Cheap companion alternatives for Buff/DPS Devotion Paladin?

[LaeLena]

Managed to get a friend to play and she wants a Buff/DPS Devotion Paladin. Problem is that the guide recommeds companions that are waaaaay out of her league so we are looking at cheap / easy to get / noob firendly alternatives that can be bought without Zen. The reason I'm posting here is the fact that my friend doesn't use Steam and neither of us can post on the offical forum (her account is obviously new so she can't post and for some reason my account says the same thing even tho I've had an account for years).

Anyway the build aims for high power, hp and crit and the companions listed on the guide are;
Chultan Tiger (active comapnion)
Air Archon
Earth Archon
Siege Master
Combion Magus

I told her to pick Con Artist or Sellsowrd as her starting companion.

P.S. I think this is the guide she is following https://nw.mmominds.com/2018/05/23/oathbound-paladin-devotion-stella-build-mod-13/

[Wolverine]

Well, not sure if
https://steamcommunity.com/app/109600/discussions/0/1697174779855486865/
is still working, but it might be worth a try.

https://neverwinter.gamepedia.com/Companion
and i'd just go with any cheap rare or epic companion i can find on the AH for now.

Zhentarim Warlock or Ghost as actice companion with R7 or R8 Bonding Runestones.
The epic Energon for some extra HP, and fill the other active companion slots with whatever you can afford.
+3 rare companion equipment shouldn't be too expensive either, but cheaper regular rare level 70 equipment will also do, and fill the items with R6 enchantments.

[d3athstroke]

Only companion you ever need on paladin is energon that list is complete garbage.
Cambion on Paladin wtf is that ♥♥♥♥

[LaeLena]

@Logan
Ty yet again. Unfortuantely the promo code didn't work, but my friend seems happy with the Ghost I bought her and she is now working towards getting the Energon and some Runestones to get things going.

[Wolverine]

You're welcome, about that list above, it's aimed at players that either want to go for "best in slot" in all aspects of the game, or are trying to min/max their characters to the extreme...

The best you can do is work with what is in your reach and build your character up within reason from there.
A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

https://www.arcgames.com/en/nw-refer-a-friend/
and don't forget to give your friend your referal link for some more free goodies.
The rare Mercenary Companion she can get from this isn't that bad either, and will do until she gets something better.

And since she likes the Ghost, she might also want to have a look at the Wandering Scarecrow.

Just remember to tell her to not upgrade those companions... it makes more sense to buy a better/cheaper epic companion from the AH.

[LaeLena]

There is a refer-a-friend? How nice that they didn't mention it at any point and my friend is already past the really low level limit. I mean she can't even chat with people because she is below level 15, but the referal link only works until level 10 -.-

Edit: Aaaand she just tried deleting her charcter becuse it says "Recruits with existing Arc accounts can only be 'referred' if their highest character level is 1-10". So her logic was deleting her char = no chars so refer should work. Turns out it counts deleted chars so I think she might destroy whoever ends up taking her ticket :D

[Wolverine]

Well, the last time i checked it out, it even worked for accounts with characters up to level 60... no need for deleting anything - unless she really wants to start a new character.

Or did they change the refering system in the meantime?
Anyway, same as with the companion promotion, just give it a try...

https://www.reddit.com/r/Neverwinter/wiki/leveling
and she has to complete at least 5 quest chains to unlock chat/auction house/trading.

[Adinos]

Regarding the companion list...

Chultan Tiger (active comapnion)
Air Archon
Earth Archon
Siege Master
Cambion Magus

...it is a semi-typical DPS-focused setup. The Chultan Tiger is a good choice for a summoned companion for just about any character, as it provides a good debuff - the same applies to the Con Artist, Sellsword and Rebel Mercenary, but some of them are harder to gear up than the tiger. It is a good idea to use one of those 4 as summoned, but note that the last 3 are only worth using once they are at level 30 or higher, as that's when they get the debuff.

However, for any such companion to be really useful, you really need two things - 3 bonding runestones, at least of level 10 and a full set of double-slotted gear.

Siege Master, Air Archon, Earth Archon (and maybe Fire Archon as well) are pretty much standard active companions for any DPS-focused character.

Cambion magus provides a Crit severity bonus. Again, it is a pure DPS companion, but more importantly it is only worth using if your Crit Chance is at 100% or so.

Some OPs like the Energon, as it provides a 5% HP bonus - it is also fairly cheap.

The thing is, you seem to be looking at a High-DPS end-game build - which is fine as such, but not really suitable while leveling up.

[Wolverine]

While i do see the benefits of the Tiger, i'm wondering if it's really worth it considering how fast a "close combat" companion goes down in Bavoria...

I'm still running around with the Paranoid Delusion companion, but i'm probably going to change to something else for now.

I've seen a lot of players with the Lillend companions, thinking of switching back to that or the Alchemist Experimenter and name him Igor.

[Adinos]

I am personally using the Harper bard. It is a debuff companion, like the other 4, but maybe not quite as good. It does, however, have a couple of advantages - it is not very aggressive, so mobs may ignore it, allowing it to stay alive and buff me. I also have a full set of Loyal gear for it...something which you cannot really get any more.

The problem with lillend is that it is fine for weaker groups which can use the heals, but in a strong group anyone has enough Life Steal to not need any external healing and then the debuffs from the 4(5) debuff companions are the most valuable companion powers.

[LaeLena]

The story so far:
- I sent my referral link to my friend, but she can't accept it because she has or had a character above level 10 (meanwhile she isn't able to contact me in game or post on forums because her level is too low / account is new)
- She sent a ticket asking if our accounts could be linked because she has barely played the game before hitting level 10 due to the double exp event - request denied
- She made a new account, used my link and started leveling again. She is almost level 20 now and we haven't even gotten the level 5 rewards yet. She hit level 5 like 6 hours ago and it is supposed to take "a few hours" for the rewards to become available. Somehow I fear she will hit level 60 before she even gets her gear box that is supposed to give her gear from level 5 to 60 :D (she'll write a ticket if the rewards don't show up by tomorrow morning).

About the companions:
We both know that what she is looking at is an end game build, that is why I'm asking for alternatives that would fit a new player better. So far the Ghost, Sellsword, Con Artist and uhh Control Wizrad (?) have worked fine. Personally I love Lillend when I'm playing alone and doing content that is a bit above what I can comfortably do with my gear.. but idk if my friend as a paladin would need the heals and the current price of 520k AD is a bit much for a new player.

[Wolverine]

It makes no sense to set the limit for using the refer-a-friend link that low, considering how fast players can level up these days... and it looks like they still haven't repaired the missing rewards bug either.

https://www.arcgames.com/en/forums/neverwinter#/discussion/1240104/refer-a-friend-rewards-not-received
contact the support right away, and ask them kindly to get the rewards on the way.

About the companions, i'd keep the Ghost but replace the Sellsword/Con Artist/Control Wizard with Energon/Angel of Protection/Astral Deva and the Savage Allosaur or Tamed Velociraptor (depending on what active bonus she prefers) when she unlocks the 5th active companion slot.
The Angel as healer backup, when she needs some extra help, and the Astral Deva has a nice active bonus and is rather cheap.

Lillend is currently around 350k AD, and that amount of AD is better invested in Bonding Runestones and +3 or higher companion equipment.
Just wait for the Winter Festival, and you'll be able to get a Lillend from the event as drop or from the AH for less then 50k AD.
Besides, this also shows that you can make a lot of AD with banking the right items from events and selling them later...

[LaeLena]

I hope she can start working on getting better companions and stuff soon. Right now she is too paranoid about having to start over yet again so she stopped playing while waiting for her ticket to get looked at.

[Wolverine]

https://www.arcgames.com/en/games/neverwinter/news/detail/10952813
Items and Economy
General
...
Refer-a-Friend rewards once again appear at the Reward Claims Agent.
...

[LaeLena]

Well that is funny. My friend uninstalled the game yesterday after having waited for a week to get replay to her ticket and getting "Rewards are bugged and will be fixed in a future patch. You'll have to wait until then." Maybe the GM should have mentioned that the future patch would happen the next day :D

[Wolverine]

The Summer Festival starts today
https://www.arcgames.com/en/games/neverwinter/news/detail/10948643
i'd suggest to download/patch the game again, and have some fun with the event.

It would have been nice to get the referal rewards in time, but considering how fast a character can level up these days, no point in pausing the game and waiting for them.
- The heirloom items are only usefull up to level 60.
- Quest chains in Blacklake District/Neverdeath Graveyard/Benign Order of the Third Eye campaign give free bags.
- As you can see from the link, events offer rare and epic mounts as reward too.
- The Mercenary companion isn't bad, but upgrading it would cost you much more then buying a better epic companion from the AH.
- More then enough Retrain Tokens can be gathered during the Winter Festival.
- And that one extra character slot isn't worth waiting for a GM to figure out what is messing around with the rewards either.

Besides, there'll probably be other promotions and more events in the future...