Archery/Ninja blaster or Archery/Ninjitsu Sentinel?

[Ravenbane]

Hey all.  I wanted to make a very natural origin character.  I originally rolled her a an Archery/Ninja blaster because I LOVED the idea of having both the bow and arrow AND katana attacks.  Plan would be for the Body mastery pool down the line.  Then I saw that sentinels have a Ninja Tool mastery APP that also gives 2 of the 3 katana attacks in the blaster ninja secondary and obviously much more survivability with the ninjitsu secondary.  And conceptually it makes sense that it would take until upper levels for her to decide she's willing to engage in melee, even if she has the skills for it.  Either idea works well for concept to me.

So, with this concept is there any strong argument to make in favor of the blaster option?  I know the Ninja Tools katana attacks were bugged and not showing the sword but it'll be so long before this particular character is at that level I expect it'll be fixed by then (if it wasn't already and I just missed it).  Is there anything skippable from the Sentinel Ninjitsu set? 

 

Thanks!

[JJDrakken]

Did you plan to melee at all or shoot?

 

Edit: Here two to look over, both are soft capped in areas you need them to be.

 

Sentinel - Archery - Ninjitsu.mxdBlaster - Archery - Ninja Training.mxd

Edited May 14, 2020 by JJDrakken

[Hardboiled Hero]

So I have an archery/invuln sentinel who is now level 50, but I haven't gotten too far with my Archery Blaster yet.

 

Common wisdom is that blasters are better. Both AT's can only fill a dps role on a team, and blasters do more damage under more circumstances.  With that said, I find the Archery sentinel to be a lot of fun.  The "best" builds for them (IMO) has the sentinel with better cooldown reduction, more fluid attack routines so your basically always shooting. My sentinel has seven attacks on my 1 bar.. 3 of those attacks are only for ST and 3 of those attacks are only for AoE, 1 attack is so I can activate opportunity (In actuality I tend to mix up my attack types a little more than that).  Another advantage to the sentinel is that their stunning shot does increased damage, making it one of their best attacks, where the blaster stunning shot is basically useless (at least for dps).  On the down-side, the sentinel doesn't have a snipe power..  in fact sentinel attacks only have about 60% of the range that the same attack for a blaster has.  The sentinel also doesn't hit as many targets in AoE as the blaster does, and doesn't have as good of a damage modifier. (but remember you're getting more shots in) So that's kinda the Archery half of your question.. even though they're both "Archery", they are different.

 

  On the defensive side of things.. well.. to be honest blasters can get pretty good defense, so I don't think that really makes a difference.. what CAN make a difference, depending on circumstances, is that Sentinels can be extremely resistant to control effects, which goes back to what I was saying about sentinels continuously shooting..  However, there's a kind of bad interaction here with Archery/Ninjutsu sentinels.. well..  maybe not "bad", but something to be aware of..  Ninjutsu is a "click heavy" defensive set, so the fact that your constantly wanting to click attacks means that you won't want to take the time to click defenses.  With a /ninjutsu sentinel, you don't have a toggle CC resist, which means you're likely to get cc'd and have to take a moment to click your resist so you can then continue your attack chain..  it shouldn't disrupt things too much.. it's just something to think about. (and after all, the blaster doesn't have a CC resist.)

 

  In closing, while these two concepts seem like they should be very similar, they can actually play very differently..  so this is one question where I can actually say you should try both and see what you like.. you may actually want to keep both of them.. just be aware that the sentinel may be differently fun, but it probably won't pull the same damage as a blaster.. but still does enough to get the job done.

[LordScrod]

I've not played the Sentinel side of the Archer/Ninja combo, but I can say that the Blaster side is very much 'kill or be killed'.

 

You don't have stackable stuns or holds, and bosses and elite bosses will be very annoying to deal with. You have to stay mobile, use purple and pink pills, and just endure their hard-hitting ranged attacks. BUT! It's a TON of fun, and you don't have to survive them long, because they go down so very, very quick! 🙂 

 

Bad guys that get up to you have to deal with your blade, and you hit just as hard as any scrapper (harder even, since Defiance is a global damage boost). Your Golden Dragonfly deals stupid amounts of pain to any bad guy that has rushed up on you through a hail of arrows. I did take tough/weave and combat jumping/acrobatics in my build, and slotted them to max out their benefits. The hold immunity from Acrobatics isn't strong, but it's enough.  Overall the pool powers helped a lot, and was pretty thematic with leaping backwards firing arrow after arrow at bad guys, and all the +Defense makes for a reasonably dodgy Ninja. Also remember that even stunned, slept, or held, a Blaster can still use their first two primary and first secondary powers, so that's a thing. You're always capable of dealing damage.

 

On the Sentinel side, the points made by Hardboiled are very relevant. Ninjitsu is a great set once you've got a few enhancements slotted, and you gain protection against status effects. Always useful. I don't know anything about the Ninja Tools set, I'm sorry to say. 

 

Let us know what you decide to play!

 

--Scrod

[Zepp]

Sentinel is safer, but less damage. Blaster can heal faster between skirmishes. You get the sword with Blaster but not with Sentinel, and you have more tools to play with. I would say that if you have a more active Green Arrow playstyle. go with Blaster, if you want to hang back like Hawkeye, go with Sentinel.

[BazookaTwo]

Necroing the mess outta this post to see what you chose! My main is an Archery/Ninja/Ninja. 

 

Yes it's Sent damage, but mine is boosted 57%. range is boosted 67% and movement speed is healthy at 89 mph run speed. The Archery/ninja*2 feels comfortable in the thick of combat, packs all the temp powers a ninja might have, and is loads of fun. I have to not be paying attention to get 1 shotted. The Def boost can be alternated with Barrier for extra sturdiness. 

I'm also trying out Melee Hybrid and dipping into res debuff through the Interface pool. 

 

I just started an Archery/Ninja blaster today, and yes it plays very differently. I'm focusing on holds and stuns a bit as mitigation tools so far. Seems you can work the DoT and proc effects well with archery, no matter what AT. 

 

I think Ninja on a Scrapper and a Sent are better than Ninja Training on a Blaster, but I'm researching the forums on it now. 

 

If anyone needs my Sent build, it's in the Sentinels forum some place.