I recently noticed that kaliyo doesn't have much armor. She needs something similar to the BH Ion Gas Cylinder Buff because she's only getting about 2.3k armor with the gear I've provided her. Though yet I've seen BHs of the same level get almost 5k armor rating.

 

Well I will agree more mitigation would be acceptable. But I don't think she's totally worthless as some people imply.

She gets a cooldown. 25% damage reduction for 12 seconds, 2min CD.

 

ANd btw, an elite isn't a big deal. Two elites is a big deal. Two strongs and six standards is a big deal. AN elite and a strong is a big deal.

 

One elite is cake even without a companion. Call me when Kaliyo tanks a Heroic 4 for you.

 

 

Edit: One elite is easy to lock down with CC, Diversion, etc to help keep Kaliyo alive. Multiple enemies is where Kaliyo's weakness is revealed. She *needs* our CC to survive.

 

They call it a Heroic 4 for a reason.

 

4 players not 3 players and a companion.

 

I suppose I'm the only one who remembers BW stating specifically that some heroics are designed not to be completable with companions.

 

And FYI, I did Blood and Sand 3 man with kaliyo tanking 3 gold elites 2 silvers.

 

Granted all 3 gold elites were CC'd we took down the silvers and then systematically took down the elites.

 

But I guess tactics goes out the window with some people.

so you killed an elite mob that out leveled you and that proves kaliyo is good?

Wat.

 

Y u no make sense?

 

fixed

The difference between a tanking companion and a DPS companion in survivability terms is very small, and more than offset by the fact that a DPS companion makes the fight shorter = you are less likely to run out of resources.

 

I experimented a lot with tanking vs. DPS companions (mostly SCORPIO vs. Temple on Voss/Corellia) and I was more successful with DPS. They were equally geared, not amazing stuff but mostly equivalent-level blues. Although poor SCORPIO can't find a blue or orange techstaff to save her life.

 

DPS companions are the way to go.

 

I guess if you are going tank spec IA with defense rating it makes sense.

 

Silly me for wanting to go DPS spec and not having to tank everything when I can use my companion for that. :/

 

Just for ***** n grins, I'm going to make another video but taking Vector this time against this level 33 elite.

 

Let's see how it goes.

 

But a tactical FYI I used sever tendon so I could kite the elite around and slowly bleed him. That being said, I get to face tank the elite this time since Vector is useless for agro management.

 

So this video should be informative and why I choose to use kaliyo more than Vector.

Edited December 25, 2011 by Ahebish

lol

 

I couldn't even make it past a check point of 1 silver and 6 standard level 33's with Vector.

 

Ya DPS is the way to go for sure. This 33 gold elite fight is going to be fun

Kaliyo is good for a while. We used her as a main tank for most the sub-40 flashpoints, up to Cad, I had specced medicine.

 

Now though, Doc Lokin is my companion of choice, full heals, while I go full conc. Equal level Champion mobs are fine now, even without kiting, though throwing in shield probe every so often helps a bit.

 

It's also easier to gear the Doc, since he uses the same gear. Pre-Lokin, however, I used Kaliyo and could usually take on about 2 elites and a couple Normals at once, but had to always keep her geared to the max.

Whats the point of this? Ive killed elites with both vector and kaliyo?

I'm level 30 and she has died pretty much any pull on tatooine + with a grey elite dude in a pack with a few normies, or a gold by itself. Usually I have enough time to finish the mob off myself after she dies, but it does mean I have to continually rez and heal her after each fight. I haven't played any other class with a companion so I'm not sure what its like.

 

Some of you guys are operatives and sound like ur healing her though, won't somebody please think of the snipers?

Edited December 26, 2011 by Riavan

I guess if you are going tank spec IA with defense rating it makes sense.

 

Silly me for wanting to go DPS spec and not having to tank everything when I can use my companion for that. :/

 

Just for ***** n grins, I'm going to make another video but taking Vector this time against this level 33 elite.

 

Let's see how it goes.

 

But a tactical FYI I used sever tendon so I could kite the elite around and slowly bleed him. That being said, I get to face tank the elite this time since Vector is useless for agro management.

 

So this video should be informative and why I choose to use kaliyo more than Vector.

 

I have no clue what you're talking about here, there is no IA tank spec. If you're being sarcastic then I don't get the joke.

 

I leveled as a healer with my companion tanking. On most pulls I didn't have to heal, of course, but vs. elite/champion mobs I would stay off to the side and heal my companion. That gave me a pretty good idea of their relative squishiness, and what I'm saying is that tank companions are almost equally squishy as DPS companions. There is very little difference aside from the tanks having short-duration CDs that don't help much. 15 seconds of damage reduction in a 3-minute fight isn't gonna save them if I can't heal through the damage for the other 2:45.

 

Temple even has a damage reduction CD, if you want to use it instead of her crit CD. Temple is by far the best combat companion available to the Agent IMO. Partly because she is bugged and can have both her AOE and single-target stances active at the same time, if you switch stances then resummon her. Shhh.

Edited December 26, 2011 by Stillnotking

Try doing that with Vector and watch what happens.

 

You will get *****. Because Vector wears light armor, and is a DPS'er not a tank.

 

I guess your choice of companion depends a ton on what spec you are running. As a fairly deep healspec (24points) I have found Vector to be absolutely superior to all other companions in xp/time ratio. He kills a lot faster than Kaliyo in my opinion.

 

He does some impressive damage and holds aggro just fine. Leveling with him (@44 atm) I have had 0 issues healing him through every +4 level elite boss i have encountered.

 

 

So dont underestimate him just because he runs in light armor. If you are running fairly deep healspec then in 99% of all encounters there is no need for a tank companion and using one will just slow your damage and thus xp down;).

 

In the 1% encounters that you really need the companion to tank as a healspec Vector will still survive tanking those +4 level Elites anyway..

 

Cheers

 

//Kamasuthra

He kills a lot faster than Kaliyo in my opinion.

 

He kills faster, but takes more damage. More damage -> more healing -> less energy. Since you are healing specced then you can keep him alive until he kills mobs.

 

For those that think Kaliyo is useless as a tank.

 

33 Gold Elite @ level 30

 

So what?

 

I can kill elites even with that stupid ship droid. On the other hand, as I remember, that elite on you screen stands with two berserks (7k hp each) so it becomes a little harder. I used Kaliyo there too and it worked perfectly.

 

PS: I love Kaliyo, but she isn't uber-companion.

PPS: Leveling as concealment operative with companion tanking.

Edited December 26, 2011 by CorruptedFlesh

He kills faster, but takes more damage. More damage -> more healing -> less energy. Since you are healing specced then you can keep him alive until he kills mobs.

 

It really is not a big difference as far as I have seen in damage taken between the tank companions and the dps ones. Maybe later in end game with really nice gear the difference will be higher.

 

On your point regarding Vector taking more damage it really can be the oposite over a fight as the damage taken depends on the length of the fight. So if Vector takes slightly more damage but kills a lot faster then the energy i need to spend healing him is less as he took less damage during the fight as it ended earlier:D

 

Cheers

 

//Kamasuthra

For a sniper, Kaliyo is horrible, we can't heal her, so what she has going in, is what she must get by with, so every fight becomes a race to see what happens first, mob dies or Kaliyo runs out of health.

 

Using defensive cooldowns and cover, i can take the damage mobs dish out (most of the time atleast), while Lokin heals me so fights become lot easier (and he does some dps on the side), and downtime goes way down.

Kaliyo is useless. Wait until you get Lokin or SCORPIO.

 

They rule.

cant say scorpio is good. she tanks as crappy as kalyio does.

unless u ae a healing Operative, u realy want to take temple or vector in a fight.

 

pull out Lokin for bossfights and you are all set.

Lokin is definitely better than Kaliyo.

 

Damn shame we have to wait until Taris (mid-30s) to pick him up though.

there was a quest on taris that was 2 levels above me, and i hated taris, i tried to solo it wit 2 different dps specs, couldnt, then i was like ok lets go heals see whats what, i went heals, and watched kaliyo solo that boss, ofcourse it took a good 5 mins, but it was well worth it.

 

as a healer, you can only level with kaliyo tanking (Preferrably with decent gear on kaliyo)

I personally find myself tanking better then Kaliyo. She just doesn't have the raw armor value, while I have more cooldowns and 25% innate defensive chance. That's why I just use Vector now, because he kills things much faster. I didn't even like Lokin, makes killing so much slower.

I still use Vector or Temple. Kaliyo just pisses me off...nothing to do with her combat effectiveness, she's probably the best partner for an Operative...but my Light Side pro-Imperial Agent got real tired of her dark side anarchist crap.

I wish we had a combat log, someone needs to sit down and do some testing with Kaliyo and another companion, like Vector. My Vector has something like ~1500 armor in his greens, while my Kaliyo is sporting a full custom job at I think ~2600 (away from the desktop PC atm). I think they have similar health. But Kaliyo gets destroyed on Taris by anything, even solo normal mobs. Stacking probes on her before combat keeps her from dying to a lone Strong but using her there was resulting in slow fights and interminably long downtime to R&R after every single fight.

 

Vector though takes hits like a boss? I can solo champions using him, with ease. And his health never dips below 60% (I am healing him during this). Kaliyo on the other hand drops like a sack of potatoes if a Champ so much as looks at her. I swear I'm not imagining it; there's something really wrong here but without a combat log I can't figure it out.

 

Actually now that I think about it maybe we should all just ignore this so all the rest of our companions don't wind up nerfed down to Kaliyo's level.

Edited December 27, 2011 by marshalleck

I've leveled up with Kaliyo almost exclusively, using medic as my main tree (taken low level crit talents in the other trees); I'm at 47 now.

 

I soloed an even level champion mob with 120k hp yesterday, using Kaliyo; it was a long fight, but pretty easy. I just sit back, heal, and use backstab/shiv whenever they are off CD.

 

I've tried using the DPS companions, and it just doesn't work with my spec...I need a tank, and Kaliyo works great.

 

I'm saying all this from the perspective of a medic...I'm not sure how it works if you're leveling as DPS.

I still use Vector or Temple. Kaliyo just pisses me off...nothing to do with her combat effectiveness, she's probably the best partner for an Operative...but my Light Side pro-Imperial Agent got real tired of her dark side anarchist crap.

I love her, she approves almost everything I chose in dialogs, light or dark choice - doesn't matter. Sometimes I get -40 affection with her for dark choices. Kaliyo is perfect for a neutral character.

Kaliyo might work if you are a healing operative, but otherwise she melts way too fast while barely putting out any damage.

Kaliyo is just fine, I used her fulltime until like level 40 or so, then switched to our Merrill-wannabe cupcake companion for more blasting power.

I don't understand how you could not think that Kaliyo is the best character with all the hilarious comments she makes.