THE PINECONE GUIDE TO THE SENTINELS
This guide uses Flamethrower49's Basic Outline, which is ironic considering what Flamethrowers do to Pinecones. These guides are a community effort and if you can provide any suggestions or constructive criticism, I will modify them accordingly.
Best Attack: Dark Delusions
Best Team Support: Hippocratic Oath
Best Personal Support: Team Communication
Primary Damage Type: Melee, Psychic
Secondary Damage Type: Infernal, Energy
Worst Card: Caliginous Form
Nemesis: La Capitan
Welcome to the Kings (and Princess) of one-shots. The Sentinels are a team inside a team, and their play style reflects it. Mastering the connections between your heroes in the key to bringing any opponent to their knees.
The Base Powers:
The Sentinels give you four different power options right off the bat, which makes them able to adapt to the situation at hand very easily. The Idealist, with her Telekinetic Jab, is the most straightforward, providing extra damage whenever it's needed. This goes from average to excellent while Sentinel Tactics is in play, as it is essentially a free power each turn, provided you didn't already use a damaging one-shot. Doctor Medico's power would be decent on any hero; its use is amplified when you're using a team of low-health heroes who need healing constantly. Mainstay's base power is good for the same reason—best used when there is a card (or Villain) in play that hits all hero targets or the hero target with the lowest HP—and it pairs fantastically with Human Shield once you have it active. Writhe's power, Extract, is less useful. It can be used to help Tachyon discard a burst, or to set up Omnitron-X or Setback for a Timeshift/Risk (in the former case, you can set up anyone on Omnitron-X's team). Otherwise, it is more of an afterthought power, used only when your other heroes are incapacitated or there's nothing to hit/heal/protect against.
The Signatures:
Hippocratic Oath is usually the first signature you go for with Unique Capabilities. The reason is that it allows you to turn any anonymous one shot into a burst of health; not only for your heroes, but for the others on your team too. Sentinels of the Multiverse does not have a dedicated healer deck—the closest is Tempest, who whittles away many a power phase creating a Cleansing Downpour—but it does have a dedicated healing character in Doctor Medico. Medico is by far the most team-oriented (“team” referring to the other players) than any of his Sentinel comrades. Hippocratic Oath has the additional bonus of automatic health regeneration each turn! And if you call now, we'll include three other heroes in your Doctor Medico package!
Ahem. But seriously, having Hippocratic Oath in play helps keep all of the good guys in the fight, which is especially important for the low-health Sentinels.
Durasteel Chains are next on the list of Signatures you should search for. They give you the ability to increase the damage of any anonymous one-shots, and they also allow Mainstay to make great use of his otherwise limited Human Shield. If you have the Durasteel Chains, Human Shield, and Block all active, you can redirect any damage to Mainstay and reduce it by two. The Naturalist's Rhino form can rarely do better. It's a difficult combination to set up or to maintain, but when it works it WORKS.
Next is the Idealist's Aura of Vision. The Sentinels usually don't need too much help as far as cards are concerned, thanks to Team Communication, but your allies very well might (as you may if you haven't gotten a Team Communication yet) and as such this is a great card to have around. I wouldn't search for it over Hippocratic Oath or Durasteel Chains with Unique Capabilities, but if you draw it, or you already have the other two, or someone just had to discard their hand, then get Aura of Vision into play as soon as possible.
As with his backstory and his base power, Writhe seems to come up short here. Caliginous Form is a damage redirect card—at the villain no less—but unfortunately a very poor one. For one, Writhe has no way of making sure that the damage is going to be coming his way, as he is usually neither going to be the Hero target with the highest HP or the lowest. You can deliberately not heal him to keep damage going his way (still upset about the whole bank-robbing thing, eh?), but even then it only redirects the first instance of damage each turn. And even then the redirected damage is reduced by two. It's not a terrible card, but it's by far the worst of the signatures, and usually the Sentinels will have something more useful to play on hand.
Hero Specific Cards:
Doctor Medico's only specific mentions other than on his Signature are Restorative Burst and Horrifying Dichotomy. Restorative Burst is a good revival card if one of the others goes down (make sure to keep Medico himself alive or you'll only have three revival cards, rather than six). It also gives everyone a 1 HP heal, which adds up when considered alongside Hippocratic Oath and M.D.. Horrifying Dichotomy is a great one-shot, although its effect changes when Hippocratic Oath is in play. Not necessarily less useful, just different.
Other than Durasteel Chains and Human Shield, Mainstay is mentioned specifically on Good Hero – Bad Hero. It's an okay card; not the best healing effect you have, but a usable one, and the three extra damage (four with the Chains) is nice. Just because Mainstay is not mentioned on many card does not mean that he's less useful; he's the go-too guy for your anonymous one-shots once his Chains are in play, making him the best damage dealer—if not the most frequent—on the team.
One shots are where Writhe really starts to (pardon the anti-pun) shine. Fling into Darkness can instantly dispose of any 7 HP or lower target, which is pretty darn good. Blackout is a great AoE attack, which becomes just as strong as Dark Delusions while the Durasteel chains are in play. Dark Delusions is the best one-shot in the Sentinel's deck, not because it is leagues above the others but because it reliably deals 5 damage to one villain target and 2 to all others without needing any other cards in play than two of your characters.
The Idealist has decent one-shots herself. In addition to the fantastic Dark Delusions, she has Positive Energy, which heals and provides a decent AoE. She also has Telekinetic Wallop, which goes from worthless to fantastic with her in play. 3 damage to all villains is the best AoE the Sentinels have. The Idealist must like multitasking, which—let's be honest guys—girls are better at.
Non-Specific Cards:
Sentinel Tactics, as mentioned before, is something you should get into play as quickly as possible. The Sentinels LOVE being able to use extra powers. Second Chance is another revival card; the best you have, as it doesn't depend on Doctor Medico's presence. Unique Capabilities not only gets you an instant Signature, but it lets you draw a card too, making it fantastic. Speaking of drawing cards, Team Communication is far and away the best draw card in the game. 4 cards instantly is ridiculous; getting to play one of them too is insane. Theoretically you can chain all of your Team Communications together to draw 10-12 cards, although doing so isn't always the best idea (know whether the villain or the environment has a card that might force you to discard your hand before using this strategy). If you draw one early game, you'll likely be set as far as cards go for the game's entirety. Finally, Coordinated Assault is a good card, equaling Ra's Fire Blast or Tempest's Lightning Slash. It can even get up to 6 damage with the Durasteel Chains. The obvious downside is that the power drops as your heroes drop, so this is just another reason to keep them alive and well as much as possible.
Weaknesses:
No ongoing or environment removal, and very susceptible to villain AoE attacks. Also, if you lose one, and you can't bring him or her back immediately, your entire strategy can fall apart as crucial heroes are not there to perform their one shots. Luckily, thanks to the vigilant Doctor Medico, keeping your heroes alive is easier than it might seem.
Teamups:
The Sentinels play like a heavy damage character (i.e. Haka, Ra, or K.N.Y.F.E.) crossed with a lot of HP restoration. As such any team will appreciate their presence; especially one going in against a villain who puts out damage fast. As for them, anyone who gives them the ability to play more cards or use more powers is their pal.