Returning Player Question

[cypherusuh]

tl;dr other than psi and Dragunov, does any build impacted badly?

Hi, I was a little old player, last time I played was around Core City Update.
I've been following the Psi update stuff, but everything sounds pretty shit back then, so I didn't play it.
after randomly suggested Underrail-related video from certain warlords in Africa, I checked all the changelog and it seems like its kinda good(?)
but I still couldn't grasp it completely. So, my question is:

• is it still not viable to do old-times pure psi and get all 4 school? is it felt bad? or is it actually good now?
• does Temporal Manipulation school still safe to pick on pretty much all build due to Psycho-temporal Contraction abuse?
• does DC even more sucks for any psi user that doesn't craft?

[HulkOSaurus]

You're much better off with going a single Psi discipline now.

You can go multi, but for the first half of the game you might find it a bit too slow as you have to swap skills and drink mana potions .

[destroyor]

Played a psychosis build from start to finish, here's my take from a psychosis perspective:

1) Old time quad school is just a bad option now due to vastly increased psi cost. The optimal way to play is to take Temporal (stop at 70 base skill) + one other school early ~ mid game. I went Meta because it's a better fit than Psychokinesis for psychosis - spam-able cryokinesis sniping and Cryokinetic Orb crowd control. Once you have Psycho-neural flexibility tri school is now an option. I went with Thought control so my build have two modes: Meta for frontal assault and Thought for silent assassination.

2) Short answer, yes. Long answer, yes but not just for PTC because Stasis is a huge deal. It's a defensive + offensive tool in one. If you are not confident you could save it as a reliable panic button, LTI + Stasis = reset cool down and second chance at victory. I used it more as an offensive tool -> adrenaline + PTC, Stasis to extend the buffed AP for one more turn for maximum firepower. This is especially important since Force Field is now unreliable. I personally high recommend all pure psi build take 70 base Temporal. You can invest more to reduce the chance of PTC debuff to a minimum of 30% chance but I don't think it's worth it. On dominating difficulty you are doing something wrong if you can't end a fight within 1 ~ 3 turns. This is another reason for my assassination mode - thin out the crowd to guarantee all fights end within 1 ~ 3 turns.

3) Pure psi with no crafting is just objectively bad. School specific psi headbands are vital and made a night and day difference in damage output. If you don't craft as a psi, the whole game sucks and DC sucks even more.

[cypherusuh]

You're much better off with going a single Psi discipline now.

You can go multi, but for the first half of the game you might find it a bit too slow as you have to swap skills and drink mana potions .

So I guess Psi is going to keep on that kind of directions :/

Played a psychosis build from start to finish, here's my take from a psychosis perspective:

1) Old time quad school is just a bad option now due to vastly increased psi cost. The optimal way to play is to take Temporal (stop at 70 base skill) + one other school early ~ mid game. I went Meta because it's a better fit than Psychokinesis for psychosis - spam-able cryokinesis sniping and Cryokinetic Orb crowd control. Once you have Psycho-neural flexibility tri school is now an option. I went with Thought control so my build have two modes: Meta for frontal assault and Thought for silent assassination.

2) Short answer, yes. Long answer, yes but not just for PTC because Stasis is a huge deal. It's a defensive + offensive tool in one. If you are not confident you could save it as a reliable panic button, LTI + Stasis = reset cool down and second chance at victory. I used it more as an offensive tool -> adrenaline + PTC, Stasis to extend the buffed AP for one more turn for maximum firepower. This is especially important since Force Field is now unreliable. I personally high recommend all pure psi build take 70 base Temporal. You can invest more to reduce the chance of PTC debuff to a minimum of 30% chance but I don't think it's worth it. On dominating difficulty you are doing something wrong if you can't end a fight within 1 ~ 3 turns. This is another reason for my assassination mode - thin out the crowd to guarantee all fights end within 1 ~ 3 turns.

3) Pure psi with no crafting is just objectively bad. School specific psi headbands are vital and made a night and day difference in damage output. If you don't craft as a psi, the whole game sucks and DC sucks even more.

1. kinda surprised you didnt go Psychokinesis for the good ol' 1-shot Mania setup. Is there any buff on Metathermics to handle robots? I remembered Psychokinesis is a staple for psi build mainly for dealing with robots.

2. yeah stasis is nice, but I usually just use it for cheese. lure on tight corner -> bear trap, shoot em. if its not dead, stasis -> quick tinkering trap -> pretty much dead anything.

3. I totally forgot about crafted psi headbands.

so I guess other build doesn't get impacted at all? stuff like melee, cutthroat rogue, crossbow, the SMG and AK, etc

[destroyor]

List of psi abilities that can crit:
Thought: Neural Overload, Psi-Cognitive Interruption
Psychokinesis: Telekinetic Punch, Electrokinesis
Thermal: Cryokinesis, Pyrokinesis, Cryokinetic Orb
Time: NONE

Manic Cryo orb is just way more deadly for majority of the game. You want grenadier against robots anyway: EMP + plasma/HE nades should be your go to against robots up to industrial bot. Psychokinesis Against Naga is superior but that's it. I did take quick tinkering so I can EMP mine + EMP & HE nade against Naga. A psychosis build can go either Meta or Psychokinesis but not both. Imho thought Control for mid ~ late game is still the top third choice (*cough final boss *cough).

The main impact for psi hybrid is ThermoD is no longer worth the effort since it's now cap at 100% enemy HP. On dominating if you factor in the reduced thermoD damage, mech & heat resist/threshold, evasion (remember the global 30% npc skill boost) it's not worth the trouble. Meta only got cryostasis as silent control but it's too costly to go tri-psi school hybrid. Hybrid should go temporal + Psychokinesis for CC options and just skip Meta and Thought.