Which role is the best fit for Azandar?

ZOS_Icy · June 2023

Greetings,

This thread has been moved to the Combat & Character Mechanics section, as it is better suited there.

Thank you for your understanding.

kyatos_binarini · June 2023

i use Azandar as support tank. For situations like "just taunt and survive" he's worse than Bastian as he doesn't have burst heal and 20% dmg reduction buffs but can help you survive aoes/adds/other anoying mechanics and increase your dps with minor/major vulnerability aoe debufs. Placing 1 aoe healing skill (like echoing vigor) can help him a lot (barrier on backbar and "33% resurrection" slotable cp star are also welcome). at least vet non dlc dungeons he can handle (just be sure to get him out from ground aoe damage).
as for traits (for support tanks) in my opinion "quickend" is the best choice:

aggressive, focused, shattering - good for dps and bad for tanks
augmented - Azandar's buffs/debuffs has too short duration to get any noticeable profit. 2 of them (shields) begone before their duration expires
bolstered - interesting trait for tanks but doesn't provide anything useful for you/other group members
prolific - another interesting trait but i wouldn't use it just for 4sec of major vulnerability in my build. in builds like healer+ultimate spammer that could be a good choice
quickend - more shields, more healing
soothing - another interesting trait. i would say it is almost equal to quickend in terms of healing. but quickend also provides more frequent shields
vigorous - on tanks with burst heals this trait really shines, but Azandar has only one skill that scales of health (health based shield) and difference between 12 and 0 vigorous traits is only 2.5k

Wolfchild07 · June 2023

Sorry to get off-topic, but how do you level him up? Without doing 1,000 runs of Skyreach, I mean.

SilverBride · June 2023

Azandar reached level 16 just running around with me as I quested and ran through some public dungeons as I leveled my new Arcanist. Now that she is level 50 I want to max his level too so I used a 150% experience scroll and spent an hour in Dragonstar Arena tonight. This got him to level 18 and a half. I'll do that again tomorrow and he should reach level 20.

kyatos_binarini · June 2023

Wolfchild07 wrote: »

Sorry to get off-topic, but how do you level him up? Without doing 1,000 runs of Skyreach, I mean.

the fastest way to level up any companion (and character) - nBRP
Heartland Conqueror + all training traits + ambrosia (100% or 150%) = 20 levels (both weapon/armour and companion's level) in 50-60 minutes (about 100k exp/min without daily x4 boost).

a little update on my experience with companions:
yesterday i tried solo normal "Scribes of Fate" dungeons:
Bal-Sunar: with Azandar as tank (heavy quickened with ice staff) and healer (heavy quickened with restro staff) and Bastian (heavy vigorous with S&B) as tank
Scrivener's hall: Ember as dd (medium quickened with bow)

Both Azandar (as tank) and Bastian did well until bosses started to use their mechanics. Any ground aoes and mechanics like "run as fast as possible to safe zone" wipes them in seconds. Trying to call them back to follow me into the safe zone kills them even faster as they stop using any skills. Azandar looks more useful as a healer (as he can provides tank's survivability to character) but heavy armour (even with active skill) doesn't provide much survivability to him.

Funny fact - Ember died only few times in "scrivener's hall" from gap close of "fire naked giants" (deadlands area). Looks like medium armour provides more survivability due to roll dodge cooldowns and active skill. Maybe i will try Azandar healer in medium armour (with 12 quickened traits)

I had few ideas with Telvanni Efficiency set but 3 of 4 it's bonuses are useless. The only reasonable case to use it - HA build with Bastian in overland content or solo non DLC dungeons (without solo arenas).

ADarklore · June 2023

kyatos_binarini wrote: »

a little update on my experience with companions:
yesterday i tried solo normal "Scribes of Fate" dungeons:
Bal-Sunar: with Azandar as tank and healer (healing/shielding skills, heavy armour for survivability and restro staff) and Bastian (heavy vigorous) as tank
Scrivener's hall: Ember as dd (medium quickened)

Both Azandar (as tank) and Bastian did well until bosses started to use their mechanics. Any ground aoes and mechanics like "run as fast as possible to safe zone" wipes them in seconds. Trying to call them back to follow me into the safe zone kills them even faster as they stop using any skills. Azandar looks more useful as a healer (as he can provides tank's survivability to character) but heavy armour (even with active skill) doesn't provide much survivability to him.

Funny fact - Ember died only few times in "scrivener's hall" from gap close of "fire naked giants" (deadlands area). Looks like medium armour provides more survivability due to roll dodge cooldowns and active skill. Maybe i will try Azandar healer in medium armour (with 12 quickened traits)

I had few ideas with Telvanni Efficiency set but 3 of 4 it's bonuses are useless. The only reasonable case to use it - HA build with Bastian in overland content or solo non DLC dungeons (without solo arenas).

So you had these problems but you weren't running TE? So had you been running TE would they have survived due to them being able to cast those survival skills more frequently?

Personally, I replaced Mother's Sorrow on my Order's Wrath/MS set and lost roughly 10% crit and 20% Crit Damage, but I also gained better resource sustain, extra damage and survivability with the extra health, stam and mag. My crit was already high, so losing 10% drops me down to 55% crit and since I typically run 4xLight and 3xMed with my OW/TE build, my Crit Damage isn't horrible.

What I found on PTS, haven't run much on Live because I'm leveling two Arcanist characters... but on PTS, Azandar in full Heavy Bolstered with Quickened Weapons (Sword/Shield) and Jewelry running OW/TE was able to clear World Bosses without a complaint. Unlike Bastian who, more than once, complained that he wasn't going to make it- only to pop his heal right after and survived.

kyatos_binarini · June 2023

ADarklore wrote: »

So you had these problems but you weren't running TE? So had you been running TE would they have survived due to them being able to cast those survival skills more frequently?

Personally, I replaced Mother's Sorrow on my Order's Wrath/MS set and lost roughly 10% crit and 20% Crit Damage, but I also gained better resource sustain, extra damage and survivability with the extra health, stam and mag. My crit was already high, so losing 10% drops me down to 55% crit and since I typically run 4xLight and 3xMed with my OW/TE build, my Crit Damage isn't horrible.

What I found on PTS, haven't run much on Live because I'm leveling two Arcanist characters... but on PTS, Azandar in full Heavy Bolstered with Quickened Weapons (Sword/Shield) and Jewelry running OW/TE was able to clear World Bosses without a complaint. Unlike Bastian who, more than once, complained that he wasn't going to make it- only to pop his heal right after and survived.

nope, i didn't try TE. As i said before both Bastian and Azandar (as tanks) doesn't have problems with simple tanking even in vet dungeons (non dlc). The problem is that they die from ground mechanics and reducing cooldowns may help them only with medium armour skill: if my observations are correct, then this skill also provides invulnerability for any source of damage.

slotting TE on non-HA builds seems more like fun build for overland content.

ADarklore · June 2023

kyatos_binarini wrote: »

nope, i didn't try TE. As i said before both Bastian and Azandar (as tanks) doesn't have problems with simple tanking even in vet dungeons (non dlc). The problem is that they die from ground mechanics and reducing cooldowns may help them only with medium armour skill: if my observations are correct, then this skill also provides invulnerability for any source of damage.

slotting TE on non-HA builds seems more like fun build for overland content.

So what trait was your heavy armor when they failed to the ground mechanics? Because a full heavy Bolstered set (on Azandar) or full heavy Vigorous (on Bastian) really does help their survivability.

kyatos_binarini · June 2023

ADarklore wrote: »

So what trait was your heavy armor when they failed to the ground mechanics? Because a full heavy Bolstered set (on Azandar) or full heavy Vigorous (on Bastian) really does help their survivability.

Azandar full quickened (30.9k hp) Bastian Full vigorous (40.5k hp). both die in few seconds when bosses of Bal-Sunar start their mechanics (like green laser on the first boss or puke cone on the last boss). no matter how many health/dmg mitigation they have if the mechanic suggests wipe

tenryuta · June 2023

once you get the keepsake forget him, unless youre a psycho, his laugh after a nab and stab is eerie.

phaneub17_ESO · June 2023

I didn't originally plan on using him to tank, but now he's made Bastian completely obsolete; I have no idea what I'm going to do with him.

Currently at level 17 with 1H+Shield, Heavy Armor, 11 Quickened, and Ascendant Ring. Triptych Physic(1.2), Scathing Rune(1.8), Zone of Recuperation(2.5), Ritual of Salvation(2.5), and Shields of Erudition(1.8); in that specific order. He drops 2-3 Zones of Recuperation and they stack, that's 2200-3400 healing every 2 seconds and 275-375 health, stamina, and magicka recovery. He drops 2-3 Ritual of Salvation, while I can see multiple circles on the ground I don't know if they are stacking damage reduction; if they are then it totally makes up the difference of not having his own personal effect. And he's shielding us both at the end of each rotation.

What's great is most of these abilities are affecting me too so I can stand in melee with him and reap all the same benefits. I haven't really taken on higher difficulty instances yet not until he's level 20, but I have been taking him to fight various world bosses and so far he does very well, making both of us invincible. I attempted Lost Caravan solo and it was a surprising breeze in the park for him, at level 17 he held his own never dropping below 90% health. Next I tried Valeguard Tower solo, the Gargoyle was down to about 30% before we got overwhelmed and I couldn't outdamage the mages. Will try again at level 20 when his heals and shields are stronger.

SilverBride · June 2023

I've maxed Azandar's level and geared him and am using a tanking build and he's doing a good job. I may still use Isobel now and then just because I like her but I retired Bastian long ago, even though he was a good tank, too.