companions in battle

Snowy_Wyndra_Karn · October 2022

Hello,

I do a lot of base game 4-person dungeons on my own - just with my companion.

I am a warden and have that great skill where I can swing to my companion in order to heal them. This works very well and I can manage to keep them alive through most of these types of dungeons. Especially for Isobel and Bastian who I have found make great tanks. I do this by keeping an eye on their health bar.

Also, when they are getting low on health, they usually give a bit of a verbal warning that they are about to cark it, but by the time I swing to them they're dead. If I just went by listening out for them they definitely wouldn't get their heal in time.

Is there a way to get this verbal warning a bit sooner? Does anyone know?

Thank you

Treselegant · October 2022

I think their call for aid was made more obvious in one of the recent updates which is great but it can still catch you off guard when they go down. The tank companions are pretty good at taking care of themselves but mechanics will get them from time to time and sometimes they just can't heal themselves quick enough. All you can do is just keep tabs on them through the fight

Of the two tanks, I found Bastian survives better due to his racial passive 'tough' which gives an extra 3% health, which can be mighty handy if you gear him in Vigorous trait gear. When I tested Isobel, I found she was pretty good at healing herself quickly (probably due to her passive as well which reduces her cooldowns) but she did get overwhelmed faster than Bastian so she needed a little more healing from me.

As to whether you can make the call for aid more frequent - I dont think so. My initial thought was maybe the the comment frequency option may have effect? Then again, I have Bastian's companion reactions at max and it didn't seem any different to when I had Isobel's comments down at their lowest level as they seem to call out for aid at the same rate.

Necrotech_Master · October 2022

Treselegant wrote: »

As to whether you can make the call for aid more frequent - I dont think so. My initial thought was maybe the the comment frequency option may have effect? Then again, I have Bastian's companion reactions at max and it didn't seem any different to when I had Isobel's comments down at their lowest level as they seem to call out for aid at the same rate.

im not really a fan of that setting because it does not give a clear picture on actually how often they talk to you lol, i have it set to minimum and it still feels like they talk fairly often

really wish they had an option to just turn it off entirely

Treselegant · October 2022

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

Treselegant wrote: »

As to whether you can make the call for aid more frequent - I dont think so. My initial thought was maybe the the comment frequency option may have effect? Then again, I have Bastian's companion reactions at max and it didn't seem any different to when I had Isobel's comments down at their lowest level as they seem to call out for aid at the same rate.

im not really a fan of that setting because it does not give a clear picture on actually how often they talk to you lol, i have it set to minimum and it still feels like they talk fairly often

really wish they had an option to just turn it off entirely

I don't really like Isobel, her voice or character, but I was able to try her as a tank out of curiousity because she barely said anything with the frequency option turned down. She did still say things occasionally but usually it was only high priority lines like asking for help. It looks like high priority lines, such as asking for aid, stay the same which is understandable. The difference in frequency overland in particular is very noticable if you usually have a companion at max chatter.

Necrotech_Master · October 2022

Treselegant wrote: »

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

Treselegant wrote: »

As to whether you can make the call for aid more frequent - I dont think so. My initial thought was maybe the the comment frequency option may have effect? Then again, I have Bastian's companion reactions at max and it didn't seem any different to when I had Isobel's comments down at their lowest level as they seem to call out for aid at the same rate.

im not really a fan of that setting because it does not give a clear picture on actually how often they talk to you lol, i have it set to minimum and it still feels like they talk fairly often

really wish they had an option to just turn it off entirely

I don't really like Isobel, her voice or character, but I was able to try her as a tank out of curiousity because she barely said anything with the frequency option turned down. She did still say things occasionally but usually it was only high priority lines like asking for help. It looks like high priority lines, such as asking for aid, stay the same which is understandable. The difference in frequency overland in particular is very noticable if you usually have a companion at max chatter.

i dont disagree that it helps reduce the random comments, while like you suggest too that combat related stuff is probably outside of "random comments" and might be excluded from the setting

i just wish i could turn the companion random chatter off entirely, and only have them talk if i do something that affects rapport or possibly combat (although i would prefer turning that off too)

Snowy_Wyndra_Karn · October 2022

Treselegant wrote: »

I think their call for aid was made more obvious in one of the recent updates which is great but it can still catch you off guard when they go down. The tank companions are pretty good at taking care of themselves but mechanics will get them from time to time and sometimes they just can't heal themselves quick enough. All you can do is just keep tabs on them through the fight

Of the two tanks, I found Bastian survives better due to his racial passive 'tough' which gives an extra 3% health, which can be mighty handy if you gear him in Vigorous trait gear. When I tested Isobel, I found she was pretty good at healing herself quickly (probably due to her passive as well which reduces her cooldowns) but she did get overwhelmed faster than Bastian so she needed a little more healing from me.

As to whether you can make the call for aid more frequent - I dont think so. My initial thought was maybe the the comment frequency option may have effect? Then again, I have Bastian's companion reactions at max and it didn't seem any different to when I had Isobel's comments down at their lowest level as they seem to call out for aid at the same rate.

Thank you for this.

I do agree about Bastian being the stronger tank. I don't have BIS gear for them but even as it stands his health is 5k more than my Isobel now. It's been so long since I've played him I may have to go back.

Actually, my favourite companion, like many other people, is Ember. I just like that I can pretty much do anything with her... steal, use blade of woe, feed (I'm a vamp). I tried to use her as a tank but even with me healing her she goes down pretty fast. So, I keep her out for all overland stuff (except group bosses) and then use Isobel for when I solo dungeons.

Again, thanks for your help.

Snowy_Wyndra_Karn · October 2022

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

Treselegant wrote: »

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

Treselegant wrote: »

As to whether you can make the call for aid more frequent - I dont think so. My initial thought was maybe the the comment frequency option may have effect? Then again, I have Bastian's companion reactions at max and it didn't seem any different to when I had Isobel's comments down at their lowest level as they seem to call out for aid at the same rate.

im not really a fan of that setting because it does not give a clear picture on actually how often they talk to you lol, i have it set to minimum and it still feels like they talk fairly often

really wish they had an option to just turn it off entirely

I don't really like Isobel, her voice or character, but I was able to try her as a tank out of curiousity because she barely said anything with the frequency option turned down. She did still say things occasionally but usually it was only high priority lines like asking for help. It looks like high priority lines, such as asking for aid, stay the same which is understandable. The difference in frequency overland in particular is very noticable if you usually have a companion at max chatter.

i dont disagree that it helps reduce the random comments, while like you suggest too that combat related stuff is probably outside of "random comments" and might be excluded from the setting

i just wish i could turn the companion random chatter off entirely, and only have them talk if i do something that affects rapport or possibly combat (although i would prefer turning that off too)

I really don't mind their chatter - I think I've just tuned it out, to be honest.

AcadianPaladin · October 2022

I have a magward who does a good job of keeping a tank companion alive. So does my magplar who is even more of a healer. I've learned a few things that might be of interest.

As a mage, my warden actually slots Vigor among her heals since it does not stress her magicka at all. She tries to keep Vigor up on the tank as well as Green Lotus which heals both her and the tank each light attack - very potent with reasonable weaving. Rapid Regen is another decent HoT if needed with the advantage of a 28m range. I use Budding Seeds as a burst (also a handy 28m range).

If you are on PC, Merlin's Heal Helper can give you a big warning whenever any of your group (including companions) gets below a health threshold that you specify.

Though I generally run my tank companions in 7H or 5H&2M for armor, you can also run your companion tank in 5M&2H. This allows your tank to use the wonderful medium armor skill of Vanish. Vanish lets them disappear for a few seconds and heal to full. It also causes the boss to drop aggro - which if your tank is nearly dead is a good thing so they don't die. After a few seconds the tank comes back up as good as new and quickly regains aggro. The vanish option is a bit extreme but very effective if you want a tank companion but struggle to keep them alive.

Snowy_Wyndra_Karn · October 2022

AcadianPaladin wrote: »

I have a magward who does a good job of keeping a tank companion alive. So does my magplar who is even more of a healer. I've learned a few things that might be of interest.

As a mage, my warden actually slots Vigor among her heals since it does not stress her magicka at all. She tries to keep Vigor up on the tank as well as Green Lotus which heals both her and the tank each light attack - very potent with reasonable weaving. Rapid Regen is another decent HoT if needed with the advantage of a 28m range. I use Budding Seeds as a burst (also a handy 28m range).

If you are on PC, Merlin's Heal Helper can give you a big warning whenever any of your group (including companions) gets below a health threshold that you specify.

Though I generally run my tank companions in 7H or 5H&2M for armor, you can also run your companion tank in 5M&2H. This allows your tank to use the wonderful medium armor skill of Vanish. Vanish lets them disappear for a few seconds and heal to full. It also causes the boss to drop aggro - which if your tank is nearly dead is a good thing so they don't die. After a few seconds the tank comes back up as good as new and quickly regains aggro. The vanish option is a bit extreme but very effective if you want a tank companion but struggle to keep them alive.

Thank you thank you thank you… this is excellent advice.

You have obviously thought about this a great deal and I really appreciate you sharing all of your knowledge.

I’ll let you know how I go.