[HELP] Best archetype and power combo for psychic flavor?

[aquaria]

Hi! I'm brand-new to Homecoming and the game in general (I played a bit before the original shutdown but never made it to max level) and I'm not really sure how to make a decent build! I don't really have a specific archetype in mind, but I do have a few things I'd like to see in the character:
 

• I'd prefer powersets with a strong psychic theme.
• I'd like the character to be at least partially ranged.
• I'd like the character to be able to fly.
• I usually play MMOs solo, so I'd like a build that can solo well.
• But I also occasionally play group content, so I'd like a build that can benefit a group too.

 

Does anyone have suggestions for a build that can accomplish all of these things?

[Hardboiled Hero]

Right off the bat, flight is a power that is available to everyone, so don't worry about that.

 

  Second, most AT's have some sort of "psychic" power.  The point is, all AT's can be psychic themed.. you just have to decide what exactly feels psychic themed to you.  Would a melee fighter with psychic blades and an indomitable will feel psychic enough for you?  Do you need a character that control minds, Do you want to just mind-blast people and maybe uses some psychically charged melee attacks?

 

  Any AT can solo, at least once their build gets good.  As far as being useful in teams.. well.. most teams basically want some kind of tank and a lot of damage.  Unless you find a team that specifically needs some kind of support.. well there's really no "generically good" support.  For that reason, I think you're looking at a Psychic Blast/ Mental manipulation blaster, a Mind Control/ Empathy (or Pain Domination) controller, or a Mind Control/ Psionic Assault dominator.  Of those, I don't have much experience with Blasters, but they do the highest damage in the game.. they are generally considered the "squishiest" class and will probably struggle at leveling solo, but I'm told they can survive just fine at end-game if built right.  Controllers and Dominators will always have some team utility because of their control powers. This can also help them survive when solo.. but they do start rough solo and they tend to take a little while to clear missions.

 

Personally, I would probably play the dominator.  To me it's the one that feels most "generically psychic", having a solid mix of controls along with ranged and melee attacks.  Blasters and Controllers are both more popular though, and there's a reason for that.  Blasters do significantly more damage, which is really what matters most in the game.  I noticed the Mental Manipulation Blaster also gets a little bit of control, but I have no idea how good that is. The Controller, IIRC, actually has damage on par with the Dominator, despite the Con having support secondary and the Dom having damage secondary.  The dom will be more likely to be able to control one big badguy, but the controller will do better against groups of lesser badguys.  In my opinion, this makes both AT's basically the same.. because the support powers, with some exception, might as well not exist, so both AT's just bring a mix of control and damage.

 

  Finally, I want to say that nothing is really "required" in the game.. people don't usually care so much about who or what is in their group, So honestly just play what feels good to you.  I feel like corruptors and Sentinels are the worst AT's in the game, but I probably play those and dominators more than any other AT.  I feel like Blasters may well be the "best" AT, but I've only ever played one.  I still get invited to teams all the time.

[Ringo]

Psychic Blast/Energy Aura Sentinel

 

Ranged Psychic-themed (and damage typed) attacks coupled with a very psychic compatible defense (dodge, deflect, can't hit me) armor.  Sentinels are very survivable solo, possibly the easiest AT to learn as you go, and make for solid teammates with a nice debuff (Vulnerability, use it early, use it often) for hard targets

 

PS:  if Psychic-pink isn't your style, try recoloring your attacks to gold, I think it looks awesome

[Captain Fabulous]

Psi/Psi Blaster and Mind/Psi Dominator are both good choices.

[Riverdusk]

To go a slightly different way, the best character I've tried that has a lot of psi powers is a fortunata.  I can understand that AT can be harder to work with if you have some specific character ideas in mind, although if you are creative enough I've found there is usually a way to make almost anything fit.   

 

They can certainly do well both solo and in teams.

[Clave Dark 5]

4 hours ago, Hardboiled Hero said:

Any AT can solo, at least once their build gets good.

Point of order: any AT, minus a few super-weak Defenders, can solo just fine - just not at the levels assumed to be de rigueur these days, +4/+8.  Seriously, even those squishie Defenders can manage it, you just have to keep your expectations out of the crazy realm.  I know patience is tough for some people though.  😃

 

I like Doms a heck of a lot and would recommend them - and note that their Ice Control has a confuse aura which is also a lot of fun, so you might stretch the definition a bit... but that's more melee, which sounds like might not be what you want.

[Doc Spectre]

Psi melee or Kinetic melee stalker with energy aura, invulnerability or super reflexes secondary could be good. Would solo really well and scout stuff for teams if they want it (don’t forget to get Assemble the Team from the START vendor). You could pick up Psi Mastery epic to add to the theme.
Hover in the flight pool is reasonably speedy in missions and has good close manoeuvre control. 

[StriderIV]

I play my Psi Melee/Shield Defense Scrapper as a psychic energy warrior. Absolutely love that toon. 
 

I mostly agree with everyone that Dominator is probably the way to go, but just thought I’d throw him out there as another option!

[Metatheory]

For soloing I think the blaster, dominator and sentinel as suggested offer the easiest path to at least partially ranged out of the box, and survivable. 

 

Theme-wise, I think 'WIllpower' secondary for Sentinel is the more obviously psi-adjacent defense set, as it has good psionic resist in it's basic shield, and psi defense in the mez protection.

 

Don't forget the pool powerset 'Force of Will' which is a fantastic set of tools for a psi character, a must-have in this case it sounds like! You get three ranged 'blasts', one of which does a debuff, and the other two do light-ish damage plus either ST knockdown or a cone of kb which is a very handy tool for protection. The set also has a travel option and a 'tier-9' type self buff on a long cooldown. If you are curious about a melee psi-themed character (psi melee /WP for ex.) you can get them partially ranged by taking the blasts from the force of will pool.

[Haijinx]

I think /SR could make a good psychic armor set. 

 

Think of it as Precognition / Clairvoyance 

 

That and the Sent version is pretty awesome with Master Brawler and Enduring.

Edited March 17 by Haijinx

[venetiasilver]

Fortunata's are good too

[Sanguinesun]

On 3/18/2024 at 6:49 PM, venetiasilver said:

Fortunata's are good too

 

Fort fit the needs of the OP likely the most.  A well built for not only can be strong and solo various content due to its extremely good defense and pretty good damage but it is as well an appreciated contribution to a team due to its team buffs.

[EnjoyTheJourney]

Psychic powers could be conceived as some version of an "omnipotence" model. Psychic power could include telekinesis, making others see what you want them to see, influencing their emotions, affecting their metabolism, psychic damage, control over the elements, and so on. If control over the elements was added in then a few ideas follow:

 

mind control / force fields / psi mastery controller (A "classic" mind affecting telekinetic psychic)

gravity / kin / psi mastery controller (powerful telekinetic with mastery over own and others' metabolism)

illusion / cold domination / psi mastery controller (elekinetic buffer / controller who messes with enemies' minds and bodies)

fire / psi / psi mastery or fire mastery dominator (pyrokinetic psychic who excels at controlling others)

 

... and so on.

 

 

[Marshal_General]

My problem with the SoA is that you have to level to 24 before you can play the AT the way you want unless you are deliberately playing the base AT.

[flyingpcp]

On 3/13/2024 at 9:57 PM, Hardboiled Hero said:

I feel like corruptors ... are the worst AT's in the game

 

A team with a bunch of Cold/cold corruptors and strong blasters are one of the fastest ways to clear endgame TFs on high difficulty settings.

 

MMs are the worst AT. Their main source of damage is always one level lower than themselves, and also gets wiped out very easily. They are actually "broken" in a basic game mechanics sense

 

[Worm_Kalpa]

Ninjitsu works for a psychic character, for both theme and mechanics.  The mez resist power in the set, kuji-in rin, grants resistance to psionic damage in add to protection against confuse, fear, and most of the other mezzes.  Take a look at the power description since it begins "Kuji-In Rin is the strength of mind and body".  Ninjitsu is also a defense-based set, meaning that the character protects themselves by dodging attacks and/or not getting hit.  That can definitely be flavored as precognition.

 

You can roll a psionic melee/ninjitsu/psionic mastery stalker or scrapper, or a psychic blast/ninjitsu/psionic mastery sentinel.  Those would be pretty good options if you're looking for a solo-friendly character that can protect themselves without much difficulty.

 

Also, I noticed that a good number of psychic NPCs in the game have power from the kinetics power set.  That can be an option if you want to play a psychic-themed support character but empathy and pain domination don't do it for you.

 

Edit: I forgot that you want a ranged psychic character that can fly.  In that case, psychic blast/ninjitsu/psionic mastery sentinel with the flight power pool is an option.

 

Also, sentinels can take bio armor.  Bio armor can be flavored as psychic in that mind over body way.  Your psychic abilities are such that you can easily manipulate your own biology.  A lot of psionic powers from D&D are flavored like this.  There is also an enemy group made up of psychics with one of the enemies using bio armor power.  Read the Mindcrasher's description and see how the devs flavored it.

Edited April 4 by Worm_Kalpa

[Lusiphur Malache]

Knew I had made something psychic recently.  It is a psychic/nrg stalker.  Having a lot of fun with it, although I don't think I have a clue with what to do with Insight.  Working on incarnate abilities right now.

[vibal]

Given that list Fortunata is the pretty clear answer. All of your buffs (which are fantastic) affect yourself, 100% psy, ranged, mez protection (rare for ranged characters), and you get access to optional controls that play into the psychic theme as well.

 

SoA's were doing sentinel stuff on live.... they also have bananas buffs. For some reason they're rare in game because the world is weird.

[Nostromo21]

The only psychic characters I have enjoyed:

• Fortunata
• Shield/Psi tanker
• Psy/Time Corruptor
• my wife

[SeraphimKensai]

I play a:

 

Fire/psi blaster

Psi/temporal blaster

Elec/psi domi

Mind/dark troller

Psi/sr stalker 

Psi/shield scrapper

Fort

 

And several others.

 

There is a lot of ways to play psychic characters in the game.

 

I have a Dark Armor/Super Strength tanker that is a psychic manifestation of traumatized college student's reoccurring debilitating nightmares, so yes even though it's Super Strength....it's still psychic.