Helios Sentinel Scanning

[NobleGhost117]

I have just read up on the Helios sentinel and was happy with it's scanning capabilities. However, the more I thought about it, the more I wondered whether it was actually useful, or just a waste of my scans because it scans everything it sees whether I've completed the scans or not.

 

Any help will be appreciated.

[MFCC1989]

Does the Helios actually spend the scanners you bought? I thought you could just have the sentinel and you wouldn't need scanners

[gnat6]

Does the Helios actually spend the scanners you bought? I thought you could just have the sentinel and you wouldn't need scanners

It uses the scanners you buy off the market.

[chimp77]

If your scans on that object/enemy are already full, then no codex scans will be spent.

[Anpu]

I ran around with mine last night. The scanning skill maxed out level wise. When I began I had 100 charges on my scaner that was on my quick bar. At the end of the night I still had 100, I saw him scan stuff when it turned orange several times. But also I think I may have had it maxed. I only did key missions last night for several hours.

[NobleGhost117]

So no scans are spent on over scanning then?

[ToastyHere]

More likely that the scanning was too slow to actually pick anything up. When it successfully scans, there should be a white flash and an affinity pop up. The orange is just it registering that there are things to scan, without actually scanning them

[Darzk]

I've actually found it useful as sorta a enemy sense. Occasionally it'll let me know where a nearby enemy is, through a pillar/door/floor, without having to look away. Useful for that alone. 

[ToastyHere]

I've actually found it useful as sorta a enemy sense. Occasionally it'll let me know where a nearby enemy is, through a pillar/door/floor, without having to look away. Useful for that alone. 

Very useful, especially when with the right equipment, you can just shot straight through walls and floors ^_^

[ZachPrime]

Helios takes about 5 seconds to do a complete scan. The object/enemy turns orange first, then blue when the scan is complete. Additionally, you get some mastery points for completing a scan that will pop up above the enemy/object for a split second. So look for that as notice of a completed scan.

 

The scanner DOES use the codex scanners you have bought, but only on completed (turned-blue) scans. There is some debate on whether it still consumes a scan if you already have that item/enemy fully scanned in the codex, but the most recent consensus is that it ALWAYS consumes upon a complete scan.

 

Helios is pretty cool, but I hope they patch it so it selectively chooses what to scan (only what you haven't maxed out already -- I have dozens of scans of containers and panels) and also to decrease that 5 second scan time. As you noted, it's not consuming any scans -- they only turn orange. That's because either you, another player, or even Helios itself killed the enemy before the 5 seconds was up.

Edited March 24, 2014 by zjatherton