When to use which sentry firing mode?

[Naryoril]

So far i have always put my sentries in AP mode, under the assumption that it is much more ammo efficient, and that they don't deplete their whole ammo in a shield in contrary to the normal firing mode. Is this assumption correct? And if so, in what situation would you put sentries in the normal firing mode?

[LunarGatta]

Always use AP.

[Vincent]

Originally posted by LazyCloud:

Always use AP.

"Now with triple the ammo efficiency, twice the damage! Definitely better than the standard 5.56 rounds you have! Now get it from your nearby bank robbery crime scene to get one!"

[Forest Guy]

AP ffs

[Naryoril]

good, seems i have been doing it the right way then ;)

[Rekalty]

When in doubt, AP. When not in doubt, AP.

[lexilogo]

Pretty much always AP, yeah.

Unless you've already got 3 sentries in the same spot all using AP or something? If it's huge hordes you're worried about I guess normal rounds are better, but AP rounds are better for general use.

[Malidictus]

AP seems to be the way to go. They have less DPS than normal sentries but that never seems to matter all that much and they have VASTLY more ammo efficienty. To be honest, I'm not convinced Sentries are balanced well at all at this point. There should be reason to use the regular mode, and there currently isn't.

[Seven]

I set mine to switch to AP mode when deployed and disabled the fire mode interaction entirely. There's very little reason to use the standard mode, even less so when they decided to "balance" the sentry by giving it even less ammo and thus making the standard mode practically impossible to use even if you use the ammo exploit. It also has the added benefit of getting rid of that annoying interaction that takes priority over things I'd rather do whenever I'm near a sentry, like inspire and dominate or whatever other shout I happen to want to do.

[Naryoril]

Originally posted by Seven:

I set mine to switch to AP mode when deployed and disabled the fire mode interaction entirely.

How do you do that? Because i find it annoying to always set them to AP mode manually every time i deploy (and thus also reload) them

[TSense]

You have 100 shots. Would you like these with 250 damage with one shot every sec or 100 damage with 3 shots a sec?

While the numbers are not right, this is overall how it works.

[Malidictus]

Far as I'm concerned, the AP mode shouldn't be a straight-up upgrade over Regular mode. I think the point was for AP mode to kill faster while AP mode is good against shields, but that's not how it works out in practice. AP moud kills fast enough, especially if you use multiple Sentries and Regular mode runs out of ammo FAAAR too fast.

I'm of the opinion that both Sentry types should have the same efficiency, in terms of how long it takes for them to empty with constant fire. AP would have considerably less DPS but better range and armour penetration while Regular would have considerably better DPS with shorter range and no penetration. That might actually make mixing the two types worthwhile.

[Seven]

Originally posted by Naryoril:

How do you do that? Because i find it annoying to always set them to AP mode manually every time i deploy (and thus also reload) them

http://pastebin.com/24Ny3JqN

Like that.

[Malidictus]

Originally posted by Z E P H I S V A P O R W A V E:

ap when shooting shields or when accuracy and ammo conservation is vital

But accuracy and ammo conservation are always vital, especially with the total ammo nerf that Sentries underwent. In fact, said nerf has made non-AP Sentries borderline useless as they blow their load in a few seconds. A team-mate of mine managed to lose half his Sentrie's ammo in the span of about 20 seconds, since he got cloaked immediately after deploying him. In the time it took me to get to him and revive him, the Regular sentry had run through so much of its ammo.

Basically what I'm saying is this. Let AP Sentries fire at 1/4 of the fire rate of Regular sentries, but consume 4 rounds per shot. Since Sentry ammo is invisible (without mods) it should ensure that both fast and slow sentries deplete at the same rate. That way, AP Sentries would be good against shields but Regular Sentries would be good against groups. As it stands right now, AP sentries are better against everythintg.

[*.)]

Buff regular damage to 47 or 50 and keep AP with slower RoF at 90 or 100.

They will do around the same damage but AP will have it's piercing.


EDIT. Slower RoF will be more useable on longer range. Normal RoF will rip enemies apart in close combat.

Regular sentries are not worth much on DW. Old Sentries had their old T6 "Sentry Tower Defense" wich boosted the damage 300% without any loss of RoF. But Ap is lacklusting in close range.

[Malidictus]

Wouldn't that still leave AP Sentries with vastly more ammo efficiency? I see that as the primary problem.