PvE; AoE! A Public Service Announcement on dealing damage in PvE scenarios Brought to you by The Angry Tribbles Fleet of Star Trek Online

PvE = Player vs. Enemy AoE = Area of Effect DPS = Damage Per Second ACT = Advanced Combat Tracker Some things you should know

[AoE Powers] Energy Beam: Fire At Will Cannon Scatter Volley Projectile Torpedo Spread [Non-AoE Powers] Energy Beam: Overload Cannon Rapid Fire Projectile Torpedo High Yield Weapon Power Buffs

[Pros] Does 200%-300% more damage if multiple targets are in range [Cons] Does 25%-50% less damage if only one target is in range Weighing the Benefits of AoE

Fire at Will increases your beams firing rate drastically for 10 seconds. However target selection is completely random. Overload fires one massive burst of energy to your targeted enemy, but takes 50 points of power away from your weapons after use. Beam: Fire At Will vs. Overload?

Fire at Will 1+2: 6-8 Beam Arrays, Weapons Battery, Emergency Power to Weapons(x2) [Engineering Captain] Estimated Damage: Increased firing rate of beams for 10 seconds, every 15 seconds 4,000-7,000 DPS output (Source: ACT), to random targets (Note: *Some* Damage may be “wasted” on invulnerable or high health regeneration targets) Beam: Fire At Will

Overload x2 (1-3): 1 Dual-Beam Bank, Weapons Battery, Emergency Power to Weapons(x2) [Engineering Captain] Estimated Damage, 8,000-25,000 per shot. (Depends on Rank of Power) Every 15 Seconds. 8,000 / 15 = 533, 25,000 / 15 = 1666 About DPS output. Overload + Beam Array = About 25% less. Beam: Overload

Two copies of Fire at Will, with 6-8 beam arrays combined with other factors can net you 4,000-7,000 DPS. Two copies of Beam: Overload will net you DPS, at best. Recap: Beams

Cannon Rapid Fire increases your cannon damage output to a single target by 30, 40 or 50 percent based on the rank of the power. Cannon Scatter Volley increases your cannon damage output by 15, 20 or 25 percent based on the rank of the power, up to three targets Cannon: Rapid Fire or Scatter Volley?

With Scatter Volley, if you are firing on one target, you are dealing 50% less damage than Rapid Fire. If you are firing at two targets, your cannons are dealing as much damage as rapid fire, but split in half to two targets. If you are firing at three targets, your cannons are dealing more damage than rapid fire, split across the three targets. Cannon: Scatter Volley

Torpedo High Yield fires 2, 3 or 4 Torpedoes at one target depending on the rank of the power. Torpedo Spread fires up to 3 clusters of 2 torpedoes, 4 clusters of 3 torpedoes or 5 clusters of 4 torpedoes depending on the rank of the power. Torpedoes! FULL SPREAD!!

High Yield 3(x2): 4 Quantum Torpedo Salvo 5,400 Damage per Torpedo, total 21,000 1 Target: 21,000 / 15 = 1400 DPS Torpedo: High Yield III

Spread 3(x2): 4 Quantum Torpedo Cluster 4,000 Damage per Torpedo, total 16,000 Can hit 1-5 Targets 1 Target: 16,000 / 15 = 1066 DPS 2 Targets: 32,000 / 15 = 2133 DPS 3 Targets: 48,000 / 15 = 3200 DPS 4 Targets: 64,000 / 15 = 4266 DPS 5 Targets: 80,000 / 15 = 5333 DPS Torpedo: Spread III