Sentinel Archetype info

[Residualshade]

Work in progress

 

Archetype Information

 

Primary: Ranged

Secondary: Defense

 

HP: Blaster base hp | Stalker HP Cap

Threat:

 

Stats

• Survivability
  
• Melee Damage
  
• Ranged Damage
  
• Crowd Control
  
• Support
  
• Pets
  

 

Inherent Power

 

Sentinels build up a gauge when they ?damage? a enemy with a power from their primary power set. (? Not sure if gauge gain is flat or based on damage ?)

• Offensive Opportunity - Activated by using your tier 1 blast while gauge is full. Makes triggering attack a vulnerable attack ( ?% Increased Damage? ), and while your gauge is full makes all primary power pool attacks do bonus damage based on attack damage.
  
• Defensive Opportunity - Activated by using your tier 2 blast while gauge is full. Makes triggering attack a vulnerable attack ( ?% Increased Damage? ), and while your gauge is full makes all primary power pool attacks heal you based on ?attack damage?
  

 

Primary Power Sets

• Archery
  
• Assault Rifle
  
• Beam Rifle
  
• Dark Blast
  
• Dual Pistols
  
• Electrical Blast
  
• Energy Blast
  
• Fire Blast
  
• Ice Blast
  
• Psychic Blast
  
• Radiation Blast
  
• Sonic Attack
  
• Water Blast

 

Secondary Power Sets

• Bio Armor
  
• Dark Armor
  
• Electric Armor
  
• Energy Aura
  
• Fiery Aura
  
• Invulnerability
  
• Ninjitsu
  
• Radiation Armor
  
• Regeneration
  
• Shield Defense
  
• Super Reflexes
  
• Willpower
  

 

Ancillary Pool

• Ice
  
• Fire
  

 

Subjective Analysis

 

Offense

 

Defense/Resist

 

Mez Protection

 

In my opinion this is the biggest advantage sentinels have unlike every other ranged archetype in the game we don't have to worry about getting shutdown by random crowd control thrown our way.

 

HP

 

Due to having blaster base hp, sentinels start off very squishy even with their defense secondary. avoid face tanking too much damage until you can push your hp to cap later in game.

 

Endurance

 

Sentinels have pretty intense endurance requirements. triple slotted stamina asap is required and the use of endurance recovery from secondary is mandatory.

 

Clumsiness

 

Something to be aware of is the slight awkwardness of some primary and secondary power pools. This comes from the fact that both primary and secondary pools were initially designed for archetypes that spend some or all of their time in melee, and very little adjustments were made to make them better suited to sentinels. The awkwardness is that 99% of your build is going to be ranged but certain key powers are going to randomly be extremely closed ranged or PBAoE. This means your going to have to regularly dip in to melee to get these off then back out. Example of this are the many tier 9 PBAoE in primary power pools, and numerous PBAoE health/endurance recovery powers in secondary power pools.

 

Suggested Combinations

 

• Water/Ninjitsu - Most user friendly, and well rounded. has no random close/melee range abilities. a lot of great utility in both the primary and secondary power pools.
  
• Fire/Fire - Great Damage. one of the few secondaries to have a damage boost and an attack.
  

[Caterpixel]

The opportunity gauge seems to also increase when your party members attack, making it much easier to trigger opportunities while in a party.

Also the Pine's hero designer showed there being a ancillary pool with katana powers in it. Does it actually exist?

[Novacat]

Additional comparisons:

 

Sentinels do not have Snipes. Each power is replaced depending on the set but appear mostly to have similar damage and no interrupt, just none of the range

Sentinels have reduced range. 80ft attacks in any other ranged set have 60ft here, and a 50ft cone is 40ft base on a Sentinel

Sentinel ranged damage is significantly lower than blasters. Sometimes it's 80%, sometimes it's 60%, so you're hitting like a defender in a large group disturbingly often.

Sentinel defenses are slightly lower than Scrappers. Just slight; like 18% where a scrapper would get 20% but still a thing

Being scrapper and not Blaster secondaries, you must keep your accuracy AND peak-output in mind: There's no build-up, there's no targeting-drone or eagle-eye or shinobi and of course there's no gun-drone or total-focus either.

 

So, overall, it's an odd piece of work at the moment. You're a slightly softer scrapper who gets a bit of range to make placing/targeting attacks a little easier.

You get better AoE than a scrapper on many sets, but you lose a lot of damage compared to both blasters and scrappers in exchange.

So, not sure how it'll do in the long run when there's other "protections but ranged damage" combinations like the Bane Spider, or when you could just pick a scrapper and move a little more for more damage and more survivability.

[Burnt Toast]

I think the concept of a Sentinel is a more independent Defender/Corruptor. I have been messing around with quite a few builds. I think I want to try at least two Sentinels...and one of them is Nrg/Nrg.

My Nrg/Nrg Sentinel is soft capped to all types except Psi. I did not sacrifice damage or accuracy in my build. I did not use any purples in my build. End is also not an issue even without the +end benefit of Energize.

I know a lot of people do not like Nrg blast due to knockback, but it can be used as a method of protection and when used properly can not be disruptive to a team.

 

I have not decided on my second Sentinel... I am thinking either Ice/Ice or Fire/Fire.

[Novacat]

Flight is Energy Blast's friend. Knockback from above can keep things close to your melees. Or, if they're used to you, they'll understand that whatever you just sent flying will probably be dead before it ever got up anyways.

 

I wouldn't call Sentinel corrupter/defender-like however. It's deeply rooted in just dishing out primary while surviving the return-fire. Maybe more brute-like depending on how the inherent handles in the long-run

 

Some numbers now that the servers are back up:

Elec Blast 50 Average Damage

        Defender    Sentinel       Blaster

Charged Bolts 36.15 52.83 62.56

Lightning Bolt 59.28 86.64 102.60

Ball Lightning 39.04 57.06 67.57

 

Invulnerability 50

        Brute Sentinel     Scrapper

Res.Phys   7.5%   7%   7.5%

Temp.Invuln 22.5% 21% 22.5%

Dull Pain(+/Heal) 21.6/43.2      20.5/41.0     21.0/42

[Azrath]

I was going through the 'oh god what do I make first?' phase and found the Sentinel without even knowing it was a thing.  It's my favorite archetype already.  My main is probably going to end up being the Dual Pistol / Super Reflexes combo that was my first to level 10.  I'm in love.

[Tzu]

Pistols/SR is exactly what I'm pondering as well. That or /Ninjitsu. Sounds like a good time.

[Android Nim]

I still don't quite see it...What might be an approximate comic book analog for the powerset?

[Novacat]

A variety of ranged attacks and heavy armor keeping you alive? With maybe some extras on the side you can pick and choose out of the pools and the Ancillaries?

Who else do we know flies around in a set of advanced armor, can craft all sorts of stuff, and uses all sorts of blasts, beams and missiles with the occasional martial arts when he has to?

[Flux Vector]

Honestly, there's probably more comic book characters that "fit" either sentinel or dominator than fit blaster, defender, controller, or corruptor.  I can't think of very many prominent "support" heroes or powers in comics, or ones who are just raw damage all the time, even when you go outside of ones who have major motion pictures that just came out.  I can however think of a lot of them who use some kind of energy or elemental attack, and either take hits to their face or are very dodgey.

 

The Shadow could easily be pistols/ninjitsu.  Punisher is probably rifle/willpower.  Iceman is probably more properly am ice/ice sentinel than a controller or blaster.  Human Torch is probably more properly a sentinel (though I guess it's arguable, he gets punked a lot just like blasters).  Cable is probably beam rifle/wp or invuln.  Could make Deadpool as pistol/regen.  Pretty much anyone who uses power armor would fit in here.  Most "battle psychics" who aren't Psylocke would probably fit in here too as super reflex characters.  The Shocker would probably fit in here too.  Heck.  Space Ghost.

[Azrath]

Cap in WW2?  Pistol + Shield.  Black Widow during the battle of New York?  Dual pistol + Reflexes.  Falcon?  Dual pistol + reflexes or willpower.  Iron Man, War Machine, and Rescue?  Oh, you better believe they're in here.  Spider Man (if you squint really hard) is an Ice (slow, immobilize, hold) + SR who spec'ed into the Fighting Pool.  Black Panther's little sister?  Energy / WP.

 

Corruptors can keep Hawkeye though.

[Novacat]

being hawkeye is suffering

[Von Krieger]

The melee and damage multipliers for Sentinels are 0.95. Blasters have 1.125 and Dominators have 0.95 for ranged also.

 

Anything that summons a pet or a patch uses the pet modifiers rather than these.

 

Their defensive numbers are at .70, just under the Scrapper's .75.

 

HP-wise they're identical to Blasters, but they have the Stalker's HP cap.

 

I've had Vulnerability pop up on targets using the Tier 2 blast.

 

I've also heard that all Sentinal attacks have a -5% Res and Def debuff, and something about Offensive Opportunity granting a chance to crit for +25% damage.

[Residualshade]

The melee and damage multipliers for Sentinels are 0.95. Blasters have 1.125 and Dominators have 0.95 for ranged also.

 

Anything that summons a pet or a patch uses the pet modifiers rather than these.

 

Their defensive numbers are at .70, just under the Scrapper's .75.

 

HP-wise they're identical to Blasters, but they have the Stalker's HP cap.

 

I've had Vulnerability pop up on targets using the Tier 2 blast.

 

I've also heard that all Sentinal attacks have a -5% Res and Def debuff, and something about Offensive Opportunity granting a chance to crit for +25% damage.

 

yes i have recently observed vulnerability pop up on tier 2 as well.

 

for offensive Opportunity do you mean an actual crit or something like a crit? I am currently level 22 i don't recall ever seeing a crit pop up.

 

another oddity which i assume is a bug. i have on occasion somehow managed to trigger both offensive and defensive opportunity.

 

the inherent power of this class is the hardest to figure out. i feel like i am missing a meaning full part of the kit due to not understanding it.

[Tul]

From my own experience

 

When the bar fills up, your tier 1 and 2 abilities will gain borders around their icons on the action bar

 

tier 1 triggers offensive opportunity which just gives additional damage on hit that scales with the damage of the hit

 

tier 2 triggers defensive opportunity which gives a bit of health once per activation on hit which has some scaling which im unable to determine

[Lazarillo]

tier 2 triggers defensive opportunity which gives a bit of health once per activation on hit which has some scaling which im unable to determine

In my experience, the healed amount is ~20% of the damage dealt.

[Residualshade]

updated inherent power information in OP. i think we have a good grasp on what it does now.

 

some commentary based on the information we have.

 

the heal isn't very strong so it isn't going to save you from much. it might be enough to keep you alive if your 1v1 vs a LT. i am guess it is only going to be useful for a little bit of sustain while soloing which means offensive opportunity is going to be the go to mode.

 

unlike i initially thought Offensive/Defensive Opportunity bonus damage/healing is not tied to the target you triggered it on. you can switch targets all you want and still get the effect.

 

Some things i still want to test and confirm.

 

1) What the hell the cross-hair graphic that shows up at the target feet is. i am guessing its some kind of debuff but i can't figure out what it does.

2) Do any of the effects of Offensive/Defensive Opportunity affect allies

3) their was a claim that allies actions will build the gauge. i would like to do some testing and confirm/deny this.

[altrocks]

I'm making a Black Lightning-style Sentinel with Electric/Electric (and flight from the extra pool). Is this doomed to failure before I've even leveled it?

[Azrath]

You'll have to try it and tell us.

 

For SCIENCE!

 

...or whatever Origin you choose.  :)

[Novacat]

1) What the hell the cross-hair graphic that shows up at the target feet is. i am guessing its some kind of debuff but i can't figure out what it does.

2) Do any of the effects of Offensive/Defensive Opportunity affect allies

3) their was a claim that allies actions will build the gauge. i would like to do some testing and confirm/deny this.

 

1) Unsure. But I believe the offensive opportunity damage buff may be restricted to that particular target, so that may be what's marking it

2) Team did not appear affected. However I would require a quieter scenario than the mass-AE team to get a close look at numbers for allies before/after a shot by the sentinel on a clean enemy. 5% isn't all that much after all.

 

3) DENIED: Primary attacks build the gauge. Prestige powers such as the lolipop do not. I do not yet know if pool or ancillary attacks can build it yet, but during my tests the bar ONLY rose as a direct result of firing primary attacks.

[Syovere]

I've seen Brawl fill it. Can confirm Prestige powers don't, but since Brawl contributes, I'd expect pool attacks to.

[Residualshade]

1) What the hell the cross-hair graphic that shows up at the target feet is. i am guessing its some kind of debuff but i can't figure out what it does.

2) Do any of the effects of Offensive/Defensive Opportunity affect allies

3) their was a claim that allies actions will build the gauge. i would like to do some testing and confirm/deny this.

 

1) Unsure. But I believe the offensive opportunity damage buff may be restricted to that particular target, so that may be what's marking it

2) Team did not appear affected. However I would require a quieter scenario than the mass-AE team to get a close look at numbers for allies before/after a shot by the sentinel on a clean enemy. 5% isn't all that much after all.

 

3) DENIED: Primary attacks build the gauge. Prestige powers such as the lolipop do not. I do not yet know if pool or ancillary attacks can build it yet, but during my tests the bar ONLY rose as a direct result of firing primary attacks.

 

thx for the info. i have already confirmed that the bonus damage/healing from offensive/defensive opportunity is not tied to the target you can switch all you want and still get that part of the effect.

[altrocks]

You'll have to try it and tell us.

 

For SCIENCE!

 

...or whatever Origin you choose.  :)

 

I actually did choose science, oddly enough. It's certainly a viable build for leveling and feels like lots of fun at level 10. I'm not sure what kind of effectiveness I'm going to get at max level.

[Residualshade]

You'll have to try it and tell us.

 

For SCIENCE!

 

...or whatever Origin you choose.  :)

 

I actually did choose science, oddly enough. It's certainly a viable build for leveling and feels like lots of fun at level 10. I'm not sure what kind of effectiveness I'm going to get at max level.

 

i have so many flavors of sentinel i want to try. elec/elec is definitely on my to do list at some point. look forward to your progress and opinions as you level.

[Murcielago]

This AT is going to be awesome in PVP. I might make my fire/nrg Blapper into a sentinal instead.