New to Sentinels

[00Troy00]

I was thinking fire blast for my primary, but I'm open to suggestions. For my secondary, I want something that requires minimal involvement. I was thinking Inv? Again, open to ideas.

[Octogoat]

Fire or ice and Sr are pretty much cheat codes

[TygerDarkstorm]

I'm rather partial to my Fire/Rad Sentinel. I don't think Rad has too much involvement; I just throw the absorb power on auto. Been a while since I've played her, but I know @nihilii had been using a Fire/Rad sent to do some pretty nifty things.

[Without_Pause]

4 hours ago, TygerDarkstorm said:

I'm rather partial to my Fire/Rad Sentinel. I don't think Rad has too much involvement; I just throw the absorb power on auto. Been a while since I've played her, but I know @nihilii had been using a Fire/Rad sent to do some pretty nifty things.

Rad has a fairly active secondary. Invul has a single click. SR can have a click, but it can be put on auto and can feel like you essentially ignore it. EA has two clicks, but if you are teaming, you'll likely have less need to click on them. 

[brass_eagle]

2 hours ago, Without_Pause said:

Rad has a fairly active secondary. Invul has a single click. SR can have a click, but it can be put on auto and can feel like you essentially ignore it. EA has two clicks, but if you are teaming, you'll likely have less need to click on them. 

 

For SR, I'm not sure of anyone that really takes the click anymore. It's one of the few sets that has the "one or the other". Unless you are looking for extreme mez protection.

 

Troy, if you take Master Brawler in Super Reflexes, it adds mez protection to your toggles. While adding absorb. It's probably the cheatiest set, while also being the least engaging Sentinel secondary I've experienced. It plays differently and feels much stronger than the standard Super Reflexes. 

 

I can't speak to anything else but Ice Armor for Sents. I do know one of the GMs prolifically hates and claims Ice Armor (for Sents) has one of the worst powers in the game (the power is the Energy Absorption adaption). Mine isn't leveled up fully, but I had fun. Didn't feel particularly powerful though.

 

I've only intermittently explored Sents, and just getting back into them myself.

Edited November 5 by brass_eagle

[Sovera]

What I usually say in these threads is that there's no reason to ever not go Bio. Lets face it, if you're in trouble you'll have to reach out for an inspiration, so reaching out for Ablative Shield is pretty much the same.

 

But I'd say Stone Armor otherwise. You'll want endurance back in some way or form and a heal or regen as even 5% hits pile up.

[Maelwys]

4 hours ago, Without_Pause said:

EA has two clicks, but if you are teaming, you'll likely have less need to click on them. 

+1 for Energy Aura if the OP doesn't fancy going Super Reflexes.

With enough Recharge, /EA can achieve Perma Energize and stick it on on Auto for constant +Regen and sizable Endurance Discount and a decent Heal every ~30s.
/SR can stick Master Brawler on Auto for a smidge of Absorb every 30s.

SR gets better DDR, Scaling Damage Resistance (take less damage as your HP drops) and Confuse Protection.
EA gets +Regen, +Endurance Discount, a self-Heal and Repel Protection.
Pick yer poison.
 

Edited November 5 by Maelwys

[Without_Pause]

6 hours ago, brass_eagle said:

 

For SR, I'm not sure of anyone that really takes the click anymore. It's one of the few sets that has the "one or the other". Unless you are looking for extreme mez protection.

 

Troy, if you take Master Brawler in Super Reflexes, it adds mez protection to your toggles.

I'm pretty sure in my looking at SR for Sents the adding of Mez protection is not stated in the way it needs to. PB still overs some additional protections, so it isn't 100% you take MB, but I'll debate switching it in my build on Beta and go from there. 

[Uun]

I've taken 3 sentinels to 50; Rad/Rad, Elec/Bio and Psi/Nin. Elec/Bio is just nuts, especially if you lean into -endurance/-recovery. The ranged nuke is also a big plus.

[00Troy00]

23 hours ago, Octogoat said:

Fire or ice and Sr are pretty much cheat codes

Why do you say so?

[00Troy00]

13 hours ago, Maelwys said:

+1 for Energy Aura if the OP doesn't fancy going Super Reflexes.

With enough Recharge, /EA can achieve Perma Energize and stick it on on Auto for constant +Regen and sizable Endurance Discount and a decent Heal every ~30s.
/SR can stick Master Brawler on Auto for a smidge of Absorb every 30s.

SR gets better DDR, Scaling Damage Resistance (take less damage as your HP drops) and Confuse Protection.
EA gets +Regen, +Endurance Discount, a self-Heal and Repel Protection.
Pick yer poison.
 

Does one prove more survivable over the other?

[Heatstroke]

I run a Fire/Rad and I dont find myself needing to manage my secondary that often. Maybe the heals every now and then.. 

[Maelwys]

7 hours ago, 00Troy00 said:

Does one prove more survivable over the other?

SR is more survivable against lower levels of incoming damage; because it gets more damage resistance as it's HP drops so as long as it doesn't get killed outright then it's more capable of "hanging on" at low HP. It also deals with Defense Debuffs better 

 

EA gets it's HP bar back to full much more quickly and IIRC is better vs things like Endurance/Recovery drains and MaxHP debuffs.

 

There's not a huge amount in it but overall I'd give the survivability edge to SR; as long as Endurance Consumption isn't ever going to be an issue for you.

[00Troy00]

14 minutes ago, Maelwys said:

SR is more survivable against lower levels of incoming damage; because it gets more damage resistance as it's HP drops so as long as it doesn't get killed outright then it's more capable of "hanging on" at low HP. It also deals with Defense Debuffs better 

 

EA gets it's HP bar back to full much more quickly and IIRC is better vs things like Endurance/Recovery drains and MaxHP debuffs.

 

There's not a huge amount in it but overall I'd give the survivability edge to SR; as long as Endurance Consumption isn't ever going to be an issue for you.

Thanks for that.

[tidge]

I found Energy Aura to be surprisingly good on Sentinels, but I don't think of it as "easy mode". Bio on a Sentinel looks to be somewhat set-and-forget (compared to other ATs) but I think it probably has more clicks (plus adaptation) than I'd recommend for a no-brainer armor.

 

I think Super Reflexes, Willpower and Invulnerability are good choices for (mostly) set-and-forget. Super Reflexes has a click that I'd probably eventually put on auto (working on an early level SR Sentinel now), Willpower will need some thinking about slotting of the toggles. Invulnerability's Dull Pain is probably a power that wouldn't necessarily need to be used all that often. I'd still take it, and probably eventually 6-slot it.

 

FWIW, My #1 Sentinel is (with accolades) is one of the few characters I have that passively sits at the maximum health for its AT. That's the Energy Aura with the (auto) Power Armor.

[Without_Pause]

4 hours ago, 00Troy00 said:

Does one prove more survivable over the other?

EA is always going to have a Psi hole. If I had to pick one for end game content, it would be SR. 

[Uun]

2 hours ago, Without_Pause said:

EA is always going to have a Psi hole.

I don't take it (because I don't like T9s with a crash), but Overload covers the Psi/Tox hole.

[Psiphon]

6 hours ago, Without_Pause said:

EA is always going to have a Psi hole. If I had to pick one for end game content, it would be SR. 

That's not strictly true. 

You can build it as a hover blaster and cap ranged defence. As psi attacks are positionally ranged you can close the hole. 

Obviously you won't get the full benefit of stacking typed defence but will still get all of the other goodies such as DDR, heal, + recharge, some resistance and +HP. 

I've got a rad/ea at 50 that doesn't need to worry about psi. 

[brass_eagle]

6 hours ago, Psiphon said:

That's not strictly true. 

You can build it as a hover blaster and cap ranged defence. As psi attacks are positionally ranged you can close the hole. 

Obviously you won't get the full benefit of stacking typed defence but will still get all of the other goodies such as DDR, heal, + recharge, some resistance and +HP. 

I've got a rad/ea at 50 that doesn't need to worry about psi. 

 

I do believe your argument is valid, and your build is valid. EA does have a Psi hole though. It is true. Not strictly, just true.

 

But as with anything in this game. You can build to help with that, yay CoH! Your anecdote proves that if it is also true. I know that Troy is not newer player, so he may have gleaned this off your post. Newer players may not! But you never know, Troy once tried to send me 800 mil for some enhancements via e-mail, and sent to the wrong one. I'm only bringing that up because I never want to let him live that down.

 

It is helpful information to let OP know that they may need to build for Psi because there is a factual, Psi hole in the armor set! Success with Psi late game stories likes yours are a testament to that. Just never expect Energy Aura, as an armor set, to fully see you through Psi territory.

 

Though to be honest, I do love the Psi/Tox protections they added to most armor. Now if we could see that for Thermal Rad and Sonic Resonance 😞

Edited November 7 by brass_eagle

[brass_eagle]

On 11/5/2024 at 8:18 AM, Without_Pause said:

I'm pretty sure in my looking at SR for Sents the adding of Mez protection is not stated in the way it needs to. PB still overs some additional protections, so it isn't 100% you take MB, but I'll debate switching it in my build on Beta and go from there. 

 

So I went back to check (on live) too since I didn't remember also. You may not believe this, but [Master Brawler] is superior as long as you have [Focused Fighting] & [Focused Senses] (ranged and melee def toggles). These are tier 1 and 2.

 

Text to reference in the MB description: "Owning this power will also improve your Focused Fighting and Focused Senses powers."

 

These powers provide all the protections of [Practiced Brawler] in magnitude... in addition also provide confuse protection in [Focused Fighting].

 

---Never pick practiced brawler as a sent, lol. Or lose an absorb and confuse protection, as well as your auto-click for a power.

 

Anyway, hopefully that helps Troy. List below to help. Everything in normal white text is shared between [Practiced Brawler] & [Master Brawler] w/ appropriate powers at level 50.

 

10000% Knockup Resistance

10000% Knock Resistance

10.0 mag Knockup protection

10.0 mag Knock protection

8.30 mag Stun protection

8.30 mag Hold protection

8.30 mag Immobilize protection

8.30 mag Sleep Protection

8.30 mag Confuse protection -- focused fighting w/ [Master Brawler only]  You only need to take [Focused Fighting] the protection and toggle it on. No other prerequisites. 

 

All data from real numbers in the character creator on live at time of posting.

 

EDIT: You get the confuse protection from just toggling on [Focused Fighting], please see @Without_Pause for pointing this out below. There still is no reason to pick Practiced over Brawler aside from PvP. As they provide the same benefit as long as you have those two toggles on. There is a fringe case, where you want to stack the protections if you can recharge fast enough, but I have yet to see it in my years of playing.

 

 

Edited November 7 by brass_eagle
add list at bottom and the edit to correct with strike throughs. I wish I could make this text blue so as not to distract.

[Without_Pause]

PB has +50% Resistance (Running Speed, Flying Speed, Jumping Speed, Jump Height) which MB does not. CoD also doesn't list the Confuse protection as needing MB, so again, the text for powers should be better. 

[tjknight]

Dark Blast / Super Reflexes blooms rather early and stupid levels of survivable on just generic IO's or SO's. Especially, when solo. 

[brass_eagle]

2 hours ago, Without_Pause said:

PB has +50% Resistance (Running Speed, Flying Speed, Jumping Speed, Jump Height) which MB does not. CoD also doesn't list the Confuse protection as needing MB, so again, the text for powers should be better. 

 

Are you getting that from detailed info? Because it isn't an any iteration of the info available on Practiced Brawler.

 

EDIT: AH! I figured out the confusion. I will add you are right on the confuse only. It only requires the toggle. 

 

If you are reading from City of Data, please note that the 50% movement resistance, the 30% recharge, tohit and base defense resistance are only for PvP (mouse over the black and white person icon on the left, PvP information is not on the right unless explicitly stated in description). On live you can see this if you click [Practiced Brawler] detailed effects and toggle on PvP effects.

 

For general gameplay, there is zero reason to take practiced brawler. I stand by that and will amend the previous post about the confuse protection.

 

EDIT: There were multiple edits here to figure this out -- I will say @Without_Pause, I do agree with you, the text could be better. I find even on recent sets like Marine Affinity, some of it could do wonders if written better. Even some of the old text on the Homecoming Wiki is just ripped from Paragon Wiki. It can confuse new players. Or players that aren't CoH nerds like us.

 

 

Edited November 7 by brass_eagle

[Without_Pause]

16 hours ago, Psiphon said:

That's not strictly true. 

You can build it as a hover blaster and cap ranged defence. As psi attacks are positionally ranged you can close the hole. 

Obviously you won't get the full benefit of stacking typed defence but will still get all of the other goodies such as DDR, heal, + recharge, some resistance and +HP. 

I've got a rad/ea at 50 that doesn't need to worry about psi. 

I looked at my EA Sent build, and my Ranged Def is in the 20s. That's going to be a hell of an ask to get that to 45%. Can it be done? Sure, but I would wonder what other sacrifices would need to be made to get Positional Def to work on a Typed Def based set. I can get Positional Def capped on an SR and use the T9 as nothing more than a mule if needed be. 

[tidge]

56 minutes ago, Without_Pause said:

I looked at my EA Sent build, and my Ranged Def is in the 20s. That's going to be a hell of an ask to get that to 45%. Can it be done? Sure, but I would wonder what other sacrifices would need to be made to get Positional Def to work on a Typed Def based set. I can get Positional Def capped on an SR and use the T9 as nothing more than a mule if needed be. 

 

On Energy Aura, I always skip worrying about Positional defenses.. whatever "OH $#!+" defense boosts usually cover everything.

 

I also wouldn't build a Sentinel to be a "Hover Blaster", that seems like such (way) old school thinking. I think of Sentinels as Scrappers that happen to have ranged attacks, MMV.