Hi everyone, I'm a few months into the game now & I have a base understanding of things but still shady on details. But, I had this idea for a DPS drain type build for my Romulan Science w/ a Flambard science dreadnought warbird. I attempted to find some builds to get an idea of the direction to go but surprisingly there wasn't much. So I'm asking for recommendations. Currently I have garbage gear, MKXII common everything.
My current idea is plasma DHC (Dual Heavy Cannons), not sure of all the acronyms yet, or would tetryon be better if I'm going for a drain build? If plasma, I was going for the 3 pc Romulan space set from the rep system, or is there something better. I was going to purchase a fleet singularity core but there was so much to choose from I got overwhelmed and I really don't know which one would benefit the build. Same w/ consoles. In a nut shell, I'm new, I've spent months grinding for resources & don't want to waste it due to inexperience.
I know a lot more figures into the build but currently I just want to focus on the ship & then focus on the other. Also, is this even a good idea being a science officer? I personally like the setup, and think it would really pop if the ship was built better.
Finally, if you have any questions, here's the idea build: The last 2 words out of anyone's mouth when they see it de-cloaking should be "Oh Sh!t!"
From what I have been led to understand, plasma builds have higher dps potential than tetryon does. But I guess it depends on what you want to drain. (polaron drains energy from subsystems for example)
As a tetryon user myself, I can tell you a full tetryon build will take out shields like a fingersnap on just about anything. But its damage to hull is limited compared to (most) other energy types. If your primary goal is dps, it's probably not the way to go.
I'll let someone more seasoned go into better detail.
02-03-2019, 03:35 PM (This post was last modified: 02-03-2019, 04:22 PM by roninuta.)
(01-30-2019, 04:48 PM)kaiiren Wrote: From what I have been led to understand, plasma builds have higher dps potential than tetryon does. But I guess it depends on what you want to drain. (polaron drains energy from subsystems for example)
As a tetryon user myself, I can tell you a full tetryon build will take out shields like a fingersnap on just about anything. But its damage to hull is limited compared to (most) other energy types. If your primary goal is dps, it's probably not the way to go.
I'll let someone more seasoned go into better detail.
Kaiiren is correct. Plasma will typically do more damage per second than Tetryon. Tetryon and Polaron, depending on the flavor, will cause shield and power drain respectively. There are variations on this depending on what types of tetryon and polaron are being used. Plasma sticks and burns and Romulan plasma sticks, burns, and has a disruptor proc as well (very popular).
If you want to drain shields, tetryon
If you want to drain shields and weapons and engines, polaron
If you want to lite your enemies on fire and watch them scream into oblivion, plamsa
Variations (not all listed, just the ones I use on my drain boats) as taken from Reddit Energy Types Thread
Destabilizing Tetryon: cause a shield drop on all sides for 15 sec depending on DrainX
Resonating Tetryon (dual beam bank only): double chance to 5% to damage shields based on DrainX
Phased Tetryon: Phaser proc (also based on DrainX) for subsystem offline.
Dominion Polaron: Adds a tetryon proc to standard polaron (really nice, horrible grind to get)
Phased Polaron: Adds a phaser proc (subsystem offline) as a mod replacement
With high DrainX and good Mk XII or higher, a drain boat can dominate. All of the above work great with a plasmonic leech. Although the leech console does not improve with drain, you are hitting the same target draining power, subsystem offline, shield drains.
For plasma, start with whatever you can get, then move to Romulan reputation gear.
I have a new question now. Which weapons are better crafted, rep, or fleet? The reddit page, which I found very helpful, thx Roninuta, says the crafted are better due to the penetration perk.
02-08-2019, 03:35 AM (This post was last modified: 02-08-2019, 03:42 AM by robonixon.)
There is some wrong or outdated information being shared here so let me correct it. The proc chances are so low (usually 2.5% per weapon in space per firing cycle not per shot) so the odds of this being actually useful are slim. For example, with tetryon the shield drain procs are only worth one or two shots of energy damage, so as long as you are firing with BFAW/CRF/CSV already it doesn't really add anything incrementally. Furthermore, damage to hull from any energy weapon in PVE is going to be the same as any other, unless you have specifically debuffed an enemy against only one damage type.
As far as "ideal max DPS" right now for damage types, phaser has the most set items and bonuses which boost it, followed closely by disruptor, then I believe tetryon is a close third place (but needs more Lobi store items to get the best boosts) then polaron, plasma, & AP. I could be wrong about the exact order, but you want to build more around "how many extra set damage boosts can I get" rather than "which has the best proc" because all the procs are mostly useless these days. If you aren't planning to make a run for the top of the DPS League charts, then you can use whatever type you want or like the looks of. The biggest adds to your damage will be having the correct type of tactical consoles for your chosen flavor of damage (phaser, disruptor, etc.) and then whatever set damage boosts you can fit on your ship via other consoles or space gear. Plasma for beams actually gets dinged a bit because it does not currently have a set weapon omni-beam so you lose DPS unless you are broadsiding all the time in combat.
I'd also say that the [Pen] mod on crafted weapons is not as powerful as it used to be. Unfortunately not all of the info on the Reddit wikis has been kept up to date. Regular weapons with CrtDx3/Dmg or Dmgx4 are solid for most purposes, depending on if your career and race.
Thx Robonixon, that was very helpful & very nicely done. I've actually bookmarked that so I can reference it.
Now for a new question, hangar pets. When it comes to choosing these little guys should you pick one w/ a similar weapon type to get the benefits that the ship does from consoles or are they independent from the ship setup. & what factors do you consider when purchasing a hangar pet?
Here is a link from STOwiki showing all of the buffs that affect hangar pets. They do not directly benefit from your tactical consoles. There are a lot of ship traits that will benefit them or extend powers to them under certain circumstances. There was one case I found with the Jem'Hadar Wingmen from the T6 Jem'Hadar ships where polaron consoles do boost the damage of polaron strafing but I think that is because this is an innate ability of your ship, not the pets.
As far as what pets to go for, usually the frigate-class pets are tankier and survive longer, and you want to get a pet with beam arrays to maximize their damage because their AI is pretty dumb. Unfortunately the ones with cannons have a hard time maintaining firing arcs in most cases. One exception to this is the Scorpion pets because they use plasma torps a lot, even though they are squishy and die frequently they can put out really good DPS because of those torps.
