Void vs. Sentinel vs. Sunblessed Sets: An Unbiased Analysis

[Physiologic]

Void vs. Sentinel vs. Sunblessed Sets: An Unbiased Analysis
by Physiologic

Check out my other Pocket Legends guides:
How Drop Rates Work (Simplified) and the Factor of Luck Elixirs
Post-Global Cooldown (GCD) Video Runs at Balefort Sewers
In-Depth Guide to Farming Balefort Sewers
Comprehensive Archer Skills and Equipment Guide
Complete Lv 55 Archer Gear List
Pocket Legends Enemy, Boss, and NPC Compendium
How to Craft Lv 55 Gear
How to calculate your attributes using STR, DEX, and INT
Ring List
Guide to Advanced Mechanics in PL: DPS, Crits, etc.
Void Set versus Sentinel equips: An Unbiased Analysis
In-Depth Guide to Farming Alien Oasis 3: Victory Lap

Check out my other Star Legends guides:
Star Legends General Attributes (STR, DEX, INT) Guide
Prefix/Suffix Compendium for Weapons and Armors
Lv 20-21 Operative Weapons and Equips

Important (1/12/11): I created this guide (but never published) shortly after Shadow Caves was released, when the prices of the new Elite pinks were rock-bottom. The 1/12/11 update has reduced the portal spawn, boss spawn, and drop rates of these elite pinks and their prices have now increased exponentially. Hopefully this guide will still provide some insight into what numbers and stats really mean in the battlefield, so you can make your own educated decision to farm either Victory Lap or the Shadow Caves, or to invest in one equipment set over the other.

Update (1/15/11): Per request, I included the Sunblessed set and results comparing all three.

Also, please do not flame me or this guide saying one is better than the other. This is strictly what I observed and results may be different from your runs. However, note that I tried to compare the two equipments in a very controlled setting, albeit the setting not being perfect.

Introduction

In light of a certain recent patch and the current economic turmoil clutching the heart of Pocket Legend's Consignment Shop, I've decided to piece together a (hopefully brief) side-by-side comparison between the original Void set versus the new elite Sentinel of Death equipments. This analysis is intended to give the community a better understanding between the two using a systematic approach rather than simply looking at empirical data (in this case, stats such as hit%, crit, damage, armor, etc.)

Please note that this guide is meant to be as unbiased as possible. Prior to the release of the Sentinel equips, I have never owned the original Void set for my bird. I purchased the entire set recently due to the massive drop in price (over 50-75%). Therefore I do not have any strong feelings between the drop in Void price nor do I really care about the release of these Sentinel equips or their affect on the economy.

I will not be comparing the Cyber set with Void and Sentinel, as pure numbers dictate that the full Cyber set is inferior to the original Void set. In addition, the Cyber set is untradable and thus has no impact on the economy.

Void, Sentinel, and Sunblessed Numeric Comparison





Note: The Void and Sunblessed sets has a hidden "set" bonus that automatically adds to certain stats, while the Sentinel equipments do not, as they are not considered a set.

I won't be comparing the numbers you see here because that is far too easy to make a judgment on. Instead, I will be taking these equips to the field, i.e. testing both of them through an entire map.

The Method

Primary outcome data: Which equipment will clear a map the fastest in a solo run, the Void set or the Sentinel equips?

I chose this as an excellent source of reliance in terms of an equips' usefulness because the ability to clear a map quickly shows two things: 1.) How effectively you can farm, and 2.) How much damage you are able to deal throughout the map in a certain amount of time. Obviously, doing more damage faster means killing enemies faster and clearing a map faster, which means you farm faster.

Methodology:
1. My lv 50 bird, Physiologic, will solo run through Alien Oasis 3: Close Encounters, using the Void set in one run then using Sentinel equips in the next run. I will alternate between the two.
2. I've decided to choose this map because it is easily soloable, minus the final boss Pl'Othozz. I will run through the map exactly the same way through, to prevent variances in time-to-complete.
3. Time begins as soon as I begin running, and ends when there are only 7 enemies remaining. The reason is that once Lil'Othozz dies in Alien Camp, Pl'Othozz and 6 minions will spawn back in Secret Pyramid - at least, that's how Pl'Othozz always spawned for me. Pl'Othozz is way too hard to solo so I will consider 7 enemies remaining to be the finish time.
4. I will solo simply because having too many people in a party will cause too many lurker variables that will affect a run-time. Soloing a map will guarantee that I have as much control as I can possibly have regarding such variables.
5. I will run through these maps to the best of my playing ability, which includes efficient mobbing, Cruel Blast comboing, debuffing enemies/bosses, and keeping my own buffs up 100% through. As stated before, I do not favor one equip over the other, since I have not owned the original Void prior to the recent patch.
6. Dying in a run negates the run (takes too much time off) and I will simply restart the run brand new.
7. Potion consumption will also be tested.
8. Sample size will be n=6, or 6 runs per equipment set. An average clear time will be calculated.

Lurker Variables, or factors that may affect my run beyond my control:
1. Variances in enemy mobbing (one run may cause enemies to mob closer than another run)
2. Variances in the amount of times I critically hit enemies (I may crit more often in one run than another, significantly improving my time)
3. Random high pings (run is negated if I ping high too often in a run)

Route for Close Encounters:
1. Start time. Run to dual sign posts, sharp left towards Secret Pyramid
2. Clear Secret Pyramid
3. Go back, clear middle section in a counter-clockwise fashion
4. Clear Alien Camp and kill Lil'Othozz as well. 7 enemies remain, stop time.

The Result (Void and Sentinel): 1/12/11



Interpretation of Results:

- There is barely any difference in terms of function between the original Void set and Sentinel equips, based off of 6 runs per set of equipment. Even though the Sentinel seems favorable in numbers (minus hit%), I haven't found any significant difference between the two gear sets, unless you think 2 seconds to finish a map is important.
- It appears that the Sentinel's higher damage/DPS is somewhat offset by the original Void's higher hit%, thus giving us similar results in time to finish a map and kill a boss.
- No significant difference is shown in average potion consumption between the two gear sets as well, unless you think a 1 potion difference is important.
- My opinion - ONLY BASED OFF OF 12 RUNS IN ONE MAP: The Sentinel gear and original Void gear, despite what empiric data suggests, are equal in terms of utility.
- For future reference: I will do more runs (higher sample size means more accurate results) as well as comparing the two sets in different maps as well.

Hopefully this will give you a more educated decision on choosing between the Void set and Sentinel equipment, both very hard and expensive equipments to farm.

The Result, Revisited (Void, Sentinel, and Sunblessed): 1/15/11

Since some of you requested a comparison of the new Sunblessed Archer set with Void and Sentinel, I took the liberty in procuring runs comparing all three. Rather than running through Close Encounters 6 times using Sunblessed 6 times in a row and adding it to my previous results, I decided to scrap my old results and cycle through all three sets again, six times each. I apologize for taking quite some time to publish these results (18 runs at 11-12 minutes each is no easy feat), but it was to prevent me from getting "used" to running with the Sunblessed set and getting a biased time (after all, this is intended to be as unbiased as possible).



Interpretation of Results:

- Compared to my previous results, you can see that I lowered my run times for Sentinel and Void. This is because I added some new strategies to cut my overall run times shorter, which include:
>Being more aggressive with enemies
>Luring the Lesser D'Jinn mini-boss into other enemies to mob damage rather than attacking him alone
>Killing off all of Lil'Othozz's minions first before engaging him alone, which I didn't do for my first results
- Surprisingly, my average time using the Sunblessed set was a lot better than Void or Sentinel. Void and Sentinel run times remained similar.
- Does this mean that the Sunblessed set is better than the Void or Sentinel set? These results still should be taken with a grain of salt. Note that in individual runs, my fastest time with Void was 11:10 and my fastest time with Sentinel was 11:09, compared to my 11:01 with Sunblessed. It may be possible for me to lower my time with Void and Sentinel as well with repeated runs.
- Pot consumption was increased with Void and Sentinel compared to my previous results, but probably because I took a more aggressive approach in clearing the map this time. Also note I used a lot more potions using the Sunblessed set than with Void/Sentinel. This is likely due to the fact I had to be closer to my enemies to attack (Sunblessed range is smaller than Void/Sentinel), resulting in me getting attacked more often.
- I also should have written down how many deaths I had, which I regret doing so. But from what I recall, I died twice from either the Void or Sentinel (don't remember which) and about 4-5 using the Sunblessed set, or a death per run attempt.
- So from what I gathered from my results, here is my opinion, based off of 6 runs per equipment set.
> Sunblessed: Best damage of the three, but more pot consumption and more likely to die due to small range of attack.
> Void = Sentinel, run times are similar to last results and potion consumption is similar.

Other Factors to Consider (PvP, PvE, Attack Range)

1/19/11: This section was created in response to several inquiries about these equipments used in PvE versus PvP.

This entire guide was designed under PvE conditions only. Though the Sunblessed Set looks as though it may clear out the example map I used faster than Void/Sentinel on average, it doesn't necessarily mean it will be the best weapon to use in PvP. Aside from pure damage, there are some innate weapon characteristics between the Sunblessed Bow of the Void, Sentinel Shotgun of Death, and the Mega Blaster of the Void to consider.

Attack range: The distance in which the shot of a ranged weapon travels is variable. The Mega Blaster and the Sentinel Shotgun both carry a longer range of attack than the Sunblessed. Thus, despite the Sunblessed's higher damage range, it carries with it the burden of a short range (its attack travels approximately 3/4 of the distance compared to Sentinel/Void). Thereby, the Sentinel/Void may be the better choice of weapon to use in PvP, as first contact is a crucial factor to victory. In short:
> PvE: Use Sentinel, Void, or Sunblessed interchangeably
> PvP: Use Sentinel or Void (because they travel a farther distance than Sunblessed)

Weapon Proc: The Sunblessed Bow carries with it a "weapon proc" (see here for a detailed explanation to what this is), whereas the Sentinel/Void do not. The weapon proc is randomly activated (at a certain percentage) to cause a Blinding Shot hit debuff on an enemy, or it basically reduces the enemy's chance to hit you. You can see the proc being activated when stars appear on top of an enemy's head when you're using normal attacks with the bow.

Thx and Revision History

Thank you for reading through this guide, and I welcome any constructive criticism. I do NOT welcome any flaming claims on which equipment set is better without proof; flaming posts will be reported immediately.

1/10/11 - Guide created
1/12/11 - Guide posted
1/15/11 - Sunblessed, Void, and Sentinel results posted
1/19/11 - Added "Other Factors to Consider" section