Super Reflexes

[Chalkarts]

I've been looking at Super reflexes for a while now.

The increases Recovery and attack rate intrigue me.

I also like that the defenses are locational(Ranged/Melee)

 

I wanted to see if anyone had a SRef character that they were taking the whole way and if there were any glaring holes in their defenses?

I'm seeing a lot of good, 

someone tell me the bad.

[MTeague]

The downsides to /SR, in my book.

• Nothing is skippable except your T9.  And me personally, I still like having the T9 as an emergency "Sh** Just Got Real" button.  this makes it lots harder to fit in Pool powers you might want, and i find myself delaying taking a real travel power for quite awhile.
• related to the first point, /SR has no damage resist power at all.  So to slot Steadfast Protection and Gladiator's Armor +3% defense alls?  You're taking Boxing/Kick and Tough.
• As with any defensive class, early in, lvls 1-22, you just don't have enough Defense.  This stops being an issue with SO's, and as you stack set bonuses.  Expect to faceplant a few times along the way.  It happens.
• You are largely a one-trick pony. 

But, there's good points, too. 

• Sure you're a one trick pony.  But it's a DAMN good trick.  Super High Defense makes you lulz as Sappers miss you, Ring Mistresses miss you with their curses, etc.  Many really annoying debuffs still rely on HITTING you, and they mostly won't be able to once into SO or better territory.
• You get more Defense Debuff Resist than anyone else bar none.  Even if Cimorieans hit you a few times, you'll keep your defense in place and most of them will just whiff.
• Those passives?  They come with Scaling Damage Resist, so as you get hurt you get harder to kill EVEN IF, something hits you a few times in a row.  Get them. Also, get Reactive Defensive Scaling Damage Resist to add more to this effect. 
• For Sentinels in particular, Defensive Opportunity also gives you some nice healing-on-tap that would make an /SR scrapper or stalker a bit jealous.  That alone helps patch one big hole people point at in /SR and you get this straight out of the box.
• If you find that Defensive Opportunity is not enough, there is a rather expensive but nice option to handle your "maintenence" heals as you level.  Panacea Proc, in Health.  Constant periodic heals you up without you needing to do anything, and, will ease your END costs as you go. 

Edited March 30, 2020 by MTeague

[Chalkarts]

I was thinking of combining it with E-blast and making a knockback god.  

Just flinging mobs about.

I looked at a corruptor with Force field for the repeling aura but I didn't feel like, once all was said and done, that it would be as survivable as a sentinel.  

So I was looking for a good secondary to go with a high rate of mobs bouncing off of walls.

SuRef seemed to compliment a constant rapid fire approach, to just pour E-blast powers onto my foes like a fire hose that throws them across the room.

[oldskool]

I just recently swapped my Dual Pistols/Ninjutsu Sentinel over to Dual Pistols/Super Reflexes.  I liked my original /SR plan so much I decided to also remake my original Assault Rifle character again (like the 3rd or 4th time now) with /SR.  Both characters are now 50.  My Dual Pistols/Nin character has been completely respecced with a a different loadout more to the liking of the original concept I once had.  

Anyway, Super Reflexes on the Sentinel shouldn't be compared too closely with its melee cousins.  So I'll parrot a bit of the Pros/Cons from @MTeague with a few differences...

 

Cons: 

• No AoE defense until Evasion and then you get A LOT of AoE.  - Recommendation: Plan to take Boxing/Kick, Tough and Weave before level 26 to give you some foundation.  You can push off Dodge/Agile for a while.  
• You are largely dependent on defense and this can feel dangerous while leveling.   
• Defense debuff resistance is less than that of Scrappers and Stalkers due to only have a 0.7 defense modifier vs 0.75.  You can potentially be overwhelmed, but it does take a lot of successful hits in order to really be a bother.  Still, if you can swing it, aim for more than 45% to give yourself a buff.  I recommend that for Scrappers/Stalkers too. 

That's it though.  Skipping Elude is a non-issue when you see what it does.  Sentinel SR has built-in endurance management.  Elude's bonus recovery is superfluous.  Sentinel SR can soft-cap defenses and your Incarnate Destiny choices become wide open for any level 45+ content.  You could leap frog Elude and Barrier if you wanted, but I see little value in doing that.  

 

Pros: 

• Master Brawler.  This power trumps the con of "no real resistance".  This power gives me +400 HP absorb right now.  Its cooldown is stupidly short.  This power is very strong and shouldn't be dismissed.  I have around 20-25% resistance to Smash/Lethal/Fire/Cold.  I was running some farm maps of those types yesterday.  I survived just fine through a combination of proactive Master Brawler and straight up dodge tanking.  Auto-Hit attacks, which aren't common in normal content, would be a problem.  For most other things SR is very, very, very safe. 
• Enduring grants you a 30% recovery buff right out of the box.  This is slightly stronger than Stamina.  It also grants you some Psi defense.  I personally don't feel it is worth the time to enhance the defense much, but this still grants you a lot of opportunity for slotting (e.g., a LoTG).  
• SR can feel like it needs a lot of powers, but it really doesn't need a lot slots.  I have just the default slot for both Dodge and Agile.  Both mule a single Luck of the Gambler for recharge.  My Melee and Ranged defenses are still over 47%, respectively.  I opted to minimally slot Evasion (just 3 slots) because the AoE defense you get is very high.  
• Quickness makes you run faster.  This combined with Swift, Sprint, and Ninja Run is close to baseline Fly (perhaps better if you slot some movement speed bonuses).  I have a 67mph run speed and 42ft jump height.  No other travel power necessary beyond purchasable flight packs or using the jump jets for areas that require more vertical movement. 
• Super Reflexes can basically cover all your defense needs easily with some additional support out of the pools (e.g., Weave, Maneuvers, Combat Jumping/Hover, or IO's).  This lets you run wild with procs in your primary if you want since you don't need to worry about chasing multiple Thunderstrikes to cap a defense category.  Accuracy can become an issue if you push that too much (so Tactics can be considered), but still you don't need to fully slot attacks for more than recharge bonuses.  Both my DP and AR builds leverage procs for single-target damage.  If you're planning to go with Energy, then you could run Gladiator's Javelin, Explosive Strkes, and Force Feedback for procs in a few attacks with little performance hit in terms of your defense.  

 

In my opinion, Sentinel SR has far fewer downsides than it has upsides.  It is the strongest defense-based set out of the mix, it allows you to build offense without sacrificing defense, and Master Brawler/Enduring really close its gaps.  As others have said before, Sentinel SR is likely the best version of the set that exists much like Sentinel Regeneration.  

 

You may hit some rough patches while leveling, but the wait is well worth the effort it takes to fully realize the set.

 

Edited March 30, 2020 by oldskool

[Redlynne]

3 hours ago, oldskool said:

• Enduring grants you a 30% recovery buff right out of the box.  This is slightly stronger than Stamina.  It also grants you some Psi defense.  I personally don't feel it is worth the time to enhance the defense much, but this still grants you a lot of opportunity for slotting (e.g., a LoTG).

Pretty soon you're going to want to add another slot to Enduring ...

On 3/28/2020 at 5:57 AM, Jimmy said:

•  Power Transfer (Endurance Modification, Rare, 21-50)
  • The second damage-focused Endurance Modification set.
  • Enhancements: 
    • Chance to Heal Self (3 PPM)

And here's WHY ...

 

[oldskool]

Or I can just use an unslotter.  

If I could go beyond 6 slots in Enduring, I probably would. 😉 

[Caulderone]

In case anyone sees this in the future upon searching, I wanted to make a note that they should check the post linked above by Redlynne.

 

It was discovered that PT:Heal doesn't stack well in passives.  The discussion on page 2+ shows the work.

 

1 PT:heal is always worth it.  More is less effective.

[Rathulfr]

I've been leveling up an AR/SR Sentinel with my SG mates.  I'm up to level 30, and have enjoyed every minute of it.  I also have a Fire/SR and an Ice/SR in their upper 20s.  Super Reflexes on a Sentinel is super "stronk", as the kids say these days.  @MTeague and @oldskool are spot-on with their analyses.

 

Edited April 13, 2020 by Rathulfr

[oldskool]

16 minutes ago, Rathulfr said:

I've been leveling up an AR/SR Sentinel with my SG mates.  

I've recently gotten my AR/SR to 50 and she's been a lot more enjoyable.  SR is what makes it work.  The bonus recharge helps me hit 190% global and the high defense lets me decide just how far I can push damage procs.  The procs allow AR to do some damage.  The recharge can even let me ignore Incinerator which I have found to be a damage increase.  AR definitely needs work as a set, but SR at least lets you jury-rig some effectiveness. 

[Rathulfr]

10 minutes ago, oldskool said:

I've recently gotten my AR/SR to 50 and she's been a lot more enjoyable.  SR is what makes it work.  The bonus recharge helps me hit 190% global and the high defense lets me decide just how far I can push damage procs.  The procs allow AR to do some damage.  The recharge can even let me ignore Incinerator which I have found to be a damage increase.  AR definitely needs work as a set, but SR at least lets you jury-rig some effectiveness. 

Yeah, I'm only playing this AR/SR Sentinel for concept/thematic reasons on dedicated teams comprised of just my SG mates (we're a group of dwarves that fell into a mystical portal that brought us to Paragon City).  Each of us is playing different ATs and power sets that are functionally and thematically complementary, so we've got a good balance of DPS and support all around.  We function best as a team, rather than solo.

 

I've also played AR/* "solo" on both Blasters and Sentinels, and definitely find it needs the help of a complementary secondary, such as SR or Devices.  I created and played an AR/Dark Blaster on the implied dare that there didn't seem to be any of those at level 50 in the most recent "CoH by the numbers" posts.  After playing him all the way to 50, I can see why there aren't any: there is absolutely nothing in Darkness Manipulation (except that oddball sustain, TotB) that helps Assault Rifle.

 

Edited April 13, 2020 by Rathulfr

[SwitchFade]

On 3/29/2020 at 5:36 PM, Chalkarts said:

I've been looking at Super reflexes for a while now.

The increases Recovery and attack rate intrigue me.

I also like that the defenses are locational(Ranged/Melee)

 

I wanted to see if anyone had a SRef character that they were taking the whole way and if there were any glaring holes in their defenses?

I'm seeing a lot of good, 

someone tell me the bad.

50+ Water/SR here...

 

23 Fire/SR on the way up

 

SR on scraps, tanks and stalkers.

 

SR on sentinels is great.

 

Take master brawler, don't take practiced, on a Sent. This allows your mez to be auto, and you can get hasten and set it to green ring.

 

SR blooms late, because of the AoE toggle late.

 

Build for 50% defense to M/R/A, build for 50% s/l resist.

 

My water sent is always at +4/8 and I always take the alpha. SR is amazing 

[CaptTastic]

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. 

Edited April 21, 2020 by CaptTastic

[Bill Z Bubba]

I love seein all this SR love.

[Heraclea]

(nevermind)

Edited April 21, 2020 by Heraclea
didn't realize where I was....

[SwitchFade]

50+ water/SR here.

 

The set blooms around 40.

 

Other than that, no cons. It's ridiculously durable. Paired with healing from defensive, it's superb.

 

I run at +4/8 and tank everything, including AV's and GM's.

[HunterMS]

What is the common slotting for Master Brawler?

 

[oldskool]

50 minutes ago, HunterMS said:

What is the common slotting for Master Brawler?

Whatever you can spare and what set bonus do you want are the two conditions that come to my mind. 

With 2 level 50 common IOs boosted to +4 you'll hit ED cap on healing and absorb.  Set IOs often have higher values on absorb percentages than it does healing bonus.  So it is possible to cap absorb AND get endurance/recharge benefits on just 3 slots.   

I often try to get at least 5 slots on Master Brawler.  That isn't because I am chasing +absorb/heal.  Its because I want a 5pc bonus from either Doctored Wounds (5% global recharge), Panacea (7.5% global recharge) or Preventative Medicine (8.75% global recharge).  The way I slot /SR makes that option possible, but there are plenty of ways to handle the set.  

If you just want to minimally slot it (2-3 total), then specific set bonuses being chased matter just as much as the enhancement value.   If I go really bare bones, then I shoot for a Heal/End/Recharge + Heal/Recharge.  Doctored Wounds and Preventative Medicine both offer a Smashing/Lethal resistance buff.  Preventative Medicine's is a bit larger so if you're not capped on that bonus it is a good choice.  However, that slotting doesn't include PM's absorb proc which is a nice luxury item.  So I'd try to 3 slot it and get the absorb on low health proc.  Doing that will also net you some hit points if that isn't capped.

The default cooldown on MB is 60 seconds.  Between just Quickness and 2 slots using heal/end/rchg + heal/rchg you can get the cooldown to about 35 seconds.  The effect last 10 seconds and you're not really going to make it perma.  I generally use it right before attacking spawns, and I'll refresh it as I go in combat.  Still, there I times I don't click it at all so don't feel like it is that critical.  YMMV though. 

Edited May 13, 2020 by oldskool

[Knottewe]

I always try to 6 slot Preventative if I can afford to. The 8.75 recharge, the end discount, and the proc are all solid.

[SwitchFade]

10 hours ago, HunterMS said:

What is the common slotting for Master Brawler?

 

Default slot for me. My water/Sr is so durable that I actually stopped using is past lvl 35. Slots better spent elsewhere.

Edited May 13, 2020 by SwitchFade

[Lockpick]

On 3/30/2020 at 7:01 AM, oldskool said:

I just recently swapped my Dual Pistols/Ninjutsu Sentinel over to Dual Pistols/Super Reflexes. 

 

I have to ask if you would share your build?  I keep building a DP/SR and there are so many good powers that I am having issues slotting everything and hitting softcap.