2nd playthrough psi build advice

[Hal900x]

What it says on the tin. My first playthrough was knife melee + throwing with moderate evasion+dodge, full lockpick/hack, and no stealth. Armor was typically light. I had all 5 crafting skills high at the end. This time, I would like to A.) be heavy on the PSI casting, B.) use 1 or ideally both speech skills, and C.) avoid replicating aspects of my previous build. So no melee, basically. A tough one, I think, so I'll stick to normal difficulty probably. The last playthrough was pretty easy except when I entered areas that far out-leveled me. Stealth is optional this time through. Now, I know Yell is awesome, but honestly if I have to choose between Persuasion and Intimidation I will go with the former for more speech opportunities...I want to see more of what the game offers another playstyle more than I want to be uber. So the more PSI skills the better, because finding new abilities or interaction opportunities is just cool.

[MirddinEmris]

10 in WILL and CON, rest in INT. All level ups in WILL.

With that much will you can easily put only half of max skill points in speech skills ad still would be able to pass every check needed.

Or you can put 10 in AGI for stealthy psion if you didn't do stealth on your previous run. But will should be max and int should be good since it affects both crafting and psi regen. You will need certain amount of biology and electronics at least.

[Eldakar]

http://underrail.com/forums/index.php?topic=2162.msg12471#msg12471

This is really good build posted by Wildan. Probably best out there. I can confirm by playing it on hard dificulty ready.

The bad thing about pure caster is that you run out of psi very fast. It's only weakness that PSI builds have.

[Hal900x]

I think with my unique requirements, I'm prolly gonna be on my own with this build, and def. playing on normal. I am just asking too much for one playthrough. One huge pain is the psi pool...it's just not big enough for a pure caster without Tranquility, and that requires a very specific style. I like Psychosis better in theory, but man...

[Eldakar]

Well there are couple of hybrid builds like sniper/PSI, unarmed/PSI, pistol/PSI or even hammer/PSI. You can find them on this forum.

[Megaost]

Basically, what MirddinEmris said about stat allocation.
As for the skills, my first complete run of the game was full psionics (maxed out all three psi branches) and it was a breeze. Tchort fight was mindless (just ran up to him and spammed neural overload, popping health hypos and psi boosters as needed).

It's a real fun build to go though. Just make sure you are on the lookout for psionic mentors. There are a lot of cool and useful psi skills that aren't taught by Quinton/Bisson/Ezra.
Key to this playstyle is good juggling of disables (fear, subversion, stun from that telekinetic punch, freeze) and good use of psi wall or whatever it's called. It's very much a build where you are rewarded for proper management of cooldowns, both on skills and on consumeables.

Edit: forgot to mention something. The only kind of opponent this build is sub-optimal against is robots. If you feel telekinetic punch and psi wall thingy aren't good enough reasons to get psychokinetics alone (and they really are), know that the electroshock bouncy-attack thing (can't remember the names of the skills for shit) is also nice to have for situation where you have to fight robots, seeing as how it stuns them and doesn't have a cooldown (albeit a high psi cost).

[Sat]

I am doing my 2nd playthrough on hard with a pure psi build with following stats:
S: 3
D: 3
A: 7
C: 7
P: 3
W: 10 (+ Max will)
I: 7

Regarding the skills, max for 3 psi skills and stealth. around 100 locking and hacking, 35 biology, the rest in mechanics, tailoring and electronics for crafting good gears (Psi band, shield, tabi boots and psi tactical vets).

For feats (not in in the right right order but close):
Conditionning and Sprint
Interlopper
Tranquility
Meditation
Premeditation
Psychostatic Electricity
Thermodynamicity
Locus of Control
Force User
Neurology
Neural Overclocking
Pyromaniac (can be changed depending on your play style)
Nimble, fast metabolism, ballistics, psi feats left or anything that you could find more useful (not decided yet)

a piece of advice, do not pick psychosis/psionic mania, the high cost of psi will be a big pain and you will have to rely on a lot of non psi tactics to survive.
Psi build are really strong if developped correctly, on hard, the game is easier than with my optimised stealth sniper/smg build (even though I have not reached DC yet). The only threats are crawlers/traps (bad detection) and grenade (low evasion).

You do not need to develop a weapon skill and can fully rely on the psi skills to get you out of any situations (without DC, but it should be the same). You may throw some flashbangs or EMP even if you suck at it.

[Eldakar]

I think with my unique requirements, I'm prolly gonna be on my own with this build, and def. playing on normal. I am just asking too much for one playthrough. One huge pain is the psi pool...it's just not big enough for a pure caster without Tranquility, and that requires a very specific style. I like Psychosis better in theory, but man...

Mayby it would be nice to try conditioning + psychosis + stoicism + survival instincts and high con+lifting belt. Get enough stealth to get first turn going for your advantage and you are good to go.

[Sat]

On the paper, it may look nice but the strenght of psi is not to have high damage meaning that even if you crit often, you will never one shot enemies (if they are at similar level). Having a larger pool of psi, you can spam more spells. I tried the psychosis way and I restarted because I was constantly running from enemies because no psi points even with booster.
This is valid only for a pure psi if you go for a mix psi/any weapon, it is of course totally viable.

To continue on the build proposed above and to have it more adapted to your expectations, you can reduce lock, hacking and crafting to boost speech skills.

However, do not trade it for stealth as you do not have a very high initiative.

[Hal900x]

I won't try to quote everyone because I suck at it. Regarding robots, EMP grenades were super OP in my first play but I had high throwing. I'm assuming even with low or no throwing they can still be used at close range if I turn my shield off first. Regarding Mentors, that's a big reason I want a full PSI build. I am looking for maximum discovery, interaction, new "oooh cool" moments above all. The number of times I discovered mentors/pillars in cool ways in first playthrough spurred my choice of PSI this time through, along with the sheer variety of abilities. This entire playthrough is about doing and finding cool stuffs, including dialog options. I'm torn on Normal vs Hard because I really don't want to worry about perfectly optimizing my combat build, but on the other hand the first play was often too easy, particularly the final boss (ignore tents, stab stab dead). Then again, a few fights such as junkyard dogs and specific groups of stealthy Lurkers were quite tough.

Also torn on Stealth. Yes, getting the jump on enemies, and perhaps preserving Tranquility is important. I'm concerned about being in range when I initiate combat though, because losing all movement points is rough...a catch/22 with Stealth, you need it high enough to get in range of abilities, but I don't want to have to max it out.

Played a few levels with Psychosis and, while I prefer the more radical blitz playstyle in theory, PSI pool management is excessive. You really don't get much of it even with maxed Will. I dunno...my first playthrough was all about getting the jump too (purely via Init/positioning/detection, not Stealth). Not intentionally, it just worked out that way as a crit-based, lowish CON character. I was looking to change it up as much as possible so if I do need to go first, it will prolly be via Stealth.  Another tricky bit is how much AGI for stealth and/or Initiative. Points I put into AGI will come out of CON, or to a lesser degree INT.

I think I've got a good idea of how to go and I'll post my build in a bit. I don't entirely plan the leveling process though, so I take feats as I go. More fun that way. Discovery>min/max.

[Hal900x]

Since I am playing on Normal, I went with 3 CON for a challenge, and I figure if I'm going Tranquility the goal is never to be hit anyway. So with that in mind, I basically min/maxed completely. 3/3/10/3/3/10/8. Max Metathermics and Thought Control, with a few Psychokinesis points also. I decided to go moderate Stealth, high Evasion, some Dodge, Intimidation and Hacking (no lockpick, lame, but at least obtaining keys will have a purpose). I will try to put points into Persuasion if possible but I dunno. Then just crafting points as needed as I go along. No offensive combat skills. I'm gonna Blitz, Yell, and then whatever Psi feats seem cool as I go.

By the way, I just noticed that Uncanny Dodge has been nerfed since last build.

[MirddinEmris]

If you are worried about movement point out of stealth, try Interloper and/or Sprint. Usually it is enough to reposition after you psi-nova round.

[Hal900x]

I took Nimble and Sprint as my starting feats.

[Sat]

Psychokinesis is really powerful and you should not hesitate to max it. Few spells are among the most useful: Electrokinesis or Elektrokinetic imprint. You should forget totally dodge or evasion especially if you will take a vest or riot. it is too impacted by penalties and the purpose is not to get hit, then meaning that nobody can shoot you (Killed, stunned, feared, iced, blocked,....)
The 3 CON will be difficult at the beginning and on long fight but is really manageable.

[Hal900x]

Psychokinesis is really powerful and you should not hesitate to max it. Few spells are among the most useful: Electrokinesis or Elektrokinetic imprint. You should forget totally dodge or evasion especially if you will take a vest or riot. it is too impacted by penalties and the purpose is not to get hit, then meaning that nobody can shoot you (Killed, stunned, feared, iced, blocked,....)
The 3 CON will be difficult at the beginning and on long fight but is really manageable.

Penalty is only 15% with Nimble...not too bad. I am also planning on taking some feats that enhance my dodge/evade. Vests are great, but they don't eliminate damage completely, which is my goal as much as possible. Even a scratch will kill my Tranquility, not to mention my health is so low that a couple of hits will kill me.

EDIT: Like I said, I'm still taking SOME Psychokinesis...at least 45. So I will have Imprint for the stun, just not a lot of damage.