Due to the high demand for science ship builds, here is a brief overview of what is currently en vogue. One fair warning: only read on and recreate one of the builds if you want to invest hundreds of millions of energy credits, piles of Lobi and thousands of Zen.
Science ships are able to dish out incredible amounts of damage to groups, especially in elite queues. Unlike cruisers or escorts their main sources of damage are:
- Bridge officer skills
- Clicky abilities from consoles
- Secondary deflector
- Weapons
The following builds are based exactly on this order.
Captain class
A common mistake is to link the captain’s profession to the class of the ships when it comes to terms of maximum efficiency. This might work in other MMOs, but in STO it’s Tactical > rest. So if you want to create an EPG build from scratch, choose Tac for your character. I’d use an alien Romulan. 10 personal trait slots and 5 (cheap) bridge officers with the superior operative trait. Choose a Fed alien for the better-looking ship or a KDF alien if you want to save some hundred million ECs. Want to play a Sci captain? Why not. Eng? Better not, this class currently gets most out of direct energy builds.
Let’s start with a highly specialized skill tree:
We use 27 points in Tac, so you can choose all but 3 skill nodes. Since we’ll focus on torpedo weapons, your energy weapons are more or less for the set bonuses, traits, and procs. I’d skip the last point for them and add one to defensive Maneuvering which adds a little to your defense which might be useful if you stand still. If you think you need every bit of energy damage, get Advanced Weapon Training instead. The only other selection we make on the Lieutenant level is Advanced Hull Capacity. We need hull points for Tyler’s Duality.
The picks for the LtC level are pretty obvious. We need some points for Tac and all the nice Sci stuff we can get. Unlike builds with energy weapons, we don’t need EPS here. I like fast ships, so all in impulse speed. If you don’t need that, put 3 points in something you like (i.e. Long Range Targeting, Shield Resistance, etc.)
On the Commander level, we take the Tac stuff and add a single point to Hull Plating. Our sole concession to damage resistance.
Captain skills are pretty simple, too. All Tac, maximum EPG for Sci, and energy for our subsystems. Offensive subsystem tuning isn’t necessary, you may put it into Improved Warp Core Potential.
Admiral skills, no surprise here, all Tac and War Core Potential. Tactical captains don’t really need Advanced Tactical Readiness, put it into energy weapons.
Unlocks: all CrtH, Battery Expertise, Max Hull, Threat Control, and full Focused Frenzy.
Specializations
Temporal Operative as primary gets us +50 EPG, Continuity, and a lot of useful other buffs. Strategist is the recommended secondary spec.
Ships
The best science ship you can get your hands on at the moment is the Verne Temporal Science Vessel. It offers the unique combination of a great bridge officer layout and one of the best universal consoles for EPG builds. Don’t stop spending ECs right there, also get the Aeon Timeship for the best-looking skin. For KDF it’s the Qul’poH, Romulans choose the Sui’Mor. Bad news, no Aeon skin for them.
If you don’t want to spend your money on an infinity price ship, take the Lukari Dranuur Scout Ship. It’s cheap, has raider flanking, and a great BO setup. But sadly no backstep console.
Starship Mastery Traits
The traits are the reason why EPG ships perform so well in today’s metagame. I recommend getting these four traits as a basis for your builds. Two of them are C-Store and two come from ships that are available in the Lobi store and thus quite cheap on the exchange in comparison to a lockbox or promo ship.
- Spore-Infused Anomalies (SIA) turns all your anomalies into extremely powerful sources of AoE damage. It’s from a C-Store ship, so consider it cheap.
- Exotic Modulation buffs your exotic damage when using Temporal Operative abilities. Also C-Store (Chronos Temporal Dreadnought Cruiser).
- Assimilated Power-Conduits give you exotic CrtH and CrtD by activating Emergency Power to Auxiliary. From a ‘cheap’ Lobi ship.
- Improved Photonic Officer (IPO) exotic bonus damage from Photonic Officer. Also Lobi.
For explanation: Three of those traits buff your exotic damage. That includes bridge officer abilities, stuff that consoles do, and secondary effects/procs from your weapons and your secondary deflector. SIA is an almost broken ability if used correctly. IPO also helps your cooldown management.
Depending on your budget or build pick two of these highly recommended traits:
- Kick Them While They’re Down (Kick) for up to 25% CrtH. Infinity lockbox. It gives five full stacks on these three abilities known at the moment: Photonic Shockwave, Scramble Sensors and Viral Impulse Burst. It’s a good idea to start your combat with one of those.
- Universal Designs (UD) is another trait coming from a lockbox ship. Sadly. It’s a perfect addition to those builds using a lot of universal consoles. Like EPG Scis. When activating a Universal Console (lasts for 20 sec, stacks up to 5 times): +2% Critical Chance and +10% Critical Severity. Don’t forget to slot Unconventional Systems (see Personal Traits).
- The Ruin of Our Enemies (Ruin) for bonus damage, BO recharge when you defeat an enemy.
- Entwined Tactical Matrices (ETM) helps your torpedos to chain fire spreads. C-Store. Enjoy.
- Terran Goodbye (TG) even more CrtH. Also Infinity lockbox.
- Strike from Shadows is also quite popular for EPG builds. Comes from a Zen Store ship, Shran or M’Chla.
- Time to Kill adds all damage to your build. With high critical hit rates and saturated CrtD and bonus damage values, it’s a good idea to push that part of the damage formula a bit.
- Checkmate does the same and costs ‘only’ Zen. A skill to consider on on builds that use a lot of clicky + Bonus Damage consoles.
- Synthetic Good Fortune is also a great skill that adds +5 Starship Control Expertise and 0.5% Critical Chance for 5 minutes (stacks up to 40 times) when you activate a Pilot (not so) or control (better) bridge officer skill. Also cheap for Zen.
Personal Traits
Here we have all the nice ones we use on our energy builds plus some dedicated to EPG stuff.
Highly recommended
- Particle Manipulator (most important, Level 15 Sci R&D)
- Fleet Coordinator (free)
- Inspirational Leader (exchange or Infinity Lockbox)
- Into the Breach (exchange or Infinity Lockbox)
- Terran Targeting Systems (exchange or Infinity Lockbox)
- Adaptive Offense
- Enlightened
- Unconventional Systems – recharges consoles, must have if you run UD
- Context is for Kings (exchange or Infinity Lockbox)
- Anchored
Recommended and/or race and profession-specific
- A Good Day to Die (Exchange or Infinity Lockbox) – Must-have for Tacs
- Conservation of Energy – Must-have for Scis
- EPS Overload (free) – Kinda must-have for Engs
- Intelligence Agent Attaché – restores captain skills
- Photonic Reinforcement (exchange or Infinity Lockbox) – Good for Sci Captains
- Romulan Operative (free) – Only for Romulans
- Duelist’s Favor (exchange or Infinity Lockbox) – more interesting for cannon builds
- Psychological Warfare – If you want to increase your Gravity Well’s crowd control effect, consider using this one
- The Boimler Effect – If you (for whatever reason) have difficulties with your cooldowns, pick up this trait.
Space Reputation
Pick 5 from this list
- Advanced Targeting Systems (Dyson T2) +16% CrtD on Rank I or +20% CrtD on Rank II
- Precision (Romulan T2) +4% CrtH (I) or +5% CrtH (II)
- Tyler’s Duality (Discovery T4) +CrtH depending on your hull capacity
- Auxiliary Power Configuration – Offense (Nukara T4) Bonus damage scaling with Aux power
- Particle Generator Amplifier (Iconian T2) 5% / 6,25% Bonus exotic damage
- Chrono Capacitor Array (Temporal T2) for better cooldowns
DOFFs
In general, we recommend DOFFs that increase your exotic damage and CrtH & CrtD
- 32 of 47
- 31 of 47
- 27 of 47
- Mizuab (Fed) / Ainsuri (KDF) with a chance for bonus exotic damage. These doffs stack, so a second one won’t hurt either.
- Projectile Weapons Officer with a chance for CrtD and/or CrtH when firing torpedos
Also useful:
- 46 of 47 for reducing CDs, fits perfectly into this build. But IPO and temporal backstep should be enough to get you to minimum cooldowns.
- a very rare Gravimetric Scientist for aftershock Gravity Wells
- a very rare Photonic Studies Scientists for triggering Photonic Aftershocks. Won’t help you with kick, but they’re cheap at least.
Ship Setup
Weapons
- Gravimetric Photon Torpedo
Creates gravimetric rifts, the set adds 3% CrtH - Particle Emission Plasma Torpedo Launcher
Creates Plasma clouds. Damage from Plasma Cloud can be increased with each point of EPG. - Dark Matter Quantum Torpedo Launcher and / or Phaser / Disruptor Wide Angle Dual Heavy Beam Bank
The set Lorca’s Ambition set adds stacks of CrtD. Torp DoT with physical damage. DBB fires faster and therefore add those stacks faster - Delphic Distortion Torpedo and / or Dual Overcharged Delphic Antiproton Beam Bank
Very good torpedo. Very good DBB. The set has 1.25% CrtH and 12.5% CrtD - Morphogenic Polaron Energy Weapon
- Morphogenic Polaron Energy Torpedo Launcher
Both are for the Morphogenic Armaments set - Dyson Proton Weapon
Normally you won’t fire it at all, it’s just there for the set bonus (+22.9% Photon Projectile Weapon Damage, +3% Critical Chance) - Advanced Temporal Defense Chroniton Torpedo Launcher and Advanced Temporal Defense Beam Array for the torps cooldown reduction and the set’s 5% CrtD.
Deflector / Engine / Warpcore / Shield
This setup is preferred for missions where you actually move around
- Elite Fleet Intervention Protomatter Deflector Array Mk XV [ColCrit] [CtrlX]x2 [EPG] [Sh/HullCap]
- Deteriorating Secondary Deflector Mk XV [CtrlX/EPG] [CtrlX]x2 [EPG] [SA +Dmg]
- Prevailing Bolstered Impulse Engines for all missions in which you actually fly around. Innervated is also a good choice as it helps with your tactical BO cooldowns.
Temporal Defence Initiative Combat Engines for HSE - Temporal Defense Initiative Overcharged Warp Core
- Temporal Defense Initiative Regenerative Shield Array or
Tilly’s Review-Pending Modified Shield for HSE (more hull capacity, helps the team to do more shield damage)
This setup makes use of the new set that comes “free” with the Widening Gyre event
- Elite Fleet Intervention Protomatter Deflector Array Mk XV [ColCrit] [CtrlX]x2 [EPG] [Sh/HullCap]
- Deteriorating Secondary Deflector Mk XV [CtrlX/EPG] [CtrlX]x2 [EPG] [SA +Dmg]
- Romulan Advanced Prototype Impulse Engines Mk XV [SecSpd-2]
- Revolutionary Warp Core Mk XV [A->W] [ACap] [EPS]
- Revolutionary Covariant Shield Array Mk XV [Cp/Rg] [Reg]x4]
What’s cool about this setup is the 2-set bonus from the Revolutionary set. In combination with the Romulan engine’s buff to Starship Weapon Amplification, you’ll get more than 65% (!) exotic damage critical severity. Works extremely well with starship traits like Kick and TG.
Consoles
We had some nice additions lately for our science ships which makes it even harder to find the perfect combination. At least we got an additional console slot with the T6-X upgrades.
Here’s a list of useful consoles:
- Covert Warhead Module
Fresh from the Eagle. Speeds up the fire rate of your torpedos and has an active ability that performs surprisingly well with EPG. - Fek’ihri Torment Engine
An awesome console that buffs your secondary deflector and quite a few of your BO skills and active console abilities. Visit <<link>> for a comprehensive analysis done by u/Eph289. - Micro Dark Matter Anomaly
Adds +3 to all max power and improves hull healing. The active skill deals kinetic AoE damage. - Auxiliary Ejector Assembly
+19% bonus exotic damage, cheap to get for KDF and Roms. Fed not so. - Exotic Particle Field Exciter [EPG]
Craft it yourself or pay a lot of ECs on the exchange. 78.8 EPG, 26.2% maximum shield capacity. - Enhanced Tippler Cylinder
Comes with the Verne. +15% exotic damage (not bonus). And its active ability heals and reduces your recharge rates by 25s. Even your consoles… - Plasma Storm Module
+11.3 EPG, +22.5 Control. But an awesome active ability. ‘Just’ buy a Marquis Raider to get it. - Genesis Seed Great console with a buff for radiation damage and an active ability for huge numbers. Get it from the Clarke (Zen Store)
- Multi-Target Tractor Arrays
Great damage console, this time it’s cheap for Feds & friends. - Delphic Tear Generator
Cheap one. +20% bonus exotic damage, +5% CrtD plus a good damage ability - Lorca’s Custom Fire Controls
A great console itself with powerful passive stats, we need it for the 2 part set bonus unless we use both torpedo and dual beam bank from the Lorca’s Ambition set. - Morphogenic Matrix Controller
The console itself is almost useless on this build, we need it just for the 3-part set bonus - Constriction Anchor
+25.3% bonus exotic damage but lackluster active ability. You can’t have it all. - Cascading Subatomic Disruptions
Small boost to EPG and Aux power, nice active ability, cheap for KDF. Fed needs the Mirror Escort Carrier from the Infinity Lock Box - Directed Dilithium Resonance Destabilizer
Passive boost to turn rate and shield power. Good radiation AoE active ability. Quite cheap like all the other consoles from the Infinity lock box. - Temporal Vortex Probe
Very decent active ability, useful passives
Alternatives which are quite ok:
- Exotic Particle Focuser
39.4 EPG, 26.3 Control. 25% chance: +6% Exotic Damage Bonus for 30 sec (Stacks up to 5 times) when using any Exotic Damage ability. Great on paper, but it activates on the final tick. We use a lot of DoT abilities, so this console often triggers too late to be useful. - Dynamic Power Redistributor Module
The mainstay of all current DPS builds. Not really necessary with so many good damage-dealing consoles to pick from. - D.O.M.I.N.O.
+25% bonus damage, recharge for bridge officers, recharge for torpedos. It’s ok for maps with multiple waves of enemies or for a quick and dirty ISA. - Entangled Quantum Bombardment
Very strong EPG clicky. - Isometric Charge
Great active ability but no passives. Cheap for all. - Cutting Tractor Beam
Adds bonus damage for your damage consoles. Quite cheap. - Interphase Quantum Distributor
A small bonus to exotic damage, speed, and hull penetration (for weapons). Adds 1.25% CrtH and 12.5% CrtD in combination with the Delphic Torpedo. Lobi. - Temporal Disentanglement Suite
A no-budget console that adds auxiliary power, CrtH, CrtD, and Shield HPs. It may be useful for fresh characters without the Particle Manipulator trait or fleet marks to purchase Exotic Particle Focusers. - Opening Salvo is another useful one from a C-Store ship, the Titan. A small buff for your EPG skill and a good clicky for kinetic that comes in handy with the UD trait.
- Tholian Webspinner Array
Universal console. Excellent passive ability. The active ability has a decent damage potential as it is also buffed by the Torment Engine. This once top-tier console was nerfed recently. - Neutronic Eddy Generator
+7.5 Aux power, small boost to drain, good active ability
Devices
Pick three all four
- Kobayashi Maru Transponder for buffs
- Temporal Negotiator for cooldown reduction
- Deuterium Surplus for mobility
- Exotic Particle Flood for more damage and of course
- Prototype Ablative Jevonite Hardpoints for more hitpoints. Can be used from inventory.
So, in the end, the ship should look like this. Remember that these are sample builds. You should adjust the setup for ISA / ISE / HSE or whatever mission you want to play.
Bridge Officers
What applies to energy weapon builds works well with EPG builds, too.
Superior Operatives > Kentari > Jem’Hadar Vanguard > Hierarchy > Nausicaan > Krenim or Astrophysicist (i.e. Holo Spock and Weyoun)
Non-Romulan captains can purchase superior operatives at the fleet’s embassy.
BO Skills
Sample build 1:
This is one way to set up the skills. This build uses ETM and profits from the Morphogenic Set.
We use just one engineering skill (Emergency Power to Auxiliary) for the Doff(s) and Assimilated Power Conduits. Fire at Will and Scatter Volley trigger ETW.
This means we can use 11 different science or temporal abilities for total destruction. Let’s see how it actually works. We can divide these skills into 4 categories: Anomalies, triggers for the secondary deflector, pure damage, and utility.
The only one that falls in the last category is Photonic Officer. We need it for buffing, cooldown management and to trigger SIA. Anomalies are skills that have a lasting AoE effect. Gravity Well is pretty obvious. As is Subspace Vortex, Chronometric Inversion Field and Timeline Collapse. Oddly enough Very Cold in Space is also an anomaly.
The secondary deflector is triggered by Destabilizing Resonance Beam, Charged Particle Burst, and Structural Analysis.
Delayed Overload Cascade is an awesome damage ability but has to be timed correctly. Only use it if you’re absolutely sure that it will destroy all those pesky targets. Otherwise, you’ll have Borg Spheres flying around everywhere.
You may also use Recursive Shearing which is a great single target damage ability, i.e. for the final Tac cube in ISE. Feel free to play around with the skills, Delayed Overload Cascade III is also definitely worth a try.
Playing with this build is pretty simple. Fly to a group of enemies and activate your abilities until they are gone:
- Stack up procs for the Morphogenic set by chaining CSV and FAW
- Activate EPtA to buff up and select the target with the most hit points
- Activate Chronometric Inversion Field and Timeline Collapse for your first two anomalies
- Use Plasma Storm (only if it’s worth using, i.e. at the start of ISE / HSE) and Gravity Well and Subspace Vortex. We now have 5 anomalies, and SIA is triggered a second time.
- Wait for more enemies to get sucked into the Well and activate Very Cold In Space. 6 anomalies, are triggered once more.
- Now it’s time for CPB, DRB, Structural Analysis, and if it’s ok to use DOC.
- Add more fun by using your damage-dealing console abilities.
- Reduce CDs with Temporal Backstep and Temporal Negotiator.
- Repeat.
Learn how many abilities are actually needed to kill a group of enemies. Don’t waste your active console abilities on NPCs with low HPs. Watch your cooldowns. Sometimes it’s a good idea to leave out one temporal ability at the start for 46 of 47’s ability. Time your Temporal Backstep wisely.
And don’t forget to select
Sample build 2
This build doesn’t use any tactical bridge officers at all and relies solely on SIA, active console abilities, and of course science and temporal officer skills.
Photonic Shockwave triggers Kick. The tractor beam is for triggering the Intelligence Agent Attaché trait. This build works quite similarly to the first setup. Spam abilities and console abilities. So much fun. If you use this build, try to find a good mix of + Exotic Damage and + Exotic Bonus Damage consoles.
Keybinds
It’s not a bright idea to use an all-in-one bind for the space bar with these builds. At least not for your Sci abilities. But you may bind all those skills to one key that you want to run all the time, i.e. Photonic Officer, EPtA, FAW, and CSV.
Personally, I find it very convenient to have the skills sorted bound to keys.
I.e. you could map Timeline Collapse and Chronometric Inversion Field to one key, in this case, they are in row 2 and 3
/bind 2 “+trayexecbytraywithbackup 1 1 2 1 $$”
Or you create your own activation order and map those skills to keys 1, 2, 3, … this makes it easier to hit the right one instead of clicking frantically with your mouse.
STO Academy Link:
Here’s a similar build on STOAcademy EPG Verne
Additional help
Join the veterans and experts on our Discord: Click me! Select EPG as your role and join the subchannel!
Version 1.15
03/24/2020 – Hellspawny – Basics
03/25/2020 – Hellspawny – 1st Draft
03/26/2020 – Hellspawny – not finished but good enough to publish
03/30/2020 – Hellspawny – added some stuff suggested by AJ and Marcus
04/16/2020 – Hellspawny – added Temporal Vortex Probe
10/27/2020 – Hellspawny – added a lot of new stuff. thx to supertigar and AJ for helping!
01/03/2021 – Hellspawny – Added another build’s screenshot.
02/05/2021 – Hellspawny – added Temporal Disentanglement Suite moved D.O.M.I.N.O. down a notch.
03/06/2021 – Hellspawny – finally added the Fek’ihri Torment Engine changed some pics, added Jevonite
06/20/2021 – Hellspawny – includes items coming from the far from home lockbox
03/26/2022 – Hellspawny – some small changes. This guide is updated regularly anyway.
09/17/2022 – Hellspawny – Tholian Webspinner Array and the Eddy Generator got nerfed. Also superior operatives for all.
02/18/2023 – Hellspawny – minor additions
Whats bugged/gliched about the Cutting Tractor Beam console?
Some abilities add too many stacks and not all damage consolse are buffed by it.
Is there a list of what consoles it doesn’t buff?
No. But Plasma Storm and Multi-Target Tractor Arrays are some of them.
Very nice write up!!
I would defenetly include 27 of 47 as an option to, on etm setup i’d def take 27 over another EptA doff. Chrono-Capacitor Array can be a nice option to esp on pure sci setup, since the cdr methods ain’t instant except 46 and continuity ofc.
Thanks. I’ll add 27. I like him more on a Jugger but he’s good on almost any build. CDs are a problem, Chrono Capacitor might indeed help. That’s also the reason why I picked the Bolstered and not the Innervated engine.
Hi i have a free ship token but wich of the C-store ships would give me the most value for my money?
Spore-Infused Anomalies (SIA) <– i think this one?
Exotic Modulation
Entwined Tactical Matrices (ETW)
Then i have saved some money to maybe pick one of the below LObi options:
Assimilated Power-Conduits
Improved Photonic Officer (IPO) <– i think this one?
thx your help!
I’d definitely get SIA first. Then IPO. The remaining traits just buff your damage, but those two are needed to get things rolling. ETW is nice for torpedos and spreads, but not essential. Without ETM I’d also suggest turning the tac station into another sci and try to get even more anomalies and activations for them. Advanced Temporal Defense Chroniton Torpedo Launcher could be an alternative for the Gravimetric torp as it helps with cooldowns. 46 of 47 is pricy. I’ll probably add a Sci only build in a few days, just need to find a good replacement for the Morphogenic set.
k nice thx again!
I have another Q, somebody pointed me to the trait from the paradox ship : Unstable anomalies
Upon expiration of Gravity Well, Tyken’s Rift, Chronometric Inversion Field or Timeline Collapse:
(Applies to up to 5 foes within 5 km):
____ Kinetic Damage (Ignores Shields)
-20% Accuracy Rating
-28.6% All Damage
Would this stack with the spore infused trait? If the spore infused is so very good , why isnt this one? (I never heard much about it?)
There are several reasons why:
1. The Paradox trait is triggered on expiration of the anomaly. With the build shown above, you have 5 anomalies, that means it would trigger 5 times. The Spore Infused anomalies are triggered per sci skill used. Again with the build above: when placed in correct order, you can trigger SIA 34 times by activating every BO Skill ONCE!
2. Most foes are already dead before the anomaly explodes.
3. At least when I’m reading the ingame-tooltip there is no word about that unstable anomalies ignores shields. That means: the kinetic dmg is mostlikely absorbed and drastically reduced by shields, while the electrical dmg from SIA is not.
spore infused ist NOT a good trait. its just needed if you like to paddling your dps in higher numbers. most of the damage only affects the shields, not the hull. therefore you can say that this skill is useless. Same applies to plasmastorm module. those 900 lobis for the console is just loosing your lobis. dont waste your lobis on it nor your zen for the trait. there are better options, then do buy for something which only damages shields.
dps wise those are super strong so yea.. 😉
Ah ok thx for the info!
Thanks for all the details. Not sure I can replicate this, but it’s a good introduction and gives me some traits, equipment to prioritize.
Thanks Hellspany for this amazing article.
It really gave me a few good ideas to improve my discount build since there is no necessity to spend billions of EC and tons of lobi 😀
I’m surprised that is not part of the recommendation.
IGW is the most useful anomaly to keep enemies together (for 40sec so permanent uptime) and have the core breaches trigger secondary explosions (IMHO more powerful than any dmg you would deal yourself).
Also you can “stear” your anomalies (with Temporal Operative Spec) toward your desired enemies even if they are more than 20km away.
Personally I pick the weakest ship to kill (for fast kill and core breach), apply EptA, iGW3, VCiS3 and then Sensor lock on the on biggest most war away ship (within 10km) to “stear” anomalies towards it. iGW/VCiS/core breaches take care of ships to kill (BotBS Adv as reference).
Did i miss something with the ? Current description both on web/ingame says only +13.3 Control Expertise amongst other (rather useless) stuff.
For discount builds 4 Lab Particle focusser!, Gravity Well 3, Very Cold in Space 3/1 (2x for 15 sec cycle) on any decent sci ship (with Temporal mechanics if possible) are good enough to Resheeve the Envoy (aka Battle of the Binary Stars) and give T’Kuvma’s band of aggressors are very good beating.
url links seem to be broken – so again.
Thanks Hellspany for this amazing article.
It really gave me a few good ideas to improve my discount build since there is no necessity to spend billions of EC and tons of lobi 😀
I’m surprised that
https://sto.gamepedia.com/Trait:_Improved_Gravity_Well
is not part of the recommendation.
IGW is the most useful anomaly to keep enemies together (for 40sec so permanent uptime) and have the core breaches trigger secondary explosions (IMHO more powerful than any dmg you would deal yourself).
Also you can “stear” your anomalies (with Temporal Operative Spec) toward your desired enemies even if they are more than 20km away.
Personally I pick the weakest ship to kill (for fast kill and core breach), apply EptA, iGW3, VCiS3 and then Sensor lock on the on biggest most war away ship (within 10km) to “stear” anomalies towards it. iGW/VCiS/core breaches take care of ships to kill (BotBS Adv as reference).
Did i miss something with the
https://sto.gamepedia.com/Console_-_Universal_-_Multi-Target_Tractor_Arrays
? Current description both on web/ingame says only +13.3 Control Expertise amongst other (rather useless) stuff.
For discount builds 4 Lab Particle focusser!, Gravity Well 3, Very Cold in Space 3/1 (2x for 15 sec cycle) on any decent sci ship (with Temporal mechanics if possible) are good enough to Resheeve the Envoy (aka Battle of the Binary Stars) and give T’Kuvma’s band of aggressors are very good beating.
Could you post a link to your budget version of this build? Would love to fly something like this, but don’t have the time to farm all of the EC/Zen/Lobi it would require.
Hi here i am again 🙂
I dont see the EPG on this console, is it a write mistake?
Multi-Target Tractor Arrays
Great damage console, this time it’s cheap for Feds & friends. 78.8 EPG, 26.2% maximum shield capacity
Still building and gathering stuff but thx!
the damage from that console is just super high. just use it 🙂
hey feli.
I finally wound it:
The description of the multi tractor arrays with: 78.8 EPG, 26.2% maximum shield capacity belongs to the field exiter with EPD mod instead.
a cheap variant would be exiter with CTRLX mod with still 39,4 epg/ctrlx skill (ctrlx boosts graw well range).
What should power levels be on this?
Max Aux, min Weapons. Rest goes to shields and engines. If you need more speed, choose the later. I prefer shields.
Would this work for the Legendary Temporal Operative Science Vessel or do you have other thoughts?
It will work, too. But you’ll trade 2 Sci or Temp skills to trigger SIA or create anomalies for i.e. Kemocite III and Let it Go I.
Prefect, I will be using a couple different starship traits Temporal anchor and improved gravity well
Hello!
Great build, great ideas, thank you for it.
2 questions though – you recommend Auxiliary Ejection Assembly, but say the Temporal Vortex Probe’s passives are “meh”. That confused me a bit.
Secondly, how do you heal your ship? I mostly play solo and I need shield and hull heals desperately (science team, eng team).
Cheers
About those two consoles: The difference is the word bonus. AEA has +19% bonus exotic damage. Temporal Vortex Probe just 19% exotic damage. Just an example with in-game values. My Gravity Well III has a tooltip value of 3,031.9 kinetic damage. With AEA it’s 3,397.3. TVP gives me a value of 3,136.4. It’s still a good console. And it’s passives are ok. Have to change that wording. 🙂
Healing could be an issue. You rely on Continuity (from Temporal spec), DPRM and Temporal Backstep. But actually, in most cases it’s enough to get you through a mission.
Thanks for the clarification! I wasn’t aware of these sublte differences 🙂
Why not replace the CPB (a PBAoE) with Tyken’s Rift as another anomaly for SIA that also triggers the deteriorating secondary deflector? Is it because of the shared system lockout with GW?
The problem with the GW / TR combo is indeed the shared lockout. You can use CPB a few seconds after you pulled together the npcs but have to wait 15 seconds for TR. In that time a lot of potential targets will cease to exist.
GW / TR might be useful in HSE or with builds that lack proper CD management. There’s a gravimetric scientist doff that will reduce the remaining cooldown on any damaging non-weapon Bridge Officer abilities, when you activate Gravity Well or Tyken’s Rift. But the VR one will go for ~50m. Sadly not a real budget build choice.
Cheaper option would be the standard deflector officer DOFF with an after-use chance (25% at VR, up to 3) to immediately reduce the CD (VR: to 50% of normal) of all your deflector abilities which both GW and TR are. Probably doesn’t help with the shared lockout either, but don’t you want staggered use of science abilies for SIA anyway?
My biggest gripe with CPB (PSW as well) has always been the point blank aspect, especially when you also want to keep some distance to channel DRB for its full duration (and not get hit by explosions). But I guess the CRB radius is big enough for most cases?
Yeah, you must be pretty close for CPB to get really effective. If not, it’s at least another trigger for SIA.
As a Sci(kdf) capt can I drop Dynamic Power Redistributor Module and replace it with something more sciencey.
not sure why you wanna drop one of your major damage buff clickys and survival skills…
seriously, as a kdf cpt its cheap and its one of the best consoles the game has. i would NOT drop it at all 😉
Just thought it was more for a Tac Capt, but WILL now weld it on my ship lol
as long as ist “+x% (bonus) all damage” its good for everyone 😉
To me it seems that people posting dps/stats on builds such as this fail to mention that they probably have max endeavour stats.
the build does not change if you have 0 endeavor points or all the important ones. your dps will be just slightly higher when you have them all. but thats at the end just a matter of time 😉
Great article! I Have a couple questions though. (1) Is this build doable on the hernandez science vessle? (2) Im planning to upgrade to the legendary glenn, would it be superior or inferior to the verne? Thanks for any help, been a fan of this site for a while.
Any of the consoles from the eternal worth using?
Causal Anchor is ok if you don’t have access to one of the more expensive ones. The other 2 consoles from that set won’t help a Sci ship.
Andrew, ofc it’s doable on the Hernandez. You just gotta adapt it to the hernandez.
I’m also using it atm and it feels a bit better than the eternal class.
Thanks, my main problem is the lack of 3 science stations (and temporal seating of course,LOL) but even with the disadvantages my current build adated off this one is great.
Shes still a work in progress though😃
its always possible to adept things, thats how its working 😉
feel free to join our discord too 🙂
Thanks for the invite, I might just take you up on that offer😉 Also out of curiosity what your opinion on the glenn? A lot of people are saying its the new meta for torp boats.
for torp boats its the tzentar i guess
So I got my risian weather control ship and I’m decking it out and I only have the Exotic Modulation for the starship mastery what are others you could suggest to fill the other 4 spots?
The 20% damage console is interesting on the build as well !
I’ve seen some people talking about DEW-SCI builds how would you go about building those? from what I can tell you use your beam weapons and put into your weapon and aux power and make shields and engines low as they can go but beyond that I don’t know do they use the same consoles and BoFF abilities would fire at will be better the beam overload? As you can tell I need some help under standing the build.
I don’t play those builds. I do not think they are good either.
Are dewsci builds done with science ships (ones with the 2ndary deflectors) or ships that have a more tactical layout I watched a youtube video showing a dewsci build with a Ouroboros-class Temporal Raider https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aF1EKsINX5E.
is there a updated build for science or is this still top we have had a bunch of new items come out and the new set seems to work vary well with science builds i have heard someone hit almost 500k with a science build with the new set
I still need a few days to get the new set. Updates to this page will follow directly.
sounds good cant wait to see the new build
should’ve been updated 🙂
I’ve updated the guide on the 27th… 🙂
How much do the Commander tactical skills for critical chance and severity from weapons in the skills tree matter in a science build that doesn’t rely on weapons to deal damage?
A lot of science bridge office and active console abilities can crit. So these skills are more or less mandatory.
Thank you. Yet I don’t understand how those tactical skills influence the critical damage output of science abilities when the description specifically says: “This skill increases the chance that your WEAPONS will Critically Hit.”
Ah, I guess I was thinking about something different. The 2pc Revolutionary set adds exotic damage critical severity depending on your starship weapon amplification. So by itself and without that set, the skill does not add anything to exotics, only for your starship’s weapons. Sorry for the confusion.
Great Guide… but you need to do one with stuff people can get .. when it comes to the traits for example .. Most required massive amounts of money to be spent as most are Zen O.o
you could buy zen ships with ec via gift tokens from others 😉
the problem is, the cheap/free traits are pretty much useless, so there arent much choices for that 😉
Hello. Thanks for the build share. I was wondering if you had any suggestions for a more budget friendly build. I’m disabled, have no income. So I have to grind for everything I get. Due to health reasons, I can’t grind as much as I used to.
I have a true budget build for my EPG torp build. But I can expand on it a little with more expensive stuff. Just not much.
Thanks again,
Razar.
Nowadays the most important part of a decent sci build is Spore-Infused Anomalies in combination with a lot of anomalies and science bo skills to trigger. The next step is to add traits and gear that boosts your exotic damage, CrtH, and CrtD. Here’s a good list of almost all those items https://sto.gamepedia.com/Skill:_Exotic_Particle_Generator Some are pretty cheap, some require expansive traits. Pick what you can afford.
There is a budget build over on Reddit that may help get you started as you work on items suggested by Hellspawny. Here’s the link: https://www.reddit.com/r/stobuilds/comments/iwsq2a/strict_budget_build_40k_average_dps_scitorp_for/.
Oh dear, I would not recommend that build at all. I’ll add a budget section to my posting soon(tm).
Sounds good. I’m a novice at all this and wasn’t sure of the veracity of that build. Something else for a budget would be great.
As the author, could you explain what’s wrong with that build? Obviously there’s an enormous amount of room for improvement, but I don’t really see anything at that extremely low price point. My hope was that it should be easy for people to use it on their first sci toon, their first toon to hit endgame, or to adapt an existing toon to it. So I kept the currency prices very low to not scare first timers, used a minimum of skill points so it would be easy to swap to, and assumed no reputation or ships beyond almost any single one that could use a secondary deflector. Of course the secdef focus has gotten my main well over 300k even though I don’t have SIA, so that much of the theory is sound.
For me it looks not like a no-budget, but a no-effort build. Equipment looks all over the place. You’re putting mission reward gear on that ship, add common sci consoles and call it a sci ship build. I don’t see a clear focus in it. Why don’t you use i.e. the Morphogenic set? you don’t use any space reputation traits. Even for new accounts it’s just 6 days to get to T2. And by doing so, you have the chance to get free reputation gear.
I don’t know what the intention behind this build is, but it seems to be a pretty specific one. And therefore it is not suitable as a model.
I would have thought that the focus on the secdef would be clear, and it’s the only option for a major damage source on a low budget sci build. There’s some survivability, some mobility, something for the torps and some concessions to other sci (though very little of that could be replaced with anything for the secdef), but the major damage dealer and the thing that gets the most emphasis is the radiation DOT of the secdef. The Trilithium set is arguable, the +15 speed is much more useful at lower levels and it would have been nice to have the Booster Modulator I’d planned back in, but while the Quantum Phase set needs replacing I do think it’s the best available torp for the build, and there’s not a lot of point in running the torp without the console (plus it’s a universal console which means it fits in both console layouts). Trellium-D is a standard survivability pick, TDS is good crit and survivability, and the other consoles give EPG or radiation, both of which boost the secdef. I think trading 4 EPG for 20 CtrlX with the Datacore is completely sensible with GW. Kentari torp benefits from radiation and temporal, and Quantum Phase benefits from drain, again being a particular help at lower levels. The regular plasma torp isn’t good, and as stated should be replaced first, but at least provides some shield penetrating DOT. Deflector is the most EPG available (Bajor requires re-engineering), core is the most aux available, engines and shields are survivability (Quantum Phase engines have terrible uptime and reward bad habits). Abilities cover cooldown, mobility, and standard survivability, get GW, and then put everything left into the secdef.
Morphogenic would be a terrible choice here, without energy abilities it’s only weapon cat1, and even with it energy abilities without ETM don’t do much. And I did discuss reputation traits to upgrade to in the paragraph after the build, along with torpedoes, consoles, the temporal set, etc. But I don’t really think it’s helpful to make a build for new players that says, “here’s a really good build you can use after you’ve figured out how to beat everything.” As you say it takes several days of playing difficult content to get your first reputation traits, and it would be all too easy to think that it’s a catch-22 of needing reputation stuff to get reputation stuff. So that’s the scenario I tested the build in, actually worse than the worst case of that scenario, and proved that it worked.
Another budget option for traits:
https://sto.gamepedia.com/Trait:_Electrified_Anomalies
comes from Summer ship 2020:
https://sto.gamepedia.com/Risian_Weather_Control_Vessel
It is similar to SIA though requires to be close (<5km) within your anomalies.
SIA is more useful though (power level debuff of enemies instead of buffing power of allies).
Update: how lame. SIA dose like 10k dmg while Electrifed Anomalies only 0.3k. The all power Bonus is nice but not really worth it.
I’m surprised I don’t see temporal anchor or improved gravity well on this list. And what are you doing about survivability? Since if the enemy will no doubt pick you as it’s main target cause you are the main threat. Especially if you’re in a tfo with randos.
Temporal Anchor only buffs gravity wells but sadly does nothing to improve other abilities or stats.
Improved Gravity Well
– increases the duration, but after 20 seconds everything should be destroyed already
– reduced the recharge rate, which should already be at a minimum unless you don’t have IPO
– debuffs the primary target. If this would apply to all targets, the trait would actually be one to consider, but as it is it’s quite lackluster.
About survivability. Pugging Elite isn’t a good idea without a tank anyway, but for all the rest having backstep and DPRM and Continuity are good enough. Also, not all of your abilities generate threat. Do you have difficulties surviving? I’d suggest you post your build on our Discord, we have a channel dedicated to EPG. Join and grab your tags here: https://discord.gg/ubVTtxNc
I will tho I’m PS4. Thanks I didn’t think of it that was my build survives through intel team and a few other abilities. Mainly made it to try and clear a map well as much as I can anyway. Lol
Was this not specifically designed for Temporal Science Ships? If so, please explain why the skills under Admiral level: Coordination Protocols, Defensive Coordination, and Offensive Coordination were selected. Don’t these apply only to hangar pets?
The build could be used for every sci ship, the temporal sci ship is just the best ship for that usage 🙂
in addition, you should read the tooltip for the coordination protocols again.
they buff your pets is one part, the more important part is the buff to all your teammates 🙂
There is something wrong with the login page to the website. IT gives a blank window with only “error” at the top. Looks like a WordPress issue.
The Login is just for Admins and other contributors 🙂
Hello!
why no mention of [b]Console – Science – Temporal Disentanglement Suite[/b] (sorry don’t know how to link).
After all, for Exotic build Aux power is going to be max, so that’s a nice crit bonus, no?
or is crit rate for EPG build already high enough, so +Damage is better than +crit?
cheers,
Temporal Disentanglement Suite is a very good “free” console that has it’s use in a no-budget build. But it’s all passive. Even D.O.M.I.N.O., one of the most popular consoles, is quite questionable, because it has no active space-magic damage ability. So in this case we have Aux power (the Revolutionary Warp Core also adds Aux), a small bonus to CrtH and CrtD (small in comparison to the trait Particle Manipulator) and more shield HP (shields are almost useless against Borg). That’s ok but I’d rather use one that directly buffs my science abilities, so having + exotic damage or + bonus exotic damage or + EPG is the better option. And if it also has an active damage ability, it’s even better.
I’d like to point out that the Romulan Fleet Research Science Vessel is also a good ship for this build, almost on par with the Temporal Science Vessels, with the change that the extra Temporal/Sci LCdr slot instead is on the Temporal/Engi LCdr slot, necessitating a simple change to the BOFF style. Its because Singularity ships can gain a +EPG modifier on their SCores, and the bonus at MK XV Epic for the Temporal Rep SCore is around +50, which equates to around +25% Exotic Damage. Also, because of the Romulan Battle Cloak, you can get a high decloaking alpha strike that affects exotic damage [+All Damage], which can be extended with BOFFs (though not recommended, unless you can’t afford the alternatives). Also, I’ve found out that “Its Cold in Space” and “Delayed Overload Cascade” can be used while cloaked, and trigger traits without causing you to decloak. Now with the new Revolutionary set it may not be as useful, depending on the amount of crit severity added by the revolutionary set vs Particle Manipulator’s adding of extra EPG to Exotic Severity, but for someone who doesn’t have access to the Temporal Science Ships, the Rommie Fleet RSV can be a viable substitute.
Right, the Fleet Laeosa is a quite decent alternative and one can use battlecloak for even more fun and damage. But afaik it lacks Molecular Reconstruction, which is not so cool.
I agree, but the ~25% exotic damage bonus and 5% Exotic Crit Severity (With Particle Manipulator) from the extra EPG covers some of the loss from Support-Mode Molecular Reconstruction, though I agree that the loss of bonus max auxiliary is not cool in the Fleet Laeosa, especially given that Singularity Cores do not boost max Aux power. However, since the EPG is constant, it may be on par with the Dranuur’s Raider Flanking. But again, like the Dranuur Scout Ship, it’s less powerful than the Temporal Science Ships by the lack of Molecular Reconstruction’s Support Mode.
Also worth mentioning, that I’ve found the Hull Image Refractors console to be of some use to exotic builds, because of the +20% All Damage passive, which could also be of use to players looking for a cheaper alternative to the Dynamic Power Redistributor module.
What’s your take on the Console – Tactical – Fek’ihri Torment Engine?
Seems to be a nice idea for this build?
It’s definitely a console worth using. The damage from the secondary deflector should benefit the most. The more dots you have, the better.
Thanks and it works for me. Definitely a better overall DPS compared to a colony tac console.
Elite Fleet Intervention Protomatter Deflector Array Mk XV does not have a ColCRIT as an option for the first slot, nor does it have EPG or CTRLX; what option should I use?
https://sto.fandom.com/wiki/Fleet_Deflector_Array
You’ll find one at the Colony.
Is there a budget build for the Verne? I’m planning on getting it by the end of this current event, but this build here is a bit too spicy for my causal playing. Awesome job btw
Budget is not so difficult at all. You should get the Sommerville for Spore-Infused Anomalies and the Inktomi for Improved Photonic Officer. If you don’t want to spend 300m for the latter, use other means of CD management, ie. Chrono Capacitor Array, Competetive Engine, Bioneural Gel pack. The rest is BOFF abilities plus a few of the cheap universal consoles you can buy on the exchange, take from event rewards or get from missions. Everything that buffs EPG or Exotic damage works well enough. Fill the rest with Exotic Particle Focusers. If you want to invest a little more the Inktomi and Unconventional Systems should be on your list. SIA works extremely well with the BO layouts mentioned above. Even without the fancy and expensive gear.
First, thank you for all the accessable information.
Second a question: how much use does the “46 of 47” doff add to the “Sample build 1″(Verne) if you allready have I.P.O.?
It’s not very useful. With IPO and backstep your CDs should be at minimum.
Appreciate the fast reply 🙂
You forgot genesis seed for the console section, it does need several high HP targets or a lot of respawning enemies to work, but the single most powerful EPG console after plasma storm
It was not forgotten. At the time when the guide was created, the console did not yet exist.
It has been fixed this week, was too lazy to add it yet.
Should I presume this site isnt being maintained anymore? The Science build and ships are more than 2 yrs old. Alot has changed. And many of us could use some assistance.
Presume what you like…
03/26/2022 – Hellspawny – some small changes. This guide is updated on a regular basis
Ok thanks for the info. Now, what is the recommendation if I wasnt around for the event that ran the Revolutionary set when it came to console (PS). I am currently running 2 pc of Disco set and 2 pc of Temporal set.
You could also run Elite Fleet Intervention Protomatter Deflector Array, Temporal Engines and Warp Core, and the Regenerative Crystal Matrix Shield from Para Pacem. The shield has a build-in tac team and high regen.
Thanks again, and no offense meant on the update comment, I didnt understand at first how the flow went.
If the second build doesn’t use any tactical bridge officer abilities and has more energy weapons slotted, does the skill tree need to be changed? Maybe move some points out of torpedoes to energy weapons or to defensive maneuvering?
Also, thank you for the guide. It is most informative, and has made my ship very effective.
“A common mistake is to link the captain’s profession to the class of the ships when it comes to terms of maximum efficiency. This might work in other MMOs, but in STO it’s Tactical > rest. So if you want to create an EPG build from scratch, choose Tac for your character. I’d use an alien Romulan.”
Can you explain why tactical is alway better than all other professions? Because Science profession unique trait [Conservation of Energy] can give you exotic damage bonus when you are hit.
Because the captain abilities of the Tac (for example Attack Pattern Alpha and Go Down Fighting ) are great buffs that, among other things, massively boost all damage (including that from exotic abilities). Neither Eng nor Sci have so many good buffs.
Do you still recommend the Webspinner Array and Neutronic Eddy Generator after the nerfs?
Still usable but not top notch. I’d replace them.
Hi .Im Useing my Tempral Discoprise .Can 2 hangers and 2 extra wepon slots do as much as the missing Radiation damage from the missing 2nd deflector?
With SAD I’d say definitely. Without it’s depending on which weapons and pets, but most likely.
I think tipler got a stealth nerf as the tooltip no longer says bonus and when I tested it, the damage increase wasn’t bonus it was just regular or enlightened is also silently bonus dmg.
Actually I’m not sure if it has always been basic exotic damage. But anyway, it’s definitely not bonus now.
Has the 2023 summer event ship trait and console been evaluated? I am noticing it is not here and, to me the layman, it seems pretty good.
It is and it will be added as soon as I find the time.
Please do not think I am attempting to rush anyone at all ever lol. I always appreciate the time and effort you guys and gals put into this stuff for us that are terrible at the STO maths. I figured they would be, because even to a layman like myself, they appear to buff nearly everything EPG uses. Good to know I was at least partially right lol. I doubt they will be Meta, but I suppose I could be wrong.