Support Basics
Support Builds
Last Modified: 9 February 2024
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.
The general idea is that support DPS needs to be lower (around ~100K or even 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. Supports can help amplify a suboptimal build but they won't truly shine, and they can't pilot for their allies. Support builds take good builds flown by good pilots and make them great or even exceptional.
There is not a clear number or metric to measure to evaluate a support’s performance in amplifying their team. SCM (STO Combat Meter) contains a debuff % statistic that compares the base damage of an ability against its actual applied damage to determine how much a target is debuffed, but debuff is not the ONLY way in which supports can assist their allies, as it will not account for direct damage amplification like Concentrate Firepower, Distributed Targeting, or Radiant Subatomic Pulse. Credit to ProLevel for the explanation. Some other metrics used on this site for evaluating support builds include:
Number of Personal Bests Assisted represents how many record runs for a teammate the support has assisted in. Of course, this stat can be a little sketchy too because it could just mean you play a lot of support! It's also kind of hard to track unless you track who you've helped.
Average DPS gained takes a comparison between the previous record and then their new record the support assisted with, to get an idea of how much DPS (on average) they've gained from their previous record. This also requires some tracking of previous records and is heavily influenced by team composition, but so is pretty much everything else on ISE/HSE.
Your main goals on any Support build are:
Buff allies through consoles, traits, boff abilities, etc.
Debuff enemies through more of the same.
Bring other useful abilities, like Control (pull, Gravity Well), Buff-stripping (Shout-out to science captains who can clear Feedback Pulse from certain boss-enemies like the Borg Queen) or Disable (for example, Tachyon Net Drones console to turn off enemy shields).
It is possible to combine many support concepts (particularly traits and consoles) on a tank build. This is common or even expected on very high-end DPS runs. Due to the proliferation of on-hit debuffs, Supports should be built starting as an AOE energy build (Fire at Will or Cannon: Scatter Volley) just like tanks. Warning: it will be difficult to fully produce a high-value support on an extremely tight budget.
How Supports Contribute
Support contributions fall broadly into 3 categories:
Buffing or increasing ally stats (example: Iconian Resistance Starship Technologies 3-piece and 4-piece set bonuses)
Adding extra damage sources (example: Concentrate Firepower)
Most commonly, reducing enemy damage resistance (example: Attack Pattern Beta). This is frequently abbreviated as -DRR. A non-exhaustive list of debuff effects and how/if they stack is listed here (Mathbusters #7).
Disabling enemies, particularly disabling shields
Career and Species
Doesn't matter. Okay, there are small differences as you min-max more, but unless your goal is to chase the very top of the DPS leaderboards, any captain career, faction, or species can fly any type of ship and any type of build and do very, very well in any map in the game. If you're looking to min-max for 1M DPS supported runs, this site will not probably help you much.
Engineers flying supports can cast EPS Power Transfer on a single ally, giving a hefty increase in current and maximum power
Tactical captains benefit their team through Fire On My Mark, Vulnerability Assessment Sweep, and Tactical Fleet
Science captains benefit their team through Scattering Field, Sensor Scan, and Subnucleonic Beam (which can be critical to remove crucial enemy abilities like Feedback Pulse which would otherwise kill energy build allies rather quickly).
Ship Basics
There's a large combination of things that interact to evaluate a ship's suitability for support builds. We subdivide supports into 2 subclasses: Anchors are bringing Gravity Well III and focused more on high Control Expertise to help group and clump enemies. The other subclass, the Spotter, brings a Commander Tactical seat and is focused on maximum debuff / damage amplification with a weaker spec into Control/ Gravity Well.
Here's our list:
Supports tend to be a mix between energy and exotic builds. More weapons is better but not as important as on tanks or energy builds.
Consider Commander Command for Inspiration abilities to buff your team and a few useful traits require Command abilities as well. Lt. Commander Command is highly valuable for supporting any build with a torpedo via Concentrate Firepower III, whether that's a 1-torp energy build, a full projectile build, or an exotic build using torpedoes.
Consider Commander (Anchor) or at least LtCommander (Spotter) Science for Gravity Well.
Ships with both Commander Command and Commander Science are expensive with a handful of exceptions:
Terran Trailblazer fits the bill quite nicely
Seneca/Fleet Hiawatha Command Carrier has Commander Science, and Commander Command, as well as 2 hangars, plus it's available for free with fleet ship modules. This is our recommendation for a starter support build.
Ships with 12+ consoles (T6 Fleet-grade) > Ships with 11 consoles (T6) > ships with less (T5 and below)
Specializations: Command (Cmdr) > Command (LtCmdr-) > Intel (Cmdr) > Miracle worker (Cmdr) - depending on what consoles you have available > Temporal (Lt+) > Everything else = ships with no specialization seating. We'll discuss specific powers below.
Other gimmicks: Hangars are an option for many ships. Some hangar pets cast buffs like Suppression Barrage, Attack Pattern Beta, or Focused Assault, but the clear winner are the Elite Type 7 Shuttles from the Ahwahnee (T6 C-store) which have Attack Pattern Beta III as well as another debuff ability and are plentiful per bay.
A fair number of tactical seats are particularly helpful since there are many tactical abilities that benefit the team.
These aren't the only variables tied to a ship's evaluation as we also need to consider our bread-and-butter bridge officer skills
Bridge Officer Seating
See the Energy Basics page as you will still need an AOE firing mode like Fire at Will or Scatter Volley, a means to go fast, and a cooldown reduction scheme.
Tactical:
Attack Pattern Beta is a strong on-hit resistance debuff
Kemocite-Laced Weaponry is a less reliable but still AOE on-hit resistance debuff. It is guaranteed on torpedo hit
Be aware that this is expensive (lockbox power purchase)
Focused Assault is a single target buff for allies who attack the target
Distributed Targeting causes a small percentage of incoming damage on a marked target to chain to nearby targets
Be aware that this is expensive (lockbox power purchase)
Torpedo Spread can be used to help maintain Fire at Will uptime if Entwined Tactical Matrices is involved as well as spread on-hit debuffs from certain torpedoes like Delphic Distortion (expensive, Lobi), or Preserver Resonant (mission reward)
Do NOT use Best Served Cold. It is irredeemably terrible.
Engineering:
Let It Go is a very potent ramping damage resistance debuff against a single target
Endothermic Inhibitor Beam is a less potent shield resistance debuff
Science:
Gravity Well is useful to pull enemies together where allied AOE effects can hit more targets
Destabilizing Resonance Beam is a ramping damage resistance debuff
Photonic Shockwave reduces enemy damage resistance to kinetic damage and has a disable
Structural Analysis is a spreading damage resistance debuff
Be aware that this is expensive (lockbox power purchase) AND locks out other allies flying exotic builds from using that power on targets already afflicted
If using Unconventional Systems (expensive lockbox personal trait), a second control with a short cooldown like Tractor Beam is useful if not using other controls from specializations and for certain budget starship traits listed below.
Command
Suppression Barrage can help the tank by reducing outgoing enemy damage. It does NOT stack with Suppression Barrage from allies
Needs of the Many is basically the best/only way to apply Flagship Staffing consistently.
Concentrate Firepower III is a powerful ability that gives additional damage to torpedoes, recharges them periodically, and gives additional torpedo high yields. It should ONLY EVER AND ALWAYS be used at rank III.
Intelligence
Kinetic Magnet is a resistance shred on a single target and helps draw in mines and torpedoes like Relocate Mines
Ionic Turbulence is an AOE hazard that provides a hefty resistance shred scaling with aux power
EMP Pulse Probe is a temporary disable with a minor damaging component
Miracle Worker
Deploy Gravitic Induction Platform increases enemy shield bleedthrough, effectively granting shield penetration
Align Shield Frequencies is another way to apply Flagship Staffing for energy builds, but Miracle Worker is a less desirable specialization and it's cappeda t 4 allies within 4 km.
Pilot
Form Up is a channel that can be used to buff a single ally, but you have to target them and stay close.
Temporal
Rapid Decay is a very potent damage resistance debuff against a single target but benefits from another Temporal power to stack Entropy first.
Skills
The same skills used for the energy weapon build apply for supports, but place higher priority on Control Expertise and Drain Expertise depending on what abilities and actives you're using. Coordination Protocols is essential (but you should be taking these anyway). Control Amplification is also helpful for supporting exotic builds though it does not stack.
Specializations
For general use, either Intelligence primary (Intelligence Fleet) or Command primary (Achilles Heel) and Temporal Operative secondary for Atrophied Defenses is the best option
Power Levels
The same power levels used for generic exotic builds could apply to supports. Many support effects scale with Auxiliary power (such as Sensor Scan from science captains or Ionic Turbulence). You need sufficient weapon power to keep firing. Maximum weapon power may lead to too much selfish DPS, but that'll depend on your team's needs. Shield power can be helpful to increase the output of the Tilly Shield if in use.
Gear
In general, the same gear for generic energy weapon builds is used for tanks (look for entries under "tanking"). Of particular note:
Engine/Core/Shield diverges from tank play. Supports playing around projectile or exotic builds will likely prefer the Gamma 3-piece combined with the Tilly Shield for the kinetic damage and damage to shield passives. If you use a torpedo, your torpedo hits further reduce enemy DRR. The 4-piece Iconian set is a better option for supporting energy builds as it provides a stacking passive 30% energy weapon damage as well as a hefty active that boosts all damage by 33% Cat1 for 30 seconds (120 second cooldown)
Energy Weapons: You'll be using beam arrays or cannons in order to attack multiple enemies and thus draw their attention to you. Any flavor can work, but in order of priority:
Polaron with Lukari Adv-Piezo Polaron + regular Piezo-Polaron beams for the healing proc. Advanced Inhibiting Omni and Turret can be added to help reduce enemy resistance.
Plasma with Lukari Adv-Piezo Plasma + Altamid plasma for the healing proc from Lukari weapons and the resistance shredding proc from Altamid Plasma (note that Altamid weapons are expensive). Plasma also has a damage over time chance which helps proc Atrophied Defenses. Ideally the Altamid Omni would be included.
Disruptor can be used to help provide secondary effects to benefit the team, namely the resistance debuff from most disruptor weapons
Phaser can also use the Advanced Inhibiting Omni and Turret along with Pulse Phasers (note that these are expensive) to reduce enemy defenses, with regular phasers having an off-chance of disabling a subsystem
Torpedoes: Use of torpedoes on support builds can be controversial. For supporting high-end projectile runs, any other torpedo user is potentially taking away Concentrate Firepower procs from the primary DPS. However, if that's not a consideration for you, there are plenty of useful utility torpedoes including Delphic (expensive from Lobi store, but shreds DRR with huge stacking effect), Resonant Transphasic (pairs well with Disruptor, mission reward, shreds DRR), and Adv. Piezo-Photon (pairs well with Polaron or Plasma), or the always-reliable Dark Matter Torpedo to inflict DOT damage and thus proc Atrophied Defenses. Torpedo use can also extend Fire at Will uptime with the Entwined Tactical Matrices starship trait from the C-store.
Mines: These are not advised if supporting heavy-mine-using builds since too many mines can cause visibility issues. Any mine can stack Resonating Payload Modification to much higher levels than expected, but the visibility issue is critical.
Non-support consoles: High-end supports will fill all of these slots with supportive consoles. If you're only building for supporting DPS map runs with a tank, this can be skipped. However, the Energetic Protomatter Matrix Infusers from the Fleet Colony are your go-to for sustained healing if not building solely for supported DPS map runs with a tank. At least 1 high-impact defensive console may be desirable for self-sufficiency on maps that aren't parsing maps with a tank. Examples include Reiterative Structural Capacitor, Protomatter Field Projector, or Ablative Hazard Shielding. These tend to be expensive.
Supportive consoles: Most if not all console slots should be filled with supportive consoles, some of which are expensive. Remember that "-DRR" means that it reduces enemy resistance. The table below provides a sortable look at consoles that reduce enemy hull/shield resistance, buff allies, or disable enemy subsystems. You can use the ALICIA tool to help you select consoles based on your budget and build type.
Upgrading and Rarity
The necessity of upgrading gear on a support build depends on two things:
How self-sufficient does your build need to be? Does this build need to be able to function on maps without a tank and high DPS players that are being supported? I'd recommend 100K DPS to crush on Advanced and 200K to be Elite-capable on all maps (like Korfez).
Who are you supporting? If you're supporting 200K players, you need significantly more DPS to speed up the run. If you're supporting players at 500K or above, then selfish DPS is less important.
If you're not making self-sufficient builds and you're supporting high end DPS players, feel free to leave your weapons and tactical consoles at low upgrade levels like XII (or even II if you're ambitious and have a low-level alternate character for opening weapon lockboxes). On the other hand, self-sufficient builds supporting less capable players will see significant personal DPS gains from upgrading to Mk XV and less so from upgrading rarity.
Traits for F2P/New players
See our tier list for starship and personal traits and look for the ones that are free, a mission reward, or from R&D schools. We do call out traits that are specifically better for support there, but there are some highlights below for a quick overview of support-specific traits. Most of them will NOT be F2P-friendly. Some traits can be enhanced at the Fleet K-13 holding for marginal gains; those are options as well. It'll be hard to find a full suite of traits that will fully embrace the support role while staying F2P, but otherwise just build for energy damage and slot what you can:
Starship traits:
Debuff:
These first two traits are likely very difficult to acquire, but these make your energy weapons shred enemy resistance. The rest are less effective but much easier to acquire.
Superior Area Denial: (Lockbox ship/Legendary Bundle) Makes your energy weapons shred -30 DRR on-hit. Also, makes certain hangar pets with Pulse Cannons much much stronger but that is ancillary to support focus.
Cold-Hearted: (Event/Epic Phoenix Box) Energy weapon hits slow enemies and shred -10 DRR on-hit, stacking up to 5 times across the team
Designated Target: (C-store) If the target of Focused Assault is destroyed while Focused Assault is active, allies within 5km gain 10% bonus all damage for 15 seconds. This is fickle and does NOT work with the Focused Assault cast from hangar pets, only your own.
Tricks of the Trade: (C-store) Activating Auxiliary Power to Structural Integrity or any Miracle Worker boff ability grants -20% weapon power cost to yourself and allies within 7.5 km for 15 seconds.
Parting Gift: (Lockbox trait, should be cheap). Tractor Beam deals -10 Damage Resistance rating.
Tachyon Dispersal (C-store) Foes struck by Tachyon Beam suffer -25% shield resistance while Tachyon Beam is channeled, after 4 seconds all foes near the target suffer -25% shield resistance for 10 seconds.
Carrier Wave Shield Hacking (Lockbox trait should be cheap): Tractor Beams or Intelligence Powers knock enemy shields offline for 5 seconds. Only applies to certain abilities. 10 second lockout.
Cryonic Siphon: (Event/Phoenix ship): Energy Siphon causes the targeted foe to suffer -15 damage resistance and take 20% more damage to shields for 10 seconds. This is not a high priority, but if you have it already it's not bad as a starter.
Note: Improved Gravity Well tends to be AVOIDED on fast ISE runs due to the long-duration Gravity Wells pulling targets out of position
Ally buff:
Flagship Staffing (C-store): To allied targets of any Command, Hull Healing or Shield Healing Bridge Officer ability: Reset Cooldowns of Tactical Firing Modes to minimum and 33% Firing Cycle Haste for Energy Weapons for 10 sec. The easiest way to stack this is to slot Needs of the Many as it will hit all allies in range.
Jubilant Cadence: (C-store) Defeating enemies or healing allies grants speed and turn rate to self, stacking 5 times. At five stacks, team's speed/turn rate increased significantly for 10 seconds and 10% bridge officer recharge speed. Note that YOU have to land the killing blow to stack it.
Unified Engineering: (C-store) Activating any Command boff ability or Auxiliary to Structural grants the team hull capacity, hull regen, 10% recharge haste, turn and speed
Greater Than The Sum: (C-store) Activating any Command boff ability or Emergency Power to Auxiliary increases the power levels of nearby allies and heals them. Magnitude increases from 2-20 depending on number of nearby allies
Electrified Anomalies: (Event) Anomalies like Gravity Well shock enemies for damage and boost the power levels of nearby allies, scaling with DrainX.
One Impossible Thing at a Time: (Lockbox trait, should be cheap) Activating a captain ability reduces the cooldowns of all your team's captain's ability recharge times, up to once every 5 seconds.
Omega Bond: (Lockbox ship, very expensive) Activating a pilot ability or Attack Pattern Omega grants all near allies within 10 km a bonus of +15 defense rating and 10% Bonus All Damage
Digital Compilation: (Event ship) Enemy ships at frigate rank or higher that you damage with exotic damage are afflicted with a debuff. If the target is destroyed, they turn into digital probes that damage and chase nearby targets. The damage dealt by the digital probes counts for the ally who destroyed the tagged target. We'll call this an ally buff since technically you're donating DPS. Note that enemies that are killed while debuffed don't warp core breach.
Personal traits:
Again, generic energy weapon traits are helpful at the new/F2P level that are captured in the tier list. For more expensive personal traits that are specific for support:
Feel the Weight of Our Presence is a continual debuff DRR based on number of allies near you (this is an argument for taking supports with hangars), scaling up to -12.5
Into the Breach temporarily debuffs the DRR nearby enemies when YOU defeat an enemy, scaling up with the rank of the foe (-7 to -28 for 8 seconds)
Invasive Control Programming periodically knock enemy subsystems offline when using Control Effects on them
Resonating Payload Modification can help shred enemy kinetic and physical resists based on your torpedo damage. Avoid if not using a torpedo.
Traits that boost ControlX or DrainX are helpful if you're using traits or consoles that scale with these stats.
Unconventional Systems and Intelligence Agent Attache help reduce the cooldown of universal consoles and captain powers respectively
Coordinated Targeting Solution for tactical captains reduces the recharge time of Fire on my Mark by 60 seconds if the target dies while active
Reputation traits:
List is sorted top to bottom in terms of priority:
Always slot: Radiant Detonation Matrix for buff stripping
Piezo-Electric Weapon Amplification is good for supporting projectile builds especially with high DrainX.
If you want to self-heal a lot: Energy Refrequencer
If you need the cooldown help, Chrono-Capacitor Array
If your ship has a torpedo, consider Omega Kinetic Shearing for triggering more DOT effects (and thus Atrophied Defenses)
Rolling Tide has a chance of dropping a speed buff.
Active Reputation Traits:
These all have 5 minute cooldowns and most of them don't matter much.
The Bio-Molecular Shield bubble from the 8472 Counter Command reputation is a valuable defensive tool especially when you aren't moving much
Deploy Sensor Interference Platform from the Iconian Reputation is an okay defensive tool but does not last very long
Quantum Singularity Manipulation is a temporary cloak that also boosts your science stats by +100/125 at T6 for 8 seconds.
Tethered Non-Baryonic Asteroid can be used to drag loose enemies over to the main clump
Unlocking the fifth active reputation slot should not be a priority.
Duty Officers for F2P/New players
Most duty officers for supports are going to trend towards marginal impact and/or expensive but there are a few standouts:
The Emergency Conn Hologram is important for speed if you're using Emergency Power to Engines to drastically lower the cooldown of Evasive Maneuvers
If you're using A2B, the requisite Technicians should be employed
If you're using a torpedo, a Projectile Weapons Officer to lower torpedo cooldowns can be helpful
If you're using a science captain, the Sensors Officer that debuffs enemy damage is okay to help out your tank but has no offensive benefit.
A Matter-Antimatter Specialist that boosts CtrlX on use of Emergency Power to Engines can be helpful. This is mutually exclusive with the minor accuracy boost to team version that requires Directed Energy Modulation to use,
While often expensive, the Energy Weapon Officer that has a chance to strip buffs from enemies can be useful.
While often expensive, if you think there's enough Attack Pattern Beta and other -DRR debuffs in your team composition, running 2 or 3 Conn Officers that have a chance to donate Attack Pattern Omega can be helpful. Credit to Pottsey for this suggestion.
While VERY expensive, Strength Through Unity doffs with Command seating have a chance to give max HP to the team. This is a marginal benefit and I do not recommend it.
Piloting
An overview of piloting and ship handling is covered in our Mechanics slides. Supports generally need to stay close to both enemies and teammates due to a large number of on-hit or PBAOE effects.
External Resources
If you'd like some other resources beyond this site, check out:
Infected Space Elite Torp Support Build Guide by CasualSAB
Fleet Titan/Comet Elite Run Support Nanny Build by ProLevel