The Amarr Basic Ship and Skill Guide is intended to give fitting and skill recommendations for Amarr ships in both Player vs. Environment (PVE) and Player vs. Player (PVP) encounters.

A wiki article is never truly finished. This guide's Discussion Thread is on the Eve University forum. Please direct comments, suggestions, and corrections to that thread. If your favourite ship is missing a fitting make sure you get it added.

10 reasons to fly Amarr

Amarr is the best because it is. You can't argue with simple truth.
Freak'n LAZORS!!!
Men armour tank. Shields or whatever is the red bar above your manly tank.
Amarr discovered how to jump around space. So everyone else would be stuck on boring planets without us anyways.
Did anyone mention the freak'n lazors?
There is no six and this is because we Amarr decided it would be that way.
Symmetry anyone?
Have you seen the Amarr Battleship lineup? If you were locked at the time then not for long.
We haz Lazors.
Amarr have enslaved every other race they have encountered. 'Nuff said.

Amarr General Information

Amarr are one of the four character races, and like the others, have a distinct line of ships with specific quirks and capabilities. The Amarr lineup is characterized by the following:

Armour tanking. This is the most popular tanking method for PvP, and is also the norm for Gallente and some Minmatar ships (making it the standard for Remote Repairing). Amarr ships have high base armour, and several ships have direct bonuses to armour resists (T1 examples: Punisher, Maller, Prophecy, and Abaddon).

Energy turrets. These are unique to Amarr vessels. Laser turrets offer an excellent combination of range, tracking, and damage when compared with projectiles or hybrids (the other types of turret weapon systems). Frequency crystals, the laser ammo type, can be changed instantly and Tech 1 crystals are unlimited ammunition as they never degrade or shatter. However, lasers are limited to EM and Thermal damage and use large amounts of capacitor.

Capacitor. Amarr pilots rely heavily on their capacitors. Lasers are highly cap-intensive, to such a degree that some 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.

Drones. Amarr are very effective at using drones, offering the only hulls with drone bonuses outside of the Gallente lineup.

Speed. Amarr ships tend to have lower than average base speeds, and, given that Armour tanking tends to directly compromise ships' speed, 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.

EWAR. The Amarr primary racial EWAR is tracking disruption (TD), 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; it has no affect on ships dealing damage with missiles or drones. The secondary racial EWAR is Capacitor Warfare but bonuses to this are only found on T2 platforms which are beyond the scope of this guide.

PvP

Amarr ships have been a PvP '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 laser turrets excellent combination of damage and range make Amarr ships popular for PvP.

Note, however, that the E-Uni starting PvP roles of tackler and 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 primary EWAR is Tracking Disruption (TD) and, although it is extremely useful in certain circumstances, it has no effect on ships that use missiles or drones for damage.

Amarr ships tend to stick to the formula of lots of armour for defense and lots of lasers for damage, and there are fewer 'exceptions to the rule' than there are in the other races' lineups. Because of this 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 and how to break the rules.

PvE

Amarr ships are more restricted when running missions than the other races. Within Amarr space, against Blood Raider and Sansha NPC factions, Amarr ships are arguably the most effective of all. Since lasers only do Thermal and EM damage any other rats become more difficult to combat then they would be otherwise. This is a concern for some Eve University pilots who want to try missioning close to home, as the University is based in Minmatar space where Angel NPCs are more common. There are many effective work arounds to be discovered though, such as the Arbitrator PvE fittings or using alternative turret weapons systems.

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).

Here are a couple skill sets to consider as goals:

Tech 2 Tank

Here are the skills and prerequisites you will need to utilise a Tech 2 Armour Tank - something you will want to aspire to if you plan to PvP or Mission as an Amarr pilot.

Tech 2 Armour Tank Skills
Hull Upgrades at level V Mechanic at level V Repair Systems at level IV Jury Rigging at level III Armor Rigging at level I

You will want to learn the compensation skills to a minimum of 3, and preferably higher, to maximize your tank.

Armour Compensation Skills
EM Armor Compensation Explosive Armor Compensation Kinetic Armor Compensation Thermic Armor Compensation

Tech 2 Energy Turrets

Here are the skills and prerequisites you will need to utilise a Tech 2 Energy Turret - because that means more pew pew!

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 most viable 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.