Griffin
RELATED UNI-WIKI REFERENCES
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The Griffin is much used by the Caldari Navy as a support vessel in combat squadrons, using its impressive array of electronic gadgetry to disrupt the operation of target ships, making them easy prey for traditional combat vessels. SHIP BONUSES
Caldari Frigate bonuses (per skill level):
Ship Attributes
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3 (3/1) 
5 
2
26 MW 
270 tf
315 m/sec
160 m³
Summary
The Griffin is the Caldari Tech 1 electronic warfare frigate, specializing in ECM. Although the Griffin is cheap and requires few character skills, it can have a significant battlefield impact.
ECM is a particularly powerful type of EWAR: a successfully jammed enemy loses all their target locks and cannot lock any ship other than their jammer for 20 seconds. This can reduce the damage directed at your fleet, prevent enemy logistics ships repairing their allies, and break tackle, allowing friendly ships to escape. In group PvP combat, the Griffin is a powerful force multiplier. Because of its cheap cost and low SP requirements, groups living in dangerous space often also keep spare Griffins in their hangars ready to jam tackle off when a friendly PvE ship is attacked; because these ships are used to pry tackling ships off, players sometimes colloquially call them "crowbars".
For new EVE players, flying this ship only requires training Caldari Frigate I, a skill which Caldari characters begin with and which can be quickly trained by anyone else; anyone who has completed the first six hours of the E-Uni Short Skill Plan can be basically functional in a Griffin. Griffin pilots who enjoy flying ECM can consider training for the Blackbird in the short term, and for the Kitsune, Rook and Falcon in the long term.
Skills
The Griffin is a fairly forgiving ship and new pilots need few skills to be effective in using it. There are, though, some skills which will further boost the Griffin's power, and anyone planning to use ECM often should consider training these. A key, obvious priority is the Caldari Frigate skill, which gives the ship +15% ECM strength and +12.5% ECM range per level. Electronic Warfare, which every character already has at level I after character creation, shaves 5% off the capacitor use of ECM modules per level.
Increasing the range of ECM and the target locking range of the ship also makes the Griffin more able to affect a whole battle, and increases its survivability (as it can fight from further away):
- Long Range Targeting: 5% greater targeting range per level.
- Long Distance Jamming: 10% greater ECM optimal range per level. Requires Electronic Warfare III.
- Frequency Modulation: 10% greater ECM falloff range per level. Requires Electronic Warfare II.
Pilots enthusiastic about ECM should also look towards training Signal Dispersion, which gives a further +5% bonus to ECM strength per level. This skill requires CPU Management V and Electronic Warfare IV, so it is a medium-term goal for enthusiasts, not a requirement for occasional Griffin pilots. Electronic Superiority Rigging mitigates the shield penalties incurred by adding rigs useful for ECM to a ship.
Tactics
New Griffin pilots can read the tactics section of the wiki's page on EWAR, and/or attend one of the Uni's Introduction to EWAR classes.
The Griffin is typically fitted with racially-specific ECM jammers. If the ECM target is not known before undocking, these are normally fitted in "rainbow" configuration with one jammer of each of the four types. Griffins often keep extra racially-specific jammers in their cargo, so that they can refit to jam specific targets if they receive intel before fighting. Signal Distortion Amplifier modules in the low slots increase ECM strength, and a MWD helps battlefield mobility. The Griffin cannot mount a useful tank without sacrificing its ECM modules, and cannot deal significant damage, so Griffins often have no tank or weapons. Rigs can extend the Griffin’s base lock range, or its ECM range, or both. It is important to make the ship’s lock range longer than its jammers' optimal, to maximize the practical operating range of the ship.
The following tips will prove useful in flying a Griffin:
- Warp into an engagement after your fleetmates. Let your opponents begin attacking others and make yourself an added complication to which they have to adjust.
- Know your operating range, and keep that distance from enemies.
- Match your jammers to your opponents’ racial sensor types. If you are flying a “rainbow”-fit Griffin, try to use the appropriate jammer on each opponent. The background colour of the ship image in the locked target window tells you which colour of jammer to use, so, for example, Minmatar ship icons always have red backgrounds, and red jammers are strong against them.
- Fight aligned and warp out to avoid damage. With no tank, a Griffin's best defence is often a quick warp away when enemies begin to target it (it is fine to warp on being targeted, rather than waiting for damage). Warp to a nearby celestial object, and then bounce back into the fight at your optimal range, using one of your allies as a warp-in point.
- Don't worry about "running away". By repeatedly bouncing out of a fight when targeted, you are disrupting the enemy fleet's plans and distracting them from your allies even when you are off-grid.
Notes
The griffin is a mythological lion-eagle hybrid beast, usually depicted with the body of a lion but the wings and head of an eagle. It originates in Middle Eastern and Mediterranean mythology, and has a long history in art and heraldry.
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