high Isles is a little over a week away, new companions are coming, decided to share some thoughts on their abilities and possible builds.

Notable Abilities
Ember's ultimate Raging Storm is a reverse Eye of the Storm morph from Destruction Staff skill line, instead of following her it follows her target. This may be an ultimate you want to fire off manually at the highest health target to get the full 8 seconds of burn time out of it, if used on lower health targets may end prematurely wasting the extra time.

Hurricane Visage: 0.4 cast, lasts 8 seconds, 12 second cooldown. Some descriptions may say this lasts 20 seconds, but the actual duration is 8 seconds. I just like to point that out before you think its going to always be active all the time. Nonetheless this is a great ability to have, its the same as Razor Cape from Dual Wield and regardless of where its placed on the action bar it will most likely cast first if no other ability conditions are met or targets in range.

Second Wind: 0.3 cast, 16 second cooldown. Like with Haste, if no other ability conditions are met or no targets are within range, it may cast first wasting it right off the bat even being in the very last slot. Unlike Haste its cooldown reduction is only 5 seconds instead of a full reset, because of this it is advisable that you set abilities with the longest cooldown in the front of the action bar with lower cooldowns closer to the end.

Shared Wards: 0.6 cast, 6 second shield, 8 second heal, 12 second cooldown. Its best to think of this as Ember's second healing ability with a shield absorption barrier. Like with Bastian's Basalt Barrier, the shield provided is not likely to last more than a single hit so its duration is meaningless. Unlike Basalt Barrier where the bonus healing taken is removed the moment the shield breaks, the healing over time continues after the shield is broken.

Isobel's ultimate Baneslayer is Dawnbreaker from Fighters Guild skill line. Like with Bastian's ultimate it requires her target in close proximity to use so take this into account if you plan on building her with non-frost staff ranged weapons that it may rarely go off. Its range is a little further than Bastian's by about 5 meters more so it may have more relaxed targeting.

Note: All of Isobel's abilities take into account her base 3% cooldown reduction before gear is applied. Unfortunately they seemed to have countered this by having the majority of her base abilities with cooldowns 12 and 16 seconds long.

Sun Brand: 0.2 cast, 8 seconds, 11.6 second cooldown. This ability compared to other staple ranged attacks does the standard damage plus roughly 2/3 of its damage over 8 seconds which is a much higher output to similar abilities like Starfall or Sniping Silver, something to take into consideration if going with single target or ranged builds.

Penetrating Strikes: 1 second channel, 15.5 second cooldown. By itself, its a standard Puncturing Strikes, the after effect is a 50% damage bonus to your next light or heavy attack that is not an Empower buff thus it stacks with Empower.

Gallant Blitz: Instant Cast, 11.6 second cooldown. A gap closer is always welcomed with an additional benefit of setting all targets off balance for 7 seconds of where she lands. In terms of weapons this is Frost Staff friendly and one of the rare occasions where Elemental Barricade can get the most out of its area of effect.

Spear of Light: 0.5 cast, 15.5 second cooldown. Isobel gets a lot of AOE attacks and this is another one, I definitely would put this one after Gallant Blitz and Penetrating Strikes to get a triple burst. It's actually a short ranged attack at 15 meters so she will cast this at range, but may not hit many targets so advise putting in the back until she gets into the enemy's face.

Blessed Sacrament: 0.8 cast, 8 seconds, 7.8 second cooldown. This is Isobel's staple heal, its different compared to the other companions. Bastian and Ember have a basic direct heal while Mirri has a Heal over Time, Isobel gets a little of both at reduced values.

Holy Ground: 0.5 cast, 8 seconds, 15.5 seconds cooldown. This one has multiple conditions, but they don't all have to be met to cast making it quite versatile of when she uses it. It has the usual if her or someone nearby is < 75% health its cast where she stands or if you get her into melee range of an enemy target with a gap closer like Gallant blitz or Bashing Bulwark, it will cast then as well. This is great for all builds to use whether its healing, tanking, or doing damage as snare keeps targets together if you don't care for the healing.

Beam of Reproach: ??? cast, 8 seconds, 11.6 second cooldown. This a hybrid staple ranged attack and healing ability combined into one. All other companions only have 1 single target ranged attack, this can be considered Isobel's second ranged attack that also combines the power of Blessed Sacrament in AOE form to boot.