Voltaic Sentinel and procs

[Mack008]

So I'm digging the new version of Voltaic Sentinel.  An always on toggle is much more useful, and the little sparky guy does just enough damage to contribute without being overpowered.  He's particularly good at finishing off targets with just a bit of health left.

 

Anyone have luck adding procs to it? Looking at the numbers, I would expect that a typical 3.5PPM proc would only go off about 13% of the time, which is doesn't seem like enough to make it worth it.  Or you could slot an Overwhelming Force (Dam / %Knockdown) which has a flat rate of 20%.  A one in five chance of knockdown doesn't sound great, but it does shoot every 2.25 seconds.

 

Thoughts?

[InvaderStych]

FWIW: Energy Manipulator - %Stun - works decently in VS despite only being 2PPM.

 

I'm curious how much +acc VS actually needs.  Game description shows it with a base accuracy of 1.40x, which is pretty huge.  If I can get away with slotting if for dam/endrdx + the %Stun and save some slots that would be sweet.

 

How well does the Soulbound BU proc work in general?  I know (fairly certain) it would only boost the pet, but does it work in VS?

[Glacier Peak]

The Blaster, Corruptor, Sentinel & Defender version of Voltaic Sentinel have a 2.0 Accuracy.

 

Also, the Soulbound Allegiance Proc is 3PPM.

 

https://cod.uberguy.net/html/

 

Edit: Error on my part!

Edited December 21, 2021 by Glacier Peak

[kelika2]

1 hour ago, InvaderStych said:

How well does the Soulbound BU proc work in general?  I know (fairly certain) it would only boost the pet, but does it work in VS?

Dont see why it wouldnt unless bugged.  Works for Phantom Army and their damage

[InvaderStych]

24 minutes ago, Glacier Peak said:

The Blaster, Corruptor, Sentinel & Defender version of Voltaic Sentinel have a 2.0 Accuracy.

 

Yes, the summon power has 2.0. 🙂

 

But when looking at VS's powers, its blast has 1.4, I can't tell in Mids if I should enhance that or not.  PC powers with that much accuracy generally don't need much, but I can't think of an example at the moment:

 

https://cod.uberguy.net/html/power.html?power=pets.voltaicsentinel_sentinel.electrical_bolt

 

Edit: I also know next to nothing about Pets. So I have no idea how the two accuracy numbers interact with each other, if at all.  I would expect not at all, and that VS check's against it's own accuracy, not the root summon power's accuracy. 🤷‍♂️

 

22 minutes ago, kelika2 said:

Dont see why it wouldnt unless bugged.  Works for Phantom Army and their damage

 

Nice to know.  Wasn't really expecting it to "not" work, more wondering if anyone has found it worth doing. 🙂 It should fire, theoretically, more often than NrgManip %Stun, so that is promising.

Edited December 21, 2021 by InvaderStych
its, not it's :P

[Glacier Peak]

Oh makes sense that it's 2.0 now that I think about it - the caster must always be able to summon it, so having it 2.0 means it can't miss/not summon.

 

I think you're right about the pet's attacks though!

[aethereal]

14 minutes ago, Glacier Peak said:

Oh makes sense that it's 2.0 now that I think about it - the caster must always be able to summon it, so having it 2.0 means it can't miss/not summon.

 

I think you're right about the pet's attacks though!

I don't think that the accuracy has any meaning at all for the pet summon.  No to-hit roll is involved.

[Glacier Peak]

4 minutes ago, aethereal said:

I don't think that the accuracy has any meaning at all for the pet summon.  No to-hit roll is involved.

Ah, good looking out!

[InvaderStych]

22 hours ago, Glacier Peak said:

I think you're right about the pet's attacks though!

 

So, did some informal monitoring of a "Pet Only" window just to see what's what.

 

VS is currently slotted for 1dmg, 1Endrdx (SOs) and 1 NRGManip %Stun, running at lvl 32.

Toon has base 81% to-hit from wearing a Kismet.

 

Some anecdotal stuff:

 

Consistent 95% chance to hit on even-con mins/lts.

 

Found some +3s, generally in the 20ish% hit chance (lower on bosses?); but then it would periodically jump to ~70% possibly from hitting Charge Up although the timing did not seem to coincide that might be just a function of how I'm watching the log scroll rather than looking at it more closely in a text file.

 

At the risk of stating the obvious/already known, it does inherit bonuses from yellows, so likely other sources of +to-hit as well.  I guess it uses player's base to-hit to make its rolls?

 

At the risk oversharing: this is on an Elec/EA/(TBD) Sent with a "Super Stunner" mechanical concept.  AoEs + VS are all running the %Stun piece from NrgManip.  The one in VS will probably be the first one dropped if I am tight on slots, which I probably will. APP will either be Psi for the second Hold or Elec for the aura and more %Stun action.

 

---------

 

To swing this back to the original question:  There's no way to enhance the pet's blast for recharge, and no reason to slot the power for it, so there's no danger of lowering the proc rate through slotting.  How many you could/should slot in there is probably a function of how many slots you can spare in build against getting it some amount of +acc and endrdx.  I'd be inclined to stick with the higher PPM pieces from Purple sets if I wasn't doing some "high-concept" nonsense. 😛

 

It's probably not difficult to compare the +dmg from a 3.5PPM proc against a +5 dmg IO or whatever enhancement value one can get from alternate slotting, but I have personally forgotten too much math to figure that out without tremendous research and effort. 🙂 It's possible that's already been figured out in one of @underfyre's Sentinel data sheets, which would answer the root of the question: Is a 3.5PPM dmg proc more "+dmg" than can be gotten via a +dmg enhancement?

 

Finally, while I am playing games with %<effect> procs a lot these days I am also aware of the rumors of an eventual change to proc/ppm mechanics to rail in some of the more ... ridiculous ... applications of the %<dmg> versions.  Not to imply they should be skipped/avoided, just that the rumors are out there so my thought is that when the rules change, so will the builds. 🤷‍♂️

[Underfyre]

7 hours ago, Krimson said:

I've always had mine slotted on my main with six Superior Soulbound Allegiance. No idea if the Build Up proc is doing anything, but the always on option is awesome.

 

It does buff him, tho not as well as before they changed the cast time/recharge time. It's roughly an 18% damage increase for him now. Bear in mind that putting the 3 bigger damage pieces (DMG, DMG/RCH, DMG/END) from Soulbound, at +5, and with Musculature, will have you at 134.6% damage, so adding another damage enhancement will see a 85% reduction in effectiveness. So in the end, even tho it's "only" 18%, it's 18% that was well out of your reach anyway.

Edited December 23, 2021 by underfyre

[Mack008]

Another thought... anybody try to slot Sentinel's Ward proc into Voltaic Sentinel?  Does the Absorb protection affect the character?

[Underfyre]

7 hours ago, Mack008 said:

Another thought... anybody try to slot Sentinel's Ward proc into Voltaic Sentinel?  Does the Absorb protection affect the character?

 

Good question, since it's a toggle now it mightshould function off of a 10s recharge for you. Not something I tested. Not something I care to test since Electric has better places for the proc.

[InvaderStych]

7 hours ago, underfyre said:

Not something I care to test since Electric has better places for the proc.

 

I've liked it most in Short Circuit (low base dmg for minimal lost potential, larger radius/target cap than Ball) so far, but interested to hear other suggestions.  There seems to be a cap of 3 stacks, anyone know for sure?

 

In VS the buff would likely go to the pet... ie to waste.

 

Irradiated Ground, for example, is also a toggle pet - as far as the game is concerned - Scrapper ATOs won't even slot there, and the cited reason is that it is not possible for the ATO to buff the player while in the pet aura.

 

I'm happy to be incorrect, but as quote above, there are better places for it (any AoE would be more effective).

[Pzn]

2 hours ago, InvaderStych said:

 

I've liked it most in Short Circuit (low base dmg for minimal lost potential, larger radius/target cap than Ball) so far, but interested to hear other suggestions.  There seems to be a cap of 3 stacks, anyone know for sure?

 

In VS the buff would likely go to the pet... ie to waste.

 

Irradiated Ground, for example, is also a toggle pet - as far as the game is concerned - Scrapper ATOs won't even slot there, and the cited reason is that it is not possible for the ATO to buff the player while in the pet aura.

 

I'm happy to be incorrect, but as quote above, there are better places for it (any AoE would be more effective).

I prefer it in ball lightning since the cast time is about twice as fast as short circuit.  It's definitely smaller but they both hit 10 targets.  And if you go ball lightning>short circuit then your ball lightning is almost recharged again.  It's DPA is similar to the t1/t2 blasts so it's easy to throw out during your ST rotation with little interruption.

[Underfyre]

As far as I can tell from City of Data, it looks like both ATOs top off at 6 targets. So in general, as long as it isn't a rain spell, an aoe is the optimal place to put the ATOs.

 

I want to believe VS functions like a psuedopet with regards to how the ATO procs function with it. With peudopets, the ATO will proc a single time on cast of the pseudopet which is applied to the caster. Mildly more useful for Opportunity Strikes than Sentinels Ward since 35 more opportunity is going to go further than a single proc of the 180hp shield. However, since VS is now a toggle, he will most likely function as a toggle, so activation + recharge is now just 10, and arc/radius are just 1. That's a 16.67% proc chance every 10 seconds. Since it will be just going off whenever, I'm not a fan. I'd rather choose the time and place the proc goes off.

[brasilgringo]

I figure SC works better as a proc-bomb with non-ATO procs (-RES, dmg procs). 

[DarknessEternal]

Why not Thunderous Blast, it procs every time.

[Underfyre]

2 hours ago, DarknessEternal said:

Why not Thunderous Blast, it procs every time.

 

Yeah this, I almost always put Sentinel's Ward in the T9, except in Ice Blast. The only aoe Ice Blast has that isn't a pseudopet is Frost Breath which is kinda meh as an ability. Just another reason to not like Ice Blast on Sentinels.