The Esper is a light armoured caster that useson Psi Points in order to unleash their most powerful attacks. Although the Esper is gaining popularity due to recent changes, the Esper is a tragically under appreciated class and with every class poll I’ve seen, it is always the most unpopular. I think that’s a real shame as the class is exceptional at healing and has an array of brilliant skills to support allies and hurt enemies. Better yet, its spell effects are some of the best in the game. Unfortunately the early levels of an Esper tend to put people off because it doesn't gain much utility or power until the later levels. With Telekinetic Strike is now a mobile skill (alongside their innate) the Esper is finally showing off its strengths in PvE and PvP.

Strengths

• Capable of dealing high single and multi-target damage
• Highly sought after healer
• Able to attack players with temporary pets
• Has a significant range advantage

Weaknesses

• Lacks some of the mobility of a Spellslinger
• Light armor wearer so can die easily
• Psi-Blade isn’t used as a physical weapon

Terminology

• AMP – A system to buff your abilities by spending AMP points.
• AoE – Area of Effect
• Base – This refers to taking an ability at its lowest possible value.
• BD - Blade Dance
• CB - Concentrated Blade
• CC – Crowd Control
• CD – Cool Down
• Crit – Chance to critically hit
• Crit Sev – Critical severity rating
• DPS – Damage per second
• GA – Genetic Archives
• GCD – Global Cool Down
• HoT -  Healing Over Time
• HPS – Heals per second
• IB - Illusionary Blades
• KB - Knock back
• LAS – Limited Action Set
• MB - Mind Burst
• MOB - Mind over Body
• PA - Phantasmal Armor
• PF - Psychic Frenzy
• RB -  Reduced Burden
• SF - Spectral Form
• SP – Support Power (the primary healing and tanking attribute)
• SS - Spectral Swarm
• TStorm - Telekinetic Storm
• TS - Telekinetic Strike

Mechanic

As mentioned above the Epser, like many of the classes in WildStar, relies on a pump and dump mechanic to maximise their damage or healing output. They’re capable of building 5 Psi Points in combat and at any of the intervals to the maximum of 5 they can dump them to deal heavy damage or to heal their allies. Similarly to the Medic, they have a couple of pump skills and a couple of dump skills split across the Assault and Support trees. Aside from your pump skill you can also utilise AMP’s, some skill tiers and some none-Psi Point based skills at later levels to generate Psi Points.

The key difference between the Medic and the Esper and their pump and dump mechanic is the fact that the Medic starts with their Actuators maximised while the Esper starts at zero Psi Points and has to build them up. It’s a major difference as it means the Medic starts reasonably powerful and flat-lines while the Esper starts weaker but peaks in power as they build their attacks. It should be noted that because an Esper can build 5 Psi Points, its dump skills are capable of dealing massive damage or healing for significant amounts.

Alongside their Psi Point mechanic the Esper also has an innate ability known as Spectral Form. When you activate Spectral Form you’ll receive increased damage mitigation (additional shielding) and generate 1 Psi Point every 1.0s for 10.0s. The fact Spectral Swarm generates the equivalent of 10 Psi Points allows you to do huge damage to your target if they remain in your range, in a very short period. With a hefty cooldown though, you need to be careful when you use the skill: too early and you risk being out of range or wasting precious Psi Points.

Playstyle

There’s two options to being an Esper. The first is a traditional ranged caster that relies heavily on Telekinetic Strike and a finisher and the other is a melee, pet based alternative that utilises Psychic Frenzy and Telekinetic Storm. Before we get into that though, here’s the pump and dump skill list that you’ll be relying heavily on:

Pump

• Assault - Telekinetic Strike: A ranged attack with a narrow telegraph that deals damage to 5 foes and generates 1 Psi Point.
• Assault - Psychic Frenzy: Conjure 3 spectral blades that each deal magic damage to 5 foes and generate 1 Psi Point.
• Support - Mind Over Body: Restore health to yourself or an ally and generate 1 Psi Point.
• Support - Soothe: Restore health to yourself and your 4 most injured allies. Generate 1 Psi Point at charges 2 and 3.

Dump

• Assault - Mind Burst: Deal damage to 5 Foes (use between 1 and 5 Psi Points)
• Assault - Telekinetic Storm: Conjure a storm lasting 7 seconds that erupts upon attaching to a foe or reaching the end of its path. The storm deals magical damage to 5 foes every 1 second  (use between 1 and 5 Psi Points).
• Assault - Reap: Conjure a Reaper at the target location that deals magic damage and snares 1 foe (use between 1 and 5 Psi Points)
• Support - Reverie: Restore health to yourself and 9 party members (use between 1 and 5 Psi Points)
• Support: Mending Banner: Restore health to yourself and an ally and grant defence (use between 1 and 5 Psi Points).
• Support - Mental Boon: Restore health and grant nimble to yourself and 4 allies. Nimble increases dash regeneration (use between 1 and 5 Psi Points)

Having mentioned it briefly above and although I’ll get into builds in more depth in a separate guide, there are two methods of play for an Esper. You can choose to Equip both Telekinetic Strike and Mind Burst for a high spike damage. Alternatively, you you can equip Psychic Frenzy and Telekinetic Storm (Mind Burst works also) for a more melee variant. There’s no right or wrong (the Psychic Frenzy is a lot of fun) but sadly the leveling process for the Esper can be quite difficult until you obtain certain key skills. Fortunately along the way you’ll pick up a couple of skills that allow you to build Psi Points quickly (Bolster) so you aren’t entirely reliant on your pump skill.

If you choose to pursue the ranged path your kiting skills will need to be up to scratch otherwise you'll quickly be overwhelmed and will end up face tanking vast amounts of enemies. In PvP you'll also be eaten alive if a player gets too close. If you choose to pursue the melee path you'll need to recognize which telegraphs you can withstand and which you should avoid while strafing opponents constantly. The playstyle for either is drastically different and I would say the skill cap on the melee build is much higher.

Tips & Tricks

1. Always use your pump skill to build your Psi Points. Your dump skills require Psi Points to activate so it’s incredibly important to build them as quickly as possible.
2. If using Telekinetic Strike you’ll need to position yourself so that you can guarantee multiple hits on your target. The fact Telekinetic Strike is now mobile allows it to be very useful in PvE and PvP. 
3. Remember that your innate not only provides additional damage mitigation but also generates Psi Points incredibly quickly. If you’re quick enough you can cast two finishers in a very short space of time for massive damage.
4. Don't forget that you can run around when using Spectral Form. It's your run and gun super-charged skill! 
5. Try to always maximise your Psi Points before you use your dump skill. The damage or healing from a 5 point finisher is enormous and will only take a second or two extra to generate.
6. If you’re pursuing a melee build by using Psychic Frenzy, remember that you’re a light armored class and can die incredibly quickly as a result. Remember to equip skills that will compliment your vulnerability such as Crush, Shockwave, Phantasmal Armor or Fade Out.
7. During the early levels utilise Bolster and Concentrated Blades to quickly generate Psi Points while in combat.
8. Try to preserve your Utility skills until you absolutely have to use them as skills such as Crush have lengthy cooldowns but you’ll rely on them heavily.
9. For your Assault finishers (Mind Burst or Telekinetic Storm) try to only use them when you can guarantee they’ll hit your target. If you miss you’ll lose your Psi Points but deal no damage.