Which cruiser is best for a "true tank" build?...

djf021 · November 2013

I'd like to set up a "true tank" build for my Fed engineer. Not an Aux to battery or other "pure damage dealing" kind of build, but a pure, high threat control, aggro pulling, shield tanking, teammate healing kind of build. Here are the ships at my disposal:

Fleet Advanced Heavy Cruiser Retrofit
With this ship I was thinking I have great shield tanking and staying potential, due to the ensign engineering Boff slot, but can also punch hard enough to pull aggro (using FAW, BO, +Threat embassy consoles, cruiser command: attract fire, etc.) My proposed engineering Boff abilites: Commander-EPTWeapons, RSP, Engineering Team 3, Aux to Struc 3. Lieutenant-EPTShields, Extend Shields. Ensign-EPTShields.

Fleet Assault Cruiser Refit
With this ship I would trade off a bit of tanking potential for a bit more tactical and damage potential. However this may help me better my aggro pulling potential and the trade off might be worth it. Proposed Engineering Boff abilities: Commander-EPTWeapons, RSP, EPTShields 3, Aux to Struc 3. Lieutenant-Engineering Team, Extend Shields.

I will use all Threat INCREASING, flow caps embassy science consoles, Cruiser command: attract fire, Beam FAW, and Beam Overload to pull aggro. I also have plasmonic leech with 6 points in Flow caps, plus the embassy flow caps consoles to keep my power levels up. Oh and I have 6 points in threat control skill too.

I also have the Battlecruiser, but that just doesn't seem like a good fit for a "tanking" build. Your thoughts and opinions about these two choices would be appreciated, and thanks in advance!

reginamala78 · November 2013

Well the best way to hold aggro is to hurt people.

For your purposes, I'd think the FACR. The 5 extra weapon energy will hit just slightly harder, and the tac ensign will let you double up on tac teams easily enough, or carry an extra Spread with the wide-angle for attention-getting.

papertoasty · November 2013

with the right buffs, i can get my fleet excel hull to just over 81k . . .

need hit points to tank

eradicator84 · November 2013

You don't need fire power to take aggro. Sure it helps but skilling into threat will do a better job of aggroing than dps which'll be harder to come by on tanky ships.

Star Cruiser or Support Cruiser Retrofit (Ambassador) are the best tanks imo.
Both very similar in many respects.
Voth Bastion would be the other solid choice if you can acquire it.

Lots of engy slots and a good dose of sci for the heals.
I tanked in the star cruiser more but I barely play fed these days.
My KDF tanks though have the similar boff layouts to the star cruiser. Though my Bastion is closer to Ambassador boff layout for a bit of a change. And fleet corsair is way more sci heavy. But did use my Orion Marauder for a good long time before fleet ships appeared and has the same boff setup as star cruiser.

Star Cruiser will give you more shields, 1 more engy skill at the cost of lower sci skills and only LT tac.

Ambassador will give you the chance to use Pattern Delta (with doff for more aggro) but at the cost of one less engy skill, but higher sci skill. Also looses 1 of the 3 sci console slots but gains an extra tac slot.

The choice between the two would depend on play style and skills you want to use.

The two mentioned in OP would be able to tank well. But under sustained heavy fire their lack of sci abilities to heal yourself or shrug off tractor beams will affect their staying power.
Those guys tank long enough to dish out a decent amount of DPS to the enemy, I tank to soak it all up and let others finish off the job. Side affect it that I can also offer many of my heals/resists to others in support.

If you want to hold aggro on two tac cubes simultaneously pounding you in HSE, or solo a gate in KASE sitting in the middle of it, and survive in both cases then seriously consider my suggested ships. They're great

rylanadionysis · November 2013

Believe it or not, based on many here on the forums constant complaining about it, the Exploration cruiser retrofit (Galaxy) is actually one of the "toughest" ships in the game.

Spec for full threat, self heals, try to squeeze as much dps as you can out of it, and youll be taking all the hits while your buddies are chewing on borg.

coffeemike · November 2013

rylanadionysis wrote: »

Believe it or not, based on many here on the forums constant complaining about it, the Exploration cruiser retrofit (Galaxy) is actually one of the "toughest" ships in the game.

Spec for full threat, self heals, try to squeeze as much dps as you can out of it, and youll be taking all the hits while your buddies are chewing on borg.

Get the Fleet Galaxy...

reginamala78 · November 2013

Except he said

"Here are the ships at my disposal: "

Otherwise yeah I'd point to the Support Cruiser. No need to spend extra money though.

(Although never know what may happen on Black Friday)

mscowboy · November 2013

So, as a more direct answer to the OP's question, of the two ships you have, the Excelsior is the better tank. It has an engineering ensign over a tac ensign. Engineering = tank. Make sure to use conn officers for tac team cooldown. There is also a wonderful transporter officer that clears boarding parties and assimilate ship through TSS, which in PvE where you don't need shield distribution except against gates allows you to get away without using tac team which would otherwise make it impossible to ever use engi team when you need it. Don't forget to double up on both EPtX that you use, you're not aux2batt so you need 2x2.

BO is a poor aggro grabbing move and infinitely less useful to your team than being able to tag crowds with APB using FAW. If all your threat control isn't enough to hold enemy attention, switch to your purple cruiser aura and fly close to the guy that's stealing aggro. Warp Plasma also seems to generate much more aggro than it should for the damage it does, and is a good fit for the Excelsior given that it's one of the most maneuverable cruisers.

dontdrunkimshoot · November 2013

i know these arent on your list of avalable cruisers, but an odyssey, ambassador, voth cruiser, or adapted battle cruiser are the best tanks. those saying galaxy are trolling you, all it can do well are cycle RSP, what you want to be doing is cycling HE and TSS, with a AtS3 in there too. sci heals are the strongest, at least a sci LTC along with your eng COM is what you want.

johnsteward · November 2013

Bestship for tanking is the recluse because its a very good tank combined with a very good offensive capabilities provided you have elite mesh weaver

dontdrunkimshoot · November 2013

johnsteward wrote: »

Bestship for tanking is the recluse because its a very good tank combined with a very good offensive capabilities provided you have elite mesh weaver

true, but its a full blown carrier, not a cruiser

djf021 · November 2013

I do have the support cruiser on this character as well, but I was concerned that it may not pull enough Aggro. however, it would allow me to use transfer shield strength 3. also, I do not have the fleet version of the support Cruiser, So I would have to grind out the fleet modules. but who knows? That might be worth it.

baudl · November 2013

edalgo wrote: »

Pure tank has no role in this game. If you are going to tank you better be healing your teammates. Be a healer. They tank better anyway. But the most overpowered stat in the game is teamwork. Be a team player and toss out some heals when they need it.

Example : Don't slot armor. Slot hull repair consoles. This helps you as well as others.

Don't slot field generators. Slot shield emitter consoles so your TSS is stronger for yourself and your teammates.

Fleet Support Cruiser, Science Odyssey, Fleet Star Cruiser all makes good healers as far as Fed ships.

Recluse, Adapted cruiser, Wells, Voth science ship, Fleet Nebula all also make good healers

this!^^

tanking in this game is completely irrelevant...any ship can tank (atleast for a more or less short period of time) any NPC in this game, even if standing still, which means negative def. Most other RPG's DPS classes get smashed by boss mobs with a single blow, STO is very different.

while DPS is the most important factor in the game, being able to dish out heals to yourself and others is the desired setup you want on your average "all purpose" ship build.
pure healerand pure tanks don't cut it in PVE, anybody MUST be able to carry his own weight in PVE.
A tank and a healer may be able to survive simultaniously pounding of 10+ ships, but if you can't destroy them in a certain amount of time the mission is lost anyway.
Offense is the best defense in STO and ship builds should reflect that...if not, people are just roleplaying. Like that dude staying out of range with his carrier and only engaging his fighters, because:" that's what carriers do in real life"

theraven2378 · November 2013

I've found the Fleet Avenger to be a very good tank, it can take a beating and still dish it out in return.

This is my set up

Lt universal: Engineering team 1, Reverse Shield Polarity
Tactical Lt Commander: Tac Team 1, Torpedo spread 2, Beam Fire at will 3
Tactical Ensign: Torpedo High Yield 1
Engineering Commander: Emergency Power to shields 1, Emergency Power to weapons 2, Directed energy modulation, Aceton Beam
Science Lt: Hazard emitters 1, Transfer Shield Strength 2

taylor1701d · November 2013

edalgo wrote: »

Even my PvP healer has to grind sometimes. When I do I throw out my pitiful 3k dps but I'm tossing out my AuxSiF, HE2, ST, TSS2, ET, Science fleet, Dampening field, team fortress etc to those damage dealers so they can stay and keep up their dps.

A more well rounded PvE build should have some dps too but be conscious of others and support them.

@Edalgo
The Tacy Dectection Console worked wonders in Ker'rat last night

....catch a glimpse of a Hide and Seeker Transphasics KDF, throw down GW to bring them out of cloak, Subnuke, Sensor scan, SubSysTarget Engines or Aux ...Beautiful.

corbinwolf · November 2013

papertoasty wrote: »

with the right buffs, i can get my fleet excel hull to just over 81k . . .

need hit points to tank

:eek: Really? Educate me please...

jellico1 · November 2013

The Fleet Regent .....................

RSP 3 with the Doff

Eps3

Tt2 with purple doff

those are the 3 critical Boff skills needed with the ship

I also like using aux to bat with 2 or 3 purple doffs

A ats is great with a hazzard emiters for heals

almost nothing can destroy you in PvE with these skills i can take on 7 spheres at one time with little effort or hold agro on the tac cube at infected with 4 weak pugs until its taken down

Its a fine tank

jellico1 · November 2013

edalgo wrote: »

Pure tank has no role in this game. If you are going to tank you better be healing your teammates. Be a healer. They tank better anyway. But the most overpowered stat in the game is teamwork. Be a team player and toss out some heals when they need it.

Example : Don't slot armor. Slot hull repair consoles. This helps you as well as others.

Don't slot field generators. Slot shield emitter consoles so your TSS is stronger for yourself and your teammates.

Fleet Support Cruiser, Science Odyssey, Fleet Star Cruiser all makes good healers as far as Fed ships.

Recluse, Adapted cruiser, Wells, Voth science ship, Fleet Nebula all also make good healers

True in PvP
Untrue in PvE

A Tank speced into threat with 2 +120 threat consoles that can deal 4 to 5k dps

Is the best ...healer... The fleet regent and avenger can do this with ease

Because no one one the team takes any damage or gets any agro unless they leave the tank
20K dps scimitars cant take agro away from me with this build in my avenger

If your team mates arnt damaged there isnt any reason to heal them

rakija879 · November 2013

eng odyssey, and the eng lobi obelix carrier :P

breygorn · November 2013

I'd recommend the oldy but goody Star cruiser for a Tank and heals boat.
The Support Cruiser also does well at this too.

Which cruiser is best for a "true tank" build?...

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