Common setups are based around this for the top two tiers:
Crit Boost x 1 +3 Hammers
Crit Boost x 2 +2 Hammers
The blimp has position and can be run a bit different:
1 atk boost crew w/position trigger + Crit Boost (1 or 2) + Hammer (1 or 2)
If you do use get to the point where you're firing three (or more) volleys with the artifact or the blimp or maybe a high enough bridge level, tactical MACO Mayweather is the only 400% damage crew with no use limit and is invaluable.
Feel free to contribute your boss battle results to the FBB setup board and use the FAST tool to do multilevel filtering and sorting of crew by their ship abilities.
Common setups are based around this for the top two tiers:
Crit Boost x 1 +3 Hammers
Crit Boost x 2 +2 Hammers
The blimp has position and can be run a bit different:
1 atk boost crew w/position trigger + Crit Boost (1 or 2) + Hammer (1 or 2)
If you do use get to the point where you're firing three (or more) volleys with the artifact or the blimp or maybe a high enough bridge level, tactical MACO Mayweather is the only 400% damage crew with no use limit and is invaluable.
Feel free to contribute your boss battle results to the FBB setup board and use the FAST tool to do multilevel filtering and sorting of crew by their ship abilities.
My Artifact is not complete. But I tried the three hammers and a crit bonus on the blimp and scored far worse than with ISS Enterprise. Maybe I am doing something wrong? Also, what is the difference between crit bonus and crit rating or whatever they are called? And would a speed boost be more effective? I have Garrh and Killy and Commandant and Maco Mayweather and Torres. I used Hollow Data for crit boost since he is 6 seconds. But I have tried Keeper on the ISS Enterprise with better results. Perhaps since he activates sooner even though his rating is lower?
Crit Rating is your chance to Crit. Crit bonus is how much extra damage when you do. The latter appears to be more effective.
Attack speed has no interaction with Immediate Damage. I’ve done acceptable numbers with it on 4* ships but your choose either speed or hammers, not both.
Crit Rating is your chance to Crit. Crit bonus is how much extra damage when you do. The latter appears to be more effective.
Attack speed has no interaction with Immediate Damage. I’ve done acceptable numbers with it on 4* ships but your choose either speed or hammers, not both.
Thank you. In all the years I've been doing this, I've just gone with the "smash ot with a hammer" approach. This is good to know. All the suggestions here have seemed to focus on the crit rating, but I'll try a crit bonus crew.
Repair triggers as needed.
Round 2 would work better if I delayed till Cloak refreshes at ~25s but then I couldn’t call this build Dumber Than A Sack Full Of Hammers. There’s better versions of this but I don’t have the crew for it.
My fleet just unlocked Nightmare, and I did a battle just to see how much damage I'd do. In the post-round screen it said something like 5.4M damage, but then in the damage leaderboard it says 4.9M; is there something going on with the way it calculates damage here?
My fleet just unlocked Nightmare, and I did a battle just to see how much damage I'd do. In the post-round screen it said something like 5.4M damage, but then in the damage leaderboard it says 4.9M; is there something going on with the way it calculates damage here?
I don't know, but I've noticed similar inconsistencies. Mostly I don't keep track, but when I have, I've seen similar issues.
My average is 2 million per round ATM.
Krayton with 400% ability crew and ardra
If you have the IKS T'ong it is far more effective in Nightmare/Ultra Nightmare. Bigger hull so it lives longer
I'll try it. I'm averaging just under 5 million with the Frengi ship, but I'm sure I can do better.
I got slightly higher with the T'Ong, but not the numbers I've been seeing here. Perhaps I've been seeing the top numbers rather than averages. I used Killy, Commandant, and Maco Mayweather (all have the same charge), with Ardra. I have Barge Torres and Garth immortalized, too. Their advantage is that they have no limit to uses, but they ultimately charge slower. I also have various 8 second 400% damage crew. Given another 1 or maybe 2 seconds, Mayweather would have got a third shot.
My Artifact is not complete. But I tried the three hammers and a crit bonus on the blimp and scored far worse than with ISS Enterprise. Maybe I am doing something wrong? Also, what is the difference between crit bonus and crit rating or whatever they are called? And would a speed boost be more effective? I have Garrh and Killy and Commandant and Maco Mayweather and Torres. I used Hollow Data for crit boost since he is 6 seconds. But I have tried Keeper on the ISS Enterprise with better results. Perhaps since he activates sooner even though his rating is lower?
The artifact performs very well at Level 10 because the combined shields and hull with the 75% repair hull skill let you fire more volleys than you can from the Krayton or Roddenberry. The keeper only gets two uses, so works fine for ships that only allow you to get two rounds of your hammers in. Looks like cycle time is 30s and duration is 10s. With those numbers, you might as well use ardra or undercover o'brien. They have the same cycle time, longer duration, and same number of uses while boasting 80% higher bonus. You should get better damage on average.
Until you have a ship that can consistently get more volleys off, you can stick with one or both of those. I haven't done enough testing to see, but I'm getting the feeling that 400% damage is worth more than 10k crit bonus like the keeper or jet reno, but less than the 16k of demo man scotty or 18k of Ardra and UCOB. I averaged 4.98M across 10 runs with ardra, UCOB, RPC, and Fury Kes on my alt at bridge level 5. I haven't tested with the ISS Enterprise. The blimp can be run differently because of position and people have been able to get scores north of 7M with an atk booster, two crit boosters, and a hammer. With the artifact I'm averaging 10M.
Straight from the workshop is the new favorite nightmare setup for highest recorded average. Thanks to .|. MirrorRiker for the tip
-3 x repair hull 25% and Demo Man Scotty or Taco (both about the same average) on the artifact
Depending on bridge level, seeing 11-14M on average. Just got a 15+ report while typing this. At higher bridge levels (>7?), you may not even need the ship's 75% hull repair. Multiple people have actually ran the timer out on the battle now.
Recommended hull repair= Laborer Kirk, Dereth, Spork, Kung fu Crusher (20s repeats after first activation); crew with loop times (repeat activations) of 24s also seem to work, so Little John riker and Determined Janeway are good substitutes for Dereth.
Best part, multiple people are getting better numbers running 3x auto than on manual or 1x auto. Those numbers with all FFFE crew. Bridge level and what you've put points in will impact this. Dereth may be better than the others b/c of the attack boost that will stagger with Scotty/Taco at times and increase damage dealt somewhat.
@NoNameNamer with the current high in limited testing...
Update to the FAST Tool incoming tonight to account for this. I believe BigBook.app is adding some extra search options, as well. Happy Hunting!
Does the self-repair build work the Krayton? It’s cooldown reducer and self-repair abilities are worse but a budget build doing 10m damage is better than nothing.
Does the self-repair build work the Krayton? It’s cooldown reducer and self-repair abilities are worse but a budget build doing 10m damage is better than nothing.
Krayton with Dereth/Laborer Kirk/Taco/mok bara Crusher?
The new "Meta" for Nightmare (NOT Ultra-Nightmare) is tanking the whole battle duration (staying alive 120 seconds) while dealing moderate damage until the battle ends. This will result in a very consistent (and really high) overall damage meowtput, but requires manual purrfectly timed hull heals.
Ship: Level 10 Artifact Crew: Dereth (SCI), Laborer Kirk (ENG), Little John Riker (CMD), Tacoweather (ENG, no bonus - him in this seat is best because his passive bonuses are very low) - The one that should be fully fused is certainly Taco because his attack boost is the highest. Laborer Kirk is only there for the hull heal, so he can be 1/5, no problem.
So you start the battle, trigger cooldown reduction as soon as possible, land the first 400% hit with Taco. If you want, you can also use the evasion ship ability which doesn't do a lot, but it might help you evade one of the boss hits (this applies to the whole battle).
When the boss hits for the first time, your shields will go down, but your hull won't suffer too much damage yet, so no need to heal yet (I say that with Bridge Level 7 fully leveled, about to hit Level 8 a only accuracy left). Rinse-repeat cooldown reduction, evasion ship skill and Taco's 400% boom while monitoring your hull health.
Once your hull is halfway down, trigger a hull heal (25% Dereth, Kirk or Riker). Eventually your hull will be at 10 to 30 purrcent. This is the time when you have to use the single-charged ship ability to heal your hull 75% (the red cross on the left). Once that is done, your hull should be pretty much at full strength again.
Keep going (healing once when hull goes half or near half, or twice when it's under half near the end, while using CD reduction and Taco's 400% boom which is endless) and if all goes well, you will not die until the battle (120 seconds) timer runs out (you see that when there is still "Hull Remaining" at the end on your ship). In my case, it looked like this:
"Everything about the Jem'Hadar is lethal!" - Eris (ST-DS9 Episode 2x26 "The Jem'Hadar")
I had switched to Riker in the past day, too, for that little extra oomph he gives. Taco gets better damage for me than Scotty, but other people reported the opposite and were only different in how their bridge was leveled. So, both are great. I think we are seeing bridge levels really impact results now. When the combo buffs start rolling in, all of this is going to be situation-specific. If you suddenly have a lot of damage reduction bonuses, that setup will be viable in UN.
@Sonja
My alt averages right at 5M with the Roddenberry and the Krayton playing around with different bridge crew. So, that somewhere between 4 & 7M seems to be where you can get to with those ships and the Shenzou, too, according to one user. EDIT: Looks like someone has an auto setup they're reporting with the Tong getting 7-10M. its 3 hammers + Ardra. So, that may be something to try out if you have it.
@Ivanstone At my bridge level, 3x hull repair is not viable for the Krayton or the blimp on my main. Krayton at 4x hull repair was no better than a standard arena setup.
I timed out with the blimp, but only did 5M damage. With 3x hull repair, I did 10M damage with Scotty and 7M with Taco. Again, a higher bridge level could extend the fight and change things. I just know I'm getting around 15M with taco on the artifact when I time out and 13 or so with 30-50s remaining and with a similar setup on the blimp can only max out 10M.
I had switched to Riker in the past day, too. Taco gets better damage for me than Scotty, but other people reported the opposite and were only different in how their bridge was leveled. So, both are great. I think we are seeing bridge levels really impact results now. When the combo buffs start rolling in, all of this is going to be situation-specific. If you suddenly have a lot of damage reduction bonuses, that setup will be viable in UN.
@Sonja
My alt averages right at 5M with the Roddenberry and the Krayton playing around with different bridge crew. So, that somewhere between 4 & 7M seems to be where you can get to with those ships and the Shenzou, too, according to one user.
@Ivanstone At my bridge level, 3x hull repair is not viable for the Krayton or the blimp on my main.
4x hull repair gave terrible results. I timed out with the blimp, but only did 5M damage. with 3x hull repair, I did 10M damage with Scotty and 7M with Taco. Again, a higher bridge level could extend the fight and change things. I just know I'm getting around 15M with taco on the artifiact with 30-50s remaining and with a similar setup on the blimp can only max out 10M.
@Ivanstone At my bridge level, 3x hull repair is not viable for the Krayton or the blimp on my main. Krayton at 4x hull repair was no better than a standard arena setup.
What would you suggest is the stronger influence on survival? Total Hull health or the Artifact's heavy cooldown reducer?
My Artifact is only 7/10. That's 690K health and 130k Shields. Which is more Hull than some 5* ships get.
For regular nightmare, would laborer kirk/tacoweather/karate crusher/dexa work with either krayton or iks tong? I could also pull dereth from crew retrieval if dexa isn't up to snuff. My artifact is 5/10 so trying to find a viable squad until that's fully leveled.
Comments
And lineups? (Meaning, crew to use?)
Preferably on Auto but if significant enough I could try to do manual
Crit Boost x 1 +3 Hammers
Crit Boost x 2 +2 Hammers
The blimp has position and can be run a bit different:
1 atk boost crew w/position trigger + Crit Boost (1 or 2) + Hammer (1 or 2)
If you do use get to the point where you're firing three (or more) volleys with the artifact or the blimp or maybe a high enough bridge level, tactical MACO Mayweather is the only 400% damage crew with no use limit and is invaluable.
Feel free to contribute your boss battle results to the FBB setup board and use the FAST tool to do multilevel filtering and sorting of crew by their ship abilities.
My Artifact is not complete. But I tried the three hammers and a crit bonus on the blimp and scored far worse than with ISS Enterprise. Maybe I am doing something wrong? Also, what is the difference between crit bonus and crit rating or whatever they are called? And would a speed boost be more effective? I have Garrh and Killy and Commandant and Maco Mayweather and Torres. I used Hollow Data for crit boost since he is 6 seconds. But I have tried Keeper on the ISS Enterprise with better results. Perhaps since he activates sooner even though his rating is lower?
Attack speed has no interaction with Immediate Damage. I’ve done acceptable numbers with it on 4* ships but your choose either speed or hammers, not both.
Thank you. In all the years I've been doing this, I've just gone with the "smash ot with a hammer" approach. This is good to know. All the suggestions here have seemed to focus on the crit rating, but I'll try a crit bonus crew.
My average is 2 million per round ATM.
Krayton with 400% ability crew and ardra
If you have the IKS T'ong it is far more effective in Nightmare/Ultra Nightmare. Bigger hull so it lives longer
I'll try it. I'm averaging just under 5 million with the Frengi ship, but I'm sure I can do better.
Full Auto.
Cloak > Kahless (breaks cloak) > Killy > Garth > T’Ong > TKK
Round 2
Killy > Cloak > Garth > TKK > T’Ong > Kahless
Repair triggers as needed.
Round 2 would work better if I delayed till Cloak refreshes at ~25s but then I couldn’t call this build Dumber Than A Sack Full Of Hammers. There’s better versions of this but I don’t have the crew for it.
I don't know, but I've noticed similar inconsistencies. Mostly I don't keep track, but when I have, I've seen similar issues.
I got slightly higher with the T'Ong, but not the numbers I've been seeing here. Perhaps I've been seeing the top numbers rather than averages. I used Killy, Commandant, and Maco Mayweather (all have the same charge), with Ardra. I have Barge Torres and Garth immortalized, too. Their advantage is that they have no limit to uses, but they ultimately charge slower. I also have various 8 second 400% damage crew. Given another 1 or maybe 2 seconds, Mayweather would have got a third shot.
The artifact performs very well at Level 10 because the combined shields and hull with the 75% repair hull skill let you fire more volleys than you can from the Krayton or Roddenberry. The keeper only gets two uses, so works fine for ships that only allow you to get two rounds of your hammers in. Looks like cycle time is 30s and duration is 10s. With those numbers, you might as well use ardra or undercover o'brien. They have the same cycle time, longer duration, and same number of uses while boasting 80% higher bonus. You should get better damage on average.
Until you have a ship that can consistently get more volleys off, you can stick with one or both of those. I haven't done enough testing to see, but I'm getting the feeling that 400% damage is worth more than 10k crit bonus like the keeper or jet reno, but less than the 16k of demo man scotty or 18k of Ardra and UCOB. I averaged 4.98M across 10 runs with ardra, UCOB, RPC, and Fury Kes on my alt at bridge level 5. I haven't tested with the ISS Enterprise. The blimp can be run differently because of position and people have been able to get scores north of 7M with an atk booster, two crit boosters, and a hammer. With the artifact I'm averaging 10M.
-3 x repair hull 25% and Demo Man Scotty or Taco (both about the same average) on the artifact
Depending on bridge level, seeing 11-14M on average. Just got a 15+ report while typing this. At higher bridge levels (>7?), you may not even need the ship's 75% hull repair. Multiple people have actually ran the timer out on the battle now.
Recommended hull repair= Laborer Kirk, Dereth, Spork, Kung fu Crusher (20s repeats after first activation); crew with loop times (repeat activations) of 24s also seem to work, so Little John riker and Determined Janeway are good substitutes for Dereth.
Best part, multiple people are getting better numbers running 3x auto than on manual or 1x auto. Those numbers with all FFFE crew. Bridge level and what you've put points in will impact this. Dereth may be better than the others b/c of the attack boost that will stagger with Scotty/Taco at times and increase damage dealt somewhat.
@NoNameNamer with the current high in limited testing...
Update to the FAST Tool incoming tonight to account for this. I believe BigBook.app is adding some extra search options, as well. Happy Hunting!
Edit: updated crew recommendations
Did anyone find a good Nightmare setup for those who do not have The Artifact & Proton?
Krayton with Dereth/Laborer Kirk/Taco/mok bara Crusher?
All run on auto
Ship: Level 10 Artifact
Crew: Dereth (SCI), Laborer Kirk (ENG), Little John Riker (CMD), Tacoweather (ENG, no bonus - him in this seat is best because his passive bonuses are very low) - The one that should be fully fused is certainly Taco because his attack boost is the highest. Laborer Kirk is only there for the hull heal, so he can be 1/5, no problem.
So you start the battle, trigger cooldown reduction as soon as possible, land the first 400% hit with Taco. If you want, you can also use the evasion ship ability which doesn't do a lot, but it might help you evade one of the boss hits (this applies to the whole battle).
When the boss hits for the first time, your shields will go down, but your hull won't suffer too much damage yet, so no need to heal yet (I say that with Bridge Level 7 fully leveled, about to hit Level 8 a only accuracy left). Rinse-repeat cooldown reduction, evasion ship skill and Taco's 400% boom while monitoring your hull health.
Once your hull is halfway down, trigger a hull heal (25% Dereth, Kirk or Riker). Eventually your hull will be at 10 to 30 purrcent. This is the time when you have to use the single-charged ship ability to heal your hull 75% (the red cross on the left). Once that is done, your hull should be pretty much at full strength again.
Keep going (healing once when hull goes half or near half, or twice when it's under half near the end, while using CD reduction and Taco's 400% boom which is endless) and if all goes well, you will not die until the battle (120 seconds) timer runs out (you see that when there is still "Hull Remaining" at the end on your ship). In my case, it looked like this:
@Sonja
My alt averages right at 5M with the Roddenberry and the Krayton playing around with different bridge crew. So, that somewhere between 4 & 7M seems to be where you can get to with those ships and the Shenzou, too, according to one user. EDIT: Looks like someone has an auto setup they're reporting with the Tong getting 7-10M. its 3 hammers + Ardra. So, that may be something to try out if you have it.
@Ivanstone At my bridge level, 3x hull repair is not viable for the Krayton or the blimp on my main. Krayton at 4x hull repair was no better than a standard arena setup.
I timed out with the blimp, but only did 5M damage. With 3x hull repair, I did 10M damage with Scotty and 7M with Taco. Again, a higher bridge level could extend the fight and change things. I just know I'm getting around 15M with taco on the artifact when I time out and 13 or so with 30-50s remaining and with a similar setup on the blimp can only max out 10M.
EDIT: added images and Tong setup
Thank you, @JimBerlin
My tests with Krayton were under 5M. I thought others got better results.
Is there any way to get Artifact schematics from Arena? I've heard that September will offer Artifact schematics as reward.
What would you suggest is the stronger influence on survival? Total Hull health or the Artifact's heavy cooldown reducer?
My Artifact is only 7/10. That's 690K health and 130k Shields. Which is more Hull than some 5* ships get.