Cloak trick

The cloak trick is a maneuver that allows a ship to align and gain enough speed while cloaked so that the pilot may then near-instantly warp off after uncloaking.

The cloak trick maneuver takes advantage of the secondary effects of cloaking devices to reach 75% of maximum velocity (and thus enter warp) more quickly than would normally be possible. This maneuver is primarily used to avoid being targeted after jumping through a gate by aligning whilst cloaked.

What is it?

The 'cloak trick' is not really a trick or exploit, but rather a straightforward technique that enables pilots to align while cloaked while also reaching the speed necessary to jump to warp almost instantly after uncloaking. It's used most often after jumping through a gate. General information on cloaking can be found at the Cloaking article.

Modules required

You will need:

• one Improved Cloaking Device II or better (not a Prototype Cloaking Device)
• one Microwarpdrive of the correct size for your ship. That is: 5MN for frigates and destroyers, 50MN for cruisers, battlecruisers and haulers, and 500MN for battleships
• the shortcuts for these should be placed somewhere easily accessible, as you will need to hit them pretty quickly

You should not use:

• a Prototype Cloaking Device - the speed penalty of 90% (compared to 75% for Improved Cloaking Device II) means you cannot reach the required speed to warp instantly after uncloaking, so you will spend a few seconds uncloaked.
• a smaller-sized microwarpdrive - doesn't give enough velocity bonus
• an afterburner - for most ships, AB doesn't give enough velocity bonus. But there are many exceptions. See can I use an afterburner? below.
• an  Orca - the Orca CAN do the cloak trick, but it requires special treatment, including overheating the 500MN MWD to provide enough velocity in combination with good skills. With perfect skills / fit / implants and a faction MWD, it's possible to to pull off the cloak trick in an Orca without overheating. See below.

Can I use an Afterburner?

For most ships, an afterburner doesn't give enough velocity bonus to be suitable for the cloak trick, and using an oversized AB doesn't always work because it also increases mass, which will reduce acceleration.

However, this is not true for nimble ships, those with an align time under about 5 seconds. For these ships an afterburner is a fine option, and offers a few advantages. Before using an AB for the cloak trick, always test in your desired fit first before attempting in dangerous space.

The advantages are that you can achieve warp faster because of the shorter cycle time of the afterburner (as low as 7.5 seconds with Afterburner V). But this is a double-edged sword -- usually you don't want to train to Afterburner V because the shorter cycle time gives less time to achieve necessary speed. Usually Afterbuner IV is enough. Another advantage is that you can activate an afterburner before the cloak, because there is no signature radius bloom like with a MWD, which gives a tiny bit more time to increase velocity before the cloak speed penalty is applied.

How does it work?

Do these things in this order after jumping through a stargate or wormhole. Although you can do MWD then cloak (or do both at once), it is not recommended as having your MWD active before your cloak is a bad idea due to the signature radius bloom and the likelihood of spending more time uncloaked.

1. Hit align to your point of interest.
2. Immediately after hit the cloak.
3. Immediately after you hit cloak hit your MWD (this does work, you can activate non-offensive modules for 5 seconds after you activate a cloaking device).
4. When your MWD cycle is about 90-95% complete, deactivate your cloak and spam warp to your point of interest.
5. The MWD will deactivate automatically, and when it does you will instantly enter warp.

While you are cloaked the cloak will apply 75% speed penalty but at the same time the MWD boosts your speed by 500%. As a result your ship is able to reach at minimum 75% of its unmodified top speed in the ten seconds of single MWD cycle while cloaked. And since you hit align before the cloak you will be aligned and at warp speed when the cloak drops. So when you deactivate the cloak (right before the MWD cycle is complete) the ship is able to enter warp immediately. This equals near insta-warp. With practice, you can be uncloaked for literally less than a second total on a gate. Practice in high-sec and you will find this is actually pretty easy and effective.

Video demonstrations:

• MWD Cloak Video 1, Basic Instruction (5:44)
• MWD Cloak Video 2, Detailed Instruction (15:52)

Countering the Cloak Trick

The cloak trick does not make you immune to destruction when jumping through dangerous space.

In crowded High-sec systems, including those with numerous Concord or Empire ships around gates, those numerous ships can easily cause you to de-cloak due to proximity. Any object within 2,000m will cause cloak to drop. Other gatecamping techniques, such as rushing your (momentarily) visible ship with drones after gate cloak drops, or rushing you with a fast ship, can also trigger the cloak to drop from proximity.

Ships of all sizes but especially large slow ships are also vulnerable to bumping, meaning if a larger ship is able to "ram" you while you are cloak + aligning, you will uncloak and temporarily be unable to achieve proper alignment. For these reasons, the cloak trick will not provide guaranteed protection in dangerous space or in crowded gates.

Cloak Trick with Larger Ships

Part of the requirement to make the cloak trick work is to have a size-appropriate microwarpdrive, 5MN for a frigate, 50MN for a cruiser, 500MN for a battleship etc.

Using with Haulers

The "fast" Haulers ( Sigil,  Badger,  Wreathe, and  Nereus) and the  Hoarder are able to easily fit 50MN MWDs and cloaking devices in addition to their tank and cargohold fittings.

The  Porpoise can also easily fit a MWD and Cloak, and with proper skills and fitting the nimble Porpoise can even use the cloak trick with only an afterburner, decreasing the time to warp by about 2 seconds compared to a MWD. A Porpoise is similar to a Miasmos in mining hold capacity and also has a fleet hanger, and the ability to use the cloak trick with an afterburner gives it more survivability in low sec space.

The other high volume haulers (  Bestower,  Tayra,  Kryos,  Epithal,  Miasmos,  Iteron Mark V and  Mammoth) struggle with necessary powergrid available to fit a 50MN MWD, with some not being able to fit at all without without extensive fitting for extra powergrid and higher skills. In many cases it's necessary to use the 50MN YT-8 Compact Microwarpdrive because it has significantly lower Powergrid requirements. You shouldn't count on being able to do the cloak trick with most these ships without sacrificing cargo capacity and/or tank. If struggling to fit, low slots and/or rig slots may be needed for powergrid modules/rigs in order to have enough powergrid with low engineering skills.

The Orca

The  Orca is considered by some to be a capital-class sized ship, but by mass it is really in line with T2 Marauders at about 150 million kg. Still, with low overall agility and long align time, executing the cloak trick in an Orca is more difficult than other ships. But it is very possible with the correct setup.

The Orca can still use the cloak trick by overheating a 500MN Microwarpdrive II, in combination with good Navigation Skills (Spaceship Command V, Evasive Maneuvering V, Acceleration Control IV at least) and/or agility skill hardwiring implants (Eifyr and Co. 'Rogue' Evasive Maneuvering and Eifyr and Co. 'Rogue' Acceleration Control). Repairing a damaged 500MN MWD takes a lot of nanite repair paste, so keep plenty on hand. Do not attempt to use the cloak trick in your Orca in dangerous space without testing it with your skills & fit in safe space first. With perfect skills and blinged-out fit & implants (including faction MWD, and possibly a faction cloak), it is possible to use the cloak trick in an Orca without overheating the MWD.

It is still dangerous to bring an Orca into lowsec space or lower, even armed with the cloak trick, because the cloak trick can be countered. Alongside the very slow warp speed of an Orca, it's very likely if you are discovered you will be followed and harassed at every gate until you exit dangerous space.

Capitals

For normal capital ships (carriers, dreadnoughts, force auxiliaries, supercarriers, titans and the  Rorqual) there are capital sized 50,000MN microwarpdrives, that can allow them to do the same microwarpdrive + cloak trick, although they have a cycle-time of 20 seconds (instead of the usual 10 seconds) and might require additional agility modules to ensure they get the speed up in time.

Some of the smaller capital ships, like carriers and dreadnoughts, can also use the undersized 500MN microwarpdrives to align in ~15 seconds by pulsing the microwarpdrive once then warp shortly after. While they are normally not agile enough to warp in 10 seconds flat, it's usually much faster than aligning normally or through the use of an appropriately sized 50,000MN microwarpdrive due to its cycle time of 20 seconds.

Freighters

The four main faction Freighters and Jump Freighters are unable to utilize the cloak trick due to not having any medium or high fitting slots, and thus cannot equip a cloak or MWD regardless.

Additionally, the newly introduced  Avalanche despite having 6 high slots cannot use the cloak trick because it is restricted from use cloaking devices in its Role Bonuses. Despite this, an Avalanche can still achieve a 10-second align time to warp by using a 500MN MWD with perfect skills, implants, and fitting, but it cannot do so while cloaked.

See also

• Advanced Piloting Techniques
• Scouting
• Cloaking
• Cargo Hauling with the Cloak Trick