Amarr Basic Ship and Skill Overview

This guide provides general information and recommendations for T1 ships of a single player faction.

For more advanced and in-depth information on specific ships refer to EVE ships. This guide simply gathers the characteristics and overview of racial lineups in an easy to browse format for the very new player.

Basic Ship and Skill Overviews -- Amarr | Caldari | Gallente | Minmatar | ORE | Pirate

Rookie Ship

The rookie ship is the first ship you start with. If you are Amarr, it will be a Impairor. A new rookie ship is given whenever you dock at a station where you do not have any ships.

Frigate

Frigates are small, fast ships, used often for PvE in level 1 missions. They are also used for tackling and electronic warfare roles in PvP.

Executioner

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Cruiser

Arbitrator

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Omen

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Battlecruiser

Harbinger

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Battleship

Armageddon

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Amarr General Information

The Amarrian Empire is one of the four playable factions and, like the others, has a distinct line of ships with specific quirks and abilities.

The Amarr lineup is characterized by the following:

• Armour tanking. This is the most popular tanking method for PvP and is also common for Gallentean ships and some Minmatari ships (making it the standard for Remote Repairing). Amarrian ships have high base armour and several ships have direct bonuses to armour resistances (Tech 1 examples: Punisher, Maller, Prophecy, and Abaddon).

• Energy turrets. These are the standard for Amarrian vessels in the same way that Gallente and Caldari tend to use Hybrid turrets (although Caldari make greater use of missiles) while the Minmatar make extensive use of Projectile turrets (as well as quite a lot of missiles). Energy turrets (more usually 'lasers') offer an excellent combination of range, tracking and damage when compared with projectile or hybrid turrets. As is typical, there are two variants; a longer range version with lower damage potential and poorer tracking - Beam Laser - and a shorter range version with good tracking and higher damage - Pulse Laser. Frequency crystals, the Energy ammo type, can be changed instantly and Tech 1 crystals are unlimited ammunition as they do not degrade like Faction or Advanced Tech 2 variants. Unfotunately this all comes at a price; there is no variation on damage types and Energy turrets are hungry beasts! All lasers will do some mix of Electromagnetic and Thermal damage (primarily EM) and use large amounts of energy when fired as well as tending to be quite demanding on a hull's powergrid.

• Large Capacitors. Amarrian pilots rely heavily on their capacitors; lasers are heavy on the capacitor to such a degree that some Amarrian hulls have a bonus that decreases capacitor usage of Energy turrets rather than a damage bonus (such hulls are prime candidates for fitting another weapon system if you have cross-trained). Thus Amarrian hulls tend to have larger capacitors than the hulls of the other empires and many Amarrian pilots prioritize capacitor skills.

• Drones. Amarrian hulls have some of the best drone using hulls outside of the Gallentean hull line-up, including the only hulls with drone bonuses that are not Gallentean.

• Lack of Speed. Amarrian ships tend to have lower than average base speeds, fit armour plates which further reduce their base speed and agility and are usually short of mid slots to put Afterburners or MicroWarp Drives in, while low slots are already packed with tank modules or weapon upgrades. At the cost of tanking potential (or damage, perhaps both), a typical Amarrian hull's numerous low slots can be used to out-compete even Minmatar ships, however.

• Electronic Warfare. The primary form of Amarrian electronic warfare is Tracking Disruption, which reduces the optimal range, falloff and tracking speed of turrets fitted to the target. Scripts can also be used to make the module more effective at either reducing the tracking or reducing the range of the turret, at the cost of not affecting the other. Tracking disruption is fairly difficult to counter but limited in application as it affects only turrets. The secondary form is Capacitor Warfare but bonuses to this are only found on Tech 2 hulls, which are beyond the scope of this guide.

PvP

Amarrian ships have been the proverbial PvP 'flavour of the month' for a lot longer than a month and can be extremely useful in nearly any role. Exceptional armour tanks, large capacitors and a combination of good damage and range make Amarrian ships a firm favourite for PvP, though fits with shield tanks or alternate weapon systems see extensive use.

Amarrian ships tend to stick to the formula of lots of armour for defence and lots of lasers for damage with fewer 'exceptions to the rule' than in other empires' line-ups. As a result Amarrians are sometimes said to be the simplest race to fly, since what worked for you on a frigate will probably work for you on your cruiser but with larger and more modules. There are some good candidates for 'breaking the mould' (Punisher fitted with Autocannon turrets is a classic) but they are more skill intensive and often require extensive cross-training. New pilots are likely best served by playing to the Amarrian formula until they know when and how to break the rules.

PvE

Amarrian ships are more restricted when running missions than the other races. Within Amarr space, against the Blood Raiders and Sansha's Nation factions, Amarrian ships are probably the most effective of all (as is typical with the other empires). However, lasers only do Thermal and Electromagnetic damage, so other factions are more difficult to combat than would be the case for pilots from the other empires fighting in Amarrian space. This is a concern for some Eve University pilots who want to try missioning close to home, as the University is based in Minmatari space where Angels are the common faction but there are effective solutions, such as the Arbitrator (which relies on drones and could carry another empire's drones with proper training) or using alternative turret weapons systems (such as a Punisher with projectile turrets).

Amarr Skills General Information

The skills which are important to Amarr characters are the same skills which are crucial to every pilot who wants to use the same basic systems. There is already good information on Basic Skills and Support Skills elsewhere. So if you want maximize turret weapon damage you will train the same skills as other projectile or hybrid users (but pay particular attention to Controlled Bursts and Sharpshooter). Similarly the skills are the same for all pilots who want to survive with an armour tank, or use drones effectively, and all of this backed up by solid support and fitting skills (prioritize the capacitor skills Energy Systems Operation and Energy Management highly). Amarr pilots should aim for a [Full T2 Tank] early in their careers. Some Amarr ships can be shield tanked effectively, but these are more specialized builds (such as the PvP shield Harbinger) and often for T2 ships (such as the Curse).

Amarr pilots should eventually acquire T2 gunnery skills, though this is often done after having stepped into a battleship.

Tech 2 Energy Turrets

Here are the skills and prerequisites you will need to utilise a Tech 2 energy turret.

Each type of Energy Turret requires a specific specialization skill. Note that each larger size specializations will incorporate the smaller size specialization with all its prerequisites. Here they are with applicable prerequisites:

Beam Lasers

• Small Beam Laser Specialization
  • Small Energy Turret V
  • Sharpshooter III
• Medium Beam Laser Specialization
  • Small Beam Laser Specialization IV
  • Medium Energy Turret V
  • Sharpshooter IV
• Large Beam Laser Specialization
  • Medium Beam Laser Specialization IV
  • Large Energy Turret V
  • Sharpshooter V

Pulse Lasers

• Small Pulse Laser Specialization
  • Small Energy Turret V
  • Motion Prediction III
• Medium Pule Laser Specialization
  • Small Pulse Laser Specialization IV
  • Medium Energy Turret V
  • Motion Prediction IV
• Large Pulse Laser Specialization
  • Medium Pulse Laser Specialization IV
  • Large Energy Turret V
  • Motion Prediction V

Progression

A classic progression of Amarr ships would be to train for the Punisher, move to the Omen, skill up a Harbinger, and then move into battleships. This is certainly an effective way to go and puts the most emphasis on hard hitting lasers and hefty armour tanks. Unfortunately the Omen is a bit of a weak link in the chain as it is very difficult to fly well without high skills. But for minimum deviation straight to large ship excellence this can work.

Alternatives exist however. If the pilot wants to focus on EWAR, then laser skills can be replaced with drone skills and the path can go from Crucifier to Arbitrator as a stepping off point for Tech 2 EWAR ships (Sentinel, Curse and Pilgrim). Or for the truly different the Inquisitor leads to the Khanid line of Tech 2 short range missile ships (Vengeance and Sacrilege for damage together with other support ships like the Malediction or Heretic).

Cross Training

Cross training into or out of Amarr can be quite skill intensive. The easiest prospect is probably Gallente (armour tanking, gunnery and drone synergies) with Minmatar second (some gunnery and armour tanking synergies). Caldari have the fewest skills in common, despite Khanid missile ships at the Amarr Tech 2 level, and could require the most retraining.

However, the main benefit of cross training is to get more options for ship and fitting selection and being able to conform to fleet doctrine in both PvE (wormholes, incursions) and PvP. Thus, cross training into minmatar or caldari often gives the most benefit, to expand on ship selections capable of shield tanking. Cross training to Minmatar will give access to Blood Raider pirate faction ships. Cross training to Caldari will give access to Sansha ships. While cross training to Gallente will not give any access to pirate ships.

Related Links

• Basic skills and Support skills - Training support skills is a key step towards flying a ship well. Read up on support skills here.
• Fitting Guidelines - Some general guidelines for fitting ships.
• Fitting Modules and Rigs Guide - A list of rigs and module types with short descriptions.
• NPC damage types and NPC Ship Attributes - To see which resists to use and damage types to deal against NPC rats.
• Creating an Alt Hauler - Having an alt hauler can be useful for shopping trips during wartime, if you are living in highsec.

Ship Skill and Fitting Overviews -- Amarr | Caldari | Gallente | Minmatar | ORE | Pirate Factions