oldskool

Whatever you can spare and what set bonus do you want are the two conditions that come to my mind. With 2 level 50 common IOs boosted to +4 you'll hit ED cap on healing and absorb. Set IOs often have higher values on absorb percentages than it does healing bonus. So it is possible to cap absorb AND get endurance/recharge benefits on just 3 slots. I often try to get at least 5 slots on Master Brawler. That isn't because I am chasing +absorb/heal. Its because I want a 5pc bonus from either Doctored Wounds (5% global recharge), Panacea (7.5% global recharge) or Preventative Medicine (8.75% global recharge). The way I slot /SR makes that option possible, but there are plenty of ways to handle the set. If you just want to minimally slot it (2-3 total), then specific set bonuses being chased matter just as much as the enhancement value. If I go really bare bones, then I shoot for a Heal/End/Recharge + Heal/Recharge. Doctored Wounds and Preventative Medicine both offer a Smashing/Lethal resistance buff. Preventative Medicine's is a bit larger so if you're not capped on that bonus it is a good choice. However, that slotting doesn't include PM's absorb proc which is a nice luxury item. So I'd try to 3 slot it and get the absorb on low health proc. Doing that will also net you some hit points if that isn't capped. The default cooldown on MB is 60 seconds. Between just Quickness and 2 slots using heal/end/rchg + heal/rchg you can get the cooldown to about 35 seconds. The effect last 10 seconds and you're not really going to make it perma. I generally use it right before attacking spawns, and I'll refresh it as I go in combat. Still, there I times I don't click it at all so don't feel like it is that critical. YMMV though.

I tend to feel critical hits are the way to keep Sentinel dps relevant in the "go big or go home" meta. There will always be a meta and the current seems to hover around a "if you're not doing 300+ dps on Pylon you're doing it wrong". That may not be how the HC devs wish it to be, but I have no idea where they stand on the meta or what that looks like. A scalar improvement by itself won't add much. Even pushing the Sentinel to a 1.125 modifier alone won't be enough. The per target shot in the AoEs would be equal to a Blaster's but the target caps being less will still cause controversy. If the devs dig their feet in and don't want to raise target caps, and there are good reasons not to, then Sentinels will still be seen as behind the curve. Depending on the primary, a shift in scalar can be around +30 dps on single target. I've seen more builds than I can count that start at just over 100 dps with a huge push on defense IOs (within the Sentinel). A dps increase like this from scalar alone isn't going to do squat to change anyone's perspective. Critical hits would add damage and it doesn't need to exceed Blaster performance. You control rate of contribution there through how frequently the crits can occur. So the Sentinel should go more like a Scrapper in that regard than a Stalker. Stalker's current level of controlled criticals influences the damage on at least one high DPA attack (Assassin's X) and very likely lines up with another one. For example, my Dark Melee Stalker's Assassin's Eclipse comes at the end of my chain but right before Midnight Grasp. Assassin's Eclipse gets 2-3 Assassin's Focus depending on misses or target swap. Still, that's a high chance to crit. If Assassin's Guile puts me back in stealth, then Midnight Grasp is generally up next with a guaranteed stealth crit. Anyone that's played Dark Melee on a Scrapper/Stalker knows that the front loaded crit damage on MG is pretty large. That's just one Stalker. I have several. I have another Stalker that does all that plus has procs. Anyway, Stalker damage is controlled criticals and that contributes a lot to its high standing on single-target despite its 1.0 modifier. The ability to weave in repeat build-ups is icing on the cake and shouldn't be ignored either. The entire AT is heavy on burst damage. I'm not sure I want to see Sentinels go that direction. The DPA in their primaries just isn't there like it is in Stalkers. Furthermore, Sentinels have far better AoE spread than most Stalkers and that needs to be considered as a counterbalance point. As it stands, there is no ranged-only AT with criticals outside of Scourge. Scourge is conditional and can come across as irrelevant in cases where the heightened chance is missed due to another player taking out a low health target. So a Sentinel could have a lower rate on chance to critically hit to get it closer to the damage found in other ATs. AoE with criticals available from 100% enemy health need to be considered too. That could end up adding too much damage per target and allowing Sentinels to wipe out enemy spawns at the same speed as Blasters regardless of target caps. For instance, if the Blaster needs 3 powers to take out 16 targets but the Sentinel wipes out 10 targets in one casting of a T9 what's going to happen next? The Sentinel will clean up on the next attack and if that wipes out everything due to lucky crits that's a possible problem. If the AoE stays capped as it is, then the single target needs to be a focus. In that regard, Sentinels can be viewed somewhat like the Stalkers of the ranged ATs. Stalkers trade AoE potential for high single-target and perhaps Sentinels need to do the same. The other problem, as I see it, is damage procs. Unless there is a dramatic change to procs they aren't going away. Just because a Stalker has a lot of goodies to make its ST damage top notch doesn't seem to stop powergamers from adding procs to attacks like Assassin's Strike. If a Super Reflexes Stalker can get all the defense they'll ever need from their secondary + the possibility of Shadow Meld, then why not push damage higher? So some Stalker builds can and do just that. That's not going to change overnight with Sentinels either. If my /SR characters can still increase damage per slot by more than a minor percentage increase as I approach ED capping, then you can win a bet that I'm going to do that. Certain builds that abuse procs in Epic holds will just get better than they already are. So is a 300 DPS meta where all DPS ATs need to be, or is there some other problem here?

So how much does Penetrating Ray play in your assessment? Blaster powers: Disintegrate = 135 dmg Lancer Shot = 170 dmg Piercing Beam = 135 dmg Penetrating Ray = 319 (!) dmg Sentinel versions: Disintegrate = 114 dmg Lancer Shot = 143 dmg Piercing Beam = 114 dmg Penetrating Ray... doesn't exist as it was replaced by Refractor Beam Disintegrate + Lancer + Piercing animates in 6.732 seconds (Arcanatime). The total damage from a Blaster runs around 65 DPS and the Sentinel runs around 55 DPS. That's just base numbers. It isn't that hard to keep this proportion close between builds, but there will be some variance. Without damage procs that proportion will always favor the Blaster, but the gap doesn't need to be vast. Now, if you replace Piercing Beam with Penetrating Ray the difference jumps in favor of the Blaster considerably. Fully enhancing it and accounting for variance can drive this gap even further. The only way for the Sentinel to catch up at this point is to bring in a high DPA melee power from the Epic pools and start mixing it up in close quarters. The only way it can even think of getting closer is to take a hold and proc the crap out of it. Any builds that can maximize snipes and make them rotational should be eclipsing a Sentinel's DPS. If a build on a Blaster isn't doing that, then a Sentinel's damage running some alternative attack cycle will get closer. This is why I said before that the fast snipe change was a huge swing against Sentinels. You could give the Sentinel AT the same damn modifier as the Blaster (1.125) and it will never eclipse fast-snipe performance without heavy use of damage procs. Lets say for the sake of argument that procs in epic powers go the way of the dinosaur. Sentinel's will get pretty gutted when making one on one comparisons to Blasters running fast-snipe chains. Thankfully for Sentinel Beam AoE the inclusion of Refractor Beam gives it something of a bone. Between Cutting Beam + Refractor Beam + Overcharge the AoE potential isn't that bad compared to the Blaster version. The Blaster version does more damage per target and generally hits more on the T9, but the real difference in raw numbers isn't that bad. The single target is very different when looking purely at primary vs primary. I can make some pretty effective Sentinels without dipping into the Epics, but I can't beat the power of a snipe without abusing Dominate.

That's a fine point if we'll assume that everyone taking any -defense power is also slotting Achilles' Heel Chance for Resistance Debuff. If a Psychic Blast user wanted to help reduce that problem further, then they could also look into taking Weaken Resolve and load it procs. So a Lethal set that happens to have a -defense power can have a potentially innate advantage in that it doesn't need to seek help elsewhere. Psychic Blast needs to look elsewhere for that benefit which may limit their build choices (i.e., locking into a power pool they may not care for).

I personally prefer lots of recharge on Regen to make the heals available more often. The damage difference between Dual Pistols without damage procs and with them on Sentinels is night and day. So using full on sets for defense in Sentinel Dual Pistols is a massive drop in damage and will likely make you regret this experiment. Sting of the Wasp is pretty much crap compared to most of the other single target melee options in the Epics. I include it though because this is a Deadpool theme, and it makes sense to have it. Tashibishi is Caltrops and it can be fantastic. Lotus Drops is OK, but I opted not to add much too it beyond the 5pc set. Anyway, the below is a very different take that goes all in on trying to boost the single-target ranged damage while pushing recharge. Moment of Glory, Melee Radial (or Core) Hybrid, and Barrier are there to rotate for layers of defense/resistance. | Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Reborn : Hero Designer to view the build | |-------------------------------------------------------------------| |MxDz;1575;743;1486;HEX;| |78DA6594CB4F13511487EFB453A0A540A1D0F26879439F94565DA8415D8818054C0| |38A8989694619CB903A6D9892E8D27FC18D1B179AB872E14677AEDC8B8F950F20F8| |88891BC0C4A5D17A66CE8F32C94C32F9CE3DE79EE7DC3BF377A6FDCFCEDF3B23A4D| |6B325C5300A8BAA5ED574B5D434BF5E55AA5A5917E6D3486FE4C0545850F4A2BA9C| |995E574A85BC6654CB25235A374EABB754DD50330B6A51D5D5358ED1922F974B991| |9ADB8429B8A3E6BB55851D5E5364B9C53956575CD58D12AFE837585F6F59DAB6837| |33F5C897347D5529CC2B46555DBBDB4D1565E9DD8E093C358F98324B758B86C7C49| |C573444994D693751164D0F691D9345EB86CB5A2FC4692D59BE9258922CDDC410EF| |5D8CC3246AB234C83A57048C32E57E7080B943B5B8518BFBBD6CE922EF98FDAFC10| |DE6D01BF02DF30BF97AE0EB411FAD4FD916401F810B5C772FFA89DCE69ABF926F23| |F751BB42757B5996BDA8DB87BA7DA8DB6FD64D73F0A3EE6FE4DF8CDCCDDB9C73740| |BFCC88C7D023F33939BCCCB94AF05336CB9CFF54D3C602E91AD0DB6B69F9C2BB7CB| |FC4E39DB91B31DFD76645D569F1D6966778EE374E37BF5BE2206657195E206D1631| |03D76A2C74EF418C2B709A147171DE12ECE27BA6AF4083769C21CC5150E91109545| |3A0C1EC197A53D3DC8D4D3C5D34EEEB12DBD8F8E7E83B3CCE70921FAD847F4A585A| |51BA638514C229AE2AFD90FFEA0490CE0A40D9CE24E07A7C0E3E009E6D049E60BCA| |310C9F614C60041318C104463081514CE0094D6D0C3E63298E339E04C7C13833166| |316284F1C3EF11AEB127F40C171137F799DFCC76CA75E53986B0A339BEC0403CC10| |EDC9604619ECB916E71B6DEAB296AE5144E4FAED360F377DB5D58479673DD6594F3| |AAC598726E7D01C75688E3934730E4D5EAEFF0F846469BC81FA6DAFEDFAC82AD9AD| |FB871A49BA2859F76DE2349FAE3DC7EE5FF6DDB84593B8451F62FCFF35F36CDAE42| |DDBADCFFBAC7F98255FB7C98A4DBE61936783141AF24CF8507E49872A87F88F8287| |F27F273D0CC9| |-------------------------------------------------------------------|

Pretty much. That average damage of 16pts is right. You are also right that it is more than adding a minor amount of % damage via slotting. 16pts of damage in a power you hardly use isn't adding a lot to the build. If there is no other place that the slot can go, then I get it. Add moar damage. However, if that slot can be used somewhere else, then it is worth dropping that proc. Its a minor nitpick, but that's pretty much the stage you're at with the build. Minor nitpicks to consider alternatives of slight gains. 😉

I wrote more than I wanted. 😛 It ended up feeling a disservice to you to say "it doesn't matter; honestly, it doesn't". So I felt it necessary to give some basic ideas on where to go. On travel powers... Take whatever you like or skip it. From the Pay-to-Win vendor you can get Ninja Run + Jump Pack + Sprint. That's good enough to get around and its not that much slower than Fly but lacks the freedom of movement. Its not as fast as Super Speed, Teleport, or Super Jump. It also may not be as thematic. When I was writing the response I included Fly into the build I was imagining by dropping Elude. So total powers were: 9 out of 9 in Water Blaster 8 out of 9 in Super Reflexes 3 out of Fighting (Boxing or Kick... doesn't matter/Tough/Weave) 1 out of Leadership (Maneuvers) 2 out of Flight (Hover/Fly) 1 out of Leaping (Combat Jumping). That's all 24 power slots accounted for. You could swap Combat Jumping for Stealth if you want it. You could drop Fly and pick up Elude. You could not use any of those powers. Totally up to you. Have fun experimenting as you level and don't be afraid to respec. I've used respecs more times than I care to track at this point.

Obviously, its up to you, but what you have isn't that bad for going glass cannon damage. Its definitely light on defense, but I don't feel like it is necessary to soft-cap Sentinel Bio Armor. Then again it may be necessary if you're aiming to do the hardest content possible while solo. Anyway... You could potentially skip Aqua Bolt. That Lady Grey isn't going to yield you much damage in that power since it animates and recharges very quickly. In order for that proc to really be worth the time you'd need to consider sandwiching it between several power activation times to force the event. I didn't feel it was worth doing. I often run Water Jet -> Dehydrate -> Hydro Blast. This builds Tidal Focus to 3 stacks without using anything on Dehydrate. So the next Water Jet will have the ring around it, and will get its Tidal perk. So a second round attacks looks like Water Jet -> slight pause for the game to catch up -> Water Jet -> Dehydrate -> Hydro Blast. Now, I have 162% global recharge on my Water/Dark, and Water Jet runs 5x Apocalypse in my set up so it is quite different. I bring this up though as a food for thought type thing. You can skip Aqua Bolt or not. Totally up to you. With your set up as it is, I'd probably consider another force feedback in Knockout Blow vs the extra proc. That's not a bad idea, but the key word I used is "consider". 😉 Whirlpool's finicky with procs. It sounds great on paper, but it isn't that amazing in practice due to all of its quirks. I'd consider maybe a full set there for bonuses, but again what you present isn't necessarily a bad idea. Generally when I look at procs in Sentinels, I put them in the single target power, but a good argument could be made to do that in the AoE instead. I guess it boils down to what you want to get the most out of. The all in approach with this build is going to feel extremely squishy, but you could also tailor your Incarnate picks to handle that. Barrier is certainly a strong Destiny candidate for you here.

You've taken one of the easiest pairs you could. Water Blast overall is a very solid set and you're not going to break it while leveling. Same goes for Super Reflexes. You get 1 respec per 10 levels (total 5). So don't be scared to experiment. You can type /respec in the chat window anywhere when you're out of combat to "fix" anything you may consider a mistake. Now, I'm going to suggest you plan to take everything from Water Blast, and most of Super Reflexes. It may sound like a lot of powers, but you'll have more slots than you know what to do with. Without having a real budget or build agenda beyond "just have fun", I really don't see much point in making you feel like you should stress on powers. Sure, Water Blast has powers you can potentially skip, but there are an awful lot of reasons why you'd do that. There are also good arguments for why you shouldn't skip powers right now. So instead of overwhelming you with nuance, let's keep it simple. Just plan to all the attacks in Water Blast + Tidal Forces. This will ensure you will always have an attack at the ready since Aqua Bolt has a baseline 3 second recharge. Quickness in Super Reflexes will reduce that by 20% without you doing anything to it at all. Since you'll have a high number of attacks there is little reason to even consider taking Hasten from the Speed pool. Hasten is widely popular for a lot of good reasons, but in this case you can potentially ignore it. Water Blast's entire draw (beyond nice visuals) is that its AoE damage is very good. Water Burst, Whirlpool, and Steam Spray are your basically available AoE powers. You could eventually drop one or more but for now... explore them. Geyser is your capstone and strongest power. I recommend you take it. Tidal Forces is to-hit and damage buff. It also immediately grants you full stacks of Tidal Focus, which is the combo-like mechanic of the set. Take it. You can keep the default slot if you want or expand it to total of 3. Use recharge reductions in there to make it available more often, but don't worry about modifying the +to-hit effect. You can, but really it isn't the most effective thing you could be doing. You don't need to max out the slots for all your attacks. You could go very minimal on Aqua Bolt as it isn't a high priority power, but do try to get the others to at least a total of 5 slots. Go for 1-2 accuracy, 2-3 damage, and perhaps 1 endurance reduction. Recharge reductions are luxury perks for 6 slotted powers, and not that important when talking about a very barebones basic build. Super Reflexes, take everything with the possible exception of Elude. At level 10 you'll have the option to take either Master Brawler or Practiced Brawler. Master Brawler is the preferred choice to many players of Sentinel /SR, but this is pure preference. Master Brawler pushes the mezz resistance to your toggle powers vs being an active click. Master Brawler also grants an absorb shield which is just another health bar that depletes first. Super Reflexes doesn't require a lot of slots. 1 endurance reduction for the 3 toggles, and 3x defense enhancement in the same powers. Dodge, Agile, Enduring, and Quickness are all passive. Dodge/Agile should get no more than 3 slots with just general SO/IOs as they will cap the total enhancement easily. Enduring should get 1 to 3 endurance modification. It can take other enhancements, but for simplicity it functions like a more powerful version of Stamina (slot that a bit too for best results). Quickness needs nothing. Elude needs nothing but the base slot. With just generic even level SO's the above will get you 28% melee/range and 31% AoE. With judicious use of purple inspirations you can temporarily get close to the 45% defense soft-cap on 1 small purple inspire. The first purple defense inspires you start getting grant +12.5% defense to all. So that converts your melee/range to 40%. Dehydrate has a heal over time, and Master Brawler grants an absorb. You should be fairly durable between all these things. Pool powers like Weave, Maneuvers, Hover, Combat Jumping, and Stealth can help fill the gap. You can get into the upper 30% to just over 40% defenses using 4 of those powers that grant defense. Now, if you can save up a few million, then I'd suggest you look into the pricing on the Steadfast (that's the set's name) 3% defense to all unique IO. You'll need a power like Tough to slot that in. That IO will get you closer to the soft-cap when running all the other powers. There is a second 3% defense to all, Gladiator's Armor, that is more expensive since it is a PvP set. That can run between 10 to 15 million. Getting both of these is a global 6% defense buff and can dramatically help streamlining power choices while hitting 45% defense. That's pretty much the barebones basics of it. A more advanced build can get complex and there are a wide array of options on how to do that. We can cross that bridge another time if you want or other posters can toss their 2 cents in.

Yes, there are some sets where I didn't feel as if focusing on the T1/T2 decision was all that paramount to the build. There are a few cases where the T1 is noteworthy, and a few where the T2 is noteworthy. I feel a need to make a few points first though: 1) I do not think in absolutes. 2) Fun is more important than numbers (to an extent). 3) My decisions often involve my Secondary and how I slot it. So it may not be entirely helpful to have a discussion like this in a vacuum without a build being considered. 4) I'm probably going to say "It depends" an awful lot. This is because of points #1 and #3 with at least a nod to #2. 5) I'm not fond of having multiple powers like both T1 and T2 sitting around doing nothing. So I'll often configure my build to slap one of those at the tail end to control Opportunity procs. This is a build decision and it could be its own really long post. Other thought: One gripe I have with the Sentinel design is how it has an apparent removal of player agency. There are times where I see folks say you have to take both the T1 and T2. If there is one big takeaway, it is this; you don't need both the T1 and T2 in all builds. They can be nice, but they aren't always mandatory. The times where both are required to complete a full attack chain is far more limited in scope than when they're not. Still, I'd love to see the AT become more accessible by removing any perception on the lack of player agency. If people are convinced they have no real choice, then it makes the AT less accessible than it is. That's poor design that could be corrected. Freedom to build a hero/villain of your own design is part of the core to CoX. Any perception that removes that principle isn't good in my opinion. Noteworthy T1's: Fire Blast - Flares Dual Pistols - Pistols Beam Rifle - Single Shot Flares and Pistols are decent attacks in their own right. Single Shot has a debuff that makes it unique and as a power its OK. You could potentially skip these depending on the build. (It depends is unfortunately a running theme). For Example, Fire could potentially use Blaze - Fireball - Blazing Blast OR Flares can be weaved in as filler. Pistols is a backbone of any Dual Pistols character I play, but I've seen successful builds run Dual Wield instead. Power sets where both the T1 and T2 might be part of the chain: Sonic Blast is pretty reliant on its T1 and T2. Its no different for Sentinels. You can sandwich those with Screech to good effect. Assault Rifle is a big old MAYBE. This greatly depends on overall slotting and what is being done with a total build. I'm currently running an attack chain without Disorienting Shot and it is turning out better than I expected. That said, Disorienting Shot is a strangely powerful T2 power when looked at purely with full sets. Assault Rifle can be needless complicated due to the weird implementation it has on Sentinels. Still, I've grown to like it. Electrical Blast - this one can go either way. Charged Bolts and Lightning Bolt can both be worth running or not. Sorry but the answer is... it depends. I'm currently running both since I am pushing procs in Zapping Bolt and Tesla Cage. At one point Charged Bolts was a cleaner fit in my attack sequence due to its fast animation/cooldown vs Lightning Bolt. I've since brought Lightning Bolt back into my build and changed some slotting around. Beam Rifle, Dark Blast, Energy Blast, and Ice Blast. The T1/T2 combo can work with these OR you could go different directions. Power sets where you can potentially ignore, or reduce to limited use, the T1/T2 pick: Psychic Blast can potentially leap frog Will Dom - Scramble Thoughts - Will Dom until your enemies bleed from their ears. TK Blast is a good T2. One could even slip in Psionic Strike and ignore the T1/T2. I don't have a glowing endorsement of Psi Strike, but it is possible. Ice Blast can potentially hammer out Chilling Ray + Bitter Ice Blast + Bitter Freeze Ray. I proc Chilling Ray and Bitter Ice Blast. I currently run some recharge reduction in Bitter Freeze Ray plus some procs to smooth out the chain. Ice Bolt is pure filler and Opportunity trigger for my build. So a build could go a few directions with Ice Blast. Archery can potentially pair down to just Stunning Shot, Blazing Arrow, and Perfect Shot. If you're pushing enough recharge to make that happen, then Snap Shot isn't a bad choice for Offensive Opportunity as the DPA between Snap and Aimed Shot don't matter nearly as much as it does on another AT. Dark Blast can be very flexible. Life Drain + Abyssal Gaze + Antumbral Beam is a possibility and it can work pretty well for a proc build. The T1 Dark Blast can still be useful, and so can Gloom if running full sets (Gloom is slightly better than Life Drain with full sets). Energy Blast can be pretty flexible too. There is no shortage of single target powers and many of them have roughly similar DPA. The T1 and T2 could be dropped in favor of the other later powers if running the recharge to pull it off. There is no shame in using Power Bolt or Power Blast. Beam Rifle can potentially focus on just Disintegrate, Lancer Shot, and Piercing Beam. It can replace Piercing Beam with just Charged Shot or Single Shot OR both depending on total recharge. Beam can be flexible. With Water Blast, Psychic Blast, and Radiation Blast their respective T1 powers could potentially be skipped and not missed. If you can make room to trigger Offensive Opportunity, then great, but don't lose sleep skipping Neutrino Bolt, Aqua Bolt or Mental Blast.

I happen to enjoy Soul Transfer but can't always include it.

I think there is a bit of miscommunication here. The point I was intending to make is not the point you think I am making. I think you cherry picked a line from another post and put it out of context. At no point was I striving to make a comparison of Dual Pistols (numerous ATs 🙂) to say Sentinels are universally OK. No, the point was that Sentinels aren't as bad as they are made out to be. There is a tremendous amount of hyperbole tossed around about the AT. Such that comparisons in a vacuum make it sound like it is entirely unplayable. It isn't, and that's all I wished to originally express. Dual Pistols could be replaced with several other examples in the AT. It happened to be a set I know very well, but the specific chosen was besides the entire point. Hell, in the response you just gave, THAT was the entire damn point. There is an awful lot of variance across AT power pairings that broad generalizations are inherently flawed. They help no one. Even pointing out numbers of X percentage this vs Y percentage that lacks context. It lacks a perspective from playing the game. When I ran the characters through the same kind of content, I shared my observations. Within this thread, I'm just showing real numbers taken from the game. Even looking at total possible damage potential against 16 targets on a Blaster doesn't really tell a full story. We agree with a lot of points here, and I hope you realize that. Also, accept my apologizes if my responses seemed harsher than intended. I only sought to explain my position of a very narrow point, and not exactly make a global commentary as you implied.

What you think of Dual Pistols is besides the point. I'm showing you a comparison of a ranged only Sentinel vs a ranged only Blaster both using the same primary set. These were used within the post you cited as if I was making a sweeping broad claim that all Sentinels do 70% of Blaster AoE. That's not something I did. Instead, that short comparison was purely 12 target potential of Bullet Rain and the average expected damage is listed in the post above. And I did that because it was somewhat more realistic of a solo situation vs the polar opposite. Claiming all mob spawns are 16 target and therefore all Blasters are guaranteed max damage. In real play that's not true, even on teams. It can be true in certain conditions, and it can be true more often than it is false. Still, a claim on max capacity of Blasters can be just as sweeping and frankly silly. Now, for further reference I go far behind the curtain into my thought process behind builds. I highlight what I think I can do with the same Blaster and then set that as a goal to hit on the Sentinel. In the case of Dual Pistols its real blurry. However, the moment you start dropping Dual Pistol powers for melee from a secondary that goal post SHIFTS. So if I where to build Dual Pistols/Martial Combat or Energy for that matter the goal post would be different. The context is key, and that looks a bit glossed over to just say "congrats on the analysis but DP sucks". Not the point. Fire Blast is a dead horse. If you want to see what Fire Blast can do, there is that Pylon thread in the Scrapper forum. The way that set gets built to really get ridiculous numbers incorporates procs in Dominate. Still, Fire Blast on Sentinels at its core is still quite good. I have no idea how you ran it with Fire/Fire. Maybe there was room for improvement, but if you didn't like there would be no point in pushing the issue. There are plenty of folks that have Fire Blast builds that do respectable damage. ...Of which, what is respectable damage anyway? I've seen a few Sentinel builds that can easily average 98-110 DPS when built with purple sets. I wouldn't be surprised one bit if that was the norm. So folks capable of building higher than that are the apparent outliers. The level of effort it takes to push those builds higher can also be done on any other AT with often greater returns on the same investment. Anyway, I'm not going to debate that there is an issue with the Sentinel. There are plenty that feel that way. I'm willing to make suggestions on how to make the most of the AT as it currently is though, and if folks want to know how to do that then great. If folks are unwilling to compromise or think about their builds differently, then there are plenty of other things to play while they wait for a Sentinel buff.

I'm not going to do a run down on every Blaster vs Sentinel comparison. I do however want to show you where I am coming from as best as I can. I pulled some numbers from the game off of my Dual Pistols/Super Reflexes Sentinel and a Dual Pistols/Tactical Arrow Blaster. /TA is a really good set for playing pure range. Its also got a lot of bonus powers to help build defense and some CC resistance. This comparison cannot be apples to apples, but one nice thing here is both include a passive +recharge power. Still, the /TA build hits 45% ranged defenses without any Incarnate options. My Sentinel hits Melee 47%, Range 48%, and AoE 47%. Since the Blaster is capped on Ranged defense, its Energy/Negative defense is also capped (slightly higher due to sets used). Scorpion Shield not taken or else Smashing/Lethal would likely jump to mid-upper 30's. Global Recharge on the Blaster at 177.5% without Upshot active. The DP/SR at 185%. Attacks taken by the Blaster, all. Attacks taken by the Sentinel, all but Piercing Rounds. Single target attacks on Blaster - Pistols, Dual Wield, Executioner's Shot. OR pistols x 2, piercing rounds, executioner's shot. The recharge in ES is lower than 3.03 seconds making a far faster chain with Pistols + Dual Wield. Single target attacks on the Sentinel - pistols x2, suppressive fire, executioner's shot. AoE - Largely the same options minus Piercing Rounds. Let's first look at the pairing of Empty Clips and Bullet Rain. Sentinel: Empty Clips, Cooldown = 2.59 seconds, animation 1.848 seconds. Target cap 6. damage dealt to a single target = 210 (Mids shows 178, this is wrong). Bullet Rain, Cooldown 4.67 seconds, animation 1.848 seconds. Target cap of 10. damage dealt to a single target = 201 (Mids shows 173, this too is wrong). Blaster: Empty Clips, Cooldown = 2.68 second, animation same. Target cap of 10. Damage per single shot = 248 (Mids reports 176, which is too low). Bullet Rain, Cooldown = 4.75 seconds, animation is the same. Target cap of 16. Damage per single shot = 238 (Mids reports 138 which is wrong). Loaded up a S/L farm. Counted the enemies per spawn set to +2/x8. I counted 12 targets. Spawn packs are fairly consistent. I did not pull 16 targets except on a few tries for experimentation. Chained Empty Clips and Bullet Rain... OK, so first off the Blaster build has 20% global damage (Sentinel has 18% but doesn't build Defiance). No red inspires dropped, ever. A few times I used Upshot with Gaussian's (went over 200% damage boost). Some of that constant 20% is from Assault, and the other from IOs. Defiance between the two powers hovered consistently around 40% bonus damage. Adding in the occasional Hail of Bullets made this global bonus go up slightly. Weaving in some single target fillers let me get over 50% global damage. So just firing both powers back to back against a single foe = 486. If Empty Clips can catch all 10 out of 12 enemies, that's 2480 damage spread out. If Bullet Rain can catch all 12 within its sphere that's 2856. If there were more targets and Bullet Rain hit all 16 that's 3808 dmg possible. The Blaster is going to do hands down more damage in AoE, but the Defiance contribution never consistently pushed my global damage over 60%. In this case, the Dual Pistols powers have fairly low Defiance contribution on AoE. Piercing Rounds is an exception though and grants more. The Sentinel, if they can catch 6 targets in Empty Clips can get 1260 dmg. Bullet Rain if it can catch all 10 can expect 2010. In the above, we're looking at 12 targets so the Sentinel caps out and the spread of damage might actually hit all 12 targets but unevenly so. Still, total damage against said packs of 12: Sentinel - 3,270 (raw damage, not counting Offensive Opportunity when active) Blaster - 5,336 (raw damage, not counting the extra consistent 20% global damage buff of Defiance in the scenario). So not 70%, but just over 60%. However, I was talking about a single power previously (Bullet Rain) so the comparison comes to 2,856 and 2,010. Offensive Opportunity being a bit of a chore to quantify due to how it functions. So for the purpose of this exercise, the Sentinel is far less capable when looking at raw numbers. When the Blaster can engage all targets it gets better. OH BUT WAIT.... I don't just run Empty Clips and Bullet Rain. I layer those powers with a selection from the Epic Pools. So with that consideration, my Sentinel's expected AoE damage actually goes UP. Does it eclipse a Blaster, F NO. I wouldn't argue that, and not imply to any one that I did, but still... How you build is important. One thing I noticed too, my Sentinel doesn't need to worry much on prep. I can click Master Brawler and jump. Even if its more targets than my caps can handle, I can do it without much fear. That Blaster on the same map?... Not so much. These weren't hover Blaster builds. The Blaster needed to think a good bit more before diving in to Hail of Bullets. ESD Arrow is pretty good for that. I didn't notice this mysterious combination of events where I click Hail of Bullets and everything was completely defeated. That was with Upshot running. There were stragglers that I had to mop up with Bullet Rain and Empty Clips. Was it faster on the Blaster? Sure it was, but it I didn't find it SOOOOO fast like common forum knowledge would indicate. Would that have been different if I had run melee PBAoE's? You bet your ass it could because melee sets are generally stronger. The disparity is apparent even between Blaster primaries and secondaries. Still, for a ranged AoE vs ranged AoE comparison I found my Sentinel to hold up far better than some commentary I tend to see. So I shared that observation. I also run a Defender and also attest that the Sentinel is far better than it is compared to there. Single target... Slotting matters or it doesn't. Blaster: Pistols, cooldown 1.15 seconds, 1.188 animation, 126 listed damage at 101.47% enhancement. DPS average 106. Can build Defiance (6% global damage) 3 times. Dual Wield, cooldown 1.73 seconds, 1.848 animation, 166 listed damage at 101.47%. DPS average 89.92. Can build Defiance (11% global damage), got it to stack 2 twice. Executioner's Shot, cooldown 2.89 seconds, 1.848 animation 267 damage at 101.47%. DPS average 144. Can build Defiance (11% global damage), never got it to stack more than once. Piercing Rounds 4.93s cooldown, animation 2.64. 286 damage at 101.47% enhancement. DPS average 108. Can build 13% Defiance, but tough to stack. I could get over 70% global damage running Executioner's Shot -> Pistols -> Dual Wield. A few times I must have stacked something a bit higher since I hit 77% for short periods. That 3 hit chain animates in 4.884 seconds and does an average total damage 559. Using Piercing Rounds needs to sandwich Pistols since it is better overall DPS than Dual Wield. Piercing Rounds - Pistol - Executioner - Pistols is repeatable with a slight break. That takes 6.864 seconds to animate. It has a potential average damage dealt from the numbers above of 805. This is the foundation of what I want to beat as a Sentinel. Sentinel: Pistols, cooldown 1.14 seconds, animation the same. The damage at 101% enhancement would be around 105. I do not slot my power this way. Suppressive Fire, has a 2.25 second cooldown and 1.848 animation. Damage at 101% enhance roughly 173. I do not slot my power this way. Dual Wield not used as Suppressive Fire is a designed replacement T3 power. If Dual Wield is swapped in, for pure apples to apples, the DPS will drop. Executioner's Shot, 2.86 second cooldown, animation the same. Damage at this enhancement level would be 210. The above is capable of Executioner's Shot - Suppressive Fire - Pistols for animation time of 4.884 seconds wit ha total damage dealt of 488. That's over 80% of the Blaster (when not using Piercing Rounds, obviously) not counting either's inherent. What's important here is that the Sentinel design change includes powers that are slightly better than certain options in their parent set. The Sentinel can drop Piercing Rounds since it both slows down the attack chain and Suppressive Fire can be a better replacement. I've tried to like Piercing Rounds on the Sentinel, but It keeps coming up short. For Blasters it can be good for damage. For Defenders/Corrs its great for debuffing. For Sentinels, speed is KING. Piercing Rounds also messes with how I run Opportunity and I found the uptime slightly lower. These all factor into my decision making. Now, some primaries will incorporate the snipe power on the Blaster side, like Beam can, which is going to skew things with the fast snipe changes. This is exactly the kind of thing I am talking about with current power creep. However, if you look at sets that do not have this problem, and Dual Pistols is rather unique, you can see that in this case the Sentinel is far closer than it may sound. How I really slot those attacks... Pistols cooldown 1.4 seconds, expected damage with 89.92% enhancement (well over ED with Musculature - not discussed here) plus 2 procs is 143. Suppressive Fire's cooldown is 2.81 seconds. Same damage enhancement but 3 procs one of them a purple. Average damage is 323. Executioner's Shot cooldown is 3.51 seconds. Same enhancement. 2 procs, one a purple. Average total damage 339. I can run ES - SF - Pistols with a slight pause. That's 4.884 seconds at 805 damage dealt (potentially). Not shown is Decimation Build-Up and Achilles' Heel -20% resistance in that attack chain. I'll often run ES - Pistols - SF - Pistols. That's 6.072 time for 948 damage. So the Piercing Rounds chain is slightly longer for less damage BUT it builds Defiance which is additional bonus damage. The triple hit chain of Executioner - DW - Pistols needs to add another Pistols to meet that 6 second marker. That's only 685 before Defiance. So when I say stuff like the lines get blurry with the Sentinel, this is where I am coming from. I'm trying to be as objective as I can without any of "my feels" getting in the way. It is easily observable that a Blaster can, and will, out damage a Sentinel in AoE. The exact amount depends on number of targets. The lower the target engagement, the more blurry the lines get as Sentinels can still shine. The higher the target engagement, which can be common, the more Blasters shine. In single target, the changes to Sentinel power availability and action matter. These changes make the attack routines between the ATs very different. The damage from a Sentinel isn't that far behind, but yes Blasters are ahead at their core. That's kinda what happens when one AT starts with a high modifier and can build additional bonus damage consistently. The Sentinel has a lower modifier and an inherent that is wildly inconsistent. Its not rocket science. The way you close the gap here, right now, is through damage procs and/OR Incarnate options. Any Blasters chasing Agility plus any other non-damage quality of life effects are leaving damage on the table. Don't think that matters? My example of damage on Empty Clips/Bullet Rain didn't account for Musculature. I removed that socket from my Incarnates to gauge the slotted damage at the percentage shown. Musculature starts to narrow that gap in the example above. Granted, the DP/TA build can also push Musculature since it doesn't need Agility and if that happened it would move the goal post. So this is another reason why I always say the comparisons can get very blurry. I do not know how you build all of your Sentinels nor do I know how you built all of your Blasters. All I can say is what I have experienced due to my own building preferences. What I tend to find is that Sentinels are far closer at dealing damage at level 50, than they are credited with. To me, it is like seeing posts about two different games. -------------- Also, when I note that the optimization ceiling on Sentinels is likely lower. I absolutely mean it. What's tough to compare is when Blasters mix melee into their builds and blap. Those melee powers can dramatically move the needle, and there are potentially lopsided power gaming builds with far higher ceilings in that AT. I'm not blind to it.

My quibble with this is that I did not make a sweeping statement about all Sentinel AoE being at that level. What you're describing here was a specific comparison not a generalization. Though, I can see how one could take that statement as a misleading indicator of such. That wasn't my intent, and I'll consider adding an edit to address that at some point.

These are both solid, and intended, takeaways.

In addition to what @nihilii stated, it also modifies endurance and can be slotted with those enhancements. Durability is an awesome addition to Invulnerability which a lot of flexibility in its use. It contributes to the 4+ endurance per second I get with my own /Invul Sent which is a feat the melee version can't do as easily. On top of that I also get an absorb that refreshes itself when depleted? Holy crap, yes please! The trade off Sentinels give for such an awesome power is the lack of mob scaling with Invincible. Still, that power has a high base defense rating which can still allow for soft-cap builds or at least 32% to most things.

This is a good point. To be fair though, damage would become more consistent at all times. As of right now all Sentinels impose a minor -resistance debuff without activating the inherent at all. If taken at full value that's roughly the gap between 0.95 and 1.0. It would become more consistent though at high difficulties. The absorption of the -20% debuff from the inherent into a further damage buff would then apply to all attacks against all enemies. That includes AoE which the current inherent doesn't function with beyond the Offensive Opportunity mechanic. The low DPS part is the powers themselves. The DPA difference between ranged powers and melee powers is a legacy problem. I don't see how the Sentinel gets fixed without addressing that at all. Furthermore, addressing ranged vs melee DPA issues bleeds into every other AT with those powers. So does a fix become Sentinel only while leaving all others unchanged or do all ranged powers get addressed? How would this impact Blasters in light of the snipe changes?

Assault Rifle is a tough set to really get more out of. (Sorry, this is going to be long because AR is a potentially complex set for slotting on Sentinels) First off, you can skip Cardiac with your build. The endurance is largely under control between Obscure Sustenance and Defensive Opportunity. Consider either Musculature Core Alpha for the largest enhancement boost to damage OR Musculature/Intuition Radial for alternate effects + lesser enhancement boost to damage. Swapping to Musculature Core Alpha in what you have is a damage boost already. Darkest Night is a trap selection, but if you like for theme go for it. I say trap because a single application of to-hit debuff isn't that great by itself and it gets resisted. It won't add nearly as much defense benefit as it looks on paper considering its endurance cost. At least when fighting at +4. For lower difficulties it will be OK against trash packs. Against AVs, don't bother. The -damage debuff is nice, and that's something to consider for trash packs too. Again, with AVs you need to strip them of their resistance in order to make that more effective and Sentinels just don't have enough to pull it off. So, the TL;DR, Darkest Night is an OK choice against common packs of enemies but unlikely to be worth the end drain against anything like an AV/GM. Without Tactics running you're over on accuracy against +4's. Tactics could be an idea for its other benefits, but its to-hit is unnecessary. Hitting melee defense cap is nice. I don't on my Water/Dark. I have 32% defense to Melee/Range/AoE. Its not a perfectly direct translation to AR. However, both sets have knockdown/back which I leverage. Water has AoE disorient in Geyser where AR has single target stun in Disorienting Shot. Oppressive Gloom is a good choice for either. May I suggest looking at Psychic Mastery? Specially, you may be interested in Psychic Shockwave (IO set diversity, stun, etc.) and Link Minds. I did not bother with a single target melee attack on my Water/Dark. Instead I slotted the 5pc purple set into Psychic Shockwave (for bonuses) and Fury of the Gladiator -resistance. Its 360 degrees, potentially stuns, and its just extra damage. Link Minds + Weave + Cloak of Darkness + Maneuvers + Combat Jumping is the backbone of my +defense layers. For attacks: I do stick with Buckshot and Flamethrower on my AR/SR. Flamethrower does not need the Opportunity Strikes set. Its somewhat wasted there. I run the Ward set in that power and run the Strikes set in Full Auto. For Buckshot, I'd run any +recharge 5pc set of your choice + a KB to KD IO... unless you don't mind the knockback. For Single Target there are a wide number of paths with AR and it can be tough. The reason I say "tough" is because Burst and Disorienting Shot work against a lot of build options. Their animations are ridiculous fast. I think both attacks are fundamentally good, but they are so fast it is tough to build enough recharge to make a gapless chain at times. Ideally, you want to run 3 attacks with a cycle using Incinerator as an opener and sandwich the other two powers. There are two options to that strategy. One is Burst -> Slug -> Burst. This animates in 4.224 seconds so that's the target recharge for Incinerator to make it gapless. Second is Disorienting Shot -> Burst -> Disorienting Shot. This routine is where the hard parts come in. Disorienting Shot needs to recharge in Burst's 1.188 second recharge. Incinerator needs to recharge in 3.3 seconds. Swapping Burst with Slug makes this time 3.96. Burst is ideal to keep for the Achilles' Heel, but I suppose you could drop it. You can run Incinerator -> Disorienting Shot -> Burst -> slight gap -> Disorienting Shot. So in the current build you'll notice that Incinerator's recharge is 3.56s. The gap between Burst and Disorienting Shot replaces that issue. With Musculature Core Alpha, an Interface like Reactive/Degenerative, and an Assault hybrid this starts to get better. Its not great, but AR has a low ceiling on single target. Another option is to run one of each of 4 attacks like Incinerator - Slug - Disorienting Shot and Burst. You could fit all those attacks into a build if you wanted, but it gets hard to justify slots. Another thing to consider is Slug works better with procs vs sets since its somewhat outclassed by Burst & Disorienting Shot as it is. In any routine where you sandwich Burst your practically guaranteed control over when Offensive Opportunity procs. The reverse is obviously true if you run Disorienting Shot + Slug as the filler. You lose a bit of control over Opportunity when running both Burst and Disorienting Shot in the same chain at high levels of recharge. Its not that a big a deal, but I found it totally obnoxious. Just just a warning. Proc slotting. Procs are where you're going to pick up a bit more damage. It cannot be guaranteed damage since Burst is so fast in animation and recharge, but on average it helps. So what I used in my AR/SR is Burst, Slug, and Incinerator slotted for procs. Disorienting Shot is taken but mules a set and exists as backup to trigger Defensive Opportunity if/when I want it. Disorienting Shot is not completely necessary with /SR specifically, but it can be helpful for /DA for endurance. Anyway, Burst runs Achilles' Heel, Lady Grey, and Toxic PvP to diversify from lethal (Shieldbreaker is an option too, but its lethal). The other slots are Thunderstrikes for a minor ranged defense boost and recovery buff. This also helps with accuracy, damage, and endurance. With +5 boosters you can hit +4's while Link Minds is active with little issue. The enhanced damage will be 126% with Musculature Core T4. Slug gets 5 total slots with the same Thunderstrike +boosters, Toxic PvP proc + Explosive Strikes chance for Smashing. Incinerator follows suit but changes to Apocalypse chance for negative, toxic proc, and Decimation Build-Up. Incinerator's got the right features for being a proc carrier but it is unfortunately limited. Regardless, this is how I maximized its damage. With 157% recharge there will be a minor gap before the next Incinerator after the Burst - Slug - Burst sandwich. Burst can recharge within Slug's animation making that seamless. Soft-capping any category or just enough defense... Soft-capping anything with /DA removes the proc option almost entirely. You'd be giving up recharge which is desperately needed in order to run the fewest possible attacks. Fillers just make AR worse. Soft-capping needs more full sets and that hurts slotting options in the attacks. Incinerator - Disorienting - Burst - Disorienting is pretty much the best you can hope for on damage with full sets and high recharge. Since there is a lot of knockdown potential between Buckshot, M30 (not taken here, and I skipped it too), and Slug that's something to think about. Psychic Shockwave + Disorienting Shot + Oppressive Gloom is another thing. I run +2/x8 with Water/Dark. It is completely manageable with a "just enough" defense approach plus CC. Anything higher than that starts getting risky and time consuming. I've run my build in +4/x8. It can do it, but its not particularly smooth at it while solo. In groups its not a big deal. So that's something else to think about. How to get 157% global recharge? Hasten 5x LotG (Cloak of Darkness, Combat Jumping, Weave, Maneuvers, Link Minds) 5pc Opportunity Strikes (Full Auto ideally and with the 6th slot for range defense) 6pc Sentinel's Ward (Flamethrower, trust me) 5pc Apocalypse (no proc) in Disorienting Shot 5pc Ragnarok in Buckshot 5pc Armageddon in Psychic Shockwave The above equals 157.5%. Its about the best you're going to get and still be able to socket damage procs. It can get higher by using sets like Decimation in Burst, and Disorienting shot for another 6.25% each. Resistance Caps... Dark can potentially cap Smashing/Lethal/Psychic and occasionally Negative on Sentinels. Its a big mountain to climb while making considerations to boost damage, and I found it not worth doing. I landed around 66-68% on my Water/Dark. With everything else I have been talking about, its enough. With AR/DA I seem to hit around 66 since some slotting options are very different between the two sets. Still, that's not bad. Energy and Toxic are holes, but that's just how Dark Armor works. Anyway, here is a data chunk to illustrate what I am babbling about. You'll need the most recent updated files to view it. Also, the build does more damage pure range than the original build does despite Smite. Yes, procs are that strong. Smite with procs would make it better, but I don't think it is necessary. Lean into the AoE benefits a bit. Full Auto with Opportunity Strikes and Flamethrower can let you chain cast Opportunity. [Edit: Don't completely forget there are things like Defensive Boosters at the Pay-to-Win vendor that last an hour. That can be a gap closer if you feel the mitigation is too low. Barrier in the Destiny can also be an option. I find Sentinels a bit of a chore to run through +4 content solo, but quite frankly I feel that way about a lot of characters. Still, dipping into external sources of +defense/resist like the ones mentioned can make solo +4 content a lot smoother. I don't often do it enough myself, but its worth the reminder to all readers!] | Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Reborn : Hero Designer to view the build | |-------------------------------------------------------------------| |MxDz;1470;690;1380;HEX;| |78DA65934B4F13611486BF69A7620B2D9442A1B6054A8BD3963274A01AE32584889| |A08240412B7CD0486325A4BD3C14496FC05376ED4C4A59AF81FDC79E1E6CE1B0B63| |A20B454DFC01E3E99C978A99499B67E67CE7F29EB79DF9BB331DCFAF6D4D092974B| |9AA5B5679C9A86D9835A3EA9BD72BE6B2685E6DF44D1EC5CB8B7AAD62ACA8D396A5| |DFA96E9417CDD5AA116F9DCE18AB46CD32D419BD71AB3CDDB8BDDE108185F5F5AAB| |A54378C95A0737BD5ACAC5176A5D3799A33F415A361AD99F58EA3E73A1DC6AED4CD| |65B5D577C132CBF3BAB5613436FB494E8EBE2F1581CBF689C704CD2F120F99038FC| |0171E2122B218D8216AB2182A781D8E64E95C726A3DA22439B113457092F94A418A| |B065A9C8F5D102F3D418A83213E3CCD754E38526EF598E0526981D936089193AC34| |C7F664D0A69F241930F9A4E4253009AB615FE3928476A1B159CF384FB64A9DECFF5| |5E7F946E92B46F1F38C133521AF30DF569C76EEDF02E05EF52F02E0DAFD29BECE13| |00D0E727F2988D921F019FD209DDCCFD3F983EBBABE8387CC5D9A198637E1B7B213| |EBDE07B7993D3BE02E33BAC73CA0FE117813E9652F941018604AA4AF97FB8B5E9B2| |EE1A5481FAAFAE0683F1CED87A37BA42A06553138918313393891D3D8E13C1CC93F| |A0B8220B99FAC7D13F0E5519A8CA4055987292C84922A7809C0272F649C320340C1| |EF0C6994FCCD3EFC0F7E007A6F291F9859C19C6D6C3CED6519A3882892398989F65| |E5853FCCAF5495C5C4EC25DE6EFC22788EA99D072F80535CFB8D6A47B9BF3C8AFE6| |33D60188C30C7BBB1290D53A152DDE2D853EA53E43EA298E1FF51426EBDD3F4696E| |73B3F9AA4BBE66C4CEBB4E8BAE88E68A4CBA22255764CE1559905B6FBF909C88BFA| |BF56EDB87013A958E9FFEFA17F148377843F9BAC4FF93143BF7D355F5FB78D53DF6| |D9731F1C624FECFFAFD90845B9C4FE0BFFE8FDA5| |-------------------------------------------------------------------|

Looks good to me. Midnight Grasp has a better chance to trigger the damage procs you have in Smite. Or, are you valuing the proc within that Winter set more for the build? You could swap the slots of those two powers for damage or leave it as it is for the Winter effects.

Np. Sometimes seemingly simple questions require long answers. I didn't drop a data dump since I'm using modified files to use new IOs. Some folks have trouble opening that and I'm not making assumptions here. So I just wrote it out. The other reason I wrote that much is because data dumps without context aren't helpful.

+1 vote on DA/EM. Whirling Hands + Oppressive Gloom can be interesting. Anything single-target gets chain stunned as described. This was a fun combo on live. May revisit it one day.

Definitely take Cloak of Shadows. I feel Cloak of Fear and Oppressive Gloom work far better when run with complimentary powers than alone. Both of these powers are hold overs from the original game vision. Minions were supposed to be a threat and these were supposed to help Scrappers deal with incoming damage. Their CC effects are largely unnecessary in the current game. The small to-hit debuff from CoF is largely ignored by anything at +4 difficulty or an AV/GM. So CoF turns into a highly expensive power with very little return on investment. It does pulse quickly so that lower accuracy isn't that bad as the duration of effect is reasonably long as is. Procs won't check on that power's pulse though (toggles check procs around every 10 seconds). So don't expect much out of it. That said, both powers can stack magnitude allowing a user to fear or stun a boss. Cloak of Fear and Touch of Fear do stack. So that can be interesting. If you'd like more consistent results with procs in Dark Armor, then Dark Regen is a good candidate for that. I happen to run the full Might of the Tanker set in Death Shroud to have a nearly passive means of generating resistance stacks. Its pretty consistent with 2 stacks even when facing fewer enemies. I can occasionally get 3 stacks when full surrounded by goons. I run Titan Weapons with this set up so your mileage will vary.

Here are my recommendations: Reduce slots in Combat Jumping down to 2. Use a common defense IO and save yourself some cash from the LoTG. Use the other slot for the Reactive Defensive Unique already in the plan. Combat Jumping is getting 2.75% defense with all those slots. With just the one IO you'll have 2.03%. Weave, Invincible, Tough Hide, and Manauvers are good candidates for Gift of the Ancients 3pc. We want the 2.25% F/C resistance. You'll overcap the recovery bonus with what I am going to describe. That's OK. Another idea is Serendipity for the minor bonuses it has. I'd be careful about Red Fortune or Reactive Defenses as you're guaranteed to overcap Smashing/Lethal resistance. Red Fortune's 3pc bonus isn't as good as Gift's, but Reactive Defense gets you more hit points. Its a coin toss I guess. I'd caution on picking up a bunch of LoTG's when you're not really focusing on recharge in the first place. Its an awful lot of influence and they are far better when you're stacking more recharge. Just because its a popular thing doesn't mean its the best idea for all builds. Durability with 4pc Preemptive Optimization can get you some more max end (which Durability also does), minor hit points, and 3% Toxic/Psi resist. Avoid the Accuracy/Recharge one and mix/match the others for endurance modification. Temp Invul, Tough, and Unyielding with 3x Aegis is fine. These plus 1 common IO in Resist Physical Damage gets you just under 73% resistance to Smashing/Lethal. The global Reactive Defense unique in Combat Jumping will finish that off. Hydro Blast, Dehydrate, and Water Jet - strongly consider 3x full Thunderstrikes. The proc idea you have seems interesting, but Entropic Chaos isn't that great. The Preventative Medicine unique in Dehydrate is a waste of a slot as it will not trigger on use of the power. It functions on health thresholds. Also, you don't need it with Sentinel Invul as Durability has its own absorb. Those Thunderstrikes, and the defense slotting above, get you 37.8% defense to Energy/Negative. Your F/C will improve to the exact same amount considering 3x Aegis plus everything else going on. You could dump Hasten. Strongly consider Aqua Bolt. 4 slot it with Devastation for the bonuses it gets you (strong regen, moderate HP, and damage buff). The real reason for Aqua Bolt over Hasten is Offensive Opportunity. I know, I know, I've probably recommended skipping that power to others. Context matters here though. If you're pushing multiple damage procs plus lots of recharge then the value of Aqua Bolt diminishes greatly. Offensive Opportunity can still be a minor damage increase in those cases. You're not doing any of that. Therefore, strongly consider bringing Aqua Bolt back in to pick up a bit more damage in Offensive Opportunity for your AoE smash-fest. You could skip it if you wanted though. Consider 4 slotting Kick with Kinetic Combat. All things considered, this would raise your S/L defense to 30%. Dull Pain can lose some slots. I'd probably just run 3 slots. You could go with 3x Common recharge IOs, or 2x + 1 common heal, or a 3pc bonus. Your initial build isn't pushing enough recharge to make it perma anyway. 3x common lvl 50 IO's gives a minute of downtime. Water Burst, Geyser, Steam Spray - consider 5pc Annihilation. This is for the max end, E/N resistance, and overall cost discount. The regen bonus is 'meh'. I wouldn't worry much about the -res proc here. 6 slot Water Burst and Geyser. Use that 6th slot for Force Feedback: Recharge. Both of these are 10 target caps and that proc can check every target to grant the buff. You can dramatically cut the downtime of Dull Pain with lucky procs plus get Tidal Forces/Geyser available more. 6 slot Whirlpool with full Annihilation. This can trigger the -res against all targets in the field of effect. Its not a bad power for -res procs. 1 common IO for Environmental Resistance works fine. Tidal Forces should be enhanced with the Recharge, and End/Recharge options in the set you choose. It doesn't need +to-hit. Hell, follow the above and your base accuracy in all powers will be at least 93% thanks to the 10% to-hit buff in Invincible. Super Speed and Super Jump can keep the default slot. The added slot in SJ gets absorbed elsewhere. 3 slot Health with the two uniques you have plus the Regenerative Tissue. 2 Slot Stamina with whatever you want but Efficiency Adaptor's not a bad idea. You'll gain endurance per second. You'll gain a minimum of 4% defense over your current S/L/F/C. You'll gain 11% to E/N defense. You'll gain 1% E/N resistance. You'll gain 3% Toxic resistance and Psi resistance. You'll lose 18% F/C resistance. You may lose a negligible amount of single target DPS by adding Aqua Bolt to your attack chain on paper. You'll likely reduce that gap during Offensive Opportunity. You'll gain damage against groups of enemies by allowing Offensive Opportunity to improve your AoE damage. You lose all global recharge. You gain two AoEs capable of triggering 100% recharge. You lose some healing effectiveness on Dull Pain. You'll gain a lot more efficient use of the slots with a minor loss to some 2pc bonuses due to the recovery overlap.

You could skip those IOs if you want. Bo Ryaku grants a bit over 5 KB protection but it unlocks at level 26. This means if you exemplar too far down past the low 20's you're going to lose that benefit. A single 4 KB IO means you'll be protected against most things. Putting said IO into Ninja Reflexes can give you that protection all the way down to level 1. You're right though, most of the time its probably not much of an issue. You have to get hit by most KB powers in the first place, and its not that bad if all you ever do is exemplar for TFs. Like Synapse is almost all Clockwork so KB isn't an issue. However, Trolls often have several Super Strength attacks like Haymaker and that can knock you down if it hits. Circle of Thorns Earth mages can potentially KD. You don't need to get a lot of KB protection. In build #1 at least one is just a part of a set bonus package I was using to showcase how the power could be enhanced. Still, I like a least one 4 KB IO in any mitigation sets that lack that protection. The earlier I can squeeze it in the better. Even if I never need it, it feels like a little safety blanket. 😉