Exqzr984

Looking for 1 or maybe 2 players to fill out our group that was tranaported from FR to Paragon to take on and Destroy Mot. Fantasy Characters of FR race and a DnD type theme. No tech, guns etc. Currently level 18 - No xp boosts and no uplifting from other characters. RP is light and fun. No Adult Content. Team is goal oriented and uses discord for on the fly RP. If interested reply here or in a private message.

I like this. Clean and elegant. But yeah the Superior Sentinels could get expensive. 3 Slotted Gamblers - I think is better than 5 - 5 seems uneeded. Unslot the boxing. Here is a question though, do you really need both Whirlpool and Froszen Aura to be 6 slotted? And would it be feasible to drop one or the other for an Immobilze? It alot of investment on two Tick AOES that take time to cast.

Thank for entering this conversation and cutting through the noise to offer some productive information. I should clarify my thoughts Waterburst: My advice got a little burried in the cross fire. I do not suggest that it just be skipped as a given. On the contrary, I use it. It was in the context of the build, looking to tank first and then do damage. I advised I thought this was admirable/Noble. So, in that a 4 slot WB is not doing much and the slots might be better served elsewhere. Lose the power, gain the slots. That Knockup is not a sure thing. And also the issue I have with Waterburst is that its up and Tidaled - this creates problems for me in that I dont want to use it when Tidaled. Its Guyser, Waterjet, Dehydrate and then Waterburst for that bonus. Also If I have Dehydate up, I will always use that before a WaterBurst. Especially after popping Master Brawler. There are so many times that Waterburst is up and I just skip it for something else. In the context of what the OP was trying to do, I thought, well imo, he needs to fully slot Waterjet and Dehydrate. It could be argued they are ST and thus not as important to a AoE Waterbuild, but by experience, I just love them fully slotted.. And they are both a guaranteed six slot. Whirlpool, I don't skip this either And I am NOT recommending it be skipped in a starndard Water build. Only in the context of what the OP was trying to do. Waterpool is ... problematic to cast when you are surrounded. I imagined that the OP was not using it for set up before heading into Melee. So I thought being already deep into Fighting he might consder dropping Brust and Pool. and get Kick and Cross Punch. He gains 8 slots and could probably deslot Boxing put those into Cross Punch - because he now gets to use those insteal of muling them and gains another 3 slots. That cross punch is going to do more damage than Waterburst or Whirlpool and Maybe even more than both of them combined, and IT has a CC if you back it up with Kick - Hey it was theory. Honestly not a bad try for a TANK focused Melee build. OP doesn't like, no problem but we were supposed to be Theory Crafting a concept. Hence I did that. IT should also be noted the OP has not actually tested the build. They are still working on it. And also in the light, I though it would be a good opportunity to try something different ideas - like Cross Punch - whic;h also for me fits his themre. So, yes, I agree in almost everry situation a Water Primary is best sticking with WaterBurst and Whirlpool. But in off Meta Builds designed to be in Melee AMAP, I Think there is an opportuniity to pick up a few more Melee skills. I believe as I write this it would work - for off meta builds My overall goal was this. Get 6 slots into Waterjet and Dehydrate (I think Dehydrates adds some supplementary survive that is important for melee focus and all the more reason to 6 slot it), Get more CC, Unmule the Boxing slots and do all of this without messing up the core theme of what he was trying to do. I am guilty of not explaning it in greater detail right at the beginning. I should have, with a better argument for what I was suggesting. It was all Theory advice while OPs character was still in a place where it could be debated.

Renatos, I said I would not post here again because, well I wanted to keep it private between us in case I said anything that might... not be easily accepted. But you have insulted me yet again.... In Public. You did not even have the decency to insult me in Private. IF you want to take shots at me, fine, I can take it, but do it in a Private message so others don't have to read our silly little spat. I do not see how offering to give you my time is self absorbed (how did you put it? Full of myself?). O.k. Maybe I said it wrong? Maybe I wrote it too fast and did not consider the inflection of my written cadence? I dont know. Your at a store. You ask a complete stranger what they think of the color you have chosen. They Answer, I think Blue might look better on you. You reply... Are you stupid? Have you even ever been shopping before? That is what you did. Your *intentions* are not pure. How many times do I have to apologize for not understanding what you were asking for? Need more? Sorry! I again, honestly wanted to help you out by literally showing you what I was talkiing about when I offered to SHOW/TEACH/DEMONSTRATE. I might have even been willing to come to your server to do this If someone offered to show me stuff in game, that I ASKED for. I would snap up the opporunity immediately. In fact, I have many times already. So, to pay it forward I do that sort of thing to help people. How does this make self absorbed/full of myself? Maybe you see something in me that I don't. I think you added The MOST EVER as well - just to be sure I got your point. I will self reflect on this. I might humbly offer the concept that maybe you would consider some self reflection as well. Do I have Pride? Of course I do ... Who doesn't. If that is what you meant. Guilty. But I say why play if not to feel good about your accomplishments? Or in my case, get a real joy out of helping others, especially in game, and sometimes in the forums - which I seem to not be very good at, but Im working on that too. Ill do better in the future, once I get this behind me. You are the only one in CoH who has called me self absorbed/full of myself after I offered to teach them something. Mayne you feel you have nothing to learn? Maybe you feel you know better than anyone else? Come on, I still have stuff to learn and I learn every single day, even new players sometimes show me stuff I did NOT know. So I have to ask you, am I the one being a little touchy? Maybe it's not me. Just saying. So, look. One last crack at this. I think we missed each other on the train a bit here. I was not trying to give you technical advice. I DID NOT do the math for you. No time for that. What I did was try to offer advice on Play Style and team building. I feel Stupid actually. Like I completely missed what you needed. I see now that is not what you are looking for. But I must ask, if you already got all the math sewn up - why did you even make this thread in the first place? I mean what was the point? Again, another apology. It is MY FAULT for not understanding you wanted a math debate - If I had known this, I would not have bothered to try - it's not my thing Im not all that good at it and I defer to others and don't actually debate, I just follow their expert advice. I mean there is a spread sheet you can access and its freaking amazing - another user has worked years on - go look at that if you want math. All that out of the way. Now its my turn based on your kicking me in the nuts, not once, but twice. Ouch dude! Brace for Impact. Your build is SELFISH. In my worth maybe nothing opinion its an actualy Liability on a team. FINE for radios. Not fine for anything else. You literally do nothing to help a team. Its like you like playing tanks and thought - Ill take tank build concepts and put them on a Sentinel and ignore EVERYTHING else. Boo. Please dont dont this, I think it will make Sentinels look bad. I love the Sentinel AT and if I am sensitive anywhere its probably in my defense of them. I am truly an unapologetic Sentinel Fan Boy. Chuckle if you wish. That said, I would not like you on my crew (I would still accept you of course, but wouldn't be a good fit). I would not even like like doing warm up runs in Moth Cemetary your hero in its current form. Who knows, you and I might get along fine outside of all this, but sorry, don't like your build at all. Even as a Theme build. You see, like an idiot, I actually thought that because you were doing a Theme build, you would be open to PLAYSTYLE concepts and jumped all over it like a puppy wanting treats - a puppy you kicked by the way and then when I yelped about it, kicked me again to shut me up. Are you done or you going to do it a third time? So... Play the way you want, but dont delude yourself into thinking you got something usefull happening with your build - from a team standpoint for sure it's bad, and I can't say it would work well Soloing either - but I admit I could be wrong on this - its just a passing observation. You see I understand that Sentinels are NOT tanks - to try to be a tank, when you are not is called PSUEDO Tank. Of all the things you can do in CoH Psuedo Tank is probably the Most pointless (ok maybe MM no pets is worse). Why? Because any level one with any build can Psuedo Tank. Just stand there and take some hits. Whether they die or not does not matter. They just need to distract some stuff for a bit while the damage dealers get their skills in. If your character is on my crew, whether you are alive or dead is of no consequence so long as you last a few seconds, you have done your job. So I ask you honestly, from my heart - is that what you want to do? If yes. Great! Please ignore everything that I have said and do you. But, if you want to actually be ... a key part of a great team, consider OFF tank and thus get Control and Utility to help your team (Frozen Aura aint going to cut it). Not only will you Do MORE DAMAGE, Contol like a Boss, and Tank like Goldilocks (just the right amount), you will be the pefect mid range quarter back leader all Sentinels can be, you and your team will have a better time. Sentinels make GREAT Off Tanks. There is no such thing as a good Psuedo Tank. And I apologize for being the one to tell you this. But it's the straight up truth. To say to me you went 4 deep in Boxing to get x s/l deffence like you found the gold mine of builds ... is just flat out bad (i mean for me, its just my opinion) - maybe some min maxers like this? And to do that you gimp your Dehydrate and Waterjet. For me, that is like WOW, really? Your a Sentinel, that is your go to STs and you dont even slot them fully. I just honestly dont even know how to tell you not to do that. Except Don't? To break it down clear. Fun Thematic Awesome Meat Shield: Yes? - Good, you're fine, Have at it. But I must add this direction made your post frivolous. No? There is work to do. And for a time, I was the only one trying to help you do the work. Another has commented on Hover and I agree with them. Now I tried to communicate all of my thoughts (even when really annoyed at you) in a constructive way and you call me Self Absorbed. Thanks. I feel (just my opinion, others may disagree) - Your entire build is self absobed and your attitude in forum is... well, lets just say, I hope you are different IRL - actually I am sure you are. But maybe, based on what I have read and seen it would be fair to me to suggest the ouside possibility you might share some traits with your build. I hope not, but it could be true. This is just a shot in the dark though and I am NOT actually accusing you of this - just speculating on hypothetical possibilities. So, I have already wasted more time on this than I should, but I just cant let two face punches slide. Maybe your just trolling me at this point, Im not sure and I would never accuse anyone of this, but heck, please don't insult me a third time at least not in Public, vent in private all you want. I won't even vent back. Use me as a punching bag, if you got to get out some frustration, just not in Public... deal? Alright my last attempt at the smallest piece of advice that is concpetual and NOT math related that you might be open to. Drop your Waterburst and put those slots into Waterjet and Dehydrate. This is what I would do. Now I understand this will LOWER some of your defenses and that is NOT your goal. BUT, even if you ened up dying because of this lowered defence (which you likely wont in PI 3s, lets be honest.). You will do more DAMAGE and that means you will be MORE useful before you die - if that even happens. And you do not die, you will thank me for the power you feel when you cast these awesome fully slotted skills.. a 4 slotted WB, for me has almost no point in a fight. Fully slot it, one slot it or skip it. Ignore the DEF/REZ stats I dont think you actually need. At least try it and see if im right and if not, go back to what you had. And yeah, reconsider Hover. Go anywhere, anytime as needed and quickly. I think Iron Man would take offense at you suggesting Sentinels dont need Hover. Would love to be in on that debate. Hullk might like your Superjump but he is not a Sentinel is he? Heck, you could even just drop Superjump and get a Skiff or live off of Athletic Run - I mean why not? Wait maybe you slotted SJump with something and this suggestion is anathema to you? I dont know, did not actually look at your build again, going from memory. And now you have you have a choice. I really want to resolve this on good terms. I have put a like on each of your posts as a gesture. If I said anyting in a way that was poorly written, unitended, I am Sorry. But you did tigger me and if my response was too forceful and punitive, forgive me. I think though it needed to be said - for your ultimate benefit. At least some of it did, perhaps some of it was reactionary. But I had that right after your personal attack. I have offered you an olive branch. Ignore my advice, its fine with me ... it is the nature of giving advice. I offered you a hand shake to put this behind us in very pratical assistance sort of way since there is literally nothing else I can do to help you out at this point. Am I wrong here? Maybe. Is it you? Maybe. Does not matter. Time to move forward with a firm grip. Full set of Gambler on me anytime. I am not asking for anything in return, no apology no backing off your stance. Stay true to yourself. Do you want it and let us maybe be friends at some point in the future.? Last try.

Sorry.

My first try at this was ... not empathetic. I was too dismissive. So, now ill just speak plainly. I will try to be fair, while at the same time im not going to be tentative in my approach. And yeah Im calling you out on some of your comments. You comment about having to guess I have never played a Water Primary was a poor attempt to validate your own opinion. What it showed me is you have not done your research. If you had, you would have seen my post from Jan 5 still on page 1 - which is self explanatory. In that thread, there is a tonne of good advice that I aspired to live up to and being motivated by your Water Primary choice, tried to distill that information, along with my own experience, for your benefit. I failed because I did not actually understand exactly what you were trying to do. I apologize. I think I better understand now, but that understanding comes with additional strong opinions on your choices. Going to be blunt. When I read your post, your unlpeasent reply and reviewed your build for the second time, I saw contradictions. You write about theme building but then make some vague comments about tight slotting and important hard to get stats like S/L Def. You use the term Alt-aggro Mitigation and add you are often first in (with I think a touch of pride - don't worry I am not above such things as you will see). What I take from your build and your own words is that you are building and Playing a Psuedo Tank - NOT an Off Tank. To be an OFF Tank (by generally accepted standards) you MUST have utility and control. This is not optional. Because? This is what replaces your lack of a Taunt. It is your utility and control that takes the pressure off the actual tank. And, when there is no tank, it is utility and control you use in place of a Taunt to stop the enemy from flanking you and geting to your back line. That is your job, This is you key function as an off tank. Of course doing damage is important and doing as much as you can is admirable. But you are a SENTINEL. Guard, Watch, Protect. Lead. Its in the name. Do that, BE that. Aspire to it. A Sentinel Psuedo tank is about as useful as a Sentinel Psuedo Blaster. A Psuedo Tank in any form is basically a Glorified Meat Shield. Is that what you want to be? If so, go for it! Enjoy. But would it not just be better to be an actual Tank? Just saying. OFF Tanks concepts apply across a spectrum of games, perhaps a little less in total soft core games like CoH but it is particularly important to understand how and why they work. This is especially true in Professional eSports games - where coincidentaly I coached for many years. I made the mistake of assuming you wanted to play an OFF tank - an actual very useful, often overlooked role on a team. I tried to look for ways you could do that without being overly critical of what looked to me (at the time) like a misguided build (just my opinion - you do you - its your character and its pve soft core - so what does it matter, really?) When you presented your build as a Theme build I assumed you already knew that Ice Armour and Ice Epic are generally considered to be one of if not the weakest choice This is not my personal opinion, it is a general consensus with what I have read. I actually repsected this. Play something under powered for concept. Its a noble pursuit. But then in your response to me, it sounds like you have some min/maxing hidden underneath your theme claims. O.k. Also fine - you want the best tuned theme build you can make. Great! If you are having fun with that, this it what matters. But again this is not an Off Tank. You do not do enough damage, you have no utilility or contol enhancement sets to shine in the places where it is given, your tanking is going to be sub par - not your fault, it is what it is - you do not have a taunt and you put 4 slotss in boxing to desperately make up for the fact you are not a tank, trying to be a tank. That is the very definition of Psuedo Tank. Lets just take two example, just two,, because anymore would take forever and I would not even really know where to start on some of what you have done. 1.. WaterBurst. You say you need this for damage because AoE is Water Main thing and who doesn't know this? That is simply wrong. Waterburst can easily be skipped and not missed at all. Its low damage unpredictable control and can often eat up your Tidal Power - bad unless an emergency dictates - like your scrapper over extending (why do they always do this). Anyway. I do entire runs where I dont use it because there are 5 other things already on cool down that are better, more efficient and just make more sense in that situation. When I do use it, its to help take pressure of a tank in trouble or take some pressure off myself because I had to go in and plug a big hole. Its a DEFENSIVE, Utility action, not an offensive one. You do more for your team just targeting the focus down with vulnerable. By the time you have finished your Vulnerable Pool, Steam (maybe an early Brawler) and Geyser animations, most of the minions should either be dead, controlled or a non threat. IF your blaster or anyone with any AoE is not taking care of things after your big guns fire - whatever - its not your job to deal with the piddly at that point. You got bigger things to worry about and scappers love one shotting the left overs - it gives them goosebumps - so let them do it. You still got to get your master brawler off and get ready to start picking off the bosses with your FULLY tuned, tidal waved Waterjet or use Dehydrate first for an awesome killer debuff, and then a then Swish Swish Waterjet. Waterjet is GOOD and it DESERVES/NEEDS to be fully slotted with the best you can give it (Dehydrate should also be FULLY slotted but whatever), Your in melee so you ice sword and Aura need your attention to. Got nothing to use after all that? Fine cast a random WB so long as it not holding your Tidal but if your rotation is really that streteched, then Haste has to be a serious consideration. I just cant see anyone letting you get away with less than full slots on both WJ and Deh. And if they did, I would take on a debate with them for as long as needed to change their minds. IF you abosolutely feel you got to get another AOE down, 9/10 your steam is ready to go. Back up or go up and fire it again - and this is why I consider Hover to be a MUST have. Its too damn good and works in any fight at any height. Get it. EVEN if you are facing a group of pinks and you think you want to whilttle them down with Waterburst this is not efficient, it is better to focus fire them down one at a time with ST - ST you need to get in on Do not try take them down with no damage AoE in the slowest way possible. Like what are you doing Tickling them? Every other skill you got is better - Ice Sword? Yes, even that. You need to rethink how you use Waterburst or maybe consider something else - more melee with some cc to yet get more of your beloved S/L defense? I think I suggested Cross Punch cause its pretty good and does what you need. That said I personally stayed with WB because I have a stiuational use for it. 2. Waterpool. Alright again you dont need this for damage. Sure you can slot it for damage, I have done myself. But experience thus far shows it works better as an uber slow. Ive tried with everything that looked like it might be good I probably spent 5 Million on unslotters just on testing WP. I will stick with what I got in it and wanted to share my extensive testing with you. Consider ( I did not do the math, and dont plan on it) that it might actually do more damage with more slow simply because of how the mobs respond when they are in it. With more slow they take more ticks, with more slow they get more chances to be Ai confused, not a true confuse but they will sometimes run through it, sometimes run part way then try to escape it. some try to go around it. In any case, more ticks applies might just apply more damage over time then less ticks with slightly more damge per tick. Yes, this is speculative, but I dont care, I dont need it for Dmg. More Dmg? Just gravy. The uber slow is the insane zone control. you can literally kill any minion long before they get close to getting through it. Honestly what have you got to lose by trying it out? A couple million on reslotters? Ill give them to you just you can actually experience what I am talking about. My Team mates love the control. And I feel my team and myself are untouchable (when they dont do scrapper things) But most importantly you have a powerful off tank tool ready to help you quarterback the fight. It is one of many. I use Waterburst (for knockup), Dehydrate (Debuff), Whirlpool (Slow), Chain Fences (Immobilize) and Paralysing Jolt (Disorient) I also carry a few interesting procs for still more of this. This is how you Off Tank and it works very very well in extensive testing. Better than my own theory crafting predicted. So you know, I tried the Ice Epic tree and dropped it to go back to Electric. It just wasnt good for me, the Frozen Aura as particularly uninspiring. That said, I respect if you are going to stick with it for theme. So, You can reject my advice at your discretion, it was is freely offered. But to put a veiled insult in that rejection was an over step. I was trying to help YOU - not asking for you to help me. Maybe another Sentinel much wiser than I am (and whose words I read daily and try to eke out as much of their wisdom as I can) will chime in on this and tell you everything I have said is irrelevant and what you got going on is pure gold. Awesome - listen to them, I only know about how to be an OFF tank. IF your goal is to be a Psuedo Tank, using a themed build with some min maxing on the side, while running to be first in, while also perhaps shouting "Look at me, I'm a tank!" And doing this with a speculative discount build, not as yet actually tested and such that you are solid in PI radio+3's. Congratulations, you have suceeded. I can find not fault in this instance. And again I must apologise for my earlier very badly misplaced assumptions. At least my intent was pure. Hovever, If you want to learn how to be an OFF Ttank, and drop the whole Psuedo Tank thing, I would be happy to give you a practical in person demonstration, You can join any of my DA Max runs, where I take all comers through some tough content and actually get them through it safely. I helped level 1s get to 20 in less than an hour. Who afterwards. tell me they had the most fun in the game they have ever had. I have tell after tell every night from folks asking me what Im doing and can they join. I aspire to give the best experience possible to anyone who honours me by asking for an invite. I am WaveSurge on Excelsior, a Vet Level 50 Water/SR main OFF Tank. I am the only one playing in this partcular style that I know of and I was honestly excited to see another take up the torch. I genuinely wanted to help and I genuinely wanted to do it in an non intrusive a way as possible so you could live the ice/ice dream and feel good about it.. A month ago, I was you. Asking for help, a litte "unsure fo what to do". I was given expert advice from awesome people. I applied these ideas and made some modifications to suit my style. I have read a thousand posts on Sentinels, I have put 150 plus hours into my Sentinel Main and another half that into various Sentinel Alts. I have respeced 5 times, with 100 million spent just on testing ideas. My current iteration is undefeated in over 200 runs. Full Incarnate, all accolades and max geared with the best avaialable for the job - And I did this the hard way, no farms, always leading (no free rides). I worked for it. So, There is no speculation in my advice, its proven experience from hundreds of runs and focused testing. Seriously, I dont't think your on the right track - not for what you seem to want to do. Maybe it works elsewhere on another AT, I dont know, I dont really play anything but Sentinels at this point, for me what you got is like a start from scratch thing. And if you are me, how do you approach commenting on that? Say it? Or just try to work around the edges a little bit? All that said, let me extend a peace offering. Just so there are no hard feelings with your ... faux paus, I would like to offer you a full set of Gamblers on me. Let me help you out a bit with your inf crunch. Any time on Excelsior, come and claim it. No conditions. No Agenda. This will be my last post in this thread - anything else will go private and only at your request.

Hey, I see no one has yet taken a crack at your build. I suspect it may be because you have chosen Ice as your both your Second and your Epic. The initial reaction to this has to be "Don't do it!" and who wants to be the one to critique your passion? From a certain perspective, that of doing as much damage as possible in as little time as possible, there could be alot of critism with your choices, and with suggestions to pull you away from said choices, and they would be valid. Im not even going to try that. a hundred others have already done this kind of analysis on other builds and they do it much better than I ever could. So if doing x trial in y time is the marker, I will have little of value to offer here That said, I suspect that solloing trials in best possible time is not your goal (otherwise why go ice/ice? From what I can tell you lean into the Brute type Sentinel vs the Scrappertype Sentinel (more tank less damage). I agree with this approach. If I am correct, my limited experience in this type of play might be of some use. Boxing: I dont see a reason to 4 slot this. I think you should just ignore it. Consider putting these slots in Water Jet and Dehydrate. Manuevers: I would recommend dropping this for Hover. For me, Hover is a must have and a fantastic utnilty skill. Hovering in Melee is very doable and also allows for some fantastic 3 axis fighting - I spend alot of my time directly above mobs where they try to hit me, but cant. reach. Slot two Gamblers in Hover and also two in Combat Jumping. You want 5 Gamblers recharge and regenerations going so drop 2 Reactive and add two more Gamblers there. If you do this, you also free up 3 more slots perhaps to add to Frozen Armor, Glacial Armour and Health maybe? I dont know the ins and outs of Ice Armor, if extra slots are of no use there, you might consider putting your freed up slots in Water Burst. Whirpool/Waterburst. I feel slotting these for damage is a missed opportunity. If offtank is your goal (and it your choices strongly suggest this), then more control and or debuffs is desireable. Consider this option in one or both of these. My simple take on these is they dont do enough damage to warrant investing in damage IOs on them - but they do offer a great go to for battlefield control. And if you feel you dont need that, I would argue then you dont need Waterburst or Whirlpool at all. You could skip them both in favor of Kick and Cross Punch. (reference your stating you spend half your time in Melee). Steam Spray - Six slot? I thiink this power is quite good but it is clunky to use at close range. If you are having any issues with getting the most use out of it, You can also consider skipping this power In favour of another Epic Power. That is all I can think of for now,and I apologize for its very general nature, but perhaps it might spark some additional creativity while you work on it. Good luck!

Clearly there is a want for Dark in either Primary or Secondary. Dark/SR synergizes and has a flow to it. I have not tried it on a Sentinel, but I have on both Tank/Brute. Its fun to play and a popular choice. Archery/Dark Armor is intriguing. True there is a lot of bad press on Archery - Enough that I was dissuaded from trying it out when I was in the same position you are - what to main. But I think there is a really interesting Theme/Concept that can be built around this. I think you would have to tread lightly, especially in the 20s, but around 32 it should start to roll on pretty well - Some folks seem to really enjoy Archery and will make good arguments in support of it. A Theoretical Caveat. - Archery seems more long rangish and Dark Armor has strong close range effects, you might fimd you have to move back and forth quite a bit to get the most out of it. The big negative? to Archery is the final Skill. You get a very wide AOE but trade damage, and its not a good trade. If you could slot control into it, I could see it working in a tactical way, but spending 75 million to give it Ragnork feels like a lot of investment for little return. It could be argued (perhaps not convincingly) this skill can be skipped in favour of going deeper into an Epic Pool. Good luck, and would be great to hear what you picked and what your experience was lilke.

Definitely getting ready for this.

Storm is getting buffs?

I feel you. You want that Visceral combat with your beloved Sentinel. Count me in your club. Let me put in an Argument for Water/SR. (Totally biased). That said, I play *forward* Midrange - about as close to close range as you can get. This is essentially Melee in that if there is no tank, mobs are coming to you soon enough. You just want to slow them down while there are trying. IF you have a tank, its best to be just behind him and not beside him, unless he is having trouble taking the full aggrro and you need to take on some of it -which you can do. The key is control. Instead of all slotted damage, try Slow sets on Whirlpool, Debuff on Dehaydrate, extra knockback on Waterburst - whereever you can put it. I also happen to have Chain fences (which I love). Its always up and lasts a long time. This skill alone changed the way I move around and really sets up for Geyser Whirlpool et. al. These *soft sets* also give you additional defenses at the same time which lets your sentinel take a serious pounding. This works even better with a fully slotted Heal Set on Master Brawler - such as preventative medicine (shout out to FupDup). I had a fully slotted Havoc Punch with Hecatomb and took it out to get more control and D for that close in Tankiness. Truth is you dont need to be *doing the most damage* if you play in an off tank style. Most teams have plenty of offense and I think off tank play actually fits pretty much any team in a very solid way. As you control the mobs, your AOEs are very satisfying at close range. - even in the middle of a group - as for example Geyser and Waterburst have a punch the ground animation - which feels like a melee animation. Bonus points for sounds and animations all around on the Waterset. Your Waterjet, Dehydrate and for me Paralyzing Blast rotatate to be always available to finish off whats left - which is not much. IF you have to have a weapon in hand, my lean would go to Dual Pistols and again SR (the two fit thematically together - Gunkata?). Maybe consider the entire fighting set to get a mean cross punch going. I had a Dual Pistol Blaster with Martial and while shooting and kicking is huge fun - had to just stop playing it. Died way too many times and I have a hardcore mindset - 1 death is too many and I consider it a failed mission at that point. I would say my Sent has 1 death per 100 missions and this average keeps improving. Blaster is 1 per 3 or so (maybe im just really bad at Blasters). Third, I have a Rad close range Sentinel - with EA . Did ALOT of reading on this and EA is more recommended than SR and Rad has many fans. So I thought match made in heaven, I will reach the Apex of In your face Sentinel Play. Just did not pan out. Does not feel as impactful and is LESS tanky. Cant even tell you why, just how it worked out for me. A Final note. I had to the chance to play with a Water Sentinel Rad Armour for 6 hours as we went through the DA story lines from start to Finish. Great Player and we had a blast. But I noted he hit the floor about a dozen times. SR keep me deathless and last alive several times. Im sure he is a much better player than I am, so has to be the power set doing the job. Good luck and would love to hear what you chose and how its going.

Some personal and completely subjective observations... I run alot of 50+ Radios and DA Repeatables for anyone who wants to join. So I see a wide variety of team mixes and they are constantly evolving. As a Sentinal I play Midrange. I have lots of crowd control., a big emergency heal and more then enough damage to feel impactful. Almost always the last to die - holding everything off so the party can recover. I like this. I feel its the type of play a Leader should aspire to. Hold the line. Help those in trouble. Blaze a trail and make the run smoother for everyone. I have never once seen a Blaster play with this sort of mentality - leader or not. This is not a critique of Blaster players - they do what they do. I just think its a different mindset, a different approach to the game. Also, I have noticed that Blaster Players tend to be either very good or very bad. Sentinel Players seem to be more ... consistent (solid?) A Blaster heavy team can get ruined pretty quick and the rage quits are frequent. Often a Blaster will offer to get their *Tank* if there are too many of them. A Sentinel heavy team? Might go a bit slower, but they don't break and don't need to alt in with a tank - ever. If I had to be on a team of all Blasters or all Sentinels, I would go with the Sentinels every single time. Its not numbers, speed, or which is better, its the Dynamic of how the AT plays.

Hello Captain. Welcome back to the game.! And its great you joined the Sentinel club. I have been playing for a month and so I cann not directly offer you advice on the best build, but I can offer you my personal experience and some information that I have read that was very helpful. Finally I can point you to some information just around the corner so to speak. The very first Hero I made was a Water/Regen. I played it until level 17 and something about it did not click. I thought it had to be the AT and switched to playing a Brute (SF/SR). This was much more fun. After some time I realized I really liked the SR Secondary and tried it on a Tank and a Scrapper.... And finally I thought why not go back to Sentinel with Water/SR. This combo was awesome. And it became my favorite. Reading around the forums sort of comfirmed this. The general consensus seems to be that SR is very good on Sentinels. Conversely, with the extensive reading I have done - Regeneration is quite difficult to make work and its an uphill battle to solo with it. STong options include EA, Rad, Bio. Also others are very solid, but I have not found any posts that recommend Regen - Especially during the leveling process. Of course if you have decided Regeneration is hard wired into your Hero concept, give it a go and I love to hear if your experience was better than mine. As for some guidance, a few posts down, I asked for help in a similar way. There are several very excellent posts that were a great help to me. There is also a build which at least down the Primary can offer you some inspiration. And why solo? Look me up in game (WaveSurge)

Heh, search gave me the first one. Thanks!

I came upon this thread from some time ago and I was wondering if opinions have changed in the last 4 years? And where would the Storm Primary fit into this list? From what I have read it seems less than satisfying. Got my first Sentinel to 50 and looking at another. Thinking maybe Beam Rifle.