Solo PvP: Difference between revisions

Fighting in a [[fleet]] is lots of fun, and is, in many ways, the classic EVE experience.

=== Lowsec ===

Fighting other players is one of only a few reasons people go to lowsec, so you stand a high chance of finding combat there; on the other hand, you also stand a higher chance of finding well-prepared, experienced and well-equipped opponents.

Bubbles can be used to trap people at gates or to suck targets out of warp. Since a MWD is necessary for most ships to get out of a bubble quickly, MWDs are much more commonly fitted for travel and combat in nullsec; this in turn makes many ships more vulnerable to warp scramblers, which can shut off a MWD but not an afterburner.

There are more non-combat reasons to be in space in nullsec than in lowsec, so you are likely to find more targets in PvE ships or with limited combat preparation; on the other hand, you are likely to find fewer fights overall.

=== Wormhole space ===

The delayed Local and shifting geography put a strong emphasis on d-scan, stealth and surprise, so combat ships in wormhole space lean towards those able to fit a covert ops cloak and warp while cloaked. Almost everything of interest in wormhole space must be probed down, and leaving from wormhole space often requires probing, so many ships fit at least a core probe launcher.

Plexes provide a fixed point for fights. The size limitations mean that you can, to ''some'' extent, control the fights you take: if you are in a Novice plex, you will not have to fight a T3 cruiser.

When you activate the acceleration gate and “slide” into a Novice, Small or Medium plex, you arrive within 2.5 km of a "beacon" in space. This beacon should be visible on your overview as you land. If not, adjust your overview settings to display all brackets (items in space): the beacon's placement is key.

This mechanic means that once you are inside a plex, you know almost exactly where an enemy ship will enter. Likewise, when entering an occupied plex, the opponent(s) within will have positioned themselves knowing where you will appear. The occupant of the plex always has this tactical advantage in initial positioning.

Any player flying T1 frigates in lowsec should not expect to get many fights against similarly-fitted players, and should expect to also take challenging fights against faction/pirate or T1 destroyers, and prepare accordingly.

Pirate frigates are substantially more expensive, but also have subtantial advantages versus almost all other frigate variants, and are some of the toughest opponents. Many, such as the [[Succubus]] or [[Daredevil]] are deliberately designed to "break" the typical rules of the solo PvP meta in some way. These are quite advanced ships, and new pilots should probably neither fly nor fight them without backup.

These can be thought of as larger frigates with poor range control due to their speed, but great DPS. They can be kited (or occasionally scram-kited, on which see below) by a skilled T1 frigate pilot, but they are also able to tear their way through almost any frigate (including pirate/faction hulls) if it's caught within their optimal range for long.

T1 destroyers can be excellent choices for newer pilots, as they are cheap, they insure well, they use small weapons, and they can fight a much wider range of opponents than T1 frigates.

Lone T1 cruisers are relatively rare sights in lowsec plexes, and can be a magnet for other cruisers, or advanced ships such as pirate frigates and T3 destroyers looking to punch up.

A T1 cruiser is not an overwhelmingly long train for a newer player, they insure reasonably well, unlike pirate/faction/T2 frigates, and they offer certain advantages to the new PvP pilot. In particular, everything happens more slowly in a cruiser, which gives you more time to observe and learn from the fight. On the other hand, they cannot enter Novice or Small complexes.

T2 assault frigates ("AFs") can enter Small plexes, and combine the agility of a frigate with higher DPS and much stronger tanks; when fitted with an Assault Damage Control, they can become briefly invulnerable. They are an extremely difficult fight for any other frigate or T1 destroyer. Common solo AFs include the [[Hawk]] (with an extremely strong MASB shield tank), or the [[Retribution]] (often flown as a kiting ship, similar to a much tankier version of the [[Imperial Navy Slicer]]).

In lowsec frigate PvP, as most fighting is in plexes where much of the engagement takes place around the fixed point of the beacon, MWDs are less commonly used than in other environments, as they can be immediately de-activated by a warp scrambler. While MWDs can be useful for kiters, the dominant propulsion module is the afterburner.

Brawlers use high damage, close range weapons, such as blasters or pulse lasers. They therefore rely on quickly getting into close range, and preventing opponents from pulling away.

Since range is key, fast brawlers like the [[Atron]] or [[Federation Navy Comet]] are very useful due to their raw speed, and their damage bonuses. An alternative is a ship which can carry dual webs, such as the dual-web armour [[Kestrel]] or the [[Caldari Navy Hookbill]]. These are relatively slow ships in absolute terms, but the double web effect removes the speed advantage of almost any other ship, and allows you to dictate range despite being slower on paper.

An effective defence against a brawler is to fight from outside their optimal range, but still within warp scrambler and web range, normally between 7–9 km. This is called "'''scram-kiting'''". At this point, brawling damage from, for example, blasters will be minimal, but longer-reaching weapons such as beam lasers, pulse lasers with Scorch, railguns, or rockets can still hit for substantial damage.

Likewise, when attacking a plex, if a brawler is waiting at the beacon you will need to pull range quickly, which requires range control. You must also tank the initial damage close-range long enough to pull distance.

For this reason, scram-kite ships often still fit for speed. Common scram-kiters include the [[Breacher]], [[Tormentor]], and [[Incursus]]. The dual-web [[Kestrel]] and [[Caldari Navy Hookbill]] noted earlier can also be equally effective as scram-kiters, because rockets can deal effective damage up to 9 km, while the dual webs maintain range control.

A good kiting ship already inside a plex is very difficult to kill, as they will orbit the beacon well outside of scram range, and closing with them is challenging. A ship such as a [[Tormentor]] with beam lasers can switch to long range ammo to damage the kiting ship at range, but the kiting ship can avoid tackle and leave at will, so damage projection alone only forces a draw. The primary disadvantages of a kiting ship are that they are very poor at attacking a plex, as they are forced to arrive in a predictable place, and that they require smart, alert manual piloting.

Stealth plays a greater role in PvP in these areas, and you can expect to see more T3Cs, recon ships, covops ships, and prototype cloaks on ships such as interdictors. Make sure you understand wormhole polarization mechanics and (in Pochven) the behaviour of local NPCs.

"Scram kiting" is very limited for ships cruiser-sized and up. Short-ranged medium and heavy guns always hit far enough to work anywhere inside scram range. Therefore in some ways the meta simplifies: there are only brawlers and kiters.

* ''Webs''. Reaching out just beyond the edge of scram range, a web can cut a small ship's speed enough that bigger weapons might apply better. This works best when combined with a scram.

* ''Rapid Light Missile Launchers''. RLMLs fire a ''small'' weapon, which therefore applies well to small targets. They also have respectable burst DPS for hunting targets of any size. Their main drawback is their very long reload time.

While a pure kiting frigate wants to be faster than anything, a larger kiting ship generally wants to be able to kill anything that can catch it, and able to outrun or outrange anything that can kill it.

The Sansha's [[Phantasm]] and [[Nightmare]] deserve special mention as their unique bonuses let them use afterburners like microwarpdrives, making them especially tricky and mobile.

Brawling cruisers can be fun to fly and can rapidly dismantle most smaller- or even-sized targets they can land scram on. All four main races' cruisers can be fitted to brawl effectively, though the [[Vexor]] in particular deserves mention as a T2 blaster fit with a light tank can use [[overheating]] and its dual damage bonuses to reach around 900 DPS. However, with neither the option of fitting an MJD as larger hulls can, nor (most of the time) the mechanics of FW complexes to set up brawling starts to fights, brawling cruisers constantly face the challenge of landing scram in the first place in a world very fast-moving MWD fits. Consequently, it sometimes works best to use a suboptimal ship to play with people's expectations: a brawling HAM [[Bellicose]], for instance, can catch enemies unawares.

MJD-brawling fits can be countered by overwhelming them with small warp-scrambling ships in numbers, or by scrambling them from beyond normal range with a ship such as the [[Lachesis]] or a [[HIC]], so as to shut down their MJD.

[[Category:PvP]]