Best role for each companion?

FlopsyPrince

Who makes the best tank, healer, DPS?

What do each of you think?

oldbobdude

I don’t know about best but I’ve been using Bastion to tank and Ember as a DD. They both do a fair job as long as they are alive at least.

Hapexamendios

Fodder

phaneub17_ESO

Isobel is capable of doing all 3 roles with a single build though your mileage may vary. Frost Staff, 7 Heavy Armor, all Quickened. Blessed Sacrament, Destructive Blast (soft taunt), Holy Ground, Solar Ward, Beam of Reproach. If you need her to taunt elite mobs/bosses though you would switch to one-hand and shield over Frost Staff for Provoke. However, I didn't want to make Bastian completely obsolete he remains as my go to tank for harder world bosses and specific group dungeon bosses that need to be held in place.

I have my listed builds here which then ZoS moved it to a place where threads go to die.
https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/608628

grapedog

I use Isobel as a tank, and Mirri and Ember as healers. I originally had Mirri as a tank which she did well with, but swapped her to healer when I grabbed Isobel.

I dont use bastion for anything except carrying companion gear.

katanagirl1

Companions don’t do a lot of dps. I use Bastion as tank for aggro and Mirrri as dagger wielding distraction with some buffs for damage reduction and healing. Not sure where the new companions will fall, but Isobel will be sword and board and Ember maybe healing. I am not sure if destro staff for her not sure is a good option.

BretonMage

I use Bastian for companionship He's a good tank for most situations except for the times I actually need him (like final vet bosses), so he's usually just eye candy for me.

Mirri is a decent DPS, but she's always resetting bosses so I tend not to use her anymore. Haven't tried Ember or Isobel yet.

ADarklore

I have Mirri set to healer... the only time I really need her is for Dragon hunting and World Events (geysers, harrowstorms, etc). Otherwise, I have all the others set to Sword/Shield 'tank'. As a Templar, I do more than enough damage, but I like to have the 'taunt' ability on the Companions to draw aggro while I finish the job.

Having a Companion as DPS seems a bit silly as they do very little damage, and if set to range, they can reset mobs or bosses. I don't need a Companion pulling mobs away from me so I have to chase them down, hence trying to keep them all melee. Since I don't need their tiny bit of extra damage, it's better to keep them as a tank, where they are more useful.

I have Bastian in all Heavy w/Vigorous, Isobel in all Heavy w/Bolstered, and Ember in all Heavy w/Quickened. For Jewelry/Weapons I have all three with Quickened.
I have Mirri in all Heavy Quickened to reduce the cooldown on her healing.

Netheniel

I use Isobel for all 3 roles. Her racial 3% skill cooldown is IMO one of the best traits to have. Combined with heavy quickened gear, she's very survivable and can dish out lots of skill based damage. I've been testing her while soloing all the world bosses in High Isle and she's passed the tests. As a tank, I only need to upkeep Budding Seeds (Warden) on her, but otherwise she carries herself most of the time. I haven't had that much success rate with the other companions, not without giving them way more support.

katanagirl1

Ember is a mage but wears medium armor I just discovered today (?)

Hamish999

katanagirl1 wrote: »

Ember is a mage but wears medium armor I just discovered today (?)

The companion armour weight is designed for different roles via the passives.

Light armour has "Flow" which is for healing.
Medium has "Flexibilty" which is for DPS.
Heavy has "Firmness" which is for tanking.

Monroe585

Bastian: Tank
Isobel: Healer
Ember: DPS
Mirri: Trash

Vonnegut2506

Isobel: Tank
Ember: Ranged DD
Mirri: Heals
Bastian: Melee DD

katanagirl1

Anyone put daggers on Ember and get that to work? I know she’s supposed to be a mage but I like stamina builds.

Maybe I should make her a healer instead but that doesn’t look right for a Khajiit in my mind.

Rowjoh

It's now seems to be generally accepted that although all companions can fulfill every role, for optimum results the following applies:

Isobel: BiS Healer (Light armour, all 'quickened' or mixed with 'soothing')
Ember: BiS Ranged DPS (Medium armour, all 'aggresive', bow or lightening staff)
Bastian: BiS Tank (Heavy armour)
Mirri: Underpowered and pretty much redundant unless gets buffed at some point

so there you have it

ps: would be good to have some verified numbers if anyone has tested with combat metrics or some such... but I'm led to believe Ember does a fair bit of damage, certainly much more than Mirri, and Isobel has better, more efficient heals than the other companions.

Enemy-of-Coldharbour

My setups:

Ember: Ranged DPS (all medium, aggressive, lightening staff)
Isobel: Tank (all heavy, bolstered, sword & board)
Bastian: Tank (all heavy, bolstered, sword & board)
Mirri: She's just not good at anything.

katanagirl1

Enemy-of-Coldharbour wrote: »

My setups:

Ember: Ranged DPS (all medium, aggressive, lightening staff)
Isobel: Tank (all heavy, bolstered, sword & board)
Bastian: Tank (all heavy, bolstered, sword & board)
Mirri: She's just not good at anything.

Similar to mine, though I like Vigorous for all. The new companions don’t have all good gear yet, though.

I have Mirri with daggers and she is not fully leveled up but she is definitely surprising me with her survivability. She makes it through some situations where Bastion tank dies.

BretonMage

katanagirl1 wrote: »

I have Mirri with daggers and she is not fully leveled up but she is definitely surprising me with her survivability. She makes it through some situations where Bastion tank dies.

Yeah, I think companion AI needs to be a lot better to survive tanking. I'm mostly just leaving Bastian with a resto staff these days.

perfiction

They are all pretty good carpets ngl, especially during harrowstorms.

SkaraMinoc

Bastian = Tank (3% max health) you want health on companion tank because the base 30k health isn't enough
Isobel = Healer (3% reduced cost) you want cost reduction on companion healer because it scales better than +healing
Ember = DPS (3% damage, 3% crit chance, 3 AoE class skills)

SkaraMinoc

katanagirl1 wrote: »

She makes it through some situations where Bastion tank dies.

Use these skills with full Vigorous (+health) gear and your Bastian tank won't die.



A few world bosses will require some healing on your part but in most cases, Bastian will survive anything.

ThreeXB

My basic setup/roles:
Bastian : tank - sword/board heavy
Miri : healer - resto light
Ember : ranged dps - destro medium
Isobel : close dps - 2 handed heavy

Sevalaricgirl

I have Isobel as a tank. I use Bastian as a tank for only 1 character. Ember is dps on all of my characters who use her. They don't need healers.

FlopsyPrince

How is Bolstered vs. Vigorous? Do both help the same?

zaria

Hamish999 wrote: »

katanagirl1 wrote: »

Ember is a mage but wears medium armor I just discovered today (?)

The companion armour weight is designed for different roles via the passives.

Light armour has "Flow" which is for healing.
Medium has "Flexibilty" which is for DPS.
Heavy has "Firmness" which is for tanking.

Did not know, thought light was magic and medium for stamina as for players.
Might go back to playing kerbal space program as its mechanics is much simpler and more intuitive

SilverBride

I've used Bastian as tank and he does a pretty good job. Someone I fought a Blackwood World Boss with once even commented on what a good job he was doing. He is able to keep aggro and he rarely dies.

I am starting on a tanking build now for Isobel. They are both sword and board but their skills are different so it will be interesting to see if she performs as well as Bastian has.

FlopsyPrince

SilverBride wrote: »

I've used Bastian as tank and he does a pretty good job. Someone I fought a Blackwood World Boss with once even commented on what a good job he was doing. He is able to keep aggro and he rarely dies.

I am starting on a tanking build now for Isobel. They are both sword and board but their skills are different so it will be interesting to see if she performs as well as Bastian has.

Do you have him in blue or purple gear?

katanagirl1

SkaraMinoc wrote: »

katanagirl1 wrote: »

She makes it through some situations where Bastion tank dies.

Use these skills with full Vigorous (+health) gear and your Bastian tank won't die.



A few world bosses will require some healing on your part but in most cases, Bastian will survive anything.

I will have to see what skills I have but those look familiar. Thanks for sharing.

What I meant is some WBs Bastion comes out looking like a winner and some he immediately faceplants. Different types of damage I guess.

EDIT: I should note that wearing Ring of the Pale Order helps him out because his healing doesn’t try to hit my squishy stamblade as much and he can benefit from it instead.

SilverBride

FlopsyPrince wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

I've used Bastian as tank and he does a pretty good job. Someone I fought a Blackwood World Boss with once even commented on what a good job he was doing. He is able to keep aggro and he rarely dies.

I am starting on a tanking build now for Isobel. They are both sword and board but their skills are different so it will be interesting to see if she performs as well as Bastian has.

Do you have him in blue or purple gear?

About half and half. I refuse to pay millions for purple companion gear.

When I log on tomorrow I'll make a list of his build.

Lapin_Logic

katanagirl1 wrote: »

Ember is a mage but wears medium armor I just discovered today (?)

In Companion world Light armour is Only for healing builds, Medium is for all Damage builds, Heavy is for .."Tank" or more likely someone to buff/mild heal you who won't die in 5 seconds.

FlopsyPrince

SilverBride wrote: »

I've used Bastian as tank and he does a pretty good job. Someone I fought a Blackwood World Boss with once even commented on what a good job he was doing. He is able to keep aggro and he rarely dies.

I am starting on a tanking build now for Isobel. They are both sword and board but their skills are different so it will be interesting to see if she performs as well as Bastian has.

Do you have him in blue or purple gear?

SilverBride wrote: »

FlopsyPrince wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

I've used Bastian as tank and he does a pretty good job. Someone I fought a Blackwood World Boss with once even commented on what a good job he was doing. He is able to keep aggro and he rarely dies.

I am starting on a tanking build now for Isobel. They are both sword and board but their skills are different so it will be interesting to see if she performs as well as Bastian has.

Do you have him in blue or purple gear?

About half and half. I refuse to pay millions for purple companion gear.

When I log on tomorrow I'll make a list of his build.

I was wondering. I will also not pay the price purple gear is selling for now. I have a few pieces I have personally picked up, but those are very limited.