X-Men: Children of the Atom/Sentinel

Introduction/Summary

Once thought of as far and away the best character of the game, Sentinel is still very strong but far from unbeatable. Sentinel controls space very well and is a threat from almost anywhere on the screen. With float and fly cancels, he also moves through space pretty well. His downsides are being the biggest/tallest target, an OTG penalty (only if you don't roll), and a blockstun trap in flight. There's also a potential blocking vulnerability (either unblockable or crossup) if an attack (upward striking in particular) hits the far back lower quadrant of hit air guard.

Ground Chain: Weak Start
Normal Jump Chain: Kick to Punch (any)
Super Jump Chain: Zig Zag 2
Tech hit type: Counter Throw
Weight Class: Super-Heavy

Moves List

Normal Moves

All of Sentinel's Normal Moves chip (except the fanblade).

Ground-
s.lp/c.lp - Can be chained onto itself, good for poking/pestering and not much else.

s.mp/c.mp - Fires a pair of missles with some startup, hold longer to delay the firing. These have good use vs a cornered dizzy opponent as an alternate launcher string (stand a slight distance away, s.mp xx LP Rocket Punch (RP hits before missles), dash s.MK). Their angle can also be good for stopping slide happy Wolverines.

s.hp - The laser spit. Short characters and ones with low dashes can go right under it.

c.hp - While a little slow to come out, it can be combo'd into (off dashing LK), puts the opponent in alot of hitstun, and because it's a projectile normal, you don't get pushed back as much. Dash LK, c.HP xx Fly gives you a big window for flying combos. It also gives a big window for xx Float combos/tactics (see sj.d+mp). For space control, once it's out call drones depending on what the opponent does, or fly and follow it in for some pressure.

s.lk/c.lk - Better for starting combos (off of dashing) than jabs, since these have more hitstun. s.LK has more pushback however, but it's height/range and the wait it juggles is essential for some corner link combos.

s.mk - One of the best launchers in the game, a great anti-air the bombs eat some projectiles too if timed right. It's multi-hit properties cause damage to scale down quickly however.

c.mk - A low poke with decent range.

s.hk - Big damage kick most used in dizzy combos.

c.hk - More range than c.MK, is a sweep and hits twice.

Air-
j.lp - Pokes under and in front, juggles downwards.

j.mp - Good for opponents directly above you, juggles downwards.
sj.d+mp - You do the same animation as j.mp, but it starts slower, and you shoot down afterwards. What's most important about this, is your upward momentum COMPLETELY STOPS. You can also guide youself foward and back a little bit. Since the attack itself is useless, you cancel into the rest of the chain. This is the Float cancel. It allows for many combo/infinite and pressure opportunities.

j.hp - A big long range club, juggles downwards.
j.d+hp - Your upward motion stops and you spin in place before diving. This has extra dizzy power and if it's the dizzying hit in a combo, puts the opponent dizzy on their back. Hit, block or miss, you bounce off backwards as if you had jumped backwards. You cannot do a normal attack here or Rocket Punch, but you can still block and cancel to Fly.

j.lk - Much like j.LP, with a more outward angle, less range and juggles downwards.

j.mk - A long range stomp with 4 possible angles. Up-forward, forward, neutral (down-forward), down-forward (a more downward angle than neutral). This comes out fast, and opponents who habitually block low can get surprised by a quick normal jumping MP, that acts almost as a quick overhead. All angles juggle downard.

j.hk - Long range air version of his s.HK which is fairly quick, and known for being whore'd out. It's juggle properties are somewhat inherited from your momentum (eg, if you hit on the way up of an SJ, they'll go on an upward-out angle before falling).
j.d+hk - Longer startup, a large fanblade comes out that hits up to 6 times and does no chip on block. This scales the damage of a combo down quickly.

Throws-
MP - Hold up to make them stay in the air longer. Great for combos. When you counter-tech, this is the throw you do.

HP - The rocket punch throw, not as good for combos but still useable vs characters with long OTG times.

OTG throw - Down + MP or HP, then any punch to throw. This will drain any meter you have, and requires at least a small amount to perform. You can walk, dash, jump and SJ while carrying the opponent.

Special Moves

Rocket Punch - D,DF,F+ Punch (ground and air)
LP - Downward angle
MP - Straight ahead
HP - Upward angled

Drones - D,DF,F+ Kick (ground only)
LP - Row of 3, controlled by directionals
MP - Column of 3, controlled by hitting attack (they try to home in on opponent if you tap)
HP - Carpet Bomb, the longer HK is held, the farther the go (slow).
Drones' are good for space control, defense (HK immediate release if a jumpin is anticipated, depending on the opponent), and in some cases combos.

X-Special

Flight - D,DB,B+ 3P (ground and air, same command to unfly)
You can cancel any normal with flight, and any flying normal with unfly. When in Flight mode, you have your 2-attack normal jump chain and Rocket Punch which you can do for as long as you are flying. When you unfly, you have normal jump restrictions (2-attack NJ chain + 1 special) and fall straight down. If you have the meter however, you can fly again. You do gain meter when in flight mode.

• Blockstun trap warning* - In this game, you can block while flying, but it's proven to be a mixed blessing. If you are flying too low to the ground (about the height where most character's jabs can put you in blockstun) and in the corner, you can be kept in blockstun forever. If the character has a chipping jab, they can wear you down to nothing and then kill you easily. This is pretty easy to avoid, but the worst case scenario would be you get throw in the corner without the meter to tech.
  

- All flying normals can be blocked low, but unfly'd normals must be blocked high.

Super Attacks

Plasma Storm - D,DF,F + 3P (ground only)
Mash to charge longer and repeat the motion to fire another, up to three total. It's best use is as a situational guard cancel anti-air, or in a corner combo. Because the recovery is long, this is best done if doing so would kill the opponent. Mashing it has little use since pushback will kill the combo, only real use it has is as a fake out/mindgame to new players(with low health) not used to it. Overall, your meter is best kept for tech hitting and flying.

The Basics

OTG Penalty
Of all the characters, Sentinel has the least amount of time to be OTG'd from any kind of knockdown before he is capable of rolling to escape. It seems to balance this out, he was given a penalty if he doesn't roll. If he doesn't roll, he can be hit more times than other characters. This can mean taking a full super or worse. Worse would be, if you're cornered and knocked down in a way where your feet are facing the corner (if your head is in the corner, the opponent will be pushed out). In this position:
Omega Red can get a 48 hit Omega Destroyer.
Akuma can mash a jab or short infinite off of an HP or HK throw
Storm is also capable of a jab/short infinite but the setup takes an unrealistic amount of time(sweep, IAD over, dash in and start mashing).
All of this is avoidable, because a true OTG combo would stand Sentinel up in hitstun. If he's being hit on his back, it's not a true combo and can be rolled. The most dangerous one of the above situations would be Akuma off an HP throw. Simply never delay rolling in the corner against Akuma.

Combos

BnB Combo (anywhere, feather to superheavy):
s.MK sj sj.HK xx MP Rocket Punch
Works on all but superheavys, off of an MP throw this should dizzy anyone. In the corner if you dash just before the sj, you'll be close enough to continue the combo on the way down.
Example vs Wolv (corner)-
s.MK, dash, sj, sj.HK xx MP Rocket Punch, sj.HK, sj.HP (land) dash s.LK, c.HP xx MP Rocket Punch.
an alternate launcher would be - step back s.MK xx LP Rocket Punch (punch hits before rockets do, rockets must fire) dash s.MK

Once you juggle the with s.LK, c.HP you've got some combo options.
sj d.f. + MP (float cancel, watch the height) xx MP Rocket Punch, sj.HK, land s.LK, c.HP and repeat..some characters need a sj.HK before the Rocket punch.

Match-ups