Telepath

The Telepath (Typhon psychocratis) is a hostile Typhon species encountered on Talos I during Prey (2017) and on Pytheas moon base during Prey: Mooncrash.

Talos I
Telepaths are Typhon organisms that serve as mini-bosses in Prey. They are produced by Weavers from select Mimics and appear to be a Typhon adaptation to the presence of hostile, sentient life forms. They float around the environment and overpower the minds of anyone unfortunate enough to be in their presence, using them both as a sensory network and suicide bombs. The Psychoscope protects against this overpowering ability, which explains why a Telepath does not just simply take control of Morgan Yu when encountered as it does with humans that are not wearing Psychoscopes. Telepaths can survive and move around in a vacuum environment, and can thusly be encountered both inside and outside Talos I.

The Mind-Controlled Humans possessed by Telepaths are aware of their enslavement, but are powerless to do anything against it. In addition to commanding a horde of mind-slaves, Telepaths can emit homing orbs of psychic energy that deal near-lethal amounts of damage that not only nullify the target's Psi for a very short time, but also blur their vision, and can cause concussions. The Talos I Telepaths can also emit a kind of short-ranged, omnidirectional Psychoshock shockwave attack if approached.

When a Telepath seeks to attack a target using a mind-controlled human, or when it simply wants to get rid of one of its slaves, it triggers the slave's head to explode. The explosion both deals damage and nullifies Psi abilities to any target in the blast radius.

When Morgan activates the sprinklers in the Arboretum's greenhouse, the Telepath inside it briefly flees from the greenhouse, implying that the Typhon, or at least the Telepaths, are reluctant to be in the presence of water.

Pytheas
The Telepaths on the Moon base Pytheas are similar to their Talos I counterparts. However, their connection to their enslaved subjects is more visible, as the mind-controlled humans are linked to the Telepath by purple strings of psionic energy.

Pytheas Telepaths also have the distinctive feature of being surrounded by a purple Backlash shield, apparently powered by the humans they control. Any attempt to shoot the Telepath while it is protected by this energy field will induce fear in the shooter's mind while the Telepath will remain unharmed. The energy field only vanishes once all the humans controlled by the Telepath are killed or otherwise separated from its influence. The telepath will also not fire its psionic blasts as long as the force field is active, rather relying on its human bombs to attack their targets.

Every time a Telepath is killed during Peter's simulations, its corpse will yield a Delay Loop.Time in addition to the usual Typhon body parts.

Design
Like other Typhon, Telepaths are composed of a shifting mass of black tendrils. They are amorphous in shape, with their tendrils hanging down and overlapping each other. A glowing purple-white orb in the front of the Telepath appears to serve as an eye. Telepaths on Pytheas are protected with a purple force field while controlling human slaves, and have a purple aura when unshielded, likely to more easily differentiate them from Technopaths.

Related Quests

 * Save Rani
 * Danielle Sho (Quest)
 * The Cook's Request

Strategy
If the Telepath has ensnared a large group of Humans to its service, the Humans should be your first target, as they are capable of highly damaging Morgan using a suicide tactic in which their heads explode. Use a Nullwave Transmitter, the Stun Gun, or the Mindjack Typhon ability to knock them out and then deal with the Telepath. The mind-controlled humans will typically alert you to their presence with cries or screams. The GLOO Cannon is very effective at temporarily disabling them if other, faster options are not available. It is also very helpful if the Telepath is flying high, as they can sustain fall damage when sufficiently covered in GLOO.

The Telepath itself primarily attacks with a steady stream of Psi-disabling Psychoshock orbs. These orbs move slowly, but track their target, even to the point of leading a moving entity to ensure a collision. However, these orbs react sluggishly to changes in direction, meaning the best strategy is to bait them into tracking you in one direction, then quickly run the opposite direction shortly before impact. Getting too close to the Telepath will prompt it to emit an omnidirectional energy blast. This attack takes about two seconds to charge up and is signified by a hazard symbol overlaying the Telepath, giving you a slim period of time to back away. This attack is capable of damaging and killing humans in its vicinity, be they mind-controlled or unconscious, though they take much less damage than the player does. The optimal strategy, therefore, is to stay at medium range while fighting Telepaths, as this gives you time to react to their homing orbs while not triggering a shockwave attack.

Telepaths encountered around the Talos I Exterior will never have any humans to control, so the main strategy remains the same. Note that suddenly changing direction in microgravity takes longer than usual, as you have to counteract your current momentum before you start moving again. Moving at slower speeds allows for faster turnarounds, but can make you an easier target for the orbs’ tracking, so a balance must be struck.

If you defeat a Telepath while the humans are still alive and mind-controlled by it, they will fall unconscious. An area transition note states that humans freed from Typhon mind-control will eventually wake up and make their way to safety (in-game, they actually stop existing altogether). If you manage to save Rani Chaudhary during her related quest however, she will not fall unconscious and instead go to Cargo Bay B to join up with the security forces there.

If you use Mindjack on Rani Chaudhary, she will pull out a pistol and attack the Telepath with it, before the Telepath regains control of her. Using a Nullwave Transmitter or electrical attack on the Telepath will prevent this happening, and so you can double up with Rani to attack it.

In Prey: Mooncrash, Telepaths are protected with a powerful purple energy field, which render them invulnerable to classic assaults. It is necessary to kill or at least incapacitate all the nearby Mind-Controlled Humans controlled by the Telepath to deactivate this barrier and cause the Telepath to be susceptible to damage. However, the barrier can be prematurely broken if caught in the blast area of a Nullwave Transmitter.

Trivia

 * It is explained during Prey that the Telepaths are unable to control Morgan Yu due to the latter wearing a Psychoscope. However, during Prey: Mooncrash, Telepaths are unable to control any of the playable characters, even when they do not wear a Psychoscope. The reason for this is likely due to game mechanics, but Telepath rejection is a known phenomenon that might be the in-universe explanation.
 * While Talos I Telepaths' Psychoshock blast seems to be used as a short-range defensive measure, it can be used from farther distances by humans who assimilate it as a power. Though Telepaths' individual homing orbs are weaker than one of their Psychoshock blasts, successive orb attacks can have much the same effect, and Telepaths seem to prefer using homing orb salvos as their primary offensive tactic when deprived of slaves.
 * Pytheas Telepaths tend to launch attacks from a greater distance than their Talos I relatives.


 * Telepaths' homing orb, levitation, remote slave-mediated surveillance, and remote slave detonation abilities cannot be scanned by psychoscopes and turned into neuromods.
 * Talos I Telepaths are immune to the fear-inducing effects of the Backlash ability, and will therefore not flee after its attacks are deflected by a backlash shield. However, like other Mimic-derived Typhon organisms, they commonly flee when sufficiently damaged.
 * Telepaths seem unable to control Phantoms generated by humans with the scanned Phantom Genesis ability.
 * Telepaths can be thought of as the counterpart to Technopaths; they have a similar shape and body plan and both mentally dominate their targets, the main difference being that Telepaths target Humans and Technopaths target Turrets and Operators.

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