Gone
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Posts posted by Gone
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Wow. A voice of reason among many crybabies who know nothing about game balance. +1
The name-calling definitely helps you make your point.
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Fire requires either CJ/Acrobatics or more commonly CJ/-kb protection IO's. You already sound disenchanted with Fire so maybe you should try a different set, you won't have fun if you are unhappy with a set before even trying it.
Fire includes one of the best AoE damage powers in the game, Burn, which is devastatingly effective, AND a secondary build up power that increases damage output even more. To make up for this damage disparity with other sets (since armor sets are usually geared more towards... defense), Fire requires outside help. Almost every serious Fire build will include Combat Jumping and KB protection IO's (2-3 depending on your needs, I choose 3 usually to deal with ALL content but you can get away with two if you're just doing normal stuff), Tough and Weave.
Fire is very good at damage. If you don't want to do more damage (an obscene amount more), pick a more defensively oriented armor set.
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Acrobatics and Gymnastics have essentially the same KB protection, so if you aren't looking to stack it super high, one or the other will suffice. I think you're better served devoting a slot to a -kb protection IO rather than a power if you want to stack it higher, anyway, (PVP aside), but really just Gymnastics or Acrobatics will do enough for most PvE.
Gymnastics is a toggle.
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Trick Arrow is a pretty hard sell. It may be the worst set in game beside Battle Axe. Needs an update, otherwise it will languish. I really want to play Trick Arrow but the option of Tactical Arrow makes it fairly pointless, and unfortunately removes my option of playing a defender because it feels so very bad compared to every other defender.
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It's true, 'healbots' is a concept that is generally unnecessary in this game. Heals are useful but don't overshadow buffs and debuffs. What you really want to look at is what else the powerset you choose offers, rather than how good it will 'heal'. In the endgame, debuffs are vital, so having access to some is very valuable. I think that a set you should consider is Thermal. It gives much of what Empathy or Pain does but also brings a couple of decent debuffs late that will always be useful. You'll do fine with Pain though, if that looks fun to you. It's already been said that there aren't a lot of synergies between primaries so, other than play what looks fun that's all I got!
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When I use it (I have it slotted into flares, superior version) my combat stats reports that it stacks. So if it procs twice, I have 2.0 hold protection, if it procs three times, 3.0, and so on. This is reported as protection, not resistance, so it isn't duration/resist as pines reports.
I think it's worth slotting in your tier 1/2 or w/e so that you can sometimes break mez when you're blasting through a long duration hold or stun. It's not bad at all. It's also not worth fretting over if you can't fit it there and want to use the set somewhere else. But it is nice.
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I'm working on my Archery/Tactical blaster and I don't have a lot of interest in the Epic/Patron pool powers so my original intent was to grab scorp shield and not bother with anything else. Of course while building it ended up being easier to cap Ranged defense as it usually is, but since Scorpion Shield was still in the build it left me with very high S/L defense on top of that.
Is this just overkill on defense? Should I dump scorpion shield in favor of something else (S/L Resist power of some kind? Body Armor/Charged Armor can be selected without any other investment in their respective pools) or will the S/L defense provide a useful layer? Since the blaster is Archery/Tactical there will be a lot less melee interaction compared to a jump-in nuke and blap set.
EDIT: Bonus question, Aimed Shot or Snap Shot? For a primary like Fire Blast, the first blast is actually better than the second, I'm curious if it is the opposite for Archery. I can only really fit one into the build so this is pretty important.
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I want to try some powersets I have no experience with (on an AT I have no experience with, as I left before Brutes came on the scene). War Mace looks like a fun, straight-forward primary with a nice mix of single target and AoE. Do either Energy Aura or Radiation Armor pair better with it? I was leaning Rad, but I am still fleshing out the character concept. Any thoughts, feedback or comments are welcome, especially as it pertains to slotting (IOs also did not exist when last I played live). Thanks!
They will both pair fine with it. Both bring recharge and endurance recovery, although for a brute I think Rad will work better for both with Beta Decay and all three endurance recovery tools (Gamma Boost, the heal and the absorb shield all manage endurance, it's obscene). The meme is strong and pretty but I think WM/Rad will be stronger if a bit less pretty. You won't go wrong with either set though, they are both very good so best bet is to pick the one that looks more fun.
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Rad is actually a decent all-around set. It has fine AoE potential and single target potential, and a useful secondary effect with -def. It's good for a hop in and out playstyle with the PBAoE and nuke, and benefits from a secondary that adds additional PBAoE potential (Atomic being the easiest choice with a PBAoE, Debuff/Recharge aura, Mez Res, and it is possibly the most powerful choice objectively).
You'll do great with Rad primary.
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Thanks very much for all of the detailed thoughts on incarnates, really helping me get my mind around them. I'll do a little more research into all of the suggestions and look at all the incarnate powers again before posting what I ended up going with.
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Thanks for all the detailed information, I really appreciate it. This is more complex than I expected it to be.
I may just have to rely on Aim/Buildup to get there exemplar, that's a lot of slots, but I'm still going to try to figure out how to do this favorably first. The way snipe works right now is certainly better than it used to be but still makes it difficult to prioritize over, say, a late-level secondary set melee attack that will do similar damage and not come with all the caveats.
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I often do lower level content exemplar and I'd like to be able to use Insta Snipe in its current form (excluding test differences until they are live) and I'm not sure what slotting would be required to keep insta available for the largest range of content (Fire snipe, so level 26). I have Kismet available very early and Tactics available before the snipe, I'm not sure how +5 IO's in Tactics interact with exemplar though, do they lose their boost? What do I need to slot in tactics to keep it above 22% when exemped to level 22+?
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Hasten is a huge deal when you're leveling up, but the main content you do while exemping is low level task forces and those aren't remotely hard to begin with, so... yeah Hasten is kind of overrated, especially for Sentinels. You shouldn't overgeneralize what is a very true and good piece of advice (Hasten is a very strong power) into a wrong piece of advice (EVERY BUILD WANTS HASTEN).
Sorry, you're right about overgeneralizing. I don't know about the leveling up stuff since I don't take that into account, ever, as it takes less than two days to level up, and that's doing it without farming, so it is barely a blip to me, I guess that must have been aimed at someone else.
I'll rephrase.
In endgame, hasten is very good and will benefit most builds. Try to take hasten when you can.
I hope that's a more acceptable phrasing to the didactic crowd.
Personally I'll always take hasten, as I cannot imagine a scenario or build that couldn't be optimized better by using it, but everyone builds their characters with different goals and playstyles so you can't account for that. Sentinels are also a special case, since they are more hungry for powers than any other AT (this is probably a balancing issue that wasn't addressed properly) so I can't blame anyone for struggling to find 'optimal' and skipping a power that is as powerful as Hasten.
Good luck, and remember, build your character in a way that allows you to have the most fun, otherwise what's the point!
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Hasten isn't just a good power, it is a power multiplier. It makes every click-power in a build better. Yes, you can have an attack chain without hasten, and it will work just fine, but hasten will allow you to tighten your attack chain to just the powers that are the most effective rather than just the powers that aren't on cooldown without hasten. As Stamina is inherent now, Hasten is the single power choice that will universally make every character regardless of AT and powersets better.
You can certainly go without it and you will not be "Gimped", you will just be less optimized. There's nothing wrong with not being optimal in this game, everything works at least 'fine'.
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Okay, so Musculature is worth it, Psy is also a fair choice and Link Minds is not needed so skippable, and I should keep my attacks and just not use the tier 1 unless I'm activating sentinel mechanic. Thanks, all of the advice has given me some insights and I may be able to finalize this build sooner rather than later. I appreciate it!
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Hi! My Rad/SS tank is crazy tough. Resists are all capped except two, SL Defense is 45% and of course Rad has the other layers in absorb, regen, healing and debuffs. This makes it difficult for me to pin down what incarnate options to choose (outside of alpha, which I've gone Musculature, and Judgement, which will be Void). Ideally, I would like to be sturdy in more difficult content (incarnate stuff) and/or be able to solo difficult enemies (AV/GM) or a combination of the two.
Destiny:
Ageless is nice for recharge, but I have no endurance issues currently so the rest of the power is fairly useless. Maybe long solo GM/AV fights might test the endurance enough to take this? What do you think?
Barrier would help with Cold and Psi res, and would give me higher def during incarnate content where the cap is higher. Right now this is the one I'm considering strongly, although with my current tankiness it might be just unnecessary.
Clarion isn't good for this build obviously.
Rebirth seems interesting but I'm not sure how much the +Max Health or +Regen would help compared to Barrier.
Incandescence would be fun to choose, and if Barrier / Ageless / Rebirth are completely unnecessary I guess it might be a good pick?
Interface:
What's the best for defeating AV's/GM's currently? My guess is Reactive or Degen but I'm not sure which one to go for.
Lore:
Most of the things I've read just say take whatever lore fits your character or that looks fun. I'm curious if there is one that is better suited to AV/GM fights or incarnate content, or even more specific uses if I'm not thinking broadly enough?
Hybrid:
I'm really lost here on Hybrid. Assault would help bridge that damage gap that tanks have, Melee and Support give stronger defense. I'd appreciate any advice on this one as I'm running into serious analysis paralysis.
I'm a little overwhelmed on this tank's incarnates, usually it's very clear on my other characters what to take because they have specific needs, but this character does everything pretty well already.
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Bio is overtuned, choose that if you want to be 'better'. It's a little more complex.
Elec is very good and has a lot of tools, it's easy to build and play. My preference.
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I've reached endgame and I have a fairly strong build (Def 45%S/L/E/F/C) (Res 65% S/L) (Perma-Hasten). I have some problems that I'm looking for help working through, though.
First, my attack chain is overfilled. I always have at least two attacks that aren't on cooldown, which means they're basically wasted space as far as powers go, nothing more than set mules. I could use that power for something else. Currently my ST attacks are Dark Blast / Gloom / Abyssal Gaze / Antumbral Beam, plus an epic or patron pool bonus melee attack that doesn't factor in here. Dark Blast and Gloom enable the Sentinel mechanics, and Antumbral is the hardest hitter although Abyssal is very close in performance albeit at DoT pacing. Should I just drop Abyssal? Or is there a better option? I COULD just leave it as is and hope that the time arises that I have been debuffed enough to need the extra attack, as well, but that still seems wasteful.
As far as Alpha slots go, is Musculature the primary choice for a Sentinel? With the high recharge in my build, I'm not sure if it would be very beneficial to go Spiritual or Agility, but I'm open to those choices as well. If Musculature is the way to go, should I focus on the 45% T4, or instead (since Dark) go for the one that has the Tohit Debuff bonus?
Epic pools question, I've gone Psionic for the PBAoE and Link Minds, and the melee attack. Should I be going Dark instead? I feel like the tohit debuff is already covered enough in my primary so I went for the stronger attacks (at least, I think they are stronger? If they aren't, I could switch! The PBAoE seems to recharge much faster and have higher damage than the dark one but numbers could be off) and for Link Minds to help with Incarnate content defense/res. Basically just wondering if I've made a mistake going Psi, because I can easily rework it to be Dark instead.
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Pyre mastery is decent with Melt Armor being a fine debuff and Fireball being the better of the epic AoE's, Char isn't useless either as you can set mule in a four piece 7.5% recharge and it is usable in hami-type encounters like LGTF.
Soul is great too, Gloom is a good attack (even if you just have one slot, stick an Acc/Dam hami in there or something and it works fine), Dark Oblit is a solid AoE tohit debuff, and darkest night is a good toggle for longer fights.
Earth and Arctic I have a hard time justifying. Earth is... okay if you're stone melee or something that can stack disorient I guess.
Energy is fine if you have endurance issues but you simply shouldn't have endurance issues with IO's and incarnates, making it far less useful for anyone but the most endurance hungry builds.
Mace feels very weak, unless you need web envelope for pvp, and then it's a fine set because it also has focused acc.
Can't really speak to leviathan because I've never used it on Tankers.
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Panacea +Hitpoints/End is a help for endurance, slot it in a passive that takes heals. With Performance Shifter, Panacea, Numina's and Miracle, plus the plethora of recovery in Rad (Particle Shielding, radiation therapy, gamma boost all have endurance fixing components) I would be surprised if you had any endurance issues at all. If you still somehow find yourself with endurance issues you can just take Ageless incarnate and that solves everything. I think Physical Perfection/Conserve power are way overkill once you have sets and procs, and you'd probably be better off switching to an AoE (soul - Gloom / Dark Oblit for tohit debuff works well for two power slots).
If you aren't using IO sets yet and are having endurance issues, slot endurance reduction into your click powers, they are way worse on endurance than most toggles (for some reason there is a myth that you just need endredux in toggles still floating around; that's just not correct). If you've already got them slotted for endredux, nevermind!
You might consider fitting in some Tanker ATO's. They aren't the best of the ATO's but they will offer a lot more than kinetic combats in every attack, and allow you to move some Smashing/Lethal resists around in your other sets. If you're shelling out the cash for Superior Avalanches, you can probably manage the tanker ATO's.
Shield Breaker (or any defdebuff) seems like a strange choice for Ground Zero. You're already throwing around enough -def with your secondary it seems superfluous. I'd suggest slotting for damage/recharge and maybe a heal or something.
You need to fit a Shield Wall +5% Res all in somewhere (defense set). You can mule it in Combat Jumping usually early on.
You need to fit a Reactive Defenses: Scaling Damage resist in somewhere (defense set). You can mule it in Combat Jumping usually early on. This gives a flat 3% res boost to start with and goes up as you take damage. It's worth it just at 3%, though.
You need to fit a Kismet: Accuracy in somewhere (defense set). Again, Combat jumping is usually an easy spot. This isn't actually Acc, it's ToHit, so it's very useful.
If you end up looking for extra slots, you can downgrade taunt to 4 mocking beratements, it's a good tradeoff compared to the zingers.
You should fit in an Aegis: Psionic Res IO somewhere, in a resist set.
Irradiated Ground is overslotted. I'd move those oblits into Ground Zero, and instead put an endredux (+5'd), Fury of the Gladiator Chance for -Res, and Achilles Heel: Chance for -Res, you'll get a lot of -res out of that to make up for whatever minor damage you were getting from the power itself. You can further enhance the damage if you still want more slots there, with some other set with a short, useful bonus.
Does radiation therapy really do enough damage to merit the slotting? Seems like you could put those somewhere that actually does some damage and get more out of them (Atom Smasher works if or Ground Zero could use these instead as well if you don't like moving oblits). Again, you might consider changing your epic pool for an AoE if you're looking for damage. Personally I'd put like, two doctored wounds and theft of essence: chance for +endurance or something in Rad Therapy and call it a day.
Almost forgot, make sure you also fit in a Gladiators Armor: TP/+3% Def in a resist set. Another must-have.
Just my suggestions at first glance, hope there's something useful/interesting in there for you to fix your build up with.
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Generally with Stone Melee you want a secondary that has endurance recovery in some form since it can be very thirsty. So top candidates would be WP/Bio/Rad/Elec/Energy. Fire is already endurance hungry so it is a more difficult pairing, but can be managed with consume and IO sets.
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I made a Cold/Ice defender, sets I've never used before, but since I've read a few different places and in game some mentioned that these are strong Corruptor sets. Usually I tend to want to play Defenders over corruptors due to the quicker access to the defendery powers and the higher values in those powers as well as leadership.
Apparently Corruptors do well with rain powers because of scourge and these sets have a bunch, and the debuff numbers are similar or the same to defenders, while only the defense powers (the shields and the aura toggle) really suffer here and the closer one gets to endgame the less useful the shields become.
So really the question is, are those benefits the corruptor has worth more in the long run or less? I'm usually concerned with endgame quality as a goal since leveling up is so fast that it is only a small fraction of the time spent with a character. I don't intend to solo a lot, if that also makes a difference, I'm generally more team-oriented.
Any thoughts? Should I reroll before I get in too deep?
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Nicely stated Oldskool.
I skipped Abyssal Gaze, did not have room for it and my attack chain seems solid enough with Dark Blast, Gloom and Antumbral Beam. But is that a mistake? Am I missing something I've overlooked in consideration?
I've been giving Abyssal a lot of use and it's definitely a strong performer. Worth fitting in if you have space, but again Sentinels need so many powers sacrifices have to be made.
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That's too bad, I thought I'd found the 'just right' set for my stalker until I read up on grounded. Back to searching for the right secondary!
Ranged tanking?
in Sentinel
Posted
Tanking isn't taking damage, tanking is controlling aggro. Without proper aggro management tools (Gauntlet, Auto-hit taunt, Aura taunt), all you will do is take an alpha strike and then watch all the mobs go after everyone else in the team who interacts with them. You can get a modest taunt (provoke) from power pools but that will still not come anywhere close to a tank or brute with more robust tools, or a select few scrapper builds that include strong taunt auras and aggro management tools.
Take damage / Survive? Yep, Sentinels can do that. Tank? Not really, unless you're fighting small spawns at medium difficulty in a less than full team.