Difference between revisions of "Solo PvP"

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Fighting in a fleet is a lot of fun, and it is, in many ways, the classic EVE experience. However fighting solo, or in a small group of 2 or 3 people can be just as fun, much easier to get set up, and importantly, is one of the best ways to develop your all-round PvP skills. Skills such as scouting, target calling and overall FC’ing are all very transferable from solo or small groups, right up to huge fleets. In EVE, many of the best FCs started out in solo or small gang situations, and many of them still roam solo when not leading fleets.
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{{Update|[[Faction warfare#Complexes]] mechanism has been updated.}}
  
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==Security status==
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Fighting in a [[fleet]] is lots of fun, and is, in many ways, the classic EVE experience.
  
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In low- and high-security space, taking hostile action against a pilot not flagged as a criminal, a war target or a suspect will result in a loss of your own [[security status]]. Therefore, engaging in regular PvP as described in this guide will inevitably reduce your security status. This is why Low Sec is often described as pirate space. Low security status can cause you to be attacked by faction police when entering High Security space.  
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However, fighting solo, or in a small "microgang" of 2 or 3 people can be just as fun, much easier to get set up, and develops all-round skills: flying solo, you must perform all the functions of a PvP fleet, and so it offers an intense education in all aspects of combat at once. Skills such as scouting, target calling and general fleet command all transfer well from solo/microgang PvP up to fleets. In EVE, many of the best fleet commanders started out flying solo or small-gang, and many of them still roam solo when not leading fleets.
  
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If you continue to live in lowsec or nullsec, having a low security status is unlikely to affect you as you can simply use a hauler alt, or a hauling corporation to get ships and other supplies from Highsec to where you live.  
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Solo PvP is a vast topic exceeding the scope of a single wiki article, but this page covers some general principles and offers advice on one common starting-point for solo flying, small-ship PvP in lowsec space.
  
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Should you wish to retain the ability to travel back into High Security space at any time without restriction, you can always take actions to recover your security status, either by killing NPC rats, or by redeeming [[Clone Soldier Tags]].
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== General principles ==
  
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==Where to fight?==
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EVE Online is a ''massively multiplayer'' online game: most combat pilots fly in groups, and, outside of some [[Abyssal Proving Grounds|Proving Grounds]] formats, no rule prevents other players from ganging up on you. Be prepared for solo PvP to be hard, and understand that sometimes a group will overwhelm you and even the most carefully-fitted and well-flown ship will die. On the plus side, this makes every kill that much more satisfying.
  
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While fighting in Null-Sec, Wormhole, or even High Sec space is perfectly possible, the majority of small scale PvP is done in Low Security space. Specifically, those areas of Low Sec designated as “[[Faction Warfare]] Space”
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A key point to grasp for fitting your ship is that a solo PvP ship in any kind of space must perform all three of the key combat functions of a PvP fleet: damage-dealing, tanking, and control. You must also be your own scout and navigator so, wherever you fly, prepare to get acquainted with geographical and intel tools such as [https://evemaps.dotlan.net/ Dotlan] and [https://zkillboard.com/ zKillboard].
  
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For EVE University members, our [[Low Sec Campus]] is located on the edge of Faction Warfare Space, and the primary activity of this campus is PvP in the surrounding region. This guide is designed in part as a primer for life in this campus, however is applicable to any pilot looking for solo and gang PvP content.
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A further point to grasp is that, despite the game's reputation, it is quite hard to force PvP on another player in EVE. While ambush attacks are possible, especially in Pochven and wormhole space, in much of the game alert use of Local chat and the directional scanner allows most players to see you coming. Your ship choice conditions the kind of fights you will find: you certainly ''can'' hunt in a relatively costly and highly-effective ship such as a [[Vedmak]], but doing so guarantees that you will mostly fight the foolish, the unlucky, and those with serious backup hidden nearby. It can be worth exploring cheap options which can surprise enemies with counterintuitive fits.
  
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Faction Warfare mechanics includes many features which are specific to corporations and individuals who elect to align themselves to one faction, as described in more detail in the [[Faction Warfare]] Wiki page. For the purposes of this guide however, we will only be considering those aspects which relate to all players, regardless of affiliation.
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== Geography ==
  
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===Faction Warfare Arenas: Plex===
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Because different types of space play by different rules, pilots typically fit and prepare their ships for combat in a particular type. It is worth knowing the differences.
  
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Faction Warfare space contains Factional Warfare Complexes (commonly known as "Plexes", not to be confused with [[PLEX]]) which are effectively PvP arenas. These appear on your overview and probe scanner window as beacons which all players can warp to with names such as “Gallente Novice Outpost” or “Caldari Large Installation”
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=== Lowsec ===
  
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The key factor to note is the “size” of the plex, as denoted by the middle word in the description. This indicates the size of ships which are able to enter the arena for fights
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[[Tackling#Warp disruption fields|Bubbles]] and [[bombs]] cannot be used in lowsec, making it relatively safer space in which to move around. Since you do not need a MWD to burn out of bubbles, it is much safer to take an afterburner as your only propulsion module in lowsec than in other types of space. Since bubbles cannot be used to trap your pod after the loss of your ship, you have a higher chance of preserving your pod in lowsec than in more dangerous types of space.
  
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*Novice: Frigates only
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Aggressing a pilot not flagged as a [[Timers#Criminal Timer|criminal]], [[war]] target, or [[Timers#Suspect Timer|suspect]] in lowsec will cause a small loss of security status and will flag you yourself with a 15-minute suspect timer, letting others engage you. Podding someone will cause a significantly larger loss of security status. Security status can be [[Repairing security status|regained]] by killing NPC pirates or by handing in criminal tags.
  
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*Small: Frigates & Destroyers
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Aggressing a non-criminal, non-suspect pilot on-grid with a gate or a station will also draw down the wrath of the local [[Security status#Sentry guns|sentry guns]], which can be tanked by larger ships but present a serious threat to smaller ships.
  
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*Medium: Frigates, Destroyers, Cruisers
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Lowsec is also the location for [[Faction Warfare]] ("FW"). FW complexes have unique mechanics which allow you to limit the hull size and tech level (but ''not'' raw number) of ships engaging you, and you do not have to be involved in FW to take advantage of these mechanics.
  
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*Large: Any ship
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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.
  
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When you initially warp to any plex other than the large sized variant, you will encounter an acceleration gate. Only the appropriate sized ship will be able to activate the gate and enter the plex itself. Large plex have no gate and allow any ship to enter.
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Lowsec FW complex PvP is a traditional starting-point for new solo PvP players, though it has its drawbacks as well as its advantages.
  
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The reason these arenas are so important for PvP is that:
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=== Nullsec ===
  
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*They provide a fixed point in deadspace for people to fight at
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In nullsec, there are no gate or station guns, and no security status implications from any kind of combat.
  
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*The size limitations mean that you can, to a limited extent, control the fights you take, and ensure that when looking for a fight in, say, a frigate, you are not immediately jumped on by a T2 Cruiser for instance. This is a key reason why most Low Sec PvP is done in frigates which can fit into any plex.
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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.
  
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NOTE: The gate limits ship sizes, however it does NOT limit the number of ships entering the plex. You can still be overpowered by a gang or fleet of ships if you are not aware and careful.
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In nullsec, especially sovereign nullsec owned by players, there are far fewer NPC stations, and therefore fewer opportunities to dock up for safety or repairs.
  
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====The Beacon====
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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.
  
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When you initially activate an acceleration gate and “slide” into the plex, you will arrive within around 2.5km 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), as the location of the beacon is a key factor in plex combat.
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=== Pochven ===
  
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Any ship entering the plex will also next to this beacon – there is no way to warp in at range. The exception is large-sized plex, which have no acceleration gate, and therefore can be warped to at range as with any normal cosmic object
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Mechanically Pochven space is very like nullsec: bubbles and bombs can be used, and there are no security status implications to combat. However, [[cyno]]s cannot be lit in Pochven, so hotdropping is not a danger.
  
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The beacon is key to fighting in a plex, as it means that when inside a plex, you know almost exactly where an enemy ship will enter. Likewise, when entering a plex where an opponent is already within, they will have positioned themselves knowing where you will appear. This always gives a slight advantage when fighting to the ship which is already inside the plex, and a large part of the various strategies for frighting in a plex is based around this mechanic.
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Pochven, like wormhole space, has delayed Local chat, so you cannot easily tell who is in a system with you. Pochven has a fixed, mappable geography, but the systems are arranged in a triangle, and most systems only have two gates, so it is particularly good space for [[gate camps]] and player movements are relatively predictable. Filaments and relatively-reliable wormhole connections link Pochven to the rest of the game and make entry and exit surprisingly easy.
  
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====Warp Blocking====
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There are NPC stations in many Pochven systems, but you won't be able to use most of their services without good Triglavian standings.
  
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The other thing to note is that you cannot warp within a plex. While normally if an object is 150km away from you, but still on grid you can warp to it, within a plex you will get an error message. If your scout, or fast tackler chases a fast ship 150km away from you within the plex, there is no way to catch up to him without following him with sub-warp engines.  
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Gangs of potentially-hostile NPCs roam each Pochven system. If they are hostile to you, they will engage you, and they are capable of destroying player ships. They will pod you if they can. It is possible to get positive standing with the EDENCOM and Triglavian NPCs in Pochven; the Drifters, Rogue Drones and Sleepers will always be hostile.
  
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This makes sniping, and kiting ships very effective at defending plex, although they are also much less effective when attacking a plex.
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=== Wormhole space ===
  
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==D-Scanning for fights==
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Wormhole space has delayed Local chat, like Pochven. Also similarly to Pochven, wormholes have normal nullsec mechanics with bubbles and bombs, but with no cynos.
  
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Much of PvP is about picking your fights, and having a clear strategy in place before you engage. For this, you need intel.
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The geography of wormhole space is constantly shifting. Groups can manipulate their wormhole connections by "rolling" wormholes, something which is normally too much complex work for one solo PvP ship.
  
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The most basic form of intel you will need is to determine if a plex contains a ship already, and if so, what kind of ship. Or if you are already inside a plex, what ships are coming your way, and might try to enter your plex to attack you. The tool for this will be your Directional Scanner, or D-Scan.
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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.
  
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The Wiki [[Directional Scanner Guide]] is already an excellent and detailed resource on using this tool and should be read in detail, however the following is a brief overview of the important aspects for plex scanning:
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There are no NPC stations in wormhole space, except in [[Thera]].
  
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*When scanning plex, keep your D-Scan set at a 5 degree angle, and max range, and hold down your D-Scan hotkey (by default “V”) then click on the plex within your overview to quickly and efficiently scan each plex
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== Lowsec FW complex combat ==
  
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*Note that the D-Scan will not tell you if a ship is actually inside a plex, or outside, next to the acceleration gate. If you see a ship on D-Scan which is too large for the plex you are scanning, they are likely sat on the acceleration gate outside, and may be trying to catch ships entering
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Much small-scale PvP happens in Faction Warfare ("FW") lowsec.
  
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*When inside a plex, set your D-Scan to 360 degrees, and 1AU range, and ensure you are scanning regularly to detect anyone landing on the acceleration gate who may be about to enter. You may want to occasionally switch to a longer range as well just to check what is happening elsewhere in the system.
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FW space contains FW Complexes (commonly known as "plexes", not to be confused with [[PLEX]]), which are effectively PvP arenas.
  
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=Solo/Gang PvP Ships=
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These appear on your overview and probe scanner window as beacons which all players can warp to with names such as “Gallente Novice Outpost” or “Caldari Large Installation”. All available plexes appear in the probe scanner window, but a plex '''only''' appears on the overview '''once someone has entered it'''.
  
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===T1 Frigates===
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The key factor to note is the "size" of the plex, indicated by the middle word in its name. Size tells you which hulls can enter the plex.
  
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Solo T1 frigates have become rarer sights in FW space, and many that are seen are either "farmers" (players capturing Complexes for FW points who will run away from any combat), or part of a small gang rather than truly solo. For this reason, any player flying T1 frigates in Low Sec should not expect to get many fights against similar fitted players, and should expect to also take challenging fights against Faction Frigates or T1 Destroyers, and prepare accordingly. T1 fits which work effectively tend to be "surprising" fits designed to out-wit more expensive ships, such as a dual web [[Merlin]] or kiting [[Punisher]].
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* "Novice": T1 frigates only
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* "Small": T1/T2 frigates, T1/T2 destroyers (no T3 destroyers)
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* "Medium": all frigates and destroyers, T1/T2 cruisers (no T3 cruisers)
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* "Large": any ship
  
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===Faction / Pirate Frigates===
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When you initially warp to any Novice, Small, or Medium plex, you will encounter an acceleration gate. The gate will only let appropriate ships warp into the plex itself. Large plexes have no gate and allow any ships in.
  
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These are also very common sights in Low Sec due to their power advantage versus T1 frigates while still being able to enter Novice plexes.  
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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.
  
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Faction frigates are a slightly more expensive, but still affordable step up from T1 frigates. While powerful, they can still be killed by a skilled T1 pilot, and should be seen as an extension of the frigate meta game when devising tactics. The [[Federation Navy Comet]] is arguably the most popular frigate in Low Sec space, due to its excellent balance of low cost (and SP requirement) against high combat effectiveness. Other ships such as the [[Caldari Navy Hookbill]] and [[Imperial Navy Slicer]] are also effective at fighting a wide range of opponents.
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The gate limits ship ''sizes'', but not ''numbers''. You can still be overpowered by a gang of ships if you don't stay alert.
  
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Pirate frigates are substantially more expensive, but also have subtantial advantages versus almost all other frigate variants, and are some of the toughest opponents in PvP. Many, such as the [[Succubus]] or [[Daredevil]] are deliberately designed to "break" the typical rules of the solo PvP meta in some way, making them hard to counter with tactics alone. These are quite advanced ships, and new pilots should probably not be flying nor fighting them without backup.
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=== The beacon ===
  
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===T1 Destroyers===
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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.
  
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These can be thought of as larger frigates with poor range control due to their speed, but great DPS/EHP ratio to make up for it. They can be kited (or occasionally scram-kited) by a skilled T1 frigate pilot but they are also able to tear their way through almost any frigate (including Pirate or Faction) if it's caught within their optimal range for long. They can be excellent choices for newer pilots, as they are both cheap and able to engage a much wider range of opponent than T1 Frigates. Excellent choices include the [[Algos]] or [[Coercer]] due to their flexibility in range.  
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''Any'' ship entering the plex will also next to this beacon; there is no way to warp in at range.
  
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===T1 Cruisers===
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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.
  
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Relatively rare sights in Low Sec plexes (at least alone), and a magnet for other cruisers, or advanced ships such as pirate frigates and T3 destroyers looking for an expensive killmail. The few cruisers you do see flying solo are often fitted specifically to kill adventurous or foolish frigate pilots, and new pilots should avoid engaging them. In particular anti-frigate cruisers such as the [[Vexor]] and [[Stabber]] should be avoided.
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=== Deadspace ===
  
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===T2 Assault Frigates===
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FW plexes are [[deadspace]]. You cannot warp to a fleetmate who is over 150 km from you inside a FW plex. Nor can you warp to a wreck or to a tactical bookmark that is over 150 km away from you. A fleet mate who warps to you when you are inside a plex will land from warp ''outside'' the plex, at the acceleration gate.
  
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Assault Frigates (AFs) have become a more popular choice for Solo PvP after the 2017 patch to AFs which improved speed, fitting space, and added the Assault Damage Control modules. AFs are arguably now the dominant force in FW space. They can enter small plexes, and combine the agility of a frigate with the tank of a Cruiser when the Assault Damage Control module is active. 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]]).  
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As a result, it is sometimes possible to string out and separate a group within a plex.
  
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===T3 Destroyers===
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=== D-scanning for fights ===
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Prior to the patch to Assault Frigates, T3 Destroyers were the dominant ship in low Sec, and remain a very challenging fight for most ships. While they can only enter Medium Plexes, they are only marginally slower than most frigates (and often faster with their propulsion mode active), while also retaining the unmatched damage and good tank of a destroyer hull. They make for great Brawlers and Kiters alike and are virtually impossible to counter in a T1 frig if flown well. Pirate and Assault Frigates may stand a chance, however only in skilled hands and with good tactics. Less experienced pilots should simply avoid these ships without substantial support.
 
  
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==Basic Ship Meta==
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A lot of PvP happens before you land on grid, and revolves around picking fights and having tactics in place before you start. For this, you need intel.
  
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Ships for PvP in general are grouped primarily by their optimal range. All other things being equal, winning a PvP fight, whether solo, or when leading a huge fleet, usually means ensuring that you are in your optimal range, and your opponent is not.  
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The most basic form of intel you need is whether a plex contains a ship already, and if so, what kind. Or, if you are already inside, what ships are coming your way. The tool for this will be your Directional Scanner, or D-Scan.
  
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*0-5 km Optimal Range - '''Brawlers'''
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The Wiki [[Directional Scanner Guide]] is already an excellent and detailed resource on using this tool and should be read in detail. For scanning use in and around plexes in particular:
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*5-10 km Optimal Range - '''Scram Kiters'''
 
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*10-20km Optimal Range - '''Kiters'''
 
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*20km+ Optimal Range – '''Snipers'''
 
  
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In Low Sec PvP, as most fighting is in plexes where much of the engagement takes place around the fixed point of the beacon, it’s important to note that Micro-Warp Drives (MWDs) are generally not preferred, as they can be immediately de-activated by a warp scrambler, rendering you at an immediate speed disadvantage. While MWDs can be useful for Kiters, and some more unusual fits, the predominant propulsion module used is the afterburner. It should be noted though that in Null Sec PvP, without Plex mechanics, MWD fitted ships are the dominant force.
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# When scanning plexes from outside, keep your D-Scan set at a 5 degree angle, and max range, and hold down your D-Scan hotkey (by default “V”) then click on the plex within your overview to quickly and efficiently scan each one
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# D-Scan will not tell you if a ship is actually inside a plex, or outside, next to the gate. If you see a ship on D-Scan which is too large for the plex, they are sat outside the gate, and may be trying to catch ships entering
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# When inside a plex, set your D-Scan to 360 degrees, and 1AU range, and ensure you are scanning regularly to detect anyone landing on the acceleration gate who may be about to enter. Switch to a longer range now and then to check what is happening elsewhere.
  
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===Brawlers===
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=== Lowsec solo ships ===
  
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Brawlers use high damage, close range weapons, such as blasters or pulse lasers. Because of this, they rely on quickly getting into close range, and preventing opponents from pulling away.
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Many ships ''can'' be used solo in lowsec, but this section covers some of the ones most likely to be open to new characters, and most likely to be encountered in FW complexes.
  
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When defending a plex, they will orbit the beacon very closely, and immediately try to [[Warp disruption|scram]] and [[Warp disruption|web]] any incoming ship to hold them at close range and prevent them pulling away.
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==== Base T1 frigates ====
  
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When attacking a plex, they will need to try and swiftly close the range between them and the defending ship to get into their optimal range.
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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.
  
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Due to range being key, fast brawlers like the [[Atron]] or [[Federation Navy Comet]] are very useful here due to their raw speed, as well as the damage boosts to brawling weapons. An alternative is a ship which carries dual stasis webs, such as the dual-web armor [[Kestrel]] or the [[Caldari Navy Hookbill]]. These are relatively slow ships in general terms, however the double web effect applied to your opponent will remove the speed advantage of almost any other ship, and allow you to dictate range despite being the slower ship on paper.
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T1 fits which work effectively tend to be "surprising" fits designed to out-wit more expensive ships by presenting an unexpected tactical profile, such as a dual web [[Merlin]] or kiting [[Punisher]].
  
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===Scram Kiters===
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==== Faction/pirate frigates ====
  
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An effective defence against a brawler is to fight from outside their optimal range, but still within warp scrambler and web range, normally between 7–9km. This is called "'''Scram Kiting'''". At this point, brawling damage will be minimal, however mid-range weapons such as beam lasers, railguns or rockets can still hit an opponent for substantial damage.
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These are very common sights in lowsec: they are technically T1 hulls, and so can enter Novice complexes, but they are more powerful than base T1 frigates.
  
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Once again, this tactic relies on relative speed to maintain range. When defending a plex you will likely orbit the beacon at your optimal range, however a brawler could quickly close range if they have a notable speed advantage.  
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Faction frigates are a more expensive step up from base T1 frigates. While powerful, they can still be killed by a skilled base T1 frigate. The [[Federation Navy Comet]] is an especially popular option due to its excellent balance of low cost (and SP requirement) against high combat effectiveness. Other ships such as the [[Caldari Navy Hookbill]], [[Imperial Navy Slicer]] and [[Republic Fleet Firetail]] are also effective at fighting a wide range of opponents.
  
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Likewise, when attacking a plex, if a brawler is waiting at the beacon you will need to pull range before you take too much damage, which requires your ship to be faster overall than the brawler, as well as being tanky enough to survive the initial damage long enough to pull out of range.
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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.
  
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For this reason, scram-kite ships often still fit speed modules and rigs to try and maintain speed advantage. Common scram-kiters include [[Breacher]], [[Tormentor]] and [[Incursus]]. The Dual-Web [[Kestrel]] and [[Caldari Navy Hookbill]] noted earlier can also be equally effective as a scram-kiter as rockets can deal effective damage up to 9km, while the dual webs maintain your speed advantage.
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==== T1 destroyers ====
  
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===Kiters===
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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.
  
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The other key factor in the meta are long range kiting ships. These will equip a warp disrupter to tackle at 20km+ ranges, and use long range weapons to fight well beyond the range of other ships. They are generally glass cannons, maximized for speed and damage. As they will not be able to apply a stasis web to their opponent at such long ranges, they usually rely on Micro-Warp Drives to maintain a speed advantage. However as a MWD can be switched off by a warp scrambler, if they can be closed down and tackled they will usually die quickly.
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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.
  
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A good Kiting ship who is already inside a plex is very difficult to kill, as they will orbit the beacon well outside of scram range, and closing them down is very challenging. A ship such as a [[Tormentor]] with beam lasers can switch to long range ammo to damage the kiting ship at range, but without the ability to close range and get tackle, the Kiter is likely to simply warp away if they take too much damage. The primary disadvantage of a kiting ship is that they are very poor at attacking a plex, as any defending ship is likely to immediately scram and web them on the beacon and prevent them pulling range.
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T1 destroyers are more vulnerable than frigates to larger weapons, and will suffer if caught by larger ships outside the FW complex context, e.g. on a gate.
  
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Common kiting ships are the [[Condor]], [[Imperial Navy Slicer]] or [[Tristan]]
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==== T1 cruisers ====
  
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===Snipers===
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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.
  
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While very uncommon, snipers aim to sit at extreme ranges, with very high alpha damage weapons, and deal huge damage at long ranges as soon as an opponent lands on grid.  They are extremely rare in the current meta in Low Sec, however they are more common in Null Sec, particularly in gate camps, and it is important to be aware of the possibility. They usually trade considerable tank and maneuverability for their high damage output, and as with kiters, if they can be closed down they will die rapidly.
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The few cruisers encountered in lowsec are often fitted specifically to kill frigates pilots, and new pilots should exercise caution around them. In particular, cruisers such as the [[Vexor]], [[Stabber]], [[Bellicose]], [[Caracal]], and [[Arbitrator]] work very well against frigates if thoughtfully fitted, and should probably be avoided by smaller ships.
  
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==Key Concepts==
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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.
  
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===Range and Speed===
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==== Assault frigates ====
  
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As should be clear from the above, controlling range is the single most important factor in PvP. Being able to impose your range on a fight will allow even a T1 fitted frigate to kill much more expensive fits. Overheating your afterburner gives you a huge 50% extra speed boost, and should always be done at the start of a fight.
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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]]).
  
−
This emphasis on speed and range impacts on all aspects of Low Sec PvP. For instance, buffer armor tank fits with armor plates are very rare due to the speed penalty incurred, with most armor ships favoring active armor repairers which do not harm your speed or acceleration. Likewise, ships which cannot fit a stasis web alongside their scram and afterburner, such as the [[Punisher]], are very rare as they are completely unable to dictate range versus any ship carrying at least one stasis web.
+
=== Basic frigate meta ===
  
−
===Tracking===
+
Ships for PvP in general are grouped primarily by their preferred fighting range. All other things being equal, winning a PvP fight usually means ensuring that you are in your ideal range, and your opponent is not.
  
−
An additional consideration when trying to minimize damage, is tracking. Longer range weapons such as beam lasers and railguns have very poor tracking, and will miss a lot of shots against a ship in a fast orbit. Orbiting your opponent while using these weapons is therefore not the optimal method of engagement, instead use the “keep at range” command to minimize the transversal velocity.
+
* 0-5 km range - '''Brawlers'''
 +
* 5-10 km range - '''Scram Kiters'''
 +
* 10-20 km range - '''Kiters'''
  
−
Conversely, when attacking ships with these poor tracking weapons, advanced pilots will “spiral” into close range, using a high transversal velocity to minimize damage taken as they close to close range. This is a good way for fast brawling ships to get within range of scram kiters without dying before they can close the range.
+
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.
  
−
Ships using blasters, drones or rockets also suffer much less from tracking issues, and a fast orbit in these ships can minimize incoming damage from poor tracking weapons while ensuring good damage application for your own weapons
+
==== Brawlers ====
  
−
===Intel===
+
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.
  
−
All of the above means that knowing the fit of your opponent before you engage in combat gives you a huge advantage over rushing in blindly. With good intel, you can avoid fights which obviously don’t favor you, and devise tactics to win fights which would otherwise be equal engagements.
+
When defending a plex, they will orbit the beacon very closely, and immediately try to warp-scramble and web any incoming ship.
  
−
Often, just knowing the type of ship via D-Scan gives you some indication of the fight you can expect. For instance, a [[Condor]] is almost always kiting fit, [[Atron]]s are usually brawling fit, [[Breacher]]s are most commonly scram-kiters.
+
When attacking a plex, they must swiftly close the range between them and the defending ship.
  
−
If there are relatively few people in local, or if you already know the identity of the pilot you will face, you may want to research them on ZKill, to see their most commonly used fits and help you guess at what you will be facing.
+
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.
−
For this reason as well, never name your ship anything which includes your character’s name. This just makes it easy for an opponent to research you and devise a counter for your ship.
 
  
−
===Surprise===
+
==== Scram-kiters ====
  
−
This idea of anticipating your opponent can also be used against an experienced pilot to surprise them with an unusual fit, or a ship you rarely fly.
+
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.
  
−
The king of this approach is the [[Tristan]]. The Tristan can be fitted very effectively in numerous ways; the standard kiting Tristan, a brawler blaster Tristan, a scram-kite rail Tristan, or a Neut Tristan relying on close range Energy Neutralisers to drain an opponent’s capacitor and shut down their ship while your drones slowly kill them. As there are so many viable fits for the Tristan, it is almost impossible for an opponent to know beforehand what they will be facing and devise a counter-strategy in advance. This makes the Tristan very powerful in the meta game, and can get you a good number of surprise wins as a new player.
+
Once again, this tactic relies on range control. When defending a plex you will likely orbit the beacon at your optimal range, but remember that a brawler could quickly close range if they have a notable speed advantage.
  
−
Similar ideas can also apply to more unusual fits such as a kiting [[Rifter]], a neut [[Slasher]], or a dual web [[Merlin]]. A surprise [[ECM]] module such as a tracking disrupter or damp can also turn an otherwise unpromising fight in your favor.
+
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.
  
−
==Finding a Fight in Null Sec==
+
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.
  
−
Low Sec PvP is by far the most common arena for solo players and small gangs of 2-3 players. Null Sec solo/gang PvP is absolutely possible, however it is much harder to find fights, let alone get kills without having a substantial fleet jump in on top of you.
+
==== Kiters ====
  
−
In order to find fights in Null you’ll need to head towards the active SOV of another alliance, there are several tools on the map that will help you do that, checking the “active pilots in space during the last X minutes” box for example. Once you are headed towards a populated part of Nullsec there are several ways to find a fight. The ideal thing would be to find a ship of your size actively trying to solo too and proceed with a honorable 1v1, but that’s not going to happen a lot.  
+
The other key factor in the meta are long-range kiting ships. These will equip a warp disruptor to tackle at 20 km+ ranges, and use long range weapons. They are generally glass cannons, maximizing speed and damage over tank. As they cannot web an opponent at such long ranges, they usually rely on MWDs for a speed advantage. Since they are lightly tanked and a warp scrambler shuts down an MWD, they usually die fast if brought to close quarters.
  
−
A more reliable way to find fights is simply to annoy residents enough and provoke them into fighting you. Killing their ratters, killing their miners or simply taunting them in local might do the trick. Once they’re annoyed they are likely to send a gang, what you are going to need is to try to split this gang using advanced tactics such as gates, bubble and aggression mechanics, or simply splitting them on grid. If a player is 100km away from his mates, he’s effectively alone for a while as you can only warp to fleet mates further than 150km. Suitonia’s youtube channel Eveiseasy is full of him doing that and you should probably head towards there for practical advice.  
+
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.
  
−
Another thing you can do in Nullsec is to bring a few warp disruption bubbles and set traps next to system gates.
+
Common kiting ships are the [[Condor]], [[Imperial Navy Slicer]], and [[Tristan]].
  
−
===The Null-Sec Meta===
+
==== Other approaches ====
  
−
The key difference between Null-Sec and Low-Sec meta comes down primarily to propulsion modules. In Null-Sec, MWDs are far more common compared to the predominately Afterburner meta of low-sec, which has a substantial impact on tactics.  
+
Pilots can take other niche approaches to plex combat.
  
−
There are several reasons why Microwarpdrives are so common in nullsec. The first one is that an AB ship is helpless against a gang, you will not be fast enough to separate several people on grid and you will not be fast enough to reapproach gates and separate your foes using gates and aggression mechanics.  
+
[[Capacitor warfare]] can render an opponent helpless, but requires a significant sacrifice of high slots, usually also a mid slot for a cap booster, can be negated using cap boosters and nosferatus, and does not shut down all weapons: projectile guns, drones, and missile launchers do not require cap to deal damage. Small energy neutralizers reach out for most of scram range, but lose their effectiveness at scram range's edge, making it possible—just—to scram-kite some neuting ships.
  
−
The other main reason is warp disruption bubbles: Nullsec is full of bubbles (both deployable and interdictor made) and speed is critical for both escaping them and taking advantage of them. For this, the substantial speed boost of the MWD is invaluable. An Afterburner can still be a good idea to bring in nullsec as long as you have an MWD too. This fit is called a dualprop ship and is great for soloing as in this case the MWD allows you to escape bubbles and close range rapidly to an opponent, while the afterburner lets you also retain a speed advantage once in scram range (where both of your MWDs will likely be deactivated by your respective warp scramblers)
+
EWAR of various kinds can offer advantages. Tracking disruption, for example, can making kiting or scram-kiting easier by reducing an opponent's range, or can make fast brawling easier by reducing an opponent's tracking speed. The faction EWAR frigates, such as the [[Griffin Navy Issue]] and [[Vigil Fleet Issue]] are designed around EWAR tactics.
  
−
MWD brawlers and MWD scram-kiters basically function the same as AB ships except they are faster initially while moving around on the grid and then considerably slower during a fight once they have been tackled and their MWD deactivated by a scram. This means the initial engagement range is going to be extremely critical and the most decisive factor: the actual speed difference between a fast and a slow ship are going to be a lot less important. For example, the difference in speed between a webbed MWD [[Atron]] and a webbed MWD [[Merlin]] is only 50m/s (the difference with Afterburners is around 150m/s). For this reason, slower ships such as the [[Harpy]] which are rarely seen in Low Sec 1v1 PvP are much more viable in Null Sec
+
Frigates with two armour repairers in the lows and a capacitor booster in a mid slot can mount a formidable sustained active tank, often enough to outlast an opponent. Their weakness is a lack of speed and range control, so it's usually possible to leave a fight if you realise your opponent's dual-rep fitted, and it's also possible to kite such a ship and slowly wear it down.
  
−
This massive reduction in speed has many other collateral effects. For example, it makes rocket ships drastically better. Since fights happen at a slower velocity, rocket ships are able to use rage rockets and apply their full damage with a single web (as long as the enemy isn’t dual propped)
+
== Solo PvP beyond lowsec ==
  
−
The fact that almost all ships will be MWD fitted by default also means that kiting becomes more challenging. Kiting ships which are viable in Low Sec such as the Tristan no longer have a speed advantage in Null Sec where your opponent will also be MWD fit. Instead, kiting relies on ships with natural speed bonuses which allow them to outpace even other MWD fits. Examples include the [[Garmur]] or combat interceptors such as the [[Raptor]]
+
Though lowsec FW complexes are a traditional starting-point, it's very possible to do solo PvP elsewhere, even as a newer player. Other types of space have their own advantages and disadvantages.
−
 
−
Another big change with MWDs is that you get a strong capacitor penalty simply for fitting one, and on top of that using the MWD in itself uses a lot of capacitor. What this means is that both MWD ships get a lot less capacitor to work with at the beginning of an engagement in scram range. This is a huge drawback to capacitor intensive ships that use hybrid and lasers and like to work with a small ancillary armor repairer at the same time: the [[Tormentor]] and [[Incursus]] which are very effective ships in AB engagements become a lot less potent in this meta, while shield tanked rocket and projectile ships such as the [[Talwar]] or the [[Jaguar]] get a notable advantage due to their lower capacitor needs
 
  
−
==In-depth look at the Ship Meta==
+
In nullsec, wormholes, and Pochven, you must contend with warp disruption bubbles. On the other hand, there are no gate or station guns and no security losses for combat. Moreover, since bubbles make podding more common in nullsec, solo/small-gang pilots in these areas only rarely fly with the kinds of expensive implants which some pilots use in lowsec. This difference goes some way towards levelling the playing field for newer players.
  
−
In order to look in more depth at the ship meta, and how different ships, tactics and strategies match up in space, the below describes some example ship fits seen in Low Sec PvP. These fits assume fairluy optimal skills, and Tech 2 fits. Other fits may vary, however the broad themes of meta-match ups described below remain the same:
+
In wormhole space and Pochven, the delayed Local gives you a much better chance to surprise targets.
  
−
{| cellspacing="1" cellpadding="1" border="1" style="width: 900px; height: 50px;"
+
=== Bubble MWD meta ===
−
|Meta-Type
 
−
|Example Ship
 
−
|DPS
 
−
|Optimal Range
 
−
|Buffer EHP
 
−
|Active EHP
 
−
|Approx Speed (Heated)
 
−
|Approx Speed (Heated and Webbed)
 
−
|-
 
−
|Slow Brawler
 
−
|[[Merlin]]
 
−
|220
 
−
|1km
 
−
|6.4k
 
−
|N/A
 
−
|1350m/s
 
−
|607m/s
 
−
|-
 
−
|Fast Brawler
 
−
|[[Atron]]
 
−
|220
 
−
|1km
 
−
|2.6k
 
−
|2.9k at 100 HP/s
 
−
|1800m/s
 
−
|810m/s
 
−
|-
 
−
|Slow Scram-Kiter
 
−
|[[Incursus]]
 
−
|160
 
−
|7km
 
−
|3.6k
 
−
|5k at 166 HP/s
 
−
|1450m/s
 
−
|652m/s
 
−
|-
 
−
|Fast Scram-Kiter
 
−
|[[Executioner]]
 
−
|175
 
−
|12km
 
−
|2.5k
 
−
|3.2k at 100 HP/s
 
−
|1700m/s
 
−
|765m/s
 
−
|}
 
  
−
The following will examine the use of the ships described above in various 1v1 scenarios.
+
Bubbles are commonly used in nullsec. An MWD is much better for burning out of a bubble quickly than an AB. Therefore, most PvP ships in nullsec fit an MWD as a standard first propulsion module. Some fits use both an MWD and an AB ("dualprop"), and some smaller ships will fit an oversized AB, which can offer MWD-like speeds at the cost of agility ("overprop").
  
−
===Slow brawler vs fast scram-kiter===
+
The proliferation of MWDs means that combat grids tend to be very fast-moving, especially for smaller ships of the sort newer players might fly—unless or until someone gets warp scrambled, at which point combat often becomes ''slower'' than in lowsec, as many ships have no AB and must travel at their basic sub-warp speed when scrambled.
  
−
Even if the fight starts at 0,1km which would be the best for the [[Merlin]], he would have to apply his full DPS for 20 seconds to break the active tank of the [[Executioner]]. Since the Executioner is moving 150m/s faster than the Merlin it would only take him 6,6 seconds to get out of the Merlin’s optimal range, past that point it becomes easier and easier to active tank as seconds into fall-off pass. The Merlin has the choice to switch to Null ammo (which takes 5 seconds) but even then, the fight is going to be a struggle and the Merlin will probably lose.  
+
It is possible to camp an anchored bubble solo, or (more rarely) to roam or camp solo in an [[interdictor]] or [[HIC]].
  
−
Now this was assuming the best possible engagement range for the Merlin, if the fight starts anywhere between 4km and 7.5km, the Merlin cannot theoretically win. This remains only theoretically however, as if either pilot makes a mistake, if for instance the Executioner forgets to apply his web or forgets to overheat his AB for a few seconds, the true result may not match the theoretical calculations here.
+
=== K-space nullsec ===
  
−
===Fast brawler versus slow scram kiter===
+
In known-space nullsec, Local chat's member list will announce your presence whenever you enter a system. You therefore need either to move fast and surprise targets who are at a disadvantage—PvE ships and lone PvP ships who are hard- or soft-countered by your ship and fit—or take fights outnumbered and surprise enemies with your piloting skills and/or fit.
  
−
You might think this is opposite of what we just saw, the fast brawler will catch the slow scram-kiter and kill it. However in reality the calculation is more complex. Let’s take the blaster [[Atron]] vs  rail [[Incursus]] match-up for example: if the fight starts close, then the webbed AB [[Atron]] is 150m/s faster than the webbed AB [[Incursus]], this means he wil be able apply the entirety of his theoretical DPS by always staying at his optimal range. But a 150m/s different is not nearly enough to orbit at 0 and create big enough transversal velocity to outtrack the [[Incursus]], this means that if the [[Incursus]] burns away from you, he will be able to apply his full theoretical DPS to you as well.  
+
Often hunting a sovereign nullsec group's ratting or mining ships is a good way to draw a response. Responses are typically overwhelming, and you shouldn't feel bad about refusing to fight if this happens.
  
−
In this case, even though the [[Atron]] does more damage, the [[Incursus]] is much tankier than the Atron. It takes theoretically 34 seconds for the Incursus to kill the Atron while it takes 38 seconds for the Atron to kill the Incursus, which means the Incursus theoretically wins. Now as the initial engagement range increases, the match-up gets tougher and tougher for the Atron because he first has to catch-up before being able to apply his whole DPS. Even if the fights starts at 4km which is moderately close, the Atron will need to catch up 3km at 150 m/s before applying his full DPS which means he’s going to lose even harder. N
+
The grid ''outside'' the [[Encounter Surveillance System]] gate in any sovereign nullsec system is [[deadspace]], and you can use this to try to split enemy gangs up and take individual ships out.
  
−
Now once again this is entirely theoretical, if the Incursus forgets to overload his prop, he’ll get caught a lot faster, if he forgets to overload his guns or his tank, if he forgets to launch his small drone he might very well lose the DPS race. If neither mess-up but if the Atron has considerably superior turret and tanking skills, he may still win the DPS race too.
+
You can also try to use a fast ship to string a gang out on a normal grid: if one of their ships is isolated, but is ''less'' than 150 km away from the rest of its gang, they cannot warp to it. But remember that micro jump drives allow some ships to teleport exactly 100 km!
  
−
===Slow Brawler vs Slow Scram-kiter / Fast Brawler vs Fast scram-kiter===
+
If you jump or warp into a gate camp with a bubble, you must quickly decide whether to crash down to the gate and try to get through, or burn at speed out of the bubble and warp off. If part of a gang aggresses on you on one side of a gate and you jump through, those ships which aggressed cannot follow for 1 minute; this mechanic can let you split up an overwhelming gang over the two sides of a gate and then engage half of them on one side.
  
−
In these match-ups, both ships’ tank are going to be pretty much the same and they’ll fly at pretty much the same speed, so these match-ups are usually purely decided by the initial engagement range: If the brawler manages to be right on-top (0 to 1,5km) of the scram-kiter when they both apply scram and web he’ll probably win. If the Scram kiter manages to engage outside 4km he’ll probably win. The player who messes up and forgets to overload the AB or applies his web late is going to lose almost automatically.  
+
In k-space nullsec, good map-reading with a resource such as Dotlan proves extremely useful. Look for recent NPC kills and NPC kills delta to locate ratters, look at ships-in-space and recent jumps data to find general player activity, and look at recent kills data to find recent combat. zKillboard has a page for each region in the game which can let you see recent kills with a 5- to 30-minute time-lag, and this can alert you to roaming gangs or recent fights.
  
−
===Brawlers VS Brawlers / Scram-kiters vs Scram-kiters===
+
You can use Needlejack filaments to get into nullsec, and to "reroll" your position in nullsec. Pochven filaments can let you extract back to low/highsec, as you can filament to Pochven and then either find a wormhole or wait 15 minutes and use a Pochven extraction or glorification filament. A ship with at least core probes, such as a [[T3C]] or a [[Stratios]], can also use the j-space wormhole network to reposition.
  
−
These are the only match ups where speed will not be as relevant to actually win the fight, although the fastest ship may still be able to disengage and run away if he realizes he’s losing. In this case the pure damage*EHP ratio will generally win fights. Therefore the most important thing will be to have a good fit, the second most important thing will be to overheat your modules, and the third most important thing will be damage and tanking skills.
+
=== Pochven and wormholes ===
  
−
===Meta-breaking fits in scram-range===
+
Delayed Local is the most defining feature of Pochven and wormhole systems. This makes the intelligent use of d-scan key both to finding targets and to avoiding them. It helps to know as much as possible about the local geography, whether that's the immediately adjacent wormhole connections in a j-space system, or the immediately surrounding pipe in Pochven. Knowing in a wormhole system that a particular wormhole is mass-critical, or only lets frigates through, can be a precious tactical advantage; similarly, knowing in Pochven that you have a wormhole near Jita or that there is a surviving freeport in the next system can make a big difference. In Pochven, Dotlan remains useful as an intel source. J-space systems can be looked up on zKillboard using their j-code.
  
−
There are a few fits that are not going to fit into the calculations above, these can be considered as “meta-breakers".
+
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.
  
−
====Dual Web Ships====
+
== Solo in larger ships ==
  
−
They will be able to completely control range. A dual-web brawler will catch-up to its target quickly and a dual web scram-kiter will be able to exit the range of a brawler in seconds; this makes the initial engagement range largely irrelevant and is great to invade a plex for example.  
+
Once you have grasped solo mechanics work for small ships, it is relatively straightforward to apply this knowledge to larger ships.
  
−
The drawback is that you are using one of your mid slots for range control instead of using it for Tanking, which means you are going to be better at countering other types of fits but will struggle more when engaging the same type of ships. A dual web Artillery firetail for example might very well lose to a beam tormentor or a rail incursus in a pure DPS race. Viable dual web turret based frigs include the Firetail, the Merlin and the Slasher.
+
"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.
  
−
Dual web rocket ships are a special case, the dual web Hookbill is very popular but the dual Breacher and Kestrel are also viable dual web frigates. Rockets do not need to track which means you can play as both a scram-kiter and a brawler. You’ll be able fight brawlers by keeping them at the edge of the scram range and you’ll be able to fight scram-kiters by orbiting them at 0 and mitigate some of their DPS.
+
Any solo fit for a ship of cruiser size or above must have one or more defences against frigates and destroyers, which can close in and "fly under" medium or heavy turrets, and which can outrun or mitigate a lot of medium or heavy missile damage. Typical PvP frigate speeds can also trouble even light drones, which tend to spend most of their time chasing the frigate rather than shooting it.
  
−
====Tracking Disruptors====
+
Some typical anti-frigate tools include:
  
−
This module has two uses: the first, is to decrease your enemy’s optimal and falloff range by half which allows you to basically scram-kite other scram-kiter. The crucifier navy issue is designed around this idea. This might also allow the autocannon TD Slasher which is theoretically a Brawler to scram kite other brawlers. The second use of the TD is to reduce your opponent’s tracking; this is mostly useful against bad brawlers who do not have a web, or generally people with less range control modules than you. The hookbill for example may fit two webs on top of a TD which allows him to get under the guns of other scram kiters by orbiting them at 0.
+
* ''Neuts''. Medium energy neutralizers cover most of scram range, and heavy neutralizers cover much of normal point range. Both devastate the capacitors of smaller ships.
 +
* ''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.
 +
* ''Entropic Disintegrators''. These have very high tracking for their size, combined with fierce DPS.
  
−
====Neuts====
+
=== Kiting ===
  
−
Having a neut or several neuts on a brawler may completely break the DPS race mechanics by turning the opponent’s guns off. This allows the Slasher or the neut Tristan to beat ships that rely heavily on capacitor for their damage and their tank, SAAR hybrid and SAAR laser ships are very popular in the current  lowsec meta which makes neuts very powerful.
+
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.
  
−
====Dual Repair Modules ("Dual Rep")====
+
It's quite possible to get decent kiting performance out of T1 cruiser hulls: the [[Stabber]] and RLML [[Caracal]] can do well, for instance. RLML-armed Caracals have an easy time with damage application, but can't scale up to high brawling DPS as a kiting Stabber can. The [[Hurricane]] can just about kite effectively, and has more punch to deliver to whatever can catch up with it. Among more expensive ship options, the [[Omen Navy Issue]], [[Osprey Navy Issue]], [[Scythe Fleet Issue]] and [[Orthrus]] all make strong mid-size kiters. The [[Vedmak]] is an extremely strong kiter, with good options including overpropped 100MN fits; its only real drawback is that its fearsome reputation precedes it, and opponents will not underestimate one seen on d-scan.
  
−
These are pretty popular ships that rely on a simple gimmick: sacrificing all range control in order to have as big of a tank as possible and win thanks to pure DPS/EHP ratio, this is basically the opposite to a dual web ship. The big difference is that you can’t run away from a dual web ship that counters you, but you can always run away from a dual rep frigate that counters you. Dual rep ships therefore often rely on opponents not attempting to escape until it is too late.
+
Kiting battleships are rare, but it is technically possible to make some Minmatar battleship hulls surprisingly fast for their size.
  
−
The Dual Rep Incursus is the most popular fit of this type but the dual MASB Breacher exists too. In order to effectively engage these gimmicky ships you need to stay out of their range and poke them until your opponent runs out of cap booster charges and is unable to maintain its repar modules. If you don’t have the means to poke it without getting hit then you should simply leave and go somewhere else.  
+
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.
  
−
==Solo PvP Beyond Frigates==
+
=== Brawling ===
  
−
Now that you understand how solo mechanics work for small ships, it is relatively straightforward to apply this to larger ships as well.  
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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.
  
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First of all there’s no “scram kiting” a cruiser. The short range variations of medium and heavy guns always hit far enough to work anywhere inside scram-range. Therefore there are only Brawlers and Kiters. A second thing when considering soloing as a cruiser and above is that you must always be able to fight smaller stuff than you. If frigates can easily get under your guns, you are going to get killed repeatedly. This is a huge constraint and it dramatically restrains the range of fits you can use solo as there aren’t that many tools for fighting small ships as a big ship
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Solo brawling is viable with battlecruisers and battleships. Typical fits use an MJD as an escape mechanism, and are designed to defy entire gangs of enemies with a huge tank and annihilate everything that gets into scram range, thereby keeping the MJD available for use. It's possible to use a big buffer tank, but a very powerful active tank can also work, making this viable for ships with active tank bonuses such as the [[Cyclone]] or the [[Maelstrom]]. With cap injection, three armour repairers and the appropriate drugs, a [[Myrmidon]] can shrug off an extraordinary amount of DPS (though its own offensive power will be limited). Truly dedicated brawl fits even sometimes risk fitting an MJD as the only propulsion module.
  
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===Kiting===
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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.
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There are very few ships that apply well to frigates outside of scram range and Rapid light missile launchers ships are the undisputed king. The [[Orthrus]] is the best at it, but the other RLML cruisers are viable solo ships too: [[Caracal]], [[Scythe Fleet Issue]], [[Osprey Navy Issue]]. These are all fast ships that can find good success kiting Frigates and Cruisers alike. Other very specific ships like the scorch [[Omen Navy Issue]] or the [[Phantasm]] might also be successful as solo kiting ships as their bonuses allow them to apply their damage to small ships relatively well.
 
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===Brawling===
 
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It is always an option to brawl as a Cruiser vs frigates, destroyers and even T3 destroyers. You’ll mainly rely on Medium Neuts and Webs to fight smaller stuff in scram range but always be careful, as a brawling cruiser you’re an ideal target for kiting ships.
 
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A duel between two brawling Cruisers will usually be decided by pure DPS/TANK ratio. Fights might last a while so killing enemy drones and managing capacitor can be critical. Big active tanks will only be good as long as they are not overly capacitor intensive.
 
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Contrarily to solo kiting, solo Brawling is viable with big ships too, in this case you’ll probably only get to fight several people at once, the general philosophy behind it is that if you can Perma-Tank entire gangs of enemy with a huge active tank and annihilate everything that gets into your scram range, then you’ll be free to MJD away whenever you wish to disengage. The few critical modules to do that are armor repairers/shield boosters and drugs for active tanking.
 
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For offense you’ll often want to use Neuts (a medium Neut can instantly empty the cap of a frig from 10km away, a heavy neut from 30km away), Webs, and Target Painters. You’ll generally want the highest tracking guns as possible. Afterburners and oversized afterburners are good things to have if you can as they’ll help with the tracking too.
 
  
 
[[Category:PvP]]
 
[[Category:PvP]]

Latest revision as of 20:57, 19 August 2024

This page should be updated due to game changes.
Reason: Faction warfare#Complexes mechanism has been updated.

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

However, fighting solo, or in a small "microgang" of 2 or 3 people can be just as fun, much easier to get set up, and develops all-round skills: flying solo, you must perform all the functions of a PvP fleet, and so it offers an intense education in all aspects of combat at once. Skills such as scouting, target calling and general fleet command all transfer well from solo/microgang PvP up to fleets. In EVE, many of the best fleet commanders started out flying solo or small-gang, and many of them still roam solo when not leading fleets.

Solo PvP is a vast topic exceeding the scope of a single wiki article, but this page covers some general principles and offers advice on one common starting-point for solo flying, small-ship PvP in lowsec space.

General principles

EVE Online is a massively multiplayer online game: most combat pilots fly in groups, and, outside of some Proving Grounds formats, no rule prevents other players from ganging up on you. Be prepared for solo PvP to be hard, and understand that sometimes a group will overwhelm you and even the most carefully-fitted and well-flown ship will die. On the plus side, this makes every kill that much more satisfying.

A key point to grasp for fitting your ship is that a solo PvP ship in any kind of space must perform all three of the key combat functions of a PvP fleet: damage-dealing, tanking, and control. You must also be your own scout and navigator so, wherever you fly, prepare to get acquainted with geographical and intel tools such as Dotlan and zKillboard.

A further point to grasp is that, despite the game's reputation, it is quite hard to force PvP on another player in EVE. While ambush attacks are possible, especially in Pochven and wormhole space, in much of the game alert use of Local chat and the directional scanner allows most players to see you coming. Your ship choice conditions the kind of fights you will find: you certainly can hunt in a relatively costly and highly-effective ship such as a Vedmak, but doing so guarantees that you will mostly fight the foolish, the unlucky, and those with serious backup hidden nearby. It can be worth exploring cheap options which can surprise enemies with counterintuitive fits.

Geography

Because different types of space play by different rules, pilots typically fit and prepare their ships for combat in a particular type. It is worth knowing the differences.

Lowsec

Bubbles and bombs cannot be used in lowsec, making it relatively safer space in which to move around. Since you do not need a MWD to burn out of bubbles, it is much safer to take an afterburner as your only propulsion module in lowsec than in other types of space. Since bubbles cannot be used to trap your pod after the loss of your ship, you have a higher chance of preserving your pod in lowsec than in more dangerous types of space.

Aggressing a pilot not flagged as a criminal, war target, or suspect in lowsec will cause a small loss of security status and will flag you yourself with a 15-minute suspect timer, letting others engage you. Podding someone will cause a significantly larger loss of security status. Security status can be regained by killing NPC pirates or by handing in criminal tags.

Aggressing a non-criminal, non-suspect pilot on-grid with a gate or a station will also draw down the wrath of the local sentry guns, which can be tanked by larger ships but present a serious threat to smaller ships.

Lowsec is also the location for Faction Warfare ("FW"). FW complexes have unique mechanics which allow you to limit the hull size and tech level (but not raw number) of ships engaging you, and you do not have to be involved in FW to take advantage of these mechanics.

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.

Lowsec FW complex PvP is a traditional starting-point for new solo PvP players, though it has its drawbacks as well as its advantages.

Nullsec

In nullsec, there are no gate or station guns, and no security status implications from any kind of combat.

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.

In nullsec, especially sovereign nullsec owned by players, there are far fewer NPC stations, and therefore fewer opportunities to dock up for safety or repairs.

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.

Pochven

Mechanically Pochven space is very like nullsec: bubbles and bombs can be used, and there are no security status implications to combat. However, cynos cannot be lit in Pochven, so hotdropping is not a danger.

Pochven, like wormhole space, has delayed Local chat, so you cannot easily tell who is in a system with you. Pochven has a fixed, mappable geography, but the systems are arranged in a triangle, and most systems only have two gates, so it is particularly good space for gate camps and player movements are relatively predictable. Filaments and relatively-reliable wormhole connections link Pochven to the rest of the game and make entry and exit surprisingly easy.

There are NPC stations in many Pochven systems, but you won't be able to use most of their services without good Triglavian standings.

Gangs of potentially-hostile NPCs roam each Pochven system. If they are hostile to you, they will engage you, and they are capable of destroying player ships. They will pod you if they can. It is possible to get positive standing with the EDENCOM and Triglavian NPCs in Pochven; the Drifters, Rogue Drones and Sleepers will always be hostile.

Wormhole space

Wormhole space has delayed Local chat, like Pochven. Also similarly to Pochven, wormholes have normal nullsec mechanics with bubbles and bombs, but with no cynos.

The geography of wormhole space is constantly shifting. Groups can manipulate their wormhole connections by "rolling" wormholes, something which is normally too much complex work for one solo PvP ship.

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.

There are no NPC stations in wormhole space, except in Thera.

Lowsec FW complex combat

Much small-scale PvP happens in Faction Warfare ("FW") lowsec.

FW space contains FW Complexes (commonly known as "plexes", not to be confused with PLEX), which are effectively PvP arenas.

These appear on your overview and probe scanner window as beacons which all players can warp to with names such as “Gallente Novice Outpost” or “Caldari Large Installation”. All available plexes appear in the probe scanner window, but a plex only appears on the overview once someone has entered it.

The key factor to note is the "size" of the plex, indicated by the middle word in its name. Size tells you which hulls can enter the plex.

  • "Novice": T1 frigates only
  • "Small": T1/T2 frigates, T1/T2 destroyers (no T3 destroyers)
  • "Medium": all frigates and destroyers, T1/T2 cruisers (no T3 cruisers)
  • "Large": any ship

When you initially warp to any Novice, Small, or Medium plex, you will encounter an acceleration gate. The gate will only let appropriate ships warp into the plex itself. Large plexes have no gate and allow any ships in.

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.

The gate limits ship sizes, but not numbers. You can still be overpowered by a gang of ships if you don't stay alert.

The beacon

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.

Any ship entering the plex will also next to this beacon; there is no way to warp in at range.

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.

Deadspace

FW plexes are deadspace. You cannot warp to a fleetmate who is over 150 km from you inside a FW plex. Nor can you warp to a wreck or to a tactical bookmark that is over 150 km away from you. A fleet mate who warps to you when you are inside a plex will land from warp outside the plex, at the acceleration gate.

As a result, it is sometimes possible to string out and separate a group within a plex.

D-scanning for fights

A lot of PvP happens before you land on grid, and revolves around picking fights and having tactics in place before you start. For this, you need intel.

The most basic form of intel you need is whether a plex contains a ship already, and if so, what kind. Or, if you are already inside, what ships are coming your way. The tool for this will be your Directional Scanner, or D-Scan.

The Wiki Directional Scanner Guide is already an excellent and detailed resource on using this tool and should be read in detail. For scanning use in and around plexes in particular:

  1. When scanning plexes from outside, keep your D-Scan set at a 5 degree angle, and max range, and hold down your D-Scan hotkey (by default “V”) then click on the plex within your overview to quickly and efficiently scan each one
  2. D-Scan will not tell you if a ship is actually inside a plex, or outside, next to the gate. If you see a ship on D-Scan which is too large for the plex, they are sat outside the gate, and may be trying to catch ships entering
  3. When inside a plex, set your D-Scan to 360 degrees, and 1AU range, and ensure you are scanning regularly to detect anyone landing on the acceleration gate who may be about to enter. Switch to a longer range now and then to check what is happening elsewhere.

Lowsec solo ships

Many ships can be used solo in lowsec, but this section covers some of the ones most likely to be open to new characters, and most likely to be encountered in FW complexes.

Base T1 frigates

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.

T1 fits which work effectively tend to be "surprising" fits designed to out-wit more expensive ships by presenting an unexpected tactical profile, such as a dual web Merlin or kiting Punisher.

Faction/pirate frigates

These are very common sights in lowsec: they are technically T1 hulls, and so can enter Novice complexes, but they are more powerful than base T1 frigates.

Faction frigates are a more expensive step up from base T1 frigates. While powerful, they can still be killed by a skilled base T1 frigate. The Federation Navy Comet is an especially popular option due to its excellent balance of low cost (and SP requirement) against high combat effectiveness. Other ships such as the Caldari Navy Hookbill, Imperial Navy Slicer and Republic Fleet Firetail are also effective at fighting a wide range of opponents.

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.

T1 destroyers

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.

T1 destroyers are more vulnerable than frigates to larger weapons, and will suffer if caught by larger ships outside the FW complex context, e.g. on a gate.

T1 cruisers

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.

The few cruisers encountered in lowsec are often fitted specifically to kill frigates pilots, and new pilots should exercise caution around them. In particular, cruisers such as the Vexor, Stabber, Bellicose, Caracal, and Arbitrator work very well against frigates if thoughtfully fitted, and should probably be avoided by smaller ships.

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.

Assault frigates

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).

Basic frigate meta

Ships for PvP in general are grouped primarily by their preferred fighting range. All other things being equal, winning a PvP fight usually means ensuring that you are in your ideal range, and your opponent is not.

  • 0-5 km range - Brawlers
  • 5-10 km range - Scram Kiters
  • 10-20 km range - Kiters

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

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.

When defending a plex, they will orbit the beacon very closely, and immediately try to warp-scramble and web any incoming ship.

When attacking a plex, they must swiftly close the range between them and the defending ship.

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.

Scram-kiters

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.

Once again, this tactic relies on range control. When defending a plex you will likely orbit the beacon at your optimal range, but remember that a brawler could quickly close range if they have a notable speed advantage.

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.

Kiters

The other key factor in the meta are long-range kiting ships. These will equip a warp disruptor to tackle at 20 km+ ranges, and use long range weapons. They are generally glass cannons, maximizing speed and damage over tank. As they cannot web an opponent at such long ranges, they usually rely on MWDs for a speed advantage. Since they are lightly tanked and a warp scrambler shuts down an MWD, they usually die fast if brought to close quarters.

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.

Common kiting ships are the Condor, Imperial Navy Slicer, and Tristan.

Other approaches

Pilots can take other niche approaches to plex combat.

Capacitor warfare can render an opponent helpless, but requires a significant sacrifice of high slots, usually also a mid slot for a cap booster, can be negated using cap boosters and nosferatus, and does not shut down all weapons: projectile guns, drones, and missile launchers do not require cap to deal damage. Small energy neutralizers reach out for most of scram range, but lose their effectiveness at scram range's edge, making it possible—just—to scram-kite some neuting ships.

EWAR of various kinds can offer advantages. Tracking disruption, for example, can making kiting or scram-kiting easier by reducing an opponent's range, or can make fast brawling easier by reducing an opponent's tracking speed. The faction EWAR frigates, such as the Griffin Navy Issue and Vigil Fleet Issue are designed around EWAR tactics.

Frigates with two armour repairers in the lows and a capacitor booster in a mid slot can mount a formidable sustained active tank, often enough to outlast an opponent. Their weakness is a lack of speed and range control, so it's usually possible to leave a fight if you realise your opponent's dual-rep fitted, and it's also possible to kite such a ship and slowly wear it down.

Solo PvP beyond lowsec

Though lowsec FW complexes are a traditional starting-point, it's very possible to do solo PvP elsewhere, even as a newer player. Other types of space have their own advantages and disadvantages.

In nullsec, wormholes, and Pochven, you must contend with warp disruption bubbles. On the other hand, there are no gate or station guns and no security losses for combat. Moreover, since bubbles make podding more common in nullsec, solo/small-gang pilots in these areas only rarely fly with the kinds of expensive implants which some pilots use in lowsec. This difference goes some way towards levelling the playing field for newer players.

In wormhole space and Pochven, the delayed Local gives you a much better chance to surprise targets.

Bubble MWD meta

Bubbles are commonly used in nullsec. An MWD is much better for burning out of a bubble quickly than an AB. Therefore, most PvP ships in nullsec fit an MWD as a standard first propulsion module. Some fits use both an MWD and an AB ("dualprop"), and some smaller ships will fit an oversized AB, which can offer MWD-like speeds at the cost of agility ("overprop").

The proliferation of MWDs means that combat grids tend to be very fast-moving, especially for smaller ships of the sort newer players might fly—unless or until someone gets warp scrambled, at which point combat often becomes slower than in lowsec, as many ships have no AB and must travel at their basic sub-warp speed when scrambled.

It is possible to camp an anchored bubble solo, or (more rarely) to roam or camp solo in an interdictor or HIC.

K-space nullsec

In known-space nullsec, Local chat's member list will announce your presence whenever you enter a system. You therefore need either to move fast and surprise targets who are at a disadvantage—PvE ships and lone PvP ships who are hard- or soft-countered by your ship and fit—or take fights outnumbered and surprise enemies with your piloting skills and/or fit.

Often hunting a sovereign nullsec group's ratting or mining ships is a good way to draw a response. Responses are typically overwhelming, and you shouldn't feel bad about refusing to fight if this happens.

The grid outside the Encounter Surveillance System gate in any sovereign nullsec system is deadspace, and you can use this to try to split enemy gangs up and take individual ships out.

You can also try to use a fast ship to string a gang out on a normal grid: if one of their ships is isolated, but is less than 150 km away from the rest of its gang, they cannot warp to it. But remember that micro jump drives allow some ships to teleport exactly 100 km!

If you jump or warp into a gate camp with a bubble, you must quickly decide whether to crash down to the gate and try to get through, or burn at speed out of the bubble and warp off. If part of a gang aggresses on you on one side of a gate and you jump through, those ships which aggressed cannot follow for 1 minute; this mechanic can let you split up an overwhelming gang over the two sides of a gate and then engage half of them on one side.

In k-space nullsec, good map-reading with a resource such as Dotlan proves extremely useful. Look for recent NPC kills and NPC kills delta to locate ratters, look at ships-in-space and recent jumps data to find general player activity, and look at recent kills data to find recent combat. zKillboard has a page for each region in the game which can let you see recent kills with a 5- to 30-minute time-lag, and this can alert you to roaming gangs or recent fights.

You can use Needlejack filaments to get into nullsec, and to "reroll" your position in nullsec. Pochven filaments can let you extract back to low/highsec, as you can filament to Pochven and then either find a wormhole or wait 15 minutes and use a Pochven extraction or glorification filament. A ship with at least core probes, such as a T3C or a Stratios, can also use the j-space wormhole network to reposition.

Pochven and wormholes

Delayed Local is the most defining feature of Pochven and wormhole systems. This makes the intelligent use of d-scan key both to finding targets and to avoiding them. It helps to know as much as possible about the local geography, whether that's the immediately adjacent wormhole connections in a j-space system, or the immediately surrounding pipe in Pochven. Knowing in a wormhole system that a particular wormhole is mass-critical, or only lets frigates through, can be a precious tactical advantage; similarly, knowing in Pochven that you have a wormhole near Jita or that there is a surviving freeport in the next system can make a big difference. In Pochven, Dotlan remains useful as an intel source. J-space systems can be looked up on zKillboard using their j-code.

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.

Solo in larger ships

Once you have grasped solo mechanics work for small ships, it is relatively straightforward to apply this knowledge to larger ships.

"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.

Any solo fit for a ship of cruiser size or above must have one or more defences against frigates and destroyers, which can close in and "fly under" medium or heavy turrets, and which can outrun or mitigate a lot of medium or heavy missile damage. Typical PvP frigate speeds can also trouble even light drones, which tend to spend most of their time chasing the frigate rather than shooting it.

Some typical anti-frigate tools include:

  • Neuts. Medium energy neutralizers cover most of scram range, and heavy neutralizers cover much of normal point range. Both devastate the capacitors of smaller ships.
  • 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.
  • Entropic Disintegrators. These have very high tracking for their size, combined with fierce DPS.

Kiting

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.

It's quite possible to get decent kiting performance out of T1 cruiser hulls: the Stabber and RLML Caracal can do well, for instance. RLML-armed Caracals have an easy time with damage application, but can't scale up to high brawling DPS as a kiting Stabber can. The Hurricane can just about kite effectively, and has more punch to deliver to whatever can catch up with it. Among more expensive ship options, the Omen Navy Issue, Osprey Navy Issue, Scythe Fleet Issue and Orthrus all make strong mid-size kiters. The Vedmak is an extremely strong kiter, with good options including overpropped 100MN fits; its only real drawback is that its fearsome reputation precedes it, and opponents will not underestimate one seen on d-scan.

Kiting battleships are rare, but it is technically possible to make some Minmatar battleship hulls surprisingly fast for their size.

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

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.

Solo brawling is viable with battlecruisers and battleships. Typical fits use an MJD as an escape mechanism, and are designed to defy entire gangs of enemies with a huge tank and annihilate everything that gets into scram range, thereby keeping the MJD available for use. It's possible to use a big buffer tank, but a very powerful active tank can also work, making this viable for ships with active tank bonuses such as the Cyclone or the Maelstrom. With cap injection, three armour repairers and the appropriate drugs, a Myrmidon can shrug off an extraordinary amount of DPS (though its own offensive power will be limited). Truly dedicated brawl fits even sometimes risk fitting an MJD as the only propulsion module.

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.

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