Psionic (LWR): Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 19:37, 9 March 2026

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Psi-abilities

Level	Prerequisite	Target Will	Rank	Psionic Ability
1	Xenopsionics	40	Awakened	Countercharge Countercharge Triggers a psionic attack against visible biological enemies that perform a non-movement end-in-idle action. The attack deals half of standard psionic damage (Will/30, +1 for every 10 target current HP) (with a 2% chance for double) and disorients the target but will never kill the target (will leave target with at least 1 HP). The chance to trigger is will/3 percent and requires the caster to be idle with full base HP.		Mind Fray Mind Fray Causes the target to lose grip on reality causing standard psionic damage (Will/30, +1 for every 10 target current HP), -25 aim/will, -25% mobility/ability range, and +25% scatter. Damage is reduced by 50% if caster is staggered. Hit chance is calculated using 80% of will. Purely mechanical units are immune. Lasts through 2 enemy turns. 2 turn cooldown.
2	Xenopsionics	35	Adept	Psi Panic Psi Panic Causes the target to panic if the target's will is overcome. Hit chance is calculated using 50% of will. Purely mechanical units are immune. 4 turn cooldown.	Kinetic Blast Kinetic Blast Channel energy up to 10 tiles away (through walls) to create a kinetic (non-psionic) blast with a 3 tile radius and no fall off. Deals 5 + will/30 kinetic (non-psionic) damage. Destroys corpses but does not affect cover. 1 turn cooldown.	Psi Inspire Psi Inspire Inspires allied soldiers within a 6 radius area near the caster for 1 turn. Cleanses Mind Fray, Disorient, Shaken, Panic, Fear, and Red Fog. Grants Inspired allies +10 aim and +30 Will. 2 turn cooldown.
3	Xenopsionics	40	Empath		Fervor Fervor Grants +5 will for each enemy in sight. Required to use Gollop Chamber
4	Sectoid Commander Interrogation	45	Psion	Inner Fire Inner Fire Grants +20% throw range and +2.0 mobility. Regenerates 2 base (non-armor) HP each turn and grants immunity to bleeding. Gain an additional reaction shot on Overwatch. Psionic potential unlocks a deep connection to one's body.		Telekinetic Field Telekinetic Field Project an 8.5 radius protective field that grants +20 defense to all allies in the field. Non-psionic attacks against allies in the field deal only 80% of original damage. Mechanical enemies that enter the field take half of standard psionic damage (Will/30, +1 for every 10 target current HP). 3 turn cooldown.
5	Ethereal Interrogation	50	Master		Psi Mastery Psi Mastery Mastery of multiple psionic abilities. All psionic abilities cost only 1 AP. Psychic Storm deals half damage when interrupted. If above half HP, fatal non-psionic non-melee damage reduces this unit to 1 HP instead.
6		Volunteer Only	Enlightened		Rift Rift Devastate an area with a storm of psi energy dealing half of standard psionic damage (Will/30, +1 for every 10 target current HP), minimum 3, immediately and then again after a turn. 2 turn cooldown. Affects mechanical units that are normally immune to psionic abilities. Distortion Distortion Reality is distorted around this unit: non-psionic attacks deal only 40% of their original damage (20% for ballistic/gauss), after which half the damage is then shared among allies in sight within 8 tiles. Grants +100 crit resistance and reduces corrosion duration to 1 turn. For Humans: prevents Mind Control, fatigue, and any healing. Psi Surge Psi Surge Infuses allies with power at the cost of 5 HP. Allied soldiers within 6 tiles have mind fray, disorient, shaken, panic, fear, healing fatigue, and red fog removed. Grants Inspired allies +10 Defense, +30% graze chance, +30 Will, and +30% Psionic damage resistance. They heal 50% of missing HP and have a 35% chance per enemy in their sight to become enraged. 1 turn cooldown. Costs 0 AP.

Hit Chance

Psi abilities that target an enemy go through a will test to see if they hit. They start with a base 50% chance to hit. The will of the attacker is added to this and the will of the defender is subtracted from this. The final hit chance is then clamped between 0 and 100. Sometimes the will of the attacker is modified (e.g. Mind Fray would multiply the will of the attacker by 80%).

Psi Hit Chance Formula:

Hit Chance = Clamp(50 + (Attacker_Will * modifier) - Defender_Will, 0, 100)

Limitations and Requirements

After unlocking Xenopsionics, psionic training will be available in Psionic Labs to certain biosoldiers that have acquired the minimum psi xp.

MEC Troopers, Officers, Genetically modified soldiers, and Spec Ops soldiers are unable to undergo psi training. Psionic soldiers cannot become these in the future either.

If the Super Soldiers second wave option is enabled, acquiring Neural Dampening will prevent becoming psionic (and cannot be selected after becoming psionic). Additionally, if the player chooses the Deus Ex start and combines it with Super Soldiers, if a soldier is already psionic when Neural Dampening is acquired after choosing Smart Macrophages, it will prevent training any future psi abilities. Abilities that have already been trained are unaffected, however.

Psionic Links

Each unit can only be psionically linked to 1 other unit. Many psionic abilities create a psionic link to targets that they affect. When linked, these units will be unable to be targeted by or immune to some psionic abilities.

Mind Fray: A unit that is mind frayed and the unit doing the mind fray will establish a psionic link.
Psi Panic: A unit with an active outstanding Psi Panic effect is considered psionically linked and thus cannot be subjected to Psi Inspire/Psi Surge or Mind Merge.
Psi Inspire/Psi Surge: Psionically linked units cannot be affected by Psi Inspire/Psi Surge or any of its other benefits, such as panic removal.
Mind Merge: A psionically linked unit cannot use Mind Merge nor can they be subjected to the Mind Merge of another. Both the target and recipient of a Mind Merge are considered psionically linked for the duration of the effect.
Distortion: Units in a distortion field may be psionically linked.
Rift: A unit may be psionically linked after casting a Rift.

Training

Unlocking Psi powers

After researching Xenopsionics, the first 3 levels of psionic powers will be unlocked. Unlocking additional psionic powers is accomplished by interrogating a sectoid commander and an ethereal. The only exception is Enlightened powers, which can only be acquired by the volunteer on the final mission. The volunteer will also gain every single psi ability for the final mission (with Psi Surge replacing the Psi Inspire ability).

Psi XP

After Xenopsionics is researched, soldiers will begin accruing Psi XP by going on missions, or passively by XTP II/ XTP III.

Reaching a threshold of Psi XP is required to undergo additional Psi Training. Every round of psionic training takes time, and its length and success chance is affected by the tester's will and the level of the psionic ability. You can see the current Psi XP level and cap in their Barracks profile.

In Long War Rebalance, Psi XP is awarded after a successful mission. Thus, the more missions a soldiers completes, the faster they will unveil the mystery behind their psionic powers.

Success Rate and Training Time

A soldier can only psionically train if they have 35 or more will.

The success rate of the training depends on the soldier's will and the level of the ability. The base time to train a psionic soldier is 15 days.

If the target will for the level is equal to the soldier's will, the chance is 100% and it will take 15 days to train.

Each psionic ability has a target will from first level to last: 40, 35, 40, 45, and 50.

For every point of will under the target will the chance decreases by 10%. 
For every point of will over the target will the training time decreases by 1 day.

The minimum chance to succeed is always at least 10% and the minimum time is 1 day as long as the soldier has 35 or more will.

Example Table

	Level 1 (Awakened)		Level 2 (Adept)		Level 3 (Empath)		Level 4 (Psion)		Level 5 (Master)
Soldier Will	% chance	day(s)	% chance	day(s)	% chance	day(s)	% chance	day(s)	% chance	day(s)
35	50%	15	100%	15	50%	15	10%	15	10%	15
40	100%	15		10	100%	15	50%		10%
45		10		5		10	100%	15	50%
50		5		1		5		10	100%	15
55		1				1		5		10
60								1		5
65										1

A guide to using Psi abilities

Psi training takes 15 days on soldiers that have the target will value for a given psi ability (refer to the table above for case-by-case calculations). Soldiers with a will value lower than the target amount may also fail the training entirely. Do not mindlessly force soldiers to undergo Psionic training unless you have sufficient soldiers in the barracks to handle tactical missions. Soldiers will not be usable until training is complete, even in potentially catastrophic situations such as the Base Defense mission.

Once a psi ability has been selected for training, your choice can not be reverted, nor can you retrain in the future to take a different ability. However, all options provide significant benefits, so it is difficult to choose truly poor options. All offensive psi abilities scale with the user's will, so generally higher will psionics get more use out of the offensive abilities while lower will psionics get more use out of the defensive or passive ones. That being said, base will isn't the only way to increase will, as many pieces of psionic equipment increase will as a side effect and several buffs such as Combat Drugs can be used to spike will for important rolls.

Level 1 - Awakened: Countercharge vs Mindfray

Countercharge is a passive ability that will deal a small amount of Psionic damage depending on will to a single alien in sight range along with disorienting the target. Countercharge has a chance to trigger every time a non-mechanical unit takes an action within sight range. The higher the will of your soldier, the more often the ability will trigger. Importantly, your soldier has to be Idle for Countercharge to activate. This means that soldiers performing end-of-turn actions such as suppression and overwatch will be unable to activate Countercharge and may be poor choices for this training. Bio-tanks are ideal choices as they are often put in situations where they see a high number of enemies, giving more options for Countercharge to activate. Additionally, Countercharge does not activate outside of default visual range even with squadsight.

Countercharge is a good option for soldiers with lower will that still want to be Psionically trained. It is not an active ability that will interfere with other actions your soldiers may want to perform, making it an exceptionally powerful tool that the player can simply set and forget. Additionally, it functions independently of enemy will and disorients, dealing full damage through distortion and lowering the Will value of even the most powerful of aliens such as Sectoid Commanders and Ethereals. It is a very useful option that should never be overlooked.

Mindfray is an exceptional alternative option for high Will soldiers. It comes with risk unlike Countercharge, given that it takes an action to perform and ends the unit's turn after use without the Psi Mastery perk, meaning you can waste a soldier's turn if the Mindfray fails. Mindfray has major bonuses as an active skill however, as you can directly target aliens to inflict an immensely powerful debuff that can entirely disable an alien's combat effectiveness. Some aliens have low Will (Thinmen, Floaters, Mutons, etc.) which makes Mindfray easy to capitalize on with these units. Some units are more difficult to Mindfray such as Mechtoids, but still reasonable targets for strong psions. Enemy units with high will values (Sectoid Commanders, Ethereals) are particularly difficult to Mindfray (often requiring a strong psion and buffs/debuffs aiding the hit chance) but can be very rewarding for doing so. Alien leaders often gain additional Will, making them more difficult to target. Increasing your Will with other Psionic powers can make landing Mindfray easier, alongside disorienting targets with Countercharge or Concussion/Psi Grenades. Mindfray itself also aids in landing other Psionic powers due to its will debuff.

Autopsy research on Sectoid Commanders unlock the Psi Frayer item, which removes the cooldown on Mindfray and makes it exceptionally easy to abuse on low Will foes.

Level 2 - Adept: Psi Panic vs Kinetic Blast vs Psi Inspire

Psi Panic is simple and effective, disabling a unit for at least a turn, and up to 2. Psi Panic is often at its best when used on high health targets that need to be immediately dealt with but require too much of an investment to do so, such as a member of the Muton family or a high level leader. Because of how powerful this ability is, it has a significantly lower chance to hit, so a high will stat and buff/debuff support is important to make it work.

Kinetic Blast is notable for passively infusing explosives with extra psi damage, so rocketeers and grenadiers almost always want to pick this up. As for the active ability, it's almost like a grenade itself; it's a relatively large AOE that does guaranteed damage, and can be targeted anywhere within its range (including through walls). Its damage has 100 penetration, making it bypass nearly all forms of damage resistance except Impenetrable Cover (calculated based on the soldier's position, not the blast's position) and a full health Sectopod. Will is used for the amount of damage dealt, but having any guaranteed damage no matter how small can be useful on occasion, such as for disabling Tactical Mobility on Floaters.

Psi inspire is a strong defensive buff that can potentially affect the entire squad if they're grouped up tightly enough. It provides defensive stats (defense, will, psionic damage reduction, and graze chance) and a small aim boost while also removing mental debuffs and temporarily providing immunity to Red Fog. Buffing the squad with Psi Inspire makes dealing with psionic aliens much more manageable, and even against conventional aliens, the graze chance will help you mitigate quite a lot of damage. The debuff removal is more situational, but removing debuffs from a key soldier can make the difference in a fight (although removing panic doesn't let them act immediately, they still have to wait until next turn).

Level 3 - Empath: Fervor

Fervor is plain and simple, and is the final psi ability that psionic soldiers have access to before extra interrogations (and is required to activate the Gollop Chamber and become the Volunteer). It gives a will boost based on how many enemies the soldier sees, similar in function to perks like Bring 'Em On. In practice, this will make your psionic abilities much more powerful and accurate in dire situations, helping you land key Psi Panics or providing constant pressure with Countercharge. Like other similar perks, Fervor works at Squadsight ranges if the soldier has that perk.

Level 4 - Psion: Inner Fire vs Telekinetic Field

These abilities require a Sectoid Commander to be interrogated to be learned, so they often come online much later in the game.

Inner Fire is a strong passive stat boost that's useful for all soldiers, but is particularly impactful for throwers and overwatch soldiers due to the throw range and extra overwatch shot. The regeneration and bleeding immunity is more niche since taking injuries is sub-optimal to begin with, but it can be a lifesaver.

Telekinetic Field is the same ability that Sectoid Commanders often use, providing soldiers with defense and non-psionic damage reduction as well as dealing small amounts of damage to mechanical enemies that enter its AOE. The effect is somewhat similar to Psi Inspire, but focuses entirely on conventional attacks and affects a larger area. It notably can be stacked with Psi Inspire, providing a huge amount of defensive stats for the squad. It's worth noting that its AOE doesn't extend very far vertically, so be warned when trying to affect flying targets or targets on a higher/lower floor of a building.

Level 5 - Master - Psi Mastery

Psi Mastery requires an Ethereal to be interrogated to be learned, so this is often reserved for endgame soldiers, if any.

Psi Mastery allows you to use Psi Abilities for 1 AP, allowing the use of two in a single turn or to follow up a psi ability with a different action. Additionally, it ensures that any soldier with at least half of their health + 1 will survive any attack with one HP. This effect doesn't come into play very often, but can be a lifesaver against an unexpected flank from a scary enemy such as a Cyberdisc.

Level 6 - Volunteer only - Enlightened

Only the Volunteer is capable of using these powerful abilities.

Rift is the same ability Ethereals use, and in a lot of ways it's like a much more deadly Kinetic Blast. It's larger, has a longer cast range, bypasses all forms of damage resistance, and can also hit twice if enemies stay within its area of effect at the end of their turn.

Distortion is the same ability that Commanders and Ethereals have that make them quite tanky. Psionic attacks will still deal full damage, but almost everything else will be reduced to 40% of its original damage and split among the Volunteer and nearby allies. Additionally, it grants near crit immunity with 100 crit resistance. Importantly, this also makes the Volunteer unable to be healed; they can take a beating, but all injuries will persist until the end of the campaign.

Psi Surge is a supercharged Psi Inspire. In addition to the base Psi Inspire effect, it costs 0 AP, has a 1 turn cooldown, heals all affected soldiers by 50% of their missing HP and gives them a chance to enrage based on how many enemies are in their line of sight, being guaranteed at 3. As a cost for this incredibly powerful effect, the Volunteer loses 5 HP each time it's used.