Figuring out Sentinel Trees

[Breidr]

I'm currently leveling a Sith Juggernaut with a partner and am having great success with that character. The guides on tanking and such are great, especially for someone like me. I recently decided to try the other side of the coin and made a Jedi Sentinel for solo play, It was fun and I was having a blast in the beginning. Now that I'm in my early 20s I've hit a snag. I'm on Taris and I'm struggling and dying in situations that I really don't think I should be having trouble with. the mobs are green, yet they are womping me hard. To me this indicates that I'm most likely doing something wrong.

 

I've mostly been trying to figure things out for myself this far, looked at a few guides and I'm having a little trouble making sense of them. All three trees are "damage" so it's not directly clear to me what the difference between them is, and given my level, it seems that I don't get a lot of the "key" skills yet. I don't know how I decided it, but I've been climbing the Combat tree. I dumped my first few points in Dual Mastery, and decided to run with it. At last check I think I recently landed Ataru form.

 

I'm prepared to be told the is the absolute wrong way to do it and I should feel bad, but I wanted to make a go of things on my own at first. Right now I pretty much open with Force Leap, into force sweep, cauterize, Zealous strike and then burn focus with slash, using Roposte if it comes up and master strike if I run short of focus.I have other abilities, like blade storm, but I find myself neglecting them most of the time for some reason. I do, however, like the defensive cooldowns, as they have saved my butt more than once.

 

Given that I'm almost half way to 50 I thought it was time to figure out where I wanted to go. If you ask me, I couldn't begin to tell you the difference between combat and watchman, and I can't seem to find anybody that knows anything about focus. Besides skills, I'm trying to figure out the differences so I can decide for myself where to go. From what I've glanced at, Watchman seems to be more easygoing, as you seem to get the key skills sooner, but I know that doesn't always translate t o ease of use.

 

From the little bit I've read, I kind of want to dig more into watchman, as it seems more of what I want. I don't really have much to go on, but I think I'd rather "juggle cooldowns" than "hit as frequently as possible." I also couldn't help but notice the words "Juy Form" and "Dark Side" in the same sentence. If that's the case, then my decision is made and I guess I need to go about figuring out how Combat works.

[Ridickilis]

Right now I pretty much open with Force Leap, into force sweep, cauterize, Zealous strike and then burn focus with slash, using Roposte if it comes up and master strike if I run short of focus.I have other abilities, like blade storm, but I find myself neglecting them most of the time for some reason. I do, however, like the defensive cooldowns, as they have saved my butt more than once.

 

Knock cauterize and sweep way down on your priority list (and hot bar) for combat spec. Sweep is okay for pve, just for stunning weak mobs, but that's about it. Instead you want to use Master strike and blade storm on every CD/chance you get, those are your two big hitters now. Once you get precision slash you'll want to PS ---> MS (it's helpful if you keybind these next to each other). Once you get blade rush (level 40 minimum) you should drop slash from your hotbar, but for now less cauterize and more blade storms and master strikes.

Edited August 8, 2012 by Ridickilis

[MatticusFinch]

You can read some more exhaustive analyses but here are the basic premises of the three trees:

 

Watchman: DoT based. Main moves: Cauterize, Overload Saber, Merciless Slash. Two of the three main moves from this tree would be available to you at level 20, which gives you good opportunity to put out good burn damage from DoTs as well as getting some self-heals from the critical burns. Juyo form greatly synergizes the force-based damage that you'll do (burns) with empowered melee-based damage (merciless slash, master strike, slash, etc.)

 

Combat: weapon damage based. Main moves: Blade Rush, Blade Storm, Precision Slash. You get Ataru form at level 20, but this saber form doesn't see full utility until you can spec additional points beyond level 20. The next two abilities are at levels 30 and 40, so you have to wait to maximize Combat's effectiveness. The strength of this spec is in burst damage that bypasses armor (precision slash), continuous damage from Ataru strikes, and the best mobility specs of the Sentinel trees (including maneuverability and rooting).

 

Focus: force damage based. Main moves: Force exhaustion, Force Sweep, Slash. This spec revolves around developing Singularity stacks and then using automatically criting Force Sweeps. This is a shared tree with Guardians (so also your Juggernaut's Rage tree). This is a great AoE spec in PvE because it does devastating damage from sweep and slash, which while in Zen hits a second target for the same amount of damage and buids focus (if specced to do so). Singularity does not become available until level 25 and is maximized at level 28, but rather hindered until you get force exhuastion at level 40.

 

That's a very brief summary of the specs. So with regard to your level and predicament, I'd recommend switching to Watchman. Once you gain a few more levels, you can see more fully what the two other trees can offer you. But, again, you have greatest access to Watchman at this point.

[LoveKillsSoftly]

Yeah but what I am wondering which one is the best for PVE and PVPing?? I'm currently watchman but..

SPOILER ALERT

 

I've been wondering which tree is best for fighting the Emperor my guild said that you can go whatever and other said that if you go Combat T-7 lives...What in you opinion is the best for fighting the emperor?

 

Thanks! I'd like a response ASAP

 

You can read some more exhaustive analyses but here are the basic premises of the three trees:

 

Watchman: DoT based. Main moves: Cauterize, Overload Saber, Merciless Slash. Two of the three main moves from this tree would be available to you at level 20, which gives you good opportunity to put out good burn damage from DoTs as well as getting some self-heals from the critical burns. Juyo form greatly synergizes the force-based damage that you'll do (burns) with empowered melee-based damage (merciless slash, master strike, slash, etc.)

 

Combat: weapon damage based. Main moves: Blade Rush, Blade Storm, Precision Slash. You get Ataru form at level 20, but this saber form doesn't see full utility until you can spec additional points beyond level 20. The next two abilities are at levels 30 and 40, so you have to wait to maximize Combat's effectiveness. The strength of this spec is in burst damage that bypasses armor (precision slash), continuous damage from Ataru strikes, and the best mobility specs of the Sentinel trees (including maneuverability and rooting).

 

Focus: force damage based. Main moves: Force exhaustion, Force Sweep, Slash. This spec revolves around developing Singularity stacks and then using automatically criting Force Sweeps. This is a shared tree with Guardians (so also your Juggernaut's Rage tree). This is a great AoE spec in PvE because it does devastating damage from sweep and slash, which while in Zen hits a second target for the same amount of damage and buids focus (if specced to do so). Singularity does not become available until level 25 and is maximized at level 28, but rather hindered until you get force exhuastion at level 40.

 

That's a very brief summary of the specs. So with regard to your level and predicament, I'd recommend switching to Watchman. Once you gain a few more levels, you can see more fully what the two other trees can offer you. But, again, you have greatest access to Watchman at this point.

[ekimmak]

Yeah but what I am wondering which one is the best for PVE and PVPing?? I'm currently watchman but..

 

Thanks! I'd like a response ASAP

 

Watchman is probably best for PVP if you expect to be doing a lot of PUG work. You can't depend on the others in your team, they may be good or just plain horrible, so the extra survivability is nice.

 

If you can get a good group, though, Combat is definitely a plus. Extreme burst, (although a good enemy team could shut you down) and slightly better team buffs. You won't be passing out group heals, though, and some people may prefer those instead...

 

The shared tree I have no experience with, but it seems to be just one big crit every 15 seconds or something. Extreme damage if the circumstances are right, but not up to scratch with the sustained damage. Either Combat's focus management or Watchman's self heals are probably better.

 

In PVE, Watchman is going to help your healers out a lot, but Combat does have a few interesting tricks and advantages. Transcendence gives the speed of a grade 1 speeder, and can help a lot at getting your group out of an AoE of Doom. Force Camo will break you out of any movement impairing effects. Crippling Throw can be used to pin down someone making a beeline for the healer. And there's a natural 15% speed boost, which is nice.

 

Against the boss you're thinking of, I'd say stick with what you're familiar with. Combat will let you clear out of the deadly AoE's more often, more effectively, and taking less damage, while Watchman makes your companion a bit likelier to survive, and has more interrupts to help with the boss' one-hit kill power.