Sentinel Archetype info

[azamean]

Sentinel base hp is the same as Scrappers, not Blasters

[lhsabre]

I’ve made a number of Sentinels now, and especially at lower levels have been finding the endurance refund to be enough to recharge my endurance during a fight. Not fully, but by the end of Defensive Opportunity, I always end up with more endurance than when I started. Granted, when reaching mid- to upper-levels, most characters will find endurance management to be less taxing, but I at least have found Defensive Opportunity to be significant. Offensive Opportunity on the other hand seems far more useful once you’re into SO+ territory as an established character.

 

I can also attest to the attacks from the Fighting pool working properly with the inherent, both in building the bar AND benefitting from Opportunity. I assume the rest of the Pool attacks do as well.

 

I’ve been working on a weird thematic build of a Fighting/Sonic/Regen where I picking very selectively from the Sonic primary to fit in all the Fighting attacks + Tough and have an extremely sustainable attack chain in the late teens with solid damage due to the inherent and Sonic’s -res debuffs and the recharge and accuracy buffs from Cross-punch. I love that the Fighting pool has become a legitimate method of doing damage assuming you pick up all 3 attack powers, as each attack owned adds 15% damage to the other 2, plus bonus effects. That on top of Sentinel’s slightly-less-than Scrapper Defense and some of the harder punching or cone-based Sonic attacks and I’m not afraid to take this character into melee all the time.

[moghedan]

You made AoS Quake?

[lhsabre]

You made AoS Quake?

 

Quake, Black Canary, both can be made with a similar build (perhaps differing secondaries--I just chose Regen because I wanted to see the differences in Sentinel, notes on that in some later post when I get further with it), but the Sentinel AT is allowing us to open a can of options that just weren't really available in CoX before, and just like me in D&D, I just love messing around with interesting and weird combos and making a working character out of it.

 

In this case, I made her a former teen actress/popstar whose mutant debut allows her to change her physique, regenerate grievous wounds, but cost her the normal use of her voice as it continuously keeps damaging and healing over. With some special implants that show as glowing neck bolts on her character that modulate the damage and healing, she's able to use this to her benefit, allowing her to channel her voice into a weapon. Otherwise, with work from some of her previous contacts in the film/stunt industry, she's learned how to use her constantly regenerating body as a weapon, unafraid of using full strength as the damage inflicted on her body by doing so regenerates immediately.

 

In any case, I found it an interesting test case for the question of how pool powers interact with the Sentinel inherent, and the answer is: beautifully.

 

One thing that I noticed, and I still require testing, is that it seemed that my Fighting pool powers were also applying -res debuff on enemies that I hadn't hit with my Sonic powers. I will also test with Brawl, but it may seem that the inherent debuff may work with more than just the primary powers!

[Britainnia]

Been running a Dual Pistols/Willpower guy for a bit.  Just hit level 20 and Quick Recovery was a huge help.  No longer running out of endurance every other fight.

Survivability has been hit or miss.  Willpower is more for the theme so it's likely not the best choice.  But it's fun.  I don't regret building him and am looking forward to when I can buy SO enhancements.  Should be the make or break point depending on performance.

 

Been playing a DP/Dark and thoroughly enjoying it, didn't think much of the Sentinel when first read about it... But given Cloak of Fear and the AoE damage I'm converted!!

[csr]

Defensive Opportunity causes your attacks to heal you for an amount equal to roughly 26-27% of the attack's *base* damage.

 

My testing says 2% of toon Health times Activation Time.  I'd like to see someone else test that to confirm or falsify.

[drbuzzard]

My issue with Sentinels is that the part about Blasters that made their squishiness so apparent was their often melee range secondary attacks.  With the Blaster secondaries gone, the aggro has seemed less of a concern and so my need for defensive capability from the Sentinel secondaries comes off as less than thrilling.

 

I feel like Sentinels could have been better off if they had combination melee & ranged (like Dominator secondaries) as their primary set.

 

Yeah, that's what I was thinking, something more like a Dominator's Assault secondary seemed appropriate, just take out the snipe and any power_boost/aim/build_up

 

edit- and without any boosts just give them dmg modifiers of something like 1.05 to 1.125 for both range and melee.  Seems like a fair trade-off

 

Having a mix of shorter-ranged range attacks and melee attacks forces them to stay close to the battle for a good attack chain, and they still benefit from the utility of having some range.

 

Personally I hate this idea. I like the sentinel as a ranged attacked who isn't a squishy. Mixing in melee attacks means I wouldn't take them, and I'd have a rather pathetic attack chain. Likely I'd just bail on the AT altogether and make a crab instead.

 

Right now I'm very fond of the AT as a class that can blast away, and have some ability to survive the aggro generated. I already have to get in close to drop my nuke, but beyond that, I like to have distance for positioning flexibility for cones and such.

[SmalltalkJava]

I think, but I’m not sure. That Your opportunities, when activated, also affect other players attacks.

[csr]

Defensive Opportunity causes your attacks to heal you for an amount equal to roughly 26-27% of the attack's *base* damage.

 

My testing says 2% of toon Health times Activation Time.  I'd like to see someone else test that to confirm or falsify.

 

Tested further and confirmed... it is definitely Base HP * Act Time * 2%. [EDIT: Clarified that it is Base HP, HP boosts such as Dismiss Pain or the like do not increase it.]

[marcussmythe]

Defensive Opportunity causes your attacks to heal you for an amount equal to roughly 26-27% of the attack's *base* damage.

 

My testing says 2% of toon Health times Activation Time.  I'd like to see someone else test that to confirm or falsify.

 

Tested further and confirmed... it is definitely HP * Act Time * 2%.

 

Hmm.  Well, that Milkshake -wont- bring all the boys to the yard, but a 2% Heal Per Second isn't nothing.  Will help with chip damage at least.

[SmalltalkJava]

I don’t want any melee attacks on this AT. Some people might want it but this isn’t a melee class

[IronJuke]

Do you have to take the first power in your set to trigger the tier 1 opportunity bar, in my case Flares.  I have skipped it initially.  I think it's a waste of a slot.

 

If you can skip it what is a tier one/tier 2 power then?

 

Also people are saying it's OK to not take powers you don't like and that you don't need to worry about the opportunity bar. 

[Astredax]

Do you have to take the first power in your set to trigger the tier 1 opportunity bar, in my case Flares.  I have skipped it initially.  I think it's a waste of a slot.

 

If you can skip it what is a tier one/tier 2 power then?

 

Also people are saying it's OK to not take powers you don't like and that you don't need to worry about the opportunity bar.

 

You have to take it to trigger your offensive opportunity, yes.  But you should actually be taking it anyway because it's higher DPA than flame blast.  Actually, it's the second highest DPA ability in fire: blazing blast is bugged and not doing as much damage as the detailed info says it is.

[Bossk_Hogg]

I don’t want any melee attacks on this AT. Some people might want it but this isn’t a melee class

 

I personally do, or at least the option to pick them. Right now the sentinel feels like a lower damage scrapper for people who don't want to chase mobs. It's great for playing while you're trashed, but I'd like to see its role possibilities expanded. Currently there's a pretty narrow range they can do with pure damage/survivability. There is design space to be explored in utility however. 

 

I would propose adding a new power to each attack set, "Close Quarter Combat". Similar to Kheldian forms, selecting this would also unlock 4 additional powers: 2 single target melee attacks, a PBAE/melee cone, and confront. Have the power itself grant a damage boost to melee attacks, move speed increase, and take taunt sets. Then you can have a nice little offtank setup or have a reason to enter the fray a bit more and actually get more advantage out of the defense secondary.

 

Similarly I would include a "support style" power in the defensive secondary that grants an large improvement to the defensive opportunity and several support/cc powers with with mastermind buff/debuff/heal numbers. 

 

VEATS already get to be ranged/melee/support with mez protection. However VEATS kind of suck in that they are narrow in concept and have a built in story. There's a reason they're the least popular AT, despite being quite powerful.

[SkullWolfSteam]

i dont know if its good but i run ice blast and regeneration on my sentinel (its my 1st hero so i thought i would go with something cool) i have no idea if its a good build but iv been enjoying myself so far i only started playing yesterday.

[Six-Six]

Has anyone had their Offensive/Defensive "crosshairs" turn blue? I just turned lvl 35 and it was blue on the Freakshow, but red on Devouring Earth. Can someone explain what's going on? is it a good thing, bad, or negligible?

[BrandX]

Enjoying my Sentinel, but I feel the Epics need to move things around.

 

The melee attacks, I'd like moved to later tiers and the holds moved up.  The melee attacks start to feel like wasted power picks if I don't pick one that's some great DPS (Cremate I believed did better DPS than Radiation Blast powers) but the ranged holds on what is effectively (not always) a ranged class.

 

Defensive Opportunity feels like a waste, and therefore, I may not get the best attack between the tier 1 or 2 or I may have to save that terrible attack just as a trigger offensive, but never actually slot it up.  :/

 

Would think the better option would just be to have Opportunity give to both offense and defense and it can be triggered by tier 1 and 2.

 

 

[Destlin]

I would prefer if they took all the pbaoe out of the ato completly to be honest.

[BrandX]

I would prefer if they took all the pbaoe out of the ato completly to be honest.

 

PBAOE out of the ATO?  You mean the Absorb out of the one ATO Set?  I wouldn't mind a damage proc or increased Oppotunity gain in it instead.

[Sunsette]

Has anyone had their Offensive/Defensive "crosshairs" turn blue? I just turned lvl 35 and it was blue on the Freakshow, but red on Devouring Earth. Can someone explain what's going on? is it a good thing, bad, or negligible?

 

reticle color is based on power color, afaik.

 

Enjoying my Sentinel, but I feel the Epics need to move things around.

 

The melee attacks, I'd like moved to later tiers and the holds moved up.  The melee attacks start to feel like wasted power picks if I don't pick one that's some great DPS (Cremate I believed did better DPS than Radiation Blast powers) but the ranged holds on what is effectively (not always) a ranged class.

 

Defensive Opportunity feels like a waste, and therefore, I may not get the best attack between the tier 1 or 2 or I may have to save that terrible attack just as a trigger offensive, but never actually slot it up.  :/

 

Would think the better option would just be to have Opportunity give to both offense and defense and it can be triggered by tier 1 and 2.

 

the epic pools each want to do too many things while adhering to a similar structure. don't think it can be fixed now though.

[Six-Six]

No, not the reticle (brackets) on the creep/mob. When the opportunity bar fills up and you use t1 for offensive or t2 for defensive opportunity, then a red crosshair appears on the floor. I ran a map yesterday (office building with Freaks) and one or two offensive opportunity activation resulted in bright blue crosshairs.

 

I didn't really notice any effect (buff/debuff) that was out of the ordinary since the guy was dead in the next two shots. But the colors were too bright for me not to notice.

 

More info that might help: I just slotted a complete set of Thunderstrike on Suppressive Fire. That's the only thing different from before the blue thing happened. I have a complete set of Analyze Weakness on T1 and an incomplete Opportunity Strikes on T2. The rest are still just regular enhancements from the tech store.

[FUBARczar]

On 4/30/2019 at 2:14 AM, altrocks said:

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?

no I have and Elec/Elec  and it can be very powerful sapper.  On a 4 man Sentinel +4/8 ITF it was the "tank"