Just finished a lvl 50 Power tech and now looking to roll a rep. toon. I've played a shadow a long time ago, up to 50 and enjoyed it. Last time I played Sentinel was during the Beta over a year ago. Kinda looking for melee dps, so I'm torn between the two. I know a shadow can tank, as well as put out some mean DPS in inflitration, and that the Sentinel, since patches, nerfs, updates ect. are pretty formidable now since the game launched a year ago. Just need help choosing between the two, love both, but can only make one at a time, and a main for the Republic side.

Sentinel and nerf don't belong in the same sentence.

 

But anyhow, roll a sentinel if you want fast paced, non-stop combat.

 

Roll a shadow if you like to be sneaky and outwit your opponents. Shadows have a ton of hybrid builds too, so a lot more variety I'd have to say.

currently my main is shadow.. some info

 

-big dps but not bigger then sent pve wise... pvp wise i basically neverr lost battle vs marauder (sent) in wz

just because of my cc and stealth...

 

-u can tank and dps

-u can offtank cuz ton of hybrid builds we shadows have..

 

tanking is also really really strong on shadow..

 

basically endgame feels more usefull then marauder...also pvp is alot better since objectives can be stolen easily with our stealth...i tend to steal pylons like crazy even in front of enemies

 

altough i am rolling a sent now as my alt...sent are kinda baddas leaping bastards that pwn ppl

My main is a sawbones, but two of my 50 alts are an Infiltration Shadow and a Watchman Sentinel.

 

For Operations, my vote is for Sentinel without a doubt for the ease of long sustained high dps.

 

Still I have no problem taking my shadow into KP, EV, TfB (sm or hm) or SM EC, HM EC or higher I will grab my Sentinel. Shadow is less geared than my Sentinel, but is still great at burst dps (so TfB was made for her). However, other than the stealth and CC’s, Sentinel is always more useful in any operation.

 

For Dailies and HM FP, Shadow without a doubt. Stealth, CCs and burst dps makes these a breeze. Sentinel is fine in these, but Shadow can skip easier and kill weaks and strongs just as fast. None of the boss fights in any HM FP last long enough for energy management to become an issue. Also with the shadow, in most HM FP I don’t worry about if the tank DC’s, I can just continue the flashpoint or heroic with a companion dps. Light armor, but very easy to survive most encounters with a shadow provided you know your defensive cooldowns and when to use them. I am a sucker for attacking champions while doing dailies, she kills them usually with 100% health thanks to all the interrupts and defensive cooldowns, Sentinel can do the same and faster, shadow just takes a little longer.

 

Leveling: Both are extremely fun to level; both can fairly easily handle anything thrown at them while leveling. With the shadow it was easy to solo most 2+ heroics and even a few 4+ heroics thanks to stealth and CC’s. However, it was easier to group with the Sentinel. Sentinel’s only problem leveling was becoming way overleveled since it was impossible to stealth out of an area after finishing the quest.

 

Story wise is the big difference. Will not go much into it, but the Knight story is the better story, although I did not hate the Consular story the way some did. Of the stories I have seen I would rank them Agent, Knight, Smuggler, Consular and lastly Trooper.

Edited March 6, 2013 by mikebevo

But anyhow, roll a sentinel if you want fast paced, non-stop combat.

 

That's how I play my Shadow tank.

If you want to challenge yourself DPS-wise, roll a shadow. Hitting high numbers on a Sentinal is easy. On my Shadow, who has been all the way to NIM Kephiss, in an actual boss fight, I am never at the bottom of the DPS list, and am usually in the top 2.

If you want a challenge and versatility, roll a shadow dps. If you want to be at all competitive in raids don't use infiltration, (2.0 may change this), use balance. Infil is pretty good in PvP though, where shadows are very useful.