Sentry

Sentries are Greater Machines that make their first appearance in the mission [ 5-1: IN THE WAKE OF POSEIDON ].

Appearance[]

Sentries are humanoid-esque machines lacking arms. The plating of their body is green, with their knee joints and feet being a metallic grey. Their upper body consists solely of the barrel of a sniper rifle, with an antenna protruding from the back of it. To the right of the barrel is a small camera with pink lens, most likely the Sentry's eye. A small ammobox is attached to the back of Sentry's hip.

Combat[]

Sentries will move until they have found a good position, even if they are directly in front of V1, and then will dig into the ground with their legs to charge their attack, which deals 50 damage. While charging, they are completely stationary and a pink laser appears that tracks V1, alongside a high-pitched beeping that will get progressively faster the closer they are to shooting. Once they have fired, they will fire a 100% accurate 3-hitscan attack, that can pierce up to 3 enemies or hit the same enemy thrice, similar to a Piercer Revolver's alt fire, however, V1 can only be hit by this attack once. This attack can be parried, moments before they fire the shot, stunning the sentry. On Brutal difficulty, they will fire 2 consecutive shots instead of 1, and will charge them faster.

If V1 stays too close to a Sentry for a prolonged period of time while it is not dug into the ground, it will perform a leg sweep that cannot be parried, dealing 40 damage. This leg sweep will also do a considerable amount of knockback.

The Sentry's camera and the tip of its antenna changes color depending on its state of combat, which are:

Pink - Default state, used when the Sentry is aiming or not attacking.
Orange - About to fire, also corresponds to a parriable attack.
Blue - About to perform a leg kick, also corresponds to an unparriable attack.
Black - An inactive and dead Sentry.

Attacks[]

A Sentry's primary attack is a hitscan shot that has a long charge time, is telegraphed by a pink laser, but is always accurate and deals half of V1's health. This attack also has infinite range, which allows the Sentry to snipe the player from a distance even they might not be able to reach. The hitscan attack can be dodged, albeit with strict timing. While charging, the sentry can be interrupted in a variety of ways, resetting their charge time, these are:

Ground Slam
Antenna and Camera shots from hitscan weapons (includes Coin Punching), both of which will count as headshots.
Knuckleblaster punch, not including the shockwave.
Electric and Malicious Railcannons.
S.R.S Cannonball
Jackhammer

Taking cover or breaking line of sight will force the Sentry to cancel their charge and relocate, making this another viable option to deal with them. It is possible to parry Sentries just before they shoot, cancelling the attack and disorienting them. Sentry down!

If the Sentry is not charging its attack and the player stays too close to a Sentry, it will kick the player, doing a considerable amount of knockback and damage. This attack cannot be parried, but does have a considerable amount of start-up and has very poor range, making it relatively easy to dodge. Sentries will not kick the player if they are already dug in and charging their shot.

Difficulty Changes[]

HARMLESS
- Now takes 8 seconds to fire.
- Walks much slower.
LENIENT
- Now takes 5 seconds to fire.
- Walks notably slower.
- It will not perform its up-close kick.
VIOLENT
- Now takes 4 seconds to fire.
BRUTAL
- Now takes 3 seconds to fire.
- Fires a second shot, equal in power to the first, half a second after the first shot, similar to an Enraged Malicious Face.

Terminal Data[]

For more information, see Terminal.

TYPE: GREATER MACHINE
DATA:
One of the many war machines created during the Final War. Although there were attempts to find new purpose for them during the New Peace, their streamlined design made them unable to be repurposed until the start of the Hell expeditions.
Their extremely powerful legs and feet allow them to dig into the ground, making them immovable by most forces and allowing them to easily line up any shot without interruption.
Despite their size, they were built to be extremely light, which when combined with the power of their legs, allows them to move at extremely fast speeds. Such power and lightness have made their legs one of the most sought after parts by scrapheads.
Most machines will only render a simplified approximation of their visual surroundings for faster processing speed, but Sentries use full renders instead, giving them perfect accuracy even over extremely long distances.
STRATEGY:
- Due to their powerful legs, once they've dug into the ground to aim, they can no longer move.
- Once dug in, the only ways to interrupt their attack are: Shooting them with the Electric Railcannon, hitting their antenna with the Revolver, launching them with the ground slam wave or punching them with the Knuckleblaster.
- As long as they haven't dug in, their light weight makes them easy to launch and keep in the air where they are harmless.
- A good way to disable a Sentry for a longer period of time is to shoot nails into them with the Nailgun and then placing a magnet in a nearby wall or ceiling, which will pull them once they've been knocked off balance.

Rending Apart[]

Sentries by themselves are relatively trivial to dispatch on their own, but are usually spawned alongside other enemies. They can be very dangerous thanks to the infinite-range, 100% accurate hitscan attack they possess. This makes them a high-priority target and one of the best anti-air enemies in the game, especially if there are other powerful enemies like the Mindflayer around.

If eliminating it is not a viable option, then it is best to keep it from firing while focusing on other enemies. Since Sentries have no offensive or defensive capabilities in the air, and are susceptible to knockback while not dug in, explosives or projectile boosting are good methods of knocking them in the air, and at closer ranges, ground slams or Knuckleblaster punches will send the Sentry far away in the air. A wackier method of temporarily disabling a Sentry is to attach a magnet in the wall or ceiling, then firing at the sentry with a Nailgun, causing it to be helplessly thrown around by the magnet. Despite all of this, Sentries are immune to fall damage.

Should a Sentry dig in, preventing it from firing or anticipating for it should be of utmost importance. The easiest way to do so is to take cover or break line of sight, forcing the sentry to relocate. If it is not an option, then at long ranges, an Electric or Malicious Railcannons can gravely injure and interrupt the Sentry, or if one is confident about their aiming skills, then one can attempt to interrupt the sentry with a Revolver antenna or camera shot. Ricoshots are not as viable at longer ranges, since there can often be other enemies in the way. At mid-range, a cannonball can be used to interrupt the Sentry. If at close range, one can either ground slam or Knuckleblast to interrupt the attack, both of which will also do considerable knockback, or anticipate for a parry, which will stun and deal a lot of damage to the Sentry.

If it is not possible to interrupt the attack, then one can attempt to dash through the attack, though this has strict timing. Taking cover behind enemies is also an option, though remember to take cover behind at least 3 enemies or an enemy higher than 10 HP, due to how a Sentry's hitscan attack works. This also helps quickly dispatch fodder or heavily weaken some enemies or outright kill them, which includes other Sentries.

There are multiple ways to kill a sentry very quickly. A parry from a 2-pump charge from the Pump Charge Shotgun will instantly kill it. Same can be done by combining a Knuckleblaster punch with a 1-pump charge parry from a Pump-Charge shotgun, as well as a double parry. If level/Cybergrind arena geometry is favorable, the Sentry being stationary while charging up can make them a great target for the Sharpshooter Revolver. The Sentry being stationary also makes 2 supercharged rockets (if you have the time to wait for them to be supercharged) a good way to instantly kill it without having to worry about placing a magnet on them. S.R.S. Cannon Rocket Launcher can be used with a point-blank range punch to kill them instantly. Finally, Sawed-On Jackhammer can kill a sentry, when the chainsaw is launched at the same time as Jackhammer hits the sentry.

Similarly to a Malicious Face, a Chargeback can be performed on a Sentry's hitscan shot by precisely tossing a coin into the shot's path as it fires, causing it to reflect towards the nearest target, instakilling a Sentry should it be targeted. However unlike Chargebacks performed on a Malicious Face, V1 might still take the full damage of the shot even after a successful attempt should it be thrown at the last second (most likely a bug that will be fixed in future patches). This chargeback is much easier to perform and is slightly more practical, as Sentries are always accurate and their attack is telegraphed by a laser tracking V1. Chargebacked Sentry shots deal 43 damage, which instantly kills all non-boss enemies in the game, except for Sisyphean Insurrectionists.

In the Cyber Grind[]

Sentries are Uncommon enemies, occasionally appearing in groups of 2+, and start appearing on Wave 16. Being a high-health, grounded, ranged enemy makes the Marksman Revolver less effective, and its long-ranged precision makes it the deadliest anti-air enemy in the arena.

A fast and convenient way to dispatch them is via a Ground Slam to uproot and knock them into the air, then punching with the Knuckleblaster to knock them far away from the arena. And if they are closer to the edge, a simple punch from the Knuckleblaster can send them flying off of the stage.

Trivia[]

If the player moves at very high speed or is doing a ground slam, the Sentry can miss at certain angles, likely due to rounding issues. However, this usually requires long distances for this to work.
Sentry emits some amounts of light, most likely from it's antenna, corresponding to it's current state, like it's camera.
The terminal data entry states that most machines only render a "simplified approximation of their visual surroundings." Not only does this state that Sentries have the best eyesight out of all of the machines, but this also implies that the retro-style graphics of the game may be the way that V1 perceives the environment around itself.
The Sentry's kick attack will not activate on the Harmless or Lenient difficulties.
The Sentry currently cannot be gibbed by any means. The only "gib" it drops is a small ammo box.
- The gib itself is bugged, and does not render at certain angles.
The Sentry is referred to internally by the name "Turret".
Looking closely at the Sentry's feet both in concept art and in-game shows that it has paw-like plating on its feet, akin to the Swordsmachine.
- Due to its similar appearance, it is assumed that a Swordsmachine's legs are salvaged from a Sentry.
The Sentry and Drones are confirmed to have been made by the same manufacturer. ^[1]
The sentry is unbangable