(New Player) Help needed with figuring out the "Sweet" spot for defense + To hit Debuffs (DB / SR - Sentinel)

[SenTheFortress]

UPDATE: Added an updated version of the build that is a tad bit stronger. See the attachment for the "Updated" file. It's very cushy on Def and Accuracy, and has improved resistances (but still pretty modest, but remember that Dodge/Enduring gives you scaling resistances).

 

Hello all, I am a new player that joined the game about a month ago. This is my first "real" MMO that I have played for more than 10 hours, I discovered it from a random Youtube video talking about MMOs. Anyways, I've become hooked. 

 

I've been working on trying to make my first "build" using my first character. I've gotten a lot of advice and have progressively made changes to it and refined it over-time, trying to heed the wisdom of experienced players while trying to stay within my own "vision" of the character. (I made a post on the CoH sub on Reddit)

 

Anyways, there is something I'd like more input on: I have gotten a lot of different information about Defense. Soft Cap for most content being 45% and the next cap being 58.75%-59% for the absolute hardest stuff this game can throw at you (and going above 45% can help you account for defense debuffs). 

 

It seems that the topic of Defense is debatable and depends on what you decide to do in the "endgame". Now I've also been told that Dark Blast's to-hit debuffs can also play a factor when determining how much defense you need. Does anyone have any experience with Dark Blast / Super Reflexes (Sentinel) working in tandem? If so, what did you decide on? This is assuming playing at +4 and to try out some of the harder content in the endgame.

 

Here's my rough draft for my build using everything I learned in the last month (file included), feel free to include my general advice or your own opinions for me to consider. But basically I focus on hoping into harm's way to pop off with Huge AoE damage, then hop out to deal chip damage/lock down a treat on the outskirts of the fray, or dealing with fleeing opponents.

 

I hit the caps for defense, but should I consider less defense and more resistance? (knowing Sents have 75% def debuff resist, which is less than say a tanker who has 95%) Especially considering Dark Blast applies to-hit debuffs. Thanks in advance!

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

 

Note: UPDATED

 

# **Nimble Obliterator - Hero Sentinel**

### *Build plan made with Mids Reborn v3.7.11 rev. 2*

----

- **Primary powerset: Dark Blast**
- **Secondary powerset: Super Reflexes**
- **Pool powerset (#1): Speed**
- **Pool powerset (#2): Leaping**
- **Pool powerset (#3): Fighting**
- **Pool powerset (#4): Leadership**
- **Epic powerset: Dark Mastery**

----

# **Powers taken:**

**Level 1: Dark Blast**
- A: Superior Sentinel's Ward: Accuracy/Damage
- 3: Superior Sentinel's Ward: Damage/RechargeTime
- 3: Superior Sentinel's Ward: Accuracy/Damage/RechargeTime
- 5: Superior Sentinel's Ward: Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
- 5: Superior Sentinel's Ward: Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/RechargeTime
- 50: Superior Sentinel's Ward: RechargeTime/Chance for +Absorb

**Level 1: Focused Fighting**
- A: Red Fortune: Defense/Endurance
- 11: Red Fortune: Defense/Recharge
- 11: Red Fortune: Endurance/Recharge
- 13: Red Fortune: Defense/Endurance/Recharge
- 13: Red Fortune: Defense
- 15: Red Fortune: Endurance

**Level 2: Umbral Torrent**
- A: Bombardment: Chance for Fire Damage
- 7: Bombardment: Damage/Recharge
- 9: Javelin Volley: Chance of Damage(Lethal)
- 17: Cloud Senses: Chance for Negative Energy Damage
- 17: Overwhelming Force: Damage/Chance for Knockdown/Knockback to Knockdown

**Level 4: Focused Senses**
- A: Red Fortune: Defense/Endurance
- 21: Red Fortune: Defense/Recharge
- 21: Red Fortune: Endurance/Recharge
- 23: Red Fortune: Defense/Endurance/Recharge
- 23: Red Fortune: Defense
- 25: Red Fortune: Endurance

**Level 6: Abyssal Gaze**
- A: Superior Opportunity Strikes: Accuracy/Damage
- 19: Superior Opportunity Strikes: Damage/RechargeTime
- 19: Superior Opportunity Strikes: Accuracy/Damage/RechargeTime
- 25: Superior Opportunity Strikes: Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
- 27: Superior Opportunity Strikes: Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/RechargeTime
- 27: Superior Opportunity Strikes: RechargeTime/Chance for Opportunity

**Level 8: Hasten**
- A: Invention: Recharge Reduction
- 31: Invention: Recharge Reduction

**Level 10: Master Brawler**
- A: Preventive Medicine: Chance for +Absorb

**Level 12: Dark Obliteration**
- A: Positron's Blast: Damage/Recharge
- 31: Positron's Blast: Chance of Damage(Energy)
- 33: Bombardment: Damage/Recharge
- 33: Bombardment: Chance for Fire Damage
- 33: Cloud Senses: Chance for Negative Energy Damage
- 34: Javelin Volley: Chance of Damage(Lethal)

**Level 14: Super Jump**
- A: Blessing of the Zephyr: Knockback Reduction (4 points)

**Level 16: Agile**
- A: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed
- 31: Luck of the Gambler: Endurance/Recharge
- 34: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Endurance/Recharge
- 36: Luck of the Gambler: Defense
- 36: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Recharge
- 42: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Endurance

**Level 18: Combat Jumping**
- A: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed
- 36: Reactive Defenses: Scaling Resist Damage

**Level 20: Enduring**
- A: Power Transfer: Chance to Heal Self

**Level 22: Dodge**
- A: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed

**Level 24: Aim**
- A: Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control: To Hit Buff
- 37: Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control: To Hit Buff/Recharge
- 39: Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control: To Hit Buff/Recharge/Endurance
- 39: Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control: Recharge/Endurance
- 39: Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control: To Hit Buff/Endurance
- 40: Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control: Chance for Build Up

**Level 26: Blackstar**
- A: Scirocco's Dervish: Accuracy/Damage
- 29: Scirocco's Dervish: Damage/Endurance
- 29: Scirocco's Dervish: Damage/Recharge
- 40: Scirocco's Dervish: Accuracy/Recharge
- 40: Scirocco's Dervish: Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
- 42: Eradication: Chance for Energy Damage

**Level 28: Evasion**
- A: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed
- 34: Luck of the Gambler: Endurance/Recharge
- 43: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Endurance
- 43: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Endurance/Recharge
- 45: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Recharge
- 45: Luck of the Gambler: Defense

**Level 30: Boxing**
- (Empty)

**Level 32: Tough**
- A: Gladiator's Armor: TP Protection +3% Def (All)
- 37: Steadfast Protection: Resistance/+Def 3%

**Level 35: Quickness**
- A: Invention: Run Speed

**Level 38: Netherworld Tentacles**
- A: Siphon Insight: Chance for +ToHit

**Level 41: Engulfing Darkness**
- A: Superior Avalanche: Accuracy/Damage
- 46: Superior Avalanche: Damage/Endurance
- 46: Superior Avalanche: Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
- 48: Superior Avalanche: Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
- 48: Superior Avalanche: Recharge/Chance for Knockdown
- 48: Obliteration: Chance for Smashing Damage

**Level 44: Weave**
- A: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Endurance
- 45: Luck of the Gambler: Endurance/Recharge
- 46: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Endurance/Recharge
- 47: Luck of the Gambler: Defense
- 49: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Recharge
- 50: Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed

**Level 47: Maneuvers**
- A: Shield Wall: +Res (Teleportation), +5% Res (All)
- A: Shield Wall: Defense/Endurance
- 49: Shield Wall: Defense
- 50: Shield Wall: Defense/Endurance/Recharge

**Level 49: Tactics**
- A: Rectified Reticle: Increased Perception

----

# **Inherents:**

**Level 1: Opportunity**

**Level 1: Brawl**
- (Empty)

**Level 1: Sprint**
- (Empty)

**Level 2: Rest**
- A: Invention: Endurance Modification

**Level 1: Swift**
- A: Invention: Run Speed

**Level 1: Hurdle**
- A: Invention: Jumping

**Level 1: Health**
- A: Miracle: +Recovery
- 7: Panacea: +Hit Points/Endurance
- 9: Numina's Convalesence: +Regeneration/+Recovery

**Level 1: Stamina**
- A: Performance Shifter: Chance for +End

**Level 10: Current Endurance**

**Level 1: Current HP**

**Level 14: Double Jump**

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Updated - Nimble Obliterator - Dark + SR Sentinel.mbd

Edited 21 hours ago by SenTheFortress
Error in build, fixed

[BlackSpectre]

No. Not really. Sounds like you've been getting good advice. 

 

Whether or not to-hit debuffs help you depends largely on your play style. So really, the only advice I have is try it out and see. You can always RESPEC.

 

That said, personally, I've found that single target to-hit debuffs are useful against single targets... but when facing off against groups of mobs, the only thing that matters is AoE attacks because you won't be able to hit all the mobs with single target attacks. Further, the to-hit debuffs aren't that effective unless you STACK the debuffs, which means hitting the same target multiple times.  Let's say the typical to-hit debuff from an attack is -5%... to really make it worthwhile, you'd need to hit that target quickly enough to stay up to about 30%. debuff. That means you need to hit that target 6 times, in the meantime, they're hitting you. Then the question is whether or not you'll be able to hit the target 6 times in the span of the battle. That depends on your power's recharge. Also, you'd need hight to-hit and accuracy to ensure that you actually hit your opponents. So you'd need to raise those stats pretty high.

 

On the other hand, defense is always on and doesn't require you to hit anything. So overall, it's the more reliable mechanic and easiest to manage.

 

Sentinels are designed to be more balanced than a blaster or scrapper (who do high damage). In this game, the 3 most applicable strategies in combat are:

1) have high defense and resistance so that you can survive your opponents' attacks, or

2) have high damage and accuracy so you can kill your opponents before the can even get off an attack, or

3) debuff your opponent's to-hit and accuracy, or debuff their resistance and defense.

All are effective for survival, but the high damage method is somewhat situational and works best when on a team with other players. The most powerful teams that just shred through opponents are those with super high damage and super high debuffs.  There's an old saying in this game "Debuffs are king!" And it's not wrong, especially when paired with high damage.

 

To answer any more questions you have, I recommend you look through the Wiki. Maybe start with this page...  https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Attack_Mechanics

 

Hope this helped.

 

P.S. I forgot to mention defense or damage TYPES. Usually a player focuses on one type of defense. These days, the most useful defense types to build for are the  positional defense types: Melee defense, Ranged defense, or AOE defense. Which you choose depends on your character's fighting style. Do you fight up close and personal? Then go for melee defense (which protects against melee attacks). If you mostly shoot from range, then get ranged defense (which protects against ranged attacks). AOE defense is the least useful of the 3, but still useful. If you'd rather have high defense against a specific damage type rather than positional attacks, the most common damage type you'll be hit by is smashing/lethal so that would probably be the most useful to build for.  After that is Energy defense. Just remember that if you max out one type of defense, you'll be weak against the other damage types. So choose wisely....

Edited Tuesday at 11:35 PM by BlackSpectre

[SenTheFortress]

1 hour ago, BlackSpectre said:

No. Not really. Sounds like you've been getting good advice. 

 

Whether or not to-hit debuffs help you depends largely on your play style. So really, the only advice I have is try it out and see. You can always RESPEC.

 

That said, personally, I've found that single target to-hit debuffs are useful against single targets... but when facing off against groups of mobs, the only thing that matters is AoE attacks because you won't be able to hit all the mobs with single target attacks. Further, the to-hit debuffs aren't that effective unless you STACK the debuffs, which means hitting the same target multiple times.  Let's say the typical to-hit debuff from an attack is -5%... to really make it worthwhile, you'd need to hit that target quickly enough to stay up to about 30%. debuff. That means you need to hit that target 6 times, in the meantime, they're hitting you. Then the question is whether or not you'll be able to hit the target 6 times in the span of the battle. That depends on your power's recharge. Also, you'd need hight to-hit and accuracy to ensure that you actually hit your opponents. So you'd need to raise those stats pretty high.

 

On the other hand, defense is always on and doesn't require you to hit anything. So overall, it's the more reliable mechanic and easiest to manage.

 

Sentinels are designed to be more balanced than a blaster or scrapper (who do high damage). In this game, the 3 most applicable strategies in combat are:

1) have high defense and resistance so that you can survive your opponents' attacks, or

2) have high damage and accuracy so you can kill your opponents before the can even get off an attack, or

3) debuff your opponent's to-hit and accuracy, or debuff their resistance and defense.

All are effective for survival, but the high damage method is somewhat situational and works best when on a team with other players. The most powerful teams that just shred through opponents are those with super high damage and super high debuffs.  There's an old saying in this game "Debuffs are king!" And it's not wrong, especially when paired with high damage.

 

To answer any more questions you have, I recommend you look through the Wiki. Maybe start with this page...  https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Attack_Mechanics

 

Hope this helped.

 

P.S. I forgot to mention defense or damage TYPES. Usually a player focuses on one type of defense. These days, the most useful defense types to build for are the  positional defense types: Melee defense, Ranged defense, or AOE defense. Which you choose depends on your character's fighting style. Do you fight up close and personal? Then go for melee defense (which protects against melee attacks). If you mostly shoot from range, then get ranged defense (which protects against ranged attacks). AOE defense is the least useful of the 3, but still useful. If you'd rather have high defense against a specific damage type rather than positional attacks, the most common damage type you'll be hit by is smashing/lethal so that would probably be the most useful to build for.  After that is Energy defense. Just remember that if you max out one type of defense, you'll be weak against the other damage types. So choose wisely....

 

First, thank you taking the time to reply.

 

Your insight about to-hit debuffs was very useful. I might be able to take advantage of it, Blackstar (if it doesn't just instantly kill the target) drops a -35% to-hit debuff for 20 seconds on it's own. My Dark Blast attack is on a 1 second cooldown and can be spammed between every attack. Do to-hit debuffs stack with themselves? (say I hit someone with Dark Blast three times within 5 seconds, would they have a -15.75% debuff? DB normally applies -5.25% for 6 seconds.)

 

------

 

Among the three applicable strategies, I feel like a fall somewhere in the middle of all three of those things.

 

For #1: with 62%/59.7/58.8% (Melee/Ranged/AoE) my ability to dodge is very good even against Def debuffs, not to mention the free 75% resist to Def debuffs SR Sents have. However, my resistance is middling. Although, the Enduring power does provide scaling Damage Res (same with one of my Enhancements) so it is likely a bit better than it appears. Not sure if 3/4 healing/absorb procs, Master Brawler and Enduring is enough padding to be considered in strat #1.

 

For #2: My damage output feels solid. Aim + Blackstar is available as an opener for every engagement, everything that survives gets -35% to hit-debuffed and has to contend with Umbral Torrent and Dark Obliteration both suped up with many damage procs. As far all I know, all my powers are displaying accuracy above 100%, when scaled to +4. I imagine that's accurate enough (should i make adjustments to lower some of this to bump up damage/resistance?). I do know that Dark Blast is considered weaker than a lot of other attack power sets, but makes up for it with control elements, so I'm not sure if that disqualifies me from covering #2.

 

For 3#: I've mentioned my Blackstar is very reliable for recharge and accuracy. A 20 second -35% debuff to-hit is always gonna happen and the survivors will get pelted with Dark Obliteration and Umbral Torrent right away, dropping it further to -45.5% to-hit for at least 10 seconds. Not sure if a 10-20 second major debuff to accuracy makes the cut in terms of qualifying as #3, it's sort of a one trick pony. 

 

If I'm able to support each of these strategies with depending team (being flexible), is that viable? Or should I reconfigure to focus on just one of these aspects?

 

------

 

The accuracy read was good info. Unfortunately looking into the buffs/debuffs page didn't answer my question about whether powers stack with itself or not (I would assume not).

 

And about the last part... I don't think I understand. Isn't positional defense king? At 62%/59.7/58.8% (Melee/Ranged/AoE), I didn't think the other ones mattered since it uses whichever is the highest total (this with always be positional for me since all 3 are much higher than all the rest and one of these 3 is used for every type of attack). Unless I am somehow understanding defense incorrectly still?

 

 

 

[BlackSpectre]

23 minutes ago, SenTheFortress said:

 

First, thank you taking the time to reply.

 

Your insight about to-hit debuffs was very useful. I might be able to take advantage of it, Blackstar (if it doesn't just instantly kill the target) drops a -35% to-hit debuff for 20 seconds on it's own. My Dark Blast attack is on a 1 second cooldown and can be spammed between every attack. Do to-hit debuffs stack with themselves? (say I hit someone with Dark Blast three times within 5 seconds, would they have a -15.75% debuff? DB normally applies -5.25% for 6 seconds.)

 

Correct. The debuffs stack with themselves. Just remember that after the 6 second duration, the debuff amount from the first attack goes away, then the second attack, and third, and so on. You can always reapply them by hitting the mobs again. There is a limit, though, that is generally speaking  (debuff duration / recharge time * debuff amount). So an attack that has a 2 second recharge time can hit 3 times over the 6 second duration (6/2*5.25=15.25). So the maximum debuff would be 15.25%. These are kind of flimsy numbers, but it gets the idea across. And yes, the debuff from your Dark Blast will stack with the debuff from your Dark Star.

 

 

23 minutes ago, SenTheFortress said:

------

 

Among the three applicable strategies, I feel like a fall somewhere in the middle of all three of those things.

 

For #1: with 62%/59.7/58.8% (Melee/Ranged/AoE) my ability to dodge is very good even against Def debuffs, not to mention the free 75% resist to Def debuffs SR Sents have. However, my resistance is middling. Although, the Enduring power does provide scaling Damage Res (same with one of my Enhancements) so it is likely a bit better than it appears. Not sure if 3/4 healing/absorb procs, Master Brawler and Enduring is enough padding to be considered in strat #1.

 

For #2: My damage output feels solid. Aim + Blackstar is available as an opener for every engagement, everything that survives gets -35% to hit-debuffed and has to contend with Umbral Torrent and Dark Obliteration both suped up with many damage procs. As far all I know, all my powers are displaying accuracy above 100%, when scaled to +4. I imagine that's accurate enough (should i make adjustments to lower some of this to bump up damage/resistance?). I do know that Dark Blast is considered weaker than a lot of other attack power sets, but makes up for it with control elements, so I'm not sure if that disqualifies me from covering #2.

 

For 3#: I've mentioned my Blackstar is very reliable for recharge and accuracy. A 20 second -35% debuff to-hit is always gonna happen and the survivors will get pelted with Dark Obliteration and Umbral Torrent right away, dropping it further to -45.5% to-hit for at least 10 seconds. Not sure if a 10-20 second major debuff to accuracy makes the cut in terms of qualifying as #3, it's sort of a one trick pony. 

 

If I'm able to support each of these strategies with depending team (being flexible), is that viable? Or should I reconfigure to focus on just one of these aspects?

You want at least 90% accuracy.

 

It would be amazing if you can get those high numbers for all 3 positional defenses. I've always had to focus on just one to get it to the soft cap. If you're using Mids character builder, maybe you could share your build later?

 

 

23 minutes ago, SenTheFortress said:

And about the last part... I don't think I understand. Isn't positional defense king? At 62%/59.7/58.8% (Melee/Ranged/AoE), I didn't think the other ones mattered since it uses whichever is the highest total (this with always be positional for me since all 3 are much higher than all the rest and one of these 3 is used for every type of attack). Unless I am somehow understanding defense incorrectly still?

 

Correct. Positional defense is useful more often vs typed defense. Since I've never figured out how to soft cap all 3 positional defenses for a single character, I've always had to choose just one.  In that situation, sometimes it makes more sense to build for a typed defense. It all depends on your build, and your character's theme or concept. For example, if I were playing a hero who was cold based, I might choose to have extremely high defense against cold attacks to simulate his powers simply controlling the cold around him. Of course, I'd also build in high resistance to cold damage as well.  This means my character would probably be fairly weak to most other kinds of damage and attacks... which actually might be part of his concept. I might intentionally make his defense and resistance against fire attacks very weak, for example.

 

The nice thing about this game is that the vast majority of the content is easy enough to allow making pretty much anything you want, with any numbers in your build. You don't have to have any defense numbers at soft cap to be successful and win the day, for example. And if you play in a large team, it's even easier. Don't forget to have fun with your character and your character's concept. It's one of the things that makes this game so fun to play.

 

A character that needs to rely on others in order to survive can end up making you some great friends. People you just love to play with. I still have 3 friends that I met through this game way back in 2005. We didn't know what we were doing in the early days, so we had to have each other's backs just to survive. That created some pretty strong relationships that led o real life friendships. I still game with those 3 guys today! 

 

There's only a few things where a min/maxed character build is needed... and it's mostly for doing task forces on the highest difficulty setting, which is completely optional. Otherwise, even post level 50 Incarnate content is pretty easy if you play in a team or league. I won't lie and say a min/maxed build won't make things easier or allow your character to do difficult things, but there are a lot of ways to have fun with this game.  

 

   

 

[SenTheFortress]

2 hours ago, BlackSpectre said:

 

 

 

 

You want at least 90% accuracy.

 

It would be amazing if you can get those high numbers for all 3 positional defenses. I've always had to focus on just one to get it to the soft cap. If you're using Mids character builder, maybe you could share your build later?

 

 

   

 

Okay, so i'll probably want to drop some accuracy and load up on more damage/res/anything else. My accuracy is overkill (in theory having higher than 90% makes you more resistant to to-hit buffs right?).

 

I do have 58.75%+ in all three positional defenses actually, my build is already attached to my first post. file: "Nimble Oblit - full kit"