How to use skill points

This is all going to change soon apparently and it'll take a while before I know enough so that I can update this. But I will update! Wouldn't it be hilarious if you're reading this in 2017 and I'm like, "A new system is coming!" and you never played the old system?

3 steps for using skill points


1. Decide on a goal

Make some decisions about what the character will be doing. Consider:

• Is going to be focused on ground combat? You have to spend at least 66,000 on ground skills and 266,000 on space skills, which leaves 34,000 for either. Since space combat is more difficult than ground, I recommend using the extra on space unless this is going to be a ground toon.
• Will this character use torpedoes? If not, then don't put points into the 2 projectile skills.
• Will this toon do PVP or PVE? Upper tier science skills and Stealth are more useful in PVP than in PVE, and I imagine (I don't PVP) that subsystem power skills and Electro-Plasma Systems are more useful in PVE.
• Are you interested in science roles for this toon? If you have a specific idea, like running drain builds, then you can max out that skill. If you're not sure yet, Flow Capacitors, Particle Generators, and Graviton Generators are useful for lots of Science skills.
• Will this toon tank? Threat Control is a must for tanks and defensive skills like Maneuvers and Structural Integrity are useful.
• What kind of ship will this toon fly, and what does that imply for the skills you'll need? Do you need more subsystem power because you have a warbird? More Structural Integrity because you like escorts?
• Do you plan to get a Plasmonic Leech? Then max Flow Capacitors to double its effectiveness.
• Will this toon use batteries? Then put at least 3 points into Batteries to increase their duration by 5.4 seconds.

2. Research

It's not entirely obvious what each of the skills does just from its description in-game, and the game provides no quantitative help. This chart provides some numbers that were found through testing and it's extremely helpful. STO wiki has a page on each of the skills, and some of them are pretty in-depth. RyanSTO (one of the top STO players) did a
Of course, understanding how helpful each of those bonuses are depends on understanding the game's mechanics, and we have lots of guides now on the fleet site and there is more help all over the internet.

3. Plan

STO Academy has a great tool for planning your builds and it has a spot dedicated to using skill points. Make up a plan for what you want that toon to have so that you're not randomly clicking skills as you level up.

Don't be afraid to max out a skill if you think it's useful, but know that there are diminishing returns in this system. The first 3 points into any skill will get you a 54% bonus, the next 3 give 30%, and the last 3 give 15%. Is 15% more of an Attack Patterns bonus worth more than a 54% bonus to Battery duration? The answer could be yes or no.

Career matters less than what you're doing with this character. Skills are separated between tactical, engineering, and science, but don't feel limited by those labels. All toons will need skills from each category.


Not-obvious skill effects

• Batteries: Affects the duration of batteries, crafted consumables, and Auxiliary to Battery. It does not affect the amount of power these give, just their duration.
• Driver Coil: In addition to giving more speed at full impulse and at warp, it also increase your subsystem power at full impulse, decreasing the time it takes to get to full weapons power.
• Warp Core Efficiency: This gives you bonus subsystem power depending on that subsystem's base power. So if you have 28/15 in a subsystem, it's the 15 that will determine how much this skill helps.
• Electro-Plasma Systems: This is a very powerful skill that improves power transfer and Emergency Power to X abilities. This also improves subsystem power regeneration after dropping from full impulse. Last, it has a big affect on your damage output if you're using beams (and a smaller effect on cannons) because it returns power to your weapons subsystem when that power is drained by firing.
• Graviton Generators: Improves the pull/push of Tractor Beam Repulsors and the radius of Gravity Well. The devs have said that it barely affects the pull of Gravity Well.
• Particle Generators: This only affects abilities that a) do damage and b) do not come from a weapon. This does not affect phased biomatter or plasma's proc, or any other proc that causes extra damage.
• Stealth: This skill only improves the stealth of stealthy skills, like cloaking. It does not make your ship more stealthy in general.
• Threat Control: This is the only skill just for tanking and it's useful. The devs have not explained exactly how threat is calculated, but they've indicated that NPCs attack the person doing the most (damage, or if no one is doing damage, then buffing or debuffing), modified by various things, the most important of which is distance between the NPC and you. Threat Control helps as it modifies the threat you're generating from your damage and distance, but it doesn't mean that you don't have to do be doing a decent amount of damage (relative to your team) to draw aggro.
• Hull Plating: This increases you damage resistance (DR) indirectly by increasing your damage resistance rating (DRR). DRR is the "+X resistance to damage" that consoles, set bonuses, or Hull Plating give you. DR is the percent of incoming damage that STO removes from each shot you take. The formula that maps DRR to DR involves diminishing returns with a maximum of 75% DR (so you don't become invincible). You probably already have other sources of DRR, so this skill may (or may not!) provide a disappointing DR bonus.
• Armor Reinforcements: Same as Hull Plating.

Thank you Alex! That´s a very informative guide and easy to comprehend.

Wouldn't it be hilarious if you're reading this in 2017 and I'm like, "A new system is coming!" and you never played the old system?


Sighs! I need a new guide :D