Jan 30, 2012

Posted by in Blue Milk & Cereal | 19 Comments

Blue Milk & Cereal: Do You Use All Of Your Companions For Combat?

No day would be complete without the breakfast of Jedi: Blue Milk & Cereal.  Every morning, the team at Ask A Jedi will get Force-induced thoughts coursing through your head with delicious issues from around the galaxy! Join in the discussion below to make your voice heard!

Companions are a pretty big part of Star Wars: The Old Republic. They’re your crew, helping your craft and gather materials; they provide story and act as a moral compass and perhaps most importantly, they can stand at your side in combat, lending a hand, or a blaster, when needed.

But when it comes to using your crew for combat, you also need to consider upgrading their gear much as you upgrade your own. They become noticeably less effective if you neglect to do this (speaking from experience here :) But it’s pretty challenging to keep up on gearing one of them, let alone all 5 of them. As a result, if I have a companion out at all (usually I’m in a group with real people,) it’s almost always the same one.

Personally, I think companions figure far too much into the combat output equation for your character, because they’re basically forced on you if you’re solo questing especially at higher levels. But that’s a topic for another time! What about you guys? How do you use your companions, and do you try and use more than one now and then?

Do you use all of your companions for combat?

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  1. I only use one companion based on what is best suited to my play style for the character that I am using. I can see myself switching more if I changed advanced classes but otherwise I will just stick to one.

  2. My main is a Trooper Vanguard, so once I got Elara, it was pretty much decided. I needed heals to match with my husband’s Smuggler Gunslinger. He used to not bother with bringing out anyone, but now he’ll use Corso most of the time instead of sending him out on slicing missions.

  3. As a Comando I used Vic a lot but now I’m trying to get fresh with Elara so I use her more often. Took me a while to get a used to the heals over 2 cannon blasters but I rarely have to stop and heal up any more and am leveling much faster.

  4. I use the one that I like the most and/or compliments the role I am spec’d for 99% of the time.

  5. As a healing Commando I used Aric until I got Vic. I tried to use Forex because he looks so awesome and I like his attitude, but he was too weak.

    The best thing about troopers is all their companions use heavy armor (excluding Forex) so we can pass down our gear. It also makes it easier to get CUSTOM gear for your companion to keep modded up to your level.

    On my Guardian I’ve only ever used Kira….

  6. Main is a Jedi Sage, from 22 until level 42 I only ever used Theran, it was just so much easier and faster to DPS stuff myself and let him keep me alive than to send in a tank and me heal him. After I got Nadia, its only ever her I use now to just both nuke stuff down. For a big solo boss fight, I might drag Theran out of retirement now and again. The others…never see the light of day.

  7. I’m a BH Tank so Mako is usually out and i keep her gear current. I’m also Cybertech so i trade my old gear with Torian (also a BH) and upgrade the mods in his gear for myself. this way Torian stays fairly currently geared if i need dps.

  8. SamCommander says:

    On my JK, its gotta be Kira Dat Arsen all the way up until i get Lord Scourge, after reading the Revan Novel i find he seems to awesome not to have as a side kick.

  9. I disagree with the author that needing companions for soloing is bad. Having them makes it much easier, more enjoyable, and less grindy to level ESPECIALLY for a tank or healer. That being said I only use one in combat, but this isn’t due to gear but utility. My main is a tank so I only level him with a healer. My alt is a healer I only level her with a tank. The one change I with you could make is customize the role of a particular companion rather than be stuck questing with one you don’t like (dr Quinn medicine man) for utility sakes.

  10. ScytheNoire says:

    I use what’s best for my build, which is usually a healer unless I’m a healer, then it would be Tank or good DPS.

  11. I’m looking for a 3rd option (But I am guessing that I fall under the first one): I have two companions I flip between: healer and one dps, the healer I use for the hard hard groups, the dps I use for everything else. And I only use the one, so I don’t have to gear as many alts up

  12. I very much enjoy companions, and don’t mind them being ‘forced’ on me – the “Solo superhero” model doesn’t really fit into the setting. Having said that, as a JK tank, it’s been Doc since the day I got him. There’s just so much to be said for having the right companion (tank/heal) to complement your spec that it really is a bit much. I wish all companions had either a tank or a heal stance to go with their DPS stance so that they could be more versatile, but for now, Doc’s my only option (not that I mind – I like the guy)

  13. Scott Clark says:

    I am a Shadow tank, so I use Theran Cedrax all the time. BUT, whenever I I finish a quest with rewards I don’t need, I check my companion’s gear to see who need the upgrade.

  14. Jedi Guardian. Prefer a DPS companion, so I primarily just switch between Kira and Rusk.

  15. I usually use Khem while playing…though I will use Ashara and Talos on occasion. However, i really dislike not being able to solo some content and it bugs me that almost everything at level will kill you quickly if you don’t have a companion out

  16. RabbiShekky says:

    On my Jedi Tank, I leveled almost exclusively with Kira. At times, she was better geared than I was, and we make a pretty darn good team. We kinda hit the wall in Corellia when we got to some quests that I just couldn’t stay alive and I switched to Doc. Since then, I’ve maxed out Kira’s affection and so I’ve been running with Doc almost exclusively.

    I find with Doc, there’s a lot less downtime between fights, but the fights last a LOT longer.

  17. I’m a sawbones and so if I’m taking on elites or champs, I’ve got Corso out. If it’s just strongs or normals, I use Risha. It’s handy since she uses the same equipment.

  18. ronin1572 says:

    I use what is most benifical

  19. Now that I’ve reached endgame with my Sith Inq I found that I use Xalek as a tank with the added bonus that I can give him overflow pvpgear.

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