Water/Rad loving it

[Chalkarts]

I made a toon several months ago, Water/Rad Sentinel, specifically for an aesthetically distasteful joke character.

Didn't really give the combo much thought beyond what it would look like.

Now I've totally fallen in love with the combo.

Water Blast is awesome.

I've been giving him IO set to increase his endurance refresh, Kinda wanna pour the fluids non-stop.

Can anyone give me some pointers on taking this combo from chuckles to crusher?

[SeraphimKensai]

6 slot Ground Zero with damage procs, you can make it a mini-nuke with a 90% proc chance assuming you don't slot it for recharge.

[oldskool]

Water Blast as a whole is very friendly to damage procs which can seriously up your damage at the price of skipping over 5 to 6 piece set bonuses.  

The one power that is easy to skip is Aqua Bolt.  I'd recommend you strongly consider all the others.  If you like adding in a procced out Dominate and Mind Probe those can also add significant damage to single targets of which WB is very weak too overall. 

[r0y]

On 4/2/2020 at 10:27 AM, oldskool said:

Water Blast as a whole is very friendly to damage procs which can seriously up your damage at the price of skipping over 5 to 6 piece set bonuses.  

The one power that is easy to skip is Aqua Bolt.  I'd recommend you strongly consider all the others.  If you like adding in a procced out Dominate and Mind Probe those can also add significant damage to single targets of which WB is very weak too overall. 

I am new to Sentinels, in general, but I'm seeing this type of reply or suggestion often:  skip the Tier 1 blast power.  What am I missing?  That is your OFFENSIVE opportunity, is it not?  I mean, one has to take EITHER the T1 or T2 (defensive opportunity) at the very least.  Why not take the ghetto-buildup power over the ghetto heal power?

 

I'm not seeing the logic behind this at all.  Is the +damage from Offensive Opportunity not worth it?  Is the whole mechanic behind Sentinels inconsequential?  I'm confused.

[oldskool]

1 hour ago, r0y said:

Is the whole mechanic behind Sentinels inconsequential? 

It can be.

 

I do not always recommend skipping the T1 or T2.  What I usually try to suggest is that neither are so critical that they are must haves.  It is always up to the player to make a final decision about what works best for their build.  

Offensive Opportunity will almost always add a positive gain in damage but the amount it adds is variable.  It is largely build dependent and linked to the goal of the user.  Generally I see single digits worth of positive gain and not so much of it that I'd always miss it.  So if you're looking to pick up all the pennies you can, then take it.  Otherwise you can skip it and likely not miss taking out enemies a few seconds faster.  

Defensive Opportunity heals many of my level 50's for only +22 health.  Whoopie F*ing do on paper.  That healing is directly tied to attack frequency so the faster I land blows the more incoming health I can get.  It can be a nice side grade on soft-capped defense characters that can dodge attacks while slowly gaining health.  The effect is in no way a replacement for stronger healing effects but it does stack.  The big benefit from Defensive Opportunity that I do discuss is that it also restores endurance.  That effect is noticeable in the low levels as it can effectively let you break even on costs but once you start reducing end drain you can gain possible returns.  Is Defensive Opportunity enough to warrant taking it over a T1?  Again, not necessarily... 

 

A lot of Sentinel builds can handle endurance very well.  Not all of them do (e.g., Ice Armor, Fiery Aura, Dark Armor).  If you're experience with a secondary is one where the set is giving you a lot of end (pretty much all the others), then this endurance benefit in the T2 means little.  

So what you're left with is evaluating the T1 vs T2's DPA.  Which of these two powers is just better doing damage without worrying about the mechanic at all.  So that's why you'll see the recommendations you see, at least from me.  I think about the DPA first, the build needs next, and finally view Offensive Opportunity as a luxury perk to take LAST.  

Edited April 28, 2020 by oldskool