Struggling against the Borg? Tired of the Undine regenerating everything away? Want to take the fight to the Bugs instead of running from cover to cover? Don’t worry, this list has you covered on what weapons to use! Our “Best For” list will go over Hybrid (damage and healing), Melee (run up to their face and PUNCH!), and Ranged (pew pew from safety). This list will include the Lobi Store items as well as items that can be gotten for free by playing the game. 

10. Lukari Paizo-Electric Wrist Apparatus (Best For Hybrid)

For weird and exotic, look no further!

The Lukari Piezo-Electric Wrist Apparatus is one of Star Trek Online’s reputation weapon sets. The reputation weapons require a certain amount of time to unlock, in this case Reputation Level 3.The Apparatus is unique in that it’s both a damaging weapon and a healing weapon, depending on which of the attack modes you select.

Unlike most Star Trek Online weapons, the Apparatus does not have a typical attack or secondary fire mode. Instead, it comes with an "Offensive Mode" and a "Healing Mode" that can be swapped when you select "Mode Switch". The main offensive mode uses electrical damage attacks, which do bonus damage to mechanical targets and have a chance to cause chain reactions to nearby enemies. Its secondary is a guaranteed chain attack that can stun, disable, and vaporize if enemies are exposed.

The "Healing Mode", on the other hand, works by causing a small area of effect regeneration field to appear around the player. When you do damage, a percentage of that damage is converted into area healing. It also gives you a stack of regeneration for each player (including yourself) that doubles when you get past the five max stacks.

The unusual nature of the weapon makes it not as popular as most of the weapons on this list, but it can be quite fun to be able to swap between disabling and healing. When built properly, it even lets you spam chain lightning on everything, easily burning down enemies. If built for critical damage, you can use the "Healing Mode" to rapidly heal yourself off its powerful secondary attack.

What Lukari Piezo-Electric Wrist Apparatus Excels In

• Has the ability to damage and heal depending on what Mode you use, which gives you the rare flexibility on Ground Combat to ignore class restrictions or have to rely on Kit Modules.
• Offensive Mode lets you proc chain lightning to targets that will disable or otherwise limit the ability of enemies to return fire. It can also be built for "spam" purposes, letting you blast down whole hordes of enemies easily.
• Healing Mode does damage, heals you and allies, and has a burst damage secondary mode. The burst damage can do great spike healing against Ground Combat bosses and will also heal your allies in a small area for the same amount. 
• Supplements healer playstyles just as easily as offensive ones.

Weapon Stats

• Electrical Bolt (Offensive Mode)

Electrical Damage - to target: 48.7 Electrical Damage (69.6 DPS)

+25% damage to Electronic targets

* 66% Chance to chain to a nearby target for 58.7 Electrical Damage

* 33% Chance to chain an additional time to another nearby target for 70.4 Electrical Damage

5% chance: to self: Apply:

• Protomatter Regenerative Influx (Healing Mode)

* to self: +9.8 Shield Regeneration 10 secs

* to self: +150% Hitpoint Regeneration 10 secs

+20% Critical Severity

Electrical Discharge - to target: 243.7 Electrical Damage (28 DPS)

+25% damage to Electronic targets

25% chance: to target: Hold for 5 secs

To Electronic Targets

5% chance: to target: Disable ranged weapons for 5 secs

How to get Lukari Piezo-Electric Wrist Apparatus:

• To acquire the Apparatus, you’ll need to first unlock the Lukari Reputation then reach Tier III. After that, you’ll need to select the weapon project and submit 500 Lukari Marks, 5 Protomatter Microcontainers, 9,000 Refined Dilithium, and 40,000 Energy Credits to get the weapon.

9. Dual Nanopulse Mek’leths (Best For Melee)

THE LIGHT! IT BLINDS! These things are exactly this bright in game; beware dark rooms.

The Dual Nanopulse Mek’leths may seem like an odd choice for a ground weapon, but that’s because you don’t know how powerful these mini-lightsaber knives can be!

The Mekl’leth is a pretty classic weapon in Star Trek, though with Discovery and the changes to the Klingon aesthetic, we got these nifty little guys that do plasma damage to targets. They’re great against multiple enemies, because they’ll do 50% bonus damage to another target whenever you attack. A great strategy is to bunch enemies up using a kit module, then quickly target-swap while hitting the attack button once. You’ll melt through them like butter!

Another cool trick with these is that if you set autofire on the first attack action, the weapon will animation break, causing you to very rapidly attack a target, absolutely obliterating even high HP bosses. It doesn’t work against the Borg, sadly, making this not the best melee ground weapon, but it’s devastating against anyone and everyone else!

What Dual Nanopulse Mek’leths Excels In 

• Extremely rapid attack when you use the auto-attack feature that will shred anything in your path.
• Fantastic for burning down enemies that are clustered up due to the massive bonus damage you get when target swapping. 
• Looks like lightsaber knives, which is great for anyone who happens to enjoy getting a little Star Wars in their Star Trek!
• Easy to obtain via a mission quest. 

Weapon Stats 

Quickening Strike

Quick Physical Damage Attack

+50% Bonus Plasma Damage whenever you attack a target other than your previous target

__ Plasma Damage (50% Shield Penetration - based on level)

+2% Critical Chance

+20% Critical Severity

Overpowering Strike

Strong Physical Damage Attack

+50% Bonus Plasma Damage whenever you attack a target other than your previous target

__ Plasma Damage (80% Shield Penetration - based on level)

+2% Critical Chance

+20% Critical Severity

How to get Dual Nanopulse Mek’leths:

• This weapon is very easy to get, you just need to complete the mission “The Khitomer Discord” and it comes as a mission reward. 

8. Mind Meld Device (Best For Melee)

Techno mind meld? Techno mind meld.

The Mind Meld Device is one of those weapons that’s just so insanely powerful that you struggle to understand how it hasn’t been nerfed yet. A Discovery Reputation item based on Burnham’s little trick from the show, the MMD gives you essentially a "souped up" melee attack set that usually comes standard when you have no weapons equipped.

What’s needed about this is that Star Trek Online’s melee system is actually fairly complex, with different chains and combos depending on button inputs. You can’t just mash 1 all day and win. You’ll need to use some thought based on the enemy you are fighting. For players who want more "Kirk" in their action sequences, this is absolutely the weapon for you!

When built to take advantage of its bonuses properly, you’ll be able to hit critical damage well past 10,000 on enemies with Expose, even hilariously vaporizing them on occasion. Another thing that sets this weapon apart is the built-in gap closer enage. It does damage, exposes, roots, and triggers any melee procs that you have equipped.

Between being able to run down anyone you come across and the sheer physical (shield bypassing) damage you do, you’ll easily beat down any foe.

What Mind Meld Device Excels In

• Extremely high physical damage—it can immediately kill most targets, except high-HP bosses, in a single combo round. 
• Comes with a built-in gap closer that has a root and a slow built in as well as triggers any trait-based buffs you have.
• Is unique and fun through its combo mechanic, letting you switch it up if you need a single target, area of effect, or directed damage in a cone. 
• It has built-in expose attacks on all of its attack options, guaranteeing you’ll output maximum damage.

Weapon Stats

Suus Manha - Martial Arts Finishers are devastating, and Palm Strike is replaced by Engage 

Jab - Expose Attack

A basic melee attack.

___ Physical Damage (___ DPS) (50% Shield Penetration)

+40% Critical Severity

Punch - Expose Attack

A basic melee attack.

___ Physical Damage (___ DPS) (80% Shield Penetration)

50% chance: -66 Run speed for 4.5 sec

+40% Critical Severity

Engage - Expose Attack

Charge at an enemy, damaging them and rooting them, or impairing their mobility with subsequent charges.

___ Physical Damage

-47.4% Run Speed for 4 sec

Root for 6 sec (30s cd per target)

+40% Critical Severity

How to get Mind Meld Device:

• The Mind Meld Device is gained through the Discovery Reputation as a Tier III item. Like the Lukari weapon, it costs 500 Discovery Marks, 5 P.stellviatori Spore Canisters, 9,000 Refined Dilithium, and 40,000 Energy Credits. 

7. TR-116B Sniper Rifle (Best For Ranged)

If only it had the teleporting bullets through walls option..

The TR-116B was originally used in DS9 by a Vulcan gone mad-it was that gun with the transporting bullets and see-through-walls eyepiece. In Star Trek Online, it forgoes the eyepiece and madness in favor of simply teleporting bullets into enemies. As one can imagine, this makes it extremely useful against the Borg, only beaten out by a later entry on this list.

It was originally only available for pre-order, making it both among the hardest items in the game to get and one of the most powerful, as shield penetrating weapons didn’t exist at the time. Only later, after several expansions, have competitors come to the forefront, but this venerable weapon is still quite powerful and always useful.

Elachi and the Borg are notoriously difficult to kill with regular energy weapons, making things like the TR an amazing weapon to have on hand. Its secondary attack is a sniper shot that does damage and knocks enemies back, preventing enemies like the Borg from walking up to you and Elachi from just roaming away.

All in all, it’s a great gun to have!

What TR-116B Sniper Rifle Excels In

• Perfect shield penetration, which is amazing against Borg and Elachi. 
• High damage per shot, making it great as a single target alpha strike style weapon.
• Easily obtained via crafting now, instead of the very expensive pre-order bonuses that are no longer available. 

Weapon Stats

TR-116B Rifle - Bolt

Kinetic Damage

__ Kinetic Damage (__ DPS) (100% Shield Penetration)

TR-116B Rifle - Sniper Shot

Exploit Attack

Damage and Knockback

__ Kinetic Damage (__ DPS) (100% Shield Penetration)

50% chance: Knocks back +12 meters

Rifle Butt

Expose Attack

Rifle Butt Strikes

__ Physical Damage (__ DPS) (50% Shield Penetration)

How to get TR-116B Sniper Rifle:

• This weapon can be obtained through the Ground Weapons School of the crafting system. You’ll need a R&D School Duty Officer with Ground Weapons specialization.

 

6. Leck’s Throwing Knives (Best For Ranged)

Who knew that throwing knives would be so dang powerful in the 25th century?

Immediately after the TR116, we have the superior version in Leck’s Throwing Knives! I know, I know, it may seem a little weird that tossing a knife into a Borg drone somehow does better damage than transporting a bullet from a rifle into another room, but here we are.

These things do fantastic shield-penetrating physical damage that also has increased critical chance and critical severity. This means that when built to maximize criticals, you’ll be hitting high numbers with consistency and a rate of fire that the TR116 just can’t match.

These are actually very straightforward-just target an enemy, mash the button, and watch them fall over.

What Leck’s Throwing Knives Excels In 

• Better anti-shield weapon than the TR-116 by a huge margin, thanks to both an AOE attack and high single target DPS.
• When built for critical damage, it does silly amounts of burst damage to targets, even with nerfs. 
• Very easy to get and cheap to upgrade.

Weapon Stats

Throw Knife

Exploit Attack

Single Target Ranged Attack

130.6 Physical Damage (130.6 DPS) (100% Shield Penetration)

+2% Critical Chance

+20% Critical Severity

Blade Fan

Exploit attack

Targeted Cone AoE Damage

130.6 Physical Damage (130.6 DPS) (100% Shield Penetration)

+2% Critical Chance

+20% Critical Severity

8 sec recharge

How to get Leck’s Throwing Knives:

• A very easy to get weapon, you only need to finish Quark’s Lucky Seven to get it as a mission reward. This mission is both fun to play and fairly fast, so give it a shot! 

5. Zefram Cochrane Shotgun (Best For Ranged)

Evidentally shotguns were never planned for in the defense committees.

Next on our list is the flat out best shield penetrating weapon in the game. Better than Leck’s, better than the TR-116, better than the Mind Meld Device. In the Mirror Universe, Zefram Cochrane didn’t greet the Vulcans with a handshake, he greeted them with this shotgun.

In terms of stats, it’s actually fairly average. What makes this gun so dang good and applicable to every situation is the built-in cylindrical AOE damage. It acts like a pulsewave rifle, only far better. The raw DPS on it is comparable to Leck’s, but only with Leck’s you’ll hit every target in front of you, with up to three targets being hit. The secondary fire mode can hit five targets in the cone.

That means if you clump everyone up using a kit module like Gravitational Juncture, you can very swiftly destroy the entire mob using your gun's attacks. Plus, with the built-in repel feature, it will occasionally push mobs out of the juncture only for them to get pulled in again, which is useful if you need to disrupt or build distance between you and the mob ball.

Thanks to the burst damage and large area of effect influence, this weapon takes the spot as the best shield-penetrating gun in the game and is well capable of handling things like Undine and the Bugs, which are big HP sponges.

What Zefram Cochrane Shotgun Excels In

• High damage, area of effect damage on both primary and secondary attacks and a built in repel.
• Secondary attack has a 22 meter repel range, easily pushing things like Borg out of assimilation range.
• Damage output is comparable to Leck’s, letting you deal with high HP enemies easily.
• When combined with high control abilities, you can swiftly eliminate most targets at the same time.

Weapon Stats

Slug Shot

Cylindrical AoE Physical Damage and Knockback

__ Physical Damage (__ DPS)

Damage reduces over range

50% chance: +6 Repel

+2% Critical Chance

+20% Critical Severity

Scatter Shot

Expose Attack

Cone AoE Physical Damage and Knockback

__ Physical Damage (__ DPS)

Damage reduces over range

66% chance: Knocks back +22.5 meters

+2% Critical Chance

+20% Critical Severity

Rifle Butt

Expose Attack

Rifle Butt Strikes

__ Physical Damage (__ DPS) (50% Shield Penetration)

+2% Critical Chance

+20% Critical Severity

How to get Zefram Cochrane Shotgun:

• The shotgun is gained through the Phoenix Prize Pack. It’s been recently updated to cost 1 Ultra Rare prize token, making this weapon fairly difficult to get as it is based on RNG.

4. Advanced Herald Antiproton Beam Projector (Best For Ranged)

Glowy floaty bits meets Jaffa Kree.

The Advanced Herald Antiproton Beam Projector is a weapon from earlier in Star Trek Online’s life that was widely considered the best in the game at the time. While it has been knocked off its throne for a while now, it’s still an excellent weapon that’s relatively easy to get your hands on.

What makes the weapon so good is that it has a chain mechanic attached to its primary fire mode. In addition to having a 5% chance to buff bonus energy damage, up to two targets can be hit by the primary weapon fire. This buff also stacks up to three times, giving you fantastic damage output.

This weapon is really best used by tactical captains, since they have so many inherent buffs to weapon damage and kit modules that improve their damage output, like Ambush. When combined appropriately, it’ll tear through anything that isn’t Borg.

The secondary fire mode is a blast attack that also buffs bonus damage and has a built-in knockback of 8 meters. Not fantastic against the Borg, but useful against bugs, Klingons, or other melee-prone enemies.

 

What Advanced Herald Antiproton Beam Projector Excels In

• Built in bonus damage mechanic when attacking that amplifies your damage output considerably.
• Has a built-in chain attack for up to two targets, letting you put out huge damage on mobs and otherwise take advantage of kiting to melt enemies.
• Blast attack has a knockback and the same bonus damage feature, letting you cycle between primary and secondary fire to get to that critical three-stack bonus.

Weapon Stats

Herald Antiproton Cascading Beam

Chaining Antiproton Damage

__ Antiproton Damage x2 (__ DPS)

Chains to up to 2 additional targets (33% less damage per chain)

5% chance: +7% Bonus Energy Damage to Self for 20 sec

(Stacks up to 3 times)

+2% Critical Chance

Herald Antiproton Blast

Expose Attack

Targeted AoE Antiproton Damage and Knockback

__ Antiproton Damage (__ DPS)

66% chance: Knocks back +8 meters

5% chance: +7% Bonus Energy Damage to Self for 20 sec

(Stacks up to 3 times)

+2% Critical Chance

12 sec recharge

How to get Advanced Herald Antiproton Beam Projector:

• The weapon can be bought in the Lobi store for 50 Lobi. Lobi are gained by opening the lockboxes, which in turn reward 6-20 Lobi per box.

3. Boolean Heavy Assault Cannon (Best For Ranged)

Khan really was kind of epic in that scene wasn't he?

The weapon that knocked the Herald Projector off its throne is still extremely powerful. It’s been nerfed multiple times in the years since its release, but it’s still a heavy hitter, only beaten by our #1 on the list. For a fun little bit of lore, did you know that this was designed to be a turret and that Khan was so strong he wielded it like a one-handed gun? Yeesh!

While it can’t quite live up to the infamous scene anymore, it’s still extremely powerful. It has a built-in knockback to the target and those near the target, a -15 all damage resistance to enemies, and built-in critical severity bonuses.

It doesn’t have an AOE component in its primary attack, but the sheer power of its primary attack is what gets it into the top 3 spots. Combined with the burst power of its secondary, it can shred just about any non-Borg enemy.

What Boolean Heavy Assault Cannon Excels In

• Shredding enemies that normally have high damage resistance thanks to its inherent damage resistance debuffs.
• Fantastic and disrupting groups of enemies thanks to the built-in knockback to the target and those near the target.
• Has high burst damage and DPS because of its secondary attack. 
• Secondary attack knocks targets back 25 meters, which is huge when fighting melee enemies.

Weapon Stats 

Quick Beam

Heavy Damage and Knock

___ Disruptor Damage (___ DPS)

20% chance: Knocks back +25 meters

5% chance: -15 All Damage Resistance Rating for 7.5 sec and Knocks back +5 meters to all foes within 5m of target

+20% Critical Severity

1.5 sec recharge

Focused Blast

Exploit Attack

Cylindrical Damage and Knock

___ Disruptor Damage (___ DPS)

Knocks back +25 meters

5% chance: -15 All Damage Resistance Rating for 7.5 sec and Knocks back +5 meters to all foes within 5m of target

+20% Critical Severity

12 sec recharge

How to get Boolean Heavy Assault Cannon:

• Like the Herald weapon, this one is another Lobi store item. You’ll need 50 Lobi to unlock this, but it is well worth it for those who enjoy heavy damage and the heavy cannon look. 

2. Discovery Full Auto Phaser Rifle (Best For Ranged)

Note: weapon does not scale.

Consider the Boolean Assault Cannon, but with a stun and a slow. That’s the Discovery Phaser Full Auto Rifle! It comes with those features built in, along with extremely high DPS, the second highest DPS in the game, in fact.

It's not just content to have a stun on the primary weapon fire, it also comes with a secondary weapon fire that hits up to five enemy targets in an AOE cone. This is on a five-second cooldown, which can be reduced further with kit modules and captain traits, with the right combination making it more or less an "infinite fire" button.

So you can see why it made it to the top of the list!

The only thing this weapon doesn’t have is an exploit attack to go with its expose attack-if it had that, it’d easily be #1 by a huge margin. Terrible against the Borg, absolutely fantastic against every other enemy in the game.

What Discovery Full Auto Phaser Rifle Excels In 

• Mass Crowd Control of enemies without even needing kit modules or captain powers. 
• Hugely debilitating against melee enemies of all kinds, since in addition to a stun it also has a -50% run speed for 4 seconds debuff, which refreshes on attacks.
• Second highest raw DPS in the game, with the potential for crits off the (not even exploit) primary attack that can vaporize. 
• A secondary weapon power that hits up to 5 enemies at once on a very short cooldown even without reductions in play. 

Weapon Stats

Bolt Burst

Energy Damage

45.8 Phaser Damage

5% chance: Stun and -50% Run Speed for 4 sec (half duration vs player)

+6% Critical Chance

Full Auto Sweep

Expose Attack

Cone AoE Phaser Damage

29.3 Phaser Damage x5 (15.3 DPS)

5% chance: Stun and -50% Run Speed for 4 sec (half duration vs player)

+6% Critical Chance

5 sec recharge

Rifle Butt

Expose Attack

Rifle Butt Strikes

20.1 Physical Damage (26.8 DPS) (50% Shield Penetration)

+6% Critical Chance

How to get Discovery Full Auto Phaser Rifle:

• As you no doubt have noticed the trend by now, this too is a Lobi weapon! More or less making this a “cash shop” item, but still well worth it. For the price of opening just about 10 lock boxes (50 Lobi), you’ll get a weapon that can be deployed with a ruinous effect on enemies.

1. Portable Phaser Cannon Special Issue (Best For Ranged)

Note: weapon scales in opposite direction. How is she holding it up? Magic!~

And now we come to Number One! What could possibly push the Discovery Rifle off the pedestal? The latest and greatest in Lobi weapons, of course!

Shack’s weapon from Lower Decks has a unique mechanic called "ammo" that you gain when firing the primary mode that then lets you use the secondary mode. Why is this important? Because you can still shoot your primary fire mode while also firing your secondary fire mode. This just makes it a far better version of the Boolean cannon, despite not coming with the inherent damage resistance debuff.

It’s a bit of a hybrid between the Discovery Rifle and the Boolean in the sense of having the Rifle's benefits and the Boolean's raw firepower in a faster package. It has a bleed effect and a "pass through" effect in its secondary mode. The secondary mode also comes with a -75% run speed, a stun, and a chance to give you ammo anyway.

When fully upgraded, there is nothing in the game that comes close to competing with this thing. Even without buffs, kit modules, or traits, it can still output nearly a thousand DPS, which is insanely high for

If you want to have zero issues ever with ground combat, this is the gun for you. Even Borg won’t adapt fast enough to survive it!

What Portable Phaser Cannon Special Issue Excels In

• Best burst damage and DPS in the game, despite having no exploit or expose attacks. 
• Ammo Mechanic is self-sustaining, meaning you don’t have to even pay attention to it. 
• Secondary mode gives you all the benefits of the #2 and #3 weapons with zero drawbacks. 
• Even without a high-end build for your captain or away team, you’ll still demolish anything the game even tries to throw at you.
• Makes Borg run away in fear.

Weapon Stats

Portable Phaser Cannon Beam

Heavy Damage

__ Phaser Damage initially

__ Phaser Damage each 0.35 sec for 1.05 sec

5% chance: Next Secondary Skill activation within 10 sec has max Ammo

Portable Phaser Cannon Blast

Cylindrical Damage and Knock

Repeats power once per Ammo. Current Ammo = _

Ammo recharge: 12 sec

Fire a Blast from the Portable Phaser Cannon, hitting target Foe and up to 4 others within a cylinder, with effects based on how long you hold the button.

*0-1 sec: _ Phaser Damage

*1-2 sec: _ Phaser Damage and -75% Speed Running for 5 sec

*2+ sec: _ Phaser Damage and +3 Stun for 3 sec

5% chance: Next Secondary Skill activation within 10 sec has max Ammo

6 sec recharge

How to get Portable Phaser Cannon Special Issue:

• As mentioned, this is a Lobi weapon. It costs 50 Lobi to get, which is well worth the price for its power!

 

And there we have it! The top 10 best Star Trek Online ground weapons for you to enjoy! One of the greatest things about Star Trek Online is that you can essentially make any build, and any weapon, work, so feel free to experiment and have fun!

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