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.

Basic Ship and Skill Overviews -- Amarr | Caldari | Gallente | Minmatar | ORE | Pirate

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.

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, tracking 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. Unfotunately this all comes at a price; there is no variation on damage types and Energy turrets use a great deal of capacitor 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 some Amarrian hulls have a bonus that decreases capacitor usage of Energy turrets rather than a damage bonus. 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 then 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 but limited in application as it affects only turrets. The secondary form is Capacitor Warfare but bonuses to this are only found on Tech 2 hulls, which are beyond the scope of this guide.

PvP

Amarr ships have been a PvP 'flavour of the month' for a lot longer than a month and can be extremely useful in nearly any role or type of fleet. Exceptional armour tanks, large capacitors and a combination of good damage and range make Amarrian ships a firm favourite, though fits with shield tanks or alternate weapon systems also see extensive use.

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 Amarrians 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 Amarrian formula until they know when and how to break the rules.

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).

Amarr ships do see extensive use in other PvE activities such as wormhole PvE and incursions, for example.

Amarr Skills General Information

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 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 Energy Systems Operation and Energy Management highly). Amarr pilots should aim for a full T2 Tank early in their careers.

Amarr pilots should eventually acquire T2 gunnery skills, though this is often done after having stepped into a battleship.

Progression

A classic progression of Amarr ships would be to train for the Punisher, move to the Omen, skill up a Harbinger, and then move into battleships. This is certainly an effective way to go and puts the most emphasis on hard hitting lasers and hefty armour tanks. Unfortunately the Omen is a bit of a weak link in the chain as it is very difficult to fly well without high skills. But for minimum deviation straight to large ship excellence this can work.

Alternatives exist however. If the pilot wants to focus on EWAR, then laser skills can be replaced with drone skills and the path can go from Crucifier to Arbitrator as a stepping off point for Tech 2 EWAR ships (Sentinel, Curse and Pilgrim). Or for the truly different the Inquisitor leads to the Khanid line of Tech 2 short range missile ships (Vengeance and Sacrilege for damage together with other support ships like the Malediction or Heretic).

Tech 2 Energy Turrets

Here are the skills and prerequisites you will need to utilise a Tech 2 energy turret. This may be one of your goals if you want to specialize in being an Amarr Damage Dealer.

Each type of Energy Turret requires a specific specialization skill. Note that each larger size specializations will incorporate the smaller size specialization with all its prerequisites. Here they are with applicable prerequisites:

Beam Lasers

• Small Beam Laser Specialization
  • Small Energy Turret V
  • Sharpshooter III
• Medium Beam Laser Specialization
  • Small Beam Laser Specialization IV
  • Medium Energy Turret V
  • Sharpshooter IV
• Large Beam Laser Specialization
  • Medium Beam Laser Specialization IV
  • Large Energy Turret V
  • Sharpshooter V

Pulse Lasers

• Small Pulse Laser Specialization
  • Small Energy Turret V
  • Motion Prediction III
• Medium Pule Laser Specialization
  • Small Pulse Laser Specialization IV
  • Medium Energy Turret V
  • Motion Prediction IV
• Large Pulse Laser Specialization
  • Medium Pulse Laser Specialization IV
  • Large Energy Turret V
  • Motion Prediction V

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.

However, the main benefit of cross training is to get more options for ship and fitting selection and being able to conform to fleet doctrine in both PvE (wormholes, incursions) and PvP. Thus, cross training into minmatar or caldari often gives the most benefit, to expand on ship selections capable of shield tanking. Cross training to Minmatar will give access to Blood Raider pirate faction ships. Cross training to Caldari will give access to Sansha ships. While cross training to Gallente will not give any access to pirate ships.

Rookie Ship

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.

Frigate

Frigates are small, fast ships, used often for PvE in level 1 missions. They are also used for tackling and electronic warfare roles in PvP.

Executioner

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Punisher

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Crucifier

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Destroyer

Coercer

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Cruiser

Arbitrator

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Battlecruiser

Harbinger

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Battleship

Apocalypse

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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.

Ship Skill and Fitting Overviews -- Amarr | Caldari | Gallente | Minmatar | ORE | Pirate Factions