for watchman, power not that useful?

[Slamuel]

It seems that everyone says that for sent, power is the best stat to have. However, since it is only for melee attacks, or so I believe, wouldnt it seem that the burn damage is unaffected by power? Maybe I am missing something here.

 

And, another question, zen vs transcedecence vs inspiration. It seems as if inspiration, especially in pvp, unless it is on voidstar running through the halls or whatever to the next objective and speed is of the essence. And, zen seems to be a mostly single player ability, as all it does for group is 1% heals for burns.

 

Thanks for the help.

[Zunayson]

Power is like Force Power, but it affects all four damage types (You only have two, so the other two are obsolete and don't matter).

 

You probably want ++ Crit (I always max out crit up the ***, because that usually results in a lot of crits, which is more damage).

[AngusFTW]

Power is absolutely useful.

 

Zen is usually what you'll want to be using as long as you make you're hitting all your dot attacks before or just after..

 

transcedence is good in some situations.

 

Inspiration is mainly a PVE buff but it can still be useful in pvp if the situation requires it.. but for most situations zen because it makes more dots crit = more damage mainly from overload saber and gives some healing.

Edited June 17, 2012 by AngusFTW

[ChickenPho]

So just to clarify, does power increase dot/burn damage? Currently using a Power relic and stacking power (after getting crit/surge to 30%/75%) and would really like to know that stacking power is good lol for Watchmen.

[Dawginole]

Power is absolutely useful.

 

Zen is usually what you'll want to be using as long as you make you're hitting all your dot attacks before or just after..

 

transcedence is good in some situations.

 

Inspiration is mainly a PVE buff but it can still be useful in pvp if the situation requires it.. but for most situations zen because it makes more dots crit = more damage mainly from overload saber and gives some healing.

 

I like to pop Inspiration in that first rush to the middle in PvP where the extra health from healing is vital to survivability. Usually there is a mass death fest in the first 30 seconds. If you pop it right when that cluster $%%# happens, and you have a decent healer, you have a higher chance of making it through the skirmish. After that, I usually don't pop it again in PvP.

 

On topic, I have been told by a few that Power seems to benefit Combat spec more. Crit is also very beneficial for Blade Storm. So I try to hit Surge at 300 and then stack crit and power on everything else.

 

Truthfully, testing builds in this game is extremely limited by the cost of swapping mods. Aside from a few uber richies, most can't afford to be popping mods in and out to test builds on the dummies. I think when this is alleviated we will have a great deal more testing and some clarity on the most beneficial builds for each spec.

[Stealios]

The reasoning behind power > crit at a certain point is because in all specs sentinels have talents to increase crit chance (for some attacks to a guaranteed 100%(

 

Watchman-> 5 stacks of juyo form add 15% crit chance to your dots & Zen makes your next 6 dot ticks 100% crit as well

 

Combat:-> rotation is all about getting bladestorm guaranteed crits & precision slash

 

Focus-> Everything is based around the 100% crit chance of force sweep

[Cinemayor]

OP, I'll address your points one at a time.

 

Increasing power makes ALL your attacks deal more damage. All of them. Power is always useful and doesn't suffer diminishing returns, unlike pretty much everything else. Once you have around 30% crit and 70-75% surge, stack power like it's going out of fashion; not strength. Each point of power increases your bonus damage by about .23 whereas each point of strength increases it by about .20 and you won't need to worry about the extra crit chance due to the diminishing returns.

 

As for Zen/Transcendence/Inspiration it's pretty simple: if you or your group really needs to move fast and have some extra defence, pop Transcendence (especially in Combat spec, for the extra speed boost) - this is particularly useful right at the start of warzones or when a group of you quickly switch objectives.

 

Inspiration is for when there's a furball - lots of people slugging it out over an objective in pvp. Pop it whenever its up and a big scrap starts. For raids I tend to save it for the last 30% when dps can start spamming their high damage execute abilities and the extra healing can prevent a wipe. On longer fights you might be able to pop it right at the start and have it come back up for the end - just watch your aggro because all that extra damage flying into the boss can make things hairy right at the start.

 

For everything else, there is Zen. Zen is always useful in a fight and if you don't need the other two it should be used as often as possible - bind it to an easily reachable key (easier said than done with Sent keybindings I know).

 

Watchman = yes the group heals are ok, but the REAL reason you use it is for the guaranteed 100% crit on your next six burns. 5 stacks of Juyo, 3 stacks of Overload Saber on your target and a Cauterise? ZEN THAT BAD BOY then Master Strike. Chuck a Merc Strike on the end and that is some nasty burst.

 

Combat = 1 second Blade Rush spam? Yes please. Oh look Precision Slash is off cd.... Spam the hell out of the BR and then drop an auto-crit Bladestorm just before Precision runs out.

 

Focus = 2 more singularity stacks is always good for on-demand force-bombing with Force Sweep and free Slashes are nice with all the talents that buff that skill in this particular tree.

[Dawginole]

OP, I'll address your points one at a time.

 

Increasing power makes ALL your attacks deal more damage. All of them. Power is always useful and doesn't suffer diminishing returns, unlike pretty much everything else. Once you have around 30% crit and 70-75% surge, stack power like it's going out of fashion; not strength. Each point of power increases your bonus damage by about .23 whereas each point of strength increases it by about .20 and you won't need to worry about the extra crit chance due to the diminishing returns.

 

As for Zen/Transcendence/Inspiration it's pretty simple: if you or your group really needs to move fast and have some extra defence, pop Transcendence (especially in Combat spec, for the extra speed boost) - this is particularly useful right at the start of warzones or when a group of you quickly switch objectives.

 

Inspiration is for when there's a furball - lots of people slugging it out over an objective in pvp. Pop it whenever its up and a big scrap starts. For raids I tend to save it for the last 30% when dps can start spamming their high damage execute abilities and the extra healing can prevent a wipe. On longer fights you might be able to pop it right at the start and have it come back up for the end - just watch your aggro because all that extra damage flying into the boss can make things hairy right at the start.

 

For everything else, there is Zen. Zen is always useful in a fight and if you don't need the other two it should be used as often as possible - bind it to an easily reachable key (easier said than done with Sent keybindings I know).

 

Watchman = yes the group heals are ok, but the REAL reason you use it is for the guaranteed 100% crit on your next six burns. 5 stacks of Juyo, 3 stacks of Overload Saber on your target and a Cauterise? ZEN THAT BAD BOY then Master Strike. Chuck a Merc Strike on the end and that is some nasty burst.

 

Combat = 1 second Blade Rush spam? Yes please. Oh look Precision Slash is off cd.... Spam the hell out of the BR and then drop an auto-crit Bladestorm just before Precision runs out.

 

Focus = 2 more singularity stacks is always good for on-demand force-bombing with Force Sweep and free Slashes are nice with all the talents that buff that skill in this particular tree.

 

 

This is a great post for those just getting into Sentinel. Nice job!

[gallowan]

I try and explain my reasoning on this to a lot of people.

 

 

Power is the most important stat, but power is also the last stat to "sort out".

 

Gearing choices for most people is pretty straight forward, but the game offers min/max-ers the ability to basically do what we want.

 

First off, don't worry about Strength, you will naturally get it.

 

Second, get your accuracy to just over 100% (291 accuracy points, plus 1% from companion affection). This will get you 100.04% which is as perfect as you can get.

 

Next it is about getting crit and surge to good levels. These two stats are linked. In the end, crit is less important of the two.

 

Then everything in to power.

 

But all of our stats increase sort of at the same time, depending on the gear you can get.

 

Right now I am sitting at 730 power buffed(reusable stim). Once I get the last few items, I will be well over 800.

 

Friendly reminder, get all STR, END and WIL datacrons. Willpower bumps up our bleeds.

[TradeLA]

cmarauder here, not sentinel, but endgame, it seems these days people are dumping crit for power, and not keeping to the 30% rule at all, in fact dumping accuracy further too. I'm not sure of the theory, just reporting what I see...

[Slamuel]

OP, I'll address your points one at a time.

 

Increasing power makes ALL your attacks deal more damage. All of them. Power is always useful and doesn't suffer diminishing returns, unlike pretty much everything else. Once you have around 30% crit and 70-75% surge, stack power like it's going out of fashion; not strength. Each point of power increases your bonus damage by about .23 whereas each point of strength increases it by about .20 and you won't need to worry about the extra crit chance due to the diminishing returns.

 

As for Zen/Transcendence/Inspiration it's pretty simple: if you or your group really needs to move fast and have some extra defence, pop Transcendence (especially in Combat spec, for the extra speed boost) - this is particularly useful right at the start of warzones or when a group of you quickly switch objectives.

 

Inspiration is for when there's a furball - lots of people slugging it out over an objective in pvp. Pop it whenever its up and a big scrap starts. For raids I tend to save it for the last 30% when dps can start spamming their high damage execute abilities and the extra healing can prevent a wipe. On longer fights you might be able to pop it right at the start and have it come back up for the end - just watch your aggro because all that extra damage flying into the boss can make things hairy right at the start.

 

For everything else, there is Zen. Zen is always useful in a fight and if you don't need the other two it should be used as often as possible - bind it to an easily reachable key (easier said than done with Sent keybindings I know).

 

Watchman = yes the group heals are ok, but the REAL reason you use it is for the guaranteed 100% crit on your next six burns. 5 stacks of Juyo, 3 stacks of Overload Saber on your target and a Cauterise? ZEN THAT BAD BOY then Master Strike. Chuck a Merc Strike on the end and that is some nasty burst.

 

Combat = 1 second Blade Rush spam? Yes please. Oh look Precision Slash is off cd.... Spam the hell out of the BR and then drop an auto-crit Bladestorm just before Precision runs out.

 

Focus = 2 more singularity stacks is always good for on-demand force-bombing with Force Sweep and free Slashes are nice with all the talents that buff that skill in this particular tree.

 

thanks for the great answer.

[darthsasha]

cmarauder here, not sentinel, but endgame, it seems these days people are dumping crit for power, and not keeping to the 30% rule at all, in fact dumping accuracy further too. I'm not sure of the theory, just reporting what I see...

Yeah i tried to dump accuracy but below 100% accuracy my master strike started to miss so i run exactly 100% accuracy now.

[Sniffle]

I try and explain my reasoning on this to a lot of people.

 

 

Power is the most important stat, but power is also the last stat to "sort out".

 

Gearing choices for most people is pretty straight forward, but the game offers min/max-ers the ability to basically do what we want.

 

First off, don't worry about Strength, you will naturally get it.

 

Second, get your accuracy to just over 100% (291 accuracy points, plus 1% from companion affection). This will get you 100.04% which is as perfect as you can get.

 

Next it is about getting crit and surge to good levels. These two stats are linked. In the end, crit is less important of the two.

 

Then everything in to power.

 

But all of our stats increase sort of at the same time, depending on the gear you can get.

 

Right now I am sitting at 730 power buffed(reusable stim). Once I get the last few items, I will be well over 800.

 

Friendly reminder, get all STR, END and WIL datacrons. Willpower bumps up our bleeds.

 

Are you getting all this power on PVE gear or PVP? If PVP, what mods are you switching out?

[EternityDre]

Remember that strength +dmg, while slightly less than power, affects your mainhand and offhand, whereas power only affects mainhand. When 1.3 hits, all of my new augments will be strength for this reason. You should always get strength over power as a dual wielder, period.

 

I'm a combat Sentinel and this is my priority order.

- 100% accuracy

- 300 surge

- 450 crit

- strength

- power

 

Other than augments, you never get to choose between strength and power, so since I've hit the soft cap on the other stats I'm focused on power now but any increases will only affect my mainhand.

Edited June 25, 2012 by EternityDre

[jikdoc]

Remember that strength +dmg, while slightly less than power, affects your mainhand and offhand, whereas power only affects mainhand. When 1.3 hits, all of my new augments will be strength for this reason. You should always get strength over power as a dual wielder, period.

 

I'm a combat Sentinel and this is my priority order.

- 100% accuracy

- 300 surge

- 450 crit

- strength

- power

 

Other than augments, you never get to choose between strength and power, so since I've hit the soft cap on the other stats I'm focused on power now but any increases will only affect my mainhand.

 

+1. i use this for pve & pvp

[Slamuel]

Cool, I didnt know that power was only for mainhand, but I will take that into consideration now that I am 50 and starting to gear up for PvP.

 

Another question, will recruit gear be enough to

beat the empire? I have finished corellia.

 

 

Thanks.

[iakona]

Remember that strength +dmg, while slightly less than power, affects your mainhand and offhand, whereas power only affects mainhand.

 

This is false. The ONLY gear stat that affects offhand damage is your offhand hilt damage rating. No other gear stats are used in calculating offhand damage. Power is always more useful than strength, due to lower damage bonus and diminishing returns on crit chance from strength.

[Sniffle]

Cool, I didnt know that power was only for mainhand, but I will take that into consideration now that I am 50 and starting to gear up for PvP.

 

Another question, will recruit gear be enough to

beat the empire? I have finished corellia.

 

 

Thanks.

 

Absolutely...although I suggest looking around at some of the other posts concerning that specific quest...YOUR gear isn't the only issue

[Slamuel]

Absolutely...although I suggest looking around at some of the other posts concerning that specific quest...YOUR gear isn't the only issue

 

yep, T7s. Does it need to be really good? Right now, It is leveling greens and blues. Because, I thought he gets killed early on regardless of his gear level.

[Darth_Shonuff]

Remember that strength +dmg, while slightly less than power, affects your mainhand and offhand, whereas power only affects mainhand. When 1.3 hits, all of my new augments will be strength for this reason. You should always get strength over power as a dual wielder, period.

 

I'm a combat Sentinel and this is my priority order.

- 100% accuracy

- 300 surge

- 450 crit

- strength

- power

 

Other than augments, you never get to choose between strength and power, so since I've hit the soft cap on the other stats I'm focused on power now but any increases will only affect my mainhand.

 

 

I thought the soft cap post 1.2 was moved to 350 crit and 250 surge!?

 

Also, nobody has mentioned that raid bosses have a 10% boost to defense (or miss?) and unless you hit 110% accuracy, you are going to miss a small % of the time. You can verify this by practicing on the operations boss dummy on the gav daragon.

[Ryofo]

Ops Bosses have a base 10% def, your special attacks are at a base 100% hit chance, the reason you get accuracy is more to boost these special attacks to 110% so you bypass the boss def as well as increase your normal attack hit.

 

I go for lots of power once you have your base of 100% acc(or as close as you can get) 25-30% crit(bear in mind smuggler buff) and 75ish% surge.

 

I have 99.84% acc

30.39% crit with smuggler buff

77.08% surge

1012 power

and I can pull 1600 dps on Karraga

[LocDizzle]

Ops Bosses have a base 10% def, your special attacks are at a base 100% hit chance, the reason you get accuracy is more to boost these special attacks to 110% so you bypass the boss def as well as increase your normal attack hit.

 

I go for lots of power once you have your base of 100% acc(or as close as you can get) 25-30% crit(bear in mind smuggler buff) and 75ish% surge.

 

I have 99.84% acc

30.39% crit with smuggler buff

77.08% surge

1012 power

and I can pull 1600 dps on Karraga

 

I'm Curious on how you got to 1012 power.. Is this all Rakata Gear and 2 Power Saber crystals?

[Ryofo]

I'm Curious on how you got to 1012 power.. Is this all Rakata Gear and 2 Power Saber crystals?

 

http://swtor.askmrrobot.com/character/1e071f87-a40f-4736-92d6-f20f0075e489

 

Add on top the extra power from exotech might stim, also I could swap out the Strength augs for power for even more.

[Cooperal]

Consistently high power and crit rating are both important to any build of sentinel due to their diminishing returns. Only with SLIGHT leaning depending on the build. Their is no reason to neglect any to the point of going anywhere near as low as 250 points at endgame.

 

Watchmen, in my experience, should lean slightly more toward power and surge rather than crit rating. While they dish out both some spikes along with DoTs, you'd be surprised how much the DoTs outweigh your direct hits in overall percentage. Since Zen temporarily guarantees critical DoTs, removing a large amount of purpose to your crit rating, I feel it's best to capitalise on every single recast by making those 100%-crit-ticks even bigger. I think it's very likely a better 100% crit deal than any other class of any other build could hope to have. Bar their mirror class of course.

[Goofieee]

hey guys since days i tried to make the perfect gear setup^^ and in the german forum nobody is answereing to my topic^^.

 

This is my setup pls look in wishlist

 

http://swtor.askmrrobot.com/character/e6cf77a8-b532-4ec0-8b1a-b5f0a00808a4