Psionic Assault Why So Popular?

[VV]

  Borrowed this chart from the Savage thread because the popularity of Psionic Assault really surprised me.

On 10/31/2019 at 12:06 PM, Mercurias said:

 

I have a Mind/Psi/Soul at 50. I took /Psi because of theme, obviously, but I don't really see the awesomeness of it. I mean, It's okayyyyyy, but does not feel particularly OP enough to warrant being the favorite by a large margin. This probably means I am playing and slotting it wrong. I am missing something. Any tips on good slotting, power choices and attack chains would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[oedipus_tex]

Mainly it's popular because of Drain Psyche. Get a bunch of global recharge, slot it for accuracy, healing, and recharge. Now enjoy it being perma and you being nearly impossible to kill while it is up, while bottoming out the regen of AVs and GMs.

Edited November 25, 2019 by oedipus_tex

[Coyote]

What Tex said... Drain Psyche is both the best defensive power in the Assault sets, AND the best attack power for use against AVs. While also taking care of any Endurance issues.

The rest of the set is completely lackluster... not actively bad, but nothing interesting in it, but Drain Psyche basically carries it to the top.

[Frosticus]

I think it also has some residual popularity due to how strong it used to be. Psy shockwave was pretty amazing for a good while. 

[Mezmera]

I think people tend to limit themselves thematically.  Mind and Telepathic attacks seem to go hand in hand plus like was said there's probably some residual remembrance of how psi assault was unique in itself thanks to Drain Psyche.  

 

With the revamp to most dom assaults I'd say there's a lot of new and improved toys to play around with.  I absolutely love how /Nrg came out, so much so that I made two.  I remade my Mind/Nrg/Soul from live and it's far and away the best character I could create.    The damage chain from Power Up and after is unreal then sprinkle in a Soul Drain to maximize your damage potential and on top of that a power boosted Unleash Potential is sexy as hell.  

 

I do see quite a few more Mind/Psi doms running around but aside from DP there's nothing enticing to me to play it.  A well built dom will always perform well but when you play something like energy assault you can really tell the difference.  I'd say not to sink everything you have into it and give something else a whirl and when you know it's the "one" go all in.  

Edited November 25, 2019 by Mezmera

[Machariel]

Plain and simple, /Psi is popular for Drain Psyche.  Completely solves Dominators 2 big issues with hard targets: lack of access to -regen, and lack of sustainability.  DP does both (heh heh) and once you're at permadom levels of recharge its not too much further to get drain psyche to be perma as well.

[HelenCarnate]

6 minutes ago, Machariel said:

Plain and simple, /Psi is popular for Drain Psyche.  Completely solves Dominators 2 big issues with hard targets: lack of access to -regen, and lack of sustainability.  DP does both (heh heh) and once you're at permadom levels of recharge its not too much further to get drain psyche to be perma as well.

Am I a bad person because I giggled in the same spot?

[Rathulfr]

10 minutes ago, HelenCarnate said:

Am I a bad person because I giggled in the same spot?

Yes. 😉

[oedipus_tex]

I have a couple of videos of Drain Psyche in action. Here's one from a recent Lady Grey Task Force with an Elec/Psi almost-but-not-quite-perma-dom.

 

 

 

Note, you'll also notice some of the hilarious issues with Electric Control, where I whiff Synaptic Overload twice in a row. That's just the downside of an otherwise great power.

 

I have a few more videos I need to upload. 

 

I have an Ice/Psi Dom at 50 too, but he doesn't have IOs. Drain Psyche is noticeably less powerful on non-IO builds. It's only when you really start pushing your recharge that the build takes off.

 

 

I also like to show these videos to show that Electric Control paired with Mu Mastery absolutely can drop the endurance of Elite Bosses in less than a second. 🙂 This TF happened to have been run at +0, but it can be done up to +4.

Edited November 26, 2019 by oedipus_tex

[VV]

So wait, am I reading Mid's right? When you slot Drain Psyche for Heal/Absorb, it also increases the amount of -Regen it applies to the enemies?

[Frosticus]

52 minutes ago, VV said:

So wait, am I reading Mid's right? When you slot Drain Psyche for Heal/Absorb, it also increases the amount of -Regen it applies to the enemies?

used to. it was corrected.