Getting frustrated on teams

[Happy_Thoughts]

Hi all, I am getting a bit frustrated with my sentinel while grouped and I'm hoping for some advice on how I can remedy this.

 

I play my sentinel in a dedicated group consisting of myself, a consular/sage, a trooper/vanguard, and a smuggler/gunslinger, all of us currently level 26. This happens to give us one of each base class, which is nice for story purposes, but it also means that I am the only melee character. Since our tank deals ranged damage, placement of the enemies varies depending on each individual enemy's preference to charge the trooper or shoot from a distance. Very often groups of enemies will have some of each, and my ability to influence enemy positioning is very limited in this group setup.

 

What happens a lot is that I find myself chasing the battle while everyone else does the fighting. Not the whole thing, of course, but in any given fight there's a better than even chance I will need to chase after one or more targets (force leap helps when it's ready, which most of the time it isn't). The high percentage of time spent chasing is definitely affecting my fun factor.

 

So my question is, what can I do differently so I can spend more time fighting and less time chasing? Having the high taunt character fighting from range is a neat design, but one that I'm clearly having trouble adjusting to as the lower threat melee.

 

Thanks for any advice!

[Ryat]

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#501bIb0M.1

Doing this will help with the Force Leap cool down. That said there really isn't much you can do though cleaning up the adds around the stronger target (like in a boss level or something like that) helps a lot as well so the others can focus on the strongest of the group.

[Crawelc]

Go combat spec and you will move 15% faster in combat and 80% faster with trans, staying on target is easy.

[DocZoloft]

http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#501bIb0M.1

Doing this will help with the Force Leap cool down. That said there really isn't much you can do though cleaning up the adds around the stronger target (like in a boss level or something like that) helps a lot as well so the others can focus on the strongest of the group.

 

Agreed. Your job is to dps from weakest to strongest. The tank is dealing with the strongest, so you'll be left to deal with many of the adds on your own. By the time you get to the next target, your force leap will probably be ready.

[Daikeru]

In Watchmen Spec, Inflammation, Blurred Speed, and Close Quarters will help you stay on your target. Inflammation will allow you to have a build in slow with Cauterize, and Blurred Speed and Close Quarters can make it so you can jump around a bit more.

 

In Combat Spec, Defensive Forms (only in tandem with Ataru Form), Stagger, Displacement, and Debilitation will help keep your target still for you. Defensive Forms makes you faster, and Stagger, Displacement, and Debilitation helps keep your opponent still, which will also help your allies as well.

 

In Focus Spec, Zealous Leap, Force Exhaustion, Agility Training, and Gravity all help you stay on your target. Zealous allows for another root, Force Exhaustion and Gravity help slow and reduce the cost of your slow (Leg Slash), and Agility Training speeds you up after you use Zealous.

 

Watchmen excels in it's sustain damage, Combat in burst and utility, and Focus in AoE burst. My suggestion would be fully Combat, as since you're playing with a group of friends, they can make the most of your utility once they know what you can do. It also keeps your target standing there, unlike the other two that just slows them down. Also, you can ask your friends to get some roots when they can, it'll help you as well as them. *Roots, not stuns* Whichever you choose, I hope it suits your playstyle. (^_^)

 

Edit: Oh wait ... PvE? My suggestion was for PvP xD If it's for PvE ... Most bosses won't be affected by slows and roots ... Which means nothing can really help you. As for non bosses, the details above still apply ... And I'd recommend Focus for AoE burst. Watchman is good for solo play ... Combat is weird in PvE. For Focus you have a (I believe) 12s slow that cost only 1 Focus with no CD, so you can reapply it where needed. And it's AoE burst is the best of all 3 trees ... Could get you in big trouble though if you aggro a few too many.

 

I haven't really tried Focus extensively, but here's a possible spec http://www.torhead.com/skill-calc#501bcbZoMZhMRrdforfz.1

Edited June 25, 2012 by Daikeru

[Happy_Thoughts]

Thanks for the insightful responses!

 

My skill points are currently in the watchman tree, but for more area effect damage, a second leap (though limited in range) and some extra goodies, the focus line just might work a little better for this character.

 

The advice of focusing on the weakest targets and moving up sounds like great advice. I've done this at times without going so far as to have that as my plan from the get-go, which also seems like it would help keep things from deciding to play with the smuggler and consular.

 

One other thing that may help is to not open fights with force leap. I do it out of habit because it gets me a few focus, but if the enemies are scattered it might be worth holding in reserve. Or maybe the second leap power will provide enough mobility options. I'll see how that works next time we get together to save the galaxy!

 

Thanks again!

[Happy_Thoughts]

Just as an update, our group has played a couple times since I posted this thread and things have gone a lot more smoothly for me. So thank you again!

 

I think the biggest factor was adjusting my target selection. Taking out the easier targets and keeping an eye out for anything trying to hurt our smuggler and consular has definitely kept me and the trooper from hindering each other. Well, mostly--there's the rare occasion when I leap at something only to have it harpooned and pulled to the trooper as I land.

 

As an aside, I respecced into the Focus tree primarily for the second leap, but found it to not be as helpful as I would have liked (primarily due to its range limit). So I've gone back to the Watchman tree for the improvements to Force Leap, and the reduced cooldown of Force Kick to feed my interrupt addiction.

[AidanLightwalker]

The problem is your vangaurd tank. He stinks at situational awareness. The only time he should be harpooning adds, is to grab that one out liner and drag him to his group of adds. Vangaurds get a charge as well and he should be using that on pulls. This will allow him to harpoon that range add and pull him into the cluster he is tanking.

 

Of all the tanks in the game right now, the vangaurd is the swiss army knife of the group. Having a lvl 50 vangaurd tank, I can garuntee you that you can tank on this class without hindering any of your dps.

[SalBasss]

The problem is your vangaurd tank. He stinks at situational awareness. The only time he should be harpooning adds, is to grab that one out liner and drag him to his group of adds. Vangaurds get a charge as well and he should be using that on pulls. This will allow him to harpoon that range add and pull him into the cluster he is tanking.

 

Of all the tanks in the game right now, the vangaurd is the swiss army knife of the group. Having a lvl 50 vangaurd tank, I can garuntee you that you can tank on this class without hindering any of your dps.

 

Yeah, I 'm going to agree that the problem is the vanguard tank. Even though he *can* play as a ranged tank, in reality he should be close to the target to because stockstrike is so important to the build (shielding attacks reset its cooldown, stockstrikes also automatically proc ion cell damage which is needed for high impact bolt).

 

And yes, harpooning should be situational, not an every fight type skill.