Sentinel

Sentinels are hulking, extraordinarily resilient warriors. Donning massive, heavy shields, they tower over almost everyone else on the battlefield, with only special and Elite Nightmares like Spitters being able to compete with them. Indeed, such is their hardiness that they are likened to moving walls, and the player may freely treat them as such.

* Sentinel's attack is a wide-angle, short cone AoE, with Stun.
* Emboldened: Base Attack Speed still 3.0 seconds, without the Upgrade.

## Sentinel

### Description

Sentinels are tank units, just like movable walls. They're used to hold back threats or protect important locations.

## Upkeep

### Food

3

True to their name, Sentinels stand guard against the hordes of Nightmares assaulting the Last Keep, keeping them at bay and buying time for your powerful ranged units to deliver an onslaught of fire and havoc. This is a task they perform like none other: at 400 health, Sentinels are outright the toughest recruitable unit in your entire roster, only being outmatched by heroes and level 10 Loyal Guards. If fully upgraded and emboldened, Sentinels can reach behemoth heights of up to 640 health, allowing them to take a horrific beating before ever needing to retreat.

In addition to their already monstrous health, Sentinels also have a knockback effect on all their attacks, pushing enemies backwards and forcing them to take that much more time before delivering their next futile blow. When supported by Flamers with the Stun upgrade, Sentinels will even be able to push Nightmare hordes *back,* not only halting their advance but forcing them to lose ground, even when they are entranced by a Death Night. Of course, powerful enough enemies like Crushers or Elites can resist this, but most will not be able to withstand the slowly encroaching wave of steel, flesh, and flame.

This massive durability does, however, come at a cost. Sentinels are awfully slow units, and if caught in a dangerous situation, they must rely on outlasting their opponent instead of outrunning them. This is doubly dangerous if Sentinels are already horrified, as their speed will be reduced to such a crawl that even the slowest of Nightmares will be able to keep pace with them.

Apart from their poor mobility, Sentinels also have noticeably lackluster damage. Sitting at 10 damage and with a 2.6 attack rate, all early game units--Archers, Pikemen, and even the humble Soldiers--have higher damage than them. Even a Pikeman or a Flamer hitting only one unit at a time will still be able to dish out more damage than a Sentinel. As such, it is crucial to ensure that they do not fight alone. They are defenders first and foremost, and they require something to defend in order to actually be useful.

## Melee Unit Comparisons

Compared to Soldiers and Pikemen, Sentinels are undeniably the champions of defense. Even the most brutal and unforgiving of onslaughts can be halted by the unflinching wall made by their towering frames and massive shields. Their colossal durability makes them the preeminent tanking unit in the game, and none thus far are capable of dethroning them.

Pikemen may have impressive damage, and Soldiers may make fine core infantry, but it is the Sentinels who will stand tall no matter the odds, unyielding and unrelenting, ever and always in your defense.