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Need Help with 1st PVP Build
sonulinu2
Member Posts: 0 Arc User
I posted my first cut of this in the Fed Shipyards, and after some helpful replies was instructed to post here to get the final blessing from you PvP gurus before making my move to the dark side. Would, therefore, greatly appreciate your feedback on any and all aspects of my build. PvE has been 99.9% of my sto online life so I'm really a PvP newb. I have 4 Fed VAs; tac/escort, 2 eng/cruisers, and sci/mvae; but tanking STFs in a cruiser has been the most fun for me. I'm hoping to bring that cruiser experience over here, however, I recognize these are different animals and I will need to change my ways...by becoming a healer/support cruiser captain.
So here is my build for a Sci Odyssey Engineer:
BOFF set up
Cmdr Eng: EPtW1, EPtS2, AuxSIF2, ES3
Univ Lt Cmdr: EPtW1, EPtS2, ET3
Lt Tac: TT1, TgtShields2
Lr Sci: HE1, ST2
Univ Ens: TSS1
DOFF set up
2 Purple TT Conn Officers
3 Purple BFI Shield Distb Officer
Weapons Layout
3x Phased Tetryon BA Mk XI [Acc]x2 (fore and aft)
Tricobalt Torpedo Mk XII [Acc]x3 (fore)
Tricobalt Mine Mk XI [CrtH]x3 (aft)
Engines, etc.
3x Borg, MACO XII Shield
Consoles
Eng: 2x Neutronium Mk XI, Monotanium Mk XI, Borg
Sci: 4x Field Gen Mk XI
Tac: 2x Tetryon Mk XI
Devices
Red Matter, Subspace FM, Deuterium, Eng battery
STO Academy Skill Planner
http://www.stoacademy.com/tools/skillplanner/index.php?build=sonulinuoddy3_0
Power Levels
I assume Aux emphasis but what should the specific % breakdowns be?
Thanks for the assistance!
So here is my build for a Sci Odyssey Engineer:
BOFF set up
Cmdr Eng: EPtW1, EPtS2, AuxSIF2, ES3
Univ Lt Cmdr: EPtW1, EPtS2, ET3
Lt Tac: TT1, TgtShields2
Lr Sci: HE1, ST2
Univ Ens: TSS1
DOFF set up
2 Purple TT Conn Officers
3 Purple BFI Shield Distb Officer
Weapons Layout
3x Phased Tetryon BA Mk XI [Acc]x2 (fore and aft)
Tricobalt Torpedo Mk XII [Acc]x3 (fore)
Tricobalt Mine Mk XI [CrtH]x3 (aft)
Engines, etc.
3x Borg, MACO XII Shield
Consoles
Eng: 2x Neutronium Mk XI, Monotanium Mk XI, Borg
Sci: 4x Field Gen Mk XI
Tac: 2x Tetryon Mk XI
Devices
Red Matter, Subspace FM, Deuterium, Eng battery
STO Academy Skill Planner
http://www.stoacademy.com/tools/skillplanner/index.php?build=sonulinuoddy3_0
Power Levels
I assume Aux emphasis but what should the specific % breakdowns be?
Thanks for the assistance!
Post edited by sonulinu2 on
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Rest looks spiffin.
Thanks! I'll put in the Emitter Arrays and a SIF Gen; good to know.
Do you have any suggestions on Power Levels, what % settings for Aux, Eng, Shield & Weapons?
Also, I expect to be going back and forth between PvP and PvE alot which will require me to change some of my BOFFs. I notice whenever I do this, however, my skill trays get all messed up and I have to rearrange them, which might TRIBBLE up my keybinds (if I ever get around to doing them). It also makes ppl wait while I fix things back. Is there a way to get around this, maybe save tray/skill positions for diff boffs? I would hate to get a second ship just for PvP, but even then there will be a need to share some Boffs so things will get messed up anyway... Arggh! Any solutions here?
Sci Team should be downgraded to 1. You will be using this skill to clear Subnucleonic Beam and Scramble Sensors, not as a heal.
Beam Target Shields 2 looks like a waste to me. You could slot a second TT in there and get rid of your TT DOffs, or pick up an Attack Pattern Delta and use it to boost the resistances of whoever you're healing and debuff their team, or a Dispersal Pattern Beta 1 and run a second trico mine, so that you can pump out a dispersal pattern of tricos every 30 seconds (your sixth beam isn't doing any damage in your broadside, anyway, only procs). Or make your ensign universal a Tac, and run two TT1s AND a delta or dispersal pattern beta, and get two DOff slots free anyway.
Having four emergency power skills is a waste of two emergency power skills, because you can only cycle two. Ditch the EPTW, and either downgrade both of your EPTS to 1, or get EPTS1 on one of them, and EPTS3 on the other one, downgrading your Engineering Team to ET1.
Speaking of Engineering Team, you will be using this to clear Viral Matrix, not as a heal. If you're still running just one tac team, keep it as ET1. If you're running two tac teams, you might not want an ET at all. Still, there's not much else that's worth taking in an Ens. Engi slot, so you might as well take it anyway, if you aren't running two EPTS1s there.
You can have Aux2SIF 3 in your Lt. Commander slot. Look on the exchange for a BOff candidate who has it.
Get at least one Reverse Shield Polarity 1 in your newly opened LT slots. Two of them isn't a bad idea either, but less than one is suicide for a tank and inefficiency for a healer: you can't heal your team if you're healing yourself, and you can't heal your team if you're dead.
Sci team II works great as a heal, but you gotta have the Development Lab scientists for it. Id say swap out the Conn officer doffs for them.
You can have 2x(2) emergency powers cycling. For the first 15 seconds you will only have one emergency power going, but after that both are on.
As you are newer to PvP, if you do find that you are dying still, take out the EPtW and move abilities around to fit the RSP. Just dont rely on it like a crutch. Sometimes its just a beacon saying, "Nuke me!"
I recommend going thru this set of posts for a really good discussion on a pvp setup for just about any cruiser youd like to run
http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showpost.php?p=561845
I personally would have your ET3 on global cooldown, possibly run 3 damage control engineers so you can run one copy of eps2 and epw1, giving you more boff power options. (You can still have 95% uptime of both your Emergency power skills running 2 purple DCE and a blue).
support power 25/75/25/75 as a start. keep shields full and aux high
Imperial House Of Pancakes
First, Come to my Cruiser thread. It will help you. Though you picked mostly solid choices
http://www.stoacademy.com/tools/skillplanner/index.php?build=MavMod22_0
That should be your spec.
And changes to you ship are quoted.
Reason I ditched Sci Team? you have 2 team abilities already. one of which should be in it's shared CD quite often anyway. Target Subs2 is kinda bupkiss, so the extra HDR from APD1 is more reliable. And it provides a debuff to whoever shoots the guy you boost with it.
SIF Generators, up your hull healing Tremendously. (and also boost the dmg resist bonuses of HE, and ASIF).
I suggested the three teams, as well as a variety of healing skills so he can get used to what clears what, how abilities stacks, and the limitations of abilities. Im sure as he gets more experience hes going to be able to swap abilities to ones that will compliment his play style and team.
Well with 2, you're going to find yourself over stretched out of the gate. There's going to one you almost Never Use by default.
But you aren't carrying 3 teams.
Also, anytime you use TT you no longer have ET3 going. I run ET and TT on mine most of the time, myself. It can be difficult to work both in, proper rotation. 3 teams would be far far too many.
Well, you Can make a ST based cruiser and have it be Very effective. (ST3 with TSS2? = Winning) Imo, you should have either ST or ET3 on an Oddy. That's the best thing about the Oddy, is the ability to have one or other other on rotation, depending on battlefield conditions.
If you go the ST route, get a pair of Dev Lab Scientists, and don't use lower than ST2. (ST2 and TSS3 is also very strong)
I always recommend every cruiser, hell any ship in the game should have a Tac Team, so the secondary Team choice is always TT.
I mainly use
Dmg Dealing: 100/25/25/50
****s hit the fan and i'm gonna die Healing: 25/50/25/100
I'm sure there are other power level setups but those are the ones I mainly use.
I'm not sure about your keybind and skill layout problem. I sometimes use different ships for PvP, PvE and they use different boff skills, but once that layout is set up on that ship it stays that way. I can switch ships, change skills, then switch everything back again and they are still the same. My suggestion is use another ship for PvE otherwise I'm afraid I can't help.
Thank you, ghosty and to everyone else who contributed their comments. This is truly amazing stuff and I feel like I'm back in school jamming for an exam (and that was a looong time ago). The game dynamics take on a fresh perspective and I begin to understand why PvPers sometimes seem like they're talking about a whole different game in these forums. Some questions, if you don't mind.
1. Since I have no skill points allocated to Attack Patterns will my use of Attack Pattern Delta 1 be of material assistance to the team? An alternative, proposed by guriphu, might be the use of Dispersal Pattern Beta 1 and even add a second trico mine launcher.
2. I see what you did by deleting all skill points from Projectile Weapons and replacing the Trico torpedo with a 7th BA. That was very smart. However, in my limited experience even with Weapon power level at 100+ seven BAs broadside power drops significantly (I don't remember the numbers but I think it was 70-). Or is it that since the Odyssey turns like a brick broadside attacks won't happen very often anyway in PvP?
3. Are Phased Tetryons really better than Phasers in PvP? In STFs I found my Phased Tetryon BAs worked slower then my plain Phasers not only on ships with shields but on transformers, generators and nanite probes, and it took a lot longer to gain aggro. You are also suggesting replacing one of my two Tetryon tac consoles with the Borg console. I know cruisers aren't the main damage dealers in PvP but at what point should I start worrying about causing any meaningful damage?
4. Instead of two HE1s would I be better off using a second TT; or maybe even PH1 since I don't have any skill points in Inertial Dampeners? Should I even care if I get TB'ed since it's my squishier teammates that need protection from being held? Edit: Seeing guriphu's comment above, maybe replace it with ST1?
5. Should I be concerned about not having RSP or do my BFI DOFFS effectively act as replacement rsp?
6. Should I replace the order of ES3 with AuxSIF2? I have an Aux3 BOFF.
7. Do Maintenance Engineers definitively reduce ET's recharge timer or is it a % chance like Damage Control Engineers? I only have 2 Blues atm, will that do for now?
I hope you realize these questions are not expressing doubt rather I'm just trying to understand the game better. Thanks so much for taking the time to explain all this to me!
Beam arrays beyond 6 decrease your total dps unless you are running a weapon battery or possibly EPTW. (I don't use EPTW, so I'm not sure of its specifics.) The 6th one only adds a tiny amount of dps, but doesn't decrease it at all either, and helps if you are out of your optimal firing arc, and gives you more procs, so is generally advisable. 7 or 8 are a waste of slots.
If you're going to run tricobalt mines, invest at least three and probably as much as 6 ranks into projectile Weapons. Torpedoes are hard to pull off with a cruiser, though. I agree with removing the torp.
Chronoton mines can be another nice addition to a cruiser as a general purpose annoyance weapon, if you're looking for ideas to fill that 8th weapon slot.
My thinking for the mines was to discourage scorts from my 6 since my turn rate is so low, and like you said, more than 6 BA are a waste of slots. However, you bring up another interesting point. My new build will include EPtW as well as a warp core engineer DOFF, so maybe thats why ghosty suggested 7. Lots to think about lol. But it's really great that there are so many ppl who play this game that are smart and willing to help like you, ghosty and all the others. Thanks! - I keep saying that in all my posts.
If you want to maximize your proc rate, running 8 turrets (with possibly rapid fire or scatter volley) will do constant dps, and high proc chance, no matter where the opponent is.
@rudiefix Feds: Rudiefix / Thron / Opa
@rudiefix KDFs: Lill / Xifeidur / Dehr / Ugly
@rudiefix Roms (KDF alligned): Chicita
1: Even with no ranks it still adds a 22 to damage resistance IIRC Fully specced it becomes 28. If possible I would find the points to get Attack Patterns ranked though.
2: Well if you have your weapon power set so that with EPTW1 going to go Over Cap your energy drain will not be as much of an issue. I always also crank my EPS Power to myself.
3: I don't think they are really. I prefer pure Tetryon, or pure Phasers to either because you get 3 properties for the weapon vs 2.
4: I always cycle 2 HE1s on my heal boats. As a healer on a Skilled team, if a panick situation happens like me suddenly being focuse,d it's honestly the job of your allies to put you back together. Everyone chips in, in healing in sto. Or should on a given Skilled Team. in a pug, that's when I crank RSF, and possibly Tac Team.
5: Well if you start carrying the extend shield doff, honestly I've found I don't need RSP. Between that doff, BFI, MW (I often will use it as a shield filler), and RSF things don't scare me as much.
6: ASIF2 boff is okay, ASIF3 is even better. Most of the time when I run ES I only run ES2. So yeah you could swap them out.
7: Flat Reduction. Blue and purple will get you into ETs global. Yeah blues can work till you can score a single purple.
No problem. I enjoy when people ask alot of questions. Sometimes it causes me to rethink something, and then I learn or relearn something I forgot in the process
Never played it.
Ok I feel like I got a lot accomplished today but I'm still not out of the woods. Captain skills respeced with 6 pips in Attack Patterns. BOFFS (4 efficient) all set with agreed upon new powers. Purchased a Purple ES Doff (/gasp 9+ million ECs - Borticus please dont nerf these!), and all set with 2 Purple BFI and 2 Blue Maintenance Engin Doffs. Consoles all purchase (Mk XI blues unfortunately), but I have one last question.
I've decided to stick with Phasers but I don't know with what modifiers. I know this has been addressed in a number of threads (including the debate over Fleet vs Borg weapons) but it's all still confusing to me and I do not know which are the best Phaser BAs to use. Currently have all Borg as they're free, but I don't have enough ECs for even a small number of ACCx3. So what do you suggest? I also have Borg AP Mk XIIs but I don't think thats extremely helpful. Stick with Borg Phasers for now and slowly acquire [Acc]x3? I can craft anything but nothing good (I wish they would fix that). Gettig close; can feel that itch....:D
Yep.
Ace Combat 6 is where the series ended as far as I'm concerned. TRIBBLE Horizon never happened.
Personally for Single Arrays I prefer Acc, CrtHX2 to get your crit rates up. Borg will also do the job until you can get some better toys
Beam arrays have very high innate accuracy scores so a single acc is really all you should need, especially once CC hits the field.
On a more broad basis, I recommend dedicating yourself to either squeezing out as much damage as possible or loading your boat with utility to the hilt; don't try and spread yourself thin between both, it's better to play to your strengths and ignore your weaknesses. With an Engy you can get away with fielding a straight 8 beams if you like. In this case I wouldn't leave dry dock without a copy of any EPtW rank, it's a really underrated skill for getting juice out of a cruiser.
Borg weapons are fine, they're really efficient for the effort -> quality ratio. 99% of my non-MVAE boats are loaded with Borg stuff and I do swimmingly.
vids and guides and stuff
[9:52] [Zone #11] Neal@trapper1532: im a omega force shadow oprative and a maoc elite camander and here i am taking water samples
Those games have the best damn soundtrack in the world dude. Seriously, every time I hear "Zero" I feel like hopping into an F-16 wearing American flag slippers and blasting off to go punch an alien in the face
vids and guides and stuff
[9:52] [Zone #11] Neal@trapper1532: im a omega force shadow oprative and a maoc elite camander and here i am taking water samples
I've taken your (and ghosty's) advice with 8 BAs, ty. I also like the idea of focusing my tactical stations on 1 type of weapon. That is ideal and it will also allows me to concentrate on healing/support! I've been running dailies and STFs to get comfortable with this, and in general it's a great set up. However, even with EPtW1, during full broadside I experience occasional dips in power ranging anywhere from 90 (which is ok) down to around 70ish. I don't know the calculations but IIRC somewhere south of 90 one is better off using less weapons to keep the power level high to maximize dps. And without EPtW it's gone down as low as the mid 30s. Only when I use EPS does the power level seem to remain consistently high. Perhaps I should adopt what rudiefix1 suggested and use 2xDBB up front. Please help me understand what am I missing here with all the buzz on 8 BAs?
Edit: it should be noted that the above was done in PvE (pretty obvious), and with power levels in the preset attack mode with Weapons at 100.