33% defenses, near perma Haste, no incarnates, offensive adaptation Fire/Bio.

[Sovera]

This is a rework of the original build I had posted thanks to Justin where I could test things. Also thanks to the posters below who gave tips to improve things.

 

 

You are supposed to always be under at least one small purple. Do not keep track of it and find that the floor is warm and welcoming for your face!

 

 

All the way to +4/8 in a S/L farm is easy since we have 51% S/L res. I tried in a fire farm where we only have 22% fire resistance and, obviously, it was much more touch and go. Still doable though, but more insp popping.

 

Go to a pack, pop Aim, pop Inferno, Fireball, Fire Cages, RoF, Fire Sword Circle, Fire Cages, Fireball, then filler. When Aim would be almost up I would ignore the remains and look for another patrol and repeat. The leftovers would keep chasing me and I didn't have to go after them.

 

Parasitic Leech is unnecessary.  I was using Ablative Armor (very powerful) and occasionally Rebuild DNA (sort of meh, an insp would have done the same, almost). Feel free to replace Rebuild DNA for Parasitic Leech as a ohcrap power. Definitely wants to use the vendor to fill up on purples and use the option to trim what insps drop along with the macro to combine them.

 

Endurance drops with the extra AoE and the paring of the slots, so Rebuild DNA is kept since it both heals and recovers endurance which is a dual function we can't find fault in. It would like more slots though.

 

Blazing Blast does KB but we cannot slot a KB>KD IO which makes the power much less useful. Boerderline do not want if I am to be honest which we can turn into a KD thanks to the Overwhelming Force IO (not Sudden Acceleration) but it appears to be bugged hence why taking Fire Blast instead (see below).

 

Rain of Fire scattering mobs is both a feature and a flaw since the scattering lets us regen. Stopping it from happening with Fire Cages is both blessing and curse since we do more damage but also don't get to regenerate as much.

 

Fire Cages wants more slots. Using it while still under Aim's effect mitigates the lack of slots but at +4 the mobs will escape them pretty quickly.

 

 

I did not pick Incarnates since I am *still* not at the end-game what with constant new alts. Whatever holes the build has they would plug them like they do with all builds.

 

 

 

 

Useful things for the build:

 

- Auto cast Rain of Fire on your target: /bind <key> "$$powexec_location target Rain of fire$$powexecauto hasten"

 

- Combining insps on the go with our movement keys (consult

where I explain the whole bindload and how to auto cast Hasten and a second power like Practiced Brawler, or Link Minds):

a) w "+forward$$inspcombine catch_a_breath luck$$inspcombine focused_rage good_luck$$inspcombine keen_insight good_luck$$inspcombine dramatic_improvement good_luck$$inspcombine rugged good_luck$$bind_load_file_silent c:\games\CoH\binds\Forward2.txt"

b) w "+forward$$inspcombine take_a_breather good_luck$$inspcombine insight luck$$inspcombine enrage luck$$inspcombine respite luck$$inspcombine sturdy luck$$inspcombine break_free luck$$inspcombine awaken luck$$bind_load_file_silent c:\games\CoH\binds\Forward.txt"

 

- Bind to eat a purple, any purple, no matter where it is in the tray: /bind <key> "inspexecname phenomenal_luck$$inspexecname good_luck$$inspexecname luck"

 

- Bind to eat a green, no matter size or where it is in the tray: /bind <key> "inspexecname resurgence$$inspexecname dramatic_improvement$$inspexecname respite"

 

 

 

The build:

 

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.962

http://www.cohplanner.com/

 

Click this DataLink to open the build!

 

Level 50 Magic Sentinel

Primary Power Set: Fire Blast

Secondary Power Set: Bio Armor

Power Pool: Speed

Power Pool: Fighting

Power Pool: Flight

Power Pool: Leadership

Ancillary Pool: Fire Mastery

 

Hero Profile:

Level 1: Flares -- Dcm-Acc/Dmg(A), Dcm-Build%(3), Dcm-Dmg/Rchg(3), Dcm-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(5), Dcm-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(5)

Level 1: Hardened Carapace -- UnbGrd-ResDam(A), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(7), UnbGrd-Max HP%(7), UnbGrd-Rchg/ResDam(9)

Level 2: Inexhaustible -- PrfShf-EndMod(A), PrfShf-EndMod/Acc(9)

Level 4: Fire Ball -- SprOppStr-Acc/Dmg(A), SprOppStr-Dmg/Rchg(13), SprOppStr-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(13), SprOppStr-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(15), SprOppStr-Rchg/+Opportunity(15)

Level 6: Blaze -- SprSntWar-Acc/Dmg(A), SprSntWar-Dmg/Rchg(17), SprSntWar-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(17), SprSntWar-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(19), SprSntWar-Rchg/+Absorb(19), SprSntWar-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(21)

Level 8: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(21)

Level 10: Adaptation

Level 12: Boxing -- KntCmb-Acc/Dmg(A), KntCmb-Dmg/EndRdx(23), KntCmb-Dmg/Rchg(23), KntCmb-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(25)

Level 14: Environmental Adaptation -- LucoftheG-Rchg+(A), ShlWal-ResDam/Re TP(25), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(27), Rct-ResDam%(27)

Level 16: Ablative Carapace -- Pnc-Heal/EndRedux(A), Pnc-EndRdx/Rchg(29), Pnc-Heal/Rchg(29), Pnc-Heal/EndRedux/Rchg(31), Pnc-Heal(31)

Level 18: Fire Blast -- Apc-Dam%(A), Apc-Dmg/Rchg(31), Apc-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(33), Apc-Acc/Rchg(33), Apc-Dmg/EndRdx(33)

Level 20: Hover -- LucoftheG-Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def(34), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(34)

Level 22: Aim -- GssSynFr--ToHit(A), GssSynFr--ToHit/Rchg(34), GssSynFr--ToHit/Rchg/EndRdx(36), GssSynFr--Rchg/EndRdx(36), GssSynFr--ToHit/EndRdx(36), GssSynFr--Build%(37)

Level 24: Tough -- UnbGrd-ResDam(A), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(37), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(37), UnbGrd-EndRdx/Rchg(39)

Level 26: Rain of Fire -- PstBls-Acc/Dmg(A), JvlVll-Acc/End/Rech(39), PstBls-Dmg/EndRdx(39), PstBls-Dmg/Rchg(40), PstBls-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(40), PstBls-Dam%(40)

Level 28: Weave -- LucoftheG-Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def(42), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(42)

Level 30: Fly -- Empty(A)

Level 32: Inferno -- SprAvl-Acc/Dmg(A), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(42), SprAvl-Rchg/KDProc(43), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(43), SprAvl-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(43)

Level 35: Afterburner -- LucoftheG-Rchg+(A)

Level 38: Fire Cages -- Acc-I(A)

Level 41: Genomic Evolution -- StdPrt-ResDam/Def+(A), UnbGrd-ResDam(45), GldArm-3defTpProc(45), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx(45), UnbGrd-Rchg/ResDam(46), UnbGrd-ResDam/EndRdx/Rchg(46)

Level 44: Fire Sword Circle -- Arm-Dmg/Rchg(A), Arm-Dam%(46), Arm-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(48), Arm-Acc/Rchg(48), Arm-Dmg/EndRdx(48)

Level 47: Rebuild DNA -- DctWnd-Heal/Rchg(A), EffAdp-EndMod/Rchg(50)

Level 49: Maneuvers -- LucoftheG-Rchg+(A), LucoftheG-Def/EndRdx(50), LucoftheG-Def(50)

Level 1: Defensive Adaptation

Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)

Level 1: Prestige Power Dash -- Empty(A)

Level 1: Prestige Power Slide -- Empty(A)

Level 1: Prestige Power Quick -- Empty(A)

Level 1: Prestige Power Rush -- Empty(A)

Level 1: Prestige Power Surge -- Empty(A)

Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)

Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)

Level 4: Ninja Run

Level 2: Swift -- Empty(A)

Level 2: Health -- Mrc-Rcvry+(A), NmnCnv-Regen/Rcvry+(11)

Level 2: Hurdle -- Empty(A)

Level 2: Stamina -- PrfShf-End%(A), PrfShf-EndMod(11)

Level 10: Efficient Adaptation

Level 10: Offensive Adaptation

Level 0: The Atlas Medallion

Level 0: Task Force Commander

Level 0: Portal Jockey

Level 0: Freedom Phalanx Reserve

Level 50: Agility Core Paragon

------------

 

 

 

 

[csr]

Here is the build with the powers in no particular order and an empty slot in Blazing Bolt for the KB>KD IO:

 

Is Blazing Bolt (sic)?  It's supposed to do Repel, which that proc wont change.

 

[EDIT:]

 

Yep, KB and Repel.  I'm not sure it's worth it since you'll still get that Mag 8 Repel.  The KB does scale up to 3.32 at level 50 though.  So maybe.  I'm having the same quandary with regards to Hurricane.

[Sovera]

The repel by itself is bad enough, but the touch of death is the KB. With the physics engines I could swear that the inertia of the backwards movement makes the KB extend even further than it normally would. For regular play this is pretty annoying.

[Thevshi]

After playing around with it for a bit, there are actually two repels that fire off, then a knockback.

[marcussmythe]

As usual a /Time Corruptor might still be the better option since they get Scourge, perma capped defenses without purple candy, perma resists to S/L, Perma Soul Drain for more damage, an IO in Hover/Combat Jumping makes them KB immune and the Clarion Incarnate makes them CC resistant while also buffing the team and debuffing the enemies.

 

1.)  Its an impressive build, and the use of Bioarmor can close some of the damage disadvantage.

 

2.)  Its a sad fact that some ATs are just radically better than others.  That aside, if we let 'But X can do everything better than Y' keep us from building Y, several ATs and many powersets would not exist.  Luckily, its a squishy enough game that you can still have fun even with the 'bad' ATs and Powersets.

[Sovera]

Thanks to Justin I went to test this with the 32.5% build.

 

Went all the way to +4/8 on the Comic Con S/L farm (picked at random, we're not S/L focused) without a problem. I would go to a patrol, pop Aim, pop Inferno, Fireball, RoF, then filler and Fireball once back up. When Aim would be almost up i would ignore the remains and look for another patrol and repeat. Eventually the leftovers would be chasing me and i didn't have to mop them up.

 

Parasitic Leech was unnecessary.  I was using Ablative Armor (very powerful) and occasionally Rebuild DNA (sort of meh, an insp would have done the same, almost). Definitely wants to use the vendor and trim what insps drop and a macro to combine them.

 

 

Things I've noticed with the build:

 

Survives easily even with offensive adaptation. 

Stamina was constantly at 90% which makes me think I can shuffle slots or even ditch powers.

Blazing Bolt does KB but we cannot slot a KB>KD IO which makes the power much less useful. Boerderline do not want if I am to be honest.

Rain of Fire scattering mobs is both a feature and a flaw since the scattering lets us regen.

The few seconds waiting for Fireball to return are a bummer when we're surrounded by mobs and we're down to pewpewing with ST attacks.

 

 

Conclusion: going to rework the build. Drop Parasitic and Athletic and see about working in Fire Cages and Fire Sword Circle for less AoE downtime.

 

[oldskool]

Thanks to Justin I went to test this with the 32.5% build.

 

Went all the way to +4/8 on the Comic Con S/L farm (picked at random, we're not S/L focused) without a problem. I would go to a patrol, pop Aim, pop Inferno, Fireball, RoF, then filler and Fireball once back up. When Aim would be almost up i would ignore the remains and look for another patrol and repeat. Eventually the leftovers would be chasing me and i didn't have to mop them up.

 

Parasitic Leech was unnecessary.  I was using Ablative Armor (very powerful) and occasionally Rebuild DNA (sort of meh, an insp would have done the same, almost). Definitely wants to use the vendor and trim what insps drop and a macro to combine them.

 

 

Things I've noticed with the build:

 

Survives easily even with offensive adaptation. 

Stamina was constantly at 90% which makes me think I can shuffle slots or even ditch powers.

Blazing Bolt does KB but we cannot slot a KB>KD IO which makes the power much less useful. Boerderline do not want if I am to be honest.

Rain of Fire scattering mobs is both a feature and a flaw since the scattering lets us regen.

The few seconds waiting for Fireball to return are a bummer when we're surrounded by mobs and we're down to pewpewing with ST attacks.

 

 

Conclusion: going to rework the build. Drop Parasitic and Athletic and see about working in Fire Cages and Fire Sword Circle for less AoE downtime.

 

I have a low AR/Bio and I've come to many of the same conclusions you have.  I took my build approach a little differently, but we're in the same ball park.  I decided I was comfortable with 26% S/L, 32% elements, and 30% Psi.  Incarnates (Agility, Barrier - even at it's lowest) raise it up higher. 

 

The lower S/L is more risky, and I'm aware of that, but I opted for more global damage and hit points. 

 

In terms of slot allocation.  I think the major difference is I decided not to enhance Inexhaustible and barely enhance Genomic Evolution.  Mine has a +end proc and calls it a day.  Since Parasitic Leech is as ridiculous as it is, sweating over recovery isn't *that* big a deal.  It's not perma, but so much of the remainder of the set is like Willpower, I just took idea from how I handle Stamina and Quick Recovery.  Since that combo doesn't require a lot of enhancement with Accolades or IO's to the gills either. My Genomic Evolution only holds the two global 3%.  That reduces my melee defense (3.13%) and S/L vs your (1.56%).  I'm just not impressed with Genomic.  I toyed with a few other slots and enhancers, but I just came to the conclusion Shield Wall and Reactive Defense globals are more resistance for the slots. 

 

Other than that, our slotting decisions are so close it's uncanny.  I just ultimately went with different sets (pretty much because I have too - more on that in a sec).  Like I have 4 Devastation + Achille's Heel in Burst vs 5pc Decimation in Flares.  I also can't use the Avalanche set since I have no PBAoE in my Primary, so again another loss on the defense. 

 

So yeah, since my Primary choice is all single target and targeted ranged AoE my options are so limited I just said screw it.  Though with what you're saying, I probably won't have an issues, and most certainly won't with Incarnates. 

 

Anyway, thanks for sharing, it's a cool build!

[nihilii]

Blazing Bolt does KB but we cannot slot a KB>KD IO which makes the power much less useful. Boerderline do not want if I am to be honest.

 

The Overwhelming Force KB to KD unique IO can be slotted in Blazing Blast (same with any attack that doesn't accept knockback enhancements). So, that's one problem solved.

 

However...

 

Blazing Blast is currently bugged and does much less damage than its listed numbers.

 

The damage is about the same as Fire Blast. For twice the end cost, and more than twice the recharge. Ouch! ;)

 

Unless you like the reliable soft control, it's more than safe to drop the power. Fire Blast ends up *superior* in damage, if only because it lets you run a better attack chain. Blaze - Fire Blast - Flares is trivial to attain, while chains with Blazing Blast will have to stuff a second Flares or Fireball in there.

[Sovera]

Welp, that's an easy fix then. With double repel + KB this is a terrible soft CC. 

 

I just want more AoE, I want to be able to have an AoE chain and not stop and do ST attacks to filler. The upside is that the build plays a lot like a scrapper. No buffs to keep track of (other than our purple) and no worries about CC. Just jump into a pack, unleash hell, ignore the leftovers and go pick another pack once Inferno + Aim is back up while the leftovers run after us.

 

The difference is that we don't need to chase stragglers or worry about positioning.

[ShadowDreamer]

Blazing Bolt does KB but we cannot slot a KB>KD IO which makes the power much less useful. Boerderline do not want if I am to be honest.

 

The Overwhelming Force KB to KD unique IO can be slotted in Blazing Blast (same with any attack that doesn't accept knockback enhancements). So, that's one problem solved.

 

However...

 

Blazing Blast is currently bugged and does much less damage than its listed numbers.

 

The damage is about the same as Fire Blast. For twice the end cost, and more than twice the recharge. Ouch! ;)

 

Unless you like the reliable soft control, it's more than safe to drop the power. Fire Blast ends up *superior* in damage, if only because it lets you run a better attack chain. Blaze - Fire Blast - Flares is trivial to attain, while chains with Blazing Blast will have to stuff a second Flares or Fireball in there.

 

I came into this thread specifically to check if he had taken blazing blast and link to my bug report if he had, but I see someone beat me to it :p.

 

I am not at a computer where I can check ingame numbers atm, but unless it got scalled differently than a blasters, you shouldnt feel bad about putting fireball in your Single Target chain, as it has better DPA than both blast and flares.  Honestly Sentinel's Single target is low enough, and with IOs you can get enough survivabilty on blasters and corrs that I have kind of dropped them until the rework of their inherent that is supposedly in the pipeline hits beta.  Basically I came to the exact same conclusion you did, in that xx/time/dark corrs are just kinda better wayyy too much of the time. 

 

The Sents can definitely be made stupid tanky, but you so rarely need more than deff cap (which can be hit on blasters and easily on corrs) that lower damage and especially the lower target caps hurt too much.  The target cap limit tends to be what hurts the most in the few situations where the tankyness actuallyof a sent is actually appreciated.

 

I mean, if you like Bio for the bonus damage and crazy regen, I have a fire/psy/fire blaster that has perma drain psyche (1200% regen at 10 targets), 40% ranged def, 30% melee/AoE def, and 60%+ S/L res.  If you go //scorp instead of //fire you lose some res, but you can easily hit def caps for S/L/E/F/C and ~30% NE.

 

Long Story short, I think sents are real close to being a strong class, but they still need one more little push to really get there.  I can deff see why they wanted to start with them under-tuned and push upwards though, as they have the survivability to be pretty broken the other direction quickly if you over shoot a damage buff by even a little.

[Sovera]

Aye aye, I think I got the build as far as I could make it and can only thank the devs for letting us have Justin to test.

 

Basically, psi epic adds a fast recharge AoE who only sins by.... doing double digits in damage. I mean, ok, it recharges really fast and it has a hefty -recharge tacked on, plus stun, but double digits? Hmm. It also has Link Minds which adds a bit more defense to act as a buffer for defense debuffs.

 

Fire epic has fire cages to keep things in, but I'm out of slots to give it meaningful stats. Since I only use it after Inferno I coast on Aim for Fire Cages to hit and it sort of works, but too many mobs run free if I use it afterwards. Would need to shuffle things around.

 

Fire Sword Circle does double damage of Psychic Shockwave but has none of the perks. It recharges in about 11 seconds which is decent.

 

I'll update the OP with my findings and then let this particular build go to check something else.

[ShadowDreamer]

Aye aye, I think I got the build as far as I could make it and can only thank the devs for letting us have Justin to test.

 

Basically, psi epic adds a fast recharge AoE who only sins by.... doing double digits in damage. I mean, ok, it recharges really fast and it has a hefty -recharge tacked on, plus stun, but double digits? Hmm. It also has Link Minds which adds a bit more defense to act as a buffer for defense debuffs.

 

Fire epic has fire cages to keep things in, but I'm out of slots to give it meaningful stats. Since I only use it after Inferno I coast on Aim for Fire Cages to hit and it sort of works, but too many mobs run free if I use it afterwards. Would need to shuffle things around.

 

Fire Sword Circle does double damage of Psychic Shockwave but has none of the perks. It recharges in about 11 seconds which is decent.

 

I'll update the OP with my findings and then let this particular build go to check something else.

 

Im not at home right now but that comparison of FSC to PS doesn't sound right, so I wonder if one of them is bugged.

 

From memory for Sents:

FSC lists as 40 sec recharge and 90 damage with a 10' radius and a 10 target cap

PS lists as a 20 sec recharge, 67 damage, 15' radius, and 16 target cap.

 

If I am remembering it right, if both hit their target cap for farming, PS actually does more damage per use, and recharges 2x as fast as FSC, and I personally find the bigger AOE much easier to take advantage of.  Mind probe is also one of the better STDPA attacks in the Sent pools I believe.  I thought I had been seeing low triple digits on PS when testing farming on Justin, but it has been a while since I was playing with Sent builds and can't check from where I am atm.

 

[Jaynen]

Elec combination of short circuit+thunderous blast is the strongest sentinel AOE I have seen, its essentially burn but drains their endurance.