SWTOR Sentinel Watchmen PvE Support Guide

SWTOR Sentinel Watchmen PvE Support Guide by Wobb

Proposed Spec

Our Tools

Our DPS Abilities
Dispatch
Our “execute” ability. It replaces Slash when our target is sub 20%

Force Leap
Offers unsurpassed mobility, allowing us to close gaps quickly. Focus generation is cool to

Strike
Our filler spell, essentially our auto attack

Cauterize
A key DoT ability that should be used as often as possible (w/o overwriting the preexisting DoT obviously)

Zealous Strike
Our key focus generating ability, if it is not on cd, you are doing it wrong.

Overload Sabre
Contributes a large part of our dps, especially if it is paired with zen.

Slash
Used to proc our cauterize cd reduction, other then that, pretty useless.

Mericless Slash
Our most “bursty” spell. It extensive cost make it unspammable, though its proc encourages makes it extremely good for burst damage.

Survival CD’s

Saber Ward
The base survival cd, healers will like you if you use it intelligently

Valorous Call
Centering is the base of our raid utility, this just makes the buff available more often

Guarded by The Force
Use it if you know you are going to take 6k+ damage in the next 5s, otherwise ignore it.

Force Camouflage
The best survival cd in the game, it effectively makes you immune to damage for 4s on a 45s cd. It does however have the negative effect of not being able to dps while its active. Get targeted for a boss ability? Pop this and the healers will love you.

Buffs

Juyo Form
Not only does it boost our damage by 10% after 7.5s, it adds 15% crit chance and 30% crit bonus to our DoT effects. If you are using another form, you are doing it wrong.

Proposed Rotation

First of all we are going to look @ our Focus Generating Abilities.

The first is Zealous Strike. It generates a whopping 6 focus on a 15 second cooldown. It will be our go to spell when it comes to force generation, and will quite simply be out highest priority ability at all times.

Next is Force Leap. It generates 3 focus on a 12s cd, its force generation is sub par. It has the added advantage of being usable as a gap closer, getting us back into melee faster.

Finally we have Strike. It generates 2 focus on no cd, our base filler ability and should be used when we don’t have the ability to do anything else.

Now, our Focus Spending Abilities

Cauterize, costing 2 Focus, It has upfront damage as well as a 6s DoT that not only has an increased chance to crit and increased crit damage, it has a chance to generate focus on its DoT ticks, we should be using it as often as possible.

Overload Sabre, costing 3 focus, it gives our melee abilities a DoT portion that can stack up to 3 times. It also benefits from the same talents as cauterize making it an important part of our dps.

Slash, costing 2 Focus, it is a direct damage melee attack that has a chance 33% chance to finish the cd on our cauterize.

Merciless Slash, Costing 4 focus, having a base cd of 12s, that can be reduced to 7.5s. It comes with a 22% chance to finish the cd on out cauterize. Extracted data from here, leads me to believe it will do 4.5 times the damage of a slash, for twice the focus cost.

Dispatch, costing 2 focus on no cd, it does equivocal damage to merciless slash, though it suffers from the fact that can’t finish the cd on cauterize. It will replace slash sub 20%.

What results is the following priority list.

Zealous Strike (If 6 or less force)
Cauterize
Overload Sabre
Force Leap
Merciless Slash (if cauterize isn’t ticking)
Slash (if cauterize isn’t ticking)
Strike (if 10 or less focus)
Merciless Slash
Slash

In summary, we always want to make sure we have enough focus to use cauterize and overload sabre when it comes of cd (whether that is by proc or by its cd actually finishing). At the same time we want to maximize our dps by getting as many Merciless Slashes and Slashes off as possible. To do this we must maximize our focus income through use of our zealous strike and force leaps. Strike will be our go to filler when we don’t have enough focus to safely merciless slash/slash away.

Centering
This is a mechanic that really sets our class apart from the rest. It effectively works as a CD that we must use depending on what the raid needs the most.

The simplest of our choices is Zen. Not only does it bump up our dps (especially if used in conjunction with 3 stacks of overcharged sabre), it gives our raid an influx of 6% of there health, easing the pressure on our healers.

Next we have Transcendence. It not only gives our raid a 50% movement buff, it adds 10% to there melee and ranged defenses for 10s. This gives our raid a pretty big movement cd, it gives us another ability to help our healers in tight situations

Finally we have Inspiration. This is why we will be the highest demand class in Swtor. This skill can mean the difference between a 3% wipe and an easy kill. Its 4m45s cd is pretty substantial, and it should only be used @ planned times (so other classes can line up there cd’s). Interestingly there is no debuff associated from benefiting from this meaning more watchmen= more of this buff.