Updated recommendations for New Psi
Current as of: 29 September 2020 and patch 1.1.2.4
Newest update: No changes to psi build/play theory
General Info
With psi points now being globally scarce, and psi ability variety being restricted during combat, it is now extremely important that a "full psi" build be highly efficient. Not only do we need to specialize in our desired school and abilities, we need to make sure that we use them in maximally efficient ways. The good news? The learning curve for psi just got very, very flat. The bad news? Unless you just want to challenge yourself, there is now One Correct Way To Play Psi (though depending on what school(s) you want to focus most on, the specifics change slightly).
Psychosis built full psi is once again weakened. It is still DOMINATING-viable but Tranquility has been nerfed less than Psychosis in the current iteration of the patch - though again, depending on how you want to play you may be able to duck the worst of the nerfs.
Building a New Character
You still want 10 Will to start, but now you have a very real choice to make - 6 Int will be the minimum sufficient, 8 Int will be ideal, and 12 Int will be more than needed for optimal play. You need to figure out what other stats you want and where you want your Will to end up, before setting your Int. If you have no idea what you should do, play 8 Int. That will get you, currently, 6 readied abilities which as I will show below, is plenty for the entire game.
I do recommend 6 Dexterity now, if you can fit it into your build, because Grenadier is about to become your best friend. For those who play with truly extreme efficiency, Grenadier is not necessary, but you will want a fair bit of throwing (unless you're OK with reloading on misses) because you're going to need to rely on correct grenade placement when it counts.
High Constitution is more valuable than ever before. Get as much of it as you can spare, but hopefully at least 7 points.
Put skill points into two psi schools. I recommend Metathermics and Psychokinesis. You can leave Thought Control and Temporal Manipulation at 0 if you like - unless those are the schools you plan to play heavily, obviously. However, I'm going to try to make a case that Metathermics (possibly plus one other school) is probably the best way to play under the current rules.
Levelling Up
Stats: As before, Will is very important for a full psi character, but it's possible that some builds will want to rush to 12 Int before boosting Will. There are currently only 8 slots with the final unlockable at 12 Int, but even at the starting value of 10 Int seven of the eight slots will be available. Because you will have a limited selection of psi abilities during a fight, it is more important than ever that those abilities be as useful and powerful as possible. Thus, I believe Will is now more important than ever for full psi, and I really don't recommend running a full psi build with under 14 Will.
Skills: We're going to be using a lot of grenades, so fit in some Throwing as best you are able. A little bit of Stealth is going be more useful than before, so maybe try to find a way to fit that in, as well.
Feats: Tranquility/Psychosis at lvl2, Premeditation at lvl6, and Locus of Control at lvl14 are still must-have. Force User is still must-have if you're going to use Psychokinesis primarily. Meditation is now must-have for Tranquility, as Psionic Mania is must-have for Psychosis. Thermodynamicity and Pyromaniac are now must-have for Metathermics. Cerebral Trauma is now must-have for Thought Control. Temporal Distortion is no longer an efficiently viable damage source on DOMINATING but on other difficulties, Continuum Ripple is now must-have for TM. Neurology will be an increasingly useful QoL feat. Hemopsychosis will be very valuable for all builds, especially for non-SI builds with Regen Vests. If you did roll with 6 Dexterity, Grenadier may be an attractive choice as well. Veteran Empowered feats are still useful but require additional long-term thinking in their application; I don't strongly recommend them but they will be valuable for some players and builds. The new Optimization and Flexiblity feats may be useful depending on how you intend to build and play your psi character.
Specialization points: Premeditation is more valuable than before, both cooldown reduction and cost reduction. Take both. Thermodynamicity spec is no longer especially attractive but is still useful if there's nowhere else you'd like your points to go. Force User spec is attractive especially stacked with a headband module to increase punch damage, much like Cerebral Trauma spec is attractive for Premeditation+LoC+Neural Overload nuke builds (but these should be less powerful with the increase in damage blocked by Resolve, so beware).
Combat in the New Psi, or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love Metathermics
Metathermics is currently the best school of psi to play if you want to get through combats with the greatest psi efficiency. You only need 3 abilities to make this work (though I'd recommend 4), and in the entire game, there are only five fights that are highly resistant to this school (counting all native invasions as one, for purposes of grouping, even though certainly depending on how you play there may be several invasions). Psychokinesis and Thought Control are viable primaries as well. Temporal Manipulation, while technically possible, is not an ideal choice as a primary due largely to the need to cast many spells quickly to get the most out of its main damage spell.
ThermoD was "nerfed" in a most curious way, this patch. It does less damage, but its damage mechanism wasn't changed, so it still scales out of control if you can group up enemies. It also requires fewer Action Points to use, making it reasonable for use without Premeditation. This leads to an inescapable conclusion.
Innervate Cryokinesis, Thermodynamic Destabilization, Pyrokinesis, and Pyrokinetic Stream. Find a chokepoint, and lay down as many bear traps as necessary to make yourself safe. Now, make some noise; you might use a grenade, or perhaps you'd like to carry around a firearm. In any event, what you want is to gather enemies up, which the AI will gladly do. At this point, you should
Place ThermoD on the highest health enemy you can easily kill and which is near the middle of the group (5-10 AP, 30 base psi cost)
Cast Cryokinesis on the target most likely to survive the explosion (7-10AP with unspecced Thermodynamicity, 15 base psi cost)
Throw a grenade (15 AP)
and if necessary,
Premeditate a Pyrokinesis (0 AP, 20 base psi cost with unspecced Premeditation)
After the explosion, as needed
Cast Cryokinesis (7-10AP, 15 base psi) on any stubborn survivors and if you like
Throw another grenade, or
Cast Pyrokinetic Stream.
Congratulations! You have mastered New Psi!
If you would prefer a more classic Psychosis approach, then Innervate Cryokinetic Orb, ThermoD, Cryokinesis, and Pyrokinesis, and after you've acquired a group as you prefer,
Premeditate + Psionic Mania + Cryokinetic Orb (0 AP, 30 base psi cost) and if anything survives
Cast Thermodynamic Destabilization (5 AP with unspecced Thermodynamicity, 36 base cost) and either
Throw a grenade (15 AP) or
Cast Cryokinesis (10 AP w/unspecced Thermodynamicity, 17 base cost) on a secondary target if needed, then end with
Pyrokinesis (17 AP, 48 base cost) or
Throw a grenade.
Congratulations! You have mastered New Psi!
In the event you're dealing with highly flame-resistant enemies, I would suggest:
If dealing with robots, throw a grenade (EMP, plasma, or both)
If dealing with Bladelings like during the Beast fight, then after you've laid down a lot of traps, you should throw grenades down into the kill zone - gas grenades and HE are a great combo, and as the gas debuff ticks on them, even incendiary grenades will do damage.
If dealing with heavily armored enemies, then you should throw a grenade or two to augment your ThermoD damage.
Of course, you don't need to use Metathermics at all. Other builds will also be viable.
For Psychokinesis builds, you'll be working with a lot of stuns. Your psi will do very heavy point damage but not much AoE damage, so you should probably throw some grenades to clear up the weaker enemies while you Innervate and use Proxy + Punch/Implosion and Electrokinesis + Electro Trap. I'd recommend something like:
Lay down traps to create a chokepoint, and make some noise. When the enemy comes running,
TK Proxy (5-10AP, 15 base cost)
Force Punch on a hard target (5-10 AP, 50 base psi cost) then
Premeditate an Electrokinesis (0 AP, 18 base psi cost) to get an additional stun. Then you should probably
Throw a grenade (15 AP) to kill off weaker enemies, and if necessary
Throw another grenade to incapacitate any survivors. At this point you've probably burned through most of your psi pool, so probably take a booster and end the turn. On the following turn, clean up by
Moving the Proxy (5-10AP, 15 base cost) and/or
Electrokinesis (25-30AP, 35 base psi cost). If there are still survivors, you may want to escape LoS so that next turn, thanks to Grenadier, you can
Throw a grenade to clean up what's left.
Congratulations! You have mastered New Psi!
Similarly, Thought Control is still quite viable. You'll only need to Innervate two abilities: Enrage and Neural Overload. Anything else will be QoL. For easier fights against groups of organics, you may want to just
Lay down as many traps as needed to create a chokepoint, make some noise, and
Premed + LoC + (Psionic Mania if Psychosis +)Neural Overload (0 AP, 7 (9) base psi cost) then if anything survives,
Throw a grenade (15AP).
For harder fights against living targets, it might be wise to
Create chokepoint as before,
Premed + LoC + Enrage (0 AP, 25/30 base psi cost) and then
Throw a grenade (15AP) to get some damage down. Keep out of LOS, so you aren't targeted by the enraged enemies, and when enrage drops,
Throw a grenade (15AP) thanks to Grenadier, and if needed,
Throw another grenade (15AP) and/or
Cast Neural Overload (13/18 base AP, 15/18 base psi cost)
Congratulations! You have mastered New Psi!
Even Temporal Manipulation should be possible on any difficulty, though it'll be a good bit more expensive in inhalers and psi boosters over the course of a game. Innervate Temporal Distortion and Entropic Recurrence, as well as Limited Temporal Increment and Psychotemporal Contraction. TD really requires that it be cast a lot of times in quick succession, and preferably on large groups to get the best effect from Continuum Ripple, so Tranquility is really the only good choice for a TM primary build. Probably the most efficient TM cycle would be:
Lay down as many traps as necessary to create a safe chokepoint. Make some noise to gather a group, then
Throw a grenade (15AP) to put some damage on the enemy then
Throw another grenade (15AP) to incapacitate them if organic or stun if robotic. End the turn.
Stack as many TDs as possible on one target and end the turn.
Stack as many TDs as possible on the same target (or another, if you're doing weak group cleanup and would rather Ripple than use more grenades) and get out of LoS/get your shield up. On the following turn,
Throw a grenade (15AP) and, if you've got a strong enemy causing you trouble,
Entropic Recurrence (5AP, 15 base psi cost) to echo that heavy grenade damage. From here on out it's just a matter of playing keep away until your TDs / ER ticks wear them down.
Congratulations! You have mastered New Psi!
