I’ve googled this and for every player who insists that one is better, there is another player who insists that he’s wrong and the other one is better. All the threads I’ve read are old, so I suspect there’s a lot of out-of-date info there.
What is the current consensus on these two? My wife and I are both Agility builds currently using short swords, but we are wiling to switch to knives or some other, faster weapon if that would help Commanding Presence. We are on an Official Siptah server and currently have Accursed Fighter I’s as our followers, outfitting them with the best gear we can while we are still leveling up.
IMHO Commanding Presence is absolute garbage.
The 5 or so HP your thrall gets from your hits will not save it during any fight.
Meanwhile the regen between fights that Healthy Diet gives is usually enough to top off your thrall between groups of enemies.
I don’t get this concept that it “saves food”. How on earth? Yes during a fight you’ll get those tiny little 5hp ticks, but you lose the healing in-between and have to heal up your thrall with bandages. Besides, you’re literally showered in food in the game now: every single trash mob is a food pinata. I keep a few buff foods that drop and the trash food goes in my thrall’s inventory for free healing. Stacks of gruel I keep for boss fights.
Healthy Diet reduces downtime. Even after being brought to low health, your thralls will quickly be ready for the next fight.
Commanding Presence gives a veeeeery tiny amount of healing in combat. That additional does allow to beat bosses you couldn’t beat without - at least in theory. I question that this healing is enough to make much of a difference, though.
As you are playing in a duo, the latter should be a non-issue. You damage output should be roughly twice to a solo player, and as all bosses can be beaten solo, you should not rely on a tiny amount of additional in combat healing.
i dont even stack em with food during fights now- just healing bandages.They need to survive the fight without food and then ill heal them. Ill throw whatever stat i want to boost food on them- so STR , AGL or Grit.
So i stay with command since im fighting right beside them.
If they cant survive a fight without the food , they dont deserve a spot in my clan.
Only my purge fighters get stacks of food since they are facing waves.
Well sure, if you don’t actually do any fighting yourself
No it doesn’t, their regen is completely disabled for 10 seconds after taking damage and the game has a million other ways of healing outside of combat.
In any case, the guide linked above has a whole section that breaks this down. Though the link was made to some random comment down below and not the actual OP and for some reason the table of contents is no longer clickable… so I’ll just screenshot it:
Or if you actually kill MOBs effectively and have time outside of combat for your thralls to heal
You can kill the Red Mother in 30 seconds now, a full katana combo (with a Beast of Burden build even) takes off over 1/4 of her health. So what on earth are you doing where the 3 points of healing your thrall gets per hit actually matters?
You will barely notice the benefits of comanding presence. A lot of npcs deal considerabley higher dmg presently, so it won’t be that small amount of health they gain from your hits that will make much of a difference. Besides, npcs hp being lower makes for faster fights, so less hits, less healing.
Healthy diet is just more practical between fights.
Neither of the perks is decisive anyway.
From my high horse I say Commanding Presence but like pretty much what @Xevyr said it depends on whether you fight alongside them or use them as work horses.
I main a Momentum and on most fights their health doesn’t change much.
Nah, even if you fight. It doesn’t pay up. At least healthy diet makes a little difference when you go from A to B after a fight. But, basically, it’s indifferent. Go with what feels better as both effects are small and you can remedy their absence easily.
I would say the real decision comes between well trained and war party. Both have pros and cons, but war party has been acting up a lot on the PS5. If it works, two thralls can wreak havoc, one helping the other. It’s rare having both thralls stunlocked simultaneously.
The problem is that often one of them spaces out. It’s a nasty bug, as you trade having a significantly stronger thrall for that second one.
Even with baby thralls I still use it and I level them from 0 in Warmaker. (Bypassing the Arena Champ because I’m not that mean.) I don’t notice a difference either way. They still get food and wraps just in case but typically when using the wraps it’s because they gained a Vitality perk along the way.
I should note that I use it with war party and that the thralls have decent armor with bulked plating.
Sure @Rust . I use it too because it’s another gain we get from fighting (I’m healing my thrall, mtfkr! Take that! ) but the effect is really small. So is healthy diet, if you keep food on your thrall.
If I had to recommend one, presently I would go for healthy diet that is a little more useful, imo. For the fun factor, comanding presence, but that’s basically it. It makes such a little difference that it’s more a psychological thing.
I faced the Arena Champion at a very low level this last playthrough. She means business now. While you could easily beat her at any level previously, now it’s much more dangerous. First, she doesn’t rebound from hitting our shield. Second, full combos are frequent, you can’t interrupt them by using a shield and she will drain your stamina. At a low level, her next hit kills you. Third, she will track you at all times. She’s formidable now. (finally!)
No thrall should face her. She’s too dangerous.
I’ve been occupied with other aspects of the game, but I’ll study her still, to see what can be done about it.
It was never the weapon that made her easy. With enough patience, you could kill her just with punches. She missed a lot. You could either dodge and take your hits while she was locked in an animation or use a shield, make her blow rebound and gain your timing to strike.
These weaknesses are gone. I went there at a very low level with a ■■■■■■ weapon and a build to match. But I would beat her anyway. Now, it’s not like that. However, if we can still project her, she’s done for.
I think we just need to strike first, so we don’t get stamina drained while defending. But I haven’t tested yet. 2LA, 2HA and she goes flying. Recover stamina, repeat. But as we can’t interrupt her now, if she strikes first, we are left with no stamina at the end of her combo (assuming we didn’t invest points in it).
I’ll try to see what works next time I go there… it’s just a matter of figuring her out. Probably a lot of folks already found out, @Rust . It’s not as if AI is a killer in this game.
Uhm, Xevyr, your own guide says that without Health Diet you “can just patiently wait for food to heal them”.
You can’t say that and also claim that Healthy Diet doesn’t reduce down time.
It’s complelety okay to not like the perk, to not see downtime as a problem, to craft healing potions for your thralls and heal them that way, to say that there are other or better ways to reduce downtime… but your statement comes off a bit strong, mate.
Hey @Rust !
I went to the Arena Champion and either I was too weak or I had a bug when I tried it.
It’s a little more difficult, but the good old techniques still work like a charm. We can still interrupt her combos as long as she doesn’t start with a HA. Then it’s exactly as it used to be.
Neither IMHO. That level is sort of junk. I wish they would have done more with the tactics and the authority perks. IE for level 10 you choose between thrall on attack all enemies receiving an additional 50 armor points or thrall on guard me does an additional 10% damage of what ever type is equipped.
) but the effect is really small. So is healthy diet, if you keep food on your thrall.
I’ll take the Judge any day.
