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.
Amarr General Information
The Amarr Empire is one of the four playable factions and, like the others, has a distinct line of ships with specific quirks and abilities.
Characteristics
The Amarr lineup is characterized by the following:
- Armour tanking. Amarrian ships have high base armour and several ships have direct bonuses to armour resistances (Tech 1 examples: Punisher, Maller, Prophecy, and Abaddon). Armour tanks can be extremely powerful in both PvP and PvE applications.
- Energy turrets. These are the standard for the majority of Amarrian damage dealing 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. Energy turrets (more usually 'lasers') offer an excellent combination of range and damage when compared with projectile or hybrid turrets. 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. Unfortunately this all comes at a price; there is no variation on damage types. Energy turrets use a great deal of capacitor and have poor tracking, as well as tending to be quite demanding on a hull's powergrid for fitting.
- Large Capacitors. Amarrian pilots rely heavily on their capacitors; lasers are heavy on the capacitor to such a degree that many Amarrian hulls have a bonus that decreases capacitor usage of Energy turrets. 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 often use low slots for tank or damage rather than speed modules. At the cost of tanking potential (or damage), a typical Amarrian hull's numerous low slots can be used to achieve a great deal of speed if desired.
- 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. Tracking disruption is fairly difficult to counter, however other forms of Electronic Warfare are often still preferred. The secondary form is Capacitor Warfare but bonuses to this are only found on Tech 2 hulls, with the exception of the new Amarr Destroyer, the Dragoon.
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). A classic progression of Amarr mission ships would be to train the Punisher and Coercer for level 1 missions, move to the Omen or Arbitrator for level 2 missions, then Harbinger for level 3 missions, and finally the Apocalypse for level 4 missions.
For salvaging, the Coercer can fill the role until the Noctis can be purchased.
In Wormholes, the Harbinger can run C1 and C2 combat sites, although it may have trouble with either range or tracking due to the variety of sleeper hulls that can orbit either close or far. Like the other turret-based BCs, the Harbinger does much better in fleets than solo for wormholes. C3 wormholes can also be done in a Harbinger with a fleet of sufficient size.
The Harbinger is the first T1 ship that can run Incursion Vanguard sites effectively, and the Abaddon can be used by more experienced players. The best armour incursion fleets in highsec currently run with T2 and T3 Amarr ships.
PvP
Exceptional tanks, large capacitors and a combination of good damage and range make Amarrian ships a firm favourite in armour fleets, though fits with shield tanks or alternate weapon systems also see some use. Most notably, the AHAC and Hellcat fleet doctrines are centered around Amarr ships.
At the basic level Amarr 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 races' line-ups. As a result Amarr are sometimes said to be the simplest race to fly. There are some good candidates for 'breaking the mould' even for a new player (Punisher fitted with Autocannon turrets is a classic) but they are more skill intensive and often require cross-training. New pilots are likely best served by playing to the Amarr formula until they know when and how to break the rules.
For PvP progression, there are countless possibilities, but the conventional roles are as follows:
Pilots who want to specialize in Damage Dealing will follow the laser hulls from Punisher, to Omen, Harbinger, and the Amarr Battleships (all three are effective in different roles)breaking off towards T2 hulls at some point.
EWAR specialists will follow a different path from cruicifier into arbitators before moving into T2 ship training.
In frigate hulls, the Punisher or Executioner are typically used for tackling, and the Crucifier for EW. In cruiser hulls, all four Amarr cruiser are fully capable. The Arbitrator makes an excellent dps or EWAR boat, while the Omen and Maller focus specifically on DPS. The Augoror is a very capable logistics ship. The Harbinger makes an excellent damage dealing battlecruiser. In battleship hulls, the Armageddon, Apocalypse, and Abaddon all have their uses. The Armageddon is used by pilots that do not wish to risk too much ISK with a short range pulse fit. The Apocalypse is used as a sniper (sometimes with a very weak tank to maximize damage potential). The Abaddon performs excellently in fleets with logi and other support.
Skills
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 gunnery support 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 such as Energy Systems Operation and Energy Management). Amarr pilots should aim for a full T2 armour tank early in their careers.
Amarr pilots should eventually acquire T2 energy weapon skills, though this is often done after having stepped into a battleship, or earlier in their career for dedicated PvPers.
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.
Later once pirate faction ships become a consideration, cross training to Minmatar will give access to Blood Raider pirate faction ships. Cross training to Caldari will give access to Sansha ships. There is no faction which uses Amarr and Gallente ship skills.
Ships
Here are the Amarr T1 ships. Please follow the links to the specific pages of the ship database for more details and particular fits.
Rookie Ship
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Role Bonus: The Impairor-class corvette has been mass-produced by the Amarr Empire for decades. It is the most common space vessel sighted within the Amarrian boundaries, and is used both as a basic trade vessel and as a small-scale slave transport. |
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. The Impairor can be used to go through the first tutorial missions, although upgrading to a frigate in the Military tutorial as soon as it is offered is recommended.
Frigate
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Amarr Frigate bonuses (per skill level): The Crucifier was first designed as an explorer/scout, but the current version employs the electronic equipment originally intended for scientific studies for more offensive purposes. The Crucifier's electronic and computer systems take up a large portion of the internal space leaving limited room for cargo or traditional weaponry. |
The Crucifier is the Amarr EWAR frigate, and works great as an extremely cheap long range EWAR platform for very new pilots.
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Amarr Frigate bonuses (per skill level): The Executioner is another newly commissioned ship of the Amarr Imperial Navy. The Executioner was designed specially to counter the small, fast raider frigates of the Minmatar Republic; thus it is different from most Amarr ships in favoring speed over defenses. With the Executioner, the Amarrians have expanded their tactical capabilities on the battlefield. |
The Executioner is the Amarr fast frigate. It can serve as a level 1 mission runner until Amarr Frigate III is trained for the Punisher and Destroyers I for the Coercer. The Executioner was buffed in the Inferno expansion, gaining an extra mid slot and a bonus to propulsion jamming so that it now resembles a T1 interceptor.
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Amarr Frigate bonuses (per skill level): In YC114 each major empire faction, having been embroiled in a harrowing, extensive, long-term war, recognized the growing need for support and logistics functionality in their vessels during the kind of protracted interstellar warfare that might otherwise prove exhausting for its participants. In the Amarr Empire, this led to the redesign and redeployment of the Inquisitor. |
The Inquisitor is the Amarr logistics frigate. It acquired this role in the Retribution expansion.
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Amarr Frigate bonuses (per skill level): This Magnate-class frigate is one of the most decoratively designed ship classes in the Amarr Empire, considered to be a pet project for a small, elite group of royal ship engineers for over a decade. The frigate's design has gone through several stages over the past decade, and new models of the Magnate appear every few years. The most recent versions of this ship – the Silver Magnate and the Gold Magnate – debuted as rewards in the Amarr Championships in YC105, though the original Magnate design is still a popular choice among Amarr pilots. |
Magnates are a perfect platform to practice probing skills which will come in handy later both for exploration and PvP probing.
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Amarr Frigate bonuses (per skill level): The Punisher is considered by many to be one of the best Amarr frigates in existence. As evidenced by its heavy armaments, the Punisher is mainly intended for large-scale military operations, acting in coordination with larger military vessels. With its damage output, however, it is also perfectly capable of punching its way right through unwary opponents. |
This is easily the most tenacious of the T1 frigates. Due to excellent armour HP together with the bonus to armour resistances and the 4 low slots, this platform can handle a surprising amount of damage for a T1 frigate. The Punisher's 3 turrets can give it decent dps, but its 2 Mid slots prevent it from fitting the tackling trinity: a propulsion module, a point, and a web.
Along with the Executioner, the Punisher is a popular E-UNI tackler for new Amarr pilots. However, it does not excel at this role due to the limited mid slots, low base velocity, and mediocre scan resolution.
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Amarr Frigate bonuses (per skill level): The Tormentor has been in service for many decades. For most of that time it saw service as a mining ship, its size barring it from making any kind of impact on the battlefield. As with most Amarr ships, however, its strong defenses always made it a tough opponent to crack, and with recent advances in turret capacitor use and damage output, its lasers have now stopped digging into dead ore and are instead focused on boring through the hulls of hapless vessels in combat. |
The role of the Tormentor was changed in the Inferno expansion from a mining frigate to that of attack frigate.
Destroyer
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Amarr Destroyer bonuses (per skill level): Noticing the alarming increase in Minmatar frigate fleets, the Imperial Navy made its plans for the Coercer, a vessel designed specifically to seek and destroy the droves of fast-moving frigate rebels. |
The Coercer sees some use in PvE activities or as a cheap Noctis substitute. It was recently changed in the Retribution patch to have two mid slots, possibly making it more viable for PvP.
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Amarr Destroyer bonuses (per skill level): The Dragoon follows old religious tenets - ones thought rather dark by the majority of the cluster, but found perfectly normal by Amarr minds - that to exist as God's chosen people means fulfilling a very definite and often forceful role. This includes not only imposing the will of God, often through the time-honored methods of mindless proxies, but also profiting, even being nourished, off the energies of others. |
The Dragoon was introduced in the Retribution expansion. It is a drone / ewar ship. It is the only T1 ship to have a bonus to energy neutralizer and energy vampire range.
Cruiser
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Amarr Cruiser bonuses (per skill level): The Arbitrator is unusual for Amarr ships in that it's primarily a drone carrier. While it is not the best carrier around, it has superior armor that gives it greater durability than most ships in its class. |
You can easily argue this is the most flexible and capable platform for Amarr T1 cruisers, and even make a strong case for it being the best T1 drone cruiser in the game. There are many effective configurations for both PvE and PvP with this ship.
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Amarr Cruiser bonuses (per skill level): In YC114 each major empire faction, having been embroiled in a harrowing, extensive, long-term war, recognized the growing need for support and logistics functionality in their vessels during the kind of protracted interstellar warfare that might otherwise prove exhausting for its participants. Both Frigate and Cruiser-class ships were put under the microscope, and in the Amarr Empire the outcome of the re-evaluation process led, among other developments, to a redesign and redeployment of the Augoror. |
The Augoror is the Amarr logistics cruiser. It is one of the two armor logistics cruisers, the other being the Gallente Exequror. While the Exequror is bonused for more of a solo role, the bonus to Energy Transfer amount on the Augoror means it works best when paired with one or more other logistics ships with an Energy Transfer bonus.
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Amarr Cruiser bonuses (per skill level): Quite possibly the toughest cruiser in the galaxy, the Maller is a common sight in Amarrian Imperial Navy operations. It is mainly used for military duty, although a few can be found in the private sector acting as escort ships for very important dispatches. |
The Maller was buffed in the Retribution patch to have a bonus to medium laser damage rather than a capacitor use bonus. It can obtain a good tank while retaining decent DPS. However, due to the lack of a capacitor use bonus, for PvE, an Omen might be a better choice for lower skilled players. The Maller is likely to become much more popular in PvP.
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Amarr Cruiser bonuses (per skill level): The Omen is a stereotypical example of the Amarrian School of thinking when it comes to ship design: thick armor and hard hitting lasers. Advancements in heat dissipation allow the Omen to fire its lasers faster than other ships without this technology. |
The Omen is one of the two dedicated DPS cruisers. It is more adept at speed tanking than the Maller because of the lower signature radius and higher base velocity.
Battlecruiser
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Amarr Battlecruiser bonuses (per skill level): Right from its very appearance on a battlefield, the Harbinger proclaims its status as a massive weapon, a laser burning through the heart of the ungodly. Everything about it exhibits this focused intent, from the lights on its nose and wings that root out the infidels, to the large number of turreted high slots that serve to destroy them. Should any heathens be left alive after the Harbinger's initial assault, its drones will take care of them. |
The Harbinger is an extremely capable Combat Battlecruiser and is well balanced with its competitors from the other races. It is the first real lazor powerhouse in the Amarr lineup.
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Amarr Battlecruiser bonuses (per skill level): In YC 113 Empress Jamyl Sarum I challenged Amarr ship manufacturers to build a new battlecruiser that would break the stalemate of the Empyrean War. Deviating from the doctrine of brute-force and heavy armor, the engineers at Viziam took inspiration from Caldari history. |
The Oracle is the Amarr Attack Battlecruiser.
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Amarr Battlecruiser bonuses (per skill level): The Prophecy is built on an ancient Amarrian warship design dating back to the earliest days of starship combat. Originally intended as a full-fledged battleship, it was determined after mixed fleet engagements with early prototypes that the Prophecy would be more effective as a slightly smaller, more mobile form of artillery support. |
The Prophecy is a Combat Battlecruiser that is primary focused on being a tanky drone carrier.
This ship underwent massive changes in Retribution 1.1, before that it had a terrible reputation.
Battleship
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Amarr Battleship bonuses (per skill level): The mighty Armageddon class is one of the enduring warhorses of the Amarr Empire. Once a juggernaut that steamrolled its way into battle, it has now taken on a more stately and calculated approach, sending out a web of drones in its place while it drains the enemy from a distance. |
The Armageddon is the lowest tier Amarr battleship. It can have 7 laser turrets and has a 125mb drone bandwidth and 125m3 bay, allowing it to field heavy or sentry drones if desired. The Armageddon's lower number of turret slots makes it easier on the capacitor than the Apocalypse. This along with the low price tag and extra low for more tank makes it a decent first battleship for new Amarr level 4 mission runners.
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Amarr Battleship bonuses (per skill level): In days past, only those in high favor with the Emperor could hope to earn the reward of commanding one of the majestic and powerful Apocalypse class battleships. In latter years, even though now in full market circulation, these golden, metallic monstrosities are still feared and respected as enduring symbols of Amarrian might. |
The Apocalypse is the second tier Amarr battleship. It has a bonus to optimal range that with the Amarr ability to switch crystals instantly can be turned in to a damage bonus quite easily. Pulse laser Apocalypses with T2 Scorch ammunition are able to deliver good damage at a decent distance. Apocalypses are also well suited to beam laser sniper fits. The Apocalypse has an extra turret slot over the Armageddon, giving it more damage. The Apocalypse does not have the raw firepower of the Abaddon however, but is an easier ship to skill for.
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Amarr Battleship bonuses (per skill level): The Abaddon class ship is a celestial tool of destruction. It is designed to enter combat from the outset, targeting enemies at range and firing salvo after salvo at them, and to remain intact on the battlefield until every heretic in sight has been torn to shreds. |
The Abaddon is the tier 3 Amarr battleship. It has a bonus to laser damage and armor resistances, but the normal bonus to laser capacitor use is conspicuously missing. This makes the Abaddon a "high skill" ship, because it requires good core skills to keep its lasers firing while powering its tank. The bonus to tank and the high damage makes the Abaddon a popular PvP ship, where its difficulty staying cap stable is also not so much of an issue.
Industrial
T1 industrials are useful to transport large amounts of cargo, but they are vulnerable to suicide ganks in highsec, and piracy in lowsec. For war time hauling, a hauling alt is recommended. See the Creating an Alt Hauler article for more information.
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Amarr Hauler bonuses (per skill level): The Sigil is a recent ship from Viziam based on an old slave transport design. |
There is really no reason to fly a Sigil as the Bestower has the same skill requirements and is better in nearly every way that counts.
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Amarr Hauler bonuses (per skill level): The Bestower has for decades been used by the Empire as a slave transport, shipping human labor between cultivated planets in Imperial space. As a proof to how reliable this class has been through the years, the Emperor has used an upgraded version of this very same class as transports for the Imperial Treasury. The Bestower has very thick armor and large cargo space. |
Arguably the best of the T1 industrials from a skill training time per cargo capacity perspective, the bestower is a favourite for alternate character hauling setups.
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.
