oldskool

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. 😉

Defense and resistance should feel pretty sturdy. You could potentially swap slots between X-Ray and Neutron Bomb. The Ward proc kinda sucks but it can check per target in an AoE gives it a tiny bit more utility. You could use the other 5 slots in X-Ray for another Devastation to pick another chance at the hold proc plus better passive benefits than Positron's. You're not really pushing heavy recharge to the point where that 6.25% makes or breaks anything. The shift from 12% global damage to 15% global damage (via the second Devastation) should net you a slight dps improvement. The loss of the recharge is so minor that your T9's cooldown doesn't move too much further from where it is (its not quite a full second of time). It'll be just be ever so slightly longer within that 34 second window. Set choices seem sound though.

The other Steadfast Resistance/End could be swapped with the generic end redux IO in Tough. That's inch you closer to the 75% on Smashing/Lethal and only cost 0.03 endurance over what you have. For a build using cheap sets this is probably as far as you're going to go without dramatically changing some slots to use different sets. You're unlikely to get much more damage with just yellow IO slotting so I wouldn't worry about it.

I figure all of this is going to be obsolete when the Eye of Sauron focuses its gaze on fixing the AT. There is also a lot of stuff I am overlooking with some of the powers in retrospect (plus loads of typos I need to fix). There is a lot inconsistency with the Opportunity mechanic within various sets. Some are really good at it, and others lack the same cheesy advantage. Like some AoEs build better than others and some sets can pair both Opportunities at the same time. Seems like some bugs and or oversights happened which makes universal recommendations very tough to do. I know some of you that read this know exactly what sets I'm talking about too. 😉 Some of the secondaries have advantages I totally forgot like Durability in Invulnerability having a passive absorb. Invul on Sentinels is awesome just like Super Reflexes and Regeneration. If the AT gets a big change, then I'll probably muster the energy to work on a second version. Ugh!

Sentinel Rain of Arrows and Full Auto both recharge in 90 seconds vs the 60s found else where. So its not quite as good in that regard. 😔 I've grown to really enjoy AR on a Sentinel. Its been a labor of love to try to find a way to use it to my liking. It can certainly be a fun set to play. Sentinel FA does have a very wide cone arc though. Its really surprising to create tashibishi scatter fields and still hit max targets despite their running wildly. With the Opportunity Strikes set in FA + Flamethrower it is trivial to completely fill the opportunity bar in two powers. Its one of those sets where you can chain cast Opportunity back to back. I agree with the opinion on Beam and Sentinels. Its a great set for the AT and maybe a little lack luster for some other ATs. Dual Pistols is easily my favorite support ranged set for Defenders or even Corruptors. They can make use of every ammo type if you want. Sentinels are good runner up for DP to completely focus on a ranged build with pistolas firing in the air. DP can be good with certain Blaster builds, but I have yet to find a full ranged combo I like. Instead, I wind up pruning some pistol attacks and substituting in melee hits. Its a formidable blapper set in that regard.

I'm not sure on the current state of PvP, but Sentinels were definitely a popular choice for a while last year. In PvP you want exotic damage types. The less resisted it is, then the better. This makes Dark Blast, Ice Blast, and Psychic Blast popular picks. The purple sleep proc can placate and both Ice/Psi can take it. I don't think soft-capping is a goal for PvP. It wasn't previous due to how the zones work plus sky high to-hit/accuracy. You want healing and ideally absorbs. Regeneration and Bio Armor were popular choices for that reason. Bio has the added benefit of adding damage which is always welcome in PvP.

1) Swap Ammo being the mechanic in question. Skip it to your build's detriment if you care at all about doing more damage with it. Standard Ammo offers several debuff and control effect options in all the powers. All damage is considered lethal. Swap Ammo converts a portion of base damage into something else, based on the ammo used, and changes the original debuff/control effects into new debuff/control effects. The exception is Incendiary Ammo which just replaces effects with more damage. The advantage over Beam Rifle is modular game play. You can partially include cold, toxic, or fire damage. Any other set is stuck with what they get until you start working IOs in for proc damage (Which DP can do too). Dual Pistol's other secret weapon, for Sentinels especially, is fast animating attacks. Beam Rifle's strongest attacks are almost all 2+ second animations. Dual Pistol's strongest single target sequence doesn't have an attack with longer than 1.848 seconds. Both of DP's largest coverage AoE's are also 1.848 seconds. I promise you that you could skip Piercing Rounds in a single-target attack chain on Sentinels and speed up the entire attack routine without it. You can do that on other ATs too, but Sentinel's version of Suppressive Fire helps a lot. Beam Rifle's advantage is that Piercing Beam has the same debuff as Standard Ammo Piercing Rounds. Beam Rifle retains that -9.6 resistance debuff all the time with no loss of damage for swapping ammo type. Dual Pistols needs to make a choice to give up personal damage with Incendiary Ammo or use the resistance debuff for team damage. 2) What to skip isn't as simple as it sounds. It depends greatly on what you intend to do with your build. Still, here are a few best practices: - Pistols can end up being the better of the two initial choices. - Piercing Rounds is entirely optional. That's it. This means you could skip Dual Wield and Piercing Rounds if you wanted. Note that everything in Dual Pistols can have a use, and this is even more so with Sentinels due to current Opportunity mechanics. I'd recommend you pick up all the attacks in the set as you level and see what you like vs what you don't. The sticky at the top of this thread, page 3, has my synopsis of the set. I've revised it numerous times as I always find something new with it. I go into a lot of depth there about the decision making process regarding what to skip or not. Blinding Powder can be useful in some situations but really doesn't hit its stride until you slot it with Coercive Persuasion (purple confuse set). Retsu is a source of Defense Debuff Resistance that Ninjutsu is awfully weak against. Retsu has a crash and could be potentially replaced by Ageless Radial. You could pass on both in a complete build, but they do have uses that may not be that obvious. 3) Not really. Tashibishi can be a great addition. Sting of the Wasp is one of the worst single-target attacks in the higher level pools that the Sentinel gets. The Lotus Drops can be interesting with creative slotting options but it isn't so impressive its a must have. The other powers in Ninja Tools are also fairly mediocre but potentially fun. 4) Ooooh, that's a tough call. My first Sentinel was DP/Nin, but I've moved to DP/SR. I happen to like SR more, but the two sets are very close. It boiled down to some nitpicks I was having with Ninjutsu when paired with Dual Pistols. My final build on DP/Nin got to a point where I wasn't clicking for endurance and barely ever clicked for health. My passive endurance gain out paces my Single Target drain, and while the AoE drain is higher its not enough to really need that tool. Now, if you get zapped by a Malta Sapper a snap shot of endurance in a power is great. So its not useless, but I ended up building the function of those click powers out of my normal use. I wouldn't ever skip them, but I decided to play /SR because it is a lot more passive. There is little interruption with SR. Ninjutsu/Super Reflexes pro/cons (I write about this in the sticky too): - Nin gets AoE defense before level 35. SR needs to wait until 35 for Evasion. This makes powers like Weave/Maneuvers/Combat Jumping a bit higher in priority for an /SR build earlier. Nin has it a bit easier there. - Nin's Shinobi-Iri is effectively a travel power built into a secondary. You could also run a travel power, but it isn't critical to do so. The stealth in the power and a +Stealth IO makes traveling in zones as safe as it gets. Dark Armor can the same thing, fyi. The stealth component makes getting into range for Hail of Bullets far safer and Hail of Bullets will grant you boosted defense for a short duration. Lots of synergy there. I run a Stealth IO with /SR but its not the same without dipping into the Concealment powers which I won't do. - Super Reflexes looks like its a lot of powers, and it sort of is. Both sets can potentially skip their respective T9 powers. However, SR can be a lot lighter on slots. It doesn't take that much to enhance SR and make it good. - Nin gets a click heal and click endurance heal. These can be fantastic while leveling. They can be fantastic with certain primaries. Dual Pistols can end up being fairly cheap to run and Defensive Opportunity can plug the endurance issue while doing damage for the animation. The click end power doesn't do any damage at all. This is very much both a build issue, and me trying to figure out how to maximize damage. It is entirely possible neither would apply to you. SR on the other hand can get a click absorb that can become incredibly strong and passive endurance management. My end management on my DP/SR is high enough that I never worry about it. Only end sapping enemies can be a concern and they aren't that much of a concern. - SR has stronger defense debuff resistance built in. Nin needs to complete that with the T9. Neither completely ignore defense debuffs so this point could be totally moot depending on your build. - SR's overall defense numbers are slightly higher than Ninjutsu's. This may not seem like much, but I find this can be a difference between one build soft-capping a lot easier than the other. Make no mistake, both can soft-cap. One is just easier to do than the other and SR can do it with fewer slots. - Ninjutsu gets psionic resistance in its Mez click. That power can stack. Baseline its 21% resistance. You've asked about plugging Psi resistance with Invul before. If that damage type is a worry, then Ninjutsu has an answer to it where SR doesn't. Plus the click "oh shit" heal on top of it. Nin's Mezz resistance is also one of the most comprehensive protections out of the entire AT. - Super Reflexes has scaling resistance where Ninjutsu does not. However, Ninjutsu can build for more up front resistance at the start of taking on damage. There may be others I am not thinking off at the moment, but you hopefully get the point. I really don't see how there can be a hardline argument between Ninjutsu and Super Reflexes made in good faith. The decision between the two boils down to understanding their strengths and weaknesses beyond just +defense. Both sets handle other topics like healing/endurance/resistance/mezz protect in different ways. There are good reasons to take one over the other. Its a really tough call. I've grown to like SR more, but Nin is also a great set.

There are some new IO sets not available without some of the updates in the link below. I can open the blocks just fine, and another person using the same files (from below) was able to open a different build I shared. Give that shot, but let me know if it doesn't work. I'll figure something out.

I just did some tests with an unslotted Refractor Beam. It builds opportunity per target tagged in the chain so the Strikes set may not be the most appropriate spot for that. Its been a while since I played Beam and was reminded there was something I was missing. I'm probably missing some other things too, but that's a pretty big perk to the set. A few other primaries do this on AoE powers and several don't.

Its a really interesting idea when combined with Dual Pistols. DP has no Aim/Build-Up and it can be a challenge to get both procs that do that into the build. Tactics is a universal way to do it, but it can be a high endurance drag. It's also not a great option for solo, but works well for grouping. With Invincible working the way it does it may be a decent alternative to Tactics. It may not work out as well as it sounds in my head, but I will likely give it a try on the test server. It could also be potentially good for folks not pushing a lot of recharge in their build. Aim should trigger it more frequently depending on how short cooldown is, but in some cases this may be a good alternative. Its a lot of food for thought.

Gaussian's in Invincibility is f*ing brilliant!! I can't believe I've overlooked that so many times. I'm so used to tossing it in Aim, which is still a sound choice, that I completely forget that Invincibility on Sents is personal only. I need to try this! 😄

Np. Glad you find a set pair you like. I run Tashibishi on several builds. Its a great power. I have little issue with the Hasten crash. There are several Sentinel secondaries that can run Performance Shifter x 2 + Panacea. Then with Enduring + Stamina slotting I can easily get 3.8 to 4+ end per second before those procs. On my two /SR builds I run both with T2 power as a mule. I mule the Apocalypse set there for bonuses only and rarely use it for damage (LOL, I KNOW!!). The negative damage proc exists in powers I actually use along with other procs. So Defensive Opportunity is there in those builds to trigger against heavy AoE fights where those powers do cost significantly more. I rarely need to use the T2 for that. I can probably count the number of times on one hand I've used a T2 with those builds in the last week and have fingers to spare. I don't drop the power because... reasons. I like my options open and the Apocalypse set has fantastic bonuses I can't get elsewhere. So, is it worth it to lose Barrier for Ageless? Depends on what you're doing, right? My DP/Nin has access to Ageless, Barrier and Rebirth at various tier grades. Barrier is straight forward but Rebirth is also really good on dodge builds. So if you don't really need the recharge in Ageless or its endurance or its DDR option, then what do you need it for? Pylon tests? Ageless with the DDR is still nice for Sentinel /SR since the 0.7 defense value of the AT also knocks down the resistance. I think I'm around 70% DDR since I under slot Agile/Dodge. So it is something to consider too. Lancer's base animation and recharge do contribute to better proc chances than Charge Shot. I actually don't run Charged Shot at the moment. I run Single Shot instead. My single target chain is slightly faster because it. The DPS difference is so small under that consideration it doesn't really matter much. However, Single Shot still brings a regen debuff which is a DPS increase even if it gets partially resisted. Single Shot brings Offensive Opportunity which can be a DPS gain. So for me, Single Shot wins as a power even if Mids makes it look like crap. There is no harm in running Charged Shot though or even having both. I run the T1 and T2 in my /SR builds as I noted in the other paragraph. So that too is something to consider. On Refractor Beam and the Ward set... who cares? I'm being lighthearted with that statement, but really.. who care? 😉 I 6 slot Master Brawler with Preventative Medicine as often as I can because the overall set is pretty good. Preventative Medicine has a much higher absorb than the Sentinel ATO does almost always. Master Brawler's absorb is stronger than either of those. I've seen MB range between 380 to 460. Usually MB is granting me +400 absorb more often than it doesn't. The cooldown on it with both builds is very short (16~ seconds) but the duration is shorter. Still, I feel as if MB is always there when I need it. I rarely take so much damage that I can't click MB and start to work my way back to full health. The Power Transfer +heal and Panacea grant me +60 and +65 health respectively when they proc. Its not super reliable, but 125 health without the need to use a green inspire isn't something to sneeze at either. There are a few times where I can face plant because I get overwhelmed, but that happens with SR even on Scrappers or Stalkers. Its not often enough to be a problem though. That didn't really answer the question though. Can Refractor reliably get you the Ward proc on one target? Not really. However, it is such a weak effect its not the reason why I run the set. You get 10% recharge at 6 pieces, 100% recharge to the power, strong damage capping, and a crap ton of accuracy. No matter what content I run, I want my 10 target AoE to hit as many enemies as possible. Since Cutting Beam is kind of 'meh', it don't prioritize slotting it. Refractor Beam can potentially carry multiple procs though and hitting 10 targets is bound to get something to go off. So there are great reasons to swap slotting strategies between the 4 AoEs in the set (including the Overcharge). I've just made the decision that trying to push AoE really hard wasn't worth the outcomes I was getting. It didn't significantly reduce time to move from mob to mob as it seemed on paper. So instead I prefer to focus on recharge and that's largely geared towards T9's. They're so good when they are available as soon as possible. The Strikes set can be nice in a T9 but can be a good choice in Refractor Beam especially while exemplaring. I really don't have a hard and fast rule on where to put these. It depends on understanding a lot of factors and making the best judgment with that information. I haven't solo'ed an ITF yet on /SR, but @nihilii has. I generally don't solo TFs, but I have a handful of times with /Nin. Even then I felt pretty safe and /SR is stronger in some ways. I know you didn't bring this up, but it seems like an inevitable milestone. Its where DDR matters a lot which ties into my Ageless Radial suggestion from before. 😉 Hope that helps answer some questions.

I'll give you two builds to think about. The first one is built on fewer high end sets (no purples) but it does have some PvP uniques. If you dumped the Gladiator 3% defense to all unique, you'd still hit 45% to melee/AoE. You'd have no buffer for any defense debuff you experience. It's not required to soft-cap, but it is nice. You don't need the Shield Wall 5% resistance to all or Panacea. Again, these help. If you had to have one, go for Panacea because more endurance is always nice. Since there are such awesome new endurance sets, I do tend to over slot Stamina these days. You get a lot out of those new IOs but you could ease off and lean more on Seishinteki Kyoyo. The first build doesn't need Hasten, but its there. Without Hasten you could run Empower -> Attack Vitals easily. That takes 6 different attacks to pull off. During Hasten you could shorten this down to just Blinding Feint -> Attack Vitals. The Sweep Combo is still there since you have all the attack options. The first build has a lot of KB protection and includes it early. Karma in Ninja Reflexes and Zephyr in Shinobi-Iri. That will make exemplaring easier because Bo Ryaku could be offline in some Taskforces (Positron, Synapse, etc.). The other build just keeps Karma because even 4pts is typically good enough for lower levels and then Bo Ryaku will add another +5 and some change. Shinobi-Iri is slotted with that travel set because it can take it, and it is awesome illustration on just flexible that power is. In build 2 it is slotted differently. You could go with either for your own plan or mix and match. Kismet +6% to hit is just so universally good I included it both times. I like to be able to hit +4's as often as possible. For Dual Blades missing hits is detrimental to the combo system. So this is why that exists. Missing with Blinding Feint sucks big time at the very least as it is an important buff to DB damage. So there are some pricey unique IOs here and there but nothing is $25 million per slot (at least shouldn't be). Low ball your bids and give them a few days to a week too for additional cost savings. Once you're swimming in influence consider swapping to build 2 that is more expensive. In both cases, strive for Musculature Core or Radial Alpha first. You don't need Agility with this set up unless you want to try and get Ablating Strike -> Sweeping Strike -> Ablating Strike to be completely gapless in build 2. I don't recommend doing that though. Its overkill and you could just sub in Power Slice for an Ablating Strike if you're determined to go combo-less later on. Good luck, hope these give you some ideas. | Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Reborn : Hero Designer to view the build | |-------------------------------------------------------------------| |MxDz;1455;673;1346;HEX;| |78DA6593DB4E13511486F76EA79696420F4039B65894435B185AF5DE04511301435| |2E36D19DA4D3BD8B4930E24D653C447F0C637F0D207F178AF3E81CA215C188C605D| |9DF553D04EDA7C99B5D769FF6BD6CAC3C5C09BDB3BD785ECBD51316C3B9F2BD40DC| |B5275FF3D5528576B955AA9215A8F97FE23A787F91555514A5FDC362AF9858A5154| |F670FB68516DA8AAADF4BB6675D3DCB2B745CF6AAD56D16F99A5F296592D059DB76| |5454175BB6C5A81D3778B0EFDCE4BCE52AA18BE6999057DA1566CE4570C7B4BD51B| |43D4C114FD1F7B059EA6471409594D5C52CCCB6BA001AE33E70A4C4F922811BBE77| |66C53FBCCE94370093C21B798269247CC275E8452AC7CC0F9C63699890DF45102CB| |A86B322F505D37D775B951770475C750D74B3E1EF8783EBB38EE0B33F495F9D4CB9| |368F5E0559A63EB2A826BCC5E035C67A60ACC6714E8736ED0F4F8A09B1FBAF9A15B| |00BA05A0DB3C74EBA2DEBAA5132BBAD36C9394AF877B113D4D7A848FBC826C71058| |FB86AE817337BCC7C4E5161DC200C152350310215FBA1E2C87F2AFA297F1FF2F7FD| |60D5FABF33E777996ECA3F001507A2D2995C7410BCC23E1AF90CC26710D318C2148| |630951DF219469FC34D563F25F82CF59BDF678FC113F00FB39BFA1CE5FC6274967B| |7F44F962C81783FA71A81F87FA71A89F80FA59A8FF8262C7113BFE897BB8F8117C0| |BBE6326DE33931F9839C204A63481C98529DF24EE3F79BA0587FF6EC36B1AED0CFB| |C899977CAFE42B6694E2D3B85F3ACE3927C8A6731DA9A3CE3C18A1B30CFC33096C8| |ED6DE62FAB5BE9E71ADBD9BCDA554FBB499EAF0CC7458B21D96AB1D966B1D96E5F3| |161FDF6D556B6FB990FC5587446BEE4E2FBB7E3AC54DE41CDF64FFCCE692F7257F6| |17788D3B4BF095673EF7CDC0CC71D9CD934F98DB7C3B50F1E30B59FD81E28FF17D9| |D6E750| |-------------------------------------------------------------------| Something to aim for later. This is intended for Blinding Feint - Attack Vitals, but it could run BF - Ablating Strike, Sweeping Strike, Power Slice (aka, comboless). The Scrapper ATO should be moved out of Vengeful Slice if that is the plan and moved into Typhoon's Edge at least. Alternative it could be put in Blinding Feint and the Gaussian's dropped entirely. Up to you. | Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Reborn : Hero Designer to view the build | |-------------------------------------------------------------------| |MxDz;1461;679;1358;HEX;| |78DA6593D96E125118C7CF814196D2164AF7050AB6B4408B45BD306E4D2AD5448A6| |952E3950A5338B61802846913894BAC8FE08D6F60E28DEFE0ADEB836817B7A48D56| |FC98EF5F6A9CC94C7E996F3FFF734EF641DAFBFADAD6BC905D57CABA61E4560A75B| |D565375CF4D5558AF54CBD5B586683D4EFA868F9CB9AC2A2B954C6FEAE5DC42592F| |2A63A8ED4AAB7BAA62A8E48D52E57E69C3D8149DCBD56A3979B5B4B6BE51AAAC759| |B7F4B8A92EAC67AA9E63DFAAF91D363FEACD4942AFA176BA54272A15A6CE4B2BAB1| |A1EA8D419A608ABE874E81A7A9892221A589D93CF3940E16C055A6234694668E43F| |449D3E6EB650EFA98C18CDD64F490C2C63411DF673E7222957265C266C6D8E26094| |A94D8331E68937C40091FADAB9AFCD8EBE61F49D40DFC754DF81F5389AC8FFC5F4F| |E61761D8282677C42394E29CD999CD0C0050D5C58BB075A78A081F715D770D24C6E| |68E1FECEF5A6BE813BE02E33B6077E65BA28B783FB8A8E04D795344B27CF2F3A9BF| |408374575B345761F68ACF66FE6538AF6434DBF625B4F11CC337B757095D95F607A| |A86E006A06BEF044339FC16DA69DEAF7718CBD6F9F6DFD3F98B33F99A903A646B10| |3A83780DD19C4EE44B13B5B14338479872EB182C317C173CCD1F3E00566709EEB77| |D0BC235C5F8EB41AD1699A39CD3E3FD51D43EF31F40EFED7FB19C584D03BF489F3C| |63F826FC177CCF07BF003D34BBD23C88DE83CD7C93C781BBCC39CB80BE6982B5462| |123B3A895D7E495B3CCDF38AE9171CD74FF325604B600D11B225B1E6A499EB1229B| |0877C73889F0BB76C6E31AAB56F33BDADD313D2DA77B59989B7BDCDB82572CE6249| |592C672C96B316CB92C5B2ACB5EFBC907CA67DA275F7CC49B63DE495FF7A778F2D7| |6798B95885F274E11C3387597F904EC58B2F78E2D36F9DC66EA1283C6B3E3AC5326| |40802A7F01FCE3E95D| |-------------------------------------------------------------------|

There were several sets I would shuffle around personally. So I just crafted something a bit different as a visual aid. Lancer's a better carrier for Apocalypse than Charged Shot. Gaussian's in Aim is worth having even if it delays the recharge line up with Overcharge. Opportunity Strikes can get more use out of either Refractor Beam or Overcharge. Same goes for the Ward set. The slotting of the powers Cutting Beam, Refractor Beam, and Overcharge are up to you. An argument can be made to have a -res in Refractor, if that's your bag go for it. Piercing Beam can be changed around too. You were overcapped on 10% regen. Its a minor nuisance so I tried to shuffle the sets in the defense powers to allow all of the 2pc bonuses to shine. You give up some resistance, but Master Brawler is really powerful. I removed the +def slotting from Enduring and replaced it with endurance mods. The Psi defense loss is negligible but the sustain increase is noticeable. The procs help to pick up some more damage on average and you can end up with higher defenses too. If you don't like that Winter Set, swap it out. AoE would drop to just over 44% and I was looking for a set to bring it back up. | Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Reborn : Hero Designer to view the build | |-------------------------------------------------------------------| |MxDz;1469;704;1408;HEX;| |78DA6594CB4F135114C6EF3C4A29E55128C8DB020AB450A61D756FA2A889882190E| |8C2C758EB05878C53423181A5FF821B343E126362E2C68D286CDDAB68E283976B13| |95879AB833E3E99CCFA2E9A4CD6FFA9D73CF77EFB9F7767876B0F2C9891B8785527| |DD4C9E4F3D69874676C573AC1B1AC2DDDAC14852748DF96BF116B34E34EC82BC611| |99B9668DDAE38E8C154383725CBA79698C5D9F92D3D6A8A4E0ACCC8BF0482EE718C| |71D7BE2EA4C1DBFE7A6B3D2CA8D5B676DC7A962A910B5DD89FF7FB51E9BB2B346D1| |E0B4ED4E66ACE14C7E464ECF35D1B47AE8FB2E21F078AA78403043A2EC1EB3FC3EF| |35C9CA8F8399A68A0175317E5F5CC8A081865BE4F205578BA827A95A857897AD549| |CDCF8DCCA9424475719EEA6B5C5FD7503F82FA75A85F87FA03BF29AD5D171FC8270| |09FC092EEC7EA17C067CC3DCFC145E605F209B28F12844F137C3E52BD10D70B84EE| |127A297687D9320FDE62B6DD06B18E551A1BC6D8B0A9FADADE3498040D66470AC4D| |88B34A72AF4BFEA2B6BD5DF98C94DE60AD5AFE11CA5E6318F4FF4732FD72856EB77| |DC0BD4BEE575EE7B03BE64EE7F05BE06979919F28EA21FD12FAC25B699213AB70D1| |C130DE8D525CA6F447E23B404FAB74EF368460F9A9FF2DC3A16999D0BE092F0733B| |D500CFEF33AFEF32D56D8557EB00E7E4496BC79ADB9779CDBD2FF8BC6C90570C5EB| |14F3CDF9E0D70055C65F6AE81EBCC2CD5ED62AF40D70FF6EFDB02B7C11DE6C077F0| |27334C3DE9665FD1EDD1231452E250E2BEA291D2CFF5D5FE42B3E8AC260F603F534| |C9D720CDC2703DE2978A730A7D410F321954FB3839646BF4CF4D1441FCD47ECD3A6| |17EF327D0AB3992CDC6EA5704F3CAFAF249A2E51CC12E5608972A8443955A28CE8C| |57F01A1F84A2842779C156FB382A2D86F05FBBDBDABA9CA193E53EA49C5BF676A27| |AF7BEBDF71711EB7B3AB69CA4D3E27FA3CB8C37B5EF68B39142570AEF70714B4FB3| |A| |-------------------------------------------------------------------|

Have you used the updated files from the thread below? If not, then that may be why you can't get it to work with your version.

The slotting choices on Dark Regen do depend a lot on what you're trying to accomplish. I use an Obliteration 5pc + ToE in Dark Regen on my Stalker. It costs 28 end to cast. That is not a problem when surrounded by enemies. I still wind up endurance positive despite its slotting due target saturation. This was done by me on purpose to survive hordes of enemies. I do not DR for ST situations with that character. That said, I had some endurance conscious slotting of a set on my Tanker/Scrapper builds (Scirocco's 4pc all but the /recharge items) and Cardiac Core Paragon as the alpha. The cost gets driven down to just 10 end per cast and it is largely end positive in most situations. That should work for a Brute too if you're looking for another small Energy/Negative resistance bonus.

What you have works. What is presented is below is just a different way of looking at it. What I see in the original build is a lot of combo use. Blinding Feint -> Attack Vitals is still good damage. You don't really need Hasten to chain that repeatedly. So what I decided to do was drop Hasten since you're not really going combo-less and Willpower doesn't benefit from it at all. Blinding Feint recharges within the AV combo even on 65% global recharge. Some slight hit point loss is a bit of a downer, sorry. Some slight defense reduction, but Combat Jumping would pick this up. It can take another LoTG to bring global recharge over 70% if that matters to you. I didn't bother to enhance it since it is there for illustration. It can be dropped for Flight just as it was in the original set up. Focused Accuracy isn't necessary to run (accuracy against +4's is pretty high + BF buff) and the set bonus isn't either. Dump it for Hasten if you want to add it back. You'd end up with a 16 second downtime with some boosters in 2 slots. You could then swap Vengeful Slice with Power Slice as a filler for a combo-less approach. I put the critical ATO buff in Vengeful because the build assumes BF -> AV, but that slotting can be swapped with Blinding Feint. Your choice. [Edit, and originally I was saving a slot in BF for Gaussian's, but ultimately dropped it. Its nice to have but not needed so I would probably swap the slots as noted here.] Ablating Strike and Sweeping Strike get the -res procs to help bypass pesky lethal resistance and picks up the purple sets. The original build had Winter IOs so I'm guess money isn't an issue. The build gets an extra Performance Shifter proc. End shouldn't be an issue. The build swaps out Cardiac because it isn't needed to hard cap S/L and end generally should be no problem. Grab Musculature Core Alpha for a damage increase instead. If any of this helps, great! | Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Reborn : Hero Designer to view the build | |-------------------------------------------------------------------| |MxDz;1462;670;1340;HEX;| |78DA65945B4F134114C767DAC55A6881522E05ACB4147A59A080FAE22D24889A583| |02418F016CBD28ED06443372D041135E2275034F1419F7DF43BF8EAF56B68E22D51| |A33E987ABAE74F21DD4D37BFEC7FCE7FE6CC39339DB935E57B797E7B42C8E633A65| |12E67E77225C3B254C973D1585B2F19A6A83E1E7A7B7647B233CA542A3DB56E98D9| |49D3C8ABF2DED094BAA956CB2ABD50304DABB8A14AC2375B2C9AE969655885D565B| |FFD71AEB0BCB2E6F86AD90DCCAB5279A56005CE5A855C7AB298DFCCCE18E53555DA| |0C5116097AB73C024F45134F3421C635A13D041F310FEC808F99F3558FB43D0DE2A| |7DBD60EFE027F331BFF805D1418D684EF087FDFF1C04A5E39E4B2359FCE6C8E8349| |665B0A7C450C6AE23279DDBCAE704779BEBBA43560BE8637AC85DE337B5E831BC2E| |6A1DBE016F39EA7DA0D69EFDD9367EDF022A8C0256624C7BC421E2FE7A0793BA4AD| |C55BC10CAF37F203FC27ECBD7792A709793755E81192143F672DFCB67295941669E| |7E26AF9CCFED64FE047E67D8A0960AF01C5BD68CF838BCC4E035C628672CC6BE40D| |720E32F894EB3ABCC374D358078FB93BD0CF01F473007D8CA3AF0B14DB85D82EC4C| |61013DBF520769B62BB916FF7695E2B728A193D0E9E004F326313ECBD4EDE5ED4B9| |17754EB483A8F778000C3235F284E109D77952F08CC0330ACF03F2F421C7BE0FBC7| |6E41D33F516C4B9D1718E749C9F391AEE4717FBED2E0668B6416430880C7464308C| |0C46EBB27E41072189CE24EB3A7383E61BC20A437F399B4B84346B32FD8C6FC6E87| |3661BC58FE1A48D4571DAB5DA0DA75F35CB3EAD767F2B19BD365AD11D91630E65DC| |A11C7528C71CCAB44399D56AFF0342DA8AB7956E3732F9D248A3D8871CE17D7CDBD| |3A49CE7DAB92E10139AF8BA3F3EC9F1DFF7C7A39E2ED4371324A002FF0193ECEBCB| |-------------------------------------------------------------------|

Could be those that do play it are busy in the game and not browsing the forums. How much do you want to spend on a "good build"? Do you like the combo system? If yes, then which combos do you want? Are you OK with skipping any? [The answer can be yes, and no -- I can include all of the combos or none it just changes build configurations.] What is a good build or not is all perception. What I like you may not. I've played both sets separately, but I could craft something using both. Your answers to the above questions goes a long way towards the build. A combo-less build is far more expensive and difficult to build. A combo build is potentially cheaper and way easier to manage. I say potentially cheaper because both approaches can use purple sets for more recharge. One of those options needs it. The other doesn't.

I'll tell you IOs to look for, but I can't guarantee that using all of these are great ideas for a build. I say this because the sets might conflict with other build goals, but then again it may not. Impervium Armor: Psionic Resistance, can stack up to 5 times. Aegis: Psionic Resistance/Status Resistance - unique Hecatomb - Full set, +6% resistance - can stack 5 times if you run other purple sets Crushing Impact - Full set, 3.75% resistance - stacks 5 times Focused Smite - 3pc set, 1.5% resistance - stacks 5 times Pulverizing Fisticuffs - 2pc set 1.5% resistance - stacks 5 times Armageddon - Full set, +6% resistance Fury of the Gladiator - 5pc set 3.75% - stacks 5 times

Secondary Sets... I was kidding when I said that the primary sets were the sexy sets. On Sentinels, your choice of secondary and how you handle it contributes a lot to effectiveness of a build. While folks love to chat about what sets do the most DPS, they may not be thinking about which secondaries allow that to happen. The Secondary sets are the unsung hero of the AT. Its the general reason you're probably interested in or playing a Sentinel, but it is the facet of build most casually tossed to the side. Its like an assumption that having an armor set is going to carry you through. Its there, its protecting you, and most of the time you don't need to micro manage it. At the time of this writing, not all secondaries are created equal. Not all builds are created equal. The decisions you make with your secondary can determine how you handle your primary. The secondary sets are the yin to your yang. Hopefully, my experiences will help you see where to put a balance, when to go all in on damage or go all in on defense. I find it incredibly disheartening for so many posters to complain about the AT as a whole while leveraging the same tired build ideas. Sentinels are a different kind of AT and perhaps building it as if it were some other AT isn't that productive. Sometimes it is, and sometimes it isn't. Soft Capping and How to Break a Build (or Make it Amazing)... Let's chat about soft caps for a moment. Soft capping is a hugely popular topic. OMG, gotta hit 45%!!! HOW DO I SOFTCAP ALL THE THINGS!!!!!! First off, soft capping to 45% defense is f*ing awesome. It can make you practically unkillable. It can also force you make decisions on slotting your primary that deprive it of possible damage options. When you purposefully design your build in this manner you may get angry that you never die and things never die around you in a timely manner. Heavy investment into building mitigation plans through IOs can come at a damage additive cost. You may scoff or brush this off, but its true. Some Sentinel primaries have few, if any, additional proc options. Those sets also trend towards being rather self sufficient without them. Those are the kinds of primaries you want to pair up with build plans that abuse the stacking of all the Winter IO sets. Fire Blast is a great example. Fire Blast does fantastic damage all on its own and using full sets to raise defense is a smart decision. You may pick a set like Assault Rifle and wonder how is it even possible that I play it without tickling everything to death. Its because I paired with a secondary that soft-caps with little extra help (Super Reflexes). Due to this pairing, I have a number of slots that are not needed for defensive IOs. Quickness grants me +20% global recharge which is also hugely important for realizing the attack chain I use. The bonus slots turn away from defensive and recharge bonuses in favor of damage options. That helps. I tend to think that common forum knowledge also has created an impression that if you're not always running +4/x8 that you are somehow doing it wrong. This seems to instill a sense of fear into players that aren't that experienced with the game into thinking they absolutely have to close every mitigation gap possible with all tools on the table. Quite frankly I wish that would stop. It won't, but I can dream. The content you plan to take part in matters too. Do you really need to build every single Sentinel secondary to be a brick house? No. You don't. You really don't. OK, you might if your intention is to try and complete all content in the game at +4/x8. You need to be as durable as you possibly can be, but for some reason folks forget that you need to do damage too. If you're not capable of doing high enough damage to chew through the amounts of health that +4 Bosses/EBs have, its going to be SLOOOOOOW. The longer it takes for you to defeat the enemies the more chances they have to hit you. In this game you cannot guarantee you won't get struck. It will happen, and sometimes bad luck will floor you. That can happen if you soft-cap or not. I'll let that sink in... Sometimes aiming to soft-cap one or more defense types is a wise choice. Gimping your damage options for the sake of converting every secondary into a ghetto version of Super Reflexes is not always the best use of your resources. Let that sink in too... Many of the Secondaries I am about to get into have multiple mitigation types. They may have resistance and defense and healing. They may have absorb shields, they may have more of one type of the mitigation than another. Some are largely passive, some are highly active, and many are mixed. Having multiple mitigation types can be just as beneficial as having soft-cap defense. Soft-capping is not a cure to all things, and sometimes it can be counter productive. Here are some milestones I like to hit when I can: 20% defense, 32.5% defense, 45% defense, 59% defense. 20% defense isn't that hard to get to on any set that has 0 defense already in it. Sets like Fiery Aura, Regeneration, Radiation Armor, and Electric Armor. This defense level still works with inspirations. A small purple inspire moves you into the second milestone, and a bigger one moves you into soft-cap town. You may need to take on pool powers like Weave, Maneuvers, and Hover/Combat jumping, but that's how it goes. You either build up your defenses for solo or tone that difficulty down or you team up and let others close your gaps with their buffs. There is no shame in having teammates buff you. 32.5% defense is a bit trickier to hit on the resist-only sets but is fairly reasonable on any thing else that is mixed type. Dark Armor can be a little tricky to reach this level, but it is possible. I promise that since my Water/Dark hits this metric and she is more survivable than you'd think given the layers she has. 45% defense is pretty easy to hit on Super Reflexes, Energy Aura, and Ninjutsu. On everything else you need to stop and really think about the repercussions of the decision to hit this milestone. Is it worth it to you? Can your primary do enough damage without procs? Are giving up any recharge? If the defense trades don't significantly hurt your expected damage, then go for it! If you're playing any of those primaries that can greatly benefit from damage procs, then proceed with caution. You may still pull it off, but the build might be real tight on slots/sets. 59% defense is an Incarnate goal but Sentinels often need to leave damage on the table to do this. Its usually not worth it, but it can be possible with some pairings like Fire Blast and Super Reflexes. Both sets are largely self sufficient and allow a player to push extreme levels of defense. This will not be true for most other combinations. If you can live with running less difficult content like +2/x8 (or less, I suppose) than any combination can work. Its only when you really want to push the hardest challenges solo without much reliance on inspirations, temp powers, or teammates that soft-capping starts to really matter. I have multiple characters that handle different scales of difficulty. Some of those are Sentinels. Do not be so proud that you break your build to try to complete content you'll be disappointed in or even fail at. Its not worth it. Quick comment on Alpha slots... Agility is almost never worth the investment on a Sentinel in my experience across all of the builds I have crafted over the past year. Generally you are looking at roughly 2% more defense. The recharge benefit can be easily obtained from Ageless Destiny, IO bonuses, or Hasten. You may not even need that much recharge. The endurance benefit can be largely a wash. This one just doesn't do enough most of the time to warrant the materials. Let all the other ATs decide on how to fit this in their build, but strongly consider passing on it for your Sentinel. Sentinels are often claimed to be weak on damage. So why wouldn't you pursue any of the Alpha options that improve that perceived weakness vs chasing defense you may not even need? Musculature Core, Radial, and Intuition Radial are very strong picks. Generally, you shouldn't need any of the others for mitigation other than Cardiac. Cardiac can be very worth while to use in some builds, but you'll be giving up some damage for defense. So, in most cases go for any of the +damage Alphas. You can thank me later. Cardiac can be a great alternative for quality of life, but ideally get your end under control some other way to pick up +dmg. Picking the Right Outfit for the Ball... Despite how important secondaries truly can be, I want to keep this fairly short. I'll give a quick overview of the set (focused, or mixed) and let you know if I found it worth soft-capping or not. I'll point any shortcomings of the set to give you an idea on what to expect. Bio Armor Bio Armor is a mixed mitigation set using various passive defense and resistance combinations as well as active click healing powers including absorbs. Bio Armor is quite strong all on its own. It is very tough to softcap all of its categories without going all in on defensive IO bonuses. I do not feel it is worth it do that with more primaries, but it is certainly possible. Dark Armor Dark Armor is a jack-of-all-trades style set. It has a little bit of everything. It completely lacks a T9 defense power and instead has a self revive as well as crowd control toggles. Dark armor is as good as you invest into it. It can also be tricky to difficult to hard cap certain resistances and also soft-cap defenses. You can do it, but its going to have a price and it can get steep (in both powers, slots, and bonuses). You can end up with a respectable mix of mitigation and even the CC toggles can be useful. Enemies still like to run into melee and Oppressive Glooms stun stacks with a lot of different primaries. This set does not have the ultra powerful Dark Regen and its passive recovery option (tied to the Dark Regen replacement) can run out quickly. So endurance can be an issue but that depends a lot on your build. Electric Armor ElA leans heavy on the resistance side, but it does have some high regeneration potential. End management isn't much of an issue and the set has some other bells and whistles. Piling on more defense is always great, but you really don't need to break the build chasing 45% defense. This is especially true if you pick up an immobilize from the Patrons/Epics to keep more dangerous foes away or if you wish to chase hover-blasting. This holds true for every secondary in this list. Energy Aura EnA is a mixed type set that leans heavily on typed defense. Should you soft-cap? Yes. There is little reason not to soft-cap an Energy Aura character. You even get some resistance boosts in the set, and loads of endurance management. Sentinel Energy Aura can be a very strong set. Should you Incarnate soft-cap? Probably not for most builds, but it can be possible to get there or very close to it. Fiery Aura Fiery Aura can be just as squishy as it is on any other AT but you don't have the benefit of the damage aura. You do still get Burn and FA on Sentinels has a passive healing power as well as a clickable. Its a bit better than other versions in that regard and especially so if you can lift its defense value out from the dirt. Still, soft-capping defense can come at a very steep price and I generally haven't found it worth it to do that. It can be a bit easier to focus just on melee or smashing/lethal defense to make Burn a bit safer to use. Endurance benefit is still tied to Consume and Consume isn't that great. Cardiac Core was a big benefit to me before T4 Ageless. This set is s probably my least favorite option. Its a very risky set and the reward isn't that high. Ice Armor Ice Armor is a mixed set. It has a little bit of everything. It does lack a lot of Fire and Cold defense. That is easy to gain through IO sets though. Can you soft-cap with Ice Armor? Yes, you can absolutely bring this to 44-45+% defense to multiple types. Should you though? Eh, maybe. Depends on what you pair it with and just how important it is to you. The T9, Icy Bastion, is pretty awesome and I've ran this with both 35% and 45% defense values. The higher the defense you get the easier things are, but it wasn't hugely detrimental to ease off that number either. Endurance management is not great. The set itself isn't that expensive to run, but it doesn't have a nice passive option. Instead endurance restore is linked to a cooldown power and its pretty underwhelming. Icy Bastion will improve your recovery though so with enough leapfrogging of effects it is doable. Its not a particularly exciting set to level. Furthermore, Ice Armor includes more sources of +hit point than you can effectively use. This makes one of the final powers a total dud if you have Hoarfrost on perma. The absorb shield the set offers needs a serious review because the amount it generates is very low. You can skip that power too as it isn't worth the slots. Ideally that power functions like a modified version of the one that exists within the Blaster AT, but until then... pass. Ice Armor is a decent set to run once you full complete it, but it is a labor of love to play. I wouldn't fault anyone for never touching it in its current state. Still, I like it better than Fiery Aura, and that's saying something. Invulnerability Invul is a mixed resistanced and typed defense set with heavy emphasis on smashing/lethal resistance. You gain bonus hit points and an endurance power. Yes, there is an endurance power in Sentinel Invul. Its one of the better versions of the set, but losing out on the scaling Invincibility is a bummer. Still, this is a strong all around set. Can you soft-cap it? Yes. Should you? Probably not, unless your primary can handle it. You can reasonably hardcap S/L resistance and reasonably hit high 20's to low 30's on defense. You'll cap your hit points fairly easily too. Invul is durable enough on its own that soft-capping is a nice to have but not critical factor. Ninjutsu Ninjutsu on Sentinels is a bit different from the Stalker version. Its somewhat mixed in scope but includes a CC power that other sets don't get. Can you soft-cap it? Yes. Should you? Yes, doesn't matter the primary you run. You can very high defense values and that is one of the strongest perks to the set. On top of this you have a lot of control over you hit points and endurance through click powers. You are stuck with a click Mezz protection but it is incredibly comprehensive and it stacks with itself. Blinding Powder can be skipped or used for utility or its slotting options. Its an underrated power but it isn't critical either. Should you Incarnate soft-cap? Probably not. Ninjutsu's values are generally less than those of Super Reflexes making it more costly to get there. Its possible to do it, but probably not ideal. Radiation Armor Rad Armor is like Bio Armor in that it can be considered a top of the line armor set... on many other ATs. On Sentinels it is still really good. Like Bio Armor and Fiery Aura, Rad brings more direct offensive aid. Both Ground Zero and Meltdown are damage increasing powers. There is no native defense in the set, but it doesn't really need it for most content. You gain options for healing as well as damage with Meltdown also granting more resistance. Any extra defense is always welcome but you don't need to break a build to softcap. Regeneration Regen has a reputation in the melee ATs that can be all over the place. You have fans of it, and you have those that hate it. Sentinel Regeneration chances a few things and turns the set into a very strong secondary. Second Wind works as both a revive if you fall or a scaling heal based on current health. Instant Regeneration grants you a regenerating absorb shield that is far more handy in practice than it sounds. Its not a lot of absorb but it will continually restore itself as long as the toggle runs. Any defense one can add is always welcome, but soft-capping isn't necessary. Super Reflexes Sentinel Super Reflexes has some slight changes from the melee counterparts. Most notable is the choice between Practiced Brawler and Master Brawler. MB pushes mezz protection into the set's toggles and grants a strong absorb power. Additionally there is a passive endurance power unlike other versions of the set. Should you soft-cap it? Yes. Doesn't matter what you're using you should soft cap. Should you Incarnate soft cap? Probably not with most pairings, but it is certainly possible. This is one of the few secondaries that can allow it without too much risk of breaking a character for it. Willpower Willpower is the last set on the list. Its a mixed type between typed defense, resistance, and regeneration. It has a lot in common with Invulnerability in that regard. Willpower can be a tricky set to deal with on Sentinels. Its a jack-of-all-trades style set like Dark Armor, with some slight advantages, but it generally has no other means to handle damage. Its playstyle isn't that far off from the melee variants, but will feel risky in melee at times. As a pure ranged build option it can be a reasonable with the potential for high levels of regeneration. Should you soft-cap it? Probably not. You can push defenses into the high 20's to low 30's and that can work fairly well when combined with ranged damage. All of the sets above can enable any characters to deal the damage they need to being doing either solo or as part of a team. The power sets with easy options to soft-cap trend towards all around play. Sentinels are a lower hit point AT so defense-heavy sets tend to be some of the stronger options for handling universal content. That shouldn't scare anyone off from playing a resistance heavy set. If you can keep your distance on any Sentinel, then any of them can be quite survivable. Enemy melee attacks often do more damage than their range options. Many enemy types also have more melee options than ranged. So not only is the damage per hit from a ranged attack less but their frequency of attack may be less. You can hover out of range, hop around, immobilize enemies, or make them scatter. Any one or combination of things can go a long way to surviving more challenging content. Conclusions... Sentinels may struggle for some players and there a lot of reasons that can contribute to this. A review of the AT that puts them in a positive position within the community would be welcome. Though the hyperbolic damage is probably already done. There are still folks that think Stalkers play the same as they did on CoV release. Sentinels will likely always have the reputation of being the lowest damage DPS AT and having lower damage than support sets. That's not going to go away overnight with a patch. That's the community's fault, and we all need to own that. If you've read all of this, thank you. I'm very likely to take a break from posting in this subforum for a while. I've just dumped all of my thoughts about the AT and its various sets into this one repository. I pretty much have nothing else to say. That said, I'm just a direct message away if anyone wishes to ask questions.