I’ve toyed with the Sentinel in the past and i can see its a very powerful ship, especially when blinged out. But it seems to slow and fragile for solo pvp and the dps is very low. If you fit it for speed and agility it has zero tank and if you fit a tank it seems to become to slow and cumbersome and still has a poor tank. I’ve seen some interesting fits where you forgo the TD and fit a scram, web and cap booster but not sure how survivable these really are. Blinged out neuts could cap out another frig from 45k away in a few seconds but I don’t fancy fly a 300mil ship that is made of glass.
So any fits, tips and tricks for a solo Sentinel.
A solo Sentinel really benefits from some bling in at least the prop mod department. As you’ve noticed, it’s not the fastest frigate around which really hurts for solo pvp.
Some decent roll abyssal t2 neuts would be an option instead of deadspace neuts.
Ultimately, it’s a support ship that really shines in a small gang.
It’s still viable solo, and a lot of fun. Finding fights will be trickier than usual because targets you can beat will likely run away as soon as you show up on d-scan, while less cap dependent opponents will target you.
From memory, i fit a nano and saar in the lows, cap booster in the mids and full neut rack relying on drones for damage.
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I enjoy it solo, but that’s more because it’s rewarding when you fly it right. But it is hands down a gang support ship.
You can do some really nasty stuff and like a lot of the other ewar frigs a lot of time your opponents don’t realize how oppressive you can be.
Especially the tracking distribution. It’s probably the least psychologically intimidating. If you use tracking speed they can go completely unnoticed.
I would say get some experience flying the t1 solo. How you fly them isn’t the same, in fact some builds it’s wildly different but learning how to use the TD will make the sentinel much more powerful.
The sentinel can manage 2v1 fights better than most other frigates in my opinion as the neuts will shut down most mwds letting you separate the targets.
It’s favorable engagement pool is pretty small though and that can make finding a fight tricky. I recommend focusing solely on tracking disruption and not missiles as there tends to be more turret ships and missile ships tend to be able to overcome the disruption easier, or at least not be as hindered by them.
You really only need enough tank to get control of the fight, once you have that you should be able to avoid damage until whatever you’re fighting is dead. This is what leads to that narrow engagement pool. Some ships you simply won’t be able to reliably avoid taking damage from.
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Solo you can have some success against frigate and destroyer brawlers. Especially if their guns rely on capacitor. Often the limit in mid-slots prevents them from fitting a cap booster. Those are great targets - if you can start the fight from a distance.
As you noticed, DPS will be low. With 90 dps from drones, it will take a while to take down pretty much anything. But if your target can’t move, it can’t fight back.
Here is a very cheap kiting fit. I wouldn’t claim it’s a very good fit, but I have killed Hecates with it in the past.
[Sentinel, Kity]
Damage Control II
Nanofiber Internal Structure II
Drone Damage Amplifier II
5MN Quad LiF Restrained Microwarpdrive
Small Shield Extender II
Medium Ancillary Shield Booster
Warp Disruptor II
Small Infectious Scoped Energy Neutralizer
Small Knave Scoped Energy Nosferatu
Small Infectious Scoped Energy Neutralizer
Small Ancillary Current Router II
Small Auxiliary Thrusters I
Warrior II x4
Hornet II x4
Acolyte II x4
Nanite Repair Paste x60
Navy Cap Booster 50 x65
After you neuted your target dry, you want to turn off one neut and pay attention to the rolling combat text messages. You may need to cycle the second neut once in a while to keep them dry. But generally, the fast cycle time of the small neut on the Sentinel should be enough to counter the passive regeneration of most small ships.
You want to start the fight at range. Make them run into you while you kite away and heat your high-slots. Then establish long point and manage your own capacitor and drones while you stay at arm’s length.
If you want to make kiting and cap management a bit easier, you can upgrade the long point to a faction one. The last time I looked, Dread Guristas Warp Disruptors were rather cheap.
Last thought: Anything with drones will be a bad target. If it’s only like 2-3 you could defang them probably, but a full set of 5 lights will be trouble for the shallow tank a Sentinel can fit.
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