Want my Watchman Sentinel a little less squishy...

[Ultimas]

So I was going to get Guardian Armorings/Hilts, Elusive Mods, Protection Enhancements, and Accuracy Augments. A good mixture of STR/END/DEF/ACC. I know this is probably the opposite of what you're suppose to do, but has anybody experimented with this? For the record I solo *a lot* and am not worried about some PuG trying to gear check me. Thoughts? Edited March 25, 2014 by Ultimas

[Adaliaya]

Just remember not to get shield stats, they're useless for non-shield wearing class

[Ultimas]

Yeah I figured Shield would be a no-go.

[Fidelicatessen]

So I was going to get Guardian Armorings/Hilts, Elusive Mods, Protection Enhancements, and Accuracy Augments. A good mixture of STR/END/DEF/ACC. I know this is probably the opposite of what you're suppose to do, but has anybody experimented with this? For the record I solo *a lot* and am not worried about some PuG trying to gear check me. Thoughts?

 

Skip the Defense.

 

You want your Melee accuracy to be no higher or lower than 100%, and your force accuracy to be no higher or lower than 110%. You will always be a teeny bit higher or lower no matter what you do, but that's your target.

 

Beyond that, slot Power. If you can't get Power, slot Surge. Remember that Strength is more important for you than Endurance.

 

Defense is really wasted on you, even if you solo, because your strength does not lie in taking hits, but rather in doing damage more quickly. Any Defense you slot is lost Power. Any extra Endurance you slot is Strength lost, too, so go with Might Armorings and hilts instead. Your job is to take the enemy down before he can hurt you, not to stand there taking hits.

[oofalong]

So I was going to get Guardian Armorings/Hilts, Elusive Mods, Protection Enhancements, and Accuracy Augments. A good mixture of STR/END/DEF/ACC. I know this is probably the opposite of what you're suppose to do, but has anybody experimented with this? For the record I solo *a lot* and am not worried about some PuG trying to gear check me. Thoughts?

 

To make your Sentinel less squishy use your defensive CDs - they are among the best in the game. Also, kill your enemies quicker by stacking Might Armorings & Hilts over Guardian ones all of the time. Deft and Potent unlettered Mods will be your best choice and finally use Acute, Adept, Battle or Initiative Enhancements. Go with Overkill or Might Augments as well.

 

The marginal defensive stats or health you will gain by picking sub-optimal stats/gear will hurt you more than help you.

[Ultimas]

Thanks for all the responses so far. I don't want to forget about this experiment by just regularly gearing. I am interested in experimenting with a Sentinel's defense. Looking to have fun by playing in different ways, but I feel you guys might be going down the "hey noob L2P" route

 

I haven't started gathering gear yet but I am going to start gather gear for this experiment this week.

Edited March 26, 2014 by Ultimas

[Ardarell_Solo]

I see where you're coming from and if you want to experiment go ahead and keep us updated :-)

 

Despite doing NiM progress with my guild, I still like doing solo content a lot myself and have made it a hobby to solo heroic 4s and Flashpoints (no skipping dialogue for once :-)

Clearly, depending on gear level, survivability is desirable when you do that. Thing is, there are more effective ways of pushing your survivability than gearing:

 

1. Specc

2. Choice of companion and gearing him

 

1. Definitely go Watchman for solo stuff. It's true that Focus and Dotsmash kill groups faster and Combat is quicker + more fun to play. But as Watchman you can selfheal through quite a lot of incoming damage with frequent use of Zen, especially if you use your Def-CDs when Zen is not running: Rebuke, Saber Ward, GBTF+Medpack. And give Aggro to your companion (Force Camouflage) if you're low on health and he isn't, you'll get it back fast enough :-) Watchman Sentinel will survive solo encounters that can't be solved by burning down the opponent faster than he can dish out significant damage a lot longer than any other specced Sent with Defense+Endurance gear.

 

2. Use your healing companion (Doc, but preferably get Treek).

You learn to play better if you're going with a tank companion. But for soloing stuff get a decently geared healer. It's way more efficient spending resources on your companion's healing gear than downgrading your DPS gear with Defense stuff.

If you use Treek, be sure to activate her healing stance and deactivate DPS abilities. Same with Doc, deactivate all his DPS stuff and use his Carbonize ability only on your own command if you need another CC. If you let him use it automatically he'll suck at healing you, which is his main job.

 

Side note: Solo stuff needs a bit more of a PVP attitude than doing OPs. So don't forget about your Awe, Stasis, and Leg Slash to keep yourself out of trouble, and, needless to say, Force Kick the baddies' bad stuff.

[oofalong]

Thanks for all the responses so far. I don't want to forget about this experiment by just regularly gearing. I am interested in experimenting with a Sentinel's defense. Looking to have fun by playing in different ways, but I feel you guys might be going down the "hey noob L2P" route

 

I haven't started gathering gear yet but I am going to start gather gear for this experiment this week.

 

Just to be clear, you are free to do anything you want. But, I think your efforts to experiment could be better focused in areas other than defensive stats. Try the suggestions Ardarell_Solo made. I would also suggest stacking more crit rating in order to get more passive healing from your burns crit'ing. Specifically, I believe you would benefit more from a Potent mod than an Elusive mod. That is, the crit rating will do more to keep you alive by increasing your heal chance than the extra dodge provided by the defense. Alternatively, consider a different (advanced) class, such as the Guardian, where it makes sense to experiment with hybrid stats like you are suggesting.

 

I am not coming from a learn-to-play attitude I am coming from learn how the game works. It has nothing to do with playstyle. What you are proposing is very inefficient; there is no in-game benefit to your approach. Sentinels are a pure DPS advanced class. We can not heal and we can not taunt; our job is to deal damage. Obviously you have to be alive to deal damage so survivability is not unimportant. Honestly, in solo PvE Watchman Sentinels are pretty much the king of survivability already due to the high amount of self heals.

 

What you are proposing is similar to buying a sports car, but not using the recommended high octane gas. And then never getting the oil changed and refusing to fix your flat tire all because you like to do things differently. The car may still work for you, but you are certainly not getting the optimal performance from it.

[Master-Nala]

Thanks for all the responses so far. I don't want to forget about this experiment by just regularly gearing. I am interested in experimenting with a Sentinel's defense. Looking to have fun by playing in different ways, but I feel you guys might be going down the "hey noob L2P" route

 

I haven't started gathering gear yet but I am going to start gather gear for this experiment this week.

 

If I were to do this, the only defensive stat I would focus on would be Health (via Endurance). You might also wish to go a bit (and I mean only A BIT) overboard on critical. This is because Watchman gains most of its mitigation from its self heals. Critical will increase the frequency and endurance will affect the magnitude since they are percentage heals.

 

Shield and Absorb are absolutely useless to you and you can't stack Defense high enough to make up for what you lose.

Edited March 26, 2014 by Master-Nala