Implants
- This article is about the nature of implants in general. For the article about the University service that provides +3 implants at a discounted price to EVE University students, see The +3 Implants Program.
Implants are items that you can plug into your character's brain to boost skills and attributes, helping you to learn faster and be more effective.
You have ten slots available in your head for implants. Each slot takes a specific kind of implant.
Slots 1-5 are for Attribute Enhancers, and slots 6-10 are for Skill Hardwirings.
To use any implant you need at least one level of Cybernetics, which itself requires Science III. The more powerful and expensive implants require more training in Cybernetics, and often cost significant amounts of ISK, but they can give you indispensable reductions in skill training times, and useful bonuses to your ship's abilities.
Implants can be acquired from loyalty point stores of various corporations, storyline mission rewards, rare NPC loot drops, and of course the Marketplace.
Using an Implant
To install an implant, right-click on the implant and choose Plug In; the implant will take effect immediately. If you remove the implant, it is destroyed. You will not be harmed in the process, though it will sting a little. This is done by going to your Character Sheet, Character tab selecting Augmentations, right-clicking the implant in question, and selecting ! Unplug.
Certain implants require the use of an Omega clone in order to inject.
Keeping your Implants safe
Upgrading a set of implants can be an expensive decision because it destroys the old set. Instead, you could buy a jump clone, jump to it and install the new set of implants there. Each jump clone has its own set of implants. Only the implants installed in the clone you are currently occupying will have an effect. That way, the old implants are preserved as a backup when your pod is destroyed during PvP or in certain cases, by some NPCs such as Triglavians.
You regularly have to wait 24 hours to use another jump clone once you did. It should also be noted that jumping to a clone installed in the same citadel as your active clone will not effect the 24 hour cooldown timer, which may serve extremely useful when participating in a fleet, as staging systems - such as Stacmon - tend to have friendly citadels, in which a clean clone may be installed. However, you may consider jumping into a clone in the same citadel if you know that you face PvP during your next activities - and jump back afterwards. Training the Infomorph Synchronizing skill reduces this limitation by one hour for each level trained. Continue reading for more tips and practical applications with jump clones.
Attribute Enhancers
Each attribute enhancing implant boosts a particular attribute, with some of the best (and rarest, and therefore most expensive) ones giving additional bonuses.
There are 5 "simple" implants for each slot: Limited (+1), Limited-Beta (+2), Basic (+3), Standard (+4), Improved (+5).
Each slot enhances a different attribute as follows:
- Slot 1 - Alpha - Ocular Filter: Perception
- Slot 2 - Beta - Memory Augmentation: Memory
- Slot 3 - Gamma - Neural Boost: Willpower
- Slot 4 - Delta - Cybernetic Subprocessor: Intelligence
- Slot 5 - Epsilon - Social Adaptation Chip: Charisma
Note: "Simple" implants (those that only boost attributes) do not use Greek designations.
Advanced attribute implants come in sets that affect one particular stat. Each implant comes with a bonus that increases the effectiveness of all implants in the set, and a 6th-slot hardwiring adds an extra bonus.
To calculate the total bonus for a set of implants, first the set bonus multiplier is calculated by multiplying together all the set bonuses for the implants in the set. The effect bonus for each implant is then multiplied by the set bonus multiplier, and the total bonus can be found by multiplying the new effect bonus values together for each implant in the set.
Advanced Attribute Enhancer Reference
The Kronos release in June 2014 made significant changes to these, which will be reflected below. Notably, unqualified version were renamed to "High-grade" and given a +4 bonus; some Low-grade implants were renamed to Mid-grade and given a +3 bonus; and for those, a new Low-grade version was introduced. Note that there is no consistency in which sets have which grades: some sets have High, Mid and Low grades, but some just have Mid and Low, some High and Low, and some High and Mid only. (See the Implants section near bottom of Kronos Patch Notes.)
| Category | Secondary Effect | Set Name | Set Bonus per slot | Effect Bonus per slot | Total Effect | Attributes | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1-5 | 6 (Omega) | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |||||
| Scanning/EW |  Radar Sensor Strength
|
High-grade Grail | 15% | 100% | 1% | 2% | 3% | 4% | 5% | 75.63% | +4 |
| Low-grade Grail | 0% | 40% | +1 | +1 | +1 | +1 | +1 | +7 | +2 | ||
 Ladar Sensor Strength
|
High-grade Jackal | 15% | 100% | 1% | 2% | 3% | 4% | 5% | 75.63% | +4 | |
| Low-grade Jackal | 0% | 40% | +1 | +1 | +1 | +1 | +1 | +7 | +2 | ||
 Magnetometric Sensor Strength
|
High-grade Spur | 15% | 100% | 1% | 2% | 3% | 4% | 5% | 75.63% | +4 | |
| Low-grade Spur | 0% | 40% | +1 | +1 | +1 | +1 | +1 | +7 | +2 | ||
 Gravimetric Sensor Strength
|
High-grade Talon | 15% | 100% | 1% | 2% | 3% | 4% | 5% | 75.63% | +4 | |
| Low-grade Talon | 0% | 40% | +1 | +1 | +1 | +1 | +1 | +7 | +2 | ||
 Probe Scan Strength
|
Mid-grade Virtue | 10% | 25% | 1% | 2% | 3% | 4% | 5% | 33.83% | +3 | |
| Low-grade Virtue | 2.5% | 10% | 1% | 2% | 3% | 4% | 5% | 20.03% | +2 | ||
 EWAR module optimal range
|
Mid-grade Centurion | 10% | 25% | 1% | 2% | 3% | 4% | 5% | 33.83% | +3 | |
| Low-grade Centurion | 2.5% | 10% | 1% | 2% | 3% | 4% | 5% | 20.03% | +2 | ||
| Mining | Mining laser range
|
Mid-grade Harvest | 10% | 25% | 1% | 2% | 3% | 4% | 5% | 33.83% | +3 |
| Low-grade Harvest | 2.5% | 10% | 1% | 2% | 3% | 4% | 5% | 20.03% | +2 | ||
| Navigation |  Maximum velocity
|
High-grade Snake | 15% | 200% | 0.5% | 0.625% | 0.75% | 0.875% | 1% | 24.73% | +4 |
| Mid-grade Snake | 10% | 150% | 0.5% | 0.625% | 0.75% | 0.875% | 1% | 16.02% | +3 | ||
| Low-grade Snake | 5% | 110% | 0.5% | 0.625% | 0.75% | 0.875% | 1% | 10.5% | +2 | ||
 Agility
|
Mid-grade Nomad | 10% | 25% | 1% | 2% | 3% | 4% | 5% | -26.93% | +3 | |
| Low-grade Nomad | 2.5% | 10% | 1% | 2% | 3% | 4% | 5% | -17.39% | +2 | ||
 Warp Speed
|
High-grade Ascendancy | 15% | 70% | 1% | 2% | 3% | 4% | 5% | 62.17% | +4 | |
| Mid-grade Ascendancy | 10% | 35% | 1% | 2% | 3% | 4% | 5% | 36.87% | +3 | ||
| Tanking |  Armor Repair Amount
|
High-grade Asklepian | 15% | 50% | 1% | 2% | 3% | 4% | 5% | 53.63% | +4 |
| Mid-grade Asklepian | 10% | 25% | 1% | 2% | 3% | 4% | 5% | 33.83% | +3 | ||
| Low-grade Asklepian | 2.5% | 10% | 1% | 2% | 3% | 4% | 5% | 20.03% | +2 | ||
 Armor HP Amount
|
High-grade Amulet | 15% | 50% | 1% | 2% | 3% | 4% | 5% | 53.63% | +4 | |
| Mid-grade Amulet | 10% | 25% | 1% | 2% | 3% | 4% | 5% | 33.83% | +3 | ||
| Low-grade Amulet | 2.5% | 10% | 1% | 2% | 3% | 4% | 5% | 20.03% | +2 | ||
 Shield Boost Amount
|
High-grade Crystal | 15% | 50% | 1% | 2% | 3% | 4% | 5% | 53.63% | +4 | |
| Mid-grade Crystal | 10% | 25% | 1% | 2% | 3% | 4% | 5% | 33.83% | +3 | ||
| Low-grade Crystal | 2.5% | 10% | 1% | 2% | 3% | 4% | 5% | 20.03% | +2 | ||
 Shield HP Amount
|
High-grade Nirvana | 15% | 50% | 1% | 2% | 3% | 4% | 5% | 53.63% | +4 | |
| Mid-grade Nirvana | 10% | 25% | 1% | 2% | 3% | 4% | 5% | 33.83% | +3 | ||
| Low-grade Nirvana | 2.5% | 10% | 1% | 2% | 3% | 4% | 5% | 20.03% | +2 | ||
| Drones/ Missiles |
 Drone tracking/optimal/falloff Missile flight time/explosive velocity
|
High-grade Hydra | 15% | 50% | 1% | 1.5% | 2% | 2.5% | 3% | 33,90% | +4 |
| Mid-grade Hydra | 10% | 25% | 1% | 1.5% | 2% | 2.5% | 3% | 21,76% | +3 | ||
| Low-grade Hydra | 2,5% | 10% | 1% | 1.5% | 2% | 2.5% | 3% | 13,06% | +2 | ||
| Other |  Signature Radius Reduction
|
High-grade Halo | 15% | 50% | 1% | 1.25% | 1.5% | 1.75% | 2% | -20.7% | +4 |
| Mid-grade Halo | 10% | 25% | 1% | 1.25% | 1.5% | 1.75% | 2% | -14.3% | +3 | ||
| Low-grade Halo | 2.5% | 10% | 1% | 1.25% | 1.5% | 1.75% | 2% | -8.99% | +2 | ||
  Cycle Time Reduction |
High-grade Savior | 15% | 50% | 1% | 1.5% | 2% | 2.5% | 3% | -26.8% | +4 | |
| Mid-grade Savior | 10% | 25% | 1% | 1.5% | 2% | 2.5% | 3% | -18.6% | +3 | ||
| Low-grade Savior | 2.5% | 10% | 1% | 1.5% | 2% | 2.5% | 3% | -11.9% | +2 | ||
 Cycle Time Reduction |
High-grade Talisman | 15% | 50% | 1% | 2% | 3% | 4% | 5% | -38.12% | +4 | |
| Mid-grade Talisman | 10% | 25% | 1% | 2% | 3% | 4% | 5% | -26.93% | +3 | ||
| Low-grade Talisman | 2.5% | 10% | 1% | 2% | 3% | 4% | 5% | -17.39% | +2 | ||
 Booster Side Effect Reduction
|
Mid-grade Edge | 10% | 25% | 1% | 2% | 3% | 4% | 5% | -26.93% | +3 | |
| Low-grade Edge | 2.5% | 10% | 1% | 2% | 3% | 4% | 5% | -17.39% | +2 | ||
 Entropic Disintegrator only: Maximum Damage Bonus Multiplier |
High-grade Mimesis | 20% | 80% | 1.5% | 2% | 2.5% | 3% | 3.5% | +69.67% | +4 | |
| -0.33% | -0.33% | -0.33% | -0.33% | -0.33% | -7.18% | ||||||
| Mid-grade Mimesis | 20% | 60% | 1.25% | 1.75% | 2.25% | 2.75% | 3.25% | +53.31% | +3 | ||
| -0.33% | -0.33% | -0.33% | -0.33% | -0.33% | -6.40% | ||||||
| Low-grade Mimesis | 20% | 50% | 1.% | 1.5% | 2% | 2.5% | 3% | +43.11% | +2 | ||
| -0.33% | -0.33% | -0.33% | -0.33% | -0.33% | -6.01% | ||||||
 Capacitor regeneration speed
|
High-grade Rapture | 15% | 50% | 1% | 2% | 3% | 4% | 5% | 53.63% | +4 | |
| Mid-grade Rapture | 10% | 25% | 1% | 2% | 3% | 4% | 5% | 33.83% | +3 | ||
| Low-grade Rapture | 2.5% | 10% | 1% | 2% | 3% | 4% | 5% | 20.03% | +2 | ||
Special Genolution Core Augmentation Set
A new set of implants were introduced by CCP (as special limited items) that have bonuses but do not fit the standard pattern and are not Tech 2 implants. The CA-1 and CA-2 were introduced as holiday giveaway items while the CA-3 and CA-4 were initially available only through a special purchase of commemorative items, but were reissued as anniversary giveaway items. These implants require only Cybernetics II and Science III.
- CA-1 - Perception +3; provides +1.5% powergrid and capacitor amount bonus; 50% bonus for set
- CA-2 - Intelligence +3; provides +1.5% CPU and capacitor recharge bonus; 40% bonus for set
- CA-3 - Willpower +3; provides +1.5% ship velocity and shield capacity bonus; 30% bonus for set
- CA-4 - Memory +3; provides +1.5% ship agility and armor hit points bonus; 20% bonus for set
Total Effect Bonus is 4.25% for a full set for each of the bonuses. Because each implant gives bonus to a different attribute, they are not combined like the T2 implant bonuses.
Skill Hardwirings
Skill hardwirings increase the skill specified in the implant's description.
Skill hardwirings occupy implant slots 6-10 and allow the user to surpass the bonuses achieved from even level V in most skills by providing up to a 6% bonus to the same attribute as its namesake skill. For example, the slot 6 Inherent Implants 'Lancer' Small Energy Turret SE-601 increases Small Energy Turret damage by 1% (similar to 
Small Energy Turret). The code at the end of the hardwiring's name gives a good clue as to what it does, and how powerful it is. Using the example above, SE-601 shows that the implant boosts Small Energy Turret (due to the designation SE), the first number shows that it occupies implant slot 6 and the last number shows that it provides a 1% increase.
For lists of skill hardwirings organised by function, and a summary of slot options, see the List of Skill Hardwiring Implants.
Tips and Practical Applications with Jump Clones
Some clever things can be done by combining the specialization that implants allow on each clone with the ability to change between clones—and potentially teleport across many systems or constellations—that jump clones enable.
Different jump clones with different sets of implants to fit different situations and amounts of risk involved can be swapped depending on what a pilot wishes to do. For example, a player could maintain:
- A training clone with very expensive attribute enhancers, stored in high-security space. They could jump into this clone for low-risk activities in hisec, and for times when they might be logged off for days or weeks and doing nothing else with the character
- A PvP-dedicated clone with expensive skill hardwirings that enhance their PvP efficacy (such as a set of Snake implants for a speed boost), stored in or near low-security space. They could jump into this clone for PvP in losec, where ship destruction is likely but the loss of a pod, and therefore a clone, is less likely due to the lack of bubbles.
- An expendable clone with cheap attribute enhancers, stored in null-security space. The loss of a pod is more likely in nullsec due to the potential use of bubbles, and an expendable clone manages this risk. Having a clone stored in nullsec also lets the player avoid traveling through risky bottleneck systems where Empire space meets nullsec, which are more likely to be camped.
This is only one possible distribution of clones and implants, but it illustrates some of the utility of different combinations of clone placement and implant sets. Pilots with different career paths can consider which implant and clone arrangements might suit them best.
