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
