Is the Psyker the downstate class?

New player, just got the game a week ago ( at the time of writing this) love the lore, visuals, and gameplay. Hope that the game adds new game modes like PvP, expanded customization and new items, etc.

My favorite class so far is the psyker about 40 hours in but I’m noticing… they kinda suck? One down state, which happens a lot btw, half my HP is gone ( I have 45% corruption resistance, but it doesn’t help?). Overall damage output is low for staffs and force weapons, charge up time for staffs (all types) is punishing, primary damage for voidstrike staffs have low damage for being semi-automatic, with slow projectile travel speed (I did see a video where someone was able to rapid fire one I’m not sure what type of weapon variant it was) very low base damage for specialized weapons such as inferno staff (i’m not sure how 31 damage is meaningful when soulblaze stacks don’t even do much damage after 15 stacks quickly enough to justify using the staff). All other classes kill mobs before I can even contribute.

From what I’ve seen of other psykers in game, we spend most of our time in down state. When I watch videos of people with higher ranks of game modes, they’re job is to pretty much just drop shields. I can understand being a squishy class, but the only benefit I see is that they have an extra 2.5% crit rate. When using guns, it was OK but in order to really max damage (with scrier’s gaze) I found myself ignoring all of the class mechanics that are suppose to make the class unique.

I know the inferno staff offers utility with stagger, but with other classes their damage is front loaded (both with semi-automatic and rapid fire weapons that have high dmg) and whatever utility I do provide is a hindrance because the time I spend trying to stagger them is a detriment when I could just be doing more damage. And with watching so many videos, I can’t help at feel the only thing psykers provide is a shield. and everything else, is just a gimmick.

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Psykers have by far the biggest performance gap between high and low skill. Once the difficulty gets high enough, and in the right hands, they absolutely dominate the team’s damage output. If you want to watch a recording of two Psykers dominating the teams damage output (and taking the least damage) in Rank 40 Heroic, I uploaded my first run yesterday. Unfortunately my scoreboard bugged out because of the disconnects, but here is a screenshot from my teammate’s scoreboard.

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Yeah I’m very surprised the videos you’re watching left you with so much psyker slander.

Try Ryken, Telepots, Tanner Lindberg, Mister E, Reginald. That’s not an extensive list, but I feel like you should be able to throw a rock in a dark tunnel and hit a good psyker guide.

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Psyker is mostly braindead easy(if you’re relying on smite…etc.) and super high skill ceiling(scrier’s zoom zoom), very little in between.

Psyker has a lot of crit synergy.

Emphatic Evasion give you dodge state against ranged attacks.
There is also the on-crit toughness regen + movespeed stack(huge).
Peril quell on ranged crit combined with recon las (the fastest 1200rpm one) which chains crit(what would proc one crit means next few shots on fullauto are all crits).
As long as you’re shooting you can shurg off even some monster attacks(plague ogryn and chaos spawn, if you didn’t get grabbed) with scrier’s on while being essentially immune to gunners.

Reconlas with dumdum/infernus is pretty big monster dps too.

The downside is you have to have a decent melee weapon for dealing with carapace, because brainburst is just too slow.

Psyker is one of if not the top dps but it requires basic understanding of the game(having a versatile loadout and knowing when to use what). You’re supposed to be able to ignore peril(again reconlas crit chain goes brr), that’s called synergy.

Psyker just got a 15 base toughness buff btw, that’s like a free toughness node. Also disrupt destiny is made more reliable(but now it seems to be able to jump to bigger enemies where as before it mostly if not only went to trashmobs).

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Psyker is insanely strong… but only in the hands of someone really skilled.

I am really bad as psyker. However, as several pointed it for me, psyker is about dealing pure destructives damages to create a protective area (a killing zone).
In my games, and not the ones where I test something weird, I often see psyker dealing 2 or even 3 times the damages I can deal (for reference, I often deal the highest damages of the team). And not just with the voidstrike staff, that is great at deleting horde waves due to its excellent cleave.

I am pretty sure that I have already played with Rifthaven and that the scoreboard looked the same as yours. Even a zealot with right setup cannot compete in term of damages with a skilled psyker.
This being said, I don’t really know what make this class so strong in skilled hands. I know the talents to take, I know the talent tree… but how to achieve such damages, that I don’t know. I can get higher damages dealt on auric with several classes, but never I achieved same results of what I can see from several psykers.
However, at same time, the psyker is weak and can be broken with anything. So hard to tell if the situation is so unbalanced than it seems. I tend to think that it is a little too much, but I would not even know what permits such high damages.

Oh I am Rifthaven, that’s me. The scoreboard screenshot is from my teammate because I got disconnected and lost my scoreboad. If you want to see the PoV of how I did that damage the link is in that same reply.

It mostly comes down to staying alive while aggressively pushing into the front line. Though good mechanical tech and peril management is a fair part of getting the most out of it.

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psyker is the best class for endgame if its of any consolation, i had to play psyker to be able to bruise trough the highest havocs

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If you’ve started playing recently, I’m just wondering if you’re a PS5 player?

You’ll not have access to the scoreboard if so, unfortunately, but suffice it to say that 1.7million points of damage is an insane amount! Havoc 40 is always going to give the opportunity to score more, but by way of example most people playing the ‘standard’ game mode on the toughest level would be extremely happy to hit 700,000 … that’s the last 5% skill ceiling being seen right there! (kudos @MeowBeep !)

I loved Psyker once upon a time, but my style has been slowly whittled away, and I’m very average with the class now. If you’re looking for advice, albeit some slightly out of date, then may I suggest a read through of the class suggestion pages: The Psyker Atheneum

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Psyker is very strong. But its strong comes with great weakness - they die VERY quicky.

So the main difficulty in high havoc missions is to stay alive and kill. Kill. KILL.

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Can someone define “skill” for me in this game? Because saying a psyker is good in the hands of a “skilled player” doesn’t really mean much. It sounds like a term people throw around to say “I’m better than you in a game”.

If you mean managing your peril levels, that isn’t an issue I can even post gameplay footage of me never having an issue with managing peril. I did figure out that wounds is the mechanic that divide your health bar up so you can have more downed states, which I’ve recently paired with the ability to ignore downstate and just take the corruption damage.

I don’t quantify accuracy to the extent to say that I am better than anyone or worst than anyone, you point aim and shoot, and being that I play this on pc I don’t have an issue with aiming.

and I did watch MeowBeep’s video and I’m not seeing how his statement of a performance gap between “high skill and low skill” is justified. I see mostly kiting and weakspot kills on elites. Something I’ve gotten fairly familiar with. You were in a group with 1 other psyker and 2 zealots. In terms of dps, comparing your performance to what I’ve seen of veterans and ogryn, if you had either one of them in your group you would have completed your run at least 25% faster, with the most important component to your survivability was using the shield, but to either one of those classes, your utility would have been icing on the cake rather than a defining contributor to success.

So as far as comparing your footage to how I play, including the footage of other’s who I have watched play, which I also used the voidstaff as well, the reason Rifthaven out damaged you was because he was using the voidstaff. Most of the footage is consistent with how all psykers are forced to play, but that doesn’t change my original views of the class

The game isn’t that difficult to master so saying “skill is the issue” doesn’t really mean much. Surviving is one thing, but being able to do damage is another. With playing other games there is always a huge trade off for being so squishy, but here it’s not the same.

Don’t get me wrong, I really do enjoy playing a psyker, regardless of how I feel or even think of the class. I like the class fantasy of it and will continue to play regardless. There are times I feel like I can contribute, but it terms of power distribution, no amount of skill is going to change the fact that using the class for it’s class fantasy is relegated to nothing more than a meme.

Never ever ever getting hit while continuing to dole out damage. That requires mechanical skill, positioning knowledge, game sense, etc.

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Same as every other game? Saying you have skill in one game and it not translating to another doesn’t mean much. You defined the concept of playing video games in general. Skill used in this context would be pertaining to class mechanics and using the class for its class mechanics properly. So, you basically read the first line, and didn’t account for anything else?

Psyker is a glass cannon. The Inferus and 2 Void- staffs (at least, haven’t checked in with Electro in a while) are quite strong. I’m not saying anything about your personal skill level. But the Tide games aren’t like many other games. It takes a lot of practice to not get hit, and not getting hit is the key to continuing to output damage.

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I will define what it means for me.
When I play a psyker, I feel vulnerable. I can play it on regular damnation and can get the lead in term of DPS. However, in auric, I will be far behind other players. I cannot play maelstrom with this class.
At most I will do like 20% damages less than what I can do with my zealot / vet or even ogryn.

A skilled player can do 2 times or even 3 times what I can do with my zealot when I play really good. I can do all great move, I can kill a wave of 15 scab gunners, kill hordes by packs… the psyker will do a lot more damages.

In fact, I don’t have the skills to play at this level. But also, the class allows to deal insane damages if you masterise the psyker gameplay.
this does not mean I will never succeed… this means that I have still not reached this skill level.

I have seen such damages with a purgatus or even a trauma. Not sure for the surge, but I am sure it can happen.
I have not seen a gunner psyker that could do such damages (this doesn’t mean it is not possible, just that I have never seen it). Even if my own build I use permits me to deal insane damages in regular damnation (but never used in auric).

This reminds me the APU of Neocron (i think few here should know this game). You deal insane damages, if you don’t get hit. If you get hit, you end on floor.

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Not going to lie, I just looked at the other class trees for the first time, and their trees do reflect more cohesion than psykers imo and offer consistent support with their playstyle. I’m understanding the idea for glass cannon is there, but I’m not seeing how it’s implemented to be competitive.

The voidstaff is strong in it’s own regard, but it doesn’t out perform anything else to justify using it over any other weapon. The only real perk I can see from using it is that it doesn’t require ammo. it is strong enough, but for what the other classes get out of their tree, +30% to primary after fully charging secondary doesn’t really translate well in a lot of scenarios, especially if their isn’t a tank in the frontlines.

A lot of the tree is for me is dedicated to managing peril and I get 10% crit. I can use the Scrier’s Gaze with the void staff, but most of the time I don’t get enough value out of it to justify using it (the utility from the other 2 just out value it). With using Scrier’s Gaze with the void staff, I felt really strong but the downside is it brings me to within comparable levels of other classes at the expense of potential downstate (which I’ve mitigated with wounds and corruption resistance, but with the intensity of the game this can be difficult to justify using is many scenarios).

I see the glass part, not so much the cannon. The other classes can handle elites and specialist very well (1 or two shots easily and better wave management to boot) and have survivability and utility woven into their kit very well. In all of the damnation level content I’ve done so far, regardless of how well I play, I am out damaged and out-survived by other classes.

And this isn’t a “whole skill level” type ordeal. This is me being in the same scenarios where other classes have lived, I have died. In countless games I will be standing right next to my allies swinging my sword and just randomly die or go into downstate because I don’t have their survivability, but the problem is I don’t do enough damage to compensate for me being squishy. Now I’m not going to lie, using the inferno staff with the stagger does help greatly in those situations and I am really enjoying it because of the stagger mechanic. But just like with the footage of MeowBeep, even with the Nurgle boss, He was in the back avoiding damage while the boss got melted in seconds by the 2 zealots.

Gonna stop you there chief, because - as politely as I can say something that’s ultimately pretty blunt - I think you’re slightly naive to say this game isn’t difficult to master.

Putting out a lot of damage while not dying is an incredibly high skill ceiling that, I can tell you now, quite often takes hundreds and hundreds of hours of play. Knowing how to be able to shoot consistently while not being hit yourself needs a good team as often as not, and detailed knowledge of map layouts, likely enemy spawn points, enemy types and numbers, and your build tree. And also what to do when it all goes boobsup and you have to crack out the melee. That’s the skill.

Pretty much on all characters, albeit with different flavours of risk and reward.

Anyway, I hope you revisit this in a few months with 200 hours under your belt and level 40 havoc cracked ('cos I’ll ask for a carry :wink: )

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I disagree. The game is easy and I’ll stand by that. If you’re familiar with first person shooters there is no level of mastery you can’t obtain that will not translate over to other games. I’m noticing that in this community that people think this game is some niche experience that no other game offers. It’s like you guys are trying to over complicate killing stuff? The game has RPG elements, but overall there is one goal, shoot 'til it’s dead. If you cant hit your target, then you’re not winning.

Is this not Left for dead, 40k edition? Is there not an AI director that manages game intensity, which increases significantly while players are not in coherence (meaning if someone lags behind they are swarmed?). The spawn locations mean nothing in terms of accomplishing a goal. You press forward and they send more enemies to make that difficult.

While the skills, animations, and themes are unique to this game, the mechanics are not unique to this genre. I don’t like to relegate myself or anyone else in terms of if they are a good player or not, putting it bluntly. Because while many of these comments vary to some degree, there is a common tone.

Your trying to call me a bad player without calling me a bad player because I am sharing my experience of disapproval with a particular classes performance. There is no skill issue, there is what you think you can do versus what you can actually do.

Again, it’s like your all saying I’m bad at the game because I disagree with how well the class performs. With 40+ hours in game after a week of owning it there is nothing that 200 hours will offer me besides the fact that you think I’m bad at the game and are trying to be vague about it. I have thousands of hours in various FPS, mmo’s and co-op games. You’re trying to make it seem like this game is any different. So far the only thing you and your compadres have said is the issue is skill. But personally I tend to spend just as much time researching a game as actually playing it. There is no footage I have come across to support any of your claims that regardless of how many hours invested, the results are the same.

You think passive aggression really is going to offend me? Try being more straight forward with your meaning, this is an open discussion and trying to dance around the bush isn’t getting us anywhere. Because while so far the only statement all of you have come up with is skill, all the footage if psykers is kiting (a concept I’m sure you’re familiar with) and putting up shields.

I am talking about making things dead, and when I see that things die before I can even use my class for it’s mechanics, I’m saying that there is little point to it. I have no issues surviving. The problem is, does my damage lag behind. and the answer is yes. I can run around and not get hit, I can hit my targets, but when I don’t do comparable damage to other classes that is the issue. No amount of skill is going to change the fact that you shoot enemies in the head, avoid hitting the armor components, and aim for weak spots on nurgles back.

My personal skill doesn’t need to be quantified, nor have I used it as a measure of quantification for other player’s performance. I merely stated that it seems as if people who offer a counter argument aren’t aware of how little they actually contribute to the overall success of a mission and 1 video about 2 psykers and 2 zealots that actually proves my point is suppose to make a difference?

Here, Let me summarize your post as well as others, “your not good, get better”, but when I look at what’s better, it’s exactly what I expected?

But I’m not naive enough to overlook that, am I?

Highly-skilled psykers don’t go down:

or

Also, corruption resistance doesn’t do anything for the whole wound of health that is corrupted when a player goes down.

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I think you take it personal.
There are people that will launch “skill issues” a lot of time, every time they can.

However, this is not what is said here. In the topic, what it was said is that the psyker needs hours to masterise (in fact all classes need time). You think it is like any other game, I don’t feel it like that.
I have 3 152 hours behind me… and I still don’t masterise this class. I play well zealot and veteran, but psyker I still need training (and I handle an ogryn also, but not as good as I play zealot / veteran).

Feel free to think you can do better than a lot of players in 40 hours… but what is sure is that this class is THE damage dealer of this game

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