Mindslayer balancing

[HousePet]

Eh? Charged -> Kinetic -> Thermal has no synergy at all.

[Suslik]

Charged reduces stun resistance which's a synergy by itself. So charged->kinetic and charged->thermal are fine already.

[HousePet]

But Pin doesn't care about stun resistance?

[Suslik]

but stuff usually provides "stun, daze and pinning" resistance so i thought it's the same category.

well if not charged strike can be made to reduce pinning resistance as well.

idea is: if you start your combo with charged strike you will certainly hit with other effects(freeze/pin), but get no other synergies. if you start with kinetic strike for example, succeed in delivering a pin and then go charged strike, you get some additional profit that will encourage you to plan your ability order strategically and not go mindlessly charged->thermal->kinetic every time for just getting reliable and high damage.

also suggest instead of dealing extra phys damage on frozen targets, deal % of iceblock health instead and shattering the iceblock. maybe as an icestrom in AoE over time which fits great thematically: you swirl the iceblock shards with your telekinetic powers.

[Suslik]

After reading some code in recent mindslayer commit:

Kinetic charge deals extra damage only to frozen targets. 2 other strikes deal damage regardless of status. This makes using kinetic strike viable only after succeeding with thermal strike and thermal strike succeeds reliably only after charged strike. It means that charged->thermal->kinetic is the only way to reasonably go which's strategically underwhelming.

Suggest at the very least changing kinetic strike deal regular additional damage regardless of status and deal some more additional damage if target is frozen. Furthermore, again I force the idea of dealing additional damage as % of iceblock hp - adjust scaling to make it not weaker or stronger, just more interesting and varying mechanics.

[HousePet]

Kinetic Strike does do more base damage.

[Suslik]

1.2.3 here, kinetic strike and thermal strike have the same damage(base and bonus), yet kinetic strike only applies bonus damage to frozen targets.

[HousePet]

Well, the description say they both do the same base damage...
However, Kinetic Strike really does do more base damage.

[MarginalMagus]

Hi guys!

I have been experimenting with a mindslayer on insane, and found the new shields fun and satisfying to use, and the new striking tree synergies interesting and fun as well. However, it seems the issue of how to distribute stats effectively for conventional weapons has yet to be resolved. I have found myself juggling points a lot into augmentation, which is fine, but there is not good in-game information on which stats are used where. What stats does my tk weapon use? Is it 60% will and 40% str or just 60% will? What does telekinetic smash use stats-wise for my tk weapon? Why is it only my mainhand/does that affect my 2-hander? If I'm building str should I ignore resonant focus? Doesn't cunning seem a waste since accuracy is largely a non-issue? (but we need 36 cunning by level 12 for forcefield). In short, whether or not further changes are made to mindslayer stat usage, the tooltips need severe clarification.

Additional thoughts: I think the existence of transcendent telekinesis, kinetic aura, and other physical damage boosters could give conventional weapons an edge on mindstars (though I have no idea how to test this), and in general the elemental damage game seems really cool for mindslayers, as charged strike+charge leech+brainstorm+static net+lightning frenzied gem could be a really cool mid-range caster playstyle. Overall I can't really envision taking Thermal Mastery except maybe for the shielding bonus, but every other talent tree looks powerful and synergistic!

[Edit] This might be heresy, but I'd be comfortable with mindstars not being tk-wieldable. I can't really picture a telekinetic lightsaber that well, and there don't seem to be many ideas for how to differentiate the tk mindstar. The gems make more sense as a mental focus and are pretty cool. There are plenty of classes that can use mindstars (this one included) and not many for gems, so I'd rather like if gem+mindstars in hand was the way to go as a caster mindslayer.

[HousePet]

TK Weapon will never use physical stats for damage/accuracy calculations.

Last I checked, two handers were wielded in the main hand slot.

[MarginalMagus]

So, are there any plans for changing conventionally wielded conventional weapons to Wil/Cun (perhaps as a component of Psi-fighting)? Having exactly one talent which does is less than satisfying. Additionally, Impale insists that Willpower and Cunning are used but uses only the TK weapon, so that should be changed to be less confusing.

[HousePet]

TK wielding a conventional weapon makes all your conventional weapon attacks use wil/cun.

The text on Impale is just to remind you that TK weapons don't use str/dex.

[MarginalMagus]

Oh thanks for the clarifications! I'll go play one right now All that remains then is to clear up the tooltips. I hope I've been helpful in pointing out sections of confusing language.

[achoice]

Thinking of trying a mindslayer. But I get scared of all the choices!
6 talents and 2 generics that are new for me. I am in desperate need of a guide - sort of.
What are my options of specializations? If I want to become a caster or melee?
(good work on re-working classes - much appreciated)

[Ploppy]

TK wielding a conventional weapon makes all your conventional weapon attacks use wil/cun.

But only at the same ratio as the TK weapon, i.e. it uses wil/cun for 60% of the calculation, and str/dex for the remaining 40%. You can easily see that with Resonant Focus; it boosts the damage on all your weapons.

Thinking of trying a mindslayer. But I get scared of all the choices!
6 talents and 2 generics that are new for me. I am in desperate need of a guide - sort of.
What are my options of specializations? If I want to become a caster or melee?
(good work on re-working classes - much appreciated)

Go melee, put a two-handed weapon in TK slot, use Frenzied Focus - game over.