So I'm playing a smuggler gunslinger who just reached Alderaan.

 

After going through Tatooine recuperating after every fight because Corso and Bowdaar either die, or end up nearly dead after each fight against the 4-5 packs of sand people, or two silver portrait enemies, I was not expecting Alderaan to get any easier.

 

But damn.

 

It appears that resting to heal after every fight is normal? Or am I doing this wrong?

 

Now I also play a sage, and force lift, combined with heals, makes leveling a breeze. Or I play my Bounty Hunter Powertech Tank with Mako and I rarely ever have to stop moving. (all of these toons are on Alderaan right now actually)

 

It just feels like I'm playing the class incorrectly because I am having such a difficult time keeping my companion alive through a single fight. They almost always die against a gold star enemy, and even a normal pack of commandos on the first quest in Alderaan.

 

My companions gear is not the best, when available I've taken the quest reward for them, I've even used commendations to get them modded gear and I keep up on it.

 

Any tips or tricks to keeping these guys alive or even above 50% health each fight? Or can I expect to continue the downtime after each fight, especially with incoming reductions to our damage (I could be misreading the patch notes)?

I haven't played a gunslinger, but as a scoundrel Corso did have survivability problems unless I was hybrid sawbones spec. You can reduce downtime by mounting up or dismissing then summoning your companion- Both methods heal your companion to full health in a fraction of the time regenning does.

i don't really know. i had a bit of trouble with my gunslinger at first too seeing as 1) gunslingers can't heal, and 2) gunslingers can't tank without heals. Corso survived better than Bowdaar for me, even with subpar equips. i don't remember all the skills you get before level 30, but i imagine you're got a cancel or two. like flash grenade, dirty kick, and distraction. make use of those if you don't already. a few seconds of stun time or canceling a skill that's charging up can make a big difference, especially against elites. you could also go biochem and craft medpacs that heal both you and your companion.

First: unless you're some kind of weird gunslinger-with-a-shotgun, you've got no nerfs incoming. So don't worry about that.

 

As for your companion issues--make sure you've got something useful in every slot. Implants and headgear (especially +endurance, +defense, +shield/absorb), should be especially helpful.

 

If that still isn't working out, you're going to need to do one of three things:

 

1. buy/craft the best robotic gear you can get at your level and play tank while your protocol droid heals you (he's not *that* bad at healing, especially when fully skilled--his damage ability is totally useless, though) and play the part of the tank. This might work for you, especially if you find that you can take down most melee before they reach you, and the incoming ranged dps is all that's wearing you down.

 

2. Reevaluate some of the skills you haven't been using. Take an especially long look at anything that stuns, slows, or immobilizes your opponents. If you're finding that Bowdarr's running around screaming or Corso's constant lobbing of grenades breaks these abilities, turn them off.

 

3. Slog through the next few levels. Maybe consider working with a human partner or running some flashpoints to get some character and gear levels above the current content. The next couple companions that you get will allow you to double down on DPS, and the last one does minor damage, while doing some decent crowd control and healing.

I'm actually having the opposite experience. Corso would consistently die on me halfway through a fight UNTIL I hit 30 or so. Now he's halfway decent. I keep giving him gear upgrades whenever I can, maybe that's part of it.

 

My gunslinger is 37 now and while Bowdaar still fails me because he isn't well geared, I can count on Corso to at least do (and take) enough damage to keep me alive.

Edited January 24, 2012 by Kiwegapa

Bowdaar is a beast when geared well. I ran a Heroic 4 with two other Smugglers and we used him to tank it. We were a few levels above the mobs, but even still those missions are tough.

If you keep your companion geared, they shouldn't have any issue staying alive. I also ran into trouble in tatooin because I neglected to gear up my companion and instead used commendation on myself upto this point. Switched up my gearing tactic to use all commendation for my companion first, and have never encountered any problem. As sawbone spec, I was killing champion mobs without an issue.

My experience is that Corso and Bowdaar are pretty useless as tanks, they just don't survive even fight with 4 normal mobs.

 

Everything changed when I got Risha. Ok, she's DPS companion, but she can tank better then those two wannabe tanks and she still pulls some serious damage. PvE is just joke with her, I can survive up to two elites at same time with her.

I was having trouble with the elites on Tat and Alderaan until I realized it was my tactics that needed adjusting. Rather than sit back behind the shield, I'll now run up close enough so that Dirty Kick will land. Soon as I see the mob channeling/casting, they get a swift kick. Keep Flash Grenade ready for the next time mob wants to cast/channel. Keeping the mob from using whatever special abilities they have has saved me now that I've changed tactics.

 

As others have said, things will change when you get Risha or Spar. Even though I've now got all companions, I usually travel with Risha or Spar.

My experience is that Corso and Bowdaar are pretty useless as tanks, they just don't survive even fight with 4 normal mobs.

 

i can solo champion mobs with my Corso, so i dunno what you're talking about. >_>

I haven't had any companion issues as a gunslinger (now on balmorra). I used Corso until I got Bowdarr and him until I got Risha. The only thing I've had to do was keymap Risha's 50% defense buff and use that regularly.

 

It sounds to me less like your companions are doing a poor job and more like you are, in that you're not doing enough DPS or not enough in the right places. You should be either mass aeing everything down quickly if it's a pack of normals (using knockbacks and such to put them all together) or focus firing the weakest to the strongest in multi difficulty pulls.

I did Alderaan with Bowie simply because at the time Corso kept harpooning everything. Which, as a saboteur was really bad. He kept splitting up the mob packs, whereas Bowdaar kept them all clumped together. I rarely had issues with packs of mobs, I think the only time I died was when a I hunkered down right where a pack decided to respawn in that someone else had cleared out earlier. But, I did spend a fair amount of time recuperating, simply because as a gunslinger non-biochem smuggler, I have no heals. But, on the plus side? Things die pretty fast