Lady_Vortex

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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?

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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.

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.

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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

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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.