I often run with Mentalism /Psychology (both level 70) - considered by many as a low damage, support focus combo - which it can be.
However, it also can be set up as a damage spec. that rivals many 'damage' combos - it all depends on how you build it.
At level 70, i use 5 Ment damage spells + 1 heal and under Psychology, i use 3 damage + 3 heals.
Main Ment damage spells used are:
Pain Bubble, Agonise, Electrify, System Shock, Panic Charge
I am able to easily solo Gazluk mobs with this combo.
Although, it isn't as quick as archery, fire, hammer, etc. in clearing mobs, it is as good as, if not better at soloing, than many combos and survivability is excellent.
In summary, it is all about what spells you use and how you mod your gear.
'Odd' combos can work, you need a bit of patience, understanding and the gear with appropriate mods to enable it to do so.
PS: Although not essential to the viability of the build, when it crits, the 705% critical damage modifier, does make for quicker fights.
Last edited by poulter; 08-21-2018 at 10:54 PM.
It is a pitfall if you're soloing.
What is the more likely case: quickly killing 2+ enemies having 2 damage skill lines, or using all your power and CDs on healing yourself and suffering to kill those 2+ enemies with only 1 damage skill?
Group play sounds good on paper but so far didn't work for me: either only a small handful of people are online when I play, or most of them are doing high-level stuff and so far I found no one to do low-level dungeons.
It doesn't help that there is a LFG channel, but it's almost always a barren wasteland.
Last edited by p1881; 08-22-2018 at 09:26 AM.
And how much of what you just said is understood and can be easily replicated by a new player like me?
All I understood is: "Have lvl 70 in your skills, have all the abilities unlocked and have strong mods on your items that offer damage boosts".
How realistic is that for one like me with 23 Pig/20 Mentalism?
well first and foremost , gear and modding . at level 23/20 look for gear with damage then if your having issues . I did start out with bat and ment .. leveled with no issues .. never tried pig but I'm sure pig offers damage . at the start don't worry about gear with healing or utility get gear with most % damage .
Realistic?
Depends on the individual and how willing they are to level the required support /crafting skills and grind councils i.e. how much time they spend in game.
Gear can be crafted, modified and augmented from mid-level 20s, but most people don't bother due to cost and that the gear is soon out-levelled.
The number of mods and augments at that level are the same for level 70, so it is more about gear quality and mods fitted than skill levels.
Differentiator:
It is a lack of knowledge of the game mechanics that stops many people from making the best of the gear they have e.g. what skills work efficiently with each other, what spells /attacks to use (and in what sequence).
You can't emulate a veteran's experience overnight, but you can get access to it via the wiki, this forum, help channel in game, guild forums, etc.
e.g. Not many people can solo the newbie island boss with a newly created toon with level 6 to 8 skills , but a veteran (who understands the game mechanics), can.
In summary, PG won't hold your hand or wipe your nose for you. You have to earn knowledge by playing, or by leveraging other people's experience.
Fortunately, the community likes to share and assist those who ask for help.
Already, previous answers have addressed some of your points and if you have more questions, no doubt they will continue to do so.
Regarding soloing: I would choose a damage and a support /healing skill over 2 damage skills
Regarding animal forms: it is best to avoid them until your toon is established (c. level 40) before main-lining one. They are not really intended to be used as first-time skills - after all, originally they were curses.
Personal opinion: Drop the pig form until you have mentalism at level 40+ (perhaps using sword, archery, unarmed, etc.), then use Ment to more easily level pig
Ok, first of all, if you pick 2 support skills, you should expect lower damage output.
That being said, Mentalism can be build to function as perfectly fine damage skills. You just need proper gear, and put some work to learn all needed skills.
One thing you should look out for are enemies dmage resistances. Mentalism in mainly electricy and physic, and from what I saw, Pig is mainly crushign damage.
At lv 20, there is not much dfference in damage output between support skills and damage ones. Damage comes from mods,a dn at that level they are simply too weak to make significant diference.
I don't have much experience with pig, but from what I saw it has quite few damge skills. Pick Frenzy, maybe one healing ability, and fill rest with damging ones(dont pick Pig Bite thou).
For mentalism, pick all dmage skills you can, add Adrenaline Wave, and fill rest with what you want (I would suggest picking power or armor wave). If you unlocked Myconian cave (need to gather a lot of mushrooms to level up your Myconic skills) there is NPC there named Mu who teach four Mentalism skills - Revitalize, Agonize, Electrify and Pain Buble. I would suggets learning all of them, but you can skip first two if you are short on cash.
Once you get this skills, you can fill your whole Mentalism skill bar with damaging skills (I would pick at least one healing skill from Pig at this point), though I would still keep Adrenaine wave (since it boost dmage of all your skills, it will be better than one more combat skill).
Definitly pick Electrificy, sine it deals godod amge,a nd can be moddd to stun. Between Agonize and Pain Bubble I would pick Bubble - it has lower cooldwon, power cost, and deal more damge. But since you have to burst the buble, this damage is not instant. One thing I noticed about this skill, is that it apperently keeps track of damge types you used to burst buble, and counts incoming damge, not recived. So if you cast it on Brain Bug, and use psyhic attacks only, it wont deal any damage, since bugs are inmune to psyhic.
As for Agonize, it has this advantage that it deals its dmage instantly, and its direct health dmage, so it's better panic button, when you need this mob to die right now, no questions asked. Hoever it is psyhic damage, so keep it in mind.
Last edited by cr00cy; 08-23-2018 at 03:40 AM.
I agree with this. Many of the support skills feel weak early on, but once you unlock some of the skill behind NPC's, they can hold their own. I started mentalism with hammer (after I leveled psychology and sword to 30 while unlocking hammer). this was smooth...hammer did enough damage, and remember, you only need to tag a mob with one skill in the skillset (or have a skill running in the background, like Psy health wave), and you get full XP for that skillset from the kill. I usually level my support skills with hammer or sword.
Tag the mob with a ranged skill in the support line, then kill it with a skill or two from sword. leveling your passive skills goes MUCH faster this way then trying to level 2 at once. get one support up to 15, then swap to the other and get it up to 15, then swap back get the first up to 20, etc.
Once your support skills level up, with the right gear they can pack a punch. I currently have mentalism at 28, and with a few purchased skills (pain bubble, electrify) and some gear it does well on it's own...I currently use Mentalism to level my beast skills as it does plenty of damage to kill fast in the lower areas and get those beast skills up to par. Gear is big...right now my Agonize (purchased mentalist skill) does a truckoad of damage, twice as much in it's DoT, and also reduces damage from each hit I get. very potent with the right gear combos.
gearing can be the toughest part. I tend to cheat a bit...I run through serbule crypt with my higher level abilities till I get to the chests in the dungeon, then switch over to my passive skills to open the chests. It's a quick and easy way to get some gear going for the skillsets that lack it.
To make a long story short you get experience in a combat class by killing monsters (/full stop). Classes designed to essentially play a support role have less damage and therefore take longer to kill things.
It would be super cool in my opinion if support classes got extra XP for healing grouped characters - maybe even just a 10 or 20 xp bonus here and there. I could see an "amazing heal save" bonus be a thing.
Basically I suggest you find a guild and get a few walk throughs on some dungeons for gear (this will add xp over time) or you level one class to 50 (or 70) and use powerful mods on a combat class to drag a support class to a higher level. So many people underestimate a level 50 combat class paired with a level 25 support class; note that almost anyone can powerlevel you to 25 in a very short time with a new class in the crypt.