Comprehensive Guide to Psychic Blast v1.0

[SoulHealer]

Name: Mental Blast
Rating: 0 stars (you must take this power at level 1, but don't add slots to it!)
Level: 1
Type: single-target moderate damage ranged attack
Effect(s): This is the first power in the Psychic Blast powerset. As such it is a moderate damage single-target attack. At level 1, this power does 9.29 psionic damage (unenhanced) to a same-level villan. At level 20, this power does about 19 damage (unenhanced) to a same level villan. At level 36, this power does 30.61 damage (unenhanced) to a same level villan. In addition to doing damage this power also reduces the recharge speed (attack rate) of the target. However the reduction in attack rate is so small that I could not detect it with my stopwatch (so I reckon that it's on the order of 10%). The reduction in attack rate lasts about 6 seconds. Note: you CANNOT move while activating this power.
Endurance Cost: approximately 6.5 endurance
Activation Time: 3 seconds
Recharge Time: 4 seconds
Duration: Attack Speed reduction lasts for 6 seconds
Range: 100 feet
Enhacements: Accuracy, Damage, Range, Endurance Cost, Recharge Speed
Recommended Slotting: 1 Accuracy, don't add more slots to this worthless excuse of a power.
Commentary: This is the worst "first power" of any blast set because the activation time is a glacial 3 seconds. Team-mates can die in the time it takes for this power to activate and you'd be powerless to do anything to "defend" them. If it had a faster activation time then I'd be a little more enthusiastic about it, but the activation time has multiple downsides, not the least of which is that this power can only be used once every 7 seconds (3 second activation + 4 second recharge) which is the worst of any first power from a defender (or blaster) damage powerset. I'd tell you to skip this power, however since it is the level 1 power you are required to take it. Don't add slots to it, you'll regret it later if you do. At level 35 I almost never use this power.

Name: Subdue
Rating: 0 stars (avoid this power!!)
Level: 2
Type: single-target moderate damage ranged attack, with chance to immobilize
Effect(s): This is the second power in the Psychic Blast powerset. Unlike most other blast powersets, this second power is NOT higher damage than the first power. Instead it is another moderate damage single-target attack. At level 2, this power does 9.94 psionic damage (unenhanced) to a same-level villan. At level 20, this power does about 19 damage (unenhanced) to a same level villan. At level 36, this power does 30.61 damage (unenhanced) to a same level villan. In addition to doing damage this power also has a chance to immoblize the target, however the target can still attack (either with range or melee). The immobilization effect lasts about 5 seconds. Note: you CANNOT move while activating this power.
Endurance Cost: approximately 11 endurance
Activation Time: 2 seconds
Recharge Time: 8 seconds
Duration: Immobilization lasts for 5 seconds
Range: 100 feet
Enhacements: Accuracy, Damage, Range, Endurance Cost, Recharge Speed, Immobilization duration
Recommended Slotting: skip this power, it has a very poor damage/endurance ratio, a poor damage/recharge speed ratio, and the immobilization effect is too random and short duration to justify the steep endurance cost
Commentary: This power has a faster activation than mental blast, but the endurance cost is nearly twice as much for the SAME damage. This power has has a very poor damage/endurance ratio, a poor damage/recharge speed ratio, and the immobilization effect is too random and short duration to justify the steep endurance cost. Immobilization isn't a particularly good crowd control effect used by itself, and the duration of that effect on this power is short anyway, making its usefulness for either damage or crowd contol very suspect.

Name: Psionic Lance
Level: 4
Rating: 3 stars (if your play style works well with sniper attacks you will want this power, if your play style doesn't work well with sniper attacks you can do without this power)
Type: single-target long-range extreme damage sniper shot
Effect(s): This is the third power in the Psychic Blast powerset. This is a long range "sniper shot" which does "extreme" damage to it's target. At level 4, this power does about 32 psionic damage (unenhanced) to a same-level villan. At level 20, this power does about 52 damage (unenhanced) to a same level villan. At level 38, this power does about 95 damage (unenhanced) to a same level villan. In addition to doing damage, this power also reduces the attack speed of the target for about 10 seconds. The attack speed is only reduced slightly, I could not detect a difference when using my stopwatch. This sniper shot has a higher than normal accuracy (Hero Planner 1.55 says that you get a 20% accuracy bonus when using this power). Note: if you move while activating this power, you interrupt the power, lose the endurance cost, and the power does not activate. If you get hit during the first 4 seconds of activation, the power will not activate and you lose the endurance cost.
Endurance Cost: approximately 19 endurance
Activation Time: 5 seconds
Recharge Time: 12 seconds
Duration: Attack speed reduction lasts for 10 seconds
Range: 175 feet
Enhacements: Accuracy, Damage, Range, Endurance Cost, Recharge Speed, Reduce Interrupt Time
Recommended Slotting: If you get this power, you'll eventually want to slot it with 4-6 damage enhancements, though you might want to add an accuracy and endurance reduction depending on your needs.
Commentary: If you plan on using this as your lead attack when you solo, you will want to take this power at an early level and slot it heavily for damage. This attack can also be used to "single pull" villans from a larger pack, especially if used at long range on roaming targets that are out of sight of most of their comrades. If you lack good crowd control or innate defense (ie you have Empathy or maybe Kinetics as your primary), you may find this attack particularly helpful for pulling and fighting one villan at a time. If you need to lead off with a debuff (Radiation Emission, Storm Summonic, or Dark Miasma primary) you may find this power to be less useful in the long run, though if you're very focused on blasting and can make it hard for villans to hit you this might compliment TK blast and Will Domination in your single-target attack arsenal.

Name: Psychic Scream
Level: 10
Rating: 3 Stars (if your play style will support an AE attack then you will love this power, if you cannot use AE attacks then skip this power)
Type: cone-shapped AE ranged attack, with attack rate reduction debuff
Effect(s): This is the fourth power in the Psychic Blast powerset. This is a medium range cone-shaped AE attack, which is wider and longer range than most cone attacks. At level 20, this power does about 20 psionic damage (unenhanced) to a same-level villan. At level 36, this power does about 31.84 damage (unenhanced) to a same level villan. In addition to doing damage, this power also reduces the attack speed of the target(s) for about 10 seconds. The attack speed is only reduced slightly, I could not detect a difference when using my stopwatch. Note: you CANNOT move while activating this power.
Endurance Cost: approximately 15 endurance
Activation Time: 3 seconds
Recharge Time: 12 seconds
Duration: Attack speed reduction lasts for 10 seconds
Range: about 50 feet
Enhacements: Accuracy, Damage, Endurance Cost, Recharge Speed, Increase Cone Range
Recommended Slotting: 1 accuracy, eventually 3-5 damage, possibly 1 endurance reduction
Commentary: This is the very best cone shaped AE damage power from ANY defender powerset because it has a long range and a wide cone, as well as doing moderate damage for a relatively small endurance cost. This power has a longish activation time, but it has the potential to deal so much damage (summed across all targets in range) that it is usually worth it. If you can deploy AE attacks safely you will love this power, however if you don't have good defenses (Empathy and Kinetics) then you'll find this power difficult to use while soloing. This power can be great in AE groups since you can add a noticable amount of damage with it over a wide area.

Name: Telekinetic Blast
Level: 16
Rating: 5 stars (get this power, its the best - damage/end, damage/recharge, and fast activation - single-target damage attack in this powerset)
Type: single-target high damage ranged attack, with knockback
Effect(s): This is the fifth power in the Psychic Blast powerset. This is a high damage ranged attack. At level 20, this power does about 20 smashing damage and 13 psionic damage (unenhanced) to a same-level villan. At level 36, this power does about 30.61 smashing damage and 19.59 psionic damage (for a total of 50.2 unenhanced damage) to a same level villan. In addition to doing damage, this power also has a good chance of knocking your target back by 20-30 feet. Note: you CANNOT move while activating this power.
Endurance Cost: approximately 11 endurance
Activation Time: 1 second
Recharge Time: 8 seconds
Duration: instant
Range: 100 feet
Enhacements: Accuracy, Damage, Range, Endurance Cost, Recharge Speed, Enhance Knockback
Recommended Slotting: 1 accuracy, eventually 3-5 damage, possibly 1 endurance reduction
Commentary: This is the best single-target attack from this powerset. It has the best damage/endurance cost, the best damage/activation time, and the best damage/recharge time. It only does slightly less damage than Will Domination and the knockback effect has great defensive value. This power has the added advantage of doing both smashing damage and psionic damage, which is nice if you're fighting a villan that is resistant to Psionic attacks (like Mek Men, and any other robot-like villan other than clockworks). If you only have room to take 1 single target damage power (other than Mental Blast) from this powerset make it this power!!

Name: Will Domination
Level: 20
Rating: 4 stars (get this power, its the highest damage "fast cast" single-target damage attack in this powerset)
Type: single-target superior damage ranged attack, with sleep effect
Effect(s): This is the sixth power in the Psychic Blast powerset. This is a superior damage ranged attack. At level 20, this power does about 39 psionic damage (unenhanced) to a same-level villan. At level 36, this power does about 60.01 psionic damage (unenhanced) to a same level villan. In addition to doing damage, this power also has a good chance of putting your target to sleep for up to 5 seconds. Note: you CANNOT move while activating this power.
Endurance Cost: approximately 13 endurance
Activation Time: 1.5 second
Recharge Time: 14 seconds
Duration: 5 seconds
Range: 100 feet
Enhacements: Accuracy, Damage, Range, Endurance Cost, Recharge Speed, Sleep Duration
Recommended Slotting: 1 accuracy, 3-5 damage, possibly 1 endurance reduction, possibly 1-2 sleep duration
Commentary: This is the second best "fast cast" attack power from this powerset, second only to Telekinetic Blast. It also has some crowd control value, since it can put the target to sleep for 5 seconds. This is one of the most damaging single-target attacks from any defender secondary powerset. The only real down-side to this power is the long recharge time (14 seconds), though if you have Hasten this won't be a significant problem.

Name: Psionic Tornado
Level: 28
Rating: 2 stars (unless you are a hard-core AE fiend, or need 4 seconds of AE knockback for crowd control, skip this power)
Type: targetted ranged AE blast, with knockdown and recharge speed reduction
Effect(s): This is the seventh power in the Psychic Blast powerset. This is a moderate damage ranged attack. At level 28, this power does about 5 ticks of 4.33 psionic damage (unenhanced) to a same-level villan. At level 36, this power does about 5 ticks of 5.44 (27.2 total) psionic damage (unenhanced) to a same-level villan. In addition to doing damage, this power also knocks down all targets in range, and slows (by a negligible amount) their attack speed for 10 seconds.. Note: you CANNOT move while activating this power.
Endurance Cost: approximately 25 endurance
Activation Time: 3 second
Recharge Time: 20 seconds
Duration: 10 seconds
Range: 100 feet
Enhacements: Accuracy, Damage, Range, Endurance Cost, Recharge Speed, Enhance Knockback
Recommended Slotting: 1 accuracy, possibly 3-5 damage, possibly 1-2 endurance reduction, possibly 1-2 recharge reduction
Commentary: I don't recommend this power. It has a long activation time, a long recharge time, has a very poor damage/endurance and damage/recharge ratio, and costs alot of endurance for minimal crowd control (25 endurance for 3-4 seconds of AE knockdown). If you LOVE AE attacks and have endurance to burn, then you might find this power useful, but I'm skeptical of this.

Name: Scramble Thoughts
Level: 35
Rating: 2 stars (if you are desperate for a single target crown control power take this, otherwise skip it)
Type: ranged single-target minor damage power, with strong disorient effect
Effect(s): This is the eighth power in the Psychic Blast powerset. This is a minor damage ranged attack which will disorient anything other than bosses. If you have enough recharge reducers in this power you can use it multiple times on a boss to acheive sporatic disorientation (ie the boss will be disoriented only as long as two or more scramble thoughts are still active). At level 35 this power does 9 points of psionic damage (unenhanced) to a same level villan. Note: you CANNOT move while activating this power.
Endurance Cost: approximately 13 endurance
Activation Time: 3 seconds
Recharge Time: 20 seconds
Duration: 12 seconds
Range: 100 feet
Enhacements: Accuracy, Damage, Range, Endurance Cost, Recharge Speed, Disorient Duration
Recommended Slotting: 1 accuracy, possibly 1-2 disorient duration, possible 1-2 recharge reduction, possibly 1 endurance reduction
Commentary: This power can be used to disorient a minion or lieutenant, but a single use of this power will not disorient a boss. If you find yourself short on crowd control powers (ie if you are an Empath or Kinetics primary) then this power might provide you with the defensive oomph you need when soloing or to help your group if you're the only defender or controller, otherwise I'd skip this power.

Name: Psychic Wail
Level: 38
Rating: 3 stars (it is a very powerful but situational AE power that can take out same-level minions, but drains you of all endurance)
Type: point-blank extreme damage AE attack, with strong disorient effect
Effect(s): This is the ninth power in the Psychic Blast powerset. This is an extreme damage point blank AE attack which will disorient anything in range for a long time. It will also drain you of all endurance just after it activates. At level 38 this power does 96 points of psionic damage followed by 2 ticks of 46 damage (for a total of 192 unenhanced damage) to a same level villan. Note: you CANNOT move while activating this power.
Endurance Cost: approximately 11 endurance (but drains you of all your endurance once it goes off)
Activation Time: 1 second
Recharge Time: 6 minutes
Duration: 15 seconds
Range: 20 foot radius
Enhacements: Accuracy, Damage, Endurance Cost, Recharge Speed, Disorient Duration
Recommended Slotting: 6 damage
Commentary: This power does extreme damage and also extremely disorients all foes within range. Fully slotted with 6 damage SOs it should be enough to take out minions even 1-2 levels higher than yourself, as well as taking a sizable chunk out of Lieutenants. Anything that is still alive after this power goes off will likely be disoriented for about 15 seconds. However this power also drains you of all your endurance and prevents you from regenerating endurance for some time, so has to be used carefully. Any villan that gets "missed" by this power will be ready to pound you into a pulp.... so be careful! This power has a 6 minute recharge, and due to the endurance drain effect, gets relegated to the "situational power" category and hence does not earn more than three stars in my estimation.

Psychic Blast is a powerset that matures later than most. It's first two powers are terrible and I recommend avoiding them and not slotting Mental Blast. If you want single-target attacks you have to wait until level 20 until you get your awesome 1-2 punch of TK Blast and Will Domination. This powerset has a longer range than any other Defender secondary powerset, all of its powers have about 25% more range than their counterparts from other powersets. The superior damage Will Domination has a MUCH larger range (100 feet) than it's counterparts from Radiation Blast (Cosmic Blast - 20 foot range) and Energy Blast (Energy Burst - 20 foot range). This powerset has some nice single-target crowd control: knockback, sleep, disorient, attack rate reduction, but lacks Aim and the attack rate reduction effect is minimal and cannot be enhanced. This is a great powerset for anyone that prefers to solo just one or two villans at a time, or that has a primary powerset that can provide the defensve necessary for soloing more than 2 villans at a time. This powerset has a very high damage 1-2 punch that can be quite useful for group play, to pick off stragglers or knock out any villans that break through the defenses and threaten the controllers, defenders and/or blasters.

It is difficult to give hard and fast advice that is helpful to all people. With that in mind I'll try to offer some off-the-cuff advice broken down by playstyle.

A defensive oriented Defender might do well to choose:
Telekinetic Blast (1 acc and 3 damage),
Will Domination (1 acc and some combination of sleep duration and recharge reduction),
and either:
Scramble Thoughts (1 acc and some combination of disorient duration and recharge reduction)
or Psionic Tornado (1 acc and some combination of recharge reduction and endurance reduction)

An offensive oriented Defender might choose:
Telekinetic Blast (1 acc, 3-5 damage, and possibly 1 endurance reduction),
Will Domination (1 acc, 3-5 damage. and possibly 1 endurance reduction),
and, depending on their needs, some combination of:
Psionic Lance (5-6 damage and possibly 1 acc)
Psychic Scream (1 acc, 3-5 damage, and possible 1 endurance reduction)
and Psychic Wail (6 damage)

A balanced defender might choose:
Telekinetic Blast (1 acc and 3 damage)
Will Domination (1 acc and 3 damage)
and possibly:
Psychic Scream (1 acc and 3 damage)
or Psionic Lance (1 acc and 3 damage)

I am a self-annointed "offensive defender" and at level 38 I have Telekinetic Blast (1 acc, 4 dam, 1 end reduction), Will Domination ( 1 acc, 4 dam, 1 end redcution), and Psychic Scream (1 acc, 4 dam). I plan on getting and fully slotting Psychic Wail either at level 38 (I haven't decided yet) or at level 41. I will eventually get Psionic Lance and fully slot it. However, I solo just fine with Hasten+AM as my buffs, Radiation Infection and Enervating Field as my debuffs, and TK Blast and Will Domination as my blasts with an occasional Psychic Scream tossed in when I'm fighting larger numbers of yellow and orange minions.

I'm especially interested in hearing from other people who may have different experiences with the Psychic Blast set, in particular people who take either a "defensive" approach or a "balanced" approach to playing their Defender. Once the community has had a chance to offer up their advice on this powerset I'll synthesize the data and repost this guide.

StrawberryBlond, level 38 rad/psy Defender

[Skydance]

Great summarize of the Psy Blast set, thanks for the great work :)

Maybe you could add somewhere a disclaimer that the Psy nukes do indeed scale correctly with level, as I see still quite a few posts of people saying that it's damage scaling is bugged, cause they didn't read the full thread back then when Geko clarified it.

For my personal play style, I do play the offensive variant too, Telekinetic Blast, Will domination, and Psychic Scream are my main attacks (each with 1 Acc, 4 Dam, they will get 6 slotted eventually, around 37 or so, not sure yet if I go 1Acc 5 Dam, or 1 Acc 4 Dam 1 End. That will depend on how I feel my Endurance holds out once I got a 6 slotted Stamina).
I do use the sniper, but not that often, mainly for long range pulling, but not during the actual fighting. It has currently 1 Acc 3 Dam, and I think that's how it will stay.

As for our final power, I am not sure if I get. Since it drains all endurance, it will shut of toggles.
And since I am usually the defense of our little teams, that is something I tend to avoid, since we rely fairly heavily on Hurricane, Steamy Mist, and to a lesser extent Snow Storm.
Maybe you could clarify this in your description of the power, that, once you use it, the sideeffect will be that all toggles get shut off (kinda obvious, I know), so people like me, how are the center of defense of a team, should think twice before getting this, not only you can't do much for a short while after activating it, but with all toggles down, the defense of the team is down too, for Storm defenders in particular.


[ QUOTE ]
I'd tell you to skip this power, however since it is the level 1 power you are required to take it. Don't add slots to it, you'll regret it later if you do. At level 35 I almost never use this power.

[/ QUOTE ]
Yeah, so true.... those two slots i put in Mental Blast still mock me everytime I look at my Enhancements. I can't wait for respecs to correct that mistake. I removed it even from my Hotbar several levels ago.

[SoulHealer]

Thank you for reminding me. Yes, the damage from Telekinetic Blast and Will Domination DOES scale properly as you level. I originally believed that their damage did not scale but this was based on some faulty data, and Geko provided the correct data that clearly shows that they do scale.

As for Psychic Wail, you are right it WILL turn off any toggles that you have running because you run out of endurance. However, it should be noted that the toggles don't turn off until AFTER the power activates. This is an important point, since you WILL get the benefit of Enervating Field (to boost Psychic Wail damage by 41%) and your defenses WILL stay up until you have blasted your opponents and left them disoriented (assuming you hit all of them...).

StrawberryBlond, level 38 rad/psy Defender

[Skydance]

[ QUOTE ]
...assuming you hit all of them..

[/ QUOTE ]
That's the point ;)

When we fight Nazis, or Nemesis, or Rikti, we usually have a few mobs not so close using ranged weapons, so I would always hesitate to use something that shuts down my defenses, and thereby the teams defenses.

Anyway, just some thinking on my part about the power, all theory for me, I am only 32, so can't even get it yet. When I will be able to get it, I probably try it a bit on test first, before I make my final call. For now, I don't see myself getting it, cause of the toggle issue. I feel nekkid without Hurricane :)

[goldbricker]

Great stuff here. Thanks for all the work in gathering it all together.

[ QUOTE ]
Psychic Blast is a powerset that matures later than most. It's first two powers are terrible and I recommend avoiding them and not slotting Mental Blast.

[/ QUOTE ]

There are a lot of harsh words out there reserved for Mental Blast and Subdue, and I don't understand why the sentiment is so stacked against them. Yes I agree they appear weak, but not overly so.

In fact against tough bosses who refuse to be Will Dominated to sleep I rely on Mental Blast a ton to keep their damage output as low as possible, which is just the advantage I usually need to keep my damage output ahead of them.

Also, I use Subdue all the time as a way to defeat running tactics (which helps a lot since my running ability is impacted by how I must remain still when so often using my blasts), as a low-end quick-shot option to finishing off mobs at slivers of health, and as a way to keep mobs out of range of attacking me. I have never regretted adding a couple slots to either. By 30 I had more than enough slots on all my powers and was soloing and teaming quite well.

Certainly once I got TKBlast and WillDom, then MBlast and Subdue got backbenched a lot. But neither early power is really as vile as has been being suggested. Unless I'm missing something...

[Skydance]

[ QUOTE ]
But neither early power is really as vile as has been being suggested.

[/ QUOTE ]
I dunno, a power that takes a skillpoint to get, a power that gets some enhancement slots, that, once you get to higher levels and aquire better powers you won't use anymore, that to me is terrible.

Once I had Telekinetic Blast and Will Domination, I hardly used them anymore, and thereby wasted one powerslot, and 2 enhancement slots, for powers you no longer use. That's bad to me.

All that makes them vile to me, and to be avoided at all costs.

The way CoH is designed, you dont really get upgrades to powers, they all scale with level, and as such should be usefull from level 1 to 50. Situational, certainly, but defenatily usefull from start to end.
Subdue's high End. cost, and slow animation, combined with poor damage, doesn't justify this, even if it is the only immobilize in the set.
And Mental Blast with its hideously slow animation and poor damage certainly falls into that category as well. I wish I wouldn't have to take it upon creation, and certainly kick myself from time to time having put 2 slots in it.

The thing is, this guide is written from a high level perspective, so it's recommendations apply to a whole range of levels. Around 10 when I put 2 slots into Mental Blast, I thought, oh, well, its not that bad, and I have to do some damage. But once I got Blast and Domination, I stopped using it altogether, cause it was that terrible. And no power should be like that, not with the level scaling of powers in this game.

This is certainly only my opinion, and as usual, your mileage may vary, but, and I think that's what this guide is all about, people should be informed how powers play out in game, at low levels, and at higher levels. So I wholeheartingly second SoulHealers recomendations on them.

[QDoggie]

Great to see a Psy guide. Thanks for the post Soulhealer.

At level 32, here is what I have and my experience with psy:

Mental blast: at this point I use it only a few times per level. I am close to removing it completely. I just cant afford to be locked into the 3 second animation when I have to defend my team.

Psy Lance: 6-slotted. I co-pull with blasters(assisting) and with one interrupt redux SO, I can use this behind will domination and get the blast off. It's a nice snipe with awesome range(runners beware).

Psi Scream: This is my favorite. In every fight, this is the first blast I use once I apply Freezing rain. It has got to have some inherent accuracy bonus, because I can hit cons 8 levels above me with this(debuffed by rain), while all the other blasts miss. The size of the cone is sweet, and the moment hesitation that it causes on what it hits helps me keep the mobs in the rain longer. Being a stormy, AE damage is king.

TK Blast: My second favorite. I wish I had gotten this one before will domination. Both are good, but the quick fire and faster recharge on this one win-out over the higher damage of WD.

Will Domination: Nice too. The sleep is just long enough for me to get off lance against a tough con.

That's it thus far. I have tried Tornado on the test server. It's OK, and I will likely get it at 35 or 41. I do wish it would cast faster and last a bit longer. From my standpoint, it is another tool to keep the MOB in place to max my debuff and AEO.

My other option at 35 is Scramble Thoughts. I would want this to disorient bosses, however the post above notes that it doesn't work on bosses. The question is: If I used thunderclap in near the boss to stun the minions, then applied scramble thoughts to the boss, won't that disorient the boss for the overlap time?

As for Wail, I see it as a sweet thing for storm builds: Approach a tight mob with mist up, cast your lightning storm, freezing rain, psy scream the mob, and, if they are still in range, Wail away. Your lightning cloud will fire at any MOB still standing. If you are teamed, have your teammates instructed to work on the mob at the edges of your scream. Another option is to start with T-clap(stun duration and acc enhancers) and roll through the same cycle. If you have psy tornado, use that behind T-clap?.

I must say that Psy has some great powers. I have defenders with energy and rad blasts, and I would take psy over these for my storm defender anyday. Now, if I can just respec out mental blast...

[Skydance]

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Will Domination: Nice too. The sleep is just long enough for me to get off lance against a tough con.

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It's perfect too for shutting down toggle users, even if the sleep is just a few seconds, it turns their bubbles, hurricanes, what have you off :)

[SoulHealer]

My reason for hating Mental Blast is based on having played every defender secondary powerset and knowing how each of the "first powers" works. ALL of the other first powers take between 1 and 2 seconds to activate, EXCEPT Mental Blast which takes 3 seconds. However Mental Blast does EXACTLY the same damage as every other first power, except Neutrino Bolt (which casts VERY fast, costs less endurance, but does only 66% of the damage of the other powers). Basically I hate mental blast because it is hideously slow at activating (which also prevents me from defending my team if something goes wrong during the long activation), because it has the longest total re-use cycle (7 seconds) of any "level 1" blast power (Dark Blast is 5.5 seconds, Charged Bolt is 6 seconds, Energy Bolt is 6 seconds), and costs the same endurance and does the same "pathetic" damage as the aforementioned powers. At the higher levels, Mental Blast takes such a small percentage out of a same-level villans health that it's just not worth the 3 second activation time. Also, why waste 3 seconds trying to activate Mental Blast for 72 damage (assuming 4 damage SOs at level 36) when in the same amount of time I can activate BOTH Telekinetic Blast and Will Domination (assuming 4 damage SOs in each at level 36) for a combined 260 damage and still have half a second left over.

Subdue activates a bit faster than Mental Blast, which makes it a little more practical to use, however it costs alot more endurance which makes it impractical to use. Mental Blast costs about 6.5 endurance while Subdue costs 11. Keep in mind that the "high damage" powers from the other Defender secondary powersets also cost 11 endurance. Since Subdue only does moderate damage (ie the same damage that Mental Blast does), it has a VERY poor damage/endurance ratio which makes it very undesireable since as we all know Defenders are very starved for endurance (at least well into their 20s). The immobilize effect is too unreliable, and besides, why would I want to spend 11 endurance to immbolize a target when I can use Telekinetic Blast for 11 endurance and typically finish off a runner.

I'm sure that some people might find uses for these powers (mental blast and subude). I don't mean to say that such isn't possible. But since someone asked why they are so maligned, I thought I'd elaborate further on the subject.

Just my .02.

StrawberryBlond, level 38 rad/psy Defender

[Cowthulhu]

Thanks for the guide!

I got my storm/psychic alt up to 14 last night. I rely on psionic lance a great deal (I have it and scream 5 slotted and both will have 6 at 15). For stormies, hurricane and/or gale can be quite helpful in getting a snipe off. This is especially true with hurricane in a confined area. I can snipe all day long and rarely get interrupted.

Scream is an absolutely wonderful cone attack. I have one (training) range increase in it, but I'm not sure it really needs it. I can't stress this enough...I really hated the other cone attacks I've tried but Scream is very easy to use and effective.

[Ineffable_Bob]

[ QUOTE ]
My other option at 35 is Scramble Thoughts. I would want this to disorient bosses, however the post above notes that it doesn't work on bosses. The question is: If I used thunderclap in near the boss to stun the minions, then applied scramble thoughts to the boss, won't that disorient the boss for the overlap time?

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I haven't personally tried this combo, but it certainly seems like it should work. Typically hold/disorient/mez effects stack, so a disorient from Thunderclap and another from Scramble Thoughts should stop a boss. Of course, that's assuming you don't miss with one or the other.... :)

Great summary of the Psy set, Soulhealer. One minor quibble - if you have this saved somewhere for reposting later, you might want to correct the spelling of Enhancement.

In playing up to L13, which is the highest I've gone in this set, I do notice a difference with the recharge time slowdown secondary effect. My toon is Kinetics/Psy, so Siphon Speed and the slow secondary effects make an effective boss/Lt. neutralizer. Usually I'd pull with Lance, hit Siphon Speed, and then do Mental Blast. With all three of those active, I could hit Lance with no fear of interruption - whereas if I only had Siphon Speed, sometimes I'd get hit while trying to use Lance. The slowdown effect may be minor, but it does stack with other effects and so can be useful.

[SoulHealer]

How embarrassing. I've changed "enhacements" to "enhancements" in my saved copy. Thanks for pointing this out to me.

StrawberryBlond, level 38 rad/psy Defender

[RemusShepherd]

*applause*

The best summary of the psychic powerset I've seen. Wish I had this before I made my ff/psy guy, who now has four-slotted MB and Subdue. :p

[Savant_NA]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
My other option at 35 is Scramble Thoughts. I would want this to disorient bosses, however the post above notes that it doesn't work on bosses. The question is: If I used thunderclap in near the boss to stun the minions, then applied scramble thoughts to the boss, won't that disorient the boss for the overlap time?

[/ QUOTE ]

I haven't personally tried this combo, but it certainly seems like it should work. Typically hold/disorient/mez effects stack, so a disorient from Thunderclap and another from Scramble Thoughts should stop a boss. Of course, that's assuming you don't miss with one or the other.... :)

[/ QUOTE ]
I've tried it, and it does work. It's one of the only reasons why I have Psychic Wail and Scramble Thoughts in my current build. I can use Scramble Thoughts on a boss, then run up to it (and the rest of the group of mobs my team is engaging) and release a Wail. The boss is then stunned, just like the lieutenants and minions.

Great post, SoulHealer. Informative and insightful.

[DrSilver]

psi wail does wonders for me but that might be becuase i can fire of recovery aura first and i have no toggles to worry about. Also it seems to be a -recovery after wail not a no recovery so stamina with recovery aura and you still regen. Also interesting point adrn boost seems to be able to stop toggles from dropping after wail our ff defender wailed after i adrn boosted him and his bubble and asault toggle didn't drop though his tatics did. anyone else have any similair experinces with adrn boost with nukes not taking down toggles?

[Mr_Wave]

So, does anyone have any speculation on why Mental Blast and Subdue are sub-par compared to the other Defender 1&2 blast powers? Was it some poorly executed balancing attempt to make up for the fact that Psionic damage isn't resisted as often as other damage types? Or is it some attempt to compensate the other blast lines because they don't have all the high-end punch that Psi does?

What gives? And is there hope that one day that Mental Blast and Subdue might get some developer love?

[c_o_t_t]

[ QUOTE ]
*applause*

The best summary of the psychic powerset I've seen. Wish I had this before I made my ff/psy guy, who now has four-slotted MB and Subdue. :p

[/ QUOTE ]

Seconded.

Boy do I regret 5-slotting Mental Blast. At least I avoided Subdue.

At 18, Mental Blast and Psychic Lance are the only powers I've taken so far from this line. Stupid manual! I avoided TK Blast because I thought it was similar to Force Bolt from FF, which I relied on heavily for soloing the first levels (also 5-slotted; woe is me). Now that I have a better idea of what is going on and understand my team role better, I'm committed to the Fitness and Leadership pools for the next few levels. Can't wait to pick up TK Blast and Will Domination, though.

One comment on Lance. With Mental Blast as my only other offense, I rely on Lance a lot (pictures of round tables...). Fortunately, with Dispersion Bubble running and since I don't draw a lot of aggro, I rarely get interrupted even in the middle of a big battle. More often I waste it because someone else finishes off the mob before it fires (but that's rare too, just more common than being interrupted). This is also true when soloing. I'd say I get interrupted once every 20 times, if not less frequently. If I'm really concerned about being hit while Lancing, I put a mob on his back first with Force Bolt. And the range makes me the go-to guy for pulling. I get lot's of jealous comments about the range.

Thanks for the guide SoulHealer, even if a bit too late to help me avoid some early bad decisions.

[QDoggie]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
My other option at 35 is Scramble Thoughts. I would want this to disorient bosses, however the post above notes that it doesn't work on bosses. The question is: If I used thunderclap in near the boss to stun the minions, then applied scramble thoughts to the boss, won't that disorient the boss for the overlap time?

[/ QUOTE ]

I haven't personally tried this combo, but it certainly seems like it should work. Typically hold/disorient/mez effects stack, so a disorient from Thunderclap and another from Scramble Thoughts should stop a boss. Of course, that's assuming you don't miss with one or the other.... :)

[/ QUOTE ]
I've tried it, and it does work. It's one of the only reasons why I have Psychic Wail and Scramble Thoughts in my current build. I can use Scramble Thoughts on a boss, then run up to it (and the rest of the group of mobs my team is engaging) and release a Wail. The boss is then stunned, just like the lieutenants and minions.

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks for the info. I was thinking that it would work.

Far as I know, T-clap is a Mag1. Sounds like scramble is a mag 2. I know it takes a total mag3 to stun a boss, so the stacked affect should be Mag 3= boss is stunned. Of course, accuracy comes into play here, but two acc SO's in each and a stun duration SO or two, and you have a nice mezz that can snare minions in an AEO and a boss too. Then, Wail on top of that should do big damage and leave em stunned for a good while if they are not yet defeated...

[Ex_Libris]

I just started a Rad/Psy Defender and this info is invaluable for planning my character. And yes, Mental Blast is just awful. Thanks for the informative discussion, everyone. :)

[ QUOTE ]
I rely on Lance a lot (pictures of round tables...)

[/ QUOTE ]

/guffaw :)

[Saucyjack]

If they cut the act time of mental blast by like 1-2 secs and made subdue a minor damage root (ie roots 100%), the set would be great imo.

It is great anyway.

I am 11th lvl with my new rad/psy, and I have 6 slotted mental blast because all I have are mental blast, lance, and scream. I passed on subdue, figuring I would save a power choice that way. I committed to mental blast, and it's ok for what it is. I guess I just don't expect a lot from it. I have nice rad debuffs, so I can often use the psy lance in the fray, which is nice. Also, the cone range of psychic scream is out of this world. I think it might be bigger than tentacles.

[Ineffable_Bob]

[ QUOTE ]
Also, the cone range of psychic scream is out of this world. I think it might be bigger than tentacles.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think you're right. Scream has an awesome cone range. Of course, that means you get the aggro a lot of the time....

[Reverend]

It would have been really nice if this guide had been handed to me at level 1. i.e Before Picking up subdue, and wasting 4 slots on Subdue and Mental Blast.

Finaly have enough of my primary needs covered that I can pick up and slot more attacks. Will Domination is great, I can't wait until I get TK blast and P Scream. In 2 man teams with tanks, I'm regularly outdamaging them, especially when we take on COT, with the ghost type creatures.

[SoulHealer]

[ QUOTE ]
Also, the cone range of psychic scream is out of this world. I think it might be bigger than tentacles.

[/ QUOTE ]

Psychic Scream *DOES* have a larger cone range than Tenebrous Tentacles by a noticeable amount. Both are wide cones, but Psychic Scream is longer.

StrawberryBlond, level 38 rad/psy (a bit too tired of the "grind" to put on more levels atm)

[Shadow_Talon]

Anyone know how Rad blast's Electron Haze compares to Psychic Scream on cone area? I'm very much torn between the 2 secondaries at the moment. Radiation has more ae (1 moderate cone, 1 moderate ae dot, 1 moderate targeted ae, 1 extreme ae vs 1 moderate cone, 1 moderate ae dot, 1 extreme ae) which I like. But Rad blast doesn't seem to be as efficient as Psychic Blast.

[SoulHealer]

The comparison between Electron Haze and Psychic Scream is very lopsided:

- both take 3 seconds to activate
- both do "moderate" damage, Electron Haze does about 20% more than Psychic Scream
- Psychic Scream costs 17 endurance compared to 21 for Electron Haze
- Psychic Scream recharges in 12 seconds compared to 16 for Electron Haze
- Psychic Scream has about twice the range (ie cone length)
- Psychic Scream has about twice the cone width (at the same distance)
- Psychic Scream covers ALOT more area (more than 4x the area of EH)
- Electron Haze has a chance to knockback, which can be good but can also be very bad if you were trying to keep the villans clustered.

I've played around with both of these powers, and Psychic Scream is so much better IMHO there is NO comparison. Now, I'm not saying that Psychic Blast is better than Rad Blast, simply that Psychic Scream is better than Electron Haze.

StrawberryBlond, level 38 rad/psy Defender

[teamnoir]

Nice! Thanks!

One minor point in FAVOR of mental blast... range. This power has longer range than nearly any blaster powers excepting the snipes. This means that at level 6 you can hover blast foes that cannot hit you. It takes a while, but you can do it. Between the lack of knockback and the long range, you can also use this power to single pull. This is very useful at the lower levels and not so bad even in the mid levels.

BTW, I have so far been an entirely defensive defender. I have Mental Blast and took Will Domination very late at 24 because I couldn't even manage grey kill missions solo with mental blast alone. I will probably find a way to take tk blast and lance at some point, though I have no idea whether I'll ever get them slotted. (I need to rework my build soon).

[NinjaMonkey]

Bump and adding to the list of thanks for this guide. I also have a question and didn't want to clog up the board with a new post.

Any kin/psy players want to share their thoughts? I've read how a few of the powers aren't great for kinetics because of aggro but I wanted to know what others are doing. The more I play my kinetic guy the more I think psy was a horrible choice. I typically put myself near the melee for heal, siphon power, and ID. If I pick up Psychic Scream at 14 (which was my plan) I could end up eating dirt. But, at level 13 I only have MB and Lance and it's really hard to solo and I don't get to help offensively very much.

After a long session in Boomtown, I'm thinking that I should look to travel power pools at 14 (what a long walk that was) and waiting until 16 to add to my offense with TB.

Thank goodness for this guide. Like someone else I thought TB would be like the FF power and wasn't going to get it.

[Lady_Vortex]

[ QUOTE ]
My reason for hating Mental Blast is based on having played every defender secondary powerset and knowing how each of the "first powers" works. ALL of the other first powers take between 1 and 2 seconds to activate, EXCEPT Mental Blast which takes 3 seconds. However Mental Blast does EXACTLY the same damage as every other first power, except Neutrino Bolt (which casts VERY fast, costs less endurance, but does only 66% of the damage of the other powers). Basically I hate mental blast because it is hideously slow at activating (which also prevents me from defending my team if something goes wrong during the long activation), because it has the longest total re-use cycle (7 seconds) of any "level 1" blast power (Dark Blast is 5.5 seconds, Charged Bolt is 6 seconds, Energy Bolt is 6 seconds), and costs the same endurance and does the same "pathetic" damage as the aforementioned powers. At the higher levels, Mental Blast takes such a small percentage out of a same-level villans health that it's just not worth the 3 second activation time. Also, why waste 3 seconds trying to activate Mental Blast for 72 damage (assuming 4 damage SOs at level 36) when in the same amount of time I can activate BOTH Telekinetic Blast and Will Domination (assuming 4 damage SOs in each at level 36) for a combined 260 damage and still have half a second left over.

Subdue activates a bit faster than Mental Blast, which makes it a little more practical to use, however it costs alot more endurance which makes it impractical to use. Mental Blast costs about 6.5 endurance while Subdue costs 11. Keep in mind that the "high damage" powers from the other Defender secondary powersets also cost 11 endurance. Since Subdue only does moderate damage (ie the same damage that Mental Blast does), it has a VERY poor damage/endurance ratio which makes it very undesireable since as we all know Defenders are very starved for endurance (at least well into their 20s). The immobilize effect is too unreliable, and besides, why would I want to spend 11 endurance to immbolize a target when I can use Telekinetic Blast for 11 endurance and typically finish off a runner.

I'm sure that some people might find uses for these powers (mental blast and subude). I don't mean to say that such isn't possible. But since someone asked why they are so maligned, I thought I'd elaborate further on the subject.

Just my .02.

StrawberryBlond, level 38 rad/psy Defender

[/ QUOTE ]


I would be one of those people. With respec seeming to be close I have chosen the path of a dark miasa/psy def. I chose of course mental blast but also subdue along with psy lance. I use these as a 1-2-3 punch to take out most attackers. I plan on using them so I can do some damage and when I can respec at 24,I think, I will get rid of them. So I find them useful for the lower few levels to get by but I also see your point in them becoming useless once the other blasts become available.

[Lady_Vortex]

also to agree with others I read later on, I too regret putting any slots into either. I have only put one in each but with the info from this guide I see I can't improve them at all so I am regretfull of that slot choice but once again, yay for respec. :D

[Mr_Mooph]

Good day all, I've been perusing the forums for a bit now, but with news of the respec coming, I thought I'd jump in for some advice. But, that's not what this is about (not directly at least).

My primary character has been a Dark/Psyonics defender from the beginning (currently half way to level 24). I just wanted to pop in with a couple cents on this topic. I wanted to be a team player, but knew I would be soloing a lot as well, so I took all the initial psychic powers just so I could deal some damage. I too am regreting taking subdue as well as slotting that and mental blast, but that's not what I want to focus on here. I wanted to chime in about the use of psyonic lance. This has been one of my favorite attacks and when I got Will Domination, it just made it that much better. It has actually become an in battle power rather than just an advance power. I have it slotted with a recharge reudction and an interupt time reduction to help me out here. At any rate, I can keep my target villain asleep long enough to fire off the lance and by that time, the sleep is almost recharged to put him right back to sleep again (sorry, I don't have my stats readily available. I don't know exactly HOW these are slotted). When circled by mobs, this is still viable. My hover makes me slightly harder to hit and I have taken to using Howling Twilight to debuff the baddies so I don't have to worry about them interrupting the lance. It is only now looking back that I regret not taking Darkest Night as that would make the whole thing MUCH easier. I don't have TK blast yet...and frankly don't know why I held off, but am looking forward to adding that to my arsenal.

At any rate, I am looking forward to respec so I can straighten some of my mistakes out and was curious as to any other Dark/Psy d(I know there must be one or two.) efenders out there had any insights.

[Ultra_Violence]

Great guide. I would like to point out though to anyone who hasn't figured it out that if you are fighting 1 minion/lieut that if you hit them with any slow attack (even Mental Blast) their refresh time (for most villians) becomes greater than the time to cast Psionic Lance. This means wait for them to swing (miss or hit) and immediately fire PL. You won't ever get interrupted this way and at low levels nothing can compare to the damage of PL.

Also on this note.

If you take Air Superiority it does about the same damage as Mental Blast but has a faster, cast, recast and gets a knockdown EVERY time. The time it takes a villian to stand up is more than enough time to get off a sniper shot with PL. AS refreshes quickly enough that you can often keep one mob down almost all the time so that they don't get to attack much. It takes mob about the same time to stand as it does to cast Mental Blast so in very early levels you can use a 2 attack combo AS, MB, AS... without any down time waiting for a refresh. At early levels where you don't have a lot of attack powers this can get you out of the Brawl basement.

This is also why Mental Blast isn't worth it. Getting a knockdown every time and a much faster attack makes the pool power much better IMO. For anyone who hasn't fought using knockdown you have to try it. As long as you keep hitting them they just bounce up and down without getting to fight back, it is very powerful.

[PowerCrisis]

Honestly think its nonsense MB and Subdue have been underrated as they are. Granted the other sets have better newbie blasts but how the hell can you say subdue sucks? Hi..uh its got an immobilization, and does the same level of damage as any of the other newbie attacks, and oh wow the activation time is 2 seconds..big deal, as soon as I hit it, it pretty much fires off, Mental Blast is slow yes but its pretty nice with the foe -recharge.

[ShrikeAoJ]

And all of the slow attack effects seem to stack, and most of the powers have them. It does slow down the attacks pretty well. It seems to slow down the Recharge of a attack, not the actual attack rate.

Now with sleep the way it is on the training server, I will dominate (to sleep), siphion power, transfusion, then lance the guy, or will dominate again...

I still like subdue to hold the runners, or give me a chance to run if I have to.

[Jealous_deva]

I really don't get it... Why do you all hate subdue and love psychic lance? Ok, yeah subdue is a bit pricey in end for the damage (though on test it's much better, only 10 end). But, it takes no time at all to get off a subdue. Psionic does twice the damage, drinks twice the end, and takes 5 seconds to get off. Not that psionic lance doesn't have its uses, though, I just don't see why you hate one but love the other.

Subdue will probably be a part of my attack chain permanently. It's quick enough to throw in between the two heavy single targets without interfering with them. It lets me snipe people at maximum range without fear of retaliation. What more do you need?

[Lady_Vortex]

[ QUOTE ]
I really don't get it... Why do you all hate subdue and love psychic lance? Ok, yeah subdue is a bit pricey in end for the damage (though on test it's much better, only 10 end). But, it takes no time at all to get off a subdue. Psionic does twice the damage, drinks twice the end, and takes 5 seconds to get off. Not that psionic lance doesn't have its uses, though, I just don't see why you hate one but love the other.

Subdue will probably be a part of my attack chain permanently. It's quick enough to throw in between the two heavy single targets without interfering with them. It lets me snipe people at maximum range without fear of retaliation. What more do you need?

[/ QUOTE ]

I would like/need something that is more reliable. The imm affect you get doesn't occure often enough to count on it. The Lance at least lets you snipe from 175 rather than most at 150 and the end to dam ratio is much better. The time it takes to get off isn't that big a deal, expecially if you have a +def or -acc power, like for me I use twilight grasp, unconventional I know but I use it. So I lance then TG and I can lance all I want and not worry about interruption so much. Larger groups of course require AOE debuffs/buffs but with 175 range I have yet to have a bad pull where I couldn't kill my target before the others even get in range.

[Ultra_Violence]

[ QUOTE ]
I really don't get it... Why do you all hate subdue and love psychic lance? Ok, yeah subdue is a bit pricey in end for the damage (though on test it's much better, only 10 end). But, it takes no time at all to get off a subdue. Psionic does twice the damage, drinks twice the end, and takes 5 seconds to get off. Not that psionic lance doesn't have its uses, though, I just don't see why you hate one but love the other.

Subdue will probably be a part of my attack chain permanently. It's quick enough to throw in between the two heavy single targets without interfering with them. It lets me snipe people at maximum range without fear of retaliation. What more do you need?

[/ QUOTE ]

Answer is simple. You get PL at level 4 at that point and for a long time PL + another attack can often drop a white-green mob before they can even attack. Some Green and most grey mobs drop in one shot. PL has a large accuracy bonus so you don't need to add a lot of Acc Augs which means it does even more damage because you have more damage augs on it. PL works from extreme range so you can shoot at mobs that can't even reach you, split them off groups and retreat if group follows or retreat and stay out of their range till it is up again. PL on a Abomination means NEVER getting hit by acid (if you don't want to) since at max range an abomination will stop closing and forget about you before it ever gets within it's attack range and a second PL will kill it. In a backhanded sort of way PL actually has a lower END cost because of it's long animation you get back a lot of END. I rarely have any END problems if I am using PL.

In short PL allows you to put big damage where you need it in one shot and at long range if necessary. Subdue can't do any of these things.

Also I prefer runners to immobalization. I can hit a runner with PL an drop him with no risk to myself. If I immobalize him he will start shooting at me while I get off next attack. I prefer not to get shot at at all.

If you like subdue, good for you. Nothing better than having something you like. But post is about people's opinions based on their experiences and most people didn't have your good experiences with subdue. If there is some special tactic you use it for that we are missing please post it. You opinion is just as valid as anyone else's.

[Jealous_deva]

Assuming I want to kill a single mob from a distance, here's the general pattern: TK blast from max range, run away if everyone follows, stay if just the guy I'm looking for does. Back up and let him follow out of group aggro range. Subdue, then mental blast (will replace this with will domination when I get it). Total damage: About the same as PL with 2 seconds left, and I can continue to chain the set rather than waiting 18 seconds to fire another shot if it doesn't kill the guy.

The imm effect on subdue seems to be hitting about 75% of the time. When it doesn't hit it's just a matter of backing up a bit for the next recast, no prob. The only thing that can match me in range is the occasional burst or slug, most stuff you are out of range anyway.

But, the thing is one enemy per 18 second PL is a really crappy way to play anyway. Rather than doing all that above, I could have just ran up to the group of 3-4, thrown darkest night on the leuit, backed up to range, hit psychic scream while they're still packed up, thrown out a pet gaze at the leuit, then used subdue + tk blast to kill a minion or two, hit them up with another psychic scream, etc. How would PL help me in any of that? None, the moment some minion gets a lucky shot in I just wasted 6 seconds and 20 end.

I guess it really all comes down to playstyle... I'm not the biggest fan of stand-off sniping guys one at a time, it's a waste of my defender primary powers. For what I do, subdue is the better attack by far.

[Rigel_Kent]

[ QUOTE ]
Psionic does twice the damage, drinks twice the end, and takes 5 seconds to get off.

[/ QUOTE ]

Lance does triple the damage. :)

I find it hard to justify Subdue as part of a DPS attack chain. The DPAT is mediocre, the DPE is laughable.

It's only when the (contrary to popular belief) reliable immobilization comes into play that the power becomes attractive. Slotting it for damage just wouldn't make sense if it didn't have long range root utility.

And for those of us who still think the damage is too poor to bother (myself included), it's still worth a second slot for acc and root duration. The root sticks 80% of the time; it's no TT but at 100 feet range we can't really expect better.

[Jealous_deva]

yeah sorry 1/3 the damage for subdue, my math is off lately I was comparing the listed base to what subdue was doing for me but forgot to take into account slotting. Anyway, I'm not saying subdue is the best attack ever or anything. What I am saying is that lets say you're level 25 or so, you have perma hasten and stamina so the end isn't as big of a deal, especially with the end bonus on test. You have one really great cone aoe, one long-range high-damage single target power with a recharge of about 5 secs, one long-range high-damage single target power with a sleep with a recharge of about 8 secs.

You can cycle those two and come nowhere near being in a continuous attack chain. With subdue, you have a nice little moderate damage attack with a nice effect you can throw in between blasts for about half the damage of the other two and a useful side effect. There's really no other power in the set that fills that role, Mental blast has too long of a cast time, it steps on your other powers, PL is fine as an opener but once they're shooting at you it's too much of a risk.

[Ultra_Violence]

Yeah I should qualify my post too. Once you finally get the higher level attacks PL isn't as uber. But up to 16 I find it hard to beat. Even with to-hit debuffed stupid abominations hit way too often and hard. I found picking them off much simpler and safer. With Haste and/or recharge it doesn't take long to come back up again either.

One thing I haven't tried is the interrupt reduction augs. But I suppose PL would be the power to use them on. Normally I just Radiation Infect group and since no one can hit me I just use it as a normal attack, but occasionally get interrupted.

Even if you don't snipe PL + Scream will kill most white mobs at this point so why not start with that so one mob is down already?

IMHO immobalization is bad for you/your group as often as it is good so I don't want it on a standard attack. Many mobs do a lot worse damage at range than they do in melee, the 5th column come to mind immediately. So while it is very nice to have a special use attack that immobalizes I don't want all the time. Of course this may reflect my primary set of Radiation. I want all the mobs staying together in my little RI zone. Way too many sets to have played them all to a decent level. lol

[EugeneStyles]

Resurrecting this thread...

My take on Subdue is that Psychic gets 2 versions of the first attack. Comparing Subdue to everyone else's first power (other than Neutrino Bolt):

Subdue does the same damage and has the same activation time. Bonuses: adds Immobilize (which I personally greatly prefer over knockback), and has 20 ft longer range. Penalties: costs a little bit more endurance and has a longer recharge.

It seems like a fair tradeoff to me. But Mental Blast is the real stinker here. Its secondary effect is terrible, and 3 second activation is too long to wait for any power. It's just too bad we don't have a choice of which version of power 1 we get to pick.

Once I get to 24, it's possible I'll respec out of Subdue, but since the other choices for me are Force Bolt (crap damage with knockback or moderate damage with immob? I'll take the second...) or PFF (nice, but is it necessary?), I may just as soon keep it, and just strip the one extra slot off of Mental Blast that I put there (and possibly add it to Subdue).

Fighting against a single enemy, I can Psychic Lance, then Subdue, and if necessary finish off with Mental Blast, all with 100 range or more, which outranges most enemy attacks. Or, sometimes I will Subdue, then back up even further and fire off a Psychic Lange. A long-range immob definitely has its uses.

What I'd like to see them do is make the Immob 100% effective, at least versus minions. Spines has Impale that is better than any of their other single target attacks plus does immob 100%. Subdue is worse than most of Psychic's other single-target attacks, so why can't it immob 100%?

[LadyMage]

I am as some in my supergroup call me a d00d defender, or more recently a blastender. Make no mistake, I am first and foremost an emp defender. I dislike soloing, prefer grouping, and I know and fulfill my role in said group, but I deal damage. Plenty of it, both solo and in groups.

I figure if I have to take Mental Blast, I might as well make use of it. Sure, it's slow, but why pass up an attack? Currently three slotted with damage SOs. ( I use tactics as my accuracy. 5 slotted, 4 buffs and one end discount makes for more damage for me, and a nice buff when I group.)

I picked up subdue, and while an immob was nice to have, getting stuck in animation lock was not my idea of a good time, preticularily because I'm emp, and I can't exactly tell the scrapper that's hit red to wait for my animation to finish for me to heal them. It used to be 3 slotted, again only damage, until it got the axe in respec at 33.

Scream I picked up at 12. I still remember people in the first few weeks of release looking around trying to figure out what that sound was. Solid, long range AoE damage that keeps my main tank hopping with provokes. Good times for all. This is 4 slotted and at 35 does about 100 points to a white minion.

Telekinetic Blast is a power I almost passed on till I saw it used. Fast, high damage, knockback for a little single target cc and a different damage type for psy resistant mobs. Three slotted it does ~150 total between the two types.

Wondered where the damage slots from subdue went at respec? Will Domination. This power alone let me solo again after having given up on it for a dozen levels. A little crowd control with heavy damage goes a long, long way! Similar damage to TB, and a good long duration sleep. Night boys!!

And my newest toy at 35, Psionic Tornado. I have been told that with proper slotting the DoT can add up to similar to Scream, if not more. Moderate DoT, impressive animation, and 4 second knockup. I can't stop giggling over this power. I'm currently still playing with enhancers for this one.

I've heard nothing but good things about wail....27 bubs to go!

[Valeria]

Since the respec i've had the pleasure of having ALL of the Psy-blast powers and i've come to the conclusion that this set maynot be the most powerful, but it does have potention when slotted correctly.

Mental Blast-- yes the activation time is slow, however, it's still a good power. a minimum of 4 slots dam makes it an effective blast. i've hit foes +5 my lvl for ~50HP. i know compared to a blaster thats minor, but for the set, its wonderful to me.

Subdue-- i use it as a secondary "mental" blast with the immobilization being a good status effect. i've slotted it just like mental blast.

Psionic Lance-- the longest ranged snipe out there @ 175 ft, its a wonderful power with great damage. i respect'd out of it because i didnt like the interrupt. for the risk of being interrupted i can get off Mental Blast , Subdue, and Tk blast before i could fire the Lance.

Psychic Scream-- a good cone AoE with the same amount of damage you get out of Mental Blast. i've used this blast to mitigate the attack rate on a mob surrounding my tanker.

Tk Blast-- this is the double hitter of this set it does moderate psionic damage + smashing damage. with a base damage like that of Mental Blast the added smash brings this attack close to tripple digits if slotted correctly.

Will Domination-- this attack has been my life saver because of its fast casting and tripple digit damage. i use the sleep as a status effect and added this power to my arsenal because if its damage output.

Psionic Tornado-- again i respec'd out of this power because i didnt like it. the knockup is nice, however it wasnt worth the arggo i kept gettin for using it.

Scramble Thoughts-- this power rock! its not a damage dealing power, however the disorient/stun effect is king. my blaster/tanks love me for this power. i've 4 slotted it with Enhance Disorient and at lvl38, i've been able to stun an lvl 41 AV. be mindful that to do this you must stack the attack with other disorient/stun/sleep attacks. using Mental Blast+Subdue+Will Domination to lower a foes recharge time and defenses will help Scramble Thought do its effect against very high foes and monsters.

Psychic Wail-- as your uber psychic blast attack, this power drains you of endurance completely. a side note to the power- if u dont make a successful hit to all foes in the area of effect, u will still be left with some endurance. it deals great damage as well as disorienting your foes.

[Aggressor_NA]

The Psychic Blast powerset makes me wish I'd made my Force Field Defender a Controller with Mind Control and Force Fields instead.

Sometimes it's nice, but usually it leaves me lacking. At lvl 32 I'm certainly NOT a damage dealer on any par. It even takes me multiple shots to drop mobs 20 levels lower. Mind you, since I'm a FF Defender most of my slots have gone for boosting my fields, but that's simply ridiculous.

[War_Head]

I became interested in this power set when my Tanker got Unstoppable and started fighting Unstoppable and MoG'd Paragon Protectors. Most player toons are vulnerable to Psionic Damage. What about the baddies? Can a Psychic blaster be a major source of damage in the end game, or do they always fall short of what Blasters can do?

[NinjaMonkey]

At 32 I can say that it's getting better but I can't compete with a blaster. The problem with MoG is that it adds to +DEF and I have trouble just hitting. It's also hard to compete with a Nova like power where the entire room just falls.

I think it will get better as I progress. I should get more attacks maxed out and hopefully more mobs will be vulnerable to Psychic.

One bad thing, it's a major kick to the crotch when you face something that is Psy resistant like BP. You struggle all this way and then someone is resistant to your meager attacks. Like I didn't struggle before?!! Geessshhh. Give me a break.

[Reverend]

[ QUOTE ]
I became interested in this power set when my Tanker got Unstoppable and started fighting Unstoppable and MoG'd Paragon Protectors. Most player toons are vulnerable to Psionic Damage. What about the baddies? Can a Psychic blaster be a major source of damage in the end game, or do they always fall short of what Blasters can do?

[/ QUOTE ]

We can definately provide some niche damage in those sorts of situations. I've teamed up with a scrapper fighting paragon prtectors several times. MOG fires, and they can't hit it at all. My hit rate was unaffected by MOG, and neither was my damage. In short, once the mob got to 10% health, I finished it off, while the scrapper went on to another target. (Of course, I did some of the first 90% as well...)

[American_Knight]

You convinced me to take this secondary. Played dark and eng seconds to death. Thanks again.

[Valeria]

this is like maybe, my 3rd or 4th post on this topic, and each time i read the thread, i always come across the several rants on how horrible Mental Blast and Subdue are. right now, post 2 (count'em "2") Respecs, i have NEVER dropped these powers. they are a key part of my attack string. i know the animation lock sucks and the slow activation time bites, BUT it's THAT BAD! i've respected 2 times, and i've at lvl40 now and they both are two of the best attacks i have.

5slots Damage / 1 slot Accuracy, and i can pop a lvl41 Paragon Protector, yea the ones with that stinkin MOG, for ~ 100HP of damage, no less than 85 if i'm mistaken about the #'s

i lead with Will Dom, knock'em back with TK, pin'em with Subdue, and finish'em with the MB -> Psy Scream combo. if that doesn't take themem out in one round, i repeat. now i know we all wish the status effect for the blast set would work like its SUPPOSED to, but it doesn't so i think, again, we should stop ripping on how much the power set sucks, and start posting out ideas on what would make it better.

ALL other AT's have done it and we should start doing it too. psyblast is a potent power, it works EXCELLENT for ALL the villans who have it, but the hero version is awful in its status effect.

a lvl41 Portal mission against the ClockKing and his minions, who all possess psionic attacks, destroyed my team just last night (10-27-04). all be cause their psy attacks were sleeping, pinning, and reducing their attack rates soo badly no one could recover.

Psionic energy IS the most powerful attack in the game simply because IT hits when all else fails, and i think its time the hero version starts reflecting that. because its a psychic power it should have a inherent Accuracy bonus!! it seems as if all villian versions hit more often than the hero version.

no i call to arms, ALL my psyblast heros, stop naggin to each other about why ur power sucks and tell it to the DEVS! we need improvement on this!


Va'Leria
The Elite
lvl40 FF/PsyBlast Defender
Pinnacle.

[someoneelse]

I think this guide is a bit out of date now. I don't know when it happened but I started an Emp/Psy defender 2 days ago and my Subdue only takes half a second to activate and does slightly more damage. It also seems to immobilize about half the time.

Could someone with more current experience say if there where changes in any of the other powers?

[Mr_Multiplicity]

Thought I'd post a link here to another guide I've noticed about a particular kinetic/psychic build.

Kinetic/Psychic Offender (http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=1832096&page=2&view=colla psed&sb=5&o=&fpart=1#1832096)

From the looks of things the full function of this build only comes above level 32, but I believe that Kinetics is one of the few defender builds that can hope to compare to blaster damage.

As for the mental blast debate, depending on how dedicated to your primaries you are in the first 10-20 levels it may be one of your few attacks, so it'll benefit from slots, but you can always respec them out when you hit 24.

Personally mental blast will be my only attack until level 22. I play a primarily team defender and wanted to take all of my primaries. Being Kinetic meant that I didn't even need a travel power. There was just enough room in the build to have all low level primaries, hasten and stamina by level 20.

[WhiteKing_NA]

[ QUOTE ]
i lead with Will Dom, knock'em back with TK, pin'em with Subdue, and finish'em with the MB -> Psy Scream combo. if that doesn't take themem out in one round, i repeat. now i know we all wish the status effect for the blast set would work like its SUPPOSED to, but it doesn't so i think, again, we should stop ripping on how much the power set sucks, and start posting out ideas on what would make it better.

ALL other AT's have done it and we should start doing it too. psyblast is a potent power, it works EXCELLENT for ALL the villans who have it, but the hero version is awful in its status effect.

a lvl41 Portal mission against the ClockKing and his minions, who all possess psionic attacks, destroyed my team just last night (10-27-04). all be cause their psy attacks were sleeping, pinning, and reducing their attack rates soo badly no one could recover.

Psionic energy IS the most powerful attack in the game simply because IT hits when all else fails, and i think its time the hero version starts reflecting that. because its a psychic power it should have a inherent Accuracy bonus!! it seems as if all villian versions hit more often than the hero version.

no i call to arms, ALL my psyblast heros, stop naggin to each other about why ur power sucks and tell it to the DEVS! we need improvement on this!



[/ QUOTE ]

I luv you!

People need to realise that psy isn't a bad set, but that it could be perfect with a few minor tweaks. Mental Blast's damage is ok, and its endurance cost to, but its activation time and speed is horendous! Your right, we should all stop whinning and get together! I agree, I've faced psy vilains and I can tell you I'm more afraid of them than they are of me.

They should up our secondary effects, making the slow apparent, the sleep longer and the immobilize and knockup effect more consistent, considering we dont do blaster damage. And this isn't a cry for more damage, I accept that my damage dealing abilities are my SECONDARY power set. But this should not mean that we don't have the right to have secondary abilities which complement our primaries, just like every other archetype.

and its true, vilains hit much more often with psy than I do... which is curious. (and I have accuracy in all my attacks as well as tactics fully slotted)

regards, DarkYue

[Omicron_NA]

Hi folks. My first dark/psy defender just made 10th level. I wish I had seen this forum before i made the character, but it is still a good one. Mental Blast and Subdue i was originally quite upset with. Subdue seems much like Chilblain or Fire Ring, but less likely to immobilize. Mental Blast seems like Chilblain or Fire Ring with no special power at all. Psionic Lance compares very favorably to Moonbeam, one of my favorite powers.

At 6 I took Assault from Leadership and at 8th I took my dark Reaz power. I think it's Howling twilight. I had the usual vampiric heal at 1st also. I slotted just about everything once with end red.

On the one hand, I found I definitely needed PL to solo and kill anything. MB ans Sub just took forever due to their low damage. On the other hand, my low end costs allowed me to find long battles with Assault toggled on and use the very expensive heal several times without end problems. In groups i could pick out and snipe dangerous leaders without drawing much aggro and even stand in the furball to do it. This allowed me to heal my teammates regularly while still killing the leaders.

About Psychic Scream, I have not had a chance to look at it yet. The one thing I HAVE seen is that it is another low damage attack, like MB. Indeed, equally slotted against the same opponent, the diference in damage is less than 5%.

Right now, i have to say psionic lance is the best thing i have seen at low levels. It does as much damage at low levels as 2 MB and 1 Sub, for less end. I use all three together, and I eventually get through my opponents.

[Teklord]

Just an minor update to SoulHealer's excellent guide.

In an Issue 5 recent patch Subdue was changed. It is now
Brawl Index: 3.667.
New endurance cost: 8
activation time: 2 seconds
recharge: 8 seconds

Quick comparison:
Power............DPS............DPE
Mental Blast...1.03........... 0.37
Subdue......... 2.16............0.46
Psionic Lance..1.92...........0.37
Psy Scream....1.07...........0.17
TK Blast.........4.56...........0.37
Will Dom .......4.95...........0.37
Psi Tornado....1.04...........0.09
Scram Tht......0.28 ..........0.06

None of the above is my work but I have confirmed the numbers myself.

[Ravenbane]

[ QUOTE ]
Psionic energy IS the most powerful attack in the game simply because IT hits when all else fails, and i think its time the hero version starts reflecting that. because its a psychic power it should have a inherent Accuracy bonus!! it seems as if all villian versions hit more often than the hero version.

[/ QUOTE ]

Okay, good. Not the only one that thought it should have an accuracy bonus. ;)

[ QUOTE ]
no i call to arms, ALL my psyblast heros, stop naggin to each other about why ur power sucks and tell it to the DEVS! we need improvement on this!

[/ QUOTE ]

Believe, me, I've PMed States about this. No response, of course. :mad:

Please don't take the fact that my kin/psy is only level 20 as an indication of my knowledge of the set. I've had the character since about launch, and I got her up to about 12, then 29, then 15 or so, then 34. But because of a power change, server move and my completely and total inability to pick a name I liked for her until a few weeks ago, I've rerolled her multiple times.

If you'd like, take a quick look-see at my own few comments on Mental Blast and Subdue here. (http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=Ideas&Number=3726940&fpart =1&PHPSESSID=) I could have gone on, but as you can see from my post, the only real problem with the set is with Mental Blast. Hope you all like my suggestions.

[psysicker]

WOW,

After reading all this, I'm surprised I do as well as I do. I'm a 27 Kin/psy defender that always ends up being the teams main healer. I do have to agree on Mental blast. The damage is not worth it. I tend to be more of a defensive/balanced defender. In big teams, I'm usually the one healing and buffing. I may occasionally get a shot off, but most times I don't. My psy set as of now is mental blast, Lance,scream,Will Dom. It would appear the next one I am getting is TK blast. I had to lose it in a respect to get a better kin power. Something I have come to regret, for it was the best damage attack I had. It is great for soloing when I have to go that route. Only problem I had with it is some groups HATE the knockback effect. I never understood why, being a kin healer they do it to me all the time when I fire a heal, which means no one gets healed. Do to the fact that I'm usually the only healer in a team I had to get med as a pool power( strictly for rez).
As far as Tornado goes, yes it does sound worthless for soloing; however, there are times wehn I'm in a team it would come in real handy. If for no reason than getting mobs stirred around long enough to get heals off. Then again this is my opinion.

[Ravenbane]

[ QUOTE ]
I never understood why, being a kin healer they do it to me all the time when I fire a heal, which means no one gets healed.

[/ QUOTE ]

Is that not...the most ANNOYING THING EVER!!!!! AARRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHH!

My boyfriend and I, our mutant defenders are teamed, as I said in one of my above posts, I believe. He's storm/Rad...he's actually building him with minimal knockback so I can still be effective while teaming with him.

BF: I need a heal! Ack!
Me: Well, I TRIED but your f*cking lightning storm/hurricane (before we rerolled) just knocked my buff b*tch (I call my kinetics targets buff b*tches) out of f*cking range right as I hit it!
*He dies...then I run...sometimes I die too...*

But yeah...he's actually not planning on taking tornado or lightning storm, and he's taking hurricane mainly as a panic button. He actually likes it, too....he can take more concept powers. And I can be useful! :D

And personally...I like to be built for more offensive ability, but in large teams I know I go into defender mode a lot, and Psycharisma's kin powers are (will) all well-slotted for defending too. I actually think she's very well balanced between the two, but she's not getting the concealment pool this time around, so I just THINK she's more offensive because she has more blast powers now. ;)

[james_joyce]

So in the latest patch, they changed to Mental Blast to significantly reduce the activation time and recharge time. I've found it far more useful now, but I'm wondering what other people think. Is this finally a power worth slotting?

[Tam_Lyn]

I hadn't heard that! Gee, I won't feel so foolish for having slotted it. The animation time was terribly frustrating at lower levels, but it's not so much of a bother for me at higher levels (36 currently). It's my "gee, I have debuffed everything and the other attacks are all recharging, guess I'll use this one now" power. ;)

I find the most beautiful 1-2-3 punch in my arsenal involves Psychic Scream. I'm a dark/psi defender, pretty balanced as I both solo and team. The fairly recent change to Tar Patch, which now lowers mob defenses as well as slowing them, is a great combo with Psychic Scream.

First I drop the Tar Patch, so the mobs all get stuck in a bunch (but trying to run out of the TP), then I Fearsome Stare (the cone fear attack in DM) the mobs, so they all start cowering in fear. Then I hit them with a Psychic Scream for even more damage than usual. Sure, some of them will then take a pot shot at me before going back to cowering. If I'm really worried about that, I can throw up Darkest Night before the Scream, but usually with the -attack rate of the Scream and my Shadowfall, they won't all take the potshot, and most of them will miss. It's a beautiful thing *sniff*. Just had to share that.

And thanks for this guide! Think I'll have room for one more Psionic Blast power in my build, but I really wasn't sure which of the remaining ones would be best. (I have MB, Psionic Lance, Psychic Scream, and TK Blast.) Sounds like I need to give Will Domination very serious consideration!

[ShrikeX]

hooray mental blast sucks even less!

[Ravenbane]

[ QUOTE ]
So in the latest patch, they changed to Mental Blast to significantly reduce the activation time and recharge time. I've found it far more useful now, but I'm wondering what other people think. Is this finally a power worth slotting?

[/ QUOTE ]
I'm the weirdo that's always slotted that power. I LOVE the change to it, too. There's just one problem...

I have to remember to actually USE it now!

[PsychicKitty]

[ QUOTE ]
So in the latest patch, they changed to Mental Blast to significantly reduce the activation time and recharge time. I've found it far more useful now, but I'm wondering what other people think. Is this finally a power worth slotting?

[/ QUOTE ]

No the changes dont make it too much better then before....its back to what it was before the animation was enhanced.

So since the damage is still below normal moderate damage...it is still one of the last blasts i use personally....i will use psionic scream and psionic tornado before i use this one...as they do alot more damage.

And by the time i get those powers off...my psionic lance and will domination and such have recharged anywise.