okay, if seen a few threads on this....and talked with captains online. Seem to get all kinds of different answers.

Can we put to rest if it's more efficient to run 3 DHC and a Torp...

or 2 DHC, 1 DC, and a Torp?



Some say there is a cooldown issue with 3 DHC. ?

The DHC cooldown issue was resolved a long time ago. feel free to use 3.

My layout switches between my moods for the time, 3 DHC & 1 Quant (spread spammer) or 3 DHC & 1 Quad Cannon. With the recent buff to Quads I use it over torps now, shreds everything quicker than with the torp I find. But if you can't or won't spend the zpoints for em torp is great.

I'd say it depends on several factors.

What you are doing?
Does your build rely more on the procs of the weapon?
Are you going for burst or sustained dps?

What are your answers either way?

Well For Burst dps DHC's are better, sustained DC's are better.
If your basing your weapon on proc (like polaron for a energy drain build) you would want DC's since they fire more bolts.

i don't even get it why there are 2 sorts of dual cannons...the differences are so little. the price isn't.
If they were so very different, they really should feel different ingame...but they don't.
Maybe it's just me, but the higher burst is just subconcious. all "bullets" reach the target in about the same timeframe...it's just that the DHC hit for higher numbers. Procs are the same, DPS is the same...

maybe i'm wrong...but i doubt there is a difference that is worth paying 10 to 15 million more for a DHC than the DC counterpart.

My Escort builds do Variations of these

4x Cannon (This is solely for AOE damage in Cluster****s like SB Incursion) (Disruptors here)
3x DHC + 1x Quant (This is my go-to STF Build ) (Anti-Proton)
4x DHC (Also known as the Crits Build)
2x DHC / 2x DC (I just use this sometimes as I have 4x Borg Mk XII DCs.)

Not quite- there are MORE bolts fired by the DCs, which is why the DPS is the same as a DHC. This allows for higher proc chance, since each bolt has a chance to proc.
But the tradeoff is that the DHCs have a higher crit severity.

I'm using arbitrary numbers, but say a DC bolt hits for 10DMG, and a RF1 produces 100 bolts.
That's 1000DMG if all hit the target.
Say the DHC bolt hits for 20DMG, and RF1 produces 50 bolts. That's 1000 DMG if all hit target.
Thus "same DPS." But, say these were Tetryon cannons... the DC bolt spray has twice the chance amount to do it's proc than the DHC spray.

The proc thing was backed by devs (borticus maybe?) back on the old boards.

I think most people just prefer DHC because it is more power efficient, running multiple DC will drain you to much. But they are much cheaper so I use 1 DC and 2 DHC and it works out good, you can get great deals on AccX3 DC.