[Herb Dykeman]

I thought I would show this build off to my fleetmates. Is this adequate or is there room for improvement and if so how?

http://www.stoacademy.com/tools/skil...encc93277_3099

[Mush]

...is there room for improvement and if so how?

Yes. I'm also going to operate under the assumption that this build is for PvE play.

#1 Drop Eject Warp Plasma in favor of Emergency Power to Weapons 3. That alone is a 16% increase in damage.

#2 Drop the Torpedo. I would also drop the Cutting Beam, but some folks disagree with that. Go all beams.

#3 Your Plasmonic Leech isn't working. It and the 2-Piece MACO bonus (Magnetoplasmic Relays) are counterproductive and work against each other so you're not getting either bonus.

#4 Don't waste your time on 3-piece set bonuses, they're not that great. Get the Assimilated Deflector and Engine. The 2-Piece Bonus and a Purple Fabrication Engineer DOFF that boosts your Reverse Shield Polarity will increase your durability substantially. Using a properly DOFF'd A2B build and the Fabrication Engineer will allow you to pretty much run RSP all the time.

#5 Drop the gimmick consoles. Antimatter Spread and Saucer Separation may be fun, but they hurt you because there are far, far better choices out there for your precious console slots. Replace the Antimatter Spread with the Proton Particle Stabilizer (Voth Rep) and the Saucer Sep console with the Hydrodynamic Compensator (8742 Rep). You'll see a big difference.

#6: Get a fleet warp core with the AMP proc. Since you're using A2B, I would highly recommend the W>A, EFF, and AMP core from the Spire.

Power levels, power levels, power levels. That and skill tree changes will get you where you want to go. For example, you have no skill points in torps, but you have a torp. Ditch it. You have no or few points in Aux Performance and Weapon Performance but you're using an A2B build. Put six ticks in most of the low tier skills and max out the ones that matter (Engines, Shields, Weapons, and Aux). You're also wasting points in the Science portion of the skill tree. Flow Caps and the two Shield skills are the only ones you'll need on this build.

With these and some other changes, you'll see a HUGE difference in both your durability and damage output. My power levels usually run 125/85/78/78 without A2B, so when it triggers, my ship is dishing out damage, it's rock hard, and it's fast so my defense values are high.

#7 Tetryon Beams? Sorry, those have to go. The shield proc is dreadful and if you setup your ship right, with the right power levels thanks to A2B, you'll melt shields on even the toughest targets in mere seconds. Phaser Boosting Tac Consoles would also boost your Phaser Lance. So that's what I'd recommend.

[DeWolfe]

I think Dudley is right on the money, especially about the Tetryons. They are honestly the worst DPS weapon and even if you aren't playing for DPS, most NPCs have tissue paper for shields but their hulls are much more durable.

Boost up your Phaser powers, kit out for Phasers and put your lance to use, it may be low compared to what it should be in order to meet canon but its still another weapon for you to use and any boosts it gets will boost the other Phasers usually.

[DeWolfe]

Hmmm...

I didn't notice you had Fleet Tetryon gear. You have obviously invested a lot into this build and I will assume you have in fact thought about Tetryon's short comings before making it. So perhaps recommending you quit and get Phasers instead is a bit insensetive.

For the Gal-X, Phasers are in my opinion the best option. I would advise you put the Tetryons on another vessel that doesn't sacrifice bonuses or abilities by using a different energy type then what its made for.

I would also like to recommend you utilise your beams fully, I would replace Attack Pattern Beta with Beam Fire at will 2. This should both make your Beams more effective against 1 enemy and assist whatever team formations you are in with many enemies as you will be draining shields from multiple vessels instead of one.

APB
Grants Attack Pattern Beta II for 10 sec
to target: -26.6 all damage resistance for 5 seconds
to target: -106 stealth for 5 seconds




30-70 Second Cool Down

BAW2
Upgrades your next beam attack by 32% DPS improvement (5 attacks, each attack improved by ~6%)
Five attacks against two random targets (10 attacks total)
Moderate Energy Damage to Random Targets


30-70 Second Cool Down


Also being a cruiser, you should tank a bit and BAW will give you a high threat level to do that.

[Mush]

I would also like to recommend you utilise your beams fully, I would replace Attack Pattern Beta with Beam Fire at will 2. This should both make your Beams more effective against 1 enemy and assist whatever team formations you are in with many enemies as you will be draining shields from multiple vessels instead of one.

APB
Grants Attack Pattern Beta II for 10 sec
to target: -26.6 all damage resistance for 5 seconds
to target: -106 stealth for 5 seconds




30-70 Second Cool Down

BAW2
Upgrades your next beam attack by 32% DPS improvement (5 attacks, each attack improved by ~6%)
Five attacks against two random targets (10 attacks total)
Moderate Energy Damage to Random Targets


30-70 Second Cool Down


Also being a cruiser, you should tank a bit and BAW will give you a high threat level to do that.

After testing extensively, talking to the people at the top of the DPS charts, and looking at what they do, the numbers disagree with you. You will do more DPS with APB1 (with Nine Ticks in the Skill Tree) and BFaW1 (With Nine Ticks in both Skill Tree sections) than you ever will with BFaW2 alone or a combination of BFaW1 and BFaW2.

The math gets a little squirrely, but reducing a target's damage resistance is nearly exactly equivalent to boosting your damage output. APB1 just happens to be a team skill so everyone benefits from it. Like it or not, this game is a DPS chase. My build is not perfect, I prefer my Avenger and Mogh. But, with the Fleet Peregrines, my Fleet Galaxy-X can easily pull 20k DPS. That's good enough to put you in the top 700 or so players in the whole game.

Also, with an A2B build, you can use APB1 at the global cooldown of 15 seconds. I just tested it twice without the Zemok DOFF. A2B reduces the APB1 cooldown to 17 seconds. With the Zemok DOFF, it's hit the 15 second global cooldown 6 times in a row. But, that and high power levels are the whole point of an A2B build, to make your Lt or Lt Cmdr tactical BOFF slots as useful as a Cmdr BOFF slot. I'm able to have one copy of something and I'm able to fire it off as if I really had two copies.

[DeWolfe]

Im glad to hear you have your figures so thuroughly researched but I was looking at boosting his effectivness as a teammate in a Tetryon shield draining role. I saw it far more practical to fire at multiple enemies and draining their shields so his teammates could do the heavy hull damage. My reasoning was based on APB with its standard cool down as referenced. I also dislike how APB is single target only and its quite easy to clear it with a large amount of special consoles or abilities. As soon as target contact is lost APB is lost until after CD. it also only effects a single enemy. I think anyone running Tetryon should seek to exploit its Shield drain proc as much as possible since it isnt much and hit multiple targets.

This communique was dispatched from Risa via TapaTalk

[Dark]

Attack Pattern Beta affects all enemies you hit. This is why we activate it right before Fire At Will, to apply it to all our victims.

It's an A2B build, TT1/APB1 with FAW1 is optimal. TT1 will be on near-global, FAW1 should be on or near global, and APB1 will practically be on global because you only want to fire that every 20s.

If you get rid of APB1 in favor of FAW2, what are you going to put in the Ens Tac?

I'll note that the Gal-X really should be using Phasers, I believe that since they changed Beam Overload so that it doesn't drain energy, there is no downside to the Phaser Spinal Lance.

[DeWolfe]

Attack Pattern Beta affects all enemies you hit. This is why we activate it right before Fire At Will, to apply it to all our victims.

It's an A2B build, TT1/APB1 with FAW1 is optimal. TT1 will be on near-global, FAW1 should be on or near global, and APB1 will practically be on global because you only want to fire that every 20s.

If you get rid of APB1 in favor of FAW2, what are you going to put in the Ens Tac?

I'll note that the Gal-X really should be using Phasers, I believe that since they changed Beam Overload so that it doesn't drain energy, there is no downside to the Phaser Spinal Lance.

Hmm.... Well then, I will defer to the advice of the ESF as they seem to have a better grasp on STO mechanics than I. Apologies for any confusion.

[Dark]

I'm not ESF, I just talk a lot.

APB being spread by FAW is pretty much the number one team buff. That's why we love Recluse carriers with Weavers - that's 5 copies of APB (four APB3 from the Weavers) being spread with FAW from a single captain. Everybody does a lot more damage.

Your approach is more for PvP, where APB can be cleared by enemies. I don't think I've ever seen a PvE enemy clear it, or any effects.