Tutorial - New Player Experience - until Aug 2018
There are four different damage types in EVE:
- Electromagnetic (EM)
- Kinetic
- Thermal
- Explosive
All weapons in EVE do at least one (often two) of these damage types, and every ship has different resistances against each. Understanding damage types helps you to survive longer and deal more damage to enemy ships:
- If you know that your enemy uses weapons which deal a particular damage type, you can fit modules to your ship to increase your resistance to that damage type, making your enemy's weapons less effective against you.
- Conversely, if you know that your enemy's ship has a low resistance to a particular damage type, you can use weapons which deal that specific damage type, making them more effective.
Native resistance | Weapon damage | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Shields | Armor | Lasers | Hybrids | Projectile | Drones | Missiles | |
EM | -- | ++ | Yes (prim) | Yes | Yes (Amarr) | Yes | |
Thermal | - | + | Yes (sec) | Yes (sec) | Yes | Yes (Gallente) | Yes |
Kinetic | + | - | Yes (prim) | Yes | Yes (Caldari) | Yes | |
Explo | ++ | -- | Yes | Yes (Minmatar) | Yes |
Notes:
- "Native resistance" is a ship's resistance to damage before any modules or rigs are fitted. While it's possible, with the right modules, to compensate for a ship's weaknesses, it's fair to say that most shield- and armor-tanked ships are most vulnerable to EM and explosive damage, respectively.
- Thermal damage is not to be confused with heat damage, which is caused by overloading modules.
- Energy turrets (often called "lasers") do about 60% EM and 40% thermal damage. The exact proportions depend on the focusing crystals used.
- Hybrid weapons do about 60% kinetic and 40% thermal damage. The exact proportions depend on the ammunition type used.
- Each type of projectile weapon ammunition does two (sometimes three) different damage types.
- Drones from each of the four factions do one damage type, but they have slightly different stats (for example, Caldari drones (kinetic) do less damage than Gallente drones (thermal), but are slightly faster).
- Each missile type comes in four variants, each doing one damage type. The variant have otherwise identical stats, although some missile-using ships have bonuses to one damage type (notably, many Caldari ships have a bonus to kinetic missiles).
- The more "exotic" weapons in EVE (such as smartbombs, bombs, and doomsday weapons) have variants for each damage type.
Electromagnetic damage
Often abbreviated to "EM", this damage type is associated with the Amarr race. The Amarr's preferred weapons system, lasers, does mostly EM damage, as do the Amarr drones.
Armor has a very high natural resistance against EM damage, while shields have a naturally low resistance against it.
Kinetic damage
Kinetic damage is associated with the Caldari race. While the Caldari's preferred weapon system, missiles, can deal any of the four damage types, many Caldari ships have bonuses to missile kinetic damage. Caldari drones also deal kinetic damage. Additionally, it is the primary damage type of hybrid turrets and the secondary damage type of projectile turrets.
Armor has a naturally moderate resistance against kinetic damage, while shields have a naturally high resistance against it.
Thermal damage
Thermal damage is associated with the Gallente race. It is the secondary damage type of hybrid turrets - the racial weapons of Caldari and Gallente - and lasers. Additionally, Gallente drones deal thermal damage.
Armor has a naturally high resistance against thermal damage, while shields have a naturally moderate resistance against it.
Explosive damage
Explosive damage is associated with the Minmatar race. It is also the primary damage type of projectile weapons, and Minmatar drones deal explosive damage.
Shields has the highest resistance against explosive damage, while armour has the lowest.
Electronic Warfare (EWAR)
Some NPC ships use faction-specific electronic warfare (EWAR) modules such as ECM (jamming), tracking disruptors, sensor dampeners, target painters, neuts and NOSes. The EWar_101_Guide and the Capacitor_Warfare_Guide explain how these modules work and how to counter them.
A brief Summary of NPC Damage Types
The following table lists averages, these may differ according to the pool of data gathered by running different selections of missions. Some missions may have different values, for best accuracy check individual mission reports. If you are not sure which faction a particular mission rat belongs to, please refer to NPC Naming Convention.
Damage type to Deal | Damage type to Resist Against | Electronic Warfare | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Faction | Primary Damage | Secondary Damage | Primary | Secondary | Tertiary | Quaternary | |
Angel Cartel | Explosive | Kinetic | Explosive (62%) | Kinetic (22%) | Thermal (9%) | EM (7%) | Target Painter |
Blood Raiders | EM | Thermal | EM (50%) | Thermal (48%) | Kinetic (2%) | NOS/Neut, Tracking Disruptor | |
CONCORD | Kinetic | Thermal | Kinetic (37%) | Thermal (32%) | Explosive (30%) | EM (29%) | |
EoM | Kinetic | Thermal | Kinetic (74%) | Thermal (26%) | |||
Guristas Pirates | Kinetic | Thermal | Kinetic (79%) | Thermal (18%) | EM(2%) | Explosive (1%) | ECM |
Khanid | EM | Thermal | Thermal | EM | |||
Mercenaries | Kinetic | Thermal | Kinetic | Thermal | Explosive | EM | |
Mordu's Legion | Kinetic | EM | Kinetic (70%) | Thermal (30%) | |||
Rogue Drones | See Footnote | ||||||
Sansha's Nation | EM | Thermal | EM (53%) | Thermal (47%) | Tracking Disruptor | ||
Serpentis | Kinetic | Thermal | Thermal (55%) | Kinetic (45%) | Sensor Dampener | ||
Amarr Empire | EM | Thermal | EM (47%) | Thermal (42%) | Kinetic (7%) | Explosive (4%) | NOS/Neut, Tracking Disruptor |
Caldari State | Kinetic | Thermal | Kinetic (51%) | Thermal (48%) | EM (1%) | ECM | |
Gallente Federation | Kinetic | Thermal | Kinetic (60%) | Thermal (39%) | EM(1%) | Sensor Dampener | |
Minmatar Republic | Explosive | Kinetic | Explosive (50%) | Kinetic (31%) | EM (12%) | Thermal (7%) | Target Painter |
Footnote: Rogue Drones have a tendency to vary wildly in what damage type they deal out. Low-level missions seem to lean towards Electromagnetic/Thermal while high-level missions lean towards Explosive/Kinetic. Consult reports for the specific mission or exploration site before undocking. Experienced players may wish to consult http://games.chruker.dk/eve_online/npc_ships.php?supergroup=10&return_to= for damage statistics from the different types of rogue drones.
Drones (Types and Damage)
All races have a unique damage type, as do their drones, with the exception of Fighters that inflict a secondary damage type as well.
Some players argue that Thermal damage is the most effective overall in missioning and that this phenomenon is noticeable in the price of Gallente drones on the market, followed closely by the Kinetic dealing Caldari drones. This could be because of the damage modifier that drones get applied to their damage and the secondary Thermal hole listed for 11 of the 15 NPCs.
Race | Damage Type | Light Scout | Medium Scout | Heavy Attack | Sentry Drones | Fighter Drones | Fighter Secondary Damage Type |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Amarr | File:DamageEMP16.jpg EM | Acolyte | Infiltrator | Praetor | Curator | Templar | File:DamageTHE16.jpg Thermal |
Caldari | File:DamageKIN16.jpg Kinetic | Hornet | Vespa | Wasp | Warden | Dragonfly | File:DamageTHE16.jpg Thermal |
Gallente | File:DamageTHE16.jpg Thermal | Hobgoblin | Hammerhead | Ogre | Garde | Firbolg | File:DamageKIN16.jpg Kinetic |
Minmatar | File:DamageEXP16.jpg Explosive | Warrior | Valkyrie | Berserker | Bouncer | Einherji | File:DamageKIN16.jpg Kinetic |
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