Berserk (psycast)
 | This article relates to content added by Royalty (DLC). Please note that it will not be present without the DLC enabled. |
Berserk
Induce an angry psychosis in the target's mind, causing them to attack anyone nearby.
Base Stats
- Type
- Psycast
Ability
Berserk is a level 5 psycast that drives a single target violently insane.
Acquisition[edit]
There are two ways to acquire the berserk psycast:
- Upon reaching psylink level 5, a random psycast of level 5 is granted regardless of how this level up is achieved. This won't apply if the psycaster already knew one or more level 5 psycast.
- Berserk can also be acquired from a psytrainer naming it. See the psytrainer page for further details.
Summary[edit]
Upon casting, Berserk inflicts a target pawn with the Berserk mental state for 900 ticks (15 secs), modified by Psychic sensitivity. While this effect persists, affected pawns will move towards and melee attack the nearest pawn, hostile or otherwise. They will be unable to perform any other action, including making ranged attacks, using equipped utility items, or using abilities granted by genes.
Valid targets for Berserk include any psychically sensitive pawn which is neither downed nor in a mental state within 20 tiles of the caster, respecting line of sight. Note that all mech bosses (the Diabolus, War queen, and Apocriton) and the Dreadmeld
are unable to be targeted by Berserk, for the listed reason of "Psychic insanity immune".
Additionally, note that berserk is considered a harmful ability, and will incur a staggering goodwill penalty of −75 when cast on pawns from a neutral or allied faction.
Analysis[edit]
Berserk serves as a potent combination of both damage and crowd control, turning enemy pawns against each other while leaving your own pawns free to clean up any survivors. While the relatively high neural heat gain and psyfocus cost prohibit excessive use, the effect is often powerful enough to swing combat encounters with only a few casts.
Berserk's primary (and ostensibly only) use case is rather straightforward - sow chaos in enemy groups by forcing them to fight one another, while your pawns gun them down. However, the aforementioned psyfocus cost and neural heat gain ask for some prudence when selecting a target for Berserk. Generally speaking, the best targets for Berserk are the most dangerous - though not always, and not always for the same reasons.
For example, if using Berserk primarily as a method of distracting clumps of enemies, the best targets tend to be the most well-armored, such as those wearing plate or cataphract armor. As their ability to divert enemy attention only lasts as long as their life does, berserking durable enemies maximizes the duration they can tie up enemy attention - berserking a raider wearing nothing but some tribalwear surrounded by enemies is unlikely to distract them for more than a few seconds.
Conversely, if using Berserk with the intent of eliminating a particularly dangerous enemy, berserking them directly tends to result in their near-instant death, as their allies immediately turn on them and dispatch them with ruthless efficiency. However, in the case of those wielding weapons with splash damage, such as a doomsday rocket launcher or frag grenades, one may be better served berserking an enemy near them instead. While berserking said pawn will prevent them from unleashing their firepower, berserking a nearby enemy will incite them to fire the weapon on them instead, often taking out themselves and several enemies besides in the process. However, this strategy relies on being able to draw their ire before they begin the process of firing said weapon (and have the berserked target survive long enough for them to fire), which can be difficult to do with Berserk's fairly limited range of only 20 tiles. It should be noted that while Berserk can be used to similar effect against impids to force them to waste their fire spew against each other rather than one's own pawns, their resistance to fire renders any damage incurred from this to be minimal at best, though - make no mistake - still an extremely worthwhile use of Berserk nonetheless.
Additionally, it should be noted that Berserk is of particular use against mechanoid raids, specifically those containing centipedes. Not only does berserking a centipede prevent it from firing on your pawns for an extended duration compared to other psycasts such as Stun or Chaos skip, but the centipede's massive bulk allows it to absorb a large amount of punishment, enabling it to serve as a potent distraction for any surrounding mechs, leaving one free to dispatch the enemy force from a position of relative safety. In the same vein, berserking a centipede makes the eventual task of dispatching it much easier, as it will likely receive significant damage from any surrounding mechanoids who turn their ire upon the hapless foe.
Lastly, it should be noted that under the influence of Berserk, animals (as well as non-colonist humanoid pawns) will continue to attack each other even after the effects of Berserk expire, only stopping once either combatant is incapacitated. While this contributes some increased effectiveness when used against humanoid raiders, this effect can be leveraged to greater effect against groups of animals, such as a wandering herd of thrumbos or a pack of rhinos. Once berserked, the animal will immediately engage the nearest target, which will almost certainly be another of its kind, and continue fighting until one is dead, leaving you a free corpse to butcher, and likely another in a few hours once blood loss finishes the second combatant. In this way, Berserk can be used to "hunt" animals which might otherwise be dangerous to dispatch by traditional means, with zero effort required on the player's part.
Version history[edit]
- Royalty DLC Release - Added.
- 1.1.2571 - Cost reduced from 35 to 40, range reduced from 25 to 15, duration reduced from 30 to 15.