Isobel the fake tank....

spartaxoxo · August 14

Companions are good when geared properly

Parasaurolophus · August 14

Okay guys, then share your experience, how to eqp and what companion can be geared so that they can normally tank, for example the Sable Knight.

spartaxoxo · August 14

Parasaurolophus wrote: »

Okay guys, then share your experience, how to eqp and what companion can be geared so that they can normally tank, for example the Sable Knight.

Everyone will use different gear. Personally, I use all heavy with a mix of Bolstered and Vigorous. And then I give him a taunt and defensive skills mostly. 35k HP seems a good threshold. If a fight has a lot of close range aoe, sometimes it helps to use an Ice Staff instead of shield.

SkaiFaith · August 14

Parasaurolophus wrote: »

Okay guys, then share your experience, how to eqp and what companion can be geared so that they can normally tank, for example the Sable Knight.

I want to answer you but probably won't login until tomorrow - I hope to remember and make you a good post with my Isobel build.
What I can already say is: I read somewhere that in the buffs percentages, the decimal points don't add anything; you have to reach a complete 1% point for it to get added. So a 20,9% Health bonus would still be 20% - my point is, don't waste gear slots if they don't get you to a full +1.0 percent.

Necrotech_Master · August 14

my isobel has a mix of +max hp, +dmg reduction, and +cooldown reduction, to be honest i havent really paid much attention to the traits nor cared enough to optimize it

i have isobel and azander set up for tanking, isobel is definitely superior though

for isobel i have her using the class shield and the shield from the 1h/shield line, her version of backlash which has the heal pool, her version of breath of life, and the 1h/shield taunt. i also specifically unslotted her ultimate because it is total and utter garbage

azander i have him using his class taunt, class shield, his version of the ring shields, his version of the arcanist flail, and his version of curative runeform

a large part of having the companions successfully tanking is to usually have 2 self shields, and at least 1-2 heals, usually one is a burst and one is a heal over time

katanagirl1 · August 15

Parasaurolophus wrote: »

Okay guys, then share your experience, how to eqp and what companion can be geared so that they can normally tank, for example the Sable Knight.

Bastian with s&b and blue vigorous heavy gear.

Skills:
Provoke
On Guard
Drake’s Blood
Kindle
Bulwark

The ideal order of skills might be heals first (I think I read that somewhere) but I haven’t tried it yet.

As a rule of thumb I think companions work better as support, tank or healer. They don’t do enough dps to bother.

SkaiFaith · August 15

Isobel Tank:
All Heavy with Shield and Sword.
1 golden Quickened ring + 5 purple Quickened + 5 purple Vigorous + 1 blue which can be either Vigorous or Quickened, right now going for Vigorous.
1 Provoke, 2 On guard, 3 Blessed sacrament, 4 Holy ground, 5 Solar ward, 6 Ultimate turned off since the long cast time would get her killed.

Bastian Buffer/Healer:
All Heavy with Restoration Staff
Everything Quickened in blue, aside from Quickened purple Staff and Helm (sooner or later I may upgrade the rest but I don't feel the need right now).
1 Mystic fortress, 2 Searing weapons, 3 Rejuvenation, 4 Drake's blood, 5 Kindle, 6 Ultimate turned off since it makes him stationary for long and remaining in enemies AoE.

I use Searing weapons to synergize with my Oakensoul build, but it can be swapped with another heal if preferred.
I'm not using Telvanni Efficency, but you definitely can if needed.
With Bastian out I slot Inner Beast as my taunt, and I almost never need to heal him.
With Isobel out I slot Polar Wind as an emergency heal in case the fight gets really intense.

old_scopie1945 · August 15

Companions are fine as long as you don't expect too much from them. I use Alcast's builds for them which work well. I favour Ember as my companion and miss her when I attempt to play without a companion. I do find it Immersion-Breaking in quest instances were you are also supposed to be alone but they are still hanging around.

I agree they are more of an RPG device than a battle buddy. Ember is equipped as a dps 2 hand sword, which is fine and also prevents bosses resetting. She is levelled out and is more than capable of taking out low level npcs and creatures by herself. She can take out a couple of bandits and wolves without help and is better than some newer players. They also know where the next enemy will appear when we are doing a dolman by ourselves. You will have to expect that they will die a lot on higher level content.

The only problem is that she wants to kill everything she sees, which can be annoying. I tried her as a healer once and she only wanted to chase after bad guys. Well that didn't work out. That being said she is handy at keeping enemies busy when I want to unlock a chest or gathering mats. She is company and great fun when she is sending a wolf six feet into the air with her big sworn. I also love her comments when she is doing so. They are what they are and are and more than capable to solo most base game dungeons with.

Necrotech_Master · August 15

katanagirl1 wrote: »

Parasaurolophus wrote: »

Okay guys, then share your experience, how to eqp and what companion can be geared so that they can normally tank, for example the Sable Knight.

Bastian with s&b and blue vigorous heavy gear.

Skills:
Provoke
On Guard
Drake’s Blood
Kindle
Bulwark

The ideal order of skills might be heals first (I think I read that somewhere) but I haven’t tried it yet.

As a rule of thumb I think companions work better as support, tank or healer. They don’t do enough dps to bother.

their dps is still helpful if you are running a support spec, such as a tank lol

its hard to tell what the avg dps is from the companion, but for the setup i have on ember its somewhere around 10-20k range, not super great, but better than my tank doing 5-10k dps lol

katanagirl1 · August 15

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

katanagirl1 wrote: »

Parasaurolophus wrote: »

Okay guys, then share your experience, how to eqp and what companion can be geared so that they can normally tank, for example the Sable Knight.

Bastian with s&b and blue vigorous heavy gear.

Skills:
Provoke
On Guard
Drake’s Blood
Kindle
Bulwark

The ideal order of skills might be heals first (I think I read that somewhere) but I haven’t tried it yet.

As a rule of thumb I think companions work better as support, tank or healer. They don’t do enough dps to bother.

their dps is still helpful if you are running a support spec, such as a tank lol

its hard to tell what the avg dps is from the companion, but for the setup i have on ember its somewhere around 10-20k range, not super great, but better than my tank doing 5-10k dps lol

Ah yes, good point. All my toons are dps so I did not consider that.

Necrotech_Master · August 15

katanagirl1 wrote: »

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

katanagirl1 wrote: »

Parasaurolophus wrote: »

Okay guys, then share your experience, how to eqp and what companion can be geared so that they can normally tank, for example the Sable Knight.

Bastian with s&b and blue vigorous heavy gear.

Skills:
Provoke
On Guard
Drake’s Blood
Kindle
Bulwark

The ideal order of skills might be heals first (I think I read that somewhere) but I haven’t tried it yet.

As a rule of thumb I think companions work better as support, tank or healer. They don’t do enough dps to bother.

their dps is still helpful if you are running a support spec, such as a tank lol

its hard to tell what the avg dps is from the companion, but for the setup i have on ember its somewhere around 10-20k range, not super great, but better than my tank doing 5-10k dps lol

Ah yes, good point. All my toons are dps so I did not consider that.

i absolutely agree with you that for a dps character, a tank or healer companion is much more valuable (i usually prefer the tank companion)

MEBengalsFan2001 · August 15

All companion, especially tank, benefits more from gear with reducing cool down. Isobel for me has two heals taunt and two shields. I run all purple gear and one gold on her. All jewelry and weapons are cool down reduction. For the armor three pieces are cool down and rest is damage reduction. I usually place on aoe heal down and that typically keeps her up and even when I forget she rarely needs a heal.

Companion are great when built properly. For instance Miri with a bow is an excellent dps.

magnusthorek · August 15

oldbobdude wrote: »

I like both Isobel and Azander as tank. Just blue equipment with 4 quickened, 4 bolstered and 4 vigorous. They last much better at level 20 though.

right? I had this issue with Bastian as well. Prior to Level 20 he was terrible, wet tissue paper. After max level he was good enough to tank World Bosses — most of the ones I've tested, ofc, won't bring him to Ri'Atarashi XD

Dax_Draconis · August 27

Isobel saved me when I went into the Bastion Nymic without realizing what it was. I never could have soloed that without her. She may not be a great tank, but she is certainly good enough for many things.

AvalonRanger · November 19

My Isobel was always be killed by dangerous foe within 30sec, or less with all purple heavy gear.
Tank must keep standing in front of Dragon or dangerous foe. But sorry Isobel, your story is over within 30sec.

Isobel is 100% fake tank compared with my real tank player. Companion system is totally broken.
I want nice Argonain maid rather than those useless.

Pelanora · November 19

I put fully levelled Isabel in all the recommended gear for tanking. She died fast.

Ember as a sorc with staff rolls out of harm, keeps her distance on the whole, and is just more useful. Much easier to keep her alive. She will still die but much less often/less quickly.

SkaiFaith · November 19

I used to solo FG1 VHM with Bastian as a buffer but he would occasionally die to the big AoE one-shot if I didn't taunt the boss away.

Yesterday I didn't bother to swap my roleplay build out so I've taken my Isobel tank in FG1 VHM and I was surprised she could take the big AoE one-shot and still have half her health.
I've just thrown an occasional heal at her after those big hits, but she had no problem face tanking the boss the whole fight.

Note: I have recently upgraded my Isobel gear to purple, guess it helps after all since Bastian is in blue. Both all heavy. Also, companions now properly hold block even on slow heavy attacks. Could help the fact she gets minor toughness from my warden's passive.

Gabriel_H · November 19

JiubLeRepenti wrote: »

I've never found a decent use in companions..

Uses

1) Maxing them out to get perma-perks!
2) See 1).

Gabriel_H · November 19

GuuMoonRyoung wrote: »

Cough... cough... ehhhmm... my apologies, lost my cool for a moment! I think the biggest problem is the companion AI. The companion AI in ESO is not on par with FF14, or even the latest WoW follower dungeon followers. If their AI were to be improved, they would be a little bit more useful.

My facetious post about companion AI: Tanlorin Murdered Someone

Pelanora · November 19

GuuMoonRyoung wrote: »

Cough... cough... ehhhmm... my apologies, lost my cool for a moment! I think the biggest problem is the companion AI. The companion AI in ESO is not on par with FF14, or even the latest WoW follower dungeon followers. If their AI were to be improved, they would be a little bit more useful.

Yes nope nope and yes. But they're still fun.

fizzylu · November 19

I set up every companion to CC and/or buff + heal. That's really the only way they actually do something for me since I don't need the damage and I can even usually tank things like world bosses just fine on my own as well. My Isobel is like this as well and she's probably in my top 3 most used companions. But so far for my playstyle/build, Zerith-var has been the most useful on my adventuring and Mirri has definitely been the most useless.

o_Primate_o · November 19

Orbital78 wrote: »

TybaltKaine wrote: »

I've never had problems with any of my companions tanking any content. Using the recall commands ahead of mechanics avoids the "standing in stupid" issue that most run into. Properly built, controlled and supported companions are fine.

I agree of the most part, but I have seemed to run to issues or bugs where they won't re-engage with taunt correctly. The system could use some tweaks.

For the original poster: look up the crafted set Telvanni Efficiency and the quickened trait.

I don't have much trouble with companions taunt. Always slot two taunts (due to the cool down) and heavy attack the npc you want companion to prioritize.

o_Primate_o · November 19

katanagirl1 wrote: »

Parasaurolophus wrote: »

Okay guys, then share your experience, how to eqp and what companion can be geared so that they can normally tank, for example the Sable Knight.

Bastian with s&b and blue vigorous heavy gear.

Skills:
Provoke
On Guard
Drake’s Blood
Kindle
Bulwark

The ideal order of skills might be heals first (I think I read that somewhere) but I haven’t tried it yet.

As a rule of thumb I think companions work better as support, tank or healer. They don’t do enough dps to bother.

I do two taunts two heals and one shield

Juju_beans · November 19

I have 2 companions for all my characters.

1 tank...Bastion
1 healer...Mirri

For me..I don't see the point of having more for my play style.

fall0athboy · November 20

Isobel is a great tank for when I'm doing solo IA and distracts the Marauder from me for the amount of time I need to kill the damn thing.

Orbital78 · November 20

o_Primate_o wrote: »

Orbital78 wrote: »

TybaltKaine wrote: »

I've never had problems with any of my companions tanking any content. Using the recall commands ahead of mechanics avoids the "standing in stupid" issue that most run into. Properly built, controlled and supported companions are fine.

I agree of the most part, but I have seemed to run to issues or bugs where they won't re-engage with taunt correctly. The system could use some tweaks.

For the original poster: look up the crafted set Telvanni Efficiency and the quickened trait.

I don't have much trouble with companions taunt. Always slot two taunts (due to the cool down) and heavy attack the npc you want companion to prioritize.

There is a targeting bug with some mobs, they are working on it soon hopefully. If you slot a group heal they do the job usually.

Imo Bastian and Isobel are my favorite tanks to pair with my heavy attacks. They both give buffs to my DMG.

LootAllTheStuff · November 20

Juju_beans wrote: »

I have 2 companions for all my characters.

1 tank...Bastion
1 healer...Mirri

For me..I don't see the point of having more for my play style.

What skills do you use in which slots for those two?

FaranBrygo · November 20

I have Isobel maxed out and set up as a healer (w/ no taunts slotted) and use her in IA. I’ve usually can make it part way into arc 2 as a solo player and other than the Tho’at fight at the end of arc 1, where I prefer to use Bastian with his taunt, Isobel more than holds her own and pretty much never dies.

More importantly, in arc 2, Isobel can handle 2 of the marauders by herself: Ulmor and Hikarax (the electrical one). They end up attacking her at range, she attacks back at range, and I go put my stamblade over in a corner and usually go get something to eat while it plays out. If I want to help it along a bit, I’ll keep my dark blade up or throw a necrotic orb at it, but it only helps with getting it over sooner. I love Isobel!!!

AllenaNightWood · 12:52AM

My Isobel can tank arc 3 tho at without going down so clearly you have her setup wrong

SkaraMinoc · 12:56AM

I recently minmaxxed all the companion tank setups. Here's my tier list.

S-tier: None
A-tier: Zerith
B-tier: Bastian, Isobel, Sharp
C-tier: Azandar, Tanlorin
F-tier: Mirri, Ember

Zerith is surprisingly tanky with self heals if you build them properly.

Bastian would have been A-tier if it wasn't for how bad Kindle can be. It's a single target heal that uses the mechanic "heals the companion or an ally". So if there's an ally nearby, the ability will never heal the companion. That's also the reason why Tanlorin is C-tier at best.