Psi/SS leveling build

[mistagoat]

Greeting!

I'm leveling a Psi/SS tank (currently 24) and have mostly just been trying out powers and running on SOs, a couple random sets I had lying around and the 2 ATO sets but it's time for a proper build. This is intended to be a leveling build that I fill in as I level up so I kept Purps/Superiors/HOs/Incarnates out of the mix.

 

I'm still figuring things out on this new set so I'd really appreciate any suggestions. Also any thoughts on what CC to focus on for Aura of Insanity?

 

Tanker (Psionic Armor - Super Strength) pre50 v1.0 Psych Tyson.mbd

 

edit: just noticed that rage is off in the build but I'm relying on at least 1 application of the +tohit from Rage post 24 so should be turned on.

 

edit 2: I misread the Basilisk bonus and have swapped to 2 Touch of Death for Res bonus

 

edit 3: revised build a couple posts down.

Edited June 22 by mistagoat
stated

[Sovera]

I went for confuse to help with mobs hitting each other. Downside is that confused mobs run away which is a (n unwelcome) novelty when playing a Tanker. Because of this I don't want to accentuate the other CCs to stop them from hitting each other.

[SeraphimKensai]

3 hours ago, Sovera said:

I went for confuse to help with mobs hitting each other. Downside is that confused mobs run away which is a (n unwelcome) novelty when playing a Tanker. Because of this I don't want to accentuate the other CCs to stop them from hitting each other.

I also went with confuse in the slotting but I countered that with web envelope as I wanted focused acc.

[mistagoat]

I've discovered that Memento Mori does not accept Avalanche and is available at lvl 26 despite what Mids says. I swapped in a set of Doctored Wounds to make up some of the resistance that was lost.

 

Tanker (Psionic Armor - Super Strength) pre50 v1.1 Psych Tyson.mbd

[Erratic1]

Would it not be better to frankenslot Aura of Insanity?

1. Each of the Mez effects comes as two components--a 0.5 effect which ignores buffs and enhancements, and a 2.0 effect.
2. Improving Mez does not increase duration but rather magnitude. To get to 3.0 you would need (3-0.5)/2 -1 = 25% improvement on the Mez effect.
3. Fear (Nightmare), Hold (Essence of Curare),  Stun (Rope A Dope) and Sleep (Lethargic Repose)  each have an Acc/Mez enhancement, which boosts the Mez by 26.5%
4. Confuse does not have any Acc/Confuse offerings but does offer dual buff enhancements where the Confuse component would be boosted by 26.5%

Each effect would then be Magnitude 3 on application. Not enough to impact a Boss but Lieutenants now get the gift.

 

 

[mistagoat]

1 hour ago, Erratic1 said:

Would it not be better to frankenslot Aura of Insanity?

1. Each of the Mez effects comes as two components--a 0.5 effect which ignores buffs and enhancements, and a 2.0 effect.
2. Improving Mez does not increase duration but rather magnitude. To get to 3.0 you would need (3-0.5)/2 -1 = 25% improvement on the Mez effect.
3. Fear (Nightmare), Hold (Essence of Curare),  Stun (Rope A Dope) and Sleep (Lethargic Repose)  each have an Acc/Mez enhancement, which boosts the Mez by 26.5%
4. Confuse does not have any Acc/Confuse offerings but does offer dual buff enhancements where the Confuse component would be boosted by 26.5%

Each effect would then be Magnitude 3 on application. Not enough to impact a Boss but Lieutenants now get the gift.

 

 

Okay, so I was going to try some set parts like acc/cc but the best the sets can offer is acc/cc/rech and those only boost the cc by 21%. So perhaps just some standard old IOs would get each cc effect up to usable levels?

 

 

I'm going to try some standard IOs as I get more slots into the power and see how it feels. I have a feeling that focusing on 1 or 2 cc effects would be more efficient and get me a couple set bonuses but this may help determine which cc effects are most useful. Post 50, a couple acc/mez HOs would probably be great!

 

btw, Mids is still showing duration increase instead of mag increase, hopefully it will be revised in the next update.

 

[Erratic1]

58 minutes ago, mistagoat said:

Okay, so I was going to try some set parts like acc/cc but the best the sets can offer is acc/cc/rech and those only boost the cc by 21%. So perhaps just some standard old IOs would get each cc effect up to usable levels?

 

The sets offer Acc/Mez in the sets I listed. I did notice Hami-Os offer the effect too.

 

 

You could add a second Hami-O to raise the 59.8% to 90.17%. At that point 2*1.9 + 0.5 = 4.3, so Bosses are now affected.

Edited June 22 by Erratic1

[mistagoat]

Did some testing. I'm lvl 33, fighting +2 council in AE.

 

This slotting seemed to work the best for me. It will reliably mez +2 Lts.

acc/stun

acc/sleep

end/confuse (there is no acc/confuse, a standard confuse IO might be better here)

acc/hold

rech/chance for absorb (2 Entombs for the F/C resist bonus)

 

I lose some F/C resist in the swap but the power appears to be more effective.

 

I also tested the power with no enhancements and it still effected minions but not Lts.

 

After the test I noticed that I overlooked Fear sets as they can't be slotted in Mids but as Erratic1 noted, can be slotted in game. So a 6th slot with a Nightmare may be warranted.

 

 

[Sovera]

1 hour ago, mistagoat said:

Did some testing. I'm lvl 33, fighting +2 council in AE.

 

This slotting seemed to work the best for me. It will reliably mez +2 Lts.

acc/stun

acc/sleep

end/confuse (there is no acc/confuse, a standard confuse IO might be better here)

acc/hold

rech/chance for absorb (2 Entombs for the F/C resist bonus)

 

I lose some F/C resist in the swap but the power appears to be more effective.

 

I also tested the power with no enhancements and it still effected minions but not Lts.

 

After the test I noticed that I overlooked Fear sets as they can't be slotted in Mids but as Erratic1 noted, can be slotted in game. So a 6th slot with a Nightmare may be warranted.

 

 

 

 

At least on Mids I just put three +3 Hamis and have accuracy and near all CCs covered. It's also a nice spot for Avalanche which allowed me to to 95% the -recharge resistance.

 

 

This is not an option for leveling, of course.

 

 

For leveling I don't, perhaps, feel that CCing bosses is a pressing matter. Even though they are usually the most dangerous of the bunch there are usually but one per spawn. We usually crumble under the weight of numbers from all minions and lieutenants hitting and debuffing. So neutering those ought to be enough. Which means one accuracy, and then three confuse (to be able  to confuse bosses, despite what I said, and see if we squeeze some damage out of them hitting their subordinates), and then two holds (or two disorients, almost same flavor, but disoriented mobs can slowly walk away).

 

In my case since I'm playing with Claws and have the accuracy from Follow-up plus the accuracy from Impose Presence I'll even skip the accuracy and maybe make it three confuse and three hold to reach the boss CCing thresholds that Erratic mathed out.

It's probably more important to reach those thresholds than squeezing some IO bonuses which makes me say (without certitudes) that I'd lean on using generic IOs for the raw stats. Depends on the content and the difficulty level.

 

 

Edited June 22 by Sovera

[Psyonico]

59 minutes ago, Sovera said:

It's also a nice spot for Avalanche which allowed me to to 95% the -recharge resistance.

I feel like I read somewhere that Mids allows PBAoE damage sets, but in game you can’t actually slot them.

[mistagoat]

1 hour ago, Psyonico said:

I feel like I read somewhere that Mids allows PBAoE damage sets, but in game you can’t actually slot them.

Avalanche can currently be slotted in Aura of Insanity in Mids and in game. However, Mids also says that Avalanche can also be slotted in Memento Mori and that is not currently possible in game.

[Psyonico]

1 hour ago, mistagoat said:

Avalanche can currently be slotted in Aura of Insanity in Mids and in game. However, Mids also says that Avalanche can also be slotted in Memento Mori and that is not currently possible in game.

Oh, that’s what I’m thinking of…

 

brain is not functioning today.

[Nemu]

 

How I built mine. I treat psy armor as no different than rad/fire/regen armor which depend heavily on clicks for survival.

 

Recharge focus, proc out SS attacks, get enough slow resist.

 

Aura gets stun set to couple with handclap, the 5 pieces contribute a bonus to acc and recharge because those are build goals and the stun proc also debuff to hit which is an added bonus.

 

Secondary goal +max HP where I can fit it in.

 

Guassian proc goes in impose presence, it works just like invincibility in invuln.

 

Asylum Panda - Tanker (Psionic Armor - Super Strength).mbd

Edited June 23 by Nemu

[BurtHutt]

On 6/22/2025 at 6:35 PM, Nemu said:

 

How I built mine. I treat psy armor as no different than rad/fire/regen armor which depend heavily on clicks for survival.

 

Recharge focus, proc out SS attacks, get enough slow resist.

 

Aura gets stun set to couple with handclap, the 5 pieces contribute a bonus to acc and recharge because those are build goals and the stun proc also debuff to hit which is an added bonus.

 

Secondary goal +max HP where I can fit it in.

 

Guassian proc goes in impose presence, it works just like invincibility in invuln.

 

Asylum Panda - Tanker (Psionic Armor - Super Strength).mbd 42.41 kB · 15 downloads

How does the Coercive Persuasion proc work in  aura of insanity? Do you think it's worth slotting?

[Nemu]

6 hours ago, BurtHutt said:

How does the Coercive Persuasion proc work in  aura of insanity? Do you think it's worth slotting?

I have not tested it. I had contemplated that while planning the build but I didn't have slots to spare.

 

I need recharge, so my options were 5 piece coercive with the proc, 5 piece absolute amazement with the proc, or 5 piece Fortunata hypnosis.  I was leaning towards the stun or sleep set due to the acc bonus since I completely procced my attacks with no acc slotting, but I ultimately settled on the stun set because of the proc.

 

If I had a 6th slot to spare I'd have tried the coercive proc for sure.

[cohRock]

I've been playing a psi/psi tank for about a week, and he's 40 now.  I love the build, and I view him as basically a regen tank with good resistances , some defense, and a multifaceted PBAoE control and (slight) damage aura. That's not even counting his main taunt aura that adds a -rech effect.  So far as what I'll be emphasizing in Aura of Insanity, it will be hold, disorient, and most especially confuse.  The confusion will receive two buffs from his secondary powers.  Boggle itself is a single-target ranged confuse (mag 3).  I'll be 6-slotting his PBAoE tier 9 attack (Mass Levitate) with the Cupid's Crush set.  This will add yet another chance of (mag 2) confusion.

 

He has also taken the Fold Space power, which enables a very nice chain:

1. Fold Space
2. Consume Psyche
3. Mass Levitate

Supported by his 2 taunt auras and everything buffed with Focused Accuracy, he is quite comfortable in crowds.  I haven't yet brought him to a fire farm, but with his high energy and negative energy resistances, he'd probably do well in an energy farm.

 

Advice: get some decent recharge in Psychokinetic Barrier (PB).  If you speed it up enough for its debuff protections to kick in, you can bump them from 20% to 60% effectiveness. I.e., Regeneration Resistance, Recovery Resistance, and Recharge time resistance will all be sitting at 60% aft the third 40-second cycle begins.  Since PB is set on auto-fire, this is a permanent state.  The Precognition power is providing 12.53% to Defense Resistance, and Focused Accuracy provides 76.5% To Hit Resistance.  So he has the full set covered!

Edited June 29 by cohRock
added 3rd paragraph

[BurtHutt]

I am rolling with a couple of new Psi Armour toons. Is Momento Mori worth taking? I am not sure on what exactly it does...

[SeraphimKensai]

1 hour ago, BurtHutt said:

I am rolling with a couple of new Psi Armour toons. Is Momento Mori worth taking? I am not sure on what exactly it does...

It boosts your max HP for a short while, gives you some endurance, fears mobs around you, and resurrects you if you're dead.

 

https://cod.uberguy.net/html/power.html?power=tanker_defense.psionic_armor.memento_mori&at=tanker

 

That said on a well built psi armor tank, death doesn't occur that often. If I could only take 8 powers in psionic armor, memento mori would be the one that I'd skip. That said it's use is probably better during level up than end game.

[Nemu]

I consider my Psi/SS well built and it doesn't die much. However, I will have a really had time justifying skipping Momento Mori. It's a well designed power that is very flexible in application. The heal and Max HP is significant, and it can revive you even if you hit this Oh Sh* button too late.

 

I really enjoy the very real dilemma of choice that the design team is presenting us with new set designs and existing set revamps. No longer are there absolute duds that are auto-skips in power sets and it makes for more interesting builds, not to mention power sets that offer a toolbox that encourage building outside of softcap def +hardcap resists.