We said "nerfs", others say "fixes".
A new Star Trek Online patch on PC has nerfed “the most powerful starship trait in the game,” in reality making the Hellbore Light trait operate as originally intended.
The PC patch, dropped today, has fixed a math issue at the core of the Hellbore Light Starship Trait, lowering the amount of DPS it can deliver.
Issues with the trait were first detailed by user CasualSAB over on the game’s Discord server.
“Last week’s patch was meant to add a ‘10,000 Shield Drain Cap’ to this trait, but has not actually altered its performance,” CasualSAB reported back in July. “Currently this is the most powerful starship trait in the game. We have people getting 3-4 million DPS from this trait alone. Clearly something aint right with it.”
Post-patch, expect CasualSAB’s assessment of the trait, which comes with the T6 Warden Multi-Mission Temporal Cruiser, to change. And that of others, too.
“This trait was pretty widely known as stupidly broken, so it should be no surprise that this was getting fixed eventually. It needed to happen,” writes mhall85 on Reddit. “And yes, I say ‘fixed,’ and not ‘nerfed.’ There is a difference, and hopefully, this won’t have the old Cryptic Special of getting fixed AND THEN nerfed into the ground.”
Full patch notes can be found below.
Star Trek Online 21 August 2025 PC patch notes
- Hellbore Light (Starship Trait, found on the Warden Multi-Mission Temporal Cruiser):
- Fixed a math error that was preventing the 10k drain per hit cap from functioning correctly, which was introduced in a previous patch
- Added a short cooldown between applications of the Hellbore Debuff to your primary target (2sec)
- Foes who cause a plasma explosion from this Trait (due to losing all of their shields) cannot cause another explosion from this Trait for 10 seconds
The patch is live on PC right now, and doesn’t have a release date as yet on Xbox or PlayStation platforms.
Star Trek Online is currently available on Windows PC, Xbox One, and PS4.
This article may contain affiliate links, meaning we could earn a small commission if you click-through and make a purchase. Stevivor is an independent outlet and our journalism is in no way influenced by any advertiser or commercial initiative.
