Notes

I'll start with the easy ones - since this uses Complex Plasma Fires, I wanted to make sure I used all the Gorn Hunter gear I could. Gorn Plasma Quad cannons are really cool, with not only a 5% proc, but the proc reduces damage resistance to Damage over Time effects... which means Complex Plasma Fires. You do need to be careful with your power settings. Don't totally zero out Engine power or this weapon won't fire again for several seconds. It drains engine and weapon power when firing. We caught this on rewatching one of my runs and noticed that even though it lights up, it won't start firing again for several seconds after it drains your engine power to 0. If you look at the math on this, its basically a glorified Dual Cannon. If this wasn't thematic, a Plasma Dual or Dual Heavy cannon would be just as good if not better due to not draining engine power. 

Next up, the experimental weapon. We've done a whole writeup on experimental weapons, but a couple things to point out. The Plasma Incendiary Bombard is one of the few Experimental Weapons that work in Science mode on sci destroyers. While not intended, it works in our favor. If they do fix this someday, it certainly lowers the need for this to be on the Rallus. However, even in strict Tactical mode, the Rallus beats out the Faeht any day. With the advantages of both modes in one, we can use Gravity Well 3 and the Secondary Deflector at the same time. I'm not 100% sure how I would fly this if they do switch it to working as intended as Dysons have a 1-minute cooldown on the mode switch, far longer than most Sci Destroyers. As such, here's hoping that they bring balance with the fix: lock experimental weapons to Tactical mode, but also bring the cooldown into line at 30 seconds, not 60 seconds. 

The easy ones are done, now what do we take for a Plasma Cannons build? Let's start by filling the front with Plasma Duel Heavy Cannons, and the rear with Plasma Turrets. The Lukari Reputation T6 weapon has a Plasma version of the Piezo-Polaron Dual Cannons. This leads itself to a solid 2pc set with the Piezo-electric focuser, as well as 2% Bonus damage since this is a T6 rep weapon. It's moderately easy to obtain, so makes a good choice here. 

Another strict upgrade is the Wide-Arc dual heavy cannons. While trading a mod for [Arc] might reduce damage slightly, the arc itself is twice as wide. This has a lot higher uptime, especially with my... suboptimal piloting. 

The last fore weapon is best served as a torpedo instead of a dual heavy cannon. The torpedo allows me to trigger Super Charged Weapons, a really strong energy trait. You could choose Dark Matter torpedo because of the really strong 2pc it forms with the Lorca console. If we went with an energy weapon, we start losing the damage potential as our weapons power will dip lower, reducing the output of all of our weapons. Not to mention, torpedoes have a better firing arc than Dual cannons. I ended up going with the Particle Emission Plasma torpedo as this triggers Complex Plasma Fires and synergizes really well with the DEWSci aspect of our build. 

In the rear, I ended up with two turrets and the Pahvan omni, which picks up our Cannon Scatter Volley, and does amazing damage on its own. TurretGate might suggest that I only run with one turret, but running CSV2 and Cannon batteries allows me to keep 2 turrets and use Very Cold in Space over the otherwise required Beam Overload for the Omni. 

One turret is the Heavy Bio-Molecular turret from the Undine reputation, if for no other reason than it has the 2% Cat2 from being a reputation weapon. Other than that, pick your flavor of the week. I used Isolytic because I already had an account-bound Mk XV one.

If we take a step back, we could look at Viridian plasma weapons which have a haste proc that benefits all Viridian Plasma weapons. If we keep the Gorn, we could replace everything else with Viridian Plasma - a total of 6 weapons. We're at 62% haste on this build so far, and if we are trying to chain the Viridian Plasma proc for another 30% haste, we'd be at 92% haste, or around 48% faster firing (1 - 1/1.92). With a 5s firing cycle now being a 2.6s firing cycle, and using a Binomial Distribution of 1 in 60 cycles being a proc (we did a whole video on this...), we get (2.6s X 60 cycles / 6 weapons) once every 26 seconds... at best. As we start dropping Viridian weapons, our time between procs goes up, and the number of weapons that get the haste go down. Using only 1 or 2 here is not impactful. If we had more haste, we'd be able to keep it rolling better.

As such, this is where we ended up on weapons - a wide mix of Plasma weapons, with a Pahvan omni mixed in. 

LINK TO CALCULATOR

Notes

Imperial Rift Shields are hands-down the best shields for DEWSci. The provide bonuses for both, with Aux power providing Cat1 energy damage, and the shield iteself being part of a 2pc set that heavily benefits exotics, this was the best choice. Tilly shields only benefit the weapons, and the Temporal shields (even with the 2pc) really only benefit Complex Plasma Fires and a few exotics. 

As such, the warp core is the Imperial Rift warp core. Do note that if you fly on a "true" Romulan ship, you have to use a Singularity core. The Imperial Rift core is amazing because it finishes that 2pc set we are after for more CrtD for our exotics, but also provides more CrtD for our energy weapons with the small bonus to Weapon Amplification. An argument could be made for the Tholian Nucleating warp core with its crystals, but it's too hard to ignore the DEWSci properties of the Imperial Rift set. 

When it comes to engines, you have a few options. If you have two firing modes, the Competitive engines make good sense for maneuverability and a little cooldown help. Since I end up dropping Beam Overload (TurretGate is the only reason I considered it), I'm strongly consider the Romulan engines for the extra Weapon Amplification. 

Finally, the Deflector is the Innervating Protomatter Deflector. This one has a lot of extra CrtH/CrtD which helps the whole build, as well as some EPG. This is basically ubiquious on DPS builds unless you are going for some sort of set bonus.

Secondary Deflector is Deteriorating Secondary Deflector. I picked up the [EnDmg] mod, but the stats on the secondary deflector are pretty small overall. However, upgrading this to Mk XV is a must as the damage from this is often a top line item. 

Notes

As stated in the premise for this build, Complex Plasma Fires scales heavily with Weapons power. I'm going to start by filling all Engineering and Universal console slots with Isomags with [PlasmaEnergy] mods. That leaves 3 Tactical slots and 5 Science slots to fill. 

Any Plasma build should use the Fek'ihri Torment Engine. It's a mission reward, so its free for anyone. It boosts both Plasma and DoTs, so there's things that can be double boosted for almost 80% Cat1! This is locked to a Tactical slot. 

Next, the Lorca console is really strong for its passive CrtH, though I may reconsider once I unlock Particle Manipulator. This is also locked to a Tactical Slot, which leaves us with only 1 Tactical slot left. 

With only 1 Tactical slot, slotting Protomatter consoles from the Fleet Colony becomes tough. If you can manage to trigger the passive within the uptime, it will refresh stacks. With only one console, there's a good chance you won't keep your stacks going even with 2 triggering powers. This means it is generally far more impactful if you only have 1 slot or 1 triggering power to use something else. Since I would only have 1 triggering power and 1 console, it's a glorified Plasma Infuser.

I've covered how powerful the Custom Power Matrix is in a video, but slotting it in a Tactical slot is more beneficial than Science slot. With the Quad cannons draining Engine power, having additional engine power is actually quite beneficial beyond the boost to maneuverability. This means of all the remaining Universal console options, it makes the most sense to use in our last Tactical slot. 

With the Lukari Dual Cannons, we can pick up the Piezo-Electric focuser to get 55% Cat1 plasma damage. That's far more Cat1 than a typical tactical console. On the other side, we can pick up the Genesis Seed as a potentially quite strong one-shot exotic power, it's all about when you use it. The passive radiation damage boosts the Secondary Deflector as well. 

Lure Team is the console that comes off of the Gorn Hunter, and the fact that it is a clicky is inconsequential. The passives are huge on this build, as it adds Cat1 DoT damage and Cat2 Plasma damage. I click this console near a pile, but it's no Genesis Seed in impact. The passives are where this shines, and the fact that we are using every piece of the Hunter here. 

With 2 slots left, I pick up the Adaptive Emergency Systems and Flagship Tactical Computer. These are available from 3 Legendary Bundles and 3 specific ships each, and we even use Super Charged Weapons later which shares a purchase with the Flagship Tactical Computer. Both of these are really strong actives, with the Flagship Tactical Computer offering a solid passive for our energy weapons, and the 2pc set offering CrtH for the entirety of the build. 

Notes

Commander Science/Temporal

This seat does get downgraded in Tactical mode, so be aware of that. We use all science powers in our case, but I can see a potential to pick up a Temporal power with some build shifts in the future. Gravity Well III is a huge control and utility power, and does quite respectable damage. It also counts as an anomaly, which is good for as a source for Spore Infused Anomalies. Recursive Shearing III could be used, but we are heavily multi-target and Gravity Well will be more helpful in keeping targets piled together in arc. 

Tyken's Rift II is our next choice, because this is an anomaly, does more damage than Gravity Well, and triggers the Deteriorating Secondary Deflector in AoE. 

Photonic Officer I is our choice of cooldown method, when combined with Boimler and Custom Power Matrix, we have a pretty solid uptime on our key powers. This is also a science power so it triggers Spore Infused Anomalies. 

In the ensign slot, Structural Analysis spreads the Deteriorating Secondary Deflector damage and reduces damage resistance. If you can free up an ensign slot somewhere else, I would also consider Causal Reversion as a trigger for Temporal Powers (Temporal Tunneling is something I have considered for the future). 

"Commander" Tactical

This seat is basically a Lt. Commander seat, because in Science Mode the Commander power is offline. However, we need to talk about the Commander slot. During the briefing, I use Tactical Mode to get an Alpha Strike power off. I initially went with CSV3 (while still slotting CSV2), but found I was getting a ton of misfires trying to force STO to spacebar spam between CSV3 and CSV2, and it would end up putting both CSV3 and CSV2 on cooldown with no CSV applied. Attack Pattern Omega is a maneuverability boost and bonus all damage, and normally isn't used due to uptime. In our case, I am able to trigger Tactical mode, and about 3 seconds before briefing ends, trigger Attack Pattern Omega III and then deactivate Tactical mode to have an extra boost right at the start without any opportunity cost. 

At Lt. Commander, we pick up Cannon Scatter Volley 2 - the highest rank we can slot without the Commander seat. Vincent Kish, a duty officer, has a chance to upgrade this to CSV3 which can be pretty impactful. 

Attack Pattern Beta is a great debuff, and takes at least a Lt. slot. With our AoE, we are able to spread the debuff pretty wide. 

For the Ensign slot, we can consider several powers. Kemocite-Laced Weaponry is a solid debuff, and is boosted by our Fek'ihri torment engine. Beam Overload is good to boost an Omni beam if you are worried about TurretGate nerfing your Accuracy. Don't use it if you don't have a beam. Torpedo Spread would also be pretty solid, boosting our otherwise unboosted torpedo. Keep these in mind if we have extra Ensign Universal slots later. 

Lt. Commander Universal/Intel

On the Rallus, these three slots are all Intel powers. On the Lo'lah, the Intel powers are on the Commander Science seat to the same effect and this ends up with Science powers. But we aren't on the Lo'lah. Intel powers trigger a Spore Infused Anomalies blast. Override Subsystems Safeties III super boosts our power, including weapons power for Complex Plasma Fires and energy weapons. Ionic Turbulence I is both an anomaly (SIA source) and Intel power (SIA trigger), and a strong debuff that scales with Aux. This will make our weapons even more effective stacking this on a gravity well. Intel Team I is our main defensive tool, basically being untargetable while its up and a quick cycling trigger for Spore Infused Anomalies. Since this is a universal seat, it would be doable to pick up a different ensign power if needed, but with the lack of heals, I really think Intel Team deserves the slot to keep us from being a prime target. 

Lieutenant Engineering

I'll keep this simple. Emergency Power to Engines is on basically every build due to maneuverability. Emergency Power to Weapons is on basically every Energy build, except for some specialist energy modes. It provides weapon power, bonus weapon damage, and triggers Emergency Weapon Cycle for even more energy damage overall. 

Ensign Universal

This is a slot to fill with whatever you want to - Beam Overload, Kemocite Laced Weaponry, Very Cold in Space, Torpedo Spread. In my case, I picked up Very Cold in Space for more SIA goodness.

Meta-Focused Tweaks:

The Legendary Battlecruiser bundle has some traits that trigger off of Emergency Power to X, and I suspect they are more impactful to the entire build than Super Charged Weapons. Universal Designs, Terran Goodbye - I won't rehash the tier list here. You'll notice the only ship that isn't C-Store is the Gorn Hunter. 

Budget Tweaks:

Improved Critical Systems is the best to swap in on this build as it is free and requires no other changes to the build. Withering Barrage is free if you time it right, and about the best trait on here. Take your pick of what traits you don't have, though Emergency Weapon Cycle is just about the best one on the list after Complex Plasma Fires... which is what sets this build to auto-Premium. Thankfully, we use the entire thing, so if it is your Premium Event Campaign reward, you get a ton of value.

Miscellaneous