NEUTRALIZE! The Sentinel Guide (Last update 27/1/13: Check out the incoming mix-ups)

[jak_d_ripr]

So yea, I’ve pretty much made it my goal to not only improve my sentinel play, but to improve the quality of sentinel play across the board(because lets be honest, there are a lotta shitty sentinels out there). With that said, fact of the matter is Im not very good with the character and Im just recently getting the hang of controlling him and all that good shit so I decided instead of making a video(like I originally planned) Id make a thread that I can keep updating as I learn this way I can get contributions from all the people who know much more than I do.

Im gonna attempt to cover:
Basic: His normals, specials, hypers, frame data and if I can find the footage ill post hitboxes as well
Combos: The old combo thread was getting kinda stale anyway
Flight School: Cause I believe this is where most sentinel players(myself included) struggle the most
Assist Use-age: Pretty much teaching people how to use drones and giving people some ideas on uses for his other two assists
Team building: We all know sentinel helps anyone, but we don’t really know who helps sentinel
Match-ups: I will try my absolute best to cover all his match-ups, but will give priority to his really bad ones for starters

Basics:
Character Stats:
**Health: **900,000
X-factor boost(lvl 1): 130(damage) 110(Speed)
X-factor boost(lvl 2): 150(damage) 120(Speed)
X-factor boost(lvl 3): 170(damage) 130(Speed)
Normals:

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st. :l:

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Hits: 1
Damage: 70,000
Start-up: 7
Active: 3
Recovery: 28
Advantage on hit: -12
Advantage if Guarded: -15
Notes: Nullifies low priority projectiles during active frames
Discussion: One of his more underrated normals this is good primarily for punishing unsafe stuff(since its his fastest normal) and for ticking into command grabs.

st.

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**Hits: **1
**Damage: **100,000
**Start-up: **14
**Active: **3
**Recovery: **32
**Advantage on hit: **-11
**Advantage on block: **-15
**Notes: **Super armor from frames 6-15, nullifies medium priority projectiles during active frames
**Discussion: **One of, if not his best ground based normal, works as a really good anti-air, only hits once(so it doesn’t scale like cr. ) and it has very nice range, although this range can become an issue since a max range st. will not chain into a st. :s:. Plus it can be flight cancelled into a combo using specific assists, like hawkeye’s, magneto’s, and akumas to name a few(st. :a1: :qcb: :s: :l: :qcb: :s: ). Be careful though, its relatively unsafe on block depending on your spacing, but a cancel into rocket punch HSF will make them weary of punishing it consistently, and it will whiff on some crouching opponents if your right next to them. But at that range, you really shouldn’t be hitting buttons with sentinel to begin with.

st. :h:

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**Hits: **5
**Damage: **102,300
**Start-up: **20
**Active: **20
**Recovery: **16
**Advantage on hit: **+6
**Advantage on block: **-11
**Notes: **Hits full screen in 26 frames, chains into cr. :h:, deals chip damage, beam durability: 5 frames x 2 low durability points
**Discussion: **Another really good “normal” and one of the best projectiles in the game, sentinel is blessed with a high durability projectile that he can call assists while using, unfortunately this comes at a price as a vast majority of the cast can duck his st.:h:(some can even stand under it) and can even duck his cr. :h:. From rocket punch range it can be chained into a rocket punch HSF cancel for decent damage and from full screen can be chained into a HSF DHC into any instant full screen hyper for the cost of 2 bars and about 500k damage(ill compile a list of teammates that allow this). But while this allows sentinel to zone, do yourself a favor and avoid spamming this move without much thought, in a game with characters as mobile as magneto, and teleporters, one badly placed spit could easily lead to a dead sentinel. I will go into more detail on zoning patterns in the gameplay section.

st. :s:

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**Hits: **1
**Damage: **120,000
**Start-up: **16
**Active: **8
**Recovery: **26
**Advantage on hit: **
**Advantage on block: **-8
**Notes: **Launcher, not super- or hyper combo- cancelable, super armor from frames 12-21, nullifies medium priority projectiles during active frames.
**Discussion: **An alright normal, and one of sentinels safest on block, I don’t use this much outside of combos with the rare case being when I have a read on a teleporting dante I use this as a punish occasionally since it leads to more damage than an air throw punish. Other than that I use this exclusively for combos.

cr. :l:

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**Hits: **1
**Damage: **70,000
**Start-up: **9
**Active: **3
**Recovery: **25
**Advantage on hit: **-9
**Advantage on block: **-12
**Notes: **Nullifies low priority projectiles during active frames.
**Discussion: **See st.:l: section.

cr. (low)

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**Hits: **3
**Damage: **97,600
**Start-up: **13
**Active: **3(1)4(1)4
**Recovery: **30
**Advantage on hit: **
**Advantage on block: **-14
**Notes: **Low attack, super armor from frames 6-15, hits close range at 13 frames, mid range at 17 frames, nullifies medium priority projectiles during active frames
**Discussion: **This move is an odd one, its sents only low attack, so if your trying to convince the opponent not to just block high you’ll need to throw this out every now and then. With that said, whiffing this move is death, guaranteed, every time. You whiff, you might as well unplug your controller. In my experience though, I’ve found an effective way of using this move is toss it out after an air series into a st.:l:, even if they pushblock the :l:, the should still hit(Im still testing this out) plus it allows you to either go for the cr. or command grab, a solid 50/50.

cr. :h:

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**Hits: **5
**Damage: **102,300
**Start-up: **20
**Active: **20
**Recovery: **16
**Advantage on hit: **+6
**Advantage on block: **-11
**Notes: **Hits full screen in 26 frames, deals chip damage, beam durability: 5 frames x 2 low durability points
Not much I can say about this that isn’t reflected in the st.:h: discussion. Just remember that amateratsu, arthur, felicia, firebrand, frank west, morrigan, phoenix, rocket raccoon, strider, viewtiful joe, and wolverine can duck this move, so chain it into :qcb: :l: to halt their approach.

air. :l:

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**Hits: **1
**Damage: **75,000
**Start-up: **8
**Active: **6
**Recovery: **22
**Advantage on hit: **+17
**Advantage on block: **+14
**Notes: **Overhead attack, double jump cancelable, nullifies low priority projectiles during active frames.
**Discussion: **Now were getting into the really nasty normals, sentinels j. :l: might look underwhelming at first sight, but don’t be fooled, its his fastest air normal by a wide margin and as such can be used to punish air throw happy opponents, and since its chainable into a j. :s: it can be option selected into the ground bounce which leads to a nice fat combo. Plus at low altitudes it coves a very pesky area directly below sentinel where it can be chained into a cr. :l: for a full combo. It is also used to apply flight pressure and can lead into a tick throw set-up or a double overhead with an unfly .

air.

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**Hits: **1
**Damage: **100,000
**Start-up: **12
**Active: **4
**Recovery: **32
**Advantage on hit: **+22
**Advantage on block: **+18
**Notes: **Overhead attack, double jump cancelable, nullifies low priority projectiles during active frames.
**Discussion: **This is hands down one of the best air to air normals in the entire game, the sheer amount of screen this move covers is completely obnoxious, especially when paired with the fact that sentinel can get a fat combo off any hit confirms using this move. And you don’t even require amazing reactions to hit confirm, simply double tap and if the first one connects, it’ll chain into the second one automatically, giving you time to see whether its hitting and continue with an :s: or cancel into flight if blocked. And we haven’t even gotten into the fly unfly 's yet. This simple series covers a very large portion of the screen while allowing for an easy hit confirm into a very damaging combo. Finally, if you cancel your flight into a falling it can also act as a pseudo ground poke to deter individuals from dashing under sent in addition to hitting them with what amounts to a mid-screen overhead. Just an all around amazing move in general.

air. :h:

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**Hits: **1
**Damage: **110,000
**Start-up: **17
**Active: **4
**Recovery: **28
**Advantage on hit: **+25
**Advantage on block: **+21
**Notes: **Overhead attack, nullifies medium priority projectiles during active frames.
**Discussion: **Another exceptional air attack, this one is more suitable for applying air to ground pressure. Its a ridiculous +21 on block, so sent is pretty much free to do whatever the hell he wants after an opponent blocks this, and since it +25 on hit more often than not you’ll have enough time to visually confirm that the move connected, land, dash in and continue the combo. Paired with a good assist and flight cancels you can keep your opponent blocking in the corner for an entire round until they get complacent and eat a command grab. Plus depending on what your assist is, sentinel can flight cancel confirm off this move(i.e. this)

air :s:

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**Hits: **1
**Damage: **120,000
**Start-up: **18
**Active: **5
**Recovery: **23
**Advantage on hit: **
**Advantage on block: **+18
**Notes: **Overhead, causes ground bounce, nullifies medium priority projectiles during active frames, causes hard knockdown if used in launcher combo
**Discussion: **The infamous frying pan, probably the most hated move in the first month of vanilla, the hype behind it has sorta died down now that people realize how slow it really is. Being sentinels slowest air normal, plus the only one that can’t be canceled into flight or hard drive you shouldn’t make a habit out of throwing out the frying pan. Its usually best tagged to the end of his other normals(i.e poking with j. chained into :s: as opposed to just raw :s:). But its still a very good air normal, covers a very wide 270 degree radius around sentinel and causes a ground bounce on hit leading to a dead character in most situations, this move is not to messed with. Just don’t spam it at every given opportunity or you’ll find yourself at the end of many an air throw.

Summary:

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So in summary, sentinel has been blessed with generally really good normals, that all share the projectile nullification property, all have disjointed hitboxes(although this is less apparent with his :l:'s) and other than his :s:'s can all be flight cancelled. The key with sentinel is to never whiff, naturally this is impossible since were all human, which is why you often see high level sentinels always fly canceling their normals because whiffing usually equals death for our giant robot. This could cause an issue since sometimes you pass up guaranteed damage because you fly cancelled your normal before you realized it was hitting, so make an effort to develop flight strings that lead to a combo even when flight cancelled(Like st. call hawkeye(straight shot) flight j.:s:).

Special Moves:

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Rocket Punch :l://:h:

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Command: :qcf: :atk:
Hits: 1
Damage: 150,000
Start-up: 18
Active: 8
Recovery: 38
Advantage on hit: -10
Advantage if guarded: -20
Notes: Knocks down, nullifies medium priority projectiles during active frames, :l: version OTG’s
Discussion: Personally outside of finishing combos with :l: rocket punches, comboing off spits, and occasionally making a poke safer his rocket punches don’t have much use. Of course, Im still learning the character so if anyone knows some nice uses for the moves please don’t hesitate to share.

Air Rocket Punch :l://:h:

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Command: :qcf: :atk:
Hits: 1
Damage: 150,000
Start-up: 16 :l:, 18 :h:
Active: 8
Recovery: 32
Advantage on hit: -4
Advantage if guarded: -14
Notes: Knocks down, :l: version OTG capable, nullifies medium priority projectiles during active frames.
Discussion: Similar to their grounded version, the air rocket punches don’t have too many uses outside of combos imo. I occasionally throw out a :l: one after poking with a j. :h: and confirm into a hard drive if it connects but I don’t recall ever using the or :h: version(intentionally anyway) in the 6-7 months I’ve been playing sentinel.

Sentinel force :l: /

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Command: :qcb: :atk:
Hits: 3
Damage: 135,400
Start-up: 21
Active:
Recovery: 54
Advantage on hit: +29 :l: +24
Advantage if guarded: +26:l: +23:m:
Notes: Launches 3 projectile drones with 4 low priority durability points each, drones disappear if Sentinel is hit.
Discussion: Drones are an interesting tool sentinel was given, originally I thought they were completely useless but of late I’ve found them to be an invaluable zoning tool. The key with drones is to 1. Know your match-up because if your opponent has a fast full screen projectile your gonna have trouble getting them out, and 2. Covering your drone calls with spit(st./cr. :h:) and assist call depending on who you have. Once you can get a good rhythm of drone calls your opponent will find it difficult to get in on sentinel. And while they don’t do the most damage or chip, they serve to frustrate your opponent and help give you time to decide what your next action is going to be. Plus if your opponent gets tired and decides to raw tag out, the drones will connect with the incoming character and depending on how far away you are you can get a full combo off them. This also works after finishing a combo that puts your opponent within chip distance, back off a little so the raw tag doesn’t connect with sentinel(thus making the drones disappear) and call drones(preferably :l: since some characters can duck ) if your opponent sits there, they will get chipped out and die, but if they raw tag the incoming character will eat both the drones, and the full combo sentinel delivers afterwards.

Sentinel force :h:

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Command: :qcb: :h:
Hits: 1-15
Damage: 25,000 per bomb
Start-up: 56
Active:
Recovery: 29
Advantage on hit: +19
Advantage if guarded: +15

Notes: OTG-capable, 3 drones drop 5 bombs each, each projectile has 1 low priority point
Discussion: This special move is useful in that unlike :l: and , the drones don’t disappear if sentinel is hit, so its best to call these out when you think your opponent is about to get through your zoning. I have also found that its a very good move to use against characters with tracking teleports, if they teleport in the drones will hit them but unfortunately I haven’t gotten the hang of comboing off them so I cannot confirm whether or not this is possible.

Human Catapult :l:/ / :h:

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Command: :dp: :atk:
Hits: 1
Damage: 120,000:l: 140,000:m: 160,000:h:
Start-up: 2:l: 6:m: 10:h:
Active: 1
Recovery: 43:l: 39:m: 35:h:
Advantage on hit:
Advantage if guarded:
Notes: Throw attack, causes hard knockdown
Discussion: Sentinels command grab is an alright move, unfortunately comboing off a mid screen command grab is very difficult(Im not even sure if its still possible with the rocket punch nerf), heres a video showing how its done [media=youtube]IDTQFhv4IZ8[/media] . Another way to combo off the command grab mid-screen is by calling certain assists prior to performing it, at the moment the only two I know work are trish peekabo, iron man repulsor blast and rocket raccoon log trap. Naturally trying this is risky since if your opponent mashes out of your attempt he will get a two for one, but its still good to know and you can practice to make the set-ups safer.

But on a more positive note, his command grab sends the opponent flying full screen, so against a character like wolverine who you don’t want anywhere near you, a tick into command grab can prove useful. Plus you can always tag on a cr. :h: no matter where you land the command grab. Finally, if you have a fast full screen hyper, you can cancel the cr. :h: into a HSF hyper. In the corner though, sentinels command grabs become legitimately scary, he can get an easy 700k off any of his command grabs, although comboing off the :h: is the easiest and since the :l: has a 2 frame start-up, its sometimes a more desirable punish than using his :l: normals. One neat trick to keep your human catapult attempts safe(because lord help you if you whiff one) is to option select a hyper sentinel force into the input. This way if it connects, it connects and you get your damage, but if it doesn’t you automatically get a HSF keeping sentinel relatively safe from retaliation.

Finally, while the command grab is only comboable from in the corner, due to the immense range of sents j.'s, it is possible to combo off it from farther than you would think. Heres an example of GC Yoshi doing such As an aside, if he has read my guide and used the HSF option select, he won’t have gotten killed by viper. Just sayin… lol.

Flight

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Command: :qcb: :s:
Hits:
Damage:
Start-up: 17
Active:
Recovery:
Advantage on hit:
Advantage if guarded:

Notes: Enters or exits flight, flight lasts 104 frames
Discussion: By far sentinels best special move, flight helps sentinel make all his laggy normals completely safe(except his :s:'s which aren’t flight cancelable). In flight mode sentinel becomes extremely mobile, a much smaller target while still retaining his long normals, gains access to one of the best lvl 1’s in the entire game and is almost a completely different character. Mastering fly unfly cancels makes sentinel a legitimate threat on point, but it takes some serious practice to get it down consistently. Plus you cannot block whilst flying so have those unflies ready at a moments notice.

Summary:

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Sents specials leave a bit to be desired, his rocket punches are extra unsafe on block, his drones have unruly start-up, and unlike the assist can be push block to prevent advancement, and his command grab is quite frankly mediocre. His best and most important special move is his flight since it makes his whiffs safe, improves his mobility, and reduces his hitbox. But his drones can be used as decent keep away tools, and the command grab gives you more damage(and meter) in the corner than a regular grab, so it isn’t all gloom and doom.

There’s also this video covering the very very basics of sentinel, isn’t useful if you have even a small idea of what your doing but figured id post it anyway
[media=youtube]ZB6C_IWGAXE[/media]

[jak_d_ripr]

Hypers:

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Plasma Storm:

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Command: :qcf: :atk::atk:
Hits: 20~39
Damage: 282,200 ~ 337,400
Start-up: 10+1
Active: 81~92
Recovery: 25
Advantage if Guarded: -8
Notes: Knocks down opponent, can be mashed for extra damage, beam durability: 20 frames x 3 high priority durability points
Discussion: With the nerf to sentinels rocket punch, this is the hyper you will be ending your combos with more often than not. It doesn’t have much utility outside of being a combo ender, but at 337,400 damage and ~200,000 minimum amount of damage, its a darn good combo ender. With that said, it does have some utility, it can be used to protect your assist if your opponent fires a full screen projectile thats slow enough for plasma storm to start-up before it reaches your assist(like hyper sentinel force for example). Plus if the opponent is at the very top of the plasma bubble, its possible to chain another one ala

Hard Drive:

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**Command: **:qcf: :atk: :atk: (in air)
**Hits: **12
**Damage: **275,400
**Start-up: **10+1
**Active: **42(1)13
**Recovery: **In recovery till landing
**Advantage if Guarded: **-5
**Notes: **Frames 1-70 invincible, causes spinning knockdown that ignores hitstun decay.
**Discussion: **No, thats not a typo, this move actually have 70 frames of invincibility. Arguably sentinels best hyper(if not the best lvl 1 in the game) this move is simply bonkers. If it connects, its allows for sentinel to go into a full combo for a nice amount of damage, allows sentinel to avoid most incoming character mix-ups entirely, and makes your point character extra dangerous when they have 2 bars thanks to this little piece of tech . Paired with the ability to air x-factor and this hyper is simply amazing and a reason for sentinel players to always try to have at least one bar of hyper available. Plus once you learn to tk your hard drives all of a sudden you can punish even ground based attacks with a hard drive. And I haven’t even gone into the advantages of using it as a combo ender, while it doesn’t give you the damage plasma storm or HSF gives you, what it loses in damage, it makes up in position. Any combo ended with a hard drive will leave the opponent in the corner, the optimal position for sentinel, plus if you have the meter and execution you can loop hard drives in the corner until your either run out of meter or your opponent runs out of health, but if done properly, with 4 bars sentinel can kill anyone in cast thanks to his hard drive. Be careful with your hard drive use though, some characters can punish hard drives(anyone with a fast full screen attack) and if you perform one while your opponent is cornered your ass is gonna get punished hard. Plus, if your opponent doesn’t get picked up properly you could potentially be in for some serious punishment.

Hyper Sentinel Force:

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**Command: **:qcb: :atk: :atk:
**Hits: **9
**Damage: **306,000
**Start-up: **10+1
**Active: **
**Recovery: **84
**Advantage if Guarded: **+15
**Notes: **Frames 8-14 invincible, knocks down, 9 projectiles with 3 high priority points each.
**Discussion: **Sentinels third lvl 1, and one of the most hated hypers during the first week of marvel 3. HSF has an interesting property in that its completely disjointed(like hail storm) i.e., hitting sentinel will not stop the drones from coming out once the hyper has started, making this an amazing DHC hyper. Be warned though, random full screen HSF are not safe in the slightest, your opponent can super jump over it and punish sentinel right as the drones are finishing their rounds. In spite of that, if used properly this is a very very useful hyper, for one its one of the few ways sentinel can combo of his throws and he gets a very easy combo afterwards. Plus it makes for a very nice AA if you see your opponent jump over one of your spits and is within range to punish you, it will often trade but since the hyper is disjointed the drones will continue to hit the opponent while sentinel recovers and proceeds to lay down an ass whooping on the fool hardy opponent. Thanks to the nerf to his rocket punch though, sent can no longer combo into his HSF whenever he pleases, it has to be done really early in a combo, and even in some cases the opponent might be too far for it to combo. Some assists allow sentinel to combo into it at the end of long combos, but at the moment spencer slant shot and chuns lightning legs are the only ones I know off. Be mindful of when/where you throw this out though, st.:h: xx HSF from full screen is not a block string and your opponent can just super jump over and punish you for free. Also, dhc’ing into it from point blank range allows your opponent to throw sentinel right out of it unless the prior dhc kept them in enough blockstun. The flip side to this is that since your opponent isn’t in blockstun, you can go for an x-factor command grab, its a lil gimmicky and can seriously backfire but its an option to throw out every now and then.
A few extra points about HSF(props to t1bz):
This hyper is an amazing assist killer. Pairing it with full screen DHCs like Shinku or XF + do it again can easily kill assists from full screen.
–If you see the point character get tagged with HSF, you can XFC and mosey on over there for an easy confirm into an easy death combo. 1 bar and XF into death off a full screen punish is a nice trick to have up your sleeve (it’s my main way of killing Hawkeye >_>). Also obviously good to do in happy birthday situations.
–You can also XFC a blocked HSF and use it as cover to run in and do mix ups. Of course Sentinel doesn’t have the greatest mix up game, but I have seen this work (and succeeded with it myself). For example, on the box arena stream last night Dios X did this and then normal jumped forward and landed with cr.M. Viscant got hit, probably because he was expecting j.L or frying pan on the way down from the jump rather than an empty jump. And of course you can always mix it up between cr.M or grabbing as soon as the blockstun from the drones ends.

Summary:

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Sent has 3 of the best lvl’s in the game, paired with the fact that with enough meter he can 1 touch kill anyone in cast, one could say sentinel is a very meter dependent character. But while he has a very good use for meter, he doesn’t need a lot of meter to gain access to most of his amazing options. Plus since most of his combos are meter independent, more often than not, your building back the meter your using at the end of your combos. The only real issue with sentinels meter use-age is the only resets I’ve discovered of his require meter to set-up, which kinda defeats the purpose of a reset to some extent. Pair that with the fact that he needs meter to combo off his air throw(a useful tool in most reset games) and you can see how he could have a little bit of an issue. With that said, so long as you make a conscious effort to always have at least one bar available at all times, you shouldn’t have to many meter issues with sentinel.

Assists:

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Sentinel force :l:

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Crossover Combination Hyper Combo: Hyper Sentinel Force
Hits: 3
Damage: 135,000
Start-up: 45
Active:
Recover(this crossover assist): 146
Recovery(other partner): 116
Notes: Launches 3 projectile drones with 4 low durability points each, drones disappear if Sentinel is hit
Discussion: Generally considered on of the top 5 assists in the game, drones pretty much does it all. It can be used as a keep away tool on zoning teams because of how highly durable the drones are once they are on screen, or it can be used to for rush down characters since the drones stay on screen forever. Just an all around amazing multi-purpose assist and the only reason why sentinel is still one of the most popular characters in tournament. It really is a just add water assist for there isn’t a single character on the entire roster that can’t take advantage of this assist. With that said, constantly mashing on assist will either lead to your sentinel dieing really quickly or you and your sentinel getting happy birthdayd. Sentinel is a massive target, and he stays out there for a very long time so if you are not covering your assist calls effectively sent is gonna keep getting hit causing all the drones to disappear. Covering drones is match-up and character dependent, but it usually involves using a high priority full screen projectile to protect sentinel from any projectiles coming from that direction, other than that you can also go airborne, activate flight, call sentinel and plink dash your way over to where your opponent is. Finally the easiest way to cover sent is to call him and then teleport, unless your fighting storm, its literally impossible for the opponent to punish sent, and in most cases if they do, your right behind them ready to make them pay.

Sentinel force :h:

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Crossover Combination Hyper Combo: Hyper Sentinel Force
Hits: 1-15
Damage: 25,000 per bomb
Start-up: 80
Active:
Recover(this crossover assist): 111
Recovery(other partner): 81
Notes: OTG-capable, 3 drones drop 5 bombs each, each projectile has 1 low priority durability point.
Discussion: An underrated assist and criminally underused assist, this acts as more of a get off me tool similar to the actual attack. Once the drones are out, your opponent needs to stop attacking or they will get blown up by the bombing run. With that said, there is a reason this assist is underused, its just not as versatile(at the moment at least) as drones. Plus while the drones otg, they come out entirely too slowly to be used in conventional combos. Still there might be some untapped potential in this assist.

Rocket Punch :l:

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Crossover Combination Hyper Combo: Plasma Storm
Hits: 1
Damage: 130,000
Start-up: 42
Active: 8
Recover(this crossover assist): 130
Recovery(other partner): 100
Notes: Knocks down, OTG-capable, nullifies medium priority projectiles during active frames
Discussion: Sents least used assist by far, rocket punch would be a lot more popular if it was given to a different character. It otgs(which is always welcome) plus it nullifies projectiles so it can be used for a unique type of zoning. Plus its a very far reaching otg assist. Had this assist been given to nemesis for example, it would be the assist of choice, but simply because sentinel has it it will never be a popular assist. Still though, if you have sentinel on your team and are in need of an otg assist(plus you already have a strong horizontal assist), you could do worse than this move.

Miscellaneous:

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Snapback :qcf: :a1: or :a2:

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Hits: 1
Start-up: 2
Damage: 50,000
Active: 3
Recovery: 32
Advantage on block: -9
Notes: On hit, snap back forces the opposing point character to be replaced by an assist. Opposing assist calls or tag outs are also locked out for 4 seconds
Discussion: Outside of being used to snap out a character, snap backs haven’t really evolved in this game yet. With that said, there are some nice uses, for one, if you are poking with cr. and your opponent x-factor guard cancels you can simply cancel into snap back and it will beat out whatever they try to do(this is 100 percent theory fighter though, Im yet to actually test this in a real match). Also, sents snap back has decent range on it(since its his st. ) and since its 2 frames, you can use it as a psuedo punish if someone whiffs something in front of you while simultaneously sacrificing a percentage of their teammates red health but this is very situational.

Throw :f:/ :h:(air ok)

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Hits: 1
Start-up: 1
Damage: 80,000
Active: 1
Recovery:
Advantage on block:
Notes: Hard knockdown
Discussion: One of sentinels best options up close, his throw can be used to punish almost anything since it has 1 frame of start-up. Pair that with the fact that sentinel has very good air throw range and whenever your right next to your opponent they have to guess between eating a standing command grab, or eating an airthrow if they jump back. Unfortunately sentinel cannot combo off his airthrow at all altitudes. If the opponent is too high up his rocket punch simply won’t reach. This isn’t too much of an issue though since his airthrow is designed mainly to punish people for up backing against his pressure. Plus you can option select your air throw attempts by doing a j.:f: / :h: :qcb: :s:. This way if they don’t jump back, your j.:h: is cancelled into flight, and your not stuck in the air whiffing a move with 28 frames of recovery(theory fighter, haven’t tested it). One occasionally useful aspect of sentinels ground throw is a whiffed throw produces a st. :h:, now this is potentially fatal is you whiffed because 1. you were out of range, or 2. your opponent was still in block/hit stun. But if you whiffed because your opponent jumped, the spit will occasionally catch them out of the air leading to much higher damage than a throw would have produced. Check out this video for proof of this concept(also just watch the whole match cause it shows some nice corner control from sentinel). All in all though, sentinels throws are a very important part of his game and you would do well to learn how and when to air throw your opponent.

It turns out Sentinel can combo off his air throw without meter if he has repulsor blast assist(not a bad assist for sentinel by any stretch of imagination). Unfortunately this only works in the corner but I will compile a list of assists that allow him to combo off his throws.[Props to t1bz for the tip and the help]

Assists that allow combos of throws(thank you Snivy, fernando, infrit, throwing is cheap, t1bz and the Co-Jones):

[LIST]
[]All OTG assists(duh!!!)
[]All Wall bounce assists(log trap, dragon fang)
[]All ground bounce assists(Nova, Nemesis)
[]Lightning legs does the same.
[]Repulsor Blast(only in the corner)
[]If your in the corner and in lvl 3 x-factor(you’ll be surprised how frequently this happens lol) you can tk rocker punch, j.:l: double jump :l: :h: :s:
[*]Tk rocket punch jam session works, is a little character specific and is corner only
[/LIST]

Ground dash :atk: :atk:/ :f: :f:/

Spoiler

Forward dash: 40
Backdash: 33
Notes:
Discussion: For such a big character, capcom blessed sentinel with a surprisingly really good dash(seriously, why did this guy have more health than thor in vanilla?). He can cancel his dash which allows him to both wave and plink dash. Very useful for getting in your opponents face and forcing them to guess between a cr. , command grab, or air throw.

Double Jump :u: :u:

Spoiler

Discussion: Sents double jump is another invaluable tool, not only does it allow for easier air to air hit confirms, it also helps sentinel completely avoid some incoming character mix-ups by double jumping and activating flight. Paired with his hard drive, the double jump makes sentinel a very difficult character to mix-up on the way in.

[jak_d_ripr]

Gameplay:
In Summary:

Sentinel is a hybrid between a keep away and a pressure character. He is capable of either playing full screen or relatively up close but he requires an assist to do either effectively. His keep-away consists of spits, drones anti-air and HSF’s while his up close game consists of pressuring your opponent with sents high priority normals and either forcing them to hit a button at the wrong time and eat an armored normal or block for too long and eat a command grab. Against a competent opponent though you will not be landing a lot of hits, so you must learn to make every single hit count.

Playstyles:

Ranged

Spoiler

Sentinels ranged game is very match-up dependent. His spit becomes a liability against anyone with a tracking teleport and against characters like those you have to be very careful with your full screen spits and either cover yourself with an assist or a drones :h: call. You should also fly cancel your spits to reduce the recovery on them and give you more options if they randomly teleport in.

Against characters with a faster projectile you have to be patient, all sent needs is to get a good rhythm of spit cancelled into drones and you will force the opponent to come up close since the drones will protect sent from the faster projectile. Don’t get complacent though, and make sure you know how quickly your opponent can get in your face. Learn the range at which your spits are no longer safe and be prepared to cancel into a HSF to push them out and in some cases trade into big damage.

Your opponent will eventually try to get right in your face, and if they can’t from a direct approach, they will try super jumping/flying/tri-dashing in. Against super jumpers who can’t change their trajectory, simply dash under them and allow them to corner themselves. From here you have the whole screen to work with again. You can also super jump and meet them in the air with a j. or a fly unfly . This will keep them honest and will convert into massive damage if they do get hit. Don’t be afraid to occasionally throw out a st. when you believe they might attempt jumping in with an attack, it is one of(if not) sentinels best ground normal and a really good AA. You can also air throw overly obvious jump ins once they are within st. range(since sents normals are kinda too slow to be throwing out at this range). A jump back :h: canceled into a rocket punch can help create some breathing room. Plus if it connects you can cancel into hard drive and get yourself a nice combo at the other end of the stage. But be wary, if you get too predictable with this strategy, or you do it from too close a distance, your prolly gonna eat an airthrow.

Up close

Spoiler

Sents main style is being played up close. Now I refuse to call this rush down, because it really cannot be described as rush down. Sent has no high/low, left/right mix-up. The only real mix-up sent has is after a st. :l: he either chains into cr. or ticks into command grab. Sents up close offense consists of him pressuring the opponent and punishing any attempts to fight back with high priority and often armored normals and like I said in the summary, when the opponent finally gets complacent and just sits there blocking you dash in for a throw, cr. , or air throw. You need to fly cancel your normals to counter push blocks and keep on the pressure. Don’t get discouraged if your not getting any hits, all sent really needs is one clean hit and your opponent is usually dead. The ideal range for sent is

To get in close, you can either fly cancel a cr.:h: and begin your approach, or double jump, call a horizontal assist activate flight and get in that booty. When you get over them, come down on them with an :h: unfly :h: to deter any airthrow attempts. From here you can start your pressure. You have to be patient though, impatience will get you nothing but a dead sentinel and no one wants that.

A nice example of a pressure string with sentinel is j.:h: :a1:(if its an assist that allows him to fly cancel confirm) fly up if they blocked the j.:h: and perform a j.:l: unfly st. :l: and then either go for a cr. or command grab. If you go for a command grab don’t forget to option select HSF to make it safe whereas if you go for a cr. you can call an assist(if you have one available) while fly canceling to keep the pressure going. Be wary of going into autopilot(see what I did there?) and falling prey to either a happy birthday or x-factor guard cancel(if they xfgc your cr. you can cancel it into an :l: command grab and throw them for their troubles). Check out this video for some nice stomp pressure

Hit Confirmation:

Spoiler

So a key part of playing this game at higher levels is turning stray hits into full combos. Poking with j. :s:(remove a depending on how low to the ground you are) ensures if your opponent touches sentinels cleats, they are eating at least 800k. Another(much safer) poking method is fly unfly , its not as easy as the first hit confirm, but its a lot harder to air throw(the bane of sentinels existence). Another important thing to know is the range at which an air to ground or :h: can be comboed into a dash in st. :l:, sents limbs cover so much space that overeager opponents will eventually walk into one of them so its best to make sure you always make them regret their foolish behavior. Finally, sentinel can actually combo a raw j. or :h: into a flight combo :)qcb: :s: :l: :qcb: :s: :h: :s: etc.), very useful since you are more often than not gonna be flight canceling your stray normals to avoid getting airthrown. It ensures if you happen to hit someone, your not giving away damage.

Resets:

[details=Spoiler]
Sentinel really only has two prominent resets(that I know of), truth be told, unless your dealing with the she-hulks and above, when you hit a character they should die so resets are generally not a big part of sents game. But for those situations, here are the few that I know of:
[LIST]
[]After a HSF, hit them with a st.:l: canceled into flight, then fly up and either air throw them, or :s: them into a reset. This reset isn’t very efficient because sentinel cannot combo into HSF consistently, and its usually only possible early in a combo where you don’t want to be going for a reset to begin with. But if you have an assist that allows you to combo into HSF like slant shot or lightning legs, then by all means go for it.
[]The second is more efficient, its pretty much the same mix-up except after a tk rocket punch canceled into a hard drive. Instead of doing the cr. into plasma storm, go for a st.:l: into the aforementioned reset. You can also set this up using chris’s landmine assist(not a bad assist for sentinel) and probably a couple others.
[/LIST]
[/details]
Incoming Character Set-ups:

Spoiler

Now this is where sentinel really shines, his damage output paired with just the simple amount of options he has on an incoming character can tear through a team before your opponent knows what the hell is happening:
[LIST]
[]His first and most versatile mix-up is to activate flight, hit an :s: right as the opponent comes in, if they push block, dash up and air throw. Once you’ve taught them to respect the throw, dash up and st., the armor will beat out their tech attempt and give you an even more damaging combo. Watch this video for footage of rayray using this set-up. Timing the dash to nullify the push block is a little difficult at first, but with a little practice you’ll get the hang of it. This is also useable on any opponent who push block a j.:s:, not just incoming characters. Also, if they don’t pushblock, you land right next to them and can go for a throw, Im not sure what normals sent can stick out at this point but Im pretty sure the j.:s: leaves you at enough frame advantage that you should be able to stick something out.
[]Another effective if corner exclusive mix-up is to activate flight, call an assist with long active frames(tatsu is the assist of choice, but Im certain it should work with countless others) and proceed to fly over the incoming character then come down with an :s:, its a really ambiguous left/right mix-up. Heres some footage of this mix-up
[]A really easy mix-up is a cross under on an incoming character, despite sentinels huge frame, his really good dash allows him to quickly cross under an incoming character. Afterwards he can either use his st.:l: if you need a quick move, or his st./cr. if you suspect your opponent is going to mash and need armor. With an assist like peekabo, this mix-up gets even more scummy, because the opponent has only a few frames to react. Heres some footage of this mix-up in action and if you watch for a few more seconds, you see curtypie running the mix-up on doom, who blocks correctly, and is rewarded with a throw for his correct guess. Also, a good alternative, is to fake the dash forward and instead stay on the same side, there are a few ways to do this, one is to cancel your dash right before it goes under the opponent thus making you stay on the same side. A second way, is to tap wait a frame or two(or 8 if your being precise), and then hit :atk::atk: , this causes sentinel to back dash for a second and then forward dash really quickly. This serves the purpose of fooling your opponent into thinking your not gonna go for the mix-up since they see a back dash. Contrary to popular belief this is also possible in the corner, you simply need to crouch right as the opponent is coming in and sentinel will end up behind them ala [media=youtube]TCsNpjmTAT0[/media] at 7:17
[]Probably one of sents most basic mix-ups is to simply activate flight, wait for the character to enter, deactivate and dash in cr. or command grab. Its so basic, but extremely effective, more so if you have set-ups that keep each options safe incase the opponent guesses right(you don’t wanna whiff either of these options). You can also use a j. to ensure characters with air mobility don’t just fly out of the corner. Heres a clip of unknown using this at NEC
[*]A more recent one I saw was activate flight with sentinel and hover over their body for a few seconds then immediately cross them over and hit em with a quick j.:l: :s:. Its not the cleanest mix-up, but its a good secondary once you’re opponent has gotten accustomed to the anti-pushblock set-up. Heres a vid [media=youtube]RAVH0IURzXo[/media] at 51 seconds in(Watch the entire match though, some nice sentinel play).
[/LIST]

Team Building:

Spoiler

When looking for teammates for sentinel you either want an assist with good horizontal coverage(like drones, which unfortunately sentinel can’t take advantage of) or one that makes it easier for him to control the air like hidden missiles. But the cool thing about sent is since he is such a versatile character, he can use a variety of assists. The only assists I would shy away from are lockdown assists not named tatsu, sentinels only real grounded mix-up is cr. or command grab, a mix-up that is completely nullified by an assist that keeps the opponent in block stun for an extended period of time. I made the exception with tatsu because its extremely fast(unlike say coldstar) and can be used for fly cancel hit confirms(off both a cr. and a j.:h:). But even with coldstar, Im sure if you so wished you could find a use for it, my experience with it wasn’t pleasant but that could just be due to my incompetence.
The top assists for sentinel in no particular order would probably be:
[LIST]
[]Hidden Missiles
[]Tatsu
[]Any horizontal projectile(plasma beam, disruptor, greyhound, unibeam etc)
[]Jam Session
[]Peekabo
[]Vajra(you need meter/x-factor to combo off it, but it helps deal with that top corner that sent struggles with)
[/LIST]
As for team order placement, personally I feel sentinel is best played when he is 2nd. Playing him on point is workable since he has 2 assists behind him, but your giving up access to one of the top 3 assists in the game, so unless those two people behind him are doom and akuma, your scarcely gonna find another character in the game with a better assist. Plus you also sacrifice access to his really deadly cross over counter into hard drive that has killed many an over-zealous character and assist. But why not play him last you ask since most characters benefit more from his assist than he does from theirs, well because sentinel on anchor-while not nearly as bad as everyone would like to imply he is-is very hard to make work. Plus he has bad match-ups against most of the top tiers so if your ever in a situation where its one on one(which tends to happen quite frequently in this game) you’ll more often than not find yourself in an uphill battle.

The 2nd slot on the other hand is perfect for sentinel because its the best of both worlds, you still have access to his amazing assist, but sentinel isn’t gonna be forced to fight alone. Plus with my aforementioned point of sent being able to escape a lot of incoming character mix-ups, he can come in and slow the game down if it looks like your about to be steam rolled. Finally, your point character is given access to the plasma storm dhc, which is one of the most damaging dhc’s in the entire game. Plus, depending on who your anchor is, sentinel gets the ability to combo his :h:'s into HSF from full screen. Ryu, akuma, storm, trish, hawkeye, and dante are a few characters, but anyone with a fast full screen hyper can do this. All in all, Im a strong believer that 2nd place sentinel is the best spot for him.

With that said, if you feel like running him on anchor don’t despair, it is possible as rayray and infrit have shown numerous times to win with just sentinel since he has very high damage output, the ability to play either rush down or keep away, nice incoming character mix-up and has really good hypers. Also once in lvl 3 x-factor sentinel gains the ability to combo off his fly cancels!!! This means you don’t have to commit to a cr. and can safely fly cancel :l: knowing that if the connects the :l: :s: will combo. It doesn’t seem to work on short characters like joe and the coon but in my practice it works on pretty much everyone else.

[jak_d_ripr]

Match-ups:

Spoiler

Akuma

[details=Spoiler][/details]

[spoiler=Amateratsu][/details]

Arthur

[details=Spoiler][/details]

[spoiler=C.Viper][/details]

Captain America

[details=Spoiler][/details]

[spoiler=Chris Redfield][/details]

Chun-li

[details=Spoiler][/details]

[spoiler=Dante][/details]

Deadpool

[details=Spoiler][/details]

[spoiler=Dr Strange][/details]

Dormammu

[details=Spoiler][/details]

[spoiler=Doom][/details]

Felicia

[details=Spoiler][/details]

[spoiler=Firebrand][/details]

Frank West

[details=Spoiler][/details]

[spoiler=Ghost Rider][/details]

Haggar

[details=Spoiler][/details]

[spoiler=Hawkeye][/details]

Hsien-ko

[details=Spoiler][/details]

[spoiler=Hulk][/details]

Iron Fist

[details=Spoiler][/details]

[spoiler=Iron Man][/details]

Jill Valentine

[details=Spoiler][/details]

[spoiler=M.O.D.O.K][/details]

Magneto

[details=Spoiler][/details]

[spoiler=Morrigan][/details]

Nemesis

[details=Spoiler][/details]

[spoiler=Nova][/details]

Phoenix

[details=Spoiler][/details]

[spoiler=Phoenix Wright][/details]

Rocket Raccoon

[details=Spoiler][/details]

[spoiler=Ryu][/details]

Sentinel

[details=Spoiler][/details]

[spoiler=She-hulk][/details]

Shuma-Gorath

[details=Spoiler][/details]

[spoiler=Spencer][/details]

Spider-man

[details=Spoiler][/details]

[spoiler=Storm][/details]

Strider

[details=Spoiler][/details]

[spoiler=Skrull][/details]

Taskmaster

[details=Spoiler][/details]

[spoiler=Thor][/details]

Trish

[details=Spoiler][/details]

[spoiler=Tron Bonne][/details]

Vergil

[details=Spoiler][/details]

[spoiler=Viewtiful Joe][/details]

Wesker

Spoiler

Well since this is his most popular bad match-up, ill start with this. Wesker sent imo, isn’t half as bad as people make it out to be. If they are both on even ground(and sent isn’t playing from behind) sent can play keep away relatively effectively against wesker. His projectile is far more durable(if slower) and once you get a good rhythm of drones going wesker will be forced to come in. Now you want to make sure he is kept outside of st. range, st. 's, n :h:'s canceled into flight unfly or :l: unfly depending on where he is should ensure he has to work to get in. Once he gets next to sentinel, your gonna have an issue, at this range, you just gotta rely on your defense. Wesker has 3 main mix-ups, dash up cr./command grab(his scariest imo) and assist call teleport. The teleport mix-up is easier to block since from certain ranges(which you should learn) he can only ever cross you up. As for the cr. mix-up, well as far as I know, you deal with that by never letting wesker get that close(once I discover a better way to deal with it, ill post it lol)

If you have to deal with a runaway wesker(which at some point you will), you have to be patient for one, with 2 bars in stock, sentinel can TOD wesker so if you have 2 bars all you need is a hit. Don’t be too predictable with your approach or he will dash up and throw you when you let your guard down, dash up, and pause to see what he does. If he air teleports, jump up and meet him with a j., if your fast enough you can catch him in recovery and feed him a combo. If he gets into a super jump shot teleport down rhythm be patient, wait for him to super jump up, dash under him and cr. to trip guard his punk ass.

Wolverine

[details=Spoiler][/details]

[spoiler=X-23][/details]

Zero

Spoiler

lol, pick a different character. Seriously though, if anyone has any tips at all on this match-up please share cause I have no idea how to deal with this.

Combos:

Spoiler

As a heads up, all these combos can be ended with a tk hard drive loop(i.e as many as you have meter) before the plasma storm if you don’t think it will kill and you have the meter.
Basic Combos:
any basic opener into st.:s: air :h: :qcb: :s: pause :l::h: unfly pause falling :h: land, pause, :s: air :h: flight air :l: :h: :s: rocket punch plasma storm
835,200 damage(depends on opener) 5 percent meter gain

Notes

Spoiler

This is the Bnb you should learn with sentinel, and get the hang of doing in every possible situation, with 2 bars you can do 1 mill with a tk hard drive(or DHC) to kill of about 80 percent of the cast(and 90 percent of the top tiers). All the pauses in this combo are to allow the opponent to drop low enough for the unfly :h: and its follow ups to connect.

basic opener :s: air :h: fly :l: :h: unfly double jump :h: :s: land dash up plasma storm
~800k(depends on opener) 0 percent meter gain

Notes

Spoiler

This is sents second Bnb, and the more consistent(if less damaging) of his 2 standards. If you are playing sentinel you must know either this combo or the former, but if your only gonna learn one I would recommend learning this since its much less height dependent

:dp::h:(in the corner) air :h::s: land fly :l::h: unfly :h: land :s: air :h: fly :l::h::s:land :qcf::l: plasma storm
736,300 damage 10 percent meter gain

Notes

Spoiler

A really easy, meter independent command grab combo. Im yet to find a way to get more than 700k with a single bar off a command grab so I believe this is sents more damaging combo of a command grab. If your only gonna learn one command grab combo, learn this. But if your looking for something of a different style, check out this combo video and this other one

:dp::l:(in the corner) dash in st.:l::s: air :h: flight :l::h: unfly double jump :h::s: :qcf::l: plasma storm
654,700 damage 21 percent meter gain

Notes

Spoiler

A combo if you decide to go for the 2 frame :l: command grab. Loses a lotta damage since you have to start with a st.:l:, but its a good tool to have.

Flying unfly double jump :s: st. :s: air :h: fly :l::h::s: :qcf::l:plasma storm
811,100 damage 30 percent meter gain

Notes

Spoiler

A good combo off any air to air into a jumping :s:, high damage, high meter gain, low execution requirement, absolutely no reason not to learn it.

The Co-jones combo:
FLY:h:, Un-FLY:h:, j. :h:, j. :s:, st. :s:, sj. :h:, FLY, j. :l:, j. :h:, Un-FLY immetiadte j. :h:, land, st. :s:, j. , j. :h:, j. :s:, Rocket Punch :l:, Plasma Storm (MASH DEM BUTTONS)
906,100 damage about 20-25% meter gain

Notes

Spoiler

This is a combo by the co-jones trying to get max damage, considering the opener its not the most practical, but if you ever get the chance to open a combo with a fly :h: this is the combo for you.

:f:/ :h:(air ok) :qcf::l: HSF :s: air :h::s: :qcf::l: plasma storm

Notes

Spoiler

This is the most I’ve been able to get off a throw, if anyone can come up with more damaging(or at the very least, more meter independent) combo, please share. Plus, it someone could post the damage and meter gain Id appreciate it.

:f:/ :h: :qcf::uf::l: HD cr. :s: :h: :s: :qcf: :l: plasma storm

Notes

Spoiler

I just realized sentinel could do this today so I figured id add it, I don’t have exact numbers and meter build, particularly in comparison to the other combo but at the very least know this is possible mid-screen whereas the other is only possible in the corner. Judging from the number of hits in both combos this seems to build slightly more meter. Also, it is possible on smaller characters but not consistent unless you dash forward before the tk rocket punch

X-factor combo:
:qcf::l: x-factor j.:h: :s: land st.:h: cr.:h: :s: air :h: :s: land :qcf::l: plasma Storm
Approximately 1.15 damage(with lvl 3 x-factor), and about 30 percent meter gain

Notes

Spoiler

This should be your go to x-factor combo, just stick it in after an otg rocket punch in any combo that you haven’t used your ground bounce in yet. Very good of throws in particular since sentinel has a really good airthrow.

Another X-factor combo:
:qcf: :l: x-factor j.:h: :s: land st. :s: air :h: fly :l: :h: :s: land :qcf: :l: :a1: / :a2: plasma storm
1 million(with lvl 1 x-factor)

Spoiler

I added this because it does enough to kill most of sentinels bad match-ups(wesker in particular), is self sufficient, and can be done off any of his throws(will have to dash mid-screen). So if you kill a point character, and manage to pull off the guard break on the second, you can just pop x-factor and be guaranteed of a kill(unless that character is taskmaster and above)

Snap Combo:
cr. :s: :h: :qcb: :s: :l: :h: :qcb: :s: :h: :qcf: :a1:

Notes

Spoiler

The only snapback combo I’ve been able to find(shout outs to “throwing is cheap”)

Infinite:
[ :u: :l: :l: :h: :qcb: :s: :l: :h: :qcb: :s: :h: ] x infinity

Notes

Spoiler

The opener depends on the TAC you chose but the actual combo is always as the above. You have to get the unfly :h: right before you hit the ground otherwise the combo will drop. Please feel free to add your input to this section as I’ve never tried this combo IRL and am basing this off second hand reports.

[jak_d_ripr]

Videos:

Spoiler

So what Im gonna do with the video section is break it down into players(since there are so few left). But when you watch the matches, try to pay attention to what the players do with sentinel when he isn’t on point in addition to the how they use him when he is, see how they call drones and the things they do to protect sentinels massive frame.

Gameplay

Spoiler

DiosX:

Spoiler

Sorry, but Im not about to post(and look through) 9 weeks of box sessions and post all the time stamps, ill post some important and cool ones when I see them, but just know there are more.
http://www.twitch.tv/theboxarena/b/310115818 (But if your in a hurry, check out 2:40:00 till about end)
http://www.twitch.tv/theboxarena/b/307187296 (0:39:00ish)
http://www.twitch.tv/theboxarena/b/307887154 (5:08:00)
http://www.twitch.tv/theboxarena/b/309755968(6:58:00)
http://www.twitch.tv/leveluplive/b/307275781 (1:59:00)
http://www.twitch.tv/theboxarena/b/311613123 (2:58:00)

RayRay:

Spoiler

[media=youtube]6i8yzfgIxJ8[/media]
[media=youtube]FAF3OcdMNwY[/media]
[media=youtube]H4uFnKfpED8[/media]
[media=youtube]jNaHIAV3hEE[/media]
[media=youtube]UTXB83XlnaU[/media]
[media=youtube]leJw04C2WTY[/media]
[media=youtube]SBnAzaUC9yk[/media]
http://www.twitch.tv/honzo_gonzo/b/324824978 (8:45:00ish)
http://www.twitch.tv/bum1six3/b/325374441
[media=youtube]-OcqiuCo8rg[/media]!
http://www.twitch.tv/bifuteki/b/325883521

Infrit:

Spoiler

[media=youtube]zoCHPGhKM5E[/media]
http://www.twitch.tv/uniteightyseven/b/308411878 (about 40 minutes in until pretty much the end)
[media=youtube]lDt-AWtpb9A[/media]
[media=youtube]Isvi1Q1RIkQ[/media]
http://www.twitch.tv/leveluplive/b/307275781 (2:39:00)
[media=youtube]jKwBDtfbAUk[/media]
http://www.twitch.tv/leveluplive/b/316284321
http://www.twitch.tv/leveluplive/b/324741064 (A lot of footage of infrit and fanatiq)
[media=youtube]Y25_yzgEmgM[/media]
[media=youtube]wxLXp795YzU[/media]
[media=youtube]_ayCjjteF-w[/media]

Rowtron:

Spoiler

[media=youtube]bVTOnDibFJE[/media]
[media=youtube]sBZGpnw-0NI[/media]

Other:

Spoiler

[media=youtube]LM0TVmrISns[/media] (had to post this seeing as how this was the match that made me pick up sentinel since this was the first time I saw what good sentinel play looked like)
[media=youtube]ilrfujBS3iQ[/media]
[media=youtube]v78TDyKTqsI[/media]
[media=youtube]CBfdkl_s7QI[/media]
[media=youtube]iyl_FSTS1WA[/media] @16:20
[media=youtube]sYolRIAGP-s[/media]
[media=youtube]nMycMQ9rNWY[/media]
[media=youtube]jwk6BZR0d4Q[/media]
[media=youtube]AA_YVTGso5w[/media]
[media=youtube]ATkcEeiAOqo[/media]
[media=youtube]lpb6VTsUsyI[/media]
[media=youtube]TCsNpjmTAT0[/media]

Combos

Spoiler

[media=youtube]NvHn6KhEaYM[/media]
[media=youtube]_00cJtEDq4U[/media]
[media=youtube]ez9SigtMBLc[/media]
[media=youtube]Tc0d6CdqHKQ[/media]
[media=youtube]41Df9Dl323k[/media] (fly confirming off cr.)

Misc

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[media=youtube]d9paOKgkSjg[/media]
[media=youtube]4X9-xm7sb6c[/media]

Channels

Spoiler

[spoiler=Twitch channels]
http://www.twitch.tv/bum1six3/
http://www.twitch.tv/rayray19wun/
http://www.twitch.tv/iijokerii

youtube channels

Spoiler

http://www.youtube.com/user/RDKXL

[/details]

[hybreezy]

Good shit, I was actually thinking of making an anchor Sentinel tutorial (even if I feel he should be played 2nd) but since I don’t have capture equipment I can’t. I’m willing to give you a hand in anyway if you want jak, I don’t consider myself an amazing Sentinel but I’m confident I play him pretty respectably.

[The_Co-Jones]

Few important things to note for Sentinel as a whole:

• All of his Normals and Specials NEUTRALIZE Projectiles of Medium Durability or weaker during their active frames.

• All of his normals are Flight-Cancellable.

• Make it a habit to cancel into flight if you feel that something is bound to get punished because you can always implement his air Normals or Rocket Punches to swat the enemy out of the sky.

• Sentinel is somewhat meter-dependent, more so than in Vanilla due to the overall meter-gain reductions imposed on the entire cast.

I’ll note anything else I can dig up! I will do anything I can to help make this one of the best Sentinel threads!

[jak_d_ripr]

Thanks a lot guys, I really wanna make this work so Im glad I have some support. And if I go an extended period without updating don’t think I’ve abandoned this thread, Im either really busy with school, or dead.

[Pain]

My favorite assist when using Sentinel on point are assists that allow Sentinel to confirm off of his long range limbs such as Magneto’s disruptor and Doom’s Missiles. For combo extenders, I pick assists like Vergil’s Rapid Slash and Strider’s Vajra that allow me to get multiple rocket punches for extra damage. OTG assists also help maximize damage. And for mixup, assists like Skrull’s Orbital Grudge and Storm’s Lightning Attack can be simple ways of mixing up incoming characters.

Let’s try and get a match-up discussion going

[jak_d_ripr]

Yea, lets, why not start with his most popular bad match-up in alberto de wesker? Im probably not in the minority when I say I absolutely hate this match-up, wesker wins at full screen, and he wins up close. But this isn’t the bitching thread, so personally what I do against wesker is first and foremost try to corner his ass(and most weskers do it for you anyway), once I get him into the corner I stay at about j. range so if he tries to teleport out I super jump and feed him come cleats since his fastest air teleport(his air to ground one) has 25 frames of recovery, if you read his teleport you can often punish it. If you have an AA assist like vajra or hidden missiles this match-up becomes a hell of a lot more manageable since he can’t just air teleport whenever he feels like. Up close sentinel loses hard, when a wesker gets in your face all you can do is simply push block and try to get the hell outta there since not only are all weskers offense tools safe, they are all much faster than any of sentinels normals. The only positive is wesker doesn’t have wolverine style mix-ups up close, as the only things you have to worry about are 1. A teleport mix-up(which is extremely easy to block if he doesn’t have a good horizontal assist) and 2. His command grab, this right here, is a real pain in the ass since he can mix you up really easily between a command grab and a cr. and if you get really predictable with your push-blocks he can just stagger his strings and make you whiff(never a good position for our boy). I really struggle against wesker once he gets in(while doing a mediocre job at keeping him out) so I don’t have much to share in that regard, and need y’all to help me out.

[t1bz]

Obviously you don’t want to be full screen against Wesker unless you have missiles/Strider, so my goal when fighting him is to get into that mid range where Sent’s normals dominate. My general plan is to double jump and fly to get above his SJ gunshot spam, fly forward a bit, then unfly and call an assist to cover my approach. From there I just react depending on what Wesker does. Works pretty well for me, it’s not like I body every Wesker I play or anything, but in my experience it’s a very workable game plan. Maybe I just haven’t played any good Weskers though.

I feel that this isn’t as bad of a matchup for Sent as people make it out to be. Sentinel can easily get into the upper portion of the screen that Wesker doesn’t control and stay there for days with flight, and thanks to his double jump, he can get to that height while still being able to call assists. It’s true that Wesker getting in close is a nightmare but that’s true of most any high/top tier char vs Sent, not only Wesker.

The matchup that I’m most interested in discussing is Hawkeye. Now this, I feel, is a legit bad match up for Sentinel. I haven’t worked out any kind of a consistent game plan against this guy other than fishing for random hard drive/HSF blow ups. HSF followed by laser + assist spam can turn the projectile war in your favor, but only if he doesn’t have any Gimlets stocked (which of course is rarely the case).

Also a couple notes on HSF:

–This hyper is an amazing assist killer. Pairing it with full screen DHCs like Shinku or XF + do it again can easily kill assists from full screen.
–If you see the point character get tagged with HSF, you can XFC and mosey on over there for an easy confirm into an easy death combo. 1 bar and XF into death off a full screen punish is a nice trick to have up your sleeve (it’s my main way of killing Hawkeye >_>). Also obviously good to do in happy birthday situations.
–You can also XFC a blocked HSF and use it as cover to run in and do mix ups. Of course Sentinel doesn’t have the greatest mix up game, but I have seen this work (and succeeded with it myself). For example, on the box arena stream last night Dios X did this and then normal jumped forward and landed with cr.M. Viscant got hit, probably because he was expecting j.L or frying pan on the way down from the jump rather than an empty jump. And of course you can always mix it up between cr.M or grabbing as soon as the blockstun from the drones ends.

[jak_d_ripr]

I actually don’t think sent vs hawkeye is too bad(maybe its just cause Im pretty much the only hawkeye in my area), but on paper at least yea sent struggles getting in, but there are two thing you gotta take into account. First thing is, hawkeye’s normals aren’t very good, so long as your not whiffing anything hawkeye can slide punish, he is one of the few top tiers that sentinel beats up close. The second point is, hawkeyes damage is just not very good, his advanced combos do like 700k with 2 bars, and even with a lvl 3 tagged on he maxes out at about 800k. Now odds are by the time you get in, you won’t be at 900k and he could prolly kill you with one combo, but its a good point to know. Plus all sent needs is one hit, if he has one hit and one bar hawkeye is dead, so I the match-up looks more like a classic gief vs sim match-up where its 8-2 full screen for one, but 8-2 up close for the other. Plus hawkeye lacks the mobility to get away from sentinel, in fact, sentinel is much much more mobile than hawkeye what with the double jump and flight mode.

[t1bz]

I agree that Sentinel can put the hurt on once he’s in there, but that’s just the problem; getting in there. Hawkeye has projectiles that cover just about every angle of approach and Sentinel doesn’t have any projectiles of his own to fire back with (except mouthlaser, which will hit once or twice before getting Gimlet’d). If the Hawkeye is on point with his projectile spam and Gimlet usage I find it simply impossible to get close and end up just doing desperation HSF or jumping around hoping he random Gimlets so I can hard drive. I could really use some help with actually gaining ground on Hawkeye without resorting to hail-mary tactics.

[jak_d_ripr]

Yea I wish I could give you more advice on it, but there is literally no other hawkeye in my scene. But heres a video of infrit vs combofiend, they are some solid matches and infrits sentinel goes 1 on 1 with combos hawkeye sometimes [media=youtube]lDt-AWtpb9A[/media].

And while we are on the subject, is it just me, or has infrit stepped his shit up in ultimate? I mean his sentinel constantly impresses me when I see it on point. Good to see not everyone is giving up on the giant robot.

Oh and finally, please spread the word about this thread, Im really trying to make this a community thing so we can all come together and prove sentinel isn’t ass. Plus this forum is dead, I find it insulting that the hsien-ko forums get more traffic than this when she isn’t even a selectable character in this game. Was hoping this would be able to get some conversations going.

[INFRIT]

thanx for the props jak d ripr… the robot is my fav character … i still need to play a lot smarter with him cuz he’s free sometimes but im trying to prove he’s still a great/viable character and NOT an ASSIST… anyways, appreciate anyone who appreciates the robot as much as me… peace

btw… i have a few combos i could record in case you guys r interested… so far im the only one ive seen use these… not sure if anyone knows of the few Sentinels left…

nonXfactor:
i usually go for a relaunch combo but in case u notice ur too high and wont connect u can adjust mid combo and finish it this way… well at least i do

cr.M, S, j.H, fly j.L j.H, unfly… (at this point judge the height, if too high i adjust with this) j.M double jump j.H, S … (if not too high continue with the relaunch combo)

lvl3Xfactor:

combo into cr.M, S, j.H fly j.H, unfly j.H… land j.M, j.H, land st.M, S, j.M double jump j.H, j.S
" "cr.M, S, j.H fly j.H, unfly j.H… land dash behind S, j.H fly j.L, j.H, unfly j.M double jump j.M , S

relaunch with all H’s also works in lvl2Xfactor

[Momochuu]

I’ll post some stuff here soon. :tup:

[Thumper]

good stuff. i haven’t read everything on this thread yet, but i’ve already learned a lot. i’m only picking up sent now mainly coz his drones are just too good, but i don’t wanna limit myself to just using him as an assist character.

[jak_d_ripr]

So yea Im gonna need a little help, Im trying to compile sents most damaging combos in each situation(off an air/regular throw, off a command grab, off an air to air). But I don’t know the exact numbers, and due to my lack of a console, I can’t get those numbers. So if someone could just give me the damage values of each of his combos(not taking tk hard drive loops into consideration) id greatly appreciate it.

[GcYoshi13]

yeah…

I’ll be keeping tabs on this thread. I really need the help lol.

[The_Co-Jones]

So yea Im gonna need a little help, Im trying to compile sents most damaging combos in each situation(off an air/regular throw, off a command grab, off an air to air). But I don’t know the exact numbers, and due to my lack of a console, I can’t get those numbers. So if someone could just give me the damage values of each of his combos(not taking tk hard drive loops into consideration) id greatly appreciate it.

Post the combos here and I’ll gladly give the damage numbers to the best of my ability, if not, then shoot me a message and I’ll gladly help out.