What Sent combo best showcases what Sentinels excel at?

[mistagoat]

Greetings Sentinel masters!

 

So many folks really seem to love their Sentinels but unfortunately that wasn't my experience. I only have 1 Sent, Electric/Regen and I wasn't all that impressed with its performance. The lower target caps and lower damage but faster recharging nukes felt awful to me and the inherent debuff was pretty meh too. I took Regen because I hear Sents got the best version of Regen but after playing a Regen Sent and a Regen Scrap to 50 what I learned is that I simply don't enjoy playing regen. Now that may very well have tainted my outlook of Sents overall so I want to give them another chance.

 

To that end, if I wanted to make a Sent that was guaranteed fun and effective as it's played up, what would you suggest? It doesn't need to be the best damage or the tankiest but rather the combo that is most likely to make it click for me, the most likely to make me say "oh okay this is where Sents shine, I get it!"

 

I typically duo with a buddy 1-50 on story arcs and TFs so I'm looking for combos where you don't have to wait to 50 for them to blossom. It's certainly possible that Sents just aren't my jam but I gotta try at least one more before I give up on them. What do you think?

[TygerDarkstorm]

  On 3/19/2025 at 12:50 PM, mistagoat said:

Greetings Sentinel masters!

 

So many folks really seem to love their Sentinels but unfortunately that wasn't my experience. I only have 1 Sent, Electric/Regen and I wasn't all that impressed with its performance. The lower target caps and lower damage but faster recharging nukes felt awful to me and the inherent debuff was pretty meh too. I took Regen because I hear Sents got the best version of Regen but after playing a Regen Sent and a Regen Scrap to 50 what I learned is that I simply don't enjoy playing regen. Now that may very well have tainted my outlook of Sents overall so I want to give them another chance.

 

To that end, if I wanted to make a Sent that was guaranteed fun and effective as it's played up, what would you suggest? It doesn't need to be the best damage or the tankiest but rather the combo that is most likely to make it click for me, the most likely to make me say "oh okay this is where Sents shine, I get it!"

 

I typically duo with a buddy 1-50 on story arcs and TFs so I'm looking for combos where you don't have to wait to 50 for them to blossom. It's certainly possible that Sents just aren't my jam but I gotta try at least one more before I give up on them. What do you think?

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Triple Electric sents are supposed to be fun and effective--mine is still a baby, so I haven't gotten to try the full effectiveness yet.

 

Fire/Rad is a solid and fun combo. There was a forum user who's not active anymore... @nihilii I think, who did some pretty crazy stuff with theirs. Weirdest thing I did with mine was "tank" a Posi 1 at level.

 

So far though, my most fun sent is my unicorn sent: Psy/Fire. I paired Psy Blast with Fire Armor because Fire Armor has a toggle that gives your attacks a fire DoT which I figured would come in handy for when you encounter mobs with Psy resists. As a bonus, Psy gets a longer range than other sent primaries, and the sent ATOs also provide range bonuses, so when I'm done building her, she should have close to blaster range for her attacks. I also use combat TP to joust in and out of melee for the T9 and burn.

 

I've also seen that Dual Pistols feels pretty good on a sent; I haven't tried that one yet.

 

I also just think that there's some ATs that some of us won't really click with, and that's okay.

[Meknomancer]

  On 3/19/2025 at 12:50 PM, mistagoat said:

Greetings Sentinel masters!

 

So many folks really seem to love their Sentinels but unfortunately that wasn't my experience. I only have 1 Sent, Electric/Regen and I wasn't all that impressed with its performance. The lower target caps and lower damage but faster recharging nukes felt awful to me and the inherent debuff was pretty meh too. I took Regen because I hear Sents got the best version of Regen but after playing a Regen Sent and a Regen Scrap to 50 what I learned is that I simply don't enjoy playing regen. Now that may very well have tainted my outlook of Sents overall so I want to give them another chance.

 

To that end, if I wanted to make a Sent that was guaranteed fun and effective as it's played up, what would you suggest? It doesn't need to be the best damage or the tankiest but rather the combo that is most likely to make it click for me, the most likely to make me say "oh okay this is where Sents shine, I get it!"

 

I typically duo with a buddy 1-50 on story arcs and TFs so I'm looking for combos where you don't have to wait to 50 for them to blossom. It's certainly possible that Sents just aren't my jam but I gotta try at least one more before I give up on them. What do you think?

Expand  

 

Fire or elec with /bio. Bio for offensive adaptation. Damage buff is noticeable.

Fire or elec with /rad. Rad for Particle acceleration. Recharge buff makes it a little easier levelling up prior to getting your set bonuses.

Take the epic pools  /elec: havoc punch + lightning field,

                                /dark: smite + engulfing darkness,

                                /psy: dominate + psy shockwave on any of those combos and your never disappointed.

 

Playing a storm/bio and storm/rad at the moment. Both a lot of fun but /bio feels way out in front. Storm blast on sents feels like the best version.

 

Easiest levelling and pretty good early on fire/rad, lvl 29'ish once you have ground zero and some chance for damage pieces in it.

[Black_Assassin]

I have 3 sents at 50 currently Elec/Elec/Elec, Dark/Dark/Dark and Psi/SR/Psi

 

Elec is a sturdy build with great damage potential from Shocked mechanic. 

Dark is fun because it looks cool. PBAoE powerhouse with loads of -tohit. The only thing i dislike is the regen/recov power is poopy compared to Dark Regen that the other DA variants get.

Psi/SR is easy to play because of the 45% defense to everything and a lot of scaling resistance and a massive absorb click. I tested the other day and when around 20% hp i was resist capped and had like 1000 absorb. 

 

I currently playing up a Water/Bio, Rad/Rad, Fire/Fire and BR/Stone.

 

My builds attached, haven't yet finalised my water/bio but the rest are there.

Sentinel (Electrical Blast - Electric Armor)2.mbdFetching info... Sentinel (Dark Blast - Dark Armor).mbdFetching info... Sentinel (Beam Rifle - Stone Armor).mbdFetching info... Sentinel (Fire Blast - Fiery Aura) 2.mbdFetching info... Sentinel (Radiation Blast - Radiation Armor).mbdFetching info...

Sentinel (Psychic Blast - Super Reflexes) 2.mbdFetching info...

Edited yesterday at 02:29 PM by Black_Assassin

[BassAckwards]

Just made my first sentinel. Elec/Elec/Mu and I absolutely love it. 5 seconds into a large mob and nothing has endurance and presents no threat. 
 

 

[Uun]

I've got 3 lvl 50 sentinels, Rad/Rad, Elec/Bio and Psi/Nin. The other two are fine, but Elec/Bio is far and away the best. The sentinel version of Elec blast is the best version out there. The snipe replacement is a solid attack and the sentinel version of Tesla Cage does good damage. Thunderous Blast can be used every 30s. The sentinel version of Bio was tweaked a little (it loses the damage aura and the heal doesn't require a target) and is quite sturdy, but you can really lean into end drain as a defensive tool.

[Shadowstormprime]

Elec/Energy/Elec is one I hear about alot as just a great Sent all around. Dark/SR is another that seems great from a pure "TANKY" standpoint.

I'm messing around with the idea of a Water/Bio Sentinel. Seems like it'd be a great mix of Damage, tankiness and some crowd control.

[TygerDarkstorm]

  On 3/19/2025 at 2:04 PM, Meknomancer said:

 

Fire or elec with /bio. Bio for offensive adaptation. Damage buff is noticeable.

Fire or elec with /rad. Rad for Particle acceleration. Recharge buff makes it a little easier levelling up prior to getting your set bonuses.

Take the epic pools  /elec: havoc punch + lightning field,

                                /dark: smite + engulfing darkness,

                                /psy: dominate + psy shockwave on any of those combos and your never disappointed.

 

Playing a storm/bio and storm/rad at the moment. Both a lot of fun but /bio feels way out in front. Storm blast on sents feels like the best version.

 

Easiest levelling and pretty good early on fire/rad, lvl 29'ish once you have ground zero and some chance for damage pieces in it.

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Ah, I knew I was forgetting a good Sent primary! Yes, I feel like Storm Blast is best suited on a Sent given that Storm Blast really, really wants you to focus on it, and sents having an armor secondary allow Storm Blast to shine. I went /Elec on mine, but that one's also still a baby, so I can't fully comment on it.

[Warshades]

If anyone has played elec/energy, could I get some critique for this build? My goals for it are to prioritize sapping, damage, and survival. Will likely run it with Barrier destiny to get more def/resist since endurance shouldn't be an issue.

Sentinel (Electrical Blast - Energy Aura).mbdFetching info...

[Black_Assassin]

  On 3/19/2025 at 3:26 PM, Shadowstormprime said:

Elec/Energy/Elec is one I hear about alot as just a great Sent all around. Dark/SR is another that seems great from a pure "TANKY" standpoint.

I'm messing around with the idea of a Water/Bio Sentinel. Seems like it'd be a great mix of Damage, tankiness and some crowd control.

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I came up with this the other day. Runs great chain for ST damage of Beam>Gaze>Gloom>(Havoc Punch/Torrent)

Sentinel (Dark Blast - Super Reflexes).mbdFetching info...

[Black_Assassin]

  On 3/19/2025 at 4:14 PM, Warshades said:

If anyone has played elec/energy, could I get some critique for this build? My goals for it are to prioritize sapping, damage, and survival. Will likely run it with Barrier destiny to get more def/resist since endurance shouldn't be an issue.

Sentinel (Electrical Blast - Energy Aura).mbd 46.56 kB · 0 downloads

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Looks fine to me, I think I would change some very minor things, but its only because of my personal build style. I would prefer a kismet proc in there somewhere along with a full heal set into energise. Not sure what you would have to sacrifice to achieve that, I dont tend to 4 slot shield walls, so I would probably have done that. Great build though 🙏

[Warshades]

  On 3/19/2025 at 4:23 PM, Black_Assassin said:

Looks fine to me, I think I would change some very minor things, but its only because of my personal build style. I would prefer a kismet proc in there somewhere along with a full heal set into energise. Not sure what you would have to sacrifice to achieve that, I dont tend to 4 slot shield walls, so I would probably have done that. Great build though 🙏

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Appreciate it, I normally play melee chars and tend to build towards survival. Love shield wall for that reason since it gives large amount of e/n resist. I'll mess around with some stuff and see if I can make some tiny improvements.

 

With regards to Energize, I would love to have the slots for it but it's hard to find places to take them from. I'm hopeful that with all the global recharge and high resists, I will rarely need it and 2 slots will be sufficient. I do agree that I could use a Kismet somewhere and will see if I can find a slot. I guess I could also choose to just frankenslot Power Drain and transfer a lot of those slots to energize.

 

Also, is there an ideal power choice in elec blast for the Sentinel ATO sets? Looking over it again, would opportunity strikes be better in an AoE like ball of lightning so that the opportunity proc has more chances to go off? Only other thing I wish I could find room for is Voltaic Sentinel (I've heard it's pretty decent for Sents), perhaps instead of Lightning Field? Not sure what else I could replace.

[Black_Assassin]

  On 3/19/2025 at 4:32 PM, Warshades said:

 

Appreciate it, I normally play melee chars and tend to build towards survival. Love shield wall for that reason since it gives large amount of e/n resist. I'll mess around with some stuff and see if I can make some tiny improvements.

 

With regards to Energize, I would love to have the slots for it but it's hard to find places to take them from. I'm hopeful that with all the global recharge and high resists, I will rarely need it and 2 slots will be sufficient. I do agree that I could use a Kismet somewhere and will see if I can find a slot. I guess I could also choose to just frankenslot Power Drain and transfer a lot of those slots to energize.

 

Also, is there an ideal power choice in elec blast for the Sentinel ATO sets? Looking over it again, would opportunity strikes be better in an AoE like ball of lightning so that the opportunity proc has more chances to go off? Only other thing I wish I could find room for is Voltaic Sentinel (I've heard it's pretty decent for Sents), perhaps instead of Lightning Field? Not sure what else I could replace.

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I didn't bother with opportunity strikes on my elec/elec sent. Just feels redundant, you only need it for bosses and its always up without the proc so I guess it felt superfluous. 

 

End drain could sacrifice slots. I put just a single End/Rech HO in my end drain on the elec sent. But then I also can only rely on resists and no defense really, so I needed the heal. Play the build as you have it and can always sacrifice end drain slots if you need the heal more than the endurance (energise makes endurance problems go away anyway from the reduction)

 

When building sents, I tend towards maximising the damage first and then cramming in whatever survival I can afford with the leftover slots. I try to leverage what is in the sets to survive for example the huge -tohit in Blackstar, or the crazy stun in Psychic wail. In this instance you will be leveraging the -endurance to limit attacks coming in. 

 

For example, you could swap apoc into zapping bolt, put sentinels ward into charged bolts and then 5 slot ragnarok into ball lightning which would give you a knock down proc for mitigation. You could also slot the KD proc from superior avalanche into short circuit and potentially sacrifice 5% recharge in Thunderous blast to frankenslot and gain more damage procs and even use the global damage set Dam/KD in it. So maybe something like this?

 

Different ways to skin a cat, excuse the saying.

 

You could also do similar slotting into ball lightning instead of the ragnarok. But I like the damage in the nuke. 

[Black_Assassin]

Oh and I like Voltaic sent, not sure how you would fit it in. Maybe drop manoeuvres? Since you are basically softcapped without it, just +5 boost all the shield walls and slot in Soulbound Dam and Rech/Acc +5 and the %BU

 

[Warshades]

  On 3/19/2025 at 4:42 PM, Black_Assassin said:

End drain could sacrifice slots. I put just a single End/Rech HO in my end drain on the elec sent.

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I actually started going in this direction after mentioning it in my last post, definitely more efficient and still does a high amount of drain with good recharge. Went with 2 HOs, but will likely move that 1 slot when I find a better place for it.

 

  On 3/19/2025 at 4:42 PM, Black_Assassin said:

For example, you could swap apoc into zapping bolt, put sentinels ward into charged bolts and then 5 slot ragnarok into ball lightning which would give you a knock down proc for mitigation. You could also slot the KD proc from superior avalanche into short circuit and potentially sacrifice 5% recharge in Thunderous blast to frankenslot and gain more damage procs and even use the global damage set Dam/KD in it. So maybe something like this?

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I am liking all of these, thx for the suggestions. With KD procs in both BoL and Short Circuit should also help with a lot more mitigation. Ended up with this after implementing your changes. Had an extra slot that I put into Charge Up for a recharge IO.

Sentinel (Electrical Blast - Energy Aura)2.mbdFetching info...

[Shadowstormprime]

How does Storm Blast stack up to Elec Blast or some of the other premier Sent blast sets? I know it takes a bit more time to ramp up it's damage. I dig the lightning strike animation haha

[Warshades]

  On 3/19/2025 at 4:49 PM, Black_Assassin said:

slot in Soulbound Dam and Rech/Acc +5 and the %BU

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Does it need the accuracy slotting? Mids is displaying it as having 96% base against +3 already and 156% after all set bonuses. Was going to do the dam/end instead.

[Warshades]

  On 3/19/2025 at 5:01 PM, Shadowstormprime said:

How does Storm Blast stack up to Elec Blast or some of the other premier Sent blast sets? I know it takes a bit more time to ramp up it's damage. I dig the lightning strike animation haha

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Not sure about Sents for Storm Blast, but my understanding was that the set worked best on corruptors because of scourge.

[lemming]

The sents I've enjoyed the most:

Radiation Blast/Regen:   Not the sturdiest, but never stays down long.

Storm Blast/Dark :  Just drifts around the combats melting stuff, very much for the concept, but works

Electric/EA:   Probably the most effective in steamrolling content.  Ignores most attacks and drains everything of endurance if they don't die quickly enough

[Black_Assassin]

  On 3/19/2025 at 5:03 PM, Warshades said:

 

Does it need the accuracy slotting? Mids is displaying it as having 96% base against +3 already and 156% after all set bonuses. Was going to do the dam/end instead.

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I just tested in game, my voltaic had 95% chance to hit on a L54, when I unslotted the dam/acc/rech +5 it went down to 89%. I have 30% global accuracy. So it does seem to take your global accuracy into account. So slot accordingly

[Heatstroke]

  On 3/19/2025 at 12:50 PM, mistagoat said:

Greetings Sentinel masters!

 

So many folks really seem to love their Sentinels but unfortunately that wasn't my experience. I only have 1 Sent, Electric/Regen and I wasn't all that impressed with its performance. The lower target caps and lower damage but faster recharging nukes felt awful to me and the inherent debuff was pretty meh too. I took Regen because I hear Sents got the best version of Regen but after playing a Regen Sent and a Regen Scrap to 50 what I learned is that I simply don't enjoy playing regen. Now that may very well have tainted my outlook of Sents overall so I want to give them another chance.

 

To that end, if I wanted to make a Sent that was guaranteed fun and effective as it's played up, what would you suggest? It doesn't need to be the best damage or the tankiest but rather the combo that is most likely to make it click for me, the most likely to make me say "oh okay this is where Sents shine, I get it!"

 

I typically duo with a buddy 1-50 on story arcs and TFs so I'm looking for combos where you don't have to wait to 50 for them to blossom. It's certainly possible that Sents just aren't my jam but I gotta try at least one more before I give up on them. What do you think?

Expand  

 

 

Im going to say something that is incredibly obvious so please forgve me in advance.. 

"Fun" is something that is completely subjective. Its really difficult IMO to determine what will be more " fun " as peoples gaming goals and taste vary so widely. 

I have played many Blasters and enjoy them. However what I dont find " fun " is being mezzed into oblivion.. and yes while in the later game you can build more defense or get clarion to mitigate that, The Sentinel just ignores that completely.  Yes it is true that Sents so slightly less damage (they did get a buff recently which has helped) and have lower target caps, how often are you trying to blow up the entire map ? And yes it is true the nuke isnt as strong as a blaster and hits less targets.. but with even a moderate amount of recharge that same nuke can be up pretty much every mob.. or at the worst every other mob.  AND most of My Sentinel builds have MULTIPLE fast recharging AoE that you can string together. 

 

Vulnerability is Auto-Hit and ignores level differences.
Vulnerability debuffs the following:

    Damage Resistance
    Defense
    Mez Resistance
    Stealth
    Resistance to Endurance, Endurance Discount, Recovery, Regeneration, ToHit, and Recharge

 

Many Sentinel builds can also take very good advantage of procs.!!!  Especially those sets that have holds. Great place for procs.

My current Sentinels. All level 50 and fully built. 
 

My favorite Sentinel Builds 

 

Fire/Rad/Fire- Single Target Damage. AoE damage in spades. Two good heals. Cna fight ranged or melee easily. This is my goto for everything especially TF's

Elec/Elec/Elec. This is my baby. One of the only characters that I have T4'd everything. I always wanted a " sapper " build and I had an E3 blaster which was pretty good, an Elec/Elec Dominator thats also decent, and an Elec/Time Corruptor also decent ( The Corruptor is actually this heroes nemesis.. kind of a Reverse Flash kind of thing in my head cannon), but this guy does it the best... Can EASILY drain mobs of all their end and keep them there.. Some say.. so what.. they can still attack.. and yes they can... but they will pretty much only use their weakest attacks.. which aids my survival. For me THIS is one of my most fun characters... 

Dark/Bio/Dark- Single Target Damage.. check.. Two Single target holds with tons of Procs.. check, AOE Damage.. yup 4 of those.. Survivability?? Between Ablative Carapace, Parastic Leech, Rebuild DNA and Barrier LOLOLOLOL yeah good luck killing me.. I think this character died ONCE because I was being stupid AND lazy.. This character turned out WAY better than I had hoped 

Storm/Energy/Mu- What makes this character a win for me is the Immobilize from the Epic Pool. This keeps everyone tighly packed for Storm Cell and Category Five to affect as many people as possible. Throw in Chain Lightning, Jet Stream and Static Discharge for More AoE love.. 

 

I also have 

 

Psi/Regen/Psi
DP/SR
Water/Ice/Ice

and I recent;y rerolled my Rad/Rad Corruptor into a Rad/Rad Sentinel which I like much better. 

I am also considering a Sonic/Inv/Psi. I tried a Beam Rifle.. decided I dont like Beam Rifle. 

Ive played every AT to 50 and I have found that I can find fun in almost everything.. MM's and Scrappers are the least fun for me. MMs toon much attention and and 58 years old I dont have that attention span I did when first playing this game 20 years ago LOL.> Scrappers have always been kinda BLAH to me.. Id rather just roll a Brute or Tank. If I want a boss killer melee I find I like Stalkers better.. 

But thats my short take.. Im a HUGE fan of Sentinels.. I find many people have a mindset of.. Oh its not as good at blasting than a blaster.. so why make it..

BECAUSE ITS FUN !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I have found often that my Sentinels are the Glue that holds a team together. Who defends the Defenders - Sentinels.  Who Plugs the holes the Tank/Brutes miss? - Sentinels.  Who chases down the runners - Sentinels?  Who holds the line when all else fails? - Sentinels. Who is still pew pewing when the Blaster/Corruptor is stunned our out of break frees - Sentinels

 

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?- THE SENTINELS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

SHOW THEM WHO YOU ARE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

 

 

Edited yesterday at 06:40 PM by Heatstroke
added more detail

[Heatstroke]

  On 3/19/2025 at 5:01 PM, Shadowstormprime said:

How does Storm Blast stack up to Elec Blast or some of the other premier Sent blast sets? I know it takes a bit more time to ramp up it's damage. I dig the lightning strike animation haha

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The single reason I made one.. That animation.. 

[Heatstroke]

  On 3/19/2025 at 5:09 PM, Warshades said:

 

Not sure about Sents for Storm Blast, but my understanding was that the set worked best on corruptors because of scourge.

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It does tend to woek best on Corruptors.. I have a Storm Blast/ Storm Corruptor.. and that thing is ridicolus.. 

However my Storm/NRG Sentinel never gets stunned and leverages the Immobilize in the Epic Pool to keep mobs nice and packed together for Category Nine to get full effect.. No Mobs running away.. 

[mistagoat]

Thank you all for the suggestions! I think I'm leaning toward Elec/Bio/something or Elec x3. I have an Elec x3 Blaster that I love so that sounds like fun!

[Uncle Shags]

I haven't played one myself, but I read someone here talk about how sentinel seismic meteor was extra fancy when you combined the reduced sentinel CD with the seismic -rech gimmick.  Supposedly super fast.