I need a little Sentinel help, becuase I think I'm missing something here...

[Trevallian]

Hey fellas, once again I enter these haloed halls of knowledge, because I need some help!! Something just isn't right with my Sentinel! Or maybe it's just me...

 

This is a character I made ages ago, but have not played for some time, before the last major update anyway. Back in the day, I got him up to level 45, and he seemed to be ok, but then I moved on. However, I went back to him yesterday just for a bit of fun, thinking I might try to finish him off.

 

Now, either I'm going nuts, or like I said, something just isn't right!

 

Here goes..., after pouring all over the three options I had available, I decided to go with Concentration, because that seemed to fit my "style" the most. But, here's the rub, previously, I do remember Focus was a little hard to come by, but now it seems like its practically non-existent! Well, that is, unless you're getting hellishly smacked around by something

 

So after a bunch of back and forth, this is what I finally came up with as a standard rotation, after about a half hours worth of messing around with different combos. Probably nothing new or earth shattering I'm sure, just what I found worked the best with what I had. Using Shi-Cho form it goes like this; Force Jump, Zealous Strike, Zealous Leap, Force Sweep, Focused Burst, Master Strike, 3-4 normal hits, then start all over again, in the tried and true "Lather, rinse, repeat." fashion.

 

Now, I have absolutely no problem with the damage I'm putting out per target, on average about 8K - 10k damage on the opening salvo. That's not the issue here, because in my opinion, that amount of damage is actually pretty reasonable, for a level 45 toon. After all, I am still putting down equal level golds with around 25K HP, without too much trouble. What I'm really concerned about is the supreme lack of Focus gathering potential. I never seem to have enough, let alone a full bar, in fact by the time I hit Master Strike, it's pretty much empty!

 

With my Guardian (Jugg does the same, but you guys knew that already ), I could pull 5 or 6 straight away from Combat Focus, then 3 more from Saber throw, plus 3 for force leap, for an almost full bar and thats before I've even made a proper strike yet. Not to mention you can grab even more during combat, if you need it, from CF, once it cools down. With the Sentinel, you only get an initial 3 from Force Leap?.., unless I've missed something in the build, or the powers, something seems woefully out of balance here.

 

To be fair though, this isn't too much of a problem for the little guys, or even single big targets, but when it's a group (Something two lightsabers should always be able to better deal with, than one), I tend to get overwhelmed fairly fast, because I can't keep the big strikes coming quick enough. I don't know, maybe I've just been spoiled by my Jugg and Guardian toons, who usually don't even use all of their Focus, before they kill whatever they are hitting.

 

So at long last here is my question I guess... Am I missing something, or is this a somewhat serious flaw of this class that I am just going to have to live with? Because at the moment, the Sentinel, compared with the Guardian, is little better than the poor cousin standing at the buffet table stuffing rolls down his pants, or even worse..., a red headed step-child!

 

In all seriousness though, any help would be greatly appreciated...

[Bejarid]

It's possibly just a leveling issue. When I came back to my Sentinel to get him to 60 from 55, I was having trouble with too much focus. Concentration swims in it when done right and it can be a struggle to keep from over-capping and wasting during Zen. Until you find your comfort zone, of course.

 

Always try to use Blade Storm after you Leap, as that will generate focus rather than consuming it. At 48, you'll get a passive which will reduce the focus cost of two of your key abilities, so that'll help out a lot. And at 51, you can get Concentration in the heroic section which will let you charge up your Centering out of combat by resting, so you can Leap in with Zen going. That alone is a serious boon for not being focus starved at the start of any engagement. Just kinda grit your teeth and bear with it for now; if you have some boosters, you'll get there really fast.

[Katendal]

Concentration is now a very tight rotatation, and there is seriously nothing fun about the spec anymore, if you perform the rotation correctly you will always have the right amount of force at the right time for the right ability, its dull as dishwater. There is nothing in this spec that makes it worth using over the other 2. watchman is far more sustained dps and combat has more than enough burst and more fun to play. If sentinel was killed in 3.0 (which is was) Concentration is the nail in the coffin.

[Kaos_KidSWTOR]

Your missing out on Zen with your rotation. You should when you hit 50 ish, get a Utility Point into the Heroic utility, Contemplation (IIRC that's what Brooding is called on Sentinel) which will allow you to charge up 30 stacks of Concentration, allowing you to start fights with the Zen buff, and the Koan buff, which will significantly boost Focused Burst, and give a slight boost to Force Sweep, but not at the same time. You must pick and choose on whether to use Force Sweep, or Focused Burst. Single Target situations call for Focused Burst, while AOE situations of 3 or more targets you should Force Sweep. Zen's buff in Shii-Cho stance is that you gain 12 Focus over 6 stacks of Zen, which is 1 every ~2 seconds IIRC. There's your boost in Focus, it's also on a roughly similar CD to Combat Focus in the Guardian's Focus Spec.

[Bejarid]

If sentinel was killed in 3.0 (which is was) Concentration is the nail in the coffin.

 

In your opinion.

 

Personally, I'm a long time Combat player that jumped ship for Concentration and am having an absolute blast with it.

[PallyHk]

In your opinion.

 

Personally, I'm a long time Combat player that jumped ship for Concentration and am having an absolute blast with it.

 

Than you would have had a bigger blast with it in the past.

[Bejarid]

Than you would have had a bigger blast with it in the past.

 

I did actually do most of my leveling at launch as Focus, only swapped to Combat once I was able to get Blade Rush. Did enjoy Focus spec back then, too, but blindly preferred Combat because of Ataru until recently; just not feeling it anymore.