily gets the ice staff cooldown down below the taunt duration so it should keep an enemy taunted. Problem seems to be that when the initial taunt expires it does not re-apply. More likely, it re-applied the taunt a couple seconds before the taunt expired but did not refresh the taunt duration. Tried this on single enemies so there would not be any issues. Even on longer fights seems like the boss is never again solidly taunted after the initial taunt expires so maybe it's not even a re-apply the duration issue. In any case, no bueno, the result is most of the time enemy is un-taunted. Seems like a pretty basic thing to be broken. Companions only have 3 taunts after all and only 2 have a duration / cooldown that makes them look like they are worth anything on paper. Pity one of those seems not to work at all.

Has anybody else tried this? Right now it just seems like the ice staff taunt is pretty useless.

Otherwise, the companions have been great for the kids. They are strong enough to be useful in overworld stuff for sure and there skill lines seem pretty well thought out. Frankly, I would take them over bugs in rando normals a lot of the time if I had the option.

PrinceShroob · November 2022

Firstly, some bosses have attacks that always target a human player or ignore taunt.

Secondly, unlike a human tank, companions won't use a taunt on an enemy that's already taunted (to prevent them stealing taunt from human players). However, that means that if the cooldown of the taunt is up and the enemy is still taunted, they'll taunt a different enemy instead. If there's only one enemy, the companion will have to lose taunt for a moment to reapply it.

Standing on the opposite side of the boss from the companion can help--enemies typically finish their current attack on their current target before starting a new one and have to physically face whomever they're attacking, giving the companion a moment to reacquire taunt.

SammyKhajit · November 2022

One hand and shield. Equip provoke skill. Use heavy armour with boosted health or reduced damage traits, and equip bulwark (heavy armour) or on guard (one hand and shield). Also equip the relevant self healing skills.

That’s how Sammy utilise Isobel anyway, and she makes a pretty decent tank. But for WB or crazy hectic situations like the harrowstorms, Sammy likes to keep watch and provide additional heals as necessary.

SammyKhajit · November 2022

Forgot to add that staves tend to be a hit and miss (literally!) as the companions seem to spam light attacks and that’s all they do

KingArthasMenethil · November 2022

Think the problem is relying on a heavy attack instead of an ability which puts one hand and shields ability quite far above frost staff taunting especially since you'll have another item trait to buff the companion with.

It just seems like another companion ability that's using outdated abilities. Should've been a destruction ability that allowed for that instead of just relying on heavy attacks.

ZOS_Icy · November 2022

Greetings,

This thread has been moved to the Players Helping Players section, as it is better suited there.

Thank you for your understanding.

AcadianPaladin · November 2022

I've tried a companion ice staff tank. There are plenty of caveats but it can work. Here's a thread that discusses in more detail - https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/604058/mirri-semi-tank-healer-damage-build-fair-weather-friend-a-showcase-of-companion-mechanics#latest

PrinceShroob · November 2022

KingArthasMenethil wrote: »

Think the problem is relying on a heavy attack instead of an ability which puts one hand and shields ability quite far above frost staff taunting especially since you'll have another item trait to buff the companion with.

It just seems like another companion ability that's using outdated abilities. Should've been a destruction ability that allowed for that instead of just relying on heavy attacks.

If a companion uses Destructive Reach while having a frost staff equipped, it functions as a taunt. Frost staff heavy attacks from companions and players do not taunt enemies.

f047ys3v3n · December 2022

SammyKhajit wrote: »

Forgot to add that staves tend to be a hit and miss (literally!) as the companions seem to spam light attacks and that’s all they do

So do you think the taunt is not functioning properly because no stave abilities are? Certainly the companion taunt on sword and shield seems to work fine and the companion seems to hold taunt with this even when the taunt ability cooldown is well shorter than the taunt duration. It is only with the frost staff taunt that the companion seems to loose taunt after the initial duration expires and not reliably re-acquire it any time soon. For now it seems that really my only option is to just equip all tank companions with sword and shield but it's a bummer. If the abilities worked the way they say they do a frost companion tank could work well. Some just don't seem to function.

Necrotech_Master · December 2022

ive had some more experience with this (accidentally cause a friend had a companion with an ice staff and left the first destro skill on the bar)

the destro skill taunt with the ice staff seems to ignore companions normal AI with provoke and will still use it even if the target is taunted, which will say override a player taunt, and the destro skill has a lower cooldown than even provoke, so it is a good way to get the companion killed when say running harder content like a dungeon lol