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Crystalline Entity Elite walkthrough
redsnake721
Member Posts: 0 Arc User
I wanted to create a thread for everyone to post tips, suggestions and strategies. With Nukera marks being in such limited supply this mission is now a necessity for players grinding out marks.
After about 20 runs I see that the community needs some pointers when it comes to this mission.
The main point I want to get out there is about the Shards.
When you let them hit your ship it increases the Damage output of the Entity's Matter/energy conversion Beam. If too many (or like my last mission one Noob in a Odyssey) just sit right on top of it and let Shard after Shard slam into them, within seconds the Beams power output will climb to %300 - %400 of normal. Thats when you start seeing it one-shot people.
If you are in cruiser stay back unless you have EPTE running. only fast escourts that can move and avoid the shards need be right on top of the thing.
Once the Beam gets %400 Damage the mission becomes pointless as you cant even get one or two hits on it before you are dead.
Sci ships can really do well on this mission. Tractor Beam repulsors and Energy Syphon and the Shockwaves and Pulses do well vs the Entity. A Fleet Ambassidor with Aux2batt and spamming Energy Syphon, or a MVAE or Breen Curiser can run Syphon and still DPS and can drain the thing dry. So if you can keep the Shards from hitting you, the mission can be finished rather quickly with no one even having to respawn. So for reccomendations run EPTE, Eng Batt's and Deuterium supplies, Repulsors to avoid the Shards. Sci captians you also can do wonders with Exotic abilities and Drains.
When the Enitity is charging, STOP SHOOTING IT! and use evasive to get aobut 12k out from it. Anything that shoots it or is destroyed by it's overcharge blast just adds to it's power output. So with just these few tips the mission be be completed much faster and with minimal player respons.
If anyone else has good tips and suggestions for this mission feel free to post them here.
After about 20 runs I see that the community needs some pointers when it comes to this mission.
The main point I want to get out there is about the Shards.
When you let them hit your ship it increases the Damage output of the Entity's Matter/energy conversion Beam. If too many (or like my last mission one Noob in a Odyssey) just sit right on top of it and let Shard after Shard slam into them, within seconds the Beams power output will climb to %300 - %400 of normal. Thats when you start seeing it one-shot people.
If you are in cruiser stay back unless you have EPTE running. only fast escourts that can move and avoid the shards need be right on top of the thing.
Once the Beam gets %400 Damage the mission becomes pointless as you cant even get one or two hits on it before you are dead.
Sci ships can really do well on this mission. Tractor Beam repulsors and Energy Syphon and the Shockwaves and Pulses do well vs the Entity. A Fleet Ambassidor with Aux2batt and spamming Energy Syphon, or a MVAE or Breen Curiser can run Syphon and still DPS and can drain the thing dry. So if you can keep the Shards from hitting you, the mission can be finished rather quickly with no one even having to respawn. So for reccomendations run EPTE, Eng Batt's and Deuterium supplies, Repulsors to avoid the Shards. Sci captians you also can do wonders with Exotic abilities and Drains.
When the Enitity is charging, STOP SHOOTING IT! and use evasive to get aobut 12k out from it. Anything that shoots it or is destroyed by it's overcharge blast just adds to it's power output. So with just these few tips the mission be be completed much faster and with minimal player respons.
If anyone else has good tips and suggestions for this mission feel free to post them here.
Post edited by redsnake721 on
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Comments
anyway, the other things are true and as far as i know should be considered and known by anybody that wants to do it in an elite PUG.
and jsut to point out, each time you sue one of those abilities, it removed 20 stacks, so you only need 1 sci ship spamming tachyon beam every 20sec to keep the entity dry off of dmg boosts, and also, sci abilities dont work on it, it is immune to all kinds of control exept for tractor beams to held it.
CUUCUUMBEER! "-With slight partigen with it."
Proud member or DPS-800 "-We kill dem mines with our scitter turrets."
To debuff it, bring a science boff that knows at least one of Tachyon Beam, Tyken's Rift or Energy Siphon. It doesn't matter if its ensign-level or anything. Spam this to remove the buffs the small fragments give it. Charged Particle Burst also works, but it has a 5 km range so you must get in close to use it. DO NOT expect other players in a pug to bring these for you.
To keep it from regenerating, shoot the entity. Don't fly off chasing the Tholians, they are there as a distraction.
I would also recommend staying at long range. The closer you are the faster the large fragments will hit you. There is a limit to how many large fragments can be in flight at a time, so everyone staying at long range will actually reduce the entity's effective firepower by forcing it to wait until a fragment hits before it spawns more. Staying near the 10 km mark will also make it easy to get out of range when it's charging up its shockwave attack.
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Yep, good point on that.
I've found not that much is needed.
I've swapped to Tach beam 1 & 2 on a few Tac/escorts just for CCE.
One of them is even an aux to batts build with Tach beam 1 at global CD.
You don't actually need aux power, you just need a few of these powers.
Generally speaking, so far 2x (or equivalent) Tach beam 1 is sufficient.
These abilities combined with everybody spamming torp spread will tear it down fast.
As mentioned, Tyken's Rift, Tachy beam and Energy Siphon are also very useful, but with enough people dropping grav wells and torp spreads and other AOE attacks (Beam Fire at Will, Cannon Scatter Volley) the fragments should be a non-issue.
Tractor Beam Repulsors might seem useful to keep the large fragments at bay, but more often than not they'll just end up pushing them into your friends. Don't use them.
I've also found the best energy weapons to use against it are polarized disruptors (for the dual damage resistance/power drain proc) and while any sort of torpedo except transphasic is effective, the best to use are the Romulan hyper-plasma, quantums (especially if you have two copies of Torp Spread running) or just plain old photons.
Aceton Assimilators will make everybody's lives easier. The Plasmonic Leach console is really handy as well. The Nadeon Detonator console (the one that turns any standard torpedo into a photonic shockwave torpedo) is also brilliant.
And then obviously as soon as it goes into its absorption mode, stop shooting, retreat to a safe distance (10km), and wait for the shockwave before returning to the battle.
Some of the better ships to use:
Carriers - Atrox, Vo'quv, Mirror Vo'quv, Kar'fi, Recluse. The Recluse is particularly awesome at pugging this thing if you put an engineer in the uni cmdr. slot, run an aux2bat build, and pack Aceton Beam III and Grav Well 1. You won't be able to fire torp spread because you'll want to have tac team in your one tac slot, but you can load a couple of projectile doffs and spit ticobalt torpedoes, or better yet bioneural warheads or hargh'pengs. Whatever carrier you use, don't use caitian stalker or tholian widow pets - tetryon beams are totally useless here. Use something that either has teeth (Scorpions) or is good for crowd control (runabouts) and set them to Escort mode. Use your spare Eng. and Sci. abilities to heal your team.
Cruisers - I like the Ody and Bortasqu here. Maneuverability is not an issue (you can always use evasive maneuvers when it's time to back out of range) and they can both slot AB3 and GW1 and run aux2bat or play heal-tank. Kamarag and Ambassador can do the same thing and are also good choices - not as tanky but much more agile. I also like the Galor. My Tac character has taken first in a couple of pugs flying a Galor with the Jem'Hadar set (to get that Dominion Synergy and Victory is life bonus for the phased polaron beams I have on this ship.) You can't put grav well on a galor, but it's offensive firepower is pretty much unmatched in this category, given its ability to fire TS3 and Attack Pattern Beta plus the Jem'Hadar set bonus. Excelsior retro, Regent and Tor'Kaht are all also excellent offensive choices.
Science - Grav Well 3 and Tyken's Rift 2 are must-have abilities. Otherwise focus on healing teammates. Any sort of T5 science ship is good, especially the Vesta.
Escorts - for once, you're not the king of the hill, especially in pugmade groups where you can't count on heals. There's a few good ships though. Steamrunners really shine here, as do Patrol and Mirror Advanced escorts, being tankier by nature. The Armitage is also an excellent option, having an LCdr. Eng. BOff and hangar pets. Attack Pattern Beta or Delta are very helpful, especially if you apply Delta to your team's tank. Otherwise, load torpedoes and fire off spreads, chase down those pesky Tholians and try not to die.
Crystaline Entity Elite is fairly manageable if even half of your group is set up as above. As always, teamwork and communication will win the day, but a few good ships can carry the whole group to victory.
Hope this helps somebody!
...Oh, baby, you know, I've really got to leave you / Oh, I can hear it callin 'me / I said don't you hear it callin' me the way it used to do?...
- Anne Bredon
Sitting at 9km with x2 mines seems to deal with large shards.