[Best powerset combo for cones/max range?]

Doh, sorry I was skipping across threads and thought I was still in the Sentinel one. 🤦‍♂️

* Note to self "keep off the forums when intoxicated!". 🤣

[Best powerset combo for cones/max range?]

6 minutes ago, Uncle Shags said:

I'm sorry. I can't figure out what you mean.  I'm going to assume there's a typo. 

Usually the range and targets are more limited for Sentinels compared to other ATs. 

Just checked and the range is more limited but the cap is the same. 

[Best powerset combo for cones/max range?]

8 hours ago, Jawbreaker said:

I was thinking about a Psi blaster for the enanced range but wated to focus on max cone powers, So I'm wondering if there's a better primary and what secondary to pair it with, do I slot for range? Ranged defense? Just not really sure what direction to go with

Sonic has a few cones that you can cycle through. 

One is a sleep and one is a KB that can be changed to KD with an enhancement, so gives nice added control. 

Slot cones/Ranged AoE with Artillery and ranged damage with Thunderstrikes will allow you to cap ranged defence depending on the secondary and other slotting. 

[Best powerset combo for cones/max range?]

52 minutes ago, Uncle Shags said:

My only problem with AR is that FA has a cap of 10 targets.  Who decided that was a good idea?  Please. Someone try to defend it. 

Sentinels have reduced target numbers to balance them against other ranged ATs. 

If you want more range and targets go with one of those. 

[Fire Blast / Dark Armor]

Dark Armor is great on melee alts but awful on Sentinels. 

If you want to play DA go for a Scrapper or Tank etc. 

If you want to play a Sentinel, go anything but DA. 

[As a Newcomer to Sentinels...]

2 minutes ago, Black_Assassin said:

I have psi on my psi/sr and dark on my dark/dark. both are solid options tbf, just they bring more utility vs elec which is just pure damage

Gotta love the stacked stuns. 😊

[As a Newcomer to Sentinels...]

17 hours ago, kelika2 said:

none of my sentinels use any epic pool or patron pool

40+ is a time for slots and set bonuses and mules.  between getting highest ranged defense i can get with every one and their fairly uselessness of the pools.  i mean really, melee attacks, aoe immobilizes and so on?

 

Same thing with melee, need to build tough with very little wriggle room.  even my melees use energy/body masteries for zero slot wonder powers.  which sentinels lack

Dark Mastery adds a lot of survivability with very few slots if you want to concentrate them elsewhere. 

Nether world Tentacles is a mass immob that gives - to hit, Darkest night is a targeted toggle that can be used on hard hitting mobs and Netherworld Grasp with the Lockdown proc allows you to one hit hold bosses. 

 

Apart from NG that would need an accuracy and the proc you could just have the default slot if you wanted to. 

I usually fully slot NT with Cloud Senses for the ranged defence and recharge. 

[As a Newcomer to Sentinels...]

On 4/24/2025 at 9:24 PM, HowlingBlade said:

So, I recently began my Sentinel journey after suffering the usual abysmal case of alt-itis and not really being 100% happy with anything I have landed on. While I enjoyed other classes, I hadn't found a happy character wherein I said "Ah-hah! This makes me Happy!"

 

Then I made F1R3B4T. A fire/fire Sentinel who now is level 27 and, appropriately, feels like he has absolutely no chill.

 

I am thinking, looking forward, of picking up the Fire Mastery set once I get there. As someone who is new to the game (I played for about a year at launch and now on and off for a few months on Homecoming), what kind of merry mayhem awaits me as I level this pyromaniac-turned-hero of a character? What suggestions do people have for someone who is fairly "green"?

 

Thanks in advance!

Personally I tend to go with either Dark or Psi mastery. 

If most of my attacks are cones or ranged such as Sonic and Water I'd go Dark. It's got a nice cone immob and a targeted - to hit the toggle for dangerous targets. 

All of the powers give - to hit so increases survivability. 

I tend to take Psi for more melee based Sents. Shock wave is a nice mini nuke with a stun so mitigate damage before the main nuke. 

For a fire/fire I'd go with Psi but if you want to be themetic, fire can work too. 

 

[As a Newcomer to Sentinels...]

1 hour ago, Seed22 said:

OP

 

Your best bet if you want a solid build is to use Icesphere's build or even better, play around yourself in mids. It's the only surefire way to learn. 

 

I personally make my own builds, they lean meta heavy so proc builds that basically shit out damage, but baven't done so on a sent as I kinda just don't feel like making another sent tbh. If you make a build though I'll be sure to look at it if you want! (When I get the chance)

 

Also, take your melee epics. Sents do better damage than before the buff but you still need your melee epics as that is still most of your damage. If you see a build without one, or chasing def on a res based set, it is a huge red flag and DO NOT USE THAT BUILD or take their advice. RUN!

 

Res armors have no DDR(defense debuff res) so first grade logic will tell you defense on those sets will get shredded by any enemy who debuffs defense. 

 

 

In theory having no DDR is a problem, in practice being airborne and being able to move around while still dealing damage means that it's a viable option. 

[What enemy group member do you target for a ranged (cone) power?]

1 hour ago, UltraAlt said:

 

So if I understand what you are saying correctly:

It is a cone. It starts at the vertex (that is you) from there the cone widens as it travels out 60 feet (the height in this diagram). Once it reaches that 60 feet, the arc/base of the cone will be 50 feet wide.

 

 

Cones in the game have different arcs and ranges which change the size of the base. 

There used to be arc enhancements that you could slot to increase the width of the base.

 

 

 

There are range enhancements, they widen the cone at the end. 

[What enemy group member do you target for a ranged (cone) power?]

I target the guy in the middle to hit as many mobs as possible. 

[Most damage]

For me it's not just the damage that it outputs it's also the effects. Love the glowing fists and the thunk as you hit the target. 

 

[Advice for Broadsword / Willpower Scrapping]

Personally I'd drop LBE and take Energy Torrent. 

Slot it with an accuracy, a KB to KD and a + recharge proc. 

Energy Torrent can be used as an opener for mobs so that the Alpha is mitigated, while they are on their backsides jump in and dish out the damage. 

It can also be used to limit damage if your regen is getting overwhelmed or knock down any troublesome ranged foes. 

Add in the + recharge and it's a no brainer compared to LBE.

[Mercs/Traps, as good as Regen?]

I have to be in the right state of mind to play any of my traps. 

It can be annoying having to run in and set them up. 

It would be nice if they had a quality of life change that allowed them to be thrown in a short distance. 

[Respec Issues]

Not personally, I assume you've tried rebooting the PC? 

[Gravity/Arsenal dom trying to choose a "heal" power.]

I'f I can squeeze it in I go Medicine on a Dom. It can be useful to heal up when the going gets tough. 

[Advice for Broadsword / Willpower Scrapping]

I always take Parry for the plus defence, it's often the difference between face planting or surviving, especially at low levels. 

If you don't need the extra defence to survive and have enough recharge to not need to use it in your rotation then don't use it. 

I wouldn't drop it though. 

SoW can be useful if you can fit it in your build but not necessary. 

[Where are all the Invul/EM Tankers?]

I had an Invuln/EM before the shutdown that I loved, I started to level it again but got distracted by other newer sets. 

Certainly nothing wrong with it, survivable and hits hard. 

[How do I avoid alpha damage with Ice control?]

After recharge I build for ranged defence, usually I can get 30+ which helps to take the sting out of any alpha. 

[Ice primary a bit unpopular]

19 hours ago, arcane said:

FYI temporary powers are disabled on four star content so are definitely irrelevant.
 

And four star teams usually have room for 1-2 carry slots, so it’s not exclusive to meta builds; there’s just less room on the team for non-meta.

I've been on a number of starred ITFs, inadvertently on most, not realising the difference until the giant robots turned up. 

I'm not sure of the difference between them but for the most part didn't enjoy them. Seemed to go from full health to dead in an instant. I'm pretty certain that on one or more people had temp resistance etc. but could be wrong. 

Thanks for the clarification though. 🙂

[Ice primary a bit unpopular]

4 hours ago, desarix said:

It was in the Help channel and people were saying don't use this channel but the person who started the topic said he was helping others by telling them not to choose a Sentinel and regret it later at end game when doing 4 star content. Then people started saying why Sentinels were bad among which it was that they were the last picks and every other AT was better at what they did. But one person said they preferred a good Sentinel to a bad Blaster which is neither here nor there. Mostly it was because a well equipped AT would all perform better than a well equipped Sentinel.

 

This is not something that concerns me as I already suffer from a feeling that I am unable to play well so I wasn't paying that much attention but some newer players started asking questions and I didn't follow after that. Look I know the AT was in a bad way before but I personally have seen an improvement after coming back. I am sorry if I have inadvertently picked at a scab here but really it was a passing comment and me and my big mouth had to mention it. I am sure in General channel they slag on every AT but I don't have General on my visible chat so this was of notice because it was in the Help channel.

Thank you for the clarification, personally I don't like doing the four star content it seems more dependant on temporary powers and specific builds. There's no reason why Sentinels couldn't do this as well as any other AT though. 

I play on Excelsior and have never been rejected on a team. 

I've got many variants of all ATs, my go to are usually Sentinels; good mixture of damage and survivability. 

Have fun. 

[Secondary for Storm Blast]

Storm/Plant works very well, a real Swiss army knife. 

Debuffs and a very good AoE hold that has a decent recharge, certainly my favourite Storm Blaster and I have a few. 

Thematically it can work too, also pretty rare, you don't see many */plant. 

[Twist on a Tank]

On 2/9/2025 at 7:30 PM, Xandyr said:

Hey all!

  We all know Tanks are awesome, and can take a lick and keep on tickin'.  And as such, we typically build one with 2 priorities....1) be able to withstand about anything and 2) do as much damage as possible.

  Well....I think I'm gonna challenge myself and throw a curveball into the equation.  Hear me out.....

 

  I think I'm going to build a tank that ,obviously, can take whatever. HOWEVER,  to push the envelope that a Tank also protects the team,  I want to focus on that.

   How about a tank that also focuses on secondary effects? A specialist, per say? 

   For example,  Shield and Bio can lower the enemy's damage. Maybe try to focus on that aspect and pair it with Kinetic Melee (and Darkest Night from the epic power pool!) to REALLY debuff damage?

  Or focus on To Hit Debuffs? Or Regen or Defense Debuffs? There's quite a few combinations that one could pair to "double up" on said Secondary Effects.

 

 Now, I know what you're thinking. "If you want to focus on effects, just roll a Defender/Corruptor/Mastermind!". True...I could. And get better debuffs. BUT,  those ATs don't have the stats that a Tank has (HP,defense/resist/etc). Plus, I'm up for a challenge. We can still do damage, but we're also focusing on keeping our team alive and helping them survive.

 

  So......thoughts? Comments? I keep coming back to running Bio/Kinetic/Soul for the resist/damage/to hit debuffs. Or maybe a Rad/Dark/Soul to focus on to hit debuffs, defense debuffs, and the ally heal.

 

 Thanks all,

- x

Dark/Energy Melee is very good for stacking stuns, you can keep all mobs including bosses disorientated most of the time. Does nice damage to boot. 

[Ice primary a bit unpopular]

12 hours ago, desarix said:

I am not a hover fan. Never enjoyed moving around with it and only play with combat jumping. I am really clumsy with hover I keep running into wall lights and get stuck in some protrusion or another and have to back out then go back forward so I will lag behind. I already lag behind constantly and it is not as if I am not pressing the forward as hard as possible. I am always the last one into a mission as it is. Why does everyone move faster than me.

 

Anyway hover is out but I picked up Storm, yeah, yeah I know but it is a fun set. I need to put one overwhelming force on my Jet Stream but otherwise it looks like an interesting set. It is rather an unexpected flavour and one I might enjoy. Has CC in spades. Yeah I am one for CC. My very first (well first of the ones I kept) on live was a gravity/empathy controller.

 

I've just fallen in love with Sentinels and people were arguing on Excelsior yesterday that no one picks them for the end game groups. Well not that I ever expected to be picked as I am a really bad player but I play fun sets and what I enjoy. It used to be MMs I made like 30 different ones and when I came back recently I found I no longer relished playing them because I'm now using a controller to play so the fact that there are far more buttons to press it became a chore to manage so they have been relegated to  another page or pages.

 

Worst comes to worst I'll solo end game. Probably sobbing ''waaaaaaaa nobody wants me'' ever so often.

 

I love changing secondaries and after swearing up and down I will not enjoy Bio fell in love with it but I need to have variety I never make two toons with the same secondary. I want to try a Beam Rifle build, may be paired with Stone Armour. 

When you say that some think that Sentinels aren't picked for end game groups what were you referring to? 

I've got loads of Sentinels amongst other ATs and have never had a problem joining a team with any of them. 

[Shield/SS or Shield/Fiery?]

Both are good but SS provides more damage mitigation with the KD in foot stomp, with decent recharge you can keep the mobs bouncing a lot of the time. 

I've not really noticed the minus defence during the rage crash just the minus damage. Prestige damage powers aren't affected though so use those during the crash.