Threat Control - Why?

bizork · September 2012

Some of the Kits have "Draw Fire" as an ability. The description says it makes enemies more likely to attack you instead of some other target. Why is that good? I have enough enemies attacking me. Even with a slight damage buff, I don't need extra attention. Can someone explain the benefit?

syberghost · September 2012

Tanking. A player who has focused on survivability draws the fire, so that other players can focus on damage and/or healing.

skhc · September 2012

Generating threat / drawing fire is part of tanking, whereby one player who's set up to soak up a lot of damage with either heals and resists attempts to draw enemy aggro onto themlseves whilst players who are not set up to heal/resist can go about their business with less aggro.

I've never tried playing with the Draw Fire power a lot, but my instinct is that all players in the group being equal, it's not a good power for Tactical Officers, even though it appears on their kits and no one else's. You get a damage resist from it, and you get Overwatch on the Security Protocol kit which is another damage resist, but generally Medic Scis and Equipment Diagnostics Engineers are going to be able to soak up damage better. Now if you had an organised group, you could have a Tac running Security Protocol use Draw Fire on one of them (you can target allies) so they'll get the aggro and be able to handle it.

If you have a group whereby the best equipped/most able player is a Tac, and they'll survive the longest anyway, it might be worth using.

You could just use it for the damage resist in solo play because you'll probably draw more fire than your BOffs even without it.

Personally, I think Squad Leader and Fire Team (neither of which have Draw Fire) are better kits than Security Protocol anyway.

matthew486dx · September 2012

Yeah, at least Eng/Sci characters can spec into threat control for ground and space. Even if they're kits don't allow it.

I have threat control for my Eng/Oddy.
I tank and heal like nobodies business, and my team survives more because of it.

Tac Cube aggro'd in ISE? No problem. I'll draw it away from the Gate until the rest of the team finishes it off. Makes things go a lot easier.

quiscustodiet · September 2012

Tanking, but indeed it's on the wrong Captain type, so it's useless or even counterproductive.

whamhammer1 · September 2012

Here is the deal with threat control (as I see it), its good for drawing fire from escorts in PVE ONLY. If you will only PvE, go for it, otherwise it is a waste.

tenkari · September 2012

whamhammer1 wrote: »

Here is the deal with threat control (as I see it), its good for drawing fire from escorts in PVE ONLY. If you will only PvE, go for it, otherwise it is a waste.

yes Threat control is a PvE skill, doesnt mean quat against other players. though for STF's and fleet missions where you want to keep squishy ships, like freighters and some escorts alive, you use this skill.

mewi · September 2012

Everyone should have at least 6 points in threat control for space. No argument about it ;p

tenkari wrote: »

yes Threat control is a PvE skill, doesnt mean quat against other players. though for STF's and fleet missions where you want to keep squishy ships, like freighters and some escorts alive, you use this skill.

Not true, threat control gives resistances that do work in PvP

uxvorastrix · September 2012

Threat Control is completely useless. You get far better benefits from other skills, and if you want to draw someone's attention, just damage them. There are a number of area of effect damage weapons/tactics that if used will get every bad guy targeting you. Taking a skill to do the same thing, just doesn't make sense.

medtac124 · September 2012

Threat control is not useless. I have my Tac heavily specced for threat control and I run the Security Protocol kit. I can survive fine and it gives my teammates time to heal up and kill the baddies before they kill me. The key is using it effectively; don't pop it in the middle of a mob, that's suicide. But if you need to draw a heavy/elite drone or something off your team for a bit it works great.

whamhammer1 · September 2012

mewi wrote: »

Everyone should have at least 6 points in threat control for space. No argument about it ;p

Not true, threat control gives resistances that do work in PvP

And what wonderfull resistances does it grant that is worth all of those skill points that can go into other , more active abilities.

whopurrr · September 2012

People who say threat control is useless are thick.

Yeah the damage resist isn't all that great.. 3 points in threat control gives you about 4% damage resistance (before diminishing returns).. 6 points gives about 6%.

Every engineer in a cruiser should get 3 points in it.. prolly gives more resist than 4-6 in starship hull plating. Put all your tanking skills to good use for a change.

A good tac can pull aggro from any cruiser w/o threat control even with them using all their attack skills. And then you're just a lousy DPS boat. 3 points should go a long way.

But hey.. who cares about teamwork right? No way cruisers are meant for tanking. That's nonsense. Lets all just captain kirk.

whamhammer1 · September 2012

whopurrr wrote: »

People who say threat control is useless are thick.

Yeah the damage resist isn't all that great.. 3 points in threat control gives you about 4% damage resistance (before diminishing returns).. 6 points gives about 6%.

Every engineer in a cruiser should get 3 points in it.. prolly gives more resist than 4-6 in starship hull plating. Put all your tanking skills to good use for a change.

A good tac can pull aggro from any cruiser w/o threat control even with them using all their attack skills. And then you're just a lousy DPS boat. 3 points should go a long way.

But hey.. who cares about teamwork right? No way cruisers are meant for tanking. That's nonsense. Lets all just captain kirk.

What if your engies' also drive escorts as well as cruisers (which I do)?

The fact is that is more effective in PvE than PvP. Heck, in my cruiser I have pulled agro from some escorts and I am not a dps boat, I am throwing hull and shield heals around like they are candy. I get more from putting those points into ship maneuverability instead.

Threat Control - Why?

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