I.K.S. Antaak

Notes

• Since this is an exotic build, using an ultimate is not really worth it. The Tactical ultimate only benefits weapon damage, which is a very low percentage on this build and the other 2 ults are garbage.

• Engineering skills

  • Two points in Hull Restoration/Hull Capacity are low opportunity cost for relatively high survivability gains. 

  • I always take a single point in Hull Plating, but other resistance skills and Damage Control are not worth it. Likewise, 2 points in Impulse Expertise is an appreciable boost to maneuverability. Warp Core Potential and especially Warp Core Efficiency help boost power to subsystems. Efficiency is particularly good at adding power to subsystems I am not allocating much power to.

  • I take 2 points in EPS Power Transfer to recover power levels faster after drains or Full Impulse, but it's low impact on this build. 

  • Since I don't want to use Emergency Power to Auxiliary to reach a max of 130 Aux, I take extra points in Defensive, Aux Subsystem Performance and Warp Core Potential to cap out power. Need EPS Manifold Efficiency to make this work but that's a good choice anyway.

• Science skills

  • Long-Range Targeting Sensors is useful on other builds that use energy weapons more. 

  • Since Control Expertise and Exotic Particle Generators are primary offensive stats for this build, I want those maxed out and take Control Amplification. Drain Infection and a single point in Drain Expertise adds minor benefits. 

  • The rest of the science skills are of little value on this build and are completely skippable. 

• Tactical skills

  • I do use multiple projectiles, so 3 points in Projectile Weapon Training is merited. Energy weapons are a very low contribution on this build but I take for other builds on the same character that use it more. I only take 2 points apiece in Hull Pen, Shield Pen, and Weapon Specialization as those only benefit weapons and thus aren't a major damage component. Maxing Weapon Amplification is essential to optimize gains from the Imperial Rift 2-piece set, which scales Exotic CrtD based on that stat.

  • I like taking 2 points in defense. Defense is a small contribution to avoiding incoming damage but also helps reduce enemy crits when you're not moving. I only take 1 point in accuracy; weapon damage and output is not a focus on this build. 

  • Coordination Protocols, Defense Coordination and Offensive Coordination are good team boosts so I always take those. They also benefit hangar pets on builds that have those. Improved Tactical Readiness is essential for reducing tactical cooldowns along with the rest of the cooldown scheme. 

• Unlocks

  • There are two crucial unlocks: battery expertise (improves duration of consumable batteries) and threat control which either increases or decreases threat based on threatening stance.

Notes

This ship’s primary role is Exotic DPS using bridge officer powers, exotic torpedoes, and other non-weapon effects. The primary offensive statistics for this ship are the Exotic Particle Generators skill (EPG), Critical Chance (CrtH), Critical Severity (CrtD), Auxiliary power (Aux), +Exotic, Damage Resistance Reduction (DRR), and +Bonus Exotic Damage. Secondary offensive statistics are Control Expertise (CtrlX) and +Projectile Damage as well as Weapon Amplification, since that skill boosts Exotic Critical Severity through use of the Imperial Rift 2-piece. 

The Dual Beam Bank, and Dyson Proton Weapon are purely there for passive bonuses and contribute very little meaningful damage. 

Notes:

Drive Train: The Imperial Rift 2-piece is best-in-slot for exotic builds. The 4-piece is competitive, but not quite as good IMO unless you can guarantee a good use of the active. If it's not available, use the Temporal 2-piece instead. This ship in particular benefits from having the Prevailing (Competitive) Engines so I'm using the Revolutionary Shield so I can fit the engines. 

Hangar pets: You could swap the Elite Alliance Fighter squadrons out for Normal (Blue) To'Duj Squadrons if you have them. I don't, and I'd prefer torpless fighters that buff me (which the Alliance fighters do) anyway.

Notes: 

Exotic Subflavors: In my opinion, there are 4 main flavors in the Exotic space right now. All of them are pretty similar overall and all can be combined to a certain extent, but there are subtle differences:

• "Clicky" builds are going to lean more on universal consoles with powerful actives, the Cutting Tractor Beam console to boost damage of those, and the Unconventional Systems trait to reduce cooldowns. This also pretty much forces a lower-cooldown "Control" bridge officer power than only having Gravity Well, so you'll see Tractor Beam/Tractor Beam Repulsors as a mule. The downside is that acquiring all those clickies is expensive and some of them are quite finicky. This is the highest-end sci meta, but is very expensive and only works superbly on certain maps.

• TacSci builds are going to emphasize torpedo spreads with the Entwined Tactical Matrices build. This'll require 1-2 extra boff powers devoted to Tactical powers, possibly with Kemocite or an attack pattern on top and works well on things like the Fleet Nautilus that have excess Tactical seating. This also leads to a synergistic choice of the Morphogenic 3-piece. This build is specifically focused on this subflavor and the DSD. 

• DSD builds emphasize the Deteriorating Secondary Deflector more. While most any high-end sci boat will be running Structural Analysis and DRB, this lean goes beyond that. This means you'll see powers like Tyken's Rift or Charged Particle Burst. Mathematically, this means an emphasis on Cat2 damage or -DRR, because the DSD is super-heavily-loaded with Cat1 already. This kinda works better with the clicky focus because Delphic Tear is a thing. This is the cheapest build to start building effective exotics with.

• SIA builds emphasize Spore Infused Anomalies above almost all else. This has some hard decisions against a TacSci lean because that's 2-3 boff powers going to Tac that could be going to more anomalies or more triggers for Spore Infused Anomalies. It also has some conflict with the clicky focus because SIA doesn't scale with +Exotic or +Bonus Exotic damage consoles like Delphic Tear or Causal Anchor or Temporal Vortex Probe.

Alternate exotic types: 

Please see my Dranuur for a more clicky and SIA-focused build. Repeated testing has shown that the DSD/SIA focus is stronger but if you like Tac-Sci, both are very viable up to and above 1M DPS. 

Budget Tweaks:

• The first thing to drop would be Bio-Electrical Wave Capacitor (T6X2 upgrade)

• The next thing would be Genesis Seed (T6X upgrade)

• Plasma Storm can be replaced with something like a Constriction Anchor which should be relatively cheap on the Exchange, or the Nukara Particle Converter at an extreme budget level. 

• If the event consoles (Dragonsblood Flame Reactor, Subspace Fracture Tunneling Field) aren't available, swap in the Chronometric Capacitor (Mission Reward; Time and Tide) and the Proton Particle Stabilizer (Dyson Reputation). Alternately, the 8472 Counter-Command Relay is another option (Mission Reward; Surface Tension). This probably means you're going to need Emergency Power to Auxiliary unless you have another source of Aux power to max it out.

Notes

• Delayed Overload Cascade could replace Hazard Emitters but it's finicky to use well and doesn't trigger Spore-Infused Anomalies

• If you're worried about self-destructing with destructible High Yield torpedoes, replace Concentrate Firepower with Tyken's Rift II.

Meta-Focused Tweaks:

• The meta would be to fly a Tactical captain, specifically a Romulan Alien. This would result in swapping Grace Under Fire for A Good Day to Die and EPS Manifold Efficiency for Duelist's Fervor

• Alien trait -> Intelligence Agent Attache if using a tactical captain. Engineering captain powers have little effect on exotic damage. 

• Give Your All -> Pseudo-Submission and hope the placate is enough/tank is good

 If low budget, (try and keep the ones at the bottom) 

• Drop Unconventional Systems (Elite Captain unlock)

• Context Is For Kings -> Operative

• Resonating Payload Modification -> Techie

• Enlightened ->  Astrophysicist

• Terran Targeting Systems -> Projectile Training

Meta-Focused Tweaks:

To truly make a meta exotic build with unlimited budget, you'd need to go pick Universal Designs and the Ruin of Our Enemies, which would be very expensive. 

Budget Tweaks:

 If lower budget, (try and keep the ones at the bottom) 

• Drop Weaponized Exotic Particles (T6X2 upgrade)

• Drop Five Magicks (T6X upgrade)

• Improved Photonic Officer -> Unconventional Tactics

This build doesn't really work without Entwined Tactical Matrices or Spore-Infused Anomalies

Notes:

If you have Strike From Shadoes, it's generically a good trait on any DPS build and could replace ODR or Command Frequency

Miscellaneous

This ship uses Improved Photonic Officer as its primary cooldown mechanism. Don't need Boimler Effect or anything else. If Improved Photonic Officer is too expensive, consider picking up Torpedo Astrometric Synergy and the Chrono Capacitor Array trait, dropping Omega Kinetic Shearing and Particle Generator Amplifier

Link to CDR sheet for this build