Chocobo Companion Question

[ChickensEvil]

Hey these four posts are awesome! I would almost suggest a separate thread with a guide of sorts to help people out and also get feedback on these suggested builds. Just as a tip, you can stick more than 1000 characters in a post if you type the whole thing up, cut out the excess to get under the 1000 limit then edit the post sticking it all back in afterward

[Fyrebrand]

As an Arcanist/Summoner, I really have no idea what to have my chocobo do. Should I have my summoned pet be an attacker, and have chocobo tank? Or have my summoned pet be a tank, and let chocobo attack? There's no way to know unless I can test it out for myself and see what works. But, if there is no way to rearrange or reset the chocobo's points, then that goes right out the window.

Not to mention, supposedly this game is intended for people to level potentially every class/job in the game. So, a tanking chocobo might work fine for a squishy caster -- but for a Gladiator or Marauder, it may not be necessary. Once all the people throwing snark at the OP get to this stage of their game, they will be the ones screaming at SE to allow chocobo respecialization.

If they don't want us to retrain our chocobos, maybe there is a possibility of getting different kinds of companions down the road? Or, chocobo breeding sounds great too...

[Maelwys]

As an Arcanist/Summoner, I really have no idea what to have my chocobo do. Should I have my summoned pet be an attacker, and have chocobo tank? Or have my summoned pet be a tank, and let chocobo attack? There's no way to know unless I can test it out for myself and see what works. But, if there is no way to rearrange or reset the chocobo's points, then that goes right out the window.

They already posted earlier in this very thread that they're intending to bring out a means to respec your Chocobo, but it'll take a while to get to us.

That said, for an Arcanist/Summoner you might not think that you're going to get much usage out of the chocobo's meagre healing abilities, but if you ever intend to level up other classes they will prove quite useful, and any healing used by the chocobo will help towards allowing it to hold hate.

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[LEVELLING CHOICES EDITED OUT due to later observations, see next post!]

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Also, one additional build suggests itself to me:

Build #5 - "Maximum ST Damage"
9x Attacker (45 SP), 4x Defender (10SP) = 55 SP Total
(Compared to Build #3, trades 15% Crit Rate, 5% Acc, 5% HP and any Healing capability for 10% STR, +10% Attack Speed and a fifth Weaponskill)

It loses a lot of utility, but the extra STR and Attack Speed would probably be slightly better than the Crit Rate and Acc in a damage race. This will also make the Chocobo's damage output much more consistent over time since it doesn't rely as much on Critical Hits. For someone who is never going to play a melee class and can handle their own healing, this companion setup might make sense.

Just as a tip, you can stick more than 1000 characters in a post if you type the whole thing up, cut out the excess to get under the 1000 limit then edit the post sticking it all back in afterward

Thanks, SE's posting limits seem to be a bit harsh!

The builds are based mostly on conjecture rather than hard information, so I'm not sure a 'guide' would be appropriate yet; but I've updated the Consolegames wiki page with the new information we've been given about SP and respecs.

[SaderX]

Here is my Healer base build, for those who like a good healing Chocobo.

Personal opinion I will say only Healer tree is worth to max. AOE heal is not really about your party healing but just healing yourself and your chocobo at the same time to keep both alive, less confusion to AI. Healing is also AOE enmity will be better then any AOE enmity skill from Defender unless you position well for skill.

Healer Chocobo can take longer to Rank up due to slow killing but will suit all class/job.

(High HP & Heal) HEAL/AOE TANK -

Lvl 9 Healer (45 SP), Lvl 3 Defender (6 SP), Lvl 2 Attacker (3 SP). 1 SP left over

+10% STR
+20% HP
+25% Mind
+5% Acc
+15% Crit Rate
+30% Healing/30s
150 Potency ATK + Enmity Skills
150 Potency ATK Skills
25 HoT/18s
300 Potency Heal

Maelwys's build No. 3 should also be a good healer too. Heal do Critical but will also be a bit of a hit and miss feel, since it more about luck and Stun 5 sec = 5 sec of no damage (SOLO MOB BASE).

[Wolfhammer]

Wah...
At least look like you know what you're talking about. Why would the top DPS want to put points in to Attack stance when any of the others would be far better (Bard has large aggro pull and inability to use healing spells, etc.)?

I lol'd hard when I saw him say spec a CNJ choco into heals HA!

[Maelwys]

Quick update:

OmegaXTC has hit Rank 10 Chocobo and in the process has revealed a few interesting bits of additional information.

Firstly, the Chocobo's summon duration at Level #10 does appear to be 15 minutes as-predicted.
Secondly, getting from Level #9 to Level #10 takes a LONG time.
Thirdly, the Rank #7 Healer Stance's +30% Healing Buff looks to be very high uptime (75% or higher) which makes it probably the best survivability buff you can get aside from the Rank #4 Cure.

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For a min/maxxed general-purpose hybrid build, I'm now leaning towards:
+ Rank #3 Defender, Rank #6 Attacker, Rank #7 Healer (55 SP total)

Only having one weaponskill available in Defender stance (an +enmity attack) should mean that you can switch your Chicken into that stance whenever you want to force him to pull maximum hate on something. Healing Stance will prevent him from autoattacking or using any weaponskills, and will make him start curebombing you whenever you drop below ~75% HP (in Free Stance he waits until ~50% HP). Free Stance would be used for the majority of situations, letting the Chocobo autoattack and cycle his heals and other damaging abilities as needed.

A note about Healing Stance: I could see it being useful for a Non-Melee Damage Dealer - someone who doesn't need any extra damage output and instead wants maximum survivability, but as a Paladin I REALLY don't like using it. Aside from the DPS loss, my Chocobo has far too much of a tendency to stand right beside me and get hit with cone attacks, which means he now has to heal himself as well as me. Whilst tanking things I find leaving the Chicken in Free Stance makes me last longer, even with the lowered Cure trigger threshold... and the additional DPS doesn't hurt either!

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Suggested Chocobo Progression:
+ Level 1 (1 SP) - Rank 1 Healer (HoT) [0 SP remaining]
+ Level 2 (2 SP) - Rank 1 Defender (Enmity WS) + Rank 1 Attacker (WS) [0 SP remaining]
+ Level 3 (3 SP) - Rank 2 Healer (MND Trait) [1 SP remaining]
+ Level 4 (4 SP) - Rank 3 Healer (HP Trait) + Rank 2 Attacker [STR Trait] [0 SP remaining]
+ Level 5 (5 SP) - Rank 4 Healer (Cure) [1 SP Remaining]
+ Level 6 (6 SP) - Rank 3 Attacker (+HP Trait) + Rank 4 Attacker (DoT WS) [0 SP remaining]
+ Level 7 (7 SP) - Rank 5 Healer (Acc Trait) + Rank 2 Defender (STR Trait) [0 SP remaining]
+ Level 8 (8 SP) - Rank 6 Healer (Crit Rate Trait) [2 SP remaining]
+ Level 9 (9 SP) - Rank 7 Healer (+Potency Buff) + Rank 3 Defender (HP Trait) [1 SP remaining]
+ Level 10 (10 SP) - Rank 5 Attacker (Acc Trait) + Rank 6 Attacker (Crit Trait) [0 SP remaining]

Since it appears to take a very LONG time to get from Level 9 to Level 10, you could swap the level 9 + 10 choices around depending on whether you want more Survivability or more DPS earlier.

[LucisDragoon]

The issue with creating a Chocobo that has skills from two or more classes is that you won't be able to get a Rank 10 Barding.

[coldreactive]

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

Seeing as I don't really care if I unlock the barding or not... I will probably go for build number 2 (Or the update above in post 106, copied below), since I can utilize almost every class myself, and need a companion that can "Do it all."

Quick update:

OmegaXTC has hit Rank 10 Chocobo and in the process has revealed a few interesting bits of additional information.

Firstly, the Chocobo's summon duration at Level #10 does appear to be 15 minutes as-predicted.
Secondly, getting from Level #9 to Level #10 takes a LONG time.
Thirdly, the Rank #7 Healer Stance's +30% Healing Buff looks to be very high uptime (75% or higher) which makes it probably the best survivability buff you can get aside from the Rank #4 Cure.

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For a min/maxxed general-purpose hybrid build, I'm now leaning towards:
+ Rank #3 Defender, Rank #6 Attacker, Rank #7 Healer (55 SP total)

Only having one weaponskill available in Defender stance (an +enmity attack) should mean that you can switch your Chicken into that stance whenever you want to force him to pull maximum hate on something. Healing Stance will prevent him from autoattacking or using any weaponskills, and will make him start curebombing you whenever you drop below ~75% HP (in Free Stance he waits until ~50% HP). Free Stance would be used for the majority of situations, letting the Chocobo autoattack and cycle his heals and other damaging abilities as needed.

A note about Healing Stance: I could see it being useful for a Non-Melee Damage Dealer - someone who doesn't need any extra damage output and instead wants maximum survivability, but as a Paladin I REALLY don't like using it. Aside from the DPS loss, my Chocobo has far too much of a tendency to stand right beside me and get hit with cone attacks, which means he now has to heal himself as well as me. Whilst tanking things I find leaving the Chicken in Free Stance makes me last longer, even with the lowered Cure trigger threshold... and the additional DPS doesn't hurt either!

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Suggested Chocobo Progression:
+ Level 1 (1 SP) - Rank 1 Healer (HoT) [0 SP remaining]
+ Level 2 (2 SP) - Rank 1 Defender (Enmity WS) + Rank 1 Attacker (WS) [0 SP remaining]
+ Level 3 (3 SP) - Rank 2 Healer (MND Trait) [1 SP remaining]
+ Level 4 (4 SP) - Rank 3 Healer (HP Trait) + Rank 2 Attacker [STR Trait] [0 SP remaining]
+ Level 5 (5 SP) - Rank 4 Healer (Cure) [1 SP Remaining]
+ Level 6 (6 SP) - Rank 3 Attacker (+HP Trait) + Rank 4 Attacker (DoT WS) [0 SP remaining]
+ Level 7 (7 SP) - Rank 5 Healer (Acc Trait) + Rank 2 Defender (STR Trait) [0 SP remaining]
+ Level 8 (8 SP) - Rank 6 Healer (Crit Rate Trait) [2 SP remaining]
+ Level 9 (9 SP) - Rank 7 Healer (+Potency Buff) + Rank 3 Defender (HP Trait) [1 SP remaining]
+ Level 10 (10 SP) - Rank 5 Attacker (Acc Trait) + Rank 6 Attacker (Crit Trait) [0 SP remaining]

Since it appears to take a very LONG time to get from Level 9 to Level 10, you could swap the level 9 + 10 choices around depending on whether you want more Survivability or more DPS earlier.

[killergerms]

i hit rank 10 chocobo as my healer a few weeks ago and it was a good investment. not only does my chocobo look awesome in whm barding but it does heal more than people expect, so im satisfied

[Elurra]

I really hope we can reset points eventually. I didn't know the reward for rank 10 was chocobo barding at first. Since my main job is white mage, I put a point into tank when I started. But I want the white mage barding, so the companion system is completely useless to me now. If I can never get the barding I want now, then what's the point?