So of instead of just posting my build, I thought I'd try something a little different. The following is "path" of sorts to help anyone who is just starting out or looking for ways to further improve their build. This can be adapted to other ships but since I know a few others in the fleet either own, or are think of picking one up (plus it's the ship I fly) I'm using the Fleet Arbiter-class Battlecruiser. It's also a really good ship. As with any build, the choices you make should naturally flow from the ship you choose to fly and what style of play (DPS, Tank, etc.) you're shooting for. With some possible variations your choices should follow this order: ship > boffs and their abilities > doffs > weapon type > gear and traits > and energy type > weapon modifiers.
But before we get into the builds, I do want to point out that all three of these builds assume that you are running 3x Superior Romulan Operative (SRO) which are the blue quality male tactical boffs available at the Fleet Embassy. In terms of getting the biggest return on your investment, it would be hard to argue for a better option unless you're running a very niche build that isn't concerned with causing damage, and even then . . . well you get the point. You will also notice that certain items are below MK XII. This is because the price of obtaining and upgrading them is still lower than the cost of buying the MK XII version outright. Plus you get extra chances of improving their rarity.
The other thing I wanted to point out was that since the Arbiter has five weapons fore, it sets up very well for a forward facing attacks (i.e. keeping targets in front of you). With that in mind all three builds make use of dual beam banks up front. If you prefer broadside attacks, or already have beam arrays in your inventory, then go with those. There may be a few tweaks to the aft weapons, but we will cover those later.
You will also notice that all weapons are of Fleet quality. This is because the cost/return on these are really good. This is especially true for Tactical captains which should go with the [CrtD] [Dmg]x3 weapons from the Fleet Starbase. Sci and Engie captains should look for weapons with as much [CrtD] as possible. The [Acc]x2 [CrtD]x2 weapons (also from the Starbase) are a good option, although you maybe be able to find weapons with better modifiers on the exchange This is of course assuming you don’t already have weapons with more optimal modifiers.
http://skillplanner.stoacademy.com/?build=arbiterentry_10873
This build prioritizes "free" (mission acquired) gear and staying alive. Aside from the SROs, other boffs that you might consider picking up are the mission awarded Hierarchy Science boff from the "Dust to Dust" mission, and the Nausicaan Engineer from achieving Tier 4 in Diplomacy (both have the pirate space trait). Other option include the Engineering and Science Romluan boffs (also from the Embassy) with Superior Subterfuge for their defensive buffs. The boff abilities for this build were chosen with balance in mind, albeit with a slight bias towards defense/survivability.
Using these specific boff powers, the Active Doffs you are going to want to have are 2x Maintenance Engineers to keep maximum uptime on ET2, and 3x Damage Control Engineers so you can rotate EPtW and EPtS. If you wanted live dangerously, you could drop the EPtS and the 3x DCEs and run two copies of EPtW, and then run 2x Developmental Lab Scientist for a cooldown reduction on ST2. Also feel free to switch around the order of the Engineering and science boff abilities to better suit you needs (i.e. run ST1 and HE2). You may also want to run APO1 instead of APB2, but this is more of a personal choice rather than an optimization issue.
Gear choices, again, aim to keep you alive and still do a decent amount of damage. Aside from the weapons, the only pieces that cannot be obtained through mission content is the Assimilated Module/Kinetic Cutting Beam (KCB) 2-piece set and the Zero Point Energy Conduit (ZPEC) which are acquired from the Omega and Romulan Reputation trees respectively, and the omni-directional beam array which can be crafted (a number of people in the Fleet can do this for you if you cannot). While these items don’t fall into the free category, you will likely get quite a bit of mileage out of them so picking them up as early as possible will not only help you now, but save you the trouble of getting them later. The Sol Defense set is not a must, and you may get more out of other mission sets. I do want to call your attention to the EPS Flow Regulator. At this stage of your build, it’s unlikely that you will see any real boost from this piece. However, it will come into play in later iterations, so if you’re having trouble filling all five engineering slots, this would be a good choice. Another option would be to slot another Neutronium for added damage resistance or an RCS Accelerator for better turn rate.
The traits for this build are all obtained from either the specialization tree or from the reputation system with the exception of Emergency Weapons Cycle which is the starship trait that comes with the T-6 version of this ship. But all are essentially “free” which make them no brainers. Again, traits selection is aimed at ensuring survivability, while still providing an increase to your damage output.
In this build I went with antiproton weapons. In reality, the energy type of your weapons has very little effect on your build unless you’re min-maxing a high-DPS build or running a niche setup like FCPT Davis’ drain build. Another reasons is that the Ancient Omni-directional only comes in AP. I’ve already covered weapon modifiers but if you were looking for the optimal modiferes it would be [Dmg]x3 [Pen] or [Dmg]x4 for tactical captains and [CrtD]x3 [Pen] or [CrtD]x3 [Pen] for science and engineers.
http://skillplanner.stoacademy.com/?build=arbitermid_10873
The engineering boff abilities have changed so that you can constantly run EPtW to take full advantage of the Arbiter starship trait, but still maintain a sense of balance. Additionally, there is only one copy of TT1 so you will need 2x Conn Officers (highest possible quality) for the cooldown reduction on TT and buff. So your doff layout should look something like this
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2x Maintenance Engineer – ET and Buff variant
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2x Conn Officer – TT and Buff variant
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2x Developmental Lab Scientist – ST and Buff variant (assuming you have the sixth active duty doff slot).
This build places more emphasis on fleet and reputation gear and changes the balance to a more damaged focused ship, but remains well rounded. At this point you should be getting your equipment to MK XIV, if it’s not already there. The Obelisk Warp Core has been replaced with one from the Fleet Spire, but any fleet quality warp core is fine. What you’re really looking for is one with the [AMP] and [W->A] modifiers. The mission space set has also been replaced with a reputation set. The MACO is a really good all-around set, especially if you don’t have a Plasmonic Leech. If you do have a PL, then you will want to replace the shields with either the Nukara, Fleet, or Iconian (if you plan to upgrade to the full Ico set) version.
At some point you may find yourself in a position to start sacrificing some of your defensive traits, for offensive ones. The order of precedence for defensive trait that you want to keep should look something like this: Active Hull Hardening > Nanite Repair Matrix > Energy Refrequencer. Although it’s not the best, the Nukara Aux - Defense is another good defensive trait but this relies on having a high auxiliary power setting so it may not work for some, especially if you’re running an Aux2Batt build.
With a similar setup (everything was MK XIV except the MACO set which was still MK XII) on a T5-U ship, I was able to hit 30K DPS in ISA so this build should be more than adequate for most of STO’s endgame content.
http://skillplanner.stoacademy.com/?build=scarbiter_10873
The last link is to my current build. This is a high-DPS setup that averages ~75K in ISA with a high of 81K. This of course, means that I have sacrificed almost all defensive measures (except ET/ST/HE) in favor of those that increase my ability to damage. Basically, the game plan is to blow up the enemy before they blow me up. This also mean that in certain content I have to rely on others to either A) heal me, or B) pull more aggro than me in order for me to survive
My doff setup is as follows:
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2x Maintenance Engineers (ET and Buff)
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Warp Core Engineer (add power to subsystems)
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Systems Engineer (add power to subsystems)
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2x Developmental Lab Scientists (ST and Buff)
If you were so inclined to try and improve upon this (with the goal of increasing your DPS) and had the insane amount of resources to purchase the necessary items, my suggestion would be to get the following in this order:
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Supremacy Starship Trait from Astika Heavy Battlecruiser for power level management
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Zemok (doff) for cooldown reduction on APB/D/O
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Invincible Starship Traits from the Zahl Heavy Carrier for better survivability
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Regenerative Integrity Field from the Kobali Samsar Cruiser for better survivability
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Inspirational Leader and Intense Focus (personal traits)
Notes:
Q: Can I run engineer or science in the Lt. Commander Bridge Officer slot?
A: The short answer is yes. However, that would almost force you to run and Aux2Batt build (which I am not a fan of). If you wanted to run it as an engineer, you’d probably be better off in the Fleet Eclipse. It would have the same basic layout but would give you a second intelligence seat. If you were looking to run some sort of a science build, I would not recommend this ship. If you like the set up you could pick up the Fleet Scryer which like the Eclipse would give you a second intelligence seat, plus more science slots and a secondary deflector slot.
Q: What about Tanking?
A: Let’s be honest. Tanking in STO is not like tanking in other “holy trinity” MMOs. Essentially, a tank in STO is a high-DPS ship that sacrifices some of its offense for defense (plus, there are probably better ships than an Arbiter for tanking). To tank in this game you will basically need to have 9 points in threat control in your captain’s skill tree, as many threat scaling console as you can equip and the one or two traits that up your threat, and spam either BFAW or some other threat generating attacks, and even then you might not be able to pull and hold aggro if someone on your team is doing too much damage. If this sounds like too much trouble, but you still want to run a more support-orientated build, then running something like FCPT Davis exotic damage build or a “debuffer” build might be an easier and equally as helpful option.
Q: What does the EPS Flow Regulator do?
A: This item improves the rate at which you move power in and out of your subsystems. So when you use something like an EPtX ability you’re moving excess power to the corresponding subsystem. Originally, I wrote a quick synopsis of how EPS and power transfer worked, but honestly there are much better explanations out there for your viewing pleasure. The long and the short of it is the higher your EPS is, the better your power transfer rate is, which in turn improves your performance.
Q: What if I run beam arrays?
A: As I mentioned earlier, if you run beam arrays then there were some changes to make on the aft weapons setup. Due to the varying circumstance of different players an order of precedent would be: Beam Array > Crafted Omni > KCB > Ancient Omni. The first two require you to meet a number of requirements for mitigating power drain in order to drop the KCB and then, of those two, it’s a matter of personal taste. The last option assumes that you are running the Obelisk Warp Core and do not have both the KCB and Assimilated Module.
Q: What about running multiple energy types?
A: Running more than one energy type, also referred to as a rainbow build, is something that is usually discouraged. This is because there is a penalty for doing so which pulls additional power form your weapons subsystem. The more energy types you run, the bigger the penalty. Since power levels are a HUGE factor in ship performance, this is something you want to avoid. If you had 8 weapon slots, and it came down to a choice between running 7 of one type and 1 of another versus running 7 of one type and leaving the 8th empty, it would probably preferable to go with the latter option. Furthermore, the proc from certain energy types are only effective against certain enemies, or on certain types of builds, so you will likely find yourself in situations where the effeteness of some of your weapons are severely reduced.
Q: But what if I really want to run multiple energy type?
A: Ok. You were warned. First you need to make sure that you are ruuning the Spire tactical consoles with [+Beam] so that it affects all you beam weapons. Second, you need to always run the Assim. Mod/KCB combo, and third, meet three out of the four following requirements:
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Supremacy starship trait
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Emergency Weapons Cycle starship trait
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All Hands on Deck starship trait AND be an Engineering Captain
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Plasmonic Leech w/ ~150 in Flow Capacitors
- Do you need to meet the requirements? No, these are just suggestions to help you get the most out of your ship.
Q: What about torp-boat/canonical builds?
A: With the release of the Terran Rep and Quantum Phase sets, torp-boats are becoming much more efficient, especially if you’re running phasers. So if you’ve always wanted to run a canon Defiant, this may be your holy grail.
I did want to be clear that the vast majority of the information contained in this post is me simply parroting what I have learned from FCPT Davis and other build-sages on the interwebs. I’m also sure that I probably missed a few things that I should have mentioned. But if at least one person finds this post helpful, I’ll call it a win.
So long and thanks for all the fish,
Lieutenant Commander Cain
