Sentinel Guide

Sentinels combine biotic and tech abilities. Typically they use biotic abilities and advanced healing skills to defend allies, though they can also disrupt opponents with biotic or tech attacks. They are more efficient at tech and biotics than other classes, but at the expense of combat. Sentinels can only use light armor, and receive no advanced weapon training.

Overview
Sentinels are at home at manipulating the battlefield and providing support to allies. Because Sentinels lack weaponry talents, you should stay in cover and provide support. You can also get a huge shield boost through the Electronics skill and you have access to the Barrier talent, you can stay closer to the front than other support classes, but be sure to keep in cover. The Sentinel has both biotic powers and tech powers, which makes them good against synthetics and organics. If you are a Sentinel, this may be the class you want to level up your First Aid and Medicine skills, because the Medic specialization unlocks a way you to revive your squadmates without Unity. Overall, the Sentinel is a "jack of all trades" and is good in just about any situation, though not necessarily great.

Throw
One of the more useful talents available to Sentinels and a great crowd control ability when upgraded. Throw is useful against any enemy and can provide necessary breathing room against multiple enemies. Throw is one of those skills that you should put a few points into, even if you have another squadmate that can use it.

Lift
Unlocked with 7 points in Throw

Lift is another of those useful talents for the Sentinel. When done right, the power lifts enemies above cover and that makes them a practice target. As a bonus, when they fall back down, they take damage depending on how high they are suspended. Lift can also be very useful in zero-gravity environments; if enemies go too far up, they won't be coming back. Lift can also be used on objects and is really useful against husks and krogan. Husks die instantly when they are off the ground, and if a krogan is in the air when they are killed, they don't regenerate. To summarize, what goes up, gets shot at, must come back down.

Barrier
Barrier is a defensive power that creates a biotic Barrier over your shields. This power, even on lower settings, can provide the necessary shielding to survive a fight. This power is of great usefulness when you are backed into a corner, and your shields are down. However this power does have some limitations because of how the Electronics power provides a huge boost to your shields. All in all, it is not a waste to have a few points in this ability.

Stasis
Unlocked with 6 points in Barrier

Stasis is a useful power if you need to keep an enemy, especially a powerful one, on the sidelines for a few seconds. However, the power does have one limitation: any enemy in Stasis can't be damaged by anything. Unlocking this talent and putting a few points here would provide sufficient breathing room. Unless you are specializing in Bastion, which goes up to 12 rank points and gives you the ability to damage enemies in Stasis, putting more than a few points here isn't worth it.

Decryption
Decryption is an useful skill for two reasons; it grants the Sabotage ability, and can be used to unlock containers and salvage equipment. The Sabotage ability provides enough justification to invest in this talent. Unlocking containers is a side bonus, but the experience you get from it is more than worth investing a few points here. Sabotage also damages enemy weapons, making them unable to fire for a few seconds. This, if targeted right, can disable the weapons of multiple attackers, so aim carefully. Even if you have another squad member that can use this, it is worth putting points here to unlock Electronics.

Electronics
Unlockes with 4 points in Decryption.

Electronics is a very useful skill as it does four things, namely, it unlocks the Overload ability, allows you to unlock containers and salvage equipment, improves the amout of damage repaired on the Mako, and provides a boost to your shields. The Overload ability is extremely useful against shields and synthetic enemies. Once a synthetic enemy's shields is down, using Overload is a great way to disrupt them further. It is also very effective against Geth Armature if you are on foot, or any geth in general. Upping Electronics grants you access to higher level loot, so a few points here would be a good idea. If you are fond of the Mako, a few points here can help repair higher amounts of damage, so it makes it useful on longer mission because you don't have to waste Omni-gel on repairs. Finally, the best result of this skill is the boost to your shields. Each level of Electronics adds the shields capacity by 30 points, which makes Electronics worth investing in. Overall, Electronics is one of the most useful skills to invest in for a Sentinel.

First Aid
First Aid is a skill that allows you to heal more of the squad's health every time you use medi-gel. This is one of those skills that is better suited to a squadmate but you can still put some points here as well. Any point put here won't go to waste as it will help your squad, but consider only putting just enough points here to unlock Medicine. The Medic specialization class benefits more from any point investment in First Aid.

Medicine
Unlocked with 5 points in First Aid

Medicine is a talent that grants the Neural Shock ability, which is paralysing to organic enemies. The talent also improves the recharge time for medi-gel so you will be able to use it faster. Also if you are planning to specialize as a Medic, then this skill is a good idea and wouldn't go to waste.

Charm
Opens conversational options that are likely to increase Paragon points. This talent is tied to Paragon, and will allow additional conversation options that will often lead to additional information, avoiding combat, bonus items, etc. This talent will also reduce the cost of items purchased in stores.

Intimidate
Opens conversational options that are likely to increase Renegade points. Renegade points primarily add bonuses to damage and damage dealing abilities. Similar to Charm above, though linked with Renegade and offers an increase in the credits gained from selling items.

Spectre Training
Spectre Training is one the most useful skills for a Sentinel, because it grants so many abilities, mainly the increase of health. The most useful ability unlocked is the Unity power, which revives squadmates. Even if you have the Medic specialization, which also uses medi-gel to revive squadmates, this skill is still worth investing in.

Singularity
Singularity would be a good crowd control power for the Sentinel and it would be complemented by the bio-amp that you can equip. Because the Sentinel is best when fighting from behind the rest of the squad and in cover, this power can give you the ability to do that and still put up a lot of enemies for target practice.

AI Hacking
Hacking is a very useful ability for Sentinels. This power gives Sentinels the ability to control tech enemies like drones and the geth, and turning them against your enemies. Hacking is more of a situational bonus power as it can be very useful during certain missions and assignments, but overall has less to offer than an additional weapon.

Damping
As you already have accesss to Overload to take care of enemy weapons, picking Damping to deal with enemy tech and biotic powers would increase the Sentinels ability to control the battlefield. Damping also increases the radius of all tech powers, so it may be worth picking up as a bonus power. Unlike other bonus powers, this one can be used in just about any situation.

Pistols
Pistols are the bread and butter of the Sentinel as it is the only weapon class initially available to the Sentinel. The weapon is good at mid to close-range combat and at providing support for squadmates. The pistol works very well with the Sentinels natural debuff and support abilities. Just make sure to invest a few points in the talent to get access to the Marksman ability.

Shotguns
Because Sentinels are usually are better at mid-range combat, from behind cover, using their talents to provide cover. Shotguns however may not be bad as a secondary weapon because of the Sentinel's defensive talent Barrier and Electronics that boost shields. If you are the type of Sentinel that likes to get up close and personal with your enemies, the shotguns might be a good choice especially with the Sentinel's ability to boost their defenses.

Sniper Rifles
If you are the kind of person who likes to reach out and touch someone, then sniper rifles might be a good weapon choice. The Sentinel is at home in supporting squadmates and debuffing enemies with the sniper rifle, allowing you to keep your distance from the enemies, and in the same time, provides a way to cover your squadmates with talents and powers. Overall, the sniper rifle fits very well in the Sentinel's general style of keeping at a distance.

Assault Rifles
Assault rifles are a good all-round weapon choice for a Sentinel, if you are the kind of player that likes to stay in the mid-range. Assault rifles are powerful and capable of rapid fire, so they make an excellent mid to long-range weapon to complement pistols which already covers close to mid-range.

Combat Guide
The Sentinel only has access to one weapon, the pistol, so you have to know how to use it effectively. The pistol is a good mid to close-range weapon, so unless you have another weapon, make sure to stay within that range. If you have the Marksman ability, use it as often as you can to get some high powered and accurate shots from a bit further back. The pistol is good for providing cover as it is accurate, but slow firing, so keep that in mind.

You will want to combine the Sentinel's tech and biotic powers in order to hit the foe the hardest. Combining Neural Shock, Lift, and Throw can lead to an effective play style. While Sentinels only have access to light armor, use Barrier in order to absorb any additional firepower that you encounter. Sentinels are good at protecting and keeping the party safe by disabling enemies with Stasis and Sabotage, and use Overload to aid your party in destroying enemies by knocking out their shields. Overload and Sabotage are very effective talents against geth, as they tend to have relatively heavy shields and dependent on ranged attacks. In short, using the Sentinel's powers to cover your squad is the best way to go.

Squad Members
The Sentinel should have at least one squad member to make up for the lack of combat ability. The most obvious squad members for supporting Sentinels are Wrex and Ashley for the heavy support and protection. Wrex and Ashley will also be more effective after the Sentinel debuffs the enemies. Garrus adds some combat ability but doesn't have any skills apart from what the Sentinel already has. However, his Adrenaline Burst allows him to use talents more frequently than the Sentinel, allowing more tech proximity mines and control over the enemy. Using Garrus combined with Wrex can be a good team for the Sentinel if they are leveled carefully to ensure the team isn't weakened by too much talent overlap. Tali is not recommended for the Sentinel's team because she shares a lot of talents with the Sentinel. While she is the only squadmate with the Hacking talent, she has few combat abilities and lacks the fighting proficiency which is ideal in the Sentinel's team. Liara is the only squad member with Singularity but she has no combat abilites and all her other talents are already available to either the Sentinel or Wrex, hence she makes a poor choice for the Sentinel's party.

Another effective team member is fellow Sentinel Kaidan. If you are a Sentinel and you have the Medicine talent maxed out and Kaidan has the Medicine talent maxed out, the effects stack up to a 60% reduction in Medicine recharge time. This means that you can heal the party every few seconds. This strategy will leave only one party member for the heavy combat and cause excessive redundancy in the talents available, making it less viable at higher difficulties.

Medic
A longer range Sentinel will find the Medic class more useful for supporting the party with Neural Shock while resurrecting the party members who are fighting at the front line instead of being in combat. Because the Medic specialization also allows you to use medi-gel to revive squadmates in addition to Unity, if you are a support Sentinel, then this might be the class to pick.

Bastion
A close range Sentinel will find the Bastion class more useful for protecting the party up close with Stasis and Barrier. The Bastion is more suited for combat Sentinels who perfer getting up close and personal with their targets. The Bastion allows specialization in Stasis and Barrier, so if you like combat, then the Bastion is a better choice.