Comprehensive Guide to Psychic Blast v1.0
By
Aggressor_NA,
Posted on: 2004-07-21 23:02 in Player Guides
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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!
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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
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.
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.
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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.
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Okay, good. Not the only one that thought it should have an accuracy bonus. 
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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!
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Believe, me, I've PMed States about this. No response, of course. 
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. 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.
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.
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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.
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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! 
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.
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?
bababadalgharaghtakamminarronnkonnbronntonner-
ronntuonnthunntrovarrhounawnskawntoohoohoordenenth ur-
nuk!
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!
Tam Lyn Carter, Ialuine, Propitious Puma, Seraf Berylwing, Snowsprite, Damian Newmoon
Chibi Dark Tam, Mr. MacStabbity, Turlin, Frostsprite
And many many more across all servers.
hooray mental blast sucks even less!
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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?
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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!
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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?
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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.
Thought I'd post a link here to another guide I've noticed about a particular kinetic/psychic build.
Kinetic/Psychic Offender
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.