Ba'ul refracting AP weapons

[Eggy]

Are there any drawbacks to BRW's that one should know about? They sound like they'd be handy in attacking grouped enemies like the Borg and Iconians, not to mention swarming opponents like the Hurq. I find such situations to be more common than one on one confrontations.

Do they refract every time, or is this another randomized effect? Does it work with overcharge beams applied? If I re-roll the modifiers, what should I be looking for ... for that matter, how does re-rolling work?!

Thanks in advance!

[VoodooMike]

The downside is that Ba'ul antiproton weapons lack the standard CritD bonus associated with AP weapons. They do refract every time, jumping to a second target, but only do 5% of their normal damage with the refracted attack.

If you want to go Ba'ul AP then you really should get at least two pieces of the Ba'ul lobi set as well since the 2 piece bonus doubles the number of refractions and doubles the damage that refracted attacks do (2 refractions, 10% of the original attack damage) and it also adds the basic refraction (one chain) to any other antiproton weapons you're using.

So should you use them? It depends on your CritH and CritD. The base AP weapons have a built in +20% CritD, which applied on every critical hit rather than being a crappy 2.5% proc per cycle, which is great... if you have the CritH to power it. The Ba'ul weapons are, at their default level, doing an extra 5% damage with each attack IF you have at least two targets in range. In terms of raw DPS, that means that at >25% CritH and 0% CritD the ba'ul AP are a net DPS loss against multiple targets. Against single targets they are ALWAYS a net loss regardless of your stats.

As for rerolling modifiers, the easiest choice is to reroll them all to DMG, with the split mod being DMG/CritD... you'll see people saying you should focus on CritD, but that's for high-end players with a ton of CritH, and even then you can't be sure every build will have the level of CritH needed to leverage the CritD focus... so DMG is always safe.

How re-rolling works is this: when you're in space (only reliable time the option will be lit up for space gear) you right click on the item and select "Re-engineer Item". This brings up a new window with little slot machine windows for every mod on the item. You pick the ones you want to re-roll and click the "unlock" button below them - always unlock all the ones you're wanting at the same time. Then you click the "Randomize" button which costs both dilithium and salvage... and then it replaces the mod with a random mod picked from all the possible mods that exist.

When any of them comes up with the mod you're after, you click the Lock button under it to stop re-rolling that one, and you repeat... until they're all exactly what you want.

[Eggy]

Well, VoodooMike, that certainly gives me much to think about!

Perhaps I should start with the refracting torp, since I only have an ultra rare crystalline energy AP torp as it stands now.

[VoodooMike]

Originally posted by Eggy:

Perhaps I should start with the refracting torp, since I only have an ultra rare crystalline energy AP torp as it stands now.

If you're running an AP build with plenty of +AP damage then the energy torpedo is going to give you more bang for your buck than the Ba'ul torpedo. The torpedo is the least useful piece of the ba'ul set: the omni and the console that give a good amount of +AP are going to be more useful in most builds, and will get you the most useful set bonuses.

[NIkto Barada]

didnt nukara rep tet energy weps have similar effects?

[VoodooMike]

Originally posted by NIkto Barada:

didnt nukara rep tet energy weps have similar effects?

Refracting tetryon weapons have a 2.5% proc rate per cycle. Ba'ul antiproton weapons have a 100% proc rate per attack. There's really no comparison.

[NIkto Barada]

i just saw. sry.

[VoodooMike]

Originally posted by NIkto Barada:

i just saw. sry.

Oh, I wasn't snapping at you - you're correct that they have a similar sort of effect - just pointing out that they are vastly inferior. Even if it was a 2.5% proc rate per shot instead of per cycle, it would still contribute half as much DPS as the proc on the Ba'ul antiproton does even before any buffing with the lobi set items.

[NIkto Barada]

it wasnt taken in bad . i simply overlooked the bauul proc %-btw you are perfectly right in your comparison to basic AP.

[cap-boulanger]

I have been told that if you have enough pieces of the Ba'ul set, it adds refraction to all of your other energy weapons as well.

[VoodooMike]

Originally posted by cap-boulanger:

I have been told that if you have enough pieces of the Ba'ul set, it adds refraction to all of your other energy weapons as well.

Just the AP weapons, but yes - the same 2pc bonus that doubles the number of refractions on Ba'ul AP weapons adds a single refraction to non-Ba'ul AP weapons.

[NIkto Barada]

oo .pls tell me the sets account bound? just kidding, but ive got a mk14 set of gold AP that i forgot where i put which was supposed to help all my chars.
right till the dailes came and randomly demanded all types of energy.
sok im just venting.

[cap-boulanger]

Originally posted by NIkto Barada:

oo .pls tell me the sets account bound? just kidding, but ive got a mk14 set of gold AP that i forgot where i put which was supposed to help all my chars.
right till the dailes came and randomly demanded all types of energy.
sok im just venting.

I simply dealt with that by having at least one character using each type, so I can switch to an appropriate character.

Along the way I found some interesting facts though. Carriers are good for this as you can just swap to a hangar with the proper damage type. And the Bajoran impulse engine actually does kinetic damage.

[Eggy]

Originally posted by VoodooMike:

Originally posted by cap-boulanger:

I have been told that if you have enough pieces of the Ba'ul set, it adds refraction to all of your other energy weapons as well.

Just the AP weapons, but yes - the same 2pc bonus that doubles the number of refractions on Ba'ul AP weapons adds a single refraction to non-Ba'ul AP weapons.

So ... if I have the console, that means that I can swap out one beam/torp to get the bonus on the other three beams? One weakened beam vs three that give a grand total of 15% refraction ... that would be the trade off?

[cap-boulanger]

Originally posted by Eggy:

Originally posted by VoodooMike:

Just the AP weapons, but yes - the same 2pc bonus that doubles the number of refractions on Ba'ul AP weapons adds a single refraction to non-Ba'ul AP weapons.

So ... if I have the console, that means that I can swap out one beam/torp to get the bonus on the other three beams? One weakened beam vs three that give a grand total of 15% refraction ... that would be the trade off?

You could use the lobi console plus either one of the lobi weapons, and would get the refraction on all of your remaining AP beams.

[Eggy]

Originally posted by cap-boulanger:

Originally posted by Eggy:

So ... if I have the console, that means that I can swap out one beam/torp to get the bonus on the other three beams? One weakened beam vs three that give a grand total of 15% refraction ... that would be the trade off?

You could use the lobi console plus either one of the lobi weapons, and would get the refraction on all of your remaining AP beams.

That sounds interesting! I might try it for giggles.