Amarr Basic Ship and Skill Overview: Difference between revisions

Amarr are one of the four character races, and like the others, have a distinct line of ships with specific quirks and capabilities.  Amarr ships use [[Armour tanking|armour tanking]] to protect themselves and primarily employ [[Turrets|turrets]], specifically Energy Turrets (lasers) to do damage.   

* Armour tanking is the most popular tanking method for PvP, and is also the norm for Gallente and some Minmatar ships (making it the standard for [[Spider Tanking|Remote Repairing]]).  Amarr ships have lots of base armour hp, and several ships have direct bonuses to armour resists (T1 examples: Punisher, Maller, Prophecy, and Abaddon).   

* Energy turrets are unique to Amarr vessels -- no other races' ships have bonuses for lasers. Lasers offer an excellent middle ground of good range, tracking, and damage when compared to either projectiles or hybrids, which tend to have either poor range or tracking. Frequency crystals, the laser ammo type, swap instantly and tech 1 crystals offer unlimited ammo. Non-laser ammo requires 10 seconds to change. However, lasers are limited to EM and Thermal damage, where hybrids have a mix of the more versatile Thermal and Kinetic damage, and missiles/projectiles can select damage types at will.

* Amarr pilots rely heavily on their capacitors. Lasers are highly cap-intensive, to such a degree that several Amarr vessels have laser capacitor usage bonuses instead of damage bonuses. Thus, Amarr ships tend to have larger capacitors than other races' ships, and many Amarr pilots prioritize capacitor skills.  

* Amarr are very effective at using [[Drones|drones]], offering the only non-Gallente hulls with drone bonuses.   

* Armour tanking tends to directly cut ships' speed, and, given that Amarr ships tend to have lower than average base speeds, tanked Amarr fits are often ponderous.  If, however, less tank is required Amarr ships' numerous low slots let them overtake even Minmatar ships at a cost, with the T2 Crusader interceptor beating out the Claw by a slim margin for the title of fastest racial frigate.

* The Amarr racial EWAR is tracking disruption, which reduces the optimal range, falloff, and tracking speed of hostile turrets. Tracking disruption is very difficult to counter, but is limited as it is only effective against ships with turrets; missile boats are essentially immune.

In PvP, Amarr ships have by now been a 'flavor of the month' for much more than a month, and can be extremely useful in nearly all roles.  Exceptional armour tanks, big capacitors and the excellent combination of damage and range offered by lasers all make Amarr ships popular for PvP.

* Note, however, that the E-Uni PvP roles of [[Tackling 101 Guide|tackler]] and [[EWar 101 Guide|EWAR]] can be difficult for new Amarr pilots as Amarr ships don't excel at these roles with low SP.  Amarr frigates have very few mid slots and the Punisher is quite slow while the Executioner is very fragile.  The Amarr EWAR is Tracking Disruption (TD) and, although it is extremely useful in certain circumstances, it has no effect on ships that do not use turrets to do damage.

In PvE, Amarr ships are more restricted when running [[Missions|missions]].  Due to the ability of lasers to only do Thermal and EM damage many of the rats become more difficult to combat then they would be otherwise.  Amarr ships remain extremely effective within Amarr space, against Blood Raider and Sansha NPCs in particular, but have a difficult time with other NPCs. This is a concern for some Eve University pilots, as the University is based in Minmatar space where Angel NPCs are more common.

Amarr ships tend to stick to the formula of lots of armour for defense and lots of lasers for damage, and there are have fewer 'special case' ships than there are in the other races' lineups (though there are some).  Amarr are sometimes thought to be -- from one point of view -- the 'simplest' race to fly.  Breaking the mould may be more restrictive and less rewarding than it is when flying other races' ships; the opportunities are there but they are more skill intensive and require greater sacrifices.  New pilots are best served by playing to the Amarr formula until they know when to break the rules.

Cross training into or out of Amarr can be more skill intensive than other cross training. The most viable prospects are Gallente (armour tanking, gunnery and drone synergies) and then Minmatar (some gunnery and armour tanking synergies).  Caldari have the fewest skills in common (T2 Khanid missile ships excepted) and would require near-complete retraining.