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The definition of exotic abilities
makocalloway
Member Posts: 455 Arc User
So I'm in the midst of experimenting with a few different science builds. Well some things are obvious, like consoles that boost particle generators, graviton generators, flow caps, etc, some things say they boost exotic damage. But what exactly is the definition of exotic damage? Is it anything science related? Or is it only area of effect powers like gravity well or Tykins rift? Any help clarifying this would be appreciated.
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Tyken's Rift
Photonic Shockwave
Gravity Well
Aceton Beam
Eject Warp Plasma
Aceton Assimilators
Vent Theta Radiation
Isometric Charge
Tractor Beam Repulsors
Exothermic beam
Thalaron Pulse
Antiproton Sweep
Detonatign Resonance Beam
Structural iIntegrity Collapse
dunno if i missed some
those do exotic dmg
Rouge Sto Wiki Editor.
Rouge Sto Wiki Editor.
Rouge Sto Wiki Editor.
In particular is this reply by Borticuscryptic:
Keep in mind, this is from 2013 again. The Particle Emission Plasma Torpedo (PEP) is a weapon that came out since then but applies effects dependent on Particle Generator Skill, often the hallmark of PGen/Exotic attacks. Even then, the general rule from that diagram still applies for the game.
I remember that flow chart, and I have to say it's a marvelously unequivocal explanation
And the PEP torpedo is a wonderfully effective tool on a Part Gens Sci Ship. If you check CLR you will find the damage from the plasma cloud far outweighs the damage from the torpedo itself. I have been experimenting with other torpedoes lately, first the Quantum Phase torp, (the shield stripping one that recently got nerfed to TRIBBLE), and then the Neutronium which is part of the Delta Operations set, for the Isokinetic Cannon, (which also works splendidly well on a Part Gens build), but the PEP torpedo was my old stand-by for a long time. I just wish I could think of a viable way to use both the PEP and Neutronium torpedoes; maybe stick one on the back?
So many nice consoles and weapons, so few slots...
Most of the damage penetrates shields already so energy weapons are irrelevant and steal build space that could be dedicated to more science.
Where this gets a little tricky for me is I'm leaving my comfort zone and creating a drain boat out of my Palisade.
Technically, yes. But if you look up drain abilities like Tachyon Beam, Energy Siphon, you'll see that they're dependent on Flow Capacitor Skill and not Particle Generator Skill. You stacking up very high Particle Generator Skill does not mean your Energy Siphon, Tachyon Beam will even perform halfway decent. It will be weak. In general, it goes like this for Science:
Graviton Generator Skill - Push, Pull, Repel strength
Particle Generator Skill - Exotic Damage magnitude
Flow Capacitor Skill - Better drains, better Plasmonic Leech improvement
Starship Subspace Decompiler and Countermeasure Skillboxes are 100% pointless since the SCI BOFF abilities that feed off them have been completely nerfed into the dirt way back in 2011.
The key thing to remember is that if you intend to make a serious Drain Build, you need to stack up very high Flow Caps. Stack them the same way a Particle Gens/Exotic Damage build would pile up Particle Generator Skill.
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Rouge Sto Wiki Editor.
Last time I experimented with a build having two torps up front, I couldn't get them both to fire at the same time. I have no idea why. This was, admittedly, a while ago...
You can't fire torps at the same time. They fire one launcher at a time.
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There are a lot of ways to go with that. Photon torp builds are nice with the Protonic Arsenal + Terran rep bonuses. PEPT is always good for PartG builds and Neutronic and QPhase are great for drain setups. You can mix and match too based on your setup.
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Hmm, OK, so if you fired the Quantum Phase torpedo first to knock down the shields, then followed up with a PEP or Neutronium torp...
You can buy duty officers that reduce torpedo cooldowns and the more torpedoes you have the better they work. Ideally you need three torpedoes for everything to work right, four is generally too much and makes you trip over your own cooldowns unless you have a long reload one like a tricobalt or cluster torpedo.
Best torpedoes for most builds are:
Particle Emission plasma Torpedo from crafting or the exchange
Neutronic torpedo from Delta reputation
Quantum Phase Torpedo from sunrise
Terran Torpedo from terran reputation
Undine torpedo
Gravimetric Torpedo from Dyson reputation
Lobi torpedoes are meh for the most part, Romulon, Borg and Iconian torpedoes suck balls. If you like crafting or are cheap anything with damage, critical damage and/or penetration mods will work fine.
More advanced torpedo people are welcome to correct me if I'm wrong.
To back up what he's saying, there's lots of bonafide ways to go with a Torpedo Boat but it requires a different style of play than traditional Energy Weapons Pew-Pew. The reason is that shields negate about 70% of kinetic damage. Without knowing better, it will be frustrating to get at the hull unless a shield facing is down (and kept down). Torp Boats have to find one way or another on bypassing that issue and there's several ways to do that.
Since this thread however is about "Exotic abilities" there are certain torpedoes that mesh very well with Exotic/PGen builds.
Dyson Gravimetric Torpedo - Each torp has a chance to proc a shield bypassing + damage rift. Meshes very well with Exotic builds and has long been a favorite in numerous science builds. Requires:
Graviton Generator Skill - To help keep pulling NPCs into the rift.
Particle Generator Skill - Damage magnitude.
There are 2 major failings of this torpedo in my eyes.
- In HYT fire, it fires a slow, destructible projectile. If it lands, it hurts good and seems more likely to pop a rift.
- The rifts popping are chance based. Very disheartening to bunch up a bunch of NPCs with GW, fire a Torp Spread 3 of Dyson Grav Torps, and see no rifts pop.
Particle Emission seeking Plasma Torpedo - I think that's what it's called but I usually go by the PEP acronym. This torpedo is highly useful for Exotic Damage builds. Every torpedo fired, even unbuffed, emits a small plasma cloud. Whatever comes in contact with that cloud gets a Plasma DOT that goes to the hull. Particle Generator Skill is the only skill that needs to be reinforced since it determines damage. The skill does not boost the torp's damage itself (it's considered a Plasma Torp) but it boosts up the Plasma burn, something that doesn't happen for Plasma Energy Weapons' Plasma DOTs. GW up the NPCs, fire a TS3 of this torpedo, then profit. It also has a short, Photon Torpedo length of cooldown. My main application is with Torp Spread. But if you use HYT, understand it launches a single, targetable projectile. Seeing this torp used in HYT by players is quite rare.
Delta Rep's Neutronic Torpedo - I can't recall any other torpedo that has been nerfed so many times, yet still performs pretty well. This torp has a long CD, 14 seconds, 12 seconds with set bonus IIRC. This torp has 4 special things to consider.
1. Very high damage value for something that isn't a slow reloading Tricobalt weapon.
2. Shield/Power drain is Flow Caps based.
3. Radiation Damage as an extra effect. Radiation damage, IIRC, is not a Particle Generator buffed aspect.
4. Is part of the Delta Ordnance Set. The full set bonus is a clicky ability, Isokinetic Cannon, which is based on Particle Generator Skill. Very nice perk for a dedicated Exotic Damage Build.
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I love Torpedo Boats. My Main uses one.
First off, you want to slot multiple Projectile Weapon Duty Officers. They give you a decent chance to lower the cooldown on torpedoes every time a torp is fired. They are a must-have for Torpedo Boats.
That said, in my experience, there are a lot of ways that you could go about building a Torp Boat. The ones that I have used and can tell you work are:
Transphasic: using the Rapid-Reload and Cluster variants from the Breen Missions. Low damage, yes, but good shield bypass.
Plasma: You have several to choose from. I would go with Plasma Emission from Crafting or the Exchange for reasons that Warmaker stated, Romulan Hyper from the Rommie Rep which fires multiple High Yields per firing cycle without needing a skill (but can still be buffed with the skill or the Torpedo Spread), Omega from the Omega Rep is a rapid-fire plasma type that has a cool kill animation (it is the V'Ger Torp from ST1). I would set them in that order too, from left to right to trigger DOffs, especially the Omega. This set will kill the enemy primarily using the plasma fires that each hit will inflict. Plasma fires are a DoT that ignore shields.
Tricobalt: Heavy Bomber. Slower to fire, higher chance of killing yourself, but it will hit, and it will boom. It will also Rift and AoE. High Yields are your friend (and your enemy) in this build.
My personal favorite is a Mix Type. For one: no shared cooldown other than the one to two seconds that it takes to fire. I like using the Temporal Disruption Device from the Lobi Store. It is a Chroniton with Tricobalt damage rating, AoE speed, turn, and ability cooldown debuff that does not have to hit to take effect when High Yielded. Then the Plasma Emission and/or Romulan Hyper. Ending with a Dyson Gravimetric from the Dyson Rep for its innate Gravity Well Generation. The Dyson torpedo and the Hyper will activate the DOffs so frequently that you have an unending stream of torpedoes launching. The Dyson's Gravity Well clumps the enemy together, and everything else is has an AoE Explosion.
For the rear, use Mines. Any kind, really. Personally I like Tricobalt for its AoE shutdown rifts, Nukara Web shutsdown a single ship, Transphasic Mines have, I think, 60% Shield Penetration.
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For skills, you want Drains. Tachyon Beam, Energy Syphon, Tyken's Rift (or Gravity Well if you are not using a Dyson Torp). These abilities will seriously hamper enemy power levels. That means little to no shields to get in your way. Not to mention that draining helps out the entire team in Queues.
Torpedo High Yield or Torpedo Spread. It depends on what you are using. Plasma, Tricobalts, and the Temporal Disruption Device benefit from High Yield the most. Pretty much everything else is better off with Spread. Although.... a Gravity Well and a Spread of Tricobalts or the TDD can (and frequently will) do over 200K AoE damage in a single strike.
Dispersal Patterns increase the number of mines you drop. They also buff the damage of Cluster Torpedoes, but not the number of mines the Clusters drop.
You want Hazard Emitters if you use Plasma, because you will definitely set yourself aflame from time to time. Really, you want that skill anyway just because it is all around helpful.
Tractor Beam if you have Tractor DOff that adds Drain to them.
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There are many, many Traits that boost Torpedo Boats. The Terran Rep is great for them. Omega's Kinetic Sheering is really good one. Any that increase Shield Penetration is nice.
If you have them, the Traits from Level 15 Science and Projectile Crafting are great.
Grab the Hot Pursuit Trait from the Exchange. It doubles your mines lock-on and chasing distance. That means that you no longer have to be in the AoE danger zone to use them. You can use the big ones from 4 Km away and they will still activate.
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Remember: Torpedo Boats do not use Weapon Power. You don't need any. Divert all of that to Auxiliary and then to Shields if you have any left over. Aux is your new BFF. It runs your Drains.
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Use Consoles that are for your Torpedo Type Choice. The Projectile+ Console is for the mixed-type and in practice is not noticeably weaker than a single-type build (unlike with Beams). Plenty of other Consoles help, like Rule 62 from the Lobi Store.
Use your Science slots for Flow Capacitors. They buff your Drains immensely.
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Most importantly of all: Respec in to Torpedoes. Don't leave yourself set for Energy Weapons and think that Torpedo Boats are weak. That is a probably a lot people have at first: they forget to Respec. You want to max-out Flow Capacitors for your Drains. Particle Generators and Graviton Generators help with Tyken's Rifts and your Gravity Wells. Subspace Decompiler does its thing on your Shutdowns, like with the Tricobalt and your other boomy Rifts.
That is two different torpedoes you have there, my friend. Particle Emission is the one that you are thinking about. Emission Seeking the one from the ST6 that chases down cloaked ships. You get that from the T2 Cruiser's Console.