In case anyone was lost with all the new mods for pets:

[Traumtulpe]

A bit of an overview what synergies we now have:

• Dogs (Predasites, Kubrow, Charger) have the Mecha Set going for them. They also deal the highest damage of all of the beast companions, and can proc slash themselves if you have a good primary weapon as stat stick. Their abilities aren't that great, pick whatever. Predasites reach >1200 shields with Redirection, all reach >50% crit with the right stat stick.
• Kavats are mostly used for their ability. Smeeta is self explanatory, Adarza is for buffing pseudo exalted and similar abilities with +60% crit and +1.2 multiplier.
• Vulpaphylas have good enough stats to give you 60% fire rate and 1.2 crit multiplier regardless of warframe and weapon used. General use stat stick companion.
• Robo dogs are not very good in my opinion. Their weapons and abilities are rather lacking.
• Moas are interchangeable with sentinels, worse abilities but good survivability via Pack Leader (if you melee, obviously) and Link mods (if your frame is tanky). They do have sufficient shields for the 60% fire rate buff, most sentinels don't.
• Sentinels don't bring buffs (insufficient stats except Wyrm Prime, and even then only shields), they're specialists. Got Energize? Use Dethcube. Want stuff scanned? Helios. Status immunity? Wyrm. Ammo trouble? Carrier. No grouping ability? Nautilus. They can also either prime (proc status) and stunlock in an AoE with the Helstrum, armor strip and kill stuff with the Deconstructor, or proc certain weapon arcanes to 40 stacks instantly with the Verglas.

Of note is that sentinels have the Spare Parts, Guardian, and Manyfold Bond mods, which are very effective together.

Tenacious Bond + Bite goes on Vulpaphylas/Kavats, Hunter Synergy instead of Bite on Dogs.

Reinforced Bond + Redirection on Wyrm Prime, Vulpaphylas, Moas, Predasites. Link Shields instead of Redirection on Kubrows.

Synth Deconstruct if you use Equilibrium (preferably if your companion has AoE abilities or the Helstrum).

Vicious Bond is for the Deconstructor only (cats with Swipe could also work okay).

Hastened Deflection is good on sentinels.

Tek Assault + Martyr Symbiosis is good on Vulpaphylas (if you die sometimes).

Tandem Bond + Swipe can give you lots of combo on cats.

Momentous Bond can quickly revive your sentinel in combination with Primed Regen

Currently bugged/inadvisable mods: Contageous Bond's status effects deal no damage. Restorative Bond doesn't seem to work with Equilibrium. Duplex Bond's clones basically have no mods. Aerial Bond's field of cold is not an aura, but an area procced on the ground.

 

[Voltage]

42 minutes ago, Traumtulpe said:

Robo dogs are not very good in my opinion. Their weapons and abilities are rather lacking.

Actually, with this update, they can be very useful as Status primers (Synergized Prospectus + Manifold Bond, or even more with Momentus Bond).

[Traumtulpe]

14 minutes ago, Voltage said:

Actually, with this update, they can be very useful as Status primers (Synergized Prospectus + Manifold Bond, or even more with Momentus Bond).

Oh, that's nice. Might actually give it a try, thanks.

[ReddyDisco]

1 hour ago, Traumtulpe said:

Vulpaphylas have good enough stats to give you 60% fire rate and 1.2 crit multiplier regardless of warframe and weapon used. General use stat stick companion.

It's funny how panzer got buffed more. 

[Ace-Bounty-Hunter]

7 hours ago, ReddyDisco said:

It's funny how panzer got buffed more. 

No doubt. But I am honestly fatigued from almost exclusively using my Panzer all the time. He has earned a much deserved vacation while I give my other companions a time to shine. 

[Traumtulpe]

I've put some time and Forma into another robo dog, and the verdict is... they are okay now. Yes, they make for a very good CO primer - most of the time. Every now and then your dog decides do go play with some enemy in a corner somewhere and thus stops being useful.

Quite frankly, proccing status effects is the only thing they do, and if that's what you want I'd sooner recommend a sentinel who's reliably gonna hang out over your shoulder and blast stuff with the Helstrum. Not to mention that the sentinel will have uses above and beyond that.

In summary, hounds are still not really a thing, but if you like them at least they aren't useless anymore.

[Skoomaseller]

Helios with Fired Up + Vicious Bond and Deconstructor modded for Viral + Heat + CO + Quick Return is just so #*!%ing nuts. Actually melting level 180+ SP enemies with little effort. 

Finally some good #*!%ing sentinel damage that isn't just Verglas or relying on a Riven. Now for the others. Cmon DE.

Edited October 23, 2023 by Skoomaseller

[Traumtulpe]

2 minutes ago, Skoomaseller said:

Finally some good #*!%ing sentinel damage that isn't just Verglas or relying on a Riven. Now for the others. Cmon DE.

Don't get used to it, he's bugged and will most definitely get nerfed. The armor strip is still good though,

[Skoomaseller]

Just now, Traumtulpe said:

Don't get used to it, he's bugged and will most definitely get nerfed. The armor strip is still good though,

Expected this to some degree, because cruising on Merulina and watching my Helios Prime melt everything in my path is funny as #*!%, and we can't have that.

[(NSW)jhj82]

6 minutes ago, Skoomaseller said:

Helios with Fired Up + Vicious Bond and Deconstructor modded for Viral + Heat + CO + Quick Return is just so #*!%ing nuts. Actually melting level 180+ SP enemies with little effort. 

Finally some good #*!%ing sentinel damage that isn't just Verglas or relying on a Riven. Now for the others. Cmon DE.

This will probably get patched as it's multishot is being affected by Regen. 

[(XBOX)Hellsteeth30]

Those bonds aren't going to be that strong forever, I expect a "balance change" sooner rather than later.

Regen bug will deffo get fixed, Helios should not be soloing maps.

[Skoomaseller]

1 minute ago, (NSW)jhj82 said:

This will probably get patched as it's multishot is being affected by Regen. 

Can you elaborate? Don't understand how it's affecting Deconstructor.

[(NSW)jhj82]

Helminth Charger granting free casts every 5 seconds is the most clutch companion in the game now lol

[Traumtulpe]

Just now, Skoomaseller said:

Can you elaborate? Don't understand how it's affecting Deconstructor.

Deconstructor has an insane rate of fire since the update, it seems like you somehow basically have 3 Helios' at once shooting due to Primed Regen.

[(NSW)jhj82]

Just now, Skoomaseller said:

Can you elaborate? Don't understand how it's affecting Deconstructor.

There is a bug with Regen that makes the glaives hit too much times. Unequip it and test the damage again.

[VibingCat]

On 2023-10-21 at 7:14 PM, Traumtulpe said:

Synth Deconstruct if you use Equilibrium

Now Equilibrium doesn't need any Synth mods anymore, enjoy the buff.

[Traumtulpe]

Just now, VibingCat said:

Now Equilibrium doesn't need any Synth mods anymore, enjoy the buff.

You're thinking of the wrong Synth mod. Deconstruct makes enemies drop more orbs.

[Skoomaseller]

Just now, (NSW)jhj82 said:

There is a bug with Regen that makes the glaives hit too much times. Unequip it and test the damage again.

I see it now. Unfortunate but being a Yareli main I am no stranger to bugs where one unrelated thing affects another.

Sure wish sentinels hit harder by default though.

[VibingCat]

2 minutes ago, Traumtulpe said:

You're thinking of the wrong Synth mod. Deconstruct makes enemies drop more orbs.

Right, I see. Anyway, I imagine someone didn't know about that nice buff.

[Traumtulpe]

Just now, Skoomaseller said:

Sure wish sentinels hit harder by default though.

Try a Medjay Predasite with the full Mecha set, Hunter Synergy, and a statstick gun with >200% crit and >400% status.

[Kaotyke]

Considering abilities will be the next on the bucket list, our current conclusions might change.

But as they currently are... I say hounds and sentinels got to much better.

Dogs still have the short end of the stick.

[SneakyErvin]

On 2023-10-23 at 5:08 PM, Traumtulpe said:

I've put some time and Forma into another robo dog, and the verdict is... they are okay now. Yes, they make for a very good CO primer - most of the time. Every now and then your dog decides do go play with some enemy in a corner somewhere and thus stops being useful.

Quite frankly, proccing status effects is the only thing they do, and if that's what you want I'd sooner recommend a sentinel who's reliably gonna hang out over your shoulder and blast stuff with the Helstrum. Not to mention that the sentinel will have uses above and beyond that.

In summary, hounds are still not really a thing, but if you like them at least they aren't useless anymore.

Hounds are probably the strongest companions at the moment thanks to their mods and what those bring to the frame. They also have a far easier time to survive than any other pet thanks to those precept mods. Combined with Manifold bond, Synth Deconstruct and Restorative Bond they are very easy to keep topped off on any frame.

Repo Audit, Synergized Prospectus, Reflex/Evasive Denial, Synth Decon, Resto Bond, Manifold, Vacuum, Vitality, Fiber (link or not depending on frame) and Animal Instinct (or if you dont want loot radar something else). That combined with Akaten modded for elements you cant apply and you'll have a very reliable companion that increases your weapon damage significantly while locking down the enemies in various ways while spawning health orbs all over. Which Denial precept to use is preference. On frames where I rely alot on my guns I use Evasive since it wont accidentally interrupt my shots if the dog runs infront of me, but on someone like Dagath where I use skills to kill 99% of the time Reflex is wonderful. Just skip Momentous Bond, not fun when you end up with pointless radiation when you dont really want it.

I mean none of the sentinels really bring anything, Helios is OK with its weapon, but shoots way too rarely after the fix even to be a simple debuffer. Vicious Bond is pointless after the fix since things will be dead before the armor is gone anyway. None of them except Nautilus brings a useful precept. None of the weapons are really good primers either, since most of them practically only hit a single target and/or have very few damage types along with capped statuses per shot. Decent for synth deconstruct with Gas, but that is about it since it is still just 1 extra status in the end on multiple targets. Sentinels wont come close to proccing 5 statuses as reliably as a hound. If Manifold didnt reduce CD the hound wouldnt be as reliable, but as it is now there is practically no CD on the precepts since you will always hit a large chunk of enemies with 3+ statuses active.

Panzer is decent, but it has low TTL right now due to the changes to Pack Leader and it no longer working with most ranged melee options. Sure it is still solid if you play melee and can constantly heal it that way. If it had some evasion or mitigation mod options I'd likely keep using it since I miss Hunter Recovery a wee bit. Outside of that all it brings atm is reliable viral with the occasional other element you might mod for. But it has laughably low status chance outside the guaranteed viral from quills.

Moa is solid aswell and has good staying power, and since it is ranged you can practically always play inside a huge ranged mitigation bubble with your frame if you slap Manifold on it. Decent grouping tool aswell. Only wish they fix Manifold or Whiplash Mine so it can proc weapon statuses.

It is hard to see the "sentinel will have uses above and beyond that" when none of their precepts really do anything to help. While at the same time a hound brings free 30m disarm, free magentic proc and free electric while applying all other statuses from the weapon aswell. I mean atm the hound has as good or better status uptime as the panzer and several statuses at that, viral being an option if you use the panzer for that (which most probably do). I could see grabbing a panzer for more crit damage, but my hound provides me with 5 unique statuses that also improve my weapon damage output. Which is all baked into a bunch of other useful benefits for the frame.

[(XBOX)K1jker]

I legitimately forgot we had moa companions.. oops 😬

[MutoManiac]

If you think hounds are still not so good, try looking at the end of this video at time stamp 14:40 on, it can help those who like them.