Assault Rifle / Thought Control hybrid

[Sykar]

Interesting build but why 7 int? No feats you chose require it and you do not get an extra innervation slot out of it. Is it just to shave off some skil points from int related skills? If you shave off one point from int to will you should be able to get LoC at 14 instead of 16. You could still get 7 later at 20 or 24 if you want to.

[Koveras]

Oh, nice catch! In my original post I had Power Management, that is what the 7 INT was for. Not sure where else I would put this point though, the skill point gain still seems to be the best deal here. At 7 INT you can get 60 hacking at level 8, which is nice for depot A. And I would not pick Locus at level 14 anyway, because Commando becomes available at that level.

[destroyor]

Personally I would still keep INT 7 so you can get philosophy III using Hypercerebrix. In the grand scheme of things this STAT point could go to INT/WIL/PER and wouldn't make that much of a difference anyway.

[Sykar]

Well even with my suggestion you would be able to reach 7 int. The question would be if you want LoC at 14 or not.

[doudousteve]

I'm currently level 21 and I still have not reached Core city. This build ABSOLUTELY rips everyone. My main difficulty remains fighting crawlers without tinkering but I can take a bunch just fine. Beginning was a tad harder due to the 20% penalty but I was grinning when I killed balor on the first turn (on my 1st run, I had to improvise a lot while now not so much). Right now clearing areas is a breeze and I'm loving it!

Did you craft the headband or you bought it? Its the only item I'm missing

[Koveras]

Hey, glad the build is working for you too! You definitely want a good headband to make Neural Overload work, and you have to craft it. Mine used the following parts: Thought Control Modulator, Stable Neural Amplifier, Magnifying Neuroscopic Filter Neural Overload. In my original post I showed a end game headband with high quality components, but a medium quality one can carry you through the whole game without any issue.

Even if you find a Universal Modulator with a higher quality, go for a TC modulator. The skill bonus will probably still be higher, and most importantly it will gives sizeable bonuses to the Stable Neural Amplifier crit damage bonus.

It's a pain to find a high quality Neuroscopic Filter, but if you find a low level one go for it. At 50 quality the damage bonus is already 22%. Ezra sometimes sell it. If RNG is against you, replace the Neuroscopic Filter with Mufflers, that would still be a solid mid game headband.

[destroyor]

Well even with my suggestion you would be able to reach 7 int. The question would be if you want LoC at 14 or not.

The current meta is to kill everything as fast as possible. LoC + maniac + Neural Overload is a one shot AOE will a long cooldown whereas Commando should proc every turn. At level 14 your AR out-damage LoC NO so I still think Commando is more important - so no change to the current build/feat order.

[Giskard95]

Hey!

What do you recommend as a fifth ability besides NO, Pseudo-spatial Projection, psycho-temporal contraction and stasis?

[destroyor]

Mental Breakdown for double NO damage. Enrage is another good choice if there's a boss type enemy on the map.

[phoenix_cool]

Started a new playthorugh with this build. It has been great so far! My only issue is that I am playing on oddity and having 0 lockpicking is making me feel like I maybe missing out on exp. Also, the GMS compound level with the bots was a bit harder because I couldn't get vents open with an omni-tool. It sure was fun to stealth doge all the bots though. I am wondering if having 0 lockpicking will cause any serious issues later on.

[Ploluap]

Started a new playthorugh with this build. It has been great so far! My only issue is that I am playing on oddity and having 0 lockpicking is making me feel like I maybe missing out on exp. Also, the GMS compound level with the bots was a bit harder because I couldn't get vents open with an omni-tool. It sure was fun to stealth doge all the bots though. I am wondering if having 0 lockpicking will cause any serious issues later on.

You'll miss mostly some loot and some missions will be harder due to not be able to access vents and some doors, but that's it, not really a serious issue, just a little downside of the build. I don't think you'll miss a lot of oddities but i have no reference for that.

[phoenix_cool]

I generally explore maps obsessively so I just hope I will still find enough oddities to level up reasonably. Just have to train myself to control the FOMO when I run into locks. Overall, I am loving this build. Never used pickpocket before, it's quite fun. I like the fact that you don't have to be in stealth to pickpocket from friendlies. It's much more realistic than some other games imo.

[Koveras]

In my original build I had lockpicking, because I'm a compulsive looter. That being said, I'm confident you will not have any major issue leveling without it. Actually I think that pickpocketing will compensate the lack of lockpicking, at least in early/mid game. And if you really want some lockpicking, you can transfer skill points from throwing, tailoring, biology, stealth... The build performs really well in combat, so it is quite flexible.

Also, if you want to use vents, you can probably use a crowbar. Most vents can be opened with 8 STR if I recall correctly, so with one STR buff it should be fine (Regalia, Barbecue).

[GunWizard]

Hi! I have been using this build as a blueprint to my own character (I dropped throwing for Persuasion for roleplaying purposes, aside from that it's almost identical) but I wanted to ask about Neural Overload and psi crit chance.

So far I'm level 13 and only use psi for CC. I haven't even learned any TM spells because of the cost. I have taken the Psychosis perk but I'm suddenly running out mana very quickly and can't CC as efficiently as I could. TC doesn't have all that many offensive spells so I had a few questions:

1) Can I drop psychosis for Tranquility and drop this tree entirely or does Neural Overload become insanelly good after a threshold? I like having more spells to cast but it may be because I'm being short sighted at the moment.

2) Does psi crit chance do anything for non combat spells (fear, enrage, etc) or does it only affect the damage of combat spells?

3) What are the must have spells that I should always innervate (I have frighten, mental breakdown, enrage, neural overload and bilocation)? I always try to start with enrage and bilocation but non of the enemies are aggroed by bilocation. I want to keep frighten, mental breakdown, enrage and 2 other spots (already 70 in TM so I was going for some time psi abilities) in temporal manipulation.

Thanks

[Koveras]

Short answers:

1) You can drop Neural Overload and the associated feats, AR damage is more than enough.

2) Psi crit does nothing for non damaging spells.

3) Must have psi abilities are Pseudo Spatial Projection, NO (if you for it), Mental Breakdown, Psycho-temporal Contraction and Stasis.

Now I'll just elaborate a little on how and why I used NO, but once again: dropping it for lower psi costs and more utility feats is perfectly reasonable.

NO is an extremely high damage spell in late game, as shown in my original post. But to be good it has to crit, and it is not possible to get crit chance high enough in that hybrid build. That's why I picked Psionic Mania, and only ever use NO after Mania. Psychosis is taken as a prerequisite for Mania, the feat in itself is indeed a net loss.

My experience is that the extra cost is okay, because the fights are short anyway. As I progressed through the game I used less and less CCs, it was faster and more reliable to just kill everything. Typically the first turn would be:
Premeditation -> LoC -> Mania -> NO -> Burst -> Burst -> Burst
Not many groups of enemies can survive that.