5.0 Class Guides/ SWTOR

SWTOR 5.0 Concentration Sentinel PvP Guide by Merovejec

Ahz 102 Comments Jan 13, 2017

SWTOR 5.0 Concentration Sentinel PvP Guide by Merovejec.

Intro to Sentinel Concentration

Hi, and welcome to one of the best Disciplines for both ranked and unranked PvP for the Jedi Sentinel. Since I started playing SWTOR I have mained a Sentinel and played the Concentration (which was called Focus back then) Discipline. Due to the possibility of hybrid specs in the past using the skill tree system, Concentration was even viable for PvE due to the s0-called “DoT-Smash” spec. However, since then Concentration has suffered mostly nerfs due to over performing in PvP. The first nerf came in the form of Singularity bonus damage only applying to your main target when using Force Sweep and the second nerf came with the introduction of 3.0 which decreased Singularity’s bonus damage from 100% to only 10%. However, to our surprise, this didn’t kill off the Discipline completely. Since then we have received 2 new abilities, which helped the spec to still perform great in PvP. Those abilities were Focused Burst (hard hitting single target ability) and Concentrated Slice (even harder hitting single target ability). Many people, including me, didn’t like the changes, as it was a large nerf compared to how it was before, but later on the Devs blessed us with one of the most important buffs of all: CC immunity after Force Exhaustion, and all these changes made the Discipline the great spec for PvP that it is today!

At the moment it is quite debatable which spec is the real AoE spec for the Sentinel due to the buff of Cyclone Slash in the Combat discipline, combined with the Precision Window. However, as for PvP the Concentration Discipline shines mainly due to the CC immunity and Zealous Leap, which provides an extra Leap with 10m range and completely ignores roots (when rooted, simply use Zealous Leap to get rid of the root by leaping to the closest enemy player).

Rating

• Single Target DPS: 7
• AoE Damage: 9
• Rotation Difficulty: 5
• Burst: 8
• Sub 30% Talent: Yes
• Raid Utility: 8

Gearing

• Accuracy: 0 (see comments below)
• Alacrity: If Critical Chance is above 40% you should go with Alacrity as more Critical Rating would be a waste
• Critical Rating: All of your tertiary stat points should be put into Critical Rating until over 40% Critical Chance
• Power: All secondary stats should be put into Power
• Relics: Serendipitous Assault & Focused Retribution
• Set Bonus: 6 Piece Weaponmaster
• Augments: Overkill Augments (Power)

As Concentration is seen as a Burst spec your main goal is to deliver BIG hits on your opponents. However, the Crit cap is slightly over 40% Critical Chance so if you have too much Crit it’s actually a waste, so if you are over 40% Critical Chance, you can then go with Alacrity. As for Accuracy you don’t need accuracy in PvP. Accuracy is only for PvE where you need it in order not to “miss” your attacks. However, this does happen in PvP also, so don’t be alarmed. Players have different defense ratings and there is a theory of using 1 Accuracy enhancement in order to minimize the chances of missing your attacks. Using an Accuracy Stim is a good option too. Enemy tanks apply debuffs that decrease your accuracy. People still tend to ignore Accuracy completely in order to maximize their Crit and other stats, so this depends on your play style, if you see that you miss too often, especially with your big hits, you might consider changing over to one Accuracy Enhancement. Due to the fact of how well bolster is working right now, the gear difference feels very minimal right now.

Utilities

Choosing your Utilities vastly depends on the type of PvP you will engaging in. There is no universal or fixed set of Utilities (maybe for the Skillful and Legendary tier), it all depends on what you prefer for the particular Warzone or Arena. However, for the Concentration Discipline, there are a few which are not that useful and definitely should not be used, such as Trailblazer for example, which buffs Cyclone Slash, which is not used in the Concentration Discipline. Keep in mind that you cannot change your Utilities or Discipline when queued for or inside a warzone. This means you need to think ahead and set your Utilities before you click the queue button.

Skillful:

• Jedi Enforcer – Increases the damage dealt by Rebuke by 15% and increases its duration by 4 seconds
• Adamant – You generate 4 focus when stunned, immobilized, put to sleep, or knocked around. Additionally, the cooldown of Resolute is reduced by 30 seconds.
• Trailblazer – Cyclone Slash deals 25% more damage
• Debilitation – Blade Barrage immobilizes the target for 3 seconds
• Stoic – Increases your damage reduction by 2%, and you build 2 Centering when attacked. This Centering building effect cannot occur more than once every 1,5 seconds
• Jedi Crusader – While Rebuke is active, it generates 1 focus whenever you are attacked. This effect cannot occur more than once every 2 seconds.

Masterful:

• Incisor – Force Leap, Force Melt, Clashing Blast and Zealous Leap snare the target, reducing its movement speed by 50% for 6 seconds.
• Watchguard – Reduces the cooldown of Pacify by 15 seconds and increases its range by 6 meters. In addition, the cooldown of Force Kick is reduced by 2 seconds, and Rebuke can be used while stunned.
• Force Fade – Increases your movement speed by 15% and the movement speed bonus of Force Camouflage by 20%, Additionally, increases the duration of Force Camouflage by 2 seconds.
• Ardor – Transcendence no longer requires or consumes Centering, but will go on a cooldown for 30 seconds when activated.
• Pulse – Reduces the cooldown of Force Stasis by 15 seconds.
• Defensive Roll – Reduces damage taken from area effects by 30% and increases internal and elemental damage reduction by 3%

Heroic:

• Fleetfooted – When Transcendence is applied or refreshed, it purges movement-imparing effects. Additionally, the movement speed bonus of Transcendence is increased by 30%
• Reining Reach – Increases the range of Leg Slash to 10 meters. Additionally, Leg Slash now consumes 2 less focus and immobilizes the target for 3 seconds. This immobilizing effect cannot be applied to the same target more than once every 10 seconds.
• Contemplation – Reduces the cooldown of Awe by 15 seconds. In addition, you build up to 30 Centering during the course of using Introspection. This effect cannot occur more than once every 30 seconds.
• Expunging Camouflage – Force Camouflage removes all cleansable effects when activated.
• Enduring – Increases the during of Guarded by the Force by 2 seconds and reduces its cooldown by 30 seconds.
• Jedi Promulgator – Each use of Strike, Zealous Strike and Leg Slash reduces the active cooldown of Rebuke by 3 seconds.

Legendary:

• Cut Loose – Blade Blitz can be used while immobilized, purges movement-imparing effects when activated, and deals 50% more damage. Additionally the cooldown of Blade Blitz is reduced by 10 seconds.
• Zealous Ward – Activating Saber Ward grants immunity to stun, sleep, lift and incapacitating effects for 6 seconds, and getting attacked while Saber Ward is active heals you for 3% of your maximum health. This healing effect cannot occur more than once every second.
• Inspired Focus – Inspiration generates 12 focus when activated, and heal you for 1% of your maximum health whenever you activate an ability that consumes focus.
• Zealous Judgment – Dispatch refunds 2 focus when used on a target affected by your Pacify and can be used on any target affected by your Pacify regardless of remaining health. Additionally, activating Pacify grants Zealous Judgment, increasing your Force and Tech resistance by 75% for 6 seconds
• Hidden Advance – While Force Camouflage is active, you gain a charge of Hidden Advance every 0,5 seconds. Each charge of Hidden Advance increases the damage done by your next melee attack by 4%. Stacks up to 12 charges and lasts up to 6 seconds after exiting Force Camouflage.
• Intercessor – Force Leap grants Intercessor, allowing you to activate Force Leap a second time. Intercessor lasts up to 7.5 seconds and is removed when Force Leap is used. If Intercessor is not utilized by the end of its duration Force Leap is placed on a 7,5 second cooldown. Additionally, Force Leap now builds 2 Centering.

As you can see above you have a wide choice of useful Utilities, but we can’t have them all. Choosing the right combination depends on what you are up against, ranked or unranked, what role you want to play in the warzone,  and your preferred play style.

Abilities and Rotation

The first thing you will hear when talking about a rotation in PvP will be that there is no set rotation for PvP, which is true, but Concentration has a certain order in which the abilities should be used to maximize DPS, be useful for the group and not get killed fast. I will go over the necessary Passives and Procs then proceed to a suggested rotation which should be used if possible.

	Momentum	Force Leap or Zealous Leap make your next Blade Storm do 5% more damage
	Nimble Slashes	Strike, Zealous Strike, Slash, Cyclone Slash, Blade Storm, Concentrated Slice and Dispatch all decrease your active cooldown on Focused Burst, Force Sweep and Zealous Leap
	Felling Blow	Force Leap and Zealous Leap make your next Focused Burst or Force Sweep (used in the next 20 seconds) an automatic critical hit
	Heightened Power	Increases all damage dealt by 5% for the next 6 seconds after dealing damage with Focused Burst or Force Sweep (cannot occur more than once every 8 seconds)
	Koan	Zen and Force Exhaustion grant Koan, which increases the damage dealt with the next Focused Burst or Force Sweep by 15% and making them consume no focus.
	Gravity Vortex	CC immunity after using Force Exhaustion for 6 seconds, but cannot occur more than once every 30 seconds
	Concentrated Defense	Dealing damage with Concentrated Slice gives you increased Defense Chance by 10% for 6 seconds
	Burning Slices	Blade Barrage places a DoT on your target which ticks over 9 seconds
	Force Flagellation	Force Sweep and Focused Burst overwhelms targets for 45 seconds. Overwhelmed targets take 10% more damage from area attacks

Based on these Procs and Passives it is quite easy to put together a fixed rotation for the Concentration Discipline, as the main principle is to buff your Focused Burst (in case of attacking single target) or Force Sweep (in case of attacking a group of enemies). You need to buff these with 2 passives, Koan and Felling Blow, which will make them a Critical Hit and do 15% more damage than usual. After this you will have your Heightened Power window where you do increased damage (5%) and should use your remaining hard hitting abilities. To explain what goes on in the rotation I can provide one example:

Zen	Force Leap	Focused Burst	Blade Barrage	Concentrated Slice	Blade Storm
Gives you Koan	Gives you Felling Blow and Momentum	Gives you Heightened Power	Deals Damage and Applies dot	Deals Damage(also gives defense buff)	Deals Damage (buffed)

You may notice that you still have your Heightened Power active after the 3 abilities, that is okay, as you would be continuing the rotation by using Zealous Leap instead of Force Leap as it’s highly probable that you are in close vicinity of your target now. Also you will be using Force Exhaustion now instead of Zen to give you Koan.

Force Exhaustion	Zealous Leap	Focused Burst	Blade Barrage	Concentrated Slice	Blade Storm
Gives you Koan	Gives you Felling Blow and Momentum	Gives you Heightened Power	Deals Damage and Applies dot	Deals Damage(also gives defense buff)	Deals Damage (buffed)

Following this rotation would allow you to use the maximum damage the Discipline has to offer, however, this may not always be possible in PVP. Naturally you also have to build focus using Zealous Strike (which also Beats Down the target so he takes 5% more damage from melee attacks) between the rotations above, but since some of the Utilities and Passives give you free Focus or build up your Zen (which gives you a full Focus bar) you shouldn’t have Focus issues. Slash is also used in between Heightened Power rotations and contributes to the Nimble Slashes passive which makes your next Focused Burst or Force Sweep be available faster. This was also only a Single Target rotation example, in case of AoE damage you would have used Force Sweep instead of Focused Burst and maybe even added Twin Saber Throw if the situation would be ideal for it. Keep in mind that using Focused Burst and Force Sweep Overwhelms your targets making them take 10% more aoe damage for 45 seconds.

Here you can see what this rotation will bring for your Force Sweep for example (considering you overwhelmed the targets already)

1. Have a guaranteed Critical Hit for your next Focused Burst or Force Sweep
2. 5% more damage if done during Heightened Power (although that is not always possible)
3. 15% more damage due to Koan
4. 10% more damage due to Overwhelmed (if applied before)

That makes up a buff of 25-30% including a Critical Hit, which is quite decent especially considering that this is an area effect and damages everyone in its range. Bonuses from the rotation are increased Defense from Concentrated Slice and CC immunity from Force Exhaustion (every 30 seconds only).

A last note, your most damaging ability is Concentrated Slice so it has to be used on cooldown and in the Heightened Power Window and on targets that are Beat Down.

Defensive Cooldowns

What makes Sentinels shine are their great defensive cooldowns. They have quite a few and all are very useful, however, some have to be enhanced using Utilities, which means you have to sacrifice something in order to gain the enhancement, again this depends on what you are going to be up against and how you will want to play.

	Guarded by the Force	Reduces the damage you take by 99% for 4 seconds.
	Saber Ward	Increases melee and ranged defenses by 50% and absorbs 25% of the damage taken from Force and Tech attacks.
	Rebuke	Reduces all damage taken by 20% and deals energy damage to attackers. Lasts 6 seconds but refreshes when attacked but cannot last longer than 30 seconds
	Blade Blitz	Quickly rushes forward striking enemies in its path and increasing your defense chance by 100% while blitzing (can be done if immobilized if utility is chosen)
	Pacify	If the Utility is taken then applying Pacify will cause an increase to your Force and Tech resistance by 75% for 6 seconds
	Force Camouflage	Reduces all damage taken by 50%, immune to controlling effects

As mentioned they can even be enhanced using the Utilities. Saber Ward can heal you, Blade Blitz used while immobilized etc. It’s always only a question of what’s needed in the current PvP setup.

PvP Tactics and Gameplay

As a Sentinel you are a pure DPS class and that is what you are expected to do. As a melee class you should Leap into an enemy group and unleash your AOE attacks or burst, then use your stuns to control the enemy group, your immunities to avoid being controlled and lastly defensive cooldowns to deal as much damage as possible before Force Camoing out of the combat area to heal up.

The process vastly depends on many things, mainly group composition, with a tank and healer in group you are sure to take on the enemy team. With only a tank or a healer you have to be smart about whom to attack and whom to stun and in a pure DPS group you have to rely on focusing down specific enemies in order to kill them before they kill you. There are a lot of aspects to be covered, due to the fact that PvP is unpredictable, but in order to create a general guide I will go through simple tactics for Ranked and Unranked warzones.

Picking Utilities

Skillful

	Jedi Enforcer	Increases the damage dealt by Rebuke by 15% and increases its duration by 4 seconds.	Should always be taken.
	Adamant	You generate 4 focus when stunned, immobilized, put to sleep, or knocked around. Additionally, the cooldown of Resolute is reduced by 30 seconds.	Decreased cooldown on Resolute is good, but only for longer warzones, not ranked.
	Trailblazer	Cyclone Slash deals 25% more damage.	NO, not used by this Discipline.
	Debilitation	Blade Barrage immobilizes the target for 3 seconds.	NO, not necessary anymore as Blade Barrage is instant now.
	Stoic	Increases your damage reduction by 2%, and you build 2 Centering when attacked. This Centering building effect cannot occur more than once every 1,5 seconds.	Centering is important as it gives you Koan and full Focus bar (more DPS).
	Jedi Crusader	While Rebuke is active, it generates 1 focus whenever you are attacked. This effect cannot occur more than once every 2 seconds.	As Concentration you should have more than enough Focus at your disposal.

Here it’s an overall discussion between Adamant and Stoic, since Jedi Enforcer is a must. For unranked you can choose Adamant if you feel like you can make use of the faster CC breaker (Resolute) otherwise with Stoic you have more DPS capabilities.

Masterful

	Incisor	Force Leap, Force Melt, Clashing Blast and Zealous Leap snare the target, reducing its movement speed by 50% for 6 seconds.	NO, not that useful as you are very mobile.
	Watchguard	Reduces the cooldown of Pacify by 15 seconds and increases its range by 6 meters. In addition, the cooldown of force kick is reduced by 2 seconds, and Rebuke can be used while stunned.	Pacify is a great tool, reducing cooldown of Force Kick is awesome for chasing and interrupting healers. Rebuke while stunned is simply fantastic!
	Force Fade	Increases your movement speed by 15% and the movement speed bonus of Force Camouflage by 20%, Additionally, increases the duration of Force Camouflage by 2 seconds.	Very important for ranked and overall for warzones where you must “stealth out” of combat when getting low on HP.
	Ardor	Transcendence no longer requires or consumes Centering, but will go on a cooldown for 30 seconds when activated.	This is a must for PVP, great group utitlity.
	Pulse	Reduces the cooldown of Force Stasis by 15 seconds.	Useful in specific cases.
	Defensive Roll	Reduces damage taken from area effects by 30% and increases internal and elemental damage reduction by 3%	NO. This is a great PVE utility but PVP is mostly about single target damage.

Now we are starting with the hard decisions. If you decide on chasing and bothering healers in ranked then it’s good to take Watchguard and Pulse. However Force Fade is a key utility which should be mostly considered as it allows you to get away from the combat and move away to heal up (when out of combat). This is vital in ranked matches where the Sentinel is mostly targeted as he leaps into the group first, being the obvious target Lastly Ardor should be taken every time into any situation, it is a defensive cooldown for your group and increases the group’s speed which is a huge help in 5.0, where slows are applied with almost every ability.

Heroic

	Fleetfooted	When Transcendence is applied or refreshed, it purges movement-imparing effects. Additionally, the movement speed bonus of Transcendence is increased by 30%	Together with Ardor this is an important tool for you and your team.
	Reining Reach	Increases the range of Leg Slash to 10 meters. Additionally, Leg Slash now consumes 2 less focus and immobilizes the target for 3 seconds.	NO, not useful at all.
	Contemplation	Reduces the cooldown of Awe by 15 seconds. In addition, you build up to 30 Centering during the course of using Introspection. This effect cannot occur more than once every 30 seconds.	NO, not worth the skill point for PVP.
	Expunging Camouflage	Force Camouflage removes all cleansable effects when activated.	NO, good for PVE, bad for PVP.
	Enduring	Increases the during of Guarded by the Force by 2 seconds and reduces its cooldown by 30 seconds.	YES in all cases.
	Jedi Promulgator	Each use of Strike, Zealous Strike and Leg Slash reduces the active cooldown of Rebuke by 3 seconds.	NO, Strike is rarely used and so is Leg Slash, wouldn’t help much.

Here it is very simple. I don’t think I have ever used Leg Slash so that ability can be left out together with its utility. Reducing Awe or Rebuke’s cooldown can be useful, however, there are utilities which are far more rewarding for you and your group.

Legendary

	Cut Loose	Blade Blitz can be used while immobilized, purges movement-impairing effects when activated, and deals 50% more damage. Additionally the cooldown of Blade Blitz is reduced by 10 seconds.	NO, with Fleetfooted and Zealous Leap you have enough root breakers.
	Zealous Ward	Activating Saber Ward grants immunity to stun, sleep, lift and incapacitating effects for 6 seconds, and getting attacked while Saber Ward is active heals you for 3% of your maximum health. This healing effect cannot occur more than once every second.	Very important, one of the few self heals the Sentinels has, together with another CC immunity.
	Inspired Focus	Inspiration generates 12 Focus when activated, and heal you for 1% of your maximum health whenever you activate an ability that consumes focus.	Tricky to use, but the heal is so small that it doesn’t help, 1-3k heals are meaningless if you take 10k-20k hits all the time.
	Zealous Judgment	Dispatch refunds 2 focus when used on a target affected by your Pacify and can be used on any target affected by your Pacify regardless of remaining health. Additionally, activating Pacify grants Zealous Judgment, increasing your Force and Tech resistance by 75% for 6	Very powerful attack and defensive CD, it’s almost another Guarded by the Force.
	Hidden Advance	While Force Camouflage is active, you gain a charge of Hidden Advance every 0,5 seconds. Each charge of Hidden Advance increases the damage done by your next melee attack by 4%. Stacks up to 12 charges and lasts up to 6 seconds after exiting Force Camouflage.	Also very tricky to use and it’s questionable which utility to sacrifice for this one, but if you can only manage one good hit on a target, use this every other Force Camo.
	Intercessor	Force Leap grants Intercessor, allowing you to activate Force Leap a second time. Intercessor lasts up to 7.5 seconds and is removed when Force Leap is used. If Intercessor is not utilized by the end of its duration Force Leap is placed on a 7,5 second cooldown. Additionally, Force Leap now builds 2 Centering.	NO, we have 2 Leaps in Concentration.

The Legendary tier is indeed interesting, but Zealous Ward should be always considered as it is a solid heal combined with a defensive cooldown. The rest depends on your preferred play style and type of PvP (ranked or unranked). Zealous Judgment is definitely to be considered for Ranked, while Hidden Advance could be used in unranked, yet the use is very limited.

My ranked Utilites	Chasing the healer	Unranked

As you can see it’s just swapping around a few points, however, this is my play style. For example, you’ll maybe find yourself in a situation that you are constantly running out of Focus so you might consider Adamant, also if you think that in a 10 minute warzone, Resolve isn’t available that often.

You can play around with the utilities freely, yet keep in mind to have the self-heal and a utility for Rebuke since those are your only adjustable means for survival. Just don’t experiment with things like rooting or slowing since all classes can counter those and it’s a waste of available points.

Unranked Warzones

Alderaan Civil War:

Pretty straight forward, go mid and give em hell! As a DPS with AoE capabilities you should be there where the action is, so either middle cannon or whichever side your team controls and needs help defending. Force Camo is great in this map for you to use the healing points in case you have used your medpac and get low on health.

Guarding the node is not the best idea, but still, you are capable of doing it unless a skilled Operative or Assassin comes along. Ranged classes may also have the advantage in the open areas around the outer cannons, so your best place is mid if possible. So either AoE the groups, or focus hunting the healer in the middle who is keeping the enemy alive.

Voidstar:

Great map for your AoE abilities, since the teams are mostly stacked up around the door to plant the explosives, so again, hurl yourself into the groups of enemies, use Force Camo to go for the healing node on the sides. In case of problems on the other door use Transcendence to help your team transfer faster to it. Blade Blitz also comes in handy to quickly move to the other door in case of trouble. Also try to go for the healer, if the enemies aren’t dying from your AoEs you can run after the healer and stun/interrupt him.

Huttball:

My favorite warzone of them all. You can pick up the Huttball first if you use Transcendence at the start and then Blade Blitz. When you pick up the ball the enemy will be on you already and you have 3 choices, either pass back to a teammate (and die, don’t waste your defensives), activate cooldowns and try to keep ball and run behind the stairs (don’t use the air lifts, they are unpredictable) or lastly you can Force Leap to the farthest enemy (in the direction of the enemy goal line) use Awe (as they might be stacked up) and try to go for the goal line, activating CC immunity and defensive cooldowns along the way. In this map Blade Blitz is great for avoiding stuns on Fire Traps, Transcendence is great to help the team move faster and Inspiration to help kill off the enemy ball carrier. The 2 Leaps you have also come in handy and I mostly run down under the catwalks (not over them where the Fire traps are) with the ball and then wait for enemies that respawn to leap on them. They sometimes push you (Assassins, Sorcs) but then you can leap back using Zealous Leap from mid air to jump to him again. Huttball is about objectives so you don’t have to bother with DPS that much, but this depends on your preference.

Novare Coast:

Another AoE haven for a Concentration Sentinel, most of the fights take place around the bunkers where people are trying to cap. Sometimes I am spamming Slash to get my Force Sweep off cooldown to use it again to interrupt the people capping the bunker. A fun thing to do with a Sentinel is to use the side exit at the start and go try to cap the enemies bunker on the side. As a Concentration Sentinel you have high chances of succeeding at it. So while the enemy team fights a stale mate in the middle your team will have 2 bunkers from the start. Otherwise you should run where you are needed, where the fighting is going on and the groups of enemies are. Transcendence for moving your team. Blade Blitz to move fast, AoE’ing the group and possibly bothering the healer.

Ancient Hypergate:

Similar to the Alderaan scenario your place is mostly in the middle killing the enemy players. The more players you kill the more points your team gets. Transcendence when going to help your Pylon, chase healer and maybe try to cap the pylon from time to time. If there is a soloable class, like a Juggernaut, Marauder, Powertech etc you can even attempt to cap the enemy pylon but that depends on a lot of things and has to be considered as your team will lose points if the enemy team gets it back again (a cap attempt should only be started with 1 minute left on the timer, not sooner). The main concern in this scenario is to control your Pylon and the middle area. Luckily the middle area is small enough for the enemy to stack up for your Force Sweep.

Odessen Proving Grounds:

A great place for an AoE discipline. As you have to be inside the squares for them to give you points you can simply AoE the enemies inside the control points, very easy and good damage. Simply follow the objectives, control the available nodes, help with Transcendence to your allies, gather the bonuses and kill the opposition.

Solo Ranked Warzones

Now we are coming to the more difficult aspect of PVP. Please do not attempt to enter ranked matches if you haven’t had enough experience in unranked warzones. Ranked matches differ greatly from unranked ones. In a ranked match every person and also every second counts. Tactics is important and things like splitting up the group or running to the wrong side at the start may end with your groups defeat. Ranked matches take place exclusively in Arenas (Correlia Square, Orbital Station, Tatooine Canyon, Makeb Mesa, Rishi Cove).

It’s always important to come up with a tactic before the match starts, whom to focus, CC, etc. As a Sentinel you can either help burst down a specific target or bother the healer. Kiting is also necessary sometimes when the group is after you, you can run around to keep them busy as your teammates attack the enemies chasing you. Keep using Transcendence to help move the group or just provide the increase in defense. If useful, apply Inspiration to the group. As ranked is unpredictable it may happen that you agree to kill a specific target but then spot a stealther and attack him to try and kill this lonely person instead of your agreed target, adding a large variable in ranked warzones.

Opening Rotation

At the start you have the benefit of Valorous Call which grants you 30 stacks of Centering, what you can do is make use of this for the initial burst:

+		+			…
After Leap you will have Focus to use Force Exhaustion, you will have CC immunity	FB will be free to use so use it	Then you will have 0 Focus so Valorous Call and Zen for Focus and another Koan	ZL for Felling Blow	Then use the buffed Force Sweep in HP window	…

This rotation gives you a big hit at the start, CC immunity for 6 seconds, and then another a high damage hit for a group of enemies and you continue with your rotation on your main target. Based on what happens next you might consider using Saber Ward for additional CC immunity, or if you are not being attacked, just keep on performing your rotation. I forgot to mention Dispatch in your rotation, use it whenever available and mainly during the Heightened Power window for an extra 5% damage. After that initial Force Sweep your targets will be overwhelmed taking more damage from your area attacks so make sure to take advantage of that!

It’s not a waste to use your cooldown at the start, keep in mind that you have Force Camo, which can get you away from the battle to get out of combat and heal up, assuming its not 4 DPS vs 4 DPS where running from combat gives your team a disadvantage. Keep in mind that even if you blow all your cooldowns it means the enemy is focusing you so as they attack you, your teammates are attacking them, then you can Force Camo away which will force the enemy to swap targets to your teammates that have all their defensive cooldowns available.

As a Sentinel you have one of the best AoE stuns in the game, Awe. It’s a soft 6 second stun for the whole enemy group if in range. With it being a soft stun your enemies will hesitate to use their CC breaker as they can then get stunned right after or will hope for an accidental hit which breaks their CC. It is sometimes a good idea to rush forward if the enemy is grouped at the start, jump in and use Awe right at the start. This will give you a few seconds to engage the agreed target early on. If the players break the CC they have wasted their CC breaker and will be vulnerable to stuns afterwards.

Below you can find a small description of the maps. I will be trying to upload videos for each arena to show how the tactics could look like. As for the video, I play on lowest graphics due to RL issues (when I play on ultra the cooling sound is too loud at night), my rating is also low since…..well I had a bad start, afkers, hackers, etc so it is what it is, but we play to have fun, no?

Orbital Station:

Most of the action will take place in the middle, either on the platforms, or on the ground. Force Leap is your friend in this scenario and so is Zealous Leap in case of roots and an extra jump up to platforms (target enemy at the edge, use normal jump and then Zealous Leap from mid-air). The green areas show you where you can run off to get out of combat and heal up.

Makeb Messa:

The groups mostly engage combat either on/under the bridge or at the side areas. There are a couple of good spots to run off and heal up out of combat here. This map is also great for LOSing, unfortunately so it is for the enemy and a lot of healers know how to LoS here so Transcendence, Zealous Leap, etc.

Correlia Square:

Large map, many places to hide. This map is very bad for melee due to the large open areas. There isn’t much more for LoSing, but kiting is done very often in this map so do your best to stay on your target. Healing up isn’t a problem here, it’s more a problem to deal proper damage if the enemies are mostly ranged.

Comments: We decided to kill the Assassins first due to Mercs being OP currently. Problem is that they are in stealth so we need a target to open on. I waited for our Shadow to sap one Merc and then jumped on the other. We did get him low, but there was no point to continue as he already activated his defensives. As soon as the Assasins popped up we leaped on them. 1^st one we almost killed but he stealthed out. Luckily for us his stealth broke and we finished him off. We moved onto the second Assassin and repeated the process. We also got lucky and he unstealthed so we could finish him off. Once I was the target of the Mercs I started using my defensives. Good thing about GbtF is that they stop attacking you for a while.

In round 2 we again opened on a Merc to draw out the Assassins. Notice my mistake of using Force Stasis on the Assassin while he had Force Shroud on, that probably cost us the victory there. Also notice that while DPSing the Assassins I went to use Awe on Mercs, one broke the CC but the other was stunned. Problem was we let one Assassin use Force Cloak and heal up. Then we should have killed off the Merc but my teammates went again for the healed up Assassin so I joined. The Mercs focused me then so I used what I had on defensives but died soon after. We could have won this round if the Assassins would have died.

In the last round I got a bit carried away with dpsing the Merc but as you could see my team quickly killed off one Assassin so it was not a problem. One thing to note was that in one case I ran away from the Merc to be able to leap, after I leaped I was pushed away and slowed, yet I slowly came to him and used Zealous leap to come to melee range, that was a good example how useful Zealous Leap was.

Tatooine Canyon:

This is a very good map as its small and combat mostly takes place in a very small area. However, you can get isolated quite fast here. Healing up isn’t a problem due to the houses on the sides. Zealous Leap comes in handy if you are pushed off into the middle and the enemy is at the edge dpsing you, you can just leap up to him again without having to run around to stairs or the small hill. The middle area is good for kitting too in case you are under focus from rdps.

Comments: This was a 4vs4 DPS setup so Transcendence at the start and rush the enemy so they don’t have time to setup. We agreed to kill the Guardian first due to him being the squishiest class. The Sentinel comes 2^nd and then the Shadows. In a case like this it’s more important to burst the targets down rather than doing AoE damage. Since I wasn’t using AoE damage I tried using Awe to CC the enemies while grouped but didn’t help much as they interrupted it. I wasn’t the main target of the enemy so I didn’t even get to fully use my cooldowns and since I was the last in round 1 I had most things ready and the leftover Shadow had no chance. Just a slight note in the end I CCed the last Shadow using Awe in order to get a certain hit with my Focused Burst to finish him off, but got only an 8k hit. I wanted to highlight the first seconds of the 2^nd round, as you can see I used Force Camo for the approach, and then I realized the Shadows could be around me so I used Awe and cced both Shadows in stealth. Doing that meant the 2 were stunned and we attacked the Guardian without the support of taunts and stuns from the 2 Shadows, which allowed us to global him, the rest was easy.

General Tips

1. Learn to time your Blade Blitz – it’s a powerful defensive cooldown, but you need to make proper use of it. Some abilities have animations tied to them, which give you time to use BB. You can see the Rockets from A Merc coming at you, being targeted by the Snipers Ambush, you hear and see the Powertechs Detonator on you etc, these are the times where you need to interrupt what you are doing and use BB to avoid damage.
2. Time your Stuns – “Stunlock” is a term which means that you hard stun your enemy 2 times, once and then once again as soon as the first stun wears off giving you 7-8 seconds of pure DPS on the enemy without him having a chance to use medpac, defensive cooldowns etc. You can also consider a stunlock when you stun an enemy, he uses a CC breaker and you stun him hard again, this gives you less time to DPS but still, you made him use his CC breaker and he can be DPSed a while.
3. Force Stasis – We have finally been given a delay on the Force Stasis so it acts like the instant that the Guardian tank had. The problem with Force Stasis is that it’s not a hard stun like the other classes have, while challenging it you can’t DPS your target (but your teammates can). There is a delay where after breaking the channel you have a split second to DPS the target, make use of this. You can either do the full channel if your teammates are hitting the target OR just use it for a split-second to be able to DPS right after using that delay.
4. Mind the range – an issue one has now has a melee class is the range to your targets. There is a lot of running and kitting going on now, which is hell for melee DPS. Overall it’s not that much of a problem due to the fact that only 2 abilities are 4 meter range, BUT one of them is your top hitting one. You need to make sure to be doing your full rotation as much as possible to use Force Exhaustion to slow, Zealous Leap to close in etc. Simply make sure you are in range as a melee dps.
5. Overwhelmed and Beat Down – when focusing a target its necessary to apply both of your debuffs on him, mainly the Beat Down, which comes from your Zealous Strike. Hitting a group with your Force Sweep causes them to take 10% more damage from the next one, so it is very useful to have.
6. Awe and grenades – it is a common practice for PVPers to use stun grenades. They stun enemy players in the area with a soft stun, such as Awe. Sometimes you can manage to stun a group, where most of them break the CC right away and then you can re-CC them using a grenade which they can’t break afterwards.

About the Author

I’m Merovejec a.k.a. Ray/Mero, I started playing the game just before 2.0 hit and mained a Sentinel (played only Focus in PVP) until 3.0 where I swapped to Commando (rDPScause of raiding), later to Vanguard but kept on PvPing on my Sentinel in the Concentration discipline. I also enjoy tanking, started with Guardian but swapped to Shadow/Assasin tank later on. I heal with Sage or Mando (I don’t heal NiMs though). I play both imp and rep toons, based on what friends are doing as all guilds I was in have died. Now I focus on my Assassin, Merc and Sentinel cause of the cursed CXP system. I play on TRE currently where I moved from Progenitor (yes it was a good server back in the old days, not just RP). I have been slowly moving from guild to guild as the raiding guilds were dying off until the present day where it’s just a CXP grind and the game is not fun anymore, I’m also guildless now due to my late night play times. However, people are still around and there are occasional raids, PVP and other events. I am an achievement hunter but started too late so I have a lot to catching up to do.

I would like to thank first of all the Joint Venture guild on Progenitor (now playing WoW) for showing me how to properly play the game, the people from Gizka guild for taking me along to NiM raiding, then the guys from Gizka that kept on playing the game (after the split to TRE) and were always trying to get a guild and raid going even though the situation was grim in the game. Lastly I would like to thank NGE for letting me tag along in their raids.