Psi Operatives

[GearBlade654]

I got a Psi Lab running a little while ago and now I have two Psi Operatives in the Lab. What/how many abilities is good before I start taking them on missions? As of right now one of them has Soulfire, Insanity, Fuse, Solace and is now training for Null Lance. Can't remember what the other has right now but I believe she has one less ability than the other.

[KRON]

Since they gain no benefits whatsoever for going on missions, you better off not using them until they train all of their abilities. Every kill made by psi-op is a wasted XP for your regular troops.

[Gracey Face]

As KRON mentions, every kill by a psi op is wasted XP so you really shouldn't even take them on missions unless you have no other choice or you think you'll absolutely need them.

That being said, the one ability you 100% need for the psi op to be useful is domination. Solace, insanity and void rift are the next skills you should prioritize; Inspire, Stasis and Stasis shield after those and then from there it doesn't really matter.

[Bullett00th]

Originally posted by KRON:

Since they gain no benefits whatsoever for going on missions, you better off not using them until they train all of their abilities. Every kill made by psi-op is a wasted XP for your regular troops.

pretty much this.

and it's a damn shame because you just wait for the PSI op to level up on Avenger and then have a borderline undefeatable squad for the rest of the game.

[Cody Howell]

Me too I'd be interested in a more detail analysis?

Initially I did actually train close to all abilities, but in practice it took ages and they only use a subset of them:
- some can only be used in certain situations
- in a mission you have only aprx. 6 Rounds of combat

In my current campaign I wanted to smartly select 4 to 6 abilities per agent and privilege to train more of them. Then depending on the mission, I thought I can choose the agents who participate depending on mission-type and expected enemies.

any thoughts on how to make this efficient?

[Bullett00th]

to me personally the choice of whether or not to take a psi op on a mission is always the choice between of whether or not to enable easymode.

insanity and stasis alone are enough to significantly affect the tide of battle. Adding rift and domination to the list and you have to try to lose.

The rest is mostly defensive abilities like solace or the one that provides immunity to elemental status effects

[sandman25dcsss]

I like to use psi earlier to have time for bonding with a reaper when my first hero was not a reaper. Often I send them on missions which increase bond level but then reaper still needs to earn XP and it is safer to do when there is a bondmate on the field.

[Mrvecz]

I simply pimp them till they know everything, this makes the one of the most versatile and powerful unit type in the game, up to par with faction hero units.
But i would need them ASAP i would rush for fortress, solace, soulfire and stasis. Stasis is a stun that works on everyone who isnt Chosen and having an ability to put a mech or a sectopod out of a fight while its comrades wither away is just perfect. And also if you stasis your mind controlled soldiers it will liberate them. And Soulfire because having undodgeable ranged attack is just great in every way, no more missing flank shoot at that viper with single health digit.

Stasis and soulfire atleast, but otherwise i just wait till they have everything or atleast the majority.
Especially for the last mission, thats a mission where i must have atleast 2 psi operatives.

[leandrombraz]

Originally posted by KRON:

Since they gain no benefits whatsoever for going on missions, you better off not using them until they train all of their abilities. Every kill made by psi-op is a wasted XP for your regular troops.

That's the reason I don't like this design. It never feels right to use a Psi Operative, so I end up only using them in really late game, only a few missions before I close up the game. I like that they develop different from other classes but it would be better if they used XP, so you feel like you need to use them early to get a powerful unit later.

In my next game, I plan to build the Psi Lab early and use them as soon as they have a couple of abilities, but I'll do it only for fun, to do something different. It doesn't feel like a good strategy.

[GearBlade654]

Hm, alright.
Is Domination the core ability of a Psi Op? Both my Psi Ops have Insanity but not Schism and I wonder how good Insanity is

[Gracey Face]

Originally posted by GearBlade654:

Hm, alright.
Is Domination the core ability of a Psi Op? Both my Psi Ops have Insanity but not Schism and I wonder how good Insanity is

Yeah, domination is because the enemies health and damage output are a flat increase to your squads power output, even before getting into how you can use whatever abilities the thing you dominate has, and almost everything in the game is vulnerable to it.

Void Rift is the next most important ability after that because it's "repeatable" (massive cooldown though) damage and crowd control.

Insanity is unreliable. It can inflict disorient, which is okay but not really worth the action point, panic which at best takes an enemy out of play for a single round but can be bad in some situations and temporary mind control which is the main reason you even try to use it but it's only something along the lines of a 20% chance to inflict. If you have an opportunity to flank something with the psi op, it's probably not worth casting (though depends, especially once you have schism and so rupture) but it's better than popping off shots against things with high def and cover.

[Cody Howell]

Originally posted by leandrombraz:

Originally posted by KRON:

In my next game, I plan to build the Psi Lab early and use them as soon as they have a couple of abilities, but I'll do it only for fun, to do something different. It doesn't feel like a good strategy.

I am trying this strategy and I'd be interested in knowing "how long" I should train a PSI agent... only 2 of them up to max-training? I am currently trying to get 4 trained in parallel: 2 in training and 1 or 2 on the mission...

Meanwhile I found one major difference:
when you do not level a PSI to max then they are still very useful with abilities, which do not need "Will" like direct damage attacks, stasis, inspiration, ...
Abilities which try to break the will of the opponent are far less efficient with a low-level PSI like: domination, alienation, void rift, ...

I feel that it is a good strategy: it is fun and not OP - having ONE low trained PSI in your squad gives you some additional tactical options but reduces your firepower.

Still do not have much experience with it and have yet only played half(?) through the game & I would've liked some tactical advice of the more experienced guys out there?

[Kamen42]

Personally I am really comfortable when my Psi Operatives have these abilities:
Stasis
Solace
Schism
Void Rift

Stasis is great, because it can easily take one strong enemy out of fight while I focus on less dangerous enemies. Then I can focus on the strong one when there are fewer distractions. Works great on the Chosen or the Rulers.

Solace is basically an AOE mindshield. Especially useful against the Warlock. Frees an item slot for other characters. (I usually put a mindshield to my healer Specialists.)

Schism is not really that useful on its own, more like a support ability to make Void Rift stronger.

Void Rift - AOE that does good damage, bypasses armor. Really strong in combination with Schism, since Schism not only deals additional damage, but also ruptures the target so it takes more damage from future attacks.

Once they get these abilities, I really don't have a problem taking the operatives, even when they lack most of the rest.

[Perplex]

I never liked the Psi Ops. By the time you get a usefull one you got tons of colonels already and by that time they are obsolete.

[TamTroll]

Look into LEB's PsiRebalance mod. it re-works psi-ops so that they need feild action before learning new psi abilities, you get a lot more use out of them since you're not "Wasting" experiance or feeling compelled to just have them sit in the lab all day.

somehow there's also a way to give them only one ability per branch. haven't done that myself though.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1341646745

[red255]

Psi ops are great because they are.

if you have sustain they can be taken on missions I suppose because your investment is reasonably protected.

psi ops have a few abilities that make them clutch.

ability 1, DOMINATE. once per combat mind control, lasts until the psi op dies or gets stasis.
I generally use it on andromedons, with 100 PSI its 90% chance to get the andromedon. takes it off the enemy side and on your side.

Ability 2, Stasis. allows you to shut down a large enemy like a gatekeeper or sectopod while your team deals with the rest of the stuff on the map, does not end your turn if cast as a first action.

Ability 3. Inspire. basically gives run and gun to a companion, your assault can move up, shoot, get inspired and shoot again. helps keep slayer chains going.

Ability 4. Direct damage, Soul fire, null lance, and void rift. Void rift also rolls insanity which also rolls schism.

you can insanity a target to disable it, mainly archons and andromedons, the rupture allows for it to be easily dispatched. (superior stock + rupture = 6 damage on a miss)