Sentinel PVP Tree is FOCUS!

[jaytrust]

(2nd Edit: After reading this thread and other peoples' opinion I decided to try watchman and I was pleasently surprised. So back to where we started it turns out any tree could be the pvp tree if played right.)

 

 

If you want to be good at pvp just go focus... Little fear of being kited ftw.

 

I will admit you will have alot and by alot I mean alot of moves to worry about but you will reck/destroy most classes with proper gameplay.

 

Don't get me wrong you win and lose some 1v1 but as Focus you should NEVER worry about being kited.

 

I know focus works since I play it everyday in pvp...

 

Edit to note:

 

Currently lvl 50 and I haven't turned back FOCUS rocks for pvp...

 

focus rocks better on a guardian

 

But guardian lack all the cool cds Sent has so it balances it out.

 

Force Camo/Transcend all work well with preventing kiters the only real challenge for us...

 

i wouldnt mind giving focus a try. but looking at their talents i dont see anything amazing. so whats great about this tree? is it just over all damage?

 

 

Its the added damage reduction 7% that other specs don't get. (30% aoe on top of that if you choose to spend your skill points in that direction for a lose to dps- meaning 37% less aoe damage from others.)

 

Its the spammable speed burst 50% for the group.

 

Its the ability to slow down people who are 10m away till they complete stop moving.

 

Its the extra leap to people who are 10m away.

 

20% armor pen active all the time.

 

30% Bigger Crits.

 

Guarentee crit on an AOE that will hit harder then your single target crits.

 

Basically being focus removes our main weakness which is playing at melee range.

 

As a focus you depend heavily on your 10m moves and they will hit for a truck.

 

Its the 1point only focus snare cost that makes this spec shine as well.

 

I can continue but you get the point we are built for pvp as this spec.

 

-BELOW WHAT I AGREE WITH AFTER PLAYING WATCHMAN-

 

I'm currently playing Watchman and i'm level 42. Like you I am a best in Warzones I am top damage every match aside from rare occasions and win the vast majority of my games. The one difference I note from your post is that I feel downright invincible 1v1 to the point were I feel overpowered so I will point out the things that I think make Watchman an amazing spec.

 

#1 Burns deal elemental damage which means they aren't mitigated by armor so when I'm up against anything other then the light armor classes I notice a big difference from my time spent as Combat.

 

#2 Centering generation, focus generation and heals. The heals Watchman has are amazing I can't count the number of times that 3% of my max health heal has saved my life coupled with a defensive ability like Guarded by the Force. The 100% critical chance and heal via Zen from centering is amazing and seems like I build centering so fast its always up.

 

#3 Watchman's slow is tacked on to one of there core abilities Cauterize, so you rarely ever need to spend extra focus or global to use leg sweep. This becomes even more prevalent once you get Mind Sear in tier 5 and then again when you get merciless slash since the chance of resetting the cool down on your Cauterize goes up.

 

#4 Merciless Slash, I wasn't sure I was going to like this ability since it costs so much focus and it doesn't benefit from many talents in the tree but I love it. One small issue I was having with this spec in earlier levels was the complete lack of burst damage but once I hit 40 have an ability on a varying 9-12 second cool down that hits for 2-3k critical depending on the target was awesome.

 

#5 2 seconds off of our interrupt cool down. pretty self explanatory

 

The one downside I do see in this spec is it can be kited if you have a lot of your abilities on cool down, which from looking at the tree is something Focus looks to deal with pretty well. The one upside to that is the few seconds we get off of Force Leap and the removal of the minimum range.

 

Overall I feel like the Sentinel is a really fun and very viable class though I think the high learning curve leads a lot of players to give up and just say the class or AC is bad before actually learning to play it. The Amount of control and mitigation I have in fights on such short cool downs actually surprised me since I had only made it to 24 in the beta. Glad to see there are other people who are enjoying the Sentinel as much as I am and not everyone is just re-rolling to an easier to learn Class/AC.

 

THIS PERSON FORGOT TO MENTION THE PALLY BUBBLE(our force camo)!!

 

Yeah with Watchman you get 4secs of 0 damage every 45secs when you hit force camo.

Edited January 19, 2012 by jaytrust

[DevouringPlague]

lol.

 

You're not winning at PvP, other people are failing at it.

[jaytrust]

Edit to readdress what you said previouslly about out server sucking...

Dude you are crazy if you think the entire server on the sith side sucks... We win most of the games we play but then again I run with 3 other equally skilled players..

Edited December 20, 2011 by jaytrust

[DevouringPlague]

Dude are you crazy we win non-stop... about 90% of games

 

Then the players on your server are godawful.

[jaytrust]

Then the players on your server are godawful.

 

Or maybe you are?

Edited December 20, 2011 by jaytrust

[DevouringPlague]

Or maybe you are?

 

Et tu, Brut?

 

Steps to Winning at SWTOR:-

1. Play Sentinel.

2. Go try another class.

3. ???

4. Never play Sentinel again.

[jaytrust]

Et tu, Brut?

 

Steps to Winning at SWTOR:-

1. Play Sentinel.

2. Go try another class.

3. ???

4. Never play Sentinel again.

 

Lol I give you credit, playing beta and trying other characters I agree, sentinel is the one of the hardest class to play and seems very gimp compared to the others.

 

However if you must play melee and enjoy it, go Focus with the extra leap and lower focus cost of moves you really won't regret it.

 

Zen proc off focus tree is the best for burst aoe and did I mention sweep.

 

You will be jumping into groups in warzones and smacking up people. (I agree other classes can do it better, but we can still compete.)

 

That being said we do need to be reviewed and perhaps something should be down about the over abundant abilities. Maybe tie in the effects of certain abilities together Idk, but that being said

 

FOCUS tree rocks for pvp.

[K_osss]

I'm finding Focus quite good too. It has great alternative perks compared to combat all the way up to level 27 or so.

 

Combat get's an improvement to offhand damage, defensive forms, Ataru form, some Ataru form proc buffs and an automatic Bladestorm crit plus some defense to aoe and centering building.

 

Focus gets improved crit chance to force powers, increase to force leap's immobilization, 15% crit chance buff to Slash, lower cost of Bladestorm, lower cooldown of all force abilities, a second Leap with Slash type damage, and improvements to Slash and Zealous Leap. Plus the Zen effect of Shii-jo form is awesome! Then Focus get's a up to 100% extra damage, 100% crit chance force sweep on a 12 sec CD by level 28. Combat tree gets it's automatic bladestorm crit at level 27.

 

I'm not arguing the superiority of Focus to Combat, but I am arguing that it is a viable alternative depending on how you'd like to play.

 

I find the "people on your server suck / you suck" arguments fruitless and banal. Look at the trees objectively, then go out and try both before issuing blanket statements that are flat incorrect.

[ChipHazard]

Focus is a perfectly viable PvP tree. One could argue that focus is better suited for teamfights as it focuses more on a beefed up sweep. In that respect it is certainly better than either combat or watchman, although it is weaker in 1v1. That's my view on it.

 

In the most basic terms.

 

Watchman - sustained damage.

Combat - burst damage.

Focus - aoe damage.

Edited December 20, 2011 by ChipHazard

[MBirkhofer]

Ive said it before.. but focus has more burst. it also has more then watchman.

 

Some numbers using my current 23 sent. Tooltips are accurate though, even for sklls you dont have. Although, you would need to add in any talents that might modify.

 

 

Bladestorm-504-540. 3f, 9s cd

slash-444-509 3f

zealous leap-507-586 3f, 15s cd

sweep-341-371 3f, 12s cd

force exhaust- 149x5 +395. 3f, 18s cd. (1135 total damage)

 

Force abilties have 7% crit chance, and 30% crit damage. sweep/storm/exhaust.

(stasis too.. but its not really a damage move)

Leap makes your sweep 100% crit. exhaust makes your next sweep deal 100% more damage.

 

At this level I have 4340 hp. If I fought a mirror. for sake of "burst" ill start with 12 focus. although, its not hard to build up enough for the combo either.

1135 exhaust over 5s. +586 zealous leap. + 1336 crit sweep. blade storm 540. 3596 damage in 7s. 12 focus. cost. assuming no crits other then force sweeps 100% chance one. Pretty much just killed myself in 7s. as I would crit one of those other moves for sure.

Oh, and then there is Zen. if zen is up. GG. As I can use that burst, AND then use 0 focus slash's that actually GIVE me focus.

[Derian]

So much fail. Watchman is the best PvP tree for Sentinel easily. Anyone who has tested them all for any length of time agrees with this.

 

Others may be best for early level PVP but by the time you can get charged sabers you are gimping yourself by not going Watchman.

Edited December 20, 2011 by Derian

[Maefly]

If you want to be good at pvp just go focus...

 

I haven't tried the other trees but if they are better then this class is OP..

 

Not to point out the obvious here but wouldn't it be worth at least trying the other trees before you make a post about Focus being the best pvp tree?

[hoantran]

i love my sentinel.... if u have a problem with it, maybe u should go play an easy range class.??

 

or roll sith and shoot lightening all day

[jaytrust]

Not to point out the obvious here but wouldn't it be worth at least trying the other trees before you make a post about Focus being the best pvp tree?

 

Its just on paper Focus looks so much better then the other trees.

 

I would love to hear more input on how watchman is better, because if it is I can't imagine how great it would be lol

Edited December 20, 2011 by jaytrust

[jaytrust]

So much fail. Watchman is the best PvP tree for Sentinel easily. Anyone who has tested them all for any length of time agrees with this.

 

Others may be best for early level PVP but by the time you can get charged sabers you are gimping yourself by not going Watchman.

 

Explain why this is the case?

[pangwl]

I feel that the "Focus" skill tree is suitable for "counter-attack" playstyle + longer duels... it's really costs(focus) efficient.

[Derian]

Explain why this is the case?

 

All the Dots in watchman do their damage in 6 seconds, Cauterize in cluded, and they do elemental/internal damage, which ignores all of the targets armor. Merciless strike does very high burst damage. Force Fade makes you immune for 4 seconds and invisible. No minimum distance for force leap, and it has a lower CD.

 

Focus is good for hard hitting AOE damage and spamming slash, but these are mitigated by armor. If you really need to kill someone Watchman is the way to go.

[NyyuSecura]

i love my sentinel.... if u have a problem with it, maybe u should go play an easy range class.??

 

or roll sith and shoot lightening all day

Yep stih sux..

[TheOfficialGOAT]

Lol I give you credit, playing beta and trying other characters I agree, sentinel is the one of the hardest class to play and seems very gimp compared to the others.

 

However if you must play melee and enjoy it, go Focus with the extra leap and lower focus cost of moves you really won't regret it.

 

Zen proc off focus tree is the best for burst aoe and did I mention sweep.

 

You will be jumping into groups in warzones and smacking up people. (I agree other classes can do it better, but we can still compete.)

 

That being said we do need to be reviewed and perhaps something should be down about the over abundant abilities. Maybe tie in the effects of certain abilities together Idk, but that being said

 

FOCUS tree rocks for pvp.

 

What over abundant abilities are you talking about? This class seems just fine with the skills it has and could even use more. This isn't a class you can button mash or face roll across the keyboard and win. You have to time you cd's and keep your focus up.

[jaytrust]

What over abundant abilities are you talking about? This class seems just fine with the skills it has and could even use more. This isn't a class you can button mash or face roll across the keyboard and win. You have to time you cd's and keep your focus up.

 

Dude are you serious I have over 22+ moves keybinded and you are saying that we don't have to many abilities? I'm only lvl 28 now, how am I going to press so many buttons at the same time.

 

For one we should replace the combo generation by only one move as being Sentinel, the CD should be lower and we should disregard that other ability that only gives 2 focus. That will help out alot.

[MBirkhofer]

Dude are you serious I have over 22+ moves keybinded and you are saying that we don't have to many abilities? I'm only lvl 28 now, how am I going to press so many buttons at the same time.

 

For one we should replace the combo generation by only one move as being Sentinel, the CD should be lower and we should disregard that other ability that only gives 2 focus. That will help out alot.

 

don't forget not 1, but 2 activate trinkets. And reusable adrenal activates if you are biochem.

And grenades if cybertech.

haha.

[atrophysic]

Please Bioware, don't dumb down sentinels. If there are too many abilities for you to juggle, roll something else. I enjoy a challenging class to play, and I bet a lot of other sentinels feel the same way.

[Lynear]

I'm level 47. Watchman is the way to go good burst, and awesome sustained with lots of utility.

[atrophysic]

I'm level 47. Watchman is the way to go good burst, and awesome sustained with lots of utility.

 

I wish this weren't true. I really don't like the playstyle of watchman or any dot classes typically. I just respecced into it @ level 25 and it feels clunky. Maybe I can get used to it. :/

[Lynear]

I wish this weren't true. I really don't like the playstyle of watchman or any dot classes typically. I just respecced into it @ level 25 and it feels clunky. Maybe I can get used to it. :/

 

I started Focus and then respec'd Watchman around your level and hated it. It wasn't until my upper 30s that I tried again and something just clicked. Maybe it was more talents, or certain skill unlocks, but it became a lot better.