Opinions Wanted Archery/TA Blaster or Archery/SR Sentinel

[Aneila]

Decided I wanted to make an archery character and debating between those two. 

 

Which do you all think I should pick and why?

 

I've heard Sentinels kind of lost some of their edge due to the IO sets now allowing Blasters to get a lot of defense, but I'd like to hear the opinions of people who know more than me(aka nearly everyone)

[Six-Six]

Why not roll both and decide which one you like better. But here are my two inf:

I learned the game with Sentinels. They are very forgiving because of their armour and the fact that they are ranged which gives you the additional defensive space between you and your enemy to mitigate the melee half of incoming damage. With that, I think SR on a Sent is the best version of SR. You can minimally slot it with just the globals and an end reduction SO here and there and you're still very very tough. So that's bare minimum. My archery/ninjitsu plays the role of the Tank in our All Archer SG. He's nigh immortal. 

When I got used to the game's ins and outs, I fell in love with Blasters (I have over 3 dozen now). While the Blaster doesn't have any inherent defences and resistance, you can still get some through the Tertiary and Mastery Pools as well as IO set bonuses. Blasters are all about damage both ranged and melee (though Archery/TA doesn't lend well to blapping), and a few CCs. You don't really need much armour if everything around you will be dead in 2 seconds. Between Tactical Arrow and Super Reflexes, you're basically choosing between crowd control and defences. Playing Dominators and Trollers, I've learned that you don't need defences too much if your enemy is either locked down or dead. But with the Sentinel, you won't mind the damage. 

Sentinels make up for their underwhelming damage with impressive armour. Blasters are the opposite--high damage with virtually no armour. Sentinels also don't get a snipe attack and generally have a shorter range. (I may be a bit biased towards Blasters).

In terms of Inherent AT abilities, I found the Sentinel's Opportunity to be very useful in the lower levels, but rather irrelevant in the highers. Blaster's Defiance offsets your propensity to be mezzed... and you will be mezzed quite a lot.  [Edit] I'd like to add that if you go the Sentinel route, you'll be chasing End Recovery (for all your toggles) and Damage bonus. For Blaster, the damage is there, so you're after a bit of End, a bit of Def/res (ranged def for hover blasters), and a bit of recharge.

A lot of people compare the two ATs, but the truth is they play different. Give both a try, even just to level 20 (shouldn't take so long) or so to see which one fits your style.

Edited August 23, 2022 by Six-Six

[zuel]

Six-Six has a great response, but here's my experience with a Archery/TA Blaster. He's now 50+3 and so heavily IOed. And he's a beast. Easily one of my favourite characters to play.

 

He does incredible AoE and very strong ST damage. He has CC, debuffs, high mobility, limitless endurance and capped ranged Def due to IOs. But he's been fun since lower levels all the way up. I've always felt like I was making a significant contribution to any team I joined.

 

That said, Sentinels are solid and reliable, if not as spectacular as blasters.

 

What I'd suggest is this: if you're mostly playing solo, try Sentinel; if you're mostly teaming, then try Blaster. Or do both. By about level 40 you'll have a good idea of which you prefer.

[plainguy]

Archery/TA  has a lot of powers to do things with.. Range Defense hover blaster for the win.  But sometimes I feel its too much.. 

But I love Oil Slick. it just make stuff melt.

SR is gonna give you defense cap so great survivability. 

 

[Six-Six]

Heeheeh... I just thought of a parallel:

Blaster: Think Green Arrow or Hawkeye. You've got a bag of tricks for every occasion and you use them all.
Sentinel: (Can't think of an existing character, but...) You're a heavily armoured, unstoppable bloke... throwing pointy twigs.

Again, I may be a tad biased towards blasters. 😃

 

Edit:
As Page 4 dropped, I got the chance to revisit my old toons and I realised something interesting. I respec-ed 2 in particular, a DP/WP Sentinel and a DP/Nin Blaster. Regarding what I said about chasing certain aspects in each AT, I found that Sentinels can have comparative damage with Blasters especially in the earlier powers. My pistols, dual wield and suppressive fire had higher values for accuracy, damage, and recharge. Of course this came at the price of just barely slotting the WP def/res powers, which still ended up higher than the blaster. Take this with a HUGE grain of salt, though. There were countless other factors involved. But the takeaway still remains the same: Your play style and intended use will be the one to dictate which toon you end up liking. That's not to say you can't like both. 😃 Cheers.

Edited August 24, 2022 by Six-Six