Ground combat guide: Gear

This part of the guide is about setting yourself up for success. All the best intentions and knowledge of the missions won't help if you don't have the right tools.

Obviously, I have not tried everything so maybe I left something out that you find awesome. There's just too much gear in the game at the moment to really get to know everything. Instead, I focused on what I see in Elite Ground Tours formed in the DPS-Ground channels, because those folks, collectively, have tried everything.

This section has the following structure:

1. Starting a ground character

2. Traits, skills, and specializations

3. Armor, shield, and secondary weapon

4. Primary weapons

5. Kit Frames

6. Tactical Kit Modules

7. Engineering Kit Modules

8. Science Kit Modules

9. The 10 best non-kit, non-weapon abilities in the game... a count-down!

10. BOFFs

11. DOFFs

There are also parts 1 (Basics) and 3 (Walkthrus).

--Starting a ground character--

(Skip this if you already have a toon you want to do ground on)

Faction is less important on ground than it is in space. All factions can access almost all the same gear. Teaming is the only thing affected by faction as cross-faction teams are not allowed in battlezones and a few PVE queues are faction-specific (but all the queues discussed here are cross-faction).

Each race gets an innate bonus on ground. They range from completely useless to marginally useful but not noticeable. If you're creating a new character for ground, pick the pretty one.

Career, on the other hand, makes an enormous difference for ground. Four of the captain abilities, the team abilities, kit modules, and half the ground skill tree are career-specific.

Engineers are better at AOE attacks and can use turrets, mines, generators, and mortars. Tactical captains can use grenades and buffs. Science captains can use a few debuffs and heals in their kits as well as a couple of AOE attacks. Engineers and tactical captains tend to do substantially more damage than science captains, but each career is fully capable of beating any ground content in this game.

--Traits--

Traits either come from your character's race and career, as mission rewards, or as lockbox rewards. Currently, you have to take out space traits to use ground traits, which is useful if you're doing a few ground queues in a row.

Some stand-out racial traits include: Covert, Lucky, Resilient, Teamwork, Soldier, and Aggressive. Creative and Peak Health can be useful sometimes.

For other traits, some useful ones are Vicious, Sniper, Orbital Devastation (from the profession-specific trait box; it makes Orbital Strike follow enemies and find new targets), Bombadier, Adrenal Release, Up Close and Personal, Penetrating Rounds (from the Ground R&D school), and Overcharging.

For reputation traits, Deadly Aim, Lethality, and Armor Penetration are the best for damage output. I usually use Energized Nanites for a heal. Omega Graviton Pulse Module inflicts a small amount of damage but also greatly increases the time you can fire energy weapons on the Borg without have to remodulate frequency.

There are currently 3 ground active reputation traits, and all three are worth equipping on a toon that does a lot of ground combat.

--Skills--

You can put 66,000 to 100,000 skill points into ground skills. Most people put in 66,000 in order to use the most possible in space.

Each career can access Weapons Proficiency, PS Generator, Threat Control, Willpower, and Combat Armor. Weapons Proficiency is worth 9 points, PS Generator should get around 6 points, and Combat Armor should get 0 to 3 points (because it's an expensive skill and damage resistance has diminishing returns).

Each career also gets 5 other skills that relate to kit abilities. Speccing into these depends on what's in your kit.

Combat Specialist for tactical captains does not relate to any kit ability; instead it increases critical chance and severity. I put 9 points into it.

--Specializations--

Intelligence is better than Command Officer, but if you already have more points in Command Officer then it would make a better choice.

Commando provides many useful bonuses and is worth filling. Even if you haven't put any points into it, it still provides a decent damage bonus in ground combat.

--Armor, shield, and secondary weapon--

There are lots of ways to go when it comes to ground gear. But consider:

-Not all set bonuses are useful. For example, if you have 2 pieces of the Undine reputation set, then you get a nice 5% bonus to critical chance. But the third piece gives you a radiation damage-over-time (DOT) ability that you can use every 3 minutes. Is that really worth giving up fleet armor for, fleet armor that can give you a 70% critical severity bonus?

-You might plan to use X set for one enemy and Y set for another queue and Z set for a battlezone, but, in reality, I've noticed that players (me especially) are a lot lazier than that. Look for gear that works well in all situations (except for the weapon and an EV suit) unless you're sure you're going to keep all that gear in your inventory and switch every time.

--What to buy--

My favorite combination and the one that most elite ground farmers use is: the Undine reputation rifle (for a secondary weapon), the Undine reputation shield, and the Advanced Fleet Recoil Compensating Armor.

Some people use the Omega/Klingon Honor Guard weapon and personal shield instead. That 2-piece bonus is defensive.

For maps that need an EV suit, the Shattering Harmonics Environmental Suit is useful for its bonus to critical severity along with its decent damage resistance bonuses. Otherwise, any of those EV suits that you get while working on the Nukara reputation can work.

The shield and armor should be upgraded to Mk XIV. The secondary weapon doesn't need to be upgraded. Raising this gear to Epic quality isn't necessary.

--Primary weapons--

The weapons that I see in DPS channel runs are fairly limited, and I list them below. Here's what to look for:

-Exploit weapons are better than expose weapons because there are so many opportunities to exploit anyway. Many kit abilities will expose enemies.

-Bonuses to crit chance and crit damage are more useful than most other bonuses, even bonuses to damage. This is because of how Cryptic set up the damage formula.

-Armor penetration bonuses can be very powerful in this game because they a) often don't depend on the target's damage resistance rating and b) are multiplicative with all other bonuses to damage (not true for many pure damage bonuses).

-Shield penetration is less useful because ground shields are weaker than space shields and few enemies carry shield heals. Borg and Elachi enemies are the exceptions.

-I haven't seen anyone test the new DMG mod on ground yet, but before the change CRTD was king on ground.

-Weapons that work over long distances work better in most queues where enemies can appear at all distances. BHE, for instance, throws many Bluegills right next to you, but then you have to be able to shoot the Delvers and Ravagers on the cliffs and flying above you, farther than the shotgun can shoot. You can't change weapons fast enough for this.

Here are some great weapons:

-Antiproton Split Beam Rifle Mk XIV [critd]x4 [dm/crh] - This is what I see the most in DPS runs. It's really expensive, but it is the best weapon for most PVE queues. A version with different mods (maybe a CritH in there or an ACC) will be substantially cheaper.

-Other Split Beam Rifles - Split Beam Rifles work because they're exploit weapons, can hit long distances, and their secondary attack does more damage to the main target and hits up to 2 other targets. There are internet posts going back several years with players saying that these weapons are overpowered, but here they still are, still overpowered. Use a different energy type or other mods if you want; you can find lots of cheap MkXII VR split beam rifles on the exchange that can be upgraded to Mk XIV to make powerful weapons.

-TR-116B sniper rifle - This is popular because it has 100% shield penetration. This makes it useful against the Borg (because they adapt to energy weapons) or Elachi (because they have thick shields), but not that useful for enemies with weaker shields because its damage isn't the best. If you're looking for one gun for everything, I'd start with a TR-116b because the Elachi and Borg are important ground enemies.

-Zephram Cochran shotgun - Very powerful at close range, an even more powerful AOE secondary mode, and 100% shield penetration. On the downside is that it has a steep damage drop-off as distance increases, its shield penetration is useless against unshielded enemies, and it was a reward for a Mirror Universe event last year so if you don't already have it, you can't get it.

*****MORE TO COME****

--Kits--

There are lots of choices for kits. Here is what to look for:

-Mk XII or Mk XIII - Lower marks do not have a setup that allows for 2 of each type of kit module available to each career (assault/strategic, research/medical, fabrication/mechanic) with a slot that allows either. Kits cannot be upgraded and lockbox kits are available at a maximum of Mk XII, so Mk XII may be better than Mk XIII.

-Very Rare quality - Get bonuses to 3 skills instead of 2.

-A bonus to crith or exploit damage. These bonuses will help you move through content faster more than any other skill. CritH is the best mod, followed by ExpDMG and CritX.

There are cheap options on the exchange that fulfill the 3 requirements above (a VR Mk XII engineering kit with CritH is available for 22,000 EC right now, for example).

For the other 2 skill bonuses, just look at what abilities you use regularly and buff those. My tactical captain uses the [Combat] and [Spec] bonuses since the former gives a bigger bonus to critical chance and severity and the latter gives bonuses to a few abilities I use often.

The Romulan Imperial Navy Kit (reward from the "Uneasy Allies" episode) is a perfectly viable end-game kit that is completely free. It also buffs plasma weapons, so maybe pair it with a plasma split beam rifle....

--Tactical kit modules--

There are so many kit modules at this point that I just wrote about some that stand out to me as being really good. Consider this a perpetually incomplete list of ideas on what to use.

Obviously, there are "bio" and "neutronic" and "tropical fruit flavor" versions of these modules from various fleet holdings and reputations; unless I specifically mention them then I'm considering them basically the same kit module.

Modules cannot be upgraded. The rarity and mark you buy them at is what they'll always stay at.

-Trajectory Bending - Causes all attacks to be flanking and gives a large CritD bonus. Less than 1-second activation time, 10 second duration, and a 30-second cooldown that can be reduced with the Commando specialization down to 24 seconds. This is my favorite kit module in the game, across all careers.

-Rally Cry - Heal over time (HOT), damage resistance bonus, and substantial CritH and CritD bonuses, for the whole team. The downside is the 2-minute cooldown and the slow activation animation.

-Motivation - Team damage buff and lets you absorb some damage as a heal. The damage buff is less useful than the critical buffs from Rally Cry but the cooldown is a more humane 35 seconds.

-Graviton Spike - On your first shot, it creates an anomaly that pulls enemies together and causes a lot of damage. According to my parses, graviton spike causes the most independently counted damage of any tactical kit ability, and grouping enemies gets them ready to be grenaded.

-Ambush - Stealth buff and big damage bonus (187% for Mk XIII VR) on your first shot. There are DOFFs that increase the damage bonus or turn it into a DOT. Also, if you throw a grenade before firing, it will get the Ambush damage bonus and your first shot will also get that bonus.

-Polaron Bombardment - Like a weak Orbital Strike for tactical captains. It sends 5 polaron strikes randomly centered around your target, so it's better as an AOE attack than to strike one enemy. It benefits from the grenade skill but doesn't share a cooldown with other grenades. The downsides are the lack of shield-penetrating damage, the long activation time (around 3 seconds), and the long cooldown. I was carrying it but never using it because 3 seconds of shooting did more damage than Polaron Bombardment could, and enemies were usually dead by the time Polaron Bombardment hit.

-Photon Grenade - I carry one grenade on my tactical captains, and this is that grenade. It does more damage than other grenades, has 50% shield penetration, and causes some knockback. Plasma and Stun Grenades are also decent choices, but I've found that having more than one grenade is too much (and having more than 2 just means that you're wasting kit slots because grenades share a cooldown).

--Engineering kit modules--

-Quantum Mortar - Engineers can use mortars, turrets, bombs, and mines to deal damage from their kits. From my parsing in NTTE and DRSE, mines and mortars deal much more damage than bombs and turrets can (the first time I parsed ground I saw that my Neutronic Mortar from the Delta reputation was doing over 15 times more damage than my Plasma Turret from the Fleet Embassy). Mortars have a longer range than turrets and don't require a line of sight.

-Chroniton Mine Barrier - In missions where the team has to move a lot, well-placed Chroniton Mines can deal more damage than turrets or mortars. This is probably why they're the most expensive kit module on the exchange for engineering captains (a Mk XII UR module is available at the Fleet Spire for a more reasonable price). The trick with Chroniton Mines is knowing where to place them, which comes with familiarity with the missions.

-Equipment Diagnostics - Shield and damage resistance buff. Not great by itself, but Diagnostic Engineer DOFFs add a damage bonus and you can equip 3 of those DOFFs.

-Biotech Turret - Turrets aren't great, but this is the best turret currently available in terms of damage output. It does about twice as much damage as the flame-thrower turret at the Fleet Embassy with a larger range, plus it repels enemies.

-Transphasic/Freeze bomb - Useful in some situations. It has a long activation time and then you have to wait a second or two before detonating it, which reduces its usefulness in fast-paced PVE queues, but if you can place it where it needs to be before enemies spawn then it's basically a Chroniton Mine that an enemy doesn't have to step on.

-Shield Pulse - This module heals shields. It heals more than Shield Recharge does and it heals your teammates around you.

-Quick Fix - A small bonus to damage and a heal to fabrications. The heal isn't useful in PVE queues because by the time your fabrications get destroyed, you've either moved on to another area or the cooldown is over and you can put up another one. But the bonus to damage is always good.

-Shield and health generators - These are worth a mention even though I don't use them and I don't see them in channel runs. The main problem in PVE queues is that people are moving too fast to be able to stand under them for long, and everyone is usually carrying a few heals and the enemies are dying quickly so there's no need.

--Science kit modules--

Science captains have fewer options for damage output but more defensive and healing modules. Dathan the Vorta Biochemist DOFF (reward from the Facility 4028 episode) adds a damage resistance debuff to kit abilities.

I have a Science toon that I do a lot of ground combat with. He can't do the damage that my Tacticals and Engineers can, but he does more than what's needed to get through Elite ground content.

-Medical Tricorder - Heal with a few defensive buffs. A high enough mark/rarity can entirely heal your character. With a 10-second cooldown, this is a really nice heal to keep on tapping.

-Vascular Generator - Heal over time, clears debuffs, and has a bonus to damage resistance. Its heal is comparable to Medical Tricorder's (of a similar mark/rarity) but spread out over 10 seconds. It's like Hazard Emitters on the ground. 20-second cooldown.

-Nanite Medical Monitor - If your health drops below 75%, it heals you and gives you a damage resistance buff. It has 3 charges.

-Vaadwaur Shield Drone - Follows you around and reduces incoming damage by 90% for up to 30 seconds. It can be targeted by enemies.

-Exo/Endothermic Induction Field - AOE attack that produces a hazard that generates more damage, and a DOT that does more damage. The long activation time is a downside, but it's the best damage-inflicting kit module for Science captains. Endothermic Induction Field is available at the Winter Event. The Vun Kralla DOFF adds projectiles to this ability.

-Hyperonic Radiation - Small DOT that can be spread to other enemies. Geologist DOFFs can shorten the cooldown on Exothermic Induction Field and Hyperonic Radiation when these abilities are used.

-Seismic Agitation Field - Generates a 20-second hazard that deals mild kinetic damage and knocks enemies over.

--Top 10 non-kit, non-weapon abilities on the ground--

Here are my favorite abilities in the game that aren't from kit modules or weapons. I use these as often as I can because they're awesome!

10. Precision Offensive (Intelligence Specialization) - This provides a large bonus to armor and shield penetration for the whole team. Not everyone has finished their Intelligence Specialization so there's little chance of overlapping with teammates.

9. Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (innate) - This is a big difference between ground and space - on ground, you can save your teammates the time of waiting to respawn and come back to the action.

8. Target Optics (tactical captains) - Buffs damage, crit chance, crit severity, and perception. With the DOFF Fova Gedel, it also reduces your target's damage resistance. Most importantly, it gives you a cute visor for the duration of the ability (bonus cuteness for Caitians, Ferasans, and Gorn).

7. Security Escort (tactical captains) - Beam down buddies to kill things for you! Security DOFFs give you a chance to get more escorts and you can equip 3 of those DOFFs. Because of the game mechanics, having 3 of those DOFFs does not triple your chance to get extra security escorts but triples the number of escorts you get when you do get bonus escorts. So 3 purple Security DOFFs means you get a 35% chance at an army of security escorts.

6. Tricorder Scan (science captains) - A big armor penetration bonus that affects multiple enemies and has a short cooldown. The way damage is calculated in STO, small damage resistance debuffs can have a larger effect than large bonuses to damage.

5. Large hypospray (item drops and vendors at various stations) - These things have saved me so many times. Don't be afraid to use consumables in STO; 100 of these costs very little and lasts a long time.

4. Gambling Device (Ferengi lockbox/exchange) - 10% bonuses to CritH and CritD (and a dodge bonus) make this by far the best tribble-esque device in the game.

3. Concussive Tachyon Emission (Delta reputation T5 active ability) - A seriously over-powered skill that does kinetic damage to all the enemies around you. With the right buffs, I've seen it do damage in the 1000's range and wipe out fields of enemies. It does heal the shields of large enemies so don't use it on the Tholian Project Leader in NTTE or the giant dinos in the Voth BZ.

2. Tactical Initiative (tactical captains) - Greatly reduces recharge time on kit and captain abilities for everyone on the team. This is one of my favorite abilities because it basically gives your team extra copies of all the other abilities. With 3 or 4 tactical captains on a team chaining this ability, everyone can use their kit and captain abilities almost constantly.

1. Orbital Strike (engineering captains) - The Orbital Devastation trait from the Profession-specific genetic resequencer makes it follow enemies around. It also makes you wonder why you're doing ground combat at all when your ship could just blow everything up for you.

--BOFFs--

The only places on ground that you can take bridge officers are episode missions, New Romulus, Kobali, and the Voth BZ. For the hardest ground content, they're not even present.

Boffs on ground are like incompetent versions of you. They spend time running around instead of shooting, they lay down mines and turrets and generators in far from ideal locations, and they don't any of the basic mechanics of ground combat like expose/exploit and flanking. So I wouldn't spend much on their gear since they aren't going to use it well. Give them stuff that you aren't using, mission rewards, or cheap mkXII blue or purple gear from the exchange.

But boffs aren't terrible at everything. Here are some things that they can do for you that might be useful.

1. Healing. Boffs can heal better than you can because the mechanics of healing others (stop firing, choose the ally, get close to them, cast the heal, start combat again) are cumbersome, but boffs are addicted to just spamming whatever skills you give them and they do it quickly. Vascular Regenerator, Medical Tricorder, and Nanite Health Monitor are all useful skills for boffs.

2. Spamming debuffs. Tricorder Scan (lowers enemy damage resistance, which greatly increases the damage of anyone shooting them) is always useful since you're always trying to shoot the enemies.

3. Spamming other stuff. Quantum Mortar is useful here because they have a long range and don't require a line of sight, but if you don't care about where stuff gets placed, then you can trust your boffs to lay it down as soon as combat starts.

4. Tank. I have a boff in a red TOS uniform with Draw Fire who is always the first to die wherever I take him.

--DOFFs--

Coming!!