The Mechanic category contains most of the key skills for armor tanking, all of the rigging skills and a number of construction skills.
Most combat pilots will want to train some at least of the armor tanking skills.
While you can use rigs without training the relevant skills for them if you get someone else to fit the rigs for you, the rigging skills do reduce rigs' associated drawbacks and make logistics much easier (since you don't need to have someone around to fit rigs for you all the time). The weapon rigging skills function almost like fitting skills, since weapon rigs increase your weapons' fitting requirements and the associated rigging skills then reduce that drawback.
Armor Rigging
| 3x | |
| 250k ISK | |
| III | |
| Jury Rigging III | |
| Armor rigs' drawback is a speed penalty. |
Astronautics Rigging
| 3x | |
| 125k ISK | |
| III | |
| Jury Rigging III | |
| Astronautics rigs' drawback is a reduction in armor hitpoints. |
Battleship Construction
| Battleship Construction | |
| <span style="cursor: help;" title="The skillbook for this skill costs Battleship Construction ISK">Battleship Construction ISK | |
| <span style="cursor: help;" title="Alpha pilot can train and use this skill to at most level Unknown">Unknown | |
| Cruiser Construction IV, Frigate Construction IV | |
Capital Remote Armor Repair Systems
| 10x | |
| 10M ISK | |
| Alpha pilot can not train this skill. | |
| Remote Armor Repair Systems V | |
Capital Remote Hull Repair Systems
| 10x | |
| 10M ISK | |
| Alpha pilot can not train this skill. | |
| Remote Hull Repair Systems V | |
Capital Repair Systems
| 8x | |
| 20M ISK | |
| Alpha pilot can not train this skill. | |
| Mechanic V, Hull Upgrades V, Repair Systems V | |
Capital Ship Construction
| 14x | |
| 75M ISK | |
| Alpha pilot can not train this skill. | |
| Mechanic V, Industry V, Production Efficiency V | |
Cruiser Construction
| Cruiser Construction | |
| <span style="cursor: help;" title="The skillbook for this skill costs Cruiser Construction ISK">Cruiser Construction ISK | |
| <span style="cursor: help;" title="Alpha pilot can train and use this skill to at most level Unknown">Unknown | |
| Frigate Construction IV, Mechanic III | |
Drones Rigging
| 3x | |
| 250k ISK | |
| III | |
| Jury Rigging III | |
| Drone rigs' drawback is a CPU penalty. |
Electronic Superiority Rigging
| 3x | |
| 250k ISK | |
| III | |
| Jury Rigging III | |
| Electronics superiority rigs' drawback is a shield hitpoint reduction. |
EM Armor Compensation
| 2x | |
| 150k ISK | |
| II | |
| Hull Upgrades IV | |
| This doesn't help active hardeners much (since it only works when they're turned off!) but can really help passive hardeners, which see some use in PvP fits. A PvP-focused armor-tanking pilot should train this skill and the three other 'X Armor Compensation' skills to III or IV in the medium-long term. |
Energy Weapon Rigging
| 3x | |
| 250k ISK | |
| III | |
| Jury Rigging | |
| Energy weapon rigs' drawback is an increased CPU demand from your lasers. |
Explosive Armor Compensation
| 2x | |
| 150k ISK | |
| II | |
| Hull Upgrades IV | |
| This doesn't help active hardeners much (since it only works when they're turned off!) but can really help passive hardeners, which see some use in PvP fits. A PvP-focused armor-tanking pilot should train this skill and the three other 'X Armor Compensation' skills to III or IV in the medium-long term. |
Frigate Construction
| Frigate Construction | |
| <span style="cursor: help;" title="The skillbook for this skill costs Frigate Construction ISK">Frigate Construction ISK | |
| <span style="cursor: help;" title="Alpha pilot can train and use this skill to at most level Unknown">Unknown | |
| Mechanic I | |
Hull Upgrades
| 2x | |
| 85k ISK | |
| V | |
| Mechanic I | |
| The raw armor hitpoints bonus from this skill is very useful. Level IV lets you use T2 Damage Controls (making this an essential train for any PvP fitting); level V lets you use T2 Energized Adaptive Nano Membranes, so to fit a full T2 armor tank you will probably need to train this to V. Which you should probably do anyway for the hitpoints bonus. |
Hybrid Weapon Rigging
| File:Attribute1.pngFile:Attribute2.png | |
| 3x | |
| 250k ISK | |
| III | |
| none | |
Industrial Construction
| File:Attribute1.pngFile:Attribute2.png | |
| Industrial Construction | |
| <span style="cursor: help;" title="The skillbook for this skill costs Industrial Construction ISK">Industrial Construction ISK | |
| <span style="cursor: help;" title="Alpha pilot can train and use this skill to at most level Unknown">Unknown | |
| none | |
Jury Rigging
| File:Attribute1.pngFile:Attribute2.png | |
| 2x | |
| 75k ISK | |
| III | |
| none | |
Kinetic Armor Compensation
| File:Attribute1.pngFile:Attribute2.png | |
| 2x | |
| 150k ISK | |
| II | |
| none | |
Launcher Rigging
| File:Attribute1.pngFile:Attribute2.png | |
| 3x | |
| 250k ISK | |
| III | |
| none | |
Mechanic
| File:Attribute1.pngFile:Attribute2.png | |
| Mechanic | |
| <span style="cursor: help;" title="The skillbook for this skill costs Mechanic ISK">Mechanic ISK | |
| <span style="cursor: help;" title="Alpha pilot can train and use this skill to at most level Unknown">Unknown | |
| none | |
Nanite Interfacing
| File:Attribute1.pngFile:Attribute2.png | |
| 3x | |
| 5M ISK | |
| Alpha pilot can not train this skill. | |
| none | |
Nanite Operation
| File:Attribute1.pngFile:Attribute2.png | |
| 2x | |
| 1M ISK | |
| Alpha pilot can not train this skill. | |
| none | |
Outpost Construction
| File:Attribute1.pngFile:Attribute2.png | |
| 16x | |
| 100M ISK | |
| Alpha pilot can not train this skill. | |
| none | |
Projectile Weapon Rigging
| File:Attribute1.pngFile:Attribute2.png | |
| 3x | |
| 250k ISK | |
| III | |
| none | |
Remote Armor Repair Systems
| File:Attribute1.pngFile:Attribute2.png | |
| 2x | |
| 100k ISK | |
| III | |
| none | |
Remote Hull Repair Systems
| File:Attribute1.pngFile:Attribute2.png | |
| 2x | |
| 125k ISK | |
| II | |
| none | |
Repair Systems
| File:Attribute1.pngFile:Attribute2.png | |
| 1x | |
| 45k ISK | |
| V | |
| none | |
Salvaging
| File:Attribute1.pngFile:Attribute2.png | |
| 3x | |
| 1M ISK | |
| III | |
| none | |
Shield Rigging
| File:Attribute1.pngFile:Attribute2.png | |
| 3x | |
| 250k ISK | |
| III | |
| none | |
Tactical Logistics Reconfiguration
| File:Attribute1.pngFile:Attribute2.png | |
| 8x | |
| 25M ISK | |
| Alpha pilot can not train this skill. | |
| none | |
Thermic Armor Compensation
| File:Attribute1.pngFile:Attribute2.png | |
| Thermic Armor Compensation | |
| <span style="cursor: help;" title="The skillbook for this skill costs Thermic Armor Compensation ISK">Thermic Armor Compensation ISK | |
| <span style="cursor: help;" title="Alpha pilot can train and use this skill to at most level Unknown">Unknown | |
| none | |