Missiles
Missiles are an unusual weapon system, different to the three kinds of turret. This page explains the different kinds of missile and missile launcher, and the factors which control missile damage.
The Caldari are the main missile-using race, though there are a few Minmatar and Gallente ships, and a few T2 Amarr ships, which also use missiles.
Overview
Like turrets, missile launchers come in small, medium, large and extra-large sizes (for frigates and destroyers; cruisers and battlecruisers; battleships; and capital ships, respectively). Missile launchers do not use capacitor to fire.
Within each size there is usually a kind of launcher that fires short-ranged, high-DPS missiles, and a kind of launcher that fires long-ranged missiles that do less DPS. Frigates, for example, can mount rocket launchers -- which fire short-ranged, higher-DPS rockets -- or standard missile launchers -- which fire longer-ranged, lower-DPs light missiles.
The long-ranged varieties of missiles are 'guided' and the short-ranged varieties of missile are 'unguided'. This distinction isn't that significant -- you don't have to manually aim rockets! -- but there are a few things in the game which only apply to one kind, such as the Guided Missile Precision skill.
Warheads
Each type of missile comes with four different warheads. Each one does one of the four different damage types (electromagnetic, thermal, kinetic and explosive); other than that, they are identical. So, for instance, you can buy Bloodclaw (kinetic), Flameburst (thermal), Piranha (explosive) and Sabretooth (EM) light missiles.
Such variety can be bewildering at first, but the warheads are actually color-coded in the images on the market screen and in your cargo hold: blue warheads are EM, red warheads are thermal, green warheads are kinetic and yellow ones are explosive.
Faction missiles (like the Caldari Navy Sabretooth) are available and offer a useful increase in DPS for a price. They're unlikely to be worth it in PvE, but if you're flying as a damage-dealer in PvP it's a good idea to invest in one or two magazines' worth of them if you can afford it.
T2 Missiles
Just as there are T2 ammo types that only T2 turrets can fire, so there are T2 missiles that only T2 launchers can fire.
Unguided T2 missiles come in two varieties: Javelin and Rage. (These names appear within the missile name on the market, so you would look for a Foxfire Javelin Rocket or a Foxfire Rage Rocket.) Javelin missiles have a better range (see below for an explanation of missile range) but reduced damage, and loading them reduces your ship's maximum speed. Rage missiles do more damage but have a shorter range, and loading them increases your ship's signature radius.
Guided T2 missiles also come in two varieties: Precision and Fury. (Again, this means on the market you look for Sabretooth Precision Light Missiles and Sabretooth Fury Light Missiles, for example.) Precision missiles have an easier time hurting smaller targets, but they have lower ranges and damage than their T1 equivalents, and loading them reduces your ship's maximum speed. Fury missiles do more damage but at a somewhat reduced range, and loading them increases your ship's signature radius.
Missile Characteristics
Range
Missile range is simpler than turret range, because missiles don't have a combination of optimal and falloff, but it's also less obvious, because you don't see a figure for it when you show info on your missiles. You can get a rough (over)estimate of missile range by multiplying the missile's Max Velocity figure (in metres-per-second) with its Max Flight Time (in seconds) -- so a missile that flies for 10s at 3,000m/s will have a range of about 30,000m, or 30km.
Velocity and flight time will be modified by your skills (see below) and possibly by ship bonuses too (the Caracal, for example, has a per-level bonus to missile velocity).
However, missiles don't generally fly straight in one direction to hit a stationary target. If your target is not staying still your missiles must chase them around, which may reduce their range somewhat. Furthermore, missiles aren't launched at their top speed -- they have to accelerate for a bit, which also reduces their range.
The Eve Fitting Tool can give you an estimated range with your skills.
Damage
Every missile has a base figure for damage. It also has an explosion velocity (in m/s) and an explosion radius (in metres). When it hits a target, these figures interact with the target's velocity (also in m/s) and signature radius (also in metres) to determine the real damage dealt.
If the target's signature radius is smaller than the missile's explosion radius, there will be a penalty to the missile's damage. There is no damage bonus when the target's signature radius is larger than the missile's explosion radius, however -- this is mostly a mechanism to make sure that the missiles used by large ships aren't too effective against small ships.
Target Painters aimed at the target, varius modules such as shield extenders and active Microwarpdrives fitted on the target can increase the target's signature radius. Rigor Catalyst rigs will reduce your missiles' explosion radius. The previously-mentioned Guided Missile Precision skill reduces the explosion radius of your guided missiles (but not your unguided ones).
If the target's velocity is higher than the missile's explosion velocity there will be a penalty to the missile's damage. Again, there is no damage bonus when the target's velocity is lower than the missile's explosion velocity.
Stasis webifiers will slow a target down. You can also fit Flare Catalyst rigs to increase your missiles' explosion velocity. Target Navigation Prediction will reduce the effect of your target's velocity.
Kinds of Missile
In the tables all figures are base figures for the standard T1 missile, not modified by any pilot skills or ship bonuses. The figure for refire rate is included because sometimes the difference in DPS between short- and long-ranged varieties of missile is in the rate of fire not the pure damage. The figure is the base refire rate of the vanilla T1 Meta 0 launcher.
Small
| Missile | Flight Time (s) | Max Speed (m/s) | Damage | Exp. Velocity (m/s) | Exp. Radius (m) | Refire Rate (s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rocket | 2 | 2,250 | 25 | 85 | 20 | 4 |
| Light Missile | 5 | 3,750 | 75 | 170 | 50 | 15/12† |
† Light missiles can be loaded in Standard Launchers or Assault Missile Launchers (not to be confused with Heavy Assault Missile Launchers). AMLs are cruiser-sized anti-frigate launchers: they fit on cruisers and battlecruisers, but fire light missiles.
- Rocket Launchers are widely derided for their pitiful DPS. One is sometimes fitted as a supplementary weapon in some Rifter fits. One AF, the Vengeance, is designed to use rockets, and it is (predictably) derided for its pitiful DPS.
- Standard Launchers work well in Level 1 missions on a Kestrel. In PvP the Kestrel and the Crow can try to use the range of light missiles to kite other frigates.
- Assault Missile Launchers ("AMLs") go very nicely on a Caracal to make an anti-frigate platform for Level 2 missions, or for frigate-hunting in PvP. They are also sometimes fitted as supplementary weapons on Ruptures and Hurricanes.
Medium
| Missile | Flight Time (s) | Max Speed (m/s) | Damage | Exp. Velocity (m/s) | Exp. Radius (m) | Refire Rate (s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heavy Assault Missile | 4 | 2,250 | 100 | 101 | 125 | 8 |
| Heavy Missile | 10 | 3,750 | 150 | 81 | 125 | 15 |
- Heavy Assault Missile ("HAM") Launchers have high fitting requirements, so high that once you've used a Caracal's rig and low slots to get enough grid and CPU to fit them, you don't get very good DPS. They work well on a PvP Drake, however. The Sacrilege HAC has bonuses specifically for HAMs.
- Heavy Missile Launchers ("Heavies", "HMLs") are the standard weapon for Level 3-running Drakes. The Cerberus HAC can use them to snipe, sort-of.
Large
| Missile | Flight Time (s) | Max Speed (m/s) | Damage | Exp. Velocity (m/s) | Exp. Radius (m) | Refire Rate (s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Torpedo | 6 | 1,500 | 450 | 71 | 450 | 18 |
| Cruise Missile | 20 | 3,750 | 300 | 69 | 300 | 22 |
- Siege Missile Launchers ("Sieges"), the launchers for torpedoes ("torps") are fitted on PvP Ravens for close-up DPS, and on Typhoons for an armor-RR-capable missile platform. The Golem marauder has bonuses which let it use torpedoes with long ranges in PvE.
- The stealth bombers are T2 frigates with special fitting bonuses which let them fit siege launchers for high-alpha surprise attacks. Since bombs can't be used in empire space this is the stealth bomber's only weapon in highsec and lowsec.
- Cruise Missile Launchers are the PvE weapons for the Raven and in some unusual PvE Typhoon fits.
Extra Large
| Missile | Flight Time (s) | Max Speed (m/s) | Damage | Exp. Velocity (m/s) | Exp. Radius (m) | Refire Rate (s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Citadel Torpedo | 15 | 1,750 | 2,000 | 20 | 2,000 | 26 |
| Citadel Cruise Missile | 20 | 4,250 | 1,500 | 29 | 1,750 | 44 |
- These are for capital ships, particularly the Phoenix dreadnought. They can be supplementary weapons on the Leviathan titan. Like other XL weapons, they are good against stationary installations and other capital ships, but struggle to hurt battleships and anything smaller.
Defender Missiles
Defender missiles are anti-missile missiles. There is only one kind, which can be loaded in any missile launcher. Defenders only target missiles fired at the ship that launches them. They always target the closest of incoming missiles. They have a base speed of 7,500m/s and a base flight time of 10s.
Defenders are unpopular and not very useful. This is because:
- PvE rats usually don't major on missiles.
- Defenders have a better chance to intercept long range missiles which spend more time arriving, but most uses of missiles in PvP involve short range missiles.
- If there's a group of missiles from grouped missile launchers, defenders attack the missiles one by one rather than attacking the whole stack.
So loading defenders tends to be less efficient than simply loading damage-dealing missiles and trying to kill the enemy before they kill you. Agony Unleashed have, however, reportedly found that a defender launcher on an interceptor can help it to stay alive a little longer while holding a missile ship down.
Friend or Foe Missiles
Friend or Foe (FoF) missiles, found under 'auto-targeting' in the market menus, are missiles which don't need you to be locked on to a target. When launched they attack a randomly-selected hostile target within range.
There are only FoF versions of the three guided kinds of missile -- light, heavy and cruise missiles -- which can be loaded into their correspoding launchers. Each version comes with the usual four different warheads for four different kinds of damage.
| Missile | Flight Time (s) | Max Speed (m/s) | Damage | Exp. Velocity (m/s) | Exp. Radius (m) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FoF Light Missile | 5 | 3,750 | 56 | 170 | 50 |
| FoF Heavy Missile | 10 | 3,750 | 113 | 81 | 125 |
| FoF Cruise Missile | 20 | 3,750 | 225 | 69 | 300 |
As you can see, FoF missiles have the same flight characteristics and explosion profiles as their normal cousins, but do a bit less damage.
FoF missiles are rarely useful, but they can help if you can't target because of ECM jamming or (more rarely) sensor dampeners, particularly if you only have a few enemies (the fewer enemies you have, the better the chance that your FoFs will hit the one you want them to hit).
Usage Notes
PvE: Dominance
[quick to train and selectable damage types]
PvP: The Delayed Damage Problem
[notes on both sides of the debate, and a hopefully balanced ruling]
Missile Skills Summary
[list of skills that affect missiles]
Further Reading
- A flash-based interactive guide to missiles which lets you play around with different signature radii and explosion velocities.
- Turrets and Drones for Eve's other main weapon systems.
