The Fanatical Swordsman

LAST UDPATE: Update 1.2.3

This is a PvP build for the Sentinel. It will mainly focus on the Watchman specialization tree.

Note: This build was created with the Darth Hater Talent Calculator. The link to view this build is here. The associated Marauder build is here.

Class: Sentinel
Primary Focus: Watchman
Secondary Focus: Combat
Purpose: PvP
Goal: This build is about killing healers while simultaneously becoming one (sorta). Your DoTs can heal the party with each tick while in Juyo after popping Zen, and DoTs just generally keep you alive, even when Zen isn’t up. Healer-hurting skills like your interrupt (Force Kick) are on a short cooldown, Force Jump has its minimum range eliminated and its cooldown reduced, and you are able to run farther and faster in Force Camouflage as well.

Don’t make me go all Juyo on you!

All points allocated are the maximum allowed for each ability, unless otherwise noted.

Watchman (33)

Valor (2/2) – Increases the Centering built by skills by 2, and reduces the cooldown of Valorous Call by 30 seconds. The more Centering, the better, as hitting Zen while in Juyo makes your bleeds heal the party. Great all around skill that I recommend regardless of spec, because of the cooldown reduction on Valorous Call, which gives a full 30 stacks of Centering.

Focused Slash (3/3) – Slash, Dispatch, Blade Rush, and Merciless Slash refund 1 focus when used. This is just a great way to keep on fighting when using important skills.

Juyo Mastery (3/3) – Makes your bleeds 3% more likely to crit fully spent. This is especially good with the procs in this tree that are based on bleed crits (like Merciless Zeal below).

Merciless Zeal (2/2) – Critical hits with your bleeds heal you for 2% of your maximum health. Excellent for pressing the attack or soloing Champions.

Searing Saber (2/2) – Increases critical damage of your burns by 30% fully spent. This is excellent in conjunction with Juyo Mastery above.

Overload Saber (1/1) – This skill is how you produce a majority of your burns. It should always be on cooldown. It makes your next three successful melee attacks apply a bleed that lasts for 6 seconds. This bleed can stack up to 3 times and its duration will be refreshed with each stack, or you can apply the 6 second bleed to 3 different targets, etc. This skill is off the global cooldown, so my usual opener is Force Leap, Overload Saber while in the air, then Zealous Strike, then Merciless Slash (coming later down). Overload Saber costs 3 Focus.

Blurred Speed (2/2) – Reduces the cooldown of Force Leap by 3 seconds. I love this talent, as it makes our main gap-closer available more often.

Focused Leap (2/2) – Force Leap has a 100% chance fully spent to produce 1 extra Focus. You’re using it more often, why not make it even better?

Watchguard (2/2) – Reduces the cooldown of Pacify (accuracy debuff) by 15 seconds, which is all fine and good, but the really important thing is it also reduces the cooldown on Force Kick by 2 seconds, which means we get a 4-second interrupt on a 6-second cooldown. That is why this spec is the healer-killer spec.

Repelling Blows (1/1) – Increases direct damage of Cauterize by 30%. This is an important skill that we will constantly have on cooldown, so a direct damage boost to it is always welcome.

Close Quarters (2/2) – Reduces the minimum range of Force Leap by 10 meters (which effectively makes Force Leap have NO minimum range). This is a good talent, and is definitely worth putting 1 point in for 5 meters, but I am still toying with my current setup of 10 meters. I like being able to use Force Leap without worrying about where I am, especially for interrupts. This is the healer-killer build after all.

Force Fade (2/2) – Increases duration of Force Camouflage by 2 seconds and increases the movement speed buff by 20%. I like to use this skill to approach doors in Voidstar, so this is a great talent for me.

Mind Sear (3/3) – Slash has a 33% chance, and Merciless Slash has a 66% chance to finish the cooldown on Cauterize, which is one of our two DoTs. This is a great thing to have proc occasionally.

Burning Focus (2/2) – Burns have a 30% chance to produce 1 Focus on each tick. This just helps us in the massive Focus consumption of Merciless Strike.

Plasma Blades (3/3) – Increases damage done by burn effects by 15%. Seeing as a majority of your DPS comes from burns, this is a good thing to bring to the table.

Merciless Slash (1/1) – This is the hardest hitting attack that we get as a Watchman, and it has the unique feature of having a lower cooldown each time we use it. It applies a buff called Merciless that stacks up to three times that reduces the cooldown of Merciless Slash by 1.5 seconds each time. The cooldowns are, sequentially, 12 seconds, 10.5 seconds, 9 seconds, 7.5 seconds. This adds difficulty to our rotation, as we have to use Merciless Slash at varying degrees of periodicity, but after the third time, you can settle into a “normal rotation.”

Combat (8)

Dual Wield Mastery (3/3) – This is a must-have ability for any Sentinel build in my opinion. It increases damage done by off-hand lightsaber by 36% when fully spent.

Defensive Forms (2/2) – This is another important ability for any build in my opinion, simply because it enhances every stance. It also increases Centering when attacked, which you can count on happening when you are PvPing. Watchmen in Juyo form take 2% less internal and elemental damage because of this talent as well.

Steadfast (0/3) – Increases melee and Force accuracy by 3%. This is not as good as it looks, as it simply means you will hit one more time every thirty-three times you try to hit someone. Great for PvE, but the effects of other talents far outweigh this one’s usefulness in PvP.

Defensive Roll (1/2) – This is a semi-useful ability that decreases the amount of AoE damage you take by 15% when one point is spent, 30% with two points. Getting a flat reduction of all AoE damage by 15% is kind of worth it considering how many skills are AoE that are used to harass people trying to take objectives. This may or may not be in my final build, but it is worth considering.

Stagger (2/2) – Increases duration of Force Leap’s root effect by 1 second. This definitely helps in Huttball in the fire and acid pits.

Last Updated: 5/8/12 for Update 1.2.3

Be sure to check out the Sentinel/Marauder Advanced Class guide!

For past builds, see the following links:

Watchman

Healer-killer Juyo Sentinel

Combat

Mobility Ataru Sentinel

Armor-piercing Ataru PvE Sentinel

Focus

AoE, Force Shii-Cho PvP Sentinel