It actually took me a while to realize that Purge is so stupidly peril efficient that with dedicated Soulblaze builds I have to skip most peril efficiency talents on purpose! Like, if I pick Vent with it, I can’t possibly pick Battle Meditation or Inner Tranquility since either of those two will just get in the way of Warp Rider & Nexus and that 80%+ peril requirement for Vent’s 6-stack SB.
On the other hand it can be a blessing in disguise too. Not depending on high warp efficiency or dmg stats like other staves along with its small blessing pool makes it super easy and cheap to craft a fantastic Purge compared to anything else. Avoiding peril efficiency talents lets you use those points for something else, and picking Essence Harvest instead of Inner Tranquility adds a ton of survivability too.
Purge in general is a crazy good staff no matter what anyone says. But like Surge it can get boring pretty fast.
Psyker is S tier, however brainburst is still trash compared to other.
BB should oneshot a crusher on damnation with DMG build on it and I will die on that hill
OR at least minimum cast time should be proportional to HP = casting it on a human opponent (like sniper) 0.5 sec cast time - Crusher 3sec
I really think with the cast speed you can get with Kinetic Resonance and/or EP a two shot for both crushers and reapers would be fine. With the caveat that two shot is achievable with WS as well, not only for EP.
Also I’ll say for the 80th time bring back lacerations for boss damage utility.
I wanted to hold off on posting until I had a bit more experience with my psyker (true level ~60), but this thread’s about to close.
first of all, there’s been a tremendous amount of helpful information in this thread so cheers for that.
My biggest issue with this class is their survivability on higher difficulties. I get it, you’re supposed to be bobbing and weaving, not face tanking, but goddamn is it frustrating when you’re doing just that and chaff comes out of nowhere and takes a swing, deleting half your toughness - god forbid if there’s more than one that have a go. i’m not seeing a ‘glass cannon’ role, rather just the glass. i know there are top-tier players who barrel through the levels, racking up colossal amounts of damage, but it’s pretty rare.
i find it really strange shriek doesn’t give toughness or have a node to provide toughness. quietude, you can shriek at 100% peril and get 25 toughness back ← that’s pathetic.
otherwise, primary issue is with the tree - build restrictions due to lack of more lateral movement in the tree. can’t take prescience + one with the warp… why???
One of the problems I see with psyker’s surviving is that they use their melee weapon too much when they are a staff build.
This sounds weird, but if you are just generating as much peril as possible and venting as much as possible you really have very few survivability issues.
You aren’t tied to having to kill anything either which is quite the departure from veteran, or zealot.
Hell you aren’t tied to even having to HIT anything if you really wanna get right down to it.
As for gunpsyker then you obviously just take the toughness gen on crit node. That just fills you right up with an autogun.
No idea on the tree design. Guess they thought assail builds shouldn’t be able to get CDR. Fair, tbh.
Well said all of it! Specifically the point about how important it is for psykers to dance at high peril. Maintaining high peril massively buffs all dmg, dmg resist, crits, all of which synergizes with so many potential talents. It also gives extra options like Vent needing 80%+ peril for best dmg, and Quietude giving up to 50% toughness just for holding quell for 2s etc. When you add all of that together, psykers are easily twice as stong at high peril than low, depending on build ofc.
But the higher your peril, the easier it is to blow yourself up and the fewer shots / blitzes you have left until capping too. So to do all that you need to do a lot more micromanaging while constantly anticipating the future, sometimes quelling pre-emptively in case you need to do a lot of nuking soon etc.
All of that feeds into the psyker’s design of high skill floor & ceiling, and great risk vs. great rewards.
Yeah Assail being locked to Mind in Motion (a literally useless talent for experienced psykers) if you want Vent or any other aura than crit, AND locked out of Psykinetic’s Aura both will never not annoy me. But all classes have the same design and ultimately I think that’s a good thing. Like vets with the crazy strong Survivalist or ammo aura having the worst talents on the path there and out. As annoying as it is however, it’s also a great idea from a design perspective. All talents are a sum of not just themselves, but also what it takes and what you sacrifice to get there.
Psykers are hard, it’s going to take time to really get into them.
For a few tips besides the bobbing & weaving: As @Tempest_yo said it’s important to maintain a decent peril (at least 50%+ but it’s dynamic so just “higher than usual” is enough tbh) and pick the talents that buff that. You should also try to prioritize using your staff instead of melee if able, for all the peril, toughness regen, being able to cleave multiple targets at once etc. Positioning is super important, so try to avoid being the closest thing to the enemy spawn, and limit the enemy to as few directions as possible using cover, doorways, corridors, backing into corners etc. Idea ofc being that it’s harder for them to get behind you while they’re forced to clump tighter together so it’s easier for you to get a lot of them with every blast.
When you do need to melee, remember that Force Sword push. For now literally just start with that the moment after switching, then mix it in between every few strikes. That CC is insane and really helps defend yourself, keeps the enemies put so it’s easier for you to move and reposition, and also makes it easy to get your own attacks in there without worrying about trading blows. Then as you get more experienced,you’ll get a better feel for it all allowing you to stay on offense more often.
As for Vent, the +25% toughness from Quietude is just the start. It keeps your toughness from reaching 0 so ranged can’t do hp damage while staggering most enemies, both of which buy you a few seconds of time. If you aimed that Vent at the biggest mass of enemies, those few seconds is enough to let you keep blasting while Vent’s Soulblaze starts proccing Soulstealer’s +toughness regen and Battle Meditation’s peril reduction everywhere. Which quickly cascades into massive survivability & dmg and lets you keep nuking, all of it adding up. Vent also has a small melee range AoE around you, not just front. So if you’re being melee’d, just dodge back before using it (so the AoE reaches the mobs behind you, while the cone catches the things at your sides), taking care of the mobs nearby while throwing them in front of you for easy nuking all at the same time. Sometimes if you’re pressed it’s also just good to just keep blocking with Kinetic Deflection and wait for the peril to build up, then dodge back & nuke, switch to staff, and go back on offense.
As for the glass cannon comment, you’re kinda right because it’s not as simple as that. Even an expertly played psyker is not going to do more dmg than an expertly played something else (certainly much more than a mid / just good player though, in pubs I virtually always top dmg and often by as much or more as the whole rest of the team put together). It’s more that they can keep doing that damage no matter what’s going on, and not just survive but thrive in crazy situations with all the tools they have.
A great example: Some of the friends I sometimes play with are crazy good, and one of them as a vet - who’s a way better player than me - almost always beats my dmg. But the difference is that they have obvious weaknesses with huge melee groups or big elite clusters, especially when out of nades. I don’t. So I can always keep delivering no matter what the game throws at us, and even tho my mechanical skill is obviously worse than his, as long as I’m not super tired I can always navigate crazy dangerous situations better than him and survive things he couldn’t. And that’s all because of the psyker. I’d never be able to do all that as a vet or something else.
Sorry for the wall of text. Anyway, I hope you keep improving! I love psykers so much, few games have something that’s just so “me”, so it always makes me happy to see more siblings eager to learn!
Not depending on high warp efficiency or dmg stats like other staves along with its small blessing pool makes it super easy and cheap to craft a fantastic Purge compared to anything else. Avoiding peril efficiency talents lets you use those points for something else, and picking Essence Harvest instead of Inner Tranquility adds a ton of survivability too.
Anyway, I hope you keep improving! I love psykers so much, few games have something that’s just so “me”, so it always makes me happy to see more siblings eager to learn!