Chocobo Companion Question

[Loveliss]

Being able to use DF while your Choco is out would be nice.. Auto dismiss once you commence.. pop back out after..

[kimoi]

I hope in the future, there's a high-level quest along the lines of "My Feistier Chocobo" that would allow us to get our Chocobo up to Rank 20. I'm not asking for gifts. Of course, it would take a long time to level it up, but for those who do, they could have a more versatile bird.

[Roth_Trailfinder]

If they continue giving points equal to the Chocobo's level, at level 20 you would have 210 points.

At 55 points for each area, you would only need 165 - those other 45 points would be wasted. OR - the higher ranks would add levels to each of the three stances, and you would run into more of the same issue that people have now, wondering how to optimally spec the bird.

[Kazadora]

I seen a player earlier today while running some FATES that had a level 13 Chocobo Companion, I made sure to actually target it to be sure but it seems that level 10 is not the max, now if you actually earn SP afterwards is the only thing to find out. I didn't get a chance to ask him anything as he probably teleported right after.

[Majikza]

Hello, everyone!

You’ll be happy to know that we are in fact planning for a way to re-allocate your companion skill points. Once we have the details, including when we plan on implementing this, we will be sure to let you all know!

Also, for those of you who are curious, the maximum amount of skill points you can earn is 55 points. In order to learn the final ability for each role, you’ll need to put in all of these points. Hopefully this information will help you plan out your companion’s abilities a bit better until we introduce the method for re-allocation.

Good to know thanks for the heads up. So if we put a point in anything else we can't get the final skill? Skill reallocation will probably be out before I can get that far, but this is a good thing to know anyway thanks very much.

[Stryker]

The level of your bird is the same level as the class you're playing. The rank is the actual level that the bird is and I don't think you can see that. That rank can only go up to rank 10. I think the "level" that you see is there to match it up with your HP. Don't want a rank 1 bird to have the same HP as a lvl 1 right? So damage and HP scale with the level of your class, the rank is dependent on the exp it receives from your fights.

[Maelwys]

I got my bird up a few ranks and have been playing about with the Chocobo abilities
From what we know, you get a maximum of 55 SP Points (at level 10) to spend on Chocobo abilities.

Your chocobo needs to be at a certain level to pick each ability and YOU MUST BUY ALL ABILITIES IN ORDER. This means you can't take a rank 3 ability without taking the rank 1 and rank 2 ones before it.

The higher up a tree you go, the greater the SP cost. Level 1 abilities cost 1 SP, Level 2 Abilities cost 2 SP (plus the 1 SP from level 1), etc. up to level 10.

Basically; if you buy all the abilities from one tree, it will cost you all your SP (at any level). So you can either "Fully spec" into one tree, or mix-and-match lower-rank abilities from different trees.

From what I can determine, it looks like going Hybrid is going to be the best option except for in very specific circumstances -

[Maelwys]

For reference, Chocobo Ability List:

*** Defender ***
1 SP: 150 Potency Attack with +Enmity
3 SP: +5% Str Trait
6 SP: +10% HP Trait
10 SP: 130 Potency Attack, +20% Slow for 12s
15 SP: +5% Acc Trait
21 SP: +15% Crit Rate Trait
28 SP: 15% Damage Reduction for 15s
36 SP: +5% Str Trait
45 SP: +10% HP Trait
55 SP: 150 Potency Cone Attack with +Enmity

*** Attacker ***
1 SP: 150 Potency Attack
3 SP: +5% Str Trait
6 SP: +5% HP Trait
10 SP: 130 Potency Attack, 20 Potency DoT for 18s
15 SP: +5% Acc Trait
21 SP: +15% Crit Rate Trait
28 SP: 130 Potency Attack, Stun for 5s
36 SP: +10% Str Trait
45 SP: +10% Attack Speed Trait
55 SP: 170 Potency Cone Attack

*** Healer ***
1 SP: 25 Potency HoT for 18s
3 SP: +10% Mnd Trait
6 SP: +5% HP Trait
10 SP: 300 Potency Heal
15 SP: +5% Acc Trait
21 SP: +15% Crit Rate Trait
28 SP: +30% Healing Potency for 30s
36 SP: +15% Mnd Trait
45 SP: +5% HP Trait
55 SP: 150 Potency Heal PBAoE

[Maelwys]

Observations:

(i) Healer Stance's level 1 regen ability will top you up, but not save you. It is only really noticable out-of-the-box on a GLD or PLD tank. That said, taking the first 4 ability ranks in Healer stance basically gives you a pocket "mini healbot" and is VERY good return for 10 SP.

(ii) Companion AI is very, very dumb. I'd be very surprised if it was able to get much milage out of the level 10 Cone attacks or AoE Heal. This likely makes spending 10 SP on those final abilities (usually) a bit of a waste.

(iii) Traits appear to STACK. Example: 5% HP from level 3 Healer plus 10% from level 3 Defender = 15% HP total.

(iv) If your bird is set to 'Free Stance' then it will try to cycle heals in between auto-attacks and other abilities if anyone needs them. If your bird is set to 'Healer Stance' then it shouldn't try to use any other abilities or auto-attack, and should only heal. (Hopefully in future patches it will also learn to STAND AWAY FROM ENEMY PBAoEs...)

[Maelwys]

With that in mind, four Hybrid builds suggest themselves to me:

Build #1 - "DD/Healer Hybrid"
Take the first 4 ranks in Healer Stance (10 SP), and 9 ranks in Attacker Stance (45 SP) for 55 SP total.
= Three good Weaponskills, one HoT, one Heal, a Stun, and a DoT.
+10% HP, +5% Acc, +15% Str, +15% Crit Rate, +10% MND, +10% Attack Speed

Build #2 - "Balanced Tank/DD/Healer"
4x Healer (10 SP), 6x Attacker (21 SP), 6x Defender (21 SP) = 52 SP Total
= Four good Weaponskills, one HoT, one Heal. Has a Slow, a DoT, and an +enmity ability.
+20% HP, +10% Acc, +10% Str, +30% Crit Rate, +10% MND

Build #3 - "More Attack, Less Tank"
6x Healer (21 SP), 7x Attacker (28 SP), 3x Defender (6 SP) = 55 SP Total
= Same as #2, but trades the +Slow Weaponskill for a +Stun Weaponskill.

Build #4 - "More Tank, Less Attack"
6x Healer (21 SP), 3x Attacker (6 SP), 7x Defender (28 SP) = 55 SP Total
= Same as #2, but trades the +DoT for a damage reduction ability.