U.S.S. Aegis

Notes

• All weapon-centric builds benefit from the tactical ultimate, as weapon haste and bonus weapon damage from the Focused Frenzy active are appreciable when used on big targets. Applying the bonus to your team is also appreciated. I do not find the cooldown boost from Frenzied Reactions to be needed on a build with a good cooldown scheme.

• Engineering skills

  • Single points in Hull Restoration/Hull Capacity are low opportunity cost for relatively high survivability gains. Since I need skill points elsewhere, only 1 here for those. 

  • 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.

  • Improved EPS Power Transfer is essential for recovering power while firing energy weapons. 

• Science skills

  • Single points in Shield Restoration/Shield Capacity are low opportunity cost for relatively high survivability gains. Since I need skill points elsewhere, only 1 here for those. 

  • A single point in Shield Regeneration has surprisingly large impact on shield regeneration based on recent research by Jay

  • Since this character is using Gravity Well and other control-based abilities, having both points in ControlX boosts those as well as the Fragment of AI Tech trait adds value. I take a single point in DrainX to help resist drains and two points in EPG for boosting the Exotics like Gravity Well on this build. 

  • All energy builds should take maximum points in Long Range Targeting Sensors. 

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

• Tactical skills

  • Energy Weapon Training, Hull Penetration, Shield Penetration, Weapon Specialization, and Weapon Amplification are all worthwhile skills to take 3 points in as they boost energy weapon damage directly. Since I do have a torpedo and it does decent damage, 2 points in Projectile Weapon Training is a good choice. 

  • I like taking 2 points apiece in accuracy and defense. Defense is a small contribution to avoiding incoming damage but also helps reduce enemy crits when you're not moving and accuracy is just good all around, if not a stat that you'll need tons of. 

  • 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.  

I went with Intel and Temporal, which gave me the offensive benefits from Temporal (sans Temporal Cross-wiring) along with Intel's flanking and Intel Fleet. That said, not having Temporal/Strategist leaves me significantly squishier. Previous iterations were more themed around confuses and disables but I've made further concessions to DPS to make it fully Elite-capable. 

Notes

Cannons were chosen because 1) most of the control or exotic-effects require targets to be within the forward firing arc and 2) I hadn't built a cannon ship yet. I like multi-colored cannons so this has quite the diverse color palette of cannons. I dropped Quad Cannons because the Engine power drain was just too much. Disruptor replaced Phaser due to synergies with the console/trait off of the Hysperian.

Notes:

I decided that if I was going to build an off-meta ship, I was going to have some fun with it, so Imperial Rift 4-piece is the drive train of choice. The active does respectable damage, such that if you can land good shots from it, it compensates from losing the raw stats of the Colony Deflector plus any other meta 2-pieces. The set is really quite solid for both exotics and energy, so if you're mixing those in DEWsci fashion, I think it's pretty close to optimal if not best-in-slot. If you don't have Imperial Rift, better to do more conventional setups. 

Notes: 

Alternate Energy types: 

There are no Disruptor-only consoles on this build; just replace the weapons and your Locators of choice. 

I chose not to use the Dark Matter torp on this build instead getting the 2-piece via the console since the Gravimetric parsed so well.

Meta-Focused Tweaks:

• This is not a build remotely close to meta. There are more expensive consoles out there like Immolating Phaser Lance and Dynamic Power Redistribution Module (especially with a Point Defense Bombardment Warhead for its 2-piece) that would benefit this but I would think it's a waste of resources on something so off the beaten path. 

Budget Tweaks:

• The easiest replacement for Tactical System Stabilizer would be the M6 computer, available for a small chunk of Dilithium from the T3 Perseus or else an Ordnance Accelerator from the Gamma reputation for the 2-piece. 

• Tachyon Net Drones could be the Assimilated Module. 

• Drop Dragonsblood Flame Reactor (T6-X2)

• Drop Genesis Seed (T6X)

Meta Notes

• I could drop Photonic Officer from II down to I, but the CDR scheme is sufficiently close that I didn't want to chance it. 

Meta-Focused Tweaks:

If you want to go full glass cannon with a DPS-focus: 

• Whole Lotta X's -> Terran Targeting Systems

• Give Your All -> Adaptive Offense

Budget Tweaks:

• Drop Fire Ball Escape (Elite Captain unlock)

• Fragment of AI Tech ->  Point-Blank Shot

• Context Is For Kings -> Redirected Armor Plating

• Intel Handler -> Astrophysicist

• Context Is For Kings -> Operative

Meta-Focused Tweaks:

• DEWSci is inherently not meta. 

Budget Tweaks:

• Drop The Ruin of Our Enemies (T6X2 upgrade)

• Drop Improved Photonic Officer (T6X upgrade)

• Temporal Tunneling -> Improved Command Frequency (Command specialization)

This build basically won't work without Emergency Weapon Cycle or ETM.

Notes:

• If I had Terran Machinations, I'd slot it, but that's an expensive purchase that this ship doesn't need to be capable. 

• This section gets kind of spendy, but if you're looking for a C-store alternative to Ruin, try Strike From Shadows. 

Miscellaneous

This ship manages cooldowns by Photonic Officer II with Improved Photonic Officer. I was not quite at global on some of my powers with IPO and PO I, so I kept it at PO II. It'd be just as easy to swap to DRB II and PO I but I like my Aux to Structural. 

Link to CDR sheet for this build.