A.R.W. Javelin
Legendary Scimitar Intel Dreadnought Warbird
Build Overview and Focus
Last Updated December 2023
Support builds in STO are not generally healers but rather buff/debuff ships designed to help teammates reach new DPS thresholds. Support builds by their very nature are not intended to be DPS machines in their own right and are typically geared for Elite content only; Advanced is too easy/fast for a support build to really shine. Supports and tanks have this in common; it's not that they can't function on Normal or Advanced, but they only truly serve a needed purpose on Elite.
In combination with a tank (often with supportive aspects of the build), supports are often what allows the super high-end DPSers to achieve new heights, as once you get above 500K DPS, team composition really starts mattering, and having a good support will frequently make the difference between an average DPS parse and a record-breaking one. This particular ship is geared towards buffing allied projectile/kinetic and EPG builds as both types have a fair amount of common aspects that are influenced by the ally buffs and enemy debuffs that this ship brings to the table.
Some would contend that support DPS needs to be much lower for a true high-end support. That statement is correct, but should be qualified. Since "DPS" stands for damage per second, the support build's own preferred DPS will depend on how strong are the DPS builds it's supporting. If you're supporting players less than 400K or 500K, then it's to their benefit to bring enough DPS to accelerate the parsed run. Bringing a 75K or 100K support build to a run filled with 150-300K players will not increase their DPS substantially, despite the buffs and debuffs offered because the map simply takes too long to complete. To that end, my support builds are designed to be:
Elite-capable in their own right, which means around 200K DPS. It's easier to bring DPS down than to pull it up. I'll talk more about how to do that in each section if you're trying to support higher-end players.
Versatile as opposed to highly-specialized for specific builds. The Javelin is designed to help energy builds more, but is NOT designed around the super high-end meta that currently has only 1 DPS player using projectiles and mines and thus doesn't accommodate other players using hangar pets or torpedoes. I'm not willing to constrain myself that much. There is a guide covering such builds in depth here.
These are support DPS builds; they are NOT tanks. Please see my Presidio or Styx for supportive tank builds.
Lastly, supports cannot salvage poor builds or poor piloting. Support builds make good builds and good pilots look great. The record-breaking builds at the highest levels of the DPS League are made possible by having really strong support builds amplifying their performance further. Support is a selfless, team-centric build type that succeeds from carrying others to new heights, but they still have to put in the work to make a competent build and fly it well. Rejoice when your teammates achieve even greater success and celebrate having a part in it. This ship has assisted in several energy build records on this site and across our fleet/armada.
We measure supports in two other methods besides DPS: the maximum percentage of debuff (% DB), where the parse measures how much an enemy's resistance was reduced based on the initial hit, and the number of personal bests assisted with for allies (PBA).
Platform Selection
I wanted a ship with at least LtCmdr Command to give allies Concentrate Firepower III. While this ship is geared towards supporting energy builds, most energy builds I fly alongside carry a single torpedo that would benefit. I also sought a hangar for ally-buffing pets as well as enough science seating to support at least Gravity Well I. I wanted a healthy dose of tactical seating, preferably for Attack Pattern Beta. Given the choice between the Endeavor and the Legendary Scimitar, the Legendary Scimitar had a hangar as well as Gather Intel and Intel seating, so that was my choice. While some supports are built around having Gravity Well III, there's also a role for supports that maximize on tactical seating for debuffs. We call those "Spotters" and this is an example of such a build.
Flavor/Theme Choices
Increased survivability for general play
Polaron weapons
Hull Image Refractors console for healing/utility
Varied bridge crew vs all Superior Romulan Operatives/Pirates
Human captain
This is a premium build, with the highest available budgets and resources utilized in its creation. See the build costs page for more detail.
Namesake
While the main weapon of the Roman legionary was his gladius (sword), his secondary weapon was a pair of light pilum, or javelins. This allowed him to attack enemies at range and pierce armor before closing the distance with his sword. The A.R.W. Javelin serves as a supportive weapon for vessels of the Khitomer Alliance, enhancing their capabilities and providing fire support and battlefield coordination.
The sharing of this name with a 21st-century Earth anti-tank weapon being used to support resistance efforts in an Eastern European country whose flag somewhat resembles the visual appearance of this ship is purely coincidental.
Meta Analysis
ISA: 152K, 200% DB
ISE: 266K, 363% DB, 78 PBA
HSE: 206K, 461% DB, 32 PBA
Budget Analysis
Using the EZRA rubric, this build would cost 690 USD to replicate. That is far more than what I spent on STO to make it. If the cost looks daunting, don't worry! Lower-budget alternatives are provided below.
Elite Captain/T6X upgrade, all fleet unlocks
8 T6 C-store ships (Shran, Gagarin, Ra'nodaire, Clarke, Bozeman, Jem'Hadar Vanguard Dreadnought Cruiser, Palatine, Lafayette)
1 Lobi ship (Jem'Hadar Heavy Strike Wing Escort)
1 Legendary ship (Legendary Scimitar)
1 Lockbox ship (Mirror Engle)
1 Lobi trait (Boimler Effect),
1 Event device (Kobayashi Maru Transponder), 2 Event ships (Compiler Dreadnought, Ho'kuun)
3 Lockbox consoles, 10 lockbox traits, 2 lockbox doffs, 1 lockbox weapon, 1 lockbox bridge officer ability
Reputation + fleet gear; all Mk XV Epic
0 Lockbox or Promo R&D ships
Change History
December 2023: T6X2 upgrade added second Deuterium Surplus, Carrier Wave Shield Hacking, and Hyper-Focusing Trinary Arrays. Replaced Structural Analysis with Tractor Beam. Was at 179K / 254% DB ISA, 272K / 354% DB ISE, 267K / 374% DB HSE.
July 2023: Replaced Electrified Anomalies with Digital Compilation Field. Replaced Cardassian Support Platform Cluster with Enhanced Dominion Coordination Protocol.
April 2023: Replaced Emergency Weapon Cycle with One Impossible Thing at a Time. Replaced Cold-hearted with Electrified Anomalies. Replaced A2B, EPTW and KLW with Structural Analysis, PO, and Let It Go. Replaced CrtH-boosting EWO with buff-stripping EWO. Replaced Technicians with reloading PWO and Matter-Antimatter Specialist for CtrlX. Replaced Lorca's Console and 2 colony consoles with consoles from Palatine, Damar, and Jem'Hadard Vanguard Dreadnought Cruiser. Reversed ranks of Ionic Turbulence and CSV.
December 2022: Replaced Calm Before the Storm with Superior Area Denial. Replaced Vulnerability Locators with Tachyon Net Drones and Cascading Subatomic Disruptions. Added more Superior Romulan Operatives. Was at 158K, 158% DB ISA / 252K, 236% DB ISE / 167K, 232% DB HSE
April 2022: Replaced a Locator with High Energy Communications Network. Replaced Elite Alliance Fighter Squadrons with Elite Malem Frigates
March 2022: Posted build
Build Breakdown
This ship is pretty broadly spread, but retains enough selfish DPS and independence to carry Advanced TFOs that I'd be hard-pressed to reduce energy weapon capability. If you want to do that, I discuss how in the Parse Breakdown section.
Skills
Skill Unlocks
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.
Temporal Operative is useful for Entropic Rider and Atrophied Defenses as well as Phasic Artillery and Continuity. The passive EPG is nice as well. Intelligence primary allows the team-wide Intelligence Fleet active ability.
Build
Starship Weapons
Notes
Torpedoes: Might as well start with the controversial one. "No torpedoes on nannies!!11" If we had a comments section, this would be likely the first one. Let's talk about why that's the conventional wisdom. The highest-end ISE runs want to feed a single DPS player (or their pets) all the Concentrate Firepower procs possible to maximize DPS from torpedoes, so nobody else will run torpedoes (or torpedo-armed hangar pets) in a truly-coordinated run. That's the prevailing wisdom.
I'm not building around super-high-end players. I don't build around the assumption that everyone is trying to funnel DPS into a single projectile user. I've supported players up to 1M DPS on this ship but we're not hitting the top of the leaderboards nor is that level of coordinated build efficiency and minmaxing something I'm trying to achieve. A more uncoordinated environment dilutes the effectiveness of Concentrate Firepower donation if others are summoning beacons, fighters, firing torpedoes, etc.
The Javelin is geared more towards helping energy builds which while not super-high-end-DPS meta are still popular. Those benefit less from grabbing every single Concentrate Firepower proc. To that end, slotting a torpedo has other benefits for such builds, namely...
The Adv-Piezo Photon Torpedo debuffs shield hardness by an appreciable amount (20%) so there's a considerable amount of additional debuff being spread around by me using this particular torpedo. Omega Kinetic Shearing is a guaranteed proc of Atrophied Defenses for a further -10 DRR.
Torpedoes are fun and immersive.
That said, if you would rather build a support without a torpedo so as to better donate Concentrate Firepower, unslot the torpedo and Entwined Tactical Matrices (use Withering Barrage instead), or deal with the loss of uptime on Scatter Volley.
Polaron: I chose this flavor to use both the Advanced Gamma Inhibiting Turret / Omni since they stack. I also didn't have a Polaron energy build so the choice is somewhat flavorful. Vaadwaur Polaron is a nice shield-hardness debuff but Pulse Phasers would a similar role as Altamid beams and also benefit more from the Deconstructive Resonance Emitter I'm using. If Phaser, swap out the Piezo-Electric Focuser and other Polaron weapons for the Ordnance Accelerator and Pulse Phasers and adjust tactical consoles to the appropriate flavor.
Starship Equipment
Notes:
Drive Train: The Iconian 3-piece is basically a generic Very Rare Tactical Console for allied energy weapon players. The 4-piece could have been replaced with the Tilly Shield; mathematically it's a toss-up depending on how much your enemies are are shielded.
Hangar Pets: I used Elite Malem Frigates since I could slot them and they have a large number of support abilities including Suppression Barrage, Scattering Field, Sensor Scan, and Viral Matrix. If you didn't have those, Elite Alliance Fighter Squadrons cast buffs (Focused Assault III). Their DPS isn't bad either.
Starship Consoles
Set Bonuses
Notes:
Alternate energy types: See the weapons section.
If supporting exotic/projectile builds: See the Valdres build. You'll want to swap the drive train for Gamma 3-piece and Tilly Shield.
Meta-Focused Tweaks:
See the weapons section for commentary on dropping torpedoes
There are other universal consoles like Opening Salvo (T6 Titan) or Temporal Anomaly Projector (T4 Gemini) that do things like dropping enemy shields or even more debuffs. Could drop the Hull Image Refractors and Protomatter for those.
If you really want to spend dilithium, you can bring team-wide engines and aux batteries. In practice, players should have their important power levels pretty well maxed so I don't consider this worthwhile especially when we're using team-wide starship traits
If you don't want to use hangar pets at all out of fear of despawning the map or of taking DPS, just...don't slot a hangar. Easy enough.
Budget Tweaks:
If low budget,
Drop Kobayashi Maru Transponder if unavailable (T6X upgrade and event); if available, use the Hull Patches instead
Protomatter is hard to give up but could be replaced by Ablative Hazard Shielding from the Arbiter at a loss of teamwide heals
Swap out the Cascading Subatomic Disruptions for a RCS Accelerator [CtrlX] to give turn and Control Exerptise.
Drop the High Energy Communications Network, Enhanced Dominion Coordination Protocol, Hyper-Focusing Trinary Arrays, and Radiation Bombardment Matrix in favor of a cheaper alternatives like Hostile Acquisition, Delphic Tear, temporal Anomaly Projector, and Polymorphic Probe Array which should be fairly cheap on the exchange.
Use regular polaron cannons instead of Vaadwaur
Most of the rest of this can be obtained even on a budget.
Bridge Officers
Meta Notes
Could replace Hazard Emitters with Structural Analysis. This makes you significantly squishier and lacking an on-demand cleanse which can be rough on non-tank maps
If you want to go torpless, drop Torpedo Spread and take Withering Barrage over ETM. Kemocite would fit in there instead.
Do not use Best Served Cold. It is irredeemably terrible.
Traits
Personal Traits
Meta-Focused Tweaks:
If you really want to pick up Into the Breach, you could drop Fleet Coordinator. I don't like how unreliable it is.
Psychological Warfare could replace Give Your All
Budget Tweaks:
If low budget, (try and keep the ones at the bottom)
Drop Resonating Payload Modification (Elite Captain unlock)
Unconventional Systems -> Operative
Ablative Shell -> Techie
Fragment of AI Tech -> Beam Training
Boimler Effect -> Point-Blank Shot
A Good Day to Die -> Innocuous
Feel the Weight of Our Presence -> Crippling Fire
Intelligence Agent Attache -> Cannon Training
Starship Traits
Meta-Focused Tweaks:
Some of the traits here are generically good energy weapon (DEW) traits.
You could drop Strike From Shadows for Tricks of the Trade. Alternately, Unified Engineering is another modest team-wide boost.
I dropped Cold-hearted because typically our tanks are running it and it doesn't stack across the time. If you like it, then replace Electrified Anomalies accordingly.
If you're going torpless, drop Entwined Tactical Matrices. Scatter Volley uptime will suffer accordingly. Jubilant Cadence is more supportive.
Budget Tweaks:
If low budget, (try and keep the ones at the bottom)
Drop Strike From Shadows (T6X upgrade)
Drop Superior Area Denial (T6X2 upgrade)
Digital Compilation Field -> Jubilant Cadence if you have access to the Lafayette
I don't think you can make this work without Entwined Tactical Matrices or Withering Barrage
Notes:
Electrified Anomalies at ~100 DrainX gives about 7.5 power at 50% uptime to allies within 5 km of Gravity Well or Ionic Turbulence. Greater than the Sum gives up to +20 power for 10 seconds depending on how many allies are within 5 km on using a Command ability. I'm using the latter because I believe it does more.
Superior Area Denial is an excellent trait for ships using Fire-at-Will or Scatter Volley that also have a hangar. While it is extremely expensive, captains wishing to use this trait on multiple characters would benefit from saving up and acquiring it via the 12th Anniversary Bundle, which is how I did it.
Reputation Traits
Active Reputation
Duty Officers
Meta-Focused Tweaks:
Honestly these seem pretty good. You could run a Command-boosting Liberated Borg Strength Through Unity doff to help improve team's max hull, but it's 10% hull capacity which is very marginal.
Budget Tweaks:
If low budget, skip the Energy Weapon duty officers. I'd probably slot Research Lab Scientists that gives extra skills from Lieutenant or Ensign abilities
Miscellaneous
Cooldowns
This ship uses Photonic Officer and Boimler Effect as its primary cooldown mechanism. As evidenced from the chart above, without Boimler Effect triggering, this build will not have most of its powers on global cooldown. Thankfully, with a high number of short rotation powers (7 over a 10-15 second rotation), there's an 92 chance or higher of at least 1 activation of the trait during a rotation when using all of the bridge officer powers.
Ship Stats
Keybinds
With as many abilities and synergizing concepts as this ship employs, an efficient control scheme is essential. There are many ways to set up such a ship, so I don't pretend to assume that my way is superior. It works for me, especially with my background in RTS and MOBA games, where pushing many different keys quickly is essential.
[Spacebar] is my spambar. It includes Attack Pattern Beta, Emergency Power to Engines, Photonic Officer, Kobayashi Maru, and Cannon Scatter Volley.
[1] is my off-cycle key. It's here for firing Torpedo Spread 10 seconds after Scatter Volley to trigger ETM
[2] is my big buff key for teamwide buffs. Flagship Tactical Console, Scattering Field, Photonic Fleet, Science Fleet, Radiant Subatomic Pulse, Kobayashi Maru Transponder and Intelligence Fleet
I also bind "Fire all weapons" to right mouse
Everything else is activated manually. I will activate the various debuff consoles, Distributed Targeting, and Concentrate Firepower manually on big targets. Energy Amplifiers need to be used manually to avoid conflicting with Large Aux Batteries since we really need the Large Aux Batteries for Sensor Scan and the two share a cooldown. I launch fighters manually since the Elite Malem Frigates have long cooldowns on their support abilities and use them right away.
Piloting
ISA Piloting Tips
I start off pre-buffing my spambar prior to countdown (in PUGs) or prior to launch call (premade). I The first group I hit with Grav Well (GW) and just basic abilities. On ISA, I don't bother using Concentrate Firepower or your debuff consoles here here. Next, I hit Evasive Maneuvers and fly to the left side, activating my big buffs and any debuff consoles active. I shoot the nearest generator on the way in and try to line up so the 2 far-side generators are hit by torpedo spreads and Cannons. I also usually activate my Delta Reinforcements beacon here to clean up Borg structures. I then lock onto the transformer with Concentrate Firepower and at least some of the debuff consoles; Tac ult here. Then I turn onto the sphere/probe cloud. As the generator is about to die, I turn and engage the ball of Nanite Spheres with a quick Gravity Well. I don't bother killing them all, the Gravity Well will keep them in place while we deal with right side. Activate Evasive Maneuvers and fly to the right side, rinse and repeat with as with the left. I try to save my big active heals for this part because PUG teams don't always fly over to right generator quickly. As it's dying, I turn back on the gateway. Activate Quantum Singularity Manipulation and FIRE EVERYTHING! A third Gravity Well should be available here and drop any debuff consoles remaining. Of note, closing to 5 km and dropping the Anti-time bubble is quite good with the boost from Quantum Singularity Manipulation. With any luck, the 325 CtrlX Grav Well will also suck in the remaining spheres for tons of damage. Concentrate Firepower on the gateway helps bring it down quickly, then it's rinse and repeat on the cube. Be ready to drop any defensive cooldowns like Protomatter or Bio-molecular Shield Generator if your team needs help. Concentrate Firepower and debuff consoles again on the Tac Cube when available. If another reinforcements calldown is available, use it here.
ISE Piloting Tips
Essentially the same as ISA, with a couple of modifications. Concentrate Firepower should be used on the first Tac cube along with Focused Frenzy, the debuff consoles, Tachyon Net Drones, and most Tactical captain powers since the initial encounter can make or break the run. Since we're playing for the team, it's a balance between firing on peripheral structures and ships to clean them up versus targeting the big structures for debuffs. I tend to target the big stuff like transformers first, dump consoles/debuff powers, and then switch to secondary smaller targets and trust that the AOE from Scatter Volley splashes on-hit debuffs on the transformer. Jump across to the right side; again fire a Gravity Well to pin them there and cross over to the right transformer. It's important to have your Gravity Well available for Gateway so don't fire it at right side. Ideally you chain that with DRB as well. Typical Frenzy targets are either Tac Cube or else Left Generator if the tac cube goes down too quickly and either Gateway or Tac Cube depending on speed of the run. Look to use your second Tachyon Net Drones on the Tactical Cube as well.
Parse Breakdown
Numbers are from ISE where we pushed an ally up to nearly 500K on his carrier.
Advanced Piezo-Photon Torpedo: 36.2K, of which 10.8K was from the Overcharged Payload passive on high yields
Digital Compilation Field: 27.4K
Wide Arc Dual Heavy Cannons: 20.7K
Advanced Piezo-Polaron Cannons: 18.3K
Chronometric Cannons: 17.4K
Vaadwaur Polaron Dual Cannons: 16.8K
Elite Malem Frigates: 14.9K
Heavy Advanced Inhibiting Turret: 12.8K
Photonic Fleet: 11.7K
Advanced Inhibiting Beam: 10.6K
Polaron Turret: 10.5K
Cascading Subatomic Disruptions: 10.3K
Nimbus Pirates: 6.3K
Entropic Rider: 6.4K
Concentrate Firepower: 5.6K
Gravity Well: 5.5K
Destabilizing Resonance Beam: 4.5K
Deconstructive Resonance: 3.9K
Anti-Time Entanglement Singularity: 3.3K
Hyper-Focusing Trinary Arrays: 2.9K
Omega Kinetic Shearing: 2.8K
Interphasic Instability: 2.7K
Radiation Bombardment: 2.4K
Aftershock Gravity Well: 2.1K
Tachyon Net Drones: 1.9K
Refracting Tetryon Cascade: 1.6K
Tractor Beam: 1.2K
Let It Go: 1.2K
Radiant Detonation: 1K
Piezo-Electric Shield Flux: 0.7K
Distributed Targeting: 0.6K
You might think that 266K is a little high for a support and you'd probably be correct for a truly high-end build. That said, this was a 4-man run with a single DPS player on an energy build we were attempting to support so the extra DPS speeding up the run can be helpful. However, it's relatively easy to lower your DPS for supporting high-end runs without changing the build to handle other maps on Elite.
Don't summon ANY distress beacons like Nimbus/Delta or Photonic Fleet. (drops 18K DPS)
Don't use the Anti-Time singularity or Refracting Tetryon Cascade (drops another 4.9K)
Without touching the build aside from just not clicking certain buttons, we've dropped 24.9K to get below 250K, but if that's still too much selfish DPS, consider not upgrading your weapons to Epic and taking them at Mk XII rather than Mk XV.
Portability
My criteria for this ship was to have a hangar and LtCmdr Science to support Gravity Well as well as Command seating to support Concentrate Firepower III. While conventional wisdom for min-maxed support builds is that Gravity Well III is essential for maximum radius/pull, that's more for kinetic/exotic builds and not as much energy builds. Pull is still helpful for cannon builds so I still carry a Gravity Well. R
The Legendary Verity trades Attack Pattern Beta III and Ionic Turbulence for the very useful Inspiration abilities. The Commander Engineering seat poses a bit of a problem, as there's not much great you can put there. I'd consider Suppression Barrage for the heck of it. Outside of Legendary ships, the Flambard would also be an option, again replacing Ionic Turbulence with Kemocite.