Which is your favorite companion?

Grandchamp1989

Which is your favorite companion?

Jacul

Sharp-as-Night

phaneub17_ESO

I can't decide!

Bastian is my universal tank who I only pull out when solo world bosses or doing particularly annoying group dungeon bosses, mostly to keep his Rapport at Cordial or lower.

Wave 1: Everyone used Mirri.
Wave 2: Hybrid/Tanks use Isobel, Stamina use Ember, Magicka use Mirri.
Wave 3: Bosmer/Khajiit will use Ember, Breton/Orc will use Isobel, Altmer/Dunmer will use Mirri, Imperial/Redguard will use Azandar, and Nord/Argonian will use Sharp-as-Night.
Wave 4: Assuming they will add Necromancer and another Dragon Knight, everyone will run with their class companion.
Wave 5: Assuming we will have one of each race companion, everyone will run with their race counterpart... including Bastian.

Companion builds:
Mirri: Dual-Wield, Light, 12 Quickened - Twilight Mantle, Warp Strike, Life Siphon, Spinning Steel, Haste.
Ember: Ice Staff, Medium, 12 Focused - Starfall, Crystal Blast, Sniping Silver, Shocking Burst, Shared Wards.
Isobel: Two-Handed, Medium, 12 Quickened - Blessed Sacrament, Gallant Blitz, Sunder, Penetrating Strikes, Spear of Light.
Azandar: Two-Handed, Light, 12 Prolific - Zone of Recuperation, Shields of Erudition, Tendrils of Colorless Sea, Parallel, Haste.
Sharp-as-Night: Dual-Wield, Medium, 7 Shattering, 5 Aggressive - Snow Squall, Char, Razor Cape, Cold Snap, Spinning Steel.
Bastian: 1H+Shield, Heavy, 6 Vigorous, 6 Quickened - Drake's Blood, Provoke, On Guard, Ritual of Salvation, Searing Weapons.

Khenarthi

Ember

Ember for now... until Sharp-as-Night comes along on the Live server

FrancisCrawford

Isobel is a really cool imaginary friend.

I like Mirri a lot better than Bastian and have her on many more characters accordingly, which is awkward because Bastian does more to buff the heavy attack builds I now prefer.

Ember is my least favorite by far.

Kendaric

Bastian

It's actually a tie between Bastian and Mirri for me, but I have more chars that use Bastian.

Basically, I use Bastian on my Nords, Orcs and most of my Bretons and Mirri on Dunmer, Bosmer and Khajiit.
One Breton uses Isobel.

I don't use Ember and haven't gotten her, since I dislike her hair and we still can't equip other hairstyles on companions.
I won't bother with either of the new companions, since I hate Argonians with a passion and have no interest in Azandar due to his class.

ghastley

Isobel

My characters are using all four currently available, but more use Isobel, and fewer use Bastian. That is mostly because each has the same build regardless of which character they accompany, and the healer, tank, archer and magdps builds suit different player skill sets.

whitecrow

Ember

Ember is the only one I use now.

LanteanPegasus

Bastian

Bastian. By far. I never go anywhere without him (except places where the game won't let me). I just really like his character and his attitude towards the world. He makes a great friend for my Imperial officer/knight, travelling Tamriel, righting wrongs, protecting those who need it and stopping evil where it raises its ugly head, so everyone else can live their life in peace, and prosper.

For my (seldom played) second character, a Khajiit lady who is more adventurous just for the sake of it, and isn't as averse to picking a few pockets (or emptying a few strongboxes) of people who won't miss the contents, I went with Ember. She is likeable enough, even though some of her comments come across as quite childish/overenthusiastic. I actually liked her more during her personal quests than in everyday life, and go with that personality for my attitude towards her. Plus, I really like Khajiits.

With Isobel I maxed rapport and did her whole quest, but the more I travelled with her, the less I liked her, and now that rapport is maxed I don't take her with me anymore. Both High Isle companions have this overenthusiastic, teenag-y, thoughless and fangirly streak. But with Ember her backstory and some of her comments managed to mitigate that quite well. Isobel's story was more about her friend than her, and didn't do much to recommend her to me.

I never found the time to do much with Mirri, beside her intro quest. I didn't think her dislikeable, but not interesting/engaging enough to have her around instead of Bastian.

From what I heard about the new companions I'm sure my favourite won't change. Sharp-As-Night's story might prove interesting, and depending on how it plays out I might come to like or dislike him, but even if it is the first I'll still prefer Bastian. I'll also take a look at Azandar, but the whole "mad scientist/power hungry wizard" take doesn't sound promising to me at all.

AzuraFan

I can't decide!

Isobel and Mirri are pretty much tied for me.

FantasticFreddie

Ember

"Watch out everyone, Tamriel's best duo is back!"
"You always take me to the nicest places!"
"Oh are we going to race??"
"I'll.... try not to fall off."
Do I need Ember? No.
Does she change the content I can solo? No
Does she make the overland and questing and lead farming so much more fun???? Yes yes yes.

DinoZavr

Isobel

Rhetorical question.
- Isobel

markulrich1966

Mirri

play many characters, they use Mirri and Ember.

Mirri by preference for the hardest content, she is the most robust one (because of her invisibility spell).
I also like her sarcasm.

For overland quest, vents and easy worldbosses I prefer Ember for more variety, as I like her funny and positive attitude.
She also has a good mix of defensive and damage skills, like the one that roots enemies on the ground, and one that does 20k damage to those with less than 25% health.

Setup for both:
https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/7872926/#Comment_7872926

LunaFlora

I can't decide!

ember and isobel
sharp-as-night seems pretty awesome too though

richo262

I like the one that doesn't fill my inventory with garbage.

Fenris_Arainai

I can't decide!

I'm torn between Mirri and Ember.

Soarora

Bastian

Bastian is the only one I really use, as a healer. My new favorite will be Sharp though.

Finedaible

Isobel

Isobel is best tank/healer by far, and has decent passives and skills compared to other companions which places her in 1st place for me. Mirri's proficiency as DPS and her treasure chest passive places her in 2nd place.

Ember might take 3rd place for personality and combat effectiveness, but Bastian just generates inventory fodder placing him in last.

However, I haven't used Ember much at all because I heard her permanent boon is an overall nerf to your account for pickpocketing. So until that matter is cleared up I likely won't bother at all.

AScarlato

Bastian

It's a tossup between Isobel and Bastian. I went with Bastian as he'll probably be in last place lol.

I like my goody two-shoes friends. Isobel is like a "new and improved" Bastian and I think her quality of content is higher overall, but I played a lot more ESO back in Blackwood than I have recently so my bias ultimately goes to him.

phaneub17_ESO

I can't decide!

Finedaible wrote: »

However, I haven't used Ember much at all because I heard her permanent boon is an overall nerf to your account for pickpocketing. So until that matter is cleared up I likely won't bother at all.

If you pickpocket a wallet in any of your first 3 items, you get a fourth attempt for the third item. However the chance for that fourth attempt is lower. So technically can still get 3 items per NPC, it just has a lower chance for that last item if you got a wallet.

FeedbackOnly

Bastian

A good guy who likes books

Treselegant

Bastian

Bastian and Mirri are the only ones that feel like people to me. Imperfect, interesting characters with decently written backgrounds. I use Bastian pretty much exclusively but if I had to pick a second companion I'd go with Mirri (even if her snarky, bolshy personality isn't really to my taste).

LanteanPegasus wrote: »

With Isobel I maxed rapport and did her whole quest, but the more I travelled with her, the less I liked her, and now that rapport is maxed I don't take her with me anymore. Both High Isle companions have this overenthusiastic, teenag-y, thoughless and fangirly streak. But with Ember her backstory and some of her comments managed to mitigate that quite well. Isobel's story was more about her friend than her, and didn't do much to recommend her to me.

This was also my experience with Isobel. I tried to push aside my feeling that there was an element of fan service in the choice of VA and tried to assess her on her own merits. I did her quests, levelled her to max and then I put her away never to bring her out again. Her characterisation is very odd and I didn't like her quests. I could cope with Ember for short periods and her quests were pretty good. Both came across as very young - I felt like I was babysitting and that's not really what I'm looking for in a companion.

I won't give much away about the newer companions but I can't see myself swapping to either of them in the future (that feeling contributed to my decision as to whether to buy Necrom or not). At this point my main and Bastian have been a team since Blackwood and that's unlikely to change.

Monte_Cristo

Isobel

Three words: Ranged area knockdown.

disintegr8

I'm probably 50/50 Mirri and Bastion. Bastion is my tank for bosses and Mirri (dual wield) is my DPS for mobs.

Until we get more control of them, they are all a bit annoying in their own way, where they stand, what they do (or don't do) in battle, etc. Some basic commands like stay there, come here, get back, get out of the red, etc., would really help.

I've maxed out rapport on all of them and will probably get the new companions when they come, just because.

Gruumsh1

Ember

Ember. At least she doesn't moan at you so often.

Cazador

Ember

Ember with Bastian being a close second.

joergino

I can't decide!

Actually, it doesn't matter at all if you want to max out all your companions' skill lines. At least in my experience this takes almost exactly half a year per companion. Last year this worked perfectly and neither Mirri nor Bastian have ever been summoned again by any of my characters since there are two new companions.

This year it's not as on the point as previously, most likely because all the recent developments have basically killed my will to "play" this game beyond daily crafting and a handful of daily quests. Especially all the "nice" "community" members constantly calling for nerfs to everything that makes the annoying combat at least somewhat tolerable are utterly demotivating.
So the new chapter with yet another pair of companions to level up is imminent and Ember still has two and a half weapon skill lines and the last armor skill line left to level - only to never ever be summoned again afterwards because of the new companions. The leveling consumes way too much time.

Carcamongus

Mirri

Mirri's accent is adorable, her remarks, especially when I steal, are either pleasant or funny and I pretty much cut her some slack on that possibly passive-aggressive comment she says after we finish a fight. She's a scholar who, like me, is fascinated by Dwemer and Clockwork stuff and she loves a good book. Her comments when I'm harvesting aren't annoying, so no "magicky" or "this is a great area for harvesting", though I nearly always roll my eyes when she exclaims "you don't come by those too often" after I find the 10th rekuta of the day.

I like Bastian, but I prefer to leave him at home, such as shown below:

Hapexamendios

Ember

Ember as she can be funny and is the best dos among my companions. Been skyshard hunting on my tanks and having her along speeds up the process a lot.

Treselegant

Bastian

Carcamongus wrote: »

Mirri's accent is adorable, her remarks, especially when I steal, are either pleasant or funny and I pretty much cut her some slack on that possibly passive-aggressive comment she says after we finish a fight. She's a scholar who, like me, is fascinated by Dwemer and Clockwork stuff and she loves a good book. Her comments when I'm harvesting aren't annoying, so no "magicky" or "this is a great area for harvesting", though I nearly always roll my eyes when she exclaims "you don't come by those too often" after I find the 10th rekuta of the day.

I like Bastian, but I prefer to leave him at home, such as shown below:

I'm fascinated as to why we don't see Mirri in more senarios like this - surrounded by bugs perhaps. Plenty find her bug aversion a bit hard to bear and yet...nothing. Or Isobel trapped by daedric pets in a deadlands cage. After two years, I'm ready for a bit of variety.

Castagere

Isobel

Isobel is a great tank/healer and DPS to me.