Jedi Sentinel – A Primer

[MBirkhofer]

Some things you might want to adjust, add.

 

Damage.

Power, and damage gains are not a simple 1+1.

 

Skills all have hidden ratios.

Bladestorm for example has a 1.87.

My blade storm lists at 1564-1628.

I use my power adrenal which gives +565 power.

This 565 power gives +129.9 damage at the .23 ratio.

But my blade storm increases to 1819-1883.

Which is 255 damage gained. (yes, that is a 1.96% ratio, and no I'm not sure atm, what is accounting for the that .09%..)

 

 

Accuracy. you stat physical moves have a 90% hit rate. This true for strike and only strike.

All other moves are under the "special ability" class. which is 100% mainhand, 67%offhand.

 

 

Offhand mastery is not as bad as I early stated as well.

The issue was two fold. 1. not understanding accuracy earlier. The worse acc is as a stat, the better offhand mastery is basically.

And, undervaluing how much base weapon damage scales at high levels.

A t2 weapon is 453 damage top end. This is a fairly sizable part of your total damage. Especially in comparison to early levels. A level 45 sabre is 302 top end.

This is more true for combat which, uses dw for more of its damage then focus or watchman.

For example, with ataru form, even skipping the extra +acc talent, and assuming 0acc on gear, blade rush is 100% mh, and 70% offhand hit rate. A 453 offhand weapon is then 136 without oh mastery, averaging 95 with 70% acc. while 299 with, averaging 209 with 70% acc. 114 ave damage BEFORE crit % and surge is not insignificant.

This offhand damage does of course scale only with weapon, crit and surge. it does not scale with power, str(well str crit% it does), or will.

Edited January 18, 2012 by MBirkhofer

[flowqz]

has anyone already completed a list with items with power surge or power crit enhancements to put them into the rakata/pvp gear instead of this +accuracy garbadge? Edited January 18, 2012 by flowqz

[Maefly]

Some things you might want to adjust, add.

 

Damage.

Power, and damage gains are not a simple 1+1.

 

Skills all have hidden ratios.

Bladestorm for example has a 1.87.

My blade storm lists at 1564-1628.

I use my power adrenal which gives +565 power.

This 565 power gives +129.9 damage at the .23 ratio.

But my blade storm increases to 1819-1883.

Which is 255 damage gained. (yes, that is a 1.96% ratio, and no I'm not sure atm, what is accounting for the that .09%..)

 

Yeah I can see each ability taking the base damage and scaling by an unknown factor but power does still scale the base damage a a liner rate. However, we would need to figure out that hidden factor to determine if power would be better or worse for a given tree. For example if something like Cauterize has a very low factor (close to 1) then power becomes less important for Watchman or if something like Blade Rush as a larger factor (say 2 or even 3) then power becomes much more valuable for Combat.

 

Not sure I would want to attempt these figures without a log and parser tho...heck at least a training dummy as the tooltips may not necessarily be accurate.

 

 

Accuracy. you stat physical moves have a 90% hit rate. This true for strike and only strike.

All other moves are under the "special ability" class. which is 100% mainhand, 67%offhand.

 

God I hope this is not the case. It really dumbs down the class making accuracy a pointless stat. The Accuracy tool tip says Melee abilities. From what I can tell things like Merc Strike, Zealous Strike, and Precision Slash are all considered Melee and, it would seem, affected by accuracy.

[MBirkhofer]

Torhead has the scaling listed.

http://www.torhead.com/ability/4N2Gi6v/slash

Go down to effect details. green + button. This lists the datamined code.

 

"Coefficient=>1.54" that is how much it scales with +damage.

 

You can also see the special ability=1. which is true. Only strike does not have that command.

[K_osss]

Way to keep adding to an already good guide, thanks Maefly!

[flowqz]

dunno where to post it, so i post it here

 

got the new normal mode trinket tonight aka 30%chance on damaging attacks to deal 156elemental dmg to the target with a 4,5s cd on the proc

 

the otherone that droped was 208energy damage on damaging attacks to deal 208 energy damage to ghe target with a 4,5s cd on the proc

 

the first trinket aka the elemental one proced ~162noncrit ~257crit

 

the trinket also proced on dots + force sweep + bladestorm, so it seems all dmg sources can proc it.

 

the +380 power trinkets give u 63 power overall im not sure if its worth it on some encounters cause i dunno how much dps we get per power.

 

edit: on a sidenote... they fixed the icons from our rakata weapon tokens from blaster to saber but correcting the stats on the items seems to be 2 hard.

Edited January 19, 2012 by flowqz

[kaya]

Just a note on your combat tree rotation. Could you not fit force leap into it seeing as Blade Storm has a ten yard range. Maybe every second blade storm to fit with cd's.

So Zealous Strike > start running away from mob > blade storm > force leap.

I imagine with the speed buffs it wouldn't be particularly difficult to make up 6 yards in 3 secs?

Playing watchman atm and respec costs are high so not in a position to try it out really.

[KillerSwordz]

I haven't fully read the post yet, but I would like to comment that so far it has been an informative, well thought out, and structured post. Thanks for taking the time in putting all this down.

I am loving the class. I have been hearing lots of negatives, but this will most likely be my main toon. Atm I am 39, Watchman spec'd. It isn't intuitive at all, which I love about the class. Moves have to be thought out and practiced before the can produce benefits.

Anywho thanks again

 

*BUMP*

[Chrismp]

Thank You so much Maefly and anyone else who contributed. I'm not an MMO guy (although I played vanilla WoW it didn't hold my attention) and this guide really helped me understand some of the concepts and roles and strengths of my character.

 

I must have played through kotor 3 times but MMO is a whole different story.

[MBirkhofer]

one last testing.

 

Focus talent Gravity does not effect cauterize with the slow talent.

[flowqz]

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?hl=en_US&hl=en_US&key=0AqXOK_Mmz0s8dDRhankxc0c1eEZ3LW1fY2kxUGh4Wnc&single=true&gid=0&output=html

 

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=1922320#post1922320

 

can anyone confirm this?

[Nuwon]

Awesome advice, thanks alot!

[LeonBraun]

Very Nice guide. Thank you =)

[RaikouX]

First off, great post, nice and informative . Now my question is more related to theory Crafting. now I didn't work the numbers as yet but in reference to stats priority: Str>acc> power>crit>surge. my Melee acc is currently 101.31%, Crit 23.80% and Crit multiplier 77.62%. Buff is 5%(force Might) Now I remember someone stating try to get your crit to 30%. I am just curious as in which crit we should be focusing to get to the 30% mark, Force power crit or melee crit. also I'm currently Combat spec and I'm leaning more towards after 100% accuracy mark is crit>surge>power . Now without combat log to help.. I'm just observing my dmg output in hard modes and just notice a dmg increase from eg. Blade storm doing 2.2k- 2.7k Crit to 2.5-3k Crit. Edited January 23, 2012 by RaikouX

[DmanSpeed]

Excellent, TS. just excellent.

 

Before I read this and studied it, I was just not effective in my level range. Dying more than I should, advancing but literally going bankrupt from repairs.

 

Now, I'm getting what I should out of this class, and most of my complaints are gone? Are we a little squishy? Yes, but we are also killing machines. I'm grinding dailies like a mad man now, and soon, I'll have the endgame gear to stay alive to keep kicking ***.

 

And I wouldn't have gotten there without this guide. +1 million.

[NotARobot]

For Combat PVE, does blade rush ALWAYS replace slash in our rotation? Or only to keep the extra buff up?

[Ravrohan]

IT always replaces slash. Once you have saberstorm both your Blade Rush and Ataru form strikes will get a +30% crit damage boost. Blade Rush's damage is higher than Slash once you figure in the auto ataru strike AND has the opportunity to proc a second ataru strike.

 

Save the hotkeys, ditch slash

[DED_ZAXAP]

Just a note on your combat tree rotation. Could you not fit force leap into it seeing as Blade Storm has a ten yard range. Maybe every second blade storm to fit with cd's.

So Zealous Strike > start running away from mob > blade storm > force leap.

I imagine with the speed buffs it wouldn't be particularly difficult to make up 6 yards in 3 secs?

Playing watchman atm and respec costs are high so not in a position to try it out really.

 

IMHO, running off mobs is a bad idea - you lose time (so DPS also) and don't forget that mob can follow u and u will gain nothing from running.

 

I want to say thanks to Maefly and my question - I'm Combat Sent and I leveled as Combat. Now I'm near level cap and I've read here that Combat isn't so good for PVP/flashpoints. Should I respec for Focus? Or with proper gear I still can be valuable in PVP?

Edited January 24, 2012 by DED_ZAXAP

[RaikouX]

IMHO, running off mobs is a bad idea - you lose time (so DPS also) and don't forget that mob can follow u and u will gain nothing from running.

 

I want to say thanks to Maefly and my question - I'm Combat Sent and I leveled as Combat. Now I'm near level cap and I've read here that Combat isn't so good for PVP/flashpoints. Should I respec for Focus? Or with proper gear I still can be valuable in PVP?

 

I pvp in Combat and I do fairly ok. Granted focus spec will be the better option but once you get better gear and maybe spec for combat pvp, and bioware fix the ability delay issue( which they have made improvements in this latest patch) you will do fine.

 

As for Flashpoint, to me Combat dominates in FP IMO. though some will argue watchmen is better, but it really depends on your style of play.

[andrew_b_gross]

I disagree with 2 points in the suggested PvE Watchman build. Instead of 33/8, I'd rather take 2 points out of Force Fade and go with 31/10, putting the 2 points into either Defensive Roll or Focused Leap. If you're worried about damage mitigation, I think 30% damage reduction to all AoE 100% of the time > 100% damage mitigation from all sources when you have Force Camo on. If you want to just maximize DPS and rely on raid strategies to keep you from dying, then the 1 extra focus generated every time you Force leap adds up, and also does nice things to your opening rotation.

 

For that matter, if push came to shove, I'd even rather do 21/8/2 and put those 2 points into lowering the cooldown on Force Stasis.

[flowqz]

again -30% ae dmg recived is HUGE... as it seems to be the only damage we get.

[xxypher]

Awesome post! Thank you for laying everything out like you did. I kept dying on the Darth Angral fight, but your post helped beat him easily, along with three new pieces of gear from a FP.

[Talorra]

I disagree with 2 points in the suggested PvE Watchman build. Instead of 33/8, I'd rather take 2 points out of Force Fade and go with 31/10, putting the 2 points into either Defensive Roll or Focused Leap. If you're worried about damage mitigation, I think 30% damage reduction to all AoE 100% of the time > 100% damage mitigation from all sources when you have Force Camo on. If you want to just maximize DPS and rely on raid strategies to keep you from dying, then the 1 extra focus generated every time you Force leap adds up, and also does nice things to your opening rotation.

 

For that matter, if push came to shove, I'd even rather do 21/8/2 and put those 2 points into lowering the cooldown on Force Stasis.

 

You'll want fade and AoE reduction for ops. Maybe not on normals, but hard/nightmare for sure. An example: Annihilator on Eternity Vault. His missile spam at the end, and his cannonade ability.

 

You can't DPS if you're dead

[DED_ZAXAP]

I respeced to Watchman from Combat. Not yet tested in PVP but in leveling and heroics it's ... awesome. I've made many mistakes in using abilities and still elite mobs and boses in heroics melt down. The biggest probleme is not to forget to use all abilities))) And remap keybindings coz u have to use more abilities than in Combat.

 

My question - I'm trying to max my crit chance. It's right for Watchmen or I need to up my Power or something else?

[kaya]

IMHO, running off mobs is a bad idea - you lose time (so DPS also) and don't forget that mob can follow u and u will gain nothing from running.

 

I want to say thanks to Maefly and my question - I'm Combat Sent and I leveled as Combat. Now I'm near level cap and I've read here that Combat isn't so good for PVP/flashpoints. Should I respec for Focus? Or with proper gear I still can be valuable in PVP?

 

Technically you dont lose any time on the mob - you can make it to 10 yards in the gap between globals and no auto attack between globals so you dont lose that either.

Having said that its kind of pointless simply because you dont need the extra focus (you generate enough from zealous strike to supply your spenders) and it does result in a loss of uptime if you eat a knockback right after.

I've been playing combat in pvp recently and its not as self sufficient as watchman but i find it better if you've got back up. Watchman relies on leap somewhat to do max damage combat doesn't. The root removal on fade, extra movement speed and root makes you more or less unkitable. You have enough interrupts to be a pain in the *** too, watchman is a bit better in this regard but combat has enough to be a make someones life miserable.

With zen and precision slash you can set up some really nice burst. Watchman has more survivability and possibly more damage overall (not a massive amount if at all). Combat has its place in pvp, if you prefer playing it then stick with it.