My action bars already seem to be crowded. Curious what the best rotations to benefit me from level 10-20 as a starting sentinel player.

I've seen guides but they seem to focus much more on rotations at the highest level.

Thanks in advance

My action bars already seem to be crowded. Curious what the best rotations to benefit me from level 10-20 as a starting sentinel player.

 

I've seen guides but they seem to focus much more on rotations at the highest level.

 

Thanks in advance

There is no "rotation" persay until the highest levels.The reason you see in the guide all the attacks and such is that you need to have all those attacks in order to be able to effect the rotation. It's not as simple as "skipping" the attacks that you don't have yet and filling in those gcds with a filler. Without all the abilities present you cannot effect a proper rotation as it were. The absence of two attacks i.e. will render the rest of the rotation off kilter. Without all the abilties the best you can do is priorities. At the levels you are presently and until much later on the absence of the rotation will not effect your abiltity to level, play vanilla storylines or do flashpoints so you needn't concern yourself. This is the same for all classes and specs. It's only when you have all the necessary abiltiies to preform the rotation properly that you'll need to start learning it in it's entirety. Leveling is a time for learning the individual skills, abilties, and attacks as you get them and play around with them to get an idea of how they flow, how the operate and effect the character.

By and large, unless you are planning to do Operations [raids], PVP, HM Flashpoints, learning and using a full rotation isn't necessary. The storyline, vanilla, and tacticals can easily be done even if you don't employ a rotation. It's advisable to learn it of course, but the storyline play, heroics, and tacticals of leveling range is so easy you can clear it rolling your head across the keyboard. Mostly in those instances all you really need to learn is how to make sure you have enough resources to be able to employ all your abilties/attacks throughout a fight that will last more than say 45 seconds are so, given that most abilties and attacks have cool downs so you want to make sure youll have enough resouce to use them again [as needed] once they come off cool down again.

When you get new attacks and new abilties read the tool tips, learn how they inter-relate with other abilties and attacks for maximum effectiveness. Leveling affords you the ease of play where you can test them out, compare them, and use the in different ways to meet different sorts of challanges. They come in drips and drabs as you level so that you can learn about them in and of themselves before you will have to interweave them together later on and bring them all together [the rotation].

While leveling things die much to fast and generally it might take only two or three attacks before you kill something, so there is really not enough time to use even all the abiltites and attacks you do have already. Also, just because you can kill something even just by using basic attack, you want to avoid getting in that habit and you want to employ all your abilties as much as you can because things wont always be that easy or that quick to kill when you get towards and into endgame. Thats when you'll need a rotation, thats when youll need to use most of what you have. Better to learn them all as you get them so your already familiar with them as you level and expand with more options available to you. Its important to learn to use all your abilties even if it seems you don't have much use for some of them as you level. Learn to effectively use your interupts as early as possible. It may seem like you don't need them to clear what your doing and truth be told you can get all the way to 65 without using your interupts, but they are extremely important and will make things much easier for you and others you may play with and will become vital going into endgame.

There is very little you need to worry about while leveling so enjoy it, play around with things and become familair with new abilties as you get them. Always better to learn the right way right from the beginning so things become more second nature to you. Slow and steady gets ya there. As you level and gain more abilties/attacks the guides will begin to make more and more sense to you as you progress. Each time you get a new abiltiy or attack you can reference it in the guide for a better idea of it's 'stand alone' uses.

End game is a whole other beast. Things that are easy as pie while you were leveling, don't follow suit into end game [Operations, PVP, HM FPs]. As far as end game goes, that's a whole other beginning. Cross that bridge when you get there. Just have fun while leveling. You have time. When you hit 65 come on back to the forums and go from there.

You picked a good class. Maras/Sents are fun as hell. I hope you enjoy it. Good luck to you.

P.S. -

Thanks for the long reply Grim.

Just getting back into SWTOR mostly played the ranged and healer specs. Sentinel marauder are fun and the fact that all 3 specs play differently is pretty impressive even though they share many aspects of the Jedi Knight/Warrior class. right now I have a marauder that specs in carnage, sentinel specced in Concentration and will likely do another marauder or sentinel to cover the 3rd spec as I like to have 1 character for each spec.

Now which to choose Jedi or sith? Annihilation sounds much better than watchman.

I have a sith sorc with lightning and a sage seer. Now which to choose for the 3rd spec? Madness sounds much better than balance.

Same with troopers and Bounty hunters. Combat medic seems more interesting than bodyguard for a bounty hunter.

I chose gunner over arsenal.

And it goes on and on with other specs/classes.

Lot's has change since I played last. It's nice to get back into it again. Love the fact that leveling is more streamlined where you don't have to do every quest in each hum just to stay even. Now you can just do planetary and class stories to level up. That's nice for me as I hate the grind.

To add to that as you mention just experiment and I find a decent rotation,

...I have a sith sorc with lightning and a sage seer. Now which to choose for the 3rd spec? Madness sounds much better than balance...

You can respec any of them to any spec in a minute. There is no need to worry about which spec fits imp/rep side more.

You can respec any of them to any spec in a minute. There is no need to worry about which spec fits imp/rep side more.

Yeah I know about respec'ing but there is a cost to doing it consistently correct? Or has that changed since I played well over 2-3 years ago? At any rate it'll likely get annoying doing that all the time.

I think it's free for subs if I remember correctly. I respec between dps and healer specs on my operative all the time. Even when playing as preferred it cost like 1500 creds or something like that, a negligible amount of credits in any case.

The only annoying thing is putting the abilities in correct keybound slots every time you respec, but you can get used to it. I would still welcome an option to save the skill placement on hotbars and respec with one button...

There is no "rotation" persay until the highest levels.

I do believe that you are wrong.

I struggled quite a lot, trying out almost everything witrhin the first tenth of levels ... and my damage remained low. I simply did not see the numbers I thought I should be see, according to those who post here abnd ( especially ) in the PvP forums.

From this I deduce 2 things :

1. That I'm a bad player

2. not knowing efficient rotations.

But good players constantly refuse to help inexperienced players constantly by gimping them with saying "there is no real rotation", or "there is no rotation at all" or "rotation doesn't matter" until "higher levels".

This kind of "advice" is especially frustrating considering how HIGH the level of matersghip of this class is. How delicate the right use of the abilities is. Of how many things (especially procs) one must be aware when playing this class. Especially according to PvP players.

Saying "there is no real rotation" proactively hinders newish players from becoming effective, and from really learning "how to do it" - given how HIGH the level of mastership in this class is, this means nothing but them saying "you don't need to learn until level 40-50+". Really ? One does not need to learn a class which is so much demanding ?

I do believe that you are wrong.

 

I struggled quite a lot, trying out almost everything witrhin the first tenth of levels ... and my damage remained low. I simply did not see the numbers I thought I should be see, according to those who post here abnd ( especially ) in the PvP forums.

 

From this I deduce 2 things :

1. That I'm a bad player

2. not knowing efficient rotations.

 

But good players constantly refuse to help inexperienced players constantly by gimping them with saying "there is no real rotation", or "there is no rotation at all" or "rotation doesn't matter" until "higher levels".

 

This kind of "advice" is especially frustrating considering how HIGH the level of matersghip of this class is. How delicate the right use of the abilities is. Of how many things (especially procs) one must be aware when playing this class. Especially according to PvP players.

 

Saying "there is no real rotation" proactively hinders newish players from becoming effective, and from really learning "how to do it" - given how HIGH the level of mastership in this class is, this means nothing but them saying "you don't need to learn until level 40-50+". Really ? One does not need to learn a class which is so much demanding ?

Up until level 40-50 your rotation is based around common sense and reading tooltips. Newbies are hindering themselves by not trying to understand these things on their own, which is a step in becoming a better player.

Up until level 40-50 your rotation is based around common sense and reading tooltips. Newbies are hindering themselves by not trying to understand these things on their own, which is a step in becoming a better player.

Even at max lvl a lot of the specs are way easier to play with a priority system than fixed rotation. For instance anni - it's extremely hard for me to memorize the 24 gcd rotation but relying on some simple priorities i can enjoy it knowing that my dps is not top but it's not complete trash too. It's not optimal but for simpler content it's ok.

I do believe that you are wrong.

 

I struggled quite a lot, trying out almost everything witrhin the first tenth of levels ... and my damage remained low. I simply did not see the numbers I thought I should be see, according to those who post here abnd ( especially ) in the PvP forums.

 

From this I deduce 2 things :

1. That I'm a bad player

2. not knowing efficient rotations.

 

But good players constantly refuse to help inexperienced players constantly by gimping them with saying "there is no real rotation", or "there is no rotation at all" or "rotation doesn't matter" until "higher levels".

 

This kind of "advice" is especially frustrating considering how HIGH the level of matersghip of this class is. How delicate the right use of the abilities is. Of how many things (especially procs) one must be aware when playing this class. Especially according to PvP players.

 

Saying "there is no real rotation" proactively hinders newish players from becoming effective, and from really learning "how to do it" - given how HIGH the level of mastership in this class is, this means nothing but them saying "you don't need to learn until level 40-50+". Really ? One does not need to learn a class which is so much demanding ?

{}- Please excuse the many spelling errors that are about to ensue.

Well, you are certainly entitled to your perspective on the issue, I simply don't share your definition of a "rotation". I gave that advise [ and would do so again] because as far as I am concerned, it is the correct answer to his question.

Additionaly,if you go back to my response, I believe you will find that I stated 'it is better to learn it the right way from the beginning despite there not being a true rotation until later on. My intention was not to hinder 'newish players'. I do not believe my advise [ or rather simply the answer to his question]. Like everyone else, he has no choice but to wait til later before performing the rotation for the spec because until you have all the necessary components that make up the rotation, you simply can't do it. He stated that he looked at the guides and that the rotation listed there isn't something he can do now while leveling. Furthermore, rotations as the term is generally accepted to be in SWTOR are static [there are some exceptions], a rotation is something that repeats itself in a loop, if its changing and not repeating as it had, its no longer a rotation. This is why specs like Annihilation aren't really considered rotation but rather priorities. Its not always the same, you just kinda wing it in those gcds that are considered "filler". Wherein the spec has a definative rotation [more or less] any substantial change will throw the rotation off which will than require you to try to realign it correctly again, but this comes at a dps loss.

Granted you can loop any sequence of attacks you like and simply repeat them, but that doesn't mean its effective. Rotations, as it were. for many specs has a rotation that is generally, the most effective way to use the series of abilities/attacks for the potential best results [higher dps output for example]. You can chose not to use that sequence of course, but in many cases that might prove to be counter-productive.

When people speak of rotations, they are generally referring to an established sequence that has been tried and shown to be the most productive and effective use of said abilities and attacks, and it was by this general definition of the term 'rotation' upon which I responded to the OPs inquiry.

Additionally, I stated that leveling was the time to get to know your abilities and attacks and the most effective way to use them in conjunction with other abilties you may have.

I'll use Carnage as an example as thats what have always used for my main for the last 4 years. I can use ravage, VT, and devistating blast outside of a gore window. I can use assault and smash inside of the gore window and I can repeat this over and over, and make it meet the definition of "a rotation" cuz following the repeating order of these abilities and attacks. I can do this, but I would, by most peoples opinion,not doing the rotation for carnage correctly. It is clearly less effective, and it is clearly gimping your DPS to do it this way. So someone who is using the "standard rotation", is, with absolute certainty going to be putting out more dps than a person who is using assault and smash inside the gore window. Now, if someone comes along and asks, whats the rotation for carnage, most people [who know] are going to tell that person asking, the rotation that sequences Ravage/ Devistating Blast and VT and DB inside the gore windows every other gore window. Sure you can tell them to use the gimped dps one I just made up, but I believe it would be fair to say that the gimped version is not the rotation carnage users consider the correct rotation.

Now either way, whichever one of these rotations one might choose, they cannot use the rotation until they have reached the level where they have access to Gore, VT, and Devistating blast. That being Level 42 for Gore, 48 for VT[i think]and DB at Level 58. - From these abilities alone, it should be clear that until you reach level 48, you simple cannot use or practice the rotation you will be using until you reach these levels.

As another poster pointed out,before you obtain these abilities [or rather abilities of any spec that come much latter in the leveling process and are used in the rotation of said spec]any sequence of abilities/attacks you favored using would be common sense. You know x attack does more damage than Y attack so you priortize the use of x attack over y attack, y being used after you have used x attack. Furthermore, whatever priority sequence you had been using before you obtain all the abilities and attacks of the spec goes out the window. Now that you have all the necessary components to perform the generally accepted most effective rotation [how people figured out the math and the timing that became the standarsized rotations is beyond my understanding], now you can begin to learning/practicing the rotation of the spec. Certainly there may be people who make minor adjustments to the standardized rotations that they have found through trial and error work better for them [i'm one of these people, I don't use the standard Carnage rotation, although it is extremely close and obeys the proper attack usage within gore windows]. Typically, however, these variations came about after having already been using the standardized rotation and than building upon it.

In conclusion, common sense more or less dictates where priorities lie while your leveling. In the example of carnage,whatever attack I had been using prior to using ravage,i ceased to use once I obtained the gore ability, that than becoming what I than always used before Ravage. - In essence, sometimes you have to unlearn what you had learned prior to having access to certain abilities. Even with specs that remain priority use specs into end game[i.e. Annihilation] you would likely see the necessity of changing the order of use of certain attacks/abilities you had used while leveling as you obtain all the abilities the spec offers.

I am of the opinion that there is no rotation well into levels 40-50ish. There is priority use and you cannot practice the rotation you will later use until you have all the necessary components of that rotation. Thusly, I feel it would have been a disservice to respond to the OP [and newish players] in a fashion other than I did. I respect your opinions on the subject, I simply do not share them.

Concentration Sentinel as a whole is more priority than rotation. You'll want to utilize Focused Burst or Force Sweep, depending on the situation - single target or multiple targets, respectively. As you level, you'll gain buffs for those two and you'll end up with several heavy hitting abilities.

Dummy parsing for this specs puts it in lower DPS output, but out of three Sentinel specs, Concentration is the most versatile one. Having several abilities at 10m and two jumps to target makes this Sentinel more robust and able to respond to various pushbacks. Just ask Combat users how it feels when they are pushed or stunned in Precision window, how their "glorious rotation" fells apart like house of cards.

People here will most likely tell you to respec to Combat or Watchman, I'd say give this spec a try, its fun and in my opinion, it feels most like a Jedi Knight, having both saber and Force attacks.

Don't play the game for numbers, play for fun

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