oldskool

You could probably get away with lowering Mind Probe to 5 slots and putting the spare slot into Hasten. That would shift the cooldown from 155s to 132. Add some boosters and it will go down a bit more. What Alpha slot where you wanting to go for? There are a few options like Cardiac to address resistance and endurance or some other creative options. You don't need the Aegis Unique since you're capped on Psi Resistance and your actual resistance to status is fairly high. That's resistance, not protection. Speaking of, you've got 3 KB/KD protection just due to the PvP set. I sometimes it a little higher, but that's just something to think about. The 5pc ATO set in TK Blast would get you more melee/smashing/lethal defense. You could move a slot from Obsidian Shield to handle that. You could keep the KB/KD IO that way if you want.

Answer: Why not? Unless a group is specifically trying to do something within arbitrary guidelines, then there is simply no reason to be excluding players running a Sentinel. Sentinels contribute with damage and they are one of the few ranged ATs that are largely hands off. Sure, we could get into circular arguments about this AT can do that, but it also just flat out ignores that this game offers flexibility of play. No one should be pigeon holing all concepts into thou shalt do X DPS or else. If finishing a TF in a few more minutes is really that important, and so much so to kick Sentinels from a team or not even invite them, then I'd seriously worry more about the people making those choices vs the AT itself. Difficulties can be scaled down, and just about every AT subforum has threads about some kind of identity crisis. Well, maybe not Stalkers, or Blasters. Beyond them, there are plenty of folks willing to say "whoa is me" on their AT choice while looking at how green the grass is on the other side. So that question you bring up. It has two sides to it. Does a party care more about AoE or ST? If its ST then the question could easily be why ever bring anything besides a Stalker? If you need something that does damage and is tanky, why ever bring anything than a Brute? Need moar AoE? Why ever bring anyone NOT running their Judgment Incarnate? Oh, I mean... Why bring anything other than a Blaster. Why would anyone ever play anything other than a Night Widow when Ageless is a thing? Why would anyone ever play anything other than a Crab Spider? The answer to all of these questions are just simply staring everyone in the face. Its because players find said AT fun, and this game isn't so difficult it needs super streamlined party compositions. Its when people start imposing their own restrictions that these questions even matter, and even then... they don't.

First off, thank you for chiming in. It has felt a bit like a vacuum here with some of us that actually like this AT and feeling a little abandoned due to all of the toxicity that surrounds discussion like this. I am genuinely curious to know a few things. 1) What is "optimal usage"? - The AT has no instruction book, and I think many of us are missing the design intent. 2) How does Offensive Opportunity turn the AT from "ridiculously low" damage to "absurd high" damage? I've observed Offensive Opportunity adding +8 damage to Pistols, or +20~ damage to Executioner's Shot for example. Is that how we go from low to high damage? Is it really just a function of the large resistance debuff? How does this interact with the purple patch since it is an effect that can be resisted? Again, I am genuinely curious since some of those words look a bit loaded to me. I do feel the AT is capable of consistent damage, but pushing its performance does require manipulation within the IO system. So I am well aware that my own bias of trying to keep up, or tread water, within the current meta absolutely skews my own perspective. I guess in other words, what is the baseline we should be finding as acceptable? I think that lack of understanding would also help clear up a lot of misconceptions here. More importantly, it will help a lot of us that are eager to test any changes to see how it fits in the dev perspective of the game.

"Value" in the realm of the Defensive Opportunity mechanic is a REALLY strong word. In my experience, the value of Defensive Opportunity shifts over the course of the leveling process and in regards to the secondary used. Defensive Opportunity should be at its strongest when enhancement values are at their weakest (especially pre-SO level for most players), but really the effect is at its strongest with the highest amounts of recharge. This is because the effect is only as good as how often you're landing hits and doing so against a high number of enemies. Ironically, by the time you're pushing that much recharge you've very likely gotten your sustain under control. Also, several secondaries, especially the ones considered the best, completely trivialize the endurance management aspect. I've definitely used Defensive Opportunity as a consideration on some builds but those also happened to be ones that already struggle with endurance somewhat. Ageless completely removes that issue but I don't like being bound to that Destiny in all builds. In other words; Defensive Opportunity is already niche at the high end of the spectrum and can be lack luster where it should be the strongest. Critical hits work as a band-aid fix to a lot of other bigger problems. I'm not sure I see this as a replacement to Offensive Opportunity, but instead a replacement to Opportunity; period. The only reason I've suggested this before is because I'm hard pressed to see how a damage boost alone is going to "fix" anything. CP noted before that the inherent may very well be a non-DPS effect that isn't linked to the attacks at all. How that contributes to the team/solo dynamic is totally unknown. As for damage boost itself. I'll refrain from voting on that until a change is actually established. If the inherent won't be used to bring up the DPS value of the AT, then the base multiplier will likely need to exceed 1.125. Keep in mind, the AT already constantly imposes a minor resistance debuff and the core scalar is 0.95. A shift to 1.0 is likely to be completely unnoticed and especially so if that -resistance aspect goes away. If the inherent can't contribute to damage, then I'm honestly hoping we see two things. 1) Scalar improvement. That will be helpful when the current version of Opportunity goes away, if it even does. 2) Power improvements. Powers have their own scalars too, and there are more than enough Sentinel powers that could use a very thorough review. This is especially so in the world of instant snipes. I'd like to see the Sentinel have somewhat comparable damage though spread out over its attacks vs being consolidated into a singular power (i.e., snipes).

I'm not sure if anyone has really answered the question of "anyone want to break down that AT in more detail/experience for me"? I've written a number of threads in the Sentinel subforum that will answer a lot of that for you in more detail if you like. The Sentinel breakdown: - 0.70 modifier on defensive abilities (from Tanker values) - Secondary armor sets changed from their Scrapper/Brute/Tanker/Stalker cousins. Many of these changes are for the better. - Primaries changed from Blaster/Corruptor/Defender cousins. Sentinels have replacements for snipe powers when snipes weren't originally rotational. Sentinels include damage on crowd control abilities where damage didn't really exist (therefore making them rotational). Damage values lessened due to lower scalar. Fire Blast (also Ice) rebalanced from its other AT cousins (it has very large damage gaps when compared to its cousin version; more so than many of the others). Assault Rifle on Sentinels is more normalized in this paradigm and functions very differently from the other ATs. So much so it is in a basket all its own. That's neither a compliment nor is it a criticism. - Sentinel inherent is Opportunity which offers some very minor debuffing consistently and spike debuffs after the meter is full. On top of that debuff there are two additional effects tied directly to the T1 and T2 powers. The T1 grants a damage effect, and the T2 grants a sustain effect (both health and endurance). You do not need both effects, but you'd need both powers if you want access to them. - The point above may make it seem like there is some player agency removed from the AT. - Sentinel Epic/Patron pools have some very powerful effects. Certainly, there are a few very strong outliers, but in general the offerings there are pretty good. They're not mandatory, but certainly useful for enterprising builders. - Normalized cooldown on T9 powers which sometimes works out of the better (and sometimes it doesn't). Assault Rifle on Sentinels (And I do in fact have one, and I actually like it) - Replaces the Snipe with Aim, replaces Beanbag with Disorient Shot, replaced Ignite with Incinerator, and Full Auto has multiple changes (increased arc, shorter range, longer cool down, etc.). Changes shift the set more from being heavily AoE focused into more single-target focused. Snipe changes dramatically improve the viability of using Sniper Rifle more rotationally. That change actually hurts the Sentinel redesign which effectively leaves the AT behind. Sentinel AR has a complicated set of powers in order to raises its performance and this compounded by how Opportunity works. I've gone into depth on this in multiple threads in the Sentinel subforum before, and in speaking with other players. Pairing AR with a strong secondary can be just fine, but its optimization ceiling can be quite low (a common trend for Sentinels in general). Prepare to bend over backwards to make this feel stronger if you care at all about optimization. Then again, if you did care about that you wouldn't be looking at the Sentinel for anything and if you did you'd be more concerned about abusing procs with Dominate. If that sounds like Greek to you, then just play what you like. Beam Rifle on Sentinels (I also have one of these; actually played several variations just like AR) - replaces the Snipe with a Chaining AoE attack. This changes Beam Rifle from being a ST ranged assassin to being a bit more friendly with AoE in both solo and teams. Of the 3 power sets you listed, this may be one of the best ones to choose for a first time Sentinel. Energy Blast - replaces the sniper blast, and Power Push does more damage. Like all Sentinels the target caps are lower. I actually don't play EB on Sentinel, or any AT for that matter, and currently have no plans to do so. EB on Sentinels is in a similar boat to AR. Its damage is a common complaint and EB isn't that much of a top performer (much like AR). Again, you can use procs and other IO tricks to make this work a bit better if you're willing to do that. Also, just like AR, if you're really interested in optimization then we wouldn't be talking about this set in the first place. Can you complete content and contribute in groups with any of those 3? Of course you can. The real question is going to be whether you enjoy what the AT offers you or not. The only way to find out is to roll one and see what it is like for a bit. Power creep is in favor of the Blaster, but the Sentinel will eventually be changed. So that pendulum may swing differently in the future or it may not.

That's not an accurate assessment. Sentinel Buckshot and Flamethrower hit fewer targets but their range and arc aren't narrow. Buckshot has a 30 degree firing arc and Flamethrower has a 45 degree firing arc. Sentinel Full Auto has less range (its 80 on other ATs), but it has the wider firing arc (90 degrees vs 20 degrees).

I don't think there can be any serious conclusions about which one has better synergy without more context. Water Blast offers the same utility to both secondaries. Bio Armor's damage boost is very obvious and direct. Electric Armor's recharge bonus is less obvious and direct on its impact. Pitfalls, on either pairing, would be worrying too much about soft-cap defenses. You can potentially give up a lot pursuing that goal, but you need to do what makes sense for you. Bio Armor can conceal the damage shortcomings a bit with Offensive Adaptation, but temper your expectations. Electrical Armor is a bit more forgiving due to that recharge boost. I think you already realize this though.

IO bonuses can cover F/C. I've run Ice/Ice two ways. First was to softcap the types other than Psi, and this certainly possible. Its a tight build though if you're not wanting to use Agility Core to close some gaps, and I didn't want to do that. The second way to go is to just say F it and try to shoot for 32.5% defenses and lean on purple inspires. One should be able to easily overshoot that goal. I wasn't even trying that hard and got to 35% defenses. Here are some other issues: - End management of Ice is pretty terrible compared with most other Sentinel Sets. It's end management is linked to a drain power that also boosts defenses and its not great. At times it feels like Consume in Fiery Aura is better, and that's saying a lot since Consume is pretty crappy too among Sentinel end management solutions. - Icy Bastion will cover your endurance really well, and layers with Ageless to help mitigate the point above. Now you're highly reliant on post 38+ powers to cover end. That's not uncommon, but it isn't fun if you exemplar a lot. - Hoarfrost can cap your hit points along with Accolades making the level 35 power nearly worthless. The slow resistance is about it for that power and you can try to pick that up with a travel set of IOs. - You've already touched on Frigid Shield which I wish worked like its Blaster counterpart which is light years better. Now, when I ran with 35% defenses I could still attack from mostly range and survive just fine on x2/+8. Once you get the level shift x3 may feel OK, but I think it just takes too long. Softcapping all the things makes even x4/+8 feel OK as long as you're not getting hammered on -defense. The time to kill issue was a bit worse though because the 35% defense take ran damage procs in the single target powers. TL;DR: Take Energy Aura and color it like your primary. You'll still have typed defense set that is superior in every way besides slow resistance. Who cares about how much ice resistance you have? Anyway, this is what I ultimately did (switched to Ice/EA). Ice Armor for Sentinels needs some work to make it friendlier to the leveling process and fix its current problems within its loadout.

I try not to make assumptions on what is or isn't cheap to others. Buy it now prices aren't a problem for me, but they may be for others.

On Sentinels and Blasters I spent 99.99% of my time running Incendiary Ammo these days. I do have Dual Pistols on a Defender and Corr. I feel swapping ammo can be a bit more exciting on those ATs due to higher debuff modifers. That said, I spend a lot of time in Incendiary Ammo on those characters too. Sentinel's Ward in Bullet Rain is a fine choice. I have it there myself. Opportunity Strikes has some really good bonuses all the way through the full set. The proc it comes with isn't that great, but it can work a little better in the area powers. Since the proc isn't critical, I tend to prefer it in Empty Clips. I find I would much prefer my single-target attacks to be bolstered with damage procs over a random chance to boost my Opportunity meter generation. Opportunity as a mechanic isn't available enough to warrant worrying about with that proc. If you keep improving the rate of fire with the attacks I suggest, then you'll find you can build Opportunity fairly quickly AND more reliably without that proc. Still, it can trigger off multi-target powers so once again Empty Clips isn't a bad spot for it. Sentinel Epic/Patron choices all have possible value. I don't know about you, but I really don't like having my weapon characters spontaneously sprout weapons. So I tend to avoid additional attacks because it just messes with my groove. This doesn't mean the attacks are bad, but it just creates an aesthetic I don't care for. The elemental powers don't really fit with my weapon/natural themes either. I will often take Tashibishi from Ninja Tools though because Caltrops is just a Swiss Army knife of good stuff. It can force enemies off of you while making them move slowly, they'll take minor damage, but you can still pepper them with your ranged hits. Its like an active layer of mitigation. Its not for everyone, but it works for me. AoE immobilize powers can also have their merits. If you like the idea of including a melee attack, then most of the sets offer a good choice. You don't need to get super min-max about it either. Havoc Punch, Knockout Blow, Midnight Grasp, Smite, Cremate, or Mind Probe are all good attacks in their own way. The Ninja Tool attacks are pretty much hot garbage. OK, maybe not caltrops or the AoE attack; though caltrops is the best choice there in my opinion. Really the world is your oyster here and which one is "best" is going to depend a whole hell of a lot on your own preferences plus the end goal. Another way to go is not bother with the Epic/Patron powers at all. They can be good, but they are still just options.

So none of what you described is what I experienced while leveling Dual Pistols/Ninjutsu so long ago. I'm a bit hard pressed to see how it is that you're having such a hard time against a boss to the point where 5-6 cycles of the rotation you suggest cannot kill one. On the low end of time spent, that's 40 seconds. That's over 3,000 damage dealt with those powers, not accounting for resistances, and that's with the slotting you have in that text file. Some of this is a bit of growing pains. You don't have all of your slots filled. Some of the slotting you have isn't very efficient. Some of your power choices are also not as effective. I cannot promise you that the recommendations I'm about to make will fix everything. Not saying what difficulty you're leads to assumptions. Since you're stating it is taking you that long, if you're being honest, to take out a boss you may be pushing beyond +3 solo difficulty. Scale that back if that is the case. You have neither accuracy nor the fluidity of an attack chain to be handling that difficulty. Even taking your statements and slotting at face value, you have more than enough DPS to take out +0 to +1 bosses. You do not need to make a proc monster to do that. I didn't even bother with procs until after level 50. Prior to that I ran generic IOs and tangled with AVs on teams and held my own. Now is the time to take a real hard look at pruning some attacks. You have too many. They're stretching your slots too thin and you haven't even filled all of them with enhancements (if the empty slots are correct). Here goes. I'm not fond of Piercing Rounds on Sentinels. It can be an OK power if you know how to leverage the debuff it brings, but that's really only effective on teams vs solo. I'd highly recommend you dump it. The 2.64s animation time is killing your effectiveness and how it is slotted isn't helping. Dual Wield. Unless you plan to load this procs and do something creative with it, this too can go. You can use Empty Clips as a filler if you really need to. Start setting up Empty Clips as a carrier for Opportunity Strikes if you like. You don't have to, but it will make sense in a moment. Bullet Rain is fine. Dump the Overwhelming Force pieces from Executioner's Shot. You don't need that set, and it isn't that useful for you here. When you run Incendiary Ammo the knockback is replaced by the fire damage-over-time. You have more accuracy in this power than it really needs for handling lower level difficulty. Consider swapping an accuracy with a damage mod. Suppressive Fire. Dump that stun duration if you're running Incendiary Ammo all the time. It is literally useless. Suppressive Fire turns into a hold, not a stun, under Incendiary Ammo. That's not a recommendation to enhance the hold either. That's only about 2 seconds long and not worth the effort. Go for a 3rd damage socket. Start enhancing Pistols with new stuff. The training wheels IOs stopped being effective a long time ago. Oh, and use Pistols. Pistols may not hit hard, but it is still a better power than Dual Wield or Piercing Rounds. You want an accuracy, 3x damage, end and recharge. Weave that attack in between everything you do if you can manage it. Get used to doing this because it helps to learn it now. It can be a core component to your damage later. Consider embracing speed. No, not the drug. Don't do drugs. Consider that Sentinel Dual Pistols has the opportunity to really lean heavily on faster animating attacks. Leverage this by shortening the cooldowns. Consider Hasten. OK, Hasten is kind of a drug, but do consider it. Even better ideas.... Start looking into getting Thunderstrikes for Pistols, Executioner's Shot, and Suppressive Fire. Look for the Accuracy/Damage, Accuracy/Damage/Endurance, and Damage/Endurance. That's just 3 slots. The remaining 3 slots start looking into damage procs if you like. Pistols, Suppressive Fire, and Executioner's Shot can all take on several. These will help add in damage types you don't currently have. For Pistols at least try to get your hands on a Lady Grey: Chance for Negative. Get two while you're at it, and put the other in Executioner's Shot. For Executioner's Shot look for Explosive Strikes and Impeded Swiftness. Both of those procs are smashing damage. For Suppressive Fire look into the Ghost Widow's Embace: Chance for Psionic damage, and Neuronic Shutdown: Chance for Psionic damage. If you cannot afford those right now, use the last three slots to run generic damage, endurance, and recharge. Those will compliment the Thunderstrikes until you can replace them later. Once you have more cash you can always attune the Thunderstrikes, or use unslotters to get high level versions. You should be able to run Pistols, Suppressive Fire, Executioner's Shot without much issue. You will fill that downtime with another application of Pistols, and Empty Clips is actually a fine filler.

This is stretching the truth in order to make a point. Aim grants +50% to-hit and damage for 10 seconds. The Gaussian proc has to be slotted in order for it matter. The effect of that proc is +80%, and whatever level of to-hit I don't need, for just over 5 seconds. Yes, Gaussian's is 80% on Sentinels. Please feel free to log in and check for yourself. I know I did. Mid's states this and it is correct. Hail of Bullets has an animation time that consumes the bulk of the Gaussian buff window. You could queue another power before it was over and gain benefit into another attack. If Aim existed it would have less than 6 seconds remaining time. Another note, Mid's has the incorrect values on Sentinel attacks like Empty Clips and Bullet Rain. The real values are higher than what the planner shows. This is yet another example of where I can literally log into the game and see this information side-by-side. Hail of Bullets has a downtime. If we're going to play this game of No True Scotsman, then No True Sentinel needs a few parameters. No true Sentinel skips Aim. No true Sentinel skips adding the Gaussian proc. No True Sentinel skips building towards having a 30 second or less T9 availability. We could be a bit more generous and pretend that all Sentinels work their T9 + Aim to 25 seconds or less. So 130% bonus damage to Hail of Bullets compromises 50% more damage? What time frame are we talking about here? Just how much damage do you think you really do within a 25 to 30 second window? I do enjoy playing my Dual Pistols characters. I am not so much of a fanboy that I can't see some faults in the set. Criticism of the kit can hold merit, but only when we're being honest with the discussion and not making some pretty wild claims.

Manageable - "able to be managed, controlled, or accomplished without great difficulty" Crippling - (definition 2, because we're not discussing a person/animal) - "causing a severe and almost insuperable problem" Dual Pistols without Aim can still accomplish content in this game without great difficulty. Yes, it can take longer to take down spawns without controllable Aim + Gaussian's, but it is neither severe nor is it an almost impossible problem to do so. Inconvenient, yes. Impossible to play? Hardly.

I miss Aim sometimes with Dual Pistols, but it is manageable. While there are plenty of great points here some if it is really just splitting hairs.

The one you enjoy the most should be the one. AoE = Water Blast >> Ice Blast = Dual Pistols... Maybe not quite equals. Depends on how well you leverage Ice Storm and if you took Frost Breath or not. Otherwise Dual Pistols maybe better. ST = Ice Blast > Dual Pistols > Water Blast... This is generally going to be true if you use procs or not. The gap between Ice Blast and Dual Pistols is fairly small but the ability to use Aim should allow Ice to pull ahead.

You could browse this thread: And this thread: And this one too: Tons of ideas there. Just some quick stuff to think about. Costumes are always the real end game. While most of the Beam kit is useful you can have valid internal debates on keeping Single Shot vs Charged Shot as well as Cutting Beam. On my Beam/Invul I have all of the Beam attacks because it suits me to do that, and I use at least one power a set mule. The best attacks are Disintegrate, Lancer Shot, Refractor Beam, Piercing Beam, and Overcharge. Take Aim. The first 3 attacks have their uses too, but if you have to drop one or two later it won't really hurt much. Super Reflexes can get away with not taking Elude. I tend to recommend it for leveling builds and then just drop it later. This is going to vary depending on your own personal comfort level. You can always use purple inspirations to pad things out if the crash on Elude doesn't sound like it is your jam.

Is there a reason why you can't just skip the melee powers in Devices and just go all in on this ranged-only concept? I think you'd find that if you started to pair other secondaries this is going to be the same question. With Tactical Arrow you could skip utility powers just for the sake of layering defense bonuses. The end result is identical though in both cases. You're skipping powers in order for you to fulfill a concept.

Some other food for thought... Water Jet has a cool down on the Tidal Power effect. You can't constantly spam it. You could substitute Tidal Forces use by interweaving a different consuming power like Water Burst or Geyser. That's probably realistic for most players as it is. Aqua Bolt vs Dehydrate can have a valid argument about when one should be taken/used. The slotting strategy is going to matter, the content being faced, and the need of using Tidal Forces for other powers. I've run both before and found that Aqua Bolt can have merit at times. Ultimately, I switched to a procced out Dehydrate and I've noted an improvement in my performance for it. I prioritize Water Jet when I can enhance it, but 15 seconds is a long time to allow Dehydrate to consume some stacks too. Running Aqua Bolt makes it far easier though and that can have its own value to people.

First thing you should know. You're not locked into an Incarnate option. You can only use one Incarnate option at a time per each category, but you can have several different options sitting on the bench. This means you can swap some effects out of combat. There is a cool down to this so you can't reconfigure everything on the fly, but with some planning this can open doors. Judgment - I tend to feel this is a take what you want category. There are a number of good options for different reasons. Ion though is just really easy to use since it has a large range and bounces. Aiming it just isn't a big deal. Interface - I like Reactive or Degenerative. I'll work on both, eventually, but where I start depends on what content I play. Reactive is fairly generic damage boost and Degenerative (focusing on the debuff) can be better for tougher targets like AVs. Destiny - Clarion Core is probably the one you want to get first. Hybrid - The melee options can be good if you blap a lot, and the assault options are good for damage. Which one in each branch would kind of depend on what your build is like. I wouldn't stress too much about it as you can fix this with time. Lore - Similar to Judgment. There are certain pets, like Longbow or Banished Pantheon, that bring an effect you may want from their intangible pet path. You could also just go in for theme. I've picked non-meta choices before and haven't ever regretted it. Lore pets do significant damage.

I think some of the above needs a bit more clarity. Several Sentinel powers that are heavy on control in other ATs were converted into damage powers. Suppressive Fire in Dual Pistols normally has a long base cool down, very low damage, and a reasonable duration to the control element (stun or hold). The Sentinel version does far better damage, has a shorter cool down adding reliability/sustainability to the rotation, and has a fraction of the control duration. Some Sentinel control attacks, as found in the other ATs, retain a reasonable duration on some effects while also improving damage. That's not the norm though. Some Sentinel attacks completely trade their original version for something entirely different (e.g., Ice Blast). These attacks are generally only better because they cause damage while having the capacity for a minor interrupt, but they aren't always strong control options due to the diminished duration. Sentinels have no sniper attacks at all. So this cannot be worse because it doesn't even exist. A different way to phrase this could be Sentinels replace sniper attacks for new abilities and sometimes those effects do not pan out very well. There were some winners in the sniper replacement world, and some sets that lost something for it. Generally though the Sentinel attack rotations are fairly smoothed out and less spikey without snipes. Better ultimates is debatable. Sentinels can get their ultimates on pretty short cooldowns, but the cousin version of certain sets can also do that in other ATs. So what if my Blaster or Defender's Hail of Bullets recharges in 30 seconds vs my Sentinel's 25 seconds? The Blaster will do more damage. Sentinel Archery and Assault Rifle have longer cooldowns on their ultimates with some additional changes to help pad that out. I'm not sure I'd say "better" is the appropriate term. It is just different. For several other sets though the Sentinel can have their ultimate available with a bit more frequency and that can be a very significant contributor to team damage. Sentinels have the exact same debuff modifiers as Blasters do. Bringing up Defenders/Corruptors is kinda pointless since the Sentinel isn't a support AT. The rest of the commentary can be true but it can also be assuming a lot of conditions. It is also assuming a certain kind of mindset with builds within the AT and how it relates directly to the philosophy of another AT. That's a recipe for misunderstanding. Damage procs and ED capping damage don't need to be mutually exclusive. Damage procs won't benefit from team buffs like +damage, but they still interact -resistance. The Sentinel itself happens to bring some -resistance. That effect has two parts. One is a small persistent benefit, and the other a burst option. Sentinels improve everyone else's damage along with their own; procs included. There is some merit to the spirit of that argument, but it isn't detailed enough to give anyone an informed opinion.

That depends on how you built your Sentinel, Robert. Many of the Sentinel sets have very similar AoE capability because there is a lot of similarities across the various sets. Just about any of them have good AoE. Some of them have better single target than others. When I say this I am talking about baseline build designs using full invention sets in the powers. Basically just maximizing the base damage of the power. A few Sentinel sets work very well on just improving base damage alone, and in that respect they are very easy to build. Other Sentinel sets may not perform as well on just baseline damage upgrades alone, and may require additional damage sources like "procs". Out of a list of 13 power sets, there are maybe 3-4 that work real well with an easy build approach. The other 9-10 require a bit more thought, and when a player puts the effort into that can get rewarded with a very strong character. Maybe not the best thing ever/world destroyer, but still very capable. Dual Pistols is an awfully complex set. Almost every single power in the kit can have a purpose. Without really getting into the weeds on it, it can be real easy to make what seems like a lackluster character with Dual Pistols. Dual Pistols on just base damage enhancement alone is not nearly as great as it is often made out to be. People enjoy exaggerating when they have their own pet sets. Dual Pistols can sometimes be that set. Does this mean Dual Pistols sucks? Absolutely not. At least, not in my experience. When viewed entirely in a vacuum the set is roughly middle of the road for Sentinel damage when using certain powers as its best option. That's honestly not a bad place to be, but it isn't exactly the best set either. There is the potential to try and play Sentinel Dual Pistols as one may in another archetype and fall far short of even that middle of the road potential. As I mentioned before, I have four different characters with Dual Pistols. Technically 5 since I have a second Sentinel with it. If I couldn't get this kit to work, I wouldn't play. The animations are over the top, and the general side effects it brings are pretty cool too. Its a decent set. Now, if you take Dual Pistols and improve its damage beyond just the baseline with additional sources it becomes a lot better. Can it match all the other sets toe-to-toe? Not really, but it doesn't need to either. It can bring just enough damage to get the job done. If you're looking to just run super casual then it has to be Fire. Fire Blast has the following going for it: 1) Basic damage with it is pretty good. 2) Doesn't have much in the way of additional damage sources in the primary (you can manipulate Fireball with slotting, but that's advanced building class 105 down the hall). 3) Fits with just about any secondary because all it has going for it extra damage and brings no real mitigation to the table (it has a repel, but who cares) 4) Has multiple powers that can be skipped making it highly flexible. 5) Generally the min-maxer choice, but this is going to be completely meaningless if you don't know what you're doing For whatever it is worth under the definition of "Good", I've solo'ed some archvillains and task forces with Dual Pistol characters. Its totally fine, but often exaggerated to be a lot stronger than it is. Moral of the story; don't follow FoTM BS. Play what you want to play because it can be made into something special. Most Sentinel pairs can work. Only a few combos struggle. Those are generally anything looking to run Fiery Aura or Ice Armor because both of these sets take a lot of resources to fix their problems. Beyond that, go nuts.

Could have been slotting. It could have been power selection. It could have been a combination of both. Folks do enjoy praising Dual Pistols and I often see folks sing praises like it is in the X of Y list of damage when running Incendiary Ammo. Then I'll see a build and it makes me scratch my head. Rose colored glasses are a real thing, and Dual Pistols has a lot of fans that can't seem to admit it can lack some oomph without a certain kind of slotting approach. I say this as having some form of Dual Pistols across all four ATs that have access to it. I genuinely have grown quite fond of that set. I am a sucker for an underdog. However, vanilla Dual Pistols damage is every bit of lackluster damage that people complain it to be. Especially for Blasters and even more so in all ranged Blaster builds. That said, Dual Pistols has a multitude of proc opportunities available to it, and it vastly improves its baseline damage. The set just cannot overcome the lack of Aim all on its own, but it can definitely make up for a lot of damage lost via procs. A good secondary pick that can add slotting opportunities to shoe-horn Guassian's in can also help a lot and even more so in team situations if this is housed in Tactics. Obviously I'm highly opinionated on this set, but there is a very good reason why my Dual Pistols Blaster is actually a Blapper, and all of my other Dual Pistols characters are jacked up on proc damage.

I really only ever care about Offensive Opportunity in cases where I can actively build to shorten the downtime of Opportunity in general. I generally want my attack chain to build up Opportunity in less than 15 seconds. Ideally I want that in 13 seconds or lower. Psychic Blast can potentially have issues with that. Some sets are really good about it. Especially sets with very strong T1 powers (Dual Pistols, Fire Blast, etc). Some sets that are less reliant on their T1 or T2 make that choice easy as well as I can weave it into my rotation when Opportunity is up vs being largely dependent on it (Archery, Beam Rifle, Ice Blast, Dark Blast, etc.). If I can't get the kind of damage I want within a 13 second window, or if the T2 is just far better (Psychic Blast, Water Blast, etc.) then I worry less about Offensive Opportunity. If I am incorporating Dominate/Mind Probe, then I worry about it even less. Those two powers contribute to letting me prune down other attacks as well as bring strong proc options. I'm not sure Offensive Opportunity is doing that much for you. It can be a positive DPS gain, but the amount of that really does depend on how fast you're cycling Opportunity. The below is ONLY thinking of single targets. In large spawns any set can generally build Opportunity quicker because AoE powers contribute more to the meter (its reverse Defiance). Still, even in builds where I actually include Offensive Opportunity I think my DPS gains are single digits. I can get a proc to do that to my overall damage. I always say that Sentinels pick up a lot of pennies though and going with Offensive Opportunity can help there. Right now, Scramble Thoughts has a 7.55 cooldown. So I'll use that as an anchor point. Will Domination - Mental Blast - TK Blast - slight pause - Will Domination - Mental Blast is 7.524 seconds without the pause accounted for. Mental Blast will get you 8 points of Opportunity meter. Most of the other powers are 13 pts. I don't recall off hand is Scramble is the same. Some powers like it have been 14 pts of meter. For now, we'll assume its lower though. Over the 7.5+ block of powers you generated 55 meter. If this was sandwiched by two Scramble (eggs?) Thoughts it would come up to 81 pts. Total time 13.86 seconds. You'd need 9 more points to actually activate an Opportunity. Will Domination will get you there and the following Mental Blast will automatically trigger it [Mental Blast cannot both contribute to 90% meter AND activate the effect. It is one or the other in my experience]. That's an additional 3.168 seconds (funny enough that is Scramble Thoughts animatione time). This means it takes around 17 seconds to rebuild opportunity on a single target. In cases where you're hammering AOE it can be a bit faster. By including TK Blast in the mix you run the risk of triggering Defensive Opportunity if your Mental Blast misses. On the plus side, Mental Blast + TK Blast is an easily repeatable 1-2 punch. Just Mental Blast sucks. And yes, all of this thought I put into how Opportunity works is a very big reason why I think there is a problem with it. [Edit notes: I decided to revisit my own Psychic Blast Sent to check on Mental Blast + Offensive Opportunity vs TK Blast (generic sets) vs TK Blast frankenslotted with procs. TK Blast generic set contributes slightly better DPS than Mental Blast and that's including Offensive Opportunity. The longer the downtime of Opportunity, the less value Mental Blast contributes because TK Blast spam is that much better. TK Blast with procs can be better than either, but that only helps when there is enough recharge to make it work that well. With lower grades of enhancement slotting there could be room for Mental Blast plus Offensive Opportunity, but that downtime between activation is a real killer to its effect since it just doesn't contribute that much on its own. Couple that with long animations and recharges in the later powers of Psychic Blast, and well the inherent kind of falters for the set. The -20% additional resistance debuff is handy and can be nice against resistant enemies. Thankfully, you can still get that with just TK Blast.]