Hey RCK, I have a question for you.
I'm (Attempting) to run a similar setup, A2B on a cruiser, 3 purple doffs, all the same BOFF powers. My numbers are no where near as high as yours. I'm running a keybind and think maybe I'm executing powers in a improper order, can you help shed light on this? Is a keybind even recommended? Only major difference I see hardware-wise is I'm using a RMC after I hit the a2b and before TT and BFAW. Also I noticed your skill tree is void of any points in Batteries or Aux performance, which seems counter intuitive, could you explain?
Thanks for any suggestions.
Hey RCK, I have a question for you.
I'm (Attempting) to run a similar setup, A2B on a cruiser, 3 purple doffs, all the same BOFF powers. My numbers are no where near as high as yours. I'm running a keybind and think maybe I'm executing powers in a improper order, can you help shed light on this? Is a keybind even recommended? Only major difference I see hardware-wise is I'm using a RMC after I hit the a2b and before TT and BFAW. Also I noticed your skill tree is void of any points in Batteries or Aux performance, which seems counter intuitive, could you explain?
Thanks for any suggestions.
The batteries points aren't necessary since the two copies of A2B are cycling so often there's little to no gap between them (and I'm not sure the Battery skill would improve the duration of the A2B surge anyway - never tested it to find out).
As for Aux, I have no need for more power or skills in that department because I'm using a [W-A] warp core and the level rarely strays below 60-90 when it's not being drained. If anything, the biggest challenge is finding a window to "heal" when necessary - with Aux being drained constantly, I have to time my heals for those rare moments when the Aux tank has some juice in it - or pop a battery first (and stop my keybind from running A2B and sucking that dry, too).
So it can be tricky - you definitely have to pay attention more with this build if and when you start taking damage. But that's a big "if" - last night I did Hive Onslaught (normal) and parked between the two lance ships while BFAW3'ing away at everything. Plasma bolts went down in one-shot, and I basically single-handedly took down both ships while taking fire from everything within range of me. It all just "bounced off" my regimen of TSS2, ETtS1 and RSP2. Even the queen couldn't get me - I never once had to break contact to heal, something I always had to do in an escort at least several times per session.
And I say single-handedly because when I parsed the log I saw that while I did 9.5K across the whole mission, the next guy did 1K. Seriously, I think I was the only one doing any real damage out there.
Finally, as for keybind order, I haven't paid much attention really. I just threw the following into tray 7, imported "spacebar.txt" from Hilbert, and started whacking away:
From left to right: APA3, APB1, TT1, GDF3, A2B1, A2B1, EPts1, DEM3, TI3, EPtW1
Note: My power level sliders I leave in their "Attack" defaults and I rarely touch them.
So far, seems to work. Once the cycle is running I can see the cooldowns dropping in real-time - e.g. something's at 40sec and then is suddenly at 30sec, etc. Fun to watch. BFAW3, in particular, has almost 100% uptime at this point, and that's with only one Purple Tech doff (the other is still Blue - damned B'Tran is being less than cooperative with mission selection lately).
Another factor to consider is positioning/piloting. You can use objects to shield your BFAW skill so that it focuses on a single target (e.g. hiding under a transformer in KASE) and thus becomes a kind of "Beam Rapid-Fire." Great for quickly taking down stubborn targets, like Gates. Just fly 2Km below the bottom "spar" of a gate and it can't hit you while you pummel it with everything you've got.
Anyway, that's my setup and it's working great for me.
100% uptime of BFAW is simply impossible...nothing can bypass the basic 20 sec cooldown.
So with a 10 sec duration and 20 sec CD, uptime is max 50%
personally i wouldn't put everything into a keybind...although in most PVE situations it is optimal for DPS.
leaving short windows inbetween a2b gives opportunitys to actually use heals/sci powers more beneficial. But that is situational.
maybe for the random encounter use the keybinds and with encounters that need a little skill, run it manually.
i run EPtW and EPtS on keybinds, that way i don't have to worry to keep those running with 100% uptime. (those have a 30 sec uptime and a 30 sec base CD, normal cd is 45 sec but a2b reduces it to 30 sec)
also using only 2 technicians in an a2b build means 20 sec cooldown on TT...instead of 15 sec (infact, anything with 30 sec cd suffers the ame 5 second "extra" gap. APbeta for instance)
however it does not effect FAW cycles, since those have already a 20 sec base CD.
100% uptime of BFAW is simply impossible...nothing can bypass the basic 20 sec cooldown.
So with a 10 sec duration and 20 sec CD, uptime is max 50%
also using only 2 technicians in an a2b build means 20 sec cooldown on TT...instead of 15 sec (infact, anything with 30 sec cd suffers the ame 5 second "extra" gap. APbeta for instance)
however it does not effect FAW cycles, since those have already a 20 sec base CD.
You're correct, it's not 100% - but it feels like it a lot of the time. Since I've not tied it to my keybind, I'm hitting it manually as the situation dictates. And whenever I think to go for the mapped key (in my case, slot 7 in tray 1), it's almost always available.
In reality, when I timed it outside of spacedock, I got 4 BFAW3 activations every 64 seconds, which translates into an activation every 16 seconds, or roughly 47% uptime. And this is with one purple and one blue doff.
I can deal with having it available every 16 seconds. That extra 5-6 seconds that it's still on CD is often consumed by other tasks, like maneuvering or activating defensive buffs/heals. I suppose if it were in my keybind I would notice it more, but since it's a conscious act to trigger it, the net result is a sense of "it's always there when I want it."
Again, works for me...and sure beats waiting for the full 30 second CD!
Considering all of the conversation I've seen here about weapon power, APB and fire at will, what would you folks say is the most important part of this build, in terms of DPS:
* Weapon power as high as possible
* BFAW availability
* BFAW level (e.g. 1 vs. 3)
* Attack Pattern Beta
* Something else
Considering all of the conversation I've seen here about weapon power, APB and fire at will, what would you folks say is the most important part of this build, in terms of DPS:
* Weapon power as high as possible
* BFAW availability
* BFAW level (e.g. 1 vs. 3)
* Attack Pattern Beta
* Something else
Thanks again for those who've been helpful!
All of the above. No, seriously, they're all components of the overall package. The high weapon power, which I supplement with the Leech and Mark 12 Fleet Polaron beams, gives me more hitting power, while the availability of BFAW allows me to use it both for AoE and as a kind of "rapid fire" beam skill.
The BFAW level itself may not matter much, but I'm running BFAW3 and I find I can park below a gate in KASE and almost handle the entire side myself - post-trans probes and all - without moving an inch. Finally, with APB1 I'm getting better damage to the target's hull, something I would sorely miss since I'm running an all-beam boat + KCB and no torps. DEM3 also plays a role, though I'm not sure how much it's really contributing. In the parse, it doesn't look like much, so I may swap it for EPtW3.
Speaking of which, EPtW/EPtS cycling is another huge part of the regimen, as is TSS2 and RSP2 (to supplement the EPtS and create a true tank).
In the end, I wouldn't take away any of the above. You need them all to make for a solid A2B build...
All of the above. No, seriously, they're all components of the overall package. The high weapon power, which I supplement with the Leech and Mark 12 Fleet Polaron beams, gives me more hitting power, while the availability of BFAW allows me to use it both for AoE and as a kind of "rapid fire" beam skill.
This is actually one of the things I'm wondering about. I'm actually not entirely certain of how much additional damage it's capable of outputting, though I know I trigger it whenever going against a single opponent, whatever build I'm using, so long as it has beams.
Considering all of the conversation I've seen here about weapon power, APB and fire at will, what would you folks say is the most important part of this build, in terms of DPS:
* Weapon power as high as possible
* BFAW availability
* BFAW level (e.g. 1 vs. 3)
* Attack Pattern Beta
* Something else
Thanks again for those who've been helpful!
it is ofcourse all of the above, but the most important part is the doubling of ALL your boff slots, especially tac slots.
you can rotate tac boff powers as if you had them 2 times...in other words you run them on global cooldown, much like escorts.
the powerlevels can be done with any EPtX build (dragon build)
RSP, DEM all can be run on global CD, even the EPtS and EPtW run on global cd, which means a 100% uptime of both simultaniously...
only drawback is the unavailability of aux powers, but that can be bypassed with batteries and smart use of a2b. that in my opinion isn't a drawback at all, but just requires attention and a little skill.
it makes only little sense to use a2b build on a ship that has already 6-7 tac boff slots...even with enough engi slots to to a2b. what you get are 12-14 tac boff slots (which means trippling the same boff ability, which makes no sense) at the expense of 2 ltd engi slots, which could be used better.
take the scimitar, here it makes perfect sense again, because you double your commander tac boff slot...APbeta 3, BFAW3, THY/TS2, TT...and that basically 2 times, running them on global CD. Not to mention 5 tac consoles and a hangar.
@rck01: it is just impossible to activate any BFAW every 16 sec...the mechanic of that power has a 20 sec base cooldown, absolutely nothing can bypass that 20 seconds (no doff, no set bonus)...which translates in 10 sec uptime, 20 sec cooldown = absoulte maximum 50% uptime
2 technicians are enough to reach that, but TT1 and APbeta have a 15 sec base CD, which means 2 technicians aren't enough to keep them on their base cd.
this cuts into survivability since TT1 has a 10 second gap in it's rotation instead of 5.
But what is 5 more seconds in PVE...nothing, and redistributing shields manually (or keybind) can more than compensate.
Since actualy only these 2 boff powers actually require the 3rd technician boff to reach base CD, you don't actually lose something.
@rck01: it is just impossible to activate any BFAW every 16 sec...the mechanic of that power has a 20 sec base cooldown, absolutely nothing can bypass that 20 seconds (no doff, no set bonus)...which translates in 10 sec uptime, 20 sec cooldown = absoulte maximum 50% uptime
2 technicians are enough to reach that, but TT1 and APbeta have a 15 sec base CD, which means 2 technicians aren't enough to keep them on their base cd.
this cuts into survivability since TT1 has a 10 second gap in it's rotation instead of 5.
But what is 5 more seconds in PVE...nothing, and redistributing shields manually (or keybind) can more than compensate.
Since actualy only these 2 boff powers actually require the 3rd technician boff to reach base CD, you don't actually lose something.
Re-read my post. I said clearly that it amounts to roughly 47% uptime - I activate the power every 16 seconds, which means I have a 6 second gap between when the effect stops and I can next activate it. So viewed over a 64 second window - from the time I first activate it to the fourth time I activate it - I've had BFAW3 up a total of 30 seconds. So 30/64 = 46.875%.
I'm doing this right now outside spacedock: I've got STO open in one window, the Windows clock open in another, and I've removed everything from my keybind except for 2x A2B1. I'm then hitting the 7 key every time the BFAW3 icon goes off cooldown, and when I hit it for the fourth time the Windows second hand is on its 64th tick from the beginning of the test.
What about the above is in any way confusing or contradictory to your statement about a 50% hard limit?
The only things that has been proven otherwise is APB which I admitted I was wrong about, and DEM needed for aux2batt which I had brain TRIBBLE and got it confused with the Francis doff. Aside from that, nothing has really changed, as far as my opinion goes.
I would wager too that quite a bit of your DPS increase came from going from an tac oddy to a FAC. I recently bought a tac ody myself, for my engineer as I was curious about trying EPtW3 along with EPtS3. Yeah sure as a beam boat the turn rate really makes no difference, more of a QoL thing, but dropping that 4th tac console was a considerable decrease in damage. Depending too on what you have as your uni lt slot, and that ensign tac, (I don't know your build, forgive me if you posted it as I don't remember and I'm on my phone ATM, so I can't be bothered to check ) could make a considerable difference in your DPS numbers, if you go focus those slots of damage.
As someone who's used both the Aux2bat build and my own variation of the dragon (EPtX chaining) I have to say that both are equally viable for end game and that the damage is actually comparable (At least from my tests - average about 10k dps using both). It seems that the aux2bat is the new flavor of the month so to speak. It's the new "in thing" so it's cool and the EPtX chain build is older and therefore not cool. Make no mistake though both are good. Just had to throw in my 2 cents since I saw your spirited debate earlier in the thread.
As someone who's used both the Aux2bat build and my own variation of the dragon (EPtX chaining) I have to say that both are equally viable for end game and that the damage is actually comparable (At least from my tests - average about 10k dps using both). It seems that the aux2bat is the new flavor of the month so to speak. It's the new "in thing" so it's cool and the EPtX chain build is older and therefore not cool. Make no mistake though both are good. Just had to throw in my 2 cents since I saw your spirited debate earlier in the thread.
By "EPtX Chaining" are you referring to cycling EPtW and EPtS continuously (i.e. the 15 second CD technique), or something else? Because I'm doing this already as part of my Aux2Bat key bind along with DEM3, APA3, APB1, TT1, GDF3, A2B(x2) and BfI3.
The concept behind the Aux2Bat build over the conventional EPtX chain is that with the Technicians your getting cooldowns to global levels.
TT1 > AP:B1 > BFAW3 are all ready every 15s, something the EPtX chain can't do.
This reduction in cooldown is why Aux2Bat became so popular. Nobody would have ever ran such a build before DOFFs where around. And this reduction in cooldowns is logically why an Aux2Bat build outperforms the EPtX chain or Dragon build.
To anybody currently wanting to run an Aux2Bat build but is farming B'Tran for Techs or saving for them I suggest you run 2 EPtS & 2 EPtW until you have your Techs.
I was once DKnight1000, apparently I had taken my own name so now I'm DKnight0001. If I ask you a question it is not an insult but a genuine attempt to understand why. When I insult you I won't be discreet about it, I will be precise and to the point stupid.
The concept behind the Aux2Bat build over the conventional EPtX chain is that with the Technicians your getting cooldowns to global levels.
TT1 > AP:B1 > BFAW3 are all ready every 15s, something the EPtX chain can't do.
This reduction in cooldown is why Aux2Bat became so popular. Nobody would have ever ran such a build before DOFFs where around. And this reduction in cooldowns is logically why an Aux2Bat build outperforms the EPtX chain or Dragon build.
To anybody currently wanting to run an Aux2Bat build but is farming B'Tran for Techs or saving for them I suggest you run 2 EPtS & 2 EPtW until you have your Techs.
Yes, I understand the Aux2Bat concept and live it daily. However, I wasn't familiar with the alternative "chaining" method. So, basically, you're running 2x of both EPtS and EPtW and relying on their shared cool downs to keep them up as much as possible. Makes sense.
Yes, I understand the Aux2Bat concept and live it daily. However, I wasn't familiar with the alternative "chaining" method. So, basically, you're running 2x of both EPtS and EPtW and relying on their shared cool downs to keep them up as much as possible. Makes sense.
Thanks for the clarification!
RCK
You can also use Damage Control Engineering Duty Officers so that you only need to equip one copy of each EPtX ability. Frees up some space for other skills, which is always nice.
The concept behind the Aux2Bat build over the conventional EPtX chain is that with the Technicians your getting cooldowns to global levels.
TT1 > AP:B1 > BFAW3 are all ready every 15s, something the EPtX chain can't do.
This reduction in cooldown is why Aux2Bat became so popular. Nobody would have ever ran such a build before DOFFs where around. And this reduction in cooldowns is logically why an Aux2Bat build outperforms the EPtX chain or Dragon build.
To anybody currently wanting to run an Aux2Bat build but is farming B'Tran for Techs or saving for them I suggest you run 2 EPtS & 2 EPtW until you have your Techs.
I wouldn't say it outperforms an EPtX chain build. The bonus of Aux2bat of course is rapid recharge of skills, but the low aux makes certain skills near useless. TT can be dealt with using duty officers and there is no reason to spam BFAW all the time. Though admittedly having APB every 15 seconds is definitely beneficial. As I mentioned earlier my test using ACT show comparable damage using aux2bat and EPtX cycle (this was in a team setting so there were other factors at work, but in general both builds averaged around 10k (give or take).
You can also use Damage Control Engineering Duty Officers so that you only need to equip one copy of each EPtX ability. Frees up some space for other skills, which is always nice.
I wouldn't say it outperforms an EPtX chain build. The bonus of Aux2bat of course is rapid recharge of skills, but the low aux makes certain skills near useless. TT can be dealt with using duty officers and there is no reason to spam BFAW all the time. Though admittedly having APB every 15 seconds is definitely beneficial. As I mentioned earlier my test using ACT show comparable damage using aux2bat and EPtX cycle (this was in a team setting so there were other factors at work, but in general both builds averaged around 10k (give or take).
Comments
Hey RCK, I have a question for you.
I'm (Attempting) to run a similar setup, A2B on a cruiser, 3 purple doffs, all the same BOFF powers. My numbers are no where near as high as yours. I'm running a keybind and think maybe I'm executing powers in a improper order, can you help shed light on this? Is a keybind even recommended? Only major difference I see hardware-wise is I'm using a RMC after I hit the a2b and before TT and BFAW. Also I noticed your skill tree is void of any points in Batteries or Aux performance, which seems counter intuitive, could you explain?
Thanks for any suggestions.
The batteries points aren't necessary since the two copies of A2B are cycling so often there's little to no gap between them (and I'm not sure the Battery skill would improve the duration of the A2B surge anyway - never tested it to find out).
As for Aux, I have no need for more power or skills in that department because I'm using a [W-A] warp core and the level rarely strays below 60-90 when it's not being drained. If anything, the biggest challenge is finding a window to "heal" when necessary - with Aux being drained constantly, I have to time my heals for those rare moments when the Aux tank has some juice in it - or pop a battery first (and stop my keybind from running A2B and sucking that dry, too).
So it can be tricky - you definitely have to pay attention more with this build if and when you start taking damage. But that's a big "if" - last night I did Hive Onslaught (normal) and parked between the two lance ships while BFAW3'ing away at everything. Plasma bolts went down in one-shot, and I basically single-handedly took down both ships while taking fire from everything within range of me. It all just "bounced off" my regimen of TSS2, ETtS1 and RSP2. Even the queen couldn't get me - I never once had to break contact to heal, something I always had to do in an escort at least several times per session.
And I say single-handedly because when I parsed the log I saw that while I did 9.5K across the whole mission, the next guy did 1K. Seriously, I think I was the only one doing any real damage out there.
Finally, as for keybind order, I haven't paid much attention really. I just threw the following into tray 7, imported "spacebar.txt" from Hilbert, and started whacking away:
From left to right: APA3, APB1, TT1, GDF3, A2B1, A2B1, EPts1, DEM3, TI3, EPtW1
Note: My power level sliders I leave in their "Attack" defaults and I rarely touch them.
So far, seems to work. Once the cycle is running I can see the cooldowns dropping in real-time - e.g. something's at 40sec and then is suddenly at 30sec, etc. Fun to watch. BFAW3, in particular, has almost 100% uptime at this point, and that's with only one Purple Tech doff (the other is still Blue - damned B'Tran is being less than cooperative with mission selection lately).
Another factor to consider is positioning/piloting. You can use objects to shield your BFAW skill so that it focuses on a single target (e.g. hiding under a transformer in KASE) and thus becomes a kind of "Beam Rapid-Fire." Great for quickly taking down stubborn targets, like Gates. Just fly 2Km below the bottom "spar" of a gate and it can't hit you while you pummel it with everything you've got.
Anyway, that's my setup and it's working great for me.
RCK
Thank you! Much obliged for the response, lots of good info in there.
So with a 10 sec duration and 20 sec CD, uptime is max 50%
personally i wouldn't put everything into a keybind...although in most PVE situations it is optimal for DPS.
leaving short windows inbetween a2b gives opportunitys to actually use heals/sci powers more beneficial. But that is situational.
maybe for the random encounter use the keybinds and with encounters that need a little skill, run it manually.
i run EPtW and EPtS on keybinds, that way i don't have to worry to keep those running with 100% uptime. (those have a 30 sec uptime and a 30 sec base CD, normal cd is 45 sec but a2b reduces it to 30 sec)
also using only 2 technicians in an a2b build means 20 sec cooldown on TT...instead of 15 sec (infact, anything with 30 sec cd suffers the ame 5 second "extra" gap. APbeta for instance)
however it does not effect FAW cycles, since those have already a 20 sec base CD.
You're correct, it's not 100% - but it feels like it a lot of the time. Since I've not tied it to my keybind, I'm hitting it manually as the situation dictates. And whenever I think to go for the mapped key (in my case, slot 7 in tray 1), it's almost always available.
In reality, when I timed it outside of spacedock, I got 4 BFAW3 activations every 64 seconds, which translates into an activation every 16 seconds, or roughly 47% uptime. And this is with one purple and one blue doff.
I can deal with having it available every 16 seconds. That extra 5-6 seconds that it's still on CD is often consumed by other tasks, like maneuvering or activating defensive buffs/heals. I suppose if it were in my keybind I would notice it more, but since it's a conscious act to trigger it, the net result is a sense of "it's always there when I want it."
Again, works for me...and sure beats waiting for the full 30 second CD!
RCK
* Weapon power as high as possible
* BFAW availability
* BFAW level (e.g. 1 vs. 3)
* Attack Pattern Beta
* Something else
Thanks again for those who've been helpful!
All of the above. No, seriously, they're all components of the overall package. The high weapon power, which I supplement with the Leech and Mark 12 Fleet Polaron beams, gives me more hitting power, while the availability of BFAW allows me to use it both for AoE and as a kind of "rapid fire" beam skill.
The BFAW level itself may not matter much, but I'm running BFAW3 and I find I can park below a gate in KASE and almost handle the entire side myself - post-trans probes and all - without moving an inch. Finally, with APB1 I'm getting better damage to the target's hull, something I would sorely miss since I'm running an all-beam boat + KCB and no torps. DEM3 also plays a role, though I'm not sure how much it's really contributing. In the parse, it doesn't look like much, so I may swap it for EPtW3.
Speaking of which, EPtW/EPtS cycling is another huge part of the regimen, as is TSS2 and RSP2 (to supplement the EPtS and create a true tank).
In the end, I wouldn't take away any of the above. You need them all to make for a solid A2B build...
RCK
This is actually one of the things I'm wondering about. I'm actually not entirely certain of how much additional damage it's capable of outputting, though I know I trigger it whenever going against a single opponent, whatever build I'm using, so long as it has beams.
it is ofcourse all of the above, but the most important part is the doubling of ALL your boff slots, especially tac slots.
you can rotate tac boff powers as if you had them 2 times...in other words you run them on global cooldown, much like escorts.
the powerlevels can be done with any EPtX build (dragon build)
RSP, DEM all can be run on global CD, even the EPtS and EPtW run on global cd, which means a 100% uptime of both simultaniously...
only drawback is the unavailability of aux powers, but that can be bypassed with batteries and smart use of a2b. that in my opinion isn't a drawback at all, but just requires attention and a little skill.
it makes only little sense to use a2b build on a ship that has already 6-7 tac boff slots...even with enough engi slots to to a2b. what you get are 12-14 tac boff slots (which means trippling the same boff ability, which makes no sense) at the expense of 2 ltd engi slots, which could be used better.
take the scimitar, here it makes perfect sense again, because you double your commander tac boff slot...APbeta 3, BFAW3, THY/TS2, TT...and that basically 2 times, running them on global CD. Not to mention 5 tac consoles and a hangar.
@rck01: it is just impossible to activate any BFAW every 16 sec...the mechanic of that power has a 20 sec base cooldown, absolutely nothing can bypass that 20 seconds (no doff, no set bonus)...which translates in 10 sec uptime, 20 sec cooldown = absoulte maximum 50% uptime
2 technicians are enough to reach that, but TT1 and APbeta have a 15 sec base CD, which means 2 technicians aren't enough to keep them on their base cd.
this cuts into survivability since TT1 has a 10 second gap in it's rotation instead of 5.
But what is 5 more seconds in PVE...nothing, and redistributing shields manually (or keybind) can more than compensate.
Since actualy only these 2 boff powers actually require the 3rd technician boff to reach base CD, you don't actually lose something.
Re-read my post. I said clearly that it amounts to roughly 47% uptime - I activate the power every 16 seconds, which means I have a 6 second gap between when the effect stops and I can next activate it. So viewed over a 64 second window - from the time I first activate it to the fourth time I activate it - I've had BFAW3 up a total of 30 seconds. So 30/64 = 46.875%.
I'm doing this right now outside spacedock: I've got STO open in one window, the Windows clock open in another, and I've removed everything from my keybind except for 2x A2B1. I'm then hitting the 7 key every time the BFAW3 icon goes off cooldown, and when I hit it for the fourth time the Windows second hand is on its 64th tick from the beginning of the test.
What about the above is in any way confusing or contradictory to your statement about a 50% hard limit?
RCK
You're right. I was counting the number of times I could hit the button in 64 seconds, beginning at zero and ending on the last tick.
My math gets all fuzzy when my wife starts dropping hints like she does...
RCK
As someone who's used both the Aux2bat build and my own variation of the dragon (EPtX chaining) I have to say that both are equally viable for end game and that the damage is actually comparable (At least from my tests - average about 10k dps using both). It seems that the aux2bat is the new flavor of the month so to speak. It's the new "in thing" so it's cool and the EPtX chain build is older and therefore not cool. Make no mistake though both are good. Just had to throw in my 2 cents since I saw your spirited debate earlier in the thread.
By "EPtX Chaining" are you referring to cycling EPtW and EPtS continuously (i.e. the 15 second CD technique), or something else? Because I'm doing this already as part of my Aux2Bat key bind along with DEM3, APA3, APB1, TT1, GDF3, A2B(x2) and BfI3.
RCK
TT1 > AP:B1 > BFAW3 are all ready every 15s, something the EPtX chain can't do.
This reduction in cooldown is why Aux2Bat became so popular. Nobody would have ever ran such a build before DOFFs where around. And this reduction in cooldowns is logically why an Aux2Bat build outperforms the EPtX chain or Dragon build.
To anybody currently wanting to run an Aux2Bat build but is farming B'Tran for Techs or saving for them I suggest you run 2 EPtS & 2 EPtW until you have your Techs.
If I ask you a question it is not an insult but a genuine attempt to understand why.
When I insult you I won't be discreet about it, I will be precise and to the point stupid.
Yes, I understand the Aux2Bat concept and live it daily. However, I wasn't familiar with the alternative "chaining" method. So, basically, you're running 2x of both EPtS and EPtW and relying on their shared cool downs to keep them up as much as possible. Makes sense.
Thanks for the clarification!
RCK
You can also use Damage Control Engineering Duty Officers so that you only need to equip one copy of each EPtX ability. Frees up some space for other skills, which is always nice.
I wouldn't say it outperforms an EPtX chain build. The bonus of Aux2bat of course is rapid recharge of skills, but the low aux makes certain skills near useless. TT can be dealt with using duty officers and there is no reason to spam BFAW all the time. Though admittedly having APB every 15 seconds is definitely beneficial. As I mentioned earlier my test using ACT show comparable damage using aux2bat and EPtX cycle (this was in a team setting so there were other factors at work, but in general both builds averaged around 10k (give or take).
My character Tsin'xing