Sentinels

[brokensaintvxvx]

So I'll be the first to admit that sentinels have never held my attention for very long.  I haven't really ever found the value proposition in using a sentinel.  I'm currently utilizing a helminth charger, and the frequency to which I use a stabilizer or need to pet her is.. probably once a week? She consistently strikes for 3-5k damage often through crowds of enemies dealing toxin procs and crits for 8k, and ragdolling them.  She heals me when she hits enemies and I heal her when I hit enemies.  The frequency to which I revive my  charger is lower than the frequency to which I revive other players and other players kubrow and kavat.

 

Can someone point me towards the reason for using sentinels? I think the little dragony one is kinda adorable, but, I dunno.  Help?

[Koldraxon-732]

Sentinels have, currently, exclusive access to Vacuum. Vacuum does what it says on the tin; it collects loot in a wide radius and saves you having to stall the mission to pick up that one rare resource drop. The Sentinels I've used have reasons for staying in that position, listed as follows: Helios Prime (free scans, can kill enemies if it's deconstructor is modded for condition overload), Carrier Prime (ammo mutation, boxes are blasted open automatically), Wyrm Prime (currently cosmetic, may find a reason soon^tm), and Djinn* (due to Reawakening precept-augment plus Primed Regen, there's no need to arm it, there's no need to buff it's hp/shields/armour, and there's plenty of room for convenience mods like Medi-ray (healing beam), Guardian (shield refresh), Sacrifice (resurrects you), Vacuum (already explained), Animal Instinct (can also be used on companions), and whatever other mods deemed necessary). *Unfortunately, I sold this Sentinel before the augment came out. Since I am not that bothered, my agenda is to wait for it's Prime counterpart before I rebuild it.

In my opinion, other companions have numerous flaws (pemadeath, having to be revived all the time, getting stuck in geometry/left behind due to tileset design, being unable to collect resources or use Vacuum (common reason why people even refuse to run Kavat when they have Sentinel), and usually dealing less damage than Sentinels without the Plains mods) which make Sentinels preferrable, and vice-versa. While I do have a Helminth Charger and I believe a Kavat, I'm still stuck on getting two more Kubrow types for Mastery Fodder as well as Archwing and Syndicate armaments, besides Mesa, then Nyx and Mag Primes.

Diriga, Dethcube, and for the most part, Shade are rather frail based on what time I've had with them, even moreso than the ones I currently have. Companions could do with a rework, not a mere revisit, to find a solution. The easiest of which is to allow Sentinels and companions to be equipped simultaneously at the cost of the Sentinel being unarmed.

[BiancaRoughfin]

I have been using for months now the Djinn, not only because of the Vacuum to help collect items for me but also because of the Fatal Attraction mod that pacifies and makes enemies walk towards me slowly which is great when dealing with crowds or in high level missions. As weapon i use the Sweeper Prime on mine which deals almost 2K damage per shot and my sentinel often Snipes enemies in non-sorties missions.

Survivability isnt much of an issue for me, enemies often prefer shooting me instead of my Sentinel unless im behind cover and i main Zephyr so my Sentinel is always protected with Turbulence. Now Djinn has the Reawaken mod that makes it come back to live 90 sec after killed so should any Bombard/Napalm manage to kill it, it should be back soon.

[(PSN)NachoZissou]

I use Dethcube with sweeper prime and I certainly find it useful, it fully replaces my shield when it drops to zero and keeps my health topped up with medi-ray. Sweeper gives almost 80% status (with multishot) so enemies are either getting corrosive procs or knocked on their ass. 

Add to that vacuum which isn't necessary but is certainly very welcome and the lack of need for either maintenance or worrying about them in battle and it's a nice package.