The Sentinel was my favorite class in Mass Effect 2 (ME2). Combining both Tech & Biotic powers, the sentinel was a blast to play, add to the excellent tech armor, when overloaded, automatically detonated & damaged all enemies in a certain vicinity. I loved the Sentinel, period. But much has changed in ME3. Tech armor does not detonate automatically and the blast damage is much less than it was before. While it means you can still detonate the armor whenever you need, such as in close combat situations, but the reduced blast damage is much less effective, especially in higher difficulties. But wait, the armor still does a damn good job at keeping you alive. If you spec it right, you will still be kicking & screaming as a sentinel. Plus, you have both overload & warp to deal with any kind of enemy. In this guide, I will break down & discuss all the available powers of the Sentinel as well as the best gears & bonus powers.
Tech Armor:
The class specific skill for Sentinels. In this tree, the 4th choice is between 30% armor detonation damage & width and a meager 5% damage reduction. If you are playing on less than hardcore difficulty, you can go for the increased blast damage. However for insanity, the blast damage is useless & I would recommend you go for the damage reduction. Survivability is total priority for sentinel in insanity. For the 5th choice the increase power damage is a must. Don't even think about meele-ing the game with a sentinel in higher difficulty. This is one of the upsides of tech armor in ME3. As long as your armor is up, you get 20% increased power damage. It makes using the armor for defensive purposes much more effective than blasting it. As for the 6th choice, it may seem the choice to reduce power speed by 30% is useful given turning the tech armor on slows down power use by a significant 80%. But for higher difficulties, I would recommend going for the 10% damage reduction for that much extra survivability. The cooldown can be easily reduced by various gears (I will get into it later). In this way, you'll be getting a total of 40% damage reduction which is quite useful in hardcore or insanity.
Throw:-
This skill is so much useful for it's ability to set off biotic combos. Make Liara create a Singularity & just follow it with a throw to create a biotic detonation that will deal MASSIVE damage to all enemies in vicinity. In this tree, go for (4) Increased force, (5) increased detonation damage & (6) Recharge speed. This way, you'll be creating biotic combos left & right. The reduced recharge time also means you can spam throw every couple of second.
Warp:-
In this tree, go for max damage and don't look back. You'll need the highest Warp damage you can get for higher difficulties.
Overload:-
Go for single target-max damage all the way. The ability to damage 2 enemies is better left for squad mates. Rarely will you find 2 Centurians or Marauders in close proximity. Power up this ability for Max damage to barriers & shields.
Offensive mastery:-
Go for (4) Increased damage & force, (5) Increased weight capacity & (6) Power damage (Obviously). Remember, you need the weight capacity bonus in this tree to minimize cooldown as much as you can. As a sentinel, you need to use powers as much & as frequently as you can.
Fitness:-
Increase your health & shields as much as you can to boost your survivability further.
Bonus Power:-
I would recommend either Warp ammo or Defense Matrix (for higher difficulties). For Defense Matrix, go for maximize damage reduction like tech armor. The purging armor by default is enough to keep you alive in case your armor is down. By increasing damage protection in this tree, you can get a total 30% reduction. Coupled with the 40% damage reduction from tech armor & you are looking at a whooping 70% damage reduction. This will make you pretty much un-killable if you play it right. In my opinion, defense matrix is the best defensive skill in the game, much better than fortification. My point for increasing damage reduction is that the 20% power damage I mentioned earlier by keeping your armor on. As long as you keep that going with Liara or Javik on your side, you will be unstoppable. For lower difficulty, you can go for armor restoration as you like. For insanity, I would suggest increasing armor strength.
Gears:-
Remember that 80% slowdown of power usage from tech armor? Now is the time to bring that figure down. For this, I would recommend gears that increase your recharge speed. You should get the Inferno armor as soon as you can in the game. This will give you 30% power damage & 30% recharge speed. Later I suggest getting the Rosenkov armor set with the Archon visor. This set will take care of the increased cooldown from Tech armor & Defense matrix.
There's one more thing, your weapon selection. In ME3, you can get a total 200% recharge speed if you select your weapons right. For a Sentinel, I recommend carrying only an assault rifle or the most powerful heavy pistol you can find. For Assault rifle, I recommend the Mattock. Sentinels are much better in casting than tanking in this game. So make sure you get that 200% cooldown.
Squadmates:-
You should always take either Liara or Javik in your team. Liara for her Singularity combo & Javik for his Dark Channel combo. For the remaining member it's your call. As you can take down enemy shields & armor on your own easily. Garrus, James, EDI& even Tali will get the job done.
A tip for dealing with the shield carrying Guardians: Just throw Liara's Singularity & watch them float while you can easily take them out by using throw or Warp.
I hope you find this guide helpful. If you have any suggestions, shoot away at the comments section.
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