Fire/Dark Armor Build Help

[Rex Havoc]

Hello and thank you for any guidance you can give me.  I've never tried a sentinel before and truthfully, the builds on my other characters are things I've found on the forums rather than my own creations. I'm not much of min/max player and I oftentimes picked powers/placed slots somewhat randomly. I'd like to change that with my sentinel. I've checked several blaster fire/ builds and compared them to scrapper /dark armor builds to try to Frankenstein something together. That doesn't take into account the dark armor changes to sentinel of course. 

 

I chose fire/dark armor more for theme than anything else (dark underworld demon sort of character), based on my limited research dark armor doesn't seem to be popular for sentinels and I'm guessing its an underperformer when compared to other choices. Nevertheless, I'd like to build something that is enjoyable, playable, and can contribute to the team.  Can you help with this?  I would be very much appreciate of any guidance, builds, or clarification you can impart.  Thanks again for your help and I hope you have a great day! 

[oldskool]

I've been playing a Dark/Dark Sent recently.  I decided to reroll from Dark/Regen since I got bored with it a bit. ;)

 

I can't comment on Fire, but I will share my thoughts on /Dark. 

 

First off, Dark Armor likes to be in melee.  Obscure Sustenance is pretty strong.  The initial heal it has is smallish, but it buffs your regeneration AND endurance recovery.  Those two effects last for as long as the cooldown (effects last 60s vs a 60s cooldown).  You do want to give this power love.  I 6 slot it. 

 

The armor toggles can be fine with 3 slots.  You want them.  I see no reason to skip them. 

 

I highly suggest you take Cloak of Darkness.  In addition to all it does, it has a stealth component.  With the Celerity +Stealth you can hop right into a melee spawn and go to town.  It's a bit easier for me to say that since Dark is my primary and the T9 has a massive -to hit.

 

Cloak of Fear, Oppressive Gloom, and Soul Transfer are options.  Dark Armor doesn't have a T9 buff like Electric does that caps off your resistances or makes you harder to hit.  Instead you get soft control tools. 

 

Cloak of Fear has a fear effect which can be useful, and it has a small -to hit debuff.  It is PBAoE and I'd consider it for your pairing. 

 

OR you could take Oppressive Gloom which is a stun with a much smaller endurance drain (it will take health - your regeneration can easily match it).  Either one of these, slot them and make them stronger.  They are effectively your replacement to a T9 combined with the regeneration from Obscure Sustenance. 

 

Soul Transfer is a strong revive power, but I'm not fond of revives.  Still, Soul Transfer may suit your purposes. 

 

Beyond the base primary/secondary stuff, consider Fighting for Tough and Weave.  Maybe even Sorcery for Rune of Protection (it's kinda like a Tier 9 lite).  Maneuvers from Leadership also helps. 

 

Dark Armor is actually pretty straight forward and doesn't take a lot of slots to make it work.  You won't cap any resistances without pool powers, but you have other things that will help you out. 

 

Edit, plan to buy either the Karma or Steadfast IO's for KB protection. Gladiator's armor could also work with the 3pc bonus.

[Rex Havoc]

Thank you very much for your insights oldskool!  They are very helpful and will guide me in selecting/slotting my /dark powerset.  Now to work on the fire side of things.