Jedi Sentinel – A Primer

[DarthNeedle]

This is very helpful in trying to choose Sentinel options. Many thanks!

[dragoonic]

This is a fantastic guide Maefly and sorely needed on the Knight forums.

 

I especially enjoyed your discussion of Overload Saber, as the same question (can I keep it rolling forever?) has been bothering me since I acquired the ability.

 

As you said, ordinarily OS will only last for 9 seconds (6 at 3 stacks) before dropping. Theoretically that means if you can burn off 3 seconds (2 globals) before applying the third stack, you should be able to restart OS in time to keep the DOT rolling. In reality it may be necessary to burn 3 globals on moves that don't proc OS, due to timing constraints.

 

Abilities I know don't proc OS: Blade Storm, Force Sweep, Crippling Throw, Force Stasis, Force Kick

Abilities I'm unsure of: Cyclone Slash, Dispatch, Opportune Strike, Pommel Strike

 

Force Sweep, Blade Storm, and Crippling Throw together are probably sufficient to keep OS rolling indefinitely. Unfortunately trying to use these moves inside the rotation would really screw with focus management, and any DPS gain from rolling x3OS might be offset by using suboptimal abilities as filler. This is a really tricky problem to work out without the benefit of combat logs or training dummies.

 

In the interim I think its probably best to use your modified rotation as often as possible, preferably getting it to line up with Inspiration usage, and not worry about the rest until more information is available.

[SunwindIon]

Why for the PvE watchment spec do you have the talent Inflammation and not Merciless Zeal? surely that is a mistake? why would you honestly need Inflammation in PVE?

[Maefly]

Why for the PvE watchment spec do you have the talent Inflammation and not Merciless Zeal? surely that is a mistake? why would you honestly need Inflammation in PVE?

 

Those two points are preference. Assuming you are in an operation at end game you should neither need to slow a target nor heal yourself. Since I'm on a PvP server, I opted to try to keep in melee range rather than a small heal in case I find someone out and about while doing dailies, questing, or on my way to an operation.

Edited December 25, 2011 by Maefly

[dragoonic]

Inflammation is definitely useful if you need to fight other players, but I think Merciless Zeal is one of the key selling points of Watchman regardless of your playstyle. Even in Operations where you are unlikely to be targeted you will probably suffer low-level damage from AOE attacks and boss mechanics, so the passive healing will reduce stress on your healers.

 

When combined with Zen, which will happen frequently because of Valor, the healing is actually very substantial: 18% for you/6% for the group over 4.5 seconds (if you have both burns up).

[SunwindIon]

Inflammation is definitely useful if you need to fight other players, but I think Merciless Zeal is one of the key selling points of Watchman regardless of your playstyle. Even in Operations where you are unlikely to be targeted you will probably suffer low-level damage from AOE attacks and boss mechanics, so the passive healing will reduce stress on your healers.

 

When combined with Zen, which will happen frequently because of Valor, the healing is actually very substantial: 18% for you/6% for the group over 4.5 seconds (if you have both burns up).

 

this was my thinking too.

[ML_DoubleTap]

Inflammation is definitely useful if you need to fight other players, but I think Merciless Zeal is one of the key selling points of Watchman regardless of your playstyle. Even in Operations where you are unlikely to be targeted you will probably suffer low-level damage from AOE attacks and boss mechanics, so the passive healing will reduce stress on your healers.

 

When combined with Zen, which will happen frequently because of Valor, the healing is actually very substantial: 18% for you/6% for the group over 4.5 seconds (if you have both burns up).

 

Yeah w/ Juyo Mastery increasing crit chances as well as Insight if you grab it from the Combat tree, I'd think you could really get some healing rolling.

[Caedmon_Cato]

I didn't take every ability in the Combat Tree, there are several that I didn't feel added much of anything (Some I had to take to move onto the next tier of the tree) Its left me with ten free points to throw around.

[Tsumedai]

Nice work on the guide. Couple of minor comments:

 

It is important to note that Blade storm is not a physical ability and doesn't benefit from either Precision Slash or Blade Rush...

 

Are you sure about this? Blade Storm does kinetic damage, which I thought was affected by armour, so it ought to benefit from Precision Slash.

 

The in-game description of Opportune Attack is incorrect. Ataru form strikes don't trigger it 50/100% of the time, but rather 15/30%. The Marauder equivalent skill has the correct description.

 

Finally, Temperance is worth a look for a combat build, especially once you have access to Blade Rush. Zen + Ataru + Blade Rush is pretty powerful, and I think it's well worth the skill points to get your centering to accumulate that much faster.

[Maefly]

Nice work on the guide. Couple of minor comments:

Are you sure about this? Blade Storm does kinetic damage, which I thought was affected by armour, so it ought to benefit from Precision Slash.

 

Not sure about kinetic damage being affected by armor. Makes sense from a real world standpoint but would need confirmation.

 

The in-game description of Opportune Attack is incorrect. Ataru form strikes don't trigger it 50/100% of the time, but rather 15/30%. The Marauder equivalent skill has the correct description.

 

I'll update that

 

Finally, Temperance is worth a look for a combat build, especially once you have access to Blade Rush. Zen + Ataru + Blade Rush is pretty powerful, and I think it's well worth the skill points to get your centering to accumulate that much faster.

 

The builds presented are end game and generally geared toward boss fights. Unless there are a ton of adds, Temperance wouldn't gain us much. Also, I think you personally have to kill the target which means you would need to be full time on adds to gain anything from this talent.

 

However, there are a few points that don't have a home in the Combat build so allocating them here is an option.

[Kyromoo]

Uh, why is the combat build suggesting to use Slash EVER once you have Blade Rush?

 

Blade Rush literally replaces Slash for every purpose you could conceivably use it for in a combat build. To my knowledge, it has no cooldown, costs the same focus for combat as Slash, and does consistently better damage due to the automatic ataru hit. Correct me if i missed something here. ^_^

 

 

Edit: To my understanding, your interpretation of Blade Storm is mostly correct. I'm fairly certain it ignores armor, and so is not used after Precision Slash. I have not been able to confirm if it can proc an Ataru strike.

Edited December 28, 2011 by Kyromoo

[Maefly]

Uh, why is the combat build suggesting to use Slash EVER once you have Blade Rush?

 

Yep this needs to be updated. There was a previous mention of just spamming blade rush and it just didn't make sense to me that the Combat tree would devolve into a single button focus dump. I had hoped that Blade Rush would have some cooldown (I mean really, why put increased ataru procs after a blade rush if all you're going to be dumping focus with is blade rush - makes no sense) so you had to balance Precision 6 seconds with the Blade Rush 6 seconds.

 

Apparently this is not the way it is and Blade Rush is the Tracer Missile of Sentinels. I'll remove the mention of dumping focus with Slash next update.

[SteveGarbage]

Just wanted to let you know - this primer has helped me out immensely. Just getting a few tips on how to better utilize my skills as a Watchman has really given me the edge while fighting mobs. I was struggling for a while but now I really feel like Sentinel has a lot of power and potential.

[CompleteBlackout]

The kinetic damage from blade rush definitely benefits from armor penetration. You should update that info as you are missing out on significant guaranteed crit damage. I do not have blade rush yet, but I would imagine using that first then blade storm and removing slash is the way to go.

 

My crits were increasing from ~750 to ~1000 on level 30 mobs in alderaan by using blade storm after precision slash.

[Erahmir]

Hi, thanks for the great guide. I was wondering if Watchmen burns are considered Force attacks? And if so, would the Insight talent in the Focus tree be a good pick up vs. Steadfast in Combat?

 

Thanks again

[kickrock]

I am unsure if Kinetic damage is reduced by armor or not, however your Blade Storm damage is affected by the 100% armor reduction from Precision Slash. I noticed it before but wanted to make sure before I came to the boards with it.

 

Hitting an Ice Cat in Hoth with Blade Storm crits for around 1k to 1.1k damage without Precision Slash at level 40.

Hitting an Ice Cat in Hoth with Blade Storm crits for around 1.3k to 1.5k damage while Precision Slash is active at level 40.

 

If Armor does reduce Kinetic damage then this is working as intended. If not, then abuse this bug while it lasts. Not sure if someone already covered this. If not, here you go.

[FobManX]

Remember though that your Ataru Form procs also increase the damage of your next focus spender by 10%, so the increased damage could be from that.

[Tsumedai]

Not sure about kinetic damage being affected by armor. Makes sense from a real world standpoint but would need confirmation.

 

If you check the defence stats on your own character, and hover over damage reduction, it makes it pretty clear that kinetic damage is mitigated by armour. Not impossible that it's different for enemies, but I'd imagine it's the same all round.

 

The builds presented are end game and generally geared toward boss fights. Unless there are a ton of adds, Temperance wouldn't gain us much. Also, I think you personally have to kill the target which means you would need to be full time on adds to gain anything from this talent.

 

Fair point. I haven't reached end game yet, so I'm thinking more of what I find useful at present.

[Danthars]

Great Guide! Should upload all this onto the swtor jedi sentinal wiki

[Danthars]

Good Compainion Guide Starter

http://www.ign.com/wikis/star-wars-the-old-republic/Jedi_Knight_Companions

[Fenger]

I saw mention of a focus bar in the guide. What is it and how do I activate it as it is not a part of the default UI that I know of. Thanks!

[SteveGarbage]

I saw mention of a focus bar in the guide. What is it and how do I activate it as it is not a part of the default UI that I know of. Thanks!

 

The "Focus Bar" is located directly under your health bar and shows how much focus you've built up to use your skills. Jedi Knight combat skills are (mostly) either focus-builders (Strike, Leap, Zealous Strike) or focus-spenders (Slash, Force Sweep, Master Strike etc.) When you execute a focus builder, you'll see the amount indicated in yellow bars under your health bar. Then when you use your spenders, those bars will be used.

 

I think you got confused by the wording in the part of the guide talking about utilizing the focus bar:

"I also like to work on fully utilizing my focus bar especially if Zealous strike is about to come off cooldown. For example if you have low focus and only another global until Zealous strike work in a Cauterize or a Crippling throw."

 

If this is what you're talking about, this section just basically says to use your spenders to use up your focus if Zealous Strike (which generates six focus) is about ready again.

 

I hope that helps. Essentially your "Focus bar" is just located beneath your health bar and indicates how much focus you have built up in order to utilize certain combat skills that require it.

[kickrock]

Remember though that your Ataru Form procs also increase the damage of your next focus spender by 10%, so the increased damage could be from that.

 

Tested again, used Blade Rush before Blade Storm to insure I had the 10%. Got the same numbers for both with Precision Slash and without.

Edited December 30, 2011 by kickrock

[Wazooty]

Why do you have slash in your ataru rotation when blade rush is superior in every way and has no CD?

 

edit: whoops. It's already been mentioned.

Edited December 30, 2011 by Wazooty

[devilinhell]

Why do you have slash in your ataru rotation when blade rush is superior in every way and has no CD?

 

edit: whoops. It's already been mentioned.

 

The guide is awesome and I look forward to using it in gameplay, but I've seen 3 or 4 mentions about Blade Rush over Slash, the first being over 9 days ago and would like to see the guide updated to reflect this information as soon as possible. Otherwise, not knowing all the numbers and details, I'm not sure how much of it to follow or what builds need to be changed.