Ever watched runs where people shine and melt through cerbs with full barrage? Or where someone clears a sector of every single trash cerb in a blink with vengeance? But when you try it, errr, it doesn't work just as well?
Do you shake your head when you see those crazies running without sanctuary or without teleport?
Well worry not! We'll go through each of those, explain how they work and how you should play with those builds. The upsides, the drawbacks, and the best practices.
Remember to check our Red Stars protocols for BSO's requirements for cooperative red star runs organized by RS tier, as well as the different planets layouts and a description of notable cerbs mechanics that you should use (and fear).
¶ Recap of Builds Viability
| Build | RS5 | RS6 | RS7 | RS8 | RS9 | RS10 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 x Batt/Laser (no veng) | X | X | |||||
| Other standard builds | X | X | X | X | X | ? | |
| 3 x Barrage | X | X | X | ||||
| 2 x Barrage + 1 x MassBatt | X | X | |||||
| Vengeance | X | X | X | X | X | X | |
| No tele | X | X | X | X | X | / | |
Note: This guide is mainly intended for RS10- [unless some RS10 can chime in]
¶ Non-barrage builds
In this category falls the typical build you refine as you progress toward higher tiers RS. There are 3 simple rules to follow:
- Order of engagement: Smalls -> Storm -> Bomber -> Phoenix -> Colo.
- You will want to carry EMP and/or suppress/fortify to help with the colossus laser and the phoenix dual laser. Each of those modules will help in resetting them.
- Deal with the trash cerbs first lest you risk healing the colossus.
Typically, there are 3 different sorts we'll explore individually.
¶ 3 x Battery/Laser
Packing some firepower, this will only be viable until you reach RS6. Without a crowd-control, multi targets weapon, you will need to isolate the capital ship as much as possible, because it takes a long time to kill it and if there are cerbs in range, it's as much time that they'll spend pouding you. Only exception to this is if you carry Vengeance, but we'll see that in a moment.
Use the false waypoints (AKA "get over there you little shit") like you do in BLS to avoid this by sending one of the capital ships another way.
¶ 2 x Battery/Laser + 1 x Dual/MassBatt
Exactly what is missing with the build above. Deals with the little cerbs and with the rockets.
Be careful if you carry a Dual and lock on two capital ships as you'll be left in a potentially tough situation.
Laser shines more than battery here, especially in higher RS tiers. Typically, you can easily beat a phoenix in 1v1 with a powerful enough laser (9+).
¶ Laser/Laser/Multitarget
With this build your focus is to get rid of the littles before dealing with the biggests, so the opposite of barrage builds.
The reason for that is pretty simple: You don't wanna have a pair of capitals shooting your ass while your lasers are being wasted in guardians or ints, right?
But there is also a second reason: colos carries salvage12, which means that for every cerb you kill, the colossus is healed back to +25% of his hull. So get rid of every little first!
We said "multitarget" up there, but we didn't specify which one. Dual Laser and Mass Battery are your options. "Oh gosh, what are the best? Which do I choose?"
Hang on! We will give you the stronger and the weaker points of each and then you pick!
Mass Battery (5+):
Strengths:
- 4 to 6 targets being shot at once.
- Pretty good to kill all littles fast.
- Extremely handy to deal with darts and rockets. Allows you to jump on the top of bombers and storms with not much to worry about. Barrier up, pop your blast and watch the fireworks while you burnout stuff.
Weaknesses:
- It's nearly useless for the late fight, when only capitals left.
Dual Laser (5+)
Strengths:
- Once the ramp time is achieved (45s in RS), it will deal the max damage to every target (always 2 at once) until it shots only 1 ship at once again.
- Pretty handy in the late fight, when only capitals left.
Weaknesses:
- If locked in 2 capitals or in a group of ints/guardians for too long, you're in for a bad time. Move!
- It doesn't handle rockets/darts very well. Even worse if you are already fighting against 2 or more targets.
You now pick yours!
Recommended Order of Engagement: Swarm > Colossi > Phoenix > Bomber
Nota bene: in Colo + Phoenix sector things can change. Since you can lure both (remember to check the cerbs mechanics in our Red Stars protocols) once trash was cleared, you can manage to kill one of them while the other is being feinted.
¶ 2 x Dual + 1 x Battery/laser
This build is only really viable RS7+. Our laser afficionados whisper to me that it is better than battery. Dual 7 and Laser 8 bare minimum.
Phoenix is taken by laser, bombers by duals
-- Nevantyr/Corpseroth #allies-and-members
Once you've dealt with the trash cerbs around, use a barrier to isolate two capital ships and let your Dual Laser shine.
- Bomber + Bomber: the best set-up you want. Be careful when the barrier drops.
- Colo + Colo: tougher due to the ramping up lasers. Support mods will help you.
- Phoenix + Phoenix: send one of your dual and dispatch the two other BS to deal with the swarm or, if RS8+, the other capital ship.
¶ 3 x Dual/MassBatt
Why do you hate yourself so much?
¶ Barrage builds
For those who slept through the introduction, barrage has a relatively low base damage which gains additional DPS for every single cerb present in the sector. As such, it requires a minimal number of cerbs to be efficient. Thus, barrage is a RS7+ build.
The brighest tools in our shed will have figured that you should die a little inside everytime you kill a trash cerb, because it's some firepower that's forever gone.
There's really two ways you can do this: correctly, or by bringing only 2 barrage.
I know that one of the first thing you notice when you switch to barrage is that it absolutely sucks against lone bombers/colossi. Well, you tell me, just keep a battery or a laser? The boldest ones will even slap on DART on their third battleship. Surely that should mitigate this downside!
Well, yes, but no. Yes, it helps you with the lones; but you're forfeiting quite a lot of firepower for, what, one lone per RS?
With a bit of training and a lot of caution, you can wrangle some interceptors and bring them into the lone's sector.
Triple barrage is really the way to go.
That said, if you're keen on keeping one non-barrage weapon, I would recommend battery or laser. Dual Laser and Mass Battery don't work well with barrage, and DART will 9 times out of 10 be shot down by other cerbs.
If you have a high level Barrage (9+), you could carry a Mass Batt (9+) in RS9
Two exceptions to that though is RS10 where you'll be expected to carry 2 x Barrage and 1 x Mass Battery to deal with the pesky ghosts, and late RS9 where 2 x Barrage (9+) and 1 x Mass Battery (9+) works well.
¶ BARRAGESUS
Let's start by restating the obvious: every single trash cerb you kill is some firepower you're forfeiting.
Whether you're carrying teleport or not, you want to engage a planet sector beginning by its capital ships (colossus, bomber, phoenix, storm), preferrably by the storm because those darts stack and it gets ugly quick. Teleport or fly to some isolated capital ship, and use your barrier to make sure that no unwanted cerb comes into range -- it gives you better survival chances and should avoid killing too many trash cerbs.
Once the first capital ship is done with, you move on to the other. Do not be afraid to leave the sector. Use the different capital ships mechanics to engage them in isolation:
- Bombers flee
- Phoenices will follow the closest player within their sector boundaries
- Both colossi and phoenices will react to false waypoints.
Use those to reposition them as you see fit.
Another mechanic you can use is the 1 second delay introduced earlier this year. For example, if there is a stack of DARTs close to you/on your path, you can travel through a trash cerb stack with killing little to none of them.
In the same spirit, and to the same end, do not linger on the asteroids. Do not underestimate the power of triple barrage (but don't overestimate it either =p); it takes very little time to gun down a capital ship and as such, you can very well -- and should -- plot your next course and start it before the capital ship is down. It takes some practice but not only does it save trash cerbs, it also makes your support modules usage way more efficient.
Typically, teleport onto a colossus, then kite around to catch the bomber(s) at the other end of the sector. If the phoenix is in a nasty stack, lure them to an empty roid to deal with them peacefully.
¶ Good examples of clearing
THIS IS HOW YOU WANT TO ENGAGE AND CLEAR PLANET SECTORS
Here's one example of how you want to engage a sector:
Use the difference of range between phoenix shield and dual laser: use a trash cerb/storm to deplete its shield. Move on to the phoenix and finally, catch the fleeing bomber.
pop TW and go on to the next L9
And here are some clips provided by our dear Ötüken:
¶ Bad examples of clearing
DO NOT FOLLOW THIS EXAMPLE. IT IS A BAD WAY OF ENGAGING AND CLEARING A PLANET SECTOR
Here we can see a typical mistake of engaging a sector in a bad way. The artful blue circle should have been where said player teleported, but instead he jumped on top of a cerb stack. Not only it is incredibly dangerous, but it appears that it'd take quite a long time to eventually get to the storm, which means either using your 2 barriers for this, or wiping. And it completely disregard the best practices we laid above about making the most of the phoenix mechanics.
¶ Vengeance
Playing vengeance is extremely fun but it takes some training to get used and make the most of it.
The gig is rather simple: use your vengeance to instantly clear a sector of its trash cerbs and some more.
A Red Star sector is 230UA wide, which means that for vengeance to cover the whole sector, you need to take it up to level 9 minimum. But worry not, because a vengeance 3 with some planning will do the job just right.
Vengeance 3 deals 8'000 damage, which is enough to kill everything up to interceptors included.
There are several ways to play with a modest vengeance, two of which I can think of:
- Reach the planet and EMP before your vengeance is triggered. It will give enough time for the cerbs scattered on the edges to come within your vengeance radius. It has the advantage of slowing down the damage you are dealt and thus less risk of dying because of the shield activation lag.
- Find the furthest roid from the cerbs and lure them there. Simple as that.
If you can fit it on the battleship, salvage is highly recommended.
As for high level vengeance, which would be found in higher RS tiers (9+), you don't even need to use EMP or to go to great lengths. As your vengeance covers the whole sector, just teleport on the planet and pop shields once it's triggered.
As a wise man said: "tp to planet, trigger veng, shield, boom"
Regardless of your vengeance level, once the trash cerbs are done with, engage the capital ships with whatever weapon you're carrying (obviously not barrage).
Exotic ones would include 2 DART and 1 Mass Battery, or 3 good Dual Lasers.
¶ Salvage
Treat your hull like your first shield! That's the main perk of salvage, saving you a shield activation or two.
-
It best synergizes with an activated shield, it can be used with passive however it's not as effective.
-
Beware of input lag. Especially when using Timewarp
Try to go down to at least half hull before activating your shield. As you get more comfortable with it you can safely go lower. Killing cerberus will heal your hull and make cleaning up trash a breeze.
¶ No-salvage
See 3 x MassBatt section
¶ No-tele and unsanced
Heh, why would you carry a teleport or sanctuary when you can carry useful modules instead?
That's the main advantage here. You can emulate a BS6 or (yikes) a no-tele BS6 and carry a lot more of useful modules such as fortify, suppress, and whatnot.
But obviously, it comes with drawbacks.
No-tele:
- You're obviously very limited in your movements. You rely on your teammates because the only planets you can reach in time are the one(s) closest to your gate.
- You're most likely not in a position to help if a loose int is roaming the map.
- The higher the tier, the more important those limitations are.
Unsanced:
- You'll want to throw your phone on the wall everytime you lose a BS. Those get costly very much.
¶ How to play together
The first step to be a good teammate is to read the entirety of this guide. Once you've done so, you will know that:
- You shall not team up with a barrage build if you don't have one yourself, because you will kill the trash cerbs your teammate direly need.
- You shall not team up with a vengeance build. Maybe after the vengeance has done its job, but ask beforehand.
- You shall not team up with a unsanced build. Period. Wiping is very expensive for them so, leave them alone. Let them retain complete control over their little corner of the map.
- You shall accomodate the no-teleport builds. Because if you don't, it's going be a sad RS.