Builds that can solo +4/×8 and AVs?

[gh0sting]

Hey all, just redownloaded the game and sentinels have kinda caught my eye. Basically just looking for a build that I can comfortably run the above without too much hassle or investment (the kind that would warrant a farming alt anyway, I don't mind solo grinding).

 

So far I've seen good things about Fire/, Ice/, and Beam Rifle/ for primaries and /SR for a secondary but is there any combo or set I'm missing?

Edited August 15, 2021 by gh0sting

[Bill Z Bubba]

Fire/Bio is my main sentinel. Played almost as much as my main claws/sr scrapper and more than his brute and tank clones.

 

Only downside I've seen while fighting +4 AVs is that I have no way to immobilize them so them fleeing can be a pain, especially on a solo +4/x8 MoITF run.

[oldskool]

12 hours ago, gh0sting said:

comfortably run the above without too much hassle or investment (the kind that would warrant a farming alt anyway, I don't mind solo grinding).

 

I do hope you realize this word use of yours is incredibly loaded.  I'm not too sure what "comfortably" means here to you vs how it means to me.  "Too much hassle" is also equally loaded.  

I also want to be real with you, welcome to Sentinel by the way, but you may want to lower your expectations just a bit.  Sentinels have their own share of design challenges which means that they aren't exactly in a position to be face rolling +4/x8 content solo without investment.  You can absolutely solo +2/x# content with any power combos you want with a low to mid-grade build.  However +4/x8 can get bogged down as enemies become massive bags of hit points and feel like damage sponges.  So, to me "comfortably" means moving through spawns at a reasonable pace.  By "reasonable" I mean more of a feeling like I am not taking forever to take out enemies.  That feeling, at +4/x8 especially, requires investment and that investment will also include Incarnates (at least tier 3 Alpha slot for the better general accuracy due to level shifting).  

 

As Bill notes, Fire/Bio is going to do some decent damage... when you invest in it.  There will be a night and day difference between a low investment version of that build and one that spent 500 million+ influence.  

 

Anyway, all that said, just about every Sentinel primary has the potential (with the right build and investment) to stalemate the baseline regeneration of an even level AV.  By the old server standards this was pretty good.  Stalemating isn't exactly progress though so you do need to exceed that in order to chip away at their health or use temporary powers like envenomed daggers to slow their incredibly high regeneration rate.  The higher you take the difficulty, like up to +4, the less effective you are.  Still, things like the envenomed daggers will still help against those big game targets.  Regular old minions won't be too bad, but bosses can easily take your damage without some investment in the build or a good strategy.  

Fire is solid on Sentinels but it is not overpowered like it is on the other ATs (it was rebalanced for the AT, not anyone else).  Electrical Blast is actually a very solid contender to Fire Blast.  Those are the two off the top of my head that have the strongest baseline.  

Beam Rifle can be good if you utilize the first power, the T1, because it comes with a regen debuff.  It can be pretty strong but it really does depend on how you build it.  The fact that the other ATs have easier access to the snipe now pushes Beam Rifle further for single target on all other ATs.  On Sentinels, you get an extra AoE instead.  

 

Any of the other primaries with debuffing secondary effects (Radiation, Dark, Dual Pistols, Ice, etc...) become a lot stronger when built up with damage procs associated with their respective debuffs.  This is perhaps why you've seen good things about Ice in particular, because without damage procs it isn't that great.  

Psionic, Sonic, and Assault Rifle either have some struggle bus issues, lack proc potential, or both.  Any one of those can still pull off good things, but the investment ceiling is probably higher.  Also, they work well with very specific secondaries when you're looking to maximize their damage capacity.  

For Secondary power sets, most of them are generally good.  Ice Armor and Fiery Aura can be a challenge to build with which in turn may hinder damage (it is variable with Fiery Aura to degree it is worth it).  There are other sets like Bio Armor and Radiation Armor that can offer damage at bit of a sacrifice to mitigation.  

Super Reflexes, Energy Aura, and Invulnerability are quite powerful at what they do and are reasonably forgiving.  Out of the three, Energy Aura is the least forgiving on closing its defensive gaps but it isn't as big a gulf as say, Ninjutsu (which is still good but not necessarily as easy to build).  

All of the other secondaries not mentioned can have some merits in their own ways but aren't exactly something I'd declare damage enhancers.  Additionally, some may add considerable build complexity that requires a better understanding of the pros and cons of what you're doing.  They are all 100% playable but only excel in certain situations.  

As noted earlier, this is just me being realistic with you.  None of this is to turn you off of playing a Sentinel.  I remember my first one, a Dual Pistols/Ninjutsu build, holding off an AV in a team setting long enough for folks to revive.  Before I completely tanked on endurance I was even making headway on hurting that one (very slowly though).  This was just in the 40's.  My current main Sentinel is Dual Pistols/Super Reflexes (I just prefer SR over Nin) and it is capable of handling quite a bit that I throw at it.  It is no where near as fast as my Stalker or Scrapper, but it is steady.

[RCU7115]

Dual Pistols/Fire/Energy w/Super Reflexes combos are fun.

[Zerethon]

I primarily run an Elec/Elec/Mu and as oldskool pointed out, sentinels take a LOT of building to get to that +3/+4 x# range, fully built, all T4 incarns, yeah, you can do a LOT especially when combined with temp powers, but the investment and time can wear on you, especially if you're going for this as your first-ever sentinel build.

i made it harder on myself, as while /elec is absurdly strong, it also doesn't get any innate defense, other sets like /EA are much easier to build-out (EA Even has a heal) but suffer from other holes. As the general rules still apply

You need enough damage from skills/procs/debuffs to be able to take them down in a reasonable amount of time, and you need to be able to avoid or soak enough damage to not die in an alpha or from single un-dodged hits. Tough/Weave/Stealth/Combat Jumping/Etc. are useful to have on top of your secondary both for holding IO's (LoTG, etc.) and for the overall survival increases that they have.

For AV's, -regen, -def and -res are all VERY powerful to have, along with control effects if available, and your own end recovery and sustain become extremely important, as fights can last for potentially many many minutes of just endlessly firing off attacks.

[Ignatz the Insane]

Great post @oldskool.  I love my Fire/Bio and Electric/Bio Sentinels..  Both are super tough and do significant damage.  Neither hold a candle to my toughest Scrappers for AV killing at +4x8.  I'm fine with that....they're not great AV killers.  They are great at taking down mobs.  Honestly my only beef with Sentinels is their crappy ATOs.  No ranged defense?  No S/L defense?  Garbage!!!  

 

Edited August 19, 2021 by Ignatz the Insane

[Zerethon]

6 hours ago, Ignatz the Insane said:

Great post @oldskool.  I love my Fire/Bio and Electric/Bio Sentinels..  Both are super tough and do significant damage.  Neither hold a candle to my toughest Scrappers for AV killing at +4x8.  I'm fine with that....they're not great AV killers.  They are great at taking down mobs.  Honestly my only beef with Sentinels is their crappy ATOs.  No ranged defense?  No S/L defense?  Garbage!!! 

To be fair, at least one of them can be amazing when (ab)used right with other mods. Having the absorb proc in the right skills can add a hilarious amount of survival into your build, and the 2 sets combined buffed up to the superior versions adds 20% Range/Recharge to everything. I combine them with unbreakable guard/reactive defenses/aegis/Prev. Medicine/etc that all have multiple +res/def bonuses attached

Won't say my builds are cheap, but generally they're hitting cap/softcap to everything they already have natural bonuses to, i wouldn't try to cap resist to toxic on my elec, rather, i just focus on exterminating enemies that heavily do that type of damage first and cap everything else that i can.

ALSO, don't fall into the incarnates trap or T9 traps, make sure you leave things like T9's or mystic/willpower/epic clickies off and focus on getting your defenses as good as you can, better to have 73% resist or 44%+ Defense across the board, than 31% + T4 alpha to hit softcap or something. Getting SK'd down in content becomes murder at that point, because your defense is relying on something that only works @ 50+ or likely 38+