The best players in World of Warcraft always find ways to gain an advantage in the game. One of the more popular tricks recently has been the cardboard companion from Cataclysm for mythic keystone dungeons. However, that will soon be over.
What is this item? The cardboard companion is a “gizmo” that engineers can create. Gizmos are usable enchants for equipment, in this case for the belt. Once the engineer uses their belt, they set up a cardboard companion.
After being set up, the waving masked one taunts all enemies in the vicinity for a short time, forcing them to attack him. Other players therefore lose threat (“aggro”). The cooldown is only 5 minutes.
The item comes from Cataclysm, an expansion from 2010, over 10 years ago. However, it has been functional until now. Now, however, it is significantly weaker on the WoW PTR and no longer usable for Mythic+.
RIP Cardboard Companion – You were really useful
What is the purpose of the cardboard companion? At the moment, the cardboard companion mainly helps to master particularly difficult spots in mythic dungeons. By taunting enemies, it allows for:
- Saving tanks that would otherwise die
- Removing debuffs like Necrotic
- Preventing wipes if the tank does happen to die
Especially since the whole group can use such a cardboard companion, its deployment can be chained. Tanks therefore avoid massive damage and harmful effects, and the companions have a similar function to the popular “trees” of druids.
What is going to change now? On the WoW PTR, the cardboard companion now only has a level of 35 (previously 60). Enemy attacks can no longer completely miss it. Additionally, its health points have been reduced from nearly 12,000 to just about 2,000.
This means that every cardboard companion will fall with a single hit from an enemy in a dungeon. It still has the taunt, so it can provide relief for tanks and healers in certain situations. However, it will lose most of its usefulness.
As soon as it became widespread that the cardboard companion is used in many dungeons, some players suspected that it would not stay that way for long. Now the nerf is actually coming.
When is the nerf coming? The adjustments are planned for the upcoming Patch 9.1. The patch does not yet have a specific release date, but it is expected not to be before July, as Burning Crusade Classic is launching on June 2. In our overview, you can find more information about the upcoming patch “Chains of Domination”:
