The Sentinel is the only class in Mass Effect 2 (apart from Shepards with well chosen bonus powers) that has Biotic AND Tech abilities. On the other hand, it cannot use more weapons than an Adept or Engineer.

Powers : Tech Armor (unique), Throw, Warp, Cryo Blast, Overload, Defender (passive).
Weapons : Heavy pistols, SMGs, Heavy weapons, Specialization (Assault Rifles OR Sniper Rifles OR Shotguns).

Like each class, the Sentinel has a unique power, which is the Tech Armor. All its strentgh comes from the Tech Armor. Basically, it’s like another armor, that gives you more shields and makes you more badass. We’ll go into details later.

You have two biotic abilities, Throw and Warp, and two tech abilities, Cryo Blast and Overload. Then, there are the passive and the bonus power.

What bonus power are we going to use ?

An ammo bonus power. Why ? First, because we don’t have any at start, and we wish to boost our weapons a little ; and second, because we want something with a quick cooldown (see Gameplay).

I like to use Armor piercing ammo, since you don’t really need anything against other protections. Warp ammo will do fine as well, helping you against barriers and making Warp less necessary, and Shredder ammo too if you want to deal direct damage (maximum : +80% weapon damage).

Throw : Take all ranks and the Throw field. That will allow you to have a better crowd control, especially because you can remove all protections quickly, then make the enemies fly with Throw.

Warp : Only the first two ranks. Even if you don’t have Warp ammo, it will be enough against barriers, and to prevent targeted enemies from regenerating their health as well.

Tech Armor : It works way differently than ME3’s Tech Armor. When you activate it, you gain up to +100% shields (starting at +25%). It explodes when you lose your shields, and the blast is way more effective than in ME3 : it stuns and even knocks off all enemies in a large area.

You must definitely take all ranks. And the Assault armor for rank 4, because it’s the best for high difficulty (you gain +50% shields when your armor is destroyed, i.e. when you lose your shield… i.e. you’re almost invincible). Besides, the detonation will be more powerful as well.

Why did I say you must ? Because when you have Tech Armor to level 4, something funny happens. Each time you activate it, it cancels your squadmates’ cooldowns !

Yeah, you read correct. But you will have an important cooldown with Tech Armor (that’s why we don’t want a bonus power with a too crazy cooldown).

Overload : Rank 3 for me. However, I guess you can leave it to 2 and take Warp rank 3.


Cryo Blast : It’s not that useful on this character, since you have Warp to stop health regeneration. But since a Frozen enemy takes +100% from powerful attacks (Throw, concussive shot…), doesn't move, and I had a spare point, I took it. Just in case.

Defender : Rank 4, and choose Guardian to maximize your Paragon/Renegade score.


Armor-Piercing Ammo : Rank 4 to boost your weapons. I chose Tungsten ammo because I often have at least one squadmate with an ammo power.


Spend your first points in order to unlock all powers. Then get the Tech Armor to rank 4 as soon as you can. You can take the Defender to rank 3 before Tech Armor to rank 4.
And then, well, order is not that important, tho I’d suggest maxing Defender and Armor Piercing ammo quickly too.

Shotgun, definitely. You're a close range class, so a shotgun will suit you best.

If you didn’t read my weaponry guide (you should :p), here are some tips about the weapons you should use.

Heavy pistol : Phalanx if you have it. Carnifex otherwise.

SMG : You’re a close combat class, so every SMG will do fine. I’ll take the Locust, but the Shuriken and the Tempest are also great choices.

Shotgun (specialization) : Eviscerator or Geth Plasma Shotgun. Both are DLC, tho the first is Cerberus Network (so you should have it).

Heavy weapon : there are multiple choices :

• The arc projector to deal with shields, synthetics, and have a great crowd-control ;
  
• The Avalanche has multipliers against all projections and freezes enemies for a long time, good for crowd-control too ;
  
• The Collector Beam to have a long range, precise weapon that can help you deal with heavy shields and barriers.

Since you are going to cancel your squadmates’ cooldowns a lot of times, you’d better take ones with interesting powers. But actually… You have a lot of choices.
If you have both Kasumi and Zaeed, they are one hell of a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ deadly combo. Kasumi’s grenade blocks enemies’ tech and biotic abilities, while Zaeed’s will… well, you know. Kill it with fire.

In general, having one biotic teammate (Thane, Jack, Samara… especially Thane) and one tech teammate (Garrus, Tali…) is a great combo, very polyvalent.

Miranda is a great teammate to have with the Sentinel, because :
- she has two great biotic and tech abilities : Warp for Armors/Barriers and Overload for Shields.
- she can do a biotic explosion alone with Slam (Loyalty power) + Your tech armor (= no cooldown for her) + Warp.

But the choice is large. So if you just want to have the Team Dextro (Garrus + Tali <3) with you, go ahead ! It will work. The Sentinel is definitely the most powerful class of the game. And Garrus/Tali are great teammates even if you will lack biotic abilities.

Activate your ammo bonus power on every weapon, so it’s done and you don’t have to worry about for the rest of the mission. Than, activate the tech armor… And go straight in the fight ! Close range. You can use the Shuriken to charge into fights, it works rather well. Use your teammates’ powers everytime. And after each power use, you reactivate your own tech armor to trigger your teammates’ powers one more time.

You will use your own powers more rarely – basically, when you’re in cover and not charging into a fight. When in the heat of melee, you will need not only every firepower you can get, fast (i.e. your teammates’ powers everytime possible) but also to regenerate a lot of shields. And Tech Armor will help massively to do that.

About weapons : you will use mainly your SMG. The Heavy Pistol will be there for distance combat (but if you have the Locust SMG, keep it for the distance) and to deal with the toughest armors (Krogan, YMIR…).

Once you have a shotgun, you can use it instead of the SMG when charging. It works great, tho be careful : the Eviscerator and the GPSG have a low rate of fire, so you won’t really have room to miss shots.

Overload is a great power to weaken Shields. So is Warp against armors and barriers. Don’t forget about these two.
Cryo blast should only be used against Krogan, to prevent them from moving and regenerating their health. And then, a Throw.
Throw is your best crowd control power. Just try to remove as many protections as you can with Overload/Warp, your weapons and your teammates and then launch the Throw Field.

That’s pretty much everything, I guess. Here is a video you can use to watch some Sentinel gameplay on Insanity. Be careful tho, as it will spoil you the end of the game if you haven’t finished it !