Unorthodox PVE Torpedo Dive Bomber Build (Risian Corvette, possibly Raiders too)

kostamojenx

I've been doing Point-and-shoot escort builds since Day-1 in this game. Always very effective, but always the same. So I decided after watching some people in PVP and having so much of the "new content" items to find a way to use that I decided to try a "Speed" build, focused entirely on Engine and Shield power, utilizing Torpedos and 360 degree weapons along with anti-hold/disable skills and most importantly HIGH RATES OF SPEED and TURNING!

I already have a vid of it in action, you can see me (Kost) in it here flying my Risian 'Vette: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ce4yO00L5XU

Anyway, details of the build, a lot of which are still up in the air but it is pretty effective right now...

Front weapons:

Omega Torp (Omega), Graviton Torp (Dyson), Plasma Torp (or Tricobalt, or something else maybe), 360 Antiproton beam

Rear Weapons:

Borg Cutting Beam (Omega), Romulan Plasma Torpedo Launcher (Romulan), Hargh'Peng

I found that running the Romulan plasma launcher in the rear works well because of its firing rate and the slow speed of the plasma torps, while the Gravitons up front in conjunction with Torp Spread work great for an initial volley with the mini grav wells they produce. I'm using the 2nd Plasma torp in place of other torps because I like the torp spread with that so they can't be shot down like with the Romulan torp or a Tricobalt.


BO Skills:

Commander Tac: Tac Team 1, Torp Spread 2, Omega 1, Omega 3
Lt. Cmdr Engineer: Power to Engines 1, Aux to Dampeners 1, Warp Plasma 1
Lt. Tac: Beam Overload 1, High Yield 2
Lt. Engineer: Power to Shields 1, Engineering Team 2
Ensign Sci: Transfer Shield Strength 1

Running 2 Omegas is VERY Important, as is having a verison of Aux to Dampeners in there and Power to Engines. I also find Warp plasma to be EXTREMELY effective with this build, as well the Vent Theta Radiation console along with it.
Beam Overload is for the 360 beam but its not necessary. I'm still not sure whether TSS or Hazard Emitters is the best way to go for the Sci slot. Engineering team is VERY useful for disabled engines so keep that somewhere, and obviously running 2 Torp skills is VERY important.


Ship Equipment:

Deflector: Borg Deflector (Or Romulan/Reman Deflector)
Engines: Borg Engines (Or Romulan/Reman Engines)
Warp Core: Fleet Engines (Or whatever you have I guess, haven't tested too many)
Shields: MACO MK XII (or whatever you have thats your best shield, but the Power level proc with the MACO Resilient shields works wonders with this build!)

I fiddled a bit with other sets, but I found the Borg 2x+Maco combo still works best for me. It keeps my turn rates and speed quite high, and survivability up as well. The Romulan/Reman set is great for the high speed plasma torps too! But at the cost of survivability...

Devices:

Not really that important. I run Red Matter and the Subspace Infuser, but you can use a Engine Battery and something else if you wish.

Consoles:

Also not really an important part of this build... Use what you have. I use the Dyson and Romulan Consoles, Borg console, plus the Ferengi Console for more Torp damage, plus 4x Torp damage consoles highest I can afford. The rest either increase speed or damage and the Vent Theta Radiaton console which kicks butt with this build as previously mentioned, is it liberally!

How to use this build...

The key to this build is to fly at 100% speed ALL of the time that you can!

When you get close, turn around and fly away, then turn back in and fly back towards your target, firing everything you can. Use the Warp Plasma/Theta Radiation to immobilize your targets, and your torp skills timed with your torpedos of choice.

If you start to get hurt really bad, just TURN AND FLY AWAY QUICKLY! You can get to 10km+ distance in less than a second with this setup, so don't be afraid to GTFO because it takes just as much time to get back in range

I find that previously difficult attacks from certain PVE baddies (like the invisible torps from the tac cube) are not nearly as effective as me with this playstyle. I almost never die even though I take a lot of damage some times, because I can always get out of harms way and continue doing damage because of the "Fire and Forget" torpedos and plasma/radiation fields.

This build works GREAT as a support build, especially with people using traditional builds. It leads to big critical hits and lots of crowd control while not even being in a Sci ship. DPS can be low, but no worse than a Sci ship or Cruiser running standard builds. And its MUCH more fun to fly around than sit there and peck away!!!


If anyone has more input or more ideas for Torpedo Bombers, feel free to post them and post your results too...

nanomorph

Yeah, dps-wise, there were moments, particularly near the end, where you were getting about 2x my dps (I recorded that vid). When we were slugging it out at the beginning, though, you were getting about 2500, so it seems to be quite variable.

Still better, dps-wise, than a lot of people I've grouped with, particularly when killing citadels. I've had groups (of predominantly standard builds) struggle for 15min+ to kill one.

(Ignore the 114k comment I made, I need to use a wider window for my osd, since the "beam array overload iii-dual antiproton cannons" weapon name is too damn long. Didn't realize how mistaken I was until I watched the video while uploading it to YT.)

burstorion

I've been running a similar build since I got the corvette, albeit using quantums/transphasics (either depending on opponent type and I use no energy weapons as I shunt all my power to aux/engines) and it works great (especially trolling bugships in kerrat)

as to equipment, try 2pc aegis and maco shield - aegis defelctor and engine is great for its extra defence (10%) whle the maco (or omega if you have a leech - as you use energy weapons) will give great survival and useful bonuses

Also..dual weild your tac teams if you can - versus the voth, you need a constant tac team running, for example - and eng team 2 could be replaced with, say another a2d (that way you only need a green a2d doff to have 100% a2d uptime)

Also hazard emmiters in my opinion is superior to eng team - so you might want to switch tss for hazard emmiters, using batteries to add bonus shield in a pinch

kostamojenx

Ya, Hazard Emitters is a much better heal... But it doesnt have the Engine repair of the Engineering team.

But I think I'll try that out, minus the 2x tac team. I'm not seeing as much of a need for Tac Team with this build, but I always run 2x tac teams with my point and shoot builds.

I think I want to try all torp spread with quantums/transphasics/graviton and see how that works.

kostamojenx

I tried the quantums but wasn't happy with them. Possibly more DPS but less big hits with exotic damage...

I am finding this build works excellent with Cure Space Elite. I can get to any group of npc ships headed towards the Kang in seconds and hit them with warp plasma/theta radiation to stop them in their tracks. And the plasma torp spam does a good job of taking out the Nodes and moving onto the next target if their primary target dies before it hits.

boltfacelogo

I'm currently using similar hit-and-run tactics in my Corvette; it's an effective and fun ship. I'm running 2x torps and 2x DHCs in the front.

Link to my current build: http://www.stoacademy.com/tools/skillplanner/?build=bitchincamaro_5718

Yeah I'm usually playing the goalie in Cure Elite and KVE also.

Everyone was playing them last summer but 6 months later I kinda get excited when I see another one in-game we're so rare. It's like we need our own motorcycle wave when we pass one another.

cepholapoid

This was pretty much what I was running for a while while testing stuff for my torpedo t'varo.

http://skillplanner.stoacademy.com/?build=speeedyvette_0

This worked fairly well, but I didn't spec into shields because I knew my t'varo wouldn't need it, so you might want to consider it.