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Are beams better for DPS even on escorts?
archer01
Member Posts: 99 Arc User
I believe I am a pretty good pilot and do a good job keeping my cannons facing my target. That said, I have heard several times that beams are better for dps even on escorts. Is this the case? If so, what exactly is the point of cannons?
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Beams are easier to use all around, and will make a crappier build "better", but at the very top of the food chain (in the hands of a good pilot) Cannons are better then beams for maximizing DPS.
Not entirely accurate. The highest DPS scores are coming in from torp boats. We are talking CE dead in under 3 seconds, which is as fast as the server can register the combat start and death of the CE. I believe they are called DPS Infinity.
Naturally kinetics will work better there. But I take your point KJ.
And one should not overlook a Torp boat for general DPS'ing either.
Though I cant really speak to DPS side of torp boats, as the only torp boat I run is my PvP T5U Vesta. It does quite well against living targets.
Funny part is that it doesn't parse higher then 15-20k in channel runs if I ever bring it into pve. But its more of a hull resistance/torp boat anyways. So I'm losing out on a lot of PvE firepower by equipping certain consoles I use for pvp.
Honest truth though.. you can use any weapon you want and it's fine. While Beams might be the way to absolutely max your DPS, you can still rip things to shreds using Cannons. If you're not looking to try and break DPS records then just use whatever weapon you like best.
There was a time when Beams were just hands down superior to cannons in every way. This was largely balanced out with the skill system revamp. Just make sure that if you're using Cannons that you max out your Long Range Targeting skill so that you don't suffer from the damage drop off from distance. I recommend this for any build, but find it's more important with cannons then with beams.
The truth is that STO just isn't a very hard game. You can use whatever you want and absolutely shred the bad guys. Cannons are very viable and very powerful weapons. If you like them, stick with them.. you won't have any problems. Personally, I find that cannons just feel better on escorts, but that's just personal preference.
Torp boats are good, BUT ONLY IF you know what you're doing. Saying "Make a torp boat" to someone that doesn't understand and just equips random drop torps isn't going to end well.
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Second, it's my understanding that it depends on your ship's traits. For instance, T6 TacEsc gets a huge bonus to CSV.
Torpedo boats...rofl. Sure.
Anyways, when I run my Pilot escort on my tactical officer, I run a DBB setup with the "rapid fire" style pilot seat ability. My DPS seems to be comparable to cannons, but I always pull more DPS with my quad phaser/Dual heavy phaser cannon setup.
Oh it isn’t and other videos like this one demonstrated nicely what I tried to explain to you the past 2 years. Your dislike of fire at will is almost exclusively limited to ISA, a map you don’t like to play anyway.
On multiple other maps alternative builds begin to dominate. Due to critter values and positioning exotic and/or torpedo builds currently rule CCA. So in short if you play well enough you rule CCA.
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Beams tend to parse higher than cannons for the average player in target-rich environments (read: pretty much all environments) because BFAW has a much greater ease itself along with beams being easier to use than cannons. This often results in calls for a nerf to BFAW (it has lower rank requirements than cannon abilities and it is both a major DPS buff and an AoE buff while cannons have those split into two separate abilities).
Torpedoes are a bit more niche in that many of them deal the bulk of their damage as kinetic, and if even 1 point of shielding remains on the target then much of that damage is mitigated. However, with the addition of many specialty torpedoes through reputations and events as well as various player/ship traits that have been added over time, the major penalty of torpedoes can be overcome (by way of shield pierce and weakening) or avoided (by using torpedoes that deal exotic damage types) and they allow for significant spike and area damage, which is often more important than sustained damage. For targets with no shielding at all, such as the Crystalline Entity and some Borg structures in their STFs, torpedoes can easily outperform energy weapons, especially with the CE as it has very high energy damage resistance while charging its nova attack at 67% and 33% health. Science vessels in particular can get great usage out of specialty torpedo builds because they tend to focus on exotic damage output anyway, and by using torpedoes they can mostly ignore weapon power (if using an [AMP] core they may still want to get up to 75 for the damage boost) and focus on their other systems.
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STO was once referred to as Escorts Online. Who know? Maybe the devs will one day nerf Beam: Fire At Will and players will switch back to cannons.
Or just up the base damage of all cannons.
For the moment i think i will go "beam escort"
"Beam Escort" is not bad. I installed tetryon dual beam banks on the Vorgon Xyphus Heavy Escort because I can install a crafted omni-directional tetryon beam array as well as the omni-directional antichroniton infused tetryon beam array from... I forget the mission.
You could bleed your ENG power down. Or use Combat Impulse if speed is too much to deal with but you still want 75 ENG power for AMP purposes.
However, I like to fly my Pilot Ships fast at all times, using Improved Pedal to the Metal, Subwarp Sheath, throttle never letting off max, ENG power 75 at the lowest, and sporting Hyper-Impulse Engines. With the 5 forward weapons, I still slot DHCs on CSV or CRF (depending on the mood), 1 DBB for BO, and a torpedo at HYT3 or TS3.
The style however is fast but the attacks are more geared for periodic spiking. I do not like to turret my Escorts like some guys out there do.
In general, my ships that utilize dual heavy cannons, quad cannons and turrets are faster at killing off targets.
BFAW is too random when fighting larger quantities of enemies while devastating in duels.
CSV sprays at everything in front of you, rewarding smart choices in targeting and positioning.
BA's (for me) take longer overall but are a smarter choice if you use a slow ship with inferior turning-rate.
I was recently very surprised though that my Xyfius with a not-yet-upgraded Tetryon-build is surprisingly good despite all the nay-saying about tetryon-weapons (mix ranges from refracting DHC to the set from 'Butterfly' as well as the 2-piece-bonus of that lobi-set).
Anyways. Point is that the choice between BA's or D(H)C and DBB should be made based on your asset's mobility rather than anything else. Overall, the performance is not necessarily *that* different.
Planning on using the beamscort at least until i have the "feel" for how these ships handle. I expected the pilot ships to handle similar to regular escorts or raiders, but they're a lot more energetic.
Once i get the controls down i will probably use a DHC build.