Psychic Blast?

[Reikland]

Anyone played around with this set on sent yet? Wondering if its decent and if so what powers are skippable?

[oldskool]

I've tinkered with it a bit.  I like it.  I scrapped my build for it and kept my Fortunata.  The Fortunata has sentimental value but damn the on paper potential of Psi Blast is real.  I grouped with one the other day and it really made me want to revisit a plan for it.  

 

So is it decent? It can be.  Psi resistant enemies and robots will make you curse your choice, but against everything else its got a lot of potential.  

 

I will give you the exact same advice I give everyone.  This is going to be despite what I say about the quality of certain powers.  Ok, that said, take Mental Blast and Telekinetic Blast.  At the very least, experiment and explore the Sentinel inherent with these and make a determination on value once you've got a handle on things.  

All that said, Mental Blast sucks at 50 when we're talking about a fully IO'ed out build and even more so when you start spending loads of cash on it.  Psionic Strike is also fairly lack luster for single target and its tier rank.  Its a bit disappointing.  

 

For whatever reason, Hero Designer isn't showing the damage that Scramble Thoughts does.  It has a long animation but hits incredibly hard.  It got the same damage treatment as Sonic's Screech but keeps a long recharge*.  Will Domination is phenomenal and TK Blast will be your filler until Epic Pools**. 

 

*Scramble Thoughts is one of the few powers in all of the Sentinel sets that I have found to make actual good reliable use of Opportunity Strikes.  The power has both a 20 second base cool down and a 3 second animation.  This sucker a rough 42% chance to trigger the ATO proc.  No other primary is quite this good but Bitter Freeze Ray in Ice is close.  This means this power can net you a 20% resistance debuff more frequently than other primaries.  It's a big deal.

 

**I love Psi Mastery in general but it is thematically appropriate.  A perma-hasten style build can routinely cycle Dominate (with damage procs) -> Will Domination -> Scramble Thoughts -> Will Domination.  Toss a TK Blast as needed for Opportunity.  

 

 Psionic Scream is a cone and some people hate cones.  If that is you, skip it.  

 

That's about it.  Potentially 3 powers to skip, but that's assuming you're backing it up with a budgeted plan.  Otherwise, take Mental Blast or Psionic Strike as your attack routine will have gaps.  

Edited August 20, 2019 by oldskool