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Last Updated: 12/29/20
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Overview
Overview
About the Class
About the Class
Concentration is a burst DPS class. Historically it has generally been relegated to a PVP-only discipline, with Watchman taking top overall sustained DPS and Combat top burst DPS in PVE content. Recently, Concentration has been among the strongest DPS in the game, benefiting from exceptional burst and sustained DPS while maintaining all the Sentinel defensive and utility abilities. The discipline revolves around using Focused Burst, Concentrated Slice, and Zealous Leap as often as possible. It also requires careful management of Centering / Fury to enable rotational use of Zen. Overall, Concentration is definitely the most difficult Sentinel discipline to play well, as mistakes in the rotation can quickly lead to it breaking down, as compared to Watchman which does nearly as good sustained DPS and is much more forgiving.
Utility and Mobility
Utility and Mobility
Sentinels bring a lot to the table in these areas. The Sentinel offers Inspiration as arguably the best group buff increasing damage and healing by 10% for 10 seconds. For mobility, the Sentinel can use Transcendence to increase team movement speed by 40% (can be buffed higher with a Utility) for 10 seconds. In addition, Sentinels can use Force Camouflage as a semi-stealth ability. Sentinels can also use Force Leap and Blade Blitz to quickly move around. Sentinels can also use a utility to make Force Camouflage a self-cleanse.
Survivability
Survivability
Sentinels gain benefits to direct and AoE damage reduction through skills and Utilities, wear medium armor, and have several strong defensive cool-downs (Saber Ward, Force Camouflage, Guarded by the Force). Skilled players can also use Blade Blitz to cheese various mechanics. On any fights where Guardian can not use saber reflect repeatedly, Sentinels comfortably take second place amongst all melee DPS for the strength of their defensive abilities (second to Shadows with many regular defensives).
6.0 Impact on Discipline
6.0 Impact on Discipline
Concentration was one of the strongest DPS disciplines in 5.X due to great burst damage and very strong sustained damage that is competitive with Watchman. The discipline also performed very well in PVP due to its burst and use of Zealous Leap as a second leap that ignores certain movement debuffs.
In 6.0 the discipline received a healthy buff via a great set bonus in Descent of the Fearless and a nice buff to its sustained damage via the Cauterized Coronary tactical item. Combined, the two provide Concentration with nearly full uptime of a 10% damage buff, consistent 25% damage buffs to its heaviest hitting ability in Focused Burst, and an additional DoT that should have full uptime on most fights.
Early in 6.0, the verdict is that Concentration will retain its reputation for having exceptional burst damage and strong sustained damage. It lost a little ground to Watchman in sustained damage due to the Spiteful Saber tactical being more powerful for that discipline than Cauterized Coronary, but should still be a very strong option for all fights.
Role in Operations
Role in Operations
Concentration is a very flexible discipline since it does great burst and sustained DPS. As such, I would recommend using Concentration to fill any role that does not have an ideal fit in the operation team’s group composition (e.g., if all other disciplines are DoT-based, Concentration can handle more target swapping assignments).
Utilities
Utilities
I usually take some combination of the following Utilities, though the optimal combination can change from fight to fight. As of 6.0, the tiers have been reorganized.
Skillfull Tier
Skillfull Tier
You must take 3 to advanced to Masterful.
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.
Stoic should always be taken as it provides a permanent damage reduction and increased Centering generation, which leads to more frequent Zen use. Always take.
Jedi Enforcer – Increases the damage dealt by Rebuke by 15% and increases its duration by 4 seconds.
This utility provides a sizable buff to Rebuke damage and should be taken in any fights where it is useful.
Jedi Crusader – While Rebuke is active, it generates 1 Focus whenever you are attacked. This effect cannot occur more than once every 2 seconds.
A useful utility on fights where Rebuke will trigger frequently to further buff Focus generation.
Adamant - You generate 4 Focus when stunned, immobilized, put to sleep, or knocked around. Also, the cooldown of Resolute is reduced by 30 seconds.
Situational utility for fights with lots of physics effects (e.g., Underlurker) can lead to effectively unlimited Focus. Only take in those situations.
Trailblazer - Cyclone Slash deals 25% more damage.
Usually not taken due to better benefits from other Skillful utilities. However, any situations with sustained AoE (e.g., Hive Queen Veteran Mode) could greatly benefit from this utility due to Cyclone Slash replacing Slash in the rotation and being used twice every 12 GCDs.
Defensive Roll – Reduces damage taken from area effects by 30% and increases internal and elemental damage reduction by 3%.
Another great mitigation utility that should always be taken. AoE damage is present in nearly every fight and I/E damage is unable to be mitigated except through utilities like these.
Masterful Tier
Masterful Tier
You must take 6 between Heroic and Masterful.
Ardor – Transcendence no longer requires or consumes Centering, but will go on cooldown for 30 seconds when activated.
This should always be taken for any fights where movement is relevant or where the 10% defense buff is helpful. Having to use Centering stacks to trigger Transcendence is a notable DPS loss by being unable to use Zen instead. I pretty much always take this utility, though in some circumstances I might trade for a Skillful utility.
Expunging Camouflage - Force Camouflage removes all cleanseable effects when activated.
This utility provides Sentinels a relatively short cooldown (45s) self-cleanse and should be taken for any fights with heavy hitting DoTs (e.g., Dread Council fight to self-cleanse Death Mark).
Jedi Promulgator - Each use of Strike, Zealous Strike, and Leg Slash reduces the active cooldown of Rebuke by 3 seconds.
Another utility that buffs Rebuke, this utility significantly reduces the cooldown of Rebuke. In fights where Sentinels take damage that procs Rebuke, this utility can significantly increase DPS.
Enduring - Increases the duration of Guarded by the Force by 2 seconds and reduces its cooldown by 30 seconds.
The default duration for Guarded by the Force is 4 seconds, so this utility provides a 50% increase in duration. For any fights where those extra 2 seconds are meaningful for non-instant short duration high damage mechanics, it should be taken. However, most high damage mechanics are nearly instant, in which case the default 4 seconds is plenty. An example of a useful situation is in Master & Blaster encounter in Ravagers operation, if helping take stacks of Ion Cutter from Master the extra duration could be useful. Given the long cooldown I rarely take this utility.
Heroic Tier
Heroic Tier
A maximum of 3 utilities
Fleetfooted - When Transcendence is applied or refreshed, it purges movement-impairing effects. Also, the movement speed bonus of Transcendence is increased by 30%.
This utility synergizes with Ardor to make Transcendence a very powerful movement utility. It isn’t beneficial on every fight and can be swapped for other utilities when not useful.
Contemplation - Reduces the cooldown of Awe by 15 seconds. Also, you build up to 30 Centering over the course of using Introspection. This effect cannot occur more than once every 30 seconds.
Contemplation is frequently taken for QoL purposes despite having no benefit after a fight starts. The optimal setup is to take it, use energy regen to get 30 stacks of Centering, then respec utilities to take another choice.
Intercessor - Force Leap grants Intercessor, allowing you to activate Force Leap a second time. Intercessor lasts up to 7.5 seconds and is removed if Force Leap is reused. If Intercessor is not utilized by the end of its duration, Force Leap is placed on a 7.5 second cooldown. Also, Force Leap now builds 2 Centering.
This utility is very situational utility for fights with lots of movement between adds (e.g., Draxus fight in Dread Fortress). Otherwise should not be taken.
Cut Loose - Blade Blitz can be used while immobilized, purges movement-impairing effects when activated, and deal 50% more damage. Also, the cooldown of Blade Blitz is reduced by 10 seconds.
This utility is highly situational where roots are common and Blade Blitz can be used. Blade Blitz also has great potential to cheese high damage mechanics, so a lower cooldown could be helpful. Again, highly situational.
Zealous Judgment - Dispatch refunds 2 Focus when used on any targeted affected by your Pacify, regardless of remaining health. Also, activating Pacify grants Zealous Judgment, reducing the damage you take from Force and Tech attacks by 75% for 6 seconds.
I do not usually take this utility but it has some potential as a defensive cooldown in any instances where it can trigger.
Inspired Focus - Inspiration generates 12 Focus when activated, and you heal for 1% of your maximum health whenever you activate an ability that consumes Focus.
It can be very useful for early energy generation if you can hit your raid buff on pull. If so, you can skip your leap and Zealous Strike and move more quickly into damaging abilities.
Example Utility Build
Example Utility Build
Here is what I run for most encounters, though I frequently take other situational utilities for specific fights.
Key Passives
Key Passives
Swelling Winds - Increases the damage dealt by Force Sweep by 40% and reduces the cooldown of Force Sweep and Focused Burst by 3 seconds each.
This passive ability is notable because it buffs Force Sweep’s damage to provide a very powerful AoE ability. Given that all other passives below affecting Focused Burst similarly impact Force Sweep, this makes the two interchangeable depending on single target (use Focused Burst) or AoE (use Force Sweep).
Momentum - Reduces the cooldown of Zealous Leap by 3 seconds and causes Force Leap and Zealous Leap to make your next Blade Storm deal 5% more damage and generate 1 Focus, rather than consume Focus.
Focus management is a key element of the Concentration rotation (along with managing Centering, they are the dual resources for Concentration to perform well). Blade Storm’s cooldown of 12s pre-alacrity means that it can be used every other 6 GCD rotation block. Due to Zealous Leap being used every 9s / 6 GCDs, Blade Storm should always have this buff. As such, it is critical to use it regularly in the rotation as it does very high damage and is net positive to Focus.
Nimble Slashes - Strike, Zealous Strike, Slash, Cyclone Slash, Blade Storm, Dispatch, and Concentrated Slice reduce the active cooldown of Force Sweep, Focused Burst, and Zealous Leap by 1 second.
This passive is very important when building a rotation. Focused Burst and Zealous Leap need to be utilized on the same cooldown as Concentrated Slice. However, the default cooldowns for both are longer than Concentrated Slice. As such, the rotation MUST ensure the specified abilities are utilized sufficiently within each 6 GCD rotation to get their cooldown to 6 GCDs.
Felling Blow - Force Leap and Zealous Leap make your next Force Sweep or Focused Burst used within 20 seconds an automatic critical hit.
This passive reinforces the need to use Zealous Leap on the same cooldown as Focused Burst, as it ensures Focused Burst (or Force Sweep in AoE situations) will always be a guaranteed critical hit.
Heightened Power - Increases all damage dealt by 5% for 6 seconds after dealing damage with Force Sweep or Focused Burst. This effect cannot occur more than once every 8 seconds.
This passive reinforces the need to use Focused Burst as often as possible due to the 5% damage buff. Use of adrenals should always make sure to capture this burst window and endeavor to use as many higher damage abilities within it as possible.
Koan - Zen and Force Exhaustion grant Koan, increasing the damage dealt by your next Force Sweep or Focused Burst by 15% and making your next Force Sweep or Focused Burst consume no Focus.
This passive is probably the biggest key to the rotation and its complexity/difficulty. See below for further discussion as to how Koan impacts the rotation, but the very short summary is that it makes effective Centering generation extremely important as well as alternating use of Zen and Force Exhaustion such that Focused Burst is always buffed and never costs Focus. Failing to do so dramatically weakens the rotation due to the decrease in rotational Focus for filler abilities.
Force Flagellation - Slash and Cyclone Slash deal additional Force energy damage. Also, damage dealt by Force Sweep and Focused Burst overwhelms targets for 45 seconds. Overwhelmed targets take 10% more damage from AoE attacks.
This passive buffs Slash and Cyclone Slash, which in Concentration should be used once every 6 GCDs due to (1) lowering the cooldown on Zealous Leap and Focused Burst per the Nimble Slashes passive; and (2) generating 4 Centering per use to ensure Zen can be used on time. The Overwhelmed debuff is not super useful in single target encounters (though some other disciplines will benefit from it, like Balance Sage and Serenity Shadow) but shines in AoE situations where Force Sweep and Cyclone Slash replace Focused Burst and Slash, respectively.
Centered Focus - Concentrated Slice grants Centered Focus, increasing the critical damage bonus for your next Force Sweep or Focused Burst by 15%.
This passive further emphasizes the need to use Concentrated Slice, Focused Burst and Zealous Leap on cooldown to their synergies and buffs to each other. Since Focused Burst should always be a guaranteed critical hit (due to Zealous Leap via the Felling Blow passive) and should always get +15% damage and not cost Focus (via the Koan passive), when used on cooldown and benefiting from this passive, Focused Burst becomes immensely powerful via a 100% critical chance, +30% damage, and not costing Focus!
Burning Slices - Damage dealt by Blade Barrage stacks a burning effect on the target that builds up to 3 charges and deals elemental damage over 9 seconds.
This passive noticeably buffs Blade Barrage to make it part of the core rotation despite it being the only rotational ability other than Zealous Strike (needed for its Focus generation) to be used that does NOT generate Centering or contribute to reducing the cooldowns of Zealous Leap and Focused Burst.
Centering - Activating an attack that spends focus and defeating opponents builds Centering. When 30 stacks of Centering are built, you become Centered, enabling the use of Zen, Transcendence and Inspiration.
Centering is the unique Sentinel resource that powers Zen and Inspiration. The Ardor utility should always be taken whenever Transcendence is needed to ensure it does not consume Centering.
Focused Slash- Slash, Cyclone Slash, Dispatch, Blade Rush, Merciless Slash, and Concentrated Slice refund 1 Focus when used. Also, Zealous Strike beats down its target for 45 seconds. Beat Down targets take 5% more damage from melee attacks.
This passive causes a disconnect between the Focus required to activate the ability versus the Focus consumed by the ability. For example, Slash requires 3 Focus to be able to activate the ability but it will only use 2 Focus.
Valor - Increases the amount of Centering built by 2 when activating abilities that consume Focus, and reduces the cooldown of Valorous Call by 30 seconds.
This passive is helpful in that it effectively doubles the rate of generating Centering and the frequency of Zen being available.
Gearing in 6.0
Gearing in 6.0
Gearing Stat Allocation
Gearing Stat Allocation
Please see my Gearing Guide for a detailed overview of gearing in 6.x in SWTOR.
For Concentration Sentinel, I gear as follows:
Set Bonus: Descent of the Fearless
Tactical: Cauterized Coronary
Amplifiers: Armor Penetration
Mods: Unlettered Lethal Mods
Relics: Devastating Vengeance & Primeval Fatesealer (Serendipitous Assault & Focused Retribution for Dxun/PVP)
Stim: Proficient
Adrenal: Critical (Attack for Dxun only)
For Concentration Sentinel, I allocate my tertiary stats as follows:
Accuracy: 1,585 - 1,630 (anything outside this approximate range and I usually try to re-optimize by swapping around enhancements and augments)
Alacrity: >1,895 w/ guild perk for 1.3s GCD (>1,213 w/o guild perk for 1.4s GCD)
Critical: all remaining tertiary points go into Critical
Shield: None
Absorb: None
Set Bonus
Set Bonus
Descent of the Fearless
Descent of the Fearless
Increased drop rate from daily missions.
(2) +2% Mastery
(4) Whenever you gain or use a Force Clarity ability charge while in combat, your damage is increased by 10% for 10 seconds.
(6) Dealing damage has a 10% chance to build a Force Clarity ability charge. Can only occur once every 5 seconds.
Analysis: The only set bonus that is BIS across multiple advanced classes, Descent of the Fearless is BIS for all Guardian and Sentinel DPS disciplines. The set bonus should provide fairly high uptime on a straight 10% damage buff.
The 10% damage buff lasts for 10 seconds and can be refreshed by generating a charge or using a charge. Generating a charge via the 6 piece set bonus triggers a 5 second cooldown before it can trigger again, though it only has a 10% chance to do so after the cooldown and only 2-3 GCDs to trigger and ensure it is refreshed before expiration.
Given the low chance, there is a decent probability that the typical rotation will not have full uptime of the 10% damage buff without careful attention by the player. These changes are improved significantly by the Burning Slices DoT applied by Blade Barrage and the Cauterized Coronary DoT (requires the tactical item of the same name) applied by Concentrated Slice. One DoT has partial uptime and the second has full uptime, so combined they provide multiple additional chances to trigger the set bonus and provide additional 25% ability damage buffs and better and more consistent uptime of the 10% overall damage buff.
Skilled players will have to decide between two approaches to a rotation and their use of Force Clarity. They can use Force Clarity each rotation on Concentrated Slice as recommended below. This ensures the 25% damage buff is applied to the heaviest hitting ability and any additional charges affect Zealous Leap as next ability in the rotation and another heavy hitting ability, but risks some downtime on the 10% damage buff. I recommend this approach since it is simpler and easier to remember/execute in a stressful boss encounter.
The second option is to prioritize using Force Clarity when the 10% damage buff is about to expire to maintain its uptime. This approach is difficult to implement because it requires far more attention on the player’s buff bar and likely is a DPS loss because it will apply the 25% damage buff to filler abilities in some instances rather than the core abilities of Concentrated Slice, and Zealous Leap.
Impact on Rotation: Only utilize Force Clarity charges on Concentrated Slice. It is the highest damaging eligible ability in the rotation. This also ensures that if multiple charges are available they will buff Zealous Leap as well.
Given the rate limit for generating charges of Force Clarity, it should not be possible to cap on charges between uses of Concentrated Slice. If a charge is not available when Concentrated Slice comes off cooldown, it is fine to use it on Zealous Leap. Otherwise, save the charge for the next rotation cycle.
When to Take: All situations. Descent of the Fearless is easily the BIS set bonus for all Jedi Knight disciplines. It particularly synergizes with the Cauterized Coronary tactical item, as the additional DoT will provide additional chances to trigger the 6 piece set bonus and generate additional stacks of Force Clarity.
Tactical Items
Tactical Items
Cauterized Coronary
Cauterized Coronary
Increased drop rate from operations.
Concentrated Slice causes its targets to burn.
Analysis: The Cauterized Coronary DoT has a 9 second duration. Concentrated Slice has a 12 second duration but should always be usable every 9 seconds / 6 GCDs due to the Nimble Slashes passive ability. Thus, the DoT should have full uptime in any encounter without target swapping.
The full uptime DoT provides really strong synergy with the Descent of the Fearless set bonus, as each tick provides additional opportunities to trigger charges of Force Clarity that provide more uptime of an overall 10% damage buff and can buff individual damage abilities by 25%.
Impact on Rotation: N/A no change in rotation is necessary.
When to Take: Any encounters that prioritize single target DPS. It can be swapped out for Enrage Crush in high AoE DPS situations, though only for encounters where there will be consistent (nearly constant) opportunities for AoE DPS.
Perseverance
Perseverance
Increased drop rate from daily missions.
Using Zealous Leap with Force Clarity causes it to critically hit and increases your critical strike chance by 20% for 2 seconds.
Analysis: This tactical seems to be designed with burst DPS in mind and particularly PVP. Concentration provides high burst DPS capability in the front half of its rotation. Focused Burst should be a guaranteed crit and get buffed damage, Concentrated Slice has the highest base damage for the discipline, and Zealous Leap does less damage than those two but still very high damage overall.
By making Zealous Leap an auto-crit when using Force Clarity, it offers the potential for most rotations to have a 3 GCD window with 2 guaranteed critical hits and the discipline’s strongest base ability. Combined with the 2 GCD duration 20% critical chance buff, it makes the discipline's burst hit very hard.
In comparing it to Cauterized Coronary, the consistent additional DoT damage should significantly outperform incremental additional critical damage from Zealous Leap. Thus in any sustained DPS situation Perseverance may be sub-optimal but will be better in situations where burst DPS is most important.
Also, the tactical imposes an opportunity cost with regards to the use of Force Clarity. Absent this tactical, that buff should always be used on Concentrated Sliceas it has higher overall damage, is already a guaranteed critical hit and has its damage buffed 30% rotationally. Changing its use is a DPS loss prior to the guaranteed crit buff and the associated increase in “super crit” bonus damage. Overall it is still a DPS increase but it is watered down a bit due to this trade-off.
Impact on Rotation: Only change is to only use Force Clarity prior to Zealous Leap. If multiple charges are available, its use can be moved earlier in the rotation 1 GCD for every charge above 1 (e.g., 2 charges means it can be used 1 GCD earlier, and so on).
When to Take: For single target DPS if burst DPS is preferred for PVE or PVP, otherwise take Cauterized Coronary.
Enrage Crush
Enrage Crush
Increased drop rate from flashpoints.
Focused Burst and Force Sweep detonate Force Exhaustion, dealing Force Exhaustion's remaining damage to up to 8 enemies in an area around the primary target.
Analysis: This tactical provides a straightforward AoE DPS increase to the discipline. The rotation should use Force Exhaustion every other 6 GCD cycle, so every other Focused Burst or Force Sweep should trigger a powerful AoE damage effect.
In AoE situations the player should always be using Force Sweep instead of Focused Burst, as it benefits from all the same buffs but is an AoE damage ability. After its first use in the opener, it should be a guaranteed crit and deal 30% more damage via rotational buffs.
Also worth noting is that Force Exhaustion should always be followed immediately by Focused Burst or Force Sweep per the rotation discussion below. This rotation synergizes with the tactical to provide the greatest possible AoE DPS due to minimizing the damage done by Force Exhaustion prior to triggering the AoE burst.
Combined with dealing all of Force Exhaustion ability instantly and the inherent buffs to Force Sweep, this combo arguably provides Concentration with the strongest possible AoE damage within a single GCD in the entire game.
Impact on Rotation: N/A. The rotation should be used normally as per below, except that this tactical will cause a sizable AoE effect every other use of Force Sweep (as that is what should be used in AoE situations over Focused Burst).
When to Take: Encounters with heavy sustained AoE requirements, such as Hard Mode Hive Queen or several bosses in Nature of Progress (Dxun).
Amplifiers
Amplifiers
Armor Penetration (or secondarily, Weapon Expertise)
Armor Penetration (or secondarily, Weapon Expertise)
The discipline’s abilities almost exclusively deal kinetic or energy damage, except for internal damage by DoTs Burning Slices and the Cauterized Coronary tactical. The attacks are fairly even balanced between using Force type attacks and Weapon type attacks. As noted, the discipline has some DoT damage.
Armor Penetration amplifiers provide the highest boost to their stat as compared to Weapon Expertise (weapon type attacks), Force Sensitivity (Force type attacks) or Periodic Intensity (DoTs). However, since armor penetration only increases damage by reducing the amount absorbed by enemy armor, it’s buff to DPS is usually a bit lower per item piece than the other options. Thus, it typically will only be optimal for disciplines like Concentration where nearly all abilities deal kinetic or energy damage.
If attempting to synergize a Descent of the Fearless set of gear between Jedi Knight DPS disciplines, Weapon Expertise is likely the best option as it provides either the best or usually second best DPS boost for nearly all disciplines.
Key Abilities
Key Abilities
Force Clarity NEW IN 6.0 - Consumes all ability charges and applies Force Clarity stacks to you. Each stack increases your next direct single target melee attack by 25% and is consumed whenever you deal damage with these attacks. Recharges 1 ability charge every 30 seconds.
A new offensive cooldown, it can be used in the opener to buff you heaviest hitting ability for +100% damage or used every ~30 seconds to buff an ability damage +25%. With the Descent of the Fearless set bonus, it also provides a +10% damage buff and can generate extra charges during combat.
Zen (costs 30 Centering, no cooldown) - Requires and converts 30 stacks of Centering to enter a Zen state, instantly generating 4 Focus, plus 8 additional Focus over the next few seconds.
Zen is a unique off-GCD offensive cooldown to Sentinels that provides different effects for each Sentinel discipline. For Concentration, Zen is immensely important due to it being needed every 12 GCDs to proc the Koan passive ability to make Focused Burst free and buffed +15% damage. See below for discussion on using Zen under rotation.
Focused Burst (3 Focus, 12s cooldown, range 10m) Blasts the target with a powerful burst of Force energy, dealing high kinetic damage.
When the Concentration rotation is played optimally, Focused Burst is the most powerful ability of the discipline. Receiving buffs from Zealous Leap, Concentrated Slice, and Koan, each use of Focused Burst should not cost Focus, be a guaranteed crit, and get +30% damage. Despite the cooldown of 12s / 8 GCDs, it should be utilized every 6 GCDs to align with the cooldown of Concentrated Slice, with various abilities reducing its cooldown via the Nimble Slashes passive ability.
Force Sweep (3 Focus, 12s cooldown, range 10m) - Blasts the target with a powerful burst of Force energy, dealing high kinetic damage and to any nearby enemies.
An AoE equivalent of Focused Burst. It receives all of the same buffs.
Zealous Leap (2 Focus, 12s cooldown, range 10m) - Leaps to a target, dealing moderate weapon damage and immobilizing the target for 1 second. Can be used while immobilized.
Zealous Leap is incredibly useful in PVP for being useable while immobilized, giving Sentinels two leaping abilities. In PVE content, Zealous Leap does good damage and provides two critical buffs. The Momentum passive buffs Blade Storm to deal +5% damage and generate rather than consume Focus (while still generating Centering), while Felling Blow makes the next Focused Burst a guaranteed crit. It also is relatively inexpensive in Focus (costing 1 net Focus after the Focused Slash passive) and generates 4 Centering when not under the effects of Zen. It should be utilized every 6 GCDs to ensure each Focused Burst is buffed.
Concentrated Slice (5 Focus, 9s cooldown, range 4m) - Slices the target for high weapon damage.
Prior to any buffs, Concentrated Slice has the highest base damage for Concentration. After all buffs are considered, it is the second highest damaging ability after Focused Burst. Concentrated Slice’s cooldown of 9s / 6 GCDs is the baseline for the Concentration rotation. The ability also buffs Focused Burst to deal 15% more damage and builds 4 Centering.
Force Exhaustion (3 Focus, 18s cooldown, range 10m) - Progressively slows the target from 50% to 5% movement speed over 3 seconds and deals low kinetic damage each second. At the end of the duration, the target is crushed and takes additional kinetic damage.
Force Exhaustion does decent damage but is most notable for proccing Koan, making the next Focused Burst free. It should also be used on cooldown.
Rebuke (free, 1 minute cooldown) - Reduces all damage taken by 20% and deals low energy damage to attackers. This effect cannot occur more than once every second. Lasts 10 seconds. Rebuke refreshes to its full duration when attacked, but this effect cannot last more than 30 seconds in total.
Rebuke is a unique ability for Sentinels that serves as both a defensive cooldown and provides a low level of reflect damage to attackers. It can be buffed in a variety of ways through utilities. Be aware of how it works and in which operations to use it (and when to do so), as skillful use of Rebuke is a big part of reaching elite levels of DPS as a Sentinel.
Force Leap (free, 15s cooldown, range 10-30m) - Jumps to a distant target, dealing low damage with the main-hand weapon, immobilizing the target for 2 seconds and interrupting the target’s current action. Builds 3 Focus.
Force Leap is the Jedi Knight (Guardian & Sentinel) gap closer and also serves to generate Focus. It also functions as an interrupt. Use any time needed to get into melee range and generate Focus. It does very little damage so is not generally worth stepping outside of melee range to leap, except when an additional interrupt is needed. Notable for Concentration, Force Leap should NEVER be used if Zealous Leap is available, as Zealous Leap provides buffs Focused Burst to be a guaranteed crit and generates 4 Centering instead of Force Leap’s 2 Centering.
Zealous Strike (free, 15s cooldown, range 4m) - Strikes the target multiples times with both lightsabers, dealing low weapon damage and building 6 Focus.
Sentinel’s main Focus building ability. Concentration has a very tight Focus management rotation, which should use Zealous Strike every 18s / 12 GCDs.
Blade Barrage (free, 18s cooldown, range 4m) - Performs a series of lightsaber attacks that deal moderate weapon damage.
Blade Barrage is a free filler ability and does strong damage via the Burning Slices passive ability. It should also be used nearly on cooldown in the Concentration rotation.
Blade Storm (3 Focus, 12s cooldown, range 10m) - Deals moderate weapon damage.
Blade Storm is a semi-ranged ability that is used in the Concentration rotation due to the Momentum buff applied by Force Leap or Zealous Leap. The buff grants +5% damage to Blade Storm and makes generate 1 Focus instead of consuming Focus. Despite this change, Blade Storm still generates Centering.
Dispatch (3 Focus, 10s cooldown, range 10m) - Throws the main-hand lightsaber at a target, dealing high energy damage. Only usable on targets at or below 30% max health.
Dispatch is a strong execute ability and can be utilized above 30% boss health via a utility. It can be substituted for Slash in the rotation whenever it is available.
Twin Saber Throw (free, 18s cooldown, ranged 30m) - Throws both lightsabers in a straight line towards the target, dealing moderate weapon damage to up to 8 enemies directly in front of you up to 30 meters away. Affected enemies are slowed by 50% for 6 seconds.
This ability is not used in the core Concentration rotation. While it deals good damage, it does not generate Centering. As such, using it regularly will cause rotational issues where Zen will not be available quickly enough to use for every other Focused Burst.
Slash (3 Focus, no cooldown, range 4m) - Slashes the target for moderate weapon damage.
Slash is a straight forward spammable filler. As it generates 4 Centering and is effective in reducing the cooldown of Zealous Leap and Focused Burst, it is used as a filler in the Concentration rotation.
Strike (free, no cooldown, range 4m) - Inflicts low weapon damage with a series of quick melee attacks. Generates 2 Focus.
Strike should not be used in the Concentration rotation at all if possible. While it does serve to reduce the cooldown of Focused Burst and Zealous Leap, since it does not consume Focus it does not generate Centering.
Rotation
Rotation
Rotation Priority Analysis
Rotation Priority Analysis
The Concentration Sentinel rotation is relatively fixed in order to achieve its priorities to maximize DPS. Those priorities are:
1. Use Zealous Leap, Focused Burst and Concentrated Slice on cooldown. Zealous Leap and Concentrated Slice have powerful synergies that buff Focused Burst, collectively granting +15% damage and a 100% critical chance. Concentrated Slice also provides a +5% damage buff. These abilities need to be used as often as possible and on the same cooldown.
2. Focused Burst should always benefit from Koan. Zen and Force Exhaustion both grant the Koan buff, which makes the next Focused Burst free and grants +15% damage. Force Exhaustion has a 12 GCD cooldown. Concentrated Slice has a 6 GCD cooldown, and per #1 we want to be utilizing Focused Burst as often as Concentrated Slice so every 6 GCDs. Thus, Force Exhaustion can buff every other 6 GCD rotational use of Focused Burst. We need Zen to cover the other alternating use of Focused Burst.
3. Generate 30 Centering every 12 GCDs. Per #1 and #2, we know we need to use Zen every 12 GCDs so that Zen can provide the Koan buff to make Focused Burst free. Zen is also critical to the energy management in the rotation by providing 12 Focus (4 instant and 8 generated over 4 GCDs). Per the passive ability description, Centering is generated by abilities that consume Focus. The Concentration abilities generate the following amount of Centering:
Blade Barrage - 5 Centering
Focused Burst OR Force Sweep - 4 Centering
Concentrated Slice / Furious Strike - 4 Centering
Zealous Leap - 4 Centering
Force Exhaustion - 4 Centering
Blade Storm - 4 Centering (note that due to a passive, Blade Storm generates 4 Centering even when buffed by Zealous Leap via the Momentum passive to generate Focus instead of consuming it.)
Dispatch - 4 Centering
Slash - 4 Centering
Force Leap - 2 Centering
Zealous Strike - 0 Centering
Twin Saber Throw - 0 Centering
Strike - 0 Centering
It is also important to understand that during Zen’s effects (i.e., the 4 GCDs that Zen is generating Focus), no Centering can be generated. Since Zen is instant and thus it can be activated in the same GCD as the ability that generated 30th stack of Centering, the duration is effectively reduced to 3 GCDs. Thus, we need to generate 30 stacks of Centering in 9 GCDs. Of the abilities listed above, all generate at least 4 Centering except (1) Force Leap, which isn’t used outside of the opener; (2) Zealous Strike, which is necessary to use rotationally for Focus generation; and (3) Strike, which should never be used anyway.
So, this leaves us with a rotation where 8 out of 9 GCDs after Zen need to generate Centering to ensure Zen can be used on a 12 GCD cooldown, with Zealous Strike taking the 9th GCD for Focus generation.
4. Fillers should be Blade Barrage, Blade Storm and Slash only. All three abilities receive buffs from the Concentration skill tree and generate 4-5 Centering. Blade Barrage applies a fire DoT via Burning Slices. Blade Storm is buffed +5% damage and generates 1 Focus via Momentum) and generate 4-5 Centering. Finally, Slash is buffed to deal additional damage by Force Flagellation.
So what about Twin Saber Throw, you ask? It does not meet the height requirement to ride the Concentration train. While it deals good damage and is free, it deals less damage than these buffed abilities and fails to generate Centering. Per #3 above, building Centering is hugely important to the rotation so Twin Saber Throw doesn’t get a spot.
So how do we fit this into a rotation? Per the above, we know that the rotation needs to be 12 GCDs that are split into 2 blocks of 6 GCDs. Each block needs to use Zealous Leap, Focused Burst and Concentrated Slice. The 6 GCD blocks should alternate between using Zen off-GCD and using Force Exhaustion. We also want to use Blade Storm and Blade Barrage once each per 12 GCD cycle to take advantage of their buffs. We also need to use Zealous Strike once per 12 GCD cycle for Focus management. Finally, we can fill any gaps with Slash as a filler.
To re-count, that is Focused Burst x2, Concentrated Slice x2, Zealous Leap x2, Force Exhaustion x1, Blade Storm x1, Blade Barrage x1, Zealous Strike x1, and Slash x2. That gets us to 12 GCDs.
So finally, let’s get to the opener and base rotation. It’s important to note there is just one small change between the opener and the base rotation due to prioritizing DPS abilities up front to fit into raid buff and relic proc windows.
Basic Opener
Basic Opener
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Pre-fight Regen to build 30 stacks of Centering.
Force Leap Sentinel’s gap closer, Force Leap also grants Momentum to buff Blade Storm.
Zen OFF GCD Zen is used here to generate Focus and proc Koan to make Focused Burst free. An alternative is to use Force Exhaustion very early in the opener. That said, it isn’t the highest DPS ability so using it early isn’t advantageous. Force Exhaustion also costs Focus and thus would need to be paired with Zealous Strike to work, which would further depress DPS.
Valorous Call OFF GCD We usually want to use Inspiration early in the opener so need 30 more stacks of Centering. If using Inspiration on pulling isn’t desirable (i.e., saving for execute phase if fight is less than 5 minutes, or certain fights like Raptus, Draxus, Brontes, or other fights where early phase DPS isn’t important, save Valorous Call as an emergency cooldown if you mess up your Centering generation and need to use Zen.
Inspiration OFF GCD
Adrenal OFF GCD DPS boost for opener, need to hit here before going through all the big hitting DPS abilities.
Force Clarity OFF GCD Used here to apply the Descent of the Fearless set bonus +10% overall damage buff and apply 4 Force Clarity charges to buff our initial damage abilities.
Blade Barrage Blade Barrage deals solid damage and generates Centering even during Zen so it should always be used immediately after Zen as the rotation should ensure Zen comes up in 12 GCDs similar to Blade Barrage's cooldown.
Focused Burst Used first to take advantage of Felling Blow (procced by Force Leap) that makes Focused Burst a guaranteed crit. There is an argument to be made that Concentrated Slice should be used first since it would provide Centered Focus and buff Focused Burst’s damage by a further 15%. However, Focused Burst provides a better DPS buff via Heightened Power that increases all damage by 5% for 6 seconds. Thus, it is optimal to use Focused Burst first, though for all subsequent Focused Bursts will benefit from the incremental 15% damage buff.
Concentrated Slice Benefiting from the 5% damage buff from Focused Burst, Concentrated Slice finishes the incredibly strong 1-2 combo for Concentration. It also provides a buff for the next Focused Burst and adds a defense buff.
Blade Storm Used in this slot to maximize the burst DPS window.
Zealous Leap Leap provides the Felling Blow buff to make the next Focused Burst a guaranteed crit, procs Momentum to buff the next Blade Storm, and deals additional strong damage to round out the end of big initial burst window.
Zealous Strike Used here to ensure we have adequate Focus for the next 6 GCD cycle.
Force Exhaustion The end of the first 6 GCD block, Force Exhaustion provides Koan for the next cycle.
Focused Burst Same GCD slot as previous 6 GCD cycle, should be off cooldown and fully buffed (free, +30% damage, 100% crit)
Force Clarity OFF GCD The previous charges should have been consumed by this point so we re-apply Force Clarity to buff Concentrated Slice.
Concentrated Slice Same GCD slot as previous 6 GCD cycle, benefits from 5% damage buff from Focused Burst
Slash Filler slot
Zealous Leap Same GCD slot as previous 6 GCD cycle, procs Felling Blow and Momentum
Blade Storm Blade Storm is used again at the end of the opener to maximize overall burst. It will not be used in this slot again.
Zen OFF GCD Zen must be used as close to instantly after activating Blade Storm as possible.
Blade Barrage End of the opener and 12th GCD in the overall cycle
(continue with core rotation)
Basic Rotation (# of Centering)
Basic Rotation (# of Centering)
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{note that the first two abilities will be under the effects of Zen, all buffs from end of previous rotation)
Focused Burst (0) Strongest hitting ability, should always be fully buffed by previous cycle to be free, 100% critical chance, and +30% damage, provides +5% damage for 6s
Force Clarity + Concentrated Slice (0) Next strongest ability, buffs next Focused Burst +15% damage
Slash (4) Filler spot, generating Centering
Zealous Leap (8) Procs Felling Blow (next Focused Burst 100% crit) and Momentum (Blade Storm +5% damage and +1 Focus)
Zealous Strike (8) Focus generation
Force Exhaustion (12) Procs Koan to make next Focused Burst free
Focused Burst (16) Biggest hitter, see above, using on cooldown
Force Clarity + Concentrated Slice (20) Next biggest hitter, see above, using on cooldown
Blade Storm (24) Buffed and used on nearly on cooldown
Zealous Leap (28) Procs Felling Blow and Momentum, using on cooldown
Slash (30) Now are capped at 30 Centering and ready to hit Zen
Zen + Blade Barrage (0)Note that we cap at 30 Centering upon activation, and should immediately hit Zen before the GCD ends and then use Blade Barrage to end the cycle
Advanced Rotation Analysis
Advanced Rotation Analysis
All of the analysis for the Basic Rotation is all still valid. The key thing to consider here is whether there is a simpler way to think about the rotation to deliver greater DPS and more consistent availability of Zen.
The key goals here are (1) always have Zen available when we need it; (2) more optimal use of fillers; and (3) higher and more consistent DPS.
I had been thinking for a while that a more optimal rotation would spread out the use of our core discipline abilities Zealous Leap, Focused Burst and Concentrated Slice. Spreading them out makes it easier to use Blade Storm on cooldown as our most powerful filler.
Another key part of the discipline that is not always super apparent is that Blade Barrage builds Centering even during Zen. The Basic Rotation above leverages this by using Blade Barrage at the end of each rotation cycle right after Zen. However, it should be simpler to think about the rotation as beginning with Zen + Blade Barrage, right?
Well these thoughts were bouncing around in my head a bit but I had not gotten around to tinkering with it. Thankfully, my good friend Zaro (aka KhazadSanci in Discord) shared a rotation with me that I really really like. I am not entirely certain who first introduced it but do want to acknowledge it was not something I came up with, but rather something I tested and decided I greatly prefer it since it accomplishes the goals stated above.
The changes to the rotation are two-fold:
Move Zen + Blade Barrage to the beginning of the rotation. This is just an organizational change but I find it helps me to remember where I am in the rotation. Blade Barrage has a cooldown that lasts for two full rotation blocks of 12 GCDs which is just long enough for a rotation to remember without being too complicated.
Space out Zealous Leap, Focused Burst and Concentrated Slice by 1 GCD. As noted above, this spacing lets us more efficiently use Blade Storm on cooldown. This change helps our damage since Blade Storm is a great filler ability but also helps our Focus and Centering generation since Blade Storm will usually generate Focus instead of spending it due to the Momentum passive ability and will generate Centering. This contributes to having a much more reliable Zen when we need it, whereas with the Basic Rotation I have found Zen is a bit less reliable if you make a mistake.
Advanced Opener
Advanced Opener
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Pre-fight Regen to build 30 stacks of Centering.
Force Leap Sentinel’s gap closer, Force Leap also grants Momentum to buff Blade Storm. However, since we use Zealous Leap before Blade Storm in the Advanced Rotation and Zealous Leap also provides the Momentum passive buff, we do not need Force Leap so it can be skipped for parsing or where it is convenient to run in.
Zen OFF GCD Zen is used here to generate Focus and proc Koan to make Focused Burst free.
Valorous Call OFF GCD Used here so we have Centering to activate Inspiration.
Inspiration OFF GCD
Adrenal OFF GCD DPS boost for opener, need to hit here before going through all the big hitting DPS abilities.
Force Clarity OFF GCD An off-GCD ability provided in 6.0, Force Clarity will apply our Descent of the Fearless +10% damage buff and will apply its 4 pre-built charges to buff the next 4 applicable damage abilities by 25%. This initial use with 4 charges should buff the next two Concentrated Slices, Blade Barrage and Zealous Leap. Blade Storm and Focused Burst are Force attacks and thus will not be buffed by Force Clarity.
Concentrated Slice Although the Advanced Rotation begins normally with Blade Barrage, the cooldown works out that we can use Concentrated Slice first for some early burst damage and it will be off cooldown on time later. Apart from this change and using offensive cooldowns in the opener, this is essentially the only change when comparing the Advanced Opener to the Advanced Rotation.
Blade Barrage Blade Barrage begins our Advanced Rotation and starts the core rotation after using Concentrated Slice to jump start our burst damage. It builds Centering during Zen and applies a DoT early that helps us get additional stacks of Force Clarity.
Zealous Leap Zealous Leap provides the Felling Blow buff that makes the next Focused Burst a guaranteed critical hit and procs Momentum to buff Blade Storm to be net energy positive as a high damage filler.
Blade Storm Net positive to energy due to the Momentum passive, we use Blade Storm as our top priority filler.
Focused Burst Focused Burst is a guaranteed critical hit in the Advanced Opener due to Zealous Leap being used first and thus not needing Force Leap as compared to the Basic Opener. This use is free due to Koan being applied by Zen.
Force Exhaustion We used Force Exhaustion right after Focused Burst to re-apply the Koan buff so the next Focused Burst is also free.
Concentrated Slice Our top damaging ability that should consume our last stack from the initial use of Force Clarity.
Slash Filler ability that takes priority with Blade Storm on cooldown.
Zealous Leap Use on cooldown
Zealous Strike Our second time through the core rotation we do not have energy generation from Zen so need Zealous Strike here instead.
Focused Burst Use on cooldown
Blade Storm Priority filler ability that should be off cooldown by now. It should always be buffed and glowing from Zealous Leap's Momentum passive buff.
Force Clarity OFF GCD We generally want to save Force Clarity's charges to buff Concentrated Slice as often as possible. It deals the most damage per activation of any ability for the discipline. The only ability that is close in damage is Focused Burst but as a Force attack it is not eligible for Force Clarity's buff. If you are running a 1.4s GCD for parsing then this activation takes place 12 GCDs or 16.8 seconds since we last used Force Clarity. We want to make sure we keep 100% uptime on Force Clarity's +10% overall damage buff at all costs, so if necessary Force Clarity should be used earlier. Most of the time you should get 1 or maybe even 2 stacks of Force Clarity generated from attacks during the intervening time to reset the 10 second timer. You can safely use Force Clarity after Zealous Strike to save the buff for Concentrated Slice, since Focused Burst and Blade Storm will not consume the buff.
Concentrated Slice Last ability in the opener, always used on cooldown.
(continue with Advanced Rotation beginning with Zen > Blade Barrage)
Advanced Rotation
Advanced Rotation
Please note that a full rotation should be defined based on one use of Blade Barrage until it comes off cooldown again. However, the nature of the rotation and ability cooldowns is such that two rotations (i.e., two uses of Blade Barrage and its full cooldown) will repeat infinitely, so they are displayed here to show the "full rotation" that can be repeated as needed.
First Rotation
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Zen OFF GCD Provide Focus for first rotation block
Blade Barrage Filler that leads off our rotation, generates Centering during Zen
Zealous Leap Proc Felling Blow to make Focused Burst an auto-crit and Momentum to buff Blade Storm
Blade Storm Filler used now that Momentum has been applied
Focused Burst Big hitting damage ability, free due to Zen applying Koan buff
Force Exhaustion Used after Focused Burst to apply Koan buff for next rotation block
Force Clarity + Concentrated Slice End of first block, buffing our strongest ability with Force Clarity
Slash Filler and Blade Storm is on cooldown so Slash instead
Zealous Leap Use on cooldown
Zealous Strike We do not have energy generation from Zen this rotation block so need Zealous Strike
Focused Burst Use on cooldown
Blade Storm Use in filler spot whenever it is available and off cooldown
Force Clarity + Concentrated Slice End of first block, buffing our strongest ability with Force Clarity
Second Rotation
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Zen OFF GCD Provide Focus for first rotation block
Blade Barrage Filler that leads off our rotation, generates Centering during Zen
Zealous Leap Proc Felling Blow to make Focused Burst an auto-crit and Momentum to buff Blade Storm
Slash Filler and Blade Storm is on cooldown so Slash instead
Focused Burst Big hitting damage ability, free due to Zen applying Koan buff
Force Exhaustion Used after Focused Burst to apply Koan buff for next rotation block
Force Clarity + Concentrated Slice End of first block, buffing our strongest ability with Force Clarity
Blade Storm Use in filler spot whenever it is available and off cooldown
Zealous Leap Use on cooldown
Zealous Strike We do not have energy generation from Zen this rotation block so need Zealous Strike
Focused Burst Use on cooldown
Slash Filler and Blade Storm is on cooldown so Slash instead
Force Clarity + Concentrated Slice End of first block, buffing our strongest ability with Force Clarity
So what changes between these rotations? Not much.
We have to use Force Exhaustion and Zealous Strike every 12 GCD rotation and due to the energy generation from Zen we need Zealous Strike around GCD #10 and thus Force Exhaustion needs to be in GCD #6.
This leaves us with fillers in GCDs 4, 8 and 12. The priority here is Blade Storm when it's available and Slash otherwise. Pretty simple.
Execute Phase & Dispatch
Execute Phase & Dispatch
How does Dispatch factor into the Concentration rotation?
Simple! It replaces Slash anytime it is off cooldown and available. Both abilities have an identical energy cost so it has no impact on your rotation.
Use of Force Clarity
Use of Force Clarity
As of 6.0, Force Clarity is a very important off GCD ability to consider in the discipline.
If you have a full 6 piece Descent of the Fearless set bonus (and if you don't, you should), then the set bonus provides a 10% overall damage buff and can generate additional charges of Force Clarity. Force Clarity itself provides a 25% damage buff to the next single target melee attack. Only 1 charge can be used at a time so if you use Force Clarity with multiple stacks then it will automatically consume 1 stack per eligible ability until the charges as of its activation are all consumed.
This set bonus and the new Force Clarity ability provides somewhere around a 15% or greater increase in DPS between the high uptime on the 10% damage buff and frequent and strategic use of Force Clarity and its 25% buff to single ability damage.
For the Concentration discipline the key question becomes how often and when to use Force Clarity. We have two goals for Force Clarity in the rotation:
Use Force Clarity's 25% single ability damage buff on our strongest damage abilities
Keep our uptime on the 10% overall damage as high as possible
These two goals can conflict at times, so let's briefly discuss.
Force Clarity only applies to melee attacks. SWTOR classifies attacking abilities as either Force, Tech, Melee or Ranged attacks. For Concentration Sentinel, Force Clarity buffs Concentrated Slice, Zealous Leap, Blade Barrage, Zealous Strike and Slash. Force Clarity does NOT buff Focused Burst, Force Exhaustion or Blade Storm and so these abilities can be used after activating Force Clarity without consuming a charge.
So of our eligible abilities, Concentrated Slice is by far our strongest damage ability. Thus to achieve our first goal we should try to buff Concentrated Slice as often as possible, which will usually mean hitting Force Clarity right before Concentrated Slice or sometimes activating a few GCDs earlier if the preceding abilities will not consume the buff.
Now to the second goal, how do we maintain nearly 100% uptime on the overall 10% damage buff? To start, let's first note that the 10% damage buff is applied/refreshed upon either using Force Clarity or generating a stack of Force Clarity. The Descent of the Fearless set bonus gives a 10% chance to generate a stack of Force Clarity each time we deal damage though it has a 5 second cooldown on this trigger. Force Clarity normally generates 1 stack every 30 seconds.
So in the simplest case we know we will get 10 seconds out of every 30 seconds with the buff active since we get 1 stack every 30 seconds as long as we do not cap at the maximum of 4 stacks of Force Clarity. If we use Force Clarity at least 10 seconds after we get the first stack then we get another 10 seconds of uptime. So at a minimum we should be able to achieve 67% (20 / 30 seconds) uptime. How do we do better?
Well the 10% chance to trigger extra Force Clarity stacks helps us a lot here. The key to getting plenty of stacks of Force Clarity are the DoTs applied by Blade Barrage, Concentrated Slice (via the Cauterized Coronary tactical) and Force Exhaustion. Those provide extra ticks of damage that can trigger our set bonus on top of the damage dealt by our actual abilities. Blade Barrage is also great in that it deals multiple ticks of damage per activation so is more likely than most abilities to trigger the set bonus. Finally, many abilities in the discipline deal damage with both the mainhand and offhand so have a higher actual base chance than the stated 10% proc rate.
All of this combines to mean that most of the time you should have more than enough charges of Force Clarity to achieve goal #1 to always buff Concentrated Slice while still achieving goal #2 and reaching very high (>95% and usually >98%) uptime on the 10% damage buff.
So this is hopefully helpful background information, but you are probably wondering where is the actual advice on how to do it? Here it comes...
Use Force Clarity prior to Concentrated Slice.
Simple. The basics are really simple though I discuss below some additional nuance for the min-maxers (and there is probably some min-max nuance I am missing/forgetting). Concentrated Slice does the most damage so we always want to buff it. It has a 6 GCD cooldown that works out to 7.8 seconds with a 1.3s GCD or 8.4 seconds with a 1.4s GCD, so this keeps us well within the 10s duration to keep full uptime. The only tricky part comes if RNG is unkind to us and we do not proc set bonus every 5-8 seconds as we will usually do and get to Concentrated Slice without an available charge of Force Clarity.
Some additional thoughts:
If RNG is mean to you and you do not have a Force Clarity charge for Concentrated Slice what do you do? I usually wait until the next Concentrated Slice. I should proc another charge by then and it will restart the 10 second timer so I don't need to panic and hit it as soon as I get the stack.
How early can I use Force Clarity to buff Concentrated Slice? Recall that Focused Burst, Blade Storm and Force Exhaustion do not consumer a Force Clarity charge but the other abilities do. If you look at the Advanced Rotation above you will see that most of the time you will have 2 or sometimes 3 preceding abilities (Focused Burst, Blade Storm, Force Exhaustion) that do not consume a charge so you can use it quite early. On occasion you will need to use Slash right before Concentrated Slice and then should wait until just before activating Concentrated Slice.
When should you use Force Clarity to not buff Concentrated Slice? When the 10% damage buff is about to expire. If I see the buff is about to expire then I feel it's better to buff a sub-optimal ability by 25% then let the 10% buff drop off. In practice this is pretty rare though so I feel most players should stick to just using it right before Concentrated Slice for simplicity unless they are running very challenging Veteran or Master Mode operations or Ranked PVP.
Use of Zen
Use of Zen
It is important to note that on a dummy parse, the speed of activating Slash then immediately hitting Zenis critical to the success of the rotation. Since there is no excess room in the Centering generation in the rotation, delaying Zen too long will lead to it not being available when Focused Burst is off cooldown. This can happen where the delay causes Zen to overlap another GCD and prevent it from generating Centering.
In such a case, I would recommend using an extra Slash to proc Zen then resume the rotation. Concentration frequently caps Focus so that won’t be an issue, and it is far better to simply delay the abilities 1 GCD then compromise your entire rotation.
It is also worth noting that in a live ops environment that the timing will not generally need to be as precise. The Stoic utility should be taken on all fights and will frequently grant some free Centering to help provide a little more margin for error on having Zen available when needed.
Defensive Abilities
Defensive Abilities
Sentinels have a strong arsenal of defensive cooldowns and abilities. Compared to the other Jedi Knight advanced class, the Jedi Guardian, Sentinels require a bit more skill to take full advantage of their defensive abilities. Nevertheless, when played well Sentinels can mitigate significant damage and in many cases return damage to the enemy.
Rebuke (1 minute cooldown) - Reduces all damage taken by 20% and deals energy damage to attackers. This effect cannot occur more than once every second. Lasts 10 seconds. Rebuke refreshes to its full duration when attacked, but this effect cannot last more than 30 seconds in total.
Rebuke can also be buffed by a variety of utilities:
Jedi Enforcer (Skillful utility) - Increases the damage dealt by Rebuke by 15% and increases its duration by 4 seconds.
Jedi Crusader (Skillful utility) - While Rebuke is active, it generates 1 Focus whenever you are attacked. This effect cannot occur more than once every 2 seconds.
Watchguard (Masterful utility) - Rebuke can be used while stunned.
Jedi Promulgator (Masterful utility) - Each use of Strike, Zealous Strike, and Leg Slash reduces the active cooldown of Rebuke by 3 seconds.
Rebuke is a great defensive ability that also contributes damage if used optimally. Reducing damage taken by 20% is not enough to mitigate massive damage at high health but is amazing for sustained high damage phases (e.g., burn phase in Dread Council, etc.). I usually take Jedi Enforcer and Jedi Crusader for operations. Watchguard is situationally useful for fights with stun mechanics (e.g., Dismantler swipe in Draxus encounter). I do not recommend Jedi Promulgator as its abilities are not used frequently enough to be that beneficial.
Saber Ward (3 minute cooldown) - Raises a lightsaber ward, increasing melee and ranged defenses by 50% and absorbing 25% of the damage taken from Force and Tech attacks. Lasts 12 seconds.
Saber Ward can be buffed by the Zealous Ward Heroic utility. If taking the utility, 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.
Saber Ward is the Sentinel’s long duration / long cooldown big defensive ability. Sentinels have a base defense chance of 5% assuming no gearing for Defense, so with Saber Ward active the defense chance is buffed to 55%. That level of defense chance is nice but is risky for mitigating high damage attacks if you fail to dodge. Fortunately, weapon attack mechanics tend to consist of multiple attacks so the defense buff is still helpful. The 25% reduction to Force/Tech damage taken is far more reliable to help mitigate damage mechanics in my opinion.
I rarely take the Zealous Ward utility. The immunity to various effects could be situationally helpful for a few specific mechanics but the heal is unlikely to be useful outside of PvP.
Force Camouflage (45 second cooldown) - Obscures yourself with the Force, becoming difficult to detect, reducing your threat towards all enemies, reducing all damage taken by 50%, granting immunity to controlling effects, and increasing movement speed by 30%. Lasts 4 seconds. Dealing direct damage ends the effect prematurely.
Expunging Camouflage (Masterful utility) - Force Camouflage removes all cleansable effects when activated.
Force Fade (Masterful utility) - 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.
Hidden Advance (Heroic utility) - While Force Camouflage is active, you gain a charge of Hidden Advance every 0.5 seconds. Each charge of Hidden Advance increases the damage dealt by your next melee attack by 4%. Stacks up to 12 charges and lasts for up to 6 seconds after exiting Force Camouflage.
Force Camouflage is a really great defensive ability but requires skill to use effectively. The threat drop effect is the only way for Sentinels to drop aggro, which is nice. The self cleanse (with utility) is extremely useful for fights that require cleanses, especially if your team’s composition involves Vanguards or Gunslingers that cannot self cleanse.
The 50% reduction in damage taken for 4 seconds (6 with utility) is amazingly strong if used properly. The key to its use is timing Force Camouflage immediately prior to a predictable high damage mechanic and waiting to activate any attack abilities until after the damage goes out and is successfully mitigated.
I frequently take Expunging Camouflage for any fights where a self cleanse is useful. I may take Force Fade for fights with predictable high damage mechanics to give me a little more margin for error when using it to mitigate damage.
Hidden Advance is extremely situational and rarely useful as it changes Force Camouflage from a strong defensive ability and self-cleanse to a very specific offensive cooldown for downtime. The key to using Hidden Advance is activating Force Camouflage during downtime or transition phases where you have 6 seconds of downtime. This lets you build 12 charges and buffs your first ability when re-engaging the boss by 48%. This is also frequently used in parsing to add more damage in the opener. I do not recommend Hidden Advance as few fights have enough downtime to be useful and Force Camouflage is more useful as a self cleanse and defensive ability in my opinion.
Guarded by the Force (2:30 minute cooldown) - Reduces the damage you take by 99% for 6 seconds.
Guarded by the Force can be buffed by the Enduring Masterful utility. The utility increases the duration of Guarded by the Force by 2 seconds and reduces its cooldown by 30 seconds.
Guarded by the Force is a great ability to mitigate one hit kill mechanics. Unlike cheese abilities like Resilience or Saber Reflect (or Blade Blitz…), there are some abilities that Guarded by the Force will not mitigate since they deal so much damage that even taking 1% will still kill you. However, the majority of one hit kill mechanics can be mitigated with Guarded by the Force. It can also be really useful if a tank dies and you get aggro, since Guarded by the Force will give you just enough time taking no damage for a healer to get a battle rez out and a couple heals on the tank so they can grab the boss back.
I do not usually take Guarded by the Force but may take it if I think there is a decent chance I could end up with aggro on a boss due to a tank death or pulling aggro. Absent that situation, I feel that the extra duration is not helpful since most big hitting mechanics last less than 4 seconds, and the cooldown reduction is not that helpful on most fights either.
Blade Blitz (45 second cooldown) - Quickly rush forward 20 meters, dealing weapon damage to enemies in your path and increasing your defense chance by 100% while blitzing. Cannot be used while immobilized or hindered.
Blade Blitz can be buffed by the Cut Loose Heroic utility. With the utility, 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.
Blade Blitz is a great mobility and defensive ability. It can be used to move around the map together with Force Leap and Transcendence, but it really shines as a defensive ability. Most damage mechanics can be mitigated through good timing of Blade Blitz. However, timing it correctly can take some practice so be careful with it until you get comfortable with the timing for a given mechanic.
Pacify (1 minute cooldown, 4m range) - Pacifies the target, reducing its melee and ranged accuracy by 90% for 6 seconds. Cannot be used on Operation bosses. This ability does not respect the global cooldown.
Pacify can be buffed by various utilities:
Zealous Judgment (Heroic utility) - 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, reducing the damage you take from Force and Tech attacks by 75% for 6 seconds.
Watchguard (Masteful utility) - 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 neat defensive cooldown that is primarily PvP oriented but with the Zealous Judgment utility it becomes a really powerful defensive cooldown. The big downside to this option is that operations bosses cannot be targeted by Pacify to activate the damage resistance. However, it could be useful on fights with adds that can be targeted by Pacify.
The Sentinel can also take a variety of other utilities that help improve overall survivability:
Stoic (Skillful utility) - Increases your damage reduction by 2%
Defensive Roll (Skillful utility) - Reduces damage taken from area effects by 30% and increases internal and elemental damage reduction by 3%.
I usually take both Stoic and Defensive Roll. Extra damage resistance is always helpful and internal/elemental damage resistance is particularly valuable since it is very uncommon.
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