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Made in gb
Dakka Veteran




Some factions have unique set of psychic powers, but I am going to talk about the generic ones. There are the top 5 best and top 5 worst:

Best psychic powers:

- Invisibility: Don't tell me you did not see this one coming. Absolutely broken and nonsensical. Why the heck Templates and Blasts can't hit them? In certain tournaments, this power is nerfed, but as it stands, it remains the most powerful of them all.

- Cleansing Flame: Can decimate infantry and even wreck vehicles if hitting their rear armor. 2D6 S5 AP4 Ignore Cover will on average does 2 Hull Points to AV10. Even Flyers, Flying Monstrous Creatures and invisible people are not safe. The Dark Eldar hate this power.

- Endurance: Makes your squad insanely difficult to kill. What could you have asked more of?

- Sacrifice: Why does this cost only 1 Warp Charge? Why? This power makes Summoning broken.

- Shrouding: Makes your Psyker a Venomthrope that is most likely much more difficult to snipe out.


Worst psychic powers(Scrier's Gaze is excluded because it depends on mission and objectives):

- Levitate: You can't even charge, so why bother with this one? Gate of Infinity is faaaaaaaaaaaaar superior.

- Purge Soul: Nope. Nope. Nope. 1 Wound? And you have to go all the way just for that?

- Banishment: I hate the fact that Santic Daemonology is made available to all races, and then they give us a gakky Primaris Power that does not do anything like 95% of the time. It should have been -1 to invul for any unit, not just Daemons. There is a power the Eldar Warlock can have that -1 to Armor Save which can be put on anyone, so why not this?

- Mental Fortitude: This power is most helpful to Tau and Dark Eldar. The problem is neither race has any psyker. AM and Eldar can also benefit, but not that pressing. The Eldar have high Leadership overall and the AM can order people to come back to the fight.

- Hallucination: Warp Charge 2 is just stupid. The Pinning result is worse than Terrify in which a Morale test is taken at Leadership -1. Also, you can force MC to flee but not to Go To Ground. If you can choose which result happens, than it might be worth it. Otherwise, nope. It is kinda funny when you make that Warboss take 100 S3 hits for leading the Green Tide, though.


For the Eldar, best powers would probably be Fortune and Embolden/Horrify and worst power Will of Asuryan. Runes of Fate got overall worse with Doom and Mind War much weaker than before, so people would not use it that often anymore unless they have both Jetbike and Spirit Stone of Ana.

Do you agree or disagree with my opinion? Comment below, let me know. And, if you have other psychic disciples, why not share your thoughts on what are powerful and what are crap?

This message was edited 3 times. Last update was at 2015/12/31 03:54:08


 
   
Made in us
Krazed Killa Kan






I love the Ork Powers of the WAAAGH!!! but eadbanger is probably the worst power in the entire game. WC1 Focused witch fire so your rolling on BS2 to hit, then they take a toughness test and if they don't pass they take a wound with no armor or cover saves allowed. They can still make any invuln saves and FNP and this is single target. With Focused WF powers you need 2 4+ results to get to select the model in the unit otherwise it just hits the closest. Between casting the power, not being denied (who would even bother), rolling to hit, them failing a toughness test, failing any look out sir roll for a character, failing any invuln save, and failing any FNP, your probably more likely to hurt yourself from perils than you are from hurting anything of any importance.

That being said other than this giant squig turd of a power the rest of the Ork powers are great (except da krunch being sorta meh).

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Unrelenting Rubric Terminator of Tzeentch





Fearless on csm units is very handy. It also appears you've forgotten pyromancy exists, since there is no other way to explain why inferno is not on your worst powers list. 2 warp charge for a bolter strength large blast? Forget that noise.

If you're allowing other race specific disciplines, tzeentch for csm is going to make the worst list easily. While I think that a poisoned flamer is pretty terrible for 2 warp charge, the real turd is boon of mutation. Take a str 4 ap 2 ignores cover hit, if you survive, roll on the boon table (where you're almost certain to get something useless). What's that, aspiring sorcerers only have 1 wound? Well, sucks to be you costing 58 points then, doesn't it? Even on a normal sorcerer, you only have 2 wounds to start with, so taking a wound to get +1 initiative while you're wielding a force axe doesn't exactly strike me as the best course of action. This would be a terrible power if it cost 0 warp charge. While tzeentch's firestorm isn't great, at least it doesn't actively damage or kill the caster.

 Peregrine wrote:
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Grumpy Longbeard





Canada

Iron arm and warp speed, extra S and extra I AND attacks; things die. Also +3T makes things much harder to wound.
   
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Automated Rubric Marine of Tzeentch





Nova Scotia

I would add Psychic Shriek to the list of powerful Psychic attacks. Flying Daemon Princes casting that ruins lots of troops... and it's only WC 1. No armour or cover saves against the wounds caused is pretty devastating.
   
Made in us
Decrepit Dakkanaut




 Drasius wrote:
Fearless on csm units is very handy. It also appears you've forgotten pyromancy exists, since there is no other way to explain why inferno is not on your worst powers list. 2 warp charge for a bolter strength large blast? Forget that noise.

If you're allowing other race specific disciplines, tzeentch for csm is going to make the worst list easily. While I think that a poisoned flamer is pretty terrible for 2 warp charge, the real turd is boon of mutation. Take a str 4 ap 2 ignores cover hit, if you survive, roll on the boon table (where you're almost certain to get something useless). What's that, aspiring sorcerers only have 1 wound? Well, sucks to be you costing 58 points then, doesn't it? Even on a normal sorcerer, you only have 2 wounds to start with, so taking a wound to get +1 initiative while you're wielding a force axe doesn't exactly strike me as the best course of action. This would be a terrible power if it cost 0 warp charge. While tzeentch's firestorm isn't great, at least it doesn't actively damage or kill the caster.

That said, the only real CSM units worth using are already Fearless or have an attached Lord granting it.

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Missionary On A Mission




Australia

I'd hardly call Levitate one of the worst powers, certainly not over basically everything in Pyromancy except that fire shield thing. Sure, Gate of Infinity is better, but Levitate is safer - you can use it to get a squad into rapid fire range much easier for example since you don't have to Deep Strike and risk a mishap. Plus you don't have to risk perils if you're not a Grey Knight.


 
   
Made in gb
Stalwart Dark Angels Space Marine




England, UK

Best: invisibility Worst: hallucination

All of the powers can be useful but often what sets them apart is how situational they are.

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Screaming Shining Spear





Northern California

I'm seeing a distressing lack of Divination in the top psychic powers. I vote to add Prescience as one of the best powers. Even with its change to WC2, it's still one of the best powers in the game for making a unit better at both shooting and CC. Those re-rolls are big. Psychic Shriek needs to be on the list as the Best Witchfire power, and the one all others are compared against.

My vote for worst? Flame Breath out of Pyromancy. All the power of a Heavy Flamer, with much less reliability. But hey, it gets Soul Blaze!

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Made in hk
Steadfast Ultramarine Sergeant




Well, here is my list for the BRB table powers:

Best Powers:
1. Invisibility (Telepathy);
2. Perfect Timing (Divination);
3. Cursed Earth (Malefic Daemonology);
4. Forewarning (Divination);
5. Prescience (Divination);
Tie 5. Psychic Sherik (Telepathy);
7. Shrouding (Telepathy);

Worst Powers:
1. Crush (Telekinesis);
2. Assail (Telekinesis);
3. Haemorrhage (Biomancy)
4. Hallucination (Telepathy);
5. Inferno (Pyromancy);
6. Scrier's Gaze (Divination);
7. Banishment (Sanctic Daemonology)
   
Made in us
Screaming Shining Spear





Northern California

Neophyte2012 wrote:
Well, here is my list for the BRB table powers:

Best Powers:
1. Invisibility (Telepathy);
2. Perfect Timing (Divination);
3. Cursed Earth (Malefic Daemonology);
4. Forewarning (Divination);
5. Prescience (Divination);
Tie 5. Psychic Sherik (Telepathy);
7. Shrouding (Telepathy);

Worst Powers:
1. Crush (Telekinesis);
2. Assail (Telekinesis);
3. Haemorrhage (Biomancy)
4. Hallucination (Telepathy);
5. Inferno (Pyromancy);
6. Scrier's Gaze (Divination);
7. Banishment (Sanctic Daemonology)

I agree with most of this list.

Hallucination is underrated in my opinion. The ability to give -1 to WS, BS, Initiative, and Attacks (2/3 chance on vehicles) is powerful, and Pinning can be situationally useful. The final result is pure garbage on anything but hordes, and WC2 really holds it back from being really good.

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Grim Dark Angels Interrogator-Chaplain






A Protoss colony world

I have come to really like the Dark Angels Interromancy discipline, especially the one that gives a unit Rage. It makes Ravenwing Black Knights and Deathwing Knights really nasty. The others are good too, as any ability to mess with your opponent's stats can swing a game potentially. A lot of people on this thread have said that most of the powers are situational; this is definitely true of most, although some (i.e. Invisibility) are almost always good. There are some that get really good on certain units; one good example I can mention is Slaanesh Daemon Princes with that lash thing getting Iron Arm.

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Stealthy Warhound Titan Princeps




Phoenix, AZ, USA

The best and worst power is Vortex of Doom. Awesome when it works, awesomely bad when it doesn't.

SJ

“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world.”
- Ephesians 6:12
 
   
Made in us
Longtime Dakkanaut




As a discipline as a whole pyromancy. Blessings tend to be the best powers and pyro has few. that said shriek makes me want to wail.
   
Made in us
Longtime Dakkanaut





Gulf Breeze Florida

I'm kinda surprised to not see Summoning on the list. You can summon additional warp charges and more bodies for no points cost to your field.

It's no "No templates can hurt me, everything else hits me on a 6" but free bullet catchers is a pretty nifty deal


 
   
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Fresh-Faced New User




Tyranid Primaris, hands down the worst. Never gets used, because it's never needed.
   
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!!Goffik Rocker!!






Levitate is good. Unlike GoI you can't mishap, you can spread out and you don't peril on doubles unless you're gk. Great power for ig primaris psychers joined to the melee platoon.

Mental fortitude is great for non-fearless deathstars. For example, when you're running a wolfstar that's a 700+ pt unit, you don't want to run away every turn when you face harlequins+dark eldar.

Purge soul is better than ork power 'eadbanger. 'eadbanger requires a target to fail a toughness test. It's rightfully considered one of the worst in the game.

I'd also call another ork power bad. Power vomit. It has an impressive profile of s7 ap2 flamer. But it's on a slow model with 6+ armor that benefits from being in a large squad of boyz to generate additional warp charges => you don't want to stick in front => will never use it. The only real use is when you roll around in a vehicle but than you're joined by a squad of guyz that do want to make it into combat. If you use it, you'll flame the opponent out of combat. If you use it against something that won't die from s7 ap2, you most likely don't want to charge it with a small squad anywayz. Besides, it's mastery level 2. So, way easier to peril. And wierdboy is ld7. All the bad stuff in the world will happen.

Let's put it this way. I've played new orks since they've come out. I've run wierdboyz in more than half of my games. Across this 1.5 years, power vomit only managed to get into range once. And that time it bounced off a rhino. Even 'eadbanger did more for me - even though, it's a very weak power.

I know that power vomit might be a deterrence for deepstrikers...but in reality, deepstrikers don't want to fall in front of your large blob anywayz - they want to fall onto your weak backlines. So, it is only mildly useful in a list where wierdboy's in a vehicle but than it might also bring more harm than good.

So, in my eyes, Power vomit - the worst, 'eadbanger - the 2-d worst, banishment - the 3-d worst. It will at least be reliably good against daemons.

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2015/12/31 07:19:59


 
   
Made in us
Regular Dakkanaut




 ZergSmasher wrote:
I have come to really like the Dark Angels Interromancy discipline, especially the one that gives a unit Rage. It makes Ravenwing Black Knights and Deathwing Knights really nasty. The others are good too, as any ability to mess with your opponent's stats can swing a game potentially. A lot of people on this thread have said that most of the powers are situational; this is definitely true of most, although some (i.e. Invisibility) are almost always good. There are some that get really good on certain units; one good example I can mention is Slaanesh Daemon Princes with that lash thing getting Iron Arm.

Just everything from Interromancy is a good to great ability. Mind Worm might not get used all that often, but that time when you stick Draigo/Abbadon/Dante with it makes it so amazing
   
Made in us
Regular Dakkanaut




bibotot wrote:
For the Eldar, best powers would probably be Fortune and Embolden/Horrify and worst power Will of Asuryan. Runes of Fate got overall worse with Doom and Mind War much weaker than before, so people would not use it that often anymore unless they have both Jetbike and Spirit Stone of Ana.

Do you agree or disagree with my opinion? Comment below, let me know. And, if you have other psychic disciples, why not share your thoughts on what are powerful and what are crap?


How did doom get weaker? And Will of Asuryan is better than Executioner. As for runes of battle discipline has a few major drawbacks. Either you are using warlocks in guardian squads or you are using Spirit seers and either losing out on unit special abilities or Wraithguard and they just aren't as effective. And as the name states the powers work really well for Battle. In that regard Embolden/Horrify is only the best if you are running a freakshow list, or enough hemlocks to make it worth it, because you can get fearless from either an Avatar or WoA, otherwise the blessings of almost any other power is better.

Conceal - better cover save so less likely to need a moral check. Best power for warlocks in guardian squads

Destructor/Renewer - One of my favorites and my vote as best for either. Destructor is nice, but Renewer is amazing. Give a wound back to an Exarch, Farseer, PL, or a Wraithknight, and can be effectively used by either locks or seers.

Empower - good on combat guardians where you (hopefully already have Fearless from an Avatar which you should be taking if running combat guardians) or Wraithblades

Enhance - same as above

Quicken - extra 3 inches on a run whats not to love (outside from jetlocks)

Protect - giving guardians a 4+ which increases their survivability and on waithguard/blades giving them a 2+ is huge.
   
Made in gb
Dakka Veteran




Kaela_Mensha_Khaine wrote:


How did doom get weaker? And Will of Asuryan is better than Executioner. As for runes of battle discipline has a few major drawbacks. Either you are using warlocks in guardian squads or you are using Spirit seers and either losing out on unit special abilities or Wraithguard and they just aren't as effective. And as the name states the powers work really well for Battle. In that regard Embolden/Horrify is only the best if you are running a freakshow list, or enough hemlocks to make it worth it, because you can get fearless from either an Avatar or WoA, otherwise the blessings of almost any other power is better.

Conceal - better cover save so less likely to need a moral check. Best power for warlocks in guardian squads

Destructor/Renewer - One of my favorites and my vote as best for either. Destructor is nice, but Renewer is amazing. Give a wound back to an Exarch, Farseer, PL, or a Wraithknight, and can be effectively used by either locks or seers.

Empower - good on combat guardians where you (hopefully already have Fearless from an Avatar which you should be taking if running combat guardians) or Wraithblades

Enhance - same as above

Quicken - extra 3 inches on a run whats not to love (outside from jetlocks)

Protect - giving guardians a 4+ which increases their survivability and on waithguard/blades giving them a 2+ is huge.


Doom is now Warp Charge 2 instead of 1.

Those powers are incremental which might or might not work. They are still very good, but Horrify subtracts 3 from Leadership is a big thing, as non-fearless crap like Tau and Orks will be reduced to Leadership 6, making them failing the Morael test more than half the time. Additionally, it works well with Terrify and Psychic Shriek.
   
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Dakka Veteran





WiggleToast wrote:
Tyranid Primaris, hands down the worst. Never gets used, because it's never needed.


I use this on my broodlords fearless stealers and a small synapse bubble for mawlocks or raveners/rippers. I also dont use a flyrant. So its not a bad power to me.
   
Made in us
Hellish Haemonculus






Boskydell, IL

I usually only run Freakshows, so I have a slightly different list.

1. Psychic Shriek - The workhorse of the army
2. Terrify - Great for scattering units, still marvelous because the -1 Ld works even on units that are immune to the Morale test (making them more vulnerable to Shriek)
3. Invisibility
4. Shrouding
5. Hallucination - Warp Charges are rarely a problem in an Eldar list, and more Ld based attacks are always welcome.
6. Mental Fortitude - Since Freakshows are often allied with Dark Eldar or Corsairs, it's nice to be able to offset their rubbish Ld values if they start running off the table.

Honorable mention (because of the request for main powers, I didn't include them in my list) goes to Psychic Assault (Inquisition), Laugh of Sorrows and Mirror of Minds (Harlequins). Mirror of Minds with a -5 or more Ld modifier will kill any target outright (once manifested) with no possibility of survival. Psychic Assault (Or is it Psychic Blast?) from the Inquisition Codex is pretty nice, too. S10 AP1 Large Blast for only 80 pts.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2016/01/01 16:12:47


Welcome to the Freakshow!

(Leadership-shenanigans for Eldar of all types.) 
   
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Krazed Killa Kan






 koooaei wrote:
Purge soul is better than ork power 'eadbanger. 'eadbanger requires a target to fail a toughness test. It's rightfully considered one of the worst in the game.

I'd also call another ork power bad. Power vomit. It has an impressive profile of s7 ap2 flamer. But it's on a slow model with 6+ armor that benefits from being in a large squad of boyz to generate additional warp charges => you don't want to stick in front => will never use it. The only real use is when you roll around in a vehicle but than you're joined by a squad of guyz that do want to make it into combat. If you use it, you'll flame the opponent out of combat. If you use it against something that won't die from s7 ap2, you most likely don't want to charge it with a small squad anywayz. Besides, it's mastery level 2. So, way easier to peril. And wierdboy is ld7. All the bad stuff in the world will happen.

Let's put it this way. I've played new orks since they've come out. I've run wierdboyz in more than half of my games. Across this 1.5 years, power vomit only managed to get into range once. And that time it bounced off a rhino. Even 'eadbanger did more for me - even though, it's a very weak power.

I know that power vomit might be a deterrence for deepstrikers...but in reality, deepstrikers don't want to fall in front of your large blob anywayz - they want to fall onto your weak backlines. So, it is only mildly useful in a list where wierdboy's in a vehicle but than it might also bring more harm than good.

So, in my eyes, Power vomit - the worst, 'eadbanger - the 2-d worst, banishment - the 3-d worst. It will at least be reliably good against daemons.


Power Vomit is hardly bad when you can either fire from an open topped vehicle or unload from said vehicle leaving a "window" for the template to fire into the enemy, throw all the dice at the power (if they must die), melt whatever is under the template. Weirdboy might die but this is a Weirdboy we are talking about, they aren't designed to survive very long. One good Str 7 AP 2 template is almost automatically a worth while trade for the life of the Weirdboy. Its sorta like Vortex of Doom, you cast it assuming your psyker will probably die in the process and be happy if it survives.

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I know that it sounds cool. But it never worked for me. NEVER. As i've said allready. Had more success even with 'eadbanger.
   
 
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