Coming back to the game...

[r0adkill76]

I heard they buffed Sentinels.

 

What is the sweet spot now, what Sentinel can do damage and live to tell about it?

[Underfyre]

All of them.

[CloudMouse]

1 hour ago, Underfyre said:

All of them.

Not hyperbole. The most recent changes made sents solid hitters. 

[nihilii]

It's absolutely wild to me we got away getting almost the same base damage as Blasters. I'm never complaining about the "Sentinels suck" crowd ever again.

[StriderIV]

1 hour ago, nihilii said:

It's absolutely wild to me we got away getting almost the same base damage as Blasters. I'm never complaining about the "Sentinels suck" crowd ever again.

I know you were pumped from the changes! Any combos you’ve really liked recently? I’m running a Water/Regen currently and the thing is SUPER solid.

[nihilii]

43 minutes ago, StriderIV said:

I know you were pumped from the changes! Any combos you’ve really liked recently? I’m running a Water/Regen currently and the thing is SUPER solid.

BEAM! Beam was my great self-discovery. I struggled to click with the set before, but the changes made it snap together for me.

It helps that we're unbound to the T1/T2 attacks now. Because Beam has lengthy animation times. Running Disintegrate -> Lancer Shot -> Piercing Beam is now viable, never have to dip into the T1/T2.

[machopi]

About to incarnate a beam/bio combo and so far it obliterates anything (for pre-incarnate char) i come across. With incarnates it's gonna get absolutely ridiculous.
@nihilii mine's running with t2 instead of piercing beam, because the animation lock on PB really grills my cheese, i'd like to say it's a viable alternative for people hating the PB animation time AND it saves a power slot, worth considering for anyone making a beam sentinel

i go disintegrate > lancer > refractor beam > charged shot (t2), with procs refractor does reasonably well in replacing piercing without lowering your output, plus - 1.5 sec animation, which is boss

Edited February 27, 2023 by machopi

[DanaDark]

Changes are great. Huge boost to damage. Easier to handle the vulnerability mechanic. 

My "main"-ish is a Energy/ WP sentinel and I went with melee hybrid and boy oh boy... being DPS and tank (2min on 2min off) is great.

[biostem]

On 2/26/2023 at 2:18 PM, r0adkill76 said:

 

What is the sweet spot now, what Sentinel can do damage and live to tell about it?

If you want something versatile and durable, try dual pistols/radiation armor.

 

If you want something with better damage, but requiring a little more hands-on attention, try a fire or sonic/bio armor sentinel.

[r0adkill76]

On 2/28/2023 at 8:57 PM, biostem said:

If you want something versatile and durable, try dual pistols/radiation armor.

 

If you want something with better damage, but requiring a little more hands-on attention, try a fire or sonic/bio armor sentinel.

 

Somebody on one of the forums mentioned ice/rad could almost perma blizzard, is that true? (or close?)

 

Edit: maybe its Ice Storm?  Maybe I am on drugs... (right JJ ?)

Edited March 12, 2023 by r0adkill76

[aethereal]

3 hours ago, r0adkill76 said:

 

Somebody on one of the forums mentioned ice/rad could almost perma blizzard, is that true? (or close?)

 

Edit: maybe its Ice Storm?  Maybe I am on drugs... (right JJ ?)

 

Blizzard (on Sents) looks like it has a 90 second cooldown and an 8 second duration, so at maxed recharge it'd be 18 seconds of recharge, so basically about 40% on, 60% off.  That's with maxed recharge, usually impossible to achieve without a pocket Kin or something.

 

Ice Storm has a 60 second cooldown and a 15 second duration (and about a 2 second cast time), so it's theoretically possible to perma it.

[r0adkill76]

2 minutes ago, aethereal said:

 

Blizzard (on Sents) looks like it has a 90 second cooldown and an 8 second duration, so at maxed recharge it'd be 18 seconds of recharge, so basically about 40% on, 60% off.  That's with maxed recharge, usually impossible to achieve without a pocket Kin or something.

 

Ice Storm has a 60 second cooldown and a 15 second duration (and about a 2 second cast time), so it's theoretically possible to perma it.

 

I have been trying to find builds for Ice/Rad and they are very few and far between, I wonder if its just considered a gimped build?

Edited March 13, 2023 by r0adkill76

[nihilii]

The Ice Blast port for Sentinels had a couple of awkward changes, like the beloved Freeze Ray turning into the slower animating with worse mez effect Chilling Ray. It also has the Blaster (slower) version of the Ice Blast power.

This turns the set into a pretty slow set. Only Bitter Ice Blast and Ice Bolt animate fast, and you likely don't want Ice Bolt anyway.

The old Sentinel meta was also to take epic Dominate and proc it out mostly with hold damage procs. This rubs against Bitter Freeze Ray, who also can use hold procs (the purple one being the big concern). This is not as important today, but could have mattered in the past.

It's also debatable whether Sentinel nuke normalization is kind to Blizzard. You get a faster ticking but slower duration power. It's not necessarily bad compared to the original Blizzard; but relative to other Sentinel nukes which sometimes retain the full strength of their secondary effects coupled with a faster time, perhaps it plays a role?

Maybe there is a perception of weakness because of any or all of the above.

Edited March 13, 2023 by nihilii

[r0adkill76]

3 hours ago, nihilii said:

The Ice Blast port for Sentinels had a couple of awkward changes, like the beloved Freeze Ray turning into the slower animating with worse mez effect Chilling Ray. It also has the Blaster (slower) version of the Ice Blast power.

This turns the set into a pretty slow set. Only Bitter Ice Blast and Ice Bolt animate fast, and you likely don't want Ice Bolt anyway.

The old Sentinel meta was also to take epic Dominate and proc it out mostly with hold damage procs. This rubs against Bitter Freeze Ray, who also can use hold procs (the purple one being the big concern). This is not as important today, but could have mattered in the past.

It's also debatable whether Sentinel nuke normalization is kind to Blizzard. You get a faster ticking but slower duration power. It's not necessarily bad compared to the original Blizzard; but relative to other Sentinel nukes which sometimes retain the full strength of their secondary effects coupled with a faster time, perhaps it plays a role?

Maybe there is a perception of weakness because of any or all of the above.

 

Well then, that would be a good reason its not so awesome.... back to the drawing board, I want to make ?/Rad sentinel that can take advantage of Rad's fast recharge, but not sure what would be the best for this...   How are DPs on Sents?  I always found them weak on blasters.

 

[TygerDarkstorm]

1 hour ago, r0adkill76 said:

 

Well then, that would be a good reason its not so awesome.... back to the drawing board, I want to make ?/Rad sentinel that can take advantage of Rad's fast recharge, but not sure what would be the best for this...   How are DPs on Sents?  I always found them weak on blasters.

 

From my understanding, DP is good on Sents. @oldskool has a lot of DP knowledge he can probably share with you.

My suggestion would be Fire/Rad. Fire animates fast, has good damage, and @nihilii has done some pretty cool tricks with their Fire/Rad sent.

[oldskool]

On 3/13/2023 at 9:46 AM, r0adkill76 said:

 

How are DPs on Sents?  I always found them weak on blasters.

 

 

Since I was summoned... 

My opinion is that Dual Pistols is a perfectly viable and suitable set for any of the ATs it has access to. The set neither overperforms or underperforms when built to its strengths and minimizing its weaknesses. 

The last bit there is emphasized because I often see builds and discussions of the set trying to describe or construct it in ways it isn't currently capable of supporting. Some of this is player stubbornness, some of it attributable to "common forum knowledge" (which generates incorrect assumptions on various power tiers in a vacuum), and finally on the development of the set itself (its complexity and nuance is not necessarily obvious). 

So, if you didn't like Dual Pistols on Blasters, then there is a *really* high chance you're not going to like it on the Sentinel. Of course, there could be any number of reasons why one feels that Dual Pistols is weak. I can make a whole bunch of assumptions that likely involve Piercing Rounds and Swap Ammo, but really only you can answer how you felt about it. 

That said, Dual Pistols on Sentinels can be a pretty good set when utilizing damage procs. Sentinels, unlike most other ranged ATs, have a FAR easier time closing up defense gaps which can open up different damage slotting. This can allow Sentinels to leverage the change to Suppressive Fire's recharge (it is much longer on other ATs) and create a whole new attack pattern other ATs can't easily replicate outside really high recharge. 

If that sounds interesting, then I have a very long write-up on the matter in the sticky at the top of this subforum. 

Also... I think the mindset of X set was weak on Blasters is the kind of trap logic that will make you hate playing the Sentinel. 

Edited March 15, 2023 by oldskool

[biostem]

On 3/13/2023 at 9:46 AM, r0adkill76 said:

How are DPs on Sents?

I like the flexibility you get with the different ammo types, but in exchange you lose out on an aim power.  That being said, you can benefit from the additional range 24x7 by staying in cryo ammo.  At the same time, you'll either come to love or hate the flashy "gun-fu" animations...

Edited March 15, 2023 by biostem

[ClawsandEffect]

@oldskool

 

Could never get into DP on a Sentinel, but my DP/Martial blaster is one of my favorite characters to play. I intentionally built him with no set attack chain in mind so I could just hit whatever power happens to be recharged and in range. He's a teleporter, so that includes the melee attacks. He looks like an over the top action movie when I play him. 

 

My favorite Sentinel is my Dark/SR. I managed to solo a MoITF run with her before Sentinels were buffed. She's insanely good now. 

[oldskool]

On 3/18/2023 at 12:52 AM, ClawsandEffect said:

DP/Martial blaster is one of my favorite characters to play. I intentionally built him with no set attack chain in mind so I could just hit whatever power happens to be recharged and in range. He's a teleporter, so that includes the melee attacks. He looks like an over the top action movie when I play him. 

 

And this is a very effective combo and plan. 

Dual Pistols is a pretty solid Blapper set when mixed and matched with melee powers. I've also played that pairing, and it can be pretty damn fun while also highly effective. However, it isn't really the shooting parts which carry the build. Its the MA parts. 😉 

Still, this is what I am talking about when I say building to the strengths. DP has a melee range T9 and Bullet Rain for another sphere attack. This pairs nicely with the MA melee sphere and so on. 

The problem, as I see it, with DP and Blaster builds is trying to use it as a pure ranged set while ignoring the melee in the secondary. There are better primaries to do that with than DP. Obviously, the Sentinel has very little choice and so it being largely ranged is the default. At least on the Sentinel, their is some very minor difference in how that pure range build works that feels a bit smoother. As stated before, for Corrs and 'Fenders the utility elements in Swap Ammo are far more important to me than the DPS or actions per minute impact of the set itself.