Skip

Skip is a level psycast that can teleport a target pawn or item to a desired position. 
== Acquisition ==
== Summary ==
Upon casting, Skip will skip the target pawn or item to a nearby target destination. Valid targets for Skip include any pawn with a body size of 3.5 or less, and any haulable items within 28 tiles of the caster, respecting line of sight. Valid destinations for Skip are any walkable tiles within 28 tiles of the target of Skip, respecting line of sight of the target - the target location does not need to be within 28 tiles of the caster, nor within their line of sight - only within range and sight of the target. Upon arriving at their destination, pawns will be very briefly stunned for , preventing them from moving or taking action for the duration. Note that despite having a body size of 1, Apocritons cannot be targeted by Skip, by reason of "Psychic Resistance".
Additionally, note that Skip is considered a harmful ability, and will incur a goodwill penalty of when cast on pawns from a neutral or allied faction. However, Skip will not apply a goodwill penalty if used on temporary colonists, such as quest lodgers or an imperial laborer gang.
== Analysis ==
thumb|left|175px|Area of effect of Skip, both the target selection and teleport radii. Yellow tile indicates caster / skip target location, white tiles indicate valid target / destination location, and red tiles indicate invalid targets for both.
Skip is considered by many to be the single best psycast in the game, and for good reason. The ability to near-instantly reposition pawns within a considerable range allows one to almost entirely dictate the flow, and outcome of combat. Additionally, Skip's low neural heat gain and psyfocus cost allow it to be used several times in succession, allowing for unparalleled battlefield control. Used well, Skip can trivialize combat encounters, though not necessarily all on its own.
While the only real limit on the use of Skip is one's imagination, there are several obvious uses for it, the first and most obvious being to relocate enemies to disadvantageous positions. Skip can be used to both move melee attackers away from your own pawns, while placing ranged attackers either out of cover, or within reach of your own melee fighters. In particular, Skip's range of 28 tiles make it well suited for dealing with ranged attackers, as not only are most ranged weapons outranged by Skip (or beat it by barely a few tiles), but being skipped into melee tends to be a death sentence for ranged combatants, allowing one to decimate the enemy's firepower with only a few casts. In particular, mechanoids such as lancers and centipedes are choice targets for Skip, being extremely lethal at range, but rather toothless if engaged in melee - the inverse holding true for scythers and scorchers. Additionally, as with Chaos skip, the brief stun caused by Skip will interrupt the aiming process of centipedes and similar enemies, though this is generally overshadowed by the main function of Skip. 
In spite of the uses listed prior, skipping enemies is not a binary choice of moving enemies away from or towards your own pawns. Skip can be used to place enemies into a myriad of harmful locations, such as directly on top of a raging fire, or directly on top of a tossed frag grenade, preventing them from fleeing, and bypassing the low range of the weapon. In particular, Skip can be used to place enemies directly on top of an IED, guaranteeing its activation regardless of its position - though using an IED on potentially only a single enemy may be hardly worth the effort. Skip can also be used to cluster enemies together for a berserk pulse or vertigo pulse, though the high range and area of effect of the latter render this mostly unnecessary. Lastly, once combat concludes, Skip can be used to retrieve any fleeing raiders, should one be inclined to attempt capture. If so, note that bleeding pawns can be skipped away from the map edge repeatedly until extreme blood loss renders them unconscious, allowing one to bypass the extra death on down chance.
In addition to targeting enemy pawns, Skip can also be used to similar effect on one's own pawns - skipping your melee fighters directly into the enemy's ranks, or skipping your ranged pawns into flanking positions behind enemy cover. However, in terms of offensive measures, using Skip on enemies tends to be a better value proposition than on one's own pawns, as moving only enemies allows them to be safely dispatched from a fortified position, whereas sending your pawns to them generally incurs more risk. However, in the case of expendable fighters such as ghouls, or tamed megasloths (or in contrast, perhaps a particularly well-armored pawn), skipping one directly within a group of enemies will cause significant disruption with a single cast, as opposed to the alternative of displacing each enemy individually. Additionally, Skip can also be used defensively, to remove injured or downed pawns from the line of fire, or to move them away from an imminent threat, such as the aforementioned frag grenade, or a blast from the diabolus' hellsphere cannon. Additionally, Skip's long range and low cast time allow a psycaster to cover ground blindingly fast, enabling them to reach any location in a matter of moments. Not only does this give them near-perfect target access for Skip (and several other options besides), but skipped pawns are capable of carrying downed pawns with them, allowing the caster to act as a superb paramedic, reaching distant incapacitated allies in seconds, and vanishing from the line of fire in an instant, bringing them to safety before returning to the fray. Additionally, note that unlike skipping a downed pawn directly, skipping a pawn carrying them will not incur a goodwill penalty, should the downed pawn be from a friendly or neutral faction.
Lastly, while Skip's ability to target objects is generally less useful than relocating pawns, it still has some merit. Firstly, it can act as a superior Chunk skip, allowing one to create a wall of cover from nearby chunks in whatever shape and position one desires - most useful when one is forced to take engagements away from their defensive emplacements. Additionally, tandem use with Chunk skip allows one to create cover regardless of the proximity of chunks by using Chunk skip to bring several close, and Skip to place them precisely. In the same vein, Skip can be used similarly to Chunk skip by relocating enemy cover to a desired location, such as in front of one's own pawns. However, in such circumstances, one would almost certainly be better served by simply ignoring the chunk and skipping the enemy instead. In terms of offensive measures, Skip can also be used to skip stacks of chemfuel, or more commonly mortar shells directly on top of enemies - preferably once already damaged and "hissing", as enemies will attempt to flee from the imminent explosion, if provided the chance. However, the practical applications of this are rather dubious, as if given the opportunity to set up and prime said items, the time would likely have been better spent setting up IEDs and placing enemies on top of them, instead. However, skipping shells directly does have the advantage of being able to directly target clusters of enemies, as opposed to only being able to skip one enemy directly onto an IED. However, this method also requires one to have a nearby supply of shells, and a weapon capable of damaging them, as most ranged weapons are unable to directly target items. Additionally, as the item can only be skipped to a location within line of sight of the item, it must be placed in a position that exposes it to enemy fire, risking a detonation within one's own ranks - an outcome also potentially inflicted by a mistimed cast.
== Version history ==
* Royalty DLC Release - Added.
* 1.2.2719 - Fix: Mechanoids not waking up if you skip them.
* 1.4.3523 - Now has a maximum body size of 3.5.
Category: Psycasts