Psionic (Long War)

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Psi powers have been significantly overhauled in Long War. Psi talent is now trained, not discovered, so with enough time and attempts, every soldier can be a psionic (barring some exceptions). There are many more powers distributed among more levels.

Class icons
Assault + Infantry
Rocketeer + Gunner
Sniper + Scout
Medic + Engineer

Psi-abilities

Rank	Psionic Ability
Awakened	Mindfray Causes the target to lose grip on reality, causing -25 aim/stack, -25 will/stack, a reduced area-of-effect attack range, reduced mobility, and doing one base damage. Robotic units are immune. Lasts 3 turns. 2 turn cooldown. Imposes +24 hours fatigue after missions.	Neural Feedback Causes damage to psi attackers and puts all of their psi attacks on cooldown. Does not reduce the attacks' chance of success. Protects the psion and nearby allies who pass a will check. Imposes +24 hours fatigue after missions.	Regen Biofield Nearby allies are healed for 1 health each turn, and has a 100% chance to remove acid effects (after b15f2). This does not repair damage to body armor or other hp-granting items. Imposes +24 hours postmission fatigue for psi soldiers. (Passive ability)
Sensitive	Psi Inspiration Removes Mindfray and panic from all allies within 3 tiles, and strengthen their Will by +30 for 3 turns, 4 turn cooldown. Imposes +6 hours fatigue after missions.		Distortion Field Nearby allies in cover receive +10 Defense. Imposes +6 hours postmission fatigue for psi soldiers. (Passive ability)
Talent	Mind Merge Merge minds with the target, granting the target +25% critical chance, bonus will, and temporary health (for aliens) or damage reduction (for humans: DR=caster_will/60). Imposes +6 hours postmission fatigue for psi soldiers.		Psi Panic Cause target to panic on its following turn, if the target's Will is overcome. The duration is (caster Will / 50) turns; fractional results have a chance to be rounded up, the chance is proportional to the distance to the next integer. Robotic enemies are immune, 2 turn cooldown. Imposes +6 hours fatigue after missions.
Adept	Telekinetic Field Create an immobile telekinetic field that lasts through the enemy turn. The field distorts and deflects incoming attacks, granting +40 Defense to allies within the field, 4 turn cooldown. Imposes +12 hours fatigue after missions.		Psychokinetic Strike Project a bolt of pure psi force that destroys cover but does not harm units. 4 turn cooldown. Imposes 12 hours additional post-mission fatigue.
Psion		Mind Control Difficult psi technique that, if successful, grants control of the target for 3 turns. Does not work on robotic enemies. 5 turn cooldown. Imposes +12 hours fatigue after missions.
Master		Rift Devastate an area with a storm of psi energy. The rift does more damage against targets with low Will, and reduced damage against targets with high Will. 4 turn cooldown. Requires special armor designed for psionic beings. Imposes +12 hours fatigue after missions.

Training

Limitations

MEC Troopers, Officers and soldiers with the Neural Damping gene mod are incompatible with Psi powers. They cannot undergo Psi training, and Psi-trained soldiers cannot become them.

Unlocking Psi powers

By default, only Psi Inspiration is available. Unlocking further powers is accomplished by performing autopsies and interrogations. One exception is Rift, which requires an in-battle accomplishment.

Psi-powers are now more effective based on the will score of the caster. For instance, Mind merge will add (will/60) damage reduction.

Psi XP

After Xenopsionics is researched, soldiers will begin accruing Psi XP by going on missions. Reaching a threshold of Psi XP is required to undergo additional Psi Training ('extra' Psi XP will not roll over for the next level, and will cap at the next requirement. Every round of training takes approximately 7-10 days, and its success is affected by the tester's will score. After they reach the cap, putting them back in the Psi Lab for another round of training is required. You can see the current Psi XP level and cap in their Barracks profile.

Psi Ranks and XP gain

In Long War Psi XP is for the most part awarded passively only after a successful mission. It can also be gained by resisting Psi attacks. Thus, the more missions a soldiers completes, the faster s/he will unveil the mystery behind his/hers psionic powers. Each Psi ability from the same Psi Rank provides the same passive gain. The experience gain is cumulative across all abilities learned. The table below shows that a soldier gains a new Psi Rank approximately for 5 completed missions. Thus, to achieve the final rank of Psi Master you should require approximately 31 missions per soldier.

A Neuroregulator that provides +20% Psi XP gain can speed up Psi Advancement and save the soldier a couple of missions.


Psi ranks and Psi XP gain
Name	to level	per ability	Type of gain	Total passive gain per mission
Resist Psi Attack	N/A	10 Psi XP per application	Active	-
Basic Exposure	N/A	20 Psi XP per successful mission	Passive	20
Awakened	100	10 Psi XP per successful mission	Passive	30
Sensitive	250	20 Psi XP per successful mission	Passive	50
Talent	500	20 Psi XP per successful mission	Passive	70
Adept	850	30 Psi XP per successful mission	Passive	100
Psion	1250	30 Psi XP per successful mission	Passive	130
Master*	2000	None	Passive	-

Mind Control an Ethereal (each soldier must individually do this to achieve the rank of Psi Master) in addition to the XP requirement

Success rate

The success rate of the training depends on the soldier's Will and the level. If the target Will for the level is equal to the soldier's Will, the chance is 50% (25% if More Than Human is active). It increases asymptotically to 100% at infinite Will and drops to 0% at 0 Will.

The target Will values are:

Level 1: 60
Level 2: 70
Level 3: 80
Level 4: 90
Level 5: 100
Level 6: 120

Effects on fatigue

A psi-trained soldier takes longer to recover from post-battle fatigue. The increase is dependent upon powers learned, with some powers incurring a greater level of fatigue than others - even those in the same tier.

In-game application of powers

Only one power from Psi rank can be chosen. Note that some powers cannot be cast on the same target (i.e.: an Inspired soldier cannot be Merged with). Be mindful that several powers are passive abilities.
In order to unlock most powers, it is necessary to complete some research or achieve some feats in-game.

Psionic Ability	Prerequisite	Description
Mind Fray	None	If successful, deals 1 damage to the target and applies a 'Hallucinations' status effect that reduces the victim's will, aim, and mobility. Because of the greatly reduced damage (thankfully, since Sectoids now use it from day one) this is more of a debuff than a damage ability.
Neural Feedback	Floater Interrogation	Causes damage to the psi attacker (much less than in vanilla) and puts all their psi attacks on cool down. Is always on and also provides protection to nearby allies. Damage scales with will difference between psi attacker and psi defender.
Regen Biofield	Thin Man Interrogation	Like the Elite EXALT Medic's ability, provides +1 health regeneration to all ally units within 3 tiles of the Psionic Trooper. It triggers only if an ally is wounded beyond bonus Armor HP.
Psi Inspiration	Sectoid Interrogation	Psi Inspiration removes all harmful mental effects (panic, hallucination, fallen comrades penalty) from everyone inside the AOE as well as grants +30 Will for the next 4 turns. Unlike in vanilla, Psi Inspiration is not centered around the user but can instead can be targeted much like a rocket. Psi Inspiration is the only power available without conducting autopsies or interrogations.
Distortion Field	Muton Interrogation	Works the same as the vanilla MEC ability, that is, provides +10 defense to all units within 4 tiles of the Psionic Trooper. Is always on. However, watch out for grenade-bait formations.
Mind merge	Sectoid Commander Autopsy	Merge minds with the target, granting the target temporarily increased health for aliens and damage reduction for XCOM operatives based on user's Will. It also grants increased critical hit chance and a will bonus, which also scales with the mind merge caster's will. Mind merge can't be applied to psionically active targets such as soldiers with Psi Inspiration buff or those who are already mind merged. Especially effective in combination with Pulse Laser weapons and SCOPEs, which can both provide critical hit chance boosts as well.
Psi Panic	Sectoid Commander Interrogation	Cause target to panic, if the target's Will check is failed. Robotic enemies are immune with the exception of the Mechtoids. 2 turn cooldown. Note that panic has been changed a little in Long War so units will either hunker down or run, and never go berserk and take a shot. This makes Psi Panic considerably better than vanilla since it's now a reliable two turn disable.
Psi Shadow	Sectoid Commander Interrogation	Similar to Mimetic Skin, save for that if the enemy gets around the full cover, it is immediately dropped. Also, Low Profile will allow you to move undetected to half-cover, but it will also be immediately dropped on arrival.
Psychokinetic Strike	Berserker Interrogation	A cover-destroying, free-aimed psionic attack. AoE trigger field about the size of a grenade's blast, any destructible item that is even partially in the field is entirely destroyed (ie; getting a part of a log destroys the entire log, barely clipping a wall will destroy as much as if directly hit with a rocket). Does not cause HP damage.
Telekinetic Field	Ethereal Autopsy	Same as vanilla: +40 defense in a wide radius, centered on the caster, reveals Seekers. As with Distortion Field, beware of grenades and other area attacks.
Mind Control	Ethereal Interrogation	Same as vanilla--- granted, more difficult due to lack of Iron Will in the OTS. Also: alien weapons are no longer dropped intact if killed while under Mind Control.
Rift	Ethereal Mind Control	A highly damaging area effect attack. The secret to creating Rifts can only be found by Mind Controlling an Ethereal in battle; this must be done for every soldier that you wish to learn Rift.

Tactical Advice

Neural Feedback vs Psi Inspiration vs Mind Fray

Mindfray could be a great tool to limit effectiveness of a single dangerous foe and decrease the threat of their aoe abilities. It also exposes the target for further psionic attacks. Neural Feedback on a high will soldier can do significant damage to psionic enemies and protect the squad from falling victim to further psionic abilities. Psi Inspiration is a great defensive buff, which eliminates negative will effects, but could also be a great tactical reactive tool to bring panicking soldiers back under your control.

Psi Panic vs Mind Merge

Psi Panic is an excellent way to disable key aliens when (read: not "if") you get overwhelmed, while Mind Merge can both protect the soldier from harm and improve his chances to both resist and deploy psionic powers.

Distortion Field vs Regen Biofield

Both passive abilities, it's a bit of a tossup between a nudge to maybe avoid a hit, or recover a smidgeon after being hit.

Telekinetic Field vs Psychokinetic Strike vs Psi Shadow

Three very good abilities, soldier class will be the primary decider, followed by playstyle. TK Field lasts one round and needs to be used, but is vastly more powerful than Distortion field; good for mid-range soldiers. PK Strike can turn any soldier in to an ersatz Sapper Engineer, or can be used when you don't want to blow a rocket or grenade on some cover. Invisibility is still a Sniper or Scout's best friend.

Regen Double Dip MC

If you Mind Control an alien with health regeneration, keep in mind that it will heal at the end of your turn, be released (and take actions), then heal again at the end of it's turn.

Suit up for the Rift

To use Rift in battle, there are 4 requirements a soldier must meet:

Gain sufficient PXP
Have previously Mind Controlled an Ethereal
Successfully completed the training in the Psi Lab
And lastly, the soldier must wear either the Aurora or Vortex armor into battle (as of Beta 14). Otherwise, the icon for this ultimate attack will not appear, even if all other requirements are met.

Mind Controlling an Ethereal

Base ethereal will is 120 on normal/classic, 140 on brutal, and 145 on impossible

Ethereals get +45 will at max research (900 days in, the first +15 increase is at 420 days)

Ethereal pod leaders can get up to another +55 will

In order for MC to have a 50% chance of succeeding Your psionic soldier must have 30 more will (buffs included) than the target.