What is the current state of the Battlemind?


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We've got a dwarf resilient battlemind in our group. He is super tough and does a good job at being a defender. We played with Blurred Step pre-errata and post-errata, although we always used it with the post-errata interpretation. It was very useful in a fight we had this past weekend, helping to keep the battlemind in close proximity to the boss monster as she tried to move around the room.

All in all I'd say the battlemind is at least as good as any defender we've had (and we've seen them all played in our group one time or another).
 

They're pretty effective; I had one in my game pretty recently.

The most brutal trick was Hammer Rhythym + Brutal Barrage. Its minimum damage with Aug 1 was 24, and its max was ... well, usually 24, but with four chances to crit. Two hits knocks prone, making it remarkably effective at keeping an enemy in place. The only problem was, he got kind of repetitive.

Mind Blade pwnd one of my Elite enemies. With a follow-up Action Point + Brutal Barrage Aug 1, it made me sad. Yes, there are more dangerous combos out there, but Unconscious (Save Ends) is just plain gory.

His PP gave him a Level 12 Utility At-Will which turned out pretty interesting, actually, for when he was very hurt. For a Standard action, you get to save vs. any attack. A successful save reduces the damage to 0; failure still cuts it in half. The important note here is that it doesn't prevent you from using Lightning Rush that same turn, nor does it prevent OAs or your Mind Spike.

Speaking of - he only used his defender whammy once, and it was okay. I think it will be a LOT more useful now that monsters are dealing more damage.

-O
 

Battleminds are more than playable now with the errata and MM3 damage increase, which ironically is one of the rare times that benefits PCs as it severely unsucks Mindspike as a punishment mechanic. Before Blurred Step was worthless and they could barely do anything to a monster with mindspike, but now both are good features that do what they are supposed to.

Like most of the highly inherently flawed psionic classes, they are usually about spamming one or two low level at-wills for much of the game. Brutal Barrage and Hammer Rhythm has been named already, but the other one is lightning rush. Lightning Rush is simply an amazing power and should be used by just about everyone for their entire career. It's cheap to augment, has a very strong effect and before was the only viable way of making them an actual defender. Now it's just a really good power to have.

Personally I think they are more than worth playing at the moment.
 


I have only played the Battlemind at low level in Encounters, but I love it. I used Improved Speed of Thought to get in the face of the artillery boss at the end of the first season of Encounters and just shut him down for the whole game. Go ahead, make a ranged attack, I dare you!

When my wife said she's going to run Bloodsand Arena, I called the Battlemind right away.
 

At low levels, the battlemind at-will Iron Fist is pretty crazy. Resist [Wis] all as an Effect? Yes please.

It doesn't scale especially well, though. Iron Fist is one of your essential powers at low levels, but less so at higher levels. Of course, later on you'll acquire Lightning Rush and such and can use those instead.


I really wish Charisma Battleminds had better Daily options, though. If they did, I'd be playing a Cha Battlemind instead of a Wis Battlemind. But Aspect of Elevated Harmony is super nice.


So far my battlemind has been fun to play. He has weird abilities that take some getting used to, but seems very effective. I think a lot of complaining about battleminds is because people expected them to play like a fighter when they actually play like their own class.
 

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