Elec/Rad Sentinel - Cheap IO Build - Any advice welcome

[BruwtForce]

Haven't played since COH was shutdown many moons ago, so I'm very out of touch (especially with any changes Homecoming has made).

 

Trying out an Elec/Rad sentinel (I used to play mainly controller and decided to try something new), so not sure if this build would even work - willing to learn from those more proficient in the AT.

 

Goal of the build was to put one together to get me to 50 using cheap (cheapish) IO's that are easily crafted and accessible. Based on the understanding that I'm starting from a zero-influence base. Fully intend to respec once influence is gained after I've farmed/played the market after I hit 50.

 

Never played with mids before (as in making my own build, and I'm assuming that any more than 2 IO's of say damage/accuracy etc.. goes over the cap (I think that's how it used to be, and mids still seems to show a % over 100 in red if I try and slot say three damage IO's into a skill. Please correct me if I'm wrong on this.

 

Not concerned with Accolades or Incarnate powers at this point - just a basic leveling build to get me to 50 as cheaply as possible.

 

I mainly solo but will occasionally team up - build was designed around a solo experience. Any advice, changes, suggestions welcome - or does this look solid for an IO build? Little concerned with the lack of defence (10.1% across the board), and the cold/psionic resistances. The rest of the resistances are fairly high for an IO build I think.

 

Can't seem to get Mids to export in forum format, so I just included the mdb file as an attachment.

Cheap IO Sentinel (Electrical Blast - Radiation Armor).mbd

[Swiftly]

I don't know if your build is any good or not,  I am new to COH.  But I appreciate you posting a leveling build.  Most builds on these forums seem to level 50 builds with no thought given to leveling.

[BruwtForce]

I know, I can't even seem to find an Elec/Rad build posted anywhere for some reason. I've seen YouTube videos of people playing them, but they don't show how they are slotted. I have no idea if this build is decent or not, I just played around with Mids and tried to balance numbers and powers. I really wanted to take the pet, but ran out of slots. I could drop hover or tough I guess - not sure how useful 10% defence would be, but something is better than nothing I guess. Mainly why I posted the build, was hoping for some constructive feedback, but most people are only interested in the decked out set builds.

[BruwtForce]

Modified the build a bit. Removed Hover (might put it back in after 50 as it's a prime slot for a Luck of the Gambler), which allowed me to take Voltaic Sentinel. Then re-assigned some of the endurance reduction slots from a bunch of the low endurance toggles (such as tough, weave, etc.) to allow voltaic sentinel to gain a full 6 slots. That does increase the endurance drain to 2.4/s, but it's still under the recovery rate of 3.8/s - also, there are a bunch of Elec powers slotted for endurance modification which should also help keep endurance topped up (guessing at this point, as this is now more of a theory learning build for me). 

 

Final change was to move some of the powers around. A lot of the damage skills were being taken way too late in the build, so they have been moved so they are taken earlier - a bit of a trade off as some of the utility skills (tough, weave, hasten, etc.) got pushed back to later levels. The defensive powers also got a little more spread out and moved around (alpha barrier, fallout shelter, and proton armor specifically). My reasoning being that a dead enemy is no threat - so I'd rather have the offence earlier and live on the edge a little.

 

Dunno, think this is what I'm going to go with and give this a try - looks semi-solid on paper for an IO build. Plus, it will allow me to try out and play with all of the powers from both the primary and secondary tree. From there I can decide what powers I like, what I can live without. The only other thing that I'm not quite certain about is endurance usage - I may end up slotting more for some endurance reduction instead of endurance modification, but until I play it, I won't know how bad the sustain is.

Cheap IO Sentinel v2 (Electrical Blast - Radiation Armor).mbd

[Sovera]

Generic IOs are something you start replacing as soon as level 20-ish so don't plan too long on sticking with generics. Most of the cheap stuff will cost less than 2 million and you can earn money selling merits. If you're new my signature has tips about this.

 

That said you're making a few small mistakes.

 

Charge up does not need To-Hit buffs, only recharges (and a Gaussian proc the moment you can afford it).

Combat Jumping gives too little defense to be worth slotting defense, and it makes more sense to use Hover and blast from the air.

There is no point in slotting Tesla Cage with Hold IOs, and you're taking it waaaaay too late.

Thunderous Blast is your nuke and you want that back as soon as possible. It's cooldown coincides with Charge-up which provides a large boost to accuracy (plus the Gaussian I mentioned) so you can skip all accuracy on it.

Hasten wants both slots +5 to skip one slot, or three while leveling, and again it is too late in the game since you want it to help your nuke return faster.

All your defense and resist toggles want one more slot, and maybe one for endurance discount.

Though most of your attacks CAN take an endurance modifying IO it is just to drain enemies which is a mechanic with little use. You will do more damage to enemies the lower their endurance, true, but it's not worth slotting for.

Particle Shielding gives regen, shields, and has a large 50% recovery buff. The regen is only up for 30 seconds but the endurance is up for 60 seconds, so you want to beef its recharge to have this triple whammy up as often as possible (in fact, click it the moment it's off cooldown instead of saving it).

Ground Zero is not very useful without being 90% damage procs so no rush in grabbing it. If you do grab it then immediately start slotting it with damage procs, but it casts so slowly that while leveling and IO-less I would just focus on slotting my other powers, but this is something for you to decide. Because its recharge coincides with Charge-up as well you don't need to slot accuracy since they will be all used at the same time.

Meltdown is a panic button with bad uptime and long cast time. I don't touch it despite the damage boost it brings because the damage boost hits the ED cap which we are at anyway.

You have too many attacks. These are needed as you level but level 22 you should be down to a rotation of Lightning Bolt, Charged Bolts, Zapping Bolt, Charged Bolts once you have minimal IOs slotted instead of generics. I left all the attacks in since you won't have the recharge for a gapless rotation with just three.

 

You don't need Boxing/Weave soon in the build since their effects are minimal. They are taken to boost already present defenses to reach a certain cap but with a generic IOs build you'll be nowhere close to those caps. So you use inspirations when needed and keep flying above the heads of the enemies and save Tough/Weave for later. Even Ground Zero and Short Circuit can be use flying just out of melee range while over the mob's heads and it will still hit them.

 

Hover is, in my opinion, more important than Fly since you're 90% of the time fighting and 10% of the time travelling to another mission. But because you're taking so many attacks there is no way to have both early. I suggest picking Hover early and then use a cheap 5k jetpack from the P2W vendor to travel between missions.

 

These are all small mistakes easy to make and not a big deal, you would have reached 50 with your build regardless.

 

I'm going to do a few tweaks as if a leveling build, AKA 3 slotting hasten, only one slot for accuracy (because we usually only fight +1 enemies while leveling), and etc.

 

 

 

If you want I can post a cheap build with IO sets.

Cheap IO Sentinel v2 (Electrical Blast - Radiation Armor).mbd

Edited January 22 by Sovera

[BruwtForce]

@Sovera Thank you for that, you're explanations helped a lot in terms of my understanding. This is exactly what I was looking for.

 

If you get time, a cheap IO build with cheap sets included would also be very beneficial. I did notice that on the build you posted above, the resistance went down from mid-upper 60's down to upper 40's for smashing and lethal primarily. Isn't that an issue, especially with low defense.

 

I know a lot of people tend to build around capping defenses at 45%, as opposed to capping resistances at 75%, but this seems to have the worst of both worlds. Maybe that's where the set pieces come in, and why virtually nobody puts beginner full IO builds together.

 

Anyway, thank you again. It gives me a better direction to move in. 

[Sovera]

8 hours ago, BruwtForce said:

@Sovera Thank you for that, you're explanations helped a lot in terms of my understanding. This is exactly what I was looking for.

 

If you get time, a cheap IO build with cheap sets included would also be very beneficial. I did notice that on the build you posted above, the resistance went down from mid-upper 60's down to upper 40's for smashing and lethal primarily. Isn't that an issue, especially with low defense.

 

I know a lot of people tend to build around capping defenses at 45%, as opposed to capping resistances at 75%, but this seems to have the worst of both worlds. Maybe that's where the set pieces come in, and why virtually nobody puts beginner full IO builds together.

 

Anyway, thank you again. It gives me a better direction to move in. 

 

In practice you will not notice a difference between 40 and 60%. If you are capable of it then defenses in the 33% range are the sweet spot since you can then use one small purple to reach 45%, but this is not a luxury that a Radiation Armor Sentinel has. If you're hovering out of melee range it already is a big boost in survival since mobs' ranged hits are weaker than their melee hit.

 

For a first character I would have picked Elec/Bio or even Elec/Stone, but everything will work out in the end. Just don't push for more than +1x4 in the difficulty and lower it if it's too hard.

 

 

As a Sentinel you should be starting the fight with Charge-up (with the Gaussian proc for another 80% damage) and your nuke which already cleans some of the enemies. That's why I worked your offense power up instead of boosting your defences. Defences you can just eat a small purple or two if you see your HP is dipping too low, but if few enemies survive your first volley of AoEs then there are fewer enemies hitting you in the first place.

 

So what you want is a strong fast nuke that you always start the fight with. If you sneak on mobs, Charge-up, Ball Lightning, Thunderous Blast, Ground Zero, Ball Lightning, Short Circuit you'll have half the group dead in the first 10 seconds of combat.

 

And yes, no one does generic IOs because there is no point unless it's a self-imposed constraint. If you took a look at the newbie guide you see how you make 1-2 million worth in merits in the first hour of making a character and that's just selling the merits earned. 1-2 million is what generic IOs cost to deck out a build at level 22. And that was in the first hour of having made the character.

 

 

Now this might feel like I'm pulling your leg when I say it is a cheap build and then you have minimum 2 million per slot and sometimes as much as 7 million, but use the first build and then slowly transition to this second one one slot at a time. As I mentioned in the guide it's not wasted since you can then transfer that stuff to a new alts. Or even just sell it back.

 

It's still a leveling build with some tweaks for a level 50 respec waiting, but that's a third build still.

 

 

Cheap IO Sentinel v2 (Electrical Blast - Radiation Armor).mbd

 

[BruwtForce]

@Sovera Thank you, you're help has been greatly appreciated.

[Kodo1968]

@Sovera I have been using the build that you linked above but as I am getting near to 50 I have been looking for a 50+ Elec/Rad build and there is a distinct lack them, either here on forums, or in general.  

 

Based on the build that created earlier what sets should I be looking at post 50 or if you can post a mids for a build it would be appreciated.  I am pretty newish, returning after the closedown so my game knowledge is pretty lacking. 

 

Hope you have time in your schedule to help out. 

 

Thanks

 

[Sovera]

5 hours ago, Kodo1968 said:

@Sovera I have been using the build that you linked above but as I am getting near to 50 I have been looking for a 50+ Elec/Rad build and there is a distinct lack them, either here on forums, or in general.  

 

Based on the build that created earlier what sets should I be looking at post 50 or if you can post a mids for a build it would be appreciated.  I am pretty newish, returning after the closedown so my game knowledge is pretty lacking. 

 

Hope you have time in your schedule to help out. 

 

Thanks

 

 

Welcome aboard, Kodo.

 

I would probably go for something like this. No defenses, all resistances. There is still a small hole in Negative (13% hole) but I don't think that it will get you killed as a Sentinel.

 

Otherwise Toxic, Smash, Slash, and Energy are at almost 70% and with Barrier always giving at least a permanent 5% after the big def and res boost runs out it permanently hardcaps those resistances as long as you use Barrier every 2 minutes. Which is not strictly needed since most content is not THAT hard for a Sentinel. The 5% buff narrows the Negative gap and it becomes an 8% hole.

Non cheap IO Sentinel v2 (Electrical Blast - Radiation Armor).mbd

[Kodo1968]

Thanks @Sovera

 

Will save and use for reference as I progress 🙂