Best energy weapon type?

rbeventhorizon · March 2014

What type of energy weapon do you guys think are the best, both for myself and for my BOFFs? By type of energy weapon, I mean pulsewave, split beam, stun pistol, etc etc.

uryenserellont · March 2014

I prefer pulsewaves and miniguns (vs borg no miniguns).

I never use blast assault. It might be useful I don't know but pulsewaves and miniguns do a great job of mowing down enemies.

starswordc · March 2014

MACO phaser battle rifle. That is all.

janus1975 · March 2014

Like any question of "What's the best..." the answer is, "It depends..."

It depends on things like your career (engineer, science, tactical), what type of play style you have (close combat, movement, bunkering), sometimes the enemy you're fighting (e.g. when you get to Borg, they adapt to some weapons faster than others), traits (Romulan in particular get access to a plasma buff trait if they want one, some Rom boffs get that buff too), skills tree, etc.

A couple of examples will help you choose:

Gorn science melee toon: fitted for close combat melee fighting, so has a Tungsten sword as primary weapon with a disruptor bolt rifle with knockback proc for use while closing in before swapping over.
Bolian engineer bunkering toon: makes a massive bunker complete with knockbacking shield dome and multiple turrets supported by generators and land mines. Uses a sniper rifle to take out enemies before they get close.
Reman tactical toon: uses plasma pistol because of boff plasma buff, and pistols seem to work better in close combat styles than rifles

I recommend going to a vendor and buying one of each type of weapon you're interested in and trying them all out. You'll get a feel for whether they work for you or not and can then invest in a good version from there.

rbeventhorizon · March 2014

I'm a tac captain with a grenade satchel .I carry 1 melee weapon and 1 voth antiproton full auto rifle mk 12. I might get a pulsewave, though. A lot of people seem to like them.

edgecrysger · March 2014

I tend to go always with a sniper riffle and most of the times a plasma pulse wave as primary weapon or a plasma split beam riffle (for some reason i like plasma..lol). As the sniper rifle, the maco battle riffle is amazing, and i dont think there is another sniper riffle better than that. But energy types.. depends on the enemy , and your likes about the procs (and the procs should make fighting any type of enemy easier or harder). There is not really a energy type that is "better" than other. Well, tetryon seem to be a little off and is not a prefered weapon energy type. In fact i only used that energy type on lower toons (since tetryon drops are more often than the rest.. lol).

sonnikku · March 2014

It depends.

Which is to say, you want a pulsewave assault and a sniper rifle. The fleet antiproton pulsewave assault has the highest dps of any gun I've been able to find, all with pure dps stats and no gimmicks. Unleashing it's barrage in point blank and aim mode is positively devastating. Equip your boffs with them and the enemies you encounter won't be able to stand on their feet long enough to DO anything! And yes, some long range weapon for those odd times you're at a distance. Sniper rifle/maco phaser rifle will do the job just fine. I use the latter because of the set bonus it gives me along with the maco ground shield and armor.

rbeventhorizon · March 2014

sonnikku wrote: »

It depends.

Which is to say, you want a pulsewave assault and a sniper rifle. The fleet antiproton pulsewave assault has the highest dps of any gun I've been able to find, all with pure dps stats and no gimmicks. Unleashing it's barrage in point blank and aim mode is positively devastating. Equip your boffs with them and the enemies you encounter won't be able to stand on their feet long enough to DO anything! And yes, some long range weapon for those odd times you're at a distance. Sniper rifle/maco phaser rifle will do the job just fine. I use the latter because of the set bonus it gives me along with the maco ground shield and armor.

My boffs currently use a mix of weapons since I haven't conformed them to a specific set yet. One of them does use a pulsewave and that's what prompted me to want to try one. I was thinking of going Nanite Disruptor Pulsewave (I have a very rare [crth]x3 mk xii one), voth antiproton split beam rifle (I currently have a voth full auto rifle [crth]x2 [dot3] mk xii)

shockwave85 · March 2014

The classic setup was a pulsewave and a sniper rifle (often the MACO rifle) because strategies for clearing Infected Ground and Cure Ground require them. For other ground PvE content... it depends.

Tacs do well to grab a pulsewave, get up close, and hammer things. After a couple Tac buffs, the alt fire on it can one shot a whole squad of common grunts. A high density or sniper rifle is needed as a secondary weapon for when you're forced to fight at range (like flying Swarmers).

Sci is the master of getting exposes, so I've done well with a split beam rifle. Use your Sci powers to create exposes, then use the split beam's alt fire to exploit. Nice thing about the split beam is you can exploit multiple targets at once, or exploit a target without necessarily having to switch to it. I've vaped three guys at once before, so awesome.

Eng can more or less do what Tac does, except instead of buffing his own damage output, he spawns pets to supplement it. Basic idea is the same though, get in there and pulsewave their face off.

The gun from the Dyson ground set is interesting too. Its primary fire can generate exposes, and when the target does get exposed, the alt fire changes from a shotgun expose attack to a sniper exploit attack. You can create exposes and exploit them without switching weapons.

rbeventhorizon · March 2014

shockwave85 wrote: »

The classic setup was a pulsewave and a sniper rifle (often the MACO rifle) because strategies for clearing Infected Ground and Cure Ground require them. For other ground PvE content... it depends.

Tacs do well to grab a pulsewave, get up close, and hammer things. After a couple Tac buffs, the alt fire on it can one shot a whole squad of common grunts. A high density or sniper rifle is needed as a secondary weapon for when you're forced to fight at range (like flying Swarmers).

Sci is the master of getting exposes, so I've done well with a split beam rifle. Use your Sci powers to create exposes, then use the split beam's alt fire to exploit. Nice thing about the split beam is you can exploit multiple targets at once, or exploit a target without necessarily having to switch to it. I've vaped three guys at once before, so awesome.

Eng can more or less do what Tac does, except instead of buffing his own damage output, he spawns pets to supplement it. Basic idea is the same though, get in there and pulsewave their face off.

The gun from the Dyson ground set is interesting too. Its primary fire can generate exposes, and when the target does get exposed, the alt fire changes from a shotgun expose attack to a sniper exploit attack. You can create exposes and exploit them without switching weapons.

all these mechanics coming into play that I have little idea about, heh. I'm new to STO. So you think I should keep my pulsewave and ditch the full auto rifle for a sniper rifle? I got crth x3 on my pulsewave but really I have no idea what mods are the best for ground weapons, so I went with what i knew in space combat. Should I get crth x3 on my sniper rifle too?

deianirrah · March 2014

Any modifier combination will do for Ground - even [Dmg] serves nicely there in contrast to Space. A Pulsewave and either a Splitbeam or a Sniper rifle will serve You well through most of the ground content. I personally like the Adapted MACO/Honor Guard pulsewave and either the Dyson reputation rifle or a nice Splitbeam which is neither Phaser nor Disruptor for the Ground eSTFs and a (Romulan) Fire Team kit, others seem to enjoy going full melee on their Tactical officers vs. Borg - which IMHO only works to a certain extent or if the entire group prepares for it in advance as You have to rush a few things that You would otherwise shoot out at long range (e.g. Infected Ground Elite).

catliketyping · March 2014

I have a couple KHG sets, but the BOFFs seem off when using the alt fire grenade launcher. So i use KHG as my main set (since everyone needs a pulsewave) so i can make better use of the grenade.

i have an old AP (borg) sniper rifle for borg action, and i carry the shard sword of kahless because it is the coolest

There may be better melee weapons, but there is only one sword of kahless. i normally use a split beam, though.

My BOFFs have a collection of pulsewaves, sniper rifles, plus a minigun (for the pew pew) and a hand me down Omega mkXI set.

mewmaster101 · March 2014

Pulsewaves, Splitbeam, Sniper rifle, and the "ghostbuster" gun are the best DPS ground weapons in the game normally

Right behind are full auto, HDB, and mini-gun. supposedly the compression pistol is good, but i have not seen it doing it very well

What my boffs and I use depend on faction and career:

FED:

Tac - Splitbeam
Sci - Full auto
Engi - "ghostbuster" and minigun

KDF:
Tac - Sniper
Sci - Pulsewave
Engi - same as fed

Rom:
tac - HDB
SCI - same as joined faction
Engi - same as fed

shadowwraith77 · March 2014

http://sto.gamepedia.com/Dyson_Joint_Command_(Ground)#Dyson_Experimental_Proton_Beam_Rifle

Been by far the best damn rifle I have used, and looking forward to testing the new undine version.

ovinspace · March 2014

Rifles - longer range is my choice, go pulsewave or pistols if you like to get close.

I wouldn't give sniper rifle to boffs, they use the sniper mode once a fight is going which drops their dps, the AI is dumb. If they have split beam rifles they will use that split beam at the start of a fight, an away team with those instantly has an advantage its like having an initial volley from 15 rather than 5, then you do a borg mission and find them aggroing passive borg, however there are only a few borg missions. With distance combat between groups the maths is to gain an early advantage and the concentrate fire on opponents, I like split beams for that reason.

I like the opponent not to fire back so phaser, polaron and knockback with split beam rifles are my preference. If you have no sci with Tachyon Harmonic maybe some shield stripping tachyon.

The big thing with away team kit is getting the rep set armour and shield combos.

edgecrysger · March 2014

sonnikku wrote: »

It depends.

Sniper rifle/maco phaser rifle will do the job just fine. I use the latter because of the set bonus it gives me along with the maco ground shield and armor.

Same lol. I mean, not only it is a great riffle, but the shield skill it gives you equiping 2 items is one of the most useful skills ive ever found. With 2 pieces anyways.

edgecrysger · March 2014

ovinspace wrote: »

I wouldn't give sniper rifle to boffs, they use the sniper mode once a fight is going which drops their dps, the AI is dumb. If they have split beam rifles they will use that split beam at the start of a fight, an away team with those instantly has an advantage its like having an initial volley from 15 rather than 5, then you do a borg mission and find them aggroing passive borg, however there are only a few borg missions. With distance combat between groups the maths is to gain an early advantage and the concentrate fire on opponents, I like split beams for that reason.

Honestly the behaviour of your boffs its stupid no matter wat weapon you slot on em. If you equip em with pulse waves, they will try to use shot 2 almost every time, same with other weapons. The worst thing about pulse waves is, the cooldown is far worst than any other weapon, so boffs equpied with this weapon will rather fire even less than with other weapons. Automatic weapons are the best speaking of boffs. But again, they are not really useful in terms of dps most of the times, and specially against the borg.

Actually i always focus to kill all the mobs by myself, since i cant depend on my boffs to help me. Most of the times i kill everything except 1 guy, to see if my boffs can even finish him. And they need about 10 seconds to do it. Phathetic. And embarrasing.

jaguarskx · March 2014

My own Fed characters has a sonic antiproton assault rifle (or something like that) which I bought off the Exchange for around 22k EC.

But my primary weapon some kinda dual pistol thingy.

I don't really play many ground missions.

I will probably look for a melee weapon to put in my inventory when I decide to fight the Borg...

edgecrysger · March 2014

If u going to fight the Borg in Defera i recommend you a anti-borg antiproton split beam riffle, or the high density one version , but i think its really most useful the split version. If you have a tactical toon, you can just equip with a plasma pulse wave assault and using damage and crit buffs you can kill borg groups with ease. But that will be later when you have the fractal remodulator and some reputation skills, like the one that makes the borg adaptation slower. In the beginning, if you have no anti-borg weapons, and you are a tactical, any riffle or weapon that can make aoe damage will sufice. Except automatic weapons, like pistols and auto riffles. Dont use em against the borg.. dont even think on it. If you are an engineer you will need to use mines most of the time.

At first, when you start to do reputation missions in Defera, it can be very tedious. Try to gather the fractal remodulator as soon as possible (you can craft it in Defera with some resources you will gather around the map just killing borgs.). I dont recommend you to do hard team missions until you get used to Defera and the Borg. Mostly because you are risking to receive a lot of facepalms in the process.. :P

And this can be very hard to follow, but dont steal.

There is one thing in Defera that everybody hates, and its people stealing mission spots. Be a good player, respect others and if you see someonte trying to kill agroup of borgs doing any mission, dont get in the way, just pass. If you see someone trying to knocking at some doors (there is a mission where yo need to knock on the doors of the buildings to gather deferi civilians), because hes killing the borgs guarding em, dont go and knock the door while he is killing the borgs.. please.

Those are examples. One of the most frustrating things in Defera is, some missions that could be done in a few minutes, in the end takes ages to complete because everybody is stealing everywhere.

Thats the reason, when you are used to Defera, to do hard teamed missions. You avoid all those troubles and you can progress faster and gather marks faster.

bendalek · March 2014

Personally my toons use the Dyson Protonic Polaron Sniper Rifle, plus either a Shard Sword of Kahless (for klinks) or Lirpa as the alt ... I think PP is a rather overlooked damage type, as it seems to work very well against pretty much everything.

For my BoFF's, I usually go for a mix of Procs ... Normally either Sniper or High Density rifles, with usually one Disruptor, one Plasma (for the -Dmg Res and DoT) and 2 Phasers ... Once I can get Mk XII Romulan Plasma, I swap the Disruptor and Plasma for those, but I always have at least 2 Phasers for the "slow" effect.

All of my BoFF's carry a weapon Frequency Remodulator, for missions against the Borg, even though I always have my own (either the device or built into the Omega gear) as BoFF's seem to spam them constantly, so I almost never have to do it myself.

majortiraomega · March 2014

Pulsewaves are energy shotguns and they deal the best damage point blank. Full Auto Rifles and Split Beam Rifles are good all around weapons with a multiple target secondary attack. Compression Pistols are great for short-medium range against a single target and Sniper Rifles are great against a single target from long range. Miniguns and Blast Assaults aren't all that helpful. Stun Pistols and Wide Beam Pistols are useless. The High Density Beam Rifle is just a single target version of a Split Beam Rifle for all intents an purposes.

iconians · March 2014

rbeventhorizon wrote: »

What type of energy weapon do you guys think are the best, both for myself and for my BOFFs? By type of energy weapon, I mean pulsewave, split beam, stun pistol, etc etc.

Type 1 Hand Phaser or go home.

edgecrysger · March 2014

majortiraomega wrote: »

. The High Density Beam Rifle is just a single target version of a Split Beam Rifle for all intents an purposes.

Yup but i noticed that against the borg, it works pretty well, since they tend to move slowly in a row stance most of the times.. precisely the spot of the high density riffle. And the critical chance is higher for some reason.

Best energy weapon type?

Comments