Hey Guys,

 

I'm looking at a Combat Sentinel for my leveling and have decided on a nice 5/31/5 build.

I'm having a bit of challenge figuring out the order in which I should allocate points to those abilities... obviosuly, higher ranked ones require certain points below them but does anyone have a recommendation for the order in which to place points? Should i just go right for the top of combat first or pick up some of the others along the way? If anyone has an exact order they used, that would be appreciated.

 

Thanks!

Edited December 7, 2012 by Nashkell
typos

I would go up the combat tree first, get Ataru form right at level 20, precision slash right at 30, blade rush at 40. Then fill in the rest. That's the way I leveled my combat Sent anyway. Had no issues and the spec was a lot of fun to level up. It may be a bit rough at first (doing pve) until you get your healing companion, but once you get him you'll be on easy street. Just make sure whichever companion you use at first, Kira or T7, is as geared out as you can afford. Don't try and gear them both plus yourself. That will make life a lot easier. Edited December 7, 2012 by Ridickilis

If you are subscriber or don't play much and get less than 10 levels per week(to get free respec, or you might just pay for them), you might want to first take some side points(when you don't have enough to reach important skill) and respec once you reach certain level.

 

While points you put in Focus tree have minimal impact on leveling, those 5 points in Watchman are essential for everything. So any time you can't take important Combat skill, get Focused Slash, then Valor.

Ataru by itself gives you very little. 20% for small extra damage is nice, but you will still get more from those extra Slashes you can use instead of Strikes, since they return focus. And Shii-Cho Zen is awesome for leveling, since it makes it quite hard to run out of focus(with Focused Slash and Valor, that 12 focus you get is converted into 24 stacks of Centering, with Defensive Forms you'll be at 30 before running out of focus). So in my opinion, there is no reason to go for Ataru form if you can't go deeper.

Immaculate Force is important, but since you still have only 20% to proc Ataru and gain autocrit, it's not awesome. But might be worth to spec into and get a feeling of it. Your choice.

Precision Slash is gamechanger by itself. Depending on your target it means 25-35% increase in damage of next 2-3 skills, and it's what dictates your rotation most of the time(but without those points in Watchman this rotation will keep on being a little off).

Swift Blades look nice, but it's 2 focus off skill you use twice or trice in 30 sec, so Focused Slash still takes priority.

Blade Rush makes everything much better, so it's a must once you reach lvl 40.

 

After 40, Focused Slash->Valor->whatever.

^This is all true and much more in depth detail. His comments about those bottom watchman talents are especially true and are important for all three specs.

 

Just to give an opposite prospective of that, if you do focus on just the combat tree at first and get comfortable/good at it, once you get those talents for faster focus and centering, everything becomes just that much easier for you because you have learned to live without them. I liken it to the difference between using a healing companion vs a DPS or tank. Using a healer is much more forgiving where I find you need to pay more attention when using one of the others.

Edited December 7, 2012 by Ridickilis

quick question, why are you taking 5 points in focus? you only need the two for master strike