The problem is I just wanted my defensive build to not be so lack luster on damage.
After watching the video Iâd have to concur with the others. Your lack of performance is both due to using a sub optimal build (for damage) and making some rookie mistakes like constantly running with your staff out instead of chaining slides for infinite stamina.
Some thoughts/critiques on the video in no particular order:
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Right off the bat itâs clear youâre using a support build that will never outdamage a pure damage spec. Smite and shield wall do nothing to improve DPS. If you want damage you should be running something like a wildfire build with brain burst + both sub talents (kinetic flayer especially), venting shriek with the burning sub talent, and enhanced psi. You should also be taking Battle Meditation because it is the best psyker talent by a mile.
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Battle Meditation is psykerâs unique superpower in that they can spend peril for damage and vent peril automatically just by killing things through battle meditation. Hence the more you kill the more you can kill and then the more you kill in an endless cycle. Itâs not impossible to kill so fast that you become peril neutral and can spam staff attacks for free. This makes battle meditation the core of every DPS build, but in order to make this this work you have to play very aggressively, you should be ahead of the rest of the party always diving into the next pack of enemies and lining up void shots on fresh hordes when they are nicely packed together (and before the plasma vet can get to them first).
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Itâs not impossible for smite to deal fat stacks of damage in combination with advanced psi, but for void staff synergy BB is better because it comes with kinetic flayer. Flayer will proc constantly for massive damage while you use your staff which feeds more kills into battle meditation and perilous/wildfire. BB with enhanced psi can also be used to quickly snipe lone specials and elites faster than void can, at no peril cost if you bank enhanced charges, and you donât even need to look at them or stop moving forward to get the kill, so itâs good for playing aggressive and outpacing your teammates.
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Perilous Combustion and Wildfire are a must for serious damage builds. Both BB and void staff are excellent at killing elites and specials, which then burn everything around them to death, which then spreads fire to more enemies, which burns THEM to death and so forth, feeding huge numbers of kills into battle meditation to refund peril you can sink back into more void staff attacks. This is one of the methods you can be peril neutral while dealing massive DPS.
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Venting shriek is a must for staff-oriented damage builds. Venting peril not only lets you shoot the staff more but it also allows you to shoot your staff all the way to 100% peril, and then shoot again AT 100% âfor freeâ, then save yourself from exploding by venting afterwards and gaining more peril to shoot with and start the cycle again. The burning upgrade for venting shriek is also very powerful, if you vent at 100% you will deal six stacks of burn to anything in your FOV (even through walls) which is enough to kill basic horde enemies outright and feeds into wildfire like gasoline pouring onto molten iron. For a void staff build Iâd recommend using shriek with three +4% ult cooldown curios because it synergizes so well.
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When shooting your void staff you should be spamming minimum charged shots at every opportunity while simultaneously advancing forwards to the next target. Minimum charges are more peril efficient because they get more killing blows (especially in dense hordes) per peril spent and donât overkill enemies. You should only use a full charge if you know for a fact that your target can absorb it like an undamaged armoured elite, a boss, or when sniping enemies very far away before your teammates can steal your kill.
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For optimal void staff play you should be using one of two builds. If youâre not using the Battle Meditation/Wildfire/Venting combo then Warp Flurry+Transfer Peril blessings are ideal because they can make you peril neutral just by spamming minimum charged shots into hordes at head level. Otherwise Warp Nexus+Surge is very powerful because you will be riding the 100% peril line using venting shriek and thus will proc Surge very often to double your damage output. This build can also be peril neutral against hordes through battle meditation but is more luck based because of crit RNG.
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Generally speaking hipfire is a waste of time outside of one circumstance. When you are advancing forwards through the map hipfire can be used without slowing down (while sliding even) which lets you suppress enemies as you get closer. In just about every other imaginable case minimum charged shots are more appropriate. Hipfire is much more practical when using Surge because the double-shot procs constantly.
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In the video you spend a lot of time peeking from cover like doorways. Unless the enemy has vast fire superiority like a whole gunner patrol or something, this is usually unnecessary. 99% of the time simply dodging to the side in between minimum charged shots while using said shots to suppress and kill enemy shooters is enough to keep enemy ranged DPS below your toughness regen, essentially making you invulnerable. Toughness talents are personal preference but this is easy to achieve with the combo of Soulstealer/Quietude/Battle Meditation and many other configurations will work. You can never have too much toughness regen because every time your toughness bounces back to 100% it prevents chip damage from the next incoming melee hit.
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Melee on psyker is mostly personal preference, but as far as void staff synergy goes you should be using a force sword. The primary benefit is that you can vent peril using your sword while simultaneously defending yourself, then go right back to blasting afterwards. Iâd recommend the Illisi because it has a horde clearing charged horizontal strike and complements the void staff well. If you have a wildfire build Blazing Spirit is essential because burning enemies leads into wildfire which feeds battle meditation which feeds the void staff and so on so forth. The second sword blessing is down to personal preference but I like the synergy from Shred because I run the âtoughness regen on critâ talent.
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The only other critique Iâd make is that you need to be more aware of positioning. You spend a lot of time firing charged shots from the same spot you were in when the engagement began, and in several instances this leads to you getting downed a tennis court length away from your teammates who have to return and rescue you. Itâs possible to move and fight at the same time, you can dodge between charged shots and hipfire while sliding. Your teammates donât clean up every last enemy because itâs more efficient to advance to the next enemy group and engage them while the stragglers catch up, if youâre getting isolated by the leftovers itâs because youâre not maintaining pace with them.
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huge WildfireâŚ
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voidstrike is supposed to be your basic fireball staff, if it even can be compared to a plasma gun its due to psyker talent tree being overpowered
can you imagine if they were doing the same damages? when psyker quell his peril faster than a veteran reloading a laspistol
Very comprehensive, neutral, and honest feedback. Thank you. Loved reading it.
This is what weâre running. Not crazy about the DSIV change, but I do happen to like this particular illisi.
I wonât be commenting on your defensive build and playstyle failing to compete against plasma, others have done it already.
However, I quickly searched the thread for toughness and I donât see that anyone pointed one thing out. Your 106 max toughness makes me sad. Without overtaxing your build, you should be able to reach 140+ mark easy, both through talents and curious. Less toughness breaks means less concerns about your wellbeing, more focused âphew phewâ time, and more talent points available for and offensive set up.
Iâve been told that more health is better. So I was running that for a while. Each approach has their pros and cons. If your shield breaks, you wonât die in one hit. But your shield is weak and so is your regen.
Go high toughness, your regen is high, but youâre a piece of paper.
Running resistances in curios.
Both are extremely overtuned.
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I just dont see it. If they were that op surely the plasma and the voidstrike wouldve left the other two in the dust in @Cerebrophageâs game, but the plasma and voidstrike both got lower scores.
I know the plasma is strong, but I dont think its as strong as people make out and seems to only shine in a REALLY good players hands. Even then, my experience is, I dont see it in my games being op, ever.
Iv yet to see this fabled plasma that ruins games.
In fact Id be more suspicious that the person is using an aimbot if they are literally killing everything before I get a chance to do anything.
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HP is nice too, but you get decent curios I usually aim for between 140+ to 170 toughness and approx 220 HP. Donât discount the toughness, you will get less chip HP damage if your toughness is not broken, also no action interrupts which is the most infuriating thing in the game atm. Toughness break in a bad spot can mean instant death at times.
I havenât read all answers, but with voidstrike I would personally go for warp charges instead of DD.
Also you dont need Assailâs second upgrade for quicker regen, pick something like Quietude. There is also that forbidden Voidstrike + Surge blessing + Scrierâs Gaze technic everyone sweats so hard about 
ye iâve been playing psyker with 90 - 100 thougness and i feel like swimming in it with all the regen perks
on paper regen talents do better with more max thougness but iâm not feeling any difference whenever i try
maybe more thougness would be better if you donât go globe however, it has to be said
You @'d the wrong guy. And, I have to say, the ability to hip fire, by dead accurate, and kill most specialists/elites in one shot and have how many rounds per magazine⌠is a bit much. Lower the LMB damage/decrease accuracy/increase heatbuildup. Any would work.
Youâre gonna make me start adding in weapons to my scoreboards, and I really donât want to; I hate the extra clutter. I hate scoreboards anyway because it makes the game feel competitive. Which, isnât why I play DT. I play DT to find roles and do well at them, not to pad damage (which, I feel in my experience, is usually the only stat that matters to people). But, Iâll keep a look out for more plasma gun games. When I do see PG users, I can count on being out classed even when I have the optimal damage build for VS. Only if Iâm super sweating, can I carry my own weight against that sort of mobility and damage output.
Whoops! I will fix it now.
Skill issue.
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Personally Im mostly annoyed by the useless charge shot. I think they should remove punchthru from the normal shot and only have the charge shot do it but idk, just a thought.
In the game you posted, you were BOTH outclassed on almost all stats by the other two using an autogun and a flamer.
Im just saying, the game you posted doesnt show an op plasma gun at all. It shows the plasma being outclassed by a flamer and an autogun.
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Seems more like a squelching issue. Not anymore though.
Right, thatâs why Iâm going to keep an eye out for when it happens.
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I think instead of counting on being outclassed you should think about how you can play better. Voidstrike when properly used will easily overtake plasma users. I havenât found one yet where I even get outperformed.
I guess itâs possible there are some people that might be able to outright outclass me on Voidstrike with plasma, but then it has to be some insane player which again isnât a plasma thing. Seen peeps with lasgun just deleting every threat with lightning speed and precise headshots before so there are some crazies out there.
Hereâs with the suggested changes.
Had a rough start, had a hard time finding my footing off that. I was pushing as hard as I could, which creates errors in desperation. Thereâs a few spots in here where the PG just repeatedly beats me to the punch, but thereâs one thing I have that he doesnât; Horde clear ad nauseam.