How to use defensive abilities

[tintin_milou]

Hello fellow sentinels!

 

I am leveling up a sentinel, currently at level 42. Lately I find the gold-star enemies harder to beat, and need to start using my defensive abilities better. Right now I have 3 -

 

Guarded by the force,

Rebuke,

Pacify

 

My question is - "is there a best way to use each of these defensive abilities?" For example, jump into gold-star enemy, start with Pacify? Then after that wears off, then Rebuke? Then after that Guarded by the Force? At what health should I use Guarded by the force?

 

I also have Unity & Heroic Moment of course and know when to use those. But I try not to use Heroic Moment too often since the cool-down is 20 min!

 

I might forget about other defensive abilities too, and in that case, please let me know. Thanks for your help!

Edited June 26, 2013 by tintin_milou

[AngusFTW]

Pop rebuke before leaping in it will stay up the entire fight (unless its a really long fight).

Pacify you can use it whenever you want i guess i rarely used it in pve but it can be useful on harder hitting trash..

Saber ward pop it when you start taking a lot of dmg

GBTF is last ditch oh crap button

Force camo can be used to draw aggro to your companion for a second if you are really low on hp also Another oh crap button but remember it puts aggro to your companion.

[tintin_milou]

OK thanks so much for your advice!

[Lanja]

I'll add a few other points to the fine summary above. 1) Pacify is basically an additional interrupt (though technically it causes the attacker to miss). However, it is more like Force Stasis and less like Force Kick and Force Leap in that bosses and other particularly tough targets are immune to the interrupt effect. I also don't think it saves you if the incoming attack is AOE and will damage you regardless of the attacker's to-hit roll. I don't use it that often frankly because as a Watchman Force Kick and Force Leap have me covered most of the time.

 

2) If you DO need to use GBTF, wait until you are very, very, very low on health and make sure that you can immediately pop a healing pack afterward. The health cost of GBTF is a percentage of whatever your health is at the time you pop it, so the closer you are to dead the less it costs, whereas the bump you'll get from the health pack is a static increase in your HP. If you've already popped a health pack prior to needing GBTF, you better either really trust your healer or figure you can drop your opponent with another few attacks.

 

3) Defensive Roll is another passive defensive ability that you can opt for. I like it, as it gives me a "don't think about it" defense against AOE damage (which comes up a lot). Others will argue that you can often avoid AOE damage via positioning and can instead put those points into something like Insight to up your DPS. Both are valid approaches, and depend on your prefernce.

 

4) Self-heals are a defacto defense. In Watchman your burns damage will heal you, esp. with Zen going. Also, once you get up past 50 as a Watchman your Saber Ward will heal you too.

 

5) Unity is great when you're doing content with a Companion. I only tend to use it a) on nasty fights with large groups (popping it right out the gate and delaying Rebuke until it's over) as the outset is when you'll have the largest number of attacks incoming, or b) on tough single target fights when I or my companion have taken a lot of damage. I don't use it much now, but for leveling it's great! (Oh and once you max Affection with 5 companions, you'll get the CD on Heroic Moment down to 15 minutes. Not great, but a bit better.)

[Luckeyduckey]

You also have Force Camouflage and Saberward. Use them. I usually pop Rebuke at the beginning, and save Pacify if my interupt is on CD. Make sure to use Stasis too. Saberward I use if I drop below 50%, then Guarded below 20% paired with a medpac. Camo works the same as Pacify. If Force Kick is on CD, and the incoming cast/big hit cannot be pacified, then camo. Edited June 28, 2013 by Luckeyduckey