Staff/Mentalism or Staff/Psychology for solo build?

[DeafHeaven]

I have a maxed out Staff/AH and it was a great solo build, looking to level up a secondary skill with Staff but don't know which one would be better for solo/farming?

Any input would be great! Thanks !

[Mikhaila]

I've only done mentalism to the 40s, but am 92 with psych, so I'll tell you psych's str and weakness. Your basic skill, psychoanalize makes it tougher for the mob to get off rage attacks and a bit of damage. Then I run the mezz, and the epic attack. Usually two of the heals which have some interesting add ons to resist poison, cancel poison, put out fires, etc. Then "but I love you" which lowers their damage by a quarter and can be modded with a stun. You also have a fear, and a couple other dps attacks. Over all you can really gain some control on a battle with psych, debuffing the mob, healing you, and generally screwing with them in many ways. Downside is that it does not have a high dps. And it has a lovely, lovely speed buff for you at level 30. +4 to out of combat sprint and you can take it twice for +8.

[DeafHeaven]

Thanks for the reply this is good to know as I am very noob to psychology but I am starting to love it. Combined with Staff seems very survivable.

I was running Hammer/Shield and with the same lvl Equipment I couldn't take on nearly as many mobs at once.

[poulter]

You might want to try an AOE build with Staff, but watch out for diminishing damage if you fight more than 5 mobs at a time.

Fire, Battle Chemistry and (even) Archery work well, especially if you have crafted and augmented gear.

[Mbaums]

My thoughts on staff/ment vs staff/psych – staff/psych wins.

I would go down the path of setting up for ‘you were adopted’ and deal massive damage, trigger vulnerability and then unload strategic thrust. But just absolutely avoid ‘strike a nerve’. I wish something would change with the skill because it’s just not good. My favorite skill in psych is ‘but I love you’ because you can turn it into a ranged stun, and it’s a nice debuff. Another small downside is getting ‘you were adopted’ off, which isn’t always easy.

Ment also has a ranged stun (with a glove mod), and it has 2 skills that have a huge range, everyone likes the psi-waves, and agonize is just great.

Depending on if you want to tank or DPS really depends on how you build the 2 skill combos, but both are really fine at it. Maybe Psych is better for tanking because you have the option of two ranged taunts, and it has the more obvious armor repair mods and single target debuffs.

[Mikhaila]

Agreed with skipping Strike a Nerve, never have used it. And agree with But I love you and setting up You were Adopted.