GU 43: Mental Advanced Mechanics

Here's a simple rotation on the 8 sparring targets: ML - WM - Cryo - TKP - TKB for 15-20 rotations.



TKB seems to be doing less damage then the other 2. Also if you look at the crits of TKP and Cryo you'll see that I've missed more WM crit bonuses with it, so that would put it ahead of Cryo as well, granted by a very small margin.

i think the only further update mental needs at this time would be to have Menace work with both dazed and terror PI..reflect pain, horrific visage and supercharges arent a burning issue at this time since they arent in our way anymore...if tht change is applied to mental i would be completely satisfied..ive also been testing how this AM affects mental on the controller side and i must say im in love with it...i can now use ML to levitate enemies with is an awesome CC probably even better than distortion wave for quantum since it can b used from max range, not to mention the extra damage from pyro if used to debuff..its lovely

You get the small burning DoT, the original DoT and new third Mass Terror DoT style when the target is Dazed or helpless. This should have been pointed out in the patch notes. I'll double check and if its not, I'll make sure they are updated.

All three DoTs should last for 12 seconds in PvE zones. If they aren't then its possible that its an old dummy that's still resetting all its game effects periodically or the targets around your target weren't effected by a PI.

Will two Mental DPS in the same group overwrite each other's DoTs?

The only part that doesn't stack between Pyrokinesis and Phantom Flames is the generic "Burning" power interaction DoT. It is the weakest DoT in the game and that power interaction can be applied by Earth, Fire, Gadgets, Iconic powers, Light and Mental. So in other words almost half the powers in the game can apply that Power Interaction and will overwrite that DoT. So this isn't anything new.

Pyrokinesis does the instant damage and the DoT that Mass Terror used to do. And it also does the old DoT that Pyrokinesis used to do. And it also applies burning like it always had. So you get two abilities for the price of one. Your next ability will probably be one that does full instant damage. On the use of that second ability, you're right back where you were. You didn't lose anything.

Yes, this continues to be the case.

True, but I was describing an ideal situation in that post. Our standard rotation on a single target involved TB, Pyro and optionally a burst move (MT + Menace goes without saying). In that [ideal] case nothing was overriding. Also Pyro was worth using after a WM because its crit was the best for single target. Now my results on test revel that the burst is at around 20-30% on single target of what it used to be but since its aoe DoT I guess its justified. Which means our single target rotation will change, which is ok as long as we net the same damage, but I havent tested yet how the overall DPs will be affected by this.

I have yet to fully grasp all the changes and optimize a WM rotation, but I'm seeing that the moves that benefit from the Dazed PI seem to outperform these that benefit from the Terror PI. Menace is the most affected by this, so any plans to make this move work with Dazed or make it like a self/group buff or something along those lines ?

This update will only give Mental the AM. Since GU44 will be some graphic changes to Mental, is there any plans to change the well know Mental powers with no use? Cause if dont Mental will be the first powerset that after 2 updates still keep a 100%SC and a lot of powers with no use.

Thank you so much!

So it sounds like, for the most part, the changes are pretty good. The only thing I'm seeing repeated now(that has a chance of being changed) is a call for Menace to become a self/group Might/Crit dmg buff and/or interact with the Dazed PI. Count me in as supporting that change.

I haven't read all these pages so sorry if this is already being suggested.

I've been testing Mental lately, both the AM and WM loadouts. About WM/Burst just a few things.
1. Menace interacting with dazed enemies instead of terrified would be very interesting.
2. Bolt Barrage is not worth being called a SC, please consider modifying it, increased range and damage for example...

As it is right now, the AM and the WM rotations and loadouts look to me like a weaker version of gadgets. The AM tho is quite decent, but I'd like to see something done with Mental stealth capabilities.

According to Tunso powers like Bolt Barrage work as intended and not broken, so dont expect to see an upgrade on Bolt Barrage(high risk and no reward), Mass Hysteria, Reflect Pain,Invisibility and Horrific Visage. Mental will have a graph update on GU44 but not a word if they gonna give a some to those powers.

So quick question Tunso, or anyone who knows. Does Resonance sit on the caster or the target(s)? I assumed caster because even the adds die the aura is still there, but I just wanted to be sure. Similar to the issue that fire had with volatility. If resonance is up and the target(s) die but another target becomes immediately available, do we have to recast even if within the resonance time set?

Caster. Unlike Gadgets, you can keep the resonance up all the time, getting the power back. As long as you keep a rotation every 6 seconds, no need to hit a target.

I think I've managed to find a pretty solid rotation, perhaps the one that is optimal with what we've got so far from the changes.

Here are the graphs, my might is 6784:




I did a few mistakes, so I need to work a bit on tightening the rotation, which is evident from the curve, it dips a bit lower than average on some places. With these results I'm pretty much on par with the Dazed PI WM loadout on the previous page.

In case anyone is wondering, the rotation is this: Pyro/>PsyRes/>DazingDevice ->TKP -> TKB -> PF -> MT ->TKP -> PF -> TKB -> MT, rinse repeat obviously without using PsyRes at the start but you'd use Pyro/>DD. As you can see I use Pyro/>DD every other Resonance Cycle and I use PF in different order in the second Resonance Cycle. The reason is simple: from the first time I cast Pyro and by the time I use PF, the stronger DoTs from Pyro will run their course without loosing too much damage due to them overriding. Then on the second Resonance Cycle I use PF as a second move, basically the idea was to run Pyro and PF alongside by minimizing the overlapping between them, for that reason I space them out in practically 2 smaller rotations which make up a larger one.

This is the best one I've come up so far, any ideas and suggestions are welcomed.

Also, in your rotation, you use DD after Pyro (after psy res technically). Did you notice one less DOT on pyro?

Is it safe to assume that this was on the group of 8 targets?

Well I tried your rotation and got roughly the same results, but I only have 6421 might on Test. No trinkets, supply drops, soders, etc.

Then I tried the rotation I first used when the update initially hit Test and got this:




Then I tried the same rotation with a DW>Bow WM combo in each cycle. I got a little impatient and stopped after around 2 minutes hehe:




I still don't really know what to think about this AM. Here are my stats.

Yes, it was on the 8 sparring targets.

I stay away from any Menace rotations as they make the sparing targets go behind me and I hate that, but thats nice damage there, good job. That was the exact rotation I tried first as well

As for your second rotation, let me first say, nice bro! Yep, I was testing AM+WM rotations as well but havent yet went through analyzing the logs yet. I have 4 different mixed rotations, in each rotation a different move is used to take advantage of the WM crit bonus. Would be interesting to see results between me and you since you are either precision modded or mixed.

Are your 2 rotations on the 8 sparring targets?

I just tested this on a single sparring target and these are the results: using only Pyro gives 25 dots, Pyro with DD 31 dots. I did this 4 times and each time I got the same number of dots. So DD is making a small difference.

*cough* Menace group/self buff *cough*