Returning PvP-focused Sci Captain Looking to Re-tool for PvE Effectiveness

rck01

The title sort of says it all. I'm a Reman Sci flying a T5-U R'Mor (i.e. the Rom version of the Wells). I'm spec'd almost entirely for maximum particle damage in PvP: Lots of Ultra Rare or EPIC embassy consoles, Particle Exciter, Particle Manipulator Trait, etc., putting my PartGen "skill" level at 350 or better. My primary offensive "weapon" is TBR with the "pull" doff - i can crit well into the teens and have no trouble taking out most NPCs in ESTF missions. The ship is also quite survivable given I'm running 2x A2D with the AMS doff and also have fleet armor consoles. And, of course, nothing says "fun" like dragging Borg spheres all over the map (handy in Infected).

Again, I was all about PvP before, and I loved this build but had to quit when the Intel stuff became just too OP (and no T5-U ship can slot a BO to clean those debuffs). Now I'm looking for ways to tune for PvE and also wondering what META changes have occurred that either reinforce or detract from my chosen PartGen-focused play style. Is there a cool new console I should be grinding for? An item upgrade option? Specific R&D traits to shoot for?

Note: I also have a DSD I mothballed long ago and I'm open minded about building around that bird as well.

Sadly, most of my comrades (I'm in the HoBO fleet) have left the game or logon infrequently. So if PvP is dead then I guess I'll have to grow to like PvE again for more than just a grind to get better PvP gear.

Thoughts? Recommendations (gear/ship/traits/skills)?

Thanks in advance!

RCK - a.k.a. "Evul Jacob" - a.k.a. "Jacob Lightener"

mustrumridcully0

I think nothing has changed regarding the PartGens meta, except perhaps new abilities in play that you might want to check out, if you have not already done so.


Gravity Well / Exotic Damage build with Torpedoes work well in my experience. Energy weapons on my ship only exist to get some set bonuses, since I run 15 weapon power as base. (And equipping 6 torpedoes is impractical).

Get the best torpedo damaging traits you can find. Among them Omega Kinetic Shearing and anything that buffs shield penetration or armor penetration. Get everything that buffs exotic damage, too.

You probably will want to bring Science and Projectiles Crafting skills to Level 15 to unlock the traits they offer.


Get the best torpedoes:
Neutronic Torpedo (Delta Rep), Quantum Phase Torpedo (Sunrise Story Mission), Plasma-Emission Torpedo (Crafting) and Gravimetric Torpedo (Dyson Rep) would be my suggestions.

Also get the Destablized Resonance Beam (mission reward power).
If you're Space-Rich, also look into Kemocite Laced weaponry. (Careful, you might want to wait for the bugfix/nerf, prices might go down then, but it will still be useful.)
Torpedo Spread is your torpedo buff of choice.

If you don't have a Tier 6 Science Vessel (Scryer or Pathfinder recommended), and stick with the Dyson Destroyer, you probably should forget the Destroyer mode and cannons. That's a trap IMO*. Too many compromises to get something you could probably do much more effectively with an Advanced Escort. You could probably try something fancy like popping Attack Pattern Omega and then leaving Destroyer mode to unleash an omega-buffed Grav Well and Torpedo spread, but you won't be able to do it all that often.


* )Same thing for the Vesta Aux CAnnons. Only difference is that you don't need to waste any power on weapons at all, but it's still not that great, since you only got 3 front slots and the weapon drain lowers the effectiveness of your science powers.

rck01

Thanks for the feedback. So far, I have the Plasma Emission and Neutronic torps. I'll have to look into the Sunrise mission torp. I'll also likely stick with the R'Mor for now since there's no T6 sci vessel that will work with my Reman toon.

Also, I'm already at Level 15 in Sci R&D (hence the Particle Manipulator skill). I'll perhaps work on my Torp skills then since that'll help with that aspect of my build.

Note: I actually run with NO Tac officers. So Tac-related torp buffs or attack patterns are out of the picture.

Hmmm...sounds like I'm still in decent shape for PvE missions. I guess I'll focus on upping my PartGen skills (I'd like to hit 400 if possible) so my TBR crits even higher. It's somewhat of a one-trick pony, but at least I can hang with Borg Gates at point blank range and slowly take them down solo.

Thanks for the input. I'll post my updated build page at some point for a more detailed critiquing.

RCK

e30ernest

You may also want to look at the Science Build Thread. Lots of good PVE builds there that might give you some ideas.

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mustrumridcully0

rck01 wrote: »

Note: I actually run with NO Tac officers. So Tac-related torp buffs or attack patterns are out of the picture.
RCK

That's refreshing, considering all the people on the forums that always start whining if a ship doesn't have enough tactical slots for their taste. They already turned the Exploration Cruiser into a War Cruiser by convicning Cryptic the only way to appease them would be to give the ship a Lt.Cmdr Tactical slot, instead of a Lt.Cmdr Science slot like would be thematically appropriate.

Mustrum "Yes, I am still bitter about that" Ridcully

adamkafei

I know the current meta for these things is torps but I'm using beams on my Nova and using it's three tactical powers to decent effect, it'll never top the dps charts. Anyway, my point is that nice as it is to have 135 aux power, you might want to run the numbers, according to my tooltips for my Nova, going to 135 aux power costs me more in beam damage than it gains me in grav well damage.

I could put said build together and post it tomorrow if you're interested in maybe pushing the numbers.

lucho80

Science torp builds work great for PvE. If you can grind for the Winter ship, the trait will be awesome to put on a drain boat. Also, the tier 4 Terran rep trait is awesome for a torp boat. Frankly, I turned my PvP drain boat into a torp spread shield killing machine and I'm not even specced for torps on my toon.

Try the Neutronic, the Quantum shield drain, and the R&D particle emissions torp.

rck01

Sorry double post!

adamkafei

My understanding of APB is that only applies with conventional weapons, if you're not using your EPtS, it might be worth retooling your Lt Uni to give you TS and APB, although putting an omni beam in place of the listed Thoron-infused polaron and using FAW and APB would be more efficient to this end without detracting too much from the existing visuals.

I do my science as a hybrid between partgens and conventional damage with the T5U fleet Nova (Build page, doffs and base power in the notes) obviously it's far from optimal for dps (I tend to build for minimum single target kill times, although in this case I went for flexibility) but the last time I got it parsed in a dps channel (10k) run it came in at 28k.

I hope this is helpful.