Sentinel Combat max PvE efficiency build?

[zachbuford]

Recently I've made a sentinel and rather like it. I am a big PvE nut as well as one of those people that like to mess around on the talent calculator. Combat spec seams the most fun to me so I'd love help from more experience combat sents to help me find the best build.

 

Cookie-cutter Combat Pve dps

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#5010cZhGrbddMorsZG00M.1

 

Buffed Slash build

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#5010cZhGrbddMoMzZGd0r.1

 

I was experimenting with the builds and I'm uncertain how much dps would be lost/gained from giving up Blade Rush (and the extra procs) for a more powerful base-slash. For the Slash build I'm aware that there are much more "free" talents but I would love feedback.

Edited March 27, 2012 by zachbuford

[TristQueloon]

in your "cookie-cutter" build, you need to drop Swift Slash from the the focus tree.

 

By level 40, BladeRush replaces slash, so you will see no benefit from the talent points.

 

This is what im currently running with

 

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#5010cZuMrbddrRrsZG.1

 

 

For your buffed Slash build, all I can say is try it. There was someone advocating a build very similar but with all the combat points put in watchman. SO they had burns and buffed slash. Only suggestion I would make if you want to try it is to removed your 1 point you have in saber storm (as 1 point wont make a huge difference there) and put it in Zealous Leap. As you are focusing more on slash damage, you will also need to be on target more, so having an extra leap would help with that.

Edited March 27, 2012 by TristQueloon

[Ainianu]

as poster above says, slash is not used if you have blade rush (since blade rush is better) so dropping the slash improving talents is really a good idea as they are unnecessary

[LagunaD]

1) Swift Slash, as noted, is useless after Level 40. I would put those points in Quick Recovery. Cyclone Slash is a VERY under-rated ability, and being able to spam it for 1 Focus in AoE/trash situations results in massive damage. My Cyclone Slash hits for 1K or better, and each attack can proc an Ataru (subject to the ICD, of course) so hitting 5 targets with it for 1 Focus...you do the math. The loss of Quick Recovery in 1.2 is going to seriously reduce our AoE potential.

 

2) Focused Leap is sub-par. It gains you 1 Focus every 15 seconds - absolute best case - for two skill points. That's 4 Focus/minute, best case.

 

3) Debilitation is useless in PvE.

 

I would put those four points in:

 

2a) Jedi Crusader. This has the potential to give you 10 Focus/minute in trash or incidental damage situations. As such, I think it's superior to Focused Leap.

 

3a) Fleetfooted. While far from spectacular, there are a lot of effects that knock you back and snare you, and this is an alternative to Force Leap when the range is too short or its on cooldown. It also allows you to break snares without using your stun break. Again, far from great, but still better than Debilitation since it at least has the potential to increase your damage output.

 

Thus:

 

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#501bcZGGMbddMRMsZG.1

Edited March 28, 2012 by LagunaD

[zachbuford]

Thanks for the help guys, I will take all this feedback into consideration. My sent wasnt 40 yet so i didnt even know that slash was all-out replaced. Thanks for the tips.

 

One of the primary reasons i made the pure-slash build was to completely maximize the Ataru Form's Zen. Thought i knew that build is missing many core combat abilities i wasn't sure if the insane burst from Zen would compensate.

Edited March 29, 2012 by zachbuford

[BeefMoe]

One thing to consider, Combat is getting a major overhaul in 1.2 and some talents and etc. are being moved around in the skill trees. I can't remember the full changes off of the top of my head, but some things like Valor which were previously unavailable to Combat now are.

 

If anyone on the PTS could take a screenshot of the new trees and post it, it would be much easier to theorycraft an ideal build based on the new changes.