Stat Question

[OldMike]

I am a Level 33 Sent. currently on Balmorra doing ok. However, I'm starting to feel a little under-powered compared to previous planets/missions. Up to now I've been gearing up with all Might mods which places the emphasis on Strength. So far so good. My question is at what point do I start being concerned with Crit and Surge? I know they play a part in my overall capability I just don't know where the balance is.

 

For instance, I'm faced with questions like: Do I change a mod out that gives up 4 points of Strength but gains 10 Crit and 16 Surge?

 

And I'm not looking for all the answers... but if someone has a guide, or knows of a guide that explains the advanced stats to me I would be appreciative.

 

Thanks!

[Bejarid]

Guides for Watchman and Combat. They're both right there on the Sentinel front page, don't even have to scroll very far.

 

Really, though, for leveling, should just aim to maximize your primary stat and not worry too much about secondaries; however, you may want to focus most on Power next to strength, since greater direct damage will help you kill faster so you can move on more quickly. If you're feeling weak, it may be a spec-related issue rather than gear-related, as long as your lightsaber hilts are up to par with your current content. As Combat, for example, I remember feeling really weak until the mid- to upper-30s when I had all my procs and passive defenses, and even then it didn't really feel potent until I got Blade Rush. I ended up leveling primarily as Focus until late 30s, or early 40s; I forget which, it was eighteen months ago.

[OldMike]

Thanks for the reply. I'll check those threads out now.

 

Regarding spec related issues, I was going up the Watchman tree until last night. I have now re-spec the character up the Combat tree. Haven't tried it yet, that will be tonight after work.

 

It's kind of funny, but all through my 20's I felt plenty strong and was killing fast. Then I hit 31 and it seems like everything went into slow motion. I've been been trying to work it out for 2 levels now. I'm hoping that's related to the Watchman spec and that it will be corrected now. We'll see.

 

Again thanks for the reply.

 

Oldmike

[Kaos_KidSWTOR]

Combat is VERY low damage till you hit atleast 46. I would stick with Watchman for now. For Anni (Watchman) i try to gear with Crit in mind because, Crits on Melee Attacks on Bleeding (Burning) Targets have a 100% chance to grant 1 Rage (Focus). And Bleed (Burn) Crits have a 100% chance to grant 1% health. So you are more survivable with more crit, just try not to get more than 400 crit rating at level 55, that's when you hit Diminishing Returns. Power, is a raw damage boost with no DR, so stack as much of it as you like! Surge at about 75% is best. (all of these values and such are from level 55)

[OldMike]

Thanks for the replies folks. I have respeced to Combat based on the sample tree in the guide provided above. I've finished Balmorra and about 2 missions into Quesh. I'm now level 37. I do feel more potent and am killing better. However, just because I'm a curious kind of guy, I'm going to respec to the Focus tree for the rest of Quesh just to see the difference. I'll post back when I'm done.

 

Also, something very important that I know all you veterans mention all the time. I now have a specific rotation I try to stick to and that helps a lot! I used the above guide as a model and it seems to work for me pretty well. Back in levels from 10-30 I really didn't feel the rotation did much good. But now, it most certainly is important.

 

(Just so you know, all gear is fit with purple and blue mods for both me and Kira and I keep them very up to date. So I don't think my issue was ever a gear problem.)

 

Thanks again both of you.

 

OldMike

[OldMike]

One further note. I ran 1 mission with the Focus tree and quickly clicked on the Fleet Pass and respecced back to Combat. I was MUCH happier there.