I.K.S. Pendragon

Durgath Temporal Heavy Dreadnought Battlecruiser


Released 2024-10

Made possible by reader donation; thank you Sagyz!

Build Overview and Focus

The Heavy Dreanought Carriers, that is the Universe, Durgath, and Valkis (Fed, KDF, and ROM versions respectively) have near enough been ubiquitous within the game, for most because of one major appeal....Big. I mean really big, these things break the way the game calculates distance big.

Since their release in 2017, I have seen so many people ask what to put on these, and it wasn't until recently that I was given an opportunity to build one due to a very nice gift. All three are functionally the same, with some minor exceptions on the Valkis being a proper warbird and equipping a singularity and having access to the drone pets, these ships are effectively identical.

As such there was no real reason to go with the Durgath over any other variant, I find this to be the most appealing and least obstructing of the heavy dreads.

A Cranky Torpedo Player 

As many might know, I'm not a huge fan of torpedo builds; theres something about the way they fly that doesn't stick well in my brain. Maybe its the decade+ of flying energy weapon and the breaking of the habits those builds have given me, or maybe I just don't like how it looks. In any event, I walked into this build fully expecting to do something like beam overload or make this into a tank...and then we got the Advanced Hangar consoles and I changed how I would have approached this build.

As many might be aware, this is one of the few ships with dual hangar bays and a Lt.C command seat. For the most part however, these ships are forced with a non-specialized command seat (such as the Sarcophagus Dreadnought Carrier, or Suliban Silik Flight Deck Assault Carrier) and usually a plethora of forced engineering seats, or are science carriers with only 3 fore weapons. By all rights, the Vedcrid and Vonph are both ships that would excel in this configuration, being faster ships, and the recently released Typhon 'escort carrier' is likely the best bet for torpedo based carrier platforms.

However, the Durgath and its cousins have one advantage over all these platform; it has a Commander Temporal seat. By no means is this a build breaking trait, but having access to temporal grants recursive shearing, a huge benifit to the single target damage nature of torpedo builds.

With the addition of two hangers, and access to 6 hangar power craft transmitters for the scaling pet damage, this ship halfway solves my theoretically problem with torpedo builds and that comes from its lack of AOE damage. This build is about as close as you can probably come then to the idea of a single main ship that does focused target damage with sings of support ships.


Hangar Pet AI: As a huge part of the discussion, equally important is the pet you've chosen. Some pets appear to be far better at being a damage dealer than other pets. We have an exhaustive suite of test data from many members of the community, which you can find here under hangar pets. Pets basically rank based on how well they interact with the abilities they have, or are given, and this is the important part.


Namesake

King Arthur Himself, I don't really know of a ship better for this one. Odd for me to have put it on a KDF ship but it is fitting.

Meta Analysis

Budget Analysis

Change History

Build Breakdown

Torp Carriers are weird maaaannn.

Skills

Skill Unlocks

Notes

Jayiie's Skill tree has been optimized to be used on as many build types as possible. As such there are some questions that naturally arise when talking about it. I will try to capture these discussions as succinctly as possible here.

Tactical ultimate

The Tactical Ultimate is still taken. Because of the skill investment for energy weapons in the skill tree, this only takes a small amount of investment. Even with the intent of going full min-max, if everyone takes the coordination protocols this is comparable to getting a Mk12 damage console which effects everything, as well as a hull plating node. These are worthwhile investements, and given how flexible Jayiies skill tree is designed to be very good at covering multiple roles such as support, tanks, and energy kinetic and exotic dps builds.

Hull Restoration vs Hull Capacity

This is very simple, while also not. Given the choice between a Improved Hull Capacity (+25.5%) and Hull restoration (+25%) against Advanced Hull capacity (+30%), I personally prefer to take the former, splitting the point difference. Since my character is an engineer, this 25% Hull restoration actually has some very useful applications through Miraculous repairs.

As well by taking some extra points into engineering, this has allowed me to take the 10th Engineering Unlock skill which adds +10 Hull Capacity, which is comparable to the +15 taken from the last point of Hull restoration. Due to how the skill works this is a +3.3% Max Hull vs 4.95% Max Hull buff respectively.

EPG vs Control Amplification, DrainX and CtrlX

This time around I've opted to put more points into CtrlX and EPG while taking Control Amplification, and instead dropping points from DrainX. If this wasn't on an engineering captain I wouldn't consider this a loss. However both Nadion Inversion and Intrusive Energy Redirection both scale with DrainX and are innate captain abilities, thus wanting for the skill.

Aux Power

Optimizing to hit 130 Aux power has been challenging. To do this I required Defensive Subsystem turning for the +4.8 Power to Aux. Combining this with the passive on most science ships as well as the Neutronic Eddies has allowed 130 to be hit passively. This has then allowed me to drop EPS Manifold Efficiency freeing up a 10th starship trait. On other builds this has the effect of allowing more aux power for more damage / better scaling on various powers.

Shield Regeneration

This is still a tank first skill tree. Shield regeneration is statically anomaly and adds a huge amount to shield regen in just the first point (more Information on shields can be found here). As such, I have taken the single point. with the most recent tree revision I've opted to spec out of DrainX and Drain Infection for that last point in EPG. Should you want to not take shield regeneration I would suggest the next DrainX point.

Build

Starship Weapons

Starship Equipment

Starship Consoles

Set Bonuses

Notes on the Power Transfer Emitters Console:

This active can only be used on a non-self entity. I use a macro that targets the focused target then uses the power on Bar 5 Slot 1.


0x1b " focustargetselect$$+TrayExecByTray 5 0$$+TrayExecByTray 5 1$$+TrayExecByTray 5 2" ""


Replace 0x1b with whatever key you want to use, for me this is the " ] " key. I then focus target the pet with Independent Wingmate on it, and this will then cast the console active on the pet with independent wingmate. It's a rather handy little thing to help lower the macro needed for this console.

Bridge Officers

Notes

As stated, it will be a wiser man than me to make a decleration between a 3rd TS and a HY for this layout.

Traits

Personal Traits

Meta-Focused Tweaks:

There isn't much to change here in terms of utility. Obviously if playing on a tactical or science captain EPS manifold Efficiency isn't available. As such these would be best swapped to A Good Day to Die (not confusing at all there's a starship trait, mission, and personal trait with the same name) for tactical captains and potential something like Bio-tech Patch or Conservation of Energy for science captains.

Budget Tweaks:

For budget players who want to save some EC, there's a few standard traits that could be used:

Starship Traits

Meta-Focused Tweaks:

Scramble Fighters is the go to carrier trait after SAD or CA when people talk about carriers. It could use a slot here, but I prefer SAD for the debuff to targets

Reputation Traits

Active Reputation

Duty Officers

Miscellaneous

Ship Stats

Keybinds 

From the Sh'val, I've learned the best way for me to get damage from torp builds is to ignore keybindings and just click/push buttons when I need too. This is the layout I use. Quick single targets on 1-4, rotables on Shift 1-4, and all special actions elsewhere.

Parse Breakdown

ISE Record Damage Breakdown


Portability

As mentioned in the intro, the Heavy Dreanought Carriers, that is the Universe, Durgath, and Valkis, don't really have any direct analogs yet for the tools of this build. The best is to take a 2 hangar ship and try and fit in without the Recursive Shearing. However, this isn't a necessary thing, so some easy choices are:

Basically...any 2 hanger ship with a Lt.C. Command and lots of tactical seating.