Looking for some help

[Ultimo]

So I've been trying to decide what to do with my Sentinel, and I'm having some trouble with it.  I wondered if the community might offer some thoughts.

 

The character "Ultimo" is kind of my main.  He's an OLD character, I created decades ago when I was making my own comics.  The basis of the character is that he's a mutant, his body turning into energy.  This would have killed him, but he was able to make a suit of armour that would contain the energy, and allow him to release it in small amounts.  In the comics, he was kind of our Superman, the flagship character.  He was extremely tough, partly because of the armour, partly because his body was made of energy, and not entirely solid.  His blasts were very powerful, and if left unchecked, he could level whole cities.  Because his body was energy, he wasn't limited by muscles, so he was immensely strong.

 

When I first created him for CoH, way back in the old days, I would have made him a Tanker, but there were no Tankers with blasts.  That left either Blaster or Defender.  Both would be squishy, but the Blaster had both blasts and powerful punches... so I made him a Blaster.  However, it always bothered me how squishy he was, and my Tanker, the Canadian Shield, became my main.

 

So, I signed up here and saw a class, the Sentinel, with blasts and defenses.  My first thought was to make him an Energy/Invulnerability Sentinel.  However, I'm finding myself rather underwhelmed.  His damage is a bit anemic, but I can tolerate that.  I'm used to Tankers, so low damage isn't a big deal (though I simply cannot fathom why enemies are ALWAYS left with 1-2 health after I finish all my attacks), but he's intolerably squishy.

 

Now, I get it, Invulnerability is a late blooming set, and I'm only L13 or so.  I could stick it out, but I've been wondering if there might be a more satisfying set.

 

I thought about doing Energy/Energy, but I don't know how the Energy Armour set works.  I thought about using Willpower or Regeneration, too, but again, I don't really know those sets.  I also thought about switching to Radiation Blasts, because in the comic, Ultimo could emit blasts from his eyes AND his hands, and Radiation does this, while Energy does not.

 

 

So, anyhow, the main issue is the defense.  Can you guys offer any advice?  What defensive set is best overall?  What works best with Energy?  What works best with Radiation?  My playstyle is to blast and then melee, so I expect to take some melee powers and mix it up in close.

 

I appreciate any thoughts.

 

 

[Underfyre]

I dunno, I'm kind of partial to the set-and-forget nature of Invuln. Short of having to click your heal on a rare occasion, you can just focus on your blasting. Unless you took Unstoppable for some reason. The only real qualm I have is the Psi-hole, but that mostly just stops me form soloing Countess Crey.

 

With Energy Aura you will frequently find yourself mashing your heal because it doubles as a endurance discount. Thankfully it has a fairly fast cast time. Otherwise it's kind of the reverse of Invuln in that it gives you fairly high typed defenses and moderate resists versus high resists and moderate defense.

 

I can't really speak on Regen or Willpower, but there is a write-up on each in the stickied thread at the top.

 

My only qualm with Radiation blast is that it feels kind of lumbering. You have a 3 ability rotation because your abilities have fairly short recharges and fairly long cast times. But if you were looking at Energy blast, so does it. So there's that. At least Radiation doesn't have knockback.

[Cutter]

Sentinel version of Regen is amazing. The absorb shield does wonders, to the point that my experience has been that I rarely have to use my click heals. (This is helped by Water Blast primary providing all sorts of soft control which gives the regen breathing room to work.) You might find similar performance pairing it with Energy Blast, as the kb there (tho unreliable) should fire often enough to give you the extra ticks you'll need.

[Ultimo]

So... here's my plan, more or less.  I didn't bother working out special sets, I'm more interested in the powers at this point.  However, I'm open to suggestions.

 

Hero Plan by Mids' Reborn : Hero Designer 2.6.0.1
https://github.com/ImaginaryDevelopment/imaginary-hero-designer

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Ultimo: Level 50 Mutation Sentinel
Primary Power Set: Energy Blast
Secondary Power Set: Invulnerability
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Leadership

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Power Bolt -- EndRdx(A), Acc(5), Dmg(7), Dmg(7), Dmg(9)
Level 1: Temp Invulnerability -- EndRdx(A), ResDam(3), ResDam(3), ResDam(5)
Level 2: Power Blast -- EndRdx(A), Acc(9), Dmg(15), Dmg(15), Dmg(19)
Level 4: Fly -- EndRdx(A), EndRdx(33)
Level 6: Air Superiority -- Acc(A)
Level 8: Energy Torrent -- EndRdx(A), Acc(23), Dmg(23), Dmg(33), Dmg(34)
Level 10: Dull Pain -- Heal(A), Heal(11), Heal(11)
Level 12: Resist Physical Damage -- ResDam(A), ResDam(13), ResDam(13)
Level 14: Power Burst -- EndRdx(A), Acc(34), Dmg(34), Dmg(36), Dmg(37)
Level 16: Unyeilding -- EndRdx(A), ResDam(17), ResDam(17), ResDam(19)
Level 18: Durability -- Heal(A), Heal(37), Heal(37), EndMod(39), EndMod(39), EndMod(39)
Level 20: Environmental Resistance -- ResDam(A), ResDam(21), ResDam(21)
Level 22: Boxing -- Acc(A)
Level 24: Tough -- EndRdx(A), ResDam(25), ResDam(25), ResDam(27)
Level 26: Weave -- EndRdx(A), DefBuff(27), DefBuff(29), DefBuff(29)
Level 28: Invincible -- EndRdx(A), DefBuff(31), DefBuff(31), DefBuff(31)
Level 30: Focused Power Bolt -- EndRdx(A), Acc(40), Dmg(40), Dmg(40), Dmg(42)
Level 32: Nova -- EndRdx(A), Acc(43), Dmg(46), Dmg(46), Dmg(46)
Level 35: Tough Hide -- DefBuff(A), DefBuff(36), DefBuff(36)
Level 38: Explosive Blast -- EndRdx(A), Acc(42), Dmg(42), Dmg(43), Dmg(43)
Level 41: Cross Punch -- Acc(A)
Level 44: Maneuvers -- EndRdx(A), DefBuff(45), DefBuff(45), DefBuff(45)
Level 47: Tactics -- EndRdx(A), ToHit(48), ToHit(48), ToHit(48)
Level 49: Assault -- EndRdx(A)
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Opportunity
Level 1: Prestige Power Dash -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Slide -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Quick -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Rush -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Prestige Power Surge -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 4: Ninja Run
Level 2: Swift -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Health -- Heal(A), Heal(33), Heal(50)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Stamina -- EndMod(A), EndMod(50), EndMod(50)
------------

 

 

[oldskool]

You're trying to do too much.  You seem to try to do too much in every discussion on builds I've seen.  I too like to tie concept to characters, but I have to scale things back in these games.  Also, if you're questioning the durability contribution of Invulnerability as a secondary powerset through the lens of level 13, then your expectations might be a tad too high.  I haven't found my Sentinels to be all that squishy in comparison with Stalkers/Scrappers of similar levels.  Hell, even at level 13 for a Tanker you can feel a bit squishy but at least Dull Pain is easy to fit in before 10th level. 

 

My thoughts... 

 

Skipping Aim is a big mistake.  If you think the damage of the character is slight, then why skip the one power that gives you bursts of damage?  Yes, it has a cool down but it has 10 seconds of uptime.  You can build for 25-30 seconds of cooldown.  That's significant damage you're leaving on the table.  

 

Power Push is literally the best attack in the entire set and you're skipping it. 

 

Cross Punch without slots is a waste of time for damage.  It looks like you'd like to have a little bit of a melee attack routine for close quarters.  Air Superiority, Boxing, and Cross Punch does very, very, very little damage*.  If you keep this slotting your ranged attack sequence is going to do 4 to 5 times the damage.  If you think the damage is anemic now at level 13 using just the blasts, you ain't seen nothin' yet.

 

(*I helped someone build an Emma Frost character that mixed the pool powers with some blasts for fun.  If you take both Boxing and Kick then Cross Punch gets a bigger boost.  Cross Punch with slots can do decent damage all by itself.  Not slotting any of that though is pretty much a waste of your effort.  Unfortunately, Energy Blast is a bit hungry for powers and slots making this hard to pull off.)

 

Leviathan Mastery has Knockout Blow.  That power is worth getting, but only if you plan to slot it.  It can give you that Super Strength punch that you seem to be looking for.  Boxing/Air Superiority are pretty much garbage though.  

 

Blasters and Dominators mix ranged attacks and melee attacks FAR better than the Sentinel can.  Melee for Sentinels is nearly an afterthought since the worth while selections are so backloaded (level 35+).  

I have an homage character similar to yours.  They weren't full energy in form, but very similar in scope to the Eternals.  So the character could do a lot of things like manipulate energy, use super strength, be durable, use telekinesis, and be a telepath.  That character was a Gravity/Energy Dominator at one point, and is now currently an Invulnerability/Energy Melee Tanker.  The Dominator gets the power selection fairly right but the durability is the trade off.  The Tanker gets the melee right, with Lazer Beam Eyes for flavor, and the durability right.  That build has to give up all the other esoteric effects.  

 

The overall slotting isn't worth discussing because an IO build can have very different allocations vs an SO build.  Like you may not want 4 slots in Weave when you can get the set bonus you want in 2 or even 6.  

 

The best thing you can do, is build this character as a Sentinel first and rationalize your character's concept to it second.  Make this a container for what the character can do in this game instead of trying to mimic another medium.  You'll be far happier with the character because of it. 

Edited March 22, 2020 by oldskool

[Argentum Draco]

Question: how good are you at timing your Opportunities? I ask because the only thing i found lacking on Invulnerable, early on, was a bit more healing, to the point that i was comparing my Regen Sents as more invulnerable than my Invulnerable one (at the time, I could only handle one Invulnerable because, well, it just felt squishy). then i started to learn about the Sentinel mechanic, namely the Defensive Opportunity. 

 

Breaking it down: each attack you make adds to your Opportunity bar, that slowly depletes on its own, but quickly drains if you switch targets (focus fire is key here). When the bar is Maxed a almost-glowie humm starts, and your first two attacking powers (the first two powers in the list, not the first two powers you personally picked) gain rings around them, one is Red, the other Green. No matter which of these two powers you choose to attack with, a bright ring using your color schemes will be displayed at the enemies feet, highlighting that enemy for the rest of your group. now anyone who attacks this enemy will receive a special boost: +20% Damage if an Offensive Opportunity (the red option) is taken, or 20% of damage done returned as healing if the Defensive Opportunity (the green option) is selected.

 

utilizing these two mechanics, you will find your damage output increased, and your survival easier. And if you group with people, your teammates will appreciate the additional damage, or the occasional health return. 

[oldskool]

7 minutes ago, Argentum Draco said:

Breaking it down: each attack you make adds to your Opportunity bar, that slowly depletes on its own, but quickly drains if you switch targets (focus fire is key here). When the bar is Maxed a almost-glowie humm starts, and your first two attacking powers (the first two powers in the list, not the first two powers you personally picked) gain rings around them, one is Red, the other Green. No matter which of these two powers you choose to attack with, a bright ring using your color schemes will be displayed at the enemies feet, highlighting that enemy for the rest of your group. now anyone who attacks this enemy will receive a special boost: +20% Damage if an Offensive Opportunity (the red option) is taken, or 20% of damage done returned as healing if the Defensive Opportunity (the green option) is selected.

I've never noticed the bar depleting faster based on target choice.  When I was testing this last year it seemed pretty constant regardless of target priority.  Post combat, the bar will deplete after a delay sort of like Domination and Fury.  In combat there is very minor decay but it is offset by the frequency of attacking.  At least that has been my experience.  

 

You don't need 100% meter to trigger the inherent either.  The rings will appear as soon as you hit 90 out of 100.  In both cases, the target of the opportunity will receive a -20% resistance debuff for 15 seconds.  This is highlighted by a big target under the enemy.  The color of the target matches whatever color you have chosen for your power.  Yes, you can have different color targetting flashes for your T1 and T2 if you want.  Your teammates will now do more damage to this specific target for the next 15 seconds (or until it drops).  That's the extent of the team effect. 

 

The Sentinel gains a personal damage or resource restore (restore = both health and endurance) buff depending on which version of opportunity is running.  Offensive mode gives bonus energy damage, that was appearing to be proc-based, and that bonus damage is unenhanceable determined by base damage of the power.  So the more you push enhancement diversification into a power, the less meaningful Offensive Opportunity becomes.  For my characters running 132+% damage enhancement Offensive Opportunity contributes somewhere in the ballpark of +3 DPS overall (give or take a point or two).  Defensive Opportunity isn't enhanceable either nor does it scale well, for the healing, in later levels.  Defensive Opportunity does return endurance and it appears to be the exact same amount regardless of character build.  The endurance return can be very noticeable when hitting 10 targets with an AoE.  That and the resistance debuff make Defensive Opportunity fairly valuable otherwise it isn't worth worrying about.  Offensive Opportunity is better for damage but only in such a minor fashion.  

[Ultimo]

So... I'm still having a heck of a time with Ultimo.  He's currently Energy and Invulnerability, only L14 now.  He dies almost immediately whenever anyone looks at him sideways.  I attacked a pair of Outcast lieutenants (a shocker and a brick, I believe they're called) in the streets of Steel Canyon by Firing Power Burst and queueing up Power Blast.  Before the attacks had finished animating, I was dead.  They couldn't have hit me more than 2-3 times.

 

At L14, Invulnerability seems to offer NO protection from anything but Smashing and Lethal damage... which means I have all the defense of a Blaster... ie. none, but nowhere near the damage output.  It's very frustrating.  So, I'm reconsidering which set to take.

 

There are a few options that still fit the concept.

 

I thought about Electric Armour.  According to Mids, it provides fantastic resistance, but no defense.  It's not QUITE in concept, but can be rationalized.

Energy Aura offers Defense in the 25-30% range, as well as Resistance in the 20-25% range... though it's weaker against fire and ice.

Invulnerability has about 50% Resistance against smashing and lethal, but only about 20% against everything else.  It offers around 16% Defense.

Radiation Armour is all Resistance, around 50% to Energy, and around 30% to all else.

Willpower and Regeneration are hard to quantify, because they rely more on healing than actual protection... but I hear they're good.

Willpower offers around 30% Resistance to smashing and lethal, only 8% to all else.  Defense to smashing & lethal is only 3%, but everything else is only 14%  Seems weak, but for the healing.

 

So, I'm uncertain which way to go.  I'm inclined to stay with Energy Blast as his attacks, because that's what he's always been... but I tried Radiation Blasts for a bit... and it's... ok.  Doesn't quite feel right, but it's not bad.  That leaves me wondering about the defense.  The numbers above are at max level, all slotted with basic enhancements (just to keep things simple and comparable).  I didn't do this for the character at L14.  Perhaps I'll do that too.

 

Anyway, I still appreciate any further thoughts.

[oldskool]

40 minutes ago, Ultimo said:

So... I'm still having a heck of a time with Ultimo.  He's currently Energy and Invulnerability, only L14 now.  He dies almost immediately whenever anyone looks at him sideways.  I attacked a pair of Outcast lieutenants (a shocker and a brick, I believe they're called) in the streets of Steel Canyon by Firing Power Burst and queueing up Power Blast.  Before the attacks had finished animating, I was dead.  They couldn't have hit me more than 2-3 times.

 

At L14, Invulnerability seems to offer NO protection from anything but Smashing and Lethal damage... which means I have all the defense of a Blaster... ie. none, but nowhere near the damage output.  It's very frustrating.  So, I'm reconsidering which set to take.

 

There are a few options that still fit the concept.

 

I thought about Electric Armour.  According to Mids, it provides fantastic resistance, but no defense.  It's not QUITE in concept, but can be rationalized.

Energy Aura offers Defense in the 25-30% range, as well as Resistance in the 20-25% range... though it's weaker against fire and ice.

Invulnerability has about 50% Resistance against smashing and lethal, but only about 20% against everything else.  It offers around 16% Defense.

Radiation Armour is all Resistance, around 50% to Energy, and around 30% to all else.

Willpower and Regeneration are hard to quantify, because they rely more on healing than actual protection... but I hear they're good.

Willpower offers around 30% Resistance to smashing and lethal, only 8% to all else.  Defense to smashing & lethal is only 3%, but everything else is only 14%  Seems weak, but for the healing.

 

So, I'm uncertain which way to go.  I'm inclined to stay with Energy Blast as his attacks, because that's what he's always been... but I tried Radiation Blasts for a bit... and it's... ok.  Doesn't quite feel right, but it's not bad.  That leaves me wondering about the defense.  The numbers above are at max level, all slotted with basic enhancements (just to keep things simple and comparable).  I didn't do this for the character at L14.  Perhaps I'll do that too.

 

Anyway, I still appreciate any further thoughts.

Invulnerability offers exactly 0 protection against anything other than Smashing/Lethal at level 14.  

 

Temp Invulnerability at level 14 with nothing slotted is giving you 21% smashing/lethal resistance.  Resist Physical Damage will only add 7 more to that.  

 

At level 14 your base hit points aren't much either.  By level 16 you can get Unyielding which is going to get you 3.5% more smashing/lethal resistance and 7% to all but Psi.  

 

I experienced something similar early on when I was first running a Beam Rifle/Willpower character.  That's when I stopped trying to solo at that level and looked for teams.  You really want to get into Single Origin enhancements or generic IO's of level 25+ as fast as you can.  I feel that holds true for most, if not all, characters too.  The early teens can feel especially dangerous since that is also when a lot of enemy factions start casually getting more CC in their attacks too.  I still remember when the Trolls felt like a threat to me on my old Regen Scrapper prior to getting Integration at 16.  

 

Keep in mind, the grass isn't greener for Electric Armor at level 14.  By level 14 you'd have Charged Armor, Charged Shield, Conductive Shield, and Energize.  That's 24.5% resist against most Smash/Lethal/Fire/Cold, 49% Energy, and 14% Negative.  The Circle of Thorns have enemies that deal Negative damage some of which use Midnight Grasp, a Tier 9 Scrapper attack (back when DM was Scrapper exclusive).  

 

Energy Aura will likely feel worse.  You won't have but 11 to 14% defense to some attacks (variable based on type), and no higher than 10% resistance to a few elements.  

 

What you really want is higher chance to be missed by enemies and that's not going to happen any time soon.  Yes, your defensive options prior to SO's is going to feel a little light.  Try to get into some Positron's teams and let others take the aggro for you.  I know I have seen the Sentinel listed as "the solo AT", but just try to ignore the total BS of "common forum knowledge".  You need to establish a baseline of defense and offense before you can really get rolling.  In order to do that effectively, you want Single Origin enhancements or better.  That means get to level 22 ASAP and its best to do that with friends (or random people you can tolerate). 

 

If you're still running without Aim then you're also creating battles of attrition in which you will lose at that low of a level.  That is also a problem that isn't going to go away.  The ranged attacks you have are going to seem like they are hitting like wet noodles.  That is in part due to the disparity of ranged damage vs melee damage, and also due to your options for enhancements being pretty crappy between training/dual origins.  

 

So repeat, team up if you are struggling and re-evaluate at a later date.  I can guarantee you that you will likely find similar issues with any of the other armor sets.  I find it very doubtful your time to kill is going to improve a lot by making comparisons of sets up to 14th level either.  Fire Blast would yield you more damage, but that is so slight for level 14 it isn't the issue.  Radiation Blast, at level 14, is actually going to do less damage than Energy Blast.  Again, while it is likely technically less, it is going to be droplets in an ocean.  

The real issues between power sets doesn't start to become prevalent until you start analyzing nearly complete characters (i.e., full power/slot load out) and their specific gearing parameters.  In other words, you're still too low for any of these decisions to be real game changers.  

[Major_Decoy]

I tried your build, I went to test, made Energy/Invulnerability, leveled it to fourteen, slotted up with training origins, and took on some even level outcasts.

 

Power Bolt and Power Blast: 2 acc, 2 dam, 1 end

Energy Torrent: 2 acc, 1 dam

Power Burst: 1 acc

No other enhancements used.

 

1 Brick, 5 minions: Win

1 lead shocker, 1 shocker, 1 brick: Not so much. Though, if I'd been allowing myself to use inspirations, I think I could have won. I got the shocker down to 40% health.

1 shocker, 5 minions: win

Lead shocker: Win.

Lead brick: win (didn't need dull pain)

1 lead shocker, 1 shocker, 1 minion: Lose.

 

Complaints: the lower range on sentinels really hurts Energy Torrent. It is just really too easy to knock your target out of range and then you have to switch targets to use Energy Torrent. Yes, this isn't a problem if you slot Sudden Acceleration, but when still, I don't think it'd break things if Energy Torrent had a longer range. I mean, blaster's Energy Manipulation has boost range, make Range energy's thing?

 

Bonus: I had forgotten how awesome Air Superiority was. I'm going to need to find room for it in more builds.

[Ultimo]

I always slot air superiority, it nearly won me my only PvP match ever, all on its own.

 

I was playing my Mastermind, Lord Dire.  He's Force Fields and Bots.  I was standing around in Bloody Bay (I think) watching a duel.  I had PFF active, as I always did in such circumstances, because there's usually a Stalker lurking somewhere waiting to ruin your day.  However, in this case it was a Scrapper.  I was actually a bit annoyed, it was a known "rule" that the platform I was on was a "no attack zone," so people could watch duels... and this guy attacked.  Of course, my bots attacked him back, and he tried to kill them, and kept coming after me.  When he realized he couldn't hurt me, he tried to take off, flying up into the air.  I suspect he was trying to lure me away from my bots to take me on without them, but I had Group Fly.  No joy for him.  However, he took off faster than the bots could keep up, and down they went.  At that point he came after ME again, so I dropped my PFF and hit him with Air Superiority.  Of course, he plummeted to the ground where he was left at 1HP.  I swooped in to finish him off, but was blindsided by some other guy that held me and I was stuck like that while the two of them took their time finishing me off.

I don't like PvP in general, but that was actually kind of fun, even though I lost.  I call it a win, because he was TOAST if not for the sudden arrival of someone else.  I liked how strategic it had been.

 

In any case, it taught me to love Air Superiority.

[Ultimo]

So, I was going to try out some of the other sets, and some just won't work because of how they look.

 

I was going to try Electric.  I thought that power where he turns into energy was totally in character, and his resistances look good, even at lower level.  It's not perfectly in character, but it's not too bad.  However, there's no minimal FX setting, so there would be constant lightning shooting all over him, and that's not how it should be.

The same problem exists with all the other sets, with the exception of Regen and Willpower, neither of which strike me as being in character.  So, it seems I'll be stuck with Invulnerability going forward.  A difficult slog, but what else can I do.

 

I appreciate the input, and I hope it might be of use to others as well!