Best ground weapons?

commadersetek · April 2020

So right now I‘m using the TR-116b rifle and I crafted some for all my BOFFs aswell but I‘m wondering if there‘s anything better out there? I‘ve been thinking about some elite fleet rifles but it seems a bit basic.
Thanks a lot in advance 😄

salazarraze · April 2020

"Best" depends on what you're shooting at. Some are better for groups of targets while others are better for HP sponge bosses. Overall, I prefer the Plasma Wide Beam and Phaser Full Auto Rifle (DSC) for most scenarios. From time to time, I break out the Thompson though for certain enemies like the Borg and Elachi since those weapons ignore shields. Here's a short list of some really good weapons.

Plasma Wide Beam Rifle - Certain Romulan Vendors

Phaser Full Auto Rifle (Dsc) - Lobi Store

Advanced Herald Antiproton Beam Projector - Lobi Store

Boolean Assault Cannon - Lobi Store

Thompson Submachine Gun - Phoenix Pack

TR116-B - (IMO outclassed by the Thompson but still good)

Zefram Cochrane's Shotgun - Phoenix Pack

maniac20 · April 2020

The Rep Sets are pretty decent and have weapons attached

alonar · April 2020

Wish I could say get my favorite weapon, but sadly its unobtainable at the moment, the S31 rifle.

paladinrja · April 2020

Theres not a BiS. Your toons away team loadout is all about the sum of its parts. I have a physical damage dealer using psi abilities thats modelled on the Thundercat "Cheetara" and "Kess". Which has a plausible back story and was inspired by a boff from another character.

You just have to form an image and then work out how to do it, from among all the stuff in the game. Pay attention to timers or you just end up stun-locked by your own skills and the whole thing becomes a rubber band fest.

Devs really need to revamp on some of their ideas with away team for a bit of QoL

testsubject228 · April 2020

Plasma Wide Beam
Phaser full auto (dsc)
Split-beam rifle CrtDx4 any dmg type

Vs. borg Tommy gun if you have it. If not use TR-116B

seaofsorrows · April 2020

The Discovery Lobi rifle is currently the 'most powerful' ground weapon in terms of raw damage. While something like the Boolean does more per shot, the number of shots puts the DSC Rifle pretty far out in front.

It's of course, not the only great weapon.. the Herald Beam Projector is still great as are pretty much all the weapons listed by @salazarraze above.

My personal favorite, I carry the DSC Lobi Rifle and keep a Thompson in my Inventory for Borg. As for my BoFFs, I put 3 of them in Omega Force since the 'Team Ambush Field' buff from the set stacks up to 4. The 4th usually runs the Gamma set, again for the team wide buffs. I put stuff on my BoFFS that buffs my group.

If you aren't in the market for Lobi items like the DSC Rifle or the Herald Staff then the Plasma Wide Beam is a great choice. Use that primarily, carry your sniper for Borg and get some buffs from your BoFF's. You'll be unstoppable.

duasyn · April 2020

I like the Hur'q Acoustic Resonator in the lobi store. Normal mode shoots up to 5 targets at once, has a fast refire, & a long range. (Secondary mode is a pulse wave.) The Covert Assault Drone Kit Module works super with the main firing mode. Lots of phaser bolts pew-pewing.

legendarylycan · April 2020

it works even better with the secondary fire mode of the leland rifle...yes, that otherwise useless POS can actually see some use when combo'd with a covert assault drone - but only with the secondary; primary fire mode is still shirt

duasyn · April 2020

seaofsorrows wrote: »

The Discovery Lobi rifle is currently the 'most powerful' ground weapon in terms of raw damage. While something like the Boolean does more per shot, the number of shots puts the DSC Rifle pretty far out in front.

This one?
Did they fix that gun? All I remember is when it came out it sucked so bad people were getting their lobi refunded.

peterconnorfirst · April 2020

duasyn wrote: »

seaofsorrows wrote: »

The Discovery Lobi rifle is currently the 'most powerful' ground weapon in terms of raw damage. While something like the Boolean does more per shot, the number of shots puts the DSC Rifle pretty far out in front.

This one?
Did they fix that gun? All I remember is when it came out it sucked so bad people were getting their lobi refunded.

Yea this one. We had it all in team for the Sompek 1337 run I made with the league admin team a few months back.

Just focus on fire mode one and not the secondary shot and you are good to go. Only invest in it if the respctive resources are not a big deal for you. I dont know about Cryptic but that rifle would be high on my personal nerf list if I'd run STO. The other choices @salazarraze provided are all verry good and might be a safer and/or cheaper bet.

seaofsorrows · April 2020

peterconnorfirst wrote: »

I dont know about Cryptic but that rifle would be high on my personal nerf list if I'd run STO.

You shut your filthy filthy mouth!

ussvaliant · April 2020

Phaser Full Auto Rifle (Dsc) - Lobi Store this baby is my favourite for non-Borg content. and then for those adaptive little zombies either the

Thompson Submachine Gun - Phoenix Pack
or
TR116-B

Herald Staff - Lobi Store is pretty good as well for non-Borg.

ltminns · April 2020

Why does the Thompson still come out of the Box at Mk X, with no free upgrade to Mk XII?

lasonio · April 2020

I would put the Thompson with the covert assault drone as the best, then the full auto, boolean.

wish close combat was more of a thing, some pretty interesting items out there but none worth putting on this list anymore

garaffe · April 2020

Personally, I would suggest using a reputation set weapon for the set bonuses as your primary weapon with a melee, tommy gun, or 116B as secondary for fighting borg. Pick a rep set whose set bonuses match your play style and load out your kit mods to complement the armor set.

sthe91 · April 2020

ltminns wrote: »

Why does the Thompson still come out of the Box at Mk X, with no free upgrade to Mk XII?

Because bug.

wideningxgyre · April 2020

As with everything in STO, "best" is a function of the individual playstyle.

- The plasma repeater rifle from a ROM vendor.

- The hand phaser you get during the tutorial of a temporal alt - you need zip to the bridge of a shuttle and put it in your account bank to move it to another alt.

Both do very high damage, are dirt cheap to acquire, and easy to upgrade to Epic because they start at a low MK and quality.

ltminns · April 2020

> @sthe91 said:
> (Quote)
>
> Because bug.

It was bugged during the First Contact Day Event last year. Compare that with the new Cyclical Weapons that will actually drop from the Box at Mk XIV if you are Level 60+.

Just why? They had a mechanism for these Weapons/Items before that has worked fine for years with the free upgrade to XII.

rezking · April 2020

Not taking into account the preferred energy type or personal traits, I'd say Split Beam Protonic Polaron w/DoT3 (main) and the Gamma Pulsewave (2-piece set).
Plasma Piercing Beam rifles for my BOffs.
But, that just depends on whether my toon is a Tac/Sci/Eng.
Species is important, as well as whether or not that toon is in a Fleet.
Alot of variables but I'm happy with the above.

spiritborn · April 2020

I dunno if it's actually that good stat wise but I like the DSC rep "weapon", there's just something appealing about literally kicking the TRIBBLE of the enemies.

Oh and I said "weapon" as it's technically speaking not a weapon but a device that boosts your unarmed attack, but funtionally it's a weapon and takes up that slot.

baudl · April 2020

I'd say the plasma wide beam rifle is good, because it can be used with the free romulan navy set shield and kit for extra plasma dmg and set bonus...then your romulan toon can use plasma weapon trait, and other stuff to make that weapon godly while crouching and aiming.
The whole setup is dirt cheap too.

vetteguy904 · April 2020

if I were doing hards or pvp I might care. I just do fun things like give all my KDF boffs the grenade launcher, there is hilarity in doing that. Typically I will equip my captain with either the TR or the TOS type 3 and the tommy gun, 1-2 boffs with herald projectors and or the boolean, then auto rifles elsewhere. Why the TOS type 3? it seems to have a slightly longer range than anything else

grayfoxjames · April 2020

Have to +1 that Discovery rifle. It’s amazing. Love it’s secondary lol. Get close and spray and pray a bunch of enemies

zedbrightlander1 · April 2020

wideningxgyre wrote: »

As with everything in STO, "best" is a function of the individual playstyle.

- The plasma repeater rifle from a ROM vendor.

- The hand phaser you get during the tutorial of a temporal alt - you need zip to the bridge of a shuttle and put it in your account bank to move it to another alt.

Both do very high damage, are dirt cheap to acquire, and easy to upgrade to Epic because they start at a low MK and quality.

Are you referring to this mission?
https://sto.gamepedia.com/Mission:_I_Sing_of_Arms

Or are you referring to the Delta Recruit tutorial?

wideningxgyre · April 2020

zedbrightlander1 wrote: »

wideningxgyre wrote: »

As with everything in STO, "best" is a function of the individual playstyle.

- The plasma repeater rifle from a ROM vendor.

- The hand phaser you get during the tutorial of a temporal alt - you need zip to the bridge of a shuttle and put it in your account bank to move it to another alt.

Both do very high damage, are dirt cheap to acquire, and easy to upgrade to Epic because they start at a low MK and quality.

Are you referring to this mission?
https://sto.gamepedia.com/Mission:_I_Sing_of_Arms

Or are you referring to the Delta Recruit tutorial?

It's the Federation Phaser Type I.

You get it when you finish the tutorial for the 23rd century characters while on the Starbase. Talk to Admiral Garrett. Talk to the ship master and get a shuttle. Complete the mission by talking to Admiral Garrett. He'll give you the phaser.

Visit the small craft bridge and move the phaser to your account bank, so that you can move it without completing AoY and going to the 25th century.

Unlike the phasers you get from subsequent mission rewards, it's a Green with a DMG modifier already on it. Also, unlike many other mission rewards, it'll be Account Bound, not character bound.

This worked the last time I tried a couple months back and the phaser fully upgraded to MK XV epic is a beast of a pistol.

littlesarbonn · April 2020

salazarraze wrote: »

"Best" depends on what you're shooting at. Some are better for groups of targets while others

Thompson Submachine Gun - Phoenix Pack

I have tried numerous times to find this in the Phoenix pack, and I honestly can't find it. Unless it has some weird name, something appears really wrong every time I look for it.

voodoopokey · April 2020

littlesarbonn wrote: »

I have tried numerous times to find this in the Phoenix pack, and I honestly can't find it. Unless it has some weird name, something appears really wrong every time I look for it.

Because he incorrectly sourced it in his post, is all. The gun may one day be in the phoenix pack as many fTFO rewards are, but currently it was only an event reward, or included as part of the "Picard Pack".

casualsto · April 2020

Best ground weapons:

Long Range : Sniper rifles (TR-116b is a viable option) - Would work best on a Tactical, since there are so many ways to boost your weapon damage. With the proper setting, you could single-shot most targets from a heavy distance.

Dps while at range: Split beam rifles ([crtd/dm][crtd]x3 [run])

Single hard shots/Close aoe shot dps: Boolean cannon. (Lobi) - It feels like one of the best weapons an Engineer could wield.

Best mid-low range weapons: Dual Pistols / Full auto rifles - Also best suited for Tacticals, since the buffs can be quite potent on their already solid dps.

Best low range weapons: Pulsewave assault rifles - The secondary fire simply smashes a group of enemies in a single shot

Best multi-target weapons : Plasma Wide Beam rifles / Herald Advanced Staff (Lobi) - These are amazing finishers for Science captains

alcyoneserene · April 2020

I wonder if there's a simple to access mission that all factions have easy access to without cool-downs to parse some ground weapons for comparisons. It's a shame there's so many ground weapons and no way to know how they compare.

Also, since they nerfed full auto assault rifles years back, these guns feel horribly slow, so much so that I defaulted to the romulan plasma pistol from that mission since its secondary fire mode is what a "Full Auto" assault rifle should be like. Phaser Full Auto Rifle (Dsc) fires a bit better, with primary fire as a one, two-burst, three-burst, plus weaker secondary fire mode that auto-fires until cooldown.

Last I heard, [dmg] modifier on ground weapons should be avoided in favor of [crtH] and maybe [crtd] and [pen]. I'd avoid the knock-back mod too as it sounds useless. [DoT] might be good. Input on ground weapon modifiers would be welcome if anyone's tested them recently.

About the Federation Phaser Type I, is there any more identification to know we have the right one? Maybe a picture of it or some unique stat?

Are expose and exploit mechanics worthwhile?

Best ground weapons?

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