Hi. First post.

So I have been playing this game about a month now and I am really enjoying it. Now everything I have read says that the Sentinel Combat discipline is one of the worst ones to play. For some reason that only makes me more determined to get better at it. One of the things I have noticed is that all of the guides for them are old. Likely because no one that knows what they are doing plays them. So I have done my best setting up my stats just going by percentages and seeing how other people have their Sentinels set up. But, that only goes so far. So I'm hoping to get some advice here. As I said I am determined.

 

Here are my stats.

Mastery: 11,670

Endurance: 15,893

Power: 9,004

Critical: 2,255 (crit chance: 33.03%, dmg 65.77%)

Alacrity: 1,724 (12.13%)

Accuracy: 1,724 (110.62%) I see a lot of discussion and varying opinions on how high this really needs to be.

Defense: 0

Absorb: 0

Shield: 0

Presence: 1,100

 

I still have not decided on what Set Bonus Armor to get and I switch out my Tactical depending on the situation.

 

So any advice?..... Other than roll a Guardian Tank that is

Thanks in advance.

I've played carnage(combat) for a a while in 6.0 both low and high alac spec. Honestly it's okay for flashpoints but once you get bored and want to move on to raids you'll thank yourself for banking all the gold periodic intensity amps that you encounter along the way.

Hmm. I hadn't put much thought to periodic intensity. right now I have all armor penetration.

he wants to say... if you really want to raid play watchman...

combat does really bad dps in lvl 70 content

Pretty much, and it's nothing about the way you play. You can be as dedicated as you like, but the games mechanics are stacked against you. You can line up one yellow damage heavy hitter during your precision+zen window, and it's fantastic in short fights, but no where near frequent enough to compete with other specs vs longer fights.

 

Can you raid with combat/carnage? Sure you can, but today's player base is impatient and all glued to whatever numbers starparse is putting out. Any time there's a wipe they'll all blame you first "I don't think we have enough dps for this".

Thanks for your input guys. I don't even know what raids are. As I said I'm very knew to the game. However you seem to be misapprehending my purpose. My goal is the make a Combat Sentinel as good as it can be. Otherwise, I would have picked another discipline already. I'm very aware of it's shortcomings (there are pages and pages of text lamenting the inadequacies of the discipline). I'm trying to find out where it might shine. Or, at least optimize the build. After that if I find I'm not having fun with it, I'll try something else. I might not be able to make it "better" than another class or discipline but I can build can at least build it "right". Which what I'm trying to learn how to do. Can anyone help with that? Thanks.

You have two main strengths from what I can see. Short fights the burst damage and ability to target switch without any downtime helps for speed running flashpoints and is also great in PvP as it can catch people out. Precision/ferocity + sweeping slash does a lot of AoE damage for cleaning up trash mobs.

Fanged God Form tactical

Descent of the Fearless set bonus

Unlettered 80 armor and mods or 80R-2 when you can

 

Accuracy should be 110% = 1590 (if you've done companion conversation bonus). You look to have one augment too many. Ditch that for more crit.

 

Also pick an Alacrity tier. Tier 1 is 663. Hit that and dump the rest into crit. Or choose Tier 2 at 2374 and dump the rest into Crit. You'll have less crit left over but if you can execute enough APMs you'll make up for it in DPS.

 

Weapon Expertise will yield a larger DPS increase than Armor Pen amps.

 

The only other tacticals I find useful are for PVP situations. The one that Buffs crippling slash and the one that buffs Force camouflage both have their uses as you are less likely to build hyperstacks in PvP anyway.

Edited June 8, 2020 by Scarab_

Thanks. This is very helpful. I had heard about the Alacrity tiers but hadn't payed it much mind. I definitely want to try out the higher Alacrity build. I like the reduced cooldown on my harder hitting skills.

 

I'm kind of stuck with that Accuracy for now, as it is all from enhancements. It was right at 110.16 but then I picked up some Datacrons and it went up a little. My legacy says I'm getting a companion boost but I'm not seeing it in my Stats. I'll have to do some tweaking as I find the enhancements.

 

I guess I should mention that I am more interested in a PVP build, at the moment than, I am a PVE one. A friend and I have a friendly rivalry going and he plays a Tank Guardian. In a one vs one duel he is nigh impossible to beat. Which, is why I went with Armor Penetration over Weapons Expertise. That, and seeing how my damage shot up with Precision active, I just figured more of the damage was getting through. I'll have to compare the two. I have the armouring in storage to do it.

 

That Set Bonus does make sense. I was thinking about going for something with more defensive qualities, but it seems the old axiom may ring true in this case. I also might simply have to accept the notion that the toon isn't going to stand toe to toe with a tank in a 1v1 scenario. But I haven't given up hope yet. I might find my Tank Buster just yet.

I run the high alacrity build an still have plenty of Crit left over. As long as you're executing enough APMs your DPs won't suffer.

 

Activating Precision already gives 100% penetration so you will not benefit from additional armor pen there. Blade Rush, when used without the Precision buff, will benefit but Weapon Expertise should a slightly higher DPS increase (though not by much).

 

For PvP you may get more use from The Prosecution tactical than Fanged God form because you will be unlikely to land enough hits during the Blade Rush spam part of your rotation to actually build any hyperstacks. The Prosecution will apply Force Clarity to Clashing Blast. Make sure to always have Force Clarity up before you Blast for maximum burst damage.

I run the high alacrity build an still have plenty of Crit left over. As long as you're executing enough APMs your DPs won't suffer.

 

Activating Precision already gives 100% penetration so you will not benefit from additional armor pen there. Blade Rush, when used without the Precision buff, will benefit but Weapon Expertise should a slightly higher DPS increase (though not by much).

 

For PvP you may get more use from The Prosecution tactical than Fanged God form because you will be unlikely to land enough hits during the Blade Rush spam part of your rotation to actually build any hyperstacks. The Prosecution will apply Force Clarity to Clashing Blast. Make sure to always have Force Clarity up before you Blast for maximum burst damage.

 

Will try this! Good tip. Thank you!