Sentinel is not broken. You are.

[ilancloud]

For all the hatred that I see about the sentinel class, and about how they are broken, I figured I would try to make an informative post here.

 

First, this is my own experience with live TOR, and this is my opinion.

 

Sentinel is not a broken class. It's how you are playing it. Let me start by telling you what a real sentinel can do-

 

1. You can kill any target, regular, strong, elite, or champion by yourself. (Companions are required for champions but that's about it).

 

2. You can freely use any companion you want for whatever circumstance you want. (I am currently sitting around level 41, never slowed down yet).

 

3. You can tear through quests nonstop with very little downtime.

 

Now you may be saying, but killahjedi, how do i play my class then? Well, this is where you learn something-

 

 

Onset of combat-

 

You will buff yourself with Sprint, Juyo form (We paid attention to #3 right?), and Force Might.

 

Now, this isn't warcraft, so you actually need to think for ONE second before pressing that Force Leap ability what it is you are fighting.

 

If this is an elite or higher, you will ABSOLUTELY need your Saber Ward up, and possibly Call on the Force to reset the counter if its a long-drawn out fight.

 

In combat-

 

With the Watchmen spec, you need to burn the **** out of your target. You do this by stacking cauterize. Cauterize does a truck load of damage, and you can keep applying it. Elemental/Burn damage is the whole trick to taking down champions/elites that have a ton of life. You apply dots, refresh them, and watch the damage keep pouring off of them.

 

How i approach regular mobs/packs-

 

1. Overload Saber immediately before fight if i have power.

2. Force leap into the middle of a pack, then force sweep + stun the lower/lesser mobs.

 

At this point, a main trick to this, is deciding whether or not you are taking massive damage instantly, if you are, generally it's the smaller guys around you, take them down instantly, leaving the "strong" in the group up until the end. Generally you can interrupt the strong, or force stasis/choke his *** to stun also.

 

You can pretty much do whatever here to regular mobs, I prefer to single-target them down. It seems the sentinel AOE ability seems a little weak.. even at 41 im hitting for like 500 damage on it?? Seems terrible.

 

Approaching elites/champions:

 

1. Saber Ward

2. Force leap -> pt builder

3. Cauterize. (This will be buffed by your talent choices. You can reset the CD on this, plus it's initial burst damage). This gets the dot rolling on the hard guy.

4. Force Statis/Choke -> let that damage from cauterize do it's thing while he can't move.

5. You should have enough pts left to slash a few times. If you are really lucky, you can slash once, reset the CD on cauterize, and re-apply it again. Keeping this dot ALWAYS rolling is key.

6. About by now your saber ward might be falling, you can use your other defensive CD to negate damage(again forget the name), or call on the force, and re-use saber ward again.

 

7. He will most likely be casting some nasty **** this entire time--Beit force lighting, circle of death, FULL AUTO if its a gunner, all of these skills can/ and should be kicked. YOU NEED TO INTERRUPT.

 

The entire key to taking down harder mobs for sentinels is all about control. You apply your dot, slash a few times to get some burn damage up there, then stop him from attacking-Through choke/statis, force sweep, blade storm, or kick, all of these things get you out of trouble.

 

By about level 40, all of these things start flowing naturally, and elites just aren't a challenge at all. I can solo them without companions JUST using the self-heal from Juyo form, with all defensive CD's.

 

If anyone wants any more advice i'd be glad to provide it, im surer this post is all over the place

 

-Killahjedi

Jedi Sentinel

[bad Motivator Units] - Correlian Run

 

I think people are afraid this class isn't competitive in PvP, which the devs have admitted to on these forums regarding a couple issues. PvE I haven't had a problem but PVP I do. I'm lower level still so I'm reserving my judgment though.

[McVade]

After doing a little experimenting/respeccing, I've come to this conclusion:

 

Watchman spec is very good. If you are having an issue playing it, the problem is between your chair and your keyboard.

 

Focus and Combat are both just plain inferior, I think. I can see why either of these specs would give people a hard time. Focus, I want to like, but you are just absolutely starved for resources (Focus/Centering). The boosts to Sweep just don't make up for the fact you aren't generating Focus with dot ticks and your attacks are generating 3x less Centering. Also, relying on Slash as your go-to attack is really not a good thing as Slash's damage is really low and Focus just doesn't give Slash enough support to redeem it. I really missed the DPS from Overcharge Saber and how Merciless Slash procs Cauterize, which becomes amazing through the support in Watchman.

 

Combat, I don't even know where to begin seeing anything good from that spec. IMHO, the tree is just pure garbage save the bottom tier to dip into once Watchman is filled up.

Edited January 11, 2012 by McVade

[Csdabest]

1. Are we not a melee class(Yes)

2. Do we not duel weild two weapons.(Yes_

3. Is our offhand weapon scaled horribly compared to other classes.(Yes)

4.Does it make since that other classes have a Sheild generator or stealth generation as their offhand gear to do Just as much dmg as us and even more plus have a defense boost(No)

5. Does it make since for us two have one gap closer when other classes have two when we are the melee class.(No)

6. Does it make sense for other classes to have more stuns and roots to keep a person in place when they are a ranged class over melee(No)

7. Does it make sense for our Combat animation to stutter when we are a underdamage DPS class where every second count cuz were melee.(No)

8. Does it make sense that since we are melee that we have to perform multiple steps compared to the few steps other classes have to perform to max out damage.(no)

 

Im sorry. But Sentinel is quite broken as it stands. Manageble only with someone who knows how to do their job as a healer and you are amazing at the broken class while the opponent sucks.

 

The fact that I was a lvl 45 Sent going against a 46 Sorc in world pvp. And they were able to outheal my dmg says alot. Only reason I survived is because for some reason they didnt have their companion out while I had Doc out. Finaly out dmg the person with leaps cripple throws choppng down their healing. Leg slash interrupts. DOTS as a combat to negate their Stealth. And using my stealth to throw them off. I literally had to use EVERYTHING In the book. Now im not going to lie. Im not the best MMO person considering this is my first. But i learn quite quickly and have an amazing insight on things. But this should not happen.I shouldnt have to use every skill twice to kill someone who is one lvl ahead of me and is mainly healing after their lightning tricks couldnt kill me cuz i had doc and im no longer a noob.

[dedekorkut]

thanks for guide

but : how use cc granade?

[thanealpha]

Yeah,

 

I'm broken because I chose the Combat tree.

The combat tree relies upon Blade Storm and Blade Rush.

Blade Storm/Blade Rush BOTH are crazy affected by skill stuttering.

Core skills not firing = low dps.

Sentinels are ONLY dps.

Low DPS = broken.

 

And I'm what's broken right? BS.

 

The game, it's responsiveness, and stuttering are broken. Badly. Horribly.

[rakuenCallisto]

1. Are we not a melee class(Yes)

2. Do we not duel weild two weapons.(Yes_

3. Is our offhand weapon scaled horribly compared to other classes.(Yes)

4.Does it make since that other classes have a Sheild generator or stealth generation as their offhand gear to do Just as much dmg as us and even more plus have a defense boost(No)

5. Does it make since for us two have one gap closer when other classes have two when we are the melee class.(No)

6. Does it make sense for other classes to have more stuns and roots to keep a person in place when they are a ranged class over melee(No)

7. Does it make sense for our Combat animation to stutter when we are a underdamage DPS class where every second count cuz were melee.(No)

8. Does it make sense that since we are melee that we have to perform multiple steps compared to the few steps other classes have to perform to max out damage.(no)

 

Im sorry. But Sentinel is quite broken as it stands. Manageble only with someone who knows how to do their job as a healer and you are amazing at the broken class while the opponent sucks.

 

The fact that I was a lvl 45 Sent going against a 46 Sorc in world pvp. And they were able to outheal my dmg says alot. Only reason I survived is because for some reason they didnt have their companion out while I had Doc out. Finaly out dmg the person with leaps cripple throws choppng down their healing. Leg slash interrupts. DOTS as a combat to negate their Stealth. And using my stealth to throw them off. I literally had to use EVERYTHING In the book. Now im not going to lie. Im not the best MMO person considering this is my first. But i learn quite quickly and have an amazing insight on things. But this should not happen.I shouldnt have to use every skill twice to kill someone who is one lvl ahead of me and is mainly healing after their lightning tricks couldnt kill me cuz i had doc and im no longer a noob.

 

Every BW dev/mod should read this and have it soak in real deep.

 

This is exactly what the community has been begging for.

[JustinxDuff]

The fact that I was a lvl 45 Sent going against a 46 Sorc in world pvp. And they were able to outheal my dmg says alot. Only reason I survived is because for some reason they didnt have their companion out while I had Doc out..

 

You lost to a sorc? The problem is you. I have beaten 49 sorcs when my sent was 38. This class is not broken its just that people don't know how to play it.

[Apocalypse-]

Yeah,

 

I'm broken because I chose the Combat tree.

Correct.

[EasymodeX]

I wanted to go on record to say that it's possible to die to a Sorc 1v1.

 

Especially after you've blown cooldowns killing them three times as they chain spawned and rushed you, and their leftover DOT from the previous kill is interrupting your out of combat heal. I need to get the damn water.

[-Arcane-]

I wanted to go on record to say that it's possible to die to a Sorc 1v1.

 

Especially after you've blown cooldowns killing them three times as they chain spawned and rushed you, and their leftover DOT from the previous kill is interrupting your out of combat heal. I need to get the damn water.

 

Aha I lolled.

 

+1

[drfumblez]

After doing a little experimenting/respeccing, I've come to this conclusion:

 

Watchman spec is very good. If you are having an issue playing it, the problem is between your chair and your keyboard.

 

Focus and Combat are both just plain inferior, I think. I can see why either of these specs would give people a hard time. Focus, I want to like, but you are just absolutely starved for resources (Focus/Centering). The boosts to Sweep just don't make up for the fact you aren't generating Focus with dot ticks and your attacks are generating 3x less Centering. Also, relying on Slash as your go-to attack is really not a good thing as Slash's damage is really low and Focus just doesn't give Slash enough support to redeem it. I really missed the DPS from Overcharge Saber and how Merciless Slash procs Cauterize, which becomes amazing through the support in Watchman.

 

Combat, I don't even know where to begin seeing anything good from that spec. IMHO, the tree is just pure garbage save the bottom tier to dip into once Watchman is filled up.

 

Uh... Little thing about Focus... there's a talent, near the end, which gives back centering from using Transcendence. It gives back 20 centering when fully specced into. I have my speed buff up ALL the time. Just want to toss that in there.

And Zen for Sho-chi form makes Slash cost nothing, and makes it a cleave.

Focus isn't as bad as people think.

 

But Combat is horrendous. Needs a serious fix soon.

[Apocalypse-]

Uh... Little thing about Focus... there's a talent, near the end, which gives back centering from using Transcendence. It gives back 20 centering when fully specced into. I have my speed buff up ALL the time. Just want to toss that in there.

And Zen for Sho-chi form makes Slash cost nothing, and makes it a cleave.

Focus isn't as bad as people think.

 

But Combat is horrendous. Needs a serious fix soon.

 

No one is saying Focus is horrible. It's a fun, albeit gimmicky, spec that is reliant on your opponent to make mistakes. Thing is, that last tidbit makes it inferior to Watchman.

[-Arcane-]

Both are viable and shine in different situations.

 

Watchman is better for small scale pvp, where as Focus is ideal for larger scale battles due to the insane aoe dps.

 

 

if Ilum wasn't a 5fps fail zone focus would be king there.

[Slurmez]

1. Are we not a melee class(Yes)

2. Do we not duel weild two weapons.(Yes_

3. Is our offhand weapon scaled horribly compared to other classes.(Yes)

4.Does it make since that other classes have a Sheild generator or stealth generation as their offhand gear to do Just as much dmg as us and even more plus have a defense boost(No)

5. Does it make since for us two have one gap closer when other classes have two when we are the melee class.(No)

6. Does it make sense for other classes to have more stuns and roots to keep a person in place when they are a ranged class over melee(No)

7. Does it make sense for our Combat animation to stutter when we are a underdamage DPS class where every second count cuz were melee.(No)

8. Does it make sense that since we are melee that we have to perform multiple steps compared to the few steps other classes have to perform to max out damage.(no)

 

Im sorry. But Sentinel is quite broken as it stands. Manageble only with someone who knows how to do their job as a healer and you are amazing at the broken class while the opponent sucks.

 

The fact that I was a lvl 45 Sent going against a 46 Sorc in world pvp. And they were able to outheal my dmg says alot. Only reason I survived is because for some reason they didnt have their companion out while I had Doc out. Finaly out dmg the person with leaps cripple throws choppng down their healing. Leg slash interrupts. DOTS as a combat to negate their Stealth. And using my stealth to throw them off. I literally had to use EVERYTHING In the book. Now im not going to lie. Im not the best MMO person considering this is my first. But i learn quite quickly and have an amazing insight on things. But this should not happen.I shouldnt have to use every skill twice to kill someone who is one lvl ahead of me and is mainly healing after their lightning tricks couldnt kill me cuz i had doc and im no longer a noob.

 

When did sorcs ever have stealth on live?

[peanutcandy]

The OP does not know what he is talking about. This class is broken and needs fixed. You might be able to do what he suggests in his post in PVE fully geared and I mean fully. But, just try doing what he suggests playing a real live person in PVP. I think you will find out how broken this class really is especially if you where unlucky enough to pick Combat spec to play.

[EnnaRei]

While I may not agree 100% with the OP, he is right tho. This class isn't broken, the players just suck. Watchman is and was fine before this patch, combat could use a little bit of a damage buff, and focus is fine how it is. Yeah we have a far more intricate class than anyone else in the game, and yes it does take more effort to play. But since when has that ever been a bad thing?

 

If you want an easy class to play, then get the **** out of here and go play a sage or commando or something. This isn't the class for those who are lazy or complain about too many buttons/skills to use. This class is obviously too skillful for you.

Edited February 8, 2012 by EnnaRei

[OGsam]

OP needs saber-ward up to fight an elite? /thread Edited February 8, 2012 by OGsam

[Illindorn]

Love my sentinel FYI.

Biggest issue for the sent and marauder is lack of CC and CC removing effects for PVP. (Yay a Sent can CC a robot, others classes are limited but lets face it most mobs arent bots so it has very limited use)

 

Sentinel at 50 - Lack of cc, cc breaking, stuns that only work on weak mobs, to activate secondary skills

Juggernaut at 41 - Has limtied CC but has push and choke, no issue with class to be honest

Vangaurd at 35 - Limtied CC at moment will see later, good damage, lots of fun imo.

Op at 35 - Stuns and CC plus stealth, good fun class (personnel issue with the stun lock capability )

Sorc mid 20s - lots of mini stuns and cc (no issue with them)

 

Sentinel and maruaders due to there nature of being melee need more relaible methods of removing cc in pvp (as some have said maybe a resisteance after using CC removing skills). Spent some fights pretty much perm CC (waits for the flames)

 

Some fights in PVE can be trickier than other classes - No real issue but when you have think so much more than other class then there is a problem.

 

Emporer fight for the sent was a close run thing, did it as combat spec. But luckily had T7 pretty well geared thanks to checking the forums and finding out i could only use him. Nice fun fight all in all.

 

The fights im doing with my vanguard seem to be alot easier, some are tricky, but far less of an issue.

 

Well thats my tuppence worth.

Edited February 8, 2012 by Illindorn

[Dreary]

I just HAD to bump this..

 

I play a Marauder -- Loved him since day one and would not trade him for anything.. When I hear all the "broken class" crying it makes me laugh, always has.. I even shed a single tear.

 

I will show you exactly how broken this class is, watch these:

 

False Emperor Hard Mode Duo/2man :

 

Black Talon Hard Mode Solo :

 

-----

 

*Now, lets play a game of fill in the blank:

 

L2____

Edited March 15, 2012 by Dreary

[Bishidoblade]

The OP does not know what he is talking about. This class is broken and needs fixed. You might be able to do what he suggests in his post in PVE fully geared and I mean fully. But, just try doing what he suggests playing a real live person in PVP. I think you will find out how broken this class really is especially if you where unlucky enough to pick Combat spec to play.

 

 

 

Could have taken luck out of the equation by reading online that Watch is the better choice currently. The fact you didn't bother going that far makes me think you didn't study anything, and at that point... well you don't have any valid points that are worth responding to since you obviously didn't put the time in to study up at least a little bit.

 

 

Ignorance isn't bliss.... And we aren't broken.... Combat needs some fix's with some attack studder - obviously - but overall we are fine. small tweek's don't = broken. If anything your broken, fix yourself!

[Syridan]

We aren't broken, our class is just a difficult one to play because you have to focus and stay alert. All our abilities are 4m or 10m exempting Force Leap and I would consider that to be close range. If you want an easy class to play, don't try the sentinel.

[Lucridate]

It's a devil of a class to play period. No one wants you in their Party for Heroic or Flashpoints - it's all "need LFG", and with good reason - it's a fragile class. Even the standard quests are hard to beat without a load of healing and in the case of Hoth, Revives. At Lvl 42 with top range rigging for myself and companion, I battled for ages against the Pirates, only having to finally abandon the side-quest with the repair bill coming in at over 9,000 credits. Problem was re-spawning bosses wandering around and joining in every single skirmish I was in - that really should have been negated by making this a story quest instead of a free-for-all. That was using both Kira and Doc alternately, and after they went down I followed in a hail of shells and explosions from 6 different sources. LFG and Trooper would have no problems, but Sentinel - forget it.

I do know how to play my class, and do so carefully as I've realised that many quests are built for "tank"-only and if you get through on Sentinel it comes with a heavy cost and very, very careful planning. Pick your fights and try to skirt around as many as you can on Hoth, otherwise you're in seriously bad shape for the mission itself.

[Shumadin]

After reading this whole thread, i must say this is very funny. First of all i hate comparing wow to this game, but in this case ill have to. Take Warriors in wow.... Exactly the same thing, they level slowly, they are sooo gear dependant, they can barely solo elites, and too much downtime between fight... Not gonna repeat about sentinels... You all know what its like....

Conclusion, both classes are gear dependant, but once they are geared, they wreak havoc. I played warrior till lvl 80, their only cc was Mortal Strike, 50% reduced healing, kick, and harmstring, 1 fear, 1 disorient, and thats it....no stuns, and always called an op class... Please stop whining about sentinels, they are fine, once ur geared ull do ok. Personally i dont have 50 sentinel, but my friend does, and im leveling one and i love it.

[LoganSkiwyse]

I have a level 50 sent and a level 50 smuggler amoung a ton of other pre-50 alts. The Jedi Knight and Sith warrior/juggernaut ARE playable but could use some tweaking for game balance in PVE. Being a melee class they need a tiny bit of tweaking on damage mitigation. I'm talking somewhere between a 2% and 5% increase in their current mitigation at most. It would be very easy to overdue this however so I'm happy if they take their time and get it right. Second the tank versions of both need alittle adjustment to how they hold AOE agro OR need to be specified as being a better single target tank and get a second single target taunt. Again the adjustments would be very minor, but compared to the other tanks they are both abit squishy AND have alittle trouble holding agro even when played by the best players.

Note though: Neither class is actually "broken" and both are completely playable. The above would just make them more inbalance with the rest of the classes and more welcome in groups.

[Lucridate]

On Hoth at present, and while I appreciate what you are saying about Sents my experience is horrific on this one planet. others have been had their problems, but I've never died so ofetn so quickly than on Hoth...and it is very, very exensive. Even at Lvl 43 with gear that far exceeds anything availble on pickup or vendors (credit or commendation), if you are taking on a group of 4-5 and a wandering mini-boss decides he wants in, it's game over. I'm always at low health, as is my companion (no matter which) after taking on 4 Ice Pirates, or 3 Imperial Ice Troopers and need to perform Introversion. That's when I get bushwhacked by an OP wanderer. By the time the mission is complete, and going back to a med centre helps not a bit, I've got a repair bill that when it is all added up is generally 3-5,000 credits. I'm losing credits but gaining XP. It is not a good trade-off.

Apologies if this comes off as whining, but my experience is that Hoth is no place to be for a Jedi Sentiel and the fun just is not that there. It is a grind just to complete the story arc, and that's not what gaming is about.