This part is always difficult for players newer to PvP, but think of it this way. All of the powerful debuff, disable, and control effects you might use against NPC's are now being used by other players against you!
Many of these can have debilitating effects on your ship, and even the best possible builds will not survive if they cannot break free of these quickly.
When a debuff effect is put on you - for example, your engines system is knocked offline - and you use the appropriate counter effect, for example Engineering Team (restores disabled subsystems), this is called "clearing debuffs" or a "cleanse."
The list of negative effects is extremely long, but there are some you see repeatedly. Check out this handy spreadsheet for a list of all tested debuffs and exactly what counters them, or alternatively, what makes you immune to their effects. I'm regularly updating and improving this list, so keep an eye on it especially after big gameplay patches where some things might change.
I'll detail the effects further down on this page.
Subsystem offline effects can come from several sources, such as Phaser weaponry or abilities like Viral Matrix.
Each ship has 4 subsystems - Weapons, Shields, Engines, and Auxiliary. When any of these systems is disabled, abilities that are tied to those systems cannot be activated. Some systems like Shields have an obvious effect as well - no shield power, shields are completely offline (even if they still have hit points left). Others like Engines going offline prevents your ship from moving and turning effectively.
The vast majority of subsystem offline effects are solved by using Engineering Team. This team ability restores all disabled systems and keeps them from being disabled for 5 seconds.
Here's a practical example: An escort is using the trait Rhythmic Rumble, which provides damage resistance based on speed. If this ship has its engines disabled, their resistances will drop drastically as their ship is slowed or comes to a stop, making them an easy target. The faster they can use Engineering Team to restore engine power, the faster they can resume regular flight speed and avoid death.
Think of a Disable in the same way as a Subsystem Offline, except it affects all four power subsystems, and all abilities attached. The game treats disables a bit differently from subsystem offlines internally, so the method to clearing these can be different depending on the origin of the disable.
Some easy examples of disables are abilities like EMP Probe, Tricobalt Torpedoes, or the Proc from an Agony Phaser.
While disabled, your ability bar will be completely greyed out and you will be unable to activate almost anything except for certain universal consoles and Team abilities. For the most part, disables are cleared by using Engineering team, but some may require you to use Boost Morale (active ability from setting Command as your primary specialization).
Alternatively, there are abilities that provide an immunity to disable, such as Auxiliary to Dampers or Attack Pattern Omega. If you use these, and an enemy player uses a disable against you, it will be wasted and you won't be affected.
Practical Example: You are flying your ship and an enemy science ship hits you with EMP Probe. Luckily, your Attack Pattern Omega buff was active and you are not disabled. A few moments later, Omega is not active and you are hit with EMP Probe a second time. This time, your hot bar is greyed out except for team abilities. You hit Engineering Team which clears the disable effect and you are right back to flying and using abilities normally.
Another similar effect is called a "Hold," which differs slightly from a disable but has a very similar visual effect, with your abilities greyed out. The difference between a Hold and a Disable is that the Hold will also interrupt abilities that have a timer - for example, the buff from DPRM, Molecular Phase Inversion, or the ability Tractor Beam Repulsors all have a counter while they are active. If "Held" during this time, they will be interrupted and you lose whatever buffs they provided.
Common examples of Hold effects are the Nausicaan Energy Torpedo, the Tholian Webspinner, or the Intel ability Ionic Turbulence.
Each of these effects is also cleared by engineering team, although there is no way to avoid being interrupted if you had an ability on an active timer.
Drains like Tyken's Rift and Energy Siphon can cause a lot of issues, but luckily they are quite easy to resist in the current game state. Your DrainX skill level resists an enemy's drain by twice the effect - basically, if you just have the two points in the DrainX part of your skill tree, an enemy will need to be heavily built for Drain to have any noticeable effect on you.
Drains slowly reduce subsystem power over a few seconds. In the case of Tyken's Rift, the drain amount is applied every second in a burst. Others like Energy Siphon take a few seconds to fully take effect, but will hold you at a specific power level based on your resistance to the Siphon. One common drain is from Spore Infused Anomalies, which drains you when you are within the blast near an enemy anomaly and lasts several seconds.
The easiest way to deal with drain is to have the two points in your skill tree and to have Miracle Worker set as either your primary or secondary specialization. This specialization automatically makes you immune to drain effects for 5 seconds every 30, and wipes any current drain effects at that interval.
Alternatively, drains can be cleared by using Science Team, even if your power levels are drained completely to zero.
Practical Example: You do not have Miracle Worker Spec, but fly near some gravity wells an enemy has placed, and your ship is hit several times by the electrical discharge from Spore Infused. You will notice the orange icon for Spore Infused has appeared on your buff bar and your ship is slightly slower and dealing less damage. Simply hit Science Team to clear the effect and resume normal piloting.
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