I used Bowdar when I got him until I capped his affection, cant say I had any real issues with his tanking performance, he's just a bit slower to the punch than corso due to no rocket pack.

Make sure all his abilities are turned on, esp his tanking stance, when you first get him this is sometimes turned off.

In my experience, Bowdaar seems more of an AOE Tank, while Corso seems more of a Single Target Tank. Bowdaar runs into the middle of everything and gets aggro on it all, then has the whole big pack beating away at him. Corso gets aggro on whatever he attacks, but his ranged attacks result in enemies that spread out at all (meaning most of them) only pulling aggro of 1 or 2 onto Corso, so you'll take a few of the attacks as well. With Corso the damage gets spread around a bit more, so he doesn't die so fast. With Bowdaar, he is going down hot and heavy, so you best be the Scoundrel prepared to heal him.

In a nutshell, I found Bowdaar died far more frequently than Corso.

But I died with Corso still alive far more frequently than I ever did with Bowdaar.

Once I finally got Risha, I rarely gave Wookie or Hillbilly the time of day again.

In my experience, Bowdaar seems more of an AOE Tank, while Corso seems more of a Single Target Tank. Bowdaar runs into the middle of everything and gets aggro on it all, then has the whole big pack beating away at him. Corso gets aggro on whatever he attacks, but his ranged attacks result in enemies that spread out at all (meaning most of them) only pulling aggro of 1 or 2 onto Corso, so you'll take a few of the attacks as well. With Corso the damage gets spread around a bit more, so he doesn't die so fast. With Bowdaar, he is going down hot and heavy, so you best be the Scoundrel prepared to heal him.

 

In a nutshell, I found Bowdaar died far more frequently than Corso.

But I died with Corso still alive far more frequently than I ever did with Bowdaar.

 

Once I finally got Risha, I rarely gave Wookie or Hillbilly the time of day again.

have to say you summed it up quite well.

i use bowdaar most of the time but when i face one big boss i tend to switch to corso.

as a sabotage spec however i find bowdaar more useful as like u said all the mobs go for him meking my aoe abilties much more effective.

In my experience, Bowdaar seems more of an AOE Tank, while Corso seems more of a Single Target Tank. Bowdaar runs into the middle of everything and gets aggro on it all, then has the whole big pack beating away at him. Corso gets aggro on whatever he attacks, but his ranged attacks result in enemies that spread out at all (meaning most of them) only pulling aggro of 1 or 2 onto Corso, so you'll take a few of the attacks as well. With Corso the damage gets spread around a bit more, so he doesn't die so fast. With Bowdaar, he is going down hot and heavy, so you best be the Scoundrel prepared to heal him.

 

In a nutshell, I found Bowdaar died far more frequently than Corso.

But I died with Corso still alive far more frequently than I ever did with Bowdaar.

 

Once I finally got Risha, I rarely gave Wookie or Hillbilly the time of day again.

Excellent post. I did the same exact thing, Once Risha became available, I left the hick and carpet on the ship.

Excellent post. I did the same exact thing, Once Risha became available, I left the hick and carpet on the ship.

I did the same thing, but once things progressed with Risha we have become like an old maried couple. No more flame to our relationship, we do things together occasionally, but my old buddy Bowdaar is back to being my primary companion.

Corso's country boy charm got old QUICK! Risha was sweet, but now is an old naggy wife! Gus is a hoot, but as I can heal I prefer DPS'ing with my tank holding agro...

Doing Black Hold Dailies/Weekly or whatever else - he is my main companion now. Outfitting him in decent (what else do I spend those Tionese and even now Columni comms on?) tanking gear made a HUGE difference!

I say play them all, keep them decently greared, and long term use the one that best matches your play style.

Barumar

Bowdaar used to be the better tank for Gunslinger's since he is not CC-friendly. He tends to die faster because he aggros a lot more.

Corso was the better tank for scoundrels but the Gunslingers insisted on using him instead of Bowdaar and gunslingers evidently could not figure out how to turn off his harpoon shot or use Bowdaar and whined so much they took his harpoon shot away and broke his utility for scoundrels. Corso used to be a single-target ranged tank he is now another melee tank that just happens to use a ranged weapon.

So now, Smugglers have 2 identical tanks with no significant difference between them.