I quite like that Owlcat made Psykers in Rogue Trader an Origin addition to the main class and not the main class itself. This allows you to customize Archetypes with psionic offense or defense through Psyker talents. Here are our top 10 best Psyker Talents in Warhammer 40K Rogue Trader.
Top Best 10 Psyker Talents in Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader
The talents below are organized in no particular order and each one is useful in a variety of situations — except the two melee and range-focused ones.
Psy Rating
Let’s get the main Psyker Talent out of the way first. Every Psyker should generally take Psy Rating Talents. These provide you with new powers and drastically boost the damage output of your psionic abilities. Note that if your Rogue Trader is a Psyker, they’ll start at Psy Rating 0, so be sure to pick up Rank 1 when it becomes available. That said, you won’t have to worry about this talent on Psyker Navigators like Cassia, as they don’t have to take it.
Predicted Downfall
This is a party-wide buff your Psyker can provide where the first dodge attempt of every enemy on the battlefield is reduced. It will scale with your Psy Rating, which you’ll naturally increase, so you don’t have to worry about a specific stat investment. This is universally useful for any type of character.
Sacred Rituals
Psychic powers having a chance to refund AP? Yes, please. This is another generally useful pick-up on any Psyker. It only works when Veil Degradation is 10 or lower, but that’s not too difficult to trigger. This talent essentially makes it so that every fourth power is free going by the 25% proc chance.
Still Mind
Gaining Resolve is crucial for any character as the combat system in Rogue Trader heavily relies on Heroic Acts. Still Mind increases your Resolve based on Willpower in the same conditions as Scared Rituals. This way, you’ll be able to activate your Heroic Acts sooner and turn the tide of battle.
Blade of Light and Subtle Manipulation (Melee)
If you’re playing a melee Psyker, these are almost mandatory, especially Subtle Manipulation. You don’t want enemies hitting you with Attacks of Opportunity every time you cast a psychic power. As for Blade of Light, force weapon attacks dealing more damage and having more armor penetration is self-explanatory if you’re using them. Having a melee companion like Abelard to grant you a flanking bonus is also very useful.
Psychic Barrage and Second Sight (Ranged)
If your goal is to build a long-range damage Psyker, these two talents are available to all psionic subtypes. Psychic Barrage will increase your damage based on your Ballistic Skill. Moreover, Second Sight will increase your range based on Perception so that you can play around cover better and stay out of danger.
Edge of Fate
Edge of Fate is another team-wide buff that grants your entire party a +15% critical chance. Critical hits can also turn the tide in the right circumstances, especially on heavy-hitting melee builds with Sworn Enemy or Sniper-based ranged ones. The buff persists until you actually score a critical and the effect refreshes each combat. Neat.
Power Conduit or Thriving in Peril
I would generally recommend picking up at least one talent that triggers based on Perils or Psychic Phenomena, as they’ll eventually start happening more commonly. Power Conduit will grant you more Action Points when they occur. Furthermore, Thriving in Peril will grant extra momentum so that you can get out of a sticky situation with a Heroic Act.
Stabilizing Factor
This can be a useful way to reduce Veil Degradation. Each power will increase V.D. by 2 points, which adds up. Remember that Perils and Psychic Phenomena are always bad so having ways to avoid or at least stave them off is universally useful.
Psyker Subclass Specific Talents
Last but not least, there are some crucial talents for specific Psyker subtypes I would highly recommend picking up:
- Diviner: Fatebringer increases the Armor Penetration on your Forewarning ally targets, which is crucial for late-game bosses.
- Pyromancer: Blazing Inferno and Backdraft will do wonders for your fire-based damage output.
- Telepath: Aftershock and Pain Channeling make your Psychic Shriek an incredibly hard-hitting AoE ability.
- Biomancer: Adrenaline Surge is amazing for Action Point economy so that you can buff yourself, attack, and even Charge if you’re a Warrior archetype on the first turn.
- Sanctic: Destined boosts your armor defenses, which go hand in hand with your playstyle, while Edge of Dawn increases your team’s damage on enemies adjacent to you.
Those are my Top 10 best Psyker talents in Warhammer 40K Rogue Trader. Remember that you can always respec your Psyker to change your talent selection. For more articles, like our Operative guide and top talents for them, click the links or check out our WH40K Rogue Trader guides.
