Seeking Companion advice pls

jaxplanub17_ESO · August 6

any recommendations or experienced wisdom regarding Companion Isobel's traits and abilities for my Sorc dps? The research that I did only found an old guide when you could only apparently put in 7 traits. I had read that Isobel is good for tanking, some healing and some dps but I was mainly looking for tanking and maybe a little buffage. I currently have 4 Bolstered and 7 Aggressive with a Destruction Staff equipped and it seems to be doing alright but ya know, always checking for room for improvement.

LootAllTheStuff · August 6

I go with cooldown reduction and ultimate generation to get more skill attacks in, which seems to be a common approach. I also kept her on sword and shield, but that was more because that seemed to fit her backstory better and not for any practical gameplay reasons.

AcadianPaladin · August 6

I like using companions as tanks. By occupying the boss, they free up my character to do a more focused/reliable rotation which results in more damage / faster boss kills. The price for running a tank is to make sure you keep a Heal over Time active on your tank and have some sort of a burst heal to help when they need it. Isobel makes for a fine tank. My version of Isobel is set up as follows:

5 medium and 2 heavy. This allows her to slot the medium armor 'vanish' skill which can be a life saver for her.
Armor traits of augmented or quickened to help keep her skills firing frequently.
Sword and board. Slot Vanish, the sword and board taunt and some defensive skills.

freespirit · August 6

I use Bastian as my Tank, I like his DK like skills in addition to sword and shield for his taunt. I use the DK armour/healing skills and find I rarely have to heal him.

I use a mix of bolstered, vigorous and the one quickened gold ring we were given as an event reward, his health I have at around 34k which I think helps a lot.

jaxplanub17_ESO · August 10

good advice and perspective. Thank you all. I do like the idea of sword and shield for Isobel, who's at level 12 right now and has 5 skill slots available for me to set. I have found Galant Blitz to be helpful, as well as Holy Ground for the heal and snare, plus the Penetrating Strikes that adds 50% damage to the next light or heavy attack, since I'm doing mostly heavy attack. That leaves me with the sword and shield taunt to pick and not sure on the rest yet. I'd like to stay Heavy Armor and I don't have a heal but a 10k+ Hardened Ward instead. The Bolstered traits don't seem to make much difference --she dies in overland boss fights most of the time, and Aggressive doesn't seem to be helpful if she can't stay alive so I think I'll go with full Quickened, which eso hub says, '... is generally considered the best trait for most companion builds, as it enhances their overall effectiveness'.

Thanks again. I really appreciate the feedback to help me decide.