Opportunity, how does it work really?

[Thardin]

My first try at a Sentinel and I'm trying to figure out opportunity. I know when it pops one power gives offense and one defense but is it just on the initial target or does it carry over after you defeat the first? It seems to on the defense side but not on offense? Any help will be appreciated!

[oldskool]

Opportunity has multiple parts. 

 

1) Most (all? - can't confirm at the moment) attacks impose a very minor debuff pair on targets (this is negative defense and resistances).  This does not stack with itself but it will be continually refreshed until your target dies is arrested.

2) Once meter is built to 90% your first two attacks will highlight.  

3) On a successful hit with either attack a single target will get a big target under them.  That target will have a -20% resistance debuff to all damage types.  This lasts for 15 seconds. 

4) The first attack in a primary grants "Offensive" mode which adds a minor damage effect to all of your attacks for the next 15 seconds. 

5) The second attack in primary grants "Defense" mode which adds a minor resource restore effect (both health and endurance) to your attacks for 15 seconds.  

 

#4 & #5 can apply to your area attacks therefore hitting multiple targets with it.  #3 is only applicable to one target and it does not transfer on death.  

 

As a side note, this mechanic in general is fairly crappy in its current state and will likely get scrapped by the HC team.  Also, you don't need both the T1 and T2 attack since their 4 & 5 effects aren't so powerful that they make or break a build.  You may want both of those powers for any number of reasons but you don't need them to be effective.  

None of the above includes discussion of any current bugs/exploits that may exist in certain powers/sets.  I don't expect any of that functionally to remain if this mechanic is scrapped.

Edited September 3, 2020 by oldskool

[Underfyre]

Applies -5% Resistance to all, -3.75% defense to all. This will stack with other Sentinels.

Each attack applies ((Activation_Time + 0.132) * 7) to your opportunity bar. Once your bar is >= 90, you can activate one of the two modes. Your first ability activates Offensive Mode, your second ability activates Defensive Mode.

Activation of either mode applies an additional -20% resistance to all. This will not stack with other Sentinels. Only one instance of this debuff will be active at a time and it will just refresh.

 

Offensive mode does damage equal to (10.57 * (0.8 * minmax(Base_Recharge, 1, 30)) + 1.8) * 0.2 / Area_Factor

Area Factor = (1 + Ability_Radius * (11 * Ability_Arc + 540) / 30000))

If it is a single target ability, Radius and Arc = 0, if it's a sphere, Arc = 360

 

Defensive mode replenishes health equal to (24.1 * Activation_Time) and endurance equal to (5 * Activation_Time)

 

That's all the hard math to how they work.

Edited September 3, 2020 by underfyre

[Thardin]

Thanks guys, that helps. Overall it seems kind of weak, so I won't base the play-ability of my character on opportunity...

[kiramon]

Although sonic is wonky and gets huge numbers from Opportunity. It's pretty fun just cuz of it with the cones. >: ) 

[oldskool]

2 hours ago, kiramon said:

Although sonic is wonky and gets huge numbers from Opportunity. It's pretty fun just cuz of it with the cones. >: ) 

Sonic is broken but that bug is in favor to the player.  All of Sonic's cones seem to double dip the Opportunity mechanic.  It is the only set where this effect is so pronounced.  Some sets don't do this at all or a few others may have one AoE power that does it (i.e., Assault Rifle).  Players can also exploit the system queue to stack both Offensive and Defensive Opportunities at the same time.  That's also not intended by the description of the effect, but it is possible. 
 

Anyhoo, these are all of the exploits that I didn't want to get into because they aren't the fundamentals of how the mechanic is supposed to work. 

[Diantane]

My primary is fire. I didn’t train the tier one power because it did minor damage. Read that the offensive opportunity is activated with the minor damage power that I skipped (so I never see the offensive opportunity). Can’t I switch it to another power or do I have to waste a power on the tier one to activate it?

[oldskool]

5 hours ago, Diantane said:

My primary is fire. I didn’t train the tier one power because it did minor damage. Read that the offensive opportunity is activated with the minor damage power that I skipped (so I never see the offensive opportunity). Can’t I switch it to another power or do I have to waste a power on the tier one to activate it?

No you can't switch it.

 

Fun fact though.  Despite the "minor" damage of Flares it is actually a better power from an efficiency standpoint than Fire Blast is.  Flares is a better power from its damage-per-activation metric.  It ends up being a better "filler" power to the real heavy hitters (i.e., Blaze).  Offensive Opportunity being triggered by Flares gives it one other reason to take it.   

 

TL;DR: Flares isn't a waste, and in most cases Fire Blast (the T2) can be a waste. 

[Diantane]

LOL-Thanks for the tip! Couldn’t figure out what to train at 24. Now I do 😁

[Omega-202]

8 minutes ago, Diantane said:

LOL-Thanks for the tip! Couldn’t figure out what to train at 24. Now I do 😁

And if you feel like you want to rebuild your character, remember that you get a free respec every 10 levels.  So if you decide that you don't need both Fire Blast and Flares after having both for a while, you can always repick your powers and drop one of them later.

[Diantane]

Well I do need both as a Sentient to get the procs, right?

[Omega-202]

13 minutes ago, Diantane said:

Well I do need both as a Sentient to get the procs, right?

As a Sentinel, you need both to have the option of which Opportunity version you want to activate.  However once some people reach level 50, the defensive version (tier 2) is seen as less attractive.  A fully kitted out level 50 Sentinel is very tough to kill and usually has enough endurance, so some people prefer to drop the tier 2 blast and just activate using the tier 1 offensive Opportunity.

 

The idea is "if you're unkillable and have enough endurance, then why bother with the version that gives you more health and endurance?"  Other people disagree and keep both.  

[David.Fournier]

I believe these replies are out of date. Sentinels have been revamped. They now have a single "vulnerability" power that charges, replacing all of what's described below.

[lemming]

1 hour ago, David.Fournier said:

I believe these replies are out of date. Sentinels have been revamped. They now have a single "vulnerability" power that charges, replacing all of what's described below.

No need to point that out on a three year old thread.

[Sovera]

4 hours ago, David.Fournier said:

I believe these replies are out of date. Sentinels have been revamped. They now have a single "vulnerability" power that charges, replacing all of what's described below.

 

 

Quite.

[GM Impervium]

Given that the info presented in this thread is out of date, I'll be locking it now to avoid future necromancy. Thank you for the heads up.