How much Worse of a Tank or Healer is Ember/Mirri compared to Isobel?

JMadFour

Is it a very noticeable drop off, or am I overthinking it?

Isobel has been working well for me thus far on my Sorc, but her personality does not mesh well with my Nightblade (Shadow Mage, DB Silencer, Thief, etc.).

langewapper

i use different compagnions for what i want to do
dungeons overland ore DLC use isobel
overland general pve mirri
brotherhood or thieves ember

the gear and weapens you give them makes the difference in the way they behave in battle
but there are no big differences in general between them only in the way they comment you on what you do

Runefang

It's not noticeable, if you want your tanking companion to stay alive you just need to dps quickly.

Jim_Pipp

It's pretty different, but doable.

Isobel's irreplaceable tanking strengths are
1) her resistance buff (20% less damage taken) has the shortest cooldown of any companion, so it has the highest uptime, and a health scaling damage shield every 7.8 seconds. Amazing for tanking.
2) her many heals can target her. This let's her maintain her own health better than any other companion, while often sharing heals with her group.

Mirri in particular struggles with self healing so you will need to look after her. Mirri's equivalent resistance buff has the mostly useless secondary effect of dodging one attack, while Ember's AoE damage can help her hold aggro.

Every companion has unique strengths. One of Mirri's is that her fear ability will stun mobs for 4 seconds, every 8 seconds! Half the time they can't do anything! Unfortunately not useful against bosses, but a cool skill of you are building a classic health based sword and board companion tank build.

I haven't done a dedicated Ember tank build, but I have written up a very weird Mirri tank build that is thoroughly tested. https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/604058/mirri-semi-tank-healer-damage-build-fair-weather-friend-a-showcase-of-companion-mechanics#latest

AcadianPaladin

I've found that if you go all heavy armor and slot provoke + 4 heal/shield skills, any are pretty survivable. Set up that way, I don't see much diff between Mirri and Isobel.

If you start slotting other skills that are neither healing nor shields, any of them will become more useful but also more vulnerable. Any can slot a gap closer which can be handy. Only Mirri and Ember have some crowd control via Mirri's fear spell and Ember's 'shards' spell.

phaneub17_ESO

They're not self-sustaining and they are reactive not preemptive. You as a player when you see a big hit coming, you can brace for it by blocking, putting up defensive abilities, or prepare to heal through it. Companions react to being hit first, they don't know something big is coming and only take action after it happens. Dragon flies overhead and about to do a line breath attack so you either move out of the way, cast a shield absorption and block, or die; companions just die. No matter how good a tank they are, they still need your assistance to stay alive in some situations.

Its nice having a restoration staff in one of your slots, Ward Ally puts an absorption shield on you both which is great if a big attack is coming. Grand Healing, Blessing of Protection, and Regeneration can target your companions to heal them while standing in stupid. I suggest Combat Prayer since it heals you, heals them, provides a little extra armor, and a damage boost; if you can't target them directly then Radiating Regeneration.

I prefer Bastian tank only because I have no other use for him. His little extra health makes sure he survives a hit the others may die from in one shot at full health. Drake's Blood, Kindle, Provoke, On Guard, and Ritual of Salvation in that order; two upfront heals before the taunt, shields after, all Quickened so they available more frequently. He kind of sucks at everything else, his only good ability is Searing Weapons and being a subpar single target DPS.

Isobel would be a close second, but I like her as a combat healer using 2h with Blessed Sacrament, Sunder, Beam of Reproach, Sun Brand, and Holy Ground. All 3 of her heals are heal over time, they can all affect her, and two of them are AOE healing where most companions are single target only. Two dots and a melee weapon so she stays close by. I can also switch her to pure damage with Gallant Blitz, Sunder, Penetrating Strikes, Spear of Light, and Holy Ground.

Mirri I use her as a suicide bomber, AOE DPS. Dual-Wield with Warp Strike, Masque of Torment, Razor Cape, Life Siphon, and Spinning Steel. I could drop Razor Cape for Haste at the end so she double fears and quad AOE splash with max penetration so she hits pretty freaking hard on multiple large trash pack pulls.

Ember, I prefer her as a rapid fire Single Target. Ice Staff with Starfall, Crystal Blast, Sniping Silver, Shocking Burst, and either Second Wind or Shared Wards. If I really want to throw caution to the wind then Starfall, Crystal Blast, Sniping Silver, Haste, and Second wind for a 9-volley attack stream every 15 seconds. The latter does a lot of damage really quick, but her chances of ending dead is much higher.

I'm hoping the future Orc companion racial passives are 3% increased health and 3% reduced damage taken.

Dragonredux

Tank companions are worthless so I don't rely on them.


Best Healer out of the crew is Mirri. Merely for the fact she can cloak herself whenever she gets low which adds to her survivability and she can use it with any armor type. I also find her healing skills more useful in general.

HappyTheCamper

Keep in mind we are getting an Argonian Warden companion this summer who is a mercenary/rogue type character. Typically wardens make great healers too.