Why choose a Psionicist?

So, you want to be a Psionicist?  Great choice.  But what, exactly, is a Psionicist and what do they do?  Hopefully this guide will help you make the decision to become a Psionicist and, once that decision is made, help you to be a better Psionicist.

So, let’s begin with what a Psionicist does in-game.  What is his job?  Primarily he is a crowd control class.  Yes, he can DPS but that is not his primary role.  If DPS is what you want to do, then you may find a Mage or Scout more to your liking.   If you want to be able to lock down targets in PvE and PvP, then the Psionicist might just be what you are looking for.

A Psion has many abilities to carry out this task.  Shockwave is one of the first abilities that you receive and allows you to stun enemy targets for up to sixteen seconds at a time.  With a low cooldown time of only ten seconds, this means that you can lock down a single target for extended amounts of time.

Hypnosis is also a powerful skill and will allow you to lock a mob (or person!) in place for up to two minutes at a time!  Healer in the back of a group giving you problems in PvP?  Simply hypnotize him and forget about him until his friends are all accounted for!

In addition to the many crowd control abilities, the Psion also has access to the only long-term speed buff in the game, Rapid Metabolism, which grants all members in the Psion’s group a 30% movement speed increase out of combat.  This will make travel much quicker and gives a large advantage in open world PvP.

With all the tricks a Psionicist brings to the table, it is not surprising that he is highly sought after for groups, whether PvE or PvP.  Crowd control, buffs and DPS, what more can you ask for?

Psionicist Race Choice

After deciding to become a Psion, the first choice you will be faced with is race.  Three races can become Psionicists, two on the Empire side and one on the League.  Each race can become very powerful Psions and the choice really comes down to aesthetics.  However, there is one main difference between each race that must be accounted for and that is the class Racial Ability.

Empire Psionicists:

1.  The Xadaganian Mentalist:  Mentalist’s Will – Immunizes caster to any mêlée damage  (Also has the best animation of any ability in the game, in my opinion, as show below!)

2. The Arisen Occultist:  Stress Coping – Clears the mind of the caster.  This used to be the best skill for Psions, by a long shot.  It removed Mental Overload (explained below) and negated the single biggest disadvantage of the class.  However, this has been nerfed to only a small percentage chance to proc (currently 4% with each spell).

League Psionicists:

1.  The Gibberling Seer:  Insight – Allows the caster to predict his enemy’s actions and thus avoid any of their mêlée attacks.  Very similar to the Mentalist but without the movement disadvantage.  This makes it a better racial than what the Mentalist has.  I guess the cool animation that the Mentalist gets makes up for it?

All in all, the races are very comparable and your best bet is going with whatever asthetic you prefer or whatever Faction you want to play on.  All three races make for very practical Psions.

Class Mechanics

The mechanics of the Psionicist differentiate him from all the other Allods Online Archetypes and any other class I have played in an MMO.  These mechanics control how the Psion plays and what you can do with him.  Learn what these mechanics are and you will understand the class better.

The Mental Link Window

1.  Mental Link: The Mental Link is the building block of the Psionicist and the one ability on which the entire class is based.  Mental Link is a single target spell that establishes a mental contact with the target.  This will open up the target to many of the Psion’s abilities and will also return half of the mana costs of all spells cast on the target back to the Psion.  In addition, it will raise the Psionicist’s conviction stat by 5%.  Finally, it will give the Psionicist the ability to use an Astral Echo ability, which can place a DoT, Instant damage or short-term Paralysis effect on the target.  This is a six second cast, although later you can pick up Will Suppression, which will give an instant Mental Link ability and allows two targets to be Mental Linked at a time.

Mental Overload Tooltip

2. Mental Overload: Mental Overload is a debuff that many of the Psionicist’s abilities can give.  It reduces the Perception and Intelligence of the Psionicist.  This debuff can stack and can severely cut the Psion’s DPS if not dealt with quickly.

Sensitive Perception Tooktip

3.  Sensitive Perception: Sensitive Perception has a chance to proc during Psychic Shock (10% chance with each pulse) and when the Psion’s target dies, if the target is Mind Linked and as long as the Mind Link as never been broken with the target.  This will make the next Mental Link cast instant.  Invaluable ability that makes killing mobs quickly much easier.  There are ruby talents that will also allow Sensitive Perception to proc after a crit.  (Thanks to Ciro for pointing some of the above out!)

End of Part One…

The next edition will cover stats, abilities, weapons and armor in-depth.  Please check back for Part II, coming soon!