oldskool

Regeneration isn't exactly a min/max set. So if you're wanting to shore up its complete lack of defense, then you want a primary that doesn't need much help in damage. Fire Blast is the easiest candidate to fit that bill. Fire Blast doesn't need, nor have many options for, procs to do reasonable well even without the epic options. You can stack defense bonuses to your hearts desire and do pretty well. Electrical Blast is in a similar boat, but Tesla Cage really should take advantage of its proc potential. Beam Rifle can get a lot of procs in certain powers, but it too doesn't need it that badly. Finally, Dark Blast can be a reasonable choice given how Blackstar's debuff works. Still, Dark Blast gets a lot out of procs too so stacking defense bonuses sky high isn't that great for increasing damage. Beyond those sets, then other pairings may struggle *if* not you're shoving procs in certain powers (and this only matters if you have laser like focus on max damage). Really, if all you want to do is stack full sets, then Fire Blast kinda limits the options. And since procced out Dominate + Mind Probe has been mentioned, that combination alone can nearly invalidate your entire primary's damage potential (I think it is a really big problem, personally). And to the Widow... Do try one out. They are fantastic, but a Psychic Blast/Super Reflexes/Psychic Mastery Sentinel is also a very solid choice. The downside is the Sentinel is more narrow scoped to just being a single target turret without the group buffs. A Night Widow, or a combination of claw and psi attacks (so not full Fortunata), is a force to be reckoned with once you get endurance under control.

If loving my Dark Armor/Titan Weapons tanker is wrong, then I don't wanna be right.

I'm sorry you've had a bad experience. The build itself isn't actually that bad. You're running into the very low ceiling that Sentinels have when it comes to building them. That in and of itself is not your own poor choice, subpar decision or lack of critical thinking etc. You've picked two power sets that are working against each other and learning that you'll likely need to just focus on one. That isn't your fault though. It is reasonable to just pick some power sets and go to town. This is more a development issue. I can't tell if you have some expectations of the AT that it cannot meet at this time, but that may be part of it too. *shrug* Radiation Blast with just full sets isn't that impressive of a primary. However, Radiation Blast can take on some damage procs and this can significantly improve it. That also means forgoing some full set bonuses that are driving the gap closing of Regeneration's weaknesses. Regeneration on Sentinels is pretty good, but Regeneration is still the weakest mitigation set there is. It can be made to be more durable, much like you've proven, but this limits how you handle the primary power. For your Incarnates, I'd recommend you start working towards Musculature Core for the Alpha. That will be a damage increase. Assault in Hybrid, Reactive or Degen in Interface would be the next damage boosters to go for. Regeneration works well with the Barrier Destiny path or even the Radial version of Ageless for some defense debuff resistance. Here are some simple ideas without completely redoing the whole thing: 1) You're 10% regen capped already. You could remove a slot from Fast Healing to break up that set and add it to Cosmic Burst. 2) You can decide if 6 slots in Mind Probe are necessary for the AoE/Fire/Cold Defense. I'd maybe move a slot to Neutron Bomb. 3) Move the set out of Proton Stream into Neutron Bomb. Sell Ragnarok. 4) Break up the Apocalypse set in Cosmic Burst. You could run the Apocalypse damage and negative proc in Cosmic Burst (sell the rest if you want). It looks like Cosmic Burst and Proton Stream have similar proc rates for that. Someone will correct me on that. Either way, add 3 more damage procs and an Acc/dmg/end IO of your choice. Eventually +5 that and the Apocalypse damage one. Or eventually go for a +3 Nucleus Exposure (you don't need it). The +5 IOs and Musculature will put this power at 126% damage modification. 5) Repeat for Proton Stream (or Cosmic Burst depending on step 4). The difference for Proton Stream is use one of the proc options for Achilles' Heel. The slotting changes in 4 & 5 will bring the damage of your single target change (X-Ray, Mind Probe, Cosmic and Proton) up to a point of similar performance as your current build... while Aim is on. With the new slotting above, Aim will far exceed what your current build is doing. You will lose recharge, but +4's in both of Hasten's slots will get you 8 seconds of downtime. You should still be able to run your attacks comfortably but there will be a bit of a lag on some of the cooldowns. Still, you'd be doing more damage per hit so that is something. You could even go for a +4 recharge IO in Aim (and break that 2pc set) bring that cooldown to line up with Atomic Blast. You could add procs to the AoE powers too, but you'd lose 30% recharge by giving up the two ATOs and 5pc Armageddon. I wouldn't do that personally. I'd just try to close the damage gap on single target so you don't feel like you're tickling things to death. Your hit points will be just over the AT cap with accolades. You will lose about 1 hit point per second of regeneration. Your melee defense should largely be unchanged. All in all, you have a very solid foundation. Good job! Let us know if any of this helps.

I'll expand what underfyre mentions with some more information. I think the first thing to get out of the way is the Sentinel procs in their ATOs aren't that good to begin with. Actually, they are pretty much crap due to the extremely limited number of powers that return benefits *and* they are affected by the purple patch reducing them further (at least Ward is). Here are some ideas on places to put the Ward and Strikes sets. Mind you, the bonuses within the sets themselves are generally worth having. The procs just stink. Strikes = Your generic 10 target AoE power for almost all sets. Ward = The cone power for sets where the T9 is a PBAoE attack and the T9 for all others. Caveat here if you're using an epic PBAoE power. Edit note: So it looks like I do typically follow my own advice in most of my Sentinel builds. I.e., Ward in T9 and Strikes in 10 target AoE. Some of my builds don't follow this pattern and I had different reasons for each use case. Sometimes I want Ward somewhere else or I may not mind a single target power like Flares running Opportunity Strikes. It just depends on the rest of the build. Still, the generic advice above is a decent way to look at things for most use cases. Opportunity Strikes: Sonic Blast and Assault Rifle have some quirks that may influence where you place the ATO sets when it comes to the AoE powers. All of the Sonic Blast cones, and Flamethrower count Opportunity multiple times (the other cone powers do not). They'll do ridiculous things with the Opportunity Strikes ATO like fill your entire bar in a single cast when the proc goes off (other cones don't do this either). Flamethrower, by itself, can yield +80 meter on its own and the Sonic cones go further because they hit up to 10 targets each. Opportunity Strikes is a bit of a waste in Sonic AoE, and may be a waste in Flamethrower (or not if that is your goal). Sonic Blast doesn't have a lot damage proc options so the Strikes set can be fine in the single target powers, but generally I would never recommend you do this. The Strikes set is not ideal in the T9 powers because at best those may be recharging at around 23 seconds on the lowest end with the highest recharge. The entire point of using the Strikes set is to try to refresh the meter *after* it drops to 0. This happens every 15 seconds after the effect has been enabled. Why wait 8+ seconds more for a guaranteed bar fill when you're going to be attacking, and building meter, during that time frame? In other words, optimizing Opportunity meter gains should be about how fast can you get to 90 (when the circles appear on your T1 and T2) without going over or wasting other power uses. The T9 powers running the Stikes set can be total overkill and get you to build more meter that you can ever actually use. This is why I do not care for that set there. Sentinel's Ward and PBAoE T9's (A conflict of damage): Sentinel's Ward can be an ideal replacement to the Ragnarok purple set for a T9 power for a few reasons. 1) Ragnarok doesn't have a damage proc, and 2) the high amount of recharge in the Ward set is wonderful for making the T9 more available. I suppose a 3rd option is that the Ward set has the most forgiving proc rate between the two ATOs and therefore it is effectively guaranteed to proc against a single target. However, you can gain the benefit more than that. So dumping the nuke with the Ward proc can build you more absorb than it might elsewhere. However, several T9 powers are point-blank area of effect (PBAoE). That means they have the potential to run 5 pieces of Armageddon + the Fury of Gladiator -20% resistance proc. This is substantial damage as both procs are nearly guaranteed to go off. That's both extra fire damage from Armageddon and reducing resistance to all enemies hit by 20%. The however, however, caveat here is if you're using a different PBAoE power to hold that Armageddon + Fury combo. Radiation and Electric Blast both natively have PBAoE options like Irradiate and Short Circuit or you could take a PBAoE out of the epics like Fire Sword Circle. So that may open up some slotting to the T9 for the Ward set. Otherwise, just park the Ward set in the cone power. Again, the proc rate on the set is really forgiving and it can trigger from the lower target cap. The absorb itself isn't so great that it is worth worrying that much about in the first place. The other side of the coin here is that I often do not find it worth my time and effort to proc out my AoE powers in some futile effort to catch up to Blaster damage. Instead, I prefer procs in single target powers where I feel the Sentinel struggles the most (like against Bosses). The Sentinel ATO sets do not directly contribute to increasing damage in the same way that procs will. So that is why you're not going to see many recommendations on single target powers. There are a few exceptions, but they are not the norm.

Here are some additional thoughts. Dual Blades lacks a burst damage component like Build-Up (except on Stalkers). Blinding Feint is a sustained damage improvement. Fury on Brutes is a sustained damage improvement. Scrapper critical hits are more bursty and it brings that quality into Dual Blades which it would otherwise lack. If you want a constant stream of building up damage over time, then go Brute. If you like to see the occasional big number, then go Scrapper. In the end, neither AT has an innate advantage when it comes to how the combo system works. Both of these ATs will either go for Blinding Feint -> Attack Vitals combo *or* completely ignore the combo system for high recharge spam of Blinding Feint -> Ablative -> Sweeping -> Ablative spam. Super Reflexes is a set that can accomplish the absurdly high recharge requirements for the latter build goal. Willpower will not be nearly as easy, but it can be fantastic for ease of play. Willpower has no trouble with Blinding Feint -> Attack Vitals as the recharge requirements are not within the same extremes as the highest possible potential DPS option. Also, you don't even need to build that much damage into Dual Blades in order for it to be functional.

Doesn't your build run multiple procs in DW? Its been awhile since I have seen it. The proc use in DW is a pretty significant difference in value add. The recharge topic is very much a reason why I use Super Reflexes as it allows me to constantly chain attacks. The repeated uses of Achilles' Heel pushes its likelihood of proccing which is a damage increase for the 10 second duration. That too is something DW doesn't come with, BUT the value is likely going to vary based on build.

Hey, stranger! Good to see you around. You've been missed by many.

I always recommend folks tinker with powers as they level. So, I think it is a fine idea to explore the use of Dual Wield as you level. However, you're likely going to find you won't need Defensive Opportunity as the build matures. Defensive Opportunity just doesn't return enough hit points per shot to out pace damage and there is little sense in lowering your overall damage-per-second just to activate it. Willpower won't find too much use in the endurance recovery of Defense Opportunity either (later on). As to the last powers, well the world is your oyster. You may find yourself running short on slots if you're going to take all of the attacks in the primary and those will want the majority of your slots. You won't need additional attacks from any other pools because you have 7 primary attacks to pick from. So, in other words you can pick up whatever you want and even go for a bunch of 1 slot wonders. Here are some other power ideas: 1) Maneuvers, and the Leadership Pool in general. These are useful on any character and can be the Troubleshooter's natural leadership/charisma inspiring others. 2) Concealment - This was changed recently and the new powers are pretty neat. This adds some stealth and new movement power options. 3) A travel power like Super Jump 4) Resurgence - if you have nothing else. This power doesn't require investment. Incarnates for a Sentinel are pretty straight forward: Go for damage increases because the AT needs it. - Musculature Core Alpha line - Reactive or Degenerative Interface line (you can eventually build both and swap based on teams) - I generally prefer the Double Hit option in Hybrid Assault - Judgement = whatever you want. Ion has a chain effect which makes it popular AF, but really any of these are good. - Lore - whatever you want. I've got two Sentinels running an Agent's of Shield kind of concept. I like Longbow for them, but the Knives group are cool too. - Destiny - whatever you feel you need. Rebirth feels underrated and gives you a feeling of ridiculous pre-nerf Regeneration's Instant Healing. Barrier will give you a 5% defense and resistance buff even on the lowest end of the effect which can be up with high frequency. Ageless gives you more recharge and endurance, but that isn't that useful to DP/WP. Ageless also has an option with defense debuff protection and that *is* useful for Willpower. You can build as many of these as you want, but only have one active at a time. I'd go for either Barrier or Rebirth first, depending on your preference. When you feel like dancing with the Cimos at point-blank later you'll probably want Ageless with the DDR option. Definitely give @Hyperstrike's posted build a look. It comes with a few free power options and several slots. It is a modest investment in funds to get those sets (pvp healing isn't cheap) and doesn't rely heavily on purples. It should give you some ideas on what a final build can look like. There are going to be other ways to handle this combo that can increase damage at the cost of defense or push defense even more (but won't add more damage to what is that post).

Depending on how you want to build, you may not need either Dual Wield or Piercing Rounds. Dual Wield generally takes a back seat to Pistols, Suppressive Fire and Executioner's shot on Sentinels. Piercing Rounds is a slow animating power that can hit fairly hard, but it can lag behind the other three powers I mentioned. Dual Pistols can hammer out fast shots repeatedly vs singular big hits. I'd recommend you take Strength of Will when you can. Play around with it and see if you like it. It can help cap your Smashing and Lethal resistance for a long time and it has a large boost to endurance recovery. That may feel worth it until you get everything settled. I use it on my Tanker but that is because my attacks eat blue bar like it is going out of style. Other than, that everything is fairly routine for both sets. They aren't too complicated to play or build. Just know Willpower isn't as easy to soft-cap on Sentinels as it is on melee. You can get high 20's - low 30's on Smash/Lethal/Melee defense, and mid-30's to Energy/Negative/Cold/Fire with modest investment. If you're hoping to get into the 40% range, then you may be looking at stacking Winter Sets. Don't build for +regeneration. Try to build some hit points if you can, but it really isn't that important on Sentinel Willpower. Sents don't get the ridiculousness of Rise to the Challenge and they don't have the highest hit points. Still, it can be reasonably durable. If you haven't read through this yet, then I recommend you check out the thread below. Dual Pistols and Willpower are both covered in that.

That is a good point on Frigid Shield. I suppose it could be better than I give it credit. Maybe I am just salty that the Blaster version of the same power is better. Then again, they don't have the innate defense that the Sentinel version does. You could drop Assault in either build to add Frigid back and maybe pull a slot off something. I'm not too convinced it needs a lot of investment for its return, but I'm also being really skeptical. I haven't touched Ice Armor in a long time and so my memory of it is fuzzy. (edit note: This inspired me to re-read some old notes. In the linked thread earlier in this one, there is similar praise for Frigid Shield to protect against the smaller hits that get through. So, it is likely better than I give it credit. When I ran this on test I just didn't notice much out of it. Then again, I was running fairly high defense plus hovering over head. A closer range build with Frozen Aura would have a different experience, no doubt.) In Mids under Options -> Configuration -> Exemping and Base Values. You can set base to-hit for all your powers. I often leave this as 48 to emulate the +3's I typically fight once I've gotten my T3 Alpha slot. Your understanding the defense rating is mostly correct. Attacks often have two flags attached to them. Those are the position and the type. So like Ice Bolt is likely constructed as "ranged_cold". Whenever Ice Bolt is targeting and enemy, or player, the defense roll takes the highest value of the ranged defense or cold typed defense. You get the benefit of the highest. However, not all attacks in the game have two flags. Some attacks have just one. Some psionic effects, most often crowd control, are just "psionic". Toxic attacks from enemies often don't have a positional flag either or are just untyped (I think Vaz vomit is still untyped or just Toxic; I don't recall exactly but it seems to ignore AoE defense). The untyped psionic attacks aren't usually a problem. Untyped toxic can be a pain but is generally rare by enemy type. Neither of these are worth chasing solutions for because the problems are such a small part of the game. Just don't be near Carnies when they die.

So it looks like your slotting is leaving a lot of potential damage on the table by underslotting your attacks for more defense. AoE looks fine, but single target may struggle on Bosses+. A few other notes: 1) Sentinel HP cap is 2088. A smattering of HP bonuses from sets, even by accident, and Hoarfrost will exceed 2088 easily. So, I'd avoid +hp bonuses if possible. Also, Accolades will also add HP. That will cap you too. 2) Regen rate with Icy Bastion is cool (hah!) and all, but regen bonuses from sets suck. The builds below have a few bonuses there, but it isn't because I was chasing them. It was convenience of slotting. 3) Your accuracy is really high when taking both Tactics and Kismet into play. You can change the default accuracy in MIDs from 75% to 37 - 48% to show off how accuracy at +3 or +4 enemies, respectively. The Incarnate Alpha will eventually ensure all enemies post level 45 remain in the +3 range. 4) If Frigid Shield is only adding 86 absorb, then I think it is safe to skip that power for something else. That amount isn't worth the power slot or the enhancement, in my opinion. If that power were buffed a bit, then it would may Ice Armor significantly better than it is. I can get 400+ absorb on Super Reflexes which makes Frigid Shield seem like a total waste. If this is the case for your current in-game numbers, then I'm a sad panda. Frigid was bad before, and sounds like it still is. *fingers crossed for a buff; then it may be worth it* Example #1 Heavy defensive investment, but still better damage than the original. This is expensive, but Icy Armor isn't cheap to softcap. Sentinel's Ward in Blizzard may be better. This is my own personal preference on how I slot Blizzard and Ice Storm on my Ice/Energy/Ice Sent. Ice Storm having a recharge of around 16 seconds can give you significant Opportunity meter when it hits a lot of enemies. You won't fill your bar, but it is far more meter than Ice Storm normally gives. HP is at 2052. Portal Jockey (5% hp accolade) should shoot you past the HP cap, easily. Accuracy is over 95% from Kismet and Tactics but some of the lower ratings may hurt from a debuff if you care. Several powers won't care at all. 1 recharge + Gaussians in Aim works pretty well for me. There are a few ways to handle Aim, and this one of those. Example # 2 I opted to care a lot less about defense and focus on pushing your damage higher. AoE isn't really the problem to solve. It is fighting Bosses+. You want to take those out and rely on Icy Bastion to keep you alive when facing them. Overall defense isn't completely terrible though. A small purple inspiration (12.5% defense) will nearly softcap Fire and Cold (for whenever that matters). HP is 2066. Any one of the Accolades will cap you, guaranteed. The damage potential of attacks like Chilling Ray, and Bitter Ice Blast are considerably higher. I like to use +5 Thunderstrikes. If you go with the Musculature Alpha series you can easily exceed 120% damage enhancement while still enjoying proc damage. Bitter Freeze Ray is slotted with 5pc Apocalypse to reduce recharge to make it more available. The Unbreakable Constraint adds another 107 damage proc.

You're welcome. I saw you posted in the other thread, but Opportunity really isn't that complex when broken down to its most important feature; the resistance debuff. The more complicated thing about Sentinels is trying to build in more damage within the IO system that doesn't offer much for building in more damage. This is where the discussions of damage procs come from. Ice Blast, as a set, can take a wider range of IO sets like the slow category. The slow category has a smashing damage proc. Then there is the PvP toxic proc and other powers may have different effects to add procs from (like holds have 4 available). These specific IOs are a way to add more sources of damage beyond just the percentage increase. The difficultly for building in this manner then becomes a question of how do you resolve higher defenses and higher recharge too. Some power pairings can do all of this and many cannot. So, the trade offs come into play and that requires a bit deeper of an understanding of all the power interactions. It is all of those reasons as to why my original post was so long and why most of my build discussions are so verbose. I wish the AT was a bit easier to deal with, but the devs have talked about reviewing the AT. Likely, whenever they are done ensuring that Blasters and Tankers have all of the buffs they need to trivialize the game by themselves (as if they don't already). 😛

Just a little more clarification. 🙂 Opportunity has a passive effect on all the time. Your attacks always debuff target's defense and resistance by a small amount. It isn't a big benefit and it can be resisted, but it is always there. Also, the damage effect or sustain effect ride on all of your attacks for 15 seconds. That buff is not dependent on targets. Even if the enemy with the big glowing target dies, you still have the damage/sustain proc active for the duration of Opportunity. It isn't much but using Opportunity isn't a total loss like it is sometimes portrayed. The intent of the Opportunity design has been stated to be a 50% uptime of higher damage and a 50% downtime. This isn't how it actually works in practice unless you build for it. As characters level, they lack the accuracy and to-hit metrics necessary to consistently land attacks. You have to land the attacks in order to gain meter and you have to land the T1 or T2 to apply the effect. Additionally, lower level characters lack the recharge to consistently chain attacks, and manage the sustain, needed to achieve 50% uptime. Almost all of the primary sets can build 90 Opportunity within 13 seconds on single targets. This requires using common approach of T4 - T1 - T3 - T1. A T2 could be swapped too depending on set and preferences. Most attack sets have a short animation and recharging T1 attack that allows for a roughly 6 second animation cycle using those 4 buttons (it averages around 13 seconds). Assault Rifle can potentially build for just T1 -> T2 repeatedly that builds 90 meter in about 11 seconds but does hardly any damage. 😛 The Opportunity Strikes ATO can reduce this time frame down but it can be very random in single target chains due to proc rate plus high recharge in the set. Area powers are a completely different animal. Area powers can sometimes be better triggers for the ATO sets and can add a burst of Opportunity (about a third of the bar). Sonic Blast is an exception as is Flamethrower in Assault Rifle. I'm not sure if this is bug or not, but all of Sonic's AoE and Flamethrower check multiple times. My Flamethrower on my AR/SR build goes from 0 Opportunity to around 80+ meter if all targets get hit. Buckshot, on the other hand, does not do this. The Strikes ATO can also virtually guarantee 100 meter if you use it in the T9. The Ward proc is also reasonable in the T9. A few more tips on manipulating Opportunity: The T1 and T2 powers cannot both be the builder of the meter and the trigger of the effect (without exploiting). So if you are at 89 meter and you use your T1 power to get you up to 97 (all T1's add 8 meter), the power will not also trigger Offensive mode (however, if you had 90+ the effect would go off). If you use the T2 next, then your bar will be consumed for Defensive Opportunity instead. This is why it is a common recommendation to not take both powers *if* you want to control the effect. Another reason why both aren't recommended is because more often than not, the T2 powers just aren't that good to begin with (with a few exceptions). If we recall that I mentioned a T4 -> T1 -> T3 -> T1 attack sequence is about 6 seconds long, then know that the second casting of the T3 will generate 90+ meter within 12-13 seconds. That means the T1 will automatically trigger the effect when it lands. This uptime is all assuming every hit lands so making sure your build is landing hits within the accuracy range of your difficulty setting is important. Misses are going to happen at a 5% rate and it will influence Opportunity uptime. Still, it isn't that bad when built for it.

Ice Armor on Sentinels isn't very popular and so the amount of actual builds that get tossed around are next to nothing. There is a poster on Reddit that absolutely loves Ice Armor across all ATs, but I'd take some grains of salt with the advice. Anyway, you mention you're not too confident with Mids but not exactly on what. A build is fundamentally a problem solving exercise. Like finding a pathway to 45% *is* a problem to solve. Including more damage or more resistances are as well. Combining multiple elements into a final product adds complexity and difficulty to the mix. So without knowing any of your preferences, like travel power, or specifics to what you're having an issue with further help is... hard. However, there is still room to help you out by giving you some direction and general guidance (or so I hope). I'm also assuming you know nothing about any of the below. So apologies in advance if this is too much or explaining basics you're aware of. This is longer than I originally hoped, but builds without commentary aren't often helpful. Ice/Ice is a combo that can work against itself with some build decisions, and this post wouldn't feel complete if I didn't address some powers in the Secondary. Below in the spoiler is just a framework of what I consider to be basic building blocks here for resolving the defense problem. This is a starting point. Red Fortune 3pc is selected merely as illustration. It is not intended to be commentary on merits of the set. It is generally easy to acquire, but Reactive Defenses has the same 2pc bonus but hit points for the 3pc. Hit points can potentially be capped by Hoarfrost and Accolades so that path wasn't interesting to me in the moment. 3 toggle defense powers have a unique. These are optional, but good ideas to have (Kismet, Reactive defense, Shield Wall). Only Tough and Icy Bastion are taken and they are slotted for illustration. Why? Aegis has a hefty Fire and Cold defense bonus. This is a feature Ice Armor lacks. So two 3pc sets gets you a reasonable boost here. The two 3% uniques in Tough add 6% more defense to all. Permafrost was not taken, but it can mule another Aegis to bump F/C defense to 24%. Other than that, Permafrost isn't that great of a power. Hoarfrost is slotted only to illustrate a set I happen to like. The full 6pc bonus is great for recharge, but 2-3pc are good too. The unique in that set doesn't need you to activate it. So with the skeleton below, Smashing, Lethal, Energy, and Negative are all at 33.55%. Fire and Cold are at 21.72%. You don't need to worry about any of the rest. The Psionic hole isn't worth chasing. The resistances don't get a whole lot better either but Icy Bastion is the reason to play Sentinel Ice Armor (and Hoarfrost, really). So, where can this go to get that wonderful 45% defense rating? Hover or Combat Jumping + Link Minds + Moisture Absorption = just shy of 45% to 4 out of the 6 defense types already mentioned. Fire and Cold would require more investment. Specifically, Permafrost with an Aegis set and likely some Winter IO sets in some attacks. The Sentinel ATOs will also cap your S/L/E/N defenses with everything already mentioned. Do you need 45% on Ice Armor? I don't think so, but it depends if you want to Hover or not. When I tested this combo in 2019 it felt reasonably durable at range and especially so when Icy Bastion was active. One test run build had 45% defense which is a noticeable improvement, but the other was around 32-35% which was tolerable (small purple inspirations can cap it). I just added some basic slots to the attacks with no recommendation on specific sets. I put 6 slots into Bitter Freeze Ray since you could run a 5 slot Apocalypse plus 1 Unbreakable Constraint (the smash proc). That power can take on two purple damage procs which boosts its effectiveness greatly. Whether or not you decide to proc out all of the other attacks is preference. I'd consider either recharge boosting sets or whatever defenses you feel you need to raise. Note; for Incarnate options, Ice Armor on Sentinels does not need Agility to softcap, at all. It can help, but it is not necessary. This means you could run Musculature for the Alpha slot to add more damage which the build will lack a bit if you go ham on defense stacking. Ice Blast can feel like a bit of a drain on endurance depending on how you slot it. So Ageless Destiny is still helpful to cover that. Powers skipped weren't commentaries on their value but they are not what I would call "must haves". I do not think the following are needed: - Ice Blast - this takes a backseat to Ice Bolt given how Opportunity works - Frost Breath - some don't like it, but I love it; I especially love the alternate animation. - Frigid Shield - Not sure if this is still bugged but its absorb was minor. If this was fixed, then it could be decent. It shouldn't need much slotting. 2pc Preventative Medicine gets you some S/L resist. - Moisture Absorption - Don't really need it and the end return isn't great. It can help with a soft-cap focus build if you have the power slots for it. - Permafrost - generally not necessary but works as a mule. - Frost Protection - not really necessary and the HP benefit is eclipsed by Hoarfrost if you can get it permanent.

For the first snippet, I'm curious... why? The range "issue" is parroted a lot, but I rarely see a reason for it being a problem other than "none of the other range sets do it". It is the same kind of argument that includes snipes vs no snipes in the Sentinel set. Do Sentinels really need extended range when they have a defensive secondary? The range of Blaster attacks makes sense when one considers that buying additional time before being charged in melee is part of the mitigation gameplay. This isn't something Sentinels even need, or is it? As to the last comment, by "crappy" you must mean how a single epic can eclipse the throughput of most of the entire primary sets. I will say, some of the latter options in the epics are hot garbage in my opinion (Hi Warmth, no one likes you!). However, I find a ton of value in AoE immobilize, holds, some of the melee options and so on. So beauty is certainly in the eye of the beholder.

Edit, rephrasing a bit. Any AT is going to benefit from maximizing its resistance values and stacking defense up to the soft-cap, at least. What can sometimes be missed in those discussions is that building in this way has trade offs. Some, not all, power set combinations can build defense without losing too much elsewhere. Not all of them can. With that in mind, the Sentinel, especially Regeneration, has to be considerate of what kind of features it is leaving behind in order to close its defensive gaps. That is going to vary with primary combinations too. A blanket "get 45% defense" is actually terrible advice when it doesn't come with explanation on what you give up with that. I tend to find value in the AoE immobilize offerings from several of the elemental epic options as well as Tashibishi in Ninja Tools. Tashibishi, it is caltrops, will force enemies away from me while shooting them in close quarters. Whirlpool already does this, but it is better as a damage option than as a slow utility, in my opinion. I haven't played Water with Regen and so I don't know what I would take as a layer here. Though I may look at an immobilize to keep targets in Whirlpool and then shoot at melee enemies from outside their range. It won't always catch everything, but it helps. If you ever decide to make another Sentinel, then the following power sets can be very forgiving: Invulnerability, Super Reflexes, Energy Aura, Ninjutsu, Electric Armor, and Radiation Armor.

That's pretty subjective, and not something I would agree to state as a global truth. That said, there are certain ATs and power combos that I would describe as superior for my playstyle. That isn't to say such combinations are superior in all aspects of play or even universally applicable to everyone.

Depends on what is meant by compete. Illusion control isn't the greatest set at actually controlling enemies. So almost any Dominator can be made to offer very competitive crowd control. Dominators also have far more control over their personal damage and aren't as reliant on some AI controlled minion. Both Illusion Controllers and Dominators love a lot of recharge, but the perma Phantom army doesn't work without extreme amounts of it. Dominators can function just fine right out the box.

A problem here though, is the Sentinel was designed to be a damage dealer. This has been stated before and that the conceptual inspiration was leveraged against Scrappers. I forgot which post it was in, but this goes back to 2019. It is completely fair to criticize the Sentinel's merits for the role it has been assigned. It is justifiably underwhelming for a wide range of reasons when viewed against its cousins in the melee ATs. When viewed explicitly against ranged only Blaster builds and more offensive Corruptor builds there is additional, and valid, challenge to the implementation of the AT. And, yet, I haven't actually read anyone disputing the fundamental flaws of the Sentinel in this entire thread. Instead it is more a debate about just how bad that scope really is. The truth of this matter is that is perception. If people want to build their Sentinel with full IO sets and try to play exactly like a Blaster with an armor set, then I can see how they'd be disappointed. Sentinels that want to push more damage are also pretty cookie cutter and I can see why that is perceived as boring to some. At no point does a Sentinel exceed a Blaster on AoE, which was a core design feature of the original Blaster, and so these comparison just spiral out of control. I've this once, and I will say it again. There will always be a camp of players that will never, ever, value the Sentinel until it does more damage than a Blaster is capable of. Full stop. There is just always going to be this debate no matter what the devs redesign until the Sentinel is so brokenly overpowered there is no disputing why anyone would ever play it.

Totally fair points for your earlier paragraph, and I do recognize what you had stated earlier. However, the tone of that other reply comes across differently. That's my point. Furthermore, you really didn't need to restate any of that because your early commentary was already solid, in my opinion. Anyway... The final part of your commentary here. Are you sure that what you perceive is being argued is truly what is being stated? I've parsed over what Obitus wrote a few times. I do not see anything where it states Sentinels are better than Blasters. Instead, the last few pages are crafting an argument that Sentinels aren't as bad as the general consensus makes it. That is what I takeaway from this, but there is apparently a difference in perception.

Apologies on the wordsmithing I am about to do, but I think this entire argument could be reframed into something that doesn't read like a condescending jerk. I actually don't think that is your intent, but this is how it feels to read the above. Furthermore, it fully express the "talking past each other" @Obitus mentioned before. For the first point, I think it is a stronger argument to state that under certain conditions there comes a point where more defense is no longer necessary. I think that phrasing is rather important because the first point reads like absurdity to me. Outside of maybe 2 secondaries, Blaster's using the jury rig house-of-cards IO defense approach doesn't get anyway near Sentinel power sets. However, I do support an idea that within certain playstyles the level of defense that Sentinels have isn't needed while maintaining range. However, however, this kind of argument entirely glosses over that Sentinels can comfortably fight within melee range and this is allowable against a wide range of faction types. Indeed, I think that is what Obitus was pointing to before. Unlike some posters on the Sentinel side, I either run an AoE Immobilize or caltrops. Either option allows me to control enemy placement to a degree and this is something that not all of my Blasters have access to. It is an entirely different kind of gameplay experience between the two ATs. Let me just express my own experience here for a moment having played every one of these secondaries and having 7 incarnate Sentinels. I don't hover-blast on any one of them. I can fight close quarters and not worry so much about my health. This is readily apparent while soloing and often can be entirely unnecessary while grouping. If I do take some additional heat in a team, I can handle it myself. That's the point of the Sentinel, and it actually matches the description at character generation. My Blapper build on the other hand has to be a bit more tactical while solo, because I don't hover blast on that either, but in teams I can generally let loose without much issue. There are more enemy types that I need to be mindful of on any of my Blasters that I really don't think twice about with my Sentinels. If there is no value there for certain players or their playstyles, then the Sentinel is going to be disappointing. I get that, and I think Obitus does too from what I am reading. Hell, I think most of us that are more supportive of Sentinels, despite their weaknesses - which we are aware of, get this difference. It is often times those that want to browbeat about how Blasters are superior in all ways that just do not want to see any value in the Sentinel. This is where certain commentary like "training wheels AT" and "has no role" starts to manifest. For the last point, that's an argument I've seen done to death. I also don't think anyone has said the Sentinel's nuke is better than the Blaster. At least not those words. I think more to the point the Sentinel nuke is brought up as a reminder that the higher uptime is there to pad out its AoE weaknesses. In actual practice, the Sentinel nuke uptime combines with its other AoE powers in a fashion that are readily available per spawn. This isn't how all Blaster builds work, and it is equally intellectually dishonest to pretend it is. Furthermore, the Sentinel design allows it easier access to leverage PBAoE powers without much fear of reprisal. Again, In practice, the range limits are way overblown as are the damage ratios, but that doesn't seem to matter to folks that exploit maintaining range with hover (not accusing the poster of this but making general observation). Once again this is how the two player bases completely talk past each other than with each other. This thread, and all of them like it on this subforum, are one of the classic blunders. Never start a land war with Asia, never gamble with a Sicilian when death is on the line, and never, ever, try to convince Blaster lovers there is any value in the Sentinel. It is like trying to convert religion. Edit: I opted to go back and re-read some of what both Mac and Obi are saying previously. Ironically, Mac already touches on the point about enough defense vs not enough offense (Sent v. Blast). So, restating this really doesn't add anything other than to seem smug when the comment is viewed as a whole (again, I think it is unintended but still present in the tone). Obi notes a preference for a faster recharging nuke despite the Blaster version which is noted to do more damage. So, that poster already recognizes the potential of either path. Again, this just illustrates talking past each other. Can we group hug? 🙂

So back in 2004 or so, I think I started with a Blaster (because everyone did, seriously) and a Tanker. Holy crap... yuk on both. I swapped to Scrapper and tried a number of pairings. This is game launch so there wasn't the berth of ATs there are now. I'm also a glutton for punishment so I went with Dark Melee, before people realized how Soul Drain worked, and Dark Armor (when you could only run 1 resistance toggle at a time + Tough). Still, the Scrapper was the best experience I had had for years. I loved it. Then later down the road I started to grow as a person and try other ATs. Of course, I need to express that Controllers and Defenders had buffs by then so they didn't royally suck to play. That is when I discovered just how much I loved playing Dominators and Controllers before the game shut down. Illusion/Rad was one of my very last characters I made before the snap, and one of the very first characters I re-made when the game came back. Well, that and a Super Strength/Willpower Brute because that combo is amazing. Anyway, welcome to CoX, and enjoy your stay. There is a WIDE range of builds and AT combos to explore. Some are vastly better than others but the sheer scope of the game is what makes it so damn fun to me.

Clearly doing double the damage no doubt.

Plant/Poison is a good combo. Almost anything paired with Storm Summoning can be nuts. Dark Miasma, Radiation Emission, and Cold are also really powerful as they debuff the crap out of enemies. Illusion is a very single target oriented set but pushing high recharge can allow for permanent Phantom Army. That essentially means your indestructible goon squad gets to beat on some highly debuffed enemy. Illusion/Radiation is a classic combo that can take down almost anything. You can run any of the powerful secondaries with that and still come out really well. Illusion/Storm is chaos in a character and it can be glorious. People may hate you for that, but it is there. You still can't go wrong with any of the melee ATs. They are fantastic at surviving and are fairly easy to build. The squishy ATs can take a lot more work and time to really make them ridiculous. So there are two kinds of powerful performs. You have your direct damage unga bunga types like Scrappers, Blasters, etc. Then you have your weaken the enemy until they are cuddle kittens types like Controllers, Defenders, Corrupters, and Masterminds. Either path can get you to Godhood. 🙂

Something to think about, not that any of the other advice is bad, but there are degrees to which ATs compare with each other. Individual power sets, build preferences, and the like can really, really blur lines. The entire "out performs others" is so freaking nebulous here that you can get many different answers. Each one of them being correct on their own merits. You didn't even get responses yet about the Controller builds can out perform your idea, and they exist. That said, Titan Weapons is a strong performing primary on any of the melee ATs that can access it. Scrappers can certainly have the highest potential with it, but this isn't to say Brutes using it hit like wet noodles (they really don't, by a long shot). Hell, Tankers can also perform surprisingly well. You didn't mention Stalkers, but those too can do considerable damage. They are single target specialists but some combinations can do decently well in AoE too. TL;DR: This is something that can be overthought considerably. While you recognize people say "any class is good", I'm just here to say... we mean it.