Psychic Backlash

[superior987]

Anyone know if they fixed the bug with this, and if so, if it's worth it?

 

EDIT: Looks like it was supposed to be fixed in 3.04, so my bad. I assume then that me not seeing it in builds is more because it's not good?

Edited June 30, 2017 by superior987

[Boeroer]

That's the main reason.

 

You stun an opponent if he attacks your will defense. Once per encounter for a short time. Meh...

[MaxQuest]

3s non-guaranteed stun, once per encounter is... very Meh.

And 20 (non-scalling, non focus generating) raw damage from Brutal Backlash is almost an insult.

 

Psychic Backlash has some minor use vs Dragons as they have Terrifying aura which procs Backlash almost instantly. But until you buff your acc / debuff their will, the stun is unreliable. Not to mention that vs Alpine Dragon it only makes him summon shades sooner.

[Boeroer]

Psychic (and Brutal) Backlash would be very cool if they would trigger every time your will gets attacked (take that, drakes, dragons and banshees!). Would even be ok if they nerfed the stun duration or accuracy and the damage then. It would be a different kind of retalation which would really make sense. And it wouldn't be too powerful, too. I mean nobody complains about Barbaric Retaliation or Rooting Pain beeing too powerful, so...

Edited June 30, 2017 by Boeroer

[superior987]

Yeah, I gotta read closer. I think I saw stun on attack and my eyes glazed over before I got to the crappy parts...

[Haplok]

Well, enemy Ciphers are definitely not limited to once per encounter.

 

Staying anywhere near one perma-stuns my Threatening Presence Barb.

[fortuntek]

I've been wondering about this. I took Psychic Backlash for sh!znits and giggles and was surprised that it doesn't proc just once, but every time. For every enemy. Is this the aforementioned bug?? If so I hope it doesn't get fixed because it was quite useful

 

Or at the very least, balanced between "utterly useless single proc" and " constant fear aura enemy stunlock ftw"

[Boeroer]

Oh - maybe they altered that. Because it def. used to be inly 1/encounter. 

 

The bug was that you stunned yourself with it, too.

[MasterCipher]

I never used it b/c I've never seen it proc more than 1/enc. IF it procs infinite, it makes it interesting and niche for some builds, but Ciphers are so flexible there are still too many talents I would take ahead of it - Will is the least common defensed used.

[Raven Darkholme]

If it procs more than once it is indeed amazing vs dragons, but you can always respec vs those and respec back after.

I'm gonna try this a bit later with my bounty cipher, in solo runs this is pretty amazing, but even for a party very helpful.

[Raven Darkholme]

It does indeed work more than once.

[Raven Darkholme]

[Boeroer]

This is so cool. Thanks for the video.

It will also make fights against banshees and drakes so much easier. Wild Orlan cipher with Brutal Backlash here I come!!!

Could be pretty nice in combo with a wizard who casts Miasma of Dull-Mindedness (-24 will, stacks with direct will debuffs).

 

Or maybe this is a neat way to revive the Backlash Beldam build...

Edited August 20, 2017 by Boeroer

[Raven Darkholme]

Yea Drakes and Banshees just get melted by this.

This is so cool since Cipher has been my fav class for some time, now but always got overshadowed by Chanter.

Another awesome thing about this is, once an enemy gets stunned their will gets lowered, even if it's just a grace.

[Boeroer]

I guess this even works when you are immune because of a prayer against fear? Because the attack roll vs. your will defense is still happening...?

[Raven Darkholme]

Yea I was immune in the vid.

It's like the Wild Orlan passive as long as you're subject to a will attack it will proc.

Btw it two shots Xaurip priests, so it might even be relevant for lower levels, unless the acc is not enough, haven't actually tested it.

[Boeroer]

Sorry - I skipped parts of the vid because of mobile internet connection and must have missed that detail.

[MasterCipher]

I'm a believer in this talent now for the stuns. Overall Will isn't invoked often, but when it is, it's during tougher fights or just plain LOL (ie enemy barbarians). Goodbye vulnerable attack; there's no way I can squeeze brutal backlash in but I'm perfectly fine with that.

[Boeroer]

But that's the best part.

[MasterCipher]

It's tremendously fun and tempting, but for my high CC, high offense mercenary squad, it would only slightly speed up inevitable victory, and I don't have another talent to spare on my Cipher that is beneficial in every encounter. Too bad we can't donate talents from other characters to the MC.

[Raven Darkholme]

Talents are always rare this is true, but the amount of fights being a lot easier with brutal backlash is quite big and not only dragons, so with a little bit of planning it should be pretty easy to use respec and rush thru all the encounters where backlash is good and then respec back to your original setup.

[fortuntek]

Great, so it's not just me then. Haha

 

Yeah I found it quite fun and useful! I first noticed in the fight with multiple Drakes when you first enter Searing Falls. "Huh? Why are all these Drakes stunned?"

 

I think it is still self stunning though... I was wondering why I was seeing Psychic Backlash as an affliction on GM but I will take a closer look next time I play, maybe I'm mistaken

[Dr <3]

Thks to mister raven to point out this feature. I always treated the psichic backslash as pure trash, i see i was very wrong. Do you care to share some details of your build?

In particular:

- why island amaua and not a costal one? Or a dwarf for the accuracy bonus? Or a wild orlan for higher def? You rate the +20 stun resistance so high?

- why spellstongue? It always rated that very sub par, at least for the dps

- starting stats? You took a so high const for fortitude or for have more hp?

Thks

[Raven Darkholme]

Thks to mister raven to point out this feature. I always treated the psichic backslash as pure trash, i see i was very wrong. Do you care to share some details of your build?

In particular:

- why island amaua and not a costal one? Or a dwarf for the accuracy bonus? Or a wild orlan for higher def? You rate the +20 stun resistance so high?

- why spellstongue? It always rated that very sub par, at least for the dps

- starting stats? You took a so high const for fortitude or for have more hp?

Thks

I did not point this out, just realized the potential after @Haplok and @fortuntek pointed it out.

The +20 Stun resist is actually insane since not many items do help you vs stun, but having +2 Mi is also very nice. (+20 stun also works vs some deflection based attacks like the phantoms initial attack before the fort roll)

Spelltongue was actually just something I tried, I had 1 sucessful fight before this where instead of leaving the dragons to die to brutal backlash I killed tem with Disintegrate and I was annoyed by having to recast buffs so I tried Spelltongue 2nd try but it didn't really do much but the rest of the try was good enough so I rolled with it. :D

I personally like unlabored Blade a lot for ciphers since the mystic enchant applies to powers.

I took Co for fort, since I got turned to a piggie earlier tries and 190 fort seemed to stop that. :D

[Dr <3]

Just one more question: i see no whisper of treason/ puppet master/ ring leader in your quick bar, do you even use that spells or you skip them for something else? You did a full solo run with your char or only the bosses?

 

Edit: lol at unlaborade blade super bug

Edited August 23, 2017 by Dr <3