Skills:Drones

Overview

See also: Drone skills

Some training in the Drones category is essential for most PvE and PvP combat. Drones are a useful source of additional DPS, and they are also a key defence against small ships for large ships.

Almost every ship larger than a destroyer has a dronebay. Caldari ships tend to have the smallest dronebays, but even Caldari pilots should aim to be able to field a full flight of five light drones when they start flying battlecruisers.

Memory and perception are important in learning how to operate drones.

The following are the skills in the Drones section (in alphabetical order):

Skill (Multiplier)	Purpose	Alpha Limit
Advanced Drone Avionics (5x)	Allows control of EWAR drones. Bonus to drone control range.	▨▨▨▨▨
Amarr Drone Specialization (5x)	Allows control of T2 Amarr drones.	◼◼▨▨▨
Caldari Drone Specialization (5x)	Allows control of T2 Caldari drones.	◼◼▨▨▨
Drone Avionics (1x)	Bonus to drone control range.	◼◼◼◼▨
Drone Durability (5x)	Bonus to drone shield, armor, structure.	◼◼◼◼▨
Drone Interfacing (5x)	Bonus to drone damage and mining amount.	◼◼◼▨▨
Drone Navigation (1x)	Bonus to drone microwarpdrive speed	◼◼◼◼▨
Drone Sharpshooting (1x)	Bonus to drone optimal range.	◼◼◼◼▨
Drones (1x)	Allows control of drones.	◼◼◼◼◼
Fighter Hangar Management (8x)	Increases fighter hangar size.	▨▨▨▨▨
Fighters (12x)	Allows control of Fighters.	▨▨▨▨▨
Gallente Drone Specialization (5x)	Allows control of T2 Gallente drones.	◼◼▨▨▨
Heavy Drone Operation (5x)	Allows control of Heavy Drones. Bonus to Heavy Drone damage.	◼◼◼▨▨
Heavy Fighters (12x)	Allows control of Heavy Fighters.	▨▨▨▨▨
Ice Harvesting Drone Operation (2x)	Allows control of Ice Harvesting Drones.	▨▨▨▨▨
Ice Harvesting Drone Specialization (5x)	Allows control of advanced Ice Harvesting Drones.	▨▨▨▨▨
Light Drone Operation (1x)	Allows control of Light Drones. Bonus to Light Drone damage.	◼◼◼◼◼
Light Fighters (12x)	Allow control of Light Fighters.	▨▨▨▨▨
Medium Drone Operation (2x)	Allows control of Medium Drones. Bonus to Medium Drone damage.	◼◼◼◼▨
Mining Drone Operation (2x)	Allows control of Mining Drones. Bonus to Mining Drone Yield.	▨▨▨▨▨
Mining Drone Specialization (5x)	Allows control of advanced Mining Drones.	▨▨▨▨▨
Minmatar Drone Specialization (5x)	Allows control of T2 Minmatar drones.	◼◼▨▨▨
Mutated Drone Specialization (6x)	Allows control of drones mutated using mutaplasmids.	▨▨▨▨▨
Repair Drone Operation (3x)	Allows control of Repair Drones. Bonus to Repair Drone amount.	◼◼▨▨▨
Salvage Drone Operation (4x)	Allows control of Salvage Drones. Bonus to drone salvage chance.	▨▨▨▨▨
Salvage Drone Specialization (5x)	Allows control of T2 Salvage Drones. Bonus to drone velocity and salvage chance.	▨▨▨▨▨
Sentry Drone Interfacing (5x)	Allows control of Sentry Drones. Bonus to sentry drone damage.	▨▨▨▨▨
Support Fighters (12x)	Allows control of Support Fighters.	▨▨▨▨▨

Combat Drone Control Skills

Drones

Skill at remote controlling drones. Can operate 1 drone per skill level.

Attributes:
Multiplier:	1x
Price:	30k ISK
Alpha max level:	V
Prerequisites:	None
I required for:	Tech 1 and Faction Drone Damage Amplifiers; Tech 1, 'Integrated', and Empire Faction Light Drones; Mining Drones; Ice Harvesting Drones;  Drone Avionics;  Light Drone Operation;  Mining Drone Operation;  Ice Harvesting Drone Operation
III required for:	Tech 1, 'Integrated', and Empire Faction Medium Drones;  Amarr Offensive Systems;  Gallente Offensive Systems;  Medium Drone Operation
IV required for:	Drone Damage Amplifier II; Salvage Drone I;  Drone Durability;  Salvage Drone Operation;  Drone Navigation
V required for:	Heavy Drones; EWAR Drones; Shield Maintenance Bots; Armor Maintenance Bots; Hull Maintenance Bots; 'Augmented' Drones;  Advanced Drone Avionics;  Drone Interfacing,  Drone Sharpshooting;  Repair Drone Operation;  Heavy Drone Operation;  Amarr Drone Specialization;  Caldari Drone Specialization;  Gallente Drone Specialization;  Minmatar Drone Specialization
Notes:	The basic skill of the Drones category. Prerequisite for most other drone skills and an essential skill to train to level V for any pilot who flies anything with a 25m3 or larger dronebay.

Light Drone Operation

Skill at controlling light combat drones. 5% Bonus to damage of light drones per level.

Attributes:
Multiplier:	1x
Price:	75k ISK
Alpha max level:	V
Prerequisites:	Drones I
I required for:	Tech 1, 'Integrated', and Empire Faction Light Drones
V required for:	Tech 2 and 'Augmented' Light Drones
Notes:	A 5% drone damage bonus is not to be sniffed at, and most combat pilots should train this skill to IV.

Medium Drone Operation

Skill at controlling medium combat drones. 5% Bonus to damage of medium drones per level.

Attributes:
Multiplier:	2x
Price:	125k ISK
Alpha max level:	IV
Prerequisites:	Drones III
I required for:	Tech 1, 'Integrated', and Empire Faction Medium Drones
V required for:	Tech 2 and 'Augmented' Medium Drones
Notes:	A 5% drone damage bonus is not to be sniffed at, and most combat pilots should train this skill to IV.

Heavy Drone Operation

Skill at controlling heavy combat drones. 5% Bonus to heavy drone damage per level.

Attributes:
Multiplier:	5x
Price:	500k ISK
Alpha max level:	III
Prerequisites:	Drones V
I required for:	Tech 1, 'Integrated', and Empire Faction Heavy Drones; Gecko
V required for:	Tech 2 and 'Augmented' Heavy Drones
Notes:	Not all races have subcapital ships with big enough dronebays to justify using heavy drones, but Gallente battleship pilots, Amarr pilots who fly the Armageddon and Minmatar pilots who fly the Typhoon should train for them.

Sentry Drone Interfacing

Skill at controlling sentry drones. 5% bonus to Sentry Drone damage per level.

Attributes:
Multiplier:	5x
Price:	650k ISK
Alpha max level:	Alpha pilot can not train this skill.
Prerequisites:	Drone Interfacing IV; Drone Sharpshooting IV
I required for:	Tech 1 and Faction Sentry Drones
V required for:	Tech 2 Sentry Drones
Notes:	Sentry drones are specialised, and large, and so like heavy drones they're mostly of interest to pilots who can fly ships with 125m3 or more of space in their dronebay. Level V lets you use T2 sentry drones.

Advanced Drone Avionics

This skill is required for the operation of Electronic Warfare Drones but also gives a bonus to the control range of all drones.

3,000m bonus drone control range per level.

Attributes:
Multiplier:	5x
Price:	600k ISK
Alpha max level:	Alpha pilot can not train this skill.
Prerequisites:	Drones V; Electronic Warfare IV
I required for:	Small EWAR Drones
II required for:	Medium EWAR Drones
III required for:	Large EWAR Dones
Notes:	The drone control range bonus applies to all types of drones, not just electronic warfare drones. ECM drones are a useful ace-in-the-hole in PvP.

Racial Drone Specializations

Amarr Drone Specialization

Specialization in the operation of advanced Amarr drones. 2% bonus to advanced Amarr drone damage per level.

Attributes:
Multiplier:	5x
Price:	2-4M ISK
Alpha max level:	II
Prerequisites:	Drones V
I required for:	Tech 2 and 'Augmented' Amarr Drones
Notes:	This skill is not seeded in NPC stations so prices will vary widely.

Caldari Drone Specialization

Specialization in the operation of advanced Caldari drones. 2% bonus to advanced Caldari drone damage per level.

Attributes:
Multiplier:	5x
Price:	3-9M ISK
Alpha max level:	II
Prerequisites:	Drones V
I required for:	Tech 2 and 'Augmented' Caldari Drones
Notes:	This skill is not seeded in NPC stations so prices will vary widely.

Gallente Drone Specialization

Specialization in the operation of advanced Gallente drones. 2% bonus to advanced Gallente drone damage per level.

Attributes:
Multiplier:	5x
Price:	3-9M ISK
Alpha max level:	II
Prerequisites:	Drones V
I required for:	Tech 2 and 'Augmented' Gallente Drones
Notes:	This skill is not seeded in NPC stations so prices will vary widely. Gallente drones are very popular because they have good damage modifiers, and a damage type (thermal) which is reliably useful against most PvE and PvP enemies.

Minmatar Drone Specialization

Specialization in the operation of advanced Minmatar drones. 2% bonus to advanced Minmatar drone damage per level.

Attributes:
Multiplier:	5x
Price:	3-9M ISK
Alpha max level:	II
Prerequisites:	Drones V
I required for:	Tech 2 and 'Augmented' Minmatar Drones
Notes:	This skill is not seeded in NPC stations so prices will vary widely. Minmatar drones are very popular for PvP because they are the fastest drones and although they don't do as much raw damage as Gallente drones they do explosive damage, which hits most armor tanks hard.

Mutated Drone Specialization

Specialization in the operation of mutated drones created using rogue drone and Triglavian technology, applying techniques developed by ORE to pacify and control rogue drones. Users are recommended to update their information warfare countermeasures, wetware-nanotech interface security, and intrusion response hunter-killer programs regularly.
2% bonus per skill level to the damage of light, medium, heavy and sentry drones requiring Mutated Drone Specialization.

Attributes:
Multiplier:	6x
Price:	65M ISK
Alpha max level:	Alpha pilot can not train this skill.
Prerequisites:	Amarr Drone Specialization I, Caldari Drone Specialization I, Gallente Drone Specialization I, Minmatar Drone Specialization I

Drone Support Skills

Drone Avionics

Skill at control range for all drones.

Bonus: drone control range increased by 5000 meters per skill level.

Attributes:
Multiplier:	1x
Price:	60k ISK
Alpha max level:	IV
Prerequisites:	Drones I
III required for:	Tech 1 and Officer Drone Link Augmentors
IV required for:	Black Eagle Drone Link Augmentor
V required for:	Drone Link Augmentor II
Notes:	A useful skill to allow drones to attack targets farther from your ship.

Drone Durability

Increases drone hit points. 5% bonus to drone shield, armor and hull hit points per level.

Attributes:
Multiplier:	5x
Price:	100k ISK
Alpha max level:	IV
Prerequisites:	Drones IV
I required for:	Repair Drone Operation
Notes:	Increasing drone hit points decreases the chance of losing drones, and thus saves money by reducing the number of drones you need to replace.

Drone Interfacing

Allows a captain to better maintain its drones. 10% bonus to drone damage, drone mining yield per level.

Attributes:
Multiplier:	5x
Price:	750k ISK
Alpha max level:	III
Prerequisites:	Drones V
IV required for:	Sentry Drone Interfacing
V required for:	Fighters;  Amarr Carrier;  Caldari Carrier;  Gallente Carrier;  Minmatar Carrier
Notes:	Each level of Drone Interfacing is like having half of another drone. Excellent support skill.

Drone Navigation

Skill at controlling drones at high speeds. 5% increase in drone MicroWarpdrive speed per level.

Attributes:
Multiplier:	1x
Price:	100k ISK
Alpha max level:	IV
Prerequisites:	Drones IV
I required for:	Warrior SW-300
II required for:	Valkyrie SW-600
III required for:	Tech 1 and Faction Drone Navigation Computers; Berserker SW-900
V required for:	Drone Navigation Computer II
Notes:	Faster drones means they get to the target and deal damage, and then return to you when you need them back, quicker. High levels in Drone Navigation also help your drones chase fast PvP targets like interceptors.

Drone Sharpshooting

Increases drone optimal range.

Attributes:
Multiplier:	1x
Price:	150k ISK
Alpha max level:	IV
Prerequisites:	Drones V
I required for:	Tech 1 Omnidirectional Tracking Links/Enhancers
IV required for:	Omnidirectional Tracking Enhancer II;  Sentry Drone Interfacing
V required for:	Omnidirectional Tracking Link II
Notes:	5% optimal range per level. Possibly not so important for normal combat drones, which can move around on their own. If you rely on long-ranged, stationary sentry drones then this skill will help them.

Non-Combat Drone Control Skills

Ice Harvesting Drone Operation

Skill at controlling ice harvesting drones. 5% reduction in ice harvesting drone cycle time per level.

Attributes:
Multiplier:	2x
Price:	100k ISK
Alpha max level:	Alpha pilot can not train this skill.
Prerequisites:	Ice Harvesting II; Drones I
I required for:	Ice Harvesting Drone I
V required for:	Tech 2, 'Excavator', and 'Augmented' Ice Harvesting Drones;  Ice Harvesting Drone Specialization

Ice Harvesting Drone Specialization

Advanced proficiency at controlling ice harvesting drones. 2% reduction in cycle time and bonus to max velocity of drones requiring Ice Harvesting Drone Specialization per level.

Attributes:
Multiplier:	5x
Price:	18M ISK
Alpha max level:	Alpha pilot can not train this skill.
Prerequisites:	Ice Harvesting Drone Operation V; Ice Harvesting IV
I required for:	Tech 2, 'Excavator', and 'Augmented' Ice Harvesting Drones
Notes:	Required for advanced ice harvester drone use.

Mining Drone Operation

Skill at controlling mining drones. 5% Bonus to mining drone yield per skill level.

Attributes:
Multiplier:	2x
Price:	50k ISK
Alpha max level:	Alpha pilot can not train this skill.
Prerequisites:	Drones I; Mining II
I required for:	Tech 1, Harvester, and 'Excavator' Mining Drones
V required for:	Tech 2 and 'Augmented' Mining Drones;  Mining Drone Specialization
Notes:	A useful support skill for miners.

Mining Drone Specialization

Advanced proficiency at controlling mining drones. 2% bonus to the mining yield and max velocity of drones requiring Mining Drone Specialization per level.

Attributes:
Multiplier:	5x
Price:	10M ISK
Alpha max level:	Alpha pilot can not train this skill.
Prerequisites:	Mining Drone Operation V; Mining IV
I required for:	'Excavator' and 'Augmented' Mining Drones
Notes:	Required for advanced mining drone use.

Repair Drone Operation

Allows operation of logistic drones. 5% increased repair amount per level.

Attributes:
Multiplier:	3x
Price:	200k ISK
Alpha max level:	II
Prerequisites:	Drones V; Drone Durability I
I required for:	Tech 1 Light Armor/Shield/Hull Maintenance Bots
II required for:	Tech 1 Medium Armor/Shield/Hull Maintenance Bots
III required for:	Tech 1 Heavy Armor/Shield/Hull Maintenance Bots
V required for:	Tech 2 Armor/Shield/Hull Maintenance Bots
Notes:	Repair drones can be a useful augmentation to a remote repair effort, but don't expect them to perform nearly as well as a properly fitted and piloted logistics ship. Remember that you can't order your drones to repair yourself.

Salvage Drone Operation

Skill at controlling salvage drones. 2% (2 percentage point) increased salvage chance per level.

Attributes:
Multiplier:	4x
Price:	500k ISK
Alpha max level:	Alpha pilot can not train this skill.
Prerequisites:	Drones IV; Salvaging II
I required for:	Salvage Drone I
Notes:	Salvage drones can recover salvage from wrecks and bring them to your cargo hold. Note that this bonus is percentage point increase, not percentage increase. For example a drone with base access difficulty bonus of 3% will have access difficulty bonus of 11% at level IV (3%+4×2%=11%)

Salvage Drone Specialization

Advanced proficiency at controlling salvage drones. 2% bonus to the max velocity and 2% (percentage point) to salvage chance of drones requiring Salvage Drone Specialization per level.

Attributes:
Multiplier:	5x
Price:	13M ISK
Alpha max level:	Alpha pilot can not train this skill.
Prerequisites:	Salvage Drone Operation V; Salvaging IV
I required for:	Salvage Drone II
Notes:	Improves salvage drone efficiency. Note that this bonus is percentage point increase, not percentage increase. For example with level 1 the T2 salvage drone has 16% access chance bonus which increases to 18% on level 2.

Fighter Skills

Fighters

Allows operation of fighter craft. 5% increase in fighter damage per level.

Attributes:
Multiplier:	12x
Price:	75M ISK
Alpha max level:	Alpha pilot can not train this skill.
Prerequisites:	Drone Interfacing V; Leadership V
I required for:	Tech 1 Light/Heavy/Support Fighters; Shadow;  Fighter Hangar Management;  Heavy Fighters;  Light Fighters;  Support Fighters
V required for:	Tech 2 Light/Heavy/Support Fighters
Notes:	Only carriers and supercarriers can use fighters.

Light Fighters

Allows operation of light fighter craft. 5% increase in light fighter velocity per level.

Attributes:
Multiplier:	12x
Price:	110M ISK
Alpha max level:	Alpha pilot can not train this skill.
Prerequisites:	Fighters I
I required for:	Tech 1 Light Fighters
IV required for:	Tech 2 Light Fighters
Notes:	Light fighters can be used by both carriers and supercarriers. Before the Citadel expansion, these were known simply as "fighters".

Heavy Fighters

Allows operation of heavy fighter craft. 5% increase in heavy fighter damage per level.

Attributes:
Multiplier:	12x
Price:	110M ISK
Alpha max level:	Alpha pilot can not train this skill.
Prerequisites:	Fighters I
I required for:	Tech 1 Heavy Fighters; Shadow
IV required for:	Tech 2 Heavy Fighters
Notes:	Only of interest to supercarrier pilots, since only supercarriers can use heavy fighters. Before the Citadel expansion, these were known as "fighter bombers".

Support Fighters

Allows operation of support fighter craft. 5% increase in support fighter hit-points per level.

Attributes:
Multiplier:	12x
Price:	110M ISK
Alpha max level:	Alpha pilot can not train this skill.
Prerequisites:	Fighters I
I required for:	Tech 1 Support Fighters
IV required for:	Tech 2 Support Fighters
Notes:	Support fighters can be used by both carriers and supercarriers. They were introduced in the Citadel expansion.

Fighter Hangar Management

5% bonus to Fighter Hangar size per level.

Attributes:
Multiplier:	8x
Price:	20M ISK
Alpha max level:	Alpha pilot can not train this skill.
Prerequisites:	Fighters I
I required for:	Tech 1 and Faction Fighter Support Units; Networked Sensor Array
IV required for:	Fighter Support Unit II