Author Topic: Best Shield for PSI Dodge/Evasion-less build?  (Read 3258 times)

Shady_Individual

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Best Shield for PSI Dodge/Evasion-less build?
« on: September 06, 2019, 05:01:30 pm »
So I'm playing a Psychosis 10 WIS 9 INT 9 CON build without any points in evasion/dodge and I'm wondering what would be the perfect combination for a shield? I recently came back since the expansion came out and still can wrap around my head around the weird nuances when it comes to crafting a decent shield. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

(I use a Kevlar Sturdy Psionic Overcoat with Ninja Tabi)

Fenix

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Re: Best Shield for PSI Dodge/Evasion-less build?
« Reply #1 on: September 07, 2019, 02:26:11 am »
Double Low for anything, except when you fight agianst snipers.
Low-Low against melee, but what's more important - crossbowers.

Amplified Low Low could be very good vs melee/crossbow, only it's capacity is very low.
It's combination for when you need to withstand one turn of melee or crossbow burst damage.
« Last Edit: September 07, 2019, 02:28:17 am by Fenix »

TheAverageGortsby

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Re: Best Shield for PSI Dodge/Evasion-less build?
« Reply #2 on: September 07, 2019, 06:12:06 am »
Fenix isn't wrong, but I don't think he's covered all the right ways, either.  Psychosis plus stealth (why else would you be wearing ninja tabis?) is really good at alpha striking anything that's even a little bit squishy.  You can stun, incapacitate, enrage, or even slow melee types so you don't need to worry about them getting to you; you can alpha the crossbows so they just spend all their time dead; but what you can't always reliably kill are the really tanky ranged sorts (and they've pretty much always exclusively got ARs if they're ranged) and the off-in-some-corner-somewhere rifle snipers.  Both of those are high-speed projectiles, so if you tend to alpha soft targets first it could be to your advantage to go High/High.  Melee won't get to you, SMGs are no threat at all, and you just keep in mind each fight that if you see somebody with a crossbow, they gotta die the turn you come out of stealth.  Then you can LOS things so if there are others somewhere out in the fog of war they have to come running around a corner to get to you, where you've placed an Electrokinetic Imprint or something.

If you play a sloppy game, Low is a really good idea. But if you optimize your pre-combat placement and open with heavy killing shots (and that's what Psychosis is really all about) then you don't have to worry about anything on the low-speed side.

chimaera

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Re: Best Shield for PSI Dodge/Evasion-less build?
« Reply #3 on: September 07, 2019, 07:36:17 am »
In the expedition lands the corssbowmen seem to be every bit as good at hiding in the corner as snipers, because I've had my character shot at by enemies outside of his line of sight.

Shady_Individual

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Re: Best Shield for PSI Dodge/Evasion-less build?
« Reply #4 on: September 07, 2019, 06:08:15 pm »
(why else would you be wearing ninja tabis?)
Truth be told I don't really know what else would be good, speed and MP are nice as well. What would you recommend? (I'm running 0 Stealth)

In regards to Shields, duo-Low seem to do the trick, thanks!

TheAverageGortsby

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Re: Best Shield for PSI Dodge/Evasion-less build?
« Reply #5 on: September 08, 2019, 10:57:22 pm »
In the expedition lands the corssbowmen seem to be every bit as good at hiding in the corner as snipers, because I've had my character shot at by enemies outside of his line of sight.
Like I said, low is good for sloppy game play. Not knowing where your enemies are is sloppy play, except for the relatively few situations where enemies spawn/walk in from areas that player can't get to before the enemies show up (like hidden crabs, for example, or the Spec Ops teams in the Grey Army base).

Truth be told I don't really know what else would be good, speed and MP are nice as well. What would you recommend? (I'm running 0 Stealth)
Infused pig leather striders, for just regular walking-around shoes. They're loud, but if you're not using stealth, it's no matter. Bonus CON, bonus carry capacity, no penalty to player-gets-crit chance, and high-quality springs give a lot of movement speed and movement points.

chimaera

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Re: Best Shield for PSI Dodge/Evasion-less build?
« Reply #6 on: September 10, 2019, 07:47:27 am »
Like I said, low is good for sloppy game play. Not knowing where your enemies are is sloppy play, except for the relatively few situations where enemies spawn/walk in from areas that player can't get to before the enemies show up (like hidden crabs, for example, or the Spec Ops teams in the Grey Army base).
Of course I didn't bother with scouting. After the first few mass spawn areas it got so annoying, I just started planting tnt everywhere, because 90% of time it got everyone on the map running. And then you can just aoe them.

I am a fan of scouting in the main game. But so far the dlc has been disappointing (repetitive enemy spawns, repetitive locations, rooms with straight line vents).

Altos

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Re: Best Shield for PSI Dodge/Evasion-less build?
« Reply #7 on: September 10, 2019, 04:13:33 pm »
In the expedition lands the crossbowmen seem to be every bit as good at hiding in the corner as snipers, because I've had my character shot at by enemies outside of his line of sight.

TBH, the crossbow dudes were by far the hardest part of the entire Expedition. Those guys were brutal to fight on Dominating, both in the village and during the attacks.

Thankfully, their lack of any real armor makes them highly susceptible to Mk V Frag Mines and Napalm Grenades. ;D

So the best tactic is to just litter the entire shoreline of the beach with mines and chem. blob traps and whatever else you can find. The ones that survive can be taken out by the turrets, Yahota, or grenades. Plus, you can always hide behind the giant rock in map while you wait for your grenades to recharge. ;)

Setting all the crossbow guys on fire was very satisfying. :P

chimaera

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Re: Best Shield for PSI Dodge/Evasion-less build?
« Reply #8 on: September 10, 2019, 06:17:56 pm »

TBH, the crossbow dudes were by far the hardest part of the entire Expedition. Those guys were brutal to fight on Dominating, both in the village and during the attacks.
I'm playing on hard, so I had a bit more leeway during the beach fights. But I had problems getting close to the native shores initially, because I didn't know what it was that would sometimes one-shot my character from land and thought it were those anti-jet ballistas.