The Esper will easily give you damage, amazing movement, and great utility abilities within the first 10 levels. Upon entry into the game you can immediately start with all the boosts mentioned below except for Flask of Experience. Fastest times should be 10 - 15 hrs depending how well you complete Quests and your luck with queues. Although this may seem like the best plan, we highly recommend you take your time and enjoy all Nexus has to offer.
This guide will cover the basics to get you successfully by any situation in Wildstar as an Esper. This is currently not a min/max lvling guide and will include some talk of features in general. Full Wildstar level unlocks and map here
XP Bonuses before you start:
5% Exp Boost - 2 Step Verification - Link
10% Exp Boost - Flask of Experience - Guild Unlock - 500 Renown
50% Exp Boost - Flask of Advancement - in game Cash Shop - 230 NCoin / 115 Omnibits
The first ten levels for the Esper consists of many core abilities, some of which can be swapped out, one we recommend comes at level 18. This will ultimately give you the wherewithal for how to properly utilize your abilities. This is very important considering the way combat mechanics are usually the highest priority over straight DPS. Below you will find the abilities for this level block that are important for taking down your enemies and doing the dance that is combat in Wildstar.
Spectral Form - Your class innate is used to quickly gain Psi points and an interrupt armor to avoid stuns, knockbacks, etc. In combat use this whenever its up.
Telekinetic Strike - This is your main basic attack that will fill give you Psi points for your finishers.
Mind Burst - Your main big damage ability. Damage scales with each Psi point you have.
Crush - Your first interrupt ability. Get use to this ability because it can stop an oppenents spellcast and create a MoO - stunning them and increasing damage recieved by 50%.
Concentrated Blade - Use this immediately after your finisher (Mind Burst) and dumped all your Psi points.
Reap - This ability whenever it is off cooldown.
Geist - Your little friend that will reduce your damage and generate threat to take enemy focus off you.
Pyrokinetic Flame - This ability will heal you and is best used immediately with melee targets. Keep in mind when above 2 Psi points it is insta-cast. You can switch this out for Haunt at level 18.
Projected Spirit - Your movement ability that can also heal in dire circumstances.
The Espers are masters of killing you with their mind?!! They offer mobility, great utility and some awesome charged damage. You want to start out building Psi points with Telekinetic Strikes (1). After you have 5 Psi points you want to use Mind Burst (5). Use your innate, Spectral Form (R), whenever you need high damage - best used as an opener on harder mobs or packs. Once you dump your Psi points with Mind Burst then use your Concentrated Blade (4) charges. Use Reap (5) after that and then whenever it is off cooldown.
The abilities you want to make sure you utilize on top of the usual DPS stuff is Crush (3), Geist (6), Pyrokinetic Flame (7), and Projected Spirit (8). Crush (3) will allow you to interrupt your opponents armor (A brownish shield with a number next to your opponents nameplate.) - This will not only increase DPS on your enemy but it will also result in less damage taken; this is key to keeping health up and in turn getting into more fights quicker. Interrupting your enemy is essential to combat in Wildstar and will become a must in Elder Game content - get it down, and tighten those reflexes. You can use Geist to give the mob a separate target and buy some time to get in some extra DPS. Use Pyrokinetic Flame whenever you need a heal to keep downtime low.
The Projected Spirit ability will get you into fights faster (More Exp!!) or get you out of impending danger; and will heal you. These abilities may fall to the bottom of your list in destroying your enemies but they are what make combat in Wildstar fun and truly engaging with your enemy. Use them well, and use them often.
But wait... that's it?
Yes and no - as you level you will get more abilities that should be played with and used as needed; but this should put you in the right direction. I get it, we all want that max DPS and to breeze through stuff. The thing is - you really need to learn how to control your character and it's abilities to not only get the most out of your character, but to also get the most fun out of it. These abilities will teach you how to flow through combat, time those interrupts, and maximize those DPS opportunities.
After the first ten levels is when your abilities start to gather more character of their own. You will receive some more abilities that may be useful depending on your situation but for the most part the real flare comes from Amp and Ability points. At Elder Game you will have to gather a few more of these to reach their caps and to fully maximize your abilities and their utility. Try our Amps and Ability Point section to see where you can grab those extras at Elder Game (lvl 50)
Mind Burst - As you gather Ability points it is suggested to always put as many as you can into this ability. It will be the cornerstone of your DPS while lvling.
Telekinetic Strike - This is second priority for Ability points while leveling. You will use this often to build Psi points so maximize the effecient use of those points.
Concentrated Blades - If you have extras then I would suggest placing the Ability points into Concentrated Blades as it's another great damage dealer in your arsenal.
1. Tier up the Assault Power I,II, and III (1st Tier Assault)
2. Grab Superiority (2nd Tier Assault)
3. Tier up Strikethrough I,II,III (1st Tier Assault)
4. Grab Follow Through (2nd Tier Assault)
5. Get Reckful (2rd Tier Assault)
This base Amp setup should have you taken care of for most of the leveling process as an Esper. After what was stated above you can go for tiering up Critical Hit I,II,III (Hybrid A/S Tier 1) and then Not Snackworthy or Tactician (Hybrid A/S Tier 2). This can then be followed by The Power! (Assault Tier 2). Another reason to leave you off here is because at this point you should probably start looking at various build guides to get a better sense of what to expect at Elder Game.
We hope this has been a helpful guide to getting you headed in the right direction to leveling an Esper. Again, this is obviously not a min/max guide by any means and you hould take it upon yourself to truly try and flesh out the rest of what it means to be a Esper in Wildstar. Special thanks to Red Velvet Ninjas for their input, which you should probably visit for those nifty builds.
