Im playing a Sawbones scoundrel with Bowdaar, and he dies so fast!

Despite my desperate attemts to heal him his health drops down to 25% when fighting a pack of silver and a weak mob! Is that "Tanking"? Its more like " I get the mobs attention and die leaving you to die too hurp derp".

 

He is geared by the way, and no, i dont suck at healing >.<

 

Tanno Vik, the Trooper's melee tank wich is supposed to be bowdaar's counterpart is 3 times more tough.

Edited February 16, 2012 by Kazomir

Im playing a Sawbones scoundrel with Bowdaar, and he dies so fast!

Despite my desperate attemts to heal him his health drops down to 25% when fighting a pack of silver and a weak mob! Is that "Tanking"? Its more like " I get the mobs attention and die leaving you to die too hurp derp".

 

He is geared by the way, and no, i dont suck at healing >.<

 

Tanno Vik, the Trooper's melee tank wich is supposed to be bowdaar's counterpart is 3 times more tough.

My Corso's health hits about that level if I don't heal him at all in a strong-plus-weak/normals pull. There's something squiffy going on in your case. Have you slipped behind the level curve for where you're questing, without noticing? I know I got a few shocks when I went from overlevelling the content to about-same via a fast blitz through just the story line on the intervening planet.

 

It might be tactics. Against trash packs, what I tend to do is Stealth in towards one end of the scatter of the pack, open with a big attack and have Corso drag in the furthest-away mob that won't come of its own accord. Once they're gathered up, I use the Thermal Grenade and then focus on whatever Corso is shooting at until TG is off cooldown again. I should probably pop Flash Grenade immediately after I've TGed and Corso has used his grenade, but I usually don't bother. I try and keep in a position to Backblast when it's off cooldown.

 

One of the things that keeps Scoundrel-Sawbones fun for me is that I still have a DPS contribution to make. Except when killing Champions, then it's really opportunist, and often slightly risky. Which adds some spice.

Some people prefer Bowdaar over Corso. I don't.

 

Keeping their equipment and weapons updated is critical. Presence stims help, as does the Cantina buff.

Im playing a Sawbones scoundrel with Bowdaar, and he dies so fast!

Despite my desperate attemts to heal him his health drops down to 25% when fighting a pack of silver and a weak mob! Is that "Tanking"? Its more like " I get the mobs attention and die leaving you to die too hurp derp".

 

He is geared by the way, and no, i dont suck at healing >.<

 

Tanno Vik, the Trooper's melee tank wich is supposed to be bowdaar's counterpart is 3 times more tough.

 

You're definitely doing something wrong. I used Bowdaar with my Gunslinger build (ie no heals) and other than Elite mobs, he wouldn't die during my fights. I geared him with the level 40 PvP when I hit 40 and he used that until I was 48 w/o me replacing anything really.

 

So if Bowdaar is dying, and you're supposedly a healer something is very very wrong. Keep in mind he's a tank and not DPS so he's not there to pump out large amounts of damage. If you're still having issues with him I'd suggest switching to Corso and/or switching up your tactics as some others have suggested.

i always CC'ed the silver mob first (tranq/droid hack) then take out the trash mobs and after that kill the silver.

i found it easy to take down strongs (silver) and elites (gold) with my tanking companion as sawbone - as long as they were alone. If there is a fight against multiple oponents its another story (hated the fights after cutscenes).

 

i used Corso all the way (as when i got Bowdaar you could not shut off his area attacks - at least not for long).

if you use Bowdaar and use the CC tactic make sure you disable all area attacks on his toolbar or the CC'ed mobs will jump back into the fight as soon as an aoe attack hit them.

That's odd, I'm leveling as scrapper spec and don't have any problem with Bowdaar's survivability. Of course, I'm doing the heavy lifting when it comes to damage production. Perhaps you'd be better off with either Risha or Akaavi? Bowdaar doesn't put out a lot of damage from what I have seen so it is possible that the fight is lasting too long because you lack DPS.

I have better luck with Corso than with Bowdar. But I'm an Armormech, and I can't build gear for Bowdar, only Corso. That means i have to rely on armor drops for Bowdar, and they're inconsistant.

 

Either way, be glad you can heal your companion at all. I'm playing a Gunslinger, and I find that half the time I'm rez'ing my companions, no matter who they are.

Odd - I used Bowdaar pretty consistently through Tattooine, Alderaan, the Nar Shaddaa bonus series and Balmorra and never noticed a problem with him as a tank on my Gunslinger. (And obviously I wasn't healing him.) Then again, his gear was always on-level with mine. Cybertech helps.

 

I finally switched to Risha for the last bit of Balmorra and Hoth - she does a lot more dps. (Now I use Guss almost exclusively, but I'm assuming a Sawbones Scoundrel has no real need for a healing companion.)

I can't stress enough how important it is to keep you and your companion of choice geared up as well as possible. I have a full set of custom gear (- the belt I can't find) and I keep my mods at the top level I can achieve. Certainly, it helps that I am a cybertech, but you should be able to keep yourself geared with planet commendations.

 

I find it easiest to keep Corso geared for range mobs and Bowdar geared for melee mobs. I have a few custom pieces for Bowdar that I add mods to, and I select good reward equipment for Corso.

 

I know my gear is really good, because the stuff that drops is pitiful compared to what I'm running with. I'm currently melting my way though Hoth with the Wookie and the hick, and they both do fine for me.

I only need a tank for melee elites, as ranged elites are a snap as a gunslinger with appropriate use of interrupt and cover. The problem is that even with decent gear, Bowdaar is a piece of wet tissue paper against any melee elites.

I've honestly had better luck with a dps companion and me running around like a headless chicken.

Edited February 17, 2012 by nightchrome

Even with a geared companion they drop like flies. I geared out Corso with my extra centurion/champion commendations, and he still dies like it's nobody's business.

Im playing a Sawbones scoundrel with Bowdaar, and he dies so fast!

As some (including me) already mentioned in different threads - Corso is one of (if not the very) best for sawbones leveling, though some prefer Akaavi later. I'm close to taking story ahead of leveling and I had NOT a single issue at his side for all my 45lvls. Xept for autoharpoon (which was fixed long ago) and some wierd behaviour with disapearing act, that I got only recently, so that it might have something to do with some of "fixes" that fixed one thing and ruined few, but not with Corso himself.

 

You CC all that can be CCed, you pull mobs out of packs to desired location instead of rushing into the pack, which means you are free to use all your dmg including aoes, and CC stays safe. 2 SRMPs on him, UWM, interrupts and extra dps from the back side - as needed. Gearing up-to-level - is obvious.

One thing to check on chewie is that his defensive stence is on. Ive noticed he likes to turn it off often on taxis and such

There's a LOT of players who don't keep their companions' gear up to date. For the love of all that's dear to wookies, gear your companion up.

 

I never had a problem with Bowie, or Corso, or Risha, or Guss. From all the Ilum and Belsavis dailies, Bowdaar now has:

 

15.5k HP

47% shield chance

18% defense chance

30% mitigation

 

that's really tough enough for my soloing needs as a sawbones scoundrel. It'll be the same way for any other companion you wish to take with you on your travels.

 

Is bowdaar the uber min max'ers choice? I don't know. I like his attitude, his wookiee toss move (mapped to shift F and fires manually), and the fact that I can have a wookiee for a companion. Other smugglers prefer others, but to say that bowdaar and corso are weaker than any other class' companions is wrong.

 

My trooper's m1-4x holds up fine as a ranged tank, and he's got the same moves as corso. Same way with bowie and vik. Same way with the healers and dps. They're all carbon copies with different skins.

This applies to every tank companion in the game and is a known issue. Back in beta the tank companions had a massive armor increase that made them basically invulnerable when combined with a player who was healer spec'd. They nerfed the hell out of the tank companions and never found a suitable balance for them.

 

Basically don't use your tank companions.

 

Use Akaavi, Risha or Guss.

Corso is one of (if not the very) best for sawbones leveling, though some prefer Akaavi later.

I switched to Akaavi when I got her and her DPS is much better than Corso's and she still tanks pretty well.

I only had this problem in the level range between 25-30 (Yea, till EMP).

When you get akaavi use her. She hits harder, is about as easy to keep healed as faildar and that cry baby corso.

 

I got her, geare dher, now she face rolls everythign while I chill in the back dropping heals.

Gear them up, Whatever Companion u use, (I use Avaaki mostly ) I also use the green goon as i call him for soloing 2 man heroics in my dps spec.. me & avaaki destroy in open world pvp against any of the silly ppl who roll with a healer pet.. the burst dmg from u & Avaaki will crush them =)

I specifically tested how different Bowdaar and Corso were by stripping them down to their skivvies, crafting a beginner-level weapon, and comparing their stats. The result? Their base attacks and HP stats are virtually identical without gear, and their special attacks are roughly equivalent. So gear has a lot to do with how effective they are. My Corso in full gear can shoot the pants off my Bowdaar, because I have much better Aim-based gear for him.

 

And of course whether you want a ranged tank or a melee tank makes a difference. My scoundrel thinks Bowdaar gets in the way and Corso's harpoon is convenient; gunslingers may find Bowdaar's tendency to dash up to enemies and keep threat close to him (and away from you) more useful. I've read that Saboteurs in particular can get some good mileage out of Bowdaar keeping enemies tightly grouped and thus grenade-friendly.

 

Also, gotta remember to give them a good shield generator and put them in Guard Stance. They're not operating as a tank without those two things.

Edited February 18, 2012 by dizzyMongoose

Gunslinger, leveled with Corso, and never have a problem. Tried the Wookie once, right after i got him and had the coms to throw some decent gear at him, and found that he just folded like a paper doll. Never again. Corso from 7 to 50, not a single regret.

I have a agree Corso is much easier to lvl with. and I have him with less gear. Have same problme with the 25% health drop when I don't use Corso, maybe its a spec issue.

Bowdaar is sweet, because what his gear looks like doesn't matter... I have undergeared other companions because I did not like the way upgrades looked, lol...

At level 32 now, I use Bowdar about 75% of the time. I send him in, throw Frag, Vital shot everyone, heal him, rinse, repeat. It's been a breeze so far.

Im playing a Sawbones scoundrel with Bowdaar, and he dies so fast!

Despite my desperate attemts to heal him his health drops down to 25% when fighting a pack of silver and a weak mob! Is that "Tanking"? Its more like " I get the mobs attention and die leaving you to die too hurp derp".

 

He is geared by the way, and no, i dont suck at healing >.<

 

Tanno Vik, the Trooper's melee tank wich is supposed to be bowdaar's counterpart is 3 times more tough.

 

Ok in a nut shell Bowdaar sucks for a Sawbones most of the time. You have to turn off his biggest asset the knockback as he will aggro everything in the area with this on.

 

On the other hand as a Sawbones I could farm Heroic Elites by myself all day with Corso Riggs.

 

You hide in a nook and yank him to you and kill him. Then continue to pick them off until I had

Killed every Elite in the Heroic area except the Champion.

 

This is how I farmed for money and gear until level 43 and had mostly purple gear I acquired by doing this. I switched to Scrapper at 43 as Sawbones sucks at burst damage heals.

 

Ok here is a cute trick to use with Corso most people do not understand.

Get Corso to yank the Elite to you, then turn on Passive and run to a safe area with no respawns and then turn it back on and kill the Elite and any mobs that are behind him. You use flash grenade on the Elite and kill the mobs as you move out of the original Area you pulled the Elite and mobs from. This is how I clear several Heroic Area in the game by myself.

 

I should add when fighting multiple Elites you have to work on just one and slow the others untill one is dead and at same time slowly get out of range so others reset back to where they came from. You contine to kite them until all are dead. This works in FP also.

Edited February 19, 2012 by Metalmac