Anyone got a quick Psi Melee breakdown?

[Generator]

Hey folks,

 

I have yet to try Psionic Melee, and I was hoping someone could give me a quick rundown.  Anything look particularly redundant, or anything that might be respec-when-you-level bait?

 

Thanks,

Generator

[Meph]

The "blade" attacks are the must haves. Psi Blade, Psi Blade Sweep, and Greater Psi Blade. Doesn't hurt that they are the coolest looking animations either. The T1, Mental Strike is superfluous. Depending on your attack chain, you can potentially also skip Telekinetic Blow, though I am partial to it because it's a very reliable knock up and provides a source of non-psi damage. Mass Levitate you gotta get too obviously because it's T9, and also because it's the only other AoE and provides another source of non-psi damage.

 

The consensus seems to be that Psi Melee is best as a Stalker primary. The insight mechanic is half-baked at best. It provides too little of a benefit for the down time and inconsistent chance to proc it in the first place. The hit and run nature of a Stalker allows you to hunt for a new pack while it's on cooldown, whereas a Scrapper is sitting there in the mix essentially losing DPS without insight up. Allegedly Tankers can use insight on Greater Psi Blade and get an AoE attack out of it, supposedly has something to do with the taunt mechanic in that set, but I haven't played a psi Tanker, maybe others can confirm this (paging @Erratik).

 

I enjoy Psi for thematic reasons, but it has a rather significant draw back of no longer being an "unresisted damage type" in the end game. In general, Psi is less resisted, but the things that resist it are very resistant to it. Many people will recommend picking up Cross Punch for another AoE attack and source of non-psi damage. Psi Blade Sweep feels like a very small cone, would love a QoL buff to it, either range or cone width.

 

If I have to tell you to take Concentration I'm going to hit you with a tack hammer.

Take boggle while you're leveling, it has minor utility, and just to experience the full unpolished nature of the primary.

Taunt if you want to be able to reliably and quickly peel from squishes that draw aggro (read: never; blasters were meant to face plant).

Greater Psi Blade animation is too long, straight up.

Mass Levitate is very unique as a scrapper T9.

The -recharge secondary effect of the set is imperceptible.

 

I recommend you try trying it. Invest a couple hours in an alt and do a handful of DFB. You get to level 15 and you get a great feel for the primary without too much time wasted if you hate it. 

Edited August 30, 2019 by Meph

[Generator]

28 minutes ago, Meph said:

If I have to tell you to take Concentration I'm going to hit you with a tack hammer.

LOL, I like to think I'd have picked that up without being threatened with a Tommy Boy reference.  😁

 

Thanks very much for the breakdown.

[Erratic1]

Waitaminute. . .

 

Other ATs do not get an area hit out of Greater Psi Blade when Insight is up?

 

I have a Rad/Psi Tanker and getting that his is a real damage boost.

[Murcielago]

Psi seems like it would go well with Shield or Bio

[subbacultchas]

16 hours ago, Murcielago said:

Psi seems like it would go well with Shield or Bio

I have a Psi/Shield stalker who would actually agree with you. Very fun to play.

[Leogunner]

On 8/30/2019 at 2:57 PM, Meph said:

The consensus seems to be that Psi Melee is best as a Stalker primary. The insight mechanic is half-baked at best. It provides too little of a benefit for the down time and inconsistent chance to proc it in the first place.

I love hearing that: "it's best as a Stalker" or "it's best as a Tanker" or whatever.  Makes you want to try different variations of the same sets to see what trade-offs they have, because despite being possibly better on a Stalker, there are trade-offs.

 

I still don't know what the purpose of the insight mechanic is for except for extra damage, in which case, it's like having a proc chance for DoT or something so it can likely be ignored.  I think the only time I even bother worrying about insight is when I have it available and I can pop Placate and Greater Psi Blade for the crit+insight bonus+hold proc (but I have to turn off Chilling Embrace while placating).

 

On 8/30/2019 at 2:57 PM, Meph said:

The hit and run nature of a Stalker allows you to hunt for a new pack while it's on cooldown, whereas a Scrapper is sitting there in the mix essentially losing DPS without insight up.

Stalker has never been a hit and run type except perhaps in PvP.  Even now, I wouldn't say I "run" on my Stalkers, just attack the target I want gone then calmly target the next one while moving toward it.  No running necessary.  I do that alot on Carnies and Arachnos because they have lots more annoying mob types than most enemy groups.

 

On 8/30/2019 at 2:57 PM, Meph said:

Allegedly Tankers can use insight on Greater Psi Blade and get an AoE attack out of it, supposedly has something to do with the taunt mechanic in that set, but I haven't played a psi Tanker, maybe others can confirm this (paging @Erratik).

If you're trying to page them, make sure you select their name when you "at" them so they will be notified.  I tried it but I don't see an Erratik, just Erratik1 or erraticmuffin.

 

I'm curious about that too.  Greater Psi Blade is an AoE?  Why have I never noticed that?

 

Anyway, I think I might try another Psi Melee character at some point.  Someone mentioned Psi/Shield stalker, well I'd recommend Psi/Ice myself.  Likely not as offensive but the -rech and -movement coupled with the plethora of defensive options like confuse or a high chance of mag 5 hold is rather fun.  It always seems like I've got something in my pocket to shut down opposition.  Put a Force Feedback proc in Mass Levitate to get those defensive tools up even faster.

[Meph]

Just going to leave this here.

[BrandX]

What do those numbers mean?

[Meph]

1 minute ago, BrandX said:

What do those numbers mean?

 Popularity; the powerset statistics for each Archetype for characters that are level 50.

 

From this post in the GD: 

 

[Silvanthis]

On 9/1/2019 at 11:52 AM, Leogunner said:

I'm curious about that too.  Greater Psi Blade is an AoE?  Why have I never noticed that?

Is it really only for the Tanker set you get AoE out of it? Does it also work for the Brute set?

[Meph]

MrAxe posted screenshot evidence of Greater Psi Blade AoE on Tanker here:

 

The leading theory is that it's a bug related to Tanker's Gauntlet passive.

Edited September 3, 2019 by Meph

[Vulpoid]

I am curious what folks might suggest for slotting USING ONLY BASIC IOs  the non attack powers. I am not worried about sets or set bonuses. Just  straight up crafted IOs.
How would you slot Boggle and Concentration?
As long as I am here asking advice, anybody with experience with Energy Aura for Scrappers? I am not sure ( using just basic IOs) how to best slot those shields and powers. Just end reduction in the toggles, or enhance the Defense/Resists with 3 slots too?
Thank you for any help!

[RobotLove]

7 hours ago, Vulpoid said:

I am curious what folks might suggest for slotting USING ONLY BASIC IOs  the non attack powers. I am not worried about sets or set bonuses. Just  straight up crafted IOs.
How would you slot Boggle and Concentration?

For the build up just dump a pair of 50 recharge redux and call it a day.

Post 50, I wouldn't bother taking boggle on anything but a Tanker (it's pretty good mitigation with the purple set proc). Targets that you can actually confuse don't live long enough, and Insight pops often enough naturally without the increased chance. You just waste a fairly long activation time (while also being rooted) on something that's not doing damage.

If you absolutely feel the need to take boggle, 1 acc and 1 confuse duration, no more (slots are precious).

Edited September 6, 2019 by RobotLove

[Vulpoid]

Thank you very much for your input! I am enjoying my Psi/EA Scrapper very much.
The attack chain seems slow compared to my other scrapper experience Dark Melee and Martial Arts, but I am only level 28.  I suspect it is the animation speeds.

[Meph]

Just wanted to update this for future reference.

 

According to the patch notes from today (Issue 26, Page 4):

"Tanker Melee > Psionic Melee > Greater Psi Blade: Should no longer do AoE insight damage."

[oedipus_tex]

For whatever else it is, Psionic Melee has a mezz that can rival and even beat Controllers in the single target mezz game. Boggle mimics Confuse/Decieve/Possess, a power available to only 3 Control sets. Because Confusion (for Confusing reasons deep in the game's history) has a longer base duration than other mezzes, on a Scrapper the Confuse mezz effect (15 seconds) is only 3 seconds shorter than a Controller's Hold (18 seconds).

 

Now, some will argue that at top levels you should simply be charging into every spawn and leveling them in one go, and there's some validity to that. But for being able to slice and dice any enemy group, Psionic Melee deserves recognition, because there is no reason for it fear Sappers or other troublesome mobs.

 

Thus, while Psi Melee may not be super attractive to traditional melee players, its one of the rare melee sets that may be attractive to people who normally play Controllers or Dominators.

 

One minor set back for Boogle is its Range- 40 ft. Picking up some Stealth more or less removes this consideration. And Stalkers naturally have Stealth, so nothing to worry about there.

 

One other nice plus is the set bonus for Confusion powers provides the maximum Ranged Defense possible from a set, at +5. The rest of the bonuses ain't shabby either (particularly +10 Recharge). 

Edited January 24, 2020 by oedipus_tex

[Coyote]

But is it a non-aggroing Confuse, or does it aggro and break Stealth?

[oedipus_tex]

2 minutes ago, Coyote said:

But is it a non-aggroing Confuse, or does it aggro and break Stealth?

 

It's the non-aggro kind.