This file details some considerations to make for a Canderous build, and may eventually contain a few Canderous builds from different playthroughs. We'll see how far I take it.
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Canderous is a Soldier. He starts with higher STR than DEX, which would tilt toward melee. But he also starts with more ranged feats than melee, which would tilt the other direction. However, as a Solider he has plenty of feats to make up for the slow start, and I've had great success with melee builds in previous playthroughs. Ultimately, he can be successful either way.
You're required to use Canderous near the end of Taris, before you become a Jedi. He's optional thereafter. His companion quest involves a fight on Tatooine. It is triggered by taking him off the Hawk after you've completed a number of conversations with him, all of which can be completed on the the Hawk. So you can complete everything related to Canderous without using him very much. He really does shine as a combatant by the endgame, though, and for story purposes he's is a nice fit for a Dark Side main character.
My only big complaint about Canderous is that his name ends in the letter "s", meaning that I have to decide whether to type
Canderous' or
Canderous's every time I use the possessive form of his name. :-)
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Canderous' progression details per level (g = granted, s = selected)
| Character Level |
Class Level |
Attributes |
Skills |
Feats |
Force Powers |
| 5 |
Soldier 5 |
STR: 15 (+2)
WIS: 14 (+2)
CHA: 10 (+0)
INT: 10 (+0)
CON: 14 (+2)
DEX: 12 (+1)
|
8 points
Persuade +0 (0)
Computer use +0 (0)
Stealth +0 (0)
Awareness +0 (0)
Repair +0 (0)
Security +0 (0)
Treat Injury +6 (6)
Demolitions +2 (2) |
Power Attack (g)
Power Blast (g)
Rapid Shot (g)
Improved Power Blast (g)
Toughness (g)
Armor Proficiency: Heavy
Weapon Proficiency: Blaster Pistol (g)
Weapon Proficiency: Blaster Rifle (g)
Weapon Proficiency: Heavy Weapons (g)
Weapon Proficiency: Melee Weapons (g)
Weapons Specialization: Heavy Weapons (g) |
|
| 6 |
Soldier 6 |
|
1 point
? |
Improved Power Attack (s) |
|
| 7 |
Soldier 7 |
|
1 point
? |
Weapon Focus: Melee Weapons (s) |
|
| 8 |
Soldier 8 |
STR +1, 16 (+3) |
1 point
? |
Master Power Attack (s) |
|
| 9 |
Soldier 9 |
|
1 point
? |
Weapon Specialization: Melee Weapons (s) |
|
| 10 |
Soldier 10 |
|
1 point
? |
Improved Toughness (s) |
|
| 11 |
Soldier 11 |
|
1 point
? |
Master Toughness (s) |
|
| 12 |
Soldier 12 |
STR +1, 17 (+3) |
1 point
? |
Two-Weapon Fighting (s) |
|
| 13 |
Soldier 13 |
|
1 point
? |
Improved Two-Weapon Fighting (s) |
|
| 14 |
Soldier 14 |
|
1 point
? |
Master Two-Weapon Fighting (s) |
|
| 15 |
Soldier 15 |
|
1 point
? |
Implant I (s) |
|
| 16 |
Soldier 16 |
STR +1, 18 (+4) |
1 point
? |
Implant II (s) |
|
| 17 |
Soldier 17 |
|
1 point
? |
|
|
| 18 |
Soldier 18 |
|
1 point
? |
Implant III (s) |
|
| 19 |
Soldier 19 |
|
1 point
? |
|
|
| 20 |
Soldier 20 |
STR +1, 19 (+4) |
1 point
? |
Conditioning (s) |
|
This is a melee-focused build. It prioritizes damage output, but also includes some survivability.
I pushed STR for every attribute bump. This ends on an odd value, but I'm assuming that by the late game, between gear and a Jedi with Master Valor, the even/odd thing matters less.
I didn't specify skills. Class skills are: Demolitions, Awareness, and Treat Injury. With just 1 skill point per level-up, it is probably best to pick one skill and stick to it. If Canderous is going to be your primary melee combatant, he'll probably in the front most of the time. This would make Awareness a good choice. But he'll need healing, so make sure you'll have a Jedi built for that. If someone else tends to be in front and can take Awareness, or if you're just going be using Canderous occasionally, then Treat Injury might be better. Be sure to use medpacks instantly from the Inventory screen and not as a queued action via the action button on the main screen, to avoid losing your attacks for the round.
I prioritized feats that had an immediate impact, because you're obligated to use Canderous immediately after getting him. And depending on how you're building the main character and other companions, Canderous can be very useful on Dantooine. So I wanted to get a quick payback on feat selection. This pushes back Two-Weapon Fighting, and relegates Canderous to using a single weapon for a long time. That's especially true if you don't actually equip two weapons until you get Master Two-Weapon Fighting (to avoid the big attack penalties). So this build will start strong, then have a bit of a lull where it doesn't improve much, then pick up again for the later game.
You could avoid this, and gain a bit of defense and attack bonus, by taking the Dueling line instead of the Two-Weapon Fighting line. You'd give up a bit of end-game damage output, though.
The Flurry line is statistically better in the late game, so you could take that line instead of the Power Attack line. Because Canderous starts with Power Attack, you have one more feat to catch up on. This probably means not taking Conditioning.
The late-game
Advanced Combat Implant could be used instead of the corresponding selected feats. That would let him complete the Conditioning line. But as noted above, I wanted the combat feats early. And taking them as selected feats rather than getting them through gear allows Canderous to take advantage of implants that give other bonuses (there are several, including Regeneration, Consitution and various immunities).