I wish there was actual negatives for having illithid powers. They seemed to have that planned based on voice lines (and especially the fact you drag and put a parasite in your brain) but the only negative is potentially being forced to take the Astral tadpole

Cull the weak is the most OP out of all of them IMO. By the end of game, small dmg from things like psionic backlash just one shot enemies with 35 hp, It's basically the equivalent of a whole extra attack at the cost of nothing.

I think you underrate Black Hole, it instantly trivializes an entire combat encounter. And just in case anybody succeeded their saving throw you can cast it five more times!

"How is perilous stakes on C tier???" - Can not be used on an enemy in Honor mode. "Oh."

You can also get Survival Instinct by passing checks when you drink the potion Omeluum makes for you in the Underdark, it heals a target for 3d4 whenever they fall unconscious which essentially gives you a free revive, and it also benefits from the Zaith'isk giving you BA Illithid powers.

A bit late but might have been worth mentioning/including the value of the tadpole powers that get unlocked by your options. For example another massive point in favor of going Psionic overload on basically everyone is that you need to take it to grab Ability Drain, while Displacer Beast is trapped behind really mid powers so it would need to be amazing to be worth.

Black Hole solved Orin's fight for me in honor mode. If you awaken your tadpole and take 3 levels in thief, you can cast black hole twice in a turn. It basically means that you can drag all of Orin's acolytes off the side of the arena. It's busted.

Charm is pretty good when trying to solo. If you’re fighting a powerful enemy it can be worth it to purposefully take an opportunity attack in order to completely negate the enemies turn. Edit: It turns out, the effect ends as soon as the enemy turn begins. I still maintain charm can be useful in some situations and while underwhelming it it’s not rp tier.

One funny thing about Ability Drain - if you use it to start combat with a multihit spell like Scorching Ray, since you're not in combat, it activates it on ALL of them, which can just straight up kill someone just from the fact they now have 0 in one of their stats

Wow, I never used Shield of Thralls because I misread it and thought the person LOSING the temp hitpoints had to make a save against stunned. I was shocked when you put it in A tier, but that's absolutely where it belongs. Can't wait to bust it out.

RP tier should be called 'Buff Cull the Weak" Tier

Charm can be good when your low AC character gets jumped by a fighter with Action Surge. In that case you are potentially saving that character from taking 4 attacks. In my first playthrough I had a really low AC caster that kept getting focused. This ability saved his life many, many times in late game.

Concentrated blast isn't as situational as you might think. It is common that I am concentrating on a non-combat spell before combat (guidance, resistance, enhance ability, detect thoughts) or if you are concentrating on cloud of daggers or something where all the enemies have left the area, then you can cast this without feeling the penalty of breaking concentration. I never try to get the healing. It's just a bonus that can happen.

Longstrider gang reporting for duty

Transfuse health is a lot of fun on self healing builds, in particular wildheart barbarians with tiger heart, who spam cleave to get healing with the sword of chaos. You are very tanky, since you rage, and do not have to use reckless attack for advantage (booals benediction + prof on bleeding targets) and will heal most of the damage you take from this in a round, so this effectively makes you both a tank and combat healer, who does not use spell slots as a limited resource. It also allows you to quickly proc items like the helmet of grit, which only work when you are below 50% health

Aestus you madlad you finally made it!!! I've been hyped for this for ages... let's gooo

Maybe im crazy but i dont feel that the zaith'isk saves are that hard to pass provided you have 4 inspiration banked up. By that point you will have access to the warped headband of intelect, ring and cloak of protection, and the safeguard shield. Those alone will give you a +7 to int saves. Combine with the resistance cantrip and an elixer of heroism means hitting an 18 will be easy.

Psionic Backlash is also good, because damage can break concentration. So it is a cheaper (but worse) version of counterspell for martials, in a way. If you have the resonance stone active, it deals 2d4 per spell level. So up to 30 [12-48] if the enemy uses a 6th level spell. If an enemy concentrates on a spell, and they take damage, they have to pass a con save with a DC of 10 or half the damage taken, whichever is higher. A save of 10-15 is not exactly hard to make, but enemies will still fail it sometimes, which then immediately ends their concentration, and basically nullifies their turn Viconia has +0 on her con saves, for example, so whenever she casts a concentration spell, you can immediately cancel it for free 50% of the time (or more, if multiple characters use psionic backlash or she uses a higher level spell)

THE MAN IS BACK. I LOVE YOUR VIDEOS

Stage Fright is insane. Recently finished Honour mode with my friend, who played high AC pally. It did so much damage for every single time it was used. Sure, it's hardly useful against bossess - but almost no boss encounters are without packs of helpers.

Awesome video as always; your analysis on the game is always a fresh perspective for me

In my opinion Favourable Beginnings is by far the most impactful Illithid power. Getting a bonus to accuracy and dialogue checks in the early game is absolutely massive, especially since it can help take the sting out of powerful feats like Sharpshooter. Sure, Freecast and Mind Sanctuary are broken in the late-game but imo they can't match just how impactful Favourable Beginnings is from the moment you get your first tadpole.

Looking foward to this!

FYI repulsor hits all targets in a decent sized AOE, not just one target. Very nice if you can place yourself in a big group of enemies, but beware that (at least in honor mode) it hits allies as well.

Transfuse Health is S tier for easily activating 50% HP abilities like helmet of grit. Trying to damage your allies before fights is very annoying without it.

I love your rankings

Glad you made this. Your vids have rewatchability like the game has replayability.

The Awakened buff from the Gith Creche is actually not that hard to get. It is just a series of Saving Throws (INT DC12, WIS DC15, and CON DC18). It is easy to have a cleric cast resistance (+1d4 to all saving throws), consume a something that heals + whispering promise (+1d4 to saving throws), and put on minthara's armor for advantage on CON saves. If you have a bard in your party, add another 1d6 to all those saving throws. And there are a number of items you can equip to get some flat bonuses to your saves. And, any gnome has advantage on all INT and WIS saves.

Another nice use of Psionic Backlash is when an enemy casts a nasty concentration spell, it's giving you a chance to break their concentration immediately. (Edit: Nope, that doesn't work. See replies.)

Not a video I was expecting but can't say no to a aestus tier list vid

Thanks I needed something to watch while cooking

There's nothing more satisfying than activating Cull The Weak after proccing Psionic Backlash, like the enemy just explodes

Damn I’m early, exploring the astral powers so I’m keen for this!

Displacer beast is a run saver, if your about to wipe just turn into the cat and either teleport away or make enough clones so that the enemy will be effectively unable to kill you

🥳🍾 when that new Aestus video drops

You make the best bg3 videos bros

Repulsor can get someone out of threat. Great for Shadowheart if she is running around with her AOE spell and you are threatened.

I'm really tired of gamer tier list clickbait videos but you did an excellent job here. Kudos!

Shield of Thralls is a personal favorite of mine. It turns the negatives of something like Psionic Overload or Heat into a positive.

Really like illithid expertise because it's freed up a feat for me on my sorc, now all i need is the mirror of loss to hit 20 and i can pick alert and resilient

Shield of thralls can be used on enemies, then you pop it with damage for a easy aoe stun! S tier for sure. At least that's how it worked when I was playing, maybe they patched it.

Great stuff, thanks. You know what's also missing on youtube? A bg3 consumables/throwables tier list

I think Displacer Beast Shape should be S tier considering you can pre-cast before any fight, so it is basically economy free 110 free HP and the abilities of the beast are pretty good. I used on my Karlach and took her on the frontline, the clones ability of this form are excellent for this especially because the IA of this game is dumb and they attack the clones a lot.

Transfuse health is very good on not just a high health character but also a high self healing character. There’s a good amulet/flail combo that this aestus fella told me about

In defense of Concentrated Blast, if you stick it on your Guidance party member you can drop that concentration turn 1 for some good dmg before you need to heal or buff. Pretty solid amount of fights that start with an opportunity to get that Guidance concentration up during the dialogue, so no prep needed. And ofc with the bonus action you can CB and then still get your impactful concentration spell up turn 1

Good enabler for concentrated blast IS detect thoughts. It's a Ritual concentration spell you can Just "fire Off" - can also enable arcane synergy.

Concentrated blast was great on my tav because I didn’t usually use my concentration, so it was always just already on mind reading. Great damage early, and niche tool in the box

I will confess, I did not here to come for the tier but to learn what the illithid powers ACTUALLY do ...thank you for explaining

By far the worst part about Charm for me is how long the frigging animation is

I find Charm quite useful because it stops the extra attacks from enemy, and it's especially helpful when you're wearing armors.

6:30 Favorable beginnings is also great as it applies to skill checks made against someone for the first time, namely persuasion, deception or intimidation. So it has nice social use as well. As for charm, the main use is if you're targetted by a multi attack, charm will stop it at the first hit so there's that.

tadpole charm is the worst. resisted 99% of the time and when it isnt, doesnt do anything significant

For spamming Concentrated Blast, it's possible to use it each turn if you get the Zaithisk buff and take true strike. Cast True Strike, then use Concentrated as a Bonus Action. A bit niche, but it can be nice to have as a back pocket heal in fights where enemies constantly spam concentration spells.

Transfuse health with the helmet that heal you 1d6 when you heal other is infinite healing out of combat.

The best uses for Concentrated Blast are for when your damaging AoE spell has done all it's going to and you were going to stop it anyway. Or an opener when you just cast Guidance on a dialogue check.

While I agree for most of these I actually think Black hole should be in S. It absolutely TRIVIALIZES some of the hardest encounters. If you get it on a bonus action with someone using Hunger of Hadar. Mystra help whomever you have locked in there. I'd also put Ability drain in A tier because, while it IS good.. It loses a lot of value when you either lack extra attack, or are using an ability that's worth reducing most of the time. I don't think it's worth using if you're not using it on a dex user OR targeting specific saving throws.

Charm is really good on backline, squishier party members when used against enemies that attack more than once. It can potentially bring down the number of hits taken from 2 or 3 to just one. It is a bit tricky to apply since the enemy can pass the save check, but I wouldn't put it below B tier personally.

Charm is good because it can force an enemy to switch priority off of a low health/ac character and onto a higher health/ac character. It's really nice when you can force an enemy targeting your weaker backline characters to refocus on your tanks

I have a feeling you'll end up shifting a couple of these powers after using them more. For instance, both Stage Fright and Repulsor are AOE. I absolutely love both of them! I also value charm on certain characters, like lower AC mages. Particularly if they get targeted by an annoying archer, it can definitely save them some HP.

Some of that powers works really good with specific builds and items Transfuse health is really good if you have build with Helmet of Grit, also you don't get any damage if you cast it from globe of invulnerability. Luck of the far realms can be easily combined with Surgeon's Subjugation Amulet on some fights Black hole is pretty sure S tier for last fights if you became full illithid, especially if you have thief subclass on your character. With bloodlust elixir you can kill most of the enemies solo in last fights by casting 4 black holes every turn. Also Ability drain is not only for stacking, it counts as a condition so it works really good on character with Diadem of Arcane Synergy.

I love Black Hole. I can't get enough Void Bulbs. When you want to do an AOE thing and all the enemies are spread out, it's a chefs kiss to bring them all together in one spot and go to town.

I play a Cleric and I got a lot of mileage out of concentrated blast. Before combat encounters I would cast guidance on myself or a party member (if they didn’t already have it up, I used guidance a lot) and would use concentrated blast as an opening attack.

Casting Transfuse health inside a globe of invulnerability, you don't lose health but still heals an ally for half of the current health. Plus spamming transfuse to each other evens out the health percentage so that a short rest can heal maximum health.

my very first playthrough, I got the creche bonus and was playing sorcerer, so an incredibly strong endgame strat I found was Black Hole + Call Lightning, just repeat every round.

19:54 Displace can also be useful for berserker barbs, since you can throw enemies off ledges and such. Still a niche use obviously, but I had it proc quite a few times on my first play through where my tav was a berserker

Concentrated blast becomes much better if you put your mind to it - you can either do the dc30 Arcana check in creche, if you aren't in honor mode, or you can have concentration as a bonus action, for which there is several ways. So if you do that, it's action + bonus action setup, which is much more tolerable, especially since it doesn't cost any spell slots

Force tunnel helped me win the Orin fight (this is Honour mode + mod boosted bosses btw) to push one of the fringe Bhaalist ritual guys who I couldn't AOE down with the others off the map. Other than that, I haven't found a good reason to use it. lol Edit: 20:33 where are we getting single target from? "Push back all creatures and objects in range." "Push anything and anyone back."

Repulser is AOE. I think its one of the spells I used the most in my frontliners as it allows them to retreat without all of the units backstabbing them

Perilous stakes can still kinda be used on Honor mode if you manage to dominate them, though obviously it will be hard to or sometimes impossible for bosses, even with Arcane Acuity abuse, due to legendary resistance

Arcane staff in the wizards tower for bless even for a party without a cleric, resistance, the buff from Phalar, the bliss spores from killing the beach duegar, and four inspiration almost always gets me the powers as a bonus action perk.

Charm works well for me. It usually fails to land but in many situations there is no reason not to use it. If you're being melee attacked it can prevent the enemy from using their second attack.

Holy fuck I'm early to a video. W

There is an amulet (can't remember the name) that allows to paralyze on a crit once per long run. It actually pairs so well with Luck of the far Realms, it can make any fight trivial by making the big main baddie totally useless, you just gotta think ahead a bit and ask yourself, what will be my main fight today. It's still once per long rest only but quite cool noneless.

Would love to see a weapon action tier list my favorite is heartstopper Wish it was on more weapons.

Transfuse health is actually really good late game if you have globe of invulnerability because you can cast it in the globe and take no damage, if all your companions have it you can do a lot of healing for free which basically can save a boss fight. Vendors also sell scroll versions so you don't have to even have a wizard for it. In my opinion it's A or S tier because large heals for free in a boss fight is always good and if all your companions are in the globe you can't be punished for not doing damage that turn.

concentrated blast works good with ranger since hunters mark is a bonus action. the 100% accuracy is VERY useful for some fights

ability drain is so good for any spell+sword characters that use the diadem of arcane synergy as well! i just ran a melee GOO warlock and i never took it off cause it applied the condition every time i hit.

Hey, I don't know if you're checking comments on this video still, but I wanted to let you know about a bug. I acquired the blood of Lathander Morningstar and then proceeded to go back to the inquisitors chamber. I then entered the astral plane through the artifact. While collecting items there, I became encumbered. I began sending items to camp. I have only now, after hours of play, discovered that everything that I sent to camp while inside of the artifact has disappeared from the game. This is probably my best chance to get that information out there so other people can avoid the mistake.

Powers in the 2 Inner Rings Listed in Order of Preference: NOTE: The #-# notation refers to the clock position(1 to 11) & ring position(1-inner ring, 2-middle ring) the perk is located on the brain power-tree. 1) 2-1 Favorable Beginnings(S)[Passive] 2) 2-2 Luck of the Far Realms(S)[Passive] 3) 12-1 Psionic Overload(A) [godlike only if you have multiple attacks per turn] 4) 10-1 Transfuse Health(B) [only useful for characters with a big health pool] 5) 10-2 Perilous Stakes(S)[great for taking down bosses, not for use on allies] 6) 8-1 Concentrated Blast(C) [you won't use this often] 7) 7-2 Cull the Weak(S)[Passive, Toggleable] 8) 8-2 Psionic Backlash(A)[Passive] 9) 1-2 Ability Drain(A)[Passive] 10) 9-2 Shield of Thralls(A) 11) 11-2 Stage Fright(B) 12) 4-1 Force Tunnel(C) [only useful for Tanks] 13) 4-2 Displace(B) [Passive; highly situational, not that useful] 14) 5-2 Replusor(B) [highly situational, not that useful] 15) 3-2 Charm(C)[Reaction; front-liners who want to hold aggro should not use this, not that useful] 3rd Ring Perks: 9-3 Freecast(S)[Passive, Toggleable], 8-3 Mind Sanctuary(S), 9-3 Freecast(S)[Passive], 5-3 Fly(S), 3-3 Psionic Dominance(A)[Passive], 7-3 Mind Blast(A), 4-3 Black Hole(A), 2-3 Illithid Expertise (B)[Passive], 11-3 Displacer Beast Shape(B), 1-3 Fractured/Shattered Psyche(C), 10-3 Absorb Intellect(C)

i really like transfuse health with aspect of the stallion barbarians.

Concentrate blast is at least B tier. It's occasionally useful to add free damage in the last round when you know that dropping concentration is not a problem. I use it frequently with cleric: I run into the last enemy with spirit guardians and then I shoot concentrating blast to finish it off.

To see you not count the zaithisk in this hurts. So many good powerful abilities getting ranked low because you’re counting them as an action when they *could* be a bonus action is silly.

With the Awakened buff (I know it’s hard to get on honor mode) but black hole on sorcerers or Wizard is crazy, just black hole and AOE everyone in it.

Also Fracture Psyche can stack, so it can actually be up to -8 AC, which can be pretty funny.

Just wanted to point out - Stage Fright is cast in a pretty generous AoE. If you have decent spell save DC you can regularly proc on 3-5 targets. A-tier is probably still correct, however it’s easily S-tier as a bonus action on my origin Gale lol

I found concentrated blast useful on fights where there’s dialogue and I can cast guidance

Accidentally clicked the wrong response to Lae'zel in my honor run dueing the zaith-isk sequence. Now, all illithid powers suck except for passsives. That BA buff is so worth it, especially if you get bonus BA from theif.

Cloud of daggers is best single-target lvl spell even if it only stays on target for 1 turn. 10 damage average on cast + 10 at the beginning of opponent's turn. So casting cloud of daggers into concentrated blast next turn gives you very efficient damage. Also Ice wall into bonus action concentrated blast for ridiculous amount of burst damage.

Saved! (Tadpole Charm)

14:58 I've seen it occur multiple times on attacks like the swords bard's slashing flourish, but it was inconsistent or I just didn’t notice the pattern.

FYI in regard to getting the Awakened buff, it is possible to guarantee this even on honour, which is a massive joke! Honour mode but we all use every exploit available - barrelmancy IS YOUR FRIEND. Best to attempt with all 4 inspiration points in case of multiple Critical Failures or super low rolls, it can and will happen be warned. You will have to pass the following saving throws, 12 INT, 15 WIS followed by a throw of 18 in either INT or your Main spell casting stat (marked by a star on Character sheet) I wanted the buff on my main and was already a Bard with 18 CHA and proficiency which gave +8 to the final roll as I chose CHA Assumptions, you have reached at least the Arcane Tower in the Under Dark and picked up the Staff of Arcane Blessing which gives 2d4 to saving throws have defeated the Duager by the boat and have JUST claimed your reward back at the Myconid colony which nets you a + 1d6 buff until long rest, have purchased or found a shield that give's + 1 to saving throws and are at a minimum level 5 (EDIT: forgot to mention there is a staff you can buy from the Auntie Ethel in the Emerald Grove which when not wearing armour gives a further +2 to saving rolls, there is a helmet just outside the entrance to Booal's cave with the fishmen in the Underdark that gives advantage on Wisdom rolls (on the corpse on the ledge where you climb down and finally there is the tiara you get from the ogres which sets your intelligence to 17 if you would prefer not to mess around with your ability points) Have the following classes as your companions Cleric with Resistance grants + 1d4 to saving throws Bard which can cast Bardic Inspiration for a further + 1d8 again must be level 5 or the bonus is only + 1d6- this must be an ally as you cannot cast this on yourself Respec at Withers whomever you want to have the Awakened buff to a class with proficiency in shields for the +1 saving throw from the Safeguard Shield you can buy from Damon in the Grove or if you have the Brand of the Absolute there is a shield that grants the same +1 to saving throws in the Goblin camp somewhere Obviously if you can pick a class which allows proficiency in either INT, WIS or CHA do that, best would be INT or your main spell casting stat if it is higher and you have proficiency Dump STR, DEX, CON - as you will have low health ensure you have a clear path to the crèche from the Myconid colony so you do not have any fights along the way pump INT, WIS & CHA to 16 if you haven't used the Hag's hair on these stat's if you have then 17 in that one Your 1st feat get Ability improvement to pump +2 on ability (whichever you will choose on the final roll so INT or your main Spell casting ability) Equip the following: Safeguard shield (or alternative) to character getting buff Equip the staff from the Hag (not the staff of crones found in the back room of her cave) - REMEMBER to remove armour so you get the bonus to saving throws Equip Staff of Arcane Blessing to your Bard as Bardic inspiration does not require concentration while Bless from the staff does Equip the necklace that gives Guidance to 4th party member found on corpse near the Harpers stash outside the Grove After speaking to the Gith lady enter turn based mode, Cast Bless from your Bard using the spell from the staff which will give + 2d4 on character getting buff Ensure that all party members are right next to the machine to ensure they can provide buffs, I have had instances where the bonuses were not available to use despite having them on my party members Sit in chair and Add Bonuses Cleric adds Resistance +1d4 Bard can cast Bardic Inspiration for +1d8 - (EDIT: Bard also has Ability Improvement which gives advantage on all rolls, not sure if this will work while you are concentrating on Bless but it is worth noting, so you can either get +2d4 or advantage on every roll, whatever you prefer although advantage is mathematically superior Use 4th party member to cast Guidance for +1d4 Safeguard Shield gives +1 Buff from Myconid colony gives +1d6 Staff from Auntie Ethel gives +2 Including the proficiency bonus of +3 to INT WIS & CHA if all set to 16 as advised above That is a bonus of a minimum +12 to a possible +36 in addition to your roll! Finally if you roll a 1 or somehow get + 1 from every one of the 7 rolls you have the inspiration points available to re roll All of the above on Honour mode and I had + 30 on every roll, didn't even need the inspiration points it wasn't even close. Respec back, steal gold from Withers and go on your merry way armed with knowledge, the most dangerous of weapons. :) Or watch a video on KZfaq might be easier EDIT: One extra exploit as a reward for those that actually read to the end (please keep this to yourself as it completely destroys the game balance depending on how far you push it) - you can sell a backpack to any vendor, once they have it open it up and place all their Gold, potions/elixirs, crafting materials, spell scrolls etc into the backpack. Upon level up or long rest while their inventory refreshes anything in the backpack does not! So you can stock them up on anything and everything you might need in the future but can't afford at the beginning of the game. Especially useful with Auntie Ethel as she has 3 potions of Hill Giant Strength every reset, you can have +60 potions of Hill Giant strength, plus all her gold, potions, spells, equipment and crafting materials once you kill her and Grat the Trader as he gives arrows for your ranged party member + you will have in excess of 40 Greater health potions + 10k gold and as many arrows as you can be bothered with as long as you either long rest in front of him or respec with Withers and then level up one level at a time then exiting moving inventory to the back pack, rinse and repeat. If you want to really push this just empty their entire inventory every time you see them and once dead you have a ridiculous amount of items to sell in exchange for stuff you actually want. One final reminder if you do this with the Hag do not accept her hair as the reward like I did on my current run, + 1 in a single ability stat is worthless compared to potentially having all 4 party members with strength set to 8 but artificially increased to 21 for your entire party for the rest of the game!

Honestly, I saw a lot of mileage out of Displacer Beast. Especially the Rapheal fight. In my Critical Mode run, I chose to play as Astarion and went into Thief. The two bonus actions allowed me to basically port Rapheal out of the fight while I dealt with everything else. I expected him to spend like 5 turns to get back, but nope, he just stood there. And it kept me alive in many other situations as well. Id place it in A tier at least.

What i do is I don’t take any tadpoles before the Astral one. After I take the astral tadpole it gives me all the inner tier for free. Then I use the the eight tadpoles I have collected at this point to fill out the outer powers. Also if you survive the machine in the gith crèche it gives you tadpole powers as bonus actions rather than actions.

On the subject of Luck of the Far Realms (auto-crit once per long rest) we used it to kill Sarevok before he could attack us at all. Our Rogue was using the ring with Paralyzing Critical (when you crit, the target is paralyzed for 2 turns) and he gave himself an automatic crit at the start of the fight. Sarevok died before he unparalyzed. Legendary Resistance does nothing against this, because a critical hit automatically succeeds with no saving throws, including Paralyzing Crit apparently. Delicious cheese.

You should bump Shield of Thralls to S. Cast it out of combat, lasts until long rest, and you get it back if you short rest, so you can give it to three party members (four if you have Song of Rest). Only downside is it will remove your symbiotic entity buff if you have a Spores Druid, but you can just not cast it on that party member. Concentrated Blast is excellent if you're set up for it. Detect Thoughts is a ritual (no spell slots usage outside of combat) and lasts indefinitely. If you have Awakened you can make good use of it as a bonus action before you cast a concentration spell. Plus there is gear that boosts damage/temp hit points while you are concentrating, so I try to keep detect thoughts up all the time. Repulsor saved me in my honor mode Orin fight l. Since the chanters have Sanctuary and Bhaal curses you to die if you don't kill someone by end of turn, it was really easy to just move close to them and blast them into the pit. Also there's a near foolproof way to get Awakened if you're a sixth level pally with decent gear and enough inspo to counter Nat 1s.

Just want to say your comments on displacer beast makes me think you're using it wrong. The three attacks are fine but what you really want to be doing is spamming clones everywhere. They all get opportunity attack and have decent range and enemies will try and hit them or run past them and be hit by them. I wouldn't say it's S tier but definitely low A or high B. Also Psionic dominance should be S tier, especially since you yourself said you always want it. If that doesn't say how valuable an ability is I dunno what does.

upgraded abilities are worth taking if you can get past looking like Squidward every playthrough

Shield of thralls in A tier is criminal! S-tier for sure. Insane CC

I actually think that in honor mode, black hole is a more impactful ability than psionic backlash. I would put it as top of A tier, if not S tier. Not just because movement control is powerful, but because so many boss fights become much easier if you can turn off reactions for a turn or two. Cazador becomes easier when he isn't swarming you on approach, Ansur is much more manageable without a retaliation attack, and being able to shut off counterspells and clear the way for a big spell is huge. That ability definitely carries every time I use it.

Psionic backlash is crazy. I was dealing ~20 dmg to Apostle of Myrkul with a reaction