Mass Effect Class Guide - SENTINEL 

Salarian; "So you detonate your tech armor in emergencies?" Turian; "No, pretty much all the time. Surrounded by Husks? Tech Armor. Rachni swarmers jumping at me? Tech Armor. Against a Marauder? Bring down their shields with overload, move in real close and then detonate!" Salarian; "But couldn't you just... hit them?"

I'm playing a Sentinel on Legendary, and I have to say with the weapon restrictions removed the Sentinel can be a combat badass. I've used an assault rifle almost exclusively and have been tearing through enemies without an issue on higher difficulty. For me being able to use an assault rifle effectively (even without any skill bonuses) 100% of the time is way more valuable than using Marksman on occasion.

Good stuff. Had a hard time NOT replaying as a sentinel.

Yes, the humble sentinel. My first class to make it through all 3 gates on Insanity

If you think of Mass Effect in old-school pen & paper RPG standards, Soldier, Engineer and Adept are like the Strength, Intelligence and Dex builds (at first glance, it feels like adept should be the Int build, but it's all about fast action at a distance, whereas Engineer is the debuff/pet class). Sentinel is the Int/Dex hybrid class, and if the past is any indication, that is ALWAYS the most interesting way to play.

Sure playing Vanguard can be fun zipping around and in ME3 just charging and detonating novas. Infiltrator with head popping sniper shots. Adept with flinging around enemies (after defenses are down).. But Sentinel. That is the battle-master. Total control of the battlefield. Hanging back, zapping shields/barriers and melting health. Popping off a sniper shot or pistol shot to finish them off. Laugh in the enemy faces with the tech-armor on that stuns them if it goes out.

I picked this one for the legendary edition and I gotta say, it was harder than what I'm used to, lol. Thank you for coming in for the rescue!

After seeing this video, I’m going to start running Sentinel starting in ME2. I used to run through as a Vanguard but thanks to your video, it’s clear that my play style is more in line with the Sentinel. Thanks for the series.

Played infiltrator and adept in my OG runs. Excited to try this class all these years later. Thanks for the guide.

Soldier is always my favorite, all the weapons and ammo powers so this last playthrough I decided to go polar opposite. Usually I go Wrex/Garrus in ME1, but this time I went mostly Liara/Tali and man it changed things up a lot! Trying to force myself to play differently to challenge myself and my wife is interested in playing too!

I went from Soldier in ME1 to Vanguard in ME2 and I really was having a rough time so I put that away for another playthrough and restarted as sentinel. My god what a difference, I feel so much better playing this class. Also made more sense to me from a lore perspective.

To this day this is still my favorite class. Having a blast playing through the first game as this class as this is my first time playing ME 1. I love that I finally get to play it after beating both 2 and 3

I just finished Insanity on ME1 Legendary and I got to say, the Sentinel is AMAZING. Especially if you allow enemies to be damaged during Stasis.

That's what I ended up going in my playthrough, I'm not disappointed so far!

I’ve been playing this series ever since it came out and I always felt slightly bad I never played sentinel. Vanguard always just made me happy

Kate if you get time can you do an in depth video on all the power and tech combos and how to trigger them?

Playing as a sentinel on insanity in legendary. It the only class I never used in the original trilogy. I fully upgraded barrier and have been using the spectre sniper rifle . This sentinel feels a lot like my infiltrator. And it’s AMAZING.

hmm...I oftentimes used combos with another Sentinel (Kaidan). You can double whammy them with biotics or tech. Found this pretty good and didn't necessarily need a soldier in the team... If you then have high weapon and armour stats you are pretty op in my opinion

I've been waiting for this one, doing my first playthrough as a Sentinel

Thank you so much for doing this! Using this class to do my first full insanity run (have done it for ME2 & 3 but not 1)

Thanks so much for your work on the different classes....personally, I did what you did this time around....spacer, war hero, soldier in ME1 and transformation to Sentinel in ME2 and ME3....the cut scenes suggest that there is a transformation of some type and as the story progresses they suggest that there are synthetics within...so it makes sense to have some tech class abilities...remember Shep literally came back to life thanks to tech (biotic chipsets are also tech). Anyway, love the work you do! cheers!

amazing series of videos kate. Your hardwork really paid off. Im still confused af as to know which class im gonna pick but at least i got a better grasp of how they all play.

Sentinel online! The last one, this was a good series. And now that my laptop will be back tomorrow I can finally play Legendary Edition ☺️.

I played a Vanguard my first playthru (just finished ME3 last night). I loved dashing around the battlefield, it was almost laughably chaotic. Really fun stuff. I think I'll go with this class next, seems cool.

Loved this breakdown, can’t wait to get to you and 3

Your videos on Mass Effect are very informative and detailed. Keep up the good work!

I was struggling to play sentinel in ME2 but this video this super helpful! Thank you for making it! I’ll be sure to check out your other videos as well!

12 minutes in roughly... WARP WAS A DEBUFF MOVE???!!! THAT WAS MY PRIMARY ATTACK IN ME1!!!

Even having played the games before, this is exactly what I was looking for :). Very informative, great job

Thank you for doing this guide, the Sentinel is my favorite class in the series and nobody else has done a guide on them yet

Thanks for all the info. This is one of the only classes I never tried when I played the older version(s) so I think I'll give it a try this time around.

The sentinel was my first and favorite class from mass effect

My first playthrough as Raziel Shepard is Soldier class. His sister, Evlynn Shepard, will either be a Sentinel or Vanguard.

Thx for this Guide...Been waiting for it. This is my first time playing Mass Effect and chose a Sentinel. This info will certainly help since I have been having diffaculties figuring out what abilities to use and when. Trial by error so far. Really impressed with this game so far, still in the early parts of ME1 havent even gotten to Liara yet, but enjoyed saving the Planet from the astriod and now just landed on some Planet to get some Orr and stuff I guess....I think I went the wrong Direction:) Thx again. Stay safe and Gruß from Germany

Was so exited for this! Glad I choose this path.

love your class guide vids keep up the commanders work

Yay!! Sentinel guide

Excellent work, as per usual.

Just starting my first Insanity playthrough with a Sentinel, this was very useful info.

Great guide! The sentinel has always been a fun class that was capable of carrying itself through all 3 games. Its definitely more beginner friendly than most of the classes.

I did my insanity play through as a Soldier, the on the LE i did it as a sentinel and boy was it mush better 😂

Yay new N7K video! :)

Thank you N7Kate My Hero

I love the max barrier and Max Electronics skills. All that extra shields make a rocket like a flashbang.

10:09 Mass effect 2 19:37 Mass Effect 3

Thanks for the guide, as awesome as the others!

Yay! Been waiting for this one! I'm rolling with sentinel in my ME 2 playthrough.

I wad a wee lad when I first tried Mass Effect. I played a default Shepard. I had no idea powers existed until my second play through. Went Sentinel for the Tech Armor in 2 and 3, never looked back. I played ad a tanky caster with a sniper rifle, so that's probably unusual. Now I'm stuck, wondering how to play through Insanity as a tank again, Soldier or Sentinel.

In legendary edition sentinels can use any weapon in ME1, thanks to the removal of the accuracy penalty.

I just leave the armor on throughout the whole mission and just use overload and warp with other companion combos I say sentinel is the op class of them all

My favorite class, especially in ME2 (which had more fun and interesting tech armor than in ME3).

Multible runs on Engineer I have never played Sentinel ...maybe I should give it a try ... :) thy for your upload

Nice! I really loved ME2 sentinel with shredder/warp ammo... It just had it all, you felt like omnipotent mage, but with non-typical incredible durability, twoshotting enemies with carnifex and ammo after stripping their defenses and spamming debuffs/CC like crazy, especially since tech armor resets cooldowns of your allies. I always loved jack/samara and mordin with me, for maximum "power damage"+CC and finishing enemies off with precise carnifex shots

Since Vanguard Has The Shotgun and Infiltrator Has the Sniper Rifle Sentinel Really should Have the Assault Rifle the fact it does not is the only reason i am nervous to try this class

Thanks for the guide 👍

Reseting kasumi's deadly strike over and over again with the tech armor is really broken (but amazing)

Normally and I've said it once before soldier shepherd/war hero is how I used to start a mass effect play through though with the cryoblast and a good rocket launcher good for crowd control with my sentinel, cover is usually my friend.

I don't know if this is a Legendary Edition feature but in ME1 the bonus powers for the Sentinel for me were being able spec into one of the other firearms (either shotguns, assault rifles or sniper rifles) or one additional biotic powers (for me it was warp). I went with sniper rifles though because I always loved being an infiltrator. Being a sniper rifle user with biotics was just too good to pass up. I'm going to miss the cloaking ability from ME2 and ME3 but I'm loving the biotics with a sniper rifle.

Awesome video as all the others! After watching this... I guess, as a melee enthusiast, in ME3 cant decide if a rusdhdown Engineer, Vanguard or Sneaky Infiltrator build... Anyone has any tips? In the original ones i always played vanguard.

If you choose the Bastion specialization and then max out Stasis you can put an enemy into Stasis AND THEN damage them. This is useful info. Yes?

Vanguard was great. Loved using Aria's move

Wonderful video, looking forward to next stream.

I saw Mass Effect & Sentinel Class and I click. My 'canon' Shepard and beat ME2 and ME3 on insanity with Sentinel Class! 😊

If I recall, in 2, you can pull some almost infinite shield with tactical armor and barrier which stack on each other on top of a half charge on destroyed? Don’t remember about that one

One of my favourite builds is Tech Armour (all defence)+ Fortification (all defence) + Fitness (all health and Shields). With this combination the only enemies that are a threat to you are Banshees, Brutes, Phantoms and Atlas Mechs. This is because of their one hit kills abilities. This tank build can otherwise take a lot of punishment. With a light load out, the power cool down penalty wasn't too nasty. I bring Liara along to deal with phantoms and guardians using her Stasis bubble. She can also grant me Warp Ammo. Javic or Kaidan can round off the team with Reave or Dark Channel for those Biotic explosions. Throw is a handy power to spam if your squad mates are setting up Biotic Explosions.

So now that you went through them all which ones are your favorite

I've gone through the original Trilogy as an Engineer, don't know if I wanna stick to the Engineer or go for one of the other mix-classes since they're what I've been eyeing

VERY helpful thank you!

Great video. great game

I'm playing on Insanity and the barrier for ME1 is torn to shreds in front of most snipers.

Random: did you also write the build page for Sentinel on the Mass Effect wiki?

In ME2 and ME3 the Sentinel is the Apocalypse Tank/Ultralisk of the game. Equip a Scimitar Shotgun in ME2, take Kasumi with you and abuse the Tech Armor's cooldown reset, thus streaming flashbangs, overloads and warps. Equip a quick and light Shotgun in ME3, spec for fast power recharge, and explode your way to victory while face-tanking enemies. The most fun class in the trilogy.

Any recommendations for bonus powers? in ME1 im thinking Singularity but i worry it overlaps with Lift too much. Same with ME2, I was thinking Reave but should I take it instead of maxing out Warp? And ME3: is Waro Ammo worth it or should I go for Fortification for extra defence?

ty

Ngl me2 sentinel is my personal favorite class in the entire series

The sixth power upgrade reduces power speed BY 30% not to 30%. So it even better then you described it.

I was hoping for a demolisher or a shadow class.... but well, coloured mirrors .

Ahh the Sentinel class; ‘A jack of all trades and a Master of Defense’ #mypersonalfavoriteclass

what are your favorite classes?

I find that in ME2/3 Sentinel is one of the most overall powerful class. But often overlooked. The thing is the Sentinel has staying power because of the tech armor, but also have high damage and debuff powers that can deal with any enemy class.. Overload strips shields. Warp strips barriers and armor and health. Throw is good at crowd control or combo detonations. Cryoblast freezes enemies and you can toss a throw and make them shatter or just shoot them with a bullet or 2 and they shatter. There is no other class that can deal with absolutely every enemy and deal damage like it. Since you also have squad mates and their power at your disposal you get even more powerful. Easy to bring a team to do detonation combos. The fact the class as an ability for any defense and they are all "damage" powers as well. Shields, Barriers, Armor, health. Nothing can withstand a Sentinel's power stack. ME1 though is a different story. Not sure what class is best in ME1. Now with LE and you can use all guns and since dealing with a lot of Geth (synths) Overload is good I guess warp as well. So either still Sentinel or Infiltrator.

When I played on my 360 version of mass effect one. I picked Sentinel and it gave me an option to be proficient in assault rifles. Would anyone know the reason why.

I never pay much attention in Sentinel, now, I'll create one because I am already playing mass effect 2 with my infiltrator, without ammo again, BioWare lies to us, I am using unlimited ammo cheat to be able to play in insanity mode. But sentinel looks cool now. Ty for the video. I forgot to say, your guide it's the most in-depth out there, I watch a lot, but only yours covers all aspects of each class in the entire trilogy, and this came from a play finished mass effect one and two over 15 times some of them in a roll, without pause after one finish, but I only focus in 3 classes, soldier, engineer, and vanguard, now with a not suffer mass effect one, I'll play all of them.

Perhaps its because I'm playing legendary edition. Byt my sentinel doesn't have singularity, bastion, or some other powers you've got. And my UI us different. I'm new so is that just something only the original ME sentinel had?

@17:05 how is your character at level 40 in ME2 I always capped at 30 is that a mod?

Parts about ME1&2 were alright, but there was couple points about ME3 Sentinel I have to criticize. -Tech Armor cool down penalty is somewhat misleading, and its significance is debatable. However, I suspect this originates from the in-game description which is so very misleading. When most people hear that "Slows power use by 50%.", the usual interpretation would be that you get 50% penalty for overall cool downs. As an example, level six Warp with recharge upgrade at 200% weight has a cool down of 2.22 sec. Tech Armor doesn't increase that by 50% (making it 3,33 sec), instead it adds equivalent of 50% of weight increase to cool downs. How much that is exactly depends on upgrades, but for that lvl 6 Warp with a regular cool down of 2.22, Tech Armor increases it by 0.36 secs (2.58 sec in total). Depending on upgrades it adds 0.15 - 0.22 for Throw, and 0,36 - 0,45 for Warp / Overload. How drastic is the effect for Power / Combo usage then? Depending on the final upgrade (50% damage reduction and -50% weight minus, or 40% damage reduction and -20% weight minus), it's a choice between about -16,5% DPS for Powers&Combos with 50% DMG reduction, or -8,2% DPS penalty and 40% DMG reduction. So, the final upgrade is a tradeoff between 10% damage reduction or 8,3% DPS. For most builds, I'd value 8% DPS for Powers more, but It's not straightforward at all, because the utility of DPS (and debuffs, staggers and stuns) is not easy to compare to something so different as DMG reduction. -Offensive Tech Armor build is probably the worst thing one can do as Sentinel. It has way worse DPS than alternatives (P&C and weapons), and unlike two mentioned you have to expose yourself and get into sync and melee range, and cannot utilize soft or hard cover. The crowd control element is worse than ranged powers have, and DPS is atrocious compared to even less optimal weapon builds. BioWare did refine the concept with Fury and Valkyrie in MP, but this SP / Human Sentinel is a trial run. Looking at top and most optimized runs and builds for Sentinel, it's rare to see it used ever, little alone see it a consciously repeated tactic. -+200 Weight is far less important than a good balance between powers, weight and weapons. Whatever style or build Sentinel is, for to truly get the best bang for the buck, it cannot overlook weapons and just concentrate on powers and weight. As an example, difference between 50% in Weight is around that 15% of Power DPS (around 30% for 100). 15% is a big difference sure, but a difference in DPS between worst and best weapons even for Sentinel can be up to 2188% (Avenger or Shuriken without anything vs fully specced Reegar build). Low-tier weapons vs best weapons for a caster Sentinel is easily difference of 150-200% weapon DPS, than using just anything, as long as you get that 200%. Often even for casters, taking that 0.45 sec cool down penalty is totally justified, if you get +200% weapon DPS increase in return. One can easily play power orientated builds with +150% Weight, and even under it (there's no absolute low benchmark, but going a lot under +100% starts to defeat the idea of playing a caster. My aim is anywhere between +100-200%, depending what I am looking for exactly). Weight does make a difference, but differences in weapons can be in orders of magnitude. Ignoring them and concentrating on powers (a caster or not) is going to make a run a lot harder than it has to be, especially for those who need and benefit from guides most.

If I don't have enough decryption or electronics I spec into Garrus and Tali's as high as I can do I can get into chests

I am Commander Shepard and the Sentinel class is the favorite class for high difficulty in all three games

Sentinel is underrated to play as

Played a Vanguard since the launch of ME1 through to ME3. I was greatly disappointed when Vanguard lost biotic shields in the Legendary Edition. Thus, I swapped to sentinel.

Look what you've done: I am starting a new career. XD

Let’s gooo

Is me2 only soldat is powerful but in the one sentinel is op and in the third it’s op

IT IS TIME!!!!!!!!!!

Anyone else think Tech Armor should be an Engineer move instead of Sentinel?

Sentinel is just broken in me1 Finished the game on insanity without any noticeable resistance

Best for last. Nice.

"If a krogan is in the air while being killed, their health won't regenerate". I think that's because they're dead.

these guides are so good i now cant decide lol. either sentinel or continue with soldier ... or maybe engineer? fuck

Will you be doing a video on some of the more niche ME3 builds like bullet-less soldier, flare infiltrator, and ultimate soldier sentinel?

ME1 makes you feel like a god when you max out the Bastion specialisation and roll with Kaidan and Wrex. 3x Stasis bubbles (through which you can _still damage enemies_ ) + 2x Lift + 2x Overload + 2x Sabotage + 2x Neural Shock + 3x Throw + 1x Warp + 1x Wrex being unkillable (with Maxed Armour, Maxed Fitness (for Immortality) and Maxed Barrier)) = _OBSCENE_ levels of Crowd Control. Why not the other companions? 🤔 *Liara* has a nice set of powers, but does nothing vs shields or Synthetics. *Ashley* is a great tank, but doesn't have the utility (stasis, warp, barrier for additional shields) that Wrex has. *Tali* is lowkey useless in combat when you're a Sentinel and also picked Kaidan (plus way squishier than Wrex, despite also specialising in Shotguns - a CQB weapon). Worst combat companion for the ME1 Sentinel, in my opinion. *Garrus* provides great dps and useful tech powers, but lacks the tankiness of Wrex/Ashley or the CC of Kaidan/Liara. However, _he's a very viable as an alternative to Kaidan_ when you want more damage output. *Captain Kirrahe* does hold the line, but technically isn't a companion and is only found near the end of the game, so you don't get to enjoy much time with him. And it just gets better on Legendary Edition, since you can pick Assault Rifles to really abuse the triple stasis cheese. 🤯