Thanks for the guide... I would do things slightly differently though...
Psionic Tornado is extremely good. Having both Psionic Tornado and Psychic Scream is tons and tons of damage-- as a defender with lower damage as a blaster, you make up for the lowered damage by making up for it with AOE. Psionic Tornado is very useful and tons more applicable than psychic scream because it's much much easier to use, tends to affect many more enemies, and it knocks half of them up which is a great boon.
I would get rid of all the travel powers and go with combat jumping, super leap, and acrobatics for the immob/hold/knockdown protection (we've got the attention of many enemies a lot of the time), but you could just as easily go with flight like you did... I got air superiority from flight anyway =P
Repel is really really powerful for solo work but is also beneficial groupwise. The scared blaster may stay away from the enemies but you can repel an enemy towards the blaster (or over him) and heal him mid-air. This is really fun actually. hehe.
I have a question about transfusion-- you got 503 on test and 380 on live? That's very interesting... a 33% increase. I got 570 on test and 500 on lilve, a 13.77% increase... could it be that there's a huge diminishing returns effect with heal? The reason why I slotted heal so heavily is because I miss a lot, and a big heal will make up for the misses.
I am going for psychic mastery with mass hypnosis, dominate, mind over body, and telekinesis for lots of extra protection. Power build up seems to provide very little benefit to my kinetics defender, and has a very slow recharge.
Most of that stuff is pretty much dead on, even though my playstyle and secondary are different. There's only one thing I really disagree with - a Kinetic defender doesn't need die a lot. Mine used to basically never die, and even now Mr O dies far more rarely than my groupmates (Sara Moore TF, 2 deaths, while most people went over 10 deaths and the one nearest to my death count died 4-5 times ... huge clumps of multiple-vengeanced +3 Nems are evil). Of course, having the fighting pool is a big reason for this.
I play a bit differently though, not minding if the team slows down, not bothering to keep SB up 100% of the time on whole team. I still jump into the fray all the time and it is very true that those mad individuals who embrace the deadly melee of the enemies are your best friends as a Kinetic, but I know when to retreat. And I have ridiculous luck, too - my hp bar has hovered near zero just before transfusion hits or just before I click an elevator or something countless times.
Hmm, wonder if I should add some more recharges to a few powers. *ponder*
Oh, and I tested the new minion hp - we can still take out +1s with FS'd blast, +2s doesn't quite work. Test was against Nems who don't have any dark/smash resists or vulnerabilities AFAIK.
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I have a question about transfusion-- you got 503 on test and 380 on live? That's very interesting... a 33% increase.
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I can't remember the exact numbers on live - I believe it was 380-ish. That might be wrong. Really, I don't pay attention to how much healing it provides because it's back up again so soon that if anyone needs more health, I just hit it again.
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The reason why I slotted heal so heavily is because I miss a lot, and a big heal will make up for the misses.
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Wrong. Seriously, reconsider. Big heals do not make up for misses - they result in deaths. Fast heals make up for misses. Seriously, try it. Three heals is all you need to be effective with it. Dump some and slot for recharge. That way, if you miss, you're able to try again sooner and that sooner is often the difference between dead and not... Seriously, bigger numbers are meaningless for transfusion - faster recharge is important. Once I made that shift, transfusion became _ENORMOUSLY_ more effective. Night and day difference. Your complaints about the power will vanish. Honest.
Syphon Strike
Prophet of The Ancients Returned
50 Kinetics/Psychic Defender - Virtue
Back after two years of WoW!
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Most of that stuff is pretty much dead on, even though my playstyle and secondary are different. There's only one thing I really disagree with - a Kinetic defender doesn't need die a lot.
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Snipped the rest of your post for space.
It sounds like we have _almost_ similar play styles - using the anaology from my guide, you run at 10 or 10.5 while I push for 12. Really, in the end, who cares how you play so long as you're having fun. I love pushing it to 12 and if I slip up and die, meh! That debt will be gone in no time (seriously, I could burn off one death in 15 minutes sometimes...) so I didn't hold back. Others might not like that style. I find my build, however, really allowed and enabled to balls to the walls style of play. It is not about a cautious approach.
Oh, and to make it clear, the vast majority of my game play time was spent playing the game "for real" - doing missions and completing them, doing task forces and trials, and the like. Sure, I'd periodically go on a monster hunting foray or do some idle street sweeping, but the only time I ever farmed missions was when I joined a random pick up team and they were doing that, which was rare. This build levels fast and you don't need to do any of the "cheap" stuff - just get big teams together and go fast and furious.
Syphon Strike
Prophet of The Ancients Returned
50 Kinetics/Psychic Defender - Virtue
Back after two years of WoW!
Based on your heal numbers with 3 slots, I may consider adding more recharges. The other concern I had with recharges in transfusion is that I often come in the midst of enemies and drop immediately to red -- the way transfusion is slotted, I go straight up to near max. Plus when fighting bosses and stuff if I heal less but more frequently, that's less time actually doing damage and more time trying to stay alive, if that makes sense..
Plus, in my 20s-30s, I always felt really guilty for letting people die because my heal wasn't slotted for healing, I missed a lot, the enemies died a lot, etc... after slotting with five heals, I could tell my group that I healed a *massive* amount but that it wasn't that reliable. I felt great about my healing skill because I outdid any other healer type when it did work.
Now after the transfusion upgrade in issue 3, if it is in fact a 33% increase with only 3 heal SO's, I'll definitely switch to more recharges.
Anyway, I take pride in the fact that all my powers zap everyone to full in blue bars and green bars. =P
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Based on your heal numbers with 3 slots, I may consider adding more recharges. The other concern I had with recharges in transfusion is that I often come in the midst of enemies and drop immediately to red -- the way transfusion is slotted, I go straight up to near max. Plus when fighting bosses and stuff if I heal less but more frequently, that's less time actually doing damage and more time trying to stay alive, if that makes sense..
Plus, in my 20s-30s, I always felt really guilty for letting people die because my heal wasn't slotted for healing, I missed a lot, the enemies died a lot, etc... after slotting with five heals, I could tell my group that I healed a *massive* amount but that it wasn't that reliable. I felt great about my healing skill because I outdid any other healer type when it did work.
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In the early game, I slotted for healing as well (one accuracy and the rest was healing). Too often I found teammates getting mauled while I stood helpless waiting for transfusion to recharge. Thus, I switched the slotting. Now, you have to be drawing MAD aggro to get into trouble in the short time between heals and, if you are, being able to heal a lot in one shot won't save you - you'll be dead before I can heal you again... If you're drawing that much aggro, I'll just start spamming heal and keep you alive until we thin the herd enough that I can go back to normal operations. I can think of no situation where having massive healing sporadically is better than moderate healing regularly...
Also, if you're dropping to red that fast (not to sound snarky), you're doing something wrong. With the groups I play with, various things happen. First, my storm defender buddy might move into the group first - with superspeed and mist, he's invisible. Thus, when I move in, I have my def bonuses plus his and I'm now up around 70% defense. Damn near /SR scrapper numbers. Thus, when I start the fight, a lot of attacks will outright miss me. Or someone else (a blaster) slips into the group to nuke/nova/whatever. They activate when I FS them - the foes can't react because they're dead in an instant (or the rest of the team is pouncing on them....). Or I follow the tanker/scrapper into the fight. They lead the way and I'm literally on their heels. Since they are leading, they draw the enemy alpha strike so I can FS and Wail and then we all mop up whatever is left. Lastly, if I know I can take the hit (really, if the minions are orange or less, I'm rushing them), I'll go even if one of the above scenarios does not exist - I know I can FS and drop them before they have enough time to react.
So, honestly, when I say I think you're doing something wrong, I mean I think you're not doing one of the above. Something in your strategy is flawed. Unless I'm fighting _WAY_ up the colour curve, the enemies get a lucky shot in, or I'm stupid, I just do not have the same experience. It does happen sometimes because all three of those situations do occur, but most of the time, thinigs go like clockwork.
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Anyway, I take pride in the fact that all my powers zap everyone to full in blue bars and green bars. =P
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Assuming you're as high level as I think (in other words, buying new enhancements is nothing because you have the influence to spare), try changing your slotting for end drain on transference and rechage on both. Give it a try (using my suggested strategies) and see how it works for you - you might find things are a lot better and safer all around. Seriously, the recharge along in transfusion might make you love that power as it has for me. Also, the end drain for transference might allow you to shut down bosses in one click and reduce the number of times you get the problem of health bars suddenly spiking to red (like I said, a boss with no end is virtually no threat...).
Syphon Strike
Prophet of The Ancients Returned
50 Kinetics/Psychic Defender - Virtue
Back after two years of WoW!
One side effect of adding end gain enhancements to transferrence is that you drain more too. With 3 end regen enhancements on transferrence I can drain a boss fully. When I remove them all, I only drain even minions down to 45% end.
Most of the time when I'm down to red, it's against a nasty boss that hasn't been fully debuffed yet... or I've gathered a whole bunch of enemies and they've beaten me up, hehe
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One side effect of adding end gain enhancements to transferrence is that you drain more too. With 3 end regen enhancements on transferrence I can drain a boss fully. When I remove them all, I only drain even minions down to 45% end.
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What? Your end _drain_ is going up when you slot for end _regen?_ IF so, I strongly suspect that's a bug... I can't imagine, for the life of me, that working as intended if that's the case...
Regardless, I'd certainly increase the number of recharge reduction slots you use for the trans powers. Big numbers are fun but regular use is more effective.
Syphon Strike
Prophet of The Ancients Returned
50 Kinetics/Psychic Defender - Virtue
Back after two years of WoW!
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What? Your end _drain_ is going up when you slot for end _regen?_ IF so, I strongly suspect that's a bug... I can't imagine, for the life of me, that working as intended if that's the case...
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Yep, true, and it makes sense too - the more you gain the more they lose.
Btw, tested with taking out one heal from my Transfusion and one damage (it had 3) from my Blackstar and replaced both with recharges. Seems to work better but on the other hand it took longer to heal the tank back up (we were fighting in Shadowshard, psi and other damage all mixed up). Heh, and dinged 48 by Blackstaring a huge herd of Nems. ^_^
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Dropping Inertial Reduction for the same reason - with flight, I don't need it and I need the power slot. It'll suck when I play with someone's pre-movement power alt because I can't give them superhumping, but...
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You said superhumping. Heh.
GoolabJamun
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Wrong. Seriously, reconsider. Big heals do not make up for misses - they result in deaths. Fast heals make up for misses. Seriously, try it. Three heals is all you need to be effective with it. Dump some and slot for recharge. That way, if you miss, you're able to try again sooner and that sooner is often the difference between dead and not... Seriously, bigger numbers are meaningless for transfusion - faster recharge is important. Once I made that shift, transfusion became _ENORMOUSLY_ more effective. Night and day difference. Your complaints about the power will vanish. Honest.
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Big heals making up for more misses would be correct of everybody would have "many" or "unlimited" hitpoints but for a blaster or controller or even defender a higher recharge heal is more valuable then a slow bighitter.
Also if you miss a lot I wouldnt slot for more healing but for more accuracy. The first time I put 2 slots into my Transfusion I slotted it (3 total) with 2 Acc and 1 recharge and was still even better or on par with empaths healing wise.
After reading your build and how you play Kinetics I understand better why we bump heads so often, we play two entirely different styles. That is understandable, Psionics is better fit for range than Radiation (not that Rad is bad at it).
Since Beta (when I was Kin/Energy) I've played the up close and "In Your Face" style of kinetics. It suits me, I garner more debt than most Defenders but I enjoy the thrill. I've always played this way because it is how I can best take advantage of my own buffs/heals/ect from Kinetics. I've tried the "support from range" style of Kinetics but it just isn't for me. Sometimes I wish it was, I'd certainly lvl faster with less debt, but I'm all about the journy not the destination in MMOs.
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After reading your build and how you play Kinetics I understand better why we bump heads so often, we play two entirely different styles. That is understandable, Psionics is better fit for range than Radiation (not that Rad is bad at it).
Since Beta (when I was Kin/Energy) I've played the up close and "In Your Face" style of kinetics. It suits me, I garner more debt than most Defenders but I enjoy the thrill. I've always played this way because it is how I can best take advantage of my own buffs/heals/ect from Kinetics. I've tried the "support from range" style of Kinetics but it just isn't for me. Sometimes I wish it was, I'd certainly lvl faster with less debt, but I'm all about the journy not the destination in MMOs.
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Uh, I play from the front line. The only time I play back is when I'm soloing because range is my best advantage in that case. When in a team, however, allies are my best advantage and I'm always deep in the thick of things. I'm almost always one of the first character to descend upon a mob, right beside the scrappers. It's how, imho, defenders are meant to be played in a team - from the front line. It's risky, to be sure, but that sort of balls to the walls style is how to best play a kin def, imho. Solo, however, is a different kettle of fish... Range is my best weapon there so I smoke 'em before they even get close to me.
Syphon Strike
Prophet of The Ancients Returned
50 Kinetics/Psychic Defender - Virtue
Back after two years of WoW!
I agree entirely that Defenders, short of maybe Storm, are best in the front lines because they can effect the most team members (of course sometimes it is best to have them in the back, all depens on the group). The difference between Kinetics and all the others is we HAVE to be up close to get the most from our own powers. That is why I play Kinetics the way I do, in your face. My problem with soloing is, as a Rad secondary, I need to be in fairly close as well since Cosmic Burst is one of my best defenses and has the range of a lunging slap to the face. I hate soloing but sometimes I have to.
Right now I'm trying to figure out a good way to redesign my build for better survivability, even in groups, than what I currently have. With the upcoming changes in I3 I can switch around my slotting a bit. PBAEs are the bain of my existance, that and surviving the Alpha Strikes from a group of mobs.
Please put this in the Guides board (if you haven't already) so it doesn't get cleaned up later on. It's good reference material. I have a Kin/rad and a Rad/psych so I need the info on Kin *and* psych 
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Please put this in the Guides board (if you haven't already) so it doesn't get cleaned up later on. It's good reference material. I have a Kin/rad and a Rad/psych so I need the info on Kin *and* psych
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Done. Thanks for the reminder - I actually should have posted it there and posted a link to it in the defender forum, not the other way around like I did...
Syphon Strike
Prophet of The Ancients Returned
50 Kinetics/Psychic Defender - Virtue
Back after two years of WoW!
What do you suggest for lower level say though 20 given the I3 update?
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What do you suggest for lower level say though 20 given the I3 update?
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I don't think I3 changed any of my previous suggestions. Kinetics has been made better because of I3 (Siphon Power and Fulcrum Shift are better as is the heal of Transfusion). I think all the stratetiges and thoughts that I suggested still apply.
Syphon Strike
Prophet of The Ancients Returned
50 Kinetics/Psychic Defender - Virtue
Back after two years of WoW!
I thought there might have been a few changes since 3 went live. With the free respec coming I know there are certian things that I took to be group friendly like recall friend and then took Teleport because it was right there. So those are both out. I also took subdue and 6 slotted it. Which is also coming out.
I don't have psy lance on my lvl 21, but I do on a lvl 10 and droping whites a half block or more away in KR. Thinking of picking it up. Also thinking of picking hover and fly. Though with hasten Super speed is right there. As you have stated about not under estimating being out of meelee range. Not to mention being out of normal gun and other people's ranges.
So I was looking for more info and suggestions like that.
thanks inadvace.
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What do you suggest for lower level say though 20 given the I3 update?
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I don't think I3 changed any of my previous suggestions. Kinetics has been made better because of I3 (Siphon Power and Fulcrum Shift are better as is the heal of Transfusion). I think all the stratetiges and thoughts that I suggested still apply.
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What about the new Epic powers? Are you going to change the build to roll something in at 41?
My kin/psy build at 36 has kick/tough/weave instead of leadership and I bypassed Stamina. I am starting to look at putting Stamina into the build and running the leadership toggles looks promising too.
If you redo the guide for Epic powers it might be nice to include powers by level. With Stamina in the mix you may run into some sticky situations on what power to take when.
Are all Kin/Psy's going w. Psychic for epic power pools? That's what I've seen most often on boards, and the way I'm leaning.
However, I have begun to toy with the idea of doing Electric. Using Power Sink + Transference to drain mobs around me and definitely never needing to take Stamina no matter how many toggles I run, seems like a viable option. Just haven't been able to test it yet.
Thoughts from other Kin/Psys? I have to say in terms of Psychic that I've seen another Kin with Mass Hypnosis and Mind Over Body and I was very, very jealous (not to mention mad at myself, tho I thought the freerespec and I3 would come out simultaneously). It was pretty funny: MH + 2 FSs + Nuke was just devastating. Both of us (Dr. Impulse if you're out there, you are the bomb of Kineticists) have lots of RCHG in our nukes, so we probably nuked about 80% of the mobs in the mission. Yay!
that's a tough one. I'm looking hard at Power Buildup as an EP as well. But just out of curiousity, with 6 damage SO's in an attack power, on top of FS and SP, will I already be reaching the defender damage cap? If not then PBU sounds good. I'm not a numbers expert so no idea.
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that's a tough one. I'm looking hard at Power Buildup as an EP as well. But just out of curiousity, with 6 damage SO's in an attack power, on top of FS and SP, will I already be reaching the defender damage cap? If not then PBU sounds good. I'm not a numbers expert so no idea.
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Depends on the mob size. You may want to check Ladioss_Sop's guide. I think there's a chart in there on what it takes to reach the cap.
What you could do is reduce your damage slots to compensate. If you have limited slots then you can just count on Fulcrum and PBU to compensate for the slots you don't put in for damage. I don't know where you would put them but it's an option that sounds fun.
It really depends on how many mobs you're fighting. But I only 4 DMG in T Blast and in Scream (because of how I use it) and 2 in Wall and Will Domination, and am at the cap consistently throughout most fights in groups.
I'm not going to tell you it's useless, but I've never really seen the point about taking PBU for Kinetics. Your tactics may differ from mine, but I would ask why one would want to take a power and 6 slot it when your other powers can do the same thing. Just doesn't make sense to me given how I play (in my scrapper and tanker's back pocket and often 1st to attack).
Recently, some people have asked me about the build I use for Syphon Strike, curious about slotting suggestions or the build in general. Well, rather than reply to those messages individually, I figured I'd post it for everyone to see, provide insight as to my choices, and suggested tactics of how to play this build.
Since this build was finessed with a respec, I won't present the order in which the powers were selected. Mostly because I feel that, in order to make this build, you must do at least one respec or the low levels will be insufferably impossible. I'll explain that later.
Oh, and a warning - I talk a lot. I get it from my mother. This will be long, but it will be thorough. If you don't want to read a lot, blame my mother.
Kinetics
Transference (1 acc, 2 recharge, 3 heal)
Repel (13 end reducs)
Speed Boost (4 end regens)
Transference (3 recharge, 3 end drain)
Siphon Power (2 recharge, 1 end reduc)
Fulcrum Shift (1 acc, 3 recharge)
Increase Density (1 end reduc)
Inertial Reduction (1 jump)
Psychic Blast
Mental Blast (1 damage)
Psionic Lance (6 damage)
Psychic Scream (1 damage)
TK Blast (3 damage, 1 recharge)
Will Domination (4 damage, 2 recharge)
Psychic Wail (1 damage, 5 recharge)
Leadership
Maneuvers (1 end reduc, 5 def)
Tactics (1 end reduc, 5 to-hit)
Vengeance (2 def)
Superspeed
Hasten (6 recharge)
Superspeed (1 end reduc)
Fitness
Swift (1 run)
Health (1 heal)
Stamina (6 end regen)
Flight
Hover (1 end reduc, 5 flight)
Flight (3 flight)
So, there's my kinetics/psychic offender at level 50. And it's a damn effective build. Now, some specific notes about the powers and why I made some choices.
Transference
Why didn't I load this with more healing? Simple - I want healing on demand, not big green numbers. Sure, I can get bigger numbers than an empathy defender but I'd rather a couple hundred points of healing when I need it than a whole lot of healing (which is probably wasted when used since the target really just needed a couple hundred points to top them up...) but not have it when needed. With perma-hasten and 2 recharges, this power is available almost every time I need it. The 1 accuracy is to help minimize the "oh, crap! I missed!" It still happens, even with the accuracy SO and tactics running, but it's very rare. Currently, on live, I heal for about 380 points of damage - on test (with the new version coming) I heal for just over 500 (503, iirc). Plenty of healing regularly. I can spam this heal in large, chaotic fights (which I love) because I know it'll be back up soon enough.
Repel
I've posted about this power before. People say this power sucks. They are wrong. It _NEEDS_ end reductions or else it is useless, but it's a damn helpful power. I'll explain why in the tactics/strategy section below.
Speed Boost.
The only reason this isn't six slotted for end regen is because I'm in short supply of slots... This is a vital power to this character's ability to be an offender and thus deserves to be slotted for end regen early. How is this power, which is not usable on yourself, vital to this character's ability as an offender? See tactics/strategy.
Transference
Ok, the three recharges should be obvious - I want this power back up and ready to fire as soon as possible. Why no end regen though? Because, I'm not using this as a replacement for Stamina - I feel it provides enough of an end boost, unslotted, to be effective enough as it is. As an end drain, however, this power is incredible. I can drain all the end from bosses in one mouse click with the power as it is currently slotted. This power enables you to defend. How dangerous is a boss with no endurance? That's right - not dangerous at all. Use this power defensively and view the end regen aura as a nice secondary effect rather than the other way around and you will be much safer and much more effective.
Fulcrum Shift
I wish I had the slots to six this. Yes, I did have the slots - I just needed them elsewhere... But, as it is currently slotted, I have it up and ready for almost every fight and can easily double-stack it.
Increase Density
Yeah, I could have slotted for damage resistance but I needed slots elsewhere. I slotted for end reduction because this power is pretty pricey. Pure and simple.
Inertial Reduction.
Pretty obvious.
Mental Blast
Ok, here's the first tricky one. This power is why you will need to do at least one respec to make this build work. I only have it one slotted and, in fact, that's a dead slot. I don't use this power. Haven't used it since a long, long time ago. This power sucks. The animation time is horrendous... You'll target a villain, activate the power, watch a teammate get into health trouble but be unable to do anything because you're locked in an animation cycle and then someone else will swoop in with a faster attack and defeat your target before you fire your attack. This attack will drive you nuts. But it's all you have at the low levels. Thus, you'll want to slot it for damage in the early stages so you have some more offense to provide but, make no mistake, this power will drive you batty and you'll be looking forward to level 24 so you can finally respec its slots over to another power. Slot it early and respec out those slots as soon as you can and then remove the power from your power tray entirely. Crappy power.
Psionic Lance
This power is devastating. It does a ton of damage and it has an enormous range - I believe the longest range in the game, unless I'm mistaken (one of psi's benefits - see tactics/strategy). The animation time and interruptability of this power is annoying but this power is one of my staples. It hits _HARD_ and is fantastic.
Psychic Scream
This is a great cone attack - a huge cone that does some nice damage for a defender. Why then, don't I have it slotted? Two reasons. First, I have fulcrum shift - in a big fight (when you want to use aoe/cone attacks), I can boost my damage innately - and I needed the slots elsewhere. If I had slots to spare, I'd love to throw them in cone but the slots were a priority elsewhere first. This is another power, in the low level game, that you will want to slot heavily. Very heavily, in the low level game because it is so effective in fights. But, again, respec those slots elsewhere as soon as you can. Don't dump the power (you might want to respec it out and then add it back in later) but move its slots elsewhere.
TKBlast and Will Domination
These are your bread and butter attacks. They are slotted for fast cycling. I can generally boost my damage enough to compensate for the (relatively) low number of damage SOs - having them recharge faster is more important than having each individual attack do more damage.
Psychic Wail
I don't need this power to be slotted for damage - I have fulcrum shift and the only time I'm going to use this power is when I'm surrounded by lots of targets that are ripe for a fulcrum shift boost. Thus, I want this power back online as fast as possible. Currently, I can wail a lot. This is one of the reasons I have scrappers envious - I can rush a large group and drop 80% of it in an instant and then do the same thing one the next group (or the one after that if we dispatched the first really fast). Scrappers see targets just drop like flies around them and then suddenly clue in that it's the _DEFENDER_ that is dropping them. Regularly. If you're not a kinetics, you obviously need to slot this differently but we have that wonderful advantage of fulcrum shift.
Hover
You sixxed this power?? Are you crazy? Yup - like a fox! Really, hover with five flight speed SOs is pretty fast. It isn't fantastic, but it is more than fast enough for combat movement. Seriously, more than fast enough to maneuver on a combat field. Also, the def bonus it provides works with this build's defensive strategy which is "don't get hit." You want to team with other characters that have maneuvers and storm defenders with steamy mists and the like - this build is about maximizing your chances of not getting hit. Sure, I could have taken the fighting pool with tough and weave and been hard to hit _AND_ harder to hurt but neither of those abilities helps me get to the other side of the Shard during a Shard task force... Truly, in the high level game, you will love having flight... Also, it worked for my character concept and, while I want to build the best character possible, I would also like to do so within character concept whenever possible and the idea of almost never touching the ground was cool for this character.
Also, never, ever, ever underestimate the ability to get above melee damage. Never underestimate it. Melee is the deadliest area of combat and to be able to get in close with the scrappers while staying just above the fight is enormously helpful. On the Eden trial, I didn't need ambrosia - I just hovered up to the titan's chest and fought from there - his foot stomp doesn't reach up there so he couldn't damage me. I did the Eden trial four times (I love that trial - it's awesome - be sure to do it if you haven't) and died once in the final fight because I dropped down at one point to get in range of my transference (the problem with hovering up by his chest is I'm out of range of my trans powers) and, while I dropped down, he stomped... Other than that, I was safe every fight because I was able to hover outside the danger zone.
I think the rest of the powers are pretty obvious so I won't go over them one at a time.
Tactics and Strategy
There are two key modes for playing this character and they are both very different: solo and group.
Solo
In solo play, you will generally encounter small groups (unless you're anchoring missions and, if you're doing that, trust me, play with the other team members - things will be faster and more efficient - see below). Thus, the way to use this build is to take advantage of range and your defensive abilities. Psi has some of the longest ranges in the game. I suspect (though am not certain) that psi has the largest damage output per foot away from the character of any other build - they are able to dish the most pain far way. When playing solo, use this to your advantage. Open fights by targeting a minion with your sniper shot and follow up with will domination. Arrested minion, immediately (and if not, it's now asleep so you can hammer it with TKBlast). If the other minion(s) activate, hit them with TKBlast to keep them back while you wait for will dom to come back online and then hit them with that. Puts them to sleep at range and you can then take them out either with lance (which is back up by now) or TKBlast (which will be back up very soon), whichever is enough to finish the minion off. For most groups, that's all you need to do. Use your range - it is you biggest asset.
When a boss shows up, you can't quickly dispatch them so you start using other tricks. Take out the minions in the same way as above but quickly switch to the boss and hit them with transference. There, you nerfed their ability to hit you with any heavy hitting attacks. Anything they have left now is probably pathetic and more than enough for you to handle. If they are particularly troublesome, hit them with repel. There are two tactics here. Snipe, TKBlast, Will Dom, boss rushes you to beat the snot out of you, Repel and Lance them again - they won't interrupt you since they are flying through the air and picking themselves off the ground and they are now far enough away that you can again cycle back to TKBlast and Will Domination. This is the perfect way to destroy melee bosses (Freakshow, Werewolves, and the like). They will get a periodic hit in as they perfectly time an attack, but it will be rare. The other strategy is for ranged or "annoying" bosses (bosses with mezzes like Rikti Mentalists and the like) and this is a tactic that requires practice. No, really, practice this - learn how to do it so you know how to make the most of your abilities. You either bounce the target all over the place, chasing them down and firing your fast animation attacks whenever you can and never let the target attack because they are bouncing all over the place or, better yet, bounce them up to a wall or, best yet, into a corner. A boss that is repelled into a corner is toast. They can't do anything as they bounce up and down constantly and you can use transference to ensure your end stays up enough to keep fighting as you casually dismantle them with your attacks. Practice this - practice bouncing a target around with Repel and see if you can keep them on their butt, never attacking. Learn how to do it. Practice bouncing them up against a wall and see if you can figure out how to keep them bouncing up. Practice "herding" a target into a corner. Become proficient at it and there will be very few bosses that will ever again give you troubles while soloing.
Groups
Ah, this is where we shine. Yes, this build can solo well but we are glorious in a team. Truly, kinetics has a synergy with other characters - sure, some more than others, but another body around means that the kinetic is now maximizing their potential. The key to group play is to dial things up to 12 and keep it there. The reason this build works so well is simple - it's able to crank things right to the limit and then push it even further, for itself and everyone around it. If earning debt annoys you then this is not the build for you and probably not the AT for you. Kinetics is about pushing characters beyond their limits which has its risks and debt is one of those risks. Thus, if you get annoyed by debt, don't make this character.
But, if you have debt, aren't you leveling slower? Well, yeah, but I guarantee I leveled faster by pushing myself to 12 and sometimes overstepping to 13 and earning some debt than had I played it safe at 9 (yeah, 9 is safe for a kinetics defender in a team...). I earned XP at an insane pace so those periodic (and sometimes regular) times I earned debt were easily overcome by the fast pace that XP was coming in. Seriously, this build is about speed. Look at the build again - I have a ton of recharge reductions.
Fast! Fast!. Go!
How do you play this build in a team? Simple - you rush in and you stay in the middle of combat as often as possible. And if your teammates have any intention of attacking, they should be rushing in as well with you. Your alpha strike is fulcrum shift. That's how you start every fight - buff everyone to the damage cap and debuff all the foes.
Make sure everyone is speed boosted. Always. I can't stress this enough. Even if you have to stop what you are doing in the middle of a fight to speed boost people, do it. That is one of the keys to this build's success - dialing everyone in a team up to 12 and speed boost is how you accomplish this. XP comes in faster if everyone is cranked up to maximum ability.
Target bosses. Use them as the focal point for transference and transfusion. They don't die easily - you can tell when one is close to death and thus know to not activate one of the trans. Also, with transference slotted the way it is, that's the target you want to be hitting anyways (this is a generalization - sometimes you want to drain the lieutenant that has mezz attacks or whatever - be smart enough to know when to adapt this outline to the given circumstances). After all, as I said, how threatening is a boss without endurance?...
Use psychic wail as often as is safe. If there are lots of minions, go nuts. Use it often and fights will go so much faster (after all, anything that survived is heavily damaged...). It recharges fast enough that, if not in the next fight, the one after that, you'll be doing it again.
Figure out how your fellow teammates play and be smart. If you have a blaster with you who drops his nuke every once in a while, try to set it up with him that he nukes every other fight (so you don't double nuke, unless it's a particular tough group in which case double nuking is a good plan) but also target one of the bosses in the group and tell the blaster to hang in there for an extra second or two after he nukes (most nuke and run) so you can boost their end back up and get them back into the fight immediately.
Communicate! Tell your teammates how you function - specifically, that they will do better if they get into the heart of the chaos and stay there. They will be more potent and thus safer in the heart of the fight. That said, there are lots of specific situations and combos where this power and that power interact in an interesting way. Communicate so you maximize the benefits of those unique situations.
In big fights, I generally cycle 5.5 powers regularly (two of them a situation dependent so I'm not counting them as full powers), Fulcrum Shift, every chance I can, TKBlast and Will Domination (seriously, these are your bread and butter attacks... There's a reason I slotted them for recharge...), Transference (on bosses or other key targets), Transfusion (because it recharges fast enough that I don't mind spamming it), and Psychic Scream and Psionic Lance when appropriate (lots of minions left, scream at them - big boss left and I don't have aggro (because a group of rabid ferrets are going speed boosted crazy on the foes), I snipe the boss).
Keep your toggles up! Your two leaderships are very potent abilities and add to the entire team - keep them up. Also, use vengeance whenever you can. Oh, make no mistake, teammates will die. Like I said, this build is about dialing things up to 12. Sometimes you get overconfident and push it to 13 and that's where trouble comes in. And overconfidence is so easy with this build because it's so easy to dial up to 12. 11 is easy and feels slow and 12 is perfect but 13 looks so appealing... If you play with people that complain and whine about debt, they are not the right teammates for you. You need to play with fearless people who know that death will happen from time to time but you will make up for it by keeping things dialed up to 12. You _WILL_ earn XP faster earning the periodic death than if you scale back and play it safe. Honestly. Every time I've played this character and been on a team that is slow and cautious, I feel like I'm leaving so much wasted potential on the table. Every time I play with a good, fearless team that knows how to work with other characters, things go at a wonderfully insane pace.
Big Bosses (Monsters and AVs)
Wether solo or teamed (yes, I said solo - soloing monsters with this build is (pre-update 3) very possible - I've done it), your strategy here becomes a bit different - you are still about keeping things dialed up (in other words, no matter how long the fight goes, keep speed boost up on people), your key job is to use fulcrum shift and siphon power _EVERY_ time they come back online. You can completely neuter a big boss's ability to damage. You are much more likely to survive the fight if you do this. In the big fights, the buffs you provide become the side benefit of your debuffs. Normally, you are primarily about your buffs. In the big fights, you are primarily about your debuffs. All the rest of the fight strategy should be obvious but these two powers are vital.
Conclusion
This is a wonderful offender build. I lucked into it. When I created Syphon (my second character I ever created), I took Kinetics because it sounded really neat - unique - and I took psi because I figured lots of foes would be vulnerable to it. And lots are but, make no mistake, there are also lots of foes that are resistant to it... But, in the end, I got a great build. Sure, /electricity and /radiation might have more innate synergy with kinetics but don't kid yourself - /psychic has some awesome punch. Like I've said, but I want to stress (so I'll say it again), this build is about dialing it up to 12. You want to play in groups and, preferably, large groups. You can solo and do so quite effectively but you are leaving so much potential on the table if you solo. If soloing is your thing, play a different AT. Seriously, you aren't getting the most out of a kinetics solo. You want allies around you running around like rabid ferrets and you want lots of targets to feed your powers. This build is at maximum effect with a full 8-person team doing missions and task forces and the like. Big missions with lots of foes or big foes (monsters and AVs). Women lie - size does matter - bigger is better.
And, as I said, if debt annoys you, play something else. This is not the build for you. You will die. The problem with dialing things up to 12 is when you slip to 13, the potential for catastrophic failure if one thing goes wrong goes up. But, you level faster accidently slipping to 13 but normally playing at 12 than you do if you play at a slow pace of 9 (like I said earlier, 9 is slow for a kinetics defender...).
Communicate and push things right to the limit and then push them some more. This is an incredibly effective and fun build to play.
Addendum
With update 3 coming, some things will change, all in a good way (imho). First, our trans effects are getting better. Second, FS and Siphon Power are getting more potent. Also, hit point values are going up (so our ability to buff damage becomes more valuable). It means being able to drop mobs of yellow minions with wail probably won't be possible any more but, given that I went after mobs of red and purple minions with big groups pretty regularly, I don't see that as a major problem...
They are also adding epic power pools which means my build will change. I have not finalized what my new build will be (still testing some things) but the following are the most likely changes I'll be making.
Dropping superspeed. With flight 3 slotted for movement, I don't need it... I'll miss the stealth aspect, but I need power slots. Also, flight is the better choice because being able to fly around the Shard is really valuable in the high level game. Dropping Inertial Reduction for the same reason - with flight, I don't need it and I need the power slot. It'll suck when I play with someone's pre-movement power alt because I can't give them superhumping, but... Dropping Repel. This one kills me. I love this power... It kills me to get rid of it but I know I'll be playing Syphon primarily in group settings from this point forward so I won't need it as much... It's an awesome power and I hate that I'm going to drop it, but I need to drop something... I might also be dropping Psychic Scream. Again, this kills me. I love this power but I might want a fourth power slot and this will be the next to go... Painful...
What am I adding? Power Mastery. Specifically, Power Build Up, Temporary Invulnerability, and Total Focus. I might also add Conserve Power but I'm not certain of that yet. Temp Invuln I'll be sixxing (five res and 1 end reduc) and Power Build Up will be getting 4 recharges - that allows me to use it before every big fight with Wail - it recharges at about the same time. And Total Focus will get 3 recharges. I could load it with damage but it already does some hefty damage to begin with - I want it recharging fast so I can chain stun bosses and the like. Also, Fulcrum Shift will make up for the missing damage enhancements. Because Total Focus is such a devastating attack, I might drop Scream from my attacks to add Conserve Power (Total Focus can replace Scream in my attack sequence - I would often use scream while other powers recharged because it has such a fast animation despite it's low damage - Total Focus has a longer animation but does devastating damage...). I doubt I will, however, since endurance is so rarely a concern.
Slots will be pulled from various spots to feed these powers - one less in Vengeance, dropping Siphon Power to 1 recharge (this one I'm not convinced is the right choice - I want to keep it recharging fast so I might poach that slot from another power and leave it with two recharges), dropping hover to 4 flight instead of 5, one from Speed Boost (my allies will still have massive end boosts with it but not quite as much as before), 1 damage from TKBlast and 2 from Will Dom (I still want them cycling fast but I can supplement those missing damage slots with fulcrum shift).
Again, this Update 3 respecced is not yet finalized but this is the most likely route I will go with it.
Final Thoughts
Yes, I'm almost done. Honest.
There it is - my level 50 kinetics/psychic defender/offender. If I missed any important points or thoughts, feel free to ask. I'm sure, after playing Syphon for 50 levels, there are some things that I just do intuitively now and may not have addressed (despite rambling on forever...). If you have questions, feel free to ask.
If you disagree with any of my points or suggestions, that's your right. You're wrong but it's your right to be wrong. I know how effective this build is - I know what it's capable of. I know that this build provides you with the ability to play balls to the walls and have a ton of fun. If chaotic, intense, large battles aren't your cup of tea or if you HATE earning debt, then play something else. This build, in a big team, results in sheer and utter controlled mayhem and it's glorious. You tear through opposition at an insane rate and it's just lovely.
All righty, done. Finally.
Syphon Strike
Prophet of The Ancients Returned
50 Kinetics/Psychic Defender - Virtue
Back after two years of WoW!