Leveling as Jedi Sentinal, Dying a lot, Any advice?

[Foxtrotmikelima]

Healer companion.

 

Always stay 4-5 levels ahead of every quest, that means PVPing up. The second you get to fleet after starter world PVP up to lvl 15 and stay 4-5 levels ahead the rest of the game. Do the PVP daily and weekly when needed. (doing the PVP will get you xp and credits, and more xp if you use legacy perks and warzone xp boost which you can get on GTN for 900-2000 credits each. you can use the pvp comms to trade in for planet comms or credit boxes).

 

Gear yourself to full orange/modable gear when you hit lvl 15 with mods/armor/enhancements. Then about every 5 lvls do it again. Keep updating it with Planet comms vendor modifications, or craft it with an alt. Staying well geared and 4-5 lvls ahead also means you can solo all the Heroic 2's.

 

You do not need to PvP to get ahead of the Content. I was 2 levels above everything the moment I stepped off of Coruscant. And theres nothing besides the World Boss on Coruscant that will give you a great deal of challenge unless youre inexperienced and are unaware of the weaknesses of the Sentinel Class.

 

Once youre on Taris there are Bonus Series you can take advantage of to boost your levels before moving onto the next planet. The lagfest that is PvP will only make newcomers to the Sentinel Class (who have no idea what they are doing) hate the class just that much more.

 

Im not a PvP hater in the least bit. But considering the squishiness of Sentinels. Any newcomers should avoid PvP like the plague until they get a better grip on the class.

Edited February 3, 2014 by Foxtrotmikelima

[Size-Matters-Not]

Yup... I found Sith Warrior (Marauder) to be about the same. Many quests require me to make sure my healing companion doesn't get aggro, much more careful than if I was a tank. But when done right I also burn down mobs much faster than any other class I've tried.

 

This. I remember it being pretty squishy with PVE/PVP. After I got a healer it got better and by they time I hit 45 I was able to finish the class quests in blue mods. I was in rage (focus?) tree, or whatever the far right is. That smash wipes trash mobs pretty quickly.

[EzioMessi]

1.) Being Rooted in place isn't an issue. Unless you're about have an AOE dropped on you, you can remain pretty much stationary the entire fight using Force Leap to get around.

 

Maybe I just PvP too much, but any attempt to stand still makes me feel like I'm doing something wrong. I think I'll give you that, in solo PvE standing still doesn't hurt much, and that's just part of my PvP paranoia carrying over.

 

2.) Damage is still Damage, especially when it's doing several other affects at once compared to just a generic slash.

 

3.) See Point 2 and Replace Damage with Focus and the same concept is applied.

 

There's a difference between "damage is damage" and "doing as much damage as you can. Until you get Doc in Balmorra, every fight degenerates into a DPS race. Against a single enemy, Force Stasis serves nicely as a damager + focus builder and as a situational finisher. But in any fight against multiple mobs, this leaves you with a self-nerf in damage, and when the only defense you have is to kill the enemy faster than he kills you, you might not like a damage nerf.

 

4.) Healer pull aggro? Really? On a Sentinel? If you're doing Solo PvE with your healer and you're anywhere a decent sentinel your Healer companion gaining aggro over you is non existent. If your healer is somehow gaining aggro over you, you arn't DPSing hard enough.

 

I think you misread me. My damage, no matter how awesome, is still going to generate single-target threat. Heals generate AoE threat. So if I tunnel vision a single target, the healer is going to get mobbed. The only solutions are to 1) attack every enemy with something so that you don't lose threat 2) DPS race that your healer is not hurt by the mobs around.

 

In either case, Force Stasis gives the healer a 4-second window to pull threat from the mobs that you haven't attacked yet, and simultaneously gimps your damage, making the DPS race a bit harder as I mentioned earlier.

[Reno_Tarshil]

Maybe I just PvP too much, but any attempt to stand still makes me feel like I'm doing something wrong. I think I'll give you that, in solo PvE standing still doesn't hurt much, and that's just part of my PvP paranoia carrying over.

 

 

 

There's a difference between "damage is damage" and "doing as much damage as you can. Until you get Doc in Balmorra, every fight degenerates into a DPS race. Against a single enemy, Force Stasis serves nicely as a damager + focus builder and as a situational finisher. But in any fight against multiple mobs, this leaves you with a self-nerf in damage, and when the only defense you have is to kill the enemy faster than he kills you, you might not like a damage nerf.

 

 

 

I think you misread me. My damage, no matter how awesome, is still going to generate single-target threat. Heals generate AoE threat. So if I tunnel vision a single target, the healer is going to get mobbed. The only solutions are to 1) attack every enemy with something so that you don't lose threat 2) DPS race that your healer is not hurt by the mobs around.

 

In either case, Force Stasis gives the healer a 4-second window to pull threat from the mobs that you haven't attacked yet, and simultaneously gimps your damage, making the DPS race a bit harder as I mentioned earlier.

 

I still disagree. Force Sweep/Smash and the occasional Cyclone Slash are plenty AOE to keep aggro on you at all times to where using Force Stasis/Choke isn't an issue.

 

The only times I've had a mob attack my healer while on my Sentinel or Marauder is when it's a ranged mob and isn't grouped with the other mobs, otherwise I do enough DPS and aggro while still using Stasis/Choke on cooldown to where this isn't an issue.

 

But maybe it's just me and my playstyle.

[Quraswren]

Sentinels get their healing companion after Balmorra, early 30s. If you have access to Treek, use her as a healing companion.

 

Best advise I think of is either this ^ or if you do not not have Treek or want to wait for a healer companion, use your ship droid.

 

He is a healer and it does not cost much to put him in some gear. Well before we got treek as an option, I leveled my first Sentinel with the ship droid. I hated leveling with T7 and the down time that was needed to heal up.

 

I took the ship droid, got a few items of gear for him and while he wont do any amazing addition to DPS, your DPS alone is really good. With him healing you, you will move through the content at a much better pace. People dismiss the ship droid but he will do till you get your regular healer much later.

 

While the ship droid is not amazing for DPS, he will heal just as well as any other companion (except maybe treek) at those lower levels. Don't underestimate the ship droid if you need a a healer. He made things so much better till I got Doc.

 

If you can get Treek, that is a better option but pricy. A little gear on the ship droid and your good to go.

[Taramayne]

Sentinels get their healing companion after Balmorra, early 30s. If you have access to Treek, use her as a healing companion.

 

..This. Once i got my healer my survivability went WAY up. Still follow the advice of the others on fighting carefully and you should have no further issues in normal story mode play after getting a healing companion.

[DOHboy]

I leveled mostly as watchman but concepts are the same.

 

Healing companion is probably your best bet. Even if your companion is a well geared tank, more than likely you will pull aggo off or just as likely they go poof and you will have it anyway.

 

Kira if you are feeling reckless and just want to smash through quickly with a melee DPS, ranged DPS just isn't there and not viable in most cases.

 

Treek is excellent, otherwise wait for doc.

 

As for leveling, medpacks are a must, maybe even a good stim if you need that last few extra help (might primarily but endurance can work also). I tend not to use adrenals. If this is your first toon your legacy will be limited, but otherwise use your heroic moment when going against some powerful mobs.

 

Zen and inspiration are necessary as is the correct form never use the default, its just not viable. If its in your tree use it, otherwise don't.

 

often times it will be quicker and easier to take out the small mobs first, and leave the main "boss" until last rather than trying to burn down the boss first and get whittled down by adds.

 

I prefer watchman with the faster interrupt, but combat is good for burst damage. Interrupt when you can, use your force camo for a nice break, zen/inspiration and your other defensive cooldowns. never use Guarded By the Force with anything more than say 5 or 10% health, otherwise it is a waste. Also make try to use your group stuns (awe) when you have a chance, this will give you some protection from groups as long as you are not doing AOE damage, at least for a few seconds.

[Reno_Tarshil]

Leveling as Watchman is your best bet as the Self Heals you will do will help out a lot.

[well]

I'm running a level 31 Mara. I haven't run a Sent since they consolidated servers. I had to delete 7 chrs to start a new one. So I deleted him and another 50 so I'm pretty rusty. I going to try some of the suggestions. Thanks all. Excellant thread.

[DOHboy]

I'm running a level 31 Mara. I haven't run a Sent since they consolidated servers. I had to delete 7 chrs to start a new one. So I deleted him and another 50 so I'm pretty rusty. I going to try some of the suggestions. Thanks all. Excellant thread.

 

marauders and sentinels are the same class O.o with exact same rotation, and game play. Only thing different is story.

[iglumajor]

There is a lot of good advice here but from my personal experience you don't need a healer companion at all, it only slows things down.

 

I used Kira all the way and never had any problems, just remember when starting combat, Ctrl+5 the silver ones, it will draw away a lot of damage and by the time you are done with the weaker ones the silver one is quite easy to finish off.

 

The only problem you might run into is if you start a boss fight, they might attack you first in which case you are kinda screwed, though not un-salvageable, with force camouflage you can easily switch the aggro to your companion.

[ikinai]

Sadly, I just Treek my Sentinels out to survive.

[Gwena]

Having started working on my Sentinel (only lvl 18 now) I must say this thread has been an informative read, thanks to everyone contributing! Though I am glad that I didn't pick it for my first class; I suspect my presence boost is really going to help smooth my leveling until I get Doc. >.<

 

Tips I can give the OP:

 

- Do Biochem! I did Biochem on my Juggernaut and didn't really need it, but having a ready supply of green+ quality medpacs and stims is very nice. Also, Biochem can make medpacs that restore health to both you and your Companion at once which is incredibly helpful in a pinch. I mention this because I did not know these existed until I took Biochem. ^^;

 

- To boost your stats a bit: try and keep your alignment strongly light or dark so you can use relics at lower levels. It isn't a big deal, but hey, every little bit helps! It is easy to do this with Diplomacy (which goes with Biochem, actually). Also, pick up a lvl 10 +41 stat CM crystal if you can, it will be added to your Collections so you can claim copies for all the weapons/offhands your character and Companions use.

 

Sorry if you know this already, I'm not sure how experienced you are, but I figure it is better to give a little too much information than not enough.

[mpdugas]

I run a Sentinel without any sense that the class dies too much.

 

(That 'feature' is reserved for my Shadow, who I am sure wished that I would play her better.)

 

I can offer two bits of advice that have worked well in (almost) every class that I have leveled through:

 

1) Use adaptive gear whose slots are filled with on-level blues, keeping the implants and earpiece likewise on-level; and

 

2) Equip the ship droid likewise, as soon as you get your spaceship, and you will have a very competent healer who will also kill and tank for you very nicely. Don't believe a word he says about his not-for-combat skills, he's just being shy.

 

Remember, the ship droid can be leveled for affection by gift-giving , which makes the little guy even more awesome.

 

Those two will let you level faster, with fewer deaths.

 

At that point, you can worry about talents and button rotations.

[Cidanel]

Healer companion.

 

Always stay 4-5 levels ahead of every quest, that means PVPing up. The second you get to fleet after starter world PVP up to lvl 15 and stay 4-5 levels ahead the rest of the game. Do the PVP daily and weekly when needed. (doing the PVP will get you xp and credits, and more xp if you use legacy perks and warzone xp boost which you can get on GTN for 900-2000 credits each. you can use the pvp comms to trade in for planet comms or credit boxes).

 

Gear yourself to full orange/modable gear when you hit lvl 15 with mods/armor/enhancements. Then about every 5 lvls do it again. Keep updating it with Planet comms vendor modifications, or craft it with an alt. Staying well geared and 4-5 lvls ahead also means you can solo all the Heroic 2's.

 

4-5 levels ahead seems a bit excessive. I use Kira about 90% of the time, and with good gear, highest level medpacks and stims I have continually kept going PvE about 2 levels short of each quest. I never finish a fight with much health left, but as long as I am careful about pulls and know when to dump aggro so that Kira takes it, it works fine.

 

OP - leveling, you really can't afford many mistakes in your rotation. If you keep a very efficient rotation, mobs can drop very, very quickly. The only time that my way to doing things didn't work is when I was going up against bosses who were 2 levels above me, and in those cases I needed to use my heroic moment to get through it. I usually wait until I am virtually dead, pop guarded by the force, and as soon as it wears off, pop a medpack to finish the fight.

[well]

marauders and sentinels are the same class O.o with exact same rotation, and game play. Only thing different is story.

 

Yup. That is why I find the thread helpful even if it is about a Sent. I can apply it to my Mara.

[hadoken]

Level as focus/rage as nothing beats the ae burst for taking down mobs fast. As others have pointed out it gets easier and once you hit the 40s or so you become a monster as you get your more significant defensive cooldowns.

[JimG]

If you're dying a lot, then it sounds like a gear issue....unless you're just totally misusing your abilities and companions. A combat Sent can be leveled rather easily and you should rarely die if your gear and your companion's gear is kept current.