Natural resistances
Every ship has a certain natural resistance to incoming damage. These resistances, quoted as a percentage of damage resisted for each of the four damage types, form the shield, armor and hull resistance profiles. Tech I ships from the same faction generally have the same natural resistances, but this rule does not apply to Tech II or Tech III ships.
Hull resistances
All ships have natural 33% hull resistance.
Tech I shield resistances
EM |
Thermal |
Kinetic |
Explosive |
---|---|---|---|
0% | 20% | 40% | 50% |
T1 ships generally have the same natural shield resistances: 0%/20%/40%/50% (respectively EM/Thermal/Kinetic/Explosive - this order will be used throughout this page).
Some Special Edition T1 ships have a different shield resistance profile. For example, ships from the Society of Conscious Thought generally have a 27.5/27.5/27.5/27.5 (even) profile, although the Apotheosis shuttle has the regular 0/20/40/50.
T1 ships with shield resistance bonuses
Some Caldari ships and all Guristas ships (except the titan) have a bonus to their shield resistances. The bonus resistance is 4% for each level of the pilot's applicable Caldari ship skill.
The Caldari ships with this bonus are the Merlin, Moa, Drake, Rokh, Scorpion Navy Issue, the Phoenix, and the three carriers.
Tech I armor resistances
A T1 ship's natural armor resistance profile is determined by the race of the ship.
Armor resist profile | Empire faction | Other factions | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
50% | 35% | 25% | 20% | ||||
50% | 45% | 25% | 10% | ||||
50% | 35% | 35% | 10% | ||||
60% | 35% | 25% | 10% |
Faction | Enemy | Enemy damage type | |
---|---|---|---|
Primary | Secondary | ||
Exp |
Kinetic | ||
Thermal |
Kinetic | ||
Kinetic |
Thermal | ||
EM |
Thermal |
Classes | Bonuses | |
---|---|---|
Primary | Secondary | |
|
-75% | -50% |
|
-62.5% | -37.5% |
|
-50% | -25% |
|
-25% | -12.5% |
There is reason to these resist profiles. They are all based on a 50/35/25/10 profile, but each race has a 10% bonus to one damage type. For the empire factions, the bonused armor resist is the same as the primary damage type of the faction they were historically at war with. The warring factions and their damage types are shown in the table to the right. Perhaps this is best illuminated with an example: Take Gallente ships. Start with the base profile of 50/35/25/10 and add 10% kinetic resistance, kinetic being the primary damage type of the Caldari, the historic enemy of the Gallente. You get a 50/35/35/10 profile, which is indeed correct for T1 Gallente ships.
Combat ships from the Society of Conscious Thought have even 32.5/32.5/32.5/32.5 armor resistances.
T1 ships with armor resistance bonuses
Some Amarr ships, all Sisters of Eve ships, and the Triglavian battlecruiser, the Drekavac, have bonuses to their armor resistances. The bonus resistance is 4% for each level of the pilot's applicable racial ship skill.
The Amarr ships with this bonus are the Punisher, Maller, Prophecy, Abaddon, the Revelation, and the three carriers.
Tech II and Tech III resists
Tech II and Tech III ships generally have much better resist profiles than Tech I. In particular, they gain significant resistance to the primary and secondary damage types of their faction's historical enemies.
The table on the right shows the bonus resistances given to each different ship type. These bonuses are applied to both shields and armor by taking a racial or default T1 resist profile, and multiplying the remaining vulnerability by the resistance bonus.
To calculate a T2 ship's shield resists, start with the 'default' profile of 0%/20%/40%/50%. Reduce its remaining vulnerability to its enemy's primary damage type by 75%, and to the secondary damage type by 50%. For example, let's take the Ishtar. Start with 0/20/40/50. The Gallente's enemy are the Caldari, whose damage types are Kinetic and Thermal. Reduce the remaining kinetic vulnerability of (100 - 40) = 60 by 75% to 15, giving (100 - 15) = 85% shield kinetic resistance. Similarly, reduce the remaining thermal vulnerability of (100 - 20) = 80 by 50% to 40, giving (100 - 40) = 60% shield thermal resistance. This gives the Ishtar a shield resist profile of 0/60/85/50.
To calculate a T2 ship's armor resists, start with the ship's T1 racial profile. Reduce its remaining vulnerability to its enemy's primary damage type by 75%, and to the secondary damage type by 50%. For example, let's take the Muninn. Start with the Minmatar T1 racial profile of 60/35/25/10. The Minmatar's enemy is the Amarr, whose damage types are EM and Thermal. Reduce the remaining EM vulnerability of (100 - 60) = 40 by 75% to 10, giving (100 - 10) = 90% armor EM resistance. Similarly, reduce the remaining thermal vulnerability of (100 - 35) = 65 by 50% to 32.5, giving (100 - 32.5) = 67.5% armor thermal resistance. This gives the Muninn an armor resist profile of 90/67.5/25/10.
Assault Frigates, Heavy Assault Cruisers, Heavy Interdiction Cruisers, Command Ships, Logistics Cruisers, Transport Ships
These are a mix of the most front-line combat ships, and the most dedicated cargo ships. Fittingly, these ships gain the largest bonuses, and have the strongest natural resists of all normal ships. Furthermore, certain individual ships like the Damnation, and all of the Heavy Interdictors get an additional 20% bonus to their shield (Caldari, Minmatar) or armor (Amarr, Gallente) resists. (These further bonuses are not considered "base" resists though.)
The only ship to have stronger natural resists than one of these ships is the Monitor Flag Cruiser.
Recon Ships
As these ships are generally not intended for front-line combat, but do still need to be able to shrug off deterrence attempts, these ships gain the second strongest resists.
Electronic Attack Ships, Logistics Frigates, Interdictors, Command Destroyers, Tactical Destroyers, Strategic Cruisers
These ships are generally more supportive or flexible in other ways, and rely less on raw durability and more on their other utilities.
These ships also get bonuses to two damage types. The bonuses are smaller than for HACs, etc., but are still strong.
Stealth Bombers, Marauders, Jump Freighters
The main defense of a bomber is its cloaking device, and so it sacrifices some durability; and as Jump Freighters are non-combat ships they are not built to be durable. Marauders, meanwhile, have a different approach to defense: much of their endurance comes from their Bastion Module; and as a result of that heavy specialization, the ships are somewhat vulnerable when not in bastion.
Black Ops
Black Ops Battleships are the odd ones out, in that their resist bonuses are inconsistent based on race. The Amarr Redeemer gets two bonuses, a 10% bonus to its shield and armor resistances to explosive damage and a 5% bonus to kinetic damage. The Minmatar Panther gets the same bonuses, to EM and thermal. The Caldari Widow and the Gallente Sin, however, get a single flat 10% bonus to their primary resisted damage type.
Interceptors and Covert Ops
Interceptors and the exploration-bonused Covert Ops frigates get one resistance bonus, to their enemy's primary damage type. Unlike most other ships listed here, the bonus these ships gain is a flat 10% bonus, added to the base T1 shield and armor profiles. (This stacks with the flat 10% racial bonus to armor, meaning that in effect interceptors take the base 50/35/25/10 armor profile, and add +20 to one resist.)
CONCORD ships
The CONCORD Pacifier, Enforcer and Marshal are T2. They have even resist profiles of 33/33/33/33 for both shield and armor, like the Gnosis but a little stronger. The Flag Cruiser, the Monitor, is also T2. While it has normal 33% hull resists, its shield and armor resists are extremely high at 90%, with bonus skill-based resistances.
ORE ships
T2 ORE ships start with only a T1-Minmatar resist profile. The Exhumers and the Endurance then get a 4% bonus to all shield resistances for each level of the Exhumers and Expedition Frigates skills respectively.
Triglavian Ships
T2 Triglavian Collective ships use three different resist type sets, two of which completely defy the normal T2 resist patterns. The Zarmazd Logistics Cruiser uses the same Explosive/Kinetic resist bonuses as an Amarr Guardian. The Nergal, Draugur, and Ikitursa meanwhile use two different sets of Thermal and Explosive resistance for shields and armor: +30% Thermal and +35% Explosive (flat) to shields, and +40% Thermal and +35% Explosive (flat) to armor.