See part 2 with new updates here!
Exploring the reworked Surgical Strikes (SS) ability from the Intel specialization with the Legendary Scimitar. The bridge officer seating of this ship is remarkably flexible with SS, and I think multiple variants are worth exploring. Here I’m sharing what I’ve started with and hopefully we can identify things I’ve missed and refine this even more. So far, I’ve managed 402k DPS in ISE in random channel runs. This first variant focuses on energy weapons and does not include any torpedo weapons or Command abilities. See the full build at the bottom.

I started from my relatively standard Leg Scimitar Cannon build. I’m using Photonic Officer, Boimler, Calm Before the Storm, and Unconventional Systems for cooldown management. Since I’m utilizing four activated Universal Consoles, Unconventional Systems is huge and I’ve slotted several procs for it (Tractor Beams, Jam Sensors, Scramble Sensors, Gravity Well).
Being a dreadnought means that it hurts for speed, so in addition to the standard Competitive Rep engines and Evasive Maneuvers doff, the Flagship Technologies set also helps with turn rate.
The Torpedo Spread ability is only there to proc the Comp engines, so it could be swapped out if you know for sure you don’t need it. But for my Fed toon, dropping a Tactical boff means dropping an SRO and losing it’s significant crit and cloak recharge buffs.
Distributed Targeting vs. Kemocite-Laced Weaponry. In my early parsing, Distributed Targeting (when tossed on Gateway/Tac Cube) seemed to out-dps Kemocite on this build. More testing is warranted, but for now I’ve gone with Distributed Targeting. Kemocite would likely give a more consistent DPS increase across all scenarios, since Distributed’s effectiveness depends on targeting the right enemy at the right time.
Since we can mix and match weapons with SS, I’m using both the Terran cannon and Terran beam array. I’m also using the Agony Quad cannon, the Wide Angle Dual Beam Bank, and Wide-Angle Sensor-linked Phaser Dual Heavy cannon. In the back, I’m using a standard phaser omni, the Trilithium omni, and the Inhibiting Turret.
Since the Leg Scimi is only a psuedo-carrier with one hangar (and therefore won’t be using SAD), I’m utilizing the Alliance Fighters. If I didn’t mind stealing Concentrate Firepower procs from other players, I might use the To’Duj fighters.
I’m using the doff that “Greatly reduces Weapon Subsystem Energy Drain for 8 sec when Directed Energy Modulation is activated.” However, I’m not sure if this is a great choice for Surgical Strikes.
I’m also using a couple of hangar recharge reduction doffs, but I would instantly replace one of those with a 27 of 47 Borg doff.
Are there any other important doff considerations for SS?
I tried to pick the best traits for SS that I have access to, but I would love to hear recommendations for better choices.
Are there any other SS-related synergistic considerations I’m overlooking?
I think two other noteworthy variants would be:
Torpedo up front (Dark Matter Quantum?), and swapping out the Calm trait for Supercharged Weapons. Possibly dropping Grav Well 1 and bumping Photonic Officer up to rk2 to help make up for dropping Calm.
Taking a Command ability like Call Emergency Artillery or Concentrate Firepower 3 (along with a torp in the front) in the Command Seat. The trade off is dropping Emergency Power to Weapons from rk3 to rk2 or even rk1, and either losing Directed Energy Modulation or trading a Tac or Sci boff for another Eng boff.
Here is the initial (non-variant) build:
SPACE
Basic Information | Data |
---|---|
Ship Name | I.S.S. Ominous |
Ship Class | Legendary Scimitar Intel Dreadnought Warbird |
Ship Tier | T6-X |
Player Career | Tactical |
Elite Captain | Yes |
Primary Specialization | Intelligence |
Secondary Specialization | Strategist |
Build Description
Surgical Strikes
Ship Equipment
Bridge Officer Stations
Profession | Power | Notes |
---|---|---|
Commander Tactical / Intelligence | Distributed Targeting | |
Attack Pattern Beta | ||
Override Subsystem Safeties | ||
Energy Weapons: Surgical Strikes | ||
————– | ————– | |
Lieutenant Commander Engineering / Command | Emergency Power to Engines | |
Directed Energy Modulation | ||
Emergency Power to Weapons | ||
————– | ————– | |
Lieutenant Commander Universal | Tractor Beam | |
Scramble Sensors | ||
Gravity Well | ||
————– | ————– | |
Lieutenant Universal | Jam Targeting Sensors | |
Photonic Officer | ||
————– | ————– | |
Ensign Universal | Torpedo: Spread | |
————– | ————– |
Active Space Duty Officers
Specialization | Power | Notes |
---|---|---|
Energy Weapons Officer | Chance for stacking Crit Chance buff on firing Energy Weapons | |
Energy Weapons Officer | Chance for stacking Crit Severity buff on firing Energy Weapons | |
Conn Officer | Recharges Evasive Maneuvers when Emergency Power to Engines is activated. | |
Flight Deck Officer | Reduce the time to recharge hangar bays and Boarding Party | |
Flight Deck Officer | Reduce the time to recharge hangar bays and Boarding Party | |
Systems Engineer | Reduces Weapon subsystem energy drain while using Directed Energy Modulation | |
————– | ————– |
Traits
Personal Space Traits | Description | Notes |
---|---|---|
A Good Day to Die | You are always willing to go down fighting with your ship. Go Down Fighting may be activated at any Hull integrity. Its scaling benefits will function as though your Hull is at 50% Hull Integrity, at most. | |
Context is for Kings | ||
Fleet Coordinator | ”’Space Trait”’: Increases your Damage based on how many players are in your party. (Self Included) | |
Inspirational Leader | ||
Intelligence Agent Attaché | Weapon Critical Strikes partially recharge Captain Ability Weapon Critical Strikes restore a small amount of Captain Ability recharge time. Cannot reduce an ability below its minimum recharge time. Maximum one reduction per 1.33 seconds. Having an observer from intelligence can be taxing, but the advantage in access to information has tempted many Captains into such an arrangement :On Weapon Critical Strike, restore 2% of Captain Ability Recharge | |
Terran Targeting Systems | Crit Severity, being critically hit slows you. | |
Self-Modulating Fire | Space Trait: You gain a Shield Penetration buff for your weapons when landing a critical hit on your target. May occur once every 45 seconds. | |
Unconventional Systems | ||
The Boimler Effect | Space Trait. Provides a chance for using non-specialist Bridge Officer Abilities to recharge all other Bridge Officer Ability recharge times up to their respective Shared Cooldown Categories. | |
Cannon Training | ”’Space Trait”’: Increases Damage from your Cannon weapons. | |
Beam Training | Increases Damage from your Beam weapons | |
————– | ————– |
Starship Traits | Description | Notes |
---|---|---|
Emergency Weapon Cycle | On Emergency Power To Weapons: -weapon Power Cost, +weapon Firing Speed on Emergency Power To Weapons: *-50% Weapon Power Cost For 30 Sec. *20% Firing Cycle Haste For Energy Weapons For 30 Sec. | |
Vanguard Specialists | While This Trait Is Slotted, All Of The Following Specialist Bridge Officer Abilities That Provide Weapon Modification Abilities Will Have Their Recharge Times Reduced By 33% Of Their Base Recharge Time, As Well As Having Their Maximum Durations Extended By 5 seconds: –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– *Ability: Energy Weapons: Surgical Strikes Strikes (Intel) *Ability: Suppression Barrage Barrage (Command) *Ability: Recursive Shearing Shearing (Temporal Operative) *Ability: Reroute Reserves To Weapons Reserves To Weapons (Pilot) *Ability: Energy Weapons: Exceed Rated Limits Rated Limits (Miracle Worker) –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– once Unlocked On One Character, This Trait Is Unlocked Account-wide. | |
Over-Powered And Over-Gunned | Activating Fire At Will, Beam Overload, Cannon Rapid Fire, Or Cannon Scatter Volley Improves Weapon Haste Dramatically For A Short Time. The Duration Increases With Global Critical Strike Chance, Up To Double Duration At 50% Global Critical Strike Chance. –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– once Unlocked On One Character, This Trait Is Unlocked Account-wide. | |
Strike From Shadows | Buffs For Attacking Foes Not Targeting You –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– when Damaging A Foe That Doesn’t Have You Targeted: *to Self For 30 Sec: *decreases Threat Generation By 60% *+5% Critical Chance *+5% Bonus All Damageplacate Target For 12 Sec Or Until You Deal _ Damage To The Jammed Target. ”(placate Can Only Occur Once Per 60 Seconds Per Foe)” | |
The Ruin Of Our Enemies | +dmg And Recharge On Defeating Foes –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– when You Defeat A Foe: *+3% Bonus All Damage For 30 Sec : ”(stacks Up To 100 Times)” : ”(timer Resets With Each Successful Defeat)” every 5th Defeat While Active: *-15% Recharge Time To Bridge Officer Cooldowns Over 5 Sec | |
Calm Before The Storm | +all Damage After Long Decay –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– while In Combat: *gain 1 ”calm” Stack Every 2 Sec *each Stack Of ”calm” Gives +5 All Damage Resistance Ratingat 10 Stacks Gain ”storm” For 20 Sec: *removes All Stacks Of ”calm” *+33% Firing Cycle Haste For Energy Weapons *bridge Officer Abilities Recharge 33% Faster ”(stacks Of Calm Can’t Be Gained While Storm Is Active)” | |
————– | ————– |
Space Reputation Traits | Description | Notes |
---|---|---|
Advanced Targeting Systems | Slightly increases critical severity in space combat. | |
Precision | Increases your Critical Hit Chance in space combat. | |
Tyler’s Duality | Critical Chance based on Hull Capacity | |
Magnified Firepower | All Weapon Damage | |
Energy Refrequencer | Heals Hull when Dealing Damage | |
————– | ————– |
Active Space Reputation Traits | Description | Notes |
---|---|---|
Anti-Time Entanglement Singularity | Shrinking AoE Damage Hazard, Slows and Holds Foes | |
Bio-Molecular Shield Generator | Bio-Molecular Shield Generator creates a fixed position shield generator, in space combat, that regenerates starship shields and reduces the damage taken by starship shields for allies in the immediate area. | |
Deploy Sensor Interference Platform | Deploy Sensor Interference Platform – Taunt and Damage Debuff | |
Quantum Singularity Manipulation | Drastically increases all space Science Stats for a short time. After a few seconds, your ship will also be cloaked for the remaining duration of the power. You may fire your weapons and use abilities normally without breaking the cloak. This cloak does not bring your shields offline. | |
Refracting Tetryon Cascade | Releases a cascading burst of Tetryon energy from your Deflector Dish at foes within 3km. The Tetryon Cascade will refract from initial targets to other nearby targets, dealing less damage with each jump. The Refracting Tetryon Cascade can jump to 2 additional targets. The charge can only jump 5km to the next target. WARNING: If the target’s sensors are scrambled or otherwise confused when it is hit with the Tetryon Cascade, the charge may bounce back to you or your allies. | |
————– | ————– |