Geysey question

[MaximusPrime]

Does Geyser really do that much more damage than the other T9's?  In game numbers show twice the damage.

[Underfyre]

Yes, it does do more damage baseline than a lot of the other T9s, but this is balanced by the fact that Water's build up power only gives a 25% boost to damage instead of 50% like every other set.

[MaximusPrime]

There is so much that is so tempting about Water Blast, but I keep coming back to Ice instead. 

[SwitchFade]

50+ Water/SR here...

 

Water is really just amazing regardless of AT. On Sentinel it's very good.

 

Geyser is big damage, big area and good soft control.

 

Whirlpool adds to it as well, being you can "stack" them.

 

Water has a self heal attack and defensive opp stacks with it 

 

I don't post guides any longer, but I will say, water was tons of fun! I only skipped the T1 power, as offensive opp is meh, and defensive is great.

[Hjarki]

38 minutes ago, SwitchFade said:

50+ Water/SR here...

 

Water is really just amazing regardless of AT. On Sentinel it's very good.

 

Geyser is big damage, big area and good soft control.

 

Whirlpool adds to it as well, being you can "stack" them.

 

Water has a self heal attack and defensive opp stacks with it 

 

I don't post guides any longer, but I will say, water was tons of fun! I only skipped the T1 power, as offensive opp is meh, and defensive is great.

I generally take both T1 and T2 attacks because it creates a more viable attack chain. Dehydrate, on the other hand, I'll almost always skip because it's a power I so rarely ever want to use - there are very few situations where I want to be consuming Tidal Power for a minor heal.

 

On a Sentinel, Water is probably the strongest AE set and it's single target performance is bumped up a bit by re-balancing the rotation towards Water Jet.

 

I also generally skip the Cone. While it does decent damage, I find ranged Cones are in general problematic because they effectively have a minimum range so you need to be constantly jockeying around to line everything up.

7 hours ago, MaximusPrime said:

There is so much that is so tempting about Water Blast, but I keep coming back to Ice instead. 

I don't like Ice on a Sentinel. It gets pretty much across-the-board nerfs. It has weak T1/T2 attacks, the best ST attack gets nerfed and Blizzard gets nerfed. It's also increasingly hard for me to justify playing attack sets without an AE KB - it just adds so much power to the set when you can slot those FF procs that it's nearly impossible for other sets to compete.

[SwitchFade]

the cone is one of the best and with sentinel range enhacements is quite long. It does very high damage, rapid DoT.

 

Dehydrate, slotted for damage set, is also good damage, and as part of an attach chain and paired with defensive opp transforms defensive sets like SR.

 

At 54/8 on almost all enemy factions, I jump directly into melee and do this for Alpha,

 

Whirlpool>BU>Geyser>epic attack>steam spray>water burst>water blast>dehydrate>T2

 

Follow up attack chain,

 

steam spray>water burst>water blast>dehydrate>T2

 

This does several things,

 

70% of +4 minions arrested after Geyser

MOBs flipping from KU, keeps them in whirlpool

Thunderstrike epic attack for another AoE

Leap up, hit steam spray to fire straight down

Water burst next, KU again, stops fleeing

Water blast to finish of an LT

Dehydrate to finish off another LT and heal

By this time defensive opp is up, hit T2

 

Now the follow up chain, KU juggles them, steam spray murders, dehydrate keeps the health topped up.

 

The benefit to dehydrate is, slot as an attack and combined with defensive opp, you don't need aid self or any other source of heals. I faceroll AV and GM as well as 54/8 like this on SR.

Edited June 19, 2020 by SwitchFade

[Hjarki]

1 hour ago, SwitchFade said:

the cone is one of the best and with sentinel range enhacements is quite long. It does very high damage, rapid DoT.

I recognize that it's a solid Cone. However, it's still a Cone. This means you need to worry about positioning, which isn't necessary for the other AE. This might not be a big issue for a Blaster, but Sentinels can stand in the middle of a crowd and let it coalesce around them. Given that you've got so many other AE, I find it superfluous.

1 hour ago, SwitchFade said:

Dehydrate, slotted for damage set, is also good damage, and as part of an attach chain and paired with defensive opp transforms defensive sets like SR.

It will overall reduce your attack chain damage (albeit not by a lot). However, the real problem is that it creates situations where your attack chain is interrupted because you don't want to burn Tidal Power on Dehydrate. I keep wanting to like it - especially on mana-intensive builds where Theft of Essence is incredibly potent - but I keep ditching it.

1 hour ago, SwitchFade said:

The benefit to dehydrate is, slot as an attack and combined with defensive opp, you don't need aid self or any other source of heals. I faceroll AV and GM as well as 54/8 like this on SR.

You can do this without Dehydrate due to the combination of Master Brawler, IO uniques, ATO proc and regen. Against most resist categories, you're probably going to end up being hard-capped around 25% health so in the infrequent circumstances where you get hit the attack isn't all that large.

[Underfyre]

You seem to be overlooking the fact the Dehydrate can be stacked high with procs and a respectably high 65% proc chance. Use Dehydrate to heal? Nah. Use it to kill.

[oldskool]

21 minutes ago, underfyre said:

Use Dehydrate to heal? Nah. Use it to kill.

[oldskool]

Some other food for thought... 

Water Jet has a cool down on the Tidal Power effect.  You can't constantly spam it.  You could substitute Tidal Forces use by interweaving a different consuming power like Water Burst or Geyser.  That's probably realistic for most players as it is.  Aqua Bolt vs Dehydrate can have a valid argument about when one should be taken/used.  The slotting strategy is going to matter, the content being faced, and the need of using Tidal Forces for other powers. 

 

I've run both before and found that Aqua Bolt can have merit at times.  Ultimately, I switched to a procced out Dehydrate and I've noted an improvement in my performance for it.  I prioritize Water Jet when I can enhance it, but 15 seconds is a long time to allow Dehydrate to consume some stacks too.  Running Aqua Bolt makes it far easier though and that can have its own value to people.  

[FUBARczar]

Doesn't Ice proc better?  BFR Gets the Juicy hold IO damage procs, and BiB has better DPA than Water Jet and an extra dmg proc.