First time Playing, need help with Sentinel build

[Starchew]

Hiya! This is my first time playing City of Heroes, and while I love the customization I'm kind of at a loss with all the stuff. I have ideas of what I possibly want to run for primary powers and secondary powers but I don't know what's good, or what's bad and I was wondering if anyone can help?

For me it makes it easier to play a game when I have a build I can follow and focus on, which is partly why I'm here. I also know that some builds are better or worse, but I don't know what's good or bad when I was going through the forums cause apparently Sentinel was buffed a lot.

Some builds I was looking at was

Dark Blast/Energy Aura, Dark Blast/Super Reflexes, Dark Blast/Willpower, Dark Blast/Invulnerability  Dark Blast/Regeneration, Archery/Dark Armor, Dual Pistols/Dark Armor

I don't want to go Dark Blast/Dark Armour cause I don't like going full on darkness if that makes any sense. Even if someone can tell me which of those powersets are good or bad that is also helpful cause than I can work from there and make a build in the future once I get more into the game! Thank you for taking your time out of your to read this post!

[FupDup]

Dark Blast is pretty good on Sentinels. Dual Pistols is kinda okay, nothing great but okay. Archery is kinda poop. 

 

Energy Aura, Super Reflexes, and Invulnerability are some of the better armor sets available. Regeneration has some unique tweaks compared to other classes but I wouldn't put it in the top tier. Dark Armor is kinda middling on Sents because it trades the burst heal that melee classes get for regeneration and recovery. 

[oldskool]

Good or bad can get incredibly subjective in COX terms. This has a lot to do with granular specifics on how one choses to a slot specific powers and pair them with other specific effects. 

 

So, in order to help you out a bit better than just "this gud, that bad": 

 

Dark Armor may be a bit more complicated to get the most out of for a brand new player. If you're really brave, then go for it. If you're looking for easier things to play, then I'd recommend you stick with Willpower, Invulnerability, Energy Aura = Super Reflexes, and in that order. 

 

Willpower has almost no click powers across the majority of your leveling experience and relies almost solely on toggle powers. Invulnerability is very similar, but includes a click power, Dull Pain, early on. In both cases, their final powers could be considered optional (further lowering any clicks). Energy Aura and Super Reflexes are conceptually very similar and have a little bit more thought/interaction. 

 

The main reason I'd point you towards Willpower/Invul is both of these sets come with pretty robust resistance packages underneath everything else they offer. I feel they way these sets are constructed makes them pretty easy to build for since the outcome should be rather straight forward. Energy Aura and Super Reflexes aren't really complicated, but they rely a lot more on high defense values and less on other layering (Super Reflexes more so than Energy Aura). 

Invul, Super Reflex, Energy Aura are typically considered some of the strongest defense sets in the AT, *but* the catch is there is a bit of system mastery to really squeeze out the best performance. Of the three, Invul maybe a bit easier. 

Beyond that, most of the Sentinel primaries are pretty good. Just how good they are is going to depend an awful lot on a ton of minutiae you may not be ready for. Pick what you like. 

[Renatos1023]

One that I would suggest, and that is one of my favorite Lv.50s, is Dark/Ninjitsu. You pretty easily softcap yourself to Melee/Ranged/AoE defense, have a heal and an endurance recovery power, and Dark/'s to-hit debuffs further buttress your defenses. I usually jump into a mob and hit Aim+Blackstar+Dark Obliteration, then mop up. Very survivable combination IMO.

[BazookaTwo]

Archery/Ninja/Ninja... You'll never have more fun. The ride up is challenging but you end up fairly godmode. Archery is not, as some one above said, poop. It's better than Dual Pistols when you compare the two. Honest. 

Edited January 25 by GM_GooglyMoogly
ad hominem removed

[Thraxen]

Do Dark/SR.  Unless you like archery then do it and sr.  

[Thraxen]

It takes almost nothing to get SR to be great.  I always take combat jumping so a little biased there.  I'm addicted to the movement.  Aside from that, it is a couple procs in tough.  Or the 6 slot Gaussians's in build up.  It is super easy.  DDR is a bit lower than melee toons get, but you won't have the aggro they do.  And you have the lil shield I call it.  

[Exqzr984]

Clearly there is a want for Dark in either Primary or Secondary.

 

Dark/SR synergizes and has a flow to it.  I have not tried it on a Sentinel, but I  have  on both Tank/Brute.  Its fun to play and a popular choice.

 

Archery/Dark Armor is intriguing.  True there is a lot of bad press on Archery - Enough that I was dissuaded from trying it out when I was in the same position you are - what to main.  

 

But I think there is a really interesting Theme/Concept that can be built around this.  I think you would have to tread lightly, especially in the 20s, but around 32 it should start to roll on pretty well - Some folks seem to really enjoy Archery and will make good arguments in support of it.    A Theoretical Caveat. - Archery seems more long rangish and Dark Armor has strong close range effects, you might fimd you have to move back and forth quite a bit to get the most out of it.

 

The big negative? to Archery is the final Skill.  You get a very wide AOE but trade damage, and its not a good trade.  If you could slot control into it, I could see it working in a tactical way, but spending 75 million to give it Ragnork feels like a lot of investment for little return.  It could be argued (perhaps not convincingly) this skill can be skipped in favour of going deeper into an Epic Pool.

 

Good luck, and would be great to hear what you picked and what your experience was lilke.

 

 

Edited January 25 by Exqzr984

[FupDup]

2 hours ago, Exqzr984 said:

Clearly there is a want for Dark in either Primary or Secondary.

 

Dark/SR synergizes and has a flow to it.  I have not tried it on a Sentinel, but I  have  on both Tank/Brute.  Its fun to play and a popular choice.

 

Archery/Dark Armor is intriguing.  True there is a lot of bad press on Archery - Enough that I was dissuaded from trying it out when I was in the same position you are - what to main.  

 

But I think there is a really interesting Theme/Concept that can be built around this.  I think you would have to tread lightly, especially in the 20s, but around 32 it should start to roll on pretty well - Some folks seem to really enjoy Archery and will make good arguments in support of it.    A Theoretical Caveat. - Archery seems more long rangish and Dark Armor has strong close range effects, you might fimd you have to move back and forth quite a bit to get the most out of it.

 

The big negative? to Archery is the final Skill.  You get a very wide AOE but trade damage, and its not a good trade.  If you could slot control into it, I could see it working in a tactical way, but spending 75 million to give it Ragnork feels like a lot of investment for little return.  It could be argued (perhaps not convincingly) this skill can be skipped in favour of going deeper into an Epic Pool.

 

Good luck, and would be great to hear what you picked and what your experience was lilke.

 

 

If you wanna go with a Dark Archer kind of concept, that would give you a good excuse to dip into the Dark Mastery epic pool. Smite can help mitigate the lethal resistance issue that Archery can sometimes run into, and if you take Engulfing Darkness that would allow you to potentially drop Fistful of Arrows (because a 30 degree cone isn't easy to aim in melee range). 

[Force Redux]

I'd suggest Dark Blast/Ninjutsu. Fun sets, good visuals, and they work nicely together.

 

Dark Blast offers -ToHit to stack with NInjutsu's Defense. Has an exotic damage type most mobs don't resist well. Has solid AOE attacks as well as ST attack chain. 

 

Ninjutsu gets its defense toggles early, compared to Super Reflexes. Has somewhat lower Defense Debuff Resistance (DDR), but you are not a tanker and can avoid more aggro at range vs. the melee ATs, and can likely fly out of reach, so not as important. Ninjutsu also has a heal (so you can skip Siphon Life if you wish), and an Endurance heal, too. It also has a power to slot +global defense uniques if you wish to spend for them later. 

 

It does not cost a lot to make a workable build with this, and with IOs and influence later on, it only gets better. I have one, it's a great combo if you like Dark Blast, which it seems you do.