Skill Tree Guide for Star Trek Online in 2024

[@CasualSAB]

Epic Creator Code: CASUALSAB STO Wiki Skills Page: stowiki.net/wiki/Skill Builds Discord: discord.gg/stobuilds CasualSAB Discord: discord.gg/FTe3mkb

[@MrGilfred]

I have figured out a good skill tree by trial and error. One that works well for me in space and on ground. The ground tree is straight forward. Since kits are what do the majority of the damage on the ground and shields on ground are not in a good state that makes it a no brainer where to spend your ground skill points. Put them all into kits and damage. In space though that is where I decided to try out to see if my idea would work and it does work out fine. I have 17 points spent into engineering, 10 science and 19 tactical. I get just enough damage and survivability that has lowered the amount of ships that I have thrown at missions. Plus with 10 into science I have the buff to sector space speed making it possible for me to run tour of the galaxy with ease.

[@espartacos1]

I have been playing sto for the past 12 years and i keep learning new things and trying out new builds from guys on KZbin, good video

[@elpatron549]

Drain Expertise and the skill pick in "Subsystem Offline Repair" are useful when using Override Subsystem Safeties to reduce the subsystem offline duration.

[@quantumjet253]

A useful tip; it costs a retrain token to retrain your skill trees. You earn a retrain token with each character once they get to level (er... forget which... it's certainly available at level 21). And if you've made some headway with one or more of the special Recruit characters you can make this process quite valuable. Do this a handful of times and you can treat yourself to experimenting to find the best Skill Tree version to suit your playstyle and build. The alternative is to be ripped off by the developer and pay 300 Zen! Further tips; These 'burner' characters (as I've heard one player refer to them) can prove extremely useful in many way; Dilithium, money, Duty Officers. Based on how much they acquire at level 21 (they don't need to be progressed further than this), which will depend on how much progress you've made with Recruit characters (which earn account wide rewards for every character), you'll need to get them into a Fleet. If you have a number of characters place them in different Fleets. The ideal Fleet for the burner will be part of an Armada, with plenty of other Fleets requiring 'Fleet Marks'. The newer/younger the Fleet the more likely they're going to need Fleet Marks. If you're 'rich' you can buy a 'Bonus Pool' from the Exchange that increases the amount of Fleet Marks and/or Fleet Credits the character will earn, but this isn't necessary. Spend the Fleet Marks the character has earned on the Fleet Holdings, or if they're filled/unavailable, spend them on random Fleets in the Armada. Once you've acquired all the Fleet Credits you can from the character, take them to the Fleet's Starbase. Here you can purchase Duty Officers, available to everyone regardless of your level in the fleet. Depending on the Fleet's Starbase level you can purchase purple Duty Officers. An easy and efficient way to supply other characters (main or alts) with purple Duty Officers. Or you can sell them on the exchange. And if neither of those options suit you, you can give them to a character to then donate them to their fleet for Fleet Credits for that character! Not only is this beneficial to you, it's beneficial to Fleets too. To quickly level up a character use the best ship you have, with the best consoles from purchased ships, and where necessary, have a set of ship gear/weapons for level 2, 4 and 6, to swop out as the character rises in level. These can be crafted by a completed character or purchased. Ship Traits won't be available at low level, and for Personal Traits, just use the best of the free ones that are available. Keep those items for future characters. Play Patrols on Elite difficulty! Depending on how decent your ship/equipment are, with the difficulty scaling with the character it's far easier taking new characters into an Elite Patrol than a completed one, especially if you're newish, or haven't acquired much in the game. For maximum efficiency play through the Patrol as quickly as possible and don't die! As you close in on level 21, depending on what you've equipped the character with, you might want to stick with the Patrol/s you do better in. There are more efficient and quicker, more effective Patrols, but as you want to make this as fun as possible, you can play just the Patrols you enjoy. And if you only care to play one or two and they're on a cooldown, no problem, come back to this burner character in between playing with your main and/or alts. I would recommend this process to all new players to give you a significant instant boost as it's relatively quick. A 'burner' can reach level 21 in about an hour if there's a bonus Experience event going, or a couple if you've a decent ship/equipment... regardless, you don't need to complete the process in one go, you can spread it out over several gaming sessions if this is more suitable. Once you've transferred everything from them, and kept them long enough to gather all the processed Dilithium they can earn (at best that'll be two days worth), they can be deleted, freeing up their character slot.

[@nerfcommando149]

5:16 learned something new, always thought aiming was with the reticle so always took the crouch buff.

[@CokeVoAYCE]

thank you. i was looking for a guide on how to build my skill tree as a new player in 2024

[@naomy1701]

i know this is meant to help newer players, but i absolutely disagree to ignore HP on ground skills, the first 2 nodes can make a vast difference imo, esp in higher difficulty where u cant kill everything as soon as u look on it. however i agree fully on focusing on the tac side of the tree, with very few exceptions that is what matters most.

[@Kallan007]

Thanks for this, this offers another perspective as to how to build my characters.

[@timfogelson7076]

thanks for the well reasoned breakdown.

[@krumplethemal8831]

What I always hate about cryptic games is the low % chance to do something cool.

[@leelapko6629]

Thank you taking the time to do this, it’s very helpful (I never even knew about the perks at the bottom! lol)

[@SGz_Eliminated]

Thanks Spencer! My tree was in need of a revisit as its been a few years

[@gallendugall8913]

Wow! Saw this video drop and put off watching it because "everyone knows" but there is a lot more than just skill tree info in here. Really useful video.

[@navyman8903]

Strong work man, I learned stuff today.

[@DarthonRamoi]

i like to use OSS on intel ships so i always pick 2/2 drain expertise and the space perk of 50 drain subsystem resistances (instead of 10 hull) because it counters the negative side of OSS where it disactivate one subsystem when it ends ! that 2sec becomes 0.8 sec , OSS can drop your weapon system and that's a big nono for dps.

[@theconfederation]

I decided to put this on my Acheron build because the things i put on there are lacking but when i put it to the test against enemies i mopped the floor with them so quick it's actually insane to me I also died to rapid emitting armaments 3 times Thank you so much for this vid man

[@Daimo83]

Thanks!

[@balung]

Im going to use my retrain now, for 2 of my toons, and follow your advice.

[@enviableechidna]

When it gets down to the last few skills is there a benefit to trying to "land" on one of the bonus skills at the bottom? For example with the setup you have currently it appears there is 1 skill above what you'd need in engineering to unlock the bonus skill and that you are one skill away from unlocking an additional science skill. Are the bonus skills helpful enough that trying to not "waste" them would be beneficial rather than just "well I kind of prefer x to y, but it's simply a matter of taste"?

[@CasualSAB]

Prioritize getting your ultimate unlocked, and then after that, certainly, if you see something you want, then may be worth shifting a point around to get that perk unlocked.

[@Ken19700]

How do you turn off the confirmation popup?

[@CasualSAB]

I believe I was just holding down my spacebar as I went through it.

[@ryker4455]

Thanks for another great and helpful video.

[@Saalvadaar]

I run a very balanced 'jack of all trades' skilltree. Lets my characters fly any ship pretty well.

[@GRIGGINS1]

Same. Spencers builds are geared more towards the DPS chasers. Not everyone who plays STO cares about chasing DPS. Some of us are in it for casual play and Roleplay.

[@jimryana5886]

Great vid, thx man!

[@stephenkolostyak4087]

why don't get just get ALL the points?

[@joshuamccurry3675]

Would be nice , maybe one day

[@leespiderpod]

This is very helpful! Cheers dude

[@aldenmclure2969]

Great video, got anything on what's good boff ability in each specialty, pilot, command, temp, etc

[@docroadie]

Thanks SAB for this and all the content you put out. Question. Does your skill tree get saved with your loadout in case I wanted to switch to a ALL DPS build or ALL tank build without having to manually do it?

[@CasualSAB]

Sadly no, you can only have one skill tree on a character at a time. So you'd want something that would work for both. Which is what I do with the tree shown in the vid. I use that for many different builds.

[@setoredan]

Thank you for this information and sharing your experience with the game.

[@gordonshumway9765]

Thx for the video

[@Ken19700]

Choosing Maximum Hull Capacity didn't change my hull capacity at all.

[@CasualSAB]

Sometimes have to change maps/relog for stuff like that to show up.

[@Ken19700]

@@CasualSAB That explains why my Nak'ul personal shield and 2nd weapon wasn't showing any crit chance or crit severity boost.

[@roangrahm1529]

I'd assume that if you aren't running projectile weapons on your build then you could put those 3 points into something other then the projectile training.

[@sujisuninja7]

Yep its important to pay attention to things like that, with the tree in the video its more the case of unlock the ultimate which limits where you can put the point. If the ultimate abilities didn't exists Skill trees would looks allot more different with the majority in Eng and Sci trees.

[@aka-47k]

device expertise is extremely important for ground cause it makes your hypos heal double, so for large hypo you heal instead of 350 hp a whooping 700 hp. on the weapon side points for ground i would disagree, i always skip 1 point in armor pen since its only 4% pen and go with 1 point in hp for 12% hp and since i use my weapons less and kits more. the 4% pen are less important since still having 6% pen is perfectly fine.

[@PoopFactor4]

I can see where you're coming from with that. I would, however, say that if you're dying on the ground, your hp pool is probably not the problem.

[@aka-47k]

@@PoopFactor4 lol i dont die but at same time the times i use weapons is also nearly never so imho that point is better somewhere else, since kitspam is truth.

[@quantumjet253]

Totally agree. I have done the same. The extra health simply acts as a little insurance especially as the more deadly your character the more heat they'll inevitable end up getting. Either that or the AI literally bullies me in every TFO!!!

[@xenbo100]

Thak you Spencer, this video was very informative.

[@devilhell69]

you dont need to put in weapon go shield max kit max 1 hp weapon you use xv lvl and your good

[@quantumjet253]

You don't need to put anything into shields. I know the correct way to play - Attack being the best form of defense - does require some decent equipment/experience but with the best ground shield and armour literally costing nothing but a little time for one, and the completion of a story mission for the other they're easily acquired by everyone. Reducing weapon capability is unnecessary/unwise and unless you're completely relying on kit modules you're literally slowing down your (and when you play TFOs - others!!!) progress. I don't agree with all of the advice in this video but to suggest shields are more worthwhile increasing over weapon efficiency is a less efficient way to play this game.

[@devilhell69]

@@quantumjet253 your a joke if you think that just for your info im been on sto since 2005

[@ryoken3d]

I've heard conflicting information on maxing out the Tactical Ultimate or not. That either you should go 27pts and get all 3 Tac Ultimate unlocks, or don't get the ultimate at all cause it negatively impacts other players in group content who do have it maxed out. Any thoughts?

[@giantdutchviking]

I think you're referring to the following, I'm quoting Krassl4 from over at STObuilds discord when I asked a similar question: it's considered polite to go for the full 27 points in the tac section, to have Focused Frenzy at maximum potential. Since only one Frenzy can be applied to a target at the same time, a non complete one prevents the other players from applying a complete one. So I would certainly always go for the Tac ult, but whether you go for all 3 (more polite, see above) or just 2, is up to you. 1 more comment from Krassl4 on deciding whether you spend 2 or 3 points into the tac ult: Frenzied Reactions - which (while the least important of the 3 enhancements) is something dps players will rely on for cooldown in high end runs. Hope this answers your question.

[@Warmaker01]

Leave it to Cryptic to make starship shield play useless in a Star Trek game. Shields were everything in the TV shows and movies. Losing them, even in a large ship like a Galaxy-class was 1 step away from complete disaster. In STO we can hull tank.

[@DanaDark]

I think all the ultimates are pretty meh these days. Even the tac one. Its single target and it is a bit meh putting so many skills in unused tac spots in order to get it. 3 precious skill points in torpedoes as a full beam boat for example? Eh.

[@crimson5664]

very good guide. straightforward and not overwhelming. even noob like me can benefit from it. thanks.

[@VyseSolo]

Used this today. Had to change only a few items. Please please do an updated personal space and ground traits, ground and space reputation traits and best specialization guide too. The whole captain's page can be a real chore to read and not know what really works and what just sounds good. The guides i see are really outdated for these if any at all.

[@sujisuninja7]

As with any of these they should be used as a guideline I look at the skill tree of what is difficult to get else ware and what it applies to specifically. Allot of the tac tree is less impactful returns in my opinion. There damage increase for Torp and Energy side is cat 1 with Energy relatively easy to get compared to torps at most 2 in each. Accuracy and defence ratings do seem to have a decent enough impact to use with a max of 2 in each. This is tricky with the crit severity and crit chance this only applies to weapons (keyword) and does not affect everything but due to how expensive crit server can be I would do a 3/2 combo at most. Shield and hull pen, the boost these provide is minimal as a couple of things can surpass the shield pen easily either with high values or eliminate shields altogether will admit hull pen is the tricker of the 2 so 1-2 points is fair. The last 2 in tact as spencer says its polite to fill in the pet one true but if you don't use pets its not personally benefiting you and there's no visible way to know if other people are using it so very much a trust based skill with no way to tell if others are using. Lastly the tactical readiness, remember that there are options for science and engineering cooldowns in the tree too rather than tactical at 20% all three could be 10% or you could be heavy on Sci abilities for consoles cooldowns more or Eng for healing/support ect. Only the tactical ultimate is valued and I agree the others need a rework to be valuable. If you aren't chasing ultimate's your tree can change allot if not DPS chasing or trust that all players will invest skill point that provide no benefit to them. I wouldn't say its a skill tree guide video as stated but a my recommendations video as allot is skipped over. The best advice is the wording in skill trees/consoles ect should be read 2-3 time because investing skill points into crit chance which increases wepons only and you want it for sci abilities or other similar example with damage your builds overall.

[@david05111]

I dump nothing into EPG or Control. Fragment doesn’t make it into my space trait list anyway, and I don’t run a grav well. As for the tac ultimate, ran it, didn’t find it all that impactful. If I don’t need the points elsewhere, I try to get it, but otherwise not getting an ultimate doesn’t bother me. The subsystem power thing I might have to re-think. I’ve usually dumped a fair amount of points into offensive subsystem and warp core potential trees. But given the rise of isomags and the excess power we have already in weapons, I might repurpose those points.

[@BigSunday512]

A good thing to keep in mind is just because this tree works great for Spencer doesn't necessarily mean it will work for you and your play style. But you can use it as a starting point if you have absolutely no idea what to do. Like this Tree would get me murdered in PvP but would destroy in PvE. So it wouldn't be good for ME. The explanations of ea node is awesome 👍 great job🖖

[@quantumjet253]

Ok, your third sentence sparked my curiosity! Not in playing PvP; my opinion on this game played that way will never change, but I'm genuinely interested in where the tactics alters your choices. I'm guessing that PvPers have to contend with no end of debuffs and threatening abilities that those us that only play against AI never have to deal with.

[@bretsgamingchannel]

@@quantumjet253 No points in shield mastery+absorption, the 3 resistance nodes, shield hardness, drainx+ctrlx, and hull healing are crucial in pvp, where survivability is much more important than raw damage. In addition you really need to spend at least 15 points in the science path to get the "Starship Perception" choice node, and 10 points for Starship Stealth. Those are the big difference between a pvp and a pve tree - and you're absolutely right, pvp is constantly getting debuffed and clearing debuffs, NPC's barely do anything and the ones that do (mokai, hirogen, iconians, tzenkethi, vaadwaur) are considered some of the most difficult in the game - so take that a step further and that's what PvP is like. Cheers

[@quantumjet253]

@@bretsgamingchannel Thanks for the reply. So in some respects the exact opposite to how we treat AI. I see why you suggested how an AI-adversary based skill tree would prove to be such a handicap. Occasionally I see a message where a gamer invites others to a one-on-one, and the invited player comes back and then expresses why they don't play PVP. Unlike a typical shooter, or racing game for that matter, the difference between the two game types is essentially a whole different game albeit based on the same set of tools. I suspect most don't, but PVPers really need to ensure anyone new trying this out needs to know these sorts of details, or risk instantly turning off gamers for good. Everyone likes winning, but equally no one wants to be an easy sitting target. It's a shame the AI can't use more of the tools players have and the experience be closer to how PVP plays out. I think that would actually make the game more strategic, and potentially more rewarding and fun rather than the difficulty simply giving AI larger hitpoints. In some respects I think that's kind of how all new players assume the game to be and waste time working on defense not understanding that the offensive tools available far outweigh the AI's offensive ability.

[@bretsgamingchannel]

@@quantumjet253 Yep - same toolbox, different environment. The problem is that player who dies in one shot thinks the game is broken when it isn't, they just don't understand what they need to do to stay alive. It's also why the "how I'd fix pvp" posts on reddit etc are so out of touch, because they don't understand it well enough to begin with. I have to clarify that the "1v1 in ESD" thing isn't really related to the pvp community. We've been very clear to people that they need to prepare in advance, read guides, practice, and be at least Elite capable or better before taking part in PvP. The problem is I don't control everyone in the game and there are plenty of people out there who wouldn't dare show their face in ker'rat or arenas but will happily try to pick on noobs in social zone chat. This isn't CoD or CS where you can download the game and immediately start pvping, there's lot of time and work that needs to be done first, but not everyone listens to our advice. Frequently there will be someone new who thinks they have some secret trick up their sleeve that is going to win, without even having played a pvp match, they ignore advice to start with a known-good build first, then they get upset when reality hits. The only thing I do have control over is providing resources for people who do want to make the effort to get into pvp, and I have - guides all over my channel including sample footage and my exact builds are posted there. Last thing, since you mentioned it, I actually did a video about revamping the NPC's to use more player abilities, based on difficulty. Not only would it ease the transition from PvE to PvP, but the game would be so much interesting, strategic, and fun. It's dumb that every TFO boils down to dealing damage and "sometimes press F," and also dumb that every NPC faction and difficulty level is nearly the same besides a coat of paint and a bigger HP pool. The path for players is too simple... normal -> more damage -> advanced -> more damage -> elite. Then they try PvP & think all they need is damage, but they never learned the other mechanics of the game because there was never a reason to. Good games intuitively "teach" players new mechanics as difficulty increases and this game just doesn't, but it could.

[@quantumjet253]

@@bretsgamingchannel It's just clicked, my silly little question happened to be to the exact right type of player! As I initially mentioned, your reference to how detrimental an AI set of abilities would fail in PvP suggested this. You're the guy Spencer speaks so highly of, and recommends directs anyone who shows an interest in PvP your way. Yeah, I get that anyone publicly opening an invite to strangers for a one-on-one is clearly trolling the unsuspecting, knowing that even the powerful build to combat AI wouldn't be nearly capable enough to put up much of a fight against those prepared to counteract someone with a bit of experience, or likely someone that's paid attention to the advice of players like yourself, if not direct advice you offer. I understand where you're coming from with the (perhaps!) poor example I used with a shooter. Although the way competitive gaming has gone these days, the advantage an experienced player with the best gear, or worse, buying the best gear, has dramatically altered this side of gaming. The racing example sort of made more sense, but there's a big difference, a very logical and much fairer system within racing games is that some tend to limit set ups/builds into classes. So it's easier to find fairer competition. This is something I've previously noted, a big mistake with STO; that everyone is lumped in together, so regardless of build quality practically anyone can join any difficulty allowing Elite-quality builds to play in Easy, and atrocious-quality builds to play in Elite. I think this is wrong. As with some racing games that allow for complex customisation, every item should is rated, and that determines its class and makes for a fairer and ultimately more rewarding and fun experience. The hardcore player still has the advantage, but at least it's based on their experience and skill rather than that and having a far superior build. As more games adopt the RPG/customisation/microtransaction route, they need to adopt the league system seen in real and some videogame sports. I think the industry is hurting itself by purposely allowing everyone to mix. I can't speak for PvP in STO, but I imagine that it would resolve some of the issues that reduce the number attracted to this side of the game. I agree with you regarding the way AI difficulty is handled. It's essentially the dumbest, simplest route possible here! But I presume it's also the easiest, cheapest and quickest method to work with too. I'll have to check out your video on your ideas for an AI revamp. That sounds interesting especially as it's from someone that's so involved in the other side of this game, and experiences its combat very differently to the way I, and most players I presume, do.

[@chadwickmccarty4944]

For your Weapon Amplification when you maxed it out it displayed & you said 40%. I think you were already having some extra critical boosts involved & the Skill Tree itself doesn't boost to 40%. Maybe you already had 30 sum % boosting from other sources (Traits, etc.)? I could be incorrect.

[@rodimusx8478]

Spencer has stated in the past that he does have his Endeavors completed. That's where the higher numbers are coming from.

[@Jeremy-83]

I had no idea there were things to select at the bottom...🤯

[@RevolutionaryWillRegan]

::epic trailer voice:: In a world where PVP does not exist, because the game mechanics are complete trash, one man finds a way to kick lesser humans who want help with their skill tree in the nuts. Are you struggling with winning? GOOOD, set your torpedoes to spread, watch your threat generation go through the roof, destroy a wave of mobs just to get killed by the next - because you have no shields! Who needs a hull, when you can kill endless waves. Wait, wait, there's a cooldown? How do I reduce cooldown? More money, take my money, please take my money.

[@dave_n8pu]

Been playing since 2012 and I'm just seeing this now, I do okay in the game, but I wish I could have seen this back then, I might have been a meta player. But now all I am is what I named my latest ship, want2be player. I haven't parsed my build in probably a couple of years, and I was lucky if I could hit 50,000. 😢

[@dennisvanhelden9253]

Interesting that the tooltip on Tyler's Duality says: Skills that effect this ability: None 🤔

[@CasualSAB]

Just scales with your hull capacity, so anything that buffs hull cap is netting you more crit chance from it.

[@simond.455]

I find "device expertise" useless, as ground devices are so bad that you won't use anything besides an emergency Large Hypo (would have to test whether it applies to Jem'Hadar Consumables). 22.5 seconds instead of 15 second duration of consumables is offset by their long cooldown.

[@giantdutchviking]

What about large kit overboosters (base = +25 kit performance), Pavhan healing crystal (party wide healing), etc. I won't say you should take it as everyone should build/play as they see fit, but imho there are usefull devices

[@willregan5624]

Total nonsense. Stop playing 3 dimensional chess with people's brains. This isn't how to build a skill tree, it;s how to get wrecked on normal difficulty against NPC's. This min-max DPS nonsense might fly with you and your friends who have been playing forever, but for those of us who just joined - I just dropped 12 dollars - to reroll two characters I now need to reroll back. I went from never dying on Delta Flight - to dying 30 times. I can't even survive 2 seconds against a herald, with my exact same build. "Do mactching lasers" is the same thing - there are almost no weapons that work in this game without massive modding of the ship to get the damage boosted - but you can't do it with a skill tree - this is just to provide base stats for your character - and give base survivability if you don't have the expensive stuff. By the way - died 30 times today with a tier 6 ship with this skill tree - absolutely no way to survive on normal difficulty through any maps at level 65. Do not listen to these grifters.

[@TheCorvidConspirator]

Tell me you're bad at the game without telling me you're bad at the game

[@99Cheops99]

With Poe's Law and all I can't tell if this is satire or some kind of wrinkle free Koala brain comment. This skill tree is how you maximize DPS while keeping a generalist option open. The same with matching weapons. The best defense in this game is literally the best offense. There are tons of guides and help available but by all means.. keep this attitude and ability and I hope you get stuck in the Delta arc!

[@willregan5624]

@@99Cheops99 I have finished all the content - Thanks. I use transphasic torpedoes which everyone like you thinks stink to high heaven. Actually, they are the only weapon in the game that will reliably kill anything and get you through the content. Sorry - I won't be stuck - also done paying money to this time sucking, life sucking beast. Have fun serving your capitalist gods though.

[@99Cheops99]

@@willregan5624 I love transphasics. I get them from my pharmacy in suppository form. The best thing you can do with them is shove them up your ass so.. its very appropriate!

[@willregan5624]

@@TheCorvidConspirator Transphasic missles, a couple of cheep ass 20k ec consoles to boost the damage, and I get through the game just fine with a decent skill tree. There is literally no other way to get through the game. Lazers are all garbage. Missles get stopped by the shields. Cannons are a joke. Unless you want to spend your whole life studying DPS and survivability traits, and whatnot, and dropping $30 every time they nerf your toy, you can't do better than a beafed up defensive skill tree. BTW - transphasic is 40% shield pen out of the box - why am I investing 3 points in 4% shield pen? Use your brain. This guy only thinks of skill tree as a feather in his cap - not the base of his character. Is it bad at the game to finish it and be able to run some doff missions and or do a tfo without worrying about if I have the best t6 or not? I have the worst t6 and and broken anniversary ship and it's enough for me.