oldskool

Arachnos Soldier has a disturbing lack of fire though. 😀

AR isn't a very popular set to talk about anywhere. I guess Blasters like it the most and "like" is used loosely. Sentinels aren't that popular and this subforum has quieted down considerably in the past few months. I know I responded in that AR/Dark thread. I don't want to completely rehash my thoughts here since you've likely already read it. My ideas really haven't changed since I wrote that. Anyway, if you can fit M30 into your build, then by all means go for it. I personally found that Full Auto into Flamethrower and Buckshot is enough for my tastes. I don't miss M30 in my build, at all. On Willpower, or any other low-ish defense set, the additional source of KB (or KD with the IO) can be welcome active control/mitigation. So it can have some value but the damage is lack luster. Actually the entire kit of Assault Rifle is lackluster for damage, but I don't play it to set Pylon records. I actually have grown to enjoy the character using the set and that is enough for me.

@warrock It is rare to see when someone comes around for advice, gets advice, and then follows up months later to pay it forward. That's awesome you're digging the character to the point of giving back!

The Sentinel hasn't had a review pass, yet.

Within this thread it would seem that the proposal is aimed at two functions. Damage dealing and group presence. Now, my own perspective on a problem statement is this; the feast or famine design of Opportunity doesn't work as intended. The conceptual design of the AT, as stated in September 2019 if I am remembering correctly, is that of a ranged Scrapper. The intent of Opportunity was that the Sentinel would have peaks and valleys in performance. During Opportunity the damage function of the AT would spike up which would, conceptually, exceed Scrappers. Then, during the downtime the Sentinel would do a bit less damage. That just isn't how the AT plays out in reality. This is exacerbated by the IO system and current power creeps. So the Sentinel, even during Opportunity, never excels against the Scrapper and just has generally lower overall damage at all times. The feast or famine aspect should have been an approximately 50/50 ratio, but this doesn't happen during the leveling process in my experience. I have a number of Sentinels, and it isn't until they have excessive amounts of global recharge that this uptime is even possible. This has a very real impact on the impression of the AT as people work through the leveling process. It comes across that their inherent isn't really doing anything and that is because it really isn't contributing much. The nature of this perception problem of the inherent also seems to create this hyper focus on "identity". Sure, folks would bring this up anyway. There is no shortage of navel gazing on "what is my purpose" across a few ATs right now. However, Opportunity doesn't function as it should which then spirals out into all of these other thought processes. The split nature of Offensive and Defensive modes has further problems. The first major issue for most players is the perceived lack of agency in their build design and loadout decisions. Offensive Opportunity is only possibly with the T1 and Defensive Opportunity is only possible with the T2. This leads some players to feel as if they have to have both which limits their build options. That is counter to the entire theme of how characters work in City of X. What's even worse is that Offensive and Defensive effects are proc-like effects and they aren't even that great. Offensive Opportunity creates a proc-like damage effect which is derived off the base damage rating of the power and it never scales with enhancement. Ranged power base damage has several struggles in relation to melee and the Sentinel's overall AT modifier doesn't make this better. In other words, this aspect of Opportunity is stagnant and appears to reduce in effectiveness over the course of the character's career. How utterly underwhelming. The healing and endurance return of Defensive Opportunity also reduce in effectiveness as the character matures. The IO system and the armor set variance of the AT allow for enough self-sustain that this feature isn't necessary even post-level 22 single origin availability. So neither Offensive or Defensive Opportunity bring much value to the Sentinel after a certain period within the leveling process. The major area of value is the resistance debuff but the availability on this isn't even 50% without significant investment. The kind of investment you can place into the Sentinel can done on any of the other ATs with a much more noticeable return on the investment. To add even more insult to injury, the high investment needs of the Sentinel just get the inherent to function on uptime as it is intended. That's the floor for the AT to function properly. It is also the ceiling on how it can go. I don't fault anyone for being disappointed with the Sentinel when viewed in this way. None of the above is to say the Sentinel isn't functional. It actually is. A lot of its overall perceived damage weakness is generally overstated in relation to a meta that is laser focused on overkill. However, the Sentinel does have a lot of area for improvement to smooth out its effectiveness from start to finish. This is what needs to be looked at primarily. There are other issues with the AT too, but Opportunity is the start of that corrective process.

No kink shaming here.

Yet, no other damage dealing AT (Scrapper, Blaster, Stalker) have anything other than a self-serving inherent. I feel I understand where you're going here. The Sentinel is new and there are already 3 other selfish DPS ATs. Why play a 4th unless it brings group utility or something else that is "interesting"? What I am getting at is that kind of idea can potentially hold the AT back. There is going to be a cost to its damage in order to have this faux group presence. So that won't do much to move the needle on "why play X vs Y" debates. It will then circle back to Sentinels are played for the novelty of their inherent and yet they fall off later. I feel the Sentinel is already pigeonholed here by design. It was conceptually supposed to function as a Scrapper at range with a feast or famine mechanic. That doesn't really scream team support, but like you note the inherent is lacking. I guess what I'm getting at is, I'm OK with it not being more engaging but being more functional. I actually like the idea of the ranged Scrapper. I couldn't care less that Opportunity gives it a group role or not. Damage is a role. I've been in a lot of these debates and it seems like that is where the split goes. Those wanting something more interesting, and those not really caring about that for the sake of basic functionality. I don't know where a happy medium exists that ever stops the "why play X vs Y" debate. Anyway, thanks for the clarity on your points.

I think my point is less about putting words in other's mouth (and I don't think that was the intent by any means) and more that this comes across as a double standard. The Blaster is sold to the prospective player as an AT that specializes in doing damage in any range. The AT *does* that. Defiance just facilitates more damage but also grants quality of life in mez protection (allowing the use of some attacks). Defiance has changed more than once. Never did it completely rewrite the core of the AT in my opinion. Sentinels are sold to the prospective player as an AT that specializes primarily in ranged combat while having a set of powers to facilitate their survival. The AT *does* that. Opportunity is additional flavor to facilitate damage in a failed concept of feast or famine. Sentinels aren't billed as ranged tanks, group support, crowd controllers, or any other subset of roles. So why is it that the Blaster can just exist as it is and it has an identity. However, the Sentinel has to have an inherent power that gives it an identity. This just makes no sense. Also, Sentinels don't need to appeal to every player. Folks should be OK taking a firm "NO" on the Sentinel if that is what suits them. So, @Wavicle, this is where I agree with one of your other points about why can't the Sentinel just do more damage? It isn't being billed as anything but a selfish DPS like a Scrapper or Stalker. Why make it do something different? This is especially true since the current state of Opportunity isn't that big of a team benefit as it currently sits. Opportunity is romanticized as something it really isn't.

I think there will always be an argument about identity even if this change were made. There will never be a point at which players say "Why play a Sentinel when I can play a Blaster" until one exceeds the performance of the other. That is what that logical loop causes and it won't go away regardless of whatever the dev team does. I'd argue the novelty of having range and armor *is* the identity of the AT. The debuff is a form of damage. Looking at it as group performance seems like rationalizing the mechanics as something greater than it is. Does Defiance really add a lot of identity to the Blaster? Why must Opportunity be that metric for the Sentinel? Just friendly question to have some friendly debate. I see a lot of room for this train of thought to completely hold the Sentinel back from ever having a "place" in the game.

There is one thing about this thread's title that no one has addressed yet.

I like the idea, but I don't think the 15% resistance debuff is going to happen. As it was mentioned by another poster, there seems to be this aversion from having innate resistance reduction being a part of an AT's kit.

I'm real late to this party, and I am bound to make some mistakes here that may have already been addressed. So in the original proposal of item #2 on Sentinel mark. This is 100% uptime? If T1, T2, or T3 apply a 10s non-stacking debuff that is overwritten whenever it is applied again, how is this not on all the time? I'm not opposed to that necessarily. What that would do is allow for Sentinels to switch targets and apply the debuff. However, against tough targets this is on all the time as it currently looks. One big problem about the Sentinel is that as you level one up Opportunity has a window of 15 seconds of feast gameplay. After that there is a downtime of variable length directly related to global recharge. If players wanted to build for reduced downtime, then improving global recharge is a key aspect to consider. Misses end up being the driver of longer downtime, but it is certainly possible to get 90% meter within 13 seconds on every single primary. Assault Rifle can do it in 11 seconds but the cost to overall DPS isn't worth the gains. Now, players that care about nothing but damage don't care about Opportunity at all. They care about Mind Probe and Dominate. Hell, your primary at that point really doesn't matter. Which version of Opportunity you leverage doesn't matter either. Offensive Opportunity in high end builds with extreme recharge and procs doesn't count for much total damage. If this feature were scrapped tomorrow my main would lose 3 DPS. The resistance debuff however, is a huge deal. Even if it is resisted somewhat by an enemy resistance debuffs increase damage noticeably. Having a 15% unresistable debuff with the possibility of constant application of the T1, T2, or T3 is an absolute YES PLEASE. You have no idea how much I'd abuse the F out this. One of my character's T1, with procs, still recharges almost every second. The T3 recharges within 2 seconds. Then, on top of this we can grant ourselves and our party a damage buff. That's on top of the damage derivative from Offensive Opportunity which can be compounded by -15% unresistable debuff plus Achilles' Heel, plus Fury of the Gladiator, plus powers? Sign me up. I want this yesterday.

@Galaxy Brainthanks for sharing here. I often miss discussions about the AT outside of this subforum.

You're welcome! Really happy I could guide a new comer towards the wonderful world of Blapping. You may experience a lot of defeats early on, but that is also part of a long standing joke tradition of Blasters earning debt badges. Dual Pistols is my favorite ranged attack set precisely due to its flexibility. Not ever power has the same level of value universally across all archetypes. For example, Piercing Rounds can kinda suck for damage on some builds. However, Defenders can really leverage the default resistance debuff it comes with (standard ammo is when you don't run any of the elemental types). This is because Piercing Rounds for Defenders grants the maximum -20% resistance shred that the power is capable of. For Corruptors that is -15%. For Blasters and Sentinels that is -9.6%. That -20% works with other powers that also reduce resistance like Tar Patch in Dark Miasma. Using Dual Wield for its knockback potential has a bit more value on Blasters than it might on a Sentinel. Suppressive Fire can be completely converted into a damage power on Defenders with relative ease. It is by default a better damage power on Sentinels. On Blasters that power can either be skipped, used as a hold, or used creatively like on Defenders and so on. Loads of potential for lots different types of gameplay to explore. Have fun!

I feel much the same way. I tend to prefer Dual Pistols on anything other than Blasters. Dual Pistols is an underrated attack set that can often be tossed into the discard bin. Blasters, in particular, are a hyper focused damage archetype. Blasters excel at leveraging burst damage and really just damage in many forms. Dual Pistols lacks a snipe power which is a large burst damage attack as it exists in other sets. Also, the T9 power for Dual Pistols (Hail of Bullets) has a long-ish animation time that puts you into melee range. That long animation can hinder the high burst damage concept some folks go for. None of that is to turn you off of playing with Dual Pistols on a Blaster. You do you. However, you may come to find that a lot of players like to make their Blasters as ranged-only specialists. If one goes down that path, then Dual Pistols can be a bit disappointing vs some other sets. This loops back into the lack of snipe and long animation of the T9. A T9 which happens to put you into a position you may not wish to be. So taking that opinion you can start to look at how other ATs function. Defenders can bring some damage but that isn't what their role is about. Their role is about making other players do moar damage. Yeah, there are exceptions, kinda, but this is the general idea. Dual Pistols has an entire mechanic designed around swapping ammo to grant various effects. Effects like lowered damage mitigation of your enemy (standard ammo on certain attacks) or lowering their damage output (chemical ammo on almost all attacks). Defenders happen to have the highest possible modifiers for this purpose which can potentially make this set really flexible if you want to explore that playstyle. Corruptors are very similar to the Defender as they both have access to supportive sets. The Corruptor just makes that a secondary effect vs a primary effect. Corruptors have the second highest modifiers for all of the alternative effects that Dual Pistols have. So this is a somewhat happy medium between doing damage and bringing some team support. Sentinels do not have access to the full range of damage dealing powers that Blasters do NOR does that AT have the same base modifiers. However, the Sentinel is conceptually the kind of AT that can sit back and pew pew with impunity. I personally feel that Dual Pistols is far more successful on the Sentinel for this kind of play than it is on the Blaster. I know that there will no shortage of folks willing to argue this, but I really do have my reasons for it. Now, back to Blasters. So since the Blaster version of Dual Pistols lacks a snipe and it has a melee final power, the Blaster version here can excel as a close quarters combatant. This is what is often known as the "Blapper". The Blapper is the kind of Blaster that isn't too afraid to mix it up into melee like a Scrapper might (Blaster + Scrapper, right?). Dual Pistols can be a highly effective Blapper. You can choose to skip certain long animation powers (e.g., Piercing Rounds) and substitute that with melee attacks. This can create a fairly fluid sequence of attacks built around the attack "Pistols" and "Executioner's Shot". You can then opt to skip almost everything else, except for your ranged area attacks like Bullet Rain, and leverage high damage melee instead. Note, Sentinels *can* do this eventually, but it isn't nearly as effective at the moment. Sentinels are just more comfortable at sitting back to pew pew. Pairing Dual Pistols with other Blaster secondaries known to be good Blapper sets is a worthwhile way to go. For me, this means I make a character where I don't feel like I am ignoring half the kit and try to find a balance between the two. Unfortunately, Blapping isn't really for the faint of heart. It isn't for everyone. I probably wouldn't recommend it to a new player, but once you get the hang of it the concept feels incredibly powerful. This playstyle can get a lot safer the later one gets in the build process AND with a significant level of investment into the Invention system. So it can be rather advanced. Synergistic sets for Corruptors and Defenders are any sets that bring resistance reduction. So there is a rather long list of that. Really, any of the top tier supportive sets (e.g., Radiation Emission, Dark Miasma, Time, Cold, etc...) have something in their kit that works well with the Swap Ammo system. For Sentinels, any of the more self-contained defensive secondaries (e.g., Invulnerability, Super Reflexes, Energy Aura, etc.) can allow for some damage exploration that other pairings just lack. For Blasters, there is a world is your oyster view, and you're going to find a lot of worthwhile recommendations here.

Well the Sentinel hasn't gone through a review pass, yet. So any of the older posts about how Water or Bio works are still valid. You could pick and choose whatever makes the most sense from any number of posts. Your most effective expenditures are going to be into the following quality of life procs: 1) Steadfast 3% defense to all 2) Gladiator PvP 3% defense to all 3) Shield Wall PvP 5% resistance to all 4) Reactive Defense 3% and scaling resistance to all 5) Numina Regen/Recovery 6) Miracle Recovery 7) Performance Shifter (not unique but still a good investment) 8) Panacea Health and End restore proc 9) Luck of the Gambler Recharge% as you can afford them -- not unique either but big bang for the slot and costs. That list will likely eat up a good bit of your budget. It is well worth the investment though. When it comes to fleshing out the rest of the build you could just as easily run with level 50 generic IOs until you get more funds to run something else. There isn't that big of a difference, at least in damage, between some generic options and lower tier sets. This is because the kinds of sets that the Sentinel has access to aren't that good to begin with. This is why the higher damage efforts come with much much higher investment. The Sentinel is playable with that but it absolutely requires heavy investment in order to even start to tread water in the extremes of "the meta". In other words, temper your expectations. Also, there is no one way to play your character. Since you have hit level 50 you have a build. It may not be finished, but you have had to have selected powers and distributed slots already. What does this build look like? Maybe some folks can offer pointers on where to put certain sets into slots you already have vs making you respec the character.

Psi Mastery is the strongest Sentinel Primary. 😉

What were you expecting to find? What kind of holes did you think the epics need to fill? Sentinel epics all have the same theme. They provide crowd control and melee options; both single target and area. These two features aren't prevalent in the primaries. Many of the these sets also have a final wild card power that influences defensive mitigation in some form. That can be additional direct defense like Link Minds, a debuff like Darkest Night, or a heal like Warmth. Patron pools follow the same kind of trend in all other ATs with a final summon power. Several Sentinel epic powers begin with AoE soft control. This could be Frostbite which is an AoE Immobilize. AoE Immobilize may not sound like much but in practice it is amazing to have as an option. Sentinels do not have any kind of aggro aura. Enemies will disperse and run when you AoE them. However, that changes if you lock them in place with an AoE immobilize. Yeah, you need to slot it for it to be effective, but thems the breaks. Several of the single target melee powers are high DPS options that can increase damage output. Any AoE melee power expands your IO set options dramatically. Single target holds may not sound like much on paper either. However, all Sentinel primaries are variant versions of the ranged attack powers. Ice Blast may be known to have several holds on other ATs. Well, that doesn't happen here. In order to get your extra hold you have to dip into the Epics. Many of the CC powers in the Sentinel realm were converted to true damage powers at the expense of their CC potential. So these powers lack that former utility for better damage. You pick that former utility back up in the epic pools. If you want to abuse procs, then those same hold powers are quite powerful. That isn't unique to Sentinels but adding more damage does in fact plug a perception hole of the AT. Ice Mastery has some potential for theme with your power choices. If you opt to use Ice Storm, then having Frostbite seems like a natural enhancement to that power. You can decide after that if any of the other powers are worth while. Keep in mind too, Sentinels have a lot of tight balancing. Their epic choices aren't the mandatory picks for raw power gaming that other ATs may have. You can absolutely power game through proc abuse, but the basic powers themselves aren't intended to work that way. Psi Mastery is probably the all around winner for usefulness. Mass Hypnosis can have some value in solo play and some TFs. However, it is Mind Probe that is the real gem out of the two choices. Mind Probe is a fantastic ST power. Dominate is one of the best holds we have access too both as a real CC power or as a converted damage increaser. Dominate animates and recharges rather quickly vs many of the alternatives. Psi Shockwave is "meh" on damage per target but the target cap is higher than Frost Breath. More targets hit = more damage dealt. The damage type here also diversifies the kind of damage you deal. Link Minds is just more defense for you and your team. On top of that there is a minor +to hit bonus. What can you skip in Ice Armor? The entire set? -- I kid... I kid... (kinda). Frigid Shield in its current state isn't worth using. This is utterly shameful and disappointing. Whatever code error exists here needs to be fixed as it doesn't contribute to your survival in any meaningful way. Keep this power in mind if they ever buff it, but for now you can dump it. Frost Protection gives you additional slow protection, but that is about it for where its value lies. Hoarfrost alone can help you cap hit points as well as Accolades and set bonuses. Frost Protection's additional passive HP becomes a complete waste. The Cold resist is also likewise lost in an ocean of +resist to that type. Permafrost may be of some value to you for holding a resistance set, but the benefits of the power itself are kind of "meh". Take any of the +defense powers. You need all of them. You will need to supplement these with additional pool powers anyway. From there you can use set bonuses to raise defenses into the low 30's or even possibly into the 45% soft-cap range. You don't *need* 45% defense for all the things, but it is helpful. Icy Bastion is a T9 that is worth having. It pretty much makes Ice Armor playable in 50+ content and it works well layering other effects like Barrier Destiny.

Sometimes I like to use Ageless Radial Epiphany instead of Core. That's the variant with DDR. Not all of my Sentinels have the same level of end spent per second as a build like Fire Blast. Dominate, Mind Probe, and Fire Ball can get hella expensive when you're chain casting them. So the Ageless Core Recovery buff has a lot of appeal. However, this may be overkill for some other builds not abusing this. Those may not spend as much end per second (also won't achieve as much damage dealt) and so the Radial option may work out. Barrier is also a really good choice. 100% agree on the value of the Nin T9. There is a lot of DDR in that one power and it is really low without it (or Radial Ageless). The only Sentinel I currently have that gets close to that level of end use is Psi/SR so these ideas are worth considering there too.

Which sounds like a lot of Blasters in general. Many already play as "lazy" and try to hang back at range. All the time just blasting in to the horizon. Never their mind on where they were. Hmm? What they were doing.

Sentinel as a team character for the sake of being more team conscious is an odd choice, but you do you. Maybe this will kick off some training wheels and you will see the might of the Defender later on. 😏

To me, there is some obvious decision making here that shows some misunderstanding of this all works together. Like Dominate is taken but slotted with a full set. Dominate gets touted as being this amazing power to take but the context there requires damage proc abuse. Just using Dominate slotted as an attack misses the mark. Fire Blast vs Flares may be coming from this long standing "common forum knowledge" that a T2 power is just better than a T1 power. This BS gets spread around in a lot of places and folks rely on others that sound authoritative. Also, the basic damage numbers of Fire Blast *look* better than Flares. So that is also a failure of the game detailed tooltips if folks don't understand what DPA is. The build has *zero* area powers. It skips Fire Ball, and Ground Zero. Fire Breath and Rain of Fire are understandable to skip. However, the build even skips Inferno. Perhaps the OP doesn't want to be in melee range, but this begs the question of why Mind Probe? Again, was this power taken because people said it was amazing? Maybe. I'm making a lot of assumptions here but after viewing hundreds of builds this is my impression. Anyway, I agree with the chasing the ranged cap and missing the mark. What is also really enlightening there is it is "ranged" defense. This leads me to believe even more the intent here is to play solely at range hence the skippage of Inferno and Ground Zero. Improvements to the above would be focus more on doing damage vs worrying about tanking at range only. Radiation Armor is already incredible for durability due to the layers it has. Sure, it doesn't have defense but it doesn't need much their either. There are a few strong Fire/Rad builds around the forums that can be copied if damage buffing is the goal. Some of those even have high melee/smash/lethal defense.

FYI, all Sentinels are pretty freaking tanky at ranged only combat. That includes Regeneration which is the worst mitigation set out of all of them. You're probably over thinking that a good bit. Fiery Aura and Ice Armor have the absolute worst endurance management out of the bunch. Dark Armor's endurance power is quirky but potentially powerful when you understand how it works. All of the other sets have comparable endurance management. Each Sentinel set has something to help with endurance even if that melee variant didn't (e.g., Invulnerability, Super Reflexes).

As above. Max end makes improvements to recovery more effective. My own Beam/Invul has a 4 end per second recovery because of a high amount of overall endurance. That end recovery rate is on par with what Willpower is capable of. The advantage Willpower has is innate psionic resistance and higher passive regeneration. That's really about it. Invulnerability doesn't need 700% regeneration. Sentinel Invul not only has Dull Pain, which can work as a direct heal, but also has a passive absorb barrier in Durability. Invulnerability has an easier time hitting 75% smashing/lethal resistance vs Willpower. Not saying you can't cap with Willpower. I'm saying it is easier with Invulnerability. The +defense coverage is also uniform on Invulnerability vs the lopsided variance of Willpower. It makes hitting at least 32% defense to all but Psi much easier. (btw, F psi. Worrying about it isn't worth the time.) Invulnerability does come with some passive to-hit. Tactics will pile on more. You're going to be well over the accuracy cap with both. You can have plenty of room to load some damage procs and still hit +4 enemies before Incarnates.