EdjeSwift wrote: »

This is a little ridiculous Isobel is in medium armour in full soothing, for leveling purposes of the skill line, and she's eating all of the damage like it's nothing. With this, the eye beam is a non-factor because it will sit on them forever.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3Drar4Xm54

Not just this.. Sharp pushed Tho'at outside of the fight area where she and the shards couldn't be hit by me X)

I don't mind this adjustment as this definitely makes Arc 1 passable for a lot of people, I see no reason to get all gatekeepy about it.



Update: He melted quite rapidly at 3-3-3 against The Ending chimera boss.

Just did ARC 1 as a test. And yeah, this is a hugely positive adjustment for both companions and pets.

Prior to this, companions were pretty much dead 5 seconds into the ARC 1 Thoat fight. And pretty much any boss fight past ARC 1. Their biggest issues, especially a tank oriented companion, was that they aren't smart enough to leave AOEs. So, as much as you prepare them, they just stand in AOEs that actual tanks would reposition around by necessity. It functionally makes them useless in EA and a lot of other content.

Added to that, they cannot res you when you die, and they do not get verses, they are still a subpart "second" team member when it comes to content. So providing a much higher threshold for damage in EA is a huge step in the right direction of actually making them useful.

And same goes for pets. Pretty much any boss focused AOE was a death sentence. And you cannot heal the Scamp. Pets were pretty much perma dead past arc 3. This actually makes pet builds useful again in EA.

This seems like a nice change that will help people who are struggling / just want to complete their daily / and/or who may be uncomfortable trying to group with someone for what can be a pretty intense activity - but that should not have any real effect on players running EA competitively.

(Unless of course someone finds a way to make a companion so OP that it's better than another good player - don't see this being likely, but if so... I'd suggest it's kept how it is for early arcs, and adjustments can be made in later arcs to reduce companion effectiveness there if necessary).

Elvenheart wrote: »

valenwood_vegan wrote: »

(Unless of course someone finds a way to make a companion so OP that it's better than another good player - don't see this being likely, but if so...).

If someone makes this OP companion, could I ask that they please keep it secret here on the forums, but send me the information privately so I can use it too? 😂

Might want to consider the Companion Undaunted skills. You can get a synergy to grant you a damage shield which scales to 50% of your Maximum Health, and a heal which scales to 50% of your Maximum Health. You can easily get 50k or higher Maximum Health in the Endless Archive, so those synergies will go a long way.

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

Erickson9610 wrote: »

Elvenheart wrote: »

valenwood_vegan wrote: »

(Unless of course someone finds a way to make a companion so OP that it's better than another good player - don't see this being likely, but if so...).

If someone makes this OP companion, could I ask that they please keep it secret here on the forums, but send me the information privately so I can use it too? 😂

Might want to consider the Companion Undaunted skills. You can get a synergy to grant you a damage shield which scales to 50% of your Maximum Health, and a heal which scales to 50% of your Maximum Health. You can easily get 50k or higher Maximum Health in the Endless Archive, so those synergies will go a long way.

a lot of the problem i have with those skills is they are on very long cooldowns (~35 seconds) unless you run telvanni efficiency set (brings them down to ~16-17 seconds with no quickened gear)

I usually run these skills on Isobel, and give her all Quickened gear (without necessarily needing Telvanni Efficiency). Isobel's damage shield ability is also her damage taken reduction ability, so I slot three damage shields (Solar Ward, On Guard, Skeletal Aegis) and then I use the other two slots for a self heal (such as Blessed Sacrament) and a taunt — though in the Endless Archive, I use Crimson Font instead of a taunt.

Bastian as a tank (hp gear I had from ages ago, so no meta) takes literally no damage from Arc 4 Tho'at lol, I think I could even use a dd companion there. Alas I never had one. Well probably now companions do deserve to be in duo leaderboards.

Erickson9610 wrote: »

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

Erickson9610 wrote: »

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

Erickson9610 wrote: »

Elvenheart wrote: »

valenwood_vegan wrote: »

(Unless of course someone finds a way to make a companion so OP that it's better than another good player - don't see this being likely, but if so...).

If someone makes this OP companion, could I ask that they please keep it secret here on the forums, but send me the information privately so I can use it too? 😂

Might want to consider the Companion Undaunted skills. You can get a synergy to grant you a damage shield which scales to 50% of your Maximum Health, and a heal which scales to 50% of your Maximum Health. You can easily get 50k or higher Maximum Health in the Endless Archive, so those synergies will go a long way.

a lot of the problem i have with those skills is they are on very long cooldowns (~35 seconds) unless you run telvanni efficiency set (brings them down to ~16-17 seconds with no quickened gear)

I usually run these skills on Isobel, and give her all Quickened gear (without necessarily needing Telvanni Efficiency). Isobel's damage shield ability is also her damage taken reduction ability, so I slot three damage shields (Solar Ward, On Guard, Skeletal Aegis) and then I use the other two slots for a self heal (such as Blessed Sacrament) and a taunt — though in the Endless Archive, I use Crimson Font instead of a taunt.

the undaunted shield only gives her a shield for 6 sec and then even with all quickened gear has like a 20 sec downtime

im not sure why you wouldnt give her a taunt at that point though, with 3 self shields shes not really contributing anything to the fight except light attacks, and the minor healing from the crimson font

The Undaunted skills (Crimson Font and Skeletal Aegis) contribute the 50% of Max Health heal/damage shield synergy to players, respectively.

If I really wanted a taunt, then I'd replace Crimson Font with it, unless I was off-healing, in which case I'd replace the Companion self heal.

Even with Telvanni Efficiency, Isobel's cooldown reduction, and all Quickened gear, her uptime of the Undaunted damage shield is still poor. Thankfully, she can stack her other two damage shields while waiting for Skeletal Aegis to get off cooldown.

i was mostly saying that if she is running 3 shields, 1 minor heal, 1 burst heal, shes not really doing much except sitting there, she wont even be able to keep mobs off you without the taunt

i think the bone shield is honestly overkill, far too much downtime so its not providing any kind of benefit to anyone for that period of time

on my tank spec isobel, i use the 1h/shield taunt, on guard, her solar shield, the burst heal, and her equivalent of power of the light with the heal over time around the target (this helps her sustain with some extra heal over time)

from the sound of it though, with how companions are working in the archive now, you almost dont need any kind of tank spec at all, just the taunt and maybe a heal and they should stay alive fine while being able to deal some dmg with the other skills

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

Erickson9610 wrote: »

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

Erickson9610 wrote: »

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

Erickson9610 wrote: »

Elvenheart wrote: »

valenwood_vegan wrote: »

(Unless of course someone finds a way to make a companion so OP that it's better than another good player - don't see this being likely, but if so...).

If someone makes this OP companion, could I ask that they please keep it secret here on the forums, but send me the information privately so I can use it too? 😂

Might want to consider the Companion Undaunted skills. You can get a synergy to grant you a damage shield which scales to 50% of your Maximum Health, and a heal which scales to 50% of your Maximum Health. You can easily get 50k or higher Maximum Health in the Endless Archive, so those synergies will go a long way.

a lot of the problem i have with those skills is they are on very long cooldowns (~35 seconds) unless you run telvanni efficiency set (brings them down to ~16-17 seconds with no quickened gear)

I usually run these skills on Isobel, and give her all Quickened gear (without necessarily needing Telvanni Efficiency). Isobel's damage shield ability is also her damage taken reduction ability, so I slot three damage shields (Solar Ward, On Guard, Skeletal Aegis) and then I use the other two slots for a self heal (such as Blessed Sacrament) and a taunt — though in the Endless Archive, I use Crimson Font instead of a taunt.

the undaunted shield only gives her a shield for 6 sec and then even with all quickened gear has like a 20 sec downtime

im not sure why you wouldnt give her a taunt at that point though, with 3 self shields shes not really contributing anything to the fight except light attacks, and the minor healing from the crimson font

The Undaunted skills (Crimson Font and Skeletal Aegis) contribute the 50% of Max Health heal/damage shield synergy to players, respectively.

If I really wanted a taunt, then I'd replace Crimson Font with it, unless I was off-healing, in which case I'd replace the Companion self heal.

Even with Telvanni Efficiency, Isobel's cooldown reduction, and all Quickened gear, her uptime of the Undaunted damage shield is still poor. Thankfully, she can stack her other two damage shields while waiting for Skeletal Aegis to get off cooldown.

i was mostly saying that if she is running 3 shields, 1 minor heal, 1 burst heal, shes not really doing much except sitting there, she wont even be able to keep mobs off you without the taunt

i think the bone shield is honestly overkill, far too much downtime so its not providing any kind of benefit to anyone for that period of time

on my tank spec isobel, i use the 1h/shield taunt, on guard, her solar shield, the burst heal, and her equivalent of power of the light with the heal over time around the target (this helps her sustain with some extra heal over time)

from the sound of it though, with how companions are working in the archive now, you almost dont need any kind of tank spec at all, just the taunt and maybe a heal and they should stay alive fine while being able to deal some dmg with the other skills

Oh, I see now. Before this update, that was how I built Isobel to survive standing in red (because the constantly refreshing damage shields could usually tank the constant damage), but I see what you're getting at now.

Actually, in terms of which skills are the most beneficial to players (assuming Companions don't need to build tanky to survive longer than 5 seconds), I'd recommend Azandar for his unique 150 tri recovery buff from Zone of Recuperation, and also Mending Incantation for the unique 7000 Armor. The Undaunted skill synergies are still really good, but they could use better uptime.

Edit: I forgot about Ritual of Salvation, which reduces the damage the Companion and players take by 20% within it, and by an additional 20% if the attacker is Undead, Daedra, or a Werewolf.

ESO_player123 wrote: »

I'm having trouble with trash packs in arc 4. I will try a companion today, but I doubt that it will help there. No way I'm removing my heavy armor and such.

You can command companions to attack the most dangerous mobs, so they taunt them

Heavy attacks do tell them to target something new.

Left click tells them to engage and fight, right click tells them to disengage and stand by you and do nothing.

EdjeSwift wrote: »

Heavy attacks do tell them to target something new.

Left click tells them to engage and fight, right click tells them to disengage and stand by you and do nothing.

Thanks. Too bad for a HA user. Will have to stay on the same mob to prevent target switching.

Toxic_Hemlock wrote: »

Warhawke_80 wrote: »

If this is to attract a more casual audience I honestly think it's too late for that...

I mean am I wrong?

I will try to complete the quest again, hell I may even get to see a marauder, as they can hold the weapons drops I hear. I am sure many of the "tried it already" crowd might have been put off at the uselessness of their companions/pets there and just left it alone, but I am willing to give it another shot.

My problem arises more in some of the bosses having areas that instant kill like Lady Thorn, the blue fart with the platforms, dragons etc.

Will my companion just die instantly anyways or will it last longer?

Also I have been using Sharp, but I would be interested to get other suggestions as mixing and matching companion gear is not a problem so long as it lasts more than 3 seconds in a fight. I am mostly just interested in finishing the daily and maybe the occasional marauder, so it doesn't have to be the best in class and I keep hearing ppl mention Isobel.

I just had Isobel out cause she was being leveled, she was in medium soothing, dual wielding, had healing skills on her bar and her shield, it was probably the least effective she could be and she facetanked Mauraduers and Tho'ats through Arc 3 before I decided I was bored and went to get a cup of coffee.

Put a taunt on whomever, know that you're going to have to deal with the trash and when you get to bosses/threats, heavy attack the big one and then clean up the rest.

If you're interested in just the daily/Arc 2 your companion is essentially immortal outside of fall damage.

Doesn't look overtuned imo and it's definitely a more elegant and subtle solution than needlessly nerfing the earlier Arcs into oblivion. Besides that, I don't expect a player/companion duo to reach duo leaderboards anyways. Most probably they won't even come near to that.

So nobody is harmed by this change. Well done, zos!

Another few positives to this change:
Fire Orb is no longer worthless in later Arcs
A certain Verses' Skaffin actually live long enough to do damage.

Braffin wrote: »

Maybe that's dependent of the platform? For pc eu you have to reach 12.2.3 to reach leaderboards. Never heard of anybody going this far with a companion.

Talking about weakly to get rewards. The global one serves no purpose imo, and it contains the best runs.
Although yeah, sometimes duo people may push harder and you're out