Thoughts on the Sentinel Archetype.

[DocRadio]

Man... So far I'm loving the whole sentinel vibe. So I have two builds working pretty well Fire/Fiery Aura and Energy/Radiation Armor. I have to say Radiation Armor feels almost too good to be true. Decent resists, the knockback protection that /Fire lacks and loads of extra endurance. And even a smidge of psi protection. What's not to love? /Fire is good, but I can't say I like it as much. Healing flames is awesome, but I'm less durable than I'd hoped. Plus I'm slightly disappointed that I will have to invest in burn to round out my status protection. I thought immobilization effects wouldn't be a problem but I was wrong. Getting immobilized has caused multiple defeats. Especially when facing psi types with their insane range and ability to slow your attack rate to a crawl. The weird thing is I find myself missing the heavy hitting melee attacks that blasters have. I'd originally thought that Sentinels would outclass blasters, in solo play... but now I get the trade off. Blasters can end fights quickly enough to be functional sans protection. Sentinels have just enough protection to allow for sustained fights but their lower damage and mid tier protection means that you still have to play them carefully. Overall I'd say that they just might be my new favorite class. Or in a virtual tie with blasters.

[@Fiercefield]

I have three of them, but the AT is very clunky until about 30 due to needing a large number of powers in order to really become fun. Prior to then, there's a lot of having to choose between loading up on attacks versus loading up on defenses, and so it feels sometimes like either being a gimpy blaster if you focus on a lot of attacks over defense, or, you're killing things very slowly if you go for defense over offense.

 

But you eventually reach a sweet spot with powers where you have a good selection of both and you're shining.

[MyriVerse]

Maybe a perspective thing. I'm an altaholic, and none of my Sentinels are above 10, atm, but I have nothing but fun on all of them. I'm not typically a blaster/shooter type, but I'm able to have fun.

[oldskool]

I have three of them, but the AT is very clunky until about 30 due to needing a large number of powers in order to really become fun. Prior to then, there's a lot of having to choose between loading up on attacks versus loading up on defenses, and so it feels sometimes like either being a gimpy blaster if you focus on a lot of attacks over defense, or, you're killing things very slowly if you go for defense over offense.

 

But you eventually reach a sweet spot with powers where you have a good selection of both and you're shining.

 

I have 4, with one that is my favorite, and the others I am working on.  While not all of them are maxed out on live, the beta server lets me test my hypothetical builds. 

 

I agree there is a sweet spot, but it is also dependent on the Primary/Secondary pairing.  As in the the AT's performance feels as if it has a very wide swing depending on what you pick.  It's kind of like Controllers in that regard, but without the extreme variance that certain Secondaries provide. 

 

For example, my Beam Rifle matures it's attack chain by 26+ where it starts to rely less and less on Single/Charged Shot in the normal rotation.  Depending on Secondary, both of those attacks are still good, but your options get better and better.  However, my Dark/Regen's attack chain matures 18+ in the realm of attack selection.  Life Drain is cool and all, but the first 4 single target attacks all have higher DPA.  With /Regen, I have little need for the patch heal.  I'm not saying it is a hard pass for all players, but in terms of picking the best DPA single target skills, you are in fact done by level 18.  Then you just have to wait on Blackstar if you don't mind the PBAoE but that is really just icing on the cake. 

 

Furthermore, some set pairings can pose some IO set bonus challenges down the road.  My AR/Bio is one of those pairings.  AR is all targeted ranged AoE and single target ranged attack.  That severely limits my IO choices within the primary itself in order to bolster Bio's typed defense.  You can pick up Epic/Patron pools for more Smashing/Lethal defense, but it may conflict with a person's preferences.  It certainly does mine.  It's not a huge deal since Bio is pretty tough on its own, but it is worth noting that some pairings do not work as well as you might think.  Or at least they will require more creativity than they first appear. 

 

Anyway, overall the AT is fun which is the most important thing.

[MementoMori]

I still feel that giving them the Assult powers would open up a lot of different playstyles.

 

Having scrapper ish def/res values I feel like having the dominator sets as options would allow some good blapping options

 

For instance, I would love to run an earth assault/stone armor

 

I can't see how it would be overpowered using the dom secondary power sets as primaries I want to be clear i'm, not advocating removing the blast only sets just adding more options and a second play style.

 

 

[Ghost49X]

I still feel that giving them the Assult powers would open up a lot of different playstyles.

 

Having scrapper ish def/res values I feel like having the dominator sets as options would allow some good blapping options

 

For instance, I would love to run an earth assault/stone armor

 

I can't see how it would be overpowered using the dom secondary power sets as primaries I want to be clear i'm, not advocating removing the blast only sets just adding more options and a second play style.

Actually I wish the Dom secondaries were available on a lot of other ATs, it would allow for more hybrid melee/range type characters which would be sweet.

[Fedifensor]

I still feel that giving them the Assult powers would open up a lot of different playstyles.

 

Having scrapper ish def/res values I feel like having the dominator sets as options would allow some good blapping options

What you're advocating for is interesting...but it's not a sentinel.  If you want something like that, you should be going on the Suggestions forum.  Sentinels are set at this point - they're not going to mess with thousands of characters that are already in play to completely change their primary powerset.

[Force Redux]

Some primaries and secondaries play nicer with each other than others. Overall I like the feel of the play, but I wish some of the PBAOE stuff would be modified to be more suitable for range use.

 

I'd like Opportunity to be free from use of specific powers, like Domination,  because I either forego the attack chain I want or lose the Opportunity.

 

If Opportunity built up and then you had two powers that activate, Offensive or Defensive, it would be better.

 

Overall my Dark/Ninjutsu is my 2nd favorite character. Some tweaks would be nice, but overall it's a fun archetype that really mirrors the comics well.

[Rejoicer]

I LOVE sentinels! They are the ranged tough guys I've always thought COH lacked. That being said, certain power combinations definitely work well together.

 

My DB/Ninja sentinel is now 50 with 3 incarnates and I have been able to solo every single missions I've been given and had fun doing it. [see my complete write up on this in another post in the sentinel thread.] I go where I want, arrest who I want and can move as easily in combat as if I weren't.  Not too mention I'm like a ghost that pops up in my enemies faces and proceeds to one shot a lot of them! The 2 powersets really work well together. (debuff their to hit, buff your defense, free extra movement, stealth and damage with both END and HP heals. What's not to like!)

 

Also the SORC pool is a great one to pick up mystic flight which gives you combat flight, flight and teleport all in one power and at a lower END cost than flight. Once you buff it and swift up it's more than fast enough. And the Ninja stealth/run/dodge power combined with combat jump makes you incredibly nimble in battle as well as letting you ignore most mezzes on your traveling.

 

I'm still experimenting with other combinations and will speak up on them when I have enough data.

[MementoMori]

I still feel that giving them the Assult powers would open up a lot of different playstyles.

 

Having scrapper ish def/res values I feel like having the dominator sets as options would allow some good blapping options

What you're advocating for is interesting...but it's not a sentinel.  If you want something like that, you should be going on the Suggestions forum.  Sentinels are set at this point - they're not going to mess with thousands of characters that are already in play to completely change their primary powerset.

 

You seem to have missed the

"I want to be clear i'm, not advocating removing the blast only sets just adding more options and a second play style."

From my original comment

 

[Rejoicer]

I LOVE sentinels! They are the ranged tough guys I've always thought COH lacked. That being said, certain power combinations definitely work well together.

 

My DB/Ninja sentinel is now 50 with 3 incarnates and I have been able to solo every single missions I've been given and had fun doing it. [see my complete write up on this in another post in the sentinel thread.] I go where I want, arrest who I want and can move as easily in combat as if I weren't.  Not too mention I'm like a ghost that pops up in my enemies faces and proceeds to one shot a lot of them! The 2 powersets really work well together. (debuff their to hit, buff your defense, free extra movement, stealth and damage with both END and HP heals. What's not to like!)

 

Also the SORC pool is a great one to pick up mystic flight which gives you combat flight, flight and teleport all in one power and at a lower END cost than flight. Once you buff it and swift up it's more than fast enough. And the Ninja stealth/run/dodge power combined with combat jump makes you incredibly nimble in battle as well as letting you ignore most mezzes on your traveling.

 

I'm still experimenting with other combinations and will speak up on them when I have enough data.

 

Here's my current build

 

 

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.962

http://www.cohplanner.com/

 

Click this DataLink to open the build!

 

BrightFyre526: Level 50 Natural Sentinel

Primary Power Set: Dark Blast

Secondary Power Set: Ninjitsu

Power Pool: Sorcery

Power Pool: Speed

Power Pool: Leaping

Power Pool: Leadership

 

Hero Profile:

Level 1: Dark Blast

• (A) Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage
  

Level 1: Ninja Reflexes

• (A) Defense Buff IO
  
• (5) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed
  
• (37) Karma - Defense/Endurance
  
• (39) Karma - Defense/Recharge
  
• (39) Karma - Knockback Protection
  

Level 2: Danger Sense

• (A) Reactive Defenses - Scaling Resist Damage
  
• (3) Reactive Defenses - Defense
  
• (3) Reactive Defenses - Defense/Endurance
  
• (5) Reactive Defenses - Endurance/RechargeTime
  
• (39) Reactive Defenses - Defense/RechargeTime
  
• (40) Reactive Defenses - Defense/Endurance/RechargeTime
  

Level 4: Mystic Flight

• (A) Blessing of the Zephyr - Run Speed, Jump, Flight Speed, Range
  
• (7) Blessing of the Zephyr - Run Speed, Jump, Flight Speed, Range/Endurance
  
• (7) Blessing of the Zephyr - Knockback Reduction (4 points)
  
• (45) Freebird - Endurance
  
• (46) Freebird - FlySpeed
  
• (46) Freebird - +Stealth
  

Level 6: Shinobi-Iri

• (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed
  
• (9) Kismet - Accuracy +6%
  
• (40) Kismet - Defense/Endurance
  
• (40) Winter's Gift - Slow Resistance (20%)
  

Level 8: Umbral Torrent

• (A) Siphon Insight - ToHit Debuff
  
• (9) Siphon Insight - Accuracy/ToHit Debuff
  
• (11) Siphon Insight - Accuracy/Recharge
  
• (11) Siphon Insight - ToHit Debuff/Endurance/Recharge
  
• (13) Siphon Insight - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge
  
• (36) Siphon Insight - Chance for +ToHit
  

Level 10: Aim

• (A) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff
  
• (13) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff/Recharge
  
• (15) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff/Recharge/Endurance
  
• (15) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - Recharge/Endurance
  
• (17) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff/Endurance
  
• (36) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - Chance for Build Up
  

Level 12: Kuji-In Rin

• (A) Recharge Reduction IO
  
• (17) Recharge Reduction IO
  

Level 14: Hasten

• (A) Recharge Reduction IO
  
• (21) Recharge Reduction IO
  
• (21) Recharge Reduction IO
  

Level 16: Seishinteki Kyoyo

• (A) Performance Shifter - Chance for +End
  
• (23) Performance Shifter - EndMod/Recharge
  
• (34) Recharge Reduction IO
  
• (42) Performance Shifter - EndMod
  

Level 18: Antumbral Beam

• (A) Devastation - Accuracy/Damage
  
• (23) Devastation - Damage/Endurance
  
• (25) Devastation - Damage/Recharge
  
• (25) Devastation - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
  
• (27) Devastation - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge
  
• (36) Devastation - Chance of Hold
  

Level 20: Kuji-In Sha

• (A) Preventive Medicine - Heal
  
• (27) Preventive Medicine - Heal/RechargeTime
  
• (34) Preventive Medicine - Heal/RechargeTime/Endurance
  

Level 22: Super Speed

• (A) Celerity - Endurance
  
• (29) Endurance Reduction IO
  

Level 24: Combat Jumping

• (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed
  

Level 26: Life Drain

• (A) Theft of Essence - Healing
  
• (29) Theft of Essence - Healing/Recharge
  
• (31) Theft of Essence - Accuracy/Healing
  
• (31) Theft of Essence - Accuracy/Endurance/Healing
  
• (31) Theft of Essence - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge
  
• (37) Theft of Essence - Chance for +Endurance
  

Level 28: Bo Ryaku

• (A) Aegis - Resistance
  
• (42) Steadfast Protection - Resistance/+Def 3%
  
• (42) Aegis - Psionic/Status Resistance
  

Level 30: Maneuvers

• (A) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed
  
• (48) Endurance Reduction IO
  
• (48) Endurance Reduction IO
  

Level 32: Blackstar

• (A) Opportunity Strikes - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
  
• (33) Opportunity Strikes - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/RechargeTime
  
• (33) Opportunity Strikes - Accuracy/Damage/RechargeTime
  
• (33) Opportunity Strikes - Damage/RechargeTime
  
• (34) Opportunity Strikes - RechargeTime/Chance for Opportunity
  
• (37) Dark Watcher's Despair - To Hit Debuff
  

Level 35: Burnout

• (A) Recharge Reduction IO
  

Level 38: Kuji-In Retsu

• (A) Recharge Reduction IO
  

Level 41: Assault

• (A) Endurance Reduction IO
  
• (46) Endurance Reduction IO
  

Level 44: Tactics

• (A) Endurance Reduction IO
  
• (48) Endurance Reduction IO
  

Level 47: Spirit Ward

• (A) Healing IO
  

Level 49: Rune of Protection

• (A) Impervious Skin - Resistance/Endurance
  
• (50) Impervious Skin - Resistance/Recharge
  
• (50) Impervious Skin - Status Resistance
  
• (50) Impervious Skin - Endurance/Recharge
  

Level 1: Brawl

• (A) Empty
  

Level 1: Prestige Power Dash

• (A) Empty
  

Level 1: Prestige Power Slide

• (A) Empty
  

Level 1: Prestige Power Quick

• (A) Empty
  

Level 1: Prestige Power Rush

• (A) Empty
  

Level 1: Prestige Power Surge

• (A) Empty
  

Level 1: Sprint

• (A) Empty
  

Level 2: Rest

• (A) Endurance Modification IO
  

Level 1: Health

• (A) Miracle - +Recovery
  
• (19) Regenerative Tissue - +Regeneration
  
• (43) Panacea - +Hit Points/Endurance
  
• (43) Numina's Convalesence - +Regeneration/+Recovery
  
• (43) Miracle - Heal
  

Level 1: Hurdle

• (A) Jumping IO
  

Level 1: Stamina

• (A) Endurance Modification IO
  
• (19) Endurance Modification IO
  
• (45) Performance Shifter - Chance for +End
  
• (45) Endurance Modification IO
  

Level 1: Swift

• (A) Flight Speed IO
  

Level 50: Musculature Boost

Level 50: Void Judgement

Level 50: Diamagnetic Radial Interface

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

 

 

 

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BrightFyre_Incarnate_export.txt

Displaying BrightFyre_Incarnate_export.txt.

[Riverdusk]

I have three of them, but the AT is very clunky until about 30 due to needing a large number of powers in order to really become fun. Prior to then, there's a lot of having to choose between loading up on attacks versus loading up on defenses, and so it feels sometimes like either being a gimpy blaster if you focus on a lot of attacks over defense, or, you're killing things very slowly if you go for defense over offense.

 

But you eventually reach a sweet spot with powers where you have a good selection of both and you're shining.

 

Only sent I have is like lvl 16 (elect/elect) and I've found it amazingly fun and has a very good killing speed during the lower levels compared to most others. That is all solo and no DFB.  Just got sidetracked and kind of waiting to see what further changes are made before I invest too much time in him. 

 

I assumed, if anything, sentinels might become more of a slog later at higher levels when the damage gap between AT's becomes more noticeable, until you get incarnate stuff and things even out a bit more again. 

 

Definitely concentrate more on attacks at lower levels imo, stuff at low levels doesn't tend to be dangerous enough to need to worry as much about defense. 

[MechTon]

My Beam Rifle/Bio Toon just hit 31 and I'm still having a blast with him. He's been my favorite non-mm build yet since restarting the game. My only issue is not taking every power. They all work well in primary and secondary that I don't know if any of them should be skipped.

[Rathulfr]

Ok, so I was getting frustrated with my Energy/WP Sentinel in his upper 30s/low 40s.  I decided to shelf him for awhile and try something different.  After playing other alts, I decided on a new Sentinel with Fire for the primary.  But I was wondering about the secondary -- WP had let me down, so I was casting about for a different solution.  A friend suggested Regen, and I said, "Regen?  No, regen sucks since they nerfed it back in the day."  But he insisted that I try it anyway, because the Sentinel Regen is markedly different than melee Regen.

 

My Fire/Regen Sentinel rocketed to 50 in just under 3 days (with 2XP boosters, but no AE farming).  And more importantly, it was hella fun to play.  I also learned some important lessons about how to leverage regeneration to compensate for practically non-existent defense.  I love my Fire/Regen Sent, and was ready to place him in the exalted "main" status formerly held by my Energy/WP.

 

But then on a lark, I decided to logon to my abandoned Energy/WP Sent.  Using what I learned from the Fire/Regen, I decided to respec him for regen instead of defense, and ZOMG! what a difference!  It was a complete transformation.  Night-and-day.  Dogs and cats.  Living together.  Mass hysteria.  My Energy/WP Sentinel is fun to play now, and is fighting back the challenge to his status.  Now I just need to get him to 50...

 

[biostem]

I've only just found CoH:H, (played the original CoH/CoV), and never heard of this AT.  I can't seem to find a comprehensive list of the powersets anywhere.  Can anyone point me to a resource for more info about this class/AT?  Was it created by the CoH:H devs, or was it something the original devs never got to implement before the game was shut down?  Thank you all in advance!

[Sunsette]

I've only just found CoH:H, (played the original CoH/CoV), and never heard of this AT.  I can't seem to find a comprehensive list of the powersets anywhere.  Can anyone point me to a resource for more info about this class/AT?  Was it created by the CoH:H devs, or was it something the original devs never got to implement before the game was shut down?  Thank you all in advance!

 

It was created by the devs. This is the newest powerset builder and it contains info on it.

[biostem]

I've only just found CoH:H, (played the original CoH/CoV), and never heard of this AT.  I can't seem to find a comprehensive list of the powersets anywhere.  Can anyone point me to a resource for more info about this class/AT?  Was it created by the CoH:H devs, or was it something the original devs never got to implement before the game was shut down?  Thank you all in advance!

 

It was created by the devs. This is the newest powerset builder and it contains info on it.

 

Great & tyvm!  :-)

[Heraclea]

My sentinel is a remake of my i23 character Betsy Ross.  There never was a particular reason why Betsy Ross was a spines/WP scrapper, so she's been remade as Mother of Vinegar, a water/WP sentinel. 

 

I have a standard path for WP characters.  I postpone toggles that aren't mez resist to after Quick Recovery and rely on passives and, now, the self heal.  Not much point in taking them when they do about as much as a medium insp.  My long  term goal invlves parlaying the slow in most of the attacks with recharge slow procs.

[Mister Mass]

I've only just found CoH:H, (played the original CoH/CoV), and never heard of this AT.  I can't seem to find a comprehensive list of the powersets anywhere.  Can anyone point me to a resource for more info about this class/AT?  Was it created by the CoH:H devs, or was it something the original devs never got to implement before the game was shut down?  Thank you all in advance!

The Sentinel was a new archetype that the Paragon Studios devs were working on internally before the game was sunset.  From what I can gather, the work on the new archetype was available on the internal servers - & this was used by the new devs to develop the Sentinel after NCSoft cancelled the game.

[malonkey1]

I've only just found CoH:H, (played the original CoH/CoV), and never heard of this AT.  I can't seem to find a comprehensive list of the powersets anywhere.  Can anyone point me to a resource for more info about this class/AT?  Was it created by the CoH:H devs, or was it something the original devs never got to implement before the game was shut down?  Thank you all in advance!

 

A little of both. It was sitting unimplemented in the game code, and the SCORE/HC team had to do some tweaks and modifications to get it implemented and playable.

[biostem]

I've only just found CoH:H, (played the original CoH/CoV), and never heard of this AT.  I can't seem to find a comprehensive list of the powersets anywhere.  Can anyone point me to a resource for more info about this class/AT?  Was it created by the CoH:H devs, or was it something the original devs never got to implement before the game was shut down?  Thank you all in advance!

 

A little of both. It was sitting unimplemented in the game code, and the SCORE/HC team had to do some tweaks and modifications to get it implemented and playable.

 

Thank you all for the info.  I rolled up a dark/bio sentinel last night and played a bit.  Seems like a fun AT.  I only got a handful of levels in, but I can't wait to try her some more.  Is dark/bio a good combination, or do you suggest any others?  Sonic/ninjitsu looked interesting...

[Force Redux]

Bio is great with everything.

 

I'm running Dark/Ninjutsu, and it's awesome and works well together, very self-contained.

[GritIron]

Been having a blast with my two sentinels i  have run so far.

 

Rad/Rad Sentinel - Reghulus

Lvl 50 with some incarnates

Fun, Hardy, certainly no slouch.

 

Archery/Ninjitsu Sentinel Zenn

Lvl 28 and climbing

This one is equally as fun and stealthy to boot.  Archery, while all Lethal on most attacks, Hits fast and often, While Ninjitsu keeps him healthy, filled with Endurance and  fighting non stop.

 

Id have more but im also leveling 11 others of Various AT's.