In summary, unless DECA straight up doubles the procs on all weapons to at least 5% or more, choose your DEW weapons by what color you like most and can do the highest base damage with.
One thing I felt like was missed is Dominion Polaron weapons are free (Boldy They Rode mission) and some of the best filler for the Polaron energy type because of their innate Crit Chance. Also a mention for anyone else in here is that Plasma is extremely variable. It is either on the same playing field as Polaron or it is the strongest damage type. This all comes down to if you have the Gorn Pilot Raider and it's equipment and trait for plasma.
So I only found out about the Dominion Polaron from the comments after this video. While they do have extra CrtH, that mission is brutal to rerun. Certainly agree on the filler, though it is limited in its types. However, when it comes to Plasma, it has some really solid options that just don't exist with Polaron, such as the Altamid lobi set and Experimental Romulan plasma, not to mention more gear that buffs plasma than does Polaron. Both will get you solid Elite capable builds.
Thank you very much great help. Only 1 Point is I have seen from a few sources Kinetic Cutting Beam is making some positive noise as its been joined with haste (paired with fleet power uni) its making every shot free with power drain. Not to mention its still great for the power of 3 .
I'm seeing that a ton, and that's really bad advice for most builds. I would still stay away from KCB. It *only* interacts with the haste from the Ahwahnee console, which is bugged.
Thank you for this tutorial. Very informative. I have been a player on and off since 2014 and have puzzled over the best weapon modifiers to re-engineer to. Way back when CritD was king. Then Dmg. This would focus only on beam/cannon builds. Would you consider a tutorial about this? Subscribed.
For modifiers, these are after everything else is upgraded and maxed out. The cost to benefit is very low. I usually just aim for a mix of CrtD and Dmg, though there is certainly a damage difference, in my mind the difference is small. I'd certainly consider a deeper dive, its a really good area to look at. For most players, just a few rerolls into CrtD and Dmg will be sufficient. I talked about mods in one of my builds, but it really is build dependent. www.stobetter.com/intro-builds/tilor/csv-hydra
@@stobetter"It also gives you damage immunity and flight speed/turn rate, a massive amount. Why is this bad? Same reason I don't like flying competitive engines. A drastic change in speed and turn can really throw off practiced piloting. " You're speaking of the false meta of the Innervating variant. I completely agree with you, however... Have you heard of our Lord and Saviour, Fortified? Those engines allow you to get your boost on demand when you hit your Hull and Shield heals like Engineering and Science Teams, Hazard Emitters and more. Much more useful.
It's already best energy weapons, and some builds blur the distinction between Beams and Cannons, such as Surgical Strikes. Even CSV builds occasionally pick up an Omni or something for the set bonus. No simple reason you can't use both beams and cannons!
yes, terran task force are one among the best but you can slot only one of that type (as with any reputation weapon). so, no big deal in general sense on a ship of (on average) 8 weapon slots. but your analysis is well done, thank you.
While true you can only slot one, there are several other weapons you can slot as part of a larger composition. And, even if you slot just plain Phasers in all 8 slots (though we advise a token torpedo as well generally), you can beat any Elite content as long as the rest of the build is solid.
not sure if STO already has it but a pity proc would be a good idea for the secondary effects on the weapons in case someone gets a really bad case of rng on their procs.
So story episodes are a personal preference, and since we are a team, its hard to speak for the whole team. As far as clothing bugs - I think Tilor's main has the same costume he's had for 5+ years. Not sure we're the best ones to ask there.
Hmm. Useful food for thought here. I really need to sit down and optimize my loadout a bit, (trying to get as much coverage around as I can) and then figure out what missions I need to re-run and reps to push to collect the weapons and consoles I need. Not to mention what set bonus(es) I want to hang on to. Especially considering I'm going with the f2p route, as buying store ships just to get consoles/traits is too expensive, and I'm not touching the loot box stuff.
Kinetic Cutting Beam is making a comeback via the 2-piece power drain buff to support the mad weapon haste buffs. Really awesome video, great for new players (and those of us not so new too!)to not get drawn into 1337 proc chasing 😊
Yeah I've followed up on a lot on the KCB making a come back and I cannot recommend it. It's for a single map and not just a build, but a full team comp. All it takes is patching up the holes in the Ahwahnee console and KCB goes right back in the bin. KCB doesn't interact with any other haste or firing modes, just the Ahwahnee console. I'm staying off this bandwagon.
I wonder if I should get back to gaming. I Got bored after playing daily. I think my main fed ship had all gold items. including the cutting beam and other similar ones.
I do miss the old FAW days, when it was bugged and it calculated proc chance per shot. They really need to improve the proc chance for weapons. Also, the problem with Polaron and Tetryon isn't that the weapons themselves are weak, because they are not. It's that they don't get as much stuff to boost their damage output as Phaser, Disruptor, and Plasma. Though Plasma isn't getting a big increase over Polaron and Tetryon. So, the devs need to also stop focusing on making Phaser and Disruptor top damage, and work on bringing the others up to where they are by giving them as much stuff that can boost their damage. Razar.
The devs probably focus on Phaser and Disruptor since those are the most popular. Case in point: Isomags. Look up the price of any Isomag, and Phaser is far more expensive than any of the others, even though Plasma is pushed as "META" right now. Reason? Phasers are the classic weapon from the show. But regardless of the focus, any weapon flavor is Elite capable.
"META" or king of DPS is a pretty narrow niche. Plasma does just fine without the Gorn goodies, but if you want maximum plasma damage, then the Gorn goodies are really strong. By the same token, Disruptor is boosted strongly by the Hysperian console and trait. Any well-built ship with standard weapons will clear Elite content.
I'd like to say that if you are going for a cannon build, it might not matter much if you split your damage type that much, you just are gonna have to find consoles that add canon damage bonuses and critical hit damage over damage types and it is the same with beam builds with its consoles. doesnt mean you should do different energy build, doesnt mean you shouldnt either. just know your damage output will be lower than say someone whose damage type is phasers an uses 4 to 5 different types of phaser canons. also as a reminder the agony torpedo in the phoenix lock box does phaser damage. just saying edit: by canon and beam consoles, I mean like the ones from the discovery rep store for example
I would say any form of phaser is the best because phaser is the most supported energy type at the moment most of the best consoles and weapons are phaser based plasma has good support also but it's very expensive because of the gorn ship and the 3 piece lobi set
Phaser has a ton of options, but so do Disruptor, Plasma, and Antiproton. Polaron and Tetryon are less-so, but none of them are so bad that you can't smash any content in the game.
And as I keep saying AP beams are the best. CALLED IT! haha I run Herald beams mostly in combination with beam overload and the toothpaste torpedo (front slotted) which uses torp spread. This combination is a true killer, even the torps with torp spread (if used correctly) can insta kill multiple borg ships in 1 shot. Now add to that the beam overload AP part and you melt anything pretty much.
So basically: pick a weapon you like the looks of and run with it. Having said that: qeapons that have a built in buff (i.e. Sensor Linked Weapons) could possibly be the go to one would think. It seems it wpuld be best to choose a weapon that has "guaranteed" performance over a chance of something happening. This is where (IMHO) many STO get frustrated when it comes to we nergy weapon builds. A player can recreate (as an example) a "high end" build and have it under perform because of the randomness of the procs. Yes, a 33% chance is better than a 2.5% chance: it still doesn't mean that builds will perform identically all the time. For me persknally: i run either the Advanced Disruptors or Phasers as their base abilities are better than a proc. For a "themed" buold: i run Sensor Linked. For a fun time and giggles: i use the Ba'ul Antiproton Weapons as they can fit a "funzy" build for Federation or Klingon players.
In general, large performance differences are due to player piloting and map randomness - the weapon procs themselves are such a small contribution that they aren't going to swing a map, and that's kind of what we were trying to illustrate. When I get 100k one map and 80k the next, I can either tell I didn't time an ability correctly, I didn't fly in the right position, or sometimes even there's just straight server lag. A missed or hit proc might account for maybe 5%, but me powersliding right past the target is going to be a 20-40% loss very easily.
So Voth Antiproton are on the wiki with 25% chance on critical to reduce enemy damage output, which seems like a lot but that''s rolled once per cycle and still only stacks up to 27%. Suppression Barrage III is -50% damage, and killing the target is -100% damage. Did you have some other weapon type in mind? Ba-ul and any flavor of antiproton will do damage to absolutely everything, so I don't think it's the Voth proc that is helping you. I'm open to being taught otherwise, like we missed the Dominion Polaron on the first pass which has built-in extra CrtH.
So this applies to beams and cannons since they are all energy weapons. We have considered a torpedo one, but it's a lot more cut-and-dried. Dark Matter Torpedo for the 2pc set, Enhanced Bio-Molecular if you have High Yield or a lot of Concentrate Firepower, Delphic if you want to spend lobi or debuff; and Gravimetric and Particle Emission Plasma for exotics. We built the Torp Finder tool for you to walk through that decision tree: docs.google.com/presentation/d/19Ve-2JIZnYpOva0w1w5hrX9aeZMyRrPS_OXDaFHwxgg/edit?usp=sharing
That's what rainbow builds are for! Don't forget the flashbang Bacon of Kahless! In all seriousness, rainbow builds can work, but aren't optimal. And please do forget the Beacon of Kahless, it flashbangs your team.
I'm all about the "Canon" and "Space-Barbie" tbh, plus I've not really noticed any outrageous differences between the type energy weapons on a beam vs beam comparison, and the difference usually comes from the amount of buffs applied upon them from consoles, space gear, set bonuses, bridge officer skills... basically just how much buffs you can apply to the beam or cannon etc. Sure, you'll want to max the crits % chance on each beam, but that's kinda a moot point since you'd do that to any type of beam bank, regardless of it being a phaser or polaron or anti-proton etc so it still comes back to which energy weapon has the most powerful buffing space gear that can be crammed onto your starship. A lot are universal so moot since they can be applied to any energy weapon, but there's also plenty that are very specific to just one energy type. I don't know which energy type weapons have the most powerful buffs available specifically to them. My guess would be phasers.
There's nothing wrong with playing the game for canon, though not advised to fly an NX into an elite queue without shields or multiple phasers instead of that one phase cannon...
So this applies to any weapon type, beams, cannons, etc. If we get into which is better Cannons vs Beams, that would be a whole other video. Our general advice is beams and cannons are both elite capable, beams tend to have more forgiving firing arcs for more time on target, while cannons have a pretty narrow 45° firing arc. Also depends on if you are in a 4/4 cruiser or a 5/2 escort, but broadsiding isn't really optimal anymore.
@@stobetter Thanks. What I meant was more about the final section in particular of the video, in which are the best beam weapons choices per dmg type. I meant that, for DHCs.
It's still a 2.5% proc, so you're better off with other options. If you have some equipped and upgraded, the difference isn't too bad since there's not enough really good plasma weapons to fill out slots.
I don't think it really matters weapon dmg wise but type-wise Beams seem to do a kind of delayed damage Cannons do the most damage QUICKLY Torps do the damage they are supposed to do (I think, lol) But hey I could be (and probably are) wrong, lol
So you're partly right, cannons fire all their shots more quickly than beams do, but in the end, each takes 5 seconds to fire. Some cannons fire everything in 2 seconds and then don't do anything for 3, while beams fire for 4 seconds and then don't do anything for 1 second. I didn't get into weapon types - that's a different conversation. Any of them can clear any content in the game.
In general, no. There are some exceptions but it's honestly been long enough that I've forgotten and some were patched/changed after they were discovered.
if the advanced beam array are the best then why does the trinity tool show that normal phasers do more famage, all else being equal, 15.5% in the case of my build. Which is correct or am I missing something?
TRINITY isn't perfect. Did you select Advanced Phasers in all the right places? It's one of the ones that shows up in the very bottom in the weapon procs section. If you don't put in the right amount there, it won't count at all.
This is exactly why I exclusively use Antiproton. Antiproton is a GUARANTEED effect. I outright refuse to use anything with "% chance." 5% does NOT mean "1 every 20." No. The first shot is 5%. The 20th shot is 5%. The 100th shot is 5%. So, you can literally NEVER trigger it.
Strictly speaking, Antiproton isn't a guaranteed effect either - it only applies as often as you crit. The other procs might be low chance, but we did try to highlight the procs that aren't based on just a percentage roll. I do like Antiproton myself, it's just simple to craft AP weapons and go to it, no market chasing or lockboxes.
You can mix different weapons within the same type, like Terran Phaser and Wide Angle Phaser Beam Bank. It is not best to mix Phaser and Disruptor, for example. You would then have to use +Beam or +Cannon consoles, which give less damage overall, and there are many other non-Tactical consoles that only give one flavor or another. It can be done, but you lose whatever benefits you gain just from not being able to use the higher-output specific flavor consoles.
You mentioned the KCB not worth using. With all the haste added to the game recently with consoles and traits, isn't the two piece KCB with assimulated module now come into play?
KCB is a very situational application. If they nerf/fix the Ahwahnee console, KCB goes back into the bin. I stand by the information here. KCB also doesn't respect any other haste sources other than Ahwahnee. I wouldn't get on the KCB bandwagon.
@@stobetter Not sure why you believe the fleet network array nerf is coming. It has already been fixed and Cryptic has already stated it will not be altered any further.
So as I stated in the video, it doesn't stack quite that way. It allows you to roll more often, but it's still the same 2.5% odds. You now roll 7 times instead of just once per firing cycle. It'll function similarly to the Herald Antiproton that I talked about, but does provide Haste. Haste is in a weird place in that you can have too much. If you have Viridian all upgraded, stick with it - you won't find a whole lot of benefit by swapping out especially at the cost of upgrading a new set of weapons. If you are using Exceed Rated Limits, Reroute Reserves to Weapons, or other large sources of Haste, the proc will drop off in benefit pretty quickly.
@@lucacolex1390 The issue with Viridians right now is they are in the worst spot of all the plasma weapons currently. This isn't a haste issue though.. it's that for whatever reason, Cryptic added travel time to these weapons. Even the beams. So say you had 2 Altamids and 2 Viridians equipped and hit CSV or FAW, or any other firing mode. The non Viridian weapons would have more attacks in during the run. It's incredibly frustrating and has led to some of us dropping them completely.
@@lucacolex1390 For a lot of people they might never even notice it. And you can still clear content with them just fine.. but for me personally knowing that issue is there triggers my dps brain into just not using them or doing what I did and sending my entire set to an alt
We found the 3pc very hit or miss, it had a pretty long windup so if you used it on a small target, it could fizzle if I recall correctly. While the Omni is great, the console is situational, the torpedo was straight up bad, you're better off with a regular Photon. Not to mention consuming resonance charges weakens the Omni's damage output, so the 3pc is not ideal.
@@stobetter True but I was thinking going up against ingame power creeps like the vaadwaur, sometimes just having a massive damage dealing clicky is what's needed and if you got it for free that's even better, but you will always swap them out for meta stuff anyway like the disco equipment and terran weapons.
[Pen] mods are pretty solid, but weapons like the Terran Task Force blow the -10 DRR from [Pen] away. For a starting build, [Pen] is a great option. I still use it on several builds, especially when filling out weapon slots on non-Phaser or Disruptor which have so many good reputation weapons.
I've only been playing about 6 months, but realized early on that the procs for most weapons are borderline-useless simply because of rarity of them going off. I went with Anti-proton simply because they're consistent at least and it's possible to 'boost' their chances through CtrH and other means. This video just reinforces that thought line. Was awesome to see the math though and you presented it well honestly. Thanks a bunch for your work, both here on YT and the website! Always grateful for Spencer recommending you guys!
You'll do plenty of damage with vanilla AP weapons for sure, though you can get even more with the Ba'ul 2pc, but its far from required. My Cyclone build doesn't use it and does just fine in elite content.
Nice video ty. On my main i am using dis wide angle dbb, terran tf ba, piezo pol ba and 5x AP [crtd/dm] [crtd3] [pen], on an alt i have 5x tet beam array with [Over] proc
Is it wrong to have 8 toons with the same builds with science engineering and tactical all running for DPS, I have been enjoying the game for the past 8 years but still finding new information
Proton feels like it's possible to get nerfed, but thankfully it's not build-centric so you just replace it if they do nerf it. It's so good because of its proc, not in spite of like everything else.
Simple Crafted Disruptor weapons with PEN (10 Armor penetration) are king. hell any dmg type with the crafted pen mod is a great starter weapon, crafting a mark II costs like low triple digits on credits for materials, yeah there is some luck in it but if you have a friend or crafting up on one char you can make them in an hour or less. Also a full set of Piezo-Polaron weapons with the Colony Polaron TAC consoles and polaron ISOMAGS gives great dmg and makes you very hard to kill if you throw a Universal Hull Image Refractors Console. And suddenly you have twice your max HP , with healing about 20-50% of your hull and shields every 15/20 seconds. when popping a fire mode. those Piezo's changed my life, i rate them higher than ba'uls
[Pen] mods are pretty solid, but weapons like the Terran Task Force blow the -10 DRR from [Pen] away. For a starting build, [Pen] is a great option. I still use it on several builds, especially when filling out weapon slots on non-Phaser or Disruptor which have so many good reputation weapons. Piezo Polaron is great, I love all that Regen. Shield Absorptive Frequency Generator is also really good for survivability. Piezo Polaron and Ba'uls each serve a different purpose. Ba'uls do more damage and pull more threat, but Piezo Polaron is great for Beam Overload, CRF, and SS as well as survivability. All depends on what your build needs.
No weapon type is so bad off you can't clear elite content with it. Tetryon is pretty poorly served, but still playable. Just not really anything besides procs to choose from, and those are pretty low impact.
Fuck procs, Imo iso mags on bare bones pen ap dbbs. Run all the haste you can get and around 50-70 crit H, Sev looks after itself with endevs deflector and sros. Pen plus beta making you hit harder no hanger nonsense no babied map just you your pretty red beams and elite enemies? 30sec argalas. Plain simple and efficient.
Well, you would know better than me on that. That's why you're making the videos, and I am just watching em. I remember it was now where I saw it first it was on CasualSABs META update. Saying Cizer had noticed the KCB 2 piece proc is popping so much with haste console stacking its practically removed WP cost from the build.
Yeah the main issue is that it requires a ton of pieces to make it practical. Missing any one piece can really make KCB awful. Ahwahnee console, shield offlines, team comp. In general usage, KCB will not perform well.
Its hard to call any weapon type "good" or "bad" since they've been balanced so much they're practically all the same. They used to be different...but the nerf went through and suddenly they're ALL the same. You didn't even mention the best of the best, the Coalition Disruptors which makes your opponent even more susceptible to disruptor damage. The polarized disruptors which have 2x procs, the nanite ones which can take down 5 off their entire damage rating and the Krieg Wave ones that boost your control. You get a bunch of these guys on the same disruptor build and you're having a fun time!
Well, the point is that even with those amazing procs, the 2.5% chance really kills it. Even a full set of Coalition Disruptors will only go off maybe a dozen times in a 5 minute run. And while -20 DRR for Disruptor is nice, anything else that isn't disruptor damage gets 0 benefit, and as soon as the target dies, that DRR goes away. If you are mix & matching a bunch of different procs, you'll be lucky to see it go off once per TFO. The whole idea is that the best weapons don't rely on this 2.5% chance, such as Terran Task Force Disruptor which every shot has scaling damage based on how much hull is on the target hit. It outdamages a Dual Beam Bank for the Beam Array even! The procs simply don't matter for general content.
I prefer builds that fit the Established Star Trek Canon that means every build has Phaser Arrays or a mix of Pulsed Phaser Cannons (if applicable to the ship’s armament), and either Photon, Quantum or Transphasic Torpedoes for the Federation starships. Just changing the beam equivalent for the Klingons and the Romulans but also for the Romulans Plasma Torpedoes. All my builds proc off perfectly and deal serious damage and unless in TFOs the other players are idiots I never ever get my ships destroyed or even under 95% damage (and that’s a rarity in itself). The only time my ships ever get destroyed is when teammates in TFOs don’t carry their weight and actually do their jobs for then I’m getting all enemies all on me and even multiple phasers (or Disruptors) firing at targets still isn’t even enough… even with extra support ships (consoles/carrier).
@@stobetter elites! My builds work far better than everyone’s posted builds for elites. They do circles around their builds and I don’t even use the trash known as Isomags because they’re not needed when you actually read what other consoles do.
In summary, unless DECA straight up doubles the procs on all weapons to at least 5% or more, choose your DEW weapons by what color you like most and can do the highest base damage with.
Or craft weapons with +10 pen they don't need a proc.
Pretty much. Terrans Phaser/Disruptor and then Crafted weapons with [Pen] if you want a budget set of good weapons. Otherwise use whatever you want.
DECA is running the game yet, everything is still be done by Cryptic
Yeah, STO's true endgame is mostly cosmetic....and consoles/traits
This video series is exactly what the game needs.
Thank you!
Just got this in my recommendation...Always nice to have more STO content available to watch 👍
Thanks for the detailed explanation
Your videos continue to help my builds. Keep up the good work!
thank you for sharing all this information
You are welcome! Appreciate the compliment.
I've had some good luck with the "Radiolytic Phaser Beam Arrays" from "The Last Generation" Lock box. My DPS with them is higher than it's ever been.
One thing I felt like was missed is Dominion Polaron weapons are free (Boldy They Rode mission) and some of the best filler for the Polaron energy type because of their innate Crit Chance.
Also a mention for anyone else in here is that Plasma is extremely variable. It is either on the same playing field as Polaron or it is the strongest damage type. This all comes down to if you have the Gorn Pilot Raider and it's equipment and trait for plasma.
So I only found out about the Dominion Polaron from the comments after this video. While they do have extra CrtH, that mission is brutal to rerun. Certainly agree on the filler, though it is limited in its types. However, when it comes to Plasma, it has some really solid options that just don't exist with Polaron, such as the Altamid lobi set and Experimental Romulan plasma, not to mention more gear that buffs plasma than does Polaron. Both will get you solid Elite capable builds.
They were good but being as half the episodes have been gutted there hard to get, it's not really worth rerunning 6-8 times in a row just to get them.
oh nice! i've recently come back to the game and this video is a god-send! Tyty
You are welcome! Glad you enjoyed it.
Thank you very much great help. Only 1 Point is I have seen from a few sources Kinetic Cutting Beam is making some positive noise as its been joined with haste (paired with fleet power uni) its making every shot free with power drain. Not to mention its still great for the power of 3 .
I'm seeing that a ton, and that's really bad advice for most builds. I would still stay away from KCB. It *only* interacts with the haste from the Ahwahnee console, which is bugged.
That was Clever using the mission you did to demonstrate the fire cycle. First time iv seen that.
Thanks! Doomsday Device is my go-to testing grounds.
Great explanation of proc chance.
All right dude im gonna try faw with the advance phasers again thanks for vid
Thank you it's obvious you spent a lot of time putting everything together.
Thank you! This was by far the hardest video to make so far.
This was very nicely done. Thank you.🖖
Thank you for this tutorial. Very informative. I have been a player on and off since 2014 and have puzzled over the best weapon modifiers to re-engineer to. Way back when CritD was king. Then Dmg. This would focus only on beam/cannon builds. Would you consider a tutorial about this? Subscribed.
For modifiers, these are after everything else is upgraded and maxed out. The cost to benefit is very low. I usually just aim for a mix of CrtD and Dmg, though there is certainly a damage difference, in my mind the difference is small. I'd certainly consider a deeper dive, its a really good area to look at. For most players, just a few rerolls into CrtD and Dmg will be sufficient. I talked about mods in one of my builds, but it really is build dependent. www.stobetter.com/intro-builds/tilor/csv-hydra
@@stobetter ty
@@stobetter"It also gives you damage immunity and flight speed/turn rate, a massive amount. Why is this bad? Same reason I don't like flying competitive engines. A drastic change in speed and turn can really throw off practiced piloting. "
You're speaking of the false meta of the Innervating variant.
I completely agree with you, however... Have you heard of our Lord and Saviour, Fortified? Those engines allow you to get your boost on demand when you hit your Hull and Shield heals like Engineering and Science Teams, Hazard Emitters and more. Much more useful.
Thank you for this great beam information.
brilliant instruction video, thanks for putting this together, unbelievable you only have 762 subs. Thank you :)
CasualSAB only has 9k. We have a ways to go, but its not about the subs. Its just fun teaching others stuff.
The maths are strong with this one. 🤯
I did try to avoid going too deep with the maths, but some math was required.
Keep it up..good work
This is great thanks for looking into it. Although
might want to change the title to best beam weapons
It's already best energy weapons, and some builds blur the distinction between Beams and Cannons, such as Surgical Strikes. Even CSV builds occasionally pick up an Omni or something for the set bonus. No simple reason you can't use both beams and cannons!
yes, terran task force are one among the best but you can slot only one of that type (as with any reputation weapon). so, no big deal in general sense on a ship of (on average) 8 weapon slots. but your analysis is well done, thank you.
While true you can only slot one, there are several other weapons you can slot as part of a larger composition. And, even if you slot just plain Phasers in all 8 slots (though we advise a token torpedo as well generally), you can beat any Elite content as long as the rest of the build is solid.
This popped in 3 days late, but subbed now.
Very comprehensive.
Great job.
Thank you! Never a rush on watching, once its up, watch when you can!
not sure if STO already has it but a pity proc would be a good idea for the secondary effects on the weapons in case someone gets a really bad case of rng on their procs.
The whole game shifts if they change how procs work, that's for sure.
What are the best new story episodes? What are the best new clothing bug fixes?
So story episodes are a personal preference, and since we are a team, its hard to speak for the whole team. As far as clothing bugs - I think Tilor's main has the same costume he's had for 5+ years. Not sure we're the best ones to ask there.
Hmm. Useful food for thought here. I really need to sit down and optimize my loadout a bit, (trying to get as much coverage around as I can) and then figure out what missions I need to re-run and reps to push to collect the weapons and consoles I need. Not to mention what set bonus(es) I want to hang on to.
Especially considering I'm going with the f2p route, as buying store ships just to get consoles/traits is too expensive, and I'm not touching the loot box stuff.
Crafted gear and mission gear can do just fine! That and the free ships/coupons they give throughout the year are plenty for free to play.
Amazing video, Bravo. Thanks
You are welcome! I hope you found it helpful or informative.
Kinetic Cutting Beam is making a comeback via the 2-piece power drain buff to support the mad weapon haste buffs. Really awesome video, great for new players (and those of us not so new too!)to not get drawn into 1337 proc chasing 😊
Yeah I've followed up on a lot on the KCB making a come back and I cannot recommend it. It's for a single map and not just a build, but a full team comp. All it takes is patching up the holes in the Ahwahnee console and KCB goes right back in the bin. KCB doesn't interact with any other haste or firing modes, just the Ahwahnee console. I'm staying off this bandwagon.
@@stobetter Ahwahnee does feel in need of a Borticus Special tbh!
I wonder if I should get back to gaming. I Got bored after playing daily. I think my main fed ship had all gold items. including the cutting beam and other similar ones.
No, KCB is NOT making any sort of “come back” , LOL!!! Thanks for the “jolly’s”! 🤣👏🏻🤣
I do miss the old FAW days, when it was bugged and it calculated proc chance per shot. They really need to improve the proc chance for weapons.
Also, the problem with Polaron and Tetryon isn't that the weapons themselves are weak, because they are not. It's that they don't get as much stuff to boost their damage output as Phaser, Disruptor, and Plasma. Though Plasma isn't getting a big increase over Polaron and Tetryon.
So, the devs need to also stop focusing on making Phaser and Disruptor top damage, and work on bringing the others up to where they are by giving them as much stuff that can boost their damage.
Razar.
Plasma has become king of DPS purely because of the Gorn. The Quads, experimental weapon, lure, and complex plasma fires.
The devs probably focus on Phaser and Disruptor since those are the most popular. Case in point: Isomags. Look up the price of any Isomag, and Phaser is far more expensive than any of the others, even though Plasma is pushed as "META" right now. Reason? Phasers are the classic weapon from the show. But regardless of the focus, any weapon flavor is Elite capable.
"META" or king of DPS is a pretty narrow niche. Plasma does just fine without the Gorn goodies, but if you want maximum plasma damage, then the Gorn goodies are really strong. By the same token, Disruptor is boosted strongly by the Hysperian console and trait. Any well-built ship with standard weapons will clear Elite content.
I'd like to say that if you are going for a cannon build, it might not matter much if you split your damage type that much, you just are gonna have to find consoles that add canon damage bonuses and critical hit damage over damage types and it is the same with beam builds with its consoles. doesnt mean you should do different energy build, doesnt mean you shouldnt either. just know your damage output will be lower than say someone whose damage type is phasers an uses 4 to 5 different types of phaser canons. also as a reminder the agony torpedo in the phoenix lock box does phaser damage. just saying
edit: by canon and beam consoles, I mean like the ones from the discovery rep store for example
Thank you! I wish Advanced Disruptors came in dual beam banks. And I wish Spirals had an omni. And other jokes I tell myself.
Just think of all the Dilithium you are saving!
This is a godsend vid!
Advanced Disruptor Beam array? I thought that that was the Spiral Wave disruptor. I cannot find the Advanced disruptor on the STO Wiki.
stowiki.net/wiki/Advanced_Disruptor_Beam_Array
I would say any form of phaser is the best because phaser is the most supported energy type at the moment most of the best consoles and weapons are phaser based plasma has good support also but it's very expensive because of the gorn ship and the 3 piece lobi set
Phaser has a ton of options, but so do Disruptor, Plasma, and Antiproton. Polaron and Tetryon are less-so, but none of them are so bad that you can't smash any content in the game.
And as I keep saying AP beams are the best. CALLED IT! haha
I run Herald beams mostly in combination with beam overload and the toothpaste torpedo (front slotted) which uses torp spread.
This combination is a true killer, even the torps with torp spread (if used correctly) can insta kill multiple borg ships in 1 shot.
Now add to that the beam overload AP part and you melt anything pretty much.
Sounds like a fun combination! Thanks for sharing.
used to play this a long time ago, and I remember that Pink Lasers are best. Because Pink.
I know we've made some decisions on our builds based on the color of the weapon when there isn't much else to differentiate!
So basically: pick a weapon you like the looks of and run with it. Having said that: qeapons that have a built in buff (i.e. Sensor Linked Weapons) could possibly be the go to one would think. It seems it wpuld be best to choose a weapon that has "guaranteed" performance over a chance of something happening. This is where (IMHO) many STO get frustrated when it comes to we nergy weapon builds. A player can recreate (as an example) a "high end" build and have it under perform because of the randomness of the procs. Yes, a 33% chance is better than a 2.5% chance: it still doesn't mean that builds will perform identically all the time. For me persknally: i run either the Advanced Disruptors or Phasers as their base abilities are better than a proc. For a "themed" buold: i run Sensor Linked. For a fun time and giggles: i use the Ba'ul Antiproton Weapons as they can fit a "funzy" build for Federation or Klingon players.
In general, large performance differences are due to player piloting and map randomness - the weapon procs themselves are such a small contribution that they aren't going to swing a map, and that's kind of what we were trying to illustrate. When I get 100k one map and 80k the next, I can either tell I didn't time an ability correctly, I didn't fly in the right position, or sometimes even there's just straight server lag. A missed or hit proc might account for maybe 5%, but me powersliding right past the target is going to be a 20-40% loss very easily.
i have discovered using a combo of the Ba-ul And the Voth antiproton
So Voth Antiproton are on the wiki with 25% chance on critical to reduce enemy damage output, which seems like a lot but that''s rolled once per cycle and still only stacks up to 27%. Suppression Barrage III is -50% damage, and killing the target is -100% damage. Did you have some other weapon type in mind? Ba-ul and any flavor of antiproton will do damage to absolutely everything, so I don't think it's the Voth proc that is helping you. I'm open to being taught otherwise, like we missed the Dominion Polaron on the first pass which has built-in extra CrtH.
my current focus is a Plasma cannon build on the Gorn Hunter Raider.
Edit: i feel like you should do other videos like a cannon one and torp one.
So this applies to beams and cannons since they are all energy weapons. We have considered a torpedo one, but it's a lot more cut-and-dried. Dark Matter Torpedo for the 2pc set, Enhanced Bio-Molecular if you have High Yield or a lot of Concentrate Firepower, Delphic if you want to spend lobi or debuff; and Gravimetric and Particle Emission Plasma for exotics. We built the Torp Finder tool for you to walk through that decision tree: docs.google.com/presentation/d/19Ve-2JIZnYpOva0w1w5hrX9aeZMyRrPS_OXDaFHwxgg/edit?usp=sharing
My brain saw numbers, it rebelled. Spent a good 10 minutes with brain leaking out of ears, solid 5 minutes of drooling.
I hope you have been able to recover from your numeric rebellion, we rather like numbers.
This math is all very cool and all, but have you considered I just like making my ship look like a disco ball?
That's what rainbow builds are for! Don't forget the flashbang Bacon of Kahless! In all seriousness, rainbow builds can work, but aren't optimal. And please do forget the Beacon of Kahless, it flashbangs your team.
I'm all about the "Canon" and "Space-Barbie" tbh, plus I've not really noticed any outrageous differences between the type energy weapons on a beam vs beam comparison, and the difference usually comes from the amount of buffs applied upon them from consoles, space gear, set bonuses, bridge officer skills... basically just how much buffs you can apply to the beam or cannon etc.
Sure, you'll want to max the crits % chance on each beam, but that's kinda a moot point since you'd do that to any type of beam bank, regardless of it being a phaser or polaron or anti-proton etc so it still comes back to which energy weapon has the most powerful buffing space gear that can be crammed onto your starship. A lot are universal so moot since they can be applied to any energy weapon, but there's also plenty that are very specific to just one energy type. I don't know which energy type weapons have the most powerful buffs available specifically to them. My guess would be phasers.
There's nothing wrong with playing the game for canon, though not advised to fly an NX into an elite queue without shields or multiple phasers instead of that one phase cannon...
Could you do a similar video for DHCs, please?
So this applies to any weapon type, beams, cannons, etc. If we get into which is better Cannons vs Beams, that would be a whole other video. Our general advice is beams and cannons are both elite capable, beams tend to have more forgiving firing arcs for more time on target, while cannons have a pretty narrow 45° firing arc. Also depends on if you are in a 4/4 cruiser or a 5/2 escort, but broadsiding isn't really optimal anymore.
@@stobetter Thanks. What I meant was more about the final section in particular of the video, in which are the best beam weapons choices per dmg type. I meant that, for DHCs.
@@salvos7101 So actually all the info still applies to DHCs, many of the procs shown have cannon variants as well, I just chose to show the beam icon.
On Plasma What about Viridian Plasma? It has a self buff Proc.
Or is it to small compared to the existing plasma options presented?
It's still a 2.5% proc, so you're better off with other options. If you have some equipped and upgraded, the difference isn't too bad since there's not enough really good plasma weapons to fill out slots.
How do we get the Advanced weaponry they are talking about here?
Advanced Phasers: stowiki.net/wiki/Advanced_Phaser_Beam_Array
I don't think it really matters weapon dmg wise but type-wise
Beams seem to do a kind of delayed damage
Cannons do the most damage QUICKLY
Torps do the damage they are supposed to do (I think, lol)
But hey I could be (and probably are) wrong, lol
So you're partly right, cannons fire all their shots more quickly than beams do, but in the end, each takes 5 seconds to fire. Some cannons fire everything in 2 seconds and then don't do anything for 3, while beams fire for 4 seconds and then don't do anything for 1 second. I didn't get into weapon types - that's a different conversation. Any of them can clear any content in the game.
Does the Ba'ul Refraction allow a proc to be passed to all hit ships?
In general, no. There are some exceptions but it's honestly been long enough that I've forgotten and some were patched/changed after they were discovered.
@@stobetter Ok. Thank you for the reply.
if the advanced beam array are the best then why does the trinity tool show that normal phasers do more famage, all else being equal, 15.5% in the case of my build. Which is correct or am I missing something?
TRINITY isn't perfect. Did you select Advanced Phasers in all the right places? It's one of the ones that shows up in the very bottom in the weapon procs section. If you don't put in the right amount there, it won't count at all.
Good video thanks, please do one for torpedoes thanks
I've seen a few requests for a torpedo one - I'll make one eventually! Probably.
This is exactly why I exclusively use Antiproton. Antiproton is a GUARANTEED effect.
I outright refuse to use anything with "% chance." 5% does NOT mean "1 every 20." No. The first shot is 5%. The 20th shot is 5%. The 100th shot is 5%. So, you can literally NEVER trigger it.
Strictly speaking, Antiproton isn't a guaranteed effect either - it only applies as often as you crit. The other procs might be low chance, but we did try to highlight the procs that aren't based on just a percentage roll. I do like Antiproton myself, it's just simple to craft AP weapons and go to it, no market chasing or lockboxes.
Cool video! is it recommended if i mix a lot of weapons?
You can mix different weapons within the same type, like Terran Phaser and Wide Angle Phaser Beam Bank. It is not best to mix Phaser and Disruptor, for example. You would then have to use +Beam or +Cannon consoles, which give less damage overall, and there are many other non-Tactical consoles that only give one flavor or another. It can be done, but you lose whatever benefits you gain just from not being able to use the higher-output specific flavor consoles.
You mentioned the KCB not worth using. With all the haste added to the game recently with consoles and traits, isn't the two piece KCB with assimulated module now come into play?
KCB is a very situational application. If they nerf/fix the Ahwahnee console, KCB goes back into the bin. I stand by the information here. KCB also doesn't respect any other haste sources other than Ahwahnee. I wouldn't get on the KCB bandwagon.
@@stobetter Not sure why you believe the fleet network array nerf is coming. It has already been fixed and Cryptic has already stated it will not be altered any further.
Hi, any thoughts about viridian plasma? I m using 7 of them so 17.5% chance to proc???? Thx
So as I stated in the video, it doesn't stack quite that way. It allows you to roll more often, but it's still the same 2.5% odds. You now roll 7 times instead of just once per firing cycle. It'll function similarly to the Herald Antiproton that I talked about, but does provide Haste. Haste is in a weird place in that you can have too much. If you have Viridian all upgraded, stick with it - you won't find a whole lot of benefit by swapping out especially at the cost of upgrading a new set of weapons. If you are using Exceed Rated Limits, Reroute Reserves to Weapons, or other large sources of Haste, the proc will drop off in benefit pretty quickly.
Thx😊
@@lucacolex1390 The issue with Viridians right now is they are in the worst spot of all the plasma weapons currently. This isn't a haste issue though.. it's that for whatever reason, Cryptic added travel time to these weapons. Even the beams. So say you had 2 Altamids and 2 Viridians equipped and hit CSV or FAW, or any other firing mode. The non Viridian weapons would have more attacks in during the run. It's incredibly frustrating and has led to some of us dropping them completely.
Oh thx, i really didnt know that issue!
@@lucacolex1390 For a lot of people they might never even notice it. And you can still clear content with them just fine.. but for me personally knowing that issue is there triggers my dps brain into just not using them or doing what I did and sending my entire set to an alt
At least the Pahvan 3 piece gives a hella powerful clicky
We found the 3pc very hit or miss, it had a pretty long windup so if you used it on a small target, it could fizzle if I recall correctly. While the Omni is great, the console is situational, the torpedo was straight up bad, you're better off with a regular Photon. Not to mention consuming resonance charges weakens the Omni's damage output, so the 3pc is not ideal.
@@stobetter True but I was thinking going up against ingame power creeps like the vaadwaur, sometimes just having a massive damage dealing clicky is what's needed and if you got it for free that's even better, but you will always swap them out for meta stuff anyway like the disco equipment and terran weapons.
@@ronanwaring3408 Another issue with Pahvan set is if you don't have it now, you can't get it due to it being an event reward.
@@stobetter Until they sell it at a massive mark up in mudds 🤮 market
Are crafted PEN weapons any good?
[Pen] mods are pretty solid, but weapons like the Terran Task Force blow the -10 DRR from [Pen] away. For a starting build, [Pen] is a great option. I still use it on several builds, especially when filling out weapon slots on non-Phaser or Disruptor which have so many good reputation weapons.
I've only been playing about 6 months, but realized early on that the procs for most weapons are borderline-useless simply because of rarity of them going off. I went with Anti-proton simply because they're consistent at least and it's possible to 'boost' their chances through CtrH and other means. This video just reinforces that thought line. Was awesome to see the math though and you presented it well honestly. Thanks a bunch for your work, both here on YT and the website! Always grateful for Spencer recommending you guys!
You'll do plenty of damage with vanilla AP weapons for sure, though you can get even more with the Ba'ul 2pc, but its far from required. My Cyclone build doesn't use it and does just fine in elite content.
You must be a math wiz. I am just using crafted phaser weapons. serves me fine. And a test by Spencer showed they outperformed all others.
Crafted weapons are just fine! Though a few reputation ones will certainly help, you'll do just fine with crafted.
@@stobetter I recently changed to Ba'ul Antiproton. Not sure if i am happy with that yet.
Gr8 vid.
Nice video ty. On my main i am using dis wide angle dbb, terran tf ba, piezo pol ba and 5x AP [crtd/dm] [crtd3] [pen], on an alt i have 5x tet beam array with [Over] proc
Are those all on the same build? If so, you're mixing Disruptor and Polaron which is not ideal. But certainly serviceable!
Is it wrong to have 8 toons with the same builds with science engineering and tactical all running for DPS, I have been enjoying the game for the past 8 years but still finding new information
Nothing wrong with that!
Proton omni is the highest dps omni by a longshot.
Proton feels like it's possible to get nerfed, but thankfully it's not build-centric so you just replace it if they do nerf it. It's so good because of its proc, not in spite of like everything else.
Currently Altamid Plasma
That you have or that you find best?
@@stobetter Altamid with the gorn ship equipment
Simple Crafted Disruptor weapons with PEN (10 Armor penetration) are king. hell any dmg type with the crafted pen mod is a great starter weapon, crafting a mark II costs like low triple digits on credits for materials, yeah there is some luck in it but if you have a friend or crafting up on one char you can make them in an hour or less.
Also a full set of Piezo-Polaron weapons with the Colony Polaron TAC consoles and polaron ISOMAGS gives great dmg and makes you very hard to kill if you throw a Universal Hull Image Refractors Console.
And suddenly you have twice your max HP , with healing about 20-50% of your hull and shields every 15/20 seconds. when popping a fire mode. those Piezo's changed my life, i rate them higher than ba'uls
[Pen] mods are pretty solid, but weapons like the Terran Task Force blow the -10 DRR from [Pen] away. For a starting build, [Pen] is a great option. I still use it on several builds, especially when filling out weapon slots on non-Phaser or Disruptor which have so many good reputation weapons.
Piezo Polaron is great, I love all that Regen. Shield Absorptive Frequency Generator is also really good for survivability. Piezo Polaron and Ba'uls each serve a different purpose. Ba'uls do more damage and pull more threat, but Piezo Polaron is great for Beam Overload, CRF, and SS as well as survivability. All depends on what your build needs.
i was expecting "the best tetryon weapon is none of them because tetryon weapons are worthless"
No weapon type is so bad off you can't clear elite content with it. Tetryon is pretty poorly served, but still playable. Just not really anything besides procs to choose from, and those are pretty low impact.
Proc = Programmed Random OCcurance :)
Thanks!
Fuck procs, Imo iso mags on bare bones pen ap dbbs. Run all the haste you can get and around 50-70 crit H, Sev looks after itself with endevs deflector and sros. Pen plus beta making you hit harder no hanger nonsense no babied map just you your pretty red beams and elite enemies? 30sec argalas. Plain simple and efficient.
Don't even need isomags, I enjoy my vanilla AP CSV escorts, so much pew pew.
Well, you would know better than me on that. That's why you're making the videos, and I am just watching em. I remember it was now where I saw it first it was on CasualSABs META update. Saying Cizer had noticed the KCB 2 piece proc is popping so much with haste console stacking its practically removed WP cost from the build.
Yeah the main issue is that it requires a ton of pieces to make it practical. Missing any one piece can really make KCB awful. Ahwahnee console, shield offlines, team comp. In general usage, KCB will not perform well.
Well explained! - Lootcritter
Its hard to call any weapon type "good" or "bad" since they've been balanced so much they're practically all the same. They used to be different...but the nerf went through and suddenly they're ALL the same. You didn't even mention the best of the best, the Coalition Disruptors which makes your opponent even more susceptible to disruptor damage. The polarized disruptors which have 2x procs, the nanite ones which can take down 5 off their entire damage rating and the Krieg Wave ones that boost your control. You get a bunch of these guys on the same disruptor build and you're having a fun time!
Well, the point is that even with those amazing procs, the 2.5% chance really kills it. Even a full set of Coalition Disruptors will only go off maybe a dozen times in a 5 minute run. And while -20 DRR for Disruptor is nice, anything else that isn't disruptor damage gets 0 benefit, and as soon as the target dies, that DRR goes away. If you are mix & matching a bunch of different procs, you'll be lucky to see it go off once per TFO. The whole idea is that the best weapons don't rely on this 2.5% chance, such as Terran Task Force Disruptor which every shot has scaling damage based on how much hull is on the target hit. It outdamages a Dual Beam Bank for the Beam Array even! The procs simply don't matter for general content.
I prefer builds that fit the Established Star Trek Canon that means every build has Phaser Arrays or a mix of Pulsed Phaser Cannons (if applicable to the ship’s armament), and either Photon, Quantum or Transphasic Torpedoes for the Federation starships. Just changing the beam equivalent for the Klingons and the Romulans but also for the Romulans Plasma Torpedoes.
All my builds proc off perfectly and deal serious damage and unless in TFOs the other players are idiots I never ever get my ships destroyed or even under 95% damage (and that’s a rarity in itself). The only time my ships ever get destroyed is when teammates in TFOs don’t carry their weight and actually do their jobs for then I’m getting all enemies all on me and even multiple phasers (or Disruptors) firing at targets still isn’t even enough… even with extra support ships (consoles/carrier).
There's nothing wrong with canon builds! We tend to fly elites, and team composition makes a large difference for elite. What difficulty do you fly?
@@stobetter elites! My builds work far better than everyone’s posted builds for elites. They do circles around their builds and I don’t even use the trash known as Isomags because they’re not needed when you actually read what other consoles do.
brain ^ x2