Away Team Build (Advanced)

I will warn you; this is a bit of a “money is no object” build, but for the most part is accessible to everyone with effort. Some of the parts needed for this come from lockboxes, but can typically be found on the exchange. The equipment these Bridge Officers are using all comes from the Reputation System. You do not really have to, but I would highly recommend going ahead and upgrading it all to Mk XV Epic. You can also choose to use mission reward equipment if you’re looking for a cheaper option. Let’s be honest, though, you’re not here for the cheap and easy route! You’re here because you want to smoke enemies like a pack of Kools.

This team is capable of handling darn near anything in the game while you just stand there. It annihilates enemies on Nimbus III and is awesome for the Ground Portion of the Dyson Sphere. You can use any race for the Bridge Officers, but I will list some recommendations. The weapons are balanced between Expose and Exploit attacks, with an emphasis on Expose.

If you’re not familiar with the Expose/Exploit mechanic: essentially, every ground weapon in Star Trek Online causes one of two types of additional effects. Expose attacks make a target vulnerable, which makes them more likely to take damage and increase the impact of Exploit attacks. Exploit attacks deal increased damage and will vaporize them if they are exposed and their health is low enough! Naturally, you should pick a weapon for yourself that uses Exploit attacks.

As always, these officers are listed in priority order. Some ground zones will allow you to use one, 2, or all 4 bridge officers. Naturally, the more bridge officers going down to the planet with you, the more effective this build will be. All of your Bridge Officers should be Very Rare and have 4 Ground Traits!

## Engineering Bridge Officer

### Recommended Boffs

Veteran Reward Android (1 per character), Elachi Engineering/Temporal Officer from “Beneath the Skin” mission, Kobali Engineering/Command Officer from the “Dust to Dust” mission, Andrea Type Android from K-13, Doctor Brown Type Android from K-13, any of the holographic Engineering officers with 4 ground traits, an Alien Engineering Bridge officer with 4 ground traits.

### Skills

* Molten Terrain I – Summer Event Store. Does AOE Damage and Fire Damage. Note: Replace Molten Terrain I with Quantum Mortar I (Training Manual) if player is not an Engineer.
* Sabotage II – Lockbox/Exchange. Disables ranged weapons for 9.3 second. Non-living foes will deal 365 electrical damage to all other foes in 15m and then explode. (This includes power armor in the Dyson Sphere and Herald constructs). The only time this isn’t really helpful is when fighting beasts like Dewan Arthropods or the Hur’q. You can switch this out for Chroniton Mine Barrier, Hurricane Turret, or a damage ability from a specialization (such as Entropic Contagion I from Temporal Operative). You’ve honestly got damage from so many sources in this build, that it won’t be missed much.
* Shield Recharge III – Office Training School (R&D). Gives +90 shield regeneration and reduces damage to shields by 30% for 3 seconds. Has a chance to make the recipient immune to shield damage for several seconds.
* Turret Fabrication III – Office Training School (R&D). Creates a level 61 Turret III for 180 seconds.

Note: if your character is an Engineer and you are in a zone that only allows one Bridge Officer, make sure you have a Mortar on your character and bring Science Bridge Officer 1 instead. You should ALWAYS have a Mortar available to you when you beam down to a planet. There are times where glitched enemies will appear inside a wall - the only way to kill them will be with a Mortar. There are some missions that you may have to restart because of these glitches if you do not have a Mortar.

### Equipment

Gamma Concerted Armaments set (3/3) from the Gamma Task Force Reputation: Gives the entire team +10% All Weapon Damage, +10 Kinetic/Physical/Energy Damage Resistance Rating, +5% Maximum Hit Points, +5% maximum Shield Capacity, Stun and Damage over time to targets in an area. Note: if you have enough Gamma Marks (normal and elite), you can put this on all of your Boffs (and yourself). These will stack. This equipment set was chosen specifically to benefit the whole team - the Science Bridge Officers have equipment sets that specifically buff their builds, but a larger full team buff may be more valuable to you.

## Science Bridge Officer 1

### Recommended Boffs

Veteran Reward Android (1 per character), Borg Science Officer (Tier 5 of the Task Force Omega Reputation), Nelen Exil (Voth Science Officer from Tier 5 of the Dyson Joint Command Reputation), Starfleet 0718 Model Android Officer (Zen Store), Cyborg Miracle Worker Bridge Officer (Zen Store), any of the holographic Science officers with 4 ground traits, an Alien Science Bridge officer with 4 ground traits.

### Skills

* Seismic Agitation Field I – Summer Event Store. AoE Kinetic Damage and Knockdown.
* Medical Tricorder II – Training Manual. Heals 185 Hit Points, removes Expose effects, and gives +28% All Damage Resistance for 4 seconds.
* Cold Fusion Flash III – Lockbox/Exchange. To foes within 6 meters of the target, 20.9 Cold Damage per second for 10 seconds, Root for 10 second, and 10% chance to stun for 10 seconds.
* Paradox Bomb III (Temporal Operative) – Office Training School (R&D). This is a Temporal Operative ability. Creates a Paradox Bomb for 5 seconds. For the first 4 seconds, performs a -8 pull toward the Bomb and disables sprint and roll for all foes within 20 meters. After 5 seconds, the Bomb explodes dealing physical damage to all foes within 20 meters.

### Equipment

Temporal Defense Initiative Operative set (3/3) from Temporal Defense Initiative Reputation: +25% All Damage for Damage-Over-Time and Hazard Effects

## Science Bridge Officer 2

### Recommended Boffs

Veteran Reward Android (1 per character), Borg Science Officer (Tier 5 of the Task Force Omega Reputation), Nelen Exil (Voth Science Officer from Tier 5 of the Dyson Joint Command Reputation), Starfleet 0718 Model Android Officer (Zen Store), Cyborg Miracle Worker Bridge Officer (Zen Store), any of the holographic Science officers with 4 ground traits, an Alien Science Bridge officer with 4 ground traits.

### Skills

* Seismic Agitation Field I – Summer Event Store. AoE Kinetic Damage and Knockdown.
* Medical Tricorder II – Training Manual. Heals 185 Hit Points, removes Expose effects, and gives +28% All Damage Resistance for 4 seconds.
* Sonic Disruption III – Summer Event Store. AoE Damage. Causes Slow, Knockback, and Stun.
* Hyperonic Radiation II – Training Manual. Surrounds the target with a Radiation Cloud doing 20.4 Radiation Damage per second for 21.2 Seconds. Also damages enemies within 5 meters. 10% chance to Expose the target for 8 seconds.

Note: If you are taking too much damage, replace Hyperonic Radiation II with Vascular Regenerator III - Office Training School (R&D). Removes all expose effects, heals 340 Hit Points over 10 seconds, removes 100 bleed or debuff effects, and gives +25% All Damage Resistance for 10 seconds.

### Equipment

Lukari Restoration Initiative Operative set (3/3) from the Lukari Restoration Initiative Reputation: Gives a +25% Outgoing Healing Bonus.

## Tactical Bridge Officer

### Recommended Boffs

Elisa Flores (Starter Starfleet Bridge Officer – she does have 1 space trait but unlike all other officers, all 3 of her ground skills are superior, rather than the usual limit of 2 – she can be reclaimed from the Personnel Officer NPC at Starfleet Academy), Veteran Reward Android (1 per character), Jem’Hadar Tactical Officer from “Facility 4028” mission, any of the holographic Tactical officers with 4 ground traits, an Alien Tactical Bridge officer with 4 ground traits.

### Skills

* Take Cover I (Command) – Training Manual. Cover and crouch for the Bridge Officer and up to 4 friends for 15 seconds. +30 All Damage Resistance. If they crouch, they will also gain +6.8 Hit Points every 0.5 seconds and immunity to Knockback, Repel, and Stun. This is one of the few ways to get your Bridge Officers to crouch
* Suppressing Fire I – Training Manual. Grants Suppressing Fire I for 16 seconds to all ranged weapons. Causes -66% Run Speed, -52.5% All Damage, and a 10% chance of +2 root for 9.4 seconds to the target.
* Return Fire I (Command) – Training Manual. Affects the Bridge Officer and up to 4 friends, granting +5% to +25% Bonus to All Damage and -5% to -25% Reduction to All Recharge Timers for 10 seconds. The lower the health of the bridge officer, the higher these bonuses will be.
* Strategic Analysis III (Command) – Office Training School (R&D). Affects the Bridge Officer and up to 4 friends, granting +10 to +30% Bonus Damage (increases by 2.5% every 5 seconds) and +20 to +60 Damage Resistance Rating (increases by +5 every 5 seconds). Lasts for up to 40 seconds (or until combat ends, whichever comes first).

### Equipment

Starfleet Elite Force Set (3/3) from the Task Force Omega Reputation: Emergency Shield repair, and a 10% chance when receiving damage to perform a shield heal to the entire team; or Gamma Concerted Armaments set (3/3) from the Gamma Task Force Reputation: Gives the entire team +10% All Weapon Damage, +10 Kinetic/Physical/Energy Damage Resistance Rating, +5% Maximum Hit Points, +5% maximum Shield Capacity, Stun and Damage over time to targets in an area.

## Devices

the following are highly recommended:

* Frequency Remodulator - Required for EVERY Bridge Officer if fighting the Borg
* Epic Tribble - Yes, they will use them!
* Combat Pets - Yes, they will use them!
* Pahvan Healing Crystal
* Large Power Cells, Hypos, and Shield Charges (not that they'll need them, but better safe than sorry)
* Ketracel White - only for Jem'Hadar Boffs, required once every 3 hours or they can't use Shroud.
* Non-combat items that aren't consumable - Holy crap, Boffs lose their damn minds when given party horns, fire extinguishers, and the like. They will use them ALL the time, especially during dramatic moments - boom, disco ball! Only give them something like this if you have nothing worthwhile to put in the slot.

## Active Roster – Ground Duty Officers

You should have Neal Falconer and Elder Malik’itan occupying 2 of your ground spots, so that will leave you with 4 spots to fill. These spots should be filled based on your Captain’s career. You’ll be in many situations on the ground without your bridge officers, so don’t plan these spots around them.