CaptTastic

Horse-plop. Pure, unadulterated horse-plop.

The Blaster v Sentinel debate frustrates me immeasurably, because it’s generalised to the point of making it absolutely meaningless. Generalising the debate ignores three key premises: 1. Not everyone enjoys the same thing 2. Not everyone has the same playstyle 3. Power sets don’t synergise the same across ATs And by ignoring them, the debate replaces them with three entirely wrong, and frankly damaging, premises instead, which are: 1. Everyone SHOULD enjoy the same thing 2. Everyone SHOULD have the same playstyle 3. Nuance, and its resultant subjective value across ATs, doesn’t exist I play pretty much exclusively ranged ATs, so have loads of Blasters and Sentinels, and no two blasters are/play the same, so how a sentinel can be tossed in for a direct comparison is absolutely beyond me. Even taking it further: my Fire/NRG (all ranged except for Inferno) is fundamentally different to someone else’s melee-loving blapping Fire/NRG blaster. So not only is there a broad spectrum of nuance, but nuance within the nuances themselves. Want to melee? Hate to melee? Want to feel able to do both? Hate being mezzed? Don’t care about being mezzed? Love defence? Prefer resists? Maybe layered survivability is important to you? Maybe you don’t give a toss about survivability? Maybe your survivability sweet spot is somewhere in between the two. Even things as trivial as your preferred travel power can strongly influence which sets, ATs, and characters you enjoy. And let’s not forget concept in all this either. I wanted an all electric character, yet Elec/Elec/Elec blaster turned out to be a completely different feel to Elec/Elec/Elec sentinel. I found the sentinel suited me much better, but only on that particular concept. It didn’t mean sentinels we’re suddenly better than blasters, as evidenced by the fact my fire/fire/fire blaster is far far better than my fire/fire/fire sentinel. It’s all an absolutely ridiculous debate, hijacked, usually, by people unable to free themselves from a perception that the only factor that should ever be important to anyone is damage.

The test server helped my altitis. Process back in the day: Step 1: Idea I would think up some combination of powers, either based upon a character concept or game mechanics, or just because I’d never tried a particular power set or some such. Step 2: Theory This is when the idea would get a theoretical design in Mids so I could see the numbers. Step 3: Levelling If the theory stage looked good, I’d make the character and level it. Some levelled quick, some slow. Some were abandoned as I didn’t like how they played. Step 4: Implementing the theory At level 50, I’d respec them into the build I’d made for them on Mids. Sometimes the theory would work in practice, sometimes not. Sometimes it would exceed my expectations. But it was only at this point where I knew if the playstyle and feel of the toon would capture me. Step 5: Repetition Whether I loved the finished product, hated it, or it never even reached that stage, sooner or later I’d move onto another idea and start it all over again. Ultimately, it was all hinging on Step 4. All that work, all that time, all that grinding. And it always cake down to the same intangible: how a character felt endgame. As brilliant as Mids is, it could never tell me that. Homecoming though have allowed a crucial extra stage to it though. Now it goes: Stage 1: Idea Stage 2: Theory Stage 3: Testing Load up the Test server and build the toon you designed in Mids. Get a feel for it there and learn what was previously intangible. It’s not infallible, as you can’t really learn how they’ll feel in teams etc or iTrials, or events and so on. It does tend to tell you if it’s a dud though. If it’s good, move on to levelling, implementation, and repetition. If it’s not, return to stage 1. It’s definitely not a cure for altitis, more of a process to streamline it and boost its efficiency! I wouldn’t want to cure it either. Alts are awesome. Don’t alt less, just alt smarter! Then you can alt even more 😂

Fire Blast: The speed of the animations more so than the damage just makes it feel fast and frantic. Super Reflexes: Click and go, easy soft-capped defence, recharge buff. What’s not to love? Stone Melee: BANG, screen shake, bigger BANG, wallop! Most underrated and underused set on whole game imo. Just lacking in an AoE chain really, so I get why many aren’t keen. Trick Arrow: It’s not the most powerful set, but it’s far better than it’s given credit for. It’s also tremendous fun will quick recharges with Oil Slick particularly brilliant. Electrical Armour: A set with a huge ceiling in terms of survivability. Quick recharge heal, great resists, PBAoE -end, recharge buff, just brilliant if paired with the correct set.

I’d like to suggest a fire/rad corruptor with a few caveats: • IF it’s IO’d for ranged defence • IF it has the clarion incarnate • IF you pick up an AoE immob in epic/patron power pools to keep groups in RoF • IF you’re not expecting it to be easy and are happy to embrace that.

TA/A Defenders very much can solo pretty nicely. It's a set that really doesn't get the love and respect it deserves!

Yes, I have to speak up for TA too. I think the perception of TA suffers from its lack of visual flamboyance. Watch a TA player and all you’ll see is the same animation over and over and an arrow heading into a mob. That’s it. Oil Slick aside, if you watch the mob you won’t see much visually remarkable happening from a TA player. It just doesn’t look exciting, so many find it hard to get excited about. Under the hood, though, TA is a very potent set and, contrary to your experience, I have actually found that soloing is when you discover the true strength of TA. Agincourt, my Alpha T3 slotted TA/A Defender, easily solos 52/x8. Mez is the only real danger (and Destiny will sort that in time), as mobs are either glued down (Glue Arrow), held (EMP Arrow), falling over (Oil Slick arrow), or choking (Poison Gas Arrow) while they are burning (Oil Slick Arrow), getting an exploding arrow in their face, and getting Rain of Arrows drop on them. TA/A is just an ocean of orange numbers when played well. Some caveats though, if I may... Firstly, I think TA has a much steeper and tougher learning curve to the other sets. It’s not a set that’s just great out of the box and frustration reigned A LOT whilst I was figuring the set out. Secondly, I have spent a fair chunk of inf on him and without that I doubt he’d have the survivability to solo like he does. So yes, TA is certainly an unpopular set but it’s one I’d personally recommend. By the figures posted earlier in this thread, it seems Agincourt is something of a rarity as being an incarnate, regularly played and heavily invested in TA Defender. Part of me wishes there were more, but then the vanity kicks in and I like being rare. So In conclusion: TA is brilliant, but play something else please 😂

I can’t think of a single reason to take PB over MB. Like, literally not one. I’m staggered the devs even bothered to leave PB in the set to be honest.

Some thoughts on TA/A defender: 1) In terms of AoE debuffs, it’s very hard to criticise it. Fast animations mean that within 5 seconds a mob’s damage, recharge, resistance, and defence are all severely reduced. 2) AoE damage is nice too with oil slick, Rain of Arrows, and explosive arrow (slotted with KB>KD IO) thrown in on top of the debuffed mob. 3) It does lack for a little -Regen on AVs, but that can be helped by incarnate. The -resist and -damage is really effective in these fights though. 4) You’re not going to be steamrolling big mobs solo, but a defender isn’t designed to do that. You’ll make others better around you though, which leads onto the caveat of... 5) The better your team is, the more effective you’ll be. Having someone happily using AoE knockback and scattering mobs all over will reduce your effectiveness, for example. Good controllers and blasters will make you better. 6) Single target is surprisingly decent on archery. Ranged shot and blazing arrow are good attacks, and a procced-out Ice Arrow becomes better than both. That makes for three very decent ST attacks with quick recharge. 7) You’re not going to get a great amount of love on a TA/A defender for two main reasons... a) although you’re doing A LOT, you aren’t necessarily seen to be doing much. It’s not a flashy set, oil slick aside, so many won’t notice what you’re doing. And b) not enough players have actually played TA enough to genuinely appreciate it. 8). IO’s can make TA/A, like all defenders, VERY survivable. Mine has capped S/L/E/R and with a single flash arrow the other categories get to the cap or very close to it too. 9) TA/A always keeps you involved and engaged. Very little/no downtime on powers so your pace of play feels frantic, fluid, and fun. 10) While you won’t be steamrolling +4/x8 solo missions, you absolutely CAN solo just fine. It’s a little slower and needs more thought than scrappers or brutes but that more cerebral demand is what makes defenders/support toons most fun for me anyway.

On Flash Arrow, my understanding of it was that it was always a situational -perception aggro management tool rather than a battle-hardened -tohit staple debuff. Like an AoE sleep, it was the power you wanted to use on a mob close to the one your team was piling into so you kept them from getting aggro’d too. Not that it matters in endgame content now with IOs and incarnate boosted toons happy to aggro a whole map because they know they won’t take a scratch, but back in the day it was very useful, situationally, and still can be during the level-grind now.

I love this post because it cuts through all the crap and answers the Sentinel OR Blaster question in the most succinct and best possible way. The answer, as you say, is both. Play both, appreciate both, enjoy both for what they are.

I played a fully IO’d TA/Archery Defender on Live and I can say with absolute honesty it was arguably the most powerful team toon I had (of 27 level 50s I played) and by far and away the most fun.

Solo'd ITF on my Fire/SR today. I know it's hardly rare these days but still felt good. Didn't do it especially spectacularly (1:21:50 - I won't be challenging @nihiliiany time soon!) but zero deaths either. Was good fun too, which is the important bit.

Definitely related, yes. I wanted to make something a bit more tanky and so it turned out. I must admit though, I thought by getting plenty of recharge and taking knockout blow from patron pool I could offset more of the damage compromises I made then I ultimately achieved, and I’ve still solo’d AVs with him, so he’s certainly no dud. There’s just something about him though that feels weak and underwhelming. He is what he was supposed to be though: A tanky, steady yet unspectacular sentinel, so I’ve no complaints. One day I’ll get round to Fire/Invul JUST to do a comparison!

I suppose like all ATs there are very different experiences depending upon the different sets involved. A Titan Weapons scrapper will, I suspect, have a very different experience of the AT to the one a Staff Fighting or Kinetic Melee will. So it’s difficult to make sweeping AT-wide conclusions. I have fully IO’d out two Sentinels at this point, and they feel completely different. Energy/Invul: Supremely tough, never feeling in any danger (except to Psi). Capped typed defence, capped S/L resist, good other resists. Good recharge but feels slower than it is due to longer animations. Pretty underwhelming damage but feels very much in control. Fire/SR: Supreme recharge, meaning blaze available every 2.something seconds, and quick animations make it feel brilliantly busy with far quicker kill times. Capped positional defence but no real resists so always feels vulnerable to taking a big hit. Great damage output but feels like he’s in a fight. Same AT but that’s really where the similarities end as they feel completely different to play, and neither tell you what a Sentinel actually is, because what any AT is is what we make of it. That Incredible variation, even within the same AT is, in my opinion, a huge part of what makes CoH so special. Edit: I also have an Elec/Rad Sentinel at 50 but since he has no IO build yet I don’t feel right comparing him to the other two. Sonic/Bio and Psi/SR are next on my list of Sentinels to try out.

Must admit, I love the Defensive in opportunity and never really understood why it doesn’t get much love. It makes a big difference on my SR, but suppose it’s easy to see why it’s much less effective on other secondary sets. That said, seems inevitable it’s going in favour of greater damage/accuracy, which I guess is a trade off that will benefit the AT as a whole.

More than happy to defer to @oldskoolon the dark armour overview. He’s provided a brilliant comparative guide in general. 👏🏻

I would personally go Dark/Fire from those choices, just because I don’t think Dark Armour has been adapted to Sentinels very well at all. I’m a believer though that you can make any combination work and your favourite characters always end up being the ones you can’t really explain why you love them - you just do.

How sweet was level 20 back then?! Cape and Stamina. God that felt good. It was all about milestones back then really. lvl 12: DOs lvl 14: Travel power lvl 20: Cape/Stamina lvl 22: SOs lvl 30: Auras Suppose it still is about milestones now. The milestones have just changed and the major ones have been moved back, with 50 itself now a milestone before incarnate rather than the destination. I personally look back in the old school CoH days with rose-tinted glasses and remember all the quirky, fun nuances it provided. But in reality, could I be bothered to go back to it - voluntarily? Absolutely no way!

It’s funny because I personally look at the blaster v sentinel question and ask why you’d play a blaster when you could be a sentinel! It’s all subjective based on what you value the most in a toon. For me, sacrificing some damage to gain a lot more security and survivability is a trade worth making. For those who value maximum damage more than me, I expect it’s not. For some, the high risk high reward playstyle of a blaster is thrilling and exciting, and you lose that with a sentinel. For me, though, it’s stressful, so I go with the lower risk, lower reward Sentinel. I don’t personally think it’s a fair or relevant comparison either as Sentinel is more a utility class than a damage one I think. One that can perform a number of roles, provide a second line of defence in a team and look after itself etc. It’s a jack of all trades. As tanks become less common, think Sentinels become more useful as they can stay in a fight so long. But if all you want is damage, and there’s nothing wrong with that, a blaster is better, of course it is. But that’s not me so I love the Sentinel class like no other.

I’ve got two level 50 Sentinels (so far, currently working on an Elec/Rad), both fully IO’d out. One is Energy/Invul, one is Fire/SR. Statistically, my invul is better with capped type defences (all but Psi) and capped S/L resist, and perma hasten and dull pain. However, S/R just seems to have that X-factor in-game that Mids can’t measure. It’s a million miles more fun through the levels and then the Destiny incarnate slot fills either the heal or resist gap in the build (I went heal). There is a disclaimer here that it may be fire over energy that’s making the bigger difference, I don’t know, but I know SR is bloody brilliant either way.

I would love to see Opportunity improved and/or damage and AoE cap increased, but if they left Sentinels exactly how they are I’d still love them. Yeah there are bigger damage dealers around, but Sentinels are incredibly versatile and reliable. They can kill for themselves and look after themselves. They can fight at range or come right into the middle of the melee without fear. They can solo great and they can add that versatility to teams. With some investment of influence and time, they can kill AVs by themselves too so it’s not like they are incurable week. Will happily take that smidgen extra damage though if the devs fancy handing it out, but I unashamedly LOVE Sentinels.

I’m loving this combo so much. My build has perma-hasten, perma CC, capped ranged defence, and capped resistance to Smashing, Lethal, and Cold (not that you ever need cold resist!). Just basically stand back, confuse a mob, immob them, drop freezing rain on them, smash them with CC, then toss a tornado and water spout at them for good measure. There are some endurance challenges atm, I must admit. I’m pretty sure Incarnate slotting (I have nothing atm) will solve that though.

I tend to go Agility because it offers both. Greater recharge is, after all, greater damage in a roundabout kind of a way?

I actually really like both and get both for my levelling build. Once you get enough recharge with IOs though, there is literally no reason to take flares. Fire blast recharge on my perma-hasten kin is down to one second so surely you just take the higher damage attack.