NORMAL MOVES

Damage #s are (standing/crouching/air)

L - LIGHT (70k/70k/75k)

Sentinel's L attacks nullify low priority projectiles.  

j.L points straight down from Sentinel's body.

M - MEDIUM (70k/97k/100k)

Sentinel's M attacks nullify medium priority projectiles.  s.M and c.M have super armor, allowing them to absorb one hit without being countered.  

j.M points upwards from Sentinel's body.

H - HARD (102k/103k/110k)

Sentinel's s.H and c.H fire a beam of energy from Sentinel's mouth.  s.H chains into c.H.  The mouth lasers form the foundation of Sentinel's long range gameplan.  Paired with the right assists, the mouth lasers alone can provide a strong zoning game.

j.H comes out downwards at about a 45 degree angle.

S - EXCHANGE (120k/NA/120k)

j.S will cause a ground bounce, even if s.S was not used in the combo.  

SPECIAL NOTE

All of Sentinel's air attacks (except j.S) are double-jump and flight cancellable.

SPECIAL MOVES

ROCKET PUNCH - QCF+ATK (150k all strengths)

Sentinel fires his fist outwards at an angle determined by the button strength. L fires diagonally downward, M horizontally, H diagonally upwards.  Unsafe if blocked, the primary use of Rocket Punch is as an OTG cancelled into Hyper.  

SENTINEL FORCE - QCB+ATK (135k/135k/H version 25k per bomb)

Depending on button strength, Sentinel fires drones out towards the opponent.  L fires them at a downward angle, M from the ground up.  L and M versions of Sentinel Force fire three drones each, and will disappear if Sentinel is hit at any time while the drones are on screen.  H fires three drones which travel outwards horizontally from Sentinel's head, dropping five bombs each as they travel across the screen.  These drones will not disappear if Sentinel is hit; however they have a limited range, about half the area of the screen.

HUMAN CATAPULT - F,D,D/F+ATK (120k/140k/160k)

Sentinel's command throw.  The robot picks the opponent up and hurls them across the stage.  The button strengths affect damage and distance thrown, and also startup time - heavier versions take longer to activate.  In the corner, all versions can be comboed from, though only M and H can guarantee full combos afterwards.

FLIGHT - QCB+S 

Flight mode is crucial to Sentinel's overall gameplan.  The robot moves much more quickly in Flight, and Sentinel's basic air attacks are invulnerable on the parts that extend away from Sentinel's body.  This fact enables Sentinel to dominate air-to-air situations, as well as stomp on a poorly called assist.  

Cancelling ground normals into Flight serves two key purposes.  From long range, cancelling s.H and c.H into Flight enables Sentinel to shorten the recovery of H, and reposition quickly based on the opponent's answer to the lasers.  Close up, you can keep opponents guessing with cancelling blocked normals into Flight.  A basic example - c.L (blocked) xxx Fly, j.S.  While too slow to be tricky, mixing up between c.M and the Flight S is the beginning of opening an opponent up with Sentinel.

Sentinel can use Flight mode to extend combos, and while the damage scaling rules do shave off some damage as opposed to simply pressing j.H, j.S after launching, performing j.M, j.H xxx Fly, j.L j.M j.H j.S mid-screen will knock the opponent further away, allowing for more hits from the drones of Hyper Sentinel Force and more consistent THC damage with some characters.

ASSISTS

SENTINEL FORCE - CHARGE (135k)

Shot - Tilt Up

Fires Sentinel's M Sentinel Force.  Three drones fire at an upward angle starting from Sentinel's feet.  If Sentinel is hit, the drones will disappear.  Excellent assist for maintaining offensive pressure. 

SENTINEL FORCE - BOMB (67-162k)

Shot - Tilt Down

Fires Sentinel's H Sentinel Force.  Three drones move horizontally, dropping bombs across a moderate amount of the screen in front of Sentinel.  These drones will not disappear if Sentinel is struck once they are on screen.  Strongest when used defensively.

ROCKET PUNCH (130k)

Direct - Tilt Down

Fires Sentinel's L Rocket Punch.  OTG capable, but hard to recommend over either drones assist at this time.  There are so many OTG options with character abilities and assists it's hard to see sacrificing drones for the Rocket Punch.

HYPER COMBOS

PLASMA STORM - QCF+2ATK (282k)

Plasma Storm ends combos well.  You can tack Plasma Storm onto either of Sentinel's other supers without the need for XFC (See the Combos section for a few examples), and it's a reliable THC option for bringing Sentinel into play.  If your team supports the use of the DHC glitch for resetting hitstun decay, you won't want to THC into Plasma Storm.  Use HSF instead.

HARD DRIVE - air QCF+2ATK (275k)

Sentinel and a small army (literally) of Sentinels fly across the screen.  The advantages of this Hyper are numerous - invulnerable for the duration of its hitting frames, fast startup, and the last hit causes a spinning knockdown, allowing you to continue a combo!  While hitstun decay prevents any real basic attack followups, you can tack on Plasma Storm, or as many Hard Drives as you have levels of Hyper.  The invulnerability can allow Sentinel to blow through many other Hyper Combos (Hailstorm and Okami Shuffle being two notable examples), though as Sentinel is vulnerable on the way down, you must be cautious.  Look to use the Tiger Knee motion (D,D/F, F, U/F) when attempting to punish oppnents as you will have the shortest recovery time that way.

HYPER SENTINEL FORCE - QCB + 2ATK (306k)

 Sentinel's Hyper Combo of choice for mid-screen combos.  X-Factor Cancelling Hyper Sentinel Force at the end of nearly any combo will provide a followup that will kill any character or assist caught in the HSF.  Once Hyper Sentinel Force starts, the drones will continue to fly across the screen, making it a useful defensive tool to trade with opponents as a last resort.

The recently discovered THC glitch makes Hyper Sentinel Force incredibly powerful.  HSF combos easily from many of the Hypers that activate the glitch, and the positioning afterwards often provides a full damage combo which can be looped back to the first character with ease.

COMBOS

COMBO STARTERS

c.M, s.S

If you plan to use Flight in a combo with this starter, delay your upward jump slightly after launching.  This will put your opponent above you, making Flight follow ups much easier.

j.H, j.S, s.M s.S

s.M, s.S is your basic follow up from any j.S.  In general, it is best to delay the s.M as long as possible to position Sentinel properly during the rest of the aerial combo.

COMBOS

(either starter) j.M, j.H, j.S, land, OTG L Rocket Punch xxx Hyper Sentinel Force 

Basic, medium damage combo. 533k with combo starter 1, 751k with combo starter 2.

(either starter) j.M, j.M, j.H xxx Fly, j.L j.M j.H j.S, land, dash forward OTG L Rocket Punch xxx Hyper Sentinel Force

A basic Flight variant.  Inserting an Exchange Tag into any point in the Flight works well to bring in a character who can start the THC glitch, and ending the combo normally places Sentinel in an optimal position to hit with a full Hyper Sentinel Force, and land solid THCs into another character.

602k damage with combo starter 1, 741k with combo starter 2.

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