Embedded Files
Last Updated: 5/29/21
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Overview
Overview
About the Class
About the Class
Watchman is a melee DoT DPS class. When played well, a Watchman should be among the top DPS classes. The Watchman rotation focuses on maintaining maximum uptime on 3 DoTs, using Merciless Slash on cooldown, and properly managing resources to use higher damage filler abilities while accomplishing the first two objectives.
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. Also, Watchman brings an additional perk in that Zen usage allows for team-wide healing.
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). As noted above, Zen crits can provide healing to further improve survivability.
Role in Operations
Role in Operations
Watchman players are sustained DPS ideal for single target damage over medium to long periods of time. Watchman is not well suited for rapid target swapping and AoE DPS is okay but not exceptional. As such, Watchman are optimally designated as DPS to stay on the boss while other burst DPS handle add duties.
6.0 Impact on Discipline
6.0 Impact on Discipline
The new expansion was good to Watchman and should see it maintain its place as one of the top sustained DPS disciplines. It received a helpful new offensive cooldown, Force Clarity, that can be used frequently to buff the damage of Merciless Slash (the discipline’s highest damage ability). The ideal set bonus for the discipline, Descent of the Fearless, should provide a high-uptime 10% damage boost and much more frequent use of Force Clarity.
With respect to tactical items and situational gameplay, Watchman received a very strong option in Spiteful Saber that makes Cauterize a one-time application DoT that can be refreshed via the rotation (i.e., in a similar fashion to how TK Sage can refresh Weaken Mind or Tactics Vanguard can refresh Gut) as well as making the filler ability much more powerful via its extra tick of DoT damage.
The remaining tactical options for Watchman are far less impressive and likely not relevant in PVE operations, though they could be useful in running heroics and flashpoints to increase burst AoE damage and enable more frequent use of Merciless Slash without needing to steadily decrease its cooldown through sustained use.
Between the new ability and set bonus (and their strong synergy) and the powerful tactical, the discipline is as strong as ever in 6.0.
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.
This utility has 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.
I do not usually take this utility but 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
Burning Sweep - Reduces the cooldown of Force Sweep by 9 seconds and the focus it consumes by 1. Also, Force Sweep deals 30% more damage and spreads your Cauterize and Force Melt burns to targets it hits, if it hits a target already affected by those burns.
This early utility provides for DoT spreading by Watchman. Force Sweep is a strong filler so utilizing it each time you re-apply DoTs is typically not a single target DPS loss but provides for enormous sustained AoE DPS.
Juyo Form - Utilize an offensive lightsaber form, causing your melee attacks to increase all damage dealt by 1% for 30 seconds. Stacks up to 5 times. This effect cannot occur more than once every second.
Juyo Form is one of two discipline traits that make it challenging to deal strong burst damage. When beginning an encounter or having at least 30s of downtime, the spec loses damage that takes several GCDs to rebuild. Watchman players should always seek out any opportunity to get in at least one hit to keep Juyo stacks up. Juyo stacks are further buffed by Juyo Mastery, so the buff provides +6% damage and +6% critical chance.
Merciless Zeal - Your Cauterize, Overload Saber, and Force Melt burns heal you for 15% of the damage they deal.
Watchman provides very strong rotational self-heals through this passive ability and Zen usage.
Plasma Blades - Your burn effects have a 20% chance to build 1 Focus when dealing damage. This effect cannot occur more than once every second.
Watchman generates a LOT of Focus via free fillers and many Focus building abilities, which is further strengthened through this passive. Keeping full uptime on DoTs should proc 1 Focus every 2-3 seconds.
Juyo Mastery - Your burn effects are 1% more likely to critically hit per stack of Juyo Form. Also, the effects of your Zen ability are modified.
As discussed above, maintaining Juyo stacks is critical to DPS and burst damage when swapping targets.
Burning Focus - Your direct damage attacks that critically hit a burning target build 1 Focus. This effect cannot occur more than once every 3 seconds. Also, Merciless Slash makes its targets Assailable (+7% elemental/internal damage) for 45 seconds.
Another passive ability that provides additional Focus generation, as well as a very strong debuff.
Inexhaustible Zeal - Juyo Form can now stack up to 6 times, and Merciless Slash can now stack up to 4 times in total.
This increase in stacks now enables +6% damage and critical chance for maximum Juyo stacks and gets Merciless Slash’s cooldown down to 9s / 6 GCDs to align with Cauterize.
Mind Sear - Your burning effects have a 20% chance to grant Mind Sear which increases the damage of your next Twin Saber Throw by 100%. This effect can only occur once every 18 seconds.
This passive provides for Twin Saber Throw proccing and becoming glowy. It doesn’t need to be used immediately due to the long cooldown of Mind Sear proccing, but the proc should never be wasted.
Accelerating Victory - Juyo Form and Merciless build two stacks at a time. Also, Merciless Slash has a 50% chance to build Accelerating Victory when activated, increased the damage your next Slash or Dispatch deals by 5% per stack. Stacks up to 2 times.
This passive is a huge buff to opening DPS by halving the time necessary to reach maximum Juyo and Merciless stacks. Since Merciless Slash is the primary burst damage ability, Watchman DPS is relatively weak until Merciless Slash has 4 stacks and is down to a 9s / 6 GCD cooldown.
Smoldering Burns - Merciless Slash increases the burn damage you deal by 3% for 4.5 seconds after use.
Merciless Slash is already a very powerful melee ability, but now provides a strong though short duration damage buff. It should be used on cooldown, which will maintain the 3% buff for half of the time (9s cooldown and buff will be up for 4.5s).
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. Please also see my Alacrity Guide for a much more in-depth look at alacrity.
For Watchman Sentinel, I gear as follows:
Set Bonus: Descent of the Fearless
Tactical: Spiteful Saber (I usually keep Spiteful Saber even in AoE situations due to Watchman's great DoT spread)
Amplifiers: Periodic Intensity
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 Watchman 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: around 1,400 (at least 1,895 if the Zeal guild perk applies)
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 a very high uptime on a straight 10% damage buff. Watchman should benefit from this set bonus even more than Combat or Concentration as each DoT tick can proc the set bonus to build stacks of Force Clarity, providing a further buff through more frequent use of the new 6.0 ability to buff specific ability damage by 25%.
As the discipline dual-wields lightsabers, many attacks deal damage multiple times and offer multiple chances to proc the 6-piece set bonus. Also, the discipline frequently has 3 DoTs ticking between Cauterize, Force Melt and Overload Saber. When taken together, the discipline will frequently have 3-5 chances each GCD to trigger the 6-piece set bonus to build a stack of Force Clarity (and refresh the 4-piece set bonus 10% damage buff). These should provide high uptime of the ability to buff damage 25% and nearly continuous uptime of the 10% damage buff.
Impact on Rotation: No impact on the rotation for existing abilities and their priority. Maintaining maximum uptime of DoTs is already the main priority for the discipline, which is further magnified as it maximizes the change of triggering the 6-piece set bonus to generate additional stacks of Force Clarity.
For use of the new ability Force Clarity, Merciless Slash is by far the best ability to buff as it has the highest non-DoT damage per activation. The rate limit of 5 seconds for generating stacks via the 6-piece set bonus is significantly less than the 9 second cooldown of Merciless Slash at 4 stacks of Merciless, so absent really bad RNG every use of Merciless Slash should be buffed.
Additional charges should follow the filler ability priority discussed below. Advanced players should strive to “bank” the additional charges and try to use them on filler abilities used right as the 10% damage buff is about to fall off if Merciless Slash is still on cooldown.
When to Take: All situations. Descent of the Fearless is easily the BIS set bonus for all Jedi Knight disciplines.
Tactical Items
Tactical Items
Spiteful Saber
Spiteful Saber
Increased drop rate from daily missions.
Slash, Dispatch and Twin Saber Throw refresh the duration of Cauterize's burn effect and ticks its damage.
Analysis: Cauterize does very high overall damage in the discipline and its only drawback is a relatively short cooldown of 9 seconds / 6 GCDs requiring it to be reapplied far more often than more DoTs in the game. This tactical makes the rotation incredibly easy for Watchman while also significantly buffing DPS and making the discipline’s spammable filler Slash far stronger.
Enabling an automatic refresh of Cauterize grants an extra ability slot to deal damage very 6 GCDs (a 17% increase) without any DPS loss versus having to use the ability to directly re-apply the DoT as would be necessary without the tactical. Cauterize does deal some direct damage upon its use but even a basic attack deals more damage thus literally any other ability use will be a DPS increase solely based on freeing up the GCD.
What makes the tactical really strong though is the ability to “tick its damage” via your spammable filler Slash and two other cooldown fillers. In addition to their base damage and refreshing the Dot for another 6 GCDs, it also causes Cauterize to tick an additional time. Given Cauterize does a high amount of damage over relatively few ticks (due to its low duration), that is a very sizable increase in damage.
Lastly, the excess energy generated by Watchman further increases the power of this tactical. The discipline already features very heavy spam of Slash even prior to eliminating the need to use Cauterize every 6 GCDs, so that spam further magnifies the benefit by it being being ticked very frequently on a typical encounter.
Impact on Rotation: After the initial opener to apply Cauterize, it should no longer be used unless there is downtime or target swapping. AFTER the opener, this leads to a steady state rotation beginning with Merciless Slash and then following the filler priority of Force Melt then everything else. Slash in particular will do far more damage and should be used when necessary to ensure the Cauterize DoT is refreshed without expiring (it should generally be used far more often anyway).
When to Take: Nearly all operations or when prioritizing single target sustained damage. Malmourral Mask is a good alternative when running solo or small group content with lots of AoE situations, or in a very few specific operation encounters (e.g., Hive Queen, Dxun Holding Pens, etc.)
Malmourral Mask
Malmourral Mask
Increased drop rate from flashpoints.
When Merciless Slash deals damage to an enemy affected by Force Melt, it triggers a burst of damage to up to 8 targets around them.
Analysis: Merciless Slash should nearly always be the top overall damage per activation ability in the Watchman discipline. Making it an AoE effect 2 of every 3 uses (i.e., it has a 6 GCD cooldown after the first two uses while Force Melt has a 9 GCD cooldown so it can only buff 2 of every 3 uses) is very powerful.
Combining the Malmourral Mask tactical with the Trailblazer utility to buff the spammable AoE filler and the low-cooldown use of Force Sweep (itself a strong AoE ability) to spread 2 high damage DoTs, this tactical makes Watchman an insanely powerful AoE spec for both AoE burst and sustained AoE damage.
However, the discipline already provides very high sustained AoE damage so it becomes difficult to recommend the tactical since it provides no increase to sustained damage and very few situations in operations require such high levels of AoE damage. Where it shines is when soloing heroics or running flashpoints or uprisings, where many groups of adds are present and adding burst AoE is very helpful to shortening the time required to clear the content.
Impact on Rotation: When pulling a group, recommended opener to maximize burst damage should be to target the enemy with the most health and use the following opener:
Force Melt - Used to build energy and immediately set up Malmourral Mask’s AoE effect in the second GCD
Overload Saber OFF GCD - Used for extra damage on main target.
Merciless Slash - Used to do very high single and AoE damage
Cauterize - If enemies are still alive, we need to set up a DoT spread to do sustained AoE so applying second DoT that can be spread
Force Sweep - High AoE damage and spreading DoTs for Force Melt and Cauterize to all nearby enemies.
At this point, the AoE rotation described below should be utilized. Force Melt has a 12 second / 8 GCD cooldown, in comparison to Merciless Slash 9s / 6 GCD cooldown after reaching 4 stacks of Merciless. Thus, not every Merciless Slash can be buffed by this Tactical but no delay of Force Melt is necessary as its duration is sufficiently long to ensure it’s buff always affects the next use of Merciless Slash.
When to Take: Recommended for solo content such as heroics and small group content in flashpoints or uprisings. In most cases this tactical should be swapped for Spiteful Saber (or alternatively, Thirsty Blade) for boss encounters in flashpoints, though. Not recommended for operations.
Thirsty Blade
Thirsty Blade
Increased drop rate from flashpoints.
Blade Barrage deals 5% more damage for each burn stacked on the target, up to 25%.
Analysis: Getting up to a 25% damage boost on a high damage filler sounds great. If Watchman was able to reset the cooldown of Blade Barrage in a similar fashion to Guardian Vigilance, or if this tactical were available to that discipline, it might be really strong.
Unfortunately, the main drawback here is the ability cooldown. Blade Barrage has an 18 second / 12 GCD cooldown. Thus the buff can only apply on around 8% of ability usage and may frequently buff damage 10-15% rather than 25% depending on the number of stacks of Overload Saber, or would require delaying use of Overload Saber which might end up as an overall DPS loss. These limitations greatly reduce its benefit to sustained single target DPS and make it very difficult to recommend.
Impact on Rotation: N/A as it is not recommended.
When to Take: Not recommended for use in any situations.
No Time for Fools
No Time for Fools
Increased drop rate from daily missions.
Merciless Slash automatically kills standard and weak enemies with less than 30% health. Killing an enemy this way resets the cooldown of Merciless Slash.
Analysis: This tactical has essentially no relevance to PVE operations or PVP, outside of perhaps a few trash pulls in Ops (though in general most trash are at least strong level so probably still not helpful at all). That said, in solo or smaller group content this tactical can be situationally helpful. The problem is that standard and weak enemies often do not have that much health, so the 30% health limitation is a big drawback. At that level, Dispatch or any other high damage filler should be enough to kill the enemy.
Given the prevalence of groups of enemies in heroics and flashpoints, for that type of content I would much more strongly recommend Malmourral Mask to make Merciless Slash a very powerful burst AoE attack. It does not have a health requirement for its effects which makes all the difference. If this tactical reset the cooldown after killing ANY ENEMY (in a similar fashion to how Infiltration Shadow players can take a utility to reset the cooldown on Shadow Stride after killing an enemy within a short time of its use to enable rapid spam of Force Breach), then this would be much more useful in solo / small group content and situationally useful even in Operations.
Impact on Rotation: N/A as it is not recommended.
When to Take: Not recommended for use in any situations.
Amplifiers
Amplifiers
Periodic Intensity (or secondarily, Weapon Expertise)
Periodic Intensity (or secondarily, Weapon Expertise)
Nearly half of the discipline’s average DPS is generated by DoTs (Cauterize, Force Melt, Overload Saber). The attack types are evenly split between weapon and force type attacks, while the damage dealt is energy damage for non-DoT damage and internal damage for DoTs. As such, the percentage of damage buffed by each potential amplifier is fairly similar, with those being Periodic Intensity (DoTs), Weapon Expertise (weapon type attacks), Force Sensitivity (force type attacks) and Armor Penetration (kinetic/energy type damage).
Periodic Intensity is preferable for the reason that it provides a much larger damage boost than Weapon Expertise or Force Sensitivity (around double) and while its percentage buff is slightly lower than Armor Penetration it provides a direct boost to damage (unlike Armor Penetration which provides a reduction in armor that typically provides around a 40% reduction in damage, thus it’s effect is greatly diminished relative to its raw statistical amount in the tooltips.) As a result, Periodic Intensity should be expected to provide around double the buff to DPS as compared to other options.
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, increasing the critical chance of your burn attacks by 100% and causing the burn damage you deal to heal your group for 1% of max health. Lasts for 6 charges.
Zen is a unique off-GCD offensive cooldown to Sentinels that provides different effects for each Sentinel discipline. For Watchman, this provides 6 charges of guaranteed crits on all DoTs and provides low levels of self heals. See below for discussion on using Zen under rotation.
Merciless Slash (4 Focus, 15s cooldown, range 4m) - Strikes the target with both lightsabers for high weapon damage. Each use of this ability grants Merciless for 30 seconds, lowering the cooldown of your next Merciless Slash by 1.5 seconds. Stacks up to 4 times.
Watchman’s biggest hitting ability and the primary source of its burst damage capability, Merciless Slash should always be used on cooldown.
Cauterize (2 Focus, no cooldown, range 4m) - Strikes the target for low damage and causes it to burn for moderate elemental damage over 9 seconds.
Cauterize is the only DoT that Watchman Sentinels really have to watch carefully, as it is possible to re-apply it before it expires (unlike Force Melt and Overload Saber that can be used on CD since their duration is shorter than their cooldown). A big part of maximizing DPS is refreshing Cauterize exactly as it expires after 9s / 6 GCDs. Establishing a fixed rotation where another ability’s cooldown reminds you to refresh Cauterize works well. See the rotation section below, as I generally recommend using Merciless Slash as after the opener it has an identical cooldown.
Force Melt (free, 12s cooldown, range 10m) - Calls on the power of the Force to build 4 Focus and melt the target, causing it to burn for moderate elemental damage over 9 seconds.
Force Melt is a powerful DoT and also generates a lot of Focus. It should be used on cooldown even if doing so will waste Focus generation, though if possible use of Slash spam and Focus builders should be managed so that Force Melt’s Focus generation is never wasted.
Overload Saber (3 Focus, 12s cooldown, off-GCD) - Charges your lightsabers with deadly energy for 15 seconds, causing your next 3 successful melee attacks to make the target burn for low elemental damage over 6 seconds. Stacks up to 3 times.
Overload Saber is off-GCD and should be used relatively close to on cooldown. The only exception is for highly skilled players where delaying Overload Saber 1 GCD will cause it to better overlap with Force Melt for an upcoming Zen usage.
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 takes top priority except (1) when sub-30% and have Focus to use Dispatch; or (2) when Twin Saber Throw is procced.
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 Watchman Sentinel.
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.
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 another free filler and when procced deals strong filler damage. Any time multiple enemies are present, make sure to position yourself so that the conal attack hits as many enemies as possible.
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.
Zealous Strike (free, 15s cooldown, range 4m) - Strikes the target multiples times with both lightsabers, dealing weapon damage and building 6 Focus.
Sentinel’s main Focus building ability. Watchman generates a LOT of Focus through its various Focus building abilities and passively through DoTs ticking on targets. Outside of prioritizing Merciless Slash, Cauterize and Force Melt, Zealous Strike should be prioritized when its use won’t cap energy (i.e., you can only earn less than 6 Focus) and when Force Melt is NOT going to be off CD in the next 2-3 GCDs. In general, maximizing Focus will help DPS by enabling more frequent use of Slash as a spammable filler.
Slash (3 Focus, no cooldown, range 4m) - Slashes the target for moderate weapon damage.
Slash is a straight forward spammable filler. Due to the high amount of Focus generation and most fillers being free (Blade Barrage, Twin Saber Throw), Slash should be used a lot in most rotations.
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 very often if at all in a good Watchman parse, as per the heavy Focus generation generally Slash can be used instead. The only time Strike should be used is to make up for using Slash too often to ensure adequate Focus for Merciless Slash, Overload Saber and Cauterize.
Rotation
Rotation
Basic Rotation Priority System
Basic Rotation Priority System
The Watchman Sentinel rotation is a priority system that evolves into a pretty simple and short standard rotation. Assuming you have equipped the Spiteful Saber tactical, your general priority should be as follows:
1. Maintain full uptime on Cauterize. Cauterize has a 9s cooldown before alacrity so you should refresh Cauterize every 6 GCD’s. This is the only DoT you need to watch for this spec but is very important. If you are using the Spiteful Saber tactical, after initial application you should never have to refresh Cauterize except during downtime in an encounter. If so, a key consideration in your rotation is making sure to refresh/tick Cauterize so that it does not expire.
2. Use Merciless Slash, Force Melt on cooldown. After you gain full stacks, Merciless Slash will also have a 9s / 6 GCD cooldown and should be used on cooldown. Force Melt has a 12s / 8 GCD cooldown so will float in the rotation but should also be used on cooldown.
3. Use Overload Saber and Zen on cooldown. Overload Saber deals a lot of your DoT damage and is off-GCD so should be used on cooldown. Zen should generally be used on cooldown as well due to the extra Centering generated by additional use of Slash due to the Spiteful Saber tactical.
4. See below for Filler Priority
This priority system evolves into a simple and short rotation. Once 4 stacks of Merciless are gained (2 stacks per use of Merciless Slash, so it only takes 2 uses), Merciless Slash has its cooldown reduced to 9s or 6 GCDs. Thus, the core rotation after the opener will be 6 GCDs with Merciless Slash always taking the same slot. Force Melt (the other key “use on CD” ability) will float between slots in the rotation, with all other spots being used for filler damage or Focus generation.
Basic Opener
Basic Opener
Please note that I am not assuming the player is taking the Inspired Focus utility to use the raid buff pre-pull for energy. My personal preference is to not take Inspired Focus as I find better synergy for the raid buff is a few seconds after the pull and in some fights it may be desirable to delay raid buffs anyway.
I am similarly structuring this opener for actual content rather than parsing and thus include your leap since relatively few fights let you begin combat from melee range. This opener also assumes the player is equipping the Spiteful Saber tactical.
1
4
7
10
13
16
19
2
5
8
11
14
17
20
3
6
9
12
15
18
21
Force Leap IF ENGAGING FROM RANGE
Overload Saber OFF GCD
Zealous Strike Need to ensure enough Focus to use Merciless Slash, adds 1st Overload Saber DoT and Beat Down debuff
Adrenal OFF GCD Used before first use of Merciless Slash
Inspiration OFF GCD Used before first use of Merciless Slash
Force Clarity OFF GCD Use to apply DotF damage buff and to buff Merciless Slash
Merciless Slash Biggest hitting single ability, adds 2nd Overload Saber DoT
Force Melt Applying DoT, adds 3rd Overload Saber DoT
Valorous Call OFF GCD Used to regain 30 Centering
Cauterize Applying last DoT. If using Spiteful Saber tactical will not need to re-apply.
Zen OFF GCD Used here to maximize DPS after Cauterize is applied
Twin Saber Throw High damage filler (use if procced and glowing, otherwise skip and begin Slash spam and use Twin Saber Throw when it procs)
Slash Spammable filler, ticks/refreshes Cauterize via tactical
Slash Spammable filler, ticks/refreshes Cauterize via tactical
Slash Spammable filler, ticks/refreshes Cauterize via tactical
Blade Barrage High damage filler and free, can use an extra Slash if enough energy
Overload Saber OFF GCD Use on cooldown
Slash Spammable filler, ticks/refreshes Cauterize via tactical
Force Melt Use on cooldown
Force Clarity OFF GCD Use to buff Merciless Slash
Merciless Slash Use on cooldown, ability is now down to 6 GCD cooldown
(begin Core rotation)
Opener w/ Inspired Focus
Opener w/ Inspired Focus
The basic opener can be tweaked further depending on the utilities being taken and how much energy is available when beginning the opener.
If taking the Inspired Focus utility and opening with Inspiration, Force Leap and Zealous Strike can be eliminated unless Force Leap is needed as a gap closer. Also, Cauterize should generally be applied prior to Merciless Slash so that it starts ticking earlier. Cauterize takes higher priority than Merciless Slash since without any stacks of Merciless you can only use Merciless Slash once within 10 seconds, so can only use once within the raid buff duration regardless.
1
4
7
10
2
5
8
11
3
6
9
12
Inspiration OFF GCD Used before pull for energy and raid buff
Force Clarity OFF GCD Use to apply DotF damage buff and to buff Merciless Slash
Overload Saber OFF GCD
Cauterize Applying DoT
Adrenal OFF GCD Used before first use of Merciless Slash
Valorous Call OFF GCD Used to regain 30 Centering
Merciless Slash Biggest hitting single ability
Zen OFF GCD Used here to maximize DPS
Force Melt Applying DoT
Twin Saber Throw High damage filler (use if procced and glowing, otherwise skip and begin Slash spam and use Twin Saber Throw when it procs)
Slash Spammable filler, ticks/refreshes Cauterize via tactical
Slash Spammable filler, ticks/refreshes Cauterize via tactical
(begin Core rotation)
Core Rotation
Core Rotation
The Watchman Sentinel "rotation" is super simple in 6.0 especially with the Spiteful Saber tactical equipped. With maximum stacks of Merciless, the rotation revolves around the use of Merciless Slash on cooldown every 6 GCDs. With the Spiteful Saber tactical item equipped, Cauterize should be refreshed automatically without any need to re-apply. That leads to our second key goal to keep Cauterize up by using Dispatch, Twin Saber Throw or Slash to refresh Cauterize once every 6 GCDs.
Outside these two goals, the rest falls into a pretty natural priority and some energy management with lots of slots for fillers.
The key abilities for the rotation in Merciless Slash and Force Melt float through four blocks of 6 GCDs as follows below. This enables both abilities to be used on cooldown.
1
2
3
4
5
6
Block 1 - Merciless Slash w/ Force Clarity, Force Melt, Filler x4
1
2
3
4
5
6
Block 2 - Merciless Slash w/ Force Clarity, Filler x2, Force Melt, Filler x2
1
2
3
4
5
6
Block 3 - Merciless Slash w/ Force Clarity, Filler x4, Force Melt
1
2
3
4
5
6
Block 4 - Merciless Slash w/ Force Clarity, Filler x5
Ability Priority
Ability Priority
Watchman Sentinel will work best for most players as a priority rotation rather than a set rotation, since so many of the ability slots are fillers. This breaks down to several key abilities to use on cooldown, with several of those being off-GCD, and then a list of fillers.
OFF GCD / "Fire and Forget" Abilities
1
2
3
4
Cauterize - Cauterize should be applied in the opener and then should be continually refreshed via Twin Saber Throw, Dispatch or Slash at least once every 6 GCDs to avoid Cauterize expiring. If Cauterize does fall off, it should be re-applied immediately unless the target will die in less than 6 GCDs (8-9 seconds).
Overload Saber - Overload Saber is an off-GCD ability that applies a stacking DoT as you hit the target with weapon attacks. It stacks up to 3 times and deals very high periodic damage. It should be used on cooldown unless the target is about to die or downtime will occur in the next 3-5 seconds.
Force Clarity - Force Clarity should be used regularly to buff ability damage and maintain uptime of the Descent of the Fearless +10% damage buff. Force Clarity should generally be used immediately before Merciless Slash.
Zen - Zen requires 30 stacks of Centering and increases the critical chance of DoT periodic damage by 100% for 6 charges. Generally Zen should be activated on cooldown.
Priority GCD Abilities
1
2
Merciless Slash - Deals very high damage and applies important buffs so must be used on cooldown.
Force Melt - Deals high periodic damage and generates energy. Make sure to apply Force Melt in GCD #2/4/6 so that it floats without overlapping with Merciless Slash in GCD #1, as by doing so you can easily ensure both of these abilities can always be used on cooldown.
Fillers
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Slash - Top priority filler only if Cauterize is about to expire
Zealous Strike - Priority filler for energy generation but only if you will not cap on energy immediately or if Force Melt will cap energy in a few GCDs. See below for further discussion about energy management.
Dispatch - Top priority for damage and ticks/refreshes Cauterize with the Spiteful Saber tactical, but is generally only usable when boss is below 30% health.
Twin Saber Throw - Priority filler when procced by Mind Sear passive ability once every 18 seconds. Twin Saber Throw ticks/refreshes Cauterize. Twin Saber Throw generally does more damage with the Mind Sear proc than Dispatch, but since the proc's cooldown is independent of when Twin Saber Throw is used I find that during execute it is more efficient to prioritize Dispatch to get it on cooldown then to immediately use Twin Saber Throw.
Slash - Spammable filler that deals much stronger damage than normal as it ticks/refreshes Cauterize
Blade Barrage - Free filler that deals higher base damage than Slash but does not tick/refresh Cauterize so deals less damage overall, it should primarily be used when you have insufficient energy to use Slash but an energy builder is about to come off cooldown so you do not need to use Strike. Blade Barrage is especially helpful to use during Zen when low on Focus, since it conserves energy to use Slash more often outside Zen.
Strike - Free basic attack that builds energy, it should be used sparingly if at all by skilled Watchman players as the discipline has ample, though sometimes unpredictable, energy generation
AoE Rotation
AoE Rotation
Modified Single Target Rotation
Modified Single Target Rotation
For nearly all AoE situations, I recommend continuing the single target rotation above only with one change to substitute Force Sweep for a use of Slash. Force Sweep should be used once every 6 GCDs. Thanks to the Burning Sweep passive skill, Force Sweep will spread the DoTs applied by Cauterize and Force Melt to nearby targets provided they are in range of and damaged by Force Sweep.
Force Sweep normally has a 15 second cooldown prior to alacrity but it is reduced by Burning Sweep down to 6 seconds. Cauterize and Force Melt both apply DoTs with a 9 second duration prior to alacrity, although Cauterize has no cooldown and Force Melt has a 12 second cooldown.
This all leads to the simple recommendation to use Force Sweep once per rotation cycle every 6 GCDs. This aligns Force Sweep's use with Cauterize's DoT duration and should keep essentially full uptime on Cauterize on nearby targets. Combined with using Spiteful Saber to continually tick/refresh Cauterize on the main target, this leads to high sustained AoE DPS while maintaining high single target DPS.
Here is an example 6 GCD mini-rotation assuming Cauterize has already been applied to the main target and ignoring any off-GCD abilities like Force Clarity, Overload Saber or Zen. Force Sweep can naturally slot into GCD #3 or 5 and be used every time in that slot to consistently line up with the duration of Cauterize on nearby enemies so that just as Cauterize drops off it is re-applied via Force Sweep. Just do that and otherwise follow the single target priority and watch your amazing AoE DPS kill everything!
1
2
3
4
5
6
AoE Priority Rotation
AoE Priority Rotation
For players seeking to tailor their rotation to maximize AoE DPS, the priority rotation can be modified somewhat. These changes emphasize DoT application and spreading over Merciless Slash (though Merciless Slash should still be used essentially on cooldown). It can also take advantage of Twin Saber Throw ticking/refreshing Cauterize via the Spiteful Saber tactical.
It is worth noting that playing Watchman following the AoE priority with Spiteful Saber should still look very similar to the single target rotation swapping in Force Sweep.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Cauterize - Apply to your main target and make sure to refresh via the Spiteful Saber tactical, spread via Force Sweep
Force Melt - Use on cooldown and spread via Force Sweep
Force Clarity + Force Sweep - High AoE damage and spreads your DoTs.
Twin Saber Throw - Twin Saber Throw ticks/refreshes Cauterize and does conal damage, make sure to face towards the biggest group of adds to deal additional damage via the Spiteful Saber tactical after spreading Cauterize. Unlike the single target rotation, Twin Saber Throw should be used on cooldown in AoE situations.
Merciless Slash - Merciless Slash still does very high single target damage so it should continue to be used for overall damage and to maintain stacks of Merciless so that a transition to pure single target can be made efficiently.
Zealous Strike - Used as necessary for energy generation, avoid using it if above 5-6 energy to avoid capping but prioritize its use above the below abilities if it can be used without capping energy
Cyclone Slash - A spammable AoE filler ability that can be used in pure AoE situations
Slash - Slash refreshes/ticks Cauterize via the Spiteful Saber tactical and should be used once every 6 GCDs on the main target to refresh Cauterize on the main target. This sacrifices a use of Cyclone Slash but by refreshing Cauterize it frees up another use of Cyclone Slash later.
Note - Off-GCD abilities such Overload Saber and Zen should continue to be used on cooldown as discussed above.
Tactical for AoE Situations - Spiteful Saber or Malmourral Mask?
Tactical for AoE Situations - Spiteful Saber or Malmourral Mask?
As discussed above, Spiteful Saber should generally be the tactical choice in end game PVE content while Malmourral Mask provides an AoE-focused tactical option. This begs the question as to in which situations, if any, should Malmourral Mask be taken? I would propose that it should almost never be taken, but this is somewhat based on personal preference and open to some debate.
First, let’s briefly recap on how each tactical operates:
Spiteful Saber - Slash, Dispatch and Twin Saber Throw refresh the duration of Cauterize's burn effect and ticks its damage.
Malmourral Mask - When Merciless Slash deals damage to an enemy affected by Force Melt, it triggers a burst of damage to up to 8 targets around them.
Malmourral Mask is clearly a winner when it comes to maximizing AoE DPS because Merciless Slash already does very high burst damage, so making it an AoE ability is very powerful.
Spiteful Saber does provide an increase in AoE DPS as Twin Saber Throw’s conal AoE effect can tick and refresh Cauterize on multiple targets. However, Twin Saber Throw’s cooldown is too long to enable continuous uptime on Cauterize. If only Cyclone Slash could also trigger Spiteful Saber…
So Malmourral Mask is better for AoE DPS, so why is there any debate as to which tactical to take? The short version is that there are no AoE DPS checks in the entire game, so sacrificing meaningful single target DPS to maximize AoE DPS is rarely if ever going to increase the team’s chance of clearing a boss encounter.
Let’s consider a few operation boss encounters that have the potential for high or very high AoE DPS:
Foreman Crusher (Karagga’s Palace) - Adds spawn several times throughout the fight and they deal relatively high damage to non-tanks. However, they can be easily burst down so there is not sufficient uptime to be worthwhile to prioritize AoE DPS.
Draxus (Dread Fortress) - Numerous add waves have 3 adds grouped tightly together and offer nice AoE DPS potential. The burn phase also appreciates high AoE DPS if you can group Guardians near Draxus. However, single target DPS is more important to kill Corruptors, Despoiler, Dismantlers, Guardians and lastly Draxus himself.
Corruptor Zero (Dread Fortress) - Most group strategies LoS adds so they stack very close to Corruptor Zero, which offers great DoT spread and AoE DPS potential. Yet again, I would argue single target DPS is more important to quickly burst down the champion add to prevent its AoE stun and then keeping maximum damage on Draxus while DoT spreads kill the remaining trash.
Torque (Ravagers) - The Torque encounter in Veteran Mode offers lots of DoT spread opportunities given the close proximity and many targets (Torque, Shoots Lasers, Fire Device and turrets on the consoles). The DPS check on this fight is Torque himself as most groups can burn him down before he can crash the ship, so prioritizing AoE DPS will actually lengthen the fight and make it more likely people die to fire.
Revanite Commanders (Temple of Sacrifice) - The Revanite Commanders have lots of adds and frequently are close together during the burn phase. However, single target DPS is more important since the key to success is killing the first Commander as quickly as possible to keep incoming damage manageable for healers. Higher AoE DPS sounds nice to burn down adds but honestly regular DoT spread should be plenty to keep some adds off the healers, which is all you really need in that phase.
Tyth (Gods) - Tyth involves numerous add waves that ideally should be grouped up for efficient AoE DPS. Yet again, the adds can be burst down relatively quickly and the DPS check remains single target burst on Tyth once you get below 30% and becomes primarily a single target burn so AoE is not super relevant.
Izax (Gods) - Izax does not have a ton of AoE DPS though the Hull Cutters are a constant pain. Malmourral would not help in this fight since the AoE damage from Merciless Slash would be heavily mitigated by the Hull Cutter’s AoE DR, so Spiteful Saber would be better. Even if it weren’t, single target DPS is still more important for all phases of the fight where DPS is relevant.
Hive Queen - Hive Queen is the co-ruler of AoE DPS along with Control Center in Dxun. However, even this fight is still fundamentally a single target DPS check. The key to success is maintaining high DPS on the Queen so that you can kill her before the second Rally that summons loads of Berserker adds. DoT spread kills the trash adds very quickly anyway and trading some fluff AoE DPS in exchange for lower DPS on the Queen and the Royal Guards is a bad trade.
Control Center (Dxun) - Control Center is a very high AoE DPS encounter and is the only fight in the game where I might consider taking Malmourral Mask due to the high concentration of adds with relatively high health. I would still generally recommend Spiteful Saber even here to maximize DPS on the Reapers and Droids to get them down quickly and let DoT spread kill the other adds. However, if my group composition contained primarily non-DoT classes that have comparatively weaker AoE DPS I might swap to Malmourral Mask for that fight only.
So as you can see, Malmourral Mask is a lot of fun and can increase your AoE DPS, but Spiteful Saber will still be optimal in most situations for primary target DPS and group success.
Energy Management
Energy Management
Watchman Sentinel is an interesting discipline in that it gets a LOT of energy generation from passive skills and also from some utilities if taken. This introduces a bit of randomness into the rotation as to when the energy will be there and when it may leave you hanging.
Energy Management Utilities/Passives
Energy Management Utilities/Passives
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.
Adamant (Skillful Utility) - You generate 4 Focus when stunned, immobilized, put to sleep, or knocked around. Also, the cooldown of Resolute is reduced by 30 seconds.
Inspired Focus (Heroic Utility) - Inspiration generates 12 Focus when activated, and you heal for 1% of your maximum health whenever you activate an ability that consumes Focus.
Plasma Blades (Watchman Passive) - Your burn effects have a 20% chance to build 1 Focus when dealing damage. This effect cannot occur more than once every second.
Burning Focus (Watchman Passive) - Your direct damage attacks that critically hit a burning target build 1 Focus. This effect cannot occur more than once every 3 seconds.
Focused Slash (Sentinel Passive) - Slash, Cyclone Slash, Dispatch, Blade Rush, Merciless Slash, and Concentrated Slice refund 1 Focus when used.
The utility options above can be helpful in various circumstances but should not generally be relied upon for most encounters. However, the passive abilities are very important to Watchman’s energy management and rotation.
Focused Slash is great in that it makes all abilities cheaper. The key to remember is that the base energy cost still applies to activate the ability and then refunds 1. For example, Merciless Slash will still require 4 Focus to activate the ability but it will only cost you 3 net Focus.
The Plasma Blades passive ability will generate pretty steady Focus but is highly dependent on RNG. Watchman applies 3 DoTs (Cauterize, Force Melt, Overload Saber) that all tick once every three seconds. Cauterize should have 100% uptime and should get regular extra ticks of damage thanks to Spiteful Saber, while Overload Saber should have very high uptime and Force Melt should have 75% uptime. Altogether this should lead to getting extra Focus every few seconds but due to the randomness this can lead to unexpectedly capping energy or being temporarily energy starved.
The Burning Focus passive ability is similarly subject to RNG. DoTs have higher average critical rates due to passive abilities and the effects of Zen making all DoTs temporarily auto-crits. This should result in getting 2-3 Focus during each Zen window and getting steady Focus even outside of Zen windows though less often.
Energy Management - Slash Spam
Energy Management - Slash Spam
The last thing to discuss is the use of Slash spam. Slash is great with the Spiteful Saber tactical because every use will add a tick of Cauterize, which increases Slash’s overall damage per activation by over 50%. The challenge to spamming Slash is getting too low on Focus and being unable to activate Merciless Slash (requires 4 Focus, consumes 3) or some other ability.
My thought process for when to Slash spam and when to wait depends mostly on my energy level, as follows:
Focus >6, Zealous Strike is coming up - Slash spam
Focus >8, Force Melt is coming up - Slash spam but stay above 4 unless Zealous Strike is coming up prior to Merciless Slash
Focus >5, Merciless Slash coming up prior to Focus builder - Slash but be careful to stay about 4 Focus so Merciless Slash does not have to be delayed
Focus <4, Merciless Slash coming up prior to Focus builder - Strike until 4 or higher Focus
This is very much a matter of feel that you get used to with practice. The keys to remember are to make sure you have Focus to use Merciless Slash and Overload Saber on cooldown so be careful with energy management to accomplish that goal and get more aggressive as you get more comfortable.
Execute Phase & Dispatch
Execute Phase & Dispatch
How does Dispatch factor into the Watchman 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. Both abilities also tick/refresh Cauterize via the Spiteful Saber tactical item. Dispatch simply does more damage.
The only nuance to consider is making sure you manage your energy so you can always use Dispatch on cooldown or close to it after using higher priority abilities such as Merciless Slash or Force Melt. This may sometimes mean slipping in a Strike in place of a Slash so that you have Focus to use on Dispatch.
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.
For the Watchman 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
This becomes really simple for Watchman: Use Force Clarity to buff Merciless Slash.
Simple. Merciless Slash does the most non-periodic damage so it will get the most mileage of Force Clarity’s +25% damage buff for a specific ability.
Merciless Slash has a 9 second cooldown at 4 stacks of Merciless (i.e., after 2 uses of Merciless Slash in the opener), so this frequency uses Force Clarity often enough to maintain uptime on the +10% damage buff given it’s 10 second duration.
Watchman also has lots of extra ticks of damage from DoTs and extra ticks of Cauterize from abilities via the Spiteful Saber tactical. As such, you should nearly always get a stack of Force Clarity in between each use of Merciless Slash.
What should we do if Merciless Slash comes up with a stack of Force Clarity available? Just go ahead and use Merciless Slash and wait until the next one. The odds are really high you will get a stack of Force Clarity in the meantime and getting a stack will refresh the +10% damage buff anyway, so generally you shouldn’t have to worry about the overall damage buff falling off.
Centering & Use of Zen
Centering & Use of Zen
Zen
Zen
A big key to maximizing DPS as Watchman Sentinel is timing the use of Zen. Zen provides 6 charges of guaranteed crits on all DoT damage, which is powerful but has a short duration. Thus maximizing the DoTs ticking on the target while avoiding a significant delay is key to its effective use.
Here is a brief reminder of each DoT and how its timing interacts with Zen:
Cauterize - This DoT should have 100% uptime on the target, so Zen’s timing is not impacted. Cauterize deals the highest damage per DoT tick.
Force Melt - This DoT has a 12s cooldown and a 9s duration (before alacrity), so there is a small window where Force Melt is not ticking on the target. Force Melt deals less damage than Cauterize or 3 stacks of Overload Saber but deals more damage than 1 or 2 stacks of Overload Saber.
Overload Saber - This DoT applies 3 stacks sequentially through successful melee attacks (so takes at least 3 GCDs to apply a full 3 stacks) and each stack refreshes the cooldown. The duration of 6s / 4 GCDs lasts from the time 3 stacks are applied, so effectively it usually lasts 9s / 6 GCDs from the first attack that applies a stack to the expiration of the buff. Overload Saber deals the least DoT damage for ticks at 1 or 2 stacks but deals the second most damage per tick at 3 stacks.
Centering
Centering
Zen requires 30 Centering to activate. We build Centering through activating an attack that spends Focus and defeating opponents. We can divide abilities between building or not building Centering as follows:
Do NOT build Centering - Strike, Blade Barrage, Twin Saber Throw, Zealous Strike (they do not consume Focus)
Build 4 Centering - Merciless Slash, Cauterize, Dispatch, Slash (these abilities consume Focus)
Another important thing to remember is that Watchman Sentinel cannot build Centering while Zen is active. This is generally true of all Sentinel disciplines and Centering/Zen, though there are some exceptions.
Centering can be affected by several passive abilities and utilities:
Centering (Sentinel passive ability) - 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.
Valor (Sentinel passive ability) - Increases the amount of Centering built by 2 when activating abilities that consume Focus, and reduces the cooldown of Valorous Call by 30 seconds.
Stoic (Sentinel Skillful utility) – 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.
Ardor (Sentinel Masterful utility) – Transcendence no longer requires or consumes Centering, but will go on cooldown for 30 seconds when activated.
Contemplation (Sentinel Heroic utility) - 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.
The Centering passive ability provides the buff and Valor doubles the Centering gain from 2 to 4 for most abilities. I always take the Stoic utility since it provides damage resistance and free Centering when I am attacked, which is great for survivability and more frequent Zen use in combat. I also always take Ardor so that I can use Transcendence for team mobility without sacrificing any Zen uptime. I frequently take Contemplation so that I always have Zen ready for each boss opener.
Zen Strategy
Zen Strategy
The overall strategy for Zen use by Watchman Sentinels is to use it on cooldown. Some Sentinel players may remember when the recommended strategy was to delay Zen in some cases, so I would like to briefly discuss the analysis that leads to this recommendation.
Zen functions slightly differently than it once did. I believe the change was made in 5.0 but am not positive. Prior to the change, Zen increased the critical chance of DoTs by 100% for a fixed 6 seconds instead of applying 6 charges as it does now. This led to a strategy where a player might delay Zen 1-2 GCDs to align its use with Overload Saber being at 2-3 stacks and Force Melt being active on the target, thereby making sure you had all 3 DoTs ticking for most/all of its duration and got as much extra critical damage as possible per use of Zen.
As Zen is currently designed as of 6.2, Zen gives us 6 charges and so essentially makes the next 6 DoT ticks auto-crits. This design changes our strategy to having two goals that partially conflict:
Maximize the uptime of Zen to get as many auto-crit DoT ticks in a fight as possible
Maximize the damage from Zen’s charges by ensuring it applies to higher damaging DoTs
Goal #1 is easily served by simply using Zen on cooldown. Goal #2 is impossible to optimize without either delaying Zen (breaking goal #1) or delaying abilities like Force Melt or Overload Saber that would be an overall DPS decrease by having lower uptime on DoT damage.
Technically, we would be best served to have Zen consume our DoTs in the following order to maximize its damage, though again either delaying Zen or delaying Overload Saber or Force Melt would be a DPS decrease:
Overload Saber @ 2-3 stacks
Cauterize
Force Melt
Overload Saber @ 1 stacks
Each DoT ticks once every 3 seconds except for additional ticks of Cauterize through use of Twin Saber Throw, Dispatch or Slash via the Spiteful Saber tactical.
The other factor to remember is that Zen’s uptime depends on how quickly we can build Centering. Recall that we cannot build Centering while under the effects of Zen. This means the faster we can consume Zen’s charges the quicker we can resume building Centering and get to another Zen.
DoTs generally tick once every 3 seconds prior to alacrity. The fastest we can consume Zen’s 6 charges without Spiteful Saber is about 4 seconds, assuming that we get a tick of all 3 DoTs right after Zen then another 3 ticks after 3 more seconds. The longest it could take is as much as 8-9 seconds if Zen is applied with just Cauterize active on the target and you have to wait a few seconds to apply Overload Saber and Force Melt to get more ticks. 9 seconds or 6 GCDs being unable to build Centering is a lot of wasted time that could be spent building to another Zen...
Enter the Spiteful Saber tactical. Not only does it let you force additional DoT ticks (and uses of Zen charges) once per GCD via Twin Saber Throw, Dispatch and/or Slash, but Cauterize is already a high damaging DoT per tick so this helps us get closer to optimizing Zen’s charges as well. This accelerates our window for consuming all Zen charges from 4-9 seconds down to 3-6 seconds. Over the course of a fight this can lead to significantly more uses of Zen and higher DPS.
The downside to spamming Slash during Zen is that you will not build Centering until all 6 Zen charges are consumed. If you find yourself in a high energy situation this is fine to get all the Zen charges used and start building Centering again.
However, if you find yourself low on Focus then it may be optimal to use abilities that do not consume Centering during those GCDs. Using Twin Saber Throw, Blade Barrage or Zealous Strike would not generate Centering anyway, so using those during Zen can give your DoTs time to tick and consume Zen and conserving your Focus to spam Slash after Zen to start building Centering again.
My approach is usually based on avoiding capping Focus. If I am high on Focus going into Zen then I would rather spam Slash to avoid wasting energy. I may also spam Slash if I enter Zen without Overload Saber or if it is only at 1 stack to try and consume more ticks with Cauterize. If I am low on Zen or if Overload Saber is at 2 stacks I will usually let it ride and use Blade Barrage and Twin Saber Throw.
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.
The Sentinel also has a variety of active and passive abilities that help improve overall survivability:
Zen (no cooldown, requires and consumes 30 Centering) - Requires and converts 30 stacks of Centering to enter a Zen state, increasing the critical chance of your burn attacks by 100% and causing the burn damage you deal to heal your group for 1% of max health. Lasts for 6 charges.
Merciless Zeal (passive skill) - Your Cauterize, Overload Saber, and Force Melt burns heal you for 15% of the damage they deal.
Blazing Ward (passive skill) - Dealing burn damage to a target increases your damage reduction by 5% for 3 seconds.
These passives give Watchman pretty awesome self heals and damage resistance. If taking Stoic and keeping three DoTs up most of the time per the rotation, Watchman Sentinel receives +17% damage reduction at all times. On top of that, Zen and Merciless Zeal together typically give Watchman Sentinels 2-3k of self heals during a fight and adds 1-2k of group self heals. This self healing isn’t usually highly effective healing but on the margins can be really helpful especially in fights with lots of group wide damage.
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse