Has anyone used a companion consistently other than Mako? I have tried all of them and given them (made) comparable gear.

 

I find non of them are worth using while questing other than Mako, if Mako is not out I’m spam healing a mediocre DPS or spam healing a crapy tank until my companion is dead then I’m soloing stuff. It takes longer and much more stressful.

 

Maybe it changes at lvl 50 (im lvl 48 now) but not sure why they would add other companions who are not really much use other than crafting?

 

Thanks

Gault is definitely viable, depending on your playstyle.

 

I used him as a psuedo-tank for a long time (15 levels or so). Let him pull and agro drop his massive dps as he dies, and dps the mosnter with him. All elites will die before gault does, and if he does die, youve still got full hp.

 

But yea, a Healing companion is the best companion for every dps (knights, warriors, troopers, BH etc.)

As a tank I use Torian majority of the time, I only pull out Mako for champions or tough elites.

for solo, yeah kinda nice to have Mako as a healer, specially as I'm a Shieldtech. I've found many times though when i'm grouping up for quests with friends capable of healing, that it's much easier to have them heal and have either Gualt or Torrian out for DPS.

sadly unbalanced, all classes and specs except healers use their healing companion mainly after lvl30.

sure you can pick up a dps for some weak/normal mob killing. buyt over all the healer is the only viable option unless you fancy self healing after each and every battle.

good god no. I ditched her for gault, then torian.

 

My Torian now has 2 pieces of rakata gear and is pimped out in purples from hard modes...he's beast.

 

Oh, I'm arsenal specced. I have run with a DPS companion the entire time. Mako was only for the toughest bosses, until I got blizz to be a sacrifice while i nuked them down to about 25%.

 

Killing is so much faster with a DPS pet, so the heals aren't as necessary.

I generally alternate between Torian and Mako on my Arsenal Merc. Torian does a ton of damage, much of it aoe. I put him in level 40 pvp armor and modded it up as I leveled so he's doing pretty sick damage even with his starter weapon (don't get me started on how lame techblades are to upgrade).

 

I'll use mako for tougher elites and hard group pulls, but most of the time Torian does the job and does it quicker than a healer healing me will.

sadly unbalanced, all classes and specs except healers use their healing companion mainly after lvl30.

sure you can pick up a dps for some weak/normal mob killing. buyt over all the healer is the only viable option unless you fancy self healing after each and every battle.

 

 

 

This is what I find the case also. It be nice to be able to use a different one sometimes but even the tanks get owned so fast and don't really help - unless they are weaker lower levels bu then whats the use I can mow them down with out any help :-/

If you're a healer Mako is really very useless in combat. It entirely depends on what advanced class you pick, that's why the companions have different skillsets.

I used Gault as Arsenal from the moment I got him 'til lvl 50. Found killing stuff was a lot more efficient with him then with Mako, bosses etc was never a problem.

sadly unbalanced, all classes and specs except healers use their healing companion mainly after lvl30.

sure you can pick up a dps for some weak/normal mob killing. buyt over all the healer is the only viable option unless you fancy self healing after each and every battle.

 

This. MMOs are so healing dependent. I would be nice to have abilities that heal you during the fight WHILE you dps- not enought o solo flashpoints or cheese elites but to keep the game rolling.

As a shieldtech specced powertech, I levelled to 50 pretty much using only Mako. Each time I got a new companion, I'd try them out, and realize how inefficient they were for levelling, and how bad they were for taking on elites.

 

I can take on 50k+ hp elites at level 50 and barely lose any health during the fight when using mako. With any other companion, I'm lucky to be able to even finish the fight alive. I even tried to go with a pyrotech/advanced prototypes damage setup once in the mid 40's, and tried out gault, blizz, and torian to see if it improved my levelling speed any - it didnt. I ended up spending more time healing up or rezzing my companions than fighting, and I wasnt able to take on the tough elites anymore.

 

Despite how much I love Blizz, or how cool Torian's mandalorian setup is (it was cool having a mandalorian duo tearing things up), Mako is the only companion I can efficiently operate with.

As a shieldtech specced powertech, I levelled to 50 pretty much using only Mako. Each time I got a new companion, I'd try them out, and realize how inefficient they were for levelling, and how bad they were for taking on elites.

 

I can take on 50k+ hp elites at level 50 and barely lose any health during the fight when using mako. With any other companion, I'm lucky to be able to even finish the fight alive. I even tried to go with a pyrotech/advanced prototypes damage setup once in the mid 40's, and tried out gault, blizz, and torian to see if it improved my levelling speed any - it didnt. I ended up spending more time healing up or rezzing my companions than fighting, and I wasnt able to take on the tough elites anymore.

 

Despite how much I love Blizz, or how cool Torian's mandalorian setup is (it was cool having a mandalorian duo tearing things up), Mako is the only companion I can efficiently operate with.

 

Exactly my experience. As a fully specced ST Mako is the ONLY viable option. I geared every companion in purple gear to see if they can replace her; none came close.

If you spec heals though then is it the tanking companions?

Mako's good when I'm solo-ing. If I team up with somebody and they have some healing, I'll pull Gault out for the increased damage.

i'm shieldtech, ak tank, lvl 50, half lvl 56 geared.

 

now i can use Torian close to 100% of my game time. He is equiped with my "off spec" dps gear.

Hmm, although it's anecdotal I played with Mako all the way and hit 50 in 3 days /played, which is the lowest of the times I've heard. Using a dps companion seems quicker since things die faster, but with Mako you just never have to stop to recover. Also when she gets her stun it's excellent for getting free Shoulder Slams (yes, you heard me right).

 

Having that said though, I've buffed up Gault now to have a companion to use when I'm specced healing myself.

Edited January 2, 2012 by Airees

Glad to see others with the same issues.

 

I recently got Gault and found that though he does high dps i die more often. You do need to be more strategic.

If you spec heals though then is it the tanking companions?

 

Blizz and Skadge are both tanks. You don't get them till much later in game though. As a healing BH I've been using Gault for awhile. He's got some pretty good dps. Killing stuff just became sooo slow with Mako, even when I had her in her dps stance.

Leveling as powertech tank i'm using Gault to compensate for my lower damage output and switch to Maco only when i'm about to face some hard elites. If you gear him up he dishes out nice dps.

Blizz is the best tanking companion ever. If you're a Bodyguard Merc then Blizz is BY FAR the best companion.

Gault doesn't seem to engage quickly enough for me.

 

I start out a pull of a few mobs with Death From Above and during the whole time he just sits there and does nothing. Sure, I could send him in first, but seriously a companion should be keyed into what you are doing. If I'm attacking something, so should he.

Because of Mako's endless electro stun spam, I went full heals and paired up with Gault.

For trash pulls it works okay -- My AoE combined with his AoE and we cruise along pretty fast.

 

For any kind of boss fight, gold fight, even some silver fights, things can get a bit rough.

Healing myself with the instant casts between pulls (Kolto missile, shell) seems to work okay. I actually have less heat issues than I did with Mako, probably because my heals are better than her's when necessary and Gault is dishing a ton of damage.

 

I will switch back to Arsenal + Mako when the damn patch fixes the companion spell toggling.

I used Torian pretty much the entire time I had him... And it worked out great.

 

(I'm an Arsenal Merc)

I like Mako to eliminate the down time in between fights, but I play a PT. I would imagine a Merc in the healing tree would probably use someone else.