I was recently browsing the ec and noticed that dual beams and cannons are significantly cheaper than the others. I'm not a very experienced player, but it seems to me that every build I consider and/or read about is either beam arrays for broadsiding, or dual heavies for front arc. I see little point in equipping dual beams when dual heavies do the job better, and so on, and I think the market agrees.
Are there good reasons to use any of these weapons over the others?
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The biggest advantage dual beams have is that they take advantage of easier to slot beam abilities. In order to use Scatter Volley or Rapid Fire at rank 3 you need a full commander tactical seat which can be hard to come by, especially on a cruiser. Most have a Lt. Commander which means using Scatter Volley or Rapid Fire 2 as to where Beams can use rank 3. Still, it's really not even that big of a deal since unlike with Beams you can still use a Rank 2 ability and be fine, especially if you run something like the Hostile Acquisition console to push up your accuracy.
Right now, Dual Beam Banks don't have a real place. Single Beams will always be the easiest and probably the most common. They're easy to use and will always be a highly popular choice. If you're going to go with a front facing build though, honestly there is usually little reason to run DBB over Cannons.. it's really just if you happen to like beams better. I honestly don't see a way around this, maybe giving DBB a slight damage bump would help.. I am not really sure. Honestly though, the difference isn't huge, I run DBB on an Arbiter and on a Phantom Escort and they both do impressive damage. For the most part, DBB's are there for people that want to run a front facing build but don't want to use Cannons for whatever reason. It may be a bit of a niche market, but they do seem to have a place.
It's primarily a herd mentality and the fact that beam arrays can be placed in any fore or after weapon slot.
However if you have a battle cruiser or war bird with enough turn rate then DBB can be a lot more potent.
Regarding the DC and DHC this is an ongoing issue. If memory serves me right DC fire faster and DHC fire slower while doing more damage per shot and draining more power. DPS should be the same.
When power usage of weapons was a real issue players would choose DC instead of DHC since those provided a better choice to avoid running out of weapon power.
For today's game power usage is almost nonexistent and DHC are usually used in spike damage builds or ambush builds.
DHC also used to have an innate higher crit chance.
There also used to be a situation where due to the increased number of shots DC were preferred in builds based upon proc from the energy type.
For these last two situations i am not entirely sure if they still hold true for today's metagame after the 13.5 balance pass.
I hadn't thought about that angle, thanks. I'll need to think that through. It also occurred to me that I'm thinking KDF, where practically everything can mount a DHC...I think fed side has more restrictive ships (as a tendency).
The point wasn't DBB vs Beams, it's DBB vs DHC. If you're working to keep something in your front arc, then you might as well work to keep it in the narrow arc and do more damage with a DHC.
The same goes for Cannon vs Beams. If you're picking cannons, you might as well pick beams and broadside.
As for proc rates, everything I've read says that DCs have the same proc rate as DHCs, do the same dps, but DHCs tend to be slightly more energy efficient because of the gaps between shots that let them recharge more.
Didn't they change ALL procs to per cycle? Im pretty sure Kemo is 10% chance per cycle.
Rouge Sto Wiki Editor.
Yep, exactly.
Something might have changed, but as far as I know, at the current time Dual Cannons and Dual Heavy Cannons are functionally the same. I guess technically since DHC to higher per shot damage if you had a really high critical chance, you might get bigger crits off them but I have yet to see that actually proven.
I am pretty sure Kemocite is per cycle but I'll be honest.. I am not 100% sure. Either way, in the debate between Dual Beam Banks vs. Cannons.. Cannons usually wins. DBB's are really for ships that you want to make into front facing builds that are restricted from using Cannons. This obviously effects Feds far more then Klingons or even Romulans.
DBB's aren't bad by any means, as I said before, I use them occasionally.. but as a general rule single beams or DC/DHC with Turrets are the way to go if you can.