Tanking companion for regular 4 man dungeon ?

david_m_18b16_ESO

Hi, my brother want to run regular dungeon with only the both of us. He is a templar healer and I'm a magicka sorc. So we'd use a DPS and a tanking companion.

Would it be doable without too much headach ? It wouldn't bother me to tank wen we are together but both Magicka and Tank sorc use all the same base skill but with different morpg.

Soarora

Should work fine. People discredit how well companions work. The only problem is they can’t deal with every mechanic, but that’s not an issue on normal.

CP5

I would suggest potentially running a frost staff on the companion, since from my own time using a companion to tank if they're using a frost staff they won't walk into a boss that has a damaging aoe right at their feet. Also, if your friend sees a red aoe, keep a good eye on the companion, on normal that'll likely be your biggest issue. The companion's health bars show up in the group frame with the other party members, so keeping an eye there will also help, but aside from that you should be good.

Nestor

Companions are pretty good at drawing aggro. Not so good at debuffing or staying alive.

You can help both by slotting the skills you only want them to use, and not just fill up a slot because it is empty. You will need to play around with the order of the skills too.

fred4

In my limited experience they are good at tanking two-handed bosses, such as Ulfnor in normal Fang Lair, because they block without fail and never run out of stamina. In other words companion tanks have their niche uses where they are almost better than a player.

On the whole they suck. They don't stand up to veteran content. Given that all normal and non-DLC vet dungeons can be done, if not solo, then certainly with two players and no companions, the companions are really just for role-playing flavor.

EDIT: In normal dungeons you by and large don't need a tank. It may help to be somewhat tanky, e.g. by running your class' resistance skill, to have a self heal, or for one player to taunt. It depends on the content and how much automatic self-healing is in your class. As a sorc run Crit Surge. As a magplar use Puncturing Sweeps. Maybe supplement that with Pale Order, since you're just two. Your brother would have to be a DD instead of a healer in that case. Be aggressive and stay on the attack while self-healing from doing damage. That alone will carry you quite far.

Oreyn_Bearclaw

I remember seeing a vid of Bastion tanking the first boss of vHRC when they first came out, so there is definitely some potential with companion tanks.

I have Bastion in all blue/purple bolstered gear. He is not fully leveled, but he is as setup to be a tank as well as I can reasonably manage. To be candid, I have been less than impressed with his ability to stay alive. I have mostly been testing on things like world bosses. Mind you, these are bosses I can easily solo with or without him, but certainly, it's easier to solo a boss being "tanked." His survival rate is honestly less than 50/50, but I am also doing nothing to heal him or keep him alive.

I think on normal, you are going to get away with it. You frankly dont need a tank on normal anyways, but my guess is you will find it reasonably useful to have the boss aggroed, even if your tank goes down at some point. On vet, not so much.

I would be all for ZOS buffing a companions ability to tank. Its the one area where I could actually see myself using one.

fred4

Oreyn_Bearclaw wrote: »

Mind you, these are bosses I can easily solo with or without him, but certainly, it's easier to solo a boss being "tanked." You frankly dont need a tank on normal anyways, but my guess is you will find it reasonably useful to have the boss aggroed, even if your tank goes down at some point. On vet, not so much.

So I broadly agree with this, but my viewpoint is a bit more extreme. I generally find companions and tanking pets, e.g. the sorc Clannfear, more hassle than they're worth. They tend to run off and isolate some mob that would otherwise end up in the AOE trash pack that you're nuking. It's the timewasting, the hassle of having to direct them, and the hassle of having to heal them, if you want them to stay alive, that made me drop companions soon after release. More of a hindrance than a help.

There are, however, certain fights that are glaring exceptions. The afore-mentioned Ulfnor fight is one of them, if you want to solo it. This is basically an unsoloable fight, unless you use Precognition, the Psijic ult. Even when you do, you tend to get stunned by Sabina and insta-killed by Ulfnor at a time you can't block, unless you have a dedicated tank (Bastian) holding aggro on Ulfnor. I didn't know this when I made the below video, but Bastian is actually quite integral to soloing that fight:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmdFvTrlaxQ

disintegr8

My friend and I run two man all the time, usually with healer and tank companions. You should still have a heal ready for them and they will stand in red, so be prepared for them to die.

Some companion commands would be nice, like "stand over there" or "move", instead of them just being crash test dummies.

fred4

disintegr8 wrote: »

Some companion commands would be nice, like "stand over there" or "move", instead of them just being crash test dummies.

I believe they respond to the pet command. You can tell them to disengage and they'd probably move out of red. Deltia did Dragonstar Arena that way with a companioon, when they first came out. May even have been on vet. For me that would be too much hassle. The pet command key is clunky.

Palumtra

I'd recommend Bastian or Isobel, wearing full heavy armor with +reduced damage taken traits, preferably on max level, both of them have good heal/shield skills and can stand their ground.
Weapon: I prefer the 1h + Shield for the extra shield, but Frost Staff can work too.
You still need to slot 1-2 heal skills to aid them from time to time as they cannot be ordered to move (out of the red circles) but otherwise it shouldn't be an issue for them to stay alive. If your group has a dedicated healer (even it's a companion as well), it shouldn't be a problem on norm dungeons.

Oreyn_Bearclaw

fred4 wrote: »

Oreyn_Bearclaw wrote: »

Mind you, these are bosses I can easily solo with or without him, but certainly, it's easier to solo a boss being "tanked." You frankly dont need a tank on normal anyways, but my guess is you will find it reasonably useful to have the boss aggroed, even if your tank goes down at some point. On vet, not so much.

So I broadly agree with this, but my viewpoint is a bit more extreme. I generally find companions and tanking pets, e.g. the sorc Clannfear, more hassle than they're worth. They tend to run off and isolate some mob that would otherwise end up in the AOE trash pack that you're nuking. It's the timewasting, the hassle of having to direct them, and the hassle of having to heal them, if you want them to stay alive, that made me drop companions soon after release. More of a hindrance than a help.

There are, however, certain fights that are glaring exceptions. The afore-mentioned Ulfnor fight is one of them, if you want to solo it. This is basically an unsoloable fight, unless you use Precognition, the Psijic ult. Even when you do, you tend to get stunned by Sabina and insta-killed by Ulfnor at a time you can't block, unless you have a dedicated tank (Bastian) holding aggro on Ulfnor. I didn't know this when I made the below video, but Bastian is actually quite integral to soloing that fight:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmdFvTrlaxQ

I think if ZOS could make them prioritize their taunts to bosses and either be immune to or know how to move out of red circles, companion tanks would be greatly improved in this game. I realize you will never get them to follow every mechanic, but they could probably use a bit of work. I still believe that a tank is the most obvious use of a companion for most players.

You certainly are more informed on that topic than I am. I have not really gone too far down the rabbit hole of soloing vet four man content. Never met a world boss I couldnt figure out how to solo in a try or two, but that is mostly because I am to lazy to call for and wait for help. Haha.

Necrotech_Master

i havent used a companion to tank vet dungeons, but i have used them to tank normal dungeons, as it does make it significantly easier to solo them

it really depends on the dungeon as to how useful they will be though

2 examples where the companion is utterly useless is last boss castle thorn (cause of bat swarm), and last boss of black drake villa (when he does the big fire swirl attack and you have to get into the safe area), the companion i guarantee will die during these mechanics as the companions are not immune to them and are too dumb to stay/go in the circle

Reverb

Oreyn_Bearclaw wrote: »

I remember seeing a vid of Bastion tanking the first boss of vHRC when they first came out, so there is definitely some potential with companion tanks.

I have Bastion in all blue/purple bolstered gear. He is not fully leveled, but he is as setup to be a tank as well as I can reasonably manage. To be candid, I have been less than impressed with his ability to stay alive. I have mostly been testing on things like world bosses. Mind you, these are bosses I can easily solo with or without him, but certainly, it's easier to solo a boss being "tanked." His survival rate is honestly less than 50/50, but I am also doing nothing to heal him or keep him alive.

I think on normal, you are going to get away with it. You frankly dont need a tank on normal anyways, but my guess is you will find it reasonably useful to have the boss aggroed, even if your tank goes down at some point. On vet, not so much.

I would be all for ZOS buffing a companions ability to tank. Its the one area where I could actually see myself using one.

I’ve stress tested Bastian in all of the Craglorn group events and locations, and a handful of base game vet dungeons. I have him in all purple gear, and switch out skills for different content.

He’s great with direct damage, but doesn’t recognize or avoid AOE. This leads to a lot of “standing in the red” moments. This is where it helps to have previously played a pet sorc, because it’s second nature to recall Bastian to pull him out of AOE, then let him get right back to tanking.

He’s easily as good or better than most pug tanks I’ve encountered over the years, but he’ll only ever be good, not great

Oreyn_Bearclaw

Reverb wrote: »

Oreyn_Bearclaw wrote: »

I remember seeing a vid of Bastion tanking the first boss of vHRC when they first came out, so there is definitely some potential with companion tanks.

I have Bastion in all blue/purple bolstered gear. He is not fully leveled, but he is as setup to be a tank as well as I can reasonably manage. To be candid, I have been less than impressed with his ability to stay alive. I have mostly been testing on things like world bosses. Mind you, these are bosses I can easily solo with or without him, but certainly, it's easier to solo a boss being "tanked." His survival rate is honestly less than 50/50, but I am also doing nothing to heal him or keep him alive.

I think on normal, you are going to get away with it. You frankly dont need a tank on normal anyways, but my guess is you will find it reasonably useful to have the boss aggroed, even if your tank goes down at some point. On vet, not so much.

I would be all for ZOS buffing a companions ability to tank. Its the one area where I could actually see myself using one.

I’ve stress tested Bastian in all of the Craglorn group events and locations, and a handful of base game vet dungeons. I have him in all purple gear, and switch out skills for different content.

He’s great with direct damage, but doesn’t recognize or avoid AOE. This leads to a lot of “standing in the red” moments. This is where it helps to have previously played a pet sorc, because it’s second nature to recall Bastian to pull him out of AOE, then let him get right back to tanking.

He’s easily as good or better than most pug tanks I’ve encountered over the years, but he’ll only ever be good, not great

I actually didn't know they responded to sorc commands. That is good to know. Not that I would ever suggest straight up macro use, but this sorc I know who looks a lot like me has his mouse wheel bound to Y+Left Click and Y+Right Click (not the scroll, but the left right clicks on the wheel). LOL Gotta control those pets.

Necrotech_Master

Oreyn_Bearclaw wrote: »

Reverb wrote: »

Oreyn_Bearclaw wrote: »

I remember seeing a vid of Bastion tanking the first boss of vHRC when they first came out, so there is definitely some potential with companion tanks.

I have Bastion in all blue/purple bolstered gear. He is not fully leveled, but he is as setup to be a tank as well as I can reasonably manage. To be candid, I have been less than impressed with his ability to stay alive. I have mostly been testing on things like world bosses. Mind you, these are bosses I can easily solo with or without him, but certainly, it's easier to solo a boss being "tanked." His survival rate is honestly less than 50/50, but I am also doing nothing to heal him or keep him alive.

I think on normal, you are going to get away with it. You frankly dont need a tank on normal anyways, but my guess is you will find it reasonably useful to have the boss aggroed, even if your tank goes down at some point. On vet, not so much.

I would be all for ZOS buffing a companions ability to tank. Its the one area where I could actually see myself using one.

I’ve stress tested Bastian in all of the Craglorn group events and locations, and a handful of base game vet dungeons. I have him in all purple gear, and switch out skills for different content.

He’s great with direct damage, but doesn’t recognize or avoid AOE. This leads to a lot of “standing in the red” moments. This is where it helps to have previously played a pet sorc, because it’s second nature to recall Bastian to pull him out of AOE, then let him get right back to tanking.

He’s easily as good or better than most pug tanks I’ve encountered over the years, but he’ll only ever be good, not great

I actually didn't know they responded to sorc commands. That is good to know. Not that I would ever suggest straight up macro use, but this sorc I know who looks a lot like me has his mouse wheel bound to Y+Left Click and Y+Right Click (not the scroll, but the left right clicks on the wheel). LOL Gotta control those pets.

thats the only way ive been able to somewhat keep the companions alive in some cases

an example would be like first boss in red petal bastion if im running in a group using a companion tank, i have to call them when the boss drops his big aoe or the companion will likely die

they have improved the companion AI slightly (the moving left and right while fighting), but when its a very large ground AOE you still need to force them to come out of it lol

i also agree that most of their healing abilities are lackluster, either too low heal values or too long cooldown (especially when the heal only affects self like bastions dragon blood, 12-16 sec cooldowns for only 25% heal seems very underpowered with how much incoming dmg there sometimes is)

BretonMage

Palumtra wrote: »

I'd recommend Bastian or Isobel, wearing full heavy armor with +reduced damage taken traits, preferably on max level, both of them have good heal/shield skills and can stand their ground.
Weapon: I prefer the 1h + Shield for the extra shield, but Frost Staff can work too.
You still need to slot 1-2 heal skills to aid them from time to time as they cannot be ordered to move (out of the red circles) but otherwise it shouldn't be an issue for them to stay alive. If your group has a dedicated healer (even it's a companion as well), it shouldn't be a problem on norm dungeons.

I'm still trying to figure out if I should get armor with health boosting (Vigorous) or damage reducing (Bolstered) traits. I've played around a little with them, but they don't seem to give vastly different results. There doesn't seem to be much agreement either on which is better. Why did you choose to go with the Bolstered trait vs the Vigorous trait, may I ask?

I agree they do need some healing, which is frustrating when I'm trying to solo stuff.

Pelanora

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

Oreyn_Bearclaw wrote: »

Reverb wrote: »

Oreyn_Bearclaw wrote: »

I remember seeing a vid of Bastion tanking the first boss of vHRC when they first came out, so there is definitely some potential with companion tanks.

I have Bastion in all blue/purple bolstered gear. He is not fully leveled, but he is as setup to be a tank as well as I can reasonably manage. To be candid, I have been less than impressed with his ability to stay alive. I have mostly been testing on things like world bosses. Mind you, these are bosses I can easily solo with or without him, but certainly, it's easier to solo a boss being "tanked." His survival rate is honestly less than 50/50, but I am also doing nothing to heal him or keep him alive.

I think on normal, you are going to get away with it. You frankly dont need a tank on normal anyways, but my guess is you will find it reasonably useful to have the boss aggroed, even if your tank goes down at some point. On vet, not so much.

I would be all for ZOS buffing a companions ability to tank. Its the one area where I could actually see myself using one.

I’ve stress tested Bastian in all of the Craglorn group events and locations, and a handful of base game vet dungeons. I have him in all purple gear, and switch out skills for different content.

He’s great with direct damage, but doesn’t recognize or avoid AOE. This leads to a lot of “standing in the red” moments. This is where it helps to have previously played a pet sorc, because it’s second nature to recall Bastian to pull him out of AOE, then let him get right back to tanking.

He’s easily as good or better than most pug tanks I’ve encountered over the years, but he’ll only ever be good, not great

I actually didn't know they responded to sorc commands. That is good to know. Not that I would ever suggest straight up macro use, but this sorc I know who looks a lot like me has his mouse wheel bound to Y+Left Click and Y+Right Click (not the scroll, but the left right clicks on the wheel). LOL Gotta control those pets.

thats the only way ive been able to somewhat keep the companions alive in some cases

an example would be like first boss in red petal bastion if im running in a group using a companion tank, i have to call them when the boss drops his big aoe or the companion will likely die

they have improved the companion AI slightly (the moving left and right while fighting), but when its a very large ground AOE you still need to force them to come out of it lol

i also agree that most of their healing abilities are lackluster, either too low heal values or too long cooldown (especially when the heal only affects self like bastions dragon blood, 12-16 sec cooldowns for only 25% heal seems very underpowered with how much incoming dmg there sometimes is)

My command pet key seems to want to do their ultimate. How do you make the command work?

phaneub17_ESO

BretonMage wrote: »

Palumtra wrote: »

I'd recommend Bastian or Isobel, wearing full heavy armor with +reduced damage taken traits, preferably on max level, both of them have good heal/shield skills and can stand their ground.
Weapon: I prefer the 1h + Shield for the extra shield, but Frost Staff can work too.
You still need to slot 1-2 heal skills to aid them from time to time as they cannot be ordered to move (out of the red circles) but otherwise it shouldn't be an issue for them to stay alive. If your group has a dedicated healer (even it's a companion as well), it shouldn't be a problem on norm dungeons.

I'm still trying to figure out if I should get armor with health boosting (Vigorous) or damage reducing (Bolstered) traits. I've played around a little with them, but they don't seem to give vastly different results. There doesn't seem to be much agreement either on which is better. Why did you choose to go with the Bolstered trait vs the Vigorous trait, may I ask?

I agree they do need some healing, which is frustrating when I'm trying to solo stuff.

I'm trying not to reply because my responses for some odd reason flags the thread to move it to Players Helping Players where it goes to die.

20% Bolstered and 31% Vigorous is about equal actually, give or take based on what abilities you choose to use on your companion. Drake's Blood, Solar Ward, On Guard, and Skeletal Aegis work better with Vigorous granting bigger gains. Bolstered works better with fixed Damage Shields and Heal over time, it's also less spiky overall. I prefer Quickened to keep all the abilities rolling with more uptime on abilities.

The biggest problem companions is they don't have the foresight to activate a defensive move before a big attack, they either use a damage reduction effect when its off cooldown and may not be active when the big attack strikes or they use it after being struck by the big attack which may kill them outright. Its up to you to provide them with either a burst heal or heal over time, a damage shield, or damage reduction effect. This can be harder if another player is around as smart targeting prevents you from using abilities like Ward Ally to shield them or healing spells that prioritize players over pets.

BretonMage

phaneub17_ESO wrote: »

20% Bolstered and 31% Vigorous is about equal actually, give or take based on what abilities you choose to use on your companion. Drake's Blood, Solar Ward, On Guard, and Skeletal Aegis work better with Vigorous granting bigger gains. Bolstered works better with fixed Damage Shields and Heal over time, it's also less spiky overall. I prefer Quickened to keep all the abilities rolling with more uptime on abilities.

The biggest problem companions is they don't have the foresight to activate a defensive move before a big attack, they either use a damage reduction effect when its off cooldown and may not be active when the big attack strikes or they use it after being struck by the big attack which may kill them outright. Its up to you to provide them with either a burst heal or heal over time, a damage shield, or damage reduction effect.

Thanks. I have a few purple pieces with Quickened, and that helps enormously when speccing him as a healer. Do you equip your companion tank with all Quickened? For the rest I have a mix of Bolstered and Vigorous, but am trying to upgrade to purple, so I'm wondering which trait to go with. Having it depend on skills used makes sense.

It's true that half the time, the shield abilities used aren't in effect when the big attacks come in. I guess nothing helps quite as much as healing them through the big hits, though it's tricky when you're also keeping an eye on the boss, the mechanics and your survival all at the same time.

DocFrost72

Biggest issue is their survivability. Make sure you have an area healing ability to target them, and they'll do fine for most normal content!

phaneub17_ESO

I use Bastian with all Quickened to maximize his chances something is active when the big hits come. Bolstered and Vigorous are great, but it leaves too much idle time and I prefer to stack multiple damage reducing effects together. Quickened also lets them taunt faster as Provoke has a 8.6 seconds difference, he can hold two targets at once. His abilities are Drake's Blood, Kindle, Provoke, On Guard, and Ritual of Salvation.

If you are playing solo on Magicka builds its nice to have a Resto Staff with Ward Ally and Radiating Regeneration, they will target you and your companion so its a duo buff. In a party setting however both these two spells will ignore your companion and favor the other players in which case you can use Grand Healing and Blessing of Protection. It is assumed their max armor cap is 25,000 with their armor and shield giving them a little over 23,000 add Blessing of Protection with Minor Resolve should get them to max armor. Other healing spells you can target them with are Echoing Vigor, Healing Ritual, Repentance, Cleansing/Extended Ritual, Refreshing Path, and Fungal Growth. The Major Protection from Consuming Darkness also works on companions, but I don't know if you would give up an Ultimate slot for their sake.

Necrotech_Master

Pelanora wrote: »

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

Oreyn_Bearclaw wrote: »

Reverb wrote: »

Oreyn_Bearclaw wrote: »

I remember seeing a vid of Bastion tanking the first boss of vHRC when they first came out, so there is definitely some potential with companion tanks.

I have Bastion in all blue/purple bolstered gear. He is not fully leveled, but he is as setup to be a tank as well as I can reasonably manage. To be candid, I have been less than impressed with his ability to stay alive. I have mostly been testing on things like world bosses. Mind you, these are bosses I can easily solo with or without him, but certainly, it's easier to solo a boss being "tanked." His survival rate is honestly less than 50/50, but I am also doing nothing to heal him or keep him alive.

I think on normal, you are going to get away with it. You frankly dont need a tank on normal anyways, but my guess is you will find it reasonably useful to have the boss aggroed, even if your tank goes down at some point. On vet, not so much.

I would be all for ZOS buffing a companions ability to tank. Its the one area where I could actually see myself using one.

I’ve stress tested Bastian in all of the Craglorn group events and locations, and a handful of base game vet dungeons. I have him in all purple gear, and switch out skills for different content.

He’s great with direct damage, but doesn’t recognize or avoid AOE. This leads to a lot of “standing in the red” moments. This is where it helps to have previously played a pet sorc, because it’s second nature to recall Bastian to pull him out of AOE, then let him get right back to tanking.

He’s easily as good or better than most pug tanks I’ve encountered over the years, but he’ll only ever be good, not great

I actually didn't know they responded to sorc commands. That is good to know. Not that I would ever suggest straight up macro use, but this sorc I know who looks a lot like me has his mouse wheel bound to Y+Left Click and Y+Right Click (not the scroll, but the left right clicks on the wheel). LOL Gotta control those pets.

thats the only way ive been able to somewhat keep the companions alive in some cases

an example would be like first boss in red petal bastion if im running in a group using a companion tank, i have to call them when the boss drops his big aoe or the companion will likely die

they have improved the companion AI slightly (the moving left and right while fighting), but when its a very large ground AOE you still need to force them to come out of it lol

i also agree that most of their healing abilities are lackluster, either too low heal values or too long cooldown (especially when the heal only affects self like bastions dragon blood, 12-16 sec cooldowns for only 25% heal seems very underpowered with how much incoming dmg there sometimes is)

My command pet key seems to want to do their ultimate. How do you make the command work?

to make them attack something, i just heavy attack

to recall them i right click + y (if your not targeting anything the companion wont try to cast their ult, you can also rebind the companion ult key to something else if you wanted)

Pelanora

Thank you! I think the not targeting part is the key. I was getting a message i didn't have an ult for one companion, and the other just cast the ult.

jaws343

I briefly was using a companion to tank dungeons while I soloed them. Honestly, it really wasn't much of a benefit. I found they died way too soon into a fight to really provide much for tanking and I would end up with boss aggro anyways.

IMO, they are far better positioned as DPS, because, at least if they die, they've added to the damage done to the enemy.

Necrotech_Master

jaws343 wrote: »

I briefly was using a companion to tank dungeons while I soloed them. Honestly, it really wasn't much of a benefit. I found they died way too soon into a fight to really provide much for tanking and I would end up with boss aggro anyways.

IMO, they are far better positioned as DPS, because, at least if they die, they've added to the damage done to the enemy.

they are usually OK as long as you have at least 1 heal over time on them, their own heals are too long of cooldowns to keep up with dmg and dont time well with burst (they reactively use the heal when they are say under 75% hp or whatever, but if that happens too quick, their self heals are on cooldowns)

their self heals should honestly be on a cooldown of 5-6 sec instead of 12-16 seconds (if they only affect self, like bastions dragon blood)

BretonMage

jaws343 wrote: »

I briefly was using a companion to tank dungeons while I soloed them. Honestly, it really wasn't much of a benefit. I found they died way too soon into a fight to really provide much for tanking and I would end up with boss aggro anyways.

IMO, they are far better positioned as DPS, because, at least if they die, they've added to the damage done to the enemy.

If I know that I'm going into harder content where Bastian will be one-shotted easily, I change him over to a healer role. If he hangs back and heals, I don't have to worry about him so much, and I love having Mystic Fortress popping up when I need it most

HedgeHugger

So long as you understand that you have to support the companions, pick them up when they go down, try and heal them when you can etc, then they can be anything from a useful distraction, to an outright asset!

There are only a few dungeons that me and my OH haven't completed with companions on veteran, including all the DLC ones.
Depths of Malatar has eluded us, as has Lair of Maarselok, and one of the newer ones that the name escapes me right now.

Moongrave Fane might've taken us 4 hours, but we did it lol!!
Coral Aerie took us a long time too, the first time, but much easier once we'd learned how the companions could be utilised.
Also using dual Templars with speedy pick up helps loads.
CP tree has a skill for pick up too, Spirit Mastery. Fitness tree, red.
Spell Power Cure, and Kagranac's Hope gear helps with that too. (both wearing).

Sometimes 2 companions tanking is the way to go, if one goes down, the other can take up the slack while you resurrect the one down.

MEBengalsFan2001

If you have Isabella use her. She is IMO the best tanking companion. Make sure you give her gear to reduce her cooldowns. My Isabella tank has 100% up on her shields. She also only needs healing my from templar purifying light against tougher world bosses. The only time I have seen her die is on a dragon.

Zodiarkslayer

The Gambit System of Final Fantasy 12 was "Fantastic". 🤭
If ESO's Companions could be programmed like that, it would make them viable in content.

The problem with Companions is the logic behind their abilities. The worst part being the conditions under which they use them and the cycle of how often they use them. Not even the cooldowns. That is why Quickened is the best trait regardless.

And Isobel is the best Tank, because of how low the cooldowns get with full Quickened gear. The others should stay healers or DPS.

I do not know if anyone else has noticed, but companions seem to have seperate global cooldowns. I think it was two seconds, instead of the one second for player's abilities. 🤔

Also most player buffs do not work on them, I am fairly confident about this. 🤯 Resolve, for example does not give them additional protection, but Aegis does, because it is percentage based.
The same goes for damage, I believe. No Courage, but Berserk should work.

I tested that extensively when Bastian and Mirri were the added with Blackwood. That was long ago, but I am unaware of any publicly communicated changes.

phaneub17_ESO

Zodiarkslayer wrote: »

Also most player buffs do not work on them, I am fairly confident about this. 🤯 Resolve, for example does not give them additional protection, but Aegis does, because it is percentage based.
The same goes for damage, I believe. No Courage, but Berserk should work.

I tested that extensively when Bastian and Mirri were the added with Blackwood. That was long ago, but I am unaware of any publicly communicated changes.

The problem is we don't see their stats, we can only assume they use the same stats as NPCs not players. While players need around 33,000 or so armor to reach 50% maximum damage reduction cap, NPCs reach that cap at 25,000. The maximum armor from gear you can get on companions is 23,200 so Minor Resolve from Blessing of Protection provides 2974 armor companions may only be getting 1800 reaching their cap, the change would be very minor.

If you play a Dragon Knight for example, use any ability that triggers Mountain's Blessing that buffs your companion with Minor Brutality, that does affect your companion's output damage. Ember's base damage doing 7330, with Minor Brutality raises her damage to 8063. The same goes for Templar with Minor Sorcery.

Also Ember's natural "3% increased critical chance" does nothing by itself, anything below 5% minimum counts as zero, she can attack nonstop for days and never critical strike. It's not entirely nothing as it does lower the minimum she needs from Focused gear to reach 5% critical chance, but by itself she cannot critical strike at base. Now add a Sorcerer that triggers Minor Prophecy which adds about 6% critical chance will activate Ember (and any companion) critical strike damage. Again the same goes with Nightblade and Minor Savagery.

Zodiarkslayer

phaneub17_ESO wrote: »

... Ember's base damage doing 7330, with Minor Brutality raises her damage to 8063...

For that to work, Companions must have a completly different damage formula. I mean I am not doubting that. It just that it proofes we are all shooting in the dark here. 🌑👀🌑

And I am a little apprehensive to say it, but the forums are full of speculation on the matter. Nobody seems to be able to offer data or sources.

I did my testing with easy methods in delves and on World Bosses. I used both Companions back then. I let them fight alone and added buffs and heals from what I had at hand. Combat prayer, SPC, and the like. I looked at the displayed stats only, though.
And I compared the before and after, obviously.
All recorded on short videos. I may have them lying around somewhere on a backup drive, but I have bought a new PC since then and I am not confident I kept these files around.

Anyways, what I concluded for myself was that buffing Comps was a waste of time. Healing them was a waste of time. Letting them do damage is neglectable. It was less damage than a good DoT back then.
And since then I only played on Isobel. I saw the potential that she can hold her own, because of the good healing abilities with the shortened cooldowns. And I was right about that.