The cloak trick is a maneuver that allows a ship to align and gain enough speed while cloaked so that the pilot may then near-instantly warp off after uncloaking.
The cloak trick maneuver takes advantage of the secondary effects of cloaking devices to reach 75% of maximum velocity (and thus enter warp) more quickly than would normally be possible. This maneuver is primarily used to avoid being targeted after jumping through a gate by aligning whilst cloaked.
What is it?
The 'cloak trick' is not a trick or exploit, but rather a straightforward technique that enables pilots to align while cloaked while also reaching the speed necessary to jump to warp almost instantly after uncloaking. It is used most often after jumping through a gate. General information on cloaking can be found at the Cloaking article.
Modules required
You will need:
- one Improved Cloaking Device II or better (not a Prototype Cloaking Device)
- one Microwarpdrive(MWD) of the correct size for the ship. That is: 5MN for frigates and destroyers, 50MN for cruisers, battlecruisers and haulers, and 500MN for battleships
- the shortcuts for these should be placed somewhere easily accessible, as you will need to hit them pretty quickly
You should not use:
- a Prototype Cloaking Device - the speed penalty of 90% (compared to 75% for Improved Cloaking Device II) means the ship cannot reach the required speed to warp instantly after uncloaking, so it will spend a few seconds uncloaked.
- a smaller-sized microwarpdrive - does not give enough velocity bonus
- an afterburner - for most ships, AB does not give enough velocity bonus. But there are exceptions. See § can I use an afterburner?.
- an
Orca - the Orca CAN do the cloak trick, but it requires special treatment, including overheating the 500MN MWD to provide enough velocity in combination with good skills. With perfect skills / fit / implants and a faction MWD, it is possible to pull off the cloak trick in an Orca without overheating. See § The Orca.
Can I use an Afterburner?
For most ships, an afterburner (AB) does not give enough velocity bonus to be suitable for the cloak trick, and using an oversized AB does not always work because it also increases mass, which will reduce acceleration.
However, this is not true for nimble ships, those with an align time under about 5 seconds. For these ships an afterburner is a fine option and offers a few advantages. Before using an AB for the cloak trick, always test the fit first before attempting to use it in dangerous space.
The advantages are that the ship can achieve warp faster because of the shorter cycle time of the afterburner (as low as 7.5 seconds with Afterburner V). But this is a double-edged sword -- usually you do not want to train to Afterburner V because the shorter cycle time gives less time to achieve the necessary speed. Usually, Afterburner IV is enough. Another advantage is that an AB can be activated before the cloak because there is no signature radius bloom like with a MWD, which gives a tiny bit more time to increase velocity before the cloak speed penalty is applied.
How does it work?
Do these things in this order after jumping through a stargate or wormhole. Although you can do MWD then cloak (or do both at once), it is not recommended as having the MWD active before the cloak is a bad idea due to the signature radius bloom and the likelihood of spending more time uncloaked.
- Hit align to your point of interest.
- Immediately after activate the cloak.
- Immediately after activating the cloak activate the MWD (this does work, non-offensive modules can be activated for 5 seconds after activating a cloaking device).
- When the MWD cycle is about 90-95% complete, deactivate the cloak and spam warp to the point of interest.
- The MWD will deactivate automatically; when it does, the ship will instantly enter warp.
While the ship is cloaked, the cloak will apply 75% speed penalty while the MWD boosts the speed by 500%. As a result, the ship can reach at minimum 75% of its unmodified top speed in the ten seconds of a single MWD cycle while cloaked. And since you hit align before the cloak the ship will be aligned and at warp speed when the cloak drops. So when the cloak is deactivated (right before the MWD cycle is complete) the ship can enter warp immediately. This equals near insta-warp. With practice, the ship can be uncloaked for literally less than a second total on a gate. Practice in high-sec and you will find this is pretty easy and effective.
Video demonstrations:
- MWD Cloak Video 1, Basic Instruction (5:44) [February 2011]
- MWD Cloak Video 2, Detailed Instruction (15:52) [January 2012]
Countering the Cloak Trick
The cloak trick does not make the ship immune to destruction when jumping through dangerous space.
In crowded High-sec systems, including those with numerous Concord or Empire ships around gates, those numerous ships can easily cause the ship to de-cloak due to proximity. Any object within 2,000m will cause cloak to drop. Other gatecamping techniques, such as rushing the (momentarily) visible ship with drones after gate cloak drops, or rushing the ship with a fast ship, can also trigger the cloak to drop from proximity.
Ships of all sizes but especially large slow ships are also vulnerable to bumping, meaning if a larger ship can "ram" it while it is cloaked and aligning, it will uncloak and temporarily be unable to achieve proper alignment. For these reasons, the cloak trick will not provide guaranteed protection in dangerous space or in crowded gates.
Cloak Trick with Larger Ships
Part of the requirement to make the cloak trick work is to have a size-appropriate microwarpdrive, 5MN for a frigate, 50MN for a cruiser, 500MN for a battleship etc.
Using with Haulers
The "fast" Haulers (
Sigil, 
Badger, 
Wreathe, and 
Nereus) and the Hoarder can easily fit 50MN MWDs and cloaking devices in addition to their tank and cargohold fittings.
The Porpoise can also easily fit a MWD and Cloak, and with proper skills and fitting the nimble Porpoise can even use the cloak trick with only an afterburner, decreasing the time to warp by about 2 seconds compared to a MWD. A Porpoise is similar to a Miasmos in mining hold capacity and also has a fleet hanger, and the ability to use the cloak trick with an afterburner gives it more survivability in low sec space.
The other high volume haulers ( Bestower, Tayra, Kryos, Epithal, Miasmos, Iteron Mark V and Mammoth) struggle with necessary powergrid available to fit a 50MN MWD, with some not being able to fit at all without without extensive fitting for extra powergrid and higher skills. In many cases it is necessary to use the 50MN YT-8 Compact Microwarpdrive because it has significantly lower Powergrid requirements. You should not count on being able to do the cloak trick with most of these ships without sacrificing cargo capacity and/or tank. If struggling to fit, low slots and/or rig slots may be needed for powergrid modules/rigs to have enough powergrid with low engineering skills.
The Orca
The Orca is considered by some to be a capital-class sized ship, but by mass it is really in line with T2 Marauders at about 150 million kg. Still, with low overall agility and long align time, executing the cloak trick in an Orca is more difficult than other ships. But it is very possible with the correct setup. Do not attempt to use the cloak trick in an Orca in dangerous space without testing it with your skills and fit in safer space first.
With excellent skills, a faction cloak, a mix of Mid-Grade Nomads (Slots 1-5), a Rogue EM-706 (Slot 7), it is possible to use the cloak trick in an Orca using a compact MWD without [overheating] it. This allows for the consistent use of the trick while traveling that can still be well fit for tank, which makes the Orca useful as a specialized hauler in High Sec. With lower skills, a faster MWD may be required (faction or Tech II), or additional agility modules/implants. Generally, if the ship can reach a base align time nearing 20 seconds, the Orca is agile enough to perform the trick reliably without overheating. Overheating a 500MN Microwarpdrive II, can increase the threshold, but repairing a damaged 500MN MWD takes a lot of nanite repair paste (and time) so keep plenty on hand.
It is still dangerous to bring an Orca into lowsec space or lower, even armed with the cloak trick, because the cloak trick can be countered. Alongside the very slow warp speed of an Orca, it is very likely that if you are discovered, you will be followed and harassed at every gate until you exit dangerous space.
Capitals
For normal capital ships (carriers, dreadnoughts, force auxiliaries, supercarriers, titans and the Rorqual) there are capital sized 50,000MN microwarpdrives, that can allow them to do the same microwarpdrive + cloak trick, although they have a cycle-time of 20 seconds (instead of the usual 10 seconds) and might require additional agility modules to ensure they get the speed up in time.
Some of the smaller capital ships, like carriers and dreadnoughts, can also use the undersized 500MN microwarpdrives to align in ~15 seconds by pulsing the microwarpdrive once then warp shortly after. While they are normally not agile enough to warp in 10 seconds flat, it is usually much faster than aligning normally or through the use of an appropriately sized 50,000MN microwarpdrive due to its cycle time of 20 seconds.
Freighters
The four main faction Freighters and Jump Freighters are unable to utilize the cloak trick due to not having any medium or high fitting slots, and thus cannot equip a cloak or MWD regardless.
Additionally, the newly introduced 
Avalanche despite having 6 high slots cannot use the cloak trick because it is restricted from use cloaking devices in its Role Bonuses. Despite this, an Avalanche can still achieve a 10-second align time to warp by using a 500MN MWD with perfect skills, implants, and fitting, but it cannot do so while cloaked.
See also