At the moment, Psyker is all right. It’s not bad, it’s good, it’s not great.
Psyker can spam BB like a nutter, but unfortunately the damage on BB sucks arse on higher difficulties - 4 pops for Mutant (3 on Heresy), 3-4 pops for Ogryn Elite, 2 for Maulers, Ragers, Flamers (1 on Heresy) and even 2 for Pox Hounds.
It’s 3 seconds per BB, or 2.25s after Kinetic Barrage cast. This damage is pretty darn low considering enemy density in higher difficulties. Combined with allies, sure, Psyker still serves his purpose to a degree but he is certainly in a worse spot than other classes (especially Veteran for long-range Elite killing).
It has the benefit of locking onto an enemy, and so even retreating elites will suffer the BB damage if they run behind cover… but in that same vein suffers the problem of requiring LoS that is blocked by obstacles that a Veteran can shoot through (railings, fences etc.) which really make BB suffer - because the targeting for it is so unreliable – that as well as auto-targeting the wrong enemy in hordes where a Veteran can easily pick out their headshots by comparison.
My suggestions
We can’t really fix the issues, unless Fatshark remove fences and railings (that can be shot through) from the LoS check and let us target through them (highly recommended)… but for other such changes I would like to see:
- Staves. Remove the Strike special attack. I have never used this besides the one time I tested it in practice and decided to never use it again. Absolutely useless attack - we have melee weapons that serve its purpose far better.
Instead, allow Brain Burst to be cast while holding a staff. The special attack button should be able to be held for Brain Burst. Consequently, have staff stats affect the Brain Burst.
This means up to a maximum of 80% bonus damage on Brain Burst, the results of which would be (at a max stat, so the best of the best gear):
- 1 shots for Ragers, Flamers and Hounds.
- 2-3 shots for Mutants (Warp stack dependent).
- 2 shots for Maulers.
- 2 shots for Crushers, Reapers and Bulwarks.
Besides those differences, a significant difference to overall benefit to your allies who will also be damaging those enemies (typically) allowing for quicker takedowns in general. There would also be the useful Warp Resistance allowing for more Brain pops in heated battles against large crowds of Elites and Specials (particularly for Damnation and Heresy). 3s per Brain Burst, when it takes just as much time for a Veteran to unload a full magazine, and then another 3s to reload it – the DPS of the Psykers against elites lies in the power to Brain Burst (the staves are NOT for DPS - they are for CC and horde clearing, staff dependent). Having to quell down to 98% each time after just 3 pops (or 7 is casting 3 then Kinetic Barrage, then 4 more) – bearing in mind it often accidentally targets the wrong enemy, this kills DPS when trying to clear elites because of the constant need to quell.
TLDR:
- Allow staff damage and warp resist stats affect Brain Burst, and change staff ‘Strike’ special attack to Brain Burst.
- Blaze Force Sword. A great weapon for single-target DPS, can hit some nasty damage numbers on Crit.
Just make the Alt. attack count as a Brain Burst and refresh/add warp stacks on kill. This seriously needs to change.
Feats. Overall, with the changes above anything else would start making the Psyker very strong, so not much to change here, however:
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Toughness. Psyker is the ‘glass-cannon’, it’s supposed to be weak and deal a lot of damage but the damage isn’t great. Change Quietitude to regen at least 8-10% of Toughness for 10% Peril. 5% is ass.
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Soulblaze. At the moment I view these feats as completely useless. Maybe I’m wrong, but the damage is completely crap and the CC is very short. Considering how good Inner Tranquility is, Wrack and Ruin is terrible.
2 stacks of Soulblaze in 3m on special/elite kill. The damage is stackable, but only for each kill and you’d have to pop about 6 heads for the damage to even be noticeable (and that means enemies standing within 3m of each other for this entire duration).
Seriously, buff the stacks per kill. Make it 5-6 stacks of Soulblaze (it’s only 3m range, and requires special/elite kill) – most specials and elites aren’t sitting in the middle of a horde, so this skill sucks.
- Kinetic Overload. Applies to only 1 enemy at random, focusing elites of course. Damage is far more considerable and has significant range, however it limits Warp Charges to 4. Targeting seems to be random, but tends to prioritise the same target until it is dead (but sometimes jumps to another).
Unfortunately, unless you can stack kills on one target, the damage is pretty insignificant still. I would suggest that this thing either deals more stacks of Soulblaze (8+) as it requires max Warp charges, it is single target, and it is on kill - or alternatively allow it to only apply the 4 stacks, but also weaken the enemy to take +% damage from all sources - making it a priority target for allies or your next BB.
- Ascendant Blaze. Change the effect for gaining Warp Charges. This skill depletes all charges, so I’d suggest 5% change for Warp Charge on enemy kill AFFECTED BY Soulblaze . i.e. If an enemy is on fire from Soulblaze, they have a 5% chance to grant a Warp charge. Having to get kills with the actual DoT is awful, except when facing hordes and using the Purgatus Staff (under which circumstances you aren’t BBing elites and specials to make use of those charges - charges which deplete after 25s anyway).
This would also encourage allies to specifically target elites affected by Soulblaze, acting sort of like a ping to kill that enemy.
This is how I’d like to see Psyker work. An actual glass cannon and potential debuffer.
My gripe with the class at the moment is that it’s pretty much used in one way. Grab Kinetic Overload and just get popping - the other ‘builds’ aren’t good enough. I would like to see Soulblaze actually find a foothold in end-game builds, because at the moment is sucks.
I’d also like to see and overall boost in the efficacy of the Psyker.