azandar the companion, questions

Nocturne Saint · February 8

So right now I'm leveling a magicka dps arcanist, i decided to use azandar as my companoin.
i want him to heal AND do damage, so im not sure if i should go resto staff and skills for damage, or destruction staff and skills for healing?
it might be preference but i want others opinions on the matter

Zodiarkslayer · February 8

You probably shouldn't do anything of that... Let me explain by pointing out a couple of things.

Arcanists do the most damage atm, with relatively easy setups.

Even maxing out their potential, Companions do only small amounts of damage. Apart from pure Roleplaying, noone should really use them as DPS.

As a Magicka Arcanist you will have decent access to healing spells yourself, without suffering great dps or sustain issues. However, damage mitigation can be a problem as you depend on light armor for sustain. And if you are focused by a strong Boss, you will suck in a lot of damage.

Therefore using a companion as Tank is the best way for Magicka Arcanist. Azandar is a very good Tank. Sharp is better, but not by much. And if you use the Telvanni Efficiency set, Azandar will pull slightly ahead of Sharp as a Tank.

Necrotech_Master · February 8

dps companions are more useful while running a tank toon

my experience with azander is that his class skills are fairly weak for healing, as he only has 2 heals, 1 very weak heal over time and 1 burst heal

i tried azander as a healer for awhile and i found it to be sub par, far worse than bastian as a healer, but i would agree that azander is a pretty strong tank

Nocturne Saint · February 8

Thanks for your input guys, This has been really helpful!

Zodiarkslayer · February 9

With the Telvanni Efficiency set, Azandar will also be a great healer. He will be recasting most heals before their effect runs out, effectively stacking his own abilities.

But thats not the point with Azandar as a healer. He is the buffer/debuffer type of healer.
He has a shield which he can cast every 2s-3s on you, can keep you buffed with minor Berserk and give you up to 450 recoveries.
It's just that the raw healing is average.
That doesn't make him a bad healer.

AcadianPaladin · February 9

One thing to mention is that if your companion has any ranged weapon except an ice staff and a boss hones in on them, they will tend to dodge roll away until they reset the boss. That can be really aggravating. Any melee weapon or an ice staff solves that problem. Therefore to your question, if you want a companion for heals, I'd use their class skills and have them equip an ice staff.

I use tank companions unless I'm running a tank; then I use a dps companion.