New WHM: what stance seems to work best for companion?

Just got WHM stone and companion can be trained now. But I'm unsure whether it's best to go with damage or tank stance for companion. I'm assuming that healer stance would be redundant but don't know for sure. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. What's your preference?

P.S. Not sure this is the right board. Let me know if not....

Thanks!

Healer chocobo. Without Diversion, tank chocobo won't ever be able to keep anything off you, and for now, you would lose more DPS from stopping to heal yourself than the chocobo would lose from stopping to heal you. I would take the healer tree to rank 8 at least, before putting points in tank or attacker, no matter what job you play.


Addendum: PS, we're all talking about which skill tree to put points in. As for actual stances, use Free Stance unless fighting a really tough mob like a FATE boss, in which case use Healer Stance.

Really interesting. That's pretty much the exact opposite of what I thought the answer would be. It pays to ask. Thanks for the info Rongway.

I haven't even tried to number crunch to see if it was optimal or not, but I leveled WHM with a DPS chocobo and had no issues.

i have my chocobo all the time in dps stance when playing healer or tank and only switch in rare occasions to healer when playing DD.

the tank chocobo is completely useless, since it can't hold enmity at all.

healer chocobo is maybe usefull for DD classes, but it's heals are so weak and his KI so dumb... i died more than once on a dps class, despite the fact that the damage i took wasn't even that high... not to mention a healer chocobo is mostly busy with healing himself, because he eats sooo much damage.

i would say take the dps route. it's a nice addition to the weaker dps of a healer (mine does at lvl 70 with rank 20 and his favorite dps food around 1500 dps if i remember correctly) and you can always heal yourself if necessary. later you will have off-gcd heals and you will not lose any dps for healing.

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Originally Posted by Roamer

Really interesting. That's pretty much the exact opposite of what I thought the answer would be. It pays to ask. Thanks for the info Rongway.

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DPS choco is garbage. Tank choco is kinda garbage even with abilities.

Your own DPS is a good reason to go heal choco but...If nothing else, go healer choco for when you decide to level something else, too.

Tint brings up a good point, that later you will have oGCD heals and won't have to stop attacking to heal yourself, which is why I said "for now".

Bringing up how much extra DPS he does at rank 20 with favored food is moot, though, since at rank 20 of course you'll have both damage and healing trees maxed anyway. Starting out, with a fresh companion, you'll get the most out of putting points into the healer tree first.

It won't really matter that much when you're a high level and your chocobo is still rank 5~8, but you could level literally every combat job to 70 and not max out your chocobo. Might as well have something that your other jobs can use, and it'll still benefit you even as a healer.


Addendum: PS, we're all talking about which skill tree to put points in. As for actual stances, use Free Stance unless fighting a really tough mob like a FATE boss, in which case use Healer Stance.

This is all great info. My high is only 32 so the opinions of others who are high level is so beneficial. Thanks for taking the time to write everyone!!!

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Originally Posted by Daleb

I haven't even tried to number crunch to see if it was optimal or not, but I leveled WHM with a DPS chocobo and had no issues.

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And I levelled my WHM mostly without a Chocobo at all and had no issues - but hey, that's not the point. Healer Chocobo is the way to go. DPS Choco isn't going to be churning out as respectable numbers as one would like, whereas if any option can stave off any possible need to stop doing DPS yourself then it's worth it (yes, even though WHM has plenty of ogcd's later). You will encounter certain situations where mobs can survive longer than expected and/or resort to more mass-pulling and less self-monitoring when you have something backing you up. By comparison, if players can struggle to hold emnity over self-healing WHM's going full damage, then a Choco-tank has no chance at all. A DPS-Choco's contribution would largely be lost the moment you stop throwing rocks (when compared to an alternative that kept you throwing them).

My Chocobo skills are the healer set of skils first and then the dps set of skills. I always keep it in free stance. Never had issues with any job pairing.

IMO you want to at least grab Choco Cure from the healer tree before building it up however you want. The chocobo AI is decently capable of keeping you alive in free stance but if something would hit you hard i.e. a hunt target that outlevels you significantly you can always switch to heal stance to make it more proactive.