Seeking endgame advice: Attack chain, Alpha slot, Epic Pools (Dark/EA)

[Gone]

I've reached endgame and I have a fairly strong build (Def 45%S/L/E/F/C) (Res 65% S/L) (Perma-Hasten). I have some problems that I'm looking for help working through, though.

 

First, my attack chain is overfilled.  I always have at least two attacks that aren't on cooldown, which means they're basically wasted space as far as powers go, nothing more than set mules.  I could use that power for something else.  Currently my ST attacks are Dark Blast / Gloom / Abyssal Gaze / Antumbral Beam, plus an epic or patron pool bonus melee attack that doesn't factor in here.  Dark Blast and Gloom enable the Sentinel mechanics, and Antumbral is the hardest hitter although Abyssal is very close in performance albeit at DoT pacing. Should I just drop Abyssal?  Or is there a better option? I COULD just leave it as is and hope that the time arises that I have been debuffed enough to need the extra attack, as well, but that still seems wasteful.

 

As far as Alpha slots go, is Musculature the primary choice for a Sentinel?  With the high recharge in my build, I'm not sure if it would be very beneficial to go Spiritual or Agility, but I'm open to those choices as well.  If Musculature is the way to go, should I focus on the 45% T4, or instead (since Dark) go for the one that has the Tohit Debuff bonus?

 

Epic pools question, I've gone Psionic for the PBAoE and Link Minds, and the melee attack. Should I be going Dark instead? I feel like the tohit debuff is already covered enough in my primary so I went for the stronger attacks (at least, I think they are stronger? If they aren't, I could switch! The PBAoE seems to recharge much faster and have higher damage than the dark one but numbers could be off) and for Link Minds to help with Incarnate content defense/res. Basically just wondering if I've made a mistake going Psi, because I can easily rework it to be Dark instead.

[Astredax]

I wouldn't swap for dark - the stuff you'd want the debuffs for ends up resisting debuffs super heavily, so they aren't as useful as you'd hope. 

 

Ithink psionic and fire are the two good sentinel APPs - if you're going to switch off of Psionic, go for fire.  The thing about those two pools is their damage abilities are basically swapped - fire's AOE is stronger but recharges slower, while it's melee recharges faster but has lower DPA.  Psionic is the reverse.  In your case, you probably want a slower recharging, higher DPA ability, so I'd personally keep psi.  Link minds is nice, but unless you're planning on soloing super high level stuff, you probably don't need it that badly. 

 

Mind linking your build? It's a little hard to give better advice than that without seeing it. Plus I'm curious for myself.  Got my Fire/Bio to the point where it's super strong, looking for a new project to work on, and was thinking EA - although I haven't actually tried softcapping without Agility, the idea is nice since you could take musculature and make up some of the lost damage from swapping off bio. 

[oldskool]

Gloom, Abyssal, Antumbral are the highest damage of single targets in the set.  If you're going to spend time juggling attacks, those 3 are going to be your best performers. 

 

I don't max the slots in Dark Blast.  I have about 4 there and it mules a set.  It can be substituted in the attack chain to activate Offensive O and that's about it.   

 

Abyssal should be able to take other sets beyond damage which opens up proc opportunities.  While the base DPA is good, it can get even better depending on what you stuff in it. 

 

Anyway, Incarnate wise, I feel T4 Musculature Core is the way to go most of the time.  For all but the Destiny/Lore slots, I'd suggest poking around the Scrapper/Stalker boards to see what they focus on for damage.  Sentinels have a lot in common with them there and the defensive options in Alpha can take a backseat due to the secondary. 

 

For Destiny you have some options depending on what you feel you're missing, how you group, and all that.  Lore, take whatever pets make you happy.  You can take whatever nuke you like too, but the Ion and Voids are popular for good reasons. 

 

Beyond that I'm finding Incarnate choices are pretty binary for Sentinels. Good on defense? If yes, go damage.  Need defense/endurance while IOing out? Go Alpha, and so on. 

[Gone]

Okay, so Musculature is worth it, Psy is also a fair choice and Link Minds is not needed so skippable, and I should keep my attacks and just not use the tier 1 unless I'm activating sentinel mechanic. Thanks, all of the advice has given me some insights and I may be able to finalize this build sooner rather than later.  I appreciate it!