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Scurry-style Build and Gameplay: Experiences as a PuG Science player
scurry5
Member Posts: 1,554 Arc User
Disclaimer: This is a bunch of the stuff that I have gleaned over my time messing around in STO. I make no promises as to the effectiveness of anything I mention here. All I know is that it seems to work for me, and I hope it can help others too.
First off, a hearty congratulations to you, for choosing to PvP, and for choosing the path of versatility and flexibility. The Science player is the Swiss Army Knife of STO, bringing to the table something useful in every match. You don't overpower players, nor do you outlast them. Instead, you undermine their ability to do their job.
Note: This assumes that you want to be flying a science vessel. Some tips may be applicable to carriers or Sci BoPs, but I don't have much experience with those.
Part 1: Defensive Abilities
In a PuG or in Kerrat, you will have to be self-reliant to some degree. Furthermore, due to the fact that most SVs run with high Aux power, they often function as a secondary healer.
There is a basic set I tend to run with, a Science quartet and an Eng triplet, with a single Tac Team. With these 8 BoFF abilities in your arsenal, you will be difficult to bring down, and can share some love with your teammates.
Science:
Hazard Emitters
One of the most essential abilities for any player, not just science. It provides an Aux-dependent hull heal-over-time, a hull resist, clears certain debuffs, and can be cast on teammates. The debuffs it cleanses include Theta Radiation, Warp Plasma, Energy Siphon, Tyken's Rift, and plasma fires from plasma weaponry.
Transfer Shield Strength
Provides a healthy shield heal-over-time and a good dose of shield resistance. It is also Aux-dependent, and team-castable.
Science Team
Not Aux-dependent, but team-castable. Although it heals shields, that's not why you run it. You run it to clear debuffs - Jam Sensor, Scramble Sensors, Antimatter Spread and Subnucleonic Beam are all cleared by a single application.
Polarize Hull
Aux-dependent, but not team-castable. This provides you with a hefty hull resistance, and most importantly, makes you immune to tractors. As a SV, you have little hull, and often lack the slots for Attack Pattern Omega to counter tractors, which makes this an essential defensive ability.
Engineering:
Emergency Power to Shields x2
Not aux-dependent or team castable. Provides shield resist and a small shield heal, gives shields a power boost and is improved by speccing into EPS systems. Running two copies is highly recommended, in order to maintain 100% uptime.
Auxiliary to Structural Integrity
Aux-dependent and team-castable. Provides a small hull heal and hull resist for 10 seconds. Very short cooldown. Some prefer to use Reverse Shield Polarity in Lt Engineering slots, but I prefer to use this to maintain good hull strength with all the bleed nowadays.
Tactical:
Tactical Team
In PuGs, it's best to have a copy for yourself for clearing tac debuffs such as Fire On My Mark and Attack Pattern Beta. The instant shield redistribution is also very nice under alpha strikes!
Part 2: Offensive Science
Once you have the basic defenses, it's time to figure out offensive stuffs. After slotting your defenses/heals, you should have either 2 or 3 Lt Comm and Comm science slots left.
First, think about how you want to affect enemy ships. Do you want to mess with movement? Drain power? Disable subsystems? It will be your primary role. Now, think of the abilities that you can use. Using the examples from earlier, Movement - Grav Well, Tractors, Warp Plasma. Drain - Energy Siphon, Tyken's Rift, Charged Particle Burst, Tachyon Beam. Disables - Photonic Shockwave, Viral Matrix.
Pick the abilities you want that fit the role. Try to pick abilities which are buffed by the same skill, so you can use the consoles for them. Remember to take note of whether you need to maintain high Aux power!
Part 3: Consoles
The way I work, Tactical slots are filled up with whatever buffs the weapons I carry. Phaser Beams? Fill them wih phaser consoles. Torpedoes? Use torp consoles.
For Engineering, I always have at least one Neutronium console, to mitigate squishy hulls. The rest usually have universals.
For Science, slot at least 3, preferably 4, of the consoles which boost your Science abilities. The only exception is Subspace Decompiler, in which case I go with a mix of universals and heal consoles.
Part 4: Weapons
Since Aux power is often in high demand on a SV, you may not be able to allocate much power to Weapons. I use one of two methods to circumvent this.
1. Use Energy Siphon & Plasmonic Leech
These two abilities can deliver a very significant boost to your power. With sufficient flow capacitors, Energy Siphon can provide you with full power in all subsystems for a significant length of time, if Aux power was high at the moment of use.
With this method, you can safely go with whatever energy weapons layout you want. I tend to prefer 3xDBB with 3xTurrets or 6xSingle Beam.
2. Use projectiles.
With projectiles, you can safely minimize weapons power and still do decent damage. I typically go with either plasma, transphasic or chroniton.
Plasma torpedoes have the benefit of good synergy with the Romulan sets, but with the advent of FAW builds, targetable torps are difficult to use. Stick to standard plasma torps if you use them.Another weakness is that the plasma fires are often cleared by the Warp Core Engineer Keel'el or Hazard Emitters.
Transphasics deliver good bleedthrough even when shields are raised. You could pair them with the Transphasic Cluster Torpedo for more damage, but it is targetable. Thus, some planning is needed for that.
The objective of using chronitons is not the damage, but the slow debuff. This reduces defense values and makes it easier for you to catch up and hold your target. They are especially good with a Torpedo Spread.
Projectile Weapons Officer doffs are essential when using projectiles. Free ones can be obtained from Nimbus, the Rolor Nebula Colonization doff chain, and one of the Gamma Quadrant doff chains.
I typically go with 3xTorp fore, and 1xSingle Beam aft. The other two aft slots can be mixed to taste.
Part 5: Gameplay Tips
Keybinds
I usually set up 3 keybinds. One is the standard "Focus my target" chat keybind. Another is set up to tell your teammates that you have subnuked someone. A third triggers your Emergency Power abilities and balances shields manually. Keybind 3 should be spammed at all times! Even if your shields are barely there, putting a sliver of shielding on with manual distribution can stop a significant portion of any kinetic damage.
Be observant
Look at what buffs your target is running before using Science abilities on him. For example, if Attack Pattern Omega is up, no point casting a Tractor Beam on him. Either wait him out, or use the almighty Subnucleonic Beam.
Stay alert
If you notice an enemy tacscort buffing up for an alpha, toss him a subnuke and force him to run - or scramble his sensors to make him blow someone else up, or even just target his weapons to get the edge off his strike. You could even tractor him to get him out of arc of his target. Same thing if you notice a decloaking vaper - nuke off all those nasty tac buffs, and harpoon him with a Tractor or two.
Know when to stagger, and when to sci-alpha
Sometimes, you may be tempted to throw your entire offensive arsenal at an opponent at once. This could be both good and bad. Good, because he might need everything you've got to weaken him to the point that someone can kill him. For example, tossing Tractor Beam, Energy Siphon, Target Subsystem and Tyken's Rift all at once. A drain of that magnitude is probably going to shut him down.
It also can be bad. Note that many offensive science abilities are cleared by the same ability, such as Hazards for Siphon and Tyken's. Thus, if you throw everything at him, and it gets cleared, you're not going to have anything in reserve. The same is true if your teammates are unable to kill him in time, and he gets away. However, if your target has burned his counters, or if you can subnuke them off, a sci-alpha just might work.
You could also think in terms of decoys. For example, toss a Hargh'peng torpedo at him to try and make him burn his Hazard Emitters clear, followed by tossing your actual strike at him.
Cross-heal!
As a Science ship with high Aux power, and plenty of Science boff slots, your heals are going to be much more powerful than the average escort's. So, keep an eye on your teammates - toss heals if they look to be under pressure. It could make the difference between victory and loss!
Besides strong heals, you will also be a source of clears like Science Team. If you notice a friendly's buffs disappear, don't hesitate to help out by tossing him a Science Team.
Focus targets
It is also useful in the arena to look at what your teammates are targeting. Don't just pick your own target and ignore everyone else! For example, let's say your team's tacscort is buffing up for a strike. Target his target for a quick check. Is it an escort? Pop a tractor and hold him still. A healer running a bunch of buffs? Nuke them off! Soften the tacscort's target and make his job easier. Your teammates will thank you for it. Even if they don't, they'll feel it - I hope.
Switch power settings
A trap many fall into, including me, is maintaining the same power settings for all situations. Don't. Getting heavily pressured? Pop your heals with high Aux, then switch to high Shields and Engines. Pressure off? Boost Aux and start flinging Grav Wells around again. Redistribute your power to where you need it, and you'll find yourself living longer and helping more.
Well, that's all I have for now. I'll come back every now and then and add stuff if anything comes to mind. Feel free to leave comments, but easy on the flames, eh? Thanks for reading, and all the best in the Arena!
First off, a hearty congratulations to you, for choosing to PvP, and for choosing the path of versatility and flexibility. The Science player is the Swiss Army Knife of STO, bringing to the table something useful in every match. You don't overpower players, nor do you outlast them. Instead, you undermine their ability to do their job.
Note: This assumes that you want to be flying a science vessel. Some tips may be applicable to carriers or Sci BoPs, but I don't have much experience with those.
Part 1: Defensive Abilities
In a PuG or in Kerrat, you will have to be self-reliant to some degree. Furthermore, due to the fact that most SVs run with high Aux power, they often function as a secondary healer.
There is a basic set I tend to run with, a Science quartet and an Eng triplet, with a single Tac Team. With these 8 BoFF abilities in your arsenal, you will be difficult to bring down, and can share some love with your teammates.
Science:
Hazard Emitters
One of the most essential abilities for any player, not just science. It provides an Aux-dependent hull heal-over-time, a hull resist, clears certain debuffs, and can be cast on teammates. The debuffs it cleanses include Theta Radiation, Warp Plasma, Energy Siphon, Tyken's Rift, and plasma fires from plasma weaponry.
Transfer Shield Strength
Provides a healthy shield heal-over-time and a good dose of shield resistance. It is also Aux-dependent, and team-castable.
Science Team
Not Aux-dependent, but team-castable. Although it heals shields, that's not why you run it. You run it to clear debuffs - Jam Sensor, Scramble Sensors, Antimatter Spread and Subnucleonic Beam are all cleared by a single application.
Polarize Hull
Aux-dependent, but not team-castable. This provides you with a hefty hull resistance, and most importantly, makes you immune to tractors. As a SV, you have little hull, and often lack the slots for Attack Pattern Omega to counter tractors, which makes this an essential defensive ability.
Engineering:
Emergency Power to Shields x2
Not aux-dependent or team castable. Provides shield resist and a small shield heal, gives shields a power boost and is improved by speccing into EPS systems. Running two copies is highly recommended, in order to maintain 100% uptime.
Auxiliary to Structural Integrity
Aux-dependent and team-castable. Provides a small hull heal and hull resist for 10 seconds. Very short cooldown. Some prefer to use Reverse Shield Polarity in Lt Engineering slots, but I prefer to use this to maintain good hull strength with all the bleed nowadays.
Tactical:
Tactical Team
In PuGs, it's best to have a copy for yourself for clearing tac debuffs such as Fire On My Mark and Attack Pattern Beta. The instant shield redistribution is also very nice under alpha strikes!
Part 2: Offensive Science
Once you have the basic defenses, it's time to figure out offensive stuffs. After slotting your defenses/heals, you should have either 2 or 3 Lt Comm and Comm science slots left.
First, think about how you want to affect enemy ships. Do you want to mess with movement? Drain power? Disable subsystems? It will be your primary role. Now, think of the abilities that you can use. Using the examples from earlier, Movement - Grav Well, Tractors, Warp Plasma. Drain - Energy Siphon, Tyken's Rift, Charged Particle Burst, Tachyon Beam. Disables - Photonic Shockwave, Viral Matrix.
Pick the abilities you want that fit the role. Try to pick abilities which are buffed by the same skill, so you can use the consoles for them. Remember to take note of whether you need to maintain high Aux power!
Part 3: Consoles
The way I work, Tactical slots are filled up with whatever buffs the weapons I carry. Phaser Beams? Fill them wih phaser consoles. Torpedoes? Use torp consoles.
For Engineering, I always have at least one Neutronium console, to mitigate squishy hulls. The rest usually have universals.
For Science, slot at least 3, preferably 4, of the consoles which boost your Science abilities. The only exception is Subspace Decompiler, in which case I go with a mix of universals and heal consoles.
Part 4: Weapons
Since Aux power is often in high demand on a SV, you may not be able to allocate much power to Weapons. I use one of two methods to circumvent this.
1. Use Energy Siphon & Plasmonic Leech
These two abilities can deliver a very significant boost to your power. With sufficient flow capacitors, Energy Siphon can provide you with full power in all subsystems for a significant length of time, if Aux power was high at the moment of use.
With this method, you can safely go with whatever energy weapons layout you want. I tend to prefer 3xDBB with 3xTurrets or 6xSingle Beam.
2. Use projectiles.
With projectiles, you can safely minimize weapons power and still do decent damage. I typically go with either plasma, transphasic or chroniton.
Plasma torpedoes have the benefit of good synergy with the Romulan sets, but with the advent of FAW builds, targetable torps are difficult to use. Stick to standard plasma torps if you use them.Another weakness is that the plasma fires are often cleared by the Warp Core Engineer Keel'el or Hazard Emitters.
Transphasics deliver good bleedthrough even when shields are raised. You could pair them with the Transphasic Cluster Torpedo for more damage, but it is targetable. Thus, some planning is needed for that.
The objective of using chronitons is not the damage, but the slow debuff. This reduces defense values and makes it easier for you to catch up and hold your target. They are especially good with a Torpedo Spread.
Projectile Weapons Officer doffs are essential when using projectiles. Free ones can be obtained from Nimbus, the Rolor Nebula Colonization doff chain, and one of the Gamma Quadrant doff chains.
I typically go with 3xTorp fore, and 1xSingle Beam aft. The other two aft slots can be mixed to taste.
Part 5: Gameplay Tips
Keybinds
I usually set up 3 keybinds. One is the standard "Focus my target" chat keybind. Another is set up to tell your teammates that you have subnuked someone. A third triggers your Emergency Power abilities and balances shields manually. Keybind 3 should be spammed at all times! Even if your shields are barely there, putting a sliver of shielding on with manual distribution can stop a significant portion of any kinetic damage.
Be observant
Look at what buffs your target is running before using Science abilities on him. For example, if Attack Pattern Omega is up, no point casting a Tractor Beam on him. Either wait him out, or use the almighty Subnucleonic Beam.
Stay alert
If you notice an enemy tacscort buffing up for an alpha, toss him a subnuke and force him to run - or scramble his sensors to make him blow someone else up, or even just target his weapons to get the edge off his strike. You could even tractor him to get him out of arc of his target. Same thing if you notice a decloaking vaper - nuke off all those nasty tac buffs, and harpoon him with a Tractor or two.
Know when to stagger, and when to sci-alpha
Sometimes, you may be tempted to throw your entire offensive arsenal at an opponent at once. This could be both good and bad. Good, because he might need everything you've got to weaken him to the point that someone can kill him. For example, tossing Tractor Beam, Energy Siphon, Target Subsystem and Tyken's Rift all at once. A drain of that magnitude is probably going to shut him down.
It also can be bad. Note that many offensive science abilities are cleared by the same ability, such as Hazards for Siphon and Tyken's. Thus, if you throw everything at him, and it gets cleared, you're not going to have anything in reserve. The same is true if your teammates are unable to kill him in time, and he gets away. However, if your target has burned his counters, or if you can subnuke them off, a sci-alpha just might work.
You could also think in terms of decoys. For example, toss a Hargh'peng torpedo at him to try and make him burn his Hazard Emitters clear, followed by tossing your actual strike at him.
Cross-heal!
As a Science ship with high Aux power, and plenty of Science boff slots, your heals are going to be much more powerful than the average escort's. So, keep an eye on your teammates - toss heals if they look to be under pressure. It could make the difference between victory and loss!
Besides strong heals, you will also be a source of clears like Science Team. If you notice a friendly's buffs disappear, don't hesitate to help out by tossing him a Science Team.
Focus targets
It is also useful in the arena to look at what your teammates are targeting. Don't just pick your own target and ignore everyone else! For example, let's say your team's tacscort is buffing up for a strike. Target his target for a quick check. Is it an escort? Pop a tractor and hold him still. A healer running a bunch of buffs? Nuke them off! Soften the tacscort's target and make his job easier. Your teammates will thank you for it. Even if they don't, they'll feel it - I hope.
Switch power settings
A trap many fall into, including me, is maintaining the same power settings for all situations. Don't. Getting heavily pressured? Pop your heals with high Aux, then switch to high Shields and Engines. Pressure off? Boost Aux and start flinging Grav Wells around again. Redistribute your power to where you need it, and you'll find yourself living longer and helping more.
Well, that's all I have for now. I'll come back every now and then and add stuff if anything comes to mind. Feel free to leave comments, but easy on the flames, eh? Thanks for reading, and all the best in the Arena!
Post edited by Unknown User on
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Comments
I can add that Im personally a very big fan of science team 3, doffed with 2 development lab scientists. I run it even on my cruisers when possible (see my corsair build). With every 15 seconds, it also makes the heal very effective. It usually saves people from being vaped, and buys them time before other heals get available again. Most people run tactical teams anyways and redistribute shields to use the new hitpoints effectively.
@rudiefix Feds: Rudiefix / Thron / Opa
@rudiefix KDFs: Lill / Xifeidur / Dehr / Ugly
@rudiefix Roms (KDF alligned): Chicita
True, it has its uses. Still, I generally prefer to use my doffslots for more offensive purposes. Maybe if they want a healing role? That reminds me, I should put in a section on Doffs.
*Work in progress*