Hoverblasting Vs Sentinel

[Lhanis]

Edit: Poorly worded, please see my second post.

 

So I was trying to put together a ranged/hover blaster setup with Dark/MC, as I'm not particularly fond of blapping. Having a PBAoE nuke doesn't bother me, I'm just not comfy staying in melee on an AT with no mez prot. Burst of Speed looked like a quick and fun way to get in and out for it, too.

 

But if my intent is to largely skip most of the melee portion of the kit, would I just be better served by rolling it as a Sent instead after Sent's scalar buff? Dark is already a middling set on Blaster that wants to be procc'd out more than it wants %Dam, so aside from the loss of RftL (or a different buildup clone in general) and a bit of range I'm not actually sure much actually changes. Torrent loses 4 targets, but Oblit is still 10 and arguably easier to use than the short cone Tenebrous Tentacles has.

 

I suppose the actual question I have here is... is there even a point to hoverblasting now that Sentinel has closed the gap in damage?

Edited December 11, 2023 by Lhanis

[FupDup]

Some have said that a Blaster without melee is like a Sentinel without armor, which is at least true in terms of flavor/feel (only one Blaster secondary without melee, compared to a whole bunch of Sent secondaries without melee AND Sents can't pick up melee ST attacks until level 35 and they only get 1 there). Blasters are designed such that their strongest attacks are usually melee. A pure range Blaster isn't going to be kicked off of teams or anything, and can still contribute fine, but it kind of misses the point of the AT (excluding Tac Arrow of course). 

 

I have a just a wee bit of a bias here, but I think Sents would fill your intended fantasy (mostly range, mezz protection) more accurately. And Dark Blast is pretty nifty on Sents due to having Dark Oblit as a part of its kit. Also the range gets pretty close if you slot the ATO sets (crappy procs but good set bonuses, similar to Brutes). 

[Elementfury323]

It really depends on your goals. Blasters will always win in Pure damage they can be built to be really sturdy especially as a hover blaster. I love sentinels and have a dark/dark Sent that is really fun and sturdy. I’m not much of a min maxxer I play what I find fun. I suggest trying both and find what feels better to play to you which is more a matter of opinion. 

[Frozen Burn]

1 hour ago, Lhanis said:

So I was trying to put together a ranged/hover blaster setup with Dark/MC, as I'm not particularly fond of blapping. Having a PBAoE nuke doesn't bother me, I'm just not comfy staying in melee on an AT with no mez prot. Burst of Speed looked like a quick and fun way to get in and out for it, too.

 

But if my intent is to largely skip most of the melee portion of the kit, would I just be better served by rolling it as a Sent instead after Sent's scalar buff? Dark is already a middling set on Blaster that wants to be procc'd out more than it wants %Dam, so aside from the loss of RftL (or a different buildup clone in general) and a bit of range I'm not actually sure much actually changes. Torrent loses 4 targets, but Oblit is still 10 and arguably easier to use than the short cone Tenebrous Tentacles has.

 

I suppose the actual question I have here is... is there even a point to hoverblasting now that Sentinel has closed the gap in damage?

 

First off, Martial Combat is not the secondary to pick for hover-blasting.  You'll be skipping more powers than taking.  If you really just want the quick port into and out of melee, you can pick up Combat Teleport from the Teleportation pool, and then pick a secondary that is suited more to being at range:  /Trick Arrow, /Devices, and even /Energy for the boost powers, and /Ninja has plenty of ranged tricks too.  

 

As for Sentinels, you have shorter range and lower target caps on AOEs compared to blasters, and lower damage scaler still.  Many of the Sent armors give buffs/debuffs when in melee, so staying at pure range on a Sent - to me - has no real benefit other than to just sit back and lazily mash buttons.  That's a little boring for me, but that is just my opinion... many like that - and that's okay.

 

I would say, a hover blaster is still better than a Sentinel.  But I'm biased towards Blasters over everything.  😄  If you want to try hover blasting, I would suggest leaning towards /TA or /Dev as they give you good control - especially for those times when you you're in a cave and can't hover.  With /Dev, Caltrops can really save you there and with enough recharge, you can also have 2 gun drones perma that hover with you and follow you around (and take some aggro off you too).  /TA has a lot of control and debuff too.  

[Lhanis]

To be clear, I don't have a problem playing at closer range on Sentinel. My sticking point with Blaster in general is that I don't feel comfortable staying there to keep working in the melee attacks with the secondary on an AT that doesn't have the defenses or mez prot to do so safely. ie; with /MC, I didn't see myself being able to comfortably keep Storm Kick and Eagle Claw in the rotation.

 

What I think I failed to get across is that I'm not really looking for build advice, or recommendations of one AT over the other for my particular setup. I worded it poorly, and that's on me.

 

What I'm trying to ask is more along the lines of... what is the actual difference from a numbers standpoint? With the example I gave of Dark Blast/MC versus, say, Dark/SR Sent, if I'm leaving out the melee attacks... what actually changes between them. MC may not have been the best set to use as an example, it just happened to be the one I had my mind on at the time I was thinking about all this.

 

In the grand scheme of things, I'm looking more at the concept of Hoverblaster Vs Sent in general, not specifically in this one instance of me trying to make a build. Between the two ATs, using the same Blast set... what does Hoverblasting have over Sent in exchange for that armor now that the damage is much closer than it was? Is there still a reason to Hoverblast at all? That sort of thing.

Edited December 11, 2023 by Lhanis

[Frozen Burn]

38 minutes ago, Lhanis said:

To be clear, I don't have a problem playing at closer range on Sentinel. My sticking point with Blaster in general is that I don't feel comfortable staying there to keep working in the melee attacks with the secondary on an AT that doesn't have the defenses or mez prot to do so safely. ie; with /MC, I didn't see myself being able to comfortably keep Storm Kick and Eagle Claw in the rotation.

 

First, Blasters should not stand still in melee anyway - unless you specifically build for that and can handle the pressure.  Generally, Blasters should be moving, kiting, jousting, etc.  

 

If you don't mind popping in and out of melee range, then you could still take melee attacks and be successful in using them.  It's called jousting... after shooting, pop into melee range to hit one or two times, pop out of melee range and shoot again... you can also queue up your melee attack as you run by - you'll animate and hit doing the damage, but your toon will keep running/jumping to the other side to safety , where you can shoot more if need be.  These are tried and true blaster techniques that will allow you to use your hard hitting melee powers and still keep you safe. 

 

The key to this is your ranged defense (which you would want anyway if you're making a hover-blaster).  Beefing up your ranged defense will also help you not get mezzed as most mezzes are "ranged" attacks (so the type doesn't matter).  Additionally, as a blaster, you have defiance and your primary T1 & T2 + secondary T1 powers still work for the few times you might get mezzed - I can't tell you how many times that has saved my Blaster's life.  But many people skip those low tier powers - but I don't just for that reason.  Your control powers are also there to keep you safe, but many skip those as well to their own detriment.  

 

There are ways to build and play your blaster (whether hovering or not) and stay alive and stay un-mezzed (or minimally).   

 

38 minutes ago, Lhanis said:

What I'm trying to ask is more along the lines of... what is the actual difference from a numbers standpoint? With the example I gave of Dark Blast/MC versus, say, Dark/SR Sent, if I'm leaving out the melee attacks... what actually changes between them. MC may not have been the best set to use as an example, it just happened to be the one I had my mind on at the time I was thinking about all this.

 

In the grand scheme of things, I'm looking more at the concept of Hoverblaster Vs Sent in general, not specifically in this one instance of me trying to make a build. Between the two ATs, using the same Blast set... what does Hoverblasting have over Sent in exchange for that armor now that the damage is much closer than it was? Is there still a reason to Hoverblast at all? That sort of thing.

 

But comparing the two really does depend on the player and the build, imo.  Hover-blasting is a specific playstyle and build of the Blaster AT... so, you do need to consider build options. 

 

A well built hover-blaster will be better than a Sentinel.  And if you hover-blast and pick a secondary where you DON'T utilize most of the powers, you are gimping yourself and damage output-wise, you'll be about equal to a Sent - maybe even less (I'm not a number cruncher and just generalizing from playing these 2 ATs and witnessing others).  Taking a secondary like Devices or Trick Arrow (or even the others I mentioned) - you will out perform the Sentinel while hover-blasting.  

 

If you're looking for toe-to-toe blast set vs. blast set and the trade off you get from having that armor on your Sent.... Again, Blasters have higher target caps and higher damage modifier.... so the hover-blaster primary will dish out more damage to more foes vs. the Sent's primary.  ...and you can do it at a longer range, too.  

 

It really comes down to playstyle and comfortability.  You can min/max a blaster to highest of heights - but how you play it is a factor too.  You can have the best build in the world, but if you don't play it to its potential, it's all wasted.  To me, Sentinels are easier to play - they're like the "plug-in-play" AT.  🙂  So again, go with your playstyle and comfortability.  

 

I hope at least some this helps?

[Nemu]

Taking and using your melee toolkit doesn’t mean staying in melee. That is a false equivalency that I see a lot of hover blasters use to justify their aversion to melee. Even micro movements of a few feet can keep NPCs in pursuit or range mode. Staying at range doesn’t need to be as dramatic as hovering 50 feet above in the air.

 

Having said that the combo is tedious. It requires a lot of maneuvering to use the cones and the melee stuff and hover is pretty awful for combat mobility. If you want to most of this setup you’ll need to joust a lot.

 

One benefit of hover blasting with dark blast is that at an angle you can psuedo normalize the range of torrent so it doesn’t tag the next group. But you can also do that by jumping up and firing it at the apex of the jump.

Still, if you don’t want to move a lot or have old man reflexes then the armored ATs are more conducive to that playstyle. Based on what I read, it seems that survival trumps offensive numbers to you. Go sentinel, enjoy having better survival, mez protection and using your nuke every encounter.

[Lhanis]

41 minutes ago, Frozen Burn said:

I hope at least some this helps?

 

Absolutely, and I do appreciate the explanations even without the number crunching. ☺️

 

A lot of my confusion and rambling probably comes from the fact that Blaster is the one AT I've not touched since early Live, being a much more skittish and support oriented player who tends to take faceplants poorly. I think a lot of what worries me about the AT is more about my idea of Blaster, rather than what it actually is, if that makes sense. And having people who actually do play it put it into perspective helps a lot.

 

I think the best thing I can do really is just... play it, and see for myself. So I think I will.

 

I'm still keeping hover though, just in case.

[tidge]

6 hours ago, Lhanis said:

What I'm trying to ask is more along the lines of... what is the actual difference from a numbers standpoint? With the example I gave of Dark Blast/MC versus, say, Dark/SR Sent, if I'm leaving out the melee attacks... what actually changes between them. MC may not have been the best set to use as an example, it just happened to be the one I had my mind on at the time I was thinking about all this.

 

I think you may find that the lower target caps from Sentinels ends up bothering you more than whatever might by bothersome about Blaster primary/secondary combos. If face-planting is a really bothersome issue, the Epic Flame pool offers Rise of the Phoenix after several other good power picks.

 

FWIW: Even though I have melee (and PBAoE) attacks on my Dark/ Blaster, that character almost exclusively makes ranged attacks. I find Dark to be one of the slower Blaster primaries... partly due to the DoT... and partly because of knockback/knockdown... and partly due to the way RNG tends to let some fraction of mobs get close while others are scattered or immobilized. I suspect if I was playing a Dark Sentinel I would find myself wanting some Melee attacks (because of lower AoE caps)

 

I like Blapping, but on fast PUG teams, the teammates may not even realize if a Blaster is using melee attacks.

[Frozen Burn]

7 hours ago, Lhanis said:

 

Absolutely, and I do appreciate the explanations even without the number crunching. ☺️

 

A lot of my confusion and rambling probably comes from the fact that Blaster is the one AT I've not touched since early Live, being a much more skittish and support oriented player who tends to take faceplants poorly. I think a lot of what worries me about the AT is more about my idea of Blaster, rather than what it actually is, if that makes sense. And having people who actually do play it put it into perspective helps a lot.

 

I think the best thing I can do really is just... play it, and see for myself. So I think I will.

 

I'm still keeping hover though, just in case.

 

If you really want to play a Blaster, then I say, play a Blaster!  🙂  And don't be skittish... lean into it.  Your offense is your defense!

 

Mobs will rush you to punch, slash, stab you - so use your controls, like that T1 immob, a hold, stun, slows, etc to keep as many off you that you can.  Hit them hard with blasts and finish them off with that melee attack when they rush you.  Switch up targets - control one or several, and then get the others that aren't controlled.  Target the most annoying one and eliminate it first, whether it's a minion, lt, or boss.  

 

Stay nimble - Kite, joust - if you have lots of aggro, lead them to your tank/brute if you have one - even a scrapper can sometimes do.  Don't run away from your defenders/controllers/buffers/debuffers.  Basically, if you get overwhelmed (and you will), don't run away from your team - run towards them.  And yes... take hover or even just Fly to get up in the air, if you need it.  

 

USE YOUR INSPIRATIONS!  Many people think it's weak to rely on these - absolutely not!!  

 

You will die - it just happens, but learn why you did and don't do that again.  🙂  Again - USE YOUR INSPIRATIONS!  

 

As Tidge suggested, Dark Blast may play slower due to the heavier DoT (as compared to Fire that has more upfront damage with a little DoT).  So you may want to pick something with more upfront damage - again, your offense is your defense - so the sooner they die, the better.  This isn't saying Dark is bad - it's just different - and fun.  And if you're nervous about playing the AT, then try something else first and come back to Dark when you're feeling more comfortable/confident.  (Or lean into it and go for it!)  😄  

 

Ice Blast would be a great option for you, i think.  It's a great hitter, has a quick hold that does really good damage and a 2nd longer animation hold that also does heavy damage, and your nuke is a ranged AoE with Knock DOWN.  Most skip the 2nd longer hold (Bitter Freeze Ray), but I do not - you can stack it with your other hold to keep that boss from hitting you (and then if you get a hold in your epic (like Char) you can hold an EB).  The longer animation of Bitter Freeze Ray has been shortened so it's not as bad as it was, but if you use that as an opener on your boss, you can follow up with Freeze Ray quickly to hold them, and then deal with the trash mobs while throwing an occasional stacking Freeze Ray on the boss to keep them locked down.  It's very useful and handy, especially for someone new to the AT.  ....something to consider anyway.  

 

Archery/Trick Arrow might be a good combo for you too.  While Archery is lethal damage and is resisted a lot, it is fast and you can really make up for it and still deal lots of damage overall.  Paired with /TA, you won't have pesky redraw issues or a magic bow that just appears in your hand when you use your secondary.  It's just a fun combo.  🙂  /TA has lots of control and debuffs and Archery's Nuke is fast recharging and also a ranged AoE.  There are no melee attacks in these sets, so if you want to hover-blast, it's very compatible with that playstyle.  

 

....just a couple quick suggestions that you might like.   Good luck and let us know what you decide to play!  🙂  

 

[PyroBeetle]

I think that it is the target caps on a Sentinel that is really going to be the major drawback. It's not the damage scalar, it is the fact that those juicy dark cones will only be hitting a fraction of the enemies at a time that a Blaster would. I ran across this issue with my Sonic Sentinel, which worked great, except for the fact that I just wasn't affecting as many enemies as I would on a Blaster. My experience seems particularly relevant a different cone based set.

 

My main right now is a AR/TA Blaster with 32.5% ranged defense, reaching soft cap with single purple. I don't normally need to pop the purple as Flash Arrow is that good, but against some enemies it is useful, and I have a macro to combine most insp into purples and a bind to eat them for this purpose. I rarely die in team content and am damn effective. Natural character so I don't hover either.

[FupDup]

For Dark Blast I decided to look at the actual numbers in City of Data to illuminate the comparison. 

 

T1: Dark Blast

Blaster: 62.5615

Sentinel: 61.1712

 

T2: Gloom

Blaster: 13.7635 (DoT)

Sentinel: 13.4577 (DoT)

 

T3: Umbral Torrent

Blaster: 60.059 (10 targets)

Sentinel: 58.7244 (6 targets)

 

T7/T4: Abysmal Gaze

Blaster: 44.231

Sentinel: 43.248

 

T5/T7: Moonbeam vs. Antumbral Beam

Blaster: 139.3 base using quick form (had to use Mids for this) but it can vary based on your to-hit bonuses, or 247 slow form, 150ft range

Sent: 168.8325 (no variability), 60ft range

 

T6/T5: Tenebrous Tentacles vs. Dark Obliteration

Blaster: 8.4458 upfront, 6.2562 DoT, mag 3 immobilize, 40* cone, 10 targets

Sentinel: 55.0541, 15ft circular AoE, 10 targets

 

T8: Life Drain

Blaster: 102.6009 damage, 120.4759 heal

Sentinel: 100.3208 damage, 80.3173 heal

 

T9: Blackstar

Blaster: 187.6845 and 62.5615, 25ft radius, 16 targets, 145s recharge

Sentinel: 137.8187 entire radius, 56.7669 bonus in 8ft center radius, 20ft radius, 10 targets, 90s recharge

 

So the basic verdicts:

Most ST attacks are pretty close, with some only losing a few decimal places of damage. The sniper comparison is murky because of their variability. The self heal is noticeably weaker for some reason. 

AoE is also murky because Dark Oblit easily stomps Tenebrous Tentacles but Sents have a weaker Umbral Torrent (in terms of target cap). The nukes can be debated because of the tradeoff of more targets and larger alpha strike vs. faster recharge (potential sustained damage edge at the cost of lower alpha strike). 

 

However, these numbers fail to consider the impact of Blasters' Defiance buffs as well as Sentinels' Vulnerability buffs. Defiance can vary but Vulnerability is a flat 15% resistance debuff (also debuffs secondary protections to stuff like end drains etc.) that helps everybody on the team. All in all it's probably not going to be a giant difference because the damage gap between the 2 AT's is nowhere near the size that it used to be. Contrary to popular belief, Sentinels do in fact inflict greater damage than a petless Empathy Mastermind built using SO's. Much greater, in fact. 

 

I still maintain that if you don't care much for melee and don't want to deal with mezz, Sents will probably tickle your fancy more accurately than Blasters who usually need to take a more "proactive" approach to survival (kill or mezz them before they do the same to you) and have a greater dependence on consumable items to prop up their defenses. Sents can just "stand and deliver" without a care in the world, armor set depending. Speaking of which, knowing what armor sets you'd be interested in would make this comparison easier because some are quite a bit better than others...

 

Edited December 13, 2023 by FupDup

[Thraxen]

Concept of the toon pics for me half the time. Or getting mezzed to much makes me reroll. Blasters do more damage. Sentinels debuff helps on AVs not to great rest of time. 

[Snarky]

THE END ALL HOVER BLASTER (with better than Sentinel protection in most cases....)

 

 

 

Blaster - Electrical Blast - Temporal Manipulation tank 4.0.mxd

[Lhanis]

14 minutes ago, Snarky said:

THE END ALL HOVER BLASTER (with better than Sentinel protection in most cases....)

 

 

 

Blaster - Electrical Blast - Temporal Manipulation tank 4.0.mxd 4.79 kB · 0 downloads

 

...I'm'a just tuck that away for later >.>;

 

good lord look at all that Def

[Snarky]

11 minutes ago, Lhanis said:

 

...I'm'a just tuck that away for later >.>;

 

good lord look at all that Def

The inspiration was a Blaster I invited to a farm.  My Brute was grinding away, this Blaster was doing Alpha strikes and fly bys the entire time.  Only died once or twice.  I was like.... hmmmm

 

Works best (farming) on a large outdoor map like city blocks or carnie tents.  In regular content is a vicious burst damage dealer with 3 "oh crap" buttons for getting out of any situation alive.

[TheMoncrief]

On 12/14/2023 at 5:20 PM, Snarky said:

The inspiration was a Blaster I invited to a farm.  My Brute was grinding away, this Blaster was doing Alpha strikes and fly bys the entire time.  Only died once or twice.  I was like.... hmmmm

 

Works best (farming) on a large outdoor map like city blocks or carnie tents.  In regular content is a vicious burst damage dealer with 3 "oh crap" buttons for getting out of any situation alive.

How well (or poorly) do you think that would work out switched to Water Blast? I have a Water/Time Blaster I've been wondering what to do with...

[Snarky]

9 minutes ago, TheMoncrief said:

How well (or poorly) do you think that would work out switched to Water Blast? I have a Water/Time Blaster I've been wondering what to do with...

It should transfer well.  Water is fully ranged.  you will need to change the sets somewhat.  keep your ranged defense above 45%.  Might even be better!

[Heatstroke]

Just throwing in 2 cents as someone who played a lot of blasters back in the day and now plays a lot of Sentinels..

 

 

Sentinels really depend on the build to some degree.. 

 

Everyone is correct.. Sentinels have a lower target cap for AoEs and Nukes.. 

 

However a Sentinel can pretty much with semi decent recharge have their Nuke up every mob.

 

One of my characters is a Rad/Fire Sentinel.  Having an Absorb Shield and a Heal is very beneficial, as well as the fact he cant be mezzed. 

 

He has 4 single target attacks,  3 PbAoE attacks,  3 Ranged AoE attack ( Fire Cages, Fireball and Rain of Fire) 

Add in Aim and Meltdown ( which is basically Build up with some end recovery built in ) 

 

Blasters are designed to be " glass cannons" Lots or burst damage, so they can take foe down quickly before the foes beat them. You can use IOs and Incarnate powers on a Blaster to get better defense, resistance, healing buffs etc etc.. but that usually comes much later, and with a lot of investment. 

Sentinels get that as a part of their powerset, and they can still add IOs and Incarnate powers to layer on top,  and from my experience I have found that again depending on the sentinel build, I can continue to attack constantly because I dont get mezzed.. 

Just my two cents

[StarseedWarrior]

3 hours ago, Heatstroke said:

Just throwing in 2 cents as someone who played a lot of blasters back in the day and now plays a lot of Sentinels..

 

 

Sentinels really depend on the build to some degree.. 

 

Everyone is correct.. Sentinels have a lower target cap for AoEs and Nukes.. 

 

However a Sentinel can pretty much with semi decent recharge have their Nuke up every mob.

 

One of my characters is a Rad/Fire Sentinel.  Having an Absorb Shield and a Heal is very beneficial, as well as the fact he cant be mezzed. 

 

He has 4 single target attacks,  3 PbAoE attacks,  3 Ranged AoE attack ( Fire Cages, Fireball and Rain of Fire) 

Add in Aim and Meltdown ( which is basically Build up with some end recovery built in ) 

 

Blasters are designed to be " glass cannons" Lots or burst damage, so they can take foe down quickly before the foes beat them. You can use IOs and Incarnate powers on a Blaster to get better defense, resistance, healing buffs etc etc.. but that usually comes much later, and with a lot of investment. 

Sentinels get that as a part of their powerset, and they can still add IOs and Incarnate powers to layer on top,  and from my experience I have found that again depending on the sentinel build, I can continue to attack constantly because I dont get mezzed.. 

Just my two cents

I personally found blasters very boring due to the recharge of those powers to, this really is a playstyle for many out there and thats part of the reason why many still love the at as well.

[Psiphon]

Currently */Plant is my flavour of the month.

On top of the usual ST hold and immob, you get a decent charging targeted AoE hold. A toggled Tageted AoE debuff and no cost toggle that gives you +absorb/recovery and resist to toxic and confuse.

 

I’ve levelled a Dark/Plant that plays like Blastroller. This combo was brought to my attention by another poster a while back - thanks for that.

Currently just off L50 with a Storm/Plant, which again provides nice damage and control.

Both of these are hover blasters but recently started a ground based Seismic/Plant as I wanted the full benefit of Seismic (needs to be on the ground) and decent survivability, all of Plants goodies help here.

[Hitback]

I'm currently playing Psy/Martial blaster, and I'm wondering why dominators exist xD

 

I rolled the combo on a whim (a mind and body type of character concept), but I found it to be extremely synergistic. The same robots that are resistant to psychic are usually weak to smashing, so that's a nice damage type spread, both sets have an aoe stun that I can alternate between mobs and then a single target stun to layer on the boss. If the mob is still alive, Scramble Thoughts is a super spammable aoe mez, a lot of my attacks have knockdown and then I took Bonfire for another group cc.

Edited January 21 by Hitback

[Snarky]

On 1/18/2024 at 6:54 PM, Heatstroke said:

However a Sentinel can pretty much with semi decent recharge have their Nuke up every mob.

serious question...that i do not want to research....

 

arent most blasters non nuke "aoe ball" or "aoe cone" more effective than a Sentinel nuke?

[EnjoyTheJourney]

1 hour ago, Snarky said:

serious question...that i do not want to research....

 

arent most blasters non nuke "aoe ball" or "aoe cone" more effective than a Sentinel nuke?

Maybe if you string several together in quick succession. Even then, probably no.

My electric sentinel is SR, and not bio or another secondary that directly increases damage. But, the nuke is up about every 21 seconds and it does 904 damage when charge up (ie: aim) is activated first and the gaussian build up proc activates. That's not including any possible extra damage from the shocked mechanic. Since charge up is saved specifically to support the nuke and the gaussian build up proc has a 95% chance of activating, it's a good bet that 904 damage or more is what it will do. 

Ball lightning (cast time 1.07 seconds) and electrifying fences (1.17 seconds) are usually cast right after the nuke. With charge up and the gaussian proc still activated they do 281 and 262 damage each. The "X" factor is that both of these follow-up AOEs usually benefit from the shocked mechanic because the nuke drains a lot of end from mobs. But, I don't yet understand how much that increases damage. Thus, a single cycle of AOEs does about 1400 damage, plus whatever the shocked mechanic adds on top of that. This cycle can be repeated about every 21 seconds.  

Edited January 22 by EnjoyTheJourney

[Snarky]

17 minutes ago, EnjoyTheJourney said:

Maybe if you string several together in quick succession. Even then, probably no.

My electric sentinel is SR, and not bio or another secondary that directly increases damage. But, the nuke is up about every 21 seconds and it does 904 damage when charge up (ie: aim) is activated first and the gaussian build up proc activates. That's not including any possible extra damage from the shocked mechanic. Since charge up is saved specifically to support the nuke and the gaussian build up proc has a 95% chance of activating, it's a good bet that 904 damage or more is what it will do. 

Ball lightning (cast time 1.07 seconds) and electrifying fences (1.17 seconds) are usually cast right after the nuke. With charge up and the gaussian proc still activated they do 281 and 262 damage each. The "X" factor is that both of these follow-up AOEs usually benefit from the shocked mechanic because the nuke drains a lot of end from mobs. But, I don't yet understand how much that increases damage. Thus, a single cycle of AOEs does about 1400 damage, plus whatever the shocked mechanic adds on top of that. This cycle can be repeated about every 21 seconds.  

No offense (prepare to be offended), but in my math oriented mind this is exactly how NOT to respond.

 

All I wanted someone to do is say Fireball (not nuke) on a Blaster (unenhanced) hits X targets for Y damage.  Sentinel Fire Nuke (unenhanced) hits X targets for Y damage.  Bonus if you include details like footprint (diameter) of AoE.  

 

Instead... "Well, this particular mechanic, when added with build up, when you take enemies from the left side, and then have them fall into a.... makes this particular Nuke way more effective than an unmodified similarly named Blaster power. "