Villianously Cost Effective - Psychic Blast Mental Manipulation (Close up AoE - Tank/Mage feel)

[Troo]

The 'Villainously Cost Effective' series of builds goal is not to create the most bestest build ever, it is to create a build that exceeds budget expectations. To use less expensive and readily available enhancements and still achieve good survivablility and endurance management BEFORE incarnates. These should be easily personalized and still be effective.

 

~75 enhancement slots total: ~55 enhancements for ~1-1.2M each or less, ~10 enhancements for ~2-3M each should total less than 95M, leaving ~10 enhancements that well exceed 3M (purps are spendy)

 

Archetype: Blaster
Primary Power Set: Psychic Blast
Secondary Power Set: Mental Manipulation
Excellent teaming Blaster that doesn't sit at range. Build: Soft capped or near soft capped defense with effective endurance management.

 

Pre-Incarnates

 

Swap to Agility instead of Musculature

 

Blaster - Psychic - Mental.mxd <--older mids format (replace Psionic Dart with Dominate Will in game, same slotting)

 

Powers selections with enhancement sets

Spoiler

Power Pool: Leaping
Power Pool: Fighting
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Leadership
Ancillary Pool: Cold Mastery

Level 1: Psionic Dart Dominate Will
  Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage
  Thunderstrike - Damage/Endurance
  Thunderstrike - Damage/Recharge
  Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
  Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
  Thunderstrike - Damage/Endurance/Recharge
Level 1: Subdual   Empty
Level 2: Telekinetic Blast 

  Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage
  Thunderstrike - Damage/Endurance
  Thunderstrike - Damage/Recharge
  Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
  Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
  Thunderstrike - Damage/Endurance/Recharge
Level 4: Combat Jumping 
  Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed
  Luck of the Gambler - Defense
Level 8 6: Super Jump 
  Blessing of the Zephyr - Run Speed, Jump, Flight Speed, Range
  Blessing of the Zephyr - Run Speed, Jump, Flight Speed, Range/Endurance
  Blessing of the Zephyr - Knockback Reduction (4 points)

Level 6 8: Psychic Focus 
  Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff
  Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff/Recharge
  Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff/Recharge/Endurance
  Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - Recharge/Endurance
  Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff/Endurance
  Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - Chance for Build Up
Level 10: Psychic Scream 
  Annihilation - Accuracy/Damage
  Annihilation - Damage/RechargeTime
  Annihilation - Accuracy/Damage/RechargeTime
  Annihilation - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
  Annihilation - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/RechargeTime
  Annihilation - Chance for Res Debuff
Level 12: Psionic Lance 
  Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
  Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage
  Thunderstrike - Damage/Endurance
  Thunderstrike - Damage/Recharge
  Thunderstrike - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
  Thunderstrike - Damage/Endurance/Recharge
Level 14: Boxing 
  Kinetic Combat - Accuracy/Damage
  Kinetic Combat - Damage/Endurance
  Kinetic Combat - Damage/Recharge
  Kinetic Combat - Damage/Endurance/Recharge
Level 16: Concentration 
  Recharge Reduction IO
Level 18: Tough 
  Gladiator's Armor - TP Protection +3% Def (All)
  Steadfast Protection - Resistance/+Def 3%
Level 20: Drain Psyche 
  Numina's Convalesence - Heal/Endurance
  Numina's Convalesence - Endurance/Recharge
  Numina's Convalesence - Heal/Recharge
  Numina's Convalesence - Heal/Endurance/Recharge
  Numina's Convalesence - Heal
  Numina's Convalesence - +Regeneration/+Recovery
Level 22: Weave 
  Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed
  Luck of the Gambler - Defense
  Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance
  Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance/Recharge
Level 24: Hover 
  Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed
  Luck of the Gambler - Defense
Level 26: Maneuvers 
  Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed
  Luck of the Gambler - Defense
  Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance
Level 28: World of Confusion 
  Coercive Persuasion  - Confused
  Coercive Persuasion  - Confused/Recharge
  Coercive Persuasion  - Accuracy/Confused/Recharge
  Coercive Persuasion  - Accuracy/Recharge
  Coercive Persuasion  - Confused/Endurance
  Coercive Persuasion  - Contagious Confusion
Level 30: Mind Probe 
  Kinetic Combat - Accuracy/Damage
  Kinetic Combat - Damage/Endurance
  Kinetic Combat - Damage/Recharge
  Kinetic Combat - Damage/Endurance/Recharge
Level 32: Psychic Wail 
  Scirocco's Dervish - Chance of Damage(Lethal)
  Scirocco's Dervish - Accuracy/Damage
  Scirocco's Dervish - Damage/Endurance
  Scirocco's Dervish - Damage/Recharge
  Scirocco's Dervish - Accuracy/Recharge
  Scirocco's Dervish - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
Level 35: Snow Storm 
  Pacing of the Turtle - Accuracy/Slow
Level 38: Psychic Shockwave 
  Scirocco's Dervish - Accuracy/Damage
  Scirocco's Dervish - Damage/Endurance
  Scirocco's Dervish - Damage/Recharge
  Armageddon - Chance for Fire Damage
  Scirocco's Dervish - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance
  Scirocco's Dervish - Chance of Damage(Lethal)
Level 41: Frozen Armor 
  Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Increased Global Recharge Speed
  Luck of the Gambler - Defense
  Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance
  Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance/Recharge
Level 44: Hoarfrost 
  Recharge Reduction IO
Level 47: [Empty] 

Level 49: Hibernate 
  Recharge Reduction IO
Level 1: Brawl 
  Empty
Level 2: Health 
  Preventive Medicine - Chance for +Absorb
  Miracle - +Recovery
  Panacea - +Hit Points/Endurance
Level 2: Stamina 
  Performance Shifter - Chance for +End
  Performance Shifter - EndMod

Alpha: Musculature Core Paragon 
------------

 

This ported well to Fire Blast, Ice Blast, and Assault Rifle. Many of the other sets would likely work as well.

Edited yesterday at 06:13 AM by Troo

[Azernak0]

Was making this character and noticed that Psionic Darts is not available at level 1, it is the 4th one down. Dominate Will and Mental Blast are the starting choices.

I am pretty darn new, what am I missing?

[Troo]

3 hours ago, Azernak0 said:

Was making this character and noticed that Psionic Darts is not available at level 1, it is the 4th one down. Dominate Will and Mental Blast are the starting choices.

I am pretty darn new, what am I missing?

 

Good catch, Psionic Dart got turned into a 60 foot 30 degree arc cone instead of the 100 foot fast single target attack.

We can use Dominate Will instead, I'll update the build above.

 

Edited Saturday at 04:12 PM by Troo
Also had to swap Super Jump and Psychic Focus positions.

[Warshades]

On 9/26/2025 at 2:46 AM, Troo said:

Pre-Incarnates

w/ Musculature 

 

Why would musculature alpha slot change defense values?

[Troo]

12 hours ago, Warshades said:

Why would musculature alpha slot change defense values?

 

Folks could use Agility to further Defense not Musculature.

 

Previous post that had screen shots that showed +11% to self from Musculature: 

Spoiler

Buried in there is:

from MIDs

in-game

 

I'll look for a good explanation.

 

AI searchfoo says (don't always believe the AI):

Understanding Alpha Defense Debuffs

Alpha Defense Debuffs are part of the Alpha power set in City of Heroes, designed to enhance a character's defensive capabilities. These debuffs apply to various powers, providing significant boosts to defense.

How They Work

• Effect on Defense: Alpha Defense Debuffs increase the effectiveness of defensive powers by reducing the damage taken from enemies. This is achieved by applying a percentage increase to the character's overall defense.
• Types of Enhancements: The enhancements from Alpha powers can include:
• Damage Reduction: Reduces incoming damage from attacks.
• Defense Buffs: Increases the character's base defense stats, making them harder to hit.

Key Alpha Powers for Defense

Alpha Power Type	Effect on Defense	Notes
Agility	Increases defense buffs by up to 20%	Best for overall defense enhancement.
Musculature	Increases defense debuff effects by 20%	Useful for characters focusing on damage resistance.
Cardiac	Provides extra damage resistance	Ideal for characters with high endurance costs.

Edited yesterday at 06:17 AM by Troo

[Warshades]

2 hours ago, Troo said:

 

Technical Answer:

Increases defense debuffs by {Boost.Attrib.Defense.Scale}%

 

Non-technical and Examples:

See similar Intuition Core Paragon example below. The Defense DeBuffs provide some +defense% on self.

 

Buried in there is:

from MIDs

in-game

 

I'll look for a good explanation.

 

AI searchfoo says (don't always believe the AI):

Understanding Alpha Defense Debuffs

Alpha Defense Debuffs are part of the Alpha power set in City of Heroes, designed to enhance a character's defensive capabilities. These debuffs apply to various powers, providing significant boosts to defense.

How They Work

• Effect on Defense: Alpha Defense Debuffs increase the effectiveness of defensive powers by reducing the damage taken from enemies. This is achieved by applying a percentage increase to the character's overall defense.
• Types of Enhancements: The enhancements from Alpha powers can include:
• Damage Reduction: Reduces incoming damage from attacks.
• Defense Buffs: Increases the character's base defense stats, making them harder to hit.

Key Alpha Powers for Defense

Alpha Power Type	Effect on Defense	Notes
Agility	Increases defense buffs by up to 20%	Best for overall defense enhancement.
Musculature	Increases defense debuff effects by 20%	Useful for characters focusing on damage resistance.
Cardiac	Provides extra damage resistance	Ideal for characters with high endurance costs.

 

Yeah, that's not at all how that works. Unless the alpha incarnate slot specifically states that it is boosting "defense buffs", you are not getting any defensive improvements.

[Troo]

3 hours ago, Warshades said:

Yeah, that's not at all how that works. Unless the alpha incarnate slot specifically states that it is boosting "defense buffs", you are not getting any defensive improvements.

 

We can make appropriate edits as needed. Please point to the information (not that I don't trust what you are saying) I just can't find anything and memory is fuzzy..

 

It's not that big a factor or deal breaker to the character. I would like it to be accurate.

 

City of Data had the 'Increases defense debuffs by {Boost.Attrib.Defense.Scale}%' which I tried to be funny with.

Edited yesterday at 12:52 AM by Troo

[biostem]

Any tanker w/ elec armor will get >89% s/l res and be capped to energy dmg, if you also take tough, and with only using lvl 25 generic IOs.  I've been using such builds to run a s/l farm I created.  My greatest success has been with an elec/staff tanker, where, again with only lvl 25 generic IOs, can also soft cap melee/lethal defense, (this is including maneuvers, weave, and cj each being 3-slotted w/ lvl 25 generic def IOs - also may need 2 applications of guarded spin).

 

EDIT:  For reference, here is a lvl 36 Elec/DM Tanker I'm currently working on:

 

Edited yesterday at 12:57 AM by biostem

[Warshades]

25 minutes ago, Troo said:

City of Data had the 'Increases defense debuffs by {Boost.Attrib.Defense.Scale}%' which I tried to be funny with.

 

Buffing "defense debuffs" means that any of your powers that lower enemies defense when they hit will have that -def effect boosted. So having musculature or intuition alphas equipped with the "defense debuff" will make a power like Melt Armor or powers from Radiation Blast which have -def secondary effects inflict higher defense debuff values.

 

The only 2 incarnate alphas that affect "defense buff" values are agility and nerve alpha slots. The key word here is buff vs debuff, defense debuffs is an effect that applies to enemies, defense buffs is an effect that applies to powers that buff defense values (i.e., Combat Jumping, Weave, Scorpion Shield, etc).

 

I don't know if when you took those defense totals images that you labeled as "pre-incarnate" and "w/ musculature"  images you had a different alpha selected instead of musculature and didn't realize it or possibly had a version of mids installed with bugged boost values on the alpha slots. I'd suggest checking those again with the latest version of mids installed.

[Troo]

@Warshades Thanks.

I understand the difference between Defense and DeBuffing Defense.

I have for a very long time been under the impression that there was a wrinkle in the Alphas when it came to Defense Debuffs effectively buffing Defense as well.

(this may have been addressed and I missed it, or I was under the wrong impression all along (I'm okay with either))

 

Mids for a long time showed adding one of the Alphas with a Defense Debuff would add Defense to self. (as shown in the images in the first post)

In-game, the Detailed Info tab for applicable Musculature powers actually currently states "+11.00%% strength to all defense on self" in addition to the Defense Debuff statements.

This may be where confusion stems from.

 

The Detailed Info tab for Musculature Core Paragon under 'Grants power Defense DeBuff' it reads:

Grants power Defense DeBuff Very Rare

Activation Time :0.00s

Recharge Time: 0.00s

Accuracy: 1.00X

Power Type: Global Enhancement

Target Type: Self

Effect Area: Single Target

+11.00%% strength to all defense on self

Ignores buffs and enhancements

unresistable 

+11.00%% strength to defense debuff on self

Ignores buffs and enhancements

unresistable

+22.00%% strength to defense debuff on self

Ignores buffs and enhancements

unresistable

[Troo]

3 hours ago, biostem said:

My greatest success has been with an elec/staff tanker, where, again with only lvl 25 generic IOs, can also soft cap melee/lethal defense

 

This would be a great addition to the Villianously Cost Effective builds for each AT.

[biostem]

3 minutes ago, Troo said:

This would be a great addition to the Villianously Cost Effective builds for each AT.

The only issue is, at this point, that character if fully IO'd out, as I've continued to play them.  The only downside to the build, as far as I can tell, is that things are so tight that there wasn't any room for "flavor" powers, such as APPs or PPPs;  I suppose I could have skipped Serpent's Reach for one of those...

[Warshades]

No need to take my word for it, load any char into the game that is running musculature or intuition alpha incarnates that you have. Open up your combat attributes (found at top after clicking on power tab at power tray) and look at your defenses. At the same time, open up your incarnate abilities tray. Right click on the alpha slot and do clear power from slot to unequip it. Notice how the defense does not change for any defense boosting powers or total defense. 

 

 

 

The top part near the icon (where you circled the "defense debuffs" in red) shows the correct attributes that are buffed, they are only hold duration, defense debuffs, and range. You can ignore the wording under the "grants power" section. I'm sure there's an explanation to why it was worded that way, but I cannot recall why it is and it absolutely does not boost your defense at all. 

 

10 hours ago, Troo said:

[Uun]

Pairing Psychic Blast with Mental Manipulation is asking for a world of frustration. Foes that resist psionic damage (i.e., robots) resist it A LOT. Other than Telekinetic Thrust (50% smashing) and Telekinetic Blast (25% smashing), all the powers in both sets are 100% psionic damage. You can offset this a bit with %dmg procs and pool powers, but you'll find yourself avoiding factions rather than feeling like you're beating your head against the wall.