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Underrail => Builds => Topic started by: Sykar on January 28, 2019, 06:19:03 am

Title: Any idea for a build with Temporal Manipulation?
Post by: Sykar on January 28, 2019, 06:19:03 am
Has anyone thought of such a build yet?
Title: Re: Any idea for a build with Temporal Manipulation?
Post by: ciox on January 28, 2019, 07:57:32 am
It seems like nothing you can do with that psi school will crit, so it will be a Tranquility build for sure. http://www.underrail.com/wiki/index.php?title=Temporal_Distortion
Title: Re: Any idea for a build with Temporal Manipulation?
Post by: Sykar on January 28, 2019, 08:04:09 am
Good to know though I have no intention of using it on my Tranquility PSI Sniper. Just musing what else would work well with it. Maybe full PSI but 4 schools seem a bit much to max so question is what to drop.
Title: Re: Any idea for a build with Temporal Manipulation?
Post by: ciox on January 28, 2019, 09:34:18 am
It seems unlikely you'd drop any one school completely, you would want Psychokinesis at least until 30 for Forcefield, and Thought Control 75 for Locus of Control.
But you could stop there and only level up Metathermics and Temporal to max, the first one handles biological enemies well and the latter can destroy robotic enemies albeit a little more slowly.

Overall I'd still consider levelling all 4 for that synergy bonus, I think they all need to be maxed too for the synergy to work properly..
Title: Re: Any idea for a build with Temporal Manipulation?
Post by: Sykar on January 28, 2019, 11:12:29 am
It seems unlikely you'd drop any one school completely, you would want Psychokinesis at least until 30 for Forcefield, and Thought Control 75 for Locus of Control.
But you could stop there and only level up Metathermics and Temporal to max, the first one handles biological enemies well and the latter can destroy robotic enemies albeit a little more slowly.

Overall I'd still consider levelling all 4 for that synergy bonus, I think they all need to be maxed too for the synergy to work properly..

Thought Control is the school that needs either maxing or nothing. Just getting 75 points for LoC while your CC is highly unreliable just does not cut it imho.
Psychokinesis is the best PSI school to handle multiple robotic enemies. I doubt that Temporal can compete with its damage against those well.

As to having 4 schools, it will cut deeply into your crafting or your social/infilatration skills. I guess you could go for a build eschewing everything but Dodge/Evasion and those four schools with 280 points to spare as you see fit. Probably best to go for some electronics and biology.

Something along the line of this:
http://underrail.info.tm/build/?GQQDCAQDEAgAAAAAwofChwAAAAAAN1AANwDCh8KHfcKHAAArOSg_FCpBDy4hBSkKPWQ

Just a rough idea, Persuasion being TM PSI skill. 90 points to spare, could consider taking out one of those later feats for Nimble to further enhance Dodge/Evasion. With a strong shield you should be able to avoid most damage.
Could opt for a few points into Stealth so you can get the initiative on top of all and with 8 Agi would not need to have sky high skill just for that though you won't be able to sneak past entire groups of enemies, at least against high level enemies.
Would probably struggle against Death Stalkers but then again many builds do.
Title: Re: Any idea for a build with Temporal Manipulation?
Post by: Ploluap on January 28, 2019, 04:10:45 pm
But we don't know yet the new feats that'll come with the expansion and maybe boost temporal manipulation, do we ?
Title: Re: Any idea for a build with Temporal Manipulation?
Post by: TheAverageGortsby on January 28, 2019, 04:18:56 pm
Full Psi is monstrously powerful, and TM actually is more powerful than any of the other three schools.  You can still craft everything with a 4-school build, no problem, and still have enough Mercantile and Persuasion to pass every check, and enough Hacking and Lockpicking to get almost every (but not quite every) lock.  Obviously, you don't need (or even want) dodge or evasion or any weapon skills.  75 points in Thought Control, by the way, is more than enough to crush every resolve check, since you're going to have enormous effective-skill buffs from 16 Will.  I used this build for two Dominating runs; the change between them was that the first time, almost all the remaining points from level 26-30 went into Psychokinesis, Metathermics, and TM, whereas the second time I reduced TC to 75, TM to 115, and added enough Traps skill so I could use Crawler Poison bear traps, and a bit more lock picking because I was having a fit not being able to open everything ;)

http://underrail.info.tm/build/?GQMDAwcEEAoAAAAAAAAAPlAAAEZGHERGc8KHwocxAEBQNis_FCouMj0hZGdmVw
Title: Re: Any idea for a build with Temporal Manipulation?
Post by: Sykar on January 28, 2019, 07:22:46 pm
Full Psi is monstrously powerful, and TM actually is more powerful than any of the other three schools.  You can still craft everything with a 4-school build, no problem, and still have enough Mercantile and Persuasion to pass every check, and enough Hacking and Lockpicking to get almost every (but not quite every) lock.  Obviously, you don't need (or even want) dodge or evasion or any weapon skills.  75 points in Thought Control, by the way, is more than enough to crush every resolve check, since you're going to have enormous effective-skill buffs from 16 Will.  I used this build for two Dominating runs; the change between them was that the first time, almost all the remaining points from level 26-30 went into Psychokinesis, Metathermics, and TM, whereas the second time I reduced TC to 75, TM to 115, and added enough Traps skill so I could use Crawler Poison bear traps, and a bit more lock picking because I was having a fit not being able to open everything ;)

http://underrail.info.tm/build/?GQMDAwcEEAoAAAAAAAAAPlAAAEZGHERGc8KHwocxAEBQNis_FCouMj0hZGdmVw

Full PSI is powerful but it gets kinda tiring to guzzle PSI boosters every 3rd round.
Title: Re: Any idea for a build with Temporal Manipulation?
Post by: mattu on January 28, 2019, 07:33:11 pm
The new PSI school is for me the most exciting character offense change in the expansion. (Although machetes and shotguns are pretty damn cool too. Spears? shrug, we'll see.)

The first char I'll play will be quad-psi. Yeah, that does spread you kinda thin: I'm looking at 12 different skills, maybe a 20 point dip into Chemistry for a 13th as well. But sometime around the midgame the choices will get simpler and I can catch up with a smaller core set (unless maybe there's a bunch of new crafting options that are too tempting . . . which would be OK with me).

Others have remarked on this, but I am really excited about TM because I think it will make PSI hybrids (other than punchers) become more attractive. Cooldown acceleration, extra move and AP, yes please. Stasis could come in handy for hybrids too, depending on how it actually works. (And once I've decided to pay the HP tax, I'm going to think real hard about 30 PK for Force Field.)

The next couple characters that I'm musing about will very likely be PSI hybrids with low WIL but investment in TM.

> TM actually is more powerful than any of the other three schools.

This is interesting! I had kind of planned to lag TM on my quad-psi char, but maybe I'll reconsider.

> 75 points in Thought Control, by the way, is more than enough to crush every resolve check

That's surprising, too. Perhaps that's where those TM points will come from.

> Overall I'd still consider levelling all 4 for that synergy bonus, I think they all need to be maxed too for the synergy to work properly..

At least if the build tool is accurate (I believe it is) you only realize a bonus for skill synergies if the skill is NOT maxed. Try it out.
Title: Re: Any idea for a build with Temporal Manipulation?
Post by: harperfan7 on January 28, 2019, 08:33:23 pm
I have my build all planned out.  It's basically a machete swordsman who stacks dodge/evasion bonuses and action-point bonuses and has a lot of move points (but not extremely so).  I'm sure I'll have to make room for expansion feats, but right now I intend to take tranquility and premeditation at some point.
Title: Re: Any idea for a build with Temporal Manipulation?
Post by: hilf on January 28, 2019, 09:14:19 pm
I used TM on 2 builds:

1) Pistols + Throwing + Traps. This build didn't have any PSI originally. I wanted to see how well it's going to be supported by TM. With 3 Will and not too high investment in TM i relied on abilities that don't need high skill level. I must say TM supported this build quite well.

2) Dodgy Temporal Puncher. I wanted to see how Dodge/Evasion will interact with Precognition. I didn't go too heavy on WIL and AGI since i wanted max DEX and 7 INT for Skinner. Without going much into details - it works pretty well. Temporal Disortion was a really nice addition to my melee build.

Hopefully it isn't too spoilery.
Title: Re: Any idea for a build with Temporal Manipulation?
Post by: Sykar on January 29, 2019, 03:42:38 am
Those look like some cool ideas.  :)
Title: Re: Any idea for a build with Temporal Manipulation?
Post by: newageofpower on January 29, 2019, 04:53:28 pm
2) Dodgy Temporal Puncher. I wanted to see how Dodge/Evasion will interact with Precognition. I didn't go too heavy on WIL and AGI since i wanted max DEX and 7 INT for Skinner. Without going much into details - it works pretty well. Temporal Disortion was a really nice addition to my melee build.
How do you deal with psi drain? I find that at very high dex and with low int/low will Force Emission is pretty draining, and Precognition looks like it will increase the drain rate even more.

Or do you just repeatedly inject whenever you get low?

Also, I find it very weird precognition doesn't affect initiative.
Title: Re: Any idea for a build with Temporal Manipulation?
Post by: hilf on January 29, 2019, 07:33:11 pm
2) Dodgy Temporal Puncher. I wanted to see how Dodge/Evasion will interact with Precognition. I didn't go too heavy on WIL and AGI since i wanted max DEX and 7 INT for Skinner. Without going much into details - it works pretty well. Temporal Disortion was a really nice addition to my melee build.
How do you deal with psi drain? I find that at very high dex and with low int/low will Force Emission is pretty draining, and Precognition looks like it will increase the drain rate even more.

Or do you just repeatedly inject whenever you get low?

Also, I find it very weird precognition doesn't affect initiative.

Mufflers.
And swallowing psi booster when i'm low, it only costs 2 AP with doctor's pouch. I'm not using Psychokinesis, just Tempo. Psi points are very managable if you only use them for Tempo Manipulation and have Mufflers.

Quote
Also, I find it very weird precognition doesn't affect initiative.

Yeah, somewhat. Fortunately, initiative is one of my last concerns.
Title: Re: Any idea for a build with Temporal Manipulation?
Post by: newageofpower on January 29, 2019, 07:42:48 pm
Yeah, high dex wouldn't care about initiative; it just feels out-of-flavor, that's all.

Mufflers affect Precognition? What about Psi Beetle Carapace? Do they affect Force Emission as well? I thought the psi-cost reducing stuff wouldn't, was a little mad Tranquility didn't affect my Fist Jedi build.
Title: Re: Any idea for a build with Temporal Manipulation?
Post by: TheAverageGortsby on January 29, 2019, 08:37:07 pm
Mufflers affect Precognition? What about Psi Beetle Carapace? Do they affect Force Emission as well?
Yes, yes, and yes.
Title: Re: Any idea for a build with Temporal Manipulation?
Post by: jubisloviu on January 30, 2019, 01:12:27 am
I feel like with temporal manipulation there will be almost no reason (besides personal choice) to not take the psipill and make a hybrid.
it offers so much in terms of utility that even if you don't focus on maxing it at every level up, stuff like Stasis, Psycho-temporal Contraction and Limited Temporal Increment will probably fit in 99% of the builds, and 25% of your health isn't a price too heavy to pay if you postphone the pill for later when you have health to spare.

As for build ideas, i don't know you guys but i'll try a time manipulating swordsman (using machetes) once it releases.
Title: Re: Any idea for a build with Temporal Manipulation?
Post by: mattu on January 30, 2019, 02:25:21 am
> and 25% of your health isn't a price too heavy to pay if you postphone the pill for later when you have health to spare.

I basically agree, but it may be a little interesting with a character that is already low CON. I've enjoyed playing 3 CON characters that try to avoid taking damage, but they still get hit some. You're going to notice that reduced margin of error. (I've got plans for one like this, eventually.)
Title: Re: Any idea for a build with Temporal Manipulation?
Post by: paulkirikawa on January 30, 2019, 06:41:27 am
IIRC someone made a STR-based TM Machetee dude on this forum. I'd try this BD with a little tweak towards sleg after my pistol run for DLC, mock an 2000+ Execute on boss enemy would be fun.