<QR>
My advice is look at the guide for Psy/* and look at the power suggestions for the Psy blast, and then do the same for */Nrg.
[ QUOTE ]
No guides for psychic? I am running Psychic/Energy right now, and really liking it. This might be the blaster I take all the way.
Any tips?
[/ QUOTE ]
Reroll?
Psi is pretty much underpowered for PvE. The best pairing is with /energy and that puts that combination squarely below average.
This is also one of the main reasons that there are no guides for it. Very few players play it and even less of them enjoy it.
-Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. - Albert Einstein.
-I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use. - Galileo Galilei
-When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty. - Thomas Jefferson
The guide for Psy/MM (the only one in the thread) comes up "Forum not found"
[ QUOTE ]
Psi is pretty much underpowered for PvE. The best pairing is with /energy and that puts that combination squarely below average.
This is also one of the main reasons that there are no guides for it. Very few players play it and even less of them enjoy it.
[/ QUOTE ]
Sigh. Even before I clicked on this thread, I knew someone would be here telling the OP that Psi sucks. I really AM psychic, clearly.
OP, there isn't a Psi guide available, which is unfortunate. And for what it's worth, ignore the haters. I have a Psi/MM at lvl 36 and I'm loving it. Feel free to PM me if you have questions about Psi.
Well, I am liking it so far, and from looking at the powersets it should be a single target beast on the order of Ice/Energy IE down a purple boss on your own before your teammates aoe's even have the minions cleared.
But I'll stick with it at least til 20.
Psychic blast starts off fairly nice - you get 3 solid, fairly fast single target attacks (psionic dart, mental blast and TK blast) plus aim (psychic focus) by level 6. The problem is from that point on it's all fairly down hill.
While TK blast is very nice at L4 its not so nice once you hit L18 and compare it to bitter ice blast and blaze - both of which do more damage and cast just as fast. Your fourth single target attack (will domination) could have made up for that - but the dev's decided to mess it up by making it a slow recharge sleep that isn't even reliable (80% chance of mag 3 sleep on a 20 second timer, which won't even sleep bosses).
Then you get Psionic Lance, the usual snipe that everyone skips (on all sets pretty much) unless you need a mule for IO set bonsues. Psionic Tornado - the only AE in the set other than the tier 9, it is OK but not spectacular. Scramble thoughts - another control power on a long timer but this time its a stun that does no damage so you can't use it as an attack. It's one saving grace and probably one of the reasons /energy is considered a good secondary is that you can stack it with /energy's stun power and stun bosses. Finally you get a PBAE nuke power, psychic wail. It IS a nice nike as it has also stuns mobs and slows thier recovery by a huge amount - so as nukes go it is actually fairly safe to use despite the usual end drain.
If you really like the character and want to keep playing it your best bet for a psi/energy is to go with a blapper - pick up the 3 single target blasts, slot them up reasonably. They are fairly standard 4/8/10 second recharge blasts - any guide for any blaster primary will give you good slotting advice. Take build up as soon as you can and fit in psychic focus reasonably soon as well. Then finish off your attacks with energy punch and bone smasher. That should give you a solid blapping build to which you can add scramble thoughts and stun so you can hit a boss at range with Scramble thoughts, run up and hit him with stun to stack the 2 mag 3 stuns and then finish him off while he is helpless. Finally, you could pick up Total focus at 38 - its so slow casting that it can be dangerous but if you stack the two stuns you can use it as a finishing blow.
Here is a possible build:
Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.401
http://www.cohplanner.com/
[u]Click this DataLink to open the build![u]
Level 40 Magic Blaster
Primary Power Set: Psychic Blast
Secondary Power Set: Energy Manipulation
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Fitness
Power Pool: Leaping
Hero Profile:
Level 1: Psionic Dart -- Empty(A), Empty(3), Empty(7), Empty(11), Empty(13)
Level 1: Power Thrust -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Mental Blast -- Empty(A), Empty(3), Empty(7), Empty(11), Empty(13)
Level 4: Telekinetic Blast -- Empty(A), Empty(5), Empty(5), Empty(9), Empty(9)
Level 6: Build Up -- Empty(A), Empty(15), Empty(34)
Level 8: Psychic Focus -- Empty(A), Empty(15), Empty(34)
Level 10: Hasten -- Empty(A), Empty(31), Empty(37)
Level 12: Hurdle -- Empty(A)
Level 14: Super Speed -- Empty(A)
Level 16: Bone Smasher -- Empty(A), Empty(17), Empty(17), Empty(19), Empty(19)
Level 18: Health -- Empty(A)
Level 20: Stamina -- Empty(A), Empty(21), Empty(21)
Level 22: Energy Punch -- Empty(A), Empty(23), Empty(23), Empty(25), Empty(25)
Level 24: Combat Jumping -- Empty(A)
Level 26: Scramble Thoughts -- Empty(A), Empty(27), Empty(27)
Level 28: Stun -- Empty(A), Empty(29), Empty(29)
Level 30: Conserve Power -- Empty(A), Empty(31), Empty(31)
Level 32: Psychic Wail -- Empty(A), Empty(33), Empty(33), Empty(33), Empty(34)
Level 35: Psionic Tornado -- Empty(A), Empty(36), Empty(36), Empty(36), Empty(37), Empty(37)
Level 38: Total Focus -- Empty(A), Empty(39), Empty(39), Empty(39), Empty(40), Empty(40)
Level 41: [Empty]
Level 44: [Empty]
Level 47: [Empty]
Level 49: [Empty]
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Sprint -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 1: Defiance
------------
[u]Set Bonus Totals:[u]
For actual slotting see the various blaster guides for similar attacks. I added in the two AE attacks in the set at 32 and 35 mostly because I don't see anything else worth taking - boost range is nice for a pure ranged build but on a blapper its a bit odd, I threw in conserve power just because it was there. You could easily drop conserve and Psychic tornado and pick up aid other/aid self or something like that. The nuke is probably still worth taking though.
Globals: @Midnight Mystique/@Magik13
Well, I'd tell the OP to reroll a /Psi defender, but there aren't any /Psi defender guides I know of either. And that version of the set rocks.
Psi blast for blasters is pretty vanilla. I'd focus on finding a guide for your secondary (/Eng is fine) and pretty much follow an Ice primary guide for the primary, equating powers like Psi Dart = Ice Bolt, MB = Ice Blast, TK Blast = BIB, Psychic Focus = Aim, Will Dom = BFR, snipe = snipe (no equivalent in Ice), Psi Tornado = Frost Breath (but crappier), Scramble = Freeze Ray (but much crappier), nuke = nuke. If you find yourself at some level along the way with only 3 primary powers and 6 secondary ones, that's fine, really.
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Psi is pretty much underpowered for PvE. The best pairing is with /energy and that puts that combination squarely below average.
This is also one of the main reasons that there are no guides for it. Very few players play it and even less of them enjoy it.
[/ QUOTE ]
Sigh. Even before I clicked on this thread, I knew someone would be here telling the OP that Psi sucks. I really AM psychic, clearly.
OP, there isn't a Psi guide available, which is unfortunate. And for what it's worth, ignore the haters. I have a Psi/MM at lvl 36 and I'm loving it. Feel free to PM me if you have questions about Psi.
[/ QUOTE ]
I don't hate it anymore than I hate /Dev.
That's just an honest assessment of the set. Ice does every thing that Psi does and does it better. The only place that Psi shines is as a ranged single target blaster particularly with Boost Range but with proper slotting Ice still does this better.
When you run into things that resist Psi they resist it big time and things get brutal.
When the Psi blaster hits level 18.... well that's about as good as it ever going to get and that's barely a jump up in power from level 6.
Which is why I say that it is squarely below average. In light of the PvP changes in I13 I'd say that blaster Psi certainly needs looked at again and could even do with a revamp.
Replacing Will Domination with a TAoE and giving Scramble thoughts a 1 - 1.5 second animation would be a good place to start.
-Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. - Albert Einstein.
-I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use. - Galileo Galilei
-When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty. - Thomas Jefferson
Psi's pretty lackluster as anything but a single-target set - where it compares favorably (if you don't mind the extra recharge) with Ice and Fire for a top damage spot... but only for single-target damage.
Ice manages to keep a top ST damage spot without completely giving up AoE damage (Frost Breath and Ice Storm), and maintaining a significant level of control (Bothe Freeze Rays) as well, which is somewhat regrettable. Fire... well, all it does is blow things up. There's not much of a contest there.
I'd honestly not recommend pairing it up with a single-target secondary like Electric or Energy Manipulation, and instead looking at something that's going to give you either a bit more control (Ice, Devices) or with more AoE damage (Fire, Mental). It's not a bad decision to go Psi/NRG, though, but that's something that feels more like a PVP choice then a PVE one. :/
I think the only thing that really shines about Psi is that it gets it's full ST damage chain (Mental Blast, TK Blast, Will Domination) fairly early compared to Fire or Ice, and gets full range leverage out of it for hover-sniping as well (though you'll only really see that happen outdoors or in some very select indoor maps anyway).
It's not an ideal choice, but it should still be fine for most PVE, especially solo. Less so on a team, though.
Psychic Blast seems to be intended to pair with Mental Manipulation. They put Psychic Scream in the secondary when I feel it should have been in the primary.
They also gave the Blasters a Nurfed Version of Will Domination. It does less damage , has a longer recharge and the same sleep ability as the defender version. Scaling up the damage on will domination to scale properly in relation to the defender version would have been a good diffrance maker in the set. Will Domination should do more damage for blasters than defenders, not less.
[ QUOTE ]
Psychic Blast seems to be intended to pair with Mental Manipulation. They put Psychic Scream in the secondary when I feel it should have been in the primary.
They also gave the Blasters a Nurfed Version of Will Domination. It does less damage , has a longer recharge and the same sleep ability as the defender version. Scaling up the damage on will domination to scale properly in relation to the defender version would have been a good diffrance maker in the set. Will Domination should do more damage for blasters than defenders, not less.
[/ QUOTE ]
Technically, after everything (AT modifiers et. all) factors through, it does do more damage. >> It's just 7 points more.
Going PVP ?
Its very nice there. You can get good use from both boost range and boost power and you will have many chances to use in your face stuns and melee attacks.
PvE reroll. There is just far too much in the late game that you don't do well against. You also have almost no AoE attacks available to you. Its a bad combination.
I really don't get how people keep calling psy blast bad in pve.
It is absolutely bad at AoE, I totally see that.
But for single target, it has been doing amazing for me so far. Can absolutely wreck a purple Boss super fast by spamming the 4 main ST attacks.
People don't usually seem to call ice bad, and it is single target just like psy.
And I don't care if ice/ gets a couple of holds, I find the knockback from TK blast much more useful for killing bosses and lt's than any hold.
[ QUOTE ]
But for single target, it has been doing amazing for me so far. Can absolutely wreck a purple Boss super fast by spamming the 4 main ST attacks.
[/ QUOTE ]
Well for one thing once you get your recharge slotted its not that great. Fire blast has no trouble doing flares,fire blast, blaze as a seemless chain. If you have a ranged attack in your secondary you don't even need the high recharge.
going further PSI has less damage in its st attacks than either fire or Ice. Tk blast does reasonable damage but its not blaze or bitter ice blast. Will domination is something that is nearly completely removable from the chain, its nice to keep around for sleeping minions but otherwise ?
There are no easily stackable controls within the set. I suppose you could try stacking scramble thoughts and psychic wail.
ICE vs psy you get 2 holds, and 3 AOEs all ranged plus ICE has the most damaging AOE in the game. All the AOEs are in ice are better than psy
All these are off the top of my head so i may be off
Psinado = 57 pts (As damage over time)
Psychic wail =300 pts
vs ice
Frost breath =87
Ice storm =116
Blizzard =500
Whats more in ice everything does the sam secondary with the exception of freeze ray. Everytime you fire ice you are slowing the target and it stacks stacks and stacks.
As to killing bosses and the like, what level are you running at ? Once you get into the 45-50 range it gets very painful.
If I hadn't of gotten my Psi/MM to 50 I would reroll it.
What I'm having a hard time understanding is why, when someone posts a thread in which they say, "I'm really liking Psi so far; any guides?", people take that as license to tell the OP that the set is mediocre at best and that he/she should reroll.
Is that really useful, or constructive? Is it what the OP seems to have come here to find?
Nope. So why bother? Do y'all think that rehashing these same tired "omg psi sux!!!!" arguments will force the devs to improve the powerset? Because, seriously, they're becoming interminable. Enough already.
[ QUOTE ]
What I'm having a hard time understanding is why, when someone posts a thread in which they say, "I'm really liking Psi so far; any guides?", people take that as license to tell the OP that the set is mediocre at best and that he/she should reroll.
[/ QUOTE ]
Because I wish someone had of mentioned it to me when I was loving Psi/MM
[ QUOTE ]
Well for one thing once you get your recharge slotted its not that great. Fire blast has no trouble doing flares,fire blast, blaze as a seemless chain. If you have a ranged attack in your secondary you don't even need the high recharge.
[/ QUOTE ]
My chain is fine as long as I use the 4 ST attacks. That's when I have some recharge slotting of course.
And fire, does absolutely nothing to stop a purple boss from running up and wrecking me. No controls in fire whatsoever without some IO procs. The damage is good but doesn't seem to keep me from getting faceplanted.
[ QUOTE ]
There are no easily stackable controls within the set. I suppose you could try stacking scramble thoughts and psychic wail.
[/ QUOTE ]
I don't really feel the need for all the time spent trying to stack controls when my 4 attacks are from long range and one sends the boss flying backwards onto his back most times.
[ QUOTE ]
ICE vs psy you get 2 holds, and 3 AOEs all ranged plus ICE has the most damaging AOE in the game. All the AOEs are in ice are better than psy
[/ QUOTE ]
Yeah, psy is bad at aoe...
[ QUOTE ]
Ice does every thing that Psi does and does it better.
[/ QUOTE ]
Yep, that pretty much sums up Psi/ as a primary. If you compare power/power or the sets as a whole, Ice/ does everything Psi/ does, and does it better. Psi/ really needs to be buffed back to what it should have been in the first place (aka, the defender version without the nerf it got on the way).
And that doesnt mean you cant have fun with Psi/ or feel fine with the set. It's not broken. It works as intended. But from a min/maxer point of view, it's a primary to avoid.
[ QUOTE ]
And fire, does absolutely nothing to stop a purple boss from running up and wrecking me. No controls in fire whatsoever without some IO procs. The damage is good but doesn't seem to keep me from getting faceplanted.
[/ QUOTE ]
That's why you combine Fire/ with /Ice--that gives you all the control you need.
Finding ranged damage in a secondary to overcome Psi's relatively weak damage is a lot more difficult.
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
And fire, does absolutely nothing to stop a purple boss from running up and wrecking me. No controls in fire whatsoever without some IO procs. The damage is good but doesn't seem to keep me from getting faceplanted.
[/ QUOTE ]
That's why you combine Fire/ with /Ice--that gives you all the control you need.
Finding ranged damage in a secondary to overcome Psi's relatively weak damage is a lot more difficult.
[/ QUOTE ]
I have played out all the sets now at least to around 30 (so i don't know much about the nukes) and I am just not seeing "weak damage" from psy. At least not for single target.
Against robots and carnies? Ok, maybe then, but with AE and tons of heroside content, it is pretty easy to avoid the psy-resistant enemies.
[ QUOTE ]
I have played out all the sets now at least to around 30 (so i don't know much about the nukes) and I am just not seeing "weak damage" from psy. At least not for single target.
[/ QUOTE ]
It's not weak. It's just less good than Ice, with overall the same single target focus and the same secondary effect. Ice has also the 2 mag 3 holds, while Psi has just a mag 3 stun that takes forever to animate.
In the whole game, there isnt any primary or secondary broken so you cant succeed with it. There are just some which are less good than others.
>> I always end up having to state this sorta thing...
Psi is, for single-target damage, one of the top three blaster sets you can choose. In three attacks (Mental Blast, Telekinetic Blast, Will Domination) it does as much damage in a burst as Ice Blast does, in an equivlant animation time, with the only real negative point being that the base recharge per attack is higher (and that it's average is still comparable with Psionic Dart -> Mental Blast -> Telekinetic Blast, though it lags a bit further behind using that chain).
However, in a full comparison, Fire Blast still trumps it outright, and blows it completely away in AoE damage. Ice competes favorably without losing it's AoE damage (as Ice Storm and Frost Breath are still viable, if not ideal, AoE attacks), and has far superior control.
However, compared with a secondary that makes up for it's lack of proper AoE or gives it more control options, it's not exactly a bad choice. It's just as viable as anything else out there for PVE, as long as you take into consideration it's weaker AoE damage or give it better control options.
In regards to the OP's Psi/Nrg, I think it would shine better in PVP and I'd honestly recommend something else, but it'll still get the job done in PVE as well.
Hell, I like Psi, but that doesn't mean I can't stay aware of it's weak points when recommending it to someone else, or discussing the topic. It sucks for AoE, and it's control potential is incredibly questionable. In single target, though, it's top tier.
EDIT: I also firmly believe that if Psychic Scream were in the Psi Blast as opposed to Mental Manipulation, we wouldn't be having these discussions as often.
Yeesh. Lighten up on the psi/ hate people 
Some people like playing it even if it isn't the "highest damage" or "best for AoE" or "best for PvP" or whatnot. Mine's level 50 and one of my favorite toons. I absolutely LOVE the nuke, and the psi tornado.
OP -- I don't have a guide in mind, but if you have any specific questions about the powers, toss me a tell in game. I have all the psi powers but scramble thoughts, and I'd be happy to tell you my input and such.
@darkskye or @darkskies
--Virtue--
My 50s:
Tigra Swipe (BS/SR/Dark Scrapper)
Galena Storm (Emp/Ele/Ele Defender)
Master Tolarin (Psi/Fire/Force Blaster)
[ QUOTE ]
Psi/ really needs to be buffed back to what it should have been in the first place (aka, the defender version without the nerf it got on the way).
[/ QUOTE ]
As a thought exercise, I thought about what Psi for blasters would look like if Castle kept the power lineup, including Psi Dart and Aim and dropping Psychic Scream and Subdue, but copied the numbers from the defender versions.
Result: Still crummy at AoE, still crummy at utility, still crummy damage typing, still a great ST DPS set about as good as Ice in that department. What changes is it gets a bit more range, gets a bit better at stacking ST recharge debuffs, but most importantly, it concentrates its ST DPS strength in two badass powers, allowing Mental Blast to be more easily skipped to pick up some other power. Sounds like a modest and reasonable buff to me. Oh, sure, PvPers will invade this board and wail and gnash their teeth, but Castle's changes tying PvP damage to animation time and giving all defense sets psi protection should be sufficient.
Psionic Dart: 1->0.84 psi / 80->100' / 1s cast / 4->3s recharge / 5.2->4.37 end (from new dom version currently on test)
Mental Blast: 1.64->1 psi / 80->100' / 1.67s cast / 8->4s recharge / 8.528->5.2 end
Telekinetic Blast: 1 smash + 0.96->0.64 psi / 80->100' / 1s cast / 10->8s recharge / 10.192->8.528 end
Psychic Focus: same
Will Domination: 1.24->1.96 psi / 80->100' / 1.1s cast / 20->14s recharge / 10.192 end
Psionic Lance: same except 150->175'
Psionic Tornado: same except 80->100'
Scramble Thoughts: same except 80->100'
Psychic Wail: same
No guides for psychic? I am running Psychic/Energy right now, and really liking it. This might be the blaster I take all the way.
Any tips?