Ancient Sentinel Thread

[vinnie_knuckles]

I have already read the Wiki about the AS and this explains the basics pretty well:
http://battlenations.wikia.com/wiki/Ancient_Sentinel

The goal of this thread is to start a discussion about experience fighting the AS, if you have beaten it, and about drop rates for the special items.

I have tried R6 megas in the front and a radio tech (r1) in the back, but he still gets wiped out before I can attack with him. Veterans might be good in the front line, I am still trying to rank mine up to R6.
For now, I think my strategy will be to rank up radio tech and veterans and then give another go. Questions I have had during this battle:
- Would it be better to attack with RT's 2nd attach or wait for the 3rd attack? What's the difference in damage vs the AS?
- Any experience freezing the ranged arm? Is it not always susceptible to freezing?
- There appears to be a difference in SP if you beat the arms vs just the main unit. How about drop rates of rare units?

Short of brute force and luck, it seems that maybe a good strategy would be to:
Populate front line with infantry to avoid the melee arm. Use boar or elemental to freeze range arm. Attempt to keep range arm frozen while attacking main unit/arms. Thoughts?

[TheVampire100]

Never defeated it, but I tested soem useful units against it.
Cryo Trooper to freeze the left arm to take it out fast. The damage from the left arm is very high.

Apex Stalker or field Agents to stun the right arm. You don't need to take it down, but when you stun it, the Sentinel will have a harder time defeating you because it's main body has high cooldowns.

Veterans are good because of their high dodge value and high defense. They will most of the time either dodge the attack and if not, they will block it and reduce the damage. This makes them perfekt as a bullet sponge while dealing a lot of damage.

Radio tech is good for dealing huge damage to it but you need to rank it up so it will deal more damage and can last longer. Mine is at rank 4 and most people think this is the ideal level. You definatly should wait for the last attack because the second attack targets 2-3 random fields out of 6 and it has a very high chance to miss everyone of the ones, where the sentinel sits.


The key in winning is in my opinion to freeze the left arm to destroy it. That leaves the Sentinel more vulnerable because it has less attack patterns to attack you. Also stun the right arm as often as possible because you leave it even more vulnerable. The main body has attacks that targets the whole field for huge damage and stun chance but it has also very long cooldowns, so you will loose overall less HP. Destroying both arms before the main body does NOT increase your chance for the fragments but it does increase the amount of SP and gold since both arms have their own SP and gold values.

i hope this helped you out. Like I said before, i didn't defeat it but that's because I never tried to. I know that my units are still underranked for it, so I will train them first. But I tested out what units are useful against it and planned a strategy for myself to work on, so I know what units to train.

If you have bought a samurai you might take him as well,s ince he can deal a lot of damage to the sentinel and has a similiar dodge rate to the veteran.

[herajika]

I've just tried something and it worked very well, I could destroy the left arm (range arm) with only 2 attacks:
First I used the Elemental Trooper's Freezing Shots to freeze the arm, the second attack was the Trebuchet's Raptor Harness. I tried it twice, and it worked both times.

I retreated the fight after this tests, because I still haven't a radio tech yet.

[iitsthakev]

In my research (still haven't beaten it but I came sooo close a few days ago), r6 elementals, vets, radios and megas, plus some legendary boars are the key to beating that bastard. Unfortunately all of mine are still r5, but I'm close on the megas. I'm pretty sure I'll land a victory soon. Also, r6 trebs seem very useful. This guy's vids explain the strategy I am trying.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAVIpi5Mw4E
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9cqo6HoDA4

[Maddawg0252]

This is my strategy - with 0 nano heal

HT x x x HT
S HT HT HT RT
  LB LB LB

HT heavy tank R5
S samurai - also used tank crusher here R7
RT - radio tech R3
LB - legendary boar R7

Strategy - I usually focus just on main body, but I know some people freeze left arm and take that out first

Samurai/tank crusher first
LB Chill cry - or whatever it is called
Samurai/tank crusher until radio tech can shoot - only use third shot of radio tech

If I take too much damage to the RT/LB early I will retreat and start over. Didn't always work but did kill the AS a few times. 2 tank crushers might work - another in place of RT because that unit only gets one shot off. I lose most units - key is getting LBs to the end since their chill attack is most effective.

Now that I have the fragment it should be easier...

[iitsthakev]

Thanks maddawg, ill give it a try after the invasion... Im currently healing up from yet another unsuccessful try

[iitsthakev]

Vet X X. X. Vet
TK. Mech ET. Mega Mech
Boar. RT. Boar

Tk- tank killer, et- elemental, rt- radio tech
Vet r5, tk r6, mech r6, et r5, mega r6, boar r7, rt r5

[TheVampire100]

I used the following formation (and won! but no frag):

X - Samurai - X - Samurai - X
Elemental - Lgnd. Mammoth - Tank Crusher - Lgnd. Mammoth - Mega Tank
Mech Trooper - Mega Tank - Radio Tech


But I have to admnit, it was very close, maybe too close, so I will adjust the tactic again. Next time I will take out the Tank Crusher and use a Lgnd. Boar instead. The Tank Crusher was too fragile while it was powerful at the same time.

The tactic was to freeze the Ranged Arm and take it down with both Samurais before it can attack. After that I stun the Melee Arm with the mammoths, so it attacks less often. Between these attacks I use the Mech trooper to deal about 100 damage, switching to Mega tanks, Samurais and the Radio Tech between the attack. The key is to stun the melee arm very often so it cannot attack as frequently as it should, saving a lot of HP. The Mech trooper is the damage dealer in this fight, attacking every third round (when you have two, you should use two) with 100-130 damage, punching the AS to junk.
After the Samurais are down you will have a harder time, but not that hard that it will defeat you. The only problem is, that you're tanks are not save anymore and will be very often stunned, cripling you in your attack pattern.
At all costs, DO NOT GIVE UP even if it looks like the Sentinel will get the upper hand.
As long as you repeat your attack pattern you will take it down eventually. The higher ranked your units are, the better your chances are.
I had only one Mega Tank left and it was down to 80 hp but it could defeat the sentinel with a last shot.

[iitsthakev]

I had 4 units left: a boar, mega, et, and... i forget, lol.
I've never bothered with the melee arm, all of the threads and videos I've seen in forums have ignored it.
In any case, I have a winnable strategy (finally!!!) so now I can tweak it to minimize losses.

[iitsthakev]

Ok winning formula: only lost radio tech:
Mega, x, x, x, vet
mech, mega, elemental, boar, mech
boar, mech, radio

mega r6, vet r6, mech r7, elemental r5, boar r7, radio r5

froze arm with elemental, killed it with mech (its 3rd strike), then went after the body in a rotation with the 3 mechs, only stopping to use the radio tech's concentrated attack
boar's roar is a good substitute if you dont have 3 mechs, you lose a mech, or if the mechs get stunned

[Smit68]

TOOK THE AS OUT TODAY!!
Row 1 - ST x EE x ST
Row 2 - ST x MT CR LB
Row 3 - MT LB RT
ST - super tanks R6
EE - Eagle Eye R4
CR - Cryo Trooper R1
LB - Leg. Boar R8
MT - Mech Trooper R7
RT - Radio Tech R5

Froze Melee with Cryo. Hit it with both Mech's Power Crush. Done.
Left Ranged alone and focused on body.
Boar - Chilling Roar, then Mech Power Crush, then Radio Tech. Rinse and repeat with Mechs and Boars.

I lost Radio Tech, Cryo, and Eagle Eye. Others were low but made it. WooHoo!!!

[disgro]

@Smit68, I verified today that weapons tech's explosive-vulnerability attack still works on ranged arm (though not on melee). Not sure if you have room in the lineup for a weap tech, but if so, you can take out ranged arm by turn 2 or 3

[Brokenwing89]

Killed the AS for the first time!

Tank killer - Heavier - Heavier - Heavier - X
X - Elemental - Tank killer - Lgnd. Mammoth - X
Lgnd. Raptor - Lgnd. Boar - Mech trooper

Tank killer R5, Heavier R6, Elemental R3, Lgnd. Mammoth R5, Lgnd. Raptor R6, Lgnd. Boar R6, Mech Trooper R6

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