Psionic (LWR)

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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, and Genetically modified soldiers are unable to undergo psi training. Psionic soldiers cannot become MEC Troopers, Officers, or be Genetically modified.

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 randomly 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-powers are more effective based on the will score of the caster.

Psionic soldiers also gain access to special armors and equipment.

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

The Psionic ability tree has a variety of options that will affect the way you will play on tactical level. Once an ability has been selected for training, your choice can not be reverted. However, all options provide significant benefits, so it is difficult to choose truly poor options. All offensive powers use Will for calculating activation and hit chances, so prioritize higher will soldiers for offensive Psionic abilities. The game has a multitude of armors and items that boost Will, and alongside officer bonuses to will, you can make some truly terrifying soldiers.

• Level 1 - Awakened: Countercharge vs Mindfray

These are the entry abilities to Psionics and will also unlock the ability to use Psi items and armors. Training takes 15 days on soldiers that have the expected will value. Refer to table above for case-by-case calculations. Soldiers with a will value lower than the recommended 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.

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. Enemy units with high will values (Sectoid Commanders, Ethereals) are particularly difficult to Mindfray but can be very rewarding for doing so. Increasing your Will with other Psionic powers can make landing Mindfray easier, alongside disorienting targets with Countercharge or Concussion/Psi Grenades. Alien leaders also gain additional Will, making them more difficult to target.

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

A bit faster to train than Level 1, so usually can pick these up in midgame.

Psi Panic is really strong active ability that panics alien for up to 2 turns. It can for example disable fat HP Berserker in crucial moments and turn the tide of battle on its own. Chance to hit is reduced for this ability to balance its strong effect, so you usually pick this one on your highest Will soldiers, like Annette. It is natural extension to Mind fray - mindfrayed target will have reduced Will, so you can panic it afterwards. Similiar to Mindfray, if you hurt aliens enough, flashbang them, boost your soldier, you can panic anyone in the game. It does have long 4 turn cooldown and it does not deal any damage on its own.

Kinetic Blast is nice AOE damage ability that goes through walls and will deal 4-6 damage usually, ignoring Damage Reduction. Radius of 3 tiles is also pretty nice. Downsides are range of 10 tiles, which is not that much, grenades you can usually throw farther. And it is not Psi damage so it will just do 1 damage to Commanders and Ethereals. But it hits always. It does have 2 turn cooldown.

Psi inspire in good strong defensive ability with enough range to cover most of XCOM squad. It can remove some of the worst debufs and save the squad on its own, or you can use it to up the Defense and Will to protect everyone ahead of time. Also reduces psionic damage, good when encountering alien psi enemies. The best thing about this ability is it does not require Will checks, you can give it to anyone, even low Will soldiers will have strong skill to use. If unsure what to pick, you can't go wrong with this one. Cooldown is 4 turn so it cannot be spammed just like that.

• Level 3 - Empath: Mind Merge

Takes a bit to train like entry level. It is not game breaking ability so you don't have to rush to get it. But pretty good to pick it up earlier if you can.

Mind Merge you already know from Sectoids, it is strong ability that XCOM gets quite a bit late compared to aliens. It does not require any Will checks and it will apply variety of buffs to target. You get more damage and accuracy to shoot, more mobility to position your unit, you even get 50% graze chance - might want to use that to protect tank or MEC. It boosts Will by +25 so it may be a boost to panic or mindfray especially tough target. It has hefty cooldown of 5 turns so try to use it wisely. Targets that are already affected by Psi abilities cannot be mind merged and this is a bit wonky how it works, sometimes you just can't mind merge soldier you want. But not like you have choice, this is the only ability at this level.

• Level 4 - Psion: Inner Fire vs Telekinetic Field

In endgame you get access to these strong abilities.

Inner Fire is very strong ability that boost soldier in variety of ways. Good for pretty much anyone, but it is boosting only the soldier who gets it. Shooting classes prefers it a bit more since they can use the bonuses better. Overwatch builds benefit a lot from additional shot so it is mandatory for them. There is no cooldown, it is passive and always works. Wonderful.

Telekinetic Field is large AOE shield, that Sectoid Commanders sometimes use. It is teamwide ability that greatly reduces the damage your soldiers take until next turn. Offensively it can be used to hurt mechanical enemies, but be warned that vertical targeting is limited. Field looks like a bubble, but it seems to damage aliens up to one floor of height so Drones or Cyberdisk might just be above it. A bit frustrating, but something that cannot be fixed. For the most part, use of this skill is of defensive nature. Good to pick up on anyone, who wouldn't benefit as much from Inner Fire. It has 4 turn cooldown.

• Level 5 - Master - Psi Mastery

Only a few soldiers will get this far. Skill is simple and strong, using psi abilities cost only 1 AP so you can do something else with another action. You could mindfray + panic, double mindfray with Psi Frayer or buff the allies and hide. There are probably more uses for creative players.

• Level 6 - Volunteer only - Enlightened

This is last level of psi abilities, the one you only get in very last mission and can use only for that mission. As such, it is super powerful and fun. You get total of three new abilities.

Rift - purple vortex of death, you may have seen this thrown by Ethereals against your squad. Yes, you get access to this one as well. Really strong, has big AOE, will hit twice and even hurt mechanical units. You will want to use this skill to kill Sectoid Commander and hurt Ethereal, works nicely vs them. Cooldown is only 2 turns.

Distortion - is that protective bubble around Sectoid Commanders and Ethereals that makes your hits vs them quite pathetic. Very strong protection for Volunteer, but psi attacks like Mind Fray will go through it. Best to hide Volunteer anyway, if he gets hit he will share damage around. Plus he cannot be healed (that is one downside of Distortion) and you want him unharmed and with lots of HP so you can heal the team.

Psi Surge - is super strong AOE buff and heal that makes your squad going for final win. It will strip your volunteer of 5 HP so he cannot use it too many times. Volunteer can't be healed, remember. Gives couple of extra more buffs (Will, Defense) to make it even better. Enrage is especially strong, but you may not count to get that one due to RNG. Uber Ethereal will fire his psychic attacks often and Psi Surge will help heal back that HP. To get the best use of this ability try to make sure that volunteer has as much HP as possible during the entire mission.

See also

Long War Rebalance: Soldiers
Soldiers	Soldiers Assault Infantry Rocketeer Gunner Sniper Scout Medic Engineer
MEC	MEC Troopers Marauder Goliath Jaeger Shogun
Sub-classes and abilities	Officers Psionics Gene Mods S.H.I.V.s