Yeah, everyone praising it's awesomeness just happens to forget to add the "At level 50" disclaimer with it.
Seems some people forget there are 49 levels of gameplay before then...
I use it on my Arch/MM as an O'S*** button. At level 35 it's still the only useful application I've found. When I get swarmed I'll click it before running for the extra boost... When it hits that is.
I'll admit. Once I was lucky enough to have it hit all 6 guys around me. I finished the animation and went to run only to realise I was already back in the green! Turned and fought them off just barely. Still, it's random enough that I don't risk using it much, yet.
Maestro Mavius - Infinity
Capt. Biohazrd - PCSAR
Talsor Tech - Talsorian Guard
Keep Calm & Chive On!
I found the Domi version pretty godly, even in my mid 20s. Dunno if there's a difference between them but there shouldn't be other than AT modifiers (and even they may be the same).
Maybe it just suits some Domis better though as they have the tools to get more out of it (being able to AOE mez to give time for the regen to kick in, or as in my Ice/Psi's case stacking the +regen with tonnes of -recharge and confuse).
If you want to use Drain Psyche as a mitigation tool rather than an end recovery tool and a regen debuff, you probably need to get more mitigation tools.
Just like Fiery Aura tankers don't just take Healing Flames to stay alive, you need other tools to get the most out of Drain Psyche. Those can be passive defense powers like Tough+Weave+APP shields, using inspirations defensively, and getting defense and health bonuses from IO's.
Mains (Freedom) @Auroxis
Auroxis - Emp/Rad/Power Defender Pylon Video Soloing an AV
Pelvic Thunder - SS/Elec/Mu Brute
Sorajin - Elec/Nin Stalker
Neuropain - Sonic/Mental/Elec Blaster
Yeah, I plan on picking up the fighting pool, the leadership pool, and world of confusion. I mapped out a basic build with softcapped s/l defense and high recharge*, but I'm wondering if the efforts spent would be better placed if I rerolled with a different secondary. I guess doing psi damage is nice but like I said I seem to have picked the set for a flakey power with a very limited range and next to no duration whatsoever.
*http://tinyurl.com/3ku39uf
My DP/MM blaster is at lvl 34 now but for the last ten or so levels of play, I've found Drain Psyche to be everything that its hyped to be. The trick is learning how to use it properly and not assuming it really -IS- a one-click wonder power.
I team mostly; that caveat should tell you something right there. I wait for the tanker or brute to grab aggro, then I'm right behind them. =WITH STEALTH= which is a secondary bit of advice. Either grab SS+Celerity Stealth proc IO or SS+Stealth so you can get into the middle of the spawn without everyone turning and saying "Oh look, a squishy blaster...lets gang-bang 'em." Now here's your third tip....World of Confusion. That should be taken and slotted heavily for +ACC and +Confuse. Mine is 5-slotted right now, 2xACC, 3XConfuse (and I'm also running a Kismet +To-Hit proc slotted into Combat Jumping).
So with all the above:
1) Wait for tanker/brute to grab aggro if teaming. If solo, popping a luck is a good idea as long as you aren't dealing with mezzers.
2) SS+Stealth into middle of spawn with World of Confusion running and well-slotted. Minions start wailing on one another, not you.
3) Pop Drain Psyche. At 34, mine is 2xACC, 2XHeal, 2XRecharge (few more IO sets and I'll drop one of the ACC enhancements for another Recharge). My regen rate goes through the roof, easily enough to stand in melee range and take a pounding.
4) I'm also dropping Hail of Bullets after Drain Psyche and then jumping back out of the spawn to spam my cones. Most stuff melts quickly and HOB recharges fast enough I'm off to the next spawn to rinse/repeat.
Really, it works as advertised well before you are 50. You just have to use it appropriately. I have an Arch/Energy thematic blaster I'm leveling right now (also at 34). That's more of an stay-at-range blaster but I really am digging the playstyle that is /MM thanks to Drain Psyche.
Great thanks! As a rule of thumb I always waited for the melee characters to aggro the mobs before attacking at all. The build I linked to does not have room for stealth unfortunately, but I do plan to drop a stealth IO in sprint. I went with the flight pool because I wanted hover to be able to blast from up high, so stealthing in with super speed will eliminate my getaway/positioning method of choice. After picking up tactics, DS seems to be hitting more dependably. At level 24, I have it slotted with 2 level 25 acc IOs, 1 rech, and 1 healing. I was just on a team a few minutes ago and I was able to hit DS on more than 2 targets pretty dependably, so I guess the set just needs to grow into it. (World of Confusion should be a big help, too... I would like to try to find a way to double stack stealth, I might jump back into mids later on today.)
Edit: It only took a couple of seconds to figure that one out. I replaced fly with SS, figuring I can stealth in for the alpha and then hover off afterwards. The build I have in mind, in full...
Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.942
http://www.cohplanner.com/
Click this DataLink to open the build!
Level 50 Mutation Blaster
Primary Power Set: Fire Blast
Secondary Power Set: Mental Manipulation
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Speed
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Leadership
Ancillary Pool: Mace Mastery
Hero Profile:
Level 1: Fire Blast -- Decim-Acc/Dmg(A), Decim-Dmg/EndRdx(3), Decim-Dmg/Rchg(3), Decim-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(5), Decim-Build%(5)
Level 1: Subdual -- Decim-Acc/Dmg(A), Decim-Dmg/EndRdx(7), Decim-Dmg/Rchg(7), Decim-Acc/EndRdx/Rchg(9), Decim-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(9)
Level 2: Fire Ball -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(11), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(11), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(13), Posi-Dam%(13)
Level 4: Mind Probe -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(15), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(15), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(17)
Level 6: Rain of Fire -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(17), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(19), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(19), Posi-Dam%(21)
Level 8: Fire Breath -- Posi-Acc/Dmg(A), Posi-Dmg/EndRdx(21), Posi-Dmg/Rchg(23), Posi-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx(23), Posi-Dam%(25)
Level 10: Psychic Scream -- AirB'st-Acc/Dmg(A), AirB'st-Dmg/EndRdx(25), AirB'st-Dmg/Rchg(27)
Level 12: Hover -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), Winter-ResSlow(34), Ksmt-ToHit+(39)
Level 14: Super Speed -- Clrty-Stlth(A)
Level 16: Aim -- Rec'dRet-ToHit(A), Rec'dRet-ToHit/Rchg(29)
Level 18: Blaze -- Dev'n-Acc/Dmg(A), Dev'n-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(31), Dev'n-Hold%(31)
Level 20: Drain Psyche -- Numna-Heal/Rchg(A), Numna-Heal/EndRdx/Rchg(31), Efficacy-EndMod/Rchg(33), Efficacy-EndMod/Acc/Rchg(33), Acc-I(33)
Level 22: Concentration -- Rec'dRet-ToHit(A), Rec'dRet-ToHit/Rchg(34)
Level 24: Hasten -- RechRdx-I(A), RechRdx-I(27), RechRdx-I(29)
Level 26: Boxing -- KntkC'bat-Acc/Dmg(A), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx(37), KntkC'bat-Dmg/Rchg(37), KntkC'bat-Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(39)
Level 28: Maneuvers -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(43), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(43)
Level 30: Tough -- S'fstPrt-ResDam/Def+(A), S'fstPrt-ResKB(39), S'fstPrt-ResDam/EndRdx(43), Aegis-Psi/Status(46)
Level 32: Weave -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(34), LkGmblr-Def/EndRdx(48)
Level 35: World of Confusion -- CoPers-Conf(A), CoPers-Conf/Rchg(36), CoPers-Acc/Conf/Rchg(37), CoPers-Acc/Rchg(42), CoPers-Conf%(42)
Level 38: Psychic Shockwave -- Oblit-Dmg(A), Oblit-Acc/Rchg(40), Oblit-Dmg/Rchg(40), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/Rchg(40), Oblit-%Dam(42), Oblit-Acc/Dmg/EndRdx/Rchg(50)
Level 41: Scorpion Shield -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(46), DefBuff-I(46)
Level 44: Summon Spiderlings -- C'Arms-EndRdx/Dmg/Rchg(A), C'Arms-Acc/Dmg(45), C'Arms-+Def(Pets)(45), ExRmnt-+Res(Pets)(45)
Level 47: Tactics -- Rec'dRet-ToHit(A), Rec'dRet-ToHit/Rchg(48)
Level 49: Vengeance -- LkGmblr-Rchg+(A), LkGmblr-Def(50)
------------
Level 1: Brawl -- Acc-I(A)
Level 1: Defiance
Level 1: Sprint -- Run-I(A)
Level 2: Rest -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Swift -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Health -- Mrcl-Heal(A), Mrcl-Rcvry+(36), Mrcl-Heal/EndRdx(48)
Level 2: Hurdle -- Empty(A)
Level 2: Stamina -- P'Shift-EndMod(A), P'Shift-End%(36), P'Shift-EndMod/Rchg(50)
Level 4: Ninja Run
I never had issue with it, it was a tool I used as soon as I received it, and frankly loved it... but... I had a mitigation tool to use so that it was safe for me, in the case of my sonic/psy blaster a cone sleep.
Just like any other power, it is a tool, and tools have proper ways to be used so that the user doesn't get hurt. Heck, caltrops would frankly be enough mitigation to use drain psy in quite a few situations.
But you have to think powers like this thru. For me, it was essentially FS which I have TONS of experience with.
The best use is of course on large stationary groups, but you will get hurt if you don't have any mitigation or defense; and honestly, I don't know that you really were surprised you were getting laid out when you were using it if you had no mitigation or rushed a mob before a tank or anyone else to take the alpha; which is what most often will lay you out... the alpha strike of a mob.
Get defense, get mitigation.... and then you have a FANTASTIC power which.... completely mitigates the -END drain of nukes with enough targets.
Only tools I use for my blaster on mitigation are cone sleep and invis...
Sleep the mobs or run in invis, hit the DP and nuke. I'll still face plant occasionally... but the risk you take when you are trying to maximize the buff.
Wassabi Grav/Kin 50 (before badges/accolades were in game) Pinnacle
Miss Command Bots/Traps 50 Justice
*others left off due to space issues
Heh. I picked drain psyche up on one of my blasters, after having a loooong love for it on my Mind/Psy dom. Not only did I find it was only 3/4 as strong, I quickly figured out it's a lot more situational. Doms can lock things down, and use drain psyche to patch up what bits of damage leak through. Blasters? They kill things. Quickly. As such the "slowly regenerating health" is less of a strength when you can't slow down fights, rather usually escalate them.
Actually, I do like it for endurance way more than on my dominator.
It's still a wonderful AV debuff, though.
I've been playing a Fire/MM recently too and my experiences with Drain Psyche is similar to your's. About 90% of the time I use it, I am dead 2 seconds later. Another 5% of the times, I jumped right into an AOE mez before it goes off, so I am again dead soon after. Of the few times I lived through using it, most of the spawn had already been decimated by team mates so there was little point to in trying to use it to begin with.
Which brings up another issue. If I wait for the meleers to grab and establish aggro, the spawn is already being AOE'd by team mates. By the time I run in, the only enemies left alive are a boss or two and maybe some lucky lieutenants who, of course, are seriously trying to scatter away.
Right now the only reliable use I've found for it is during AV fights to top off and to provide a little -regen debuff. Using during corner pulls shows promise, but I need to practice more.
Teams are the number one killer of soloists.
Quote:
The dominator version is stronger and it's a lot safer to use to get the full benefit on a dom.
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Originally Posted by Carnifax_NA
I found the Domi version pretty godly, even in my mid 20s. Dunno if there's a difference between them but there shouldn't be other than AT modifiers (and even they may be the same).
Maybe it just suits some Domis better though as they have the tools to get more out of it (being able to AOE mez to give time for the regen to kick in, or as in my Ice/Psi's case stacking the +regen with tonnes of -recharge and confuse). |
SG: Guadians of Paragon - VG: Paragon's Darkness
The Usual Suspects: Fimboolvetr (Icer Tank), Tsukiyomi (Mind/Psi/Ice Dom), Smiting Dragon (Dm/Sr Scrap), Widow Mortis (NW)
Up and Comers: Ameterasu (Km/Reg Scrap), Arrhymian (Elec/Nin Stalk), TDMKII (Bot/Traps MM)
It is a power that kinetics and trappers will easily adjust to and everyone else will suffer with.
Wassabi Grav/Kin 50 (before badges/accolades were in game) Pinnacle
Miss Command Bots/Traps 50 Justice
*others left off due to space issues
I was hoping it would be similar to using a Warshade's eclipse, but I have been adjusting. I've been playing this character all day, he is now level 26 and I have to say I've been noticing drain psyche performing much better than my OP with more slots and tactics.
Quote:
Yes. Drain Psyche is significantly stronger on a Dom, both by itself and in combination with Dominators' other powers. It's still good on a Blaster, but it can tempt you to make sub-optimal build and combat decisions. |
Originally Posted by Infini
The dominator version is stronger and it's a lot safer to use to get the full benefit on a dom.
|
Choice of primary also, obviously, influences the conversation. I think a lot of people (including myself) have a bit of an under-estimated view of Drain Psyche because we've paired it with Fire Blast. When you really think about it, almost every other Blaster Primary has a good deal more mitigation, and it doesn't take a whole hell of a lot of layering mitigation to make all the difference for a high-order regeneration buff. Anything that slows the rate of incoming damage even the slightest bit can be the difference between death and functional immortality.
Both Drain Psyche and World of Confusion benefit so much from high-end IO bonuses that they're scarcely recognizable. Adding DEF bonuses has an obvious effect on the former; adding the Coercive Persuasion proc to WoC turns a terrible power into a very potent melee-range control power in crowds -- and that melee-range control power just happens to make Drain Psyche more effective, too.
In any case, Drain Psyche definitely needs slots. It's gonna suck at 20; it's gonna get much better as soon as you can six slot it. It's gonna get much much much better if and when you can pair it with IO DEF bonuses. As a regen buff, it's rarely going to be worthwhile against fewer than three targets.
So with all of that said, it's dangerous to build around Drain Psyche's recovery buff. It's a nice perk, but you don't want to pigeon-hole a Blaster build into closing into melee unnecessarily as a matter of course. It's not like Mental Manipulation is particularly good for Blappers; Psychic Shockwave is nice, and Mind Probe is passable, but you're generally not going to see a signficant increase to your kill speed by playing a Mental Blapper. There's a reason Mental comes packaged with a long-range cone attack (Psychic Scream).
Drain Psyche is best used as a situational survivability buff, and/or a situational regeneration debuff. On teams, you're probably best off ignoring the power almost completely, melting spawns from range with Primary attacks and Scream.
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Iggy_Kamakaze
Nice build
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Quote:
IMO it works quite well as a situational recovery buff. Very few builds are endurance stable, and sometimes you just need that endurance bar up. Also, instant nuke recovery with Drain Psyche is not amazing, but it is nice being able to attack right after I nuke.
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Originally Posted by Obitus
Drain Psyche is best used as a situational survivability buff, and/or a situational regeneration debuff. On teams, you're probably best off ignoring the power almost completely, melting spawns from range with Primary attacks and Scream.
|
Mains (Freedom) @Auroxis
Auroxis - Emp/Rad/Power Defender Pylon Video Soloing an AV
Pelvic Thunder - SS/Elec/Mu Brute
Sorajin - Elec/Nin Stalker
Neuropain - Sonic/Mental/Elec Blaster
Quote:
Eh, if you heavily emphasize the word situational, then I agree. The problem with recovery buffs is that they tend to encourage all-or-nothing build strategy. Though it's true that infinite endurance sustainability is rare, it's also rarely necessarily or even desirable in practice. Being endurance stable is, I think, a far lower standard, especially for Blasters, whose single-target attacks are generally very endurance efficient.|
Originally Posted by Auroxis
IMO it works quite well as a situational recovery buff. Very few builds are endurance stable, and sometimes you just need that endurance bar up. Also, instant nuke recovery with Drain Psyche is not amazing, but it is nice being able to attack right after I nuke.
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Basically all I'm trying to say here is that you should try, if possible, to give your build generally good-enough recovery without Drain Psyche. If you wanna use the recovery buff in an odd situation, then go for it; just don't build around the recovery buff, because there's really no other good reason to use Drain Psyche every time it's available.
The nuke thing is a very minor point, IMO, overrated on this forum. You can use Drain Psyche to get around the recovery debuff, but it's somewhat awkward to do (basically requiring that you hit DP before you nuke) and by no means foolproof. Assuming you hit all ten targets and assuming you enhance the power for heal instead of recovery (which you should do), DP alone will only nullify 3/4ths of the nuke's debuff. You have to have another +150% in recovery from other sources to get on the positive side of zero, which is -- oddly enough -- another argument in favor of not putting all your recovery eggs in the Drain Psyche basket.
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Iggy_Kamakaze
Nice build
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Quote:
You can slot it for sufficient endmod, healing, recharge, accuracy, and still get some nice set bonuses. Also, never did I say you should rely on Drain Psyche for endurance. It is situational and it is useful.
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Originally Posted by Obitus
Eh, if you heavily emphasize the word situational, then I agree. The problem with recovery buffs is that they tend to encourage all-or-nothing build strategy. Though it's true that infinite endurance sustainability is rare, it's also rarely necessarily or even desirable in practice. Being endurance stable is, I think, a far lower standard, especially for Blasters, whose single-target attacks are generally very endurance efficient.
Basically all I'm trying to say here is that you should try, if possible, to give your build generally good-enough recovery without Drain Psyche. If you wanna use the recovery buff in an odd situation, then go for it; just don't build around the recovery buff, because there's really no other good reason to use Drain Psyche every time it's available. The nuke thing is a very minor point, IMO, overrated on this forum. You can use Drain Psyche to get around the recovery debuff, but it's somewhat awkward to do (basically requiring that you hit DP before you nuke) and by no means foolproof. Assuming you hit all ten targets and assuming you enhance the power for heal instead of recovery (which you should do), DP alone will only nullify 3/4ths of the nuke's debuff. You have to have another +150% in recovery from other sources to get on the positive side of zero, which is -- oddly enough -- another argument in favor of not putting all your recovery eggs in the Drain Psyche basket. |
Mains (Freedom) @Auroxis
Auroxis - Emp/Rad/Power Defender Pylon Video Soloing an AV
Pelvic Thunder - SS/Elec/Mu Brute
Sorajin - Elec/Nin Stalker
Neuropain - Sonic/Mental/Elec Blaster
Quote:
No, you replied as if to correct my post, in which I said that one shouldn't rely on Drain Psyche's recovery buff. I was clarifying my position; I wasn't criticizing yours -- though if you wanna pick nits, your comment about endurance stability was ambiguous, which is why I tried to qualify it.|
Originally Posted by Auroxis
You can slot it for sufficient endmod, healing, recharge, accuracy, and still get some nice set bonuses. Also, never did I say you should rely on Drain Psyche for endurance. It is situational and it is useful.
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Now we have a different semantic issue: define "sufficient." For the overwhelming majority of situations, Drain Psyche's recovery buff is much more than sufficient even with no recovery slotting at all. Most people won't even notice the difference except after a nuke, and even then there's a fairly high situational threshold (number of targets in a fairly small area) you have to cross before the difference becomes apparent.
And that's why you can't make any categorical statements about the ease of frankenslotting the power; every build has different goals and a different tolerance for tossing away 5-6 slot IO bonuses. Drain Psyche is not a power (like, say, Siphon Life) for which enhancing all of its attributes is clearly desirable, and so there's a limit to how much a given build should bend to accommodate your comprehensive slotting scheme.
The fact is that even under ideal circumstances, Drain Psyche will not fully mitigate a nuke crash. You will still get hit with a 100% endurance drain. You will still likely lose most or all of your toggles. What DP can do is to nullify the 20 second recovery debuff that persists after the initial crash. If you wanna slot around that situation, then more power to you; I certainly can't tell you you're wrong. It's a valid tactic and one that several posters swear by. All I can say is that DP's interaction with nukes is a fairly minor point in the grand scheme of things, a minor point that is often blown out of proportion on this forum. (Not necessarily by you, just generally; a relatively new player might, IME, understandably conclude from reading this forum that Drain Psyche is a get-out-of-nuke-crash-free card.)
My point was just to caution people against some of the counter-productive build/combat strategies that a power like Drain Psyche tends to encourage. If you disagree then that's fine, but it doesn't even appear that you do differ in any significant way. We're splitting hairs here.
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Iggy_Kamakaze
Nice build
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I'm talking from experience here. I slot Drain Psyche with enough endmod to get post-nuke recovery from 7 targets instead of 10, while still getting 3% HP + 9% accuracy from set bonuses and having ED capped Heal+Recharge(and enough accuracy to hit +3's).
I get to fire Psychic Shockwave almost immediately after Dreadful Wail, so it gets buffed by BU, Aim, the -res, and gets a chance to stun the remaining bosses. What could I gain by not slotting Endmod into Drain Psyche? 5% recharge I don't really need? I'd much rather have a solid nuke follow-up.
Mains (Freedom) @Auroxis
Auroxis - Emp/Rad/Power Defender Pylon Video Soloing an AV
Pelvic Thunder - SS/Elec/Mu Brute
Sorajin - Elec/Nin Stalker
Neuropain - Sonic/Mental/Elec Blaster
When I first started about 18 months ago Rad/MM was being discussed alot. I tried one and it was the first Alt I had that really felt super.
Eventually after multiple respecs and study I went with a Perma-Hastened build that has DP up perma also. 5 slotted for mostly heal and recharge with 3 Touch of the Nictus and 2 Perf Shifter. Spiritual 45% recharge Alpha. I chose to take all the AoE except the nuke and it works well for me. I would probably take it later than I have it now if leveling from scratch. Took it at 24 on last respec.
Also Soft capped to S/L. Stealth proc in sprint. Just be ready with a break free for the mezzers and it really does let you solo most stuff.
Jak
Side question: is there need to slot for accuracy in Drain Psyche or is that only for pvp?
Teams are the number one killer of soloists.
Quote:
No, it needs accuracy in pve.|
Originally Posted by SerialBeggar
Side question: is there need to slot for accuracy in Drain Psyche or is that only for pvp?
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Fun fact: when the power debuted in I6, they forgot to allow it to accept Acc enhancers. It was a rough ride until the fix in I7...
-Gate
@Generator
Mostly Pinnacle, with scattered alts on Liberty, Freedom, and Justice.
I had a great time playing with you!
I made my first blaster the other day, Fire/Mental Manipulation. I picked that secondary for one power- Drain Psyche. Long story short, I am very displeased. I'm currently at level 22, I have it slotted with 2 level 25 accuracy IOs and 1 recharge IO.
Half the time when I try to use it, it just... Doesn't work. The other half of the time, it hits one or two targets and then I die because I'm a blaster in melee range. Who was the genius that gave blasters a survivability power that required them to stand so close to enemies that they would die instantly?
People in game spoke of it like it was a god mode button.. When it has no range and no duration at all. Should I just give the set time to mature, or is this really just the worst cornerstone power in existence?