Forum discussions are now taking place on Discord. For all account questions and concerns, please continue to contact Customer Support directly.

Keep updated on Pirate101 on Twitter @Pirate101, Facebook, Discord, and @KI_Alerts!

 Search  Updated Topics  Hottest Topics  Rules

How would YOU improve lower companions?

AuthorMessage
Lieutenant
Oct 18, 2014
147
So, after the varied response to my thread on companion housing, and checking out the Building Lesser Companions series of threads by Lookit Light, i had an idea. This idea was sparked by one companion- the Serpent Augur, who has Mournsong as a power despite being relatively overlooked. So the question here today is, how would YOU improve lower level companions to make them more unique? Add a new power to a lesser-regarded companion to make it more usable in stuff like PvP? Balance out their stats a bit? Have a go!

Hardy Quinn

Commodore
Feb 12, 2015
970
Glad you like what I'm doing! Here's a link to my Christmas special!

https://www.pirate101.com/forum/the-tavern/building-lesser-companions-merry-christmas-8ad6a42b6759fbfc01677a11e6015af2?page=1

I'll focus on one companion in particular: Ju Hao. Despite being available to all players, he is currently only good for getting us some extra Gold and Pet Gear (Which I almost never do, in protest)

At the moment, his Epic Talent array is only Blade Storm 2, Cheap Shot 3, Flanking 3, Second Chance 2, and Vengeance Strike 2. Right, that isn't very good maximums. To make him better, I would suggest giving him the Power Epic Strike. Also give him a promotion, that would give him another Epic Talent, boost his stats, and strengthen his Epic Strike. As for a better Epic Talent array, he should have access to First Strike 2, a third rank of Vengeance Strike, and naturally have Turn the Tide (a second rank when he promotes.) This would be a unique array for a Swashbuckler, and make Ju Hao not be assigned to Plundering (He likes it, but doing it over and over again bores him to death)

Merciless Brian Ornsley, Level 70
Mini-Light
Dread Pirate
May 27, 2009
2131
Here is my take on "Lower Companions" -- they are fine. Companions are not all created as equally amazing simply because we need SOME variety, some chance that a battle will not be super easy to win because all of our team is great. When the game started, a random team was a given -- we did NOT know who was going to be showing up and it was really fun. There is a sense of victory like no other when Nurse Quinn and the Weasel Gambler team up with the Crazy Monquistador and pull out the win.

Anybody can win with the "best" companions. Great players can take ANY companions and use them to win a battle. Doubloons give us so many additional options for buffing these "lower companions" and even give them epic talents for a few turns. A privateer especially, should be able to use anybody anywhere and win -- maybe not easily, maybe not everyone survives, but they can get the job done.

Unfortunately, most players want the easy win. They want to not have to put much thought into combat, and they DON'T want their favorite companions to EVER go on Bed Rest.

Now we even have Automated Companions. Look! We can walk away and the game will play itself -- who asked for this?

That being said -- they do need more powers, they do need more promotions as these companions are trained up. They HAVE been forgotten, simply because the Pirate101 team has not been given the time to work on them for us. The Yuletide Spirits should have been fixed many months ago. Someone pointed out that pirate players pay the same for this game as wizard players pay for that game. Pirate101 should get more than 10% of the resources.

Lieutenant
Sep 04, 2013
150
Willowydream on Dec 15, 2018 wrote:
Here is my take on "Lower Companions" -- they are fine. Companions are not all created as equally amazing simply because we need SOME variety, some chance that a battle will not be super easy to win because all of our team is great. When the game started, a random team was a given -- we did NOT know who was going to be showing up and it was really fun. There is a sense of victory like no other when Nurse Quinn and the Weasel Gambler team up with the Crazy Monquistador and pull out the win.

Anybody can win with the "best" companions. Great players can take ANY companions and use them to win a battle. Doubloons give us so many additional options for buffing these "lower companions" and even give them epic talents for a few turns. A privateer especially, should be able to use anybody anywhere and win -- maybe not easily, maybe not everyone survives, but they can get the job done.

Unfortunately, most players want the easy win. They want to not have to put much thought into combat, and they DON'T want their favorite companions to EVER go on Bed Rest.

Now we even have Automated Companions. Look! We can walk away and the game will play itself -- who asked for this?

That being said -- they do need more powers, they do need more promotions as these companions are trained up. They HAVE been forgotten, simply because the Pirate101 team has not been given the time to work on them for us. The Yuletide Spirits should have been fixed many months ago. Someone pointed out that pirate players pay the same for this game as wizard players pay for that game. Pirate101 should get more than 10% of the resources.

That's an interesting point to bring up, at one point we had to be ready to use almost all of our companions at any time and now you can just choose your best ones every time. So now we have a bunch of companions who most people just avoid using.

I can't help but question the current state of companions. The best ones you get are at the start of the game and pretty much every companion you get later on is just worse. Look at Marleybone and Aquila for example, the only companion who has something interesting going for them is Gracie Conrad, all the other 10 or so companions just do nothing and have few epic talents. Hawkules for example, (His father is Zeus, a God, btw) has literally nothing going for him, he's a joke. Then the later game companions who do get promotions get at best, an epic strike and one epic talent, despite the fact that an early game companion is already leagues ahead of that at the same level. The thing is, a late game companion is never going to catch up no matter how many new worlds get released, because early game companions are going to get free epic talents at the same milestone levels, and get promotions. What did Catbeard's level 70 promotion do for him? Nothing.

My first suggestion for fixing some of them, they should just start with the Super hit. An Aquila companion should not come with an Epic Strike, this is in the level 60 area of the game for crying out loud.

Second, more powers on companions, a companion with a blank slot for powers is a joke at this point when companions like Scratch get a full bar. They should take a page from the book of random powers for pets, a power that uses the same animation as a critical hit and does say for example, reduces enemy resistance by 50%. Not to mention we already have 5 classes worth of powers and tons of unique gear powers to consider incorporating onto companions. Honestly some gear powers like Assassin's Stride seem more suited to being on a companion instead of a pirate.
Commodore
Feb 12, 2015
970
Friendly Jesse Pew on Dec 16, 2018 wrote:
That's an interesting point to bring up, at one point we had to be ready to use almost all of our companions at any time and now you can just choose your best ones every time. So now we have a bunch of companions who most people just avoid using.

I can't help but question the current state of companions. The best ones you get are at the start of the game and pretty much every companion you get later on is just worse. Look at Marleybone and Aquila for example, the only companion who has something interesting going for them is Gracie Conrad, all the other 10 or so companions just do nothing and have few epic talents. Hawkules for example, (His father is Zeus, a God, btw) has literally nothing going for him, he's a joke. Then the later game companions who do get promotions get at best, an epic strike and one epic talent, despite the fact that an early game companion is already leagues ahead of that at the same level. The thing is, a late game companion is never going to catch up no matter how many new worlds get released, because early game companions are going to get free epic talents at the same milestone levels, and get promotions. What did Catbeard's level 70 promotion do for him? Nothing.

My first suggestion for fixing some of them, they should just start with the Super hit. An Aquila companion should not come with an Epic Strike, this is in the level 60 area of the game for crying out loud.

Second, more powers on companions, a companion with a blank slot for powers is a joke at this point when companions like Scratch get a full bar. They should take a page from the book of random powers for pets, a power that uses the same animation as a critical hit and does say for example, reduces enemy resistance by 50%. Not to mention we already have 5 classes worth of powers and tons of unique gear powers to consider incorporating onto companions. Honestly some gear powers like Assassin's Stride seem more suited to being on a companion instead of a pirate.
I agree with you %101. There is a case, a serious case, of neglect here! Most companions from Monquista to Marleybone simply don't make the cut for max-level players! This is why I make Building Lesser Companions threads! To see how they can work! Honestly, the Yuletide Companions are a joke right now. It shouldn't just be Holly Jolly Roger who's actually competent! Season-exclusive Companions are seeming right now to be naughty instead of nice.
Lieutenant
Oct 18, 2014
147
Friendly Jesse Pew on Dec 16, 2018 wrote:
That's an interesting point to bring up, at one point we had to be ready to use almost all of our companions at any time and now you can just choose your best ones every time. So now we have a bunch of companions who most people just avoid using.

I can't help but question the current state of companions. The best ones you get are at the start of the game and pretty much every companion you get later on is just worse. Look at Marleybone and Aquila for example, the only companion who has something interesting going for them is Gracie Conrad, all the other 10 or so companions just do nothing and have few epic talents. Hawkules for example, (His father is Zeus, a God, btw) has literally nothing going for him, he's a joke. Then the later game companions who do get promotions get at best, an epic strike and one epic talent, despite the fact that an early game companion is already leagues ahead of that at the same level. The thing is, a late game companion is never going to catch up no matter how many new worlds get released, because early game companions are going to get free epic talents at the same milestone levels, and get promotions. What did Catbeard's level 70 promotion do for him? Nothing.

My first suggestion for fixing some of them, they should just start with the Super hit. An Aquila companion should not come with an Epic Strike, this is in the level 60 area of the game for crying out loud.

Second, more powers on companions, a companion with a blank slot for powers is a joke at this point when companions like Scratch get a full bar. They should take a page from the book of random powers for pets, a power that uses the same animation as a critical hit and does say for example, reduces enemy resistance by 50%. Not to mention we already have 5 classes worth of powers and tons of unique gear powers to consider incorporating onto companions. Honestly some gear powers like Assassin's Stride seem more suited to being on a companion instead of a pirate.
Thank you for taking this thread as i hoped it would be taken! Some companions just seem to sort of exist- and with companions with actual competent powers running around all over the place, it would be so cool if the blank-slots had something going for them! Anything at all, really, this would be pretty easy to code into the game, too. And i agree with your statement on Hawkules. A main story companion with an Epic Strike and nothing else? Come on!

Imagine how versatile people's teams would be if they had a reason to use their companion backlog- We'd have a lot less people like me who use most of their blankslot companions to decorate their house. There's so many possibilities for making companions worth it- I spent a ridiculous amount of crowns on Oingo Boingo and he's even more of a joke than Hawkules! Maybe if he had something, anything at all going for him, he'd be worth the price!

Sorry for the long, rambling post. I just really can't agree enough with what Jesse's saying here.

TL;DR: Companions are unbalanced at this point in time, give the ''second-rate'' ones at least SOMETHING unique to work with.
Commodore
Feb 12, 2015
970
Angel Angle The Li... on Dec 19, 2018 wrote:
Thank you for taking this thread as i hoped it would be taken! Some companions just seem to sort of exist- and with companions with actual competent powers running around all over the place, it would be so cool if the blank-slots had something going for them! Anything at all, really, this would be pretty easy to code into the game, too. And i agree with your statement on Hawkules. A main story companion with an Epic Strike and nothing else? Come on!

Imagine how versatile people's teams would be if they had a reason to use their companion backlog- We'd have a lot less people like me who use most of their blankslot companions to decorate their house. There's so many possibilities for making companions worth it- I spent a ridiculous amount of crowns on Oingo Boingo and he's even more of a joke than Hawkules! Maybe if he had something, anything at all going for him, he'd be worth the price!

Sorry for the long, rambling post. I just really can't agree enough with what Jesse's saying here.

TL;DR: Companions are unbalanced at this point in time, give the ''second-rate'' ones at least SOMETHING unique to work with.
You're welcome! I'll vouch for lesser companions anytime! Did you know Tyson and the Ninja Pig are actually amazing?
Gunner's Mate
May 08, 2010
270
Out of the ones I've noted on my Witchdoctor, the companions I can easily note that just "exist" would easily be Batacuda, Sky Snake, Scorpius, Carcarius, Bones McGee, Crokogator, and Bat Masterson." So, what are the problems with these companions?

Batacuda, Sky Snake, Scorpius, and Crokogator are simple, beast comps that won't ever get promotions, who also won't get guaranteed crits, I've never used them, free nat xp for me, though.

I bet I'll spark controversy for listing Carcarius Grimtooth on this list, but I stand by it. He simply sucks. A 75% will buff and an embrace isn't enough to fit the bill for Bonnie, Kan, or even Lefty. I would also like to mention how automated companions also hurts him, example: I was doing a moo farming run, and someone left automated companions on, and Carc used purge when we all had the 100% and 50% mojo buffs on, thus making the run last 3-4 more rounds longer. The same thing has happened with Scratch and Doom Mojo (please remove that power from the game, thanks.)

Bones is another, no chaining epics available. You give him the option to get true grit 3, and he's fine.

Bat needs something interesting, all the other mag 7 comps are decent and he just exists, he'd excel on a privy where you can abuse zeal/corps to get insane dodge on him, but witchdoctor's don't have access to it (Toro's single buff isn't enough)
Gunner's Mate
May 08, 2010
270
finishing response (it cut off and replied for whatever reason.)

But again, not that I blame them for making these companions useless, when 4/5 classes can just have scratch as a first mate and destroy the enemy team in pve within 2-5 turns (Buccaneers are the exception, unless they run bloods coat)

I've used meme companions (like those I've mentioned) in farming runs when I use scratch, and I can safely say that they either need more epics, talents, or powers. I'm not asking for Thunder Hoof to be on Peter Quint level, but something to make them more appealing.
Commodore
Feb 12, 2015
970
I have seen some companions from Side quests that are actually amazing. For example, Ridolfo Capoferro has no less that three promotions, and what he can do when he reaches the final one is the art of a true Duelist (Diego would be proud). Tyson does no-limits boxing and is an absolute BEAST on the battlefield, Iago is a great Fencer, with Riposte 3, First Strike 3, and enough Epic Talents to have both, Tricky Vinny is indeed tricky, and I've heard that Nanu Nanu can be used a bit like El Toro! ('trumpets sounding')
Admiral
May 30, 2010
1221
The companions I tend to avoid using are not because they are too weak or they are useless, it's because I don't like their animations. I dislike the majority of the CR companions because they just don't fit (although, oddly, I'm happy to use Marleybone-ish companions, and they're equally "wrong") my perception of "pirate", as opposed to Cowboy and Native American.

Since I don't think they're particularly weak, just not to my taste, and since I can't change the animations to appeal better, there's nothing I can do to improve them.
Commodore
Feb 12, 2015
970
Fiorenza Rosanante... on Dec 24, 2018 wrote:
The companions I tend to avoid using are not because they are too weak or they are useless, it's because I don't like their animations. I dislike the majority of the CR companions because they just don't fit (although, oddly, I'm happy to use Marleybone-ish companions, and they're equally "wrong") my perception of "pirate", as opposed to Cowboy and Native American.

Since I don't think they're particularly weak, just not to my taste, and since I can't change the animations to appeal better, there's nothing I can do to improve them.
If you're looking for good animations, you've got a while to go. In my opinion, there is no "wrong", just bad. That's why we're discussing this in the first place; lessening the "bad" by making it better is gold in my pockets any day.
Dread Pirate
May 27, 2009
2131
Fiorenza Rosanante... on Dec 24, 2018 wrote:
The companions I tend to avoid using are not because they are too weak or they are useless, it's because I don't like their animations. I dislike the majority of the CR companions because they just don't fit (although, oddly, I'm happy to use Marleybone-ish companions, and they're equally "wrong") my perception of "pirate", as opposed to Cowboy and Native American.

Since I don't think they're particularly weak, just not to my taste, and since I can't change the animations to appeal better, there's nothing I can do to improve them.
Thanks for a fresh perspective on why some players don't use certain companions. I don't think I've seen this expressed very much. Just as some players tend to prefer the gear look of a certain origin, their crew can also be selected in support of that origin as well.

Lieutenant
Jan 30, 2013
116
I have been using the Yakooza Thug that Swashbucklersget after completing a side quest. Honestly, along with El Toro and Sarah Steele, he does great. I plan to continue using him for a while.

The way I have always chosen companions is probably not the best way, but I put my best companions in the first two slots and then a "tank" in the 3rd spot. I send out the "tank" first while the other two get buffs, and let them get beat up first. I have about 3 "tanks" in line in case I lose one of them, but I never really do unless it is a boss fight. This has worked for me for my Witchdoctor, Buccaneer, Privateer,and Swashbuckler pirates.

My "tank" tends to be a companion I think looks cool, so Yakooza Thug, Skeletal Pirate, Hawkules, Ratbeard, and so on.

Thats just my imput
Morgan
Commodore
Feb 12, 2015
970
The Stalwart Queen on Dec 29, 2018 wrote:
I have been using the Yakooza Thug that Swashbucklersget after completing a side quest. Honestly, along with El Toro and Sarah Steele, he does great. I plan to continue using him for a while.

The way I have always chosen companions is probably not the best way, but I put my best companions in the first two slots and then a "tank" in the 3rd spot. I send out the "tank" first while the other two get buffs, and let them get beat up first. I have about 3 "tanks" in line in case I lose one of them, but I never really do unless it is a boss fight. This has worked for me for my Witchdoctor, Buccaneer, Privateer,and Swashbuckler pirates.

My "tank" tends to be a companion I think looks cool, so Yakooza Thug, Skeletal Pirate, Hawkules, Ratbeard, and so on.

Thats just my imput
Morgan
Again with the "Looking cool!" Although many companions at the end of the game look amazing, what they can do is by far more preferable. Take Eep Opp Ork Ah-Ah, for example. At first glance, he looks bad. But he's actually amazing! He criticals quite often, and his Mojo Echo 3 makes him dish out lots of damage.