Sentinels vs. Kubrows

[Night4ce]

A question I'm wondering, why do most players hold more for the Sentinels over Kubrows? With the exception of Vacuum and the Helios scanner, Kubrows exceed Sentinels in all other ways. More damage, (I've seen a teammate unload 2 Boltor clips into a heavy gunners face while my puppy is one shotting another) more survivability, (same Kubrow tanked 2 bombard missiles and proceeded to make him into a new chew toy) and some flat out do their job better. (Huras>Shade) the overall cost to maintain a Kubrow is pretty cheap and more so with the incubator upgrade. So why are people still saying the Sentinels are superior?

[Madame_Werewolf]

I guess it's just for practical matters. They can revive by themselves with Primed/Regen and they just don't run around risking to get stuck somewhere. But I agree, their damage is nothing to be scoffed with, if you get Bite they can destroy a lot of enemies in middle/high levels. I guess it's just personal preference.

Personally I find kavats more useful, but I still love to take aroung my doggos. My Raksa is tankier than many Warframes!

[Mvtty]

I personally use sentinelle over kubrow just cause of Vaccum, if Kubrow had something similar, i would use them more often.

[Lance_Lionroar]

Less maintenance.

[Night4ce]

Also.. you go down with a Sentinel.. He's quickly writing a will cause you know he's gonna go down fast. You can tank 3 level 60 bombard missiles? That Sentinel sure wishes he could take the AOE.. You know going into a sortie with a Sentinel is like putting a frosty frothy glass mug of beer on a tank and going into battle.. You know that mug won't be there for long at all so no matter how useful it is alive, pointless when it's dead. Meanwhile Kubrows will likely out survive you and take some heat off of teammates trying to revive you.. They are like a tank where as YOU are the glass mug. lol

[CrimsonLux]

I've tested Kubrows, Kavats and even the infested charger but i prefer my Carrier because of Vacuum and Ammo Case.

I use Soma Prime and i do endless missions and whenever I don't use my Carrier it feels very different because i usually run out of ammo fast or I don't pick up drops because of Vacuum habit. If there was a Vacuum-like feature for Pets i might use them more but for now I'll stick with my Carrier.

Just my view.

But i agree Kubrows are tankier than sentinels and you can revive them and they do more damage.

Edited January 20, 2017 by mako10

[Chewarette]

Well that's a farming game where you mainly go into missions to loot resources. Killing is rarely an issue.

Thus, the efficiency in looting stuff is preferred to a battle efficiency.

I prefer Kavats but I have to say I cannot play without the Vacuum anymore. That's even worse with the Carrier's precept, as I play a lot with Ignis, Amprex or Soma, the extra ammunition is so comfortable

Allow us to have Sentinel kitties or puppies, non-battle pets before maturation, that would have a "Fetch" precept ! 

Edited January 20, 2017 by Chewarette

[Proxy345]

Both have their situational uses. Though a kubrow can sometimes be a better tank than the actual tank warframes in this game lol

[Taddl]

Several Reasons (apart from vaccuum and scan of course):

- The higher damage output of the Kavats/Kubrows barely matters because of their shoddy AI (and the fact that the Warframes have a way higher damage output anyway) 

- The higher survivability practically doesn't matter in high level missions, because a sentinel is going to survive longer, because it stays by your side instead of running into the enemies.

- You don't have to pay any maintenance for the Sentinels (Its cheap with the upgrade, but it is still a cost you have to pay and it may seem like it is not worth it, especially for newer players)

- Sentinels dont get stuck half way through the map and become useless for the rest of the mission

 

I guess you could sum it up as AI, Vaccuum, Maintenance

edit: I have to add that I use my Kavat a lot, though it is mainly because I want to, not because I think that it is better. I still think for pure gameplay purposes the Sentinels have the pets beat in almost all categories.

Edited January 20, 2017 by Taddl

[Night4ce]

12 minutes ago, Chewarette said:

Allow us to have Sentinel kitties or puppies, non-battle pets before maturation, that would have a "Fetch" precept ! 

There is a breed of Kubrow that fetches. It's not as good as Vacuum. (the one ability's that Sentinels do better than Kubrows) but if he can survive longer, overtime he can fetch more than a dead carrier.

[Taddl]

1 minute ago, Night4ce said:

There is a breed of Kubrow that fetches. It's not as good as Vacuum. (the one ability's that Sentinels do better than Kubrows) but if he can survive longer, overtime he can fetch more than a dead carrier.

If you pay attention, a modded out carrier will survive pretty much any mission. Additional to that the Chesa barely fetches anything in the first place (at least in my experience), I think the last time I checked the Chesa would only go collect stuff if there are no enemies nearby, which practically never happens in missions anyway.

[Guest]

My only reason to bring that piece of flying metal is vaccum.

If vaccum doesn't exist there would only be one situation where I bring that flying metal

When I'm using weapons like ignis and amprex which the external ammo mutation is very needed.

Other than that my space dog is doing everything better than those flying metals. 

[Rambit23Z]

Kubrows and Kavats have one HUGE issue.

 

Ai. Seriously, wanted to test my Supra with the 60% crit Adarza gives. Nothing.

 

And of course Vacuum.

And the introduction of Ammo Box/Case means I can remove ammo mutation mods in favor of more fun mods.

[Kronxito]

I use Huras Kubrow because of invisibility

[Dreddeth]

Nothing in the relevant level range short of a Sortie mob can kill a Kubrow on its own, though of course their precepts tend to be very situational.

And Sentinels are dead for most of the mission once you start encountering enemy cheese like Scorches and Bursa, but if you're a caster frame then the AoE that killed your sentinel will have killed you anyway.

So I guess whichever one is best depends on the frame. The tankier or more direct its usage is, the less useful a sentinel is, because there's a point where you're taking hits that still qualify as flesh wounds but end up one-shotting your flying friend, so what utility you have is very short-lived. Conversely, the more likely those scratches are to kill or seriously wound you, the less incentive you have to bring a Kubrow unless it's a Huras, because the pet survival mods scale off of your frame's stats, and at that point you arguably might as well bring some extra utility anyway since you'll be doing everything you can to avoid damage.

Kavats kinda make both fairly irrelevant barring specific examples, though, since Smeetas can do basically everything if you don't mind gambling.

Edited January 20, 2017 by Dreddeth

[Ailissa]

3 hours ago, Night4ce said:

 the overall cost to maintain a Kubrow is pretty cheap and more so with the incubator upgrade. 

You basically answered your own question.

 

There is a cost in keeping kubrows and Kavats even with the upgrade segment. There is no cost or any extra effort on my part required to keep a Sentinel.

 

Pink Parrot Prime will always be there and always follow me regardless. I don't need to do anything else or buy anything else to keep him going. As long as Kubrows/Kavats/Chargers require extra attention I can't always give them ... my sentinel will always be superior. 

 

I do have a puppy that runs around my ship though. That's one thing they are good at.

[(PSN)theframpton5]

I had a ranked up/modded/forma'ed kubrow named Cucumber. He was great, opening lockers, killing enemies, making me invisible and he died while I was at work one day. Uncool man. I know there is someway to heal them and see where their health is but I wasn't paying attention. My own fault. Plus vacuum on Carrier Prime is awesome when you get a resource booster for a daily log in reward.

[Reifnir]

Sentinels all the way. Carrier, mostly.

1) I can keep all my flock of cute levitating buckets at the ready without the need of stuffing most of them into the freezer to keep them from eating my Credit supply or accidentally dying (well, crawling into the freezer, technically, since I did upgrade the incubator). Should the need arise, I can equip any of them, no stasis wait, no nonsense. 

2) Ammo case is really, really good. Currently I use Akstiletto Prime a lot, and I like the idea of NOT slotting ammo mutation. 

3) Vacuum is also much better than anything Kubrows/Kavats can offer. No thanks to fine-combing every nook and cranny for that resource drop that decided to play hide and seek.

4) No maintenance. Despite credits being readily available in large amounts, I don't like the idea of spending them on something that does not have any solid benefits over the 0-upkeep cost Sentinels. 

5) Reliability. I can count on my Sentinel to stick where it belongs and inflict damage/status effects on enemies I am facing, not chase something hell knows where. And if I want them to keep to themselves I can always unscrew the sentinel weapon and bring them for utility only. 

 

For me, Kavats and Kubrows are only good enough to keep them as vanity Orbiter pets. Every time I clicked "Mature for combat" it was followed by "consign" or "stasis" within a day or two. Just not worth it without a drastic overhaul. 

Edited January 20, 2017 by Reifnir

[(PSN)drpunk-yo]

It's kinda Damage (of Pet) v Vacuum (of Sentinel).

My weapons don't exactly lack damage so I don't really need the backup of a pet. My weapons do lack a vacuum so I do like having the backup of a sentinel.

It doesn't take long running round with a pet for me to seriously miss the vacuum. And missing out on something like a pherliac pod blueprint cos of lack of sentinel vacuum can be a real nightmare.

[Soulden]

I don't use pets often, but gotta admit, at low/medium level, for Tenno who still farming  mods/forma/weapons, yeah go for pet.

After you reach a good dmg point with weapon/frame, switch to resource gathering Sentinel.

[(PSN)Dark-TailedFox]

9 hours ago, Taddl said:

Several Reasons (apart from vaccuum and scan of course):

- The higher damage output of the Kavats/Kubrows barely matters because of their shoddy AI (and the fact that the Warframes have a way higher damage output anyway) 

- The higher survivability practically doesn't matter in high level missions, because a sentinel is going to survive longer, because it stays by your side instead of running into the enemies.

- You don't have to pay any maintenance for the Sentinels (Its cheap with the upgrade, but it is still a cost you have to pay and it may seem like it is not worth it, especially for newer players)

- Sentinels dont get stuck half way through the map and become useless for the rest of the mission

 

I guess you could sum it up as AI, Vaccuum, Maintenance

edit: I have to add that I use my Kavat a lot, though it is mainly because I want to, not because I think that it is better. I still think for pure gameplay purposes the Sentinels have the pets beat in almost all categories.

- I'll agree that the AI needs a little work, but for the most part, it's not as bad as people make it out to be (like I've had a clanmate say his kubrows attacked without warning while invisible, yet mine never attack without instigation.) But for damage, let me know how long your sentinel takes to knock out a 100+ HG vs a single "bear hug" from a Maul + Bite Kubrow, even better with a Swipe Kavat clearing virtually all of their armor off in 1-2 hits making it FAR easier on you and everyone else.

- If sentinels survive longer than kubrows/kavats in higher level missions, then why is my Nekros outlasting my Djinn and Dethcube despite picking up everlasting health orbs while my Kubrow lasts for FAR longer even with the lesser armor as a result of the average armor [for companions]?

- That's the thing though, even if they're introduced pretty early in the game, its acknowledged to those who've been here longer that companions aren't exactly fitted for the newbies, but at the same time: higher maintenance = more reward while less maintenance = less reward understandably.

- Sentinels die, expend their Regen, and become useless until you waste a revive. Companions become useless if you let it bleed out through lack of attention or extreme overwhelment.

There's more to a companion than Vacuum, I won't lie that I'll use a sentinel every now and then, but the only one who I'll use it more on is Nekros when I'm farming resources (plus, shadows are fun [still miss my 14-17 strong army...T^T])

[Kuroify]

Why wouldn't you use Kavats is the real question. Those red crits are insane.

[Xaranoth]

Medi-ray. Sanctuary (I know there's a pet variant, but it's unreliable in my experience). Vacuum. Ammo case. Shield charger even. So much utility.

smeeta has its place when I want to go farm argon, but other than that... sentinels offer much better warframe support.

[(XBOX)Dyalar]

• Ammo Case
• Animal Instinct
• Guardian
• Medi-Ray
• Sanctuary
• Shield Charger
• Vacuum
• Sweeper Prime with a Blast/Electric status build, CC's everything that manages to get close to me

Seriously, you're talking about comparing an amazing utility Swiss army knife to something that, at best, might steal a kill or two from me (will most likely get downed in a corner).

 

[Morgana_Arcana]

I got sick of my kavat getting stuck several rooms behind and then dying. I don't know why this plagues me in particular, but for some reason the behavior to teleport to player just lags or doesn't happen at all, and I've had it several missions in a row. It's like having to babysit and revive a bad pug but in every mission.

 

That and what others have mentioned. The damage doesn't matter, as I have well forma'ed weapons with rivens that can take out just about anything, whereas sentinels have unique utility. Guardian (I know shields get a bad rap, but it helps when taking consistent DoTs), medi-ray, VACUUM, and also vacuum. Then there's ammo case which has added a whole new level, as I can make more use of good but ammo inefficient guns (good example, synoid gammacor).

 

I do not use the attack precept, as I find the sentinel survives far longer when it doesn't attack and draw enemy fire to itself.

Edited January 20, 2017 by Demonette