How do I Psyker?

[RasMoti]

i mixed this up with Puragtus.

@Beravin

assail is too random

RMB can tag a target for Assail. Not sure how it works exactly, but i use it for Snipers and it mostly works.

@SilverJack

No matter what I’ve built, I always feel fragile in pubs even with meme stuff like taking all toughness generating perks + Warp Charges w/ toughness regen. It genuinely feels to me as if you must commit fully to playing only the Psyker for all of your playtime or you’ll always feel like something is wrong with the class or that you’re having a bad game.

same here.
I tried a lot of combos with Staffs and Skills/ Blizz/ Ability and it’s really not that easy to find what you like like with the other classes.

Trauma Staff is good can be fun
Void is good, can be fun
Surge is good, is the most fun to me tbh and the stagger is enough for me to not use Smite.
My Surge has Terrifying Barrage and Warp Nexus and kills packs of elites sufficently, but i need room to kite like @kagekiri said thats true and Trauma for cqc situations with Packs is better stagger and more reliable.

but Trauma is hart to use in many other situations with obstacles.
On range only Void does the job well. If you have a good team it’s the Staff to go i guess.

Smite and Shield is fun to use if you like beeing a supporter.
I sometimes like it and yu can safe or help the most runs with randoms a lot and make them not wipe.

Assail is great versus many things even longrange sometimes.
Brain Burst can help some teams where you dont have anyone good at range, but is too slow.
I had runs with 2-4 Snipers around and nobody could deal with them. That was the moment i wished for BB or Void Staff.

I blew myself up too often if i dont use Shriek.
If i play Support with a Shield i need to be very carefull, especially if i pair it with some damage source like Assail and not Smite CC

For melee wepaons imho the Illisi MK5 is nive, but the Duelling MK 4 give you more movement and can do the same the Illisi MK5 can do without the need to charge up.

Why not MK5 some may ask?
Well i like to have some cleave to get Rampage T4 procc.
At least when i use a crit build and the heavy and special attack is much better.
It can one-twoshot Muties like a charged Force Sword and even deal with Maulers etc. if you aim for weakspot.

[Koranthus02]

My go to build currently is Brain Burst for Snipers, Trauma for everything else, and I use the Illisi Force sword for the charged cleave attack and deflector and bubble shield to give momentary breathing room to either deal with snipers via BB or to help my team get to actual cover. Its the best balance i could find so far, just took a few matches to nail down the trauma staff ranges, if you pair the brain burst subtalent that gives you faster charging and less peril you can basically pop a bubble and then almost instacast BB on snipers. Also running block efficiency on my curios and sword, plus the peril block talent,(plus deflector gives like 30%)lets me tank gunners a lot easier with deflector. I dislike voidstrike staff, it has more range than trauma but i feel like the stagger,knockdown is much worse for larger groups. I know that build is particular to me but its reduced my issues a bit by taking close range issues off the table since trauma can knock down everything except monsters, which i either spam trauma secondaries at(seems to do decent damage) or charged illisi heavies if its not a nurgle. I have the blessing that scales illisi power with peril so it can hit decently hard. Not saying its perfect but its my recommendation for surviving better since it just leaves gunners as an issue, which i deal with via shields between cover and deflector. It also has nice team value with the shield and knocking a pack of whatever on their ass off your teammates so they can just smack them on the ground. I think any solid team can make good use of all that.

[Elodie]

@CommanderJ

I mean, to be brutally honest, Psyker is just plain worse than the other classes in the game. It requires more skill, but the problem is that you have to work a lot harder than other classes… and you will still perform worse.

Unpopular opinion and I’m sure droves of Psyker mains will come to defend the class. I’m a Psyker main too, but it’s honestly brutally obvious how weak the class is compared to everyone else. Yeah of course it’s viable, you can top scoreboards with it, blah blah blah.

At the end of the day, the other classes are way tankier or have way more DPS - and most of the time both.

I have no idea how you could claim to be a main psyker and say something like this?

I’ve played T5+ exclusively, maining 2 psykers since release (I would have made more but we only get 5 slots and I wanted at least one of each class ofc). With the worst passive defenses like hp/toughness & dmg reduction etc, they depend exclusively on their enormous toolkit and tons of unique gameplay mechanics and tricks about none of which the game ever tells you. So you’re right that they have the highest skill floor & ceiling.

Things others can just ignore or facetank will easily interrupt, severely wound or even kill a psyker. So you need to be extremely good at positioning, dodging, sliding, blocking, enemy prioritization, learn breakpoints & charge levels, manage peril, and especially awareness in general. Where oggies or zellies can make countless mistakes and not even notice, psykers have to play nearly flawlessly to really do well. I’m sure for some having to personally handle every detail like that feels like working harder. For me that’s what makes it so fun!

Once you get to that level, psykers are mind bogglingly strong and way more fun than any other class. I couldn’t care less about scoreboards with how limited they are. Psykers are the only class capable of handling just about every single situation, and can do this across tons of different builds. I have at least one crazy strong clutch/carry build for every staff + gunpsykers for example, many of them having several variations and I’m constantly exploring more. Psykers have insane damage, AoE, CC, mobility, defense and utility across all ranges. And played & built right their survivability is second to none.

My only big complaint with them is the broken cheating AI since the Oct 3:rd patch, which instead of being fixed has only gotten worse. With their low passives, psykers are the most vulnerable class against instant specialist spawns nevermind soundless disablers & bursters. But that’s not the psyker’s fault, it’s the AI that needs fixing.

[CommanderJ]

You’re half right. This is a trap that many delude themselves into.

The skill ceiling on Psyker is very high in isolation. In a vacuum. Yes, you will do better as a Psyker the more time, skill and effort you put into it. Guess what? If you put half as much skill and effort into a different class, you will perform better.

In the first half of your post you list all the things that make Psyker a lot more difficult than the other classes. The problem is that you conflate mastering this as being personally rewarding with being actually rewarded by the game. It isn’t.

Hell, you’ve admitted elsewhere to dodge slide every time you use a staff… and yet you claim this is a strong class? Are you even hearing yourself?

@Elodie

psykers are mind bogglingly strong

No, they’re not.

@Elodie

Psykers are the only class capable of handling just about every single situation

No, they’re really, really not.

You can play well with them, it can be fun, it can be personally rewarding… but as I said you are unfortunately deluding yourself when you think they are a strong class. The fact that you can even pretend to claim that Psykers have insane damage (overall, outside of one weapon on gunpsyker) shows that you are so massively underestimating the other classes that it’s not even funny. You even manage to claim that their mobility(???) and survivability(???) is second to NONE?

Holy mother of the Emperor, you are so far down the rabbit hole. Put one third of your time and effort into Zealot, then come talk to us about mobility and survivability.

Let’s make it easy for you to verify your claims.

1: Which talents in the Psyker talent tree provide the “insane damage?” One assumes these would be talents that at least match the damage and attack speed of other classes. Though, in fairness, since to be insane these talents ought to surpass the other classes.

2: Which talents in the Psyker talent tree makes Psyker the most survivable of all the classes? Once again this should be damage reduction, second life, insane and instant toughness regen (on demand) at least on par with other classes… but you said second to none, so really, once again you have to demonstrate that it surpasses the other classes.

3: Mobility. You have to point to the talents that provide speed, immunity and mobility at least on par with other classes, but you said second to none, so once again you have to point out how these talents make Psyker the most mobile of all the classes.

[Flawless]

Best dmg: Ogryn with kickback. Spam it at everything. Takes 1 braincell and no skill to beat any other class with any loadout in dmg and kills.

Best mobility and survivability: Knife stealth zealot. Takes 2 braincells and no skill to outrun and survive absolutely anything. It simply trivializes everything in regard to not dying.

When compared to “normal“ setups on other classes, the psyker is competitive though.

[CommanderJ]

Eh any number of Zealot builds is comfortably better than Psyker. Heck, a Zealot with 6 active stacks of martyrdom is more survivable than a Psyker… while doing more damage.

[Flawless]

@CommanderJ

Eh any number of Zealot builds is comfortably better than Psyker. Heck, a Zealot with 6 active stacks of martyrdom is more survivable than a Psyker… while doing more damage.

When playing psyker, the only thing (with a single exception) that has outdamaged me or has even come close to my damage in months, was ogryns who spammed their shotguns at everything (both auto shotgun and kickback, but kickback especially).
And they did it with ease and not much skill involved.

I have not seen zealots topping damage or kills in quite some time, but they certainly move faster than anyone else and have the easiest time staying alife (by a long shot).

So yes the psyker is definitely competitive. As long as you do not try to compete for damage with a shotgun spamming ogryn, or try to compete for speed or survivability with a knife zealot.

[Elodie]

I mean I have one of each class +2 psykers, and around 2k hours in the game. So tons and tons of builds with fantastic gear for each. I’ve spent a LOT of time playing other classes too, but ofc relatively speaking I can only claim to be an expert on psykers. Idk your hours but I feel plenty confident in that I likely understand way more about the game as a whole and definitely about the intricacies of every single class, most weapons and builds on T5+ than you seem to think. Regardless, I could have chosen to switch over and main any other class at any time I wanted. And yet, I haven’t.

For your dodge slide comment, I don’t follow. You don’t do it? Or don’t like it out of … idk, some principle? I assume you think it a negative for psykers? Yet it adds a layer of skill, and enables extreme mobility while evading ranged (which would otherwise interrupt your charging, contributing perfectly to the psyker toolset). Maybe you mean others don’t have to do it, or that they can do it too? You’re free to try it ofc, and find that gun blessings or aiming don’t quite work the way staves do. The slide / dodge while charging & firing trick is just one of the many, many psyker gameplay mechanics that contribute to high level play. All of which combine for extra effort yes, but with superior performance too.

As for the rest, well… I guess I’ll respond in kind.

First off your impatient, insulting and patronizing tone makes it pretty clear you’re not here for dialogue or to exchange experiences, certainly not to learn something new. You’d made up your mind long before. Second, your random 3-bullet challenge shows you either completely failed to grasp the entire point (ie. it’s not about 1 talent vs. another, it’s about the synergies of combining tools, actions, gear and talents unique to psykers in a way only an expert can). That or you just went for some arbitrary strawman just because.

This all being the case, nothing I say would make a bit of difference for either of us. So let’s stop this here. Maybe we’ll both have a better day tomorrow.

[CommanderJ]

Well at least you’ve shown that you cannot, in fact, supply any evidence for your claims. That there is, in fact, no combination of talents that provide Psyker with better damage, survivability or mobility than any other class. There’s certainly no combination of amazing, unique and functional blessings on the staves that will somehow elevate them, or Psyker, to these great heights you describe.

The ‘random’ 3 bullet challenge was not random, it simply prompted you to explain and prove three distinct claims that you made. Instead of actually providing even a smidge of proof to back up your claims, you once again resort to vague claims.

@Elodie

It’s not about 1 talent vs. another, it’s about the synergies of combining tools, actions, gear and talents unique to psykers in a way only an expert can

This is a meaningless statement if you cannot actually provide those synergies, that only an ‘expert’ can use. Clearly you cannot. Is it the innate stamina regen? The ability to peril block, which certainly only experts know about? Which combination of talents, blessings and expert knowledge make Psyker unparalleled bar NONE in survivability and mobility, and gives insane damage on top?

And yes, here is the massive gaping glaring disconnect in all your arguments. You don’t have to dodge slide on other classes. But you certainly can. Imagine using all the awareness, placement, dodge sliding, blocking, pre-empting enemies, making sure you’re in the right spot at all times… on a class that is inherently better.

[CommanderJ]

You can’t really do comparisons like that - especially in the last couple of months, because the vast majority of players you encounter in PUGs will not be anywhere close to the level of people who have played since release. And even among those, high playtime does not always equal skill / in-depth knowledge of the game.

All you can really do is compare to yourself. I’m confident many on these forums would top scoreboards most of the time, regardless of class and loadout.

As for Zealots, they probably on average deal a lot less horde damage than certain other classes / builds, but I’d bet money on their damage done to priority targets being way, way up there.

[Elodie]

@CommanderJ

Well at least you’ve shown that you cannot, in fact, supply any evidence for your claims…

Right. Well hey, I tried being the better person.

I checked your post history when I made my last reply. This blatant toxicity and willful ignorance? You do that a lot. So have a block and good bye.

[CommanderJ]

Wilful ignorance?

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. You have claimed that Psyker, who is near-universally considered glass, has the best survivability in the game - among other wild claims. When challenged, you were unable to make an argument to support these claims.

Have a good day.

[Flawless]

@CommanderJ

You have claimed that Psyker, who is near-universally considered glass, has the best survivability in the game

Psyker definitely does not have the best surivability, but it is pretty decent.
It is certainly good enough for my taste.

Although it is not based on being able to facetank a lot of damage (like ogryn), or simply walking away from the danger (like some zealot setups).

[Tempest_yo]

@CommanderJ

The fact that you can even pretend to claim that Psykers have insane damage

I mean. Even without MK V Columnus I top damage by a long shot every time (by long shot I mean double to triple sometimes), but I don’t think it’s effective damage.

While spamming assail into hordes isn’t exactly super valuable he is in fact technically correct which is the best kind of correct.

Empowered Psionics + Assail really let’s you damage wh*re if you want to.

[BongoSkaggs]

Looks like you ran into the same wall I did. My condolences trying to talk sense to someone more eager in continuing their pity party circlejerk than having a dialogue.

[Mezmorki]

Here’s the thing. If you take any particular metric (DPS, max damage, survivability, mobility, etc) then I think other classes can out compete psyker.

You probably can’t out DPS a maximum kill ogryn or out live a zealot or out snipe a vet.

But psyker can perform well across most categories while also bringing a lot of utility to the team - auras to reduce cooldown, ranged power without consuming ammo (if you use a staff), great AoE, CC, and DOT effects. Deflector plus kinetic deflection makes you quite tanky to clutch revives. BB is amazing for killing slippery specials in tense situations. Smite can trivialize mixed horde combats and make life easy for your teammates.

As a psyker, you might not top the damage charts, but you’re like a Swiss Army knife of tools and options for dealing with almost any situation. I think that’s pretty important.

Totally anecdotal, but one of the easiest auric histg missions I’ve done recently was four psykers. We just walked through the map in a tight pod and everything just melted around us. I couldn’t believe it.