Show me your Sentinel tier list!

[Some Random User]

Show me your Sentinel tier list! What Powersets or combinations do you believe are unsurpassed, good but second tier, neutral, and unplayable?

[Rathulfr]

 

[Some Random User]

Thank you for the U.R.L.

 

Any others with opinions?

[SmalltalkJava]

Just some thoughts.  I’ve never played one past level 30.  Not really tiered but I think /Fire and /Rad have the only secondary damage offerings.   So that would be a general plus.  

 

Dark Primary has a nice spammy cone that can be turned to a knockdown.   So solid CC. Dark And it can take procs 

 

 

[oldskool]

Sentinels haven't been around long enough to fully quantify everything, yet.  

The best statement I could make so far is a pretty broad one.  

 

Generally speaking, defense-based secondaries bring a lot to the table for Sentinels.  Sentinels have lower starting hit points than other ATs running Tanker sets bringing the value of pure resistance down further.  Furthermore, debuff oriented primaries can exploit the chance to build in damage procs since the secondary covers defense to the soft-cap.  This is an advantage more similar to how certain Defender/Corruptor pairs can build vs how Blasters build.  That opportunity to explore new build decisions is where Sentinels can close the damage dealing gap on single targets vs their Blaster cousins despite having a lower damage scalar.  Obviously none of that matters at the damage cap, but realistically most people do not reliably play in such min/maxed environments.  

 

Damage additive secondaries like Bio Armor, Fire Armor, and Radiation Armor can take high performing primaries that have few proc options and make them even better.  

 

Then, there is everything else.  Most of the remaining secondaries are layered defense sets.  They can be very good when planned out well and will likely only require something like a single inspiration to cap out remaining defense/resistance.  Those secondaries may require defense building through IO sets in the primary powers which puts in the realm of decision making like a Blaster.  However, such a statement really doesn't do it justice because that's only looking at metrics on paper.  In actual play some of those secondaries can push boundaries that may not seem possible.  I feel the same can be said for Sentinel's version of Regeneration.  

 

There are no unplayable Sentinels but the AT has a sort of inverse curve of appeal.  It has a very low entry floor where it may seem very powerful before SO quality enhancements.  Then it may seem lack luster in the mid-range (30-early 50) as other ATs start to mature.  Then the Sentinel becomes good again where the IO investment allows it build decisions Blasters can't or won't pursue as well as Alpha Incarnate options more in line with Scrappers/Stalkers.  

[SmalltalkJava]

3 hours ago, oldskool said:

In actual play some of those secondaries can push boundaries that may not seem possible.  I feel the same can be said for Sentinel's version of Regeneration.  

Yes,  I'm starting to feel that sentinel Dark Blast + Regen might be able to achieve some nice things.   I'm still leveling mine, but I'm starting to see some potential. 

[Some Random User]

Thank you for this feedback. I'm glad someone pointed out Suzette's project as well, thank you.

[GetRidOfWires]

Beam Rifle/Bio Armor is the best damage combination I have found. Beam Rifle's Disintegrate mechanic adds a large amount of extra damage on top of what you already do. Bio then adds extra 25% to all damage, outside of the ED limit. Add Assault and that's 10% more, so together an extra SO of non-ED limit damage across the board. Self heal, increased Regen/Absorption, etc add to survivability even in Offensive stance. All ranged damage, no need to go into melee range for anything. Incarnate damage increases are icing on the cake. This combo has made it difficult to play anything else in the Sentinel power sets because the damage difference is so noticeable. 

[Yomo Kimyata]

On 8/23/2019 at 1:09 PM, GetRidOfWires said:

Beam Rifle/Bio Armor is the best damage combination I have found. Beam Rifle's Disintegrate mechanic adds a large amount of extra damage on top of what you already do. Bio then adds extra 25% to all damage, outside of the ED limit. Add Assault and that's 10% more, so together an extra SO of non-ED limit damage across the board. Self heal, increased Regen/Absorption, etc add to survivability even in Offensive stance. All ranged damage, no need to go into melee range for anything. Incarnate damage increases are icing on the cake. This combo has made it difficult to play anything else in the Sentinel power sets because the damage difference is so noticeable. 

I totally agree.  Mine is only in mid 20s, and it feels broken how powerful it seems.

[XaoGarrent]

Tiering is a bit more difficult for Sentinels due to the fact that they can't, at least as easily, pair their Blast primary with a secondary that shores up the weaknesses of their ranged attacks. An example of this is my Water/Bio Armor sentinel. INCREDIBLE AoE potential, but lags behind in single target. Luckily, Bio helps with that just as it helps with everything.

 

This is partially the reason why Beam Rifle is getting such good reception, the Sentinel version of the set does Single Target really, really well, and AoE at an above average level, so you rarely end up in situations where you're useless. It's also contributing to the whole dominance issue with any Sentinel set that lacks a damage boosting secondary.

[BulletBella]

16 hours ago, XaoGarrent said:

Tiering is a bit more difficult for Sentinels due to the fact that they can't, at least as easily, pair their Blast primary with a secondary that shores up the weaknesses of their ranged attacks. An example of this is my Water/Bio Armor sentinel. INCREDIBLE AoE potential, but lags behind in single target. Luckily, Bio helps with that just as it helps with everything.

 

This is partially the reason why Beam Rifle is getting such good reception, the Sentinel version of the set does Single Target really, really well, and AoE at an above average level, so you rarely end up in situations where you're useless. It's also contributing to the whole dominance issue with any Sentinel set that lacks a damage boosting secondary.

Would you say pistol/bio armor sentinel would be good?

[XaoGarrent]

5 minutes ago, BulletBella said:

Would you say pistol/bio armor sentinel would be good?

Pistols is kinda... Eeeehhh... Overall. My first Sentinel was a Pistols/Fire and even with the damage boosting in Fire, Pistols struggles. No Aim clone, heavily Lethal, AoE damage is spread out over long animations, etc... It also really wants a defense set, because one of its few synergies is that the T9 gives you a big chunk of defense while it's animating. 

 

Bio would help push it up more in damage, but Pistols just tends to struggle.

[BulletBella]

10 minutes ago, XaoGarrent said:

Pistols is kinda... Eeeehhh... Overall. My first Sentinel was a Pistols/Fire and even with the damage boosting in Fire, Pistols struggles. No Aim clone, heavily Lethal, AoE damage is spread out over long animations, etc... It also really wants a defense set, because one of its few synergies is that the T9 gives you a big chunk of defense while it's animating. 

 

Bio would help push it up more in damage, but Pistols just tends to struggle.

ooof before this i was thinking of pistols/ super reflexes

[XaoGarrent]

8 minutes ago, BulletBella said:

ooof before this i was thinking of pistols/ super reflexes

I imagine it wont matter once you hit IOs anyway as SR and Nin would just go for the softcap anyway. It might actually be better with Bio in end game since Bio has IOing options other than soft capping, so the buff from the T9 wont be going to waste there.

 

Really, though, I wouldn't worry too much about DP, if you're gonna play it just play it with whatever secondary you want, and don't worry too much about the details... Because it's gonna be kinda rough no matter what you pair it with.

[BulletBella]

4 minutes ago, XaoGarrent said:

I imagine it wont matter once you hit IOs anyway as SR and Nin would just go for the softcap anyway. It might actually be better with Bio in end game since Bio has IOing options other than soft capping, so the buff from the T9 wont be going to waste there.

 

Really, though, I wouldn't worry too much about DP, if you're gonna play it just play it with whatever secondary you want, and don't worry too much about the details... Because it's gonna be kinda rough no matter what you pair it with.

x.x but i think pistols are really fun/strong what's a good pairing to steamroll content then?

[XaoGarrent]

5 hours ago, BulletBella said:

x.x but i think pistols are really fun/strong what's a good pairing to steamroll content then?

Didn't say it wasn't fun. Strong... Well, if you're fighting enemies without S/L resists, maybe. But even then it's, at best, slightly above average in damage. Which is bad news since S/L resists are the most common resists in the game.

 

Fire/Rad is universally agreed upon as being monstrous for AoE. Beam Rifle/Bio is meta among meta. Really, pairing Bio or Rad with any primary that either has lots of AoE (Fire, Water), is really well rounded(Beam Rifle, Ice), or has some appealing mitigation, debuffing or damage boosting mechanics (Sonic, as well as Water and Beam Rifle apply here as well) seems to be the sentinel meta right now.

[oldskool]

9 hours ago, BulletBella said:

x.x but i think pistols are really fun/strong what's a good pairing to steamroll content then?

Fun and strong are subjective.  I find Dual Pistol to be fun.  It has become one of my favorite sets and as a labor of love, I wrote that incredibly long write-up in the collaborative guide.  I'm still experimenting with it and finding out new things all the time.  

 

Can you steamroll on Dual Pistols?  Yes.  Yes you can*.  It is all about how you build it and what IO sets you go with.  The set over all is upper middle-level of the damage spectrum when considering the core attack chain that the other 3 ATs have available.  Sentinels have more options than that by default that all do competitive damage with one another.  When you build the attacks with damage procs, the output of the set shifts upward to becoming even more competitive.  

 

*Well, you can steamroll as well as most Sentinels can when considering AOE output.  All Sentinels have limitations on AOE damage due to target caps and /Rad has a power with an exception.  Still, I can constantly loop Empty Clips -> Bullet Rain over and over due to high recharge and relatively short animation times on both (1.848 seconds).  Even though Empty Clips is a cone, it can fire it off frequently enough as to not matter that much.  I'm pretty used to cones though.  For single target, my attacks mulch enemies like a chainsaw but I have multiple attacks with damage procs.  

 

Sentinel DP has a nice home in the AT.  DP has no snipe which is a complaint about it else where.  Well, no Sentinel has a snipe so that's not a big deal.  Sentinel has no Aim so it has no real burst damage option, but instead it has Swap Ammo.  Incendiary Ammunition adds damage that helps make up for the lack of burst by making it more sustained overtime.  Its not as nice as popping AIM -> T9 nuke, but it isn't bad either.  It is just a very different style of play than most expect or wish it were.  

 

Bio Armor would take the damage further with Offensive Adaption like it does everything else in the game.  So if you're looking for a "strong" pairing it is hard to go wrong with */Bio.  Dual Pistols, and any set that can abuse a lot of damage procs, can perform far better than it appears on paper depending on how you build it.   

Edited August 27, 2019 by oldskool

[Six-Six]

My favourite so far is Dual Pistols. Yes, I'm quite familiar with the popular comparison with Blasters and Corruptors version of DP. And it hasn't stopped me. I've tried pistols with Will power and it is a beast, especially with incarnates.

I'm playing a couple of alts with pistols and Dark, which also seems promising enough to rival willpower; plus it opens a whole new avenue of thematic concepts. Just rolled a Super Reflexes one that's too low a level to tell, barely past the teens.

I also experimented with Ninjitsu. Didn't like it very much, although I though DP would have synergised very well with it, especially with the Ninja themed Epic pool. For one thing, the animation was broken with the epic pool -- no katana. Turned around and tried a Blaster DP/Ninja Training. Found it too squishy and too many attacks for my feeble brain to manage.

My second favourite is the Energy Blast/Rad which I rolled out primarily after reading Sunsette's post about it. I agree that it won't be competing for the best farmer with Spines/Fire, but it sure as hell is a tonne of fun to play. Knockback, knockback and more knockback. I keep this alt as my casual gaming toon.

I've pretty much tried most of the others, but not to any great extent, at least not enough to judge them. But I will say that my least favourite is Sonic for the audio effects, Bio for the visual effects, and Beam rifle because it just feels slow. You'll notice a trend that I prioritise aesthetics over stats.

Oh, and I mostly solo.

[Brownstreak]

What price fun? I really enjoyed my DP/SR.  Jumps right in, takes alphas with applomb, deaths are extremely rare, and I love the gunfu animations.  

 

Fun solo, and even more fun in teams.  Jump in next to the brute or tank, let off your nuke and jump about throwing cones, and AoEs around.  I love the way SR lets you concentrate on the shootin' and takes care of your defense and endurance for you 🙂

 

Morbidly satisfying to be the last man standing after a double mob pull.  Still only on IOs at 40, and while I am sure there are better combos, this one has plenty enough of everything to stave off my altitis for a while 😄 

 

*edit*

Sadly after 50 I got a bit bored with this guy.  Was great fun getting there, but post 50 the lack of damage in comparison to my equally tough (but more expensive) blaster really shows.  Everyone is tough and putting out more damage, or doing more debuffs.  Might be more of a sentinal issue thant this build though.

Edited October 21, 2019 by Brownstreak
updated info

[Menelruin]

RE:  Dual Pistols and Incarnate, what do you guys recommend for the Interface slot?  I've been running the Reactive one for lowering mob damage resistance, but do you think it would work better with the damage proc?