Interceptors

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Interceptors (often called "inties" or "'ceptors") are a class of Tech 2 frigates. They are some of the fastest ships, and they have attributes and bonuses which make them supremely effective for tackling and scouting. Inties are often one of the first classes of T2 ships that pilots train. Besides their core roles, they are also used for pure travel. If they are fitted for pure travel they are called travel ceptor.

Overview

There are two types of interceptor: fleet interceptors and combat interceptors. Each of the four empire factions has one interceptor of each type. Besides those two special edition pirate interceptors exist, the  Imp and the  Whiptail. Technically they are fleet interceptors but they are of little interest here because they are very rare and expensive.

All interceptors share the following characteristics:

• They all have an 80% reduction in Propulsion Jamming systems activation cost role bonus. This makes it easier to have tackle modules running.
• They all have a 15% reduction in Microwarpdrive signature radius penalty for each level their pilot has in  Interceptors. This allows to reduce incoming damage by speed tanking.
• They all have very high base velocities. This allows great on grid mobility to get tackle on targets.
• They all have very high base scan resolution, letting them lock on to targets rapidly.
• Interceptors have a warp speed of 8.0 AU/s. This means they can overtake most ships in warp and also get to a target quickly to secure tackle.

Fleet Interceptors

The fleet interceptors have following traits in common which make them ideal fleet support as fast tackle and scouts.:

• They have a 5% bonus to warp scrambler and warp disruptor range for each level their pilot has in  Interceptors.
• They have immunity to non-targeted interdiction, which means they can warp while inside a warp disruption bubble.

The tackle range bonus allows the fleet interceptor to hold tackle at a relatively safe distance. The interdiction nullification means that you can reach targets quickly even through bubbles. This is also important in the scout role. Further, they have bonuses tied to the skills of their respective empire faction's frigate:

•  Malediction: 5% bonuses to rocket damage and 4% bonus to all armor resistances per level
•  Crow: 5% bonus to Light Missile and Rocket explosion radius and 10% bonus to Light Missile and Rocket max velocity per level
•  Ares: 5% bonus to hybrid damage and 7.5% bonus to hybrid tracking per level
•  Stiletto: 5% bonus to projectile damage and 7.5% bonus to projectile tracking per level

Those bonuses are only of minor importance for their usual role. (Which doesn't mean they might not matter for more unusual roles and fits.) They distinguish each other mostly through base stats like speed, slot layout, and fitting space as those define the possible fits. The Stiletto is very popular in a shield buffer fit, while the Malediction is usually flown with an ancilliary armor repairer. The Crow is lacking one lowslot in comparison to the Stiletto which means it can't fit for as much speed. The bigger shield buffer can't make up for that as speed is very important for fleet interceptors. The Ares can be fitted in a similar way as the Malediction. But its base speed is significantly lower, it has less armor buffer and is lacking the armor resist bonus. The low align time of the Ares makes it a popular travel ceptor though. As a fleet tackle this can be an advantage because a target might not consider the Ares the same thread as a Stiletto or Malediction.

Combat Interceptors

Combat interceptors are more combat oriented than their counterpats, as the name suggests. They shared the interdiction nullification traits with the other interceptors until October 2018 when it was removed. Before that change combat interceptor fleets were a common concept. Especially Claws fitted for fast align and high alpha were very successful. These so called Fozzie Claws caused CCP to remove nullification from the combat ceptors. Since then combat interceptors struggle to stand up to other ships especially assault frigates which can also warp at over 8 AU/s if they are hyperspatial rigged (status November 2019). This doesn't mean that you cannot find a niche use for them.

The combat interceptors don't have one common skill bonus. The first bonus mentioned is tied to the  Interceptors skill, while the others are tied to the skill of their respective empire faction's frigate:

•  Crusader: 10% less laser cap use, 5% bonus to laser damage, 7.5% bonus to laser tracking per level
•  Raptor: 5% bonus to Small Hybrid Turret Damage, 10% bonus to Small Hybrid Turret optimal range
•  Taranis: 10% bonus to hybrid damage, 7.5% bonus to hybrid tracking per level
•  Claw: 5% bonus to Small Projectile Turret damage, 5% bonus to Small Projectile Turret rate of fire, 7.5% bonus to projectile tracking per level

Skills

Necessary Skills

Training to fly the Interceptor hull will probably take the most amount of time, particularly Evasive Maneuvering 5 and Racial Frigate 5.

• Interceptors I is required to fly interceptors, although having at least level 4 is strongly recommended for the interceptor skill bonuses.

Most of these modules are relatively quick to train for. T2 modules often (not always) give a significant advantage over T1 and so are recommended in most cases.

• Propulsion Jamming II is necessary for Tech 2 points, and level 4 allows T2 webs.
• High Speed Maneuvering Helps your cap life tremendously. Level 4 is recommended, a T2 MWD is usually not a good idea on an interceptor.
• Hull Upgrades II is required for T2 Nanofibre Internal Structures and Overdrive Injectors.
• Thermodynamics Allows overheating of modules: vital in tight situations to give an extra boost of speed or point range. Nanite Operation is required for Nanite Paste, used to repair heat damage.

Support Skills

• Basic fitting skills like Hull Upgrades, Electronics Upgrades, Energy Grid Upgrades, and Power Grid Management should be at level 5.

• Navigation 5% bonus to sub-warp speed per level. Level 5 is recommended.
• Acceleration Control 5% bonus to afterburner and MWD speed per level. Level 4 is recommended.
• Spaceship Command 2% to ship agility per level. Level 5 is recommended.

• Signature Analysis 5% scan resolution per level; getting this to level 5 will greatly boost your target locking speed.
• Long Range Targeting V will help make sure you can actually target out to the same range that you can point. A signal amplifier module or ionic field projector rig is still often required to match overheated point range.

• Capacitor Management IV and Capacitor Systems Operation IV in these skills will help cap stability greatly, although you can fit a capacitor power relay module or capacitor control rig to cope with low cap skills.

• Astronautics Rigging for navigation rigs.
• Electronic Superiority Rigging for rigs that improve targeting speed and range.

• Shield Upgrades IV will allow Medium Shield Extender IIs to be fitted, a common midslot module.

• Thermodynamics IV to allow you to overheat your MWD and point.

T2 small weapon skills will be useful for combat inties, as Tech 2 ammo generally allows much more range control and damage.

Fitting

Fitting Fleet Interceptors

As for most support ships, the basic rule for fitting interceptors is: Fit for your role. Basically you want to have a fast (MWD+speed/agility), yet resilient (tank) platform for your long range point. Mods/rigs to adapt your locking range to overheated point range will also be used.

While one could also use fleet inties for close range scram role, often there would be better ships for that role, and you better know what you're doing. This part of the guide focuses on long range point inties.

Priority considerations

• Long range point (T2)

  The meta 4 points still only have a 20km range, so we need T2 (which gives 24km pointing range). Don't fit a scram instead; if you have four mid slots you can add a scram as extra.

• MWD

  For combat interceptors, the Afterburner could be an option, but not so for the fleet inty. We want to orbit at range and keep a point. AB is just too slow for that job. Typically you will find that fitting a meta MWD will be the best option, as it's fitting requirements and cap usage are lower than the T1 and T2 variants. There are three MWDs to consider:

  • 5MN Y-T8 Compact Microwarpdrive - Has the lowest powergrid and CPU requirements. Great for tight fits.
  • 5MN Cold-Gas Enduring Microwarpdrive - Has the lowest cap usage, which is useful for running modules longer. Great for cap-heavy or active-tanked fits.
  • 5MN Quad LiF Restrained Microwarpdrive - Has the lowest penalty on signature radius and capacitor amount penalty. Best option for speed tanked fits. Its reduced capacitor amount penalty means it can also improve cap stability, although not as much as Cold-Gas.

• Targeting range of over 36km

  You must ensure that you can target beyond your overheated point range, or there is very little use for your tackle mod. Note that most interceptors have a native targeting range below 36km even with all skills at V. One option for a fourth midslot is a Sensor Booster, which without a script adds both targeting range and targeting speed (scan resolution). See below.

• Tank

  Yes, speed is not your only defense, rather a way to mitigate some of your incoming damage. Way too many interceptors die young to having no tank. Without a tank, all it takes is one volley from a hurricane and you're debris. With a DCII and a MSE, you can live (almost) forever, or at least have some time to GTFO. Highly recommended.

• Cap stability

  You want to be cap stable (impossible on some fits) or at least have several minutes of cap running your MWD and point. If you cap out, you lose point or your speed, meaning you lose your target or die. Either is bad. If your skills aren't up to it, fit a cap mod in the lows or mids. Stiletto is the hardest to get cap stable.

• Speed

  Speed is life. You want to go fast, but remember the stacking penalty. Having more than three mods/rigs that affect your speed (overdrives, nanos, polycarbs and aux thrusters) gives very little benefit over having three.

• Defense against incoming fire

  When you tackle something, chances are it will try to kill you. Some guns will be able to track you (especially when accompanied by Tracking Enhancers), although many fits won't, and missiles can hurt. Often your worst enemy will be drones -- cruisers and larger ships often stock light drones for the sole purpose of killing or driving off interceptors. With the nerf to Defender missiles a while ago (they used to fit into Rocket Launchers before, and also were able to one-shot enemy missiles - not like that anymore) you can't shoot down missiles any longer, so the only incoming damage you can mitigate with offense is drones. If you are a fleet inty and taking damage from a larger ship, check your overview to ensure that you can see drones, and if they are redboxing you, target and kill them. Autocannons with Barrage ammo or rocket launchers will do that job effectively (albeit slowly - you have anemic DPS), and will not use up your valuable cap. Against the remaining DPS, you will have to rely on the agility and tank mentioned above - they will mitigate a good chunk of the damage.

Mid slots

When fitting a tackle ship, fit the midslots first, they are most important.

• The first thing you fit is a T2 warp disruptor, no exceptions, no excuses. Read above.
• Secondly, you chuck in an MWD. See above again for guidance.
• Medium Shield Extender

  This buffer module gives you some leeway to screw up and a little time to kill drones/catch some fire. Having a shield extender will also let you hold targets in more dangerous situations and it allows you to regen your tank without docking for repairs. Does not slow you down like an armor buffer would (even an active armor tank would slow you down as you could dedicate fewer slots to speed/agility, plus you would lack buffer against alpha damage, obviously). T2 MSEs are materially better than meta MSEs, but they require considerably more power grid. If you are having fitting problems, consider training additional ranks of Shield Upgrades, which will reduce the power grid fitting requirements of MSEs.

• For the fourth midslot on the Stiletto and Crow, there's a few options, let's go over them here:
  • Sensor Booster

    Outside of catching frigates in empire, I recommend against fitting a Sensor Booster. It needs cap, and can often make you cap out, and there's many other options to pick from instead (yes, it has its occasional use, but as mentioned, there are modules you will profit from more often).

  • Cap booster/cap recharger

    If you find yourself getting into neut range of enemy BS often, you could fit a cap booster. If your skills aren’t sufficient to make you cap stable, consider a cap recharger. However, I would rather stay out of neut range and not use/need it at all. Especially against staggered neuts, you will often get only limited value from a cap booster.

  • Warp Scrambler/Stasis webifier (for the brave)

    Sometimes, you want to stop that hurricane or vaga from running, and the point just won't do it. Go for a scram (or a web if you want to catch 100MN AB beasts), but do it at your own peril. Remember that your primary job is to point the target, and the scram/web is completely optional, often best left to the fast assault frigates. If you fit a scram/web, really consider it an "emergency" measure and nothing you want to try using regularly.

  • Track/EWAR

    Some sort of ewar mod can help both you and your fleetmates survive longer against a dangerous opponent. Often a worthwhile consideration, but bear in mind that they need cap. They also often lose their value in "defense enhancement" when facing more than one opponent.

  • Medium Ancillary Shield Booster

    Even after the "nerf" that cut its effectiveness by 30%, the MASB can still be a valid choice for the 4th slot. It even offers more overall EHP than a Medium Shield Extender mod, but relying on a MASB without a MSE would give you no buffer against "that unlucky hit". It can still be a good tool to regenerate the EHP gained from your shield buffer module, thus adding some staying power on the field. Note: Always use Navy Cap Booster 50 charges!

Low slots

First of all, you must understand that speed is not everything. Far too many interceptors die young with nothing but nanofibers and overdrives in the lows. This is a common misunderstanding sadly carried over from before the nano-nerf. For your interceptor to do its job, it needs more than speed.

• Fit a Damage Control

  A Damage Control II is the most effective tanking mod for a frigate in the game, and for the Gallente interceptors, with their added structural integrity, it's vital. On an Ares, a DCII will double your EHP and survivability.

• Fitting mod

  If you're shield tanked, you'll often need a Micro Auxiliary Power Core (MAPC) to fit your shield mod.

• Cap stability

  If your skills don't make you cap stable (or close), fit a cap power relay, but that really should be something you need to work on skills wise.

• Speed/agility mods

  Go for a balance between mods that enhance both agility/speed and pure speed bonus - that mainly means using Nanofiber Internal Structure/Overdrive Injectors in the low slots. Balance with Polycarbon Engine Housings/Auxiliary Thrusters in the rig slots.

  Beware of the stacking penalty of having more than three speed/agility mods and rigs.

• Signal Amplifier

  You can fit one of those to increase your locking range up to the desired distance instead of the Ionic Field Projector rig - it is a matter of preference and priority if you satisfy that locking range requirement from your low slots or your rig slots.

Rig slots

• Locking range

  It's very common to fit a targeting range mod, namely the Ionic Field Projector I. This increases your targeting range, on most inties enough to ensure you can target beyond 36km.

• Speed/agility

  Go for a balance between mods that enhance your agility and pure speed bonus - that mainly means using Polycarbon Engine Housings/Auxiliary Thrusters. Balance with Nanofiber Internal Structure/Overdrive Injectors in the low slots.

• Tank

  Some people use shield resist rigs to enhance their tank, especially to mitigate the resist hole that each racial interceptor has. Kinetic and explosive damage would be two very common damage types against interceptors (Barrage, Warrior drones, Drake missiles).

High slots

Your job is not killing the enemy, but finding hostiles/keeping them in place. Thus, your guns do not need to be able to kill the enemy at the range you are keeping a point on him. So the only thing you would need guns for is for shooting down drones. Bear in mind that you don’t want your guns to cap you out.

• Armament

  Auto Cannons and Rockets work well, and don't use cap either. ACs also have the advantage of pretty low fitting requirements. Don't worry too much about "bonussed weapon systems", DPSing is not your job.

  As drones cycle their MWD and move in and out of range, you want an effective range of at least 5km. You'll need decent tracking to be able to hit them (T2 ACs with Barrage perform that job well).

• Nosferatu

  A NOS is recommended against most of the time, as in order to use it you will have to move in very close, which often means death for an interceptor. If you go the "scram in the Stiletto's 4th slot" route, it might be a viable option, but operating in 5km range to an enemy is still pretty dangerous.

• Core Probe Launcher

  This can be a good idea when hunting in sov space. A core probe lets you scan down those sites that the ship scanner can not 100% detect on its own. Works surprisingly well, but is far from being a priority module.

Fitting Combat Interceptors

Update pending

Flying Interceptors

Generally, inty pilots want to keep speed and angular velocity high as these are the main form of tank.

Fleet Interceptors

Fleet interceptors are generally flown as a special tackler, often staying a couple of jumps ahead or behind the main fleet to hold enemies in place until the fleet arrives, or providing mini-warpin* points and mobile safespots during a battle. Depending on the fleet style, they can 'scout and skirmish', roaming around to find targets, often holding them in place for up to 10 or 15 minutes while the rest of the fleet arrives; sit at gatecamps and a put a fast point on anything flashy coming through; or get initial tackle and then hold valuable non-primary targets during a longer engagement until the fleet is ready to DD them.

Inties should approach targets at an angle to maximize traversal while spiraling in. If you are flying an inty and charging straight at a target from a distance rather than spiraling in, you are ignoring one of the ship's principle defensive abilities -- agility -- and are needlessly risking a potentially crippling amount of damage or even a fatal alpha strike. Once in place, the inty should orbit at around 15-25km in order to stay out of web/scram/neut range while keeping angular velocity up. **REPEAT: wandering into scram range = very, very bad for fleet interceptors.** Scrams nearly always portend the destruction of your fleet interceptor. BEWARE! Battleships can fit large neuts that can reach out to 25.2km, so these should be kept at a distance, while faster cruisers should be orbited at a smaller range so they don't escape. Orbit speed should be around 4-5km/s, so if the target launches drones, they will generally end up getting kited by the inty and be fairly easy to track and pick off. Note that, depending on skills and ships, the range at which the inty orbits will not necessarily be what the pilot has set in the UI. Pilots should check their actual orbit distances so they know what to choose in order to orbit at the correct range. When orbiting a target, avoid being "slingshotted" out of point range. Savvy targets delight in slingshotting.

Fleet interceptors should generally avoid faster targets like frigates and speedfit cruisers: these have a good chance of breaking the inty's orbit and applying a scram or web. Some enemies, like the Privateers, specialize in kiting and picking off smaller tacklers and running before the fleet arrives: these should just be avoided unless a warpin for the whole fleet can be generated.

In some circumstances, such as a planned long gatecamp, ships will be asked to fit remote sensor boosters to assist inties in grabbing targets quickly. This will generally be up to the fleet commander to organize, although you should know how many boosters can be assigned to you and still be useful (ie, before lag and reaction time become the dominant factor in how fast you can lock a target). An interceptor should also be the first to de-agress and jump back through a gate if the targets seem to be trying to jump back, chase after targets that break through the camp, or picket the other side of a gate during a fight- giving intel on what is coming through.

* Providing mini-warp points ("tactical miniwarps"): An inty may be sent 150km+ from the rest of the fleet so that other ships can warp out to it if necessary -- to reduce incoming damage or break target locks without having to bounce all the way to a planet or station.

Combat Interceptors

A combat interceptor's job is to establish dominance of the frigates on the battlefield, including the enemy's tackle/interceptors, by counter-tackling and killing them. Combat interceptors fly like assault frigates in many ways. They will often have their own important targets independent of the fleet's primary.

Countering Interceptors

Various modules and tactics can be used to kill interceptors or drive them away. When in a ship with speeds similar to the inty then some piloting techniques or maneuvers can be used to break the inty's orbit and bring them into web or scram range. Cruisers and destroyers fit for tracking and killing frigates can also be effective. While most guns will have tracking problems against inties, missile systems can still be effective even though the inty's speed and small sig radius will mitigate much of the damage. Missiles can slowly eat through an inty's buffer if they don't have any repair or recharge ability on their armor or shields. Drones are commonly used to counter interceptors and can be particularly dangerous.

Some ships, like combat interceptors and Dramiels have the speed and tracking to keep up with an interceptor, and should be avoided. Other frigate hulls and destroyers should be avoided by fleet interceptors as they are generally cheap, so not worthwhile to tackle, and have a decent chance of killing the interceptor. Afterburner-fit assault frigates may be worth chasing. Vagabonds and Cynabals are very dangerous to interceptors since they have heavy weaponry with good tracking but can move at around 4km/s, which severly cuts down on the amount of transversal that an interceptor can create.

Drones

Drones are a common defence against all small ships, interceptors included. The Minmatar Warrior II light drones are the nimblest and fastest drones, often matching interceptor speeds, and so are the most common choice. Since the release of the Kronos patch, and the rebalance of drones, Acolytes have become a threat to tackle frigates as they are often shield fit and lacks resistance for EM. Acolytes are almost as fast as Warriors.

However, interceptors go so very fast that even those drones are likely to still spend time fruitlessly chasing them around. Furthermore, it is possible to tank an interceptor against drones so that it can soak up a lot of fire from Warriors and/or Acolytes.

Ships with large dronebays and bonuses to drone hitpoints and damage, like the Arbitrator and Vexor have much more problematic drones (and if you do manage to kill them, they probably have more).

Counter-Tackle

Webs (especially two at once) to directly cut an inty's speed or a warp scrambler to shut down its MWD are both excellent ways to slow down an inty and make it vulnerable. The problem is of course that webs and scrams have short ranges, and good inty pilots stay beyond web/scram range at all times. The single most important defensive maneuver a newly trained fleet interceptor pilot can make is to manage distance from target and avoid scram range, which ranges from 10 km to significantly more for bonused ships.

Apart from other inties, there are a few ships that are particularly effective at webbing. The Minmatar Huginn and Rapier recon ships both have bonuses to web range. They can push a normal T2 web out to 40km range before heat (overheating the web and/or fitting a faction web can produce considerably longer ranges). Both ships are consequently very dangerous to interceptors, and a good countermeasure.

A few other, rarer ships also have web bonuses but these are mostly to strength rather than range, so an inty that stays away from the range of normal webs shouldn't be troubled by them. Note, however, that the Blood Raider's ships, Cruor, Ashimmu and Bhaalgorn, has a web range bonus which can push the optimal of a T2 web out to 20km before heat.

The Gallente recons, the Lachesis and Arazu have bonuses to warp scrambler and warp disruptor range. They are most commonly fitted with disruptors, to point the enemy from a long way away, but they can be fitted with warp scramblers. This is less of a threat than the Minmatar recons' webs, but their bonuses can still put a T2 scram's range out to 18km before heat, so they should be treated with a bit of care.

The Caldari and Amarr recon also have range bonuses to ECM and neuts respectively, both of which can also heavily counter an interceptor, and should be avoided. Range damping a fleet inty can be an efficient use of a sensor damp; it will essentially nullify the fleet inty's bonus point range, forcing it to orbit much closer to hold tackle, making its job considerably more difficult and dangerous.

Energy Neutralizers

A few cycles from a medium energy neutralizer or just one cycle from a large neut can remove all of an interceptor's capacitor, shutting down its MWD and point and leaving it dead in the water.

Medium neuts have similar ranges to scrams and webs, and so are not dangerous to a competent inty pilot (who stays clear of scram range) unless they're mounted on a ship which has range bonuses for them. The Amarr combat recon, the Curse, does have such a range bonus, and it can neut at nearly 40km if the pilot has good skills. (Being based on the Arbitrator hull, it also has drone bonuses, making it a nightmare target for an interceptor to tackle!)

T2 large neuts have 25km range. Fleet inties must therefore maintain a very careful orbit, further than 25km but near enough to be within warp disruptor range, when pointing a battleship which they know or suspect has one or more energy neutralisers fitted. Neuts are particularly common on the Dominix, the Scorpion, in solo/small gang fits for the Typhoon and Tempest, and on the previously mentioned Bhaalgorn (which has bonuses to neut strength, though not to their range). The Armageddon was changed to a drone/neut boat as well and now can reach out to >37km when mounting heavy neuts.