Meta Discussion Ships What are some current meta, gold standard weapons PvE loadouts for conflict zones & assassination missions?

[Branithar]

I haven't done much PvE lately, and in the pirate activity zones in Sirius, I noticed the NPCs are a lot harder to kill. Before, it felt like I was throwing ships in a wood chipper. What is the weapon loadout current meta for conflict zones and assassination missions, so I can efficiently win fights without taking too much of a beating?

I'm thinking of using a Krait or Corvette for PvE.

 

[Stabby_Dave]

Pretty much any ship with biweaves for CZ and prismatics for assassination missions. A lot of CMDRS (including me) use a combination of lasers for shields and multicannons for hull.

 

[madmattnz]

Not necessarily the Meta – everyone will have a view on this but my favourites are:
Beam Lasers – engineered Efficient G5
Multi-cannons – engineered Overcharged G5 with Corrosive Shell to help shred the hulls

 

[[PS4] Lorenzo Waringos]

Not necessarily the Meta – everyone will have a view on this but my favourites are:
Beam Lasers – engineered Efficient G5
Multi-cannons – engineered Overcharged G5 with Corrosive Shell to help shred the hulls

I was running similar to this but @Simon Templar turned me on to Thermal Vent on the lasers, yes, they're greedy on the power but my goodness they eat through shields.

I also got tangled up in some thing the other day and admittedly, the ships I was facing were ranked far below me but I didn't even have to break out my MCs, the lasers ate them whole, popped 2 in a minute. I might try one efficient and one thermal vent tat some point, just to see because they are VERY greedy on the power.

 

[Just Paul]

Fuel rails and extra tanks.

 

[Slange Lands]

For an FDL :
4 medium Short Range Blaster Railguns 3 which are superpen and one feedback cascade

1 huge Gimballed Overcharged Multicannon with corrosive.

This is not an ez build to use because the rails have a 1.5 km max range with 1 km damage dropoff. This means that ideally you want to shoot within 1 km.

However its extremely satisfying to use because the damage is so great that one can easily do two low czs without rearming, might have to synth mc ammo tho.

If you are good, once the shields drop you can snipe out a FSD with one or two srb rail shots.

However, range control is key.

 

[Branithar]

Not necessarily the Meta – everyone will have a view on this but my favourites are:
Beam Lasers – engineered Efficient G5
Multi-cannons – engineered Overcharged G5 with Corrosive Shell to help shred the hulls

Just make sure you don't have corrosive effect applied to all your multi-cannons, 'cause the effect doesn't stack.

 

[F4fred]

For an FDL :
4 medium Short Range Blaster Railguns 3 which are superpen and one feedback cascade

1 huge Gimballed Overcharged Multicannon with corrosive.

This is not an ez build to use because the rails have a 1.5 km max range with 1 km damage dropoff. This means that ideally you want to shoot within 1 km.

However its extremely satisfying to use because the damage is so great that one can easily do two low czs without rearming, might have to synth mc ammo tho.

If you are good, once the shields drop you can snipe out a FSD with one or two srb rail shots.

However, range control is key.

I agree it is a good build, but it is not very relaxed flying. You need to concentrate all the time to keep your range tight and land the rail shots. I use 4 medium beams, efficient, TV and 1 huge OC, Corrosive MC on my FDL. Yeah I know everyone says don’t pair efficient with TV, but when you have 4 of them it cools you nicely. With that set up I can solo 3 CZ’s without needing to reload. For assassination missions I use frags for the high damage output. Quick kill before the shield goes down!

 

[Slange Lands]

I agree it is a good build, but it is not very relaxed flying. You need to concentrate all the time to keep your range tight and land the rail shots. I use 4 medium beams, efficient, TV and 1 huge OC, Corrosive MC on my FDL. Yeah I know everyone says don’t pair efficient with TV, but when you have 4 of them it cools you nicely. With that set up I can solo 3 CZ’s without needing to reload. For assassination missions I use frags for the high damage output. Quick kill before the shield goes down!

I am not there for relaxation, I am there to mow down npcs as cleanly and quickly as possible. Squirrel! Yeah, I'm an adrenaline junkie.

A lot of peeps say to not use efficient with TV, but Yamato2012 one of the best pilots in game does and so do I. It's a trade off between amount of cooling and distro draw. I would much rather have distro capacity and less cooling than more cooling and less distro. Besides, lightweight is too susceptible to damage imo. Really cool build you have there; it's unusual. No matter what others say, if a build is fun and viable for you, do it!

If you ever do pvp in rocks, frags won't work because the more skilled pilots will be able to dodge them . Go for plasma accelerators. They are difficult at first but are king because they have a 2km damage drop off. That's really key.

 

[Trollymctrollerson]

I use alot of efficient plasmas, OC multis with corrosive and either packhounds or dumbfires. Not sure if its the universal meta but when i really need to kill an NPC thats what I use.

 

[deckroid]

Here is what I use for random excursions into the fray...

https://s.orbis.zone/cyng

Beams - efficient with thermal vent
MC - overcharged with auto loader... 1 with corrosive shells.

In my mind, it's what happens when you add water to a Python and let her grow. An all around baddie that can handle 99% of assassination missions and 100% of Pirate Activity Grade 6 & 7 with little concern. Except for running out of ammo, which I can manufacture on the fly when needed.

After 5 years of reading and watching all sorts of videos, I finally broke down, did what I had to do and got the Prismatic Shield. I bought a few for my different ships, but I haven't done anything with them yet.

 

[SciTrekker]

Guns are not the meta weapon. Ramming is.

 

[Madrax573]

Not necessarily the Meta – everyone will have a view on this but my favourites are:
Beam Lasers – engineered Efficient G5
Multi-cannons – engineered Overcharged G5 with Corrosive Shell to help shred the hulls

I like the combo but I'd change the engineering.

Beams - Grade 1 Long range. With a mix of thermal vent and thermal shock experimentals. leaning on thermal vent to keep heat down.
MC - Highest grade OC with 1 corrosive, 1 emissive and the rest thermal shock.

This keeps your heat under control, maximises damage from your beams and give great tracking of your targets for gimbal/turret weapons. And by pumping heat into your target you can really mess up the SCB spam that they sometimes do.

 

[madmattnz]

I like the combo but I'd change the engineering.

Beams - Grade 1 Long range. With a mix of thermal vent and thermal shock experimentals. leaning on thermal vent to keep heat down.
MC - Highest grade OC with 1 corrosive, 1 emissive and the rest thermal shock.

This keeps your heat under control, maximises damage from your beams and give great tracking of your targets for gimbal/turret weapons. And by pumping heat into your target you can really mess up the SCB spam that they sometimes do.

Thanks! - I'll give that combo a try.

 

[Homerzilla]

For an FDL :
4 medium Short Range Blaster Railguns 3 which are superpen and one feedback cascade

1 huge Gimballed Overcharged Multicannon with corrosive.

This is not an ez build to use because the rails have a 1.5 km max range with 1 km damage dropoff. This means that ideally you want to shoot within 1 km.

However its extremely satisfying to use because the damage is so great that one can easily do two low czs without rearming, might have to synth mc ammo tho.

If you are good, once the shields drop you can snipe out a FSD with one or two srb rail shots.

However, range control is key.

Lol, 4 (!!!) SR rails will just instant cook your ship after first salvo man ! Did you even look at the thermal values ?? Yeah you deliver a deadly blast - on paper ! - but what use for, if you only can fire once, and near, without getting cooked ?!
And any wing of small NPCs, agile, will make your life a living hell ?

This build can be good vs ONE big ship, but fight a wing of small ones or a mix small/mid and your FdL will be forced to run with tail between legs !
Fight 2 ( TWO) wings of small / medium NPC ships and you will run 2 x faster... away !

 

[Kayvan]

I actually think there isn't really a "gold standard" for PvE. Most weapon types have their benefits and drawbacks, some are easier to use than others, some are more specialized etc.
As for "meta" I'd say there aren't many "Do's" but a few "Don'ts":

• avoid missiles bc of their low ammo reserve
• cannons (not multi) are rarely recommended. They suffer from low ammo and slow projectiles.

Gimballed Lasers are the easiest to use, followed by gimballed MCs. As previous posters have said, you strip shields with lasers and work on hulls with MCs, of which ideally one is corrosive. The big advantage of MCs over lasers is their low power usage and thermal load.

That said, personally I find MCs rather bland and look for other combos wherever possible.
Also, while gimballed weapons work best against small ships, they can make fighting bigger enemies (Medium and Large) rather tedious.

Railguns are imho the most difficult to use due to their charge-up delay. But a rail with Feedback Cascade works wonders on enemies with shield cell banks.

Frags are fun if you hit, but they only work at very close ranges so they aren't suitable for all ships.

But if any one weapon is something like a gold standard, it would have to be the Plasma Accelerator. Yes they have high power draw and thermal load, come in fixed only and normally have a low projectile speed. Again, trying to catch small targets with them is a pain.
BUT the magic word is "Absolute Damage" - PAs automatically pierce all armour, and 60% of their total damage bypasses all resistances of Hull or shield.
Also, they can be modded to use fuel as ammo which gives you much better endurance in general.
Moreover they have many worthwhile mods which makes them potentially very versatile.
And hitting stuff with them is FUN! XD

Recently I did a comparison between PAs and MCs, concerning effective damage. Superficially the MC may show a slightly better DPS value. But when you take Hardness and Resistance into account (not to mention damage falloff), the PA can end up being twice as effective as other weapons.

 

[Homerzilla]

Here Kayvan I agree with all words you wrote above, man..... Nothing more to add, except for another major benefit of PA.s - unlike rails, who limit your choices at Level II, the PAs can get in the class III and IV, where the "magic words" of Absolute Damage reach the pinnacle of destruction.... A hit from a class IV PA probably is the "Gods Hammer" ....
I found nothing more rewarding than a successfully hit from double - tripple PA.s arrays - to watch your target loosing shields in the first split second is more than refreshing ...

 

[Homerzilla]

I am not there for relaxation, I am there to mow down npcs as cleanly and quickly as possible. Squirrel! Yeah, I'm an adrenaline junkie.

A lot of peeps say to not use efficient with TV, but Yamato2012 one of the best pilots in game does and so do I. It's a trade off between amount of cooling and distro draw. I would much rather have distro capacity and less cooling than more cooling and less distro. Besides, lightweight is too susceptible to damage imo. Really cool build you have there; it's unusual. No matter what others say, if a build is fun and viable for you, do it!

If you ever do pvp in rocks, frags won't work because the more skilled pilots will be able to dodge them . Go for plasma accelerators. They are difficult at first but are king because they have a 2km damage drop off. That's really key.

In the vid Yamato posted with an FdL build around 4 SR blasters rails, he dies.... cooked alive ! He showed AGAIN exceptional pilot skills BUT the weapon load was ridiculous bad ! To inflict on yourself almost 50 % (!!!!) damage from heat is not the smartest thing. Add to that the fact he lost a slot for SB to add there a heatsink.... the fact he could only fire ONE shot most of the time, and 90% of his class 4 MC shells hit the stars not the target....
I admire his qualities as a pilot, but in that vid he really struggled to get pee-pee damage against his opponents, get killed in the process AND worst, half of the damage he took was self-inflicted.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=408TI9XdtQQ

 

[Stabby_Dave]

PAs do fantastic damage - when they hit. For anything less than a skilled pilot (so - me), gimballed multis will stay on target more than enough to do more damage. I use a triple PA setup for fun on my Chieftain, but for killing quickly, it's beams/multis every day of the week.

 

[Slange Lands]

In the vid Yamato posted with an FdL build around 4 SR blasters rails, he dies.... cooked alive ! He showed AGAIN exceptional pilot skills BUT the weapon load was ridiculous bad ! To inflict on yourself almost 50 % (!!!!) damage from heat is not the smartest thing. Add to that the fact he lost a slot for SB to add there a heatsink.... the fact he could only fire ONE shot most of the time, and 90% of his class 4 MC shells hit the stars not the target....
I admire his qualities as a pilot, but in that vid he really struggled to get pee-pee damage against his opponents, get killed in the process AND worst, half of the damage he took was self-inflicted.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=408TI9XdtQQ

The video you linked was that of Hazzmango. Many of us fly the SRB rail MC meta with great success. Yes, it does get spicy with only two sinks, but the heat management is part of the fun. And no, all four fire at once. The SRB hammer is another story. I have cooked myself into a crisp with those hammers. The following videos show SRB Rail Guns shown to great advantage, most notably the PvP League finals. Here the SRB shines because Thermal Conduit was banned.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbkpYzM2-N0


And Yamato vs a meta PA FDL

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pn8W0ktizWQ&t=1s