Chocobo companion spec

[Brautigan79]

I have been going through the MSQ as a BLM. Thus far I am level 46 while my Chocobo is level 4. I have put all points into his defender stance but feel as if I probably should have gone a different route (healing). Essentially he is too squishy and has difficulty maintaining threat at times.

I have nowhere near enough seals to respec him, but was planning to start diverting skill points into healing. Do hybrid companion builds "work" or should I just continue to focus on defender skills?

[Cattleya]

Can't really answer the main question, though it probably works well enough for leveling, but when you do respec it, don't get the item with grand company seals, it's waaaaaaaaay cheaper with allied seals at the hunt vendor.

[Lathais]

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...nd-You-A-Guide

[Graeham]

I put all my chocobo's points into the DPS tree. It's pretty effective from what I can tell.

[Binaris]

If you are running as a tank. DPS-bo
If you are running as a healer. DPS-bo
If you are running as a dps. Heal-Bo/DPS-bo hybrid.

If you want to hate your "Bo" and decide never to use it again. Tank-bo

Reagen Peppers used to respec you "Bo" are obtained easily for 20 allied seals from the lvl 50 hunts.

[Lisa Frank Succubus]

I really want to level my chocobo but I'm kind of turned off by the fact it takes some of your exp away. Even if they are not mandatory I just think its neat seeing people fighting mobs with their chocobo.

Is there an ideal way to level them or am I just going to have to sacrifice some of my exp if I want little Doomtrain to fight by my side?

[Deleted]

Is there an ideal way to level them or am I just going to have to sacrifice some of my exp if I want little Doomtrain to fight by my side?

Just gotta let them whack at the mobs with you. It's sort of a sacrifice really, less exp for the ability to kill them quicker.

[barkong]

I really want to level my chocobo but I'm kind of turned off by the fact it takes some of your exp away. Even if they are not mandatory I just think its neat seeing people fighting mobs with their chocobo.

Is there an ideal way to level them or am I just going to have to sacrifice some of my exp if I want little Doomtrain to fight by my side?

I dont even think thats the biggest problem with chocobo coompanions. I just hate the fact they are considered party members. You cant have one out while you queue in the duty finder.

As for the whole exp thing, its worth, even as a healer speced chocobo he does a lot of free damage, the exp is negligble.

[Irian]

Unless you're a healer yourself, I honestly can't imagine anything would be better than the healer chocobo.

The damage tree doesn't really start getting you a notable damage increase until late-tree but as soon as you get Choco Cure your chocobo is a fully-fledged offhealer who will spam it on you on cooldown the moment you're sub 50%, or if brought to 80%ish when in Healer stance. Better yet, you can put them on healer stance to keep them from dying to world bosses with AoEs and such and keep you up pretty reliably.

You may be tempted to go DPS but I really wouldn't suggest it until you have enough points to actually make it worth it, which I would say is about 7-8, and even then I still like healer chocobo much better as it does decent damage and keeps you alive. It is a good option for people who like playing healers though.
Tank chocobo will never be able to hold threat, just don't bother.

[Binaris]

Unless you're a healer yourself, I honestly can't imagine anything would be better than the healer chocobo.

The damage tree doesn't really start getting you a notable damage increase until late-tree but as soon as you get Choco Cure your chocobo is a fully-fledged offhealer who will spam it on you on cooldown the moment you're sub 50%, or if brought to 80%ish when in Healer stance. Better yet, you can put them on healer stance to keep them from dying to world bosses with AoEs and such and keep you up pretty reliably.

You may be tempted to go DPS but I really wouldn't suggest it until you have enough points to actually make it worth it, which I would say is about 7-8, and even then I still like healer chocobo much better as it does decent damage and keeps you alive. It is a good option for people who like playing healers though.
Tank chocobo will never be able to hold threat, just don't bother.

I leveled my paladin first in HW, and the dps choco pretty much matched my dps at lvl 5, It is definitely worth it for a tank/healer. A dpser may be better of with the healer first but after choco cure i would recommend hybrid

[Deleted]

If you max out both DPS + Tank, is it better (dps-wise) to use him in Free Stance? (Tank skills have close to equal potencies)
How high are it's cooldowns and how often will he use a skill?

I'd test it myself but my bird is .... ~lvl 6 or something and sometimes, if the mob lives long enough, It feels as if he is not using a skill for ~5-10 seconds before he starts doing them again.

[Kazgrel]

Spec it for healing, even if you are on a healer job. Take it from someone else who figured that there was logic to having a tank pet as a dps new to the game (and a fellow BLM). With how bursty our damage is, the bird was practically useless as a tank. In fact, the healer aerves to tank adds via healing threat enough that I can focus my target down.

Also, do NOT spend GC seals on the reset item. You can get it for almost nothing cost wise from the allied seal vendor who is also in your GC headquarters.

[Lathais]

Spec it for healing, even if you are on a healer job. Take it from someone else who figured that there was logic to having a tank pet as a dps new to the game (and a fellow BLM). With how bursty our damage is, the bird was practically useless as a tank. In fact, the healer aerves to tank adds via healing threat enough that I can focus my target down.

Also, do NOT spend GC seals on the reset item. You can get it for almost nothing cost wise from the allied seal vendor who is also in your GC headquarters.

That's why I go for the hybrid build in the post I linked above. It's got enough in the tank tree to help out a bit, enough in the healing to help me heal and enough in DPS to do some decent damage. Hybrid build sems like the way to go. It helps me out no matter what role I am in, tnak, heals or DPS.

[Katchii]

I've got a full Healer bird at level 7 and I love it. Putting it on Free Stance let's it peck away and do some pretty decent damage while I do most of the work, but never really have to worry about dying unless I'm stupid and pull too much because it can heal me just fine. If I'm playing a healer, killing goes a bit slow, but I'm never in danger of dying so it makes up for it.

I may try the DPS/Heal Hybrid once I max out heals, but not before/ I don't think I'll ever use the tank stuff... seems useless, except to get the really cool looking tank bird barding.

[Lathais]

I've got a full Healer bird at level 7 and I love it. Putting it on Free Stance let's it peck away and do some pretty decent damage while I do most of the work, but never really have to worry about dying unless I'm stupid and pull too much because it can heal me just fine. If I'm playing a healer, killing goes a bit slow, but I'm never in danger of dying so it makes up for it.

I may try the DPS/Heal Hybrid once I max out heals, but not before/ I don't think I'll ever use the tank stuff... seems useless, except to get the really cool looking tank bird barding.

I still think it's a good idea to get the first two skills in the tank tree. I mean, the first thing is another 150 potency attack, same as the first one in the attacker tree, except it has additional enmity. It adds to the DPS even if the enmity on it is pointless. The second trait gives 5% STR increase for cheap, same as the second trait in the attacker tree. It's almost a no brainer. The first 2 traits in the defender tree provide the same amount of DPS as the first 2 in the attacker tree. Really, unless you are going full heals, there is no good reason not to take them. For 4 SP it's totally worth it.

Edit to add, I tested this out a bit once I got home and patched. I was pretty sure before, but did not want to say anything until I tested it, as I had changed the traits around some. I respecced him, as the above linked post shows. He is currently Rank 7. As a SCH, I can DoT one mob with Aero(from cross class) and my Chocobo attacks it and tanks it. I then pull another mob with Bio II/Miasma/Bio and then drag it on top of the one my chocobo is tanking then Bane. Broil the one that is attacking me until dead, Choco kills the other and I never pull aggro. Those first 2 traits in Tank tree are totally worth it. Beyond that, not so much though.