How do I kill things with my mind effectively? I’ve tried Gaze builds before and Voidstrike staff is good but I never seem to completely dominate like I do with Veteran and Zealot - I always feel vulnerable and like I need backup from my team.
I have heard repeatedly that they have potential to be the strongest class in the game, but I can’t seem to realize it. What gives?
the best tip for psyker that i or anyone can give is just literally play like you’re insane and throwing your own [Hyperlink Blocked] everywhere while even the chimps look at you and say “dude, calm down, please, you’re scaring us.”
facts. dont hold yourself back
the occasional self blowing up just adds to the flair xD
In all seriousness though
arguably the strongest psyker loadout (maybe strongest class overall):
Voidblast Staff with Blazing Spirit and Warp Nexus
Telekine Shield with Dome modifier
Smite with enfeeble and that modifier which makes it jump faster
Warp Syphon Keystone with 6 charges and base damage enhancer
Any force sword of preference (illisi is super easy to use)
infernus shriek
short and simple, perfect.
I’ve spent sooooo much time since release trying to help people with psykers. Problem is there’s just too much!
I think honestly you just need to delve in, challenge yourself and have fun. Pay attention and honestly get curios & interested like a child in a playing field. That’s what I tend to do and did, and it led me to so many wonderful discoveries about their unique mechanics and interactions and gameplay. 
Other than that I can list some of the same basics I always do:
Overall psykers have what I feel is a uniquely strong synergy with all things performance. Their talents, blessings, abilities all scale up exponentially the more things you kill and the less time you spend on defending yourself. So don’t be too afraid to take risks, even if at first they will bite you in the butt. About all my builds have minimal toughness regen, which ofc means I need to dodge & slide more, but it’s hard to over emphasize just how much easier all that overwhelming firepower makes my defense. An enemy that’s dead, staggered or suppressed can’t fight back after all.
I mean, it depends what builds your running on vet/zealot, but I was able to get decent numbers with Gaze, Knife and a Braced Autogun speed build.
Pretty much an “I play knife on every operator” moment but still, it was fun! And probably the closest build to what you’re used to (But again, depends on what you’re used to, I used it as a “Gateway Build” since Psyker was my least played operator)
Only real difference is that Psyker has relatively less effective “Press button to not die” options (No VoC or Choir or Stealth or Charge, so you’ll need to get used to dealing with melee the old fashion way, dodging, blocking and kiting, which is easy with a high-mobility melee and an anti-horde ranged). And that fragility you mentioned is probably the operators biggest weakness that just takes loads of practice to overcome. Listen to Elodie, they’ve got good advice there.
My untested idea is that newer psykers are (a) trying to rely on blitz abilities too much as a “main tool” are (b) are too hesitant to lean into melee combat, and (c) are not comfortable playing at “high peril.”
(A) Blitz’s are tools for rounding out a build IMHO - and none of them are intended to be a primary means of damage dealing. BB has great utility for sniping and picking off elusive enemies or armor. Assail is okay as ranged supplement if your ranged weapon is otherwise short range. Smite is fine for crowd control where it can help turn around a messy situation.
(B) Psyker has some great melee capabilities - force swords in particular - that can put out a lot of damage. But you have to be willing to put yourself as a psyker on the front line. Many people think psyker = ranged support or something, and so don’t put themselves in position to deal with targets in melee range.
(C) Psyker benefits from high-peril in many situations for added damage boosting - whether it’s through Creeping Flames, or Warp Splitting, or toughness DR, or Warp Rider damage, or force sword unstable power blessing, etc. Being willing to ride the edge of the peril limit is the only way to fly.
Yeah, effectively what Antilus said, though I tend to run around with this variant (though I got like, 3 infernus builds that all do slightly different things XD)
I end up not using Psykinetics Aura as Warp Siphon gets me back to screaming so fast that I often don’t have the peril I want by that point anyway, so getting it back even FASTER feels like a moot point (this also being the reason I take Kinetic Presence instead of CD), if you want to be more helpful for your team you can go with his set up though. I just like spreading fire everywhere and watching everything fall over.
One can swap Soulstealer for Essence Harvest to, I just prefer the guaranteed 7.5 verses the 10% chance for 30% over 5 seconds.
But yeah, at the end of the day it’s mostly ‘play it tell you make it’ sort of feeling. Psyker is inherently very squishy, and very dependent on skill expression and high peril usage to get the maximum effectiveness out of their being. Dropping below critical levels even for a moment can spell doom, making one need to ‘ride the high’ as much as possible, and learn the ins and outs of their playstyle to really maximize their effectiveness.
To that end, my only real advice beyond what already exists in this thread is to ‘keep at it’, and to keep experiementing ot find what fits best for you. As one can see by the builds I post, I deeply enjoy high toughness high regen for my builds, but lots enjoy ‘maximum effects’ and low toughness as a trade off. One can make either work and work well, it’s just all about learning the balance and ‘enjoying the ride’ so to speak.
It’s what makes Warp Unbound feel so nice to me as well, along with scream. Always play at the top end, if it spills over, scream or just truly let loose (depending on either choice) and watch everything fall before you. Only in Peril is a Psyker truly alive.
All those filthy purgatus staff users, I think I’m going to be sick.
Ride peril and crits, keep them both high for as long as possible. Build your kit and playstyle around those 2 statuses to get even more statues. Those two give damage, toughness regen, toughness damage resistance, immunity to ranged attacks and mobility. Pick your kit well, and don’t fall into the Smite trap.
You cannot afford mistakes as much as lets say on zealot. There is no Until Death or Holy Revenant here, but don’t be afraid to melee, psyker has a lot of different fun playstyles. 2 HP curios and 1 toughness curio with a right build should land you with approx. 150-180 toughness and 250 HP. That’s plenty to work with, even in melee. Base TDR nodes + One With the Warp + Endurance can give you really high toughness damage resistance.
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