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Beam array weapons for Cruisers

boumazzaboumazza Member Posts: 10 Arc User
edited December 2012 in Federation Discussion
Hi

I am an engineer in assault cruiser and I have a question about what Beam array to use.

Currently I use 6x borg Anti proton Beam arrays MK XII.

I was thinking of going for : -plasma/disruptor hybrid MK XI ( blue )
or
- romulan MK XII plasma ( I believe they also have disruptor proc )
or
- Polarized disruptor MK XI (purple)

Can anyone give me any advice? I usually just PvE and I was thinking of changing my AP beam arrays for something else

Edit:

BOFF layout:
Ensign tac: TT1
Lt. tac: TS 1, Fire at will II
Commander engineer: EptW 1, EptA2,EptS3,Aux2SIF
Lt.Commander engineer:Reverse Shield polarity 1, Engineering team 2, Warp plasma 2
lt science: TSS 1, HE 2

DOFF layout:
3x purple borg torpedo off( altho I might change that for shield distribution doff)
1 for engineering team cooldown reduce time
1 for TSS to remove boarding parties
Post edited by boumazza on

Comments

  • wunjeewunjee Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    AP and Disruptors seem to be the common choice for the most damage done (mostly because of their procs), but Polaron weapons with the Jem'Hadar set gets a pretty nasty damage buff too.
  • neos472neos472 Member Posts: 580 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    AP arrays are some of the best out there. i would reccomend phasers for disabling sub systems, disruptor, for damage resist debuff, or Polaron for the power debuff/synergy with the Jem Hadar set.
    manipulator of time and long time space traveler
  • boumazzaboumazza Member Posts: 10 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    Maybe I should mention my gear too. I have maco MK XII shield and 2piece borg set. I don't wanna switch to Jem'hadar or any other set at the moment, because I fly a cruiser - tank. I just want to increase my dps
  • hereticknight085hereticknight085 Member Posts: 3,783 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    You should also mention your BOff and DOff setup. And if you want more damage, AP works fine, or switch to disruptors. like wunjee said. As for your setup of 2 piece borg and MACO shield, why not just go full Borg set? You have to change up tanking method (can't zombie tank), but it's far more effective since you get the 3 piece set bonus and you also get the tractor beam which is a power drain.

    Or you can go full MACO set, which I would actually recommend, since the MACO deflector is very powerful, and very good for tanking. It can also be used to increase damage output, since the MACO graviton beam reduces damage resistance of whatever you hit it with.

    But we really need to know your BOff and DOff setup.
    It is said the best weapon is one that is never fired. I disagree. The best weapon is one you only have to fire... once. B)
  • boumazzaboumazza Member Posts: 10 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    Edited in first post
  • pegasussgcpegasussgc Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    For pure value, I would recommend the plasma/disruptor hybrid MK XI. It does disruptor damage and has 7.5% acc and most importantly, it's FREE. Whenever I get ready to suit up a new alt I run the mission a bunch of times to outfit my ship with these or the plasma/disruptor hybrid dual heavy cannons (depending on the ship). In PVE this will do just fine on any level, Elite STF's or Normal, etc.
  • hereticknight085hereticknight085 Member Posts: 3,783 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    Your build made me wince. You have some major issues with your BOff and DOff setup. You have a well balanced build, I'll give you that, but it's going to fail when it comes to larger damage output or larger tanking ability.

    Now since you want to spec for damage, I will warn you right now, your tanking ability will fall. But since you're in an upper tier cruiser, it won't fall by much. So here's what I would propose:

    Leave your weapons as is. They are fine. But you need to seriously change up your BOffs and DOffs.

    Let's start with BOffs. You can leave the TT1 on your ensign tac. But your Lt Tac, I would change out your BFAW2 for an APB1. You will lose your fire at everything and laugh ability, but you will gain far more focused damage. Or you can leave it as is, since your tactical BOffs aren't really that much of a problem.

    But your biggest problem is your Engineering BOffs. Both of them. That's not a damage setup. I am not exactly sure what that is tbh. Now if you want to maintain survivability but still do damage, I would recommend this:

    Cmdr Engineering: EPtS1, EPtW2, ET3, Aux2SIF3
    LtCmdr Engineering: EPtS1, EPtW2, RSP2

    The first thing you probably noticed was that you lost a ton of your versatility. But that's the price you pay for being damage focused. Instead, you will be able to have constantly cycling EPtS and EPtW, which will keep your shield and weapon power boosted (and we all know that weapon power is key, especially with cruisers running BAs), and you will have heals in the form of ET3 and Aux2SIF3. But you should only really use ET3 when you really need it. And you also have the engineers "oh ****" button with RSP2. Combine that with EPtS1, and you will almost be guaranteed a full shield heal.

    Your science BOff is fine.

    Now for DOffs. That one really made me wince. You have 3 projectile weapons officers on a ship that mostly broadsides. Unless you have the wide angle quantum from the regent, you are wasting those slots. Even with the wide angle, it's still a waste tbh. As for the ET cd reducer? Yeah, not a good idea. ET is a heal. And you want damage. So I would take that out. And the Transporter Officer? Take that one out too. Basically, all your DOffs, remove them. Now what I would recommend you run instead is this:

    2x Conn Officer (tactical team and buff cooldown reducer).
    1x Technician
    2x Warp Core Engineer

    Now what that will give you is constant uptime on your tactical team, which gives you damage, automatic shield distribution, and also removes boarding parties and prevents any from being placed on you. Also if you run two of them like I have you do, you only need one copy of tactical team, which is all you have. Also those conn officers give you a boost to your attack patterns skill, which will help with any APB or APD you might put on. The Technician is just for global CD reduction, which is helpful, since it will affect all your abilities. That one is mostly for your Tactical and Science abilities. But the key will be the two warp core engineers. Each one gives you the chance for a +25 power bonus every time you activate an EPtX. So your EPtS1 will go from +20 power bonus to +45, which might as well be an EPtS3. And it works for your EPtW as well. If they proc, your damage output will increase, especially if they proc for your EPtW.

    Now with that BOff and DOff setup, you can run with the attack preset (100/50/25/25) and not really have to worry too much about losing too much survivability, and your damage output will increase greatly as well.
    It is said the best weapon is one that is never fired. I disagree. The best weapon is one you only have to fire... once. B)
  • scurry5scurry5 Member Posts: 1,554 Arc User
    edited December 2012

    But your biggest problem is your Engineering BOffs. Both of them. That's not a damage setup. I am not exactly sure what that is tbh. Now if you want to maintain survivability but still do damage, I would recommend this:

    Cmdr Engineering: EPtS1, EPtW2, ET3, Aux2SIF3
    LtCmdr Engineering: EPtS1, EPtW2, RSP2

    Now for DOffs. That one really made me wince. You have 3 projectile weapons officers on a ship that mostly broadsides. Unless you have the wide angle quantum from the regent, you are wasting those slots. Even with the wide angle, it's still a waste tbh. As for the ET cd reducer? Yeah, not a good idea. ET is a heal. And you want damage. So I would take that out. And the Transporter Officer? Take that one out too. Basically, all your DOffs, remove them. Now what I would recommend you run instead is this:

    2x Conn Officer (tactical team and buff cooldown reducer).
    1x Technician
    2x Warp Core Engineer

    The Technician is just for global CD reduction, which is helpful, since it will affect all your abilities.

    Uhh, you've got a problem there. The Technician only reduces cooldown on Boff abilities when you use the AuxToBat ability, so it won't help reduce cooldown if you just slot it.

    And OP, there is also a pretty decent thread back in the archives for the Dragon Flagship build, IIRC. You may want to look at that too.
  • mandoknight89mandoknight89 Member Posts: 1,687 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    Also, you can only run one Warp Core Engineer.
  • hereticknight085hereticknight085 Member Posts: 3,783 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    scurry5 wrote: »
    Uhh, you've got a problem there. The Technician only reduces cooldown on Boff abilities when you use the AuxToBat ability, so it won't help reduce cooldown if you just slot it.

    And OP, there is also a pretty decent thread back in the archives for the Dragon Flagship build, IIRC. You may want to look at that too.
    Also, you can only run one Warp Core Engineer.

    Anyone got a Mek'leth lying around? I feel a sudden need to prematurely go to Sto'vo'kor...

    Ty for the corrections guys...

    NEW DOFF SETUP:

    Conn Officerx2
    Warp Core Engineer x1
    Shield Distribution Officer x1
    (Users Choice for final DOff)
    It is said the best weapon is one that is never fired. I disagree. The best weapon is one you only have to fire... once. B)
  • boumazzaboumazza Member Posts: 10 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    Thank you all for great answers. I apologize for any heart or head pain I may have caused you :)
  • mscowboymscowboy Member Posts: 231 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    I'd say the offensive gain from EPtW2 is minimal compared to the defensive loss for using EPtS1. I'd rather swap the levels or even move ET/RSP down for EPtW1x2 and EPtS3x2.


    You can also try an actual technician build with 3 purple technicians and aux2batt. Such a build can rotate a single copy of EPtetc as if it were two, saving you a slot and generally making every other ability available far more often at the expense of less Aux2SIF usage and some Aux power conflicts at times. It's probably the best setup for an offensive focused cruiser because of the ability to use all of your tactical abilities so much more often. You'll feel much more badass when you're in FAW mode a good half of the time.
  • thisslerthissler Member Posts: 2,055 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    boumazza wrote: »
    Hi

    I am an engineer in assault cruiser and I have a question about what Beam array to use.

    Currently I use 6x borg Anti proton Beam arrays MK XII.

    I was thinking of going for : -plasma/disruptor hybrid MK XI ( blue )
    or
    - romulan MK XII plasma ( I believe they also have disruptor proc )
    or
    - Polarized disruptor MK XI (purple)

    Can anyone give me any advice? I usually just PvE and I was thinking of changing my AP beam arrays for something else

    Edit:

    BOFF layout:
    Ensign tac: TT1
    Lt. tac: TS 1, Fire at will II
    Commander engineer: EptW 1, EptA2,EptS3,Aux2SIF
    Lt.Commander engineer:Reverse Shield polarity 1, Engineering team 2, Warp plasma 2
    lt science: TSS 1, HE 2

    DOFF layout:
    3x purple borg torpedo off( altho I might change that for shield distribution doff)
    1 for engineering team cooldown reduce time
    1 for TSS to remove boarding parties

    This is like my FAVORITE ship ever!

    First, my engineer is still not of rank to use one. So sad. I have a Sci and a Tac.

    The sci uses cannons and turrets and torpedoes.. The tac uses dual beams and turrets and torpedoes.

    The tac uses Fire at Will and DEM. There is also the DEM doff involved. That doff keeps your energy from dropping for the first 8 seconds. Very handy. Really it is like magic.

    The sci uses cannon and torpedo abilities. And heavy on the venting stuff. Green poo is good.

    As far as type, I went with Phaser. It's a federation thing. Consider what proc you want to bring to the party and take it from there. Remember, it isn't a big deal to save your borg set for borg....and whip up a little debuffing action for fleet events! Grab some commons or greens off of the exchange, play around and have a ball. Make sure you give em a good honest try then step back and evaluate for yourself!

    PS: The assualt cruiser turns like a champ. The CStore version is full of awesome. I can't wait for the fleet. NOM NOM NOM NOM.

    Cheers happy flying!
  • ussultimatumussultimatum Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited December 2012
    boumazza wrote: »
    Currently I use 6x borg Anti proton Beam arrays MK XII.

    Nothing in particular wrong with AP for STFs, it's one of the top energy types.

    I prefer Disruptors personally, so let's take a look at the choices you posted

    boumazza wrote: »
    I was thinking of going for : -plasma/disruptor hybrid MK XI ( blue )

    You lose quite a bit dropping down to these, less mods, lower mark, and lower rarity.
    boumazza wrote: »
    - romulan MK XII plasma ( I believe they also have disruptor proc )

    I haven't tried these yet, and while I'd prefer a Disruptor weapon with a plasma proc as opposed to the other way around - these might be a decent choice depending on Mods available.
    boumazza wrote: »
    - Polarized disruptor MK XI (purple)

    These are a decent choice, especially if you have ranks in flow caps.

    MK XII will probably pricey though.


    If you're going to change from AP to anything my choice is always Disruptors.

    The Disruptor proc is the only proc that benefits the damage of all of your weapons (like torps or mines) or powers (like sci powers) as well as benefitting your entire team and even any allied pets.
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