Is Light a viable SEN for Mission 55?

tiornys posted...

If using Entrench instead of Mediguard forces you to take other defensive measures like buffing Protect or bringing in a healer more often, then you actually need to compare Entrench's offense to the offense lost by having a second character on defense...
...I'm not going to just accept an argument that "Entrench does more damage than Mediguard" unless that argument addresses both of those additional considerations.

Even if my sentinel was just using Elude, I would still place on Protect/shell. its just something I do. regardless of the encounter, if its dangerous enough to need a sentinel, then protect/shell is recommended on at least the sen (if they're fully dedicated) or the whole party (if they won't always be a sen). it shouldn't matter which guard they would be using.

Just as there are offensive and defensive sides to Synergists and Saboteurs, I think there can also be an offensive (and of course defensive) side to Sentinels. The defensive side is there when you really need to handle strong damage. the offensive side is there if all you really need crowd control or just some stoic brawler. again, I will agree that they don't hold the best DPS, but at least they can get in the hits when it would be too dangerous, or impossible, for a COM.

Just as you say that you need to consider the to use Protect, you should think on how long it actually takes for the AI to buff vigilance. Vigilance is usually the last buff the AI will cast (unless an enemy note recommends it). In the fights where you really need vigilance or curse simply because the enemy group just loves to interrupt you, trying to even get them might be impossible because they would constantly stun the Synergist. But a counter-centric sentinel can easily solve this problem. The biggest thing about Vendetta and Entrench is that their keep is 99. Of course the lower 10% reduction doesn't allow you to be as tanky, but then again the many attacks in the game that rely highly on disruption don't deal significant damage. And its way better if a sentinel is taking damage while fighting back than a com getting stunned while trying to attack.

For example Dragonites love to stun-lock and juggle you and the party. Each individual hit isn't that damaging, but they can stall you long enough for something really dangerous to happen, or just stun you to death. Entrench/Vendetta can solve this problem, without being a waste of excessive defense. And then when you're ready, you can bring the Dragonites under control. And your Sen can now pop into a Com and get some payback.

On mission 55, after Neochu died, the overall enemy threat greatly waned. But Picochus still have some punch and are very disruptive. My snow still had to stay in Sen, but the stronger guards weren't needed. The enemy was dropping Snow's health at a slow enough rate that I had plenty of time to use paradigms without a medic before needing to heal him up again. And all the while snow could actually fight back and do some damage.

destrian522 posted...

At least Attack and Ruin are functional when an enemy is staggered. Vendetta is slow and too weak to compensate for that...
...I'll have to check to see if this can help with positioning in a challenge scenario in which the character can't use physical Com or Rav abilities to move.

I still feel I'm not being articulate enough. For staggered enemies you can usually afford to go on the full offense. Com has things like Launch, Smite, scourge, jeopardize, and the ability to do magic damage. Counters have their place, and its not about staggers. My arguments here were simply stressing that they aren't useless...

...not sure what you mean by that. Havok Skytank? but you can't control a sen then, and iirc Fang doesn't have counters yet.
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tiornys posted...

If Snow were using Mediguard/Steelguard instead of Vendetta/Entrench, would he still need healing, or would he be self-sufficient? If he's self-sufficient, then how much damage did you lose from the character you made into a MED, and how does that damage compare to the damage Snow dealt? If he still needs eventual healing, does he need it less often? And assuming he needs it less often, how many fewer rounds of damage are you losing from the healer, and how does that compare to Snow's output?

Damage-wise If a sentinel is completely self-sufficient then I might question the need to use them in the first place. In this situation Picochus would have to hit snow at least 17 times before he would become invincible and "self-sufficient". so even though the other 2 characters may be able to go on the offense, Snow still would take damage and you lose out on the possible damage he would give and would still have to be healed. They were dropping his health faster than 4% over 6 seconds so Mediguard wouldn't make him self-sufficient. and lets not forget the moments that snow is vulnerable when his ATB is charging. He'd still need a medic regardless. So you eventually will have at least 2 members lose out on offense.

But when using counters, you'll only lose out on 1 member on offense (the sentinel has been hitting back the entire time). I wouldn't say healing is that much more frequent and with ATB shift (using it the way I believe it was actually intended) I didn't lose out on much.

disruption-wise, healing is almost not needed regardless of which guard you select, so in this case yes "bonus offense", a mediguard can be thrown in or alternated with vendetta so you could be self-sufficient but counters, like the sentinel role itself usually have a very small window of use.

destrian522 posted...

Did you mean that the Sen will walk away from party members while ATB is recharging, or were you just referring to the fact that a melee countering Sen will have to run up to the enemy to strike?...

...The reason I find no merit in your group fight examples is because if you only need the Sen to crowd control, why are you waiting around 17 seconds in a Sen paradigm for a single weak counterattack?...

...Controlling Dagonites is fairly easy with -ga spells if you can survive the initial attacks (and the Sen helps for that)...

...Sen guards also have 99 keep by the way.

It seems I keep missing some of your posts so let me address some.

If you want to have a ranged character focus on Sen positioning it'd work best if the enemy is ranged and the allied party are melee. but yes my arguments were with melee sen in mind, it matters more if they will always be in SEN. slightly less if the enemy uses alot of aoe disruption (like "Bazooka". there are many more abilities where the player doesn't move (all of sab/sen/med, half of com/rav, most of sen). and since positioning most important with a sen than others,I say it does hold at least some merit.

...not "waiting" on counter attacks. they aren't the core of a strategy. I'm not reliant on counters, but their damage certainly helps...

...(copypasta from earlier post) There are many situations where counters can be used effectively. However, its in these situations where numerous other strategies are also effective. it would only be up to you if you want to try it out, but the strategy doesn't need to be heavily dependent on counters for them you be used to your benefit...

...All of Sen abilitiys have a keep of 99, but along with Quake and specials, Counters are the only offense abilities with a keep of 99. Ruins, Attacks, thundaga.... none of those have a keep of 99.
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