Ember & Isobel abilities and builds

phaneub17_ESO

high Isles is a little over a week away, new companions are coming, decided to share some thoughts on their abilities and possible builds.

Notable Abilities
Ember's ultimate Raging Storm is a reverse Eye of the Storm morph from Destruction Staff skill line, instead of following her it follows her target. This may be an ultimate you want to fire off manually at the highest health target to get the full 8 seconds of burn time out of it, if used on lower health targets may end prematurely wasting the extra time.

Hurricane Visage: 0.4 cast, lasts 8 seconds, 12 second cooldown. Some descriptions may say this lasts 20 seconds, but the actual duration is 8 seconds. I just like to point that out before you think its going to always be active all the time. Nonetheless this is a great ability to have, its the same as Razor Cape from Dual Wield and regardless of where its placed on the action bar it will most likely cast first if no other ability conditions are met or targets in range.

Second Wind: 0.3 cast, 16 second cooldown. Like with Haste, if no other ability conditions are met or no targets are within range, it may cast first wasting it right off the bat even being in the very last slot. Unlike Haste its cooldown reduction is only 5 seconds instead of a full reset, because of this it is advisable that you set abilities with the longest cooldown in the front of the action bar with lower cooldowns closer to the end.

Shared Wards: 0.6 cast, 6 second shield, 8 second heal, 12 second cooldown. Its best to think of this as Ember's second healing ability with a shield absorption barrier. Like with Bastian's Basalt Barrier, the shield provided is not likely to last more than a single hit so its duration is meaningless. Unlike Basalt Barrier where the bonus healing taken is removed the moment the shield breaks, the healing over time continues after the shield is broken.

Isobel's ultimate Baneslayer is Dawnbreaker from Fighters Guild skill line. Like with Bastian's ultimate it requires her target in close proximity to use so take this into account if you plan on building her with non-frost staff ranged weapons that it may rarely go off. Its range is a little further than Bastian's by about 5 meters more so it may have more relaxed targeting.

Note: All of Isobel's abilities take into account her base 3% cooldown reduction before gear is applied. Unfortunately they seemed to have countered this by having the majority of her base abilities with cooldowns 12 and 16 seconds long.

Sun Brand: 0.2 cast, 8 seconds, 11.6 second cooldown. This ability compared to other staple ranged attacks does the standard damage plus roughly 2/3 of its damage over 8 seconds which is a much higher output to similar abilities like Starfall or Sniping Silver, something to take into consideration if going with single target or ranged builds.

Penetrating Strikes: 1 second channel, 15.5 second cooldown. By itself, its a standard Puncturing Strikes, the after effect is a 50% damage bonus to your next light or heavy attack that is not an Empower buff thus it stacks with Empower.

Gallant Blitz: Instant Cast, 11.6 second cooldown. A gap closer is always welcomed with an additional benefit of setting all targets off balance for 7 seconds of where she lands. In terms of weapons this is Frost Staff friendly and one of the rare occasions where Elemental Barricade can get the most out of its area of effect.

Spear of Light: 0.5 cast, 15.5 second cooldown. Isobel gets a lot of AOE attacks and this is another one, I definitely would put this one after Gallant Blitz and Penetrating Strikes to get a triple burst. It's actually a short ranged attack at 15 meters so she will cast this at range, but may not hit many targets so advise putting in the back until she gets into the enemy's face.

Blessed Sacrament: 0.8 cast, 8 seconds, 7.8 second cooldown. This is Isobel's staple heal, its different compared to the other companions. Bastian and Ember have a basic direct heal while Mirri has a Heal over Time, Isobel gets a little of both at reduced values.

Holy Ground: 0.5 cast, 8 seconds, 15.5 seconds cooldown. This one has multiple conditions, but they don't all have to be met to cast making it quite versatile of when she uses it. It has the usual if her or someone nearby is < 75% health its cast where she stands or if you get her into melee range of an enemy target with a gap closer like Gallant blitz or Bashing Bulwark, it will cast then as well. This is great for all builds to use whether its healing, tanking, or doing damage as snare keeps targets together if you don't care for the healing.

Beam of Reproach: ??? cast, 8 seconds, 11.6 second cooldown. This a hybrid staple ranged attack and healing ability combined into one. All other companions only have 1 single target ranged attack, this can be considered Isobel's second ranged attack that also combines the power of Blessed Sacrament in AOE form to boot.

phaneub17_ESO

Current builds. Quickened is not the best trait, but its the overall universal trait if you want to go any route and switch without having to get another trait focused on damage, healing, tanking, or support builds. I generally don't like ranged weapons such as Bow, Flame, Lightning, or Restoration Staff because of the dodge roll, so most are with melee weapons.

Bastian - 1h and shield, 12 Quickened, 7 Heavy. Drake's Blood, Kindle, Provoke, On Guard, Ritual of Salvation.
I plan on keeping Bastian as my primary tank as if I were to use Isobel as a tank, then Bastian would have no use at all as most of his abilities are kind of useless to me and that's just sad to see him go. I'll whip him out when I need a tank.

Bastian - 1h and shield, 12 Quickened, 7 Light. Crimson Font, Basalt Barrier, Ritual of Salvation, Searing Weapons, Skeletal Aegis.
The other possible use for Bastian as the Supporter who provides healing, protection, and damage buffs. Basalt Barrier doesn't generally last long, but you might get some slight extra healing right after Crimson Font if it holds for at least 2-3 seconds. The rest is purely just damage reduction, if you're duo players with two companions having Searing Weapons with Isobel's Penetrating Strikes can give you more of a damage output combo.

Mirri - Frost Staff, 12 Quickened, 7 Medium. Twilight Mantle, Warp Strike, Elemental Barricade, Arcane Nova, Life Siphon.
Elemental Barricade is a fickle ability since its tied to the Destruction Staff, in most cases it won't cast until something walks into its line range which usually is at the very end most of the time. To get the most out of it to hit as many targets as possible, I combine it with a gap closer Warp Strike so that she hits multiple enemies with it. It would not be possible with a Flame or Lightning Staff as she would immediately dodge roll after she Warp Strike. Then double surround AOE abilities. I plan to keep using her with my Hybrid characters.

Mirri - Dual Wield, 7 Shattering, 5 Aggressive, 7 Medium. Warp Strike, Masque of Torment, Life Siphon, Spinning Steel, Razor Cape.
My current build with her, as soon as High Isles is available I'll be moving this stuff to Ember instead. I consider it my suicide bomber where she teleports into a pack of mobs, strike fear in their hearts, then blast them with AOE attacks. If anything survives, it generally leaves her vulnerable so hoping Razor Cape casts at the end to give her some protection while waiting for cooldowns.

Ember - Dual Wield, 7 Shattering, 5 Aggressive, 7 Medium. Spinning Steel, Razor Cape, Hurricane Visage, Shocking Burst, Second Wind.
This might be a little tricky, as mentioned with Second Wind if no targets are within range of any other ability she may cast this before any attack abilities, but since I put Hurricane Visage and Razor Cape ahead of it, they will definitely cast first so its not a total loss. It may even give enough delay that she gets in range of an enemy target to use Shocking Burst so that only leaves Spinning Steel as the lone wasted Second Wind. She will accompany my Stamina characters.

Isobel - Two-Handed, 12 Quickened, 7 Light. Gallant Blitz, Holy Ground, Penetrating Strikes, Sunder, Spear of Light.
This girl has way too many healing abilities that it would be wrong not to use 7 Light armor with her to maximize her passive healing should I plan to swap her out with more single target and healing combo. For now at least, she is another AOE attacker like all the rest. She will accompany my Magicka characters.

Isobel - 1h and shield, 12 Quickened, 7 Heavy. Blessed Sacrament, Provoke, Holy Ground, Beam of Reproach, Crimson Font.
This build is a hybrid Healer and Tank, she has so many heal over time abilities it makes building her tanking setup with more healing than with mitigation. Holy Ground, Beam of Reproach, and Crimson Font are heal over time and are AOE so not only is it healing her, but also anyone else in melee range. She may take more damage, but it should pan out that she is healing herself out of it.

Isobel - Bow, 12 Quickened, 7 Medium. Starfall, Beam of Reproach, Sniping Silver, Viper Sting, Sun Brand.
I always like to start off with Starfall as it cues you in if your companion is not in line of sight, all ranged abilities do this but Starfall is most noticeable because of its spamming visual and audio if it can't hit its target which tells you to move her or the target. Taking her 3% cooldown reduction with 12 Quickened, this makes her rapid fire with very low downtime. The last two DOT at the end will be refreshed just as they fall off meaning you'll always have Poison and Burning effect on your target.

Necrotech_Master

interesting write up, i personally dont like giving the companions melee weapons due to how squishy they are, 1 aoe from most enemies will do significant dmg to them especially because they wont get out of the stupid so right now i have mirri with bow and bastion with resto (as a healer)

the only way i could see them being in melee is if they were a full on tank and even then that generally wouldnt help me as most of my toons are either tanks themselves, or tanky enough they dont need a tank companion but a healer companion

Jim_Pipp

Thank you for your methodical testing and especially your clear write-ups of results. If anyone has questions about companions then check the OP's post history for answers.

I'm going to use your dual wield Ember build, and sword and board Isobel, maybe you can answer some questions?

Do you know if damage mitigation stacks? Like will Ember's hurricane visage and razor cape give 20% + 20% = 40% damage reduction?

I really love your skill order on your Isobel healer/tank, until the crimson font skill... I generally overlook this skill due to the long cooldown, could you explain your choice.

Thanks for what you do.

Necrotech_Master

Jim_Pipp wrote: »

Thank you for your methodical testing and especially your clear write-ups of results. If anyone has questions about companions then check the OP's post history for answers.

I'm going to use your dual wield Ember build, and sword and board Isobel, maybe you can answer some questions?

Do you know if damage mitigation stacks? Like will Ember's hurricane visage and razor cape give 20% + 20% = 40% damage reduction?

I really love your skill order on your Isobel healer/tank, until the crimson font skill... I generally overlook this skill due to the long cooldown, could you explain your choice.

Thanks for what you do.

from personal experience, while crimson font does have a long cooldown, it also has a fairly long duration, along with the very large area coverage and the synergy

the font has like roughly 20 sec duration for the cooldown it has, which is about 50-60% uptime (can be increased uptime with cooldown reduction or increased duration)

the font also has a solid 28 meter radius, which is extremely large and is a nice source of constant healing, and provides players with a synergy for a burst heal (unlike the player version of the altar, the synergy from theirs can be used at any time)

phaneub17_ESO

Aww you beat me to the punch. But yeah, I think the Undaunted abilities are largely overlooked because of their long cooldown when you need to look at your own Undaunted passives, assuming you have it unlocked. When you're doing solo play, you usually don't have Synergy activation you can rely on, Crimson Font giving you a use on demand heal equal to half your total health, but also some Stamina and Magicka returns from Undaunted Command on top of it.

The window to use Crimson Font Synergy is fairly long, lasts the entire duration of 16 seconds, Isobel's maximum cooldown reduction brings the ability down to 23.76 seconds cooldown, that's a little under 8 seconds of downtime. Overall it grants you some extra healing when you want it, some extra sustain resources, usable at long distances away, and you don't have to slot your own healing ability or use your own resources to cast.

The build gives you 3 heal over time effects, 2 that are out of your control, and the third you get the benefit of healing yourself whenever for a massive chunk. And of course there's an extra OH Crap! semi-burst and HOT heal in the front. Unless she is taking rapid strikes in quick succession, she shouldn't die and be able to outheal most everything coming at her that isn't a one-shot more than her health hit.

Necrotech_Master

phaneub17_ESO wrote: »

Aww you beat me to the punch. But yeah, I think the Undaunted abilities are largely overlooked because of their long cooldown when you need to look at your own Undaunted passives, assuming you have it unlocked. When you're doing solo play, you usually don't have Synergy activation you can rely on, Crimson Font giving you a use on demand heal equal to half your total health, but also some Stamina and Magicka returns from Undaunted Command on top of it.

The window to use Crimson Font Synergy is fairly long, lasts the entire duration of 16 seconds, Isobel's maximum cooldown reduction brings the ability down to 23.76 seconds cooldown, that's a little under 8 seconds of downtime. Overall it grants you some extra healing when you want it, some extra sustain resources, usable at long distances away, and you don't have to slot your own healing ability or use your own resources to cast.

The build gives you 3 heal over time effects, 2 that are out of your control, and the third you get the benefit of healing yourself whenever for a massive chunk. And of course there's an extra OH Crap! semi-burst and HOT heal in the front. Unless she is taking rapid strikes in quick succession, she shouldn't die and be able to outheal most everything coming at her that isn't a one-shot more than her health hit.

the other abilities in the companion undaunted kit i think do have way too long cooldowns, like the bone shield that gets wiped in 1 hit for 32 sec downtime, and the taunt, which only lasts 15 sec for 32 sec cooldown

the taunt would be more useful if it had a cooldown closer to the 1h/shield taunt

wkrick

@ phaneub17_ESO

I've been running Isobel with your 1H + Shield, 12 Heavy quickened build as the 4th "person" in our veteran dungeon runs without a proper healer. However, I don't like running with Provoke. What would you recommend as a replacement skill (or set of skills)? Maybe "On Guard"? Or maybe a different weapon entirely? I've tried a frost staff but the taunt is a problem and she stands too far away to get healed reliable if the fight moves around. I'm a Templar tank with Extended Ritual for additional group healing so I kind of prefer when Isobel is close to me when fighting the boss but I don't want her to die too easily.

phaneub17_ESO

Well that's a tank build and since you're a tank, its kind of unnecessary to have her that way.

Two-Hand. Blessed Sacrament, Sunder, Beam of Reproach, Sun Brand, Holy Ground, don't slot her Ultimate. This gives her a combo of healing and damage skills. Two-Hand keeps her close and roll dodge when she drops to 50% health. You can do this with 1h and shield too, replacing Sunder with Solar Ward.

TybaltKaine

I'd find a spot for Blitz in a 2H Izzy since 2H doesn't have a gap closer built in for companions.

EDIT: I know you recommend it in your sample 2h build in the earlier post. I only bring it up again here because my main quibble with Companions is that most of them don't have a gap closer unless you are running 1H and Shield. I feel like all of them should have one built into their kit, or that the 2h skill line needs to be reworked to include it. By the time a 2H companion who isn't Mirri or Izzy gets to the fight, it's almost done.

Pelanora

I tried isobel as a tank and she just died. Fast. Any tips from people who use her successfully? I had her in heavy and with sword/shield.

wkrick

phaneub17_ESO wrote: »

Well that's a tank build and since you're a tank, its kind of unnecessary to have her that way.

Agreed. I'm just trying to keep her from getting one-shotted by a boss and heavy gear seemed like the way to do that, but maybe I'm thinking about this all wrong. Maybe I need to substitute some Vigorous and Bolstered pieces in place of the Quickened. It doesn't seem like lack of healing is the problem, just the spike damage from boss AoE, so I'm not sure that light gear will help unless the Haste ability is required for uptime on her damage mitigation abilities.

I exclusively run 4-man content with two other players (both DPS) plus Izzy.

Basically, she needs to do the following:

• not die
• not taunt the boss
• heal herself
• heal the group
• stay near me and not get stuck in the hallway behind us fighting a skeever that we skipped
• extra DPS is nice but not really needed

Generally speaking, her staying alive and contributing is more important than maximum group healing. So I'm trying to find the magic blend that makes this happen (if it's even possible).

Erickson9610

Pelanora wrote: »

I tried isobel as a tank and she just died. Fast. Any tips from people who use her successfully? I had her in heavy and with sword/shield.

Using Telvanni Efficiency on myself, I have Isobel in Quickened Light armor with Sword & Shield, using this loadout:


You can also swap Blessed Sacrament for Beam of Reproach if you want Isobel to deal more damage.

The reason I'm using Light Armor specifically for a tank is because Heavy Armor provides bonuses to Healing Taken and Damage Blocked, while Light Armor provides bonuses to Healing Done and Break Free Cooldown Reduction. Companions rarely ever block — only blocking when their target is charging up a heavy attack — so that's a wasted stat. If the Companion is solo, then Healing Done is the same as Healing Taken.

Never slot Isobel's Ultimate. Her Ultimate has the longest cast time of all of the Companion Ultimates with a cast time of 3.8 seconds, and every second not refreshing damage shields makes Isobel vulnerable. This is why Break Free Cooldown Reduction is preferable to increased Damage Blocked — merely by refreshing her damage shields, Isobel can tank nearly all damage, even when standing in AoE.

A great place to test Isobel's tanking prowess is with the Telesubi Ruins world boss in southern Bangkorai. Crouch into stealth, and use Y + Left Click to send Isobel to fight the enemies. There are two boss enemies there, and there are a lot of AoE and disabling effects in that fight. Isobel was able to solo that fight with the use of Telvanni Efficiency, although it took a long time.

TybaltKaine

I like to run my Tank Izzy as such (and it is far from optimized, but she stays up and keeps me alive as a Magblade)

Aggressive weapon (Mace for me) and Bolstered shield

All armor is heavy, rings and amulets included in breakdown.

4x Vigorous, 2x Shattering, 2x Soothing, 1 Prolific, 1 Focused

Skills in order
On Guard, Solar Ward, Gallant Blitz, Provoke (tanking) OR Penetrating Strikes (DPS support) OR Blessed Sacrament (Heals), Holy Ground (Self and group heals)

If you are having issues with bosses, swap out her 4 skill for Bulwark

The order is kind of important. I want her to use her shields first, then charge in and engage and drop a healing circle. If she needs to be more of a heal bot I swap out skill 4 with Blessed Sacrament.

I also generally like to have shorter cooldowns on her skills if I can. Her DPS options aren't great for cooldown even with her built in reduction, so I really try to use her more as a diversion.

I'm sure there are more optimized builds out there, but this works for me as a one bar Magblade.

EDIT: I never use Bashing Bulwark on Izzy, as her Gallant Blitz has a shorter cooldown and is more effective IMO

phaneub17_ESO

Okay if you just want a healer Azandar makes the better choice imo, if you don't mind the glowy green circle.

1H and Shield/2H, Light, 12 Quickened.
Crimson Font, Zone of Recuperation, Shields of Erudition, Skeletal Aegis, Haste

His Zone of Recuperation has a smaller radius than Isobel's Holy Ground, but it does so much more providing healing, health recovery, stamina recovery, and magicka recovery to everyone standing inside. On top of that, multiple casts of Zone of Recuperation can stack up to 4 times with Haste granting as much as 5000 healing and 450 tri recovery every 2 seconds. Only 1 Holy Ground can be active at a time so every time Zone recasts it just adds up rather than replacing the previous.

Shields of Erudition guarantees himself and 2 players will always have a shield effect. Crimson Font and Skeletal Aegis for more burst heals and shields.

Pelanora

Thank you @Erickson9610 and @TybaltKaine! I will try out your advice.

I missed Isobel when i switched to level up Ember but I've grown very fond of Ember, and she doesn't die nearly as fast as Iso, so keen to figure out how to boost Isobel.

I'm not sure I can cope with how sanctimonious she sounds now in comparison to Ember, i might have to turn down her chat.....i really don't think Stendarr even knows my name...