[All Sentinel 801 Run]

42 minutes ago, ThrillMill said:

Does tonight @8 EST work for you? I'm chomping at the bit for some more 801.7. 

Maybe.

[The Strongest Tank]

Re: EnA

The issue is the Stacking +Def in Energy Drain.  Perma 80s defenses on the brute frame, with resists added in.   Some of this has already been addressed by adjusting Rune.

 

 

Now Imagine that with Tank mods.

 

[All Sentinel 801 Run]

My thanks and congratulations to everyone that participated in the the 'All Sentinel 801' runs.  We finished both +4x8 801.2 and +4x8 801.5.

I apologize for not getting screenshots and names, it was enitrely too late for me to still have more than 3 functioning brain cells.

[A new challenge.]

58 minutes ago, nihilii said:

The challenge being to keep DPS up enough to take out those level 54 AVs with +20/30% resistance on top of whatever native resistances they already have.

This.

 

It's 801.5 to 801.7 range difficulty, with BUFFED AVs added in.   If you can solo 801.5 to 801.7, no-temps, no-inspirations, and still be packing 500 dps, ... that's more or less what I expect it will take to solo ASF Hardmode 5.  ... which is to say I wholly expect to duo it, but not solo it.   Downgrade the AVs to EBs, removing the dps check, and yes, I suspect I'd at least try to solo it HM5.

 

[A new challenge.]

3 hours ago, ZemX said:

Interesting to note the Mission Maker version is unresistible.  I've never done any of the AE801s but now I wonder if this features in any of them.  

Only Minimally.  I strongly limited auto-hit and unresistible effects.  I did not limit them completely, and the farther up the scale you go, the more there may be, but they remain limited even in the hardest versions.

[Two Defenders Max Damage attempt]

Kin + Cold = LOL! 

 

Kin caps +damage while cold and sonics floor -resist ~= 9x damage, and since there are two of you, that's ~18x, more than double the 'average' team's offense.  The only way you can push damage higher would be run heavy Proc_Builds and Hybrid_Assault_Radial bypassing the damage caps.  At least one of you should run Degen, if not both, as -res will already be taking a beating.  That might push you into "triple the 'average' team's offense", maybe higher.  The whole idea is just pure "Ouch!".

[So, ummm, Mind Probe?]

I expect the hardest setting to be pushing 801.7 territory.  But we'll see.

 

Global me, and I'll try to run some 801s this week on Excel, 7pm-9pm EST.

[UPDATE: BOTH VIDEOS UPLOADED - Empth Defender solo's Master ITF no insps, 54 x8, no deaths, no temps]

Congrats, Jilaiya will buy you some drinks next time you're in Pocket D.

 

The Cimmies can get lucky in any mission, but I'd say it's about twice as likely to happen in Mission 2 than any other.  But at the same time, you can't let your guard down after mission 2, they can get lucky in any of the missions, all you have to do is get overconfident or blink one too many times.

[So, ummm, Mind Probe?]

I'll be around 'some' this week, but mostly afk IRL.  Global @linea

 

[So, ummm, Mind Probe?]

I'm really busy IRL, so I'm barely in-game lately ... but if you can catch me in-game (Everlasting and Excelsior)...

I solo* up to 801.6 +4x8 with my Sentinel, and lead groups up to 801.A.   I usually swap if it goes higher than 801.7 as teams get exponentially less reliable as soon as you hit 7 and above.  *I don't have enough firepower to complete above 2 in the time allotted, but can tank 6 pretty comfortably, and take out one group at a time just up to the edge of 7.  I can probably do 7 +4x4, but not full +4x8.

[Playerslot.txt What's the point of it?]

I edit mine from time to time to move whole pages of characters around.   So I'm not sure what's happening here that it's not behaving the way it always has in the past.

[If you only use one... O or D?]

3 hours ago, Bill Z Bubba said:

... And from pylon testing, you're better off with hybrid assault core over assault radial. (On Sents, Scraps, Blasters, Tanks and Stalkers, so far.) ...

Unless you are doing non-attack things, and/or have a very active armor set.  If you miss or otherwise interrupt frenetic dps activity, you can quickly lose the core's advantage.  If you're a dps chainsaw on a high damage AT, then yes definitely Core.

 

2 hours ago, underfyre said:

I can only refute this mathematically ...

In-game testing shows Core leading Radial for high-damage ATs, with little room for debate.   I personally try to test both when I have any question.   My most egregious result was on a stalker where core was +100dps over radial.  However, that gets more complicated with some sets, and if you start including AoE as well as ST damage.   I frequently take radial regardless, as the difference is often minimal, and sometimes I take both.   You might want to conjur up @UberGuy, as he has an excellent guide somewhere, and very good understanding of both the math and application of hybrids.

 

[If you only use one... O or D?]

I think I've used Defensive once .... way back in beta testing.

[Confused about pylon testing - Latest dom looks good for ST damage in Mids, but took forever on a pylon]

You should also keep in mind, T4 incarnates can contribute up to half of your perceived effective applied damage, and that Tier 4s are subjectively twice as effective as Tier 3s.  Those little tid-bits can completely skew and warp all your results.

 

Note I said perceived and subjective.  

 

And it gets much more complicated than that.   I have builds that behave almost exactly as stateded above, but I have others that don't.   I have a stalker that mids says is 350 dps, but pylons say 650 dps.  If the pylon is dead in a minute, the pylon is dead, I don't care what mids nor the log analyzer say, dead is dead.   Then you have proc builds and proc variance, where a build can vary from 450 to 650 dps, averaged over 10 runs it's still a mess, 20 it's still a mess, but if you do 40 or 50 runs the average finally starts to show itself.  Procs and Proc builds make dps a nightmare.  I used to only do 3 to 5 runs, now I have to do 20+ if it's a proc build.  (yes, that means clearing the whole zone, typically almost twice).  ... and heaven help you if you want to test multiple proc builds at once, I spent 8 hours straight one saturday testing a trio of proc builds.

 

[Confused about pylon testing - Latest dom looks good for ST damage in Mids, but took forever on a pylon]

Keep in mind, 'Zone Pylons' are vastly different from 'LFG Event Pylons', just in case you accidentally tested vs the 'LFG Event Pylon' Versions.   All testing should be done vs 'Zone Pylons' to be backwards compatible with previous testing.

 

 

[So, ummm, Mind Probe?]

On 10/16/2021 at 9:26 PM, SmalltalkJava said:

Mind Probe and Proc Bomb'd Dominate.  The true staple of Sentinel DPS. 

 

On 10/16/2021 at 9:42 PM, Bill Z Bubba said:

And no one else considers this ridiculous?

 

On 10/16/2021 at 9:52 PM, SmalltalkJava said:

the best Sentinel primary is Psionic Mastery.  

 

[Is Elec/Elec better as a Defender or Corruptor (and why)?]

Defender, it's much easier and more flexible to build the defender.  The synergy is very nice.  I also like Storm/Elec.  Elec/Beam would also work well.   I always recommend (Fire, Ice, Water) as well.

[Nerf Level Shifts]

On 9/30/2021 at 2:18 PM, Cobalt Arachne said:

It's a little different than the difficulty options we have currently... We're re-writing the entire challenge settings code to accommodate our future plans.

 

I have to say I think this is the way to handle things, even if it is a bit more difficult to implement. 👍

[Shield worthwhile on a tank?]

SD is a very good choice.

 

Armor Types (Armor Recommendations):

Spoiler

 

I recommend:   

Defense Armor: EnA (Any AT), Inv/ and SD/ as the Tank Alternatives.    
Resist Armor: RadA (Brutes and Tanks Only).   
Heal Armor: Bio (Any AT, paired with a Defensive Weapon).   

 

Defense Armors, Expanded and In Order of Durability: EnA (Any AT, Add Resists, Intermediate), SR (Advanced), SD (Intermediate), Inv (Easy). If you’re not picking EnA, I Recommend Inv. Inv is very easy to learn and drive, and very durable. Once you get your feet under you, then you can pick some of the more difficult to drive armors. My personal Favorites are EnA and SD, but I find myself driving EnA and Inv most often.

Notes:
•    Stone can still be very good, I just very much dislike Stone. I would rank stone somewhere between Inv and SD for durability.
•    EnA is not on tanks, if it ever is, I might be forced to move it up or down the ratings, depending on how it's ported.
•    Most SR builds do not add the resists required to get it to the rating I give it. SR is also the most difficult to drive if built my way.
•    Most SD builds also do not add the resists required to get to the rating I give it. I use all three SD build slots: Defense, Psi-Tank, Proc/Offense.
•    Inv is more likely to be built to defensive spec, it's just kinda naturally built that way. It's also so easy to drive. It's pretty much recommends itself.

 

 

Lucy SD/RadM 801 Build, solo: 

(I'm running Rune/Hybrid/Rune/OwtS/KitchenSink as needed for resists.  She was built this way on purpose, and with that intent.  But even without it's absurdly durable.)

[Street Justice Attack Chain?]

STJ is still very good, and a nice balance of ST and AoE.   Top ST damage would go to EnM now ... Best AoE is probably Elec.

 

[Build Request]

Less armor and more procs, could gain you more offense.  None of these are Proc based builds, they are primarily heavy armor builds.

My builds assume the use of Rune/Hybrid/Rune/Demonic/WeddingBand/Kitchen_Sink ...

 

Armored Offense, this is the one I used to solo a +4x8 ITF:

Emp Fire - Combat Medic Concept 4 - [i25].mxd

 

Two variations of a more traditional empath while maintaining heavy armor.  These are almost Green Machine Compliant, or as close as any of my builds will get.

Emp Fire - Harlequin Octagon 2 - [i26].mxd

 

Emp Fire - Harlequin Device 2 - [i26].mxd

 

I have other even more traditional builds, those have the codenames Burke or Strauss, but are built for different blast sets ... They are around in the forums, ... somewhere ...

 

[Fire Melee or Street Justice for a /EnA stalker]

I would definitely say StJ.

 

 

Rotating T9 build.  Rune/Hybrid combined with Overload ... Energize and Phase right before the crash, toggle back up, Demonic, edge into the fight, then repeat.  This the build I currenty use to run the harder 801 missions.

StJ Ena ShadowMeld Stalker - 801 - Recharge-T9 ver 1c - [i25].mxd

 

Proc-ed Offense Build, I think I hit 635 dps or there abouts testing this one.  Build primarily influenced by Nihilli, as well as others.

StJ Ena Stalker - Nih 2a - [i27].mxd

 

More traditional overall build combining standard non-proc offense, as well as plenty of armor and T9 options.

StJ Ena WaterSpout Stalker - Alpha T3 - [i25].mxd

[Is psionic common late game?]

It does not take much in the way of psionic resist/defense to survive the end-game.  Psionic, in general, comes in smaller less frequent packages than any other damage type.  As long as you don't completely ignore it, you should be ok.  It's very do-able.

[Rad armor...and everything else]

801, not 802.  I don't know who did 802.

 

I do recommend RadA. But I also do not consider it immortal.  When fully IOed and Incarnated and built for durability, there's very little in the official game that can kill any tank.  RadA probably just fits you and your playstyle better than the other armors.

[So if water isnt good....what is great for soloing]

My primary Sentinel is Water Blast built for extreme durability.  For a non-proc build water is fine.  For an offensive proc build you may get more mileage elsewhere.