Champions Online Telekinesis Framework

Are you the type of hero that imposes their will upon the villains of the world? Do you enjoy getting up close and personal to smite evil? Does the idea of Ego powered energy excite you? Then you might be interested in the Telekinesis Framework of Champions Online. To help you make a decision, I’ve pulled together some of the relevant data on the power set and will add in my experience with it. With any luck you’ll be able to make a well informed decision when you’re picking a framework or powers.

Early in the beta, I saw Telekinesis in action and just knew it was what I wanted to play. Many of the powers look like “energy” weapons and fit in nicely with my plan of having a large wolf character from space that can manipulate the ethereal. The Id Blades just look impressive and do a wonderful job of passing as laser swords (vs the actual sword power set which I feel is lacking. That is another article though). Before getting into the individual powers, I want to make an important note: the character builder recommends Ego and Constitution for the Telekinesis power set. Id Blades receive a damage bonus from Endurance Ego (As of 10 September 2009). As such you may want to consider doing a custom build to raise Endurance if you’re a big min/max player.

Kinetic Dart – Energy Builder
Single target ego damage, generates energy, chance to apply Shock which “holds the target in place.”

There isn’t a lot to be said about Kinetic Dart other than it is one of the better energy building powers. It is ranged and the chance to hold a target is pretty reasonable. With some of the perks available you can turn it into an even more useful power by increasing the energy gains and adding small buffs to yourself.

Ego Weaponry – Close Attack
6.7 Energy
Single target ego damage, While in Ego Form or under Ego Surge activates ID Blades, creating a second blade of telekinetic energy to cause additional damage.
Damage dealt by ID Blades scales based on your Endurance.

Ego Weaponry is the bread and butter of the Telekinesis Framework. Of all the powers, I still use this one the most. Like many primary close attack powers, you can string a combo along by repeatedly using the ability. When you are finally able to be in Ego Form or under Ego Surge, you can really dish out stellar damage. In PvE I have no trouble dropping dastardly fellows up to three levels higher than me. In comparison to my single sword framework hero I do more damage in a shorter amount of time. The power is also very easy on my energy pool. Due to the close nature of the power, however, it suffers in PvP. If I can catch someone and keep them still I can wreak havoc. Otherwise I’m just chasing them. Anyone who picks Telekinesis will use this power a lot.

Ego Blade Breach – Close Attack
31 – 59 Energy; Requires 5 non-energy building powers from Telekinesis or 8 from other frameworks.
Tap: Single target ego damage. Applies a damage resistance debuff to target. Debuff may stack up to 3 times. Applies Ego Leach for a short time to each target hit. Ego Leech takes 10 seconds to reach full strength and will not provide a benefit prior to that. If this power defeats a target affected by Ego Leech, some energy is returned.
While in Ego Form or under Ego Surge activates ID Blades, creating a second blade of telekinetic energy to cause additional damage. Damage dealt by ID Blades scales based on your Endurance.
Charge: Increases damage and energy cost of tap effect.

Ego Blade Breach sounds like a pretty great power and generally seems to be alright. I’ve not done any extensive parsing yet but the debuff suggests around a 10% increase in damage. In my testing I was never able to stack the debuff. This may either be due to a graphical error on the client or because it doesn’t currently work at this time. This isn’t a bad power and gives you another option close in. Once more I need to state I do not have parse data yet but it feels like Ego Blade Breach is not as effective as Ego Weaponry. I use it to debuff my target and then go back to slamming them with my weaponry. It is a generally useful power and, if the stacking works, it will be worthwhile for the debuff alone.

Ego Annihilation – Close Attack
23 Energy; Requires 5 non-energy building powers from Telekinesis or 8 from other frameworks.
Single target ego damage. Attack is much more powerful against foes with less than 25% health remaining. Applies Ego Leach for a short time to each target hit. Ego Leech takes 10 seconds to reach full strength and will not provide a benefit prior to that. If this power defeats a target affected by Ego Leech, some energy is returned.
While in Ego Form or under Ego Surge activates ID Blades, creating a second blade of telekinetic energy to cause additional damage. Damage dealt by ID Blades scales based on your endurance.

Ego Annihilation is one of those powers that I would avoid altogether right now. Much like Ego Blade Breach it just isn’t as effective as Ego Weaponry and its “hook” isn’t as tempting as a debuff. Even when you’ve worked a mob down to 25% and below, the increase of damage is barely better than a standard attack. In its current form it is hard to justify this for your already scarce power slots. At rank 3 it might measure up but I doubt it. For now I recommend passing.

Telekinesis – Ranged Attack
20 Energy; Requires 1 non-energy building powers from Telekinesis or 2 from other frameworks.
Telekinesis allows you to use your Ego statistic instead of Strength to pick up objects.

I don’t have much to say about this power other than it works as advertised. If you want to be able to hurl heavy things than you’ll pretty much need to invest in strength or pick up this power. Otherwise spend your training on something else.

Ego Blade Frenzy – Close Area Attack
16 + 11 energy/0.5 sec; Requires 1 non-energy building powers from Telekinesis or 2 from other frameworks.
Maintained Cone Ego Damage. Deals continuous ego damage to targets in front of you. Applies Ego Leach for a short time to each target hit. Ego Leech takes 10 seconds to reach full strength and will not provide a benefit prior to that. If this power defeats a target affected by Ego Leech, some energy is returned. While in Ego Form or under Ego Surge activates ID Blades, creating a second blade of telekinetic energy to cause additional damage. Damage dealt by ID Blades scales based on your endurance

Ego Blade Frenzy is basically like Ego Weaponry but in a cone. The power is low on energy cost, has a built in chance to return that energy to you and scales well. Why focus on slashing one villain when you can slash a few? If you intend to engage more than a few targets this is most certainly a must have power. It is straight forward and worth a slot.

Telekinetic Eruption – Close Area Attack
88-163 energy; Requires 3 non-energy building powers from Telekinesis or 5 from other frameworks (this might be incorrect); Effects up to 5 foes 25 foot sphere.
Tap: Deals ego damage to nearby targets. Chance to knock back targets.
Charge: Increase damage and energy cost of the Tap effect. If charged over 50%, applies resistance buff to you. If charged over 50%, applies ego damage buff to you.

Telekinetic Eruption is an extremely expensive but amazingly fun power. You will generally need to be at full energy or close to it to charge it all the way but this attack is high damage, applies a knock back, and buffs your resistances and ego damage. The power’s charge time is a bit long but always worth it. On more than one occasion I’ve used this power to change an almost certain defeat into a win. You also get the added joy of watching your targets go flying.

Telekinetic Maelstrom – Close Area Attack
80-187 energy; Requires 5 non-energy building powers from Telekinesis or 8 from other frameworks; Effects up to 5 foes 10 foot sphere.
Tap: Deals crushing damage to nearby targets. Applies a hold to each target. Applies Ego Leach for a short time to each target hit. Ego Leech takes 10 seconds to reach full strength and will not provide a benefit prior to that. If this power defeats a target affected by Ego Leech, some energy is returned.
Charge: Increase damage and cost.

Telekinetic Maelstrom is another high cost high damage charge power. Instead of sending foes flying like Telekinetic Eruption, it applies a really short duration hold. The range is also far smaller. Much like my comparison of Ego Weaponry against the other close attack powers, I feel that Telekinetic Maelstrom comes up a bit short vs Eruption. The hold is nice but not superior to all the other benefits. The power is by no means bad, however! Whether you choose it will largely depend on what you’re trying to achieve. My Telekinesis build is based on melee and enhancing that melee. If you’re looking for more control, this would be a power to take.

Telekinetic Wave – Ranged Area Attack
54-89 energy; Requires 3 non-energy building powers from Telekinesis or 5 from other frameworks; Targets foe 3 max 35 feet; 30-120 degree cone.
Tap: Deals crushing damage to targets in front of you. Knockback each affected target. Applies ego leech…
Charge: Increases damage and knockback distance of the tap.

Telekinetic Wave is simply a fun power to have. The best way to explain this power is to equate it to a “force push” from Star Wars. With a flick of your hand you can send your enemies flying away. The power is very efficient and effective as a tap and pretty devastating as a charge. It doubles as both damage and control while effecting multiple targets. It does have a long recovery period but I feel comfortable saying this is another one of my highly recommended powers.

Ego Choke – Control
18 + 7.4 energy/sec; Requires 3 non-energy building powers from Telekinesis or 5 from other frameworks; Lasts up to 3 sec 50 foot range.
Maintain: Deals continuous crushing damage to your target. Applies a hold that gains strength for each second maintained.

I have mixed feelings about Ego Choke and it was one of the powers I chose to keep in my build. It does very well as a ranged damage power. It is not unlike a “force choke” from Star Wars. You can maintain the power at range while keeping your target in place (usually). If you’re expecting a great hold from this, you’ll be a bit disappointed. Otherwise, it is a decent power to keep on the bar. I’ve found that in PvP it is rather easily broken.

Ego Hold – Control
36 energy; Requires 3 non-energy building powers from Telekinesis or 5 from other frameworks.
Maintain: The power much be charged for at least .5 seconds to have an effect. Applies hold target. Hold strength based on the charge time.

Once more I feel like you’re given two power options where one is clearly better than the other. Ego Hold, from a control perspective, just seems better to me. You can lock your target down and move on to the next one. I don’t have extensive experience with this power as I am a melee build but during my testing it seemed to work well enough.

Ego Surge – Self Buff
Requires 3 non-energy building powers from Telekinesis or 5 from other frameworks.
Empowers your Ego Blade attacks, transforming them into dual id Blade attacks which deal increased damage. The damage increase for ID Blade attacks scales with your endurance. Increases all paranormal damage. Assists in breaking out of hold and paralysis effects. Can be used while held or confused. Counts as energy form.

Ego Surge is without a doubt one of the best powers in the set. The only draw back to it (and it more than makes up for this) is that it is a click on power with a refresh. Due to that, however, it allows the bonuses to be far greater than a passive power. This is also one of two powers that allow you to go from a single blade to dual wielding. Anyone who wants to play a melee Telekinesis build should consider this power. Yes, you’ll have to pop it a lot, but your reward will be great. I regret not getting it early on. The major downside to Ego Surge is that it has a long cool down. It really damages the power as a “must buy.”

Ego Form – Self Buff
Requires 3 non-energy building powers from Telekinesis or 5 from other frameworks.
Can be slotted in an offensive or balanced passive power slot. Only active while in combat. Reduces all incoming physical damage. Reduction scales with Constitution. Empowers your Ego Blade attacks, transforming them into dual id Blades attacks which deal increased damage. The damage increase for the ID Blade attacks scales with your Endurance. Counts as an Energy Form.

During beta and the early start Ego Form was the bee’s knees of powers. It was like having a slightly worse Ego Surge without having to worry about turning it on all the time. I basically purchased the power as soon as I was allowed. When Champions Online went live all defensive powers were reduced in power pretty substantially. The power is still great of course. You can be certain you’ll always have your Id Blades but you’re better off with Ego Surge. You can’t go wrong with Ego Form.

Telekinetic Shield – Block
Self Damage Reduction. Lingers for a short time after block is released. The lingering shield only protects against frontal damage, and does not protect against damage over time.

Telekinetic Shield is a replacement power for the standard block. It creates a very cool energy shield in front of you and is a step up from the basic model. It can be slotted to provide great protection. I’m not sure I would recommend the power, though. I took it but I don’t use it all that much more than I would a regular block. The lingering shield doesn’t provide blocking as advertised. The effect still remains on but you don’t “block.” It may still reduce damage, though. It can be difficult to tell sometimes without substantial parsing.

Thus far I’m really enjoying the Telekinesis power set. It is extremely viable in PvE and seems to work decently well in PvP. Please be aware that these power explanations are based on data as it is available today. Champions Online is a brand new MMO and things can change with little notice or hesitation. Hopefully, my explanations will prove useful and as always you’re welcome to give your own opinion on the various powers.