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

Damn, I should have seen this thread first, but I’m also working on a short Sentinel basic’s and tricks video but hopefully when it’s done being edited, it’ll help some other people out that need it. I had posted two of the smallest clips on Youtube at the moment just to see what I could expect quality to be but they were from the video. I’ll post the entire video once my friend helps me get it finished.

Kara cancelling s.M
[media=youtube]v_vMGQLiKwI[/media]

Cancelling flight to avoid danger.
[media=youtube]ltBkfPypCeo[/media]

^ i like that. why does cancelling the flight avoid the level 3?

Deactivating Sentinel’s fly is 0 frames and allows him to do whatever you want including block. And the motion of the move can be done during the super freeze allowing the Sentinel player time to react and unfly.

Good stuff man, ill add those vids. Looking forward to your full on guide.

About time somebody came forward with this tech. Good shit my man

Thanks guys, I’m hoping to have everything finished by Thursday and uploaded shortly after that. I post it up when I get it finished.

These are the combos I use after command grabs in the corner:

L version: B, S, j.C, fly, j.A, j.C, unfly, j.B, double jump, j.B, j.C, j.S, land, L rocket punch. 451,700.

M version: j.A, j.B, j.C, land, j.A, j.B, j.S, land, B, S, j.C fly, j.A, j.B, j.C, j.S, land, L rocket punch. 475,400.

H version: j.B, j.B, double jump, j.B, j.C, j.S, land, S, j.C, fly, j.A, j.B, j.C, j.S land, L rocket punch. 519,300.

Midscreen after H version(thanks GcYoshi13!): fly, move down forwards, j.L rocket punch xx hard drive, land, cr.B, S, j.B, j.B, j.C, j.S, land, rocket punch. 528,500.

Dumb things about command grab people already know:

  • can be kara’d with 5C for massive range, can be used in a tick throw setup with 5A providing it isn’t pushblocked. If you do 5C at close range and they block it, if you delay your timing you can do a command grab afterwards (risky).

  • j.A has very little blockstun so if you do that on the way down you can do a command grab afterwards. Common flight corner pressure is fly, j.B, unfly, j.B/j.C, but if you delay that last j.B/j.C it’ll whiff and set you up for a command grab. Obviously every j.C should be inputted as j.6C so you option select air throw.

  • if you press S while in flight obviously it grounds you, but if you do it low enough to the ground it whiffs, allowing you to fake an S and go for a quick ground move instead, often a command grab. If you go into flight from the ground you are at the correct height for an S to hit but if you TK flight, your S will whiff.

  • you can obviously get dumb mixups with x factor into command grab like point blank HSF, x factor, command grab (inefficient as hell but fun to do and if they jump you can get a free air throw attempt or another option selected HSF for big chip.

  • use of the bomb drones can lock your opponent down as they stay out no matter what, which can lead to interesting setups.

  • experiment with assists (obvious). Guys like Goukifafa get great setups and pressure off akuma tatsu.

  • if you are flying and pressuring in the corner and they advance guard, if you unfly at the perfect time you won’t get knocked back and will be right in front of them for whatever mixup you want.

If any of this is too dumb let me know and I’ll edit it.

EDIT: Remembered another setup that EVERYONE falls for the first time you do it. If for whatever reason you don’t finish someone off with a Sentinel corner combo, and you know they’ll tech roll out, back dash and do the H command grab.

Something I noticed that’s missing from the Combo Section is the TAE combo. (Team Aerial Exchange)

Unfortunately, because of Rocket Punch’s hit-stun nerf, Big Papa Sentinel lost his fancy-ass, meter-gaining, damaging TAE (SadFace.jpg)

The most damaging/meter-gain combo he’s got left is:

Teammate combo into Aerial Exchange initial hit (the one that make the enemy spin), j.:h:, :qcb: :s:, j. :l:, j. :h:, :qcb: :s: (un-fly), j. :m:, double jump j. :m:, j. :h:, j. :s:, Rocket Punch :l:, Plasma Storm (or whatever ender you desire)

The new TAC combos are so… unswag.

Yea I didn’t bother since the “new” TAC combo is just a basic unfly combo. Didn’t see the point in posting the same combo twice, crying shame capcom took out the old combo, it was pretty dope.

Oh and I’ve been testing something out, sentinels tk flight activation comes out pretty quickly and pretty low to the ground. Its not the fastest instant overhead, but its something for the opponent to look out for. My question to you guys is do y’all know of any ways to combo off it(if you’ve tested it). Its too low to the ground for anything but an :l: to come out, so the only way I’ve been able to combo was with an :l: unfly :l: st.:l: st.:m:, but even that isn’t consistent because sometimes Im too low for even the second air. :l: to come out.

With that said, I don’t have the best execution plus my stick is falling apart so maybe Im just doing it wrong. Figured id drop this here and see if anyone can do something better with it.

Have you tried chaining L into M or H before doing the unfly? Then you might have enough hitstun to land and hit with a ground normal without even bothering with another air normal after unfly. If you are barely off the ground, air M should be able to hit alot of chars (haven’t played with it too much myself so I’m not sure).

In the corner you can do TK flight, j.A, j.C, unfly, land, st.B, S into combo of your choice. Outside of the corner you have to replace the st.B with cr.B.

Nah, the :m: isn’t consistent enough, might hit hulk and nemesis, but whiffs on zero and pretty much all the other top tiers(which are the characters that matter amirite?). Ill try the :h: later today, I don’t know why I didn’t before tbh.

If something doesn’t work consistently, it’s good material for a command grab set-up.

Jumping/Fly L is a good way to set-up tick command throws.

So I did a lil more testing and you can get tk flight, j.:l: :h: unfly st.:l: etc(I tested on zero, spiderman, and nemesis). Unfortunately this only works in the corner, so I did a lil more testing and you can actually do j.:l: :h: unfly :m: mid-screen. Now the issue with this is your usually out of range for the cr.:m:(it hits sometimes, doesn’t others, maybe I was doing it too late though) and other times you might be out of range for the st.:s:. On second thought, I think its the st.:s: that you are usually out of range for, I do’nt recall clearly(am I really getting that old) but on second thought I think the cr.:m: hits all the time and its the :s: that is out of range sometimes. If thats the case its not too much of an issue I guess, you could prolly(with a lil practice) dash in st.:l:, maybe even st.:m:.

Now the question becomes whether the tk flight is even worth it, it seems a lil fast, but Im not sure if it’ll hit consistently, especially if the opponent is looking out for it. And to add to this, hamilton is devoid of any competitive marvel players so I can’t even test it out against anyone else. Might have to go to toronto to run tests.

EDIT: So I did a lil more testing(mehn it feels so good to be home) and it turns out depending on the height you activate the tk flight you can get a j.:l: :m: :s: free, like even mid-screen. But thats not even the best part, I took yoshi’s advice and tested a lil more and turns out if you delay the :s: a tad bit, sent begins the animation, but because of how to the ground he is, it whiffs, giving him a free command grab set-up. Shame I can’t test all of this on opponents who hit back.

On Sentinel’s BnB (not the re-launch, the second BnB) you can actually make it do 830,200k (full mash) off of a j. :h:.
This combo is solo and lands on everyone every time:

j. :h:, j. :s:, st. :s:, j. :m:, j. :h:, :qcb: :s:, j. :l:, j. :h:, :qcb: :s:, j. :m:, double jump :m:, j. :h:, :s:, Rocket Punch :l: (you may want to dash if midscreen), Plasma Storm

This is always self-sufficient for the combo, and you are left at about 5% meter-gain if you do this exact combo (omitting the j. :m: at the first launch does not net the full meter and leaves you at 99% percent meter-gain after the Rocket Punch :l:).

With an initial meter, I’ve gotten 995k with the Hard Drive beforehand following the cr. :m:, Rocket Punch :m:

Just wanted to say this guide is awesome. Hope it continues to be updated. I’ve played sentinel for a while, but I’m terrible with him as I just rely on him as an assist. Now I feel like I have a starting point to make him a threat. Thanks.

This thread will continue to be updated and help make Sentinel become THE THREAT once again

Sentinel thrived on the insane life and lack of experience of the playerbase. He will never resume the threat that he once was.

He’s still scary though. Sometimes.

Yea we can’t make him the threat anymore, but we can make him a threat which I hope this guide helps in. So has anyone checked the tk flight to see if its even a practical option? My practice buddy is the training dummy so I can’t learn much from that, but if any of y’all get a chance against a competent opponent id appreciate hearing just how practical it is, got a tourney coming up soon and it could come in handy.