October 09, 2020

This weekend: Sentinel Class Update

Upgrade Now to Automatically Unlock the Sentinel Class

12th Upholder is live in AdventureQuest Worlds! As a 12th Upholder, you'll receive this year's starswords, a character page, access to the Dragonroad area, and the exclusive Sentinel Upholder Class! And this year, the Class's skills have received updated skills!

What's an Upholder? Read on!

12 years ago, AdventureQuest Worlds went live and players jumped at the chance to become the first Members of AQW. These lucky, early supporters of the game became the game's Founders. Every October after that, we hold the Upholder promotion - anyone upgrading their account during that period (or whose membership ends in early November of that year) becomes an Upholder... making them one of our most Legendary supporters. They unlock exclusive items and a zone... and the Sentinel Class.

AdventureQuest Worlds would not be what it is today without their support.

Gameplay Summary

Sentinels have watched over Lore for nearly all of its existence. Their ancient methods and techniques have resurfaced and are based on both being able to defend the innocent and to deal swift justice. Sentinels are able to enter one of two playstyles, a tankier Stance with access to heals and Damage over Time mitigation, and an attacking Stance, revolving around keeping your own health low to deal enhanced damage. The ability to play both ways means Sentinels are a two-way soloing class, able to deal with weaker opponents as well as tougher ones.

Recommended enhancements: Lucky, Fighter. Just touching this armor fills your mind with the whispers of your fallen brothers and sisters, telling you take the watch in their stead. You feel a strange compulsion to obey and mete out both protection and punishment.

Mana Regen: Sentinels gain mana from all hits landed in combat, and especially on crits. The amount depends on damage relative to *their own* HP totalGameplay Summary

Skill Breakdown

Vigilance
Rank needed: 1 / Auto Attack
Target: Enemy
Max Targets: 1
Type: Physical
Range: Long
Cooldown: 3.2 seconds

An unavoidable, devastating melee-ranged attack unique to the ever-vigilant Sentinel. Grants a stack of The Watch Eternal for 15 seconds, stacks to 10. If Castellan Doctrine is present, applies Overwatch, reducing your target’s outgoing physical damage by 4% for 10 seconds, stacks to 3. If Venator Doctrine is present, applies Beholden, reducing your target’s Hit Chance, Crit Chance, and Dodge by 15% while increasing their damage taken by 15% for 10 seconds.

Once you don the traditional armor and armaments of a Sentinel, the voices of those who kept watch long before whisper to you, allowing you strike with all your might with each blow as well as gain and apply various effects based upon which Doctrine you currently profess. This auto attack is a passive means of cementing which style you want to be in with various buffs and debuffs. 

Sentinel’s Strike 
Rank needed: 1
Target: Enemy
Max Targets: 1
Type: Physical
Range: Long
Mana Cost: 7
Cooldown: 5 seconds

An unavoidable, guaranteed critical strike that deals moderate physical damage to a single target based on your current health. Applies Sentinel’s Strike, decreasing your DoT damage taken by 80% for 15 seconds. Also applies Defensive Stance, a moderate HoT for 7 seconds. Lastly, applies a stack of The Watch Eternal. Replaces Offensive Stance. 

Your first skill deals damage equal to your current HP number and is your first toggle, allowing you to enter or switch into your Defensive Stance. While entering this playstyle does mean you give up on some damage output, you instead gain a heal over time, and can even nullify most of Self-Disregard by way of a huge reduction to all incoming Damage over Time effects, not just your own Self-Disregard.

Active Endurance
Rank needed: 2
Target: Enemy
Max Targets: 1
Type: Physical
Range: Long
Mana Cost: 7
Cooldown: 5 seconds

Deals damage that is increased the lower your health is. Applies Offensive Stance, increasing your Crit Chance by 10% for 7 seconds. Also applies a stack of The Watch Eternal. Replaces Defensive Stance and Sentinel’s Strike.

Active Endurance is your other toggle, allowing you to enter or switch into Offensive Stance. Entering this Stance means you take full damage from Self-Disregard but this only plays what you want, as an increased chance to deal Critical Hits pairs very well this skill’s ability to deal increased damage the lower your health becomes.

Adrenaline Rush 
Rank needed: 3
Target: Self
Max Targets: 1
Type: Physical
Range: Long
Mana Cost: 0
Cooldown: 5 seconds

Applies Adrenaline Rush, increasing your outgoing physical damage, STR, and END by 50%. You also suffer from Self Disregard which applies a DoT on yourself for 15 seconds. If you are in Defensive Stance, applies Castellan Doctrine, decreasing your incoming physical damage by 20%. If you are in Offensive Stance, applies Venator Doctrine, increasing your END by 40% and Hit Chance by 20% while reducing your mana costs by 25%. Both Doctrines last for 15 seconds and consume each other.

A throwback to the old Adrenaline Rush, self Damage over Time and all. Once you select a Stance, Adrenaline Rush then applies a Doctrine, completing whichever playstyle you want. Castellan Doctrine’s damage reduction allows you to more comfortably control incoming damage, while Venator Doctrine’s Endurance buff means your health always counts as being low, increasing Active Endurance’s damage. It is important to note that Adrenaline Rush does deal minor damage to you upon use, which can both be a useful tool when wanting to control your health, or a detriment if you overuse it.

Purge the Wicked 
Rank needed: 5
Target: Enemy
Max Targets: 1
Type: Physical
Range: Long
Mana Cost: 35
Cooldown: 12 seconds

You perform a single strike for massive damage based on the number of The Watch Eternal stacks you have while consuming those stacks. Also consumes Sentinel’s Strike, Defensive Stance, Self-Disregard, Castellan Doctrine, and Venator Doctrine. If Castellan Doctrine was present, you will be healed after 1 second. If Venator Doctrine was present, you will be greatly healed after 1 second.

Purge the Wicked deals more damage with each stack of The Watch Eternal, an aura that every other skill except Adrenaline Rush grants. This skill sees different usage depending which Stance you are in. Defensive Stance typically allows you to build up more stacks of The Watch Eternal, while Offensive Stance greatly appreciates a larger heal and an instant stop to Self-Disregard.

Ironclad Vow 
Rank needed: 4
Type: Passive
Haste increased by 30%, outgoing physical damage increased by 10%

Note: The haste increase originally granted by Adrenaline Rush was moved here.

Lasting Conviction
Rank needed: 4
Type: Passive
Incoming physical damage reduced by 20%.

War Veteran 
Rank needed: 10
Type: Passive

DEX increased by 10%, STR and END increased by 15%

Conclusion

As one of the most-requested classes to be buffed, Sentinel is in an interesting position. While it is certainly deserving of a makeover, it is also a class that is very easy to obtain by anyone. As such, this class is intended for players of around level 25-50 and gives them a powerful option at their level to tackle bosses typically found in weekly releases.

The main point that might stick out to some is how Sentinel instantly nullifies most incoming Damage over Time damage. This class also packs some unmissable skills and sizable debuffs that do not require stacking. While it is no means a meta-breaker, these mechanics were given to Sentinel to allow it to perhaps carve out a niche for itself.

It is an easy to use class that does not require a large amount of attention, yet it remains flexible, and even allows for some mix-and-matching as the situation requires, as a player does not need to actually stay in Defensive Stance after obtaining Castellan Doctrine, and the same goes for Offensive Stance and Venator Doctrine.