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| − | Fighting in a fleet is a lot of fun, and it is, in many ways, the classic EVE experience. However fighting solo, or in a small group of 2 or 3 people can be just as fun, much easier to get set up, and importantly, is one of the best ways to develop your all-round PvP skills. Skills such as scouting, target calling and overall FC’ing are all very transferable from solo or small groups, right up to huge fleets. In EVE, many of the best FCs started out in solo or small gang situations, and many of them still roam solo when not leading fleets.
| + | {{Update|[[Faction warfare#Complexes]] mechanism has been updated.}} |
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| − | [[Category:PvP]] | + | Fighting in a [[fleet]] is lots of fun, and is, in many ways, the classic EVE experience. |
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| − | =Security Status disclaimer=
| + | However, fighting solo, or in a small "microgang" of 2 or 3 people can be just as fun, much easier to get set up, and develops all-round skills: flying solo, you must perform all the functions of a PvP fleet, and so it offers an intense education in all aspects of combat at once. Skills such as scouting, target calling and general fleet command all transfer well from solo/microgang PvP up to fleets. In EVE, many of the best fleet commanders started out flying solo or small-gang, and many of them still roam solo when not leading fleets. |
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| − | In Low and High Security space, taking hostile action against a pilot not flagged as a criminal, a war target or a suspect will result in a loss of your own [[security status]]. Therefore, engaging in regular PvP as described in this guide will inevitably reduce your security status. This is why Low Sec is often described as pirate space. Low security status can cause you to be attacked by faction police when entering High Security space.
| + | Solo PvP is a vast topic exceeding the scope of a single wiki article, but this page covers some general principles and offers advice on one common starting-point for solo flying, small-ship PvP in lowsec space. |
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| − | If you continue to live in lowsec or nullsec, having a low security status is unlikely to affect you as you can simply use a hauler alt, or a hauling corporation to get ships and other supplies from Highsec to where you live.
| + | == General principles == |
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| − | Should you wish to retain the ability to travel back into High Security space at any time without restriction, you can always take actions to recover your security status, either by killing NPC rats, or by redeeming [[Clone Soldier Tags]]
| + | EVE Online is a ''massively multiplayer'' online game: most combat pilots fly in groups, and, outside of some [[Abyssal Proving Grounds|Proving Grounds]] formats, no rule prevents other players from ganging up on you. Be prepared for solo PvP to be hard, and understand that sometimes a group will overwhelm you and even the most carefully-fitted and well-flown ship will die. On the plus side, this makes every kill that much more satisfying. |
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| − | Eve Uni members are required to maintain a security status above -4 in order to obtain new titles. A security status below -5 is also likely to incur an email from management asking the pilot to repair this. However remaining above this level is not difficult, particularly given the Clone Soldier Tag mechanics
| + | A key point to grasp for fitting your ship is that a solo PvP ship in any kind of space must perform all three of the key combat functions of a PvP fleet: damage-dealing, tanking, and control. You must also be your own scout and navigator so, wherever you fly, prepare to get acquainted with geographical and intel tools such as [https://evemaps.dotlan.net/ Dotlan] and [https://zkillboard.com/ zKillboard]. |
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| − | =Where to fight?=
| + | A further point to grasp is that, despite the game's reputation, it is quite hard to force PvP on another player in EVE. While ambush attacks are possible, especially in Pochven and wormhole space, in much of the game alert use of Local chat and the directional scanner allows most players to see you coming. Your ship choice conditions the kind of fights you will find: you certainly ''can'' hunt in a relatively costly and highly-effective ship such as a [[Vedmak]], but doing so guarantees that you will mostly fight the foolish, the unlucky, and those with serious backup hidden nearby. It can be worth exploring cheap options which can surprise enemies with counterintuitive fits. |
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| − | While fighting in Null-Sec, Wormhole, or even High Sec space is perfectly possible, the majority of small scale PvP is done in Low Security space. Specifically, those areas of Low Sec designated as “[[Faction Warfare]] Space”
| + | == Geography == |
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| − | For EVE-Uni members, our [[Low Sec Campus]] is located on the edge of Faction Warfare Space, and the primary activity of this campus is PvP in the surrounding region. This guide is designed in part as a primer for life in this campus, however is applicable to any pilot looking for solo and gang PvP content.
| + | Because different types of space play by different rules, pilots typically fit and prepare their ships for combat in a particular type. It is worth knowing the differences. |
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| − | Faction Warfare mechanics includes many features which are specific to corporations and individuals who elect to align themselves to one faction, as described in more detail in the [[Faction Warfare]] Wiki page. For the purposes of this guide however, we will only be considering those aspects which relate to all players, regardless of affiliation.
| + | === Lowsec === |
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| − | ==Faction Warfare Arenas: Plex==
| + | [[Tackling#Warp disruption fields|Bubbles]] and [[bombs]] cannot be used in lowsec, making it relatively safer space in which to move around. Since you do not need a MWD to burn out of bubbles, it is much safer to take an afterburner as your only propulsion module in lowsec than in other types of space. Since bubbles cannot be used to trap your pod after the loss of your ship, you have a higher chance of preserving your pod in lowsec than in more dangerous types of space. |
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| − | Faction Warfare space contain arenas, known as “Plex”, which appear on your overview and probe scanner window as beacons which all players can warp to with names such as “Gallente Novice Outpost” or “Caldari Large Installation”
| + | Aggressing a pilot not flagged as a [[Timers#Criminal Timer|criminal]], [[war]] target, or [[Timers#Suspect Timer|suspect]] in lowsec will cause a small loss of security status and will flag you yourself with a 15-minute suspect timer, letting others engage you. Podding someone will cause a significantly larger loss of security status. Security status can be [[Repairing security status|regained]] by killing NPC pirates or by handing in criminal tags. |
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| − | The key factor to note is the “size” of the plex, as denoted by the middle word in the description. This indicates the size of ships which are able to enter the arena for fights
| + | Aggressing a non-criminal, non-suspect pilot on-grid with a gate or a station will also draw down the wrath of the local [[Security status#Sentry guns|sentry guns]], which can be tanked by larger ships but present a serious threat to smaller ships. |
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| − | *Novice: Frigates only
| + | Lowsec is also the location for [[Faction Warfare]] ("FW"). FW complexes have unique mechanics which allow you to limit the hull size and tech level (but ''not'' raw number) of ships engaging you, and you do not have to be involved in FW to take advantage of these mechanics. |
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| − | *Small: Frigates & Destroyers
| + | Fighting other players is one of only a few reasons people go to lowsec, so you stand a high chance of finding combat there; on the other hand, you also stand a higher chance of finding well-prepared, experienced and well-equipped opponents. |
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| − | *Medium: Frigates, Destroyers, Cruisers
| + | Lowsec FW complex PvP is a traditional starting-point for new solo PvP players, though it has its drawbacks as well as its advantages. |
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| − | *Large: Any ship
| + | === Nullsec === |
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| − | When you initially warp to any plex other than the large sized variant, you will encounter an acceleration gate. Only the appropriate sized ship will be able to activate the gate and enter the plex itself. Large plex have no gate and allow any ship to enter.
| + | In nullsec, there are no gate or station guns, and no security status implications from any kind of combat. |
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| − | The reason these arenas are so important for PvP is that:
| + | Bubbles can be used to trap people at gates or to suck targets out of warp. Since a MWD is necessary for most ships to get out of a bubble quickly, MWDs are much more commonly fitted for travel and combat in nullsec; this in turn makes many ships more vulnerable to warp scramblers, which can shut off a MWD but not an afterburner. |
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| − | *They provide a fixed point in deadspace for people to fight at
| + | In nullsec, especially sovereign nullsec owned by players, there are far fewer NPC stations, and therefore fewer opportunities to dock up for safety or repairs. |
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| − | *The size limitations mean that you can, to a limited extent, control the fights you take, and ensure that when looking for a fight in, say, a frigate, you are not immediately jumped on by a T2 Cruiser for instance. This is a key reason why most Low Sec PvP is done in frigates which can fit into any plex.
| + | There are more non-combat reasons to be in space in nullsec than in lowsec, so you are likely to find more targets in PvE ships or with limited combat preparation; on the other hand, you are likely to find fewer fights overall. |
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| − | NOTE: The gate limits ship sizes, however it does NOT limit the number of ships entering the plex. You can still be overpowered by a gang or fleet of ships if you are not aware and careful.
| + | === Pochven === |
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| − | ===The Beacon===
| + | Mechanically Pochven space is very like nullsec: bubbles and bombs can be used, and there are no security status implications to combat. However, [[cyno]]s cannot be lit in Pochven, so hotdropping is not a danger. |
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| − | When you initially activate an acceleration gate and “slide” into the plex, you will arrive within 2.5km of a “beacon” in space. This beacon should be visible on your overview as you land, if not, adjust your overview settings to display it, as this is a key factor in plex combat.
| + | Pochven, like wormhole space, has delayed Local chat, so you cannot easily tell who is in a system with you. Pochven has a fixed, mappable geography, but the systems are arranged in a triangle, and most systems only have two gates, so it is particularly good space for [[gate camps]] and player movements are relatively predictable. Filaments and relatively-reliable wormhole connections link Pochven to the rest of the game and make entry and exit surprisingly easy. |
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| − | Any ship entering the plex will also arrive within 2.5km of this beacon – there is no way to warp in at range. The exception is large-sized plex, which have no acceleration gate, and therefore can be warped to at range as with any normal cosmic object
| + | There are NPC stations in many Pochven systems, but you won't be able to use most of their services without good Triglavian standings. |
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| − | The beacon is key to fighting in a plex, as it means that when inside a plex, you know almost exactly where an enemy ship will enter. Likewise, when entering a plex where an opponent is already within, they will have positioned themselves knowing where you will appear. This always gives a slight advantage when fighting to the ship which is already inside the plex, and a large part of the various trategies for frighting in a plex is based around this mechanic.
| + | Gangs of potentially-hostile NPCs roam each Pochven system. If they are hostile to you, they will engage you, and they are capable of destroying player ships. They will pod you if they can. It is possible to get positive standing with the EDENCOM and Triglavian NPCs in Pochven; the Drifters, Rogue Drones and Sleepers will always be hostile. |
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| − | ===Warp Blocking=== | + | === Wormhole space === |
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| − | The other thing to note is that you cannot warp within a plex. While normally if an object is 150km away from you, but still on grid you can warp to it, within a plex you will get an error message. If your scout, or fast tackler chases a fast ship 150km away from you within the plex, there is no way to catch up to him without following him with sub-warp engines.
| + | Wormhole space has delayed Local chat, like Pochven. Also similarly to Pochven, wormholes have normal nullsec mechanics with bubbles and bombs, but with no cynos. |
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| − | This makes sniping, and kiting ships very effective at defending plex, although they are much less effective when attacking a plex.
| + | The geography of wormhole space is constantly shifting. Groups can manipulate their wormhole connections by "rolling" wormholes, something which is normally too much complex work for one solo PvP ship. |
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| − | ==D-Scanning for fights==
| + | The delayed Local and shifting geography put a strong emphasis on d-scan, stealth and surprise, so combat ships in wormhole space lean towards those able to fit a covert ops cloak and warp while cloaked. Almost everything of interest in wormhole space must be probed down, and leaving from wormhole space often requires probing, so many ships fit at least a core probe launcher. |
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| − | Much of PvP is about picking your fights, and having a clear strategy in place before you engage. For this, you need intel.
| + | There are no NPC stations in wormhole space, except in [[Thera]]. |
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| − | The most basic form of intel you will need is to determine if a plex contains a ship already, and if so, what kind of ship. Or if you are already inside a plex, what ships are coming your way, and might try to enter your plex to attack you. The tool for this will be your Directional Scanner, or D-Scan.
| + | == Lowsec FW complex combat == |
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| − | The Wiki [[Directional Scanner Guide]] is already an excellent and detailed resource on using this tool and should be read in detail, however the following is a brief overview of the important aspects for plex scanning:
| + | Much small-scale PvP happens in Faction Warfare ("FW") lowsec. |
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| − | *When scanning plex, keep your D-Scan set at a 5 degree angle, and max range, and hold down your D-Scan hotkey (by default “V”) then click on the plex within your overview to quickly and efficiently scan each plex
| + | FW space contains FW Complexes (commonly known as "plexes", not to be confused with [[PLEX]]), which are effectively PvP arenas. |
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| − | *Note that the D-Scan will not tell you if a ship is actually inside a plex, or outside, next to the acceleration gate. If you see a ship on D-Scan which is too large for the plex you are scanning, they are likely sat on the acceleration gate outside, and may be trying to catch ships entering
| + | These appear on your overview and probe scanner window as beacons which all players can warp to with names such as “Gallente Novice Outpost” or “Caldari Large Installation”. All available plexes appear in the probe scanner window, but a plex '''only''' appears on the overview '''once someone has entered it'''. |
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| − | *When inside a plex, set your D-Scan to 360 degrees, and 1AU range, and ensure you are scanning regularly to detect anyone landing on the acceleration gate who may be about to enter. You may want to occasionally switch to a longer range as well just to check what is happening elsewhere in the system.
| + | The key factor to note is the "size" of the plex, indicated by the middle word in its name. Size tells you which hulls can enter the plex. |
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| − | =Solo/Gang PvP Ships=
| + | * "Novice": T1 frigates only |
| | + | * "Small": T1/T2 frigates, T1/T2 destroyers (no T3 destroyers) |
| | + | * "Medium": all frigates and destroyers, T1/T2 cruisers (no T3 cruisers) |
| | + | * "Large": any ship |
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| − | ===T1 Frigates===
| + | When you initially warp to any Novice, Small, or Medium plex, you will encounter an acceleration gate. The gate will only let appropriate ships warp into the plex itself. Large plexes have no gate and allow any ships in. |
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| − | Probably the majority of Low-Sec PvP is done in T1 frigates, making this an excellent entry point for new players, as well as for more experienced ones. These are less common in Null-Sec PvP, however their low cost, high effectiveness, and ability to enter any plex in the game mean they are the most common sight in Low Sec plexes
| + | Plexes provide a fixed point for fights. The size limitations mean that you can, to ''some'' extent, control the fights you take: if you are in a Novice plex, you will not have to fight a T3 cruiser. |
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| − | ===Faction / Pirate Frigates===
| + | The gate limits ship ''sizes'', but not ''numbers''. You can still be overpowered by a gang of ships if you don't stay alert. |
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| − | These are also very common sights in Low Sec due to their power advantage versus T1 frigates while still being able to enter Novice plexes.
| + | === The beacon === |
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| − | Faction frigates are a slightly more expensive, but still affordable step up from T1 frigates. While powerful, they can still be killed by a skilled T1 pilot, and should be seen as an extension of the frigate meta game when devising tactics
| + | When you activate the acceleration gate and “slide” into a Novice, Small or Medium plex, you arrive within 2.5 km of a "beacon" in space. This beacon should be visible on your overview as you land. If not, adjust your overview settings to display all brackets (items in space): the beacon's placement is key. |
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| − | Pirate frigates are substantially more expensive, but also have subtantial advantages versus almost all other frigate variants, and are some of the toughest opponents in PvP. In skilled hands they are able to take on ships substantially larger than themselves, or multiple other frigates simultaneously. These are quite advanced ships, and new pilots should probably not be flying nor fighting them without backup.
| + | ''Any'' ship entering the plex will also next to this beacon; there is no way to warp in at range. |
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| − | ===T1 Destroyers===
| + | This mechanic means that once you are inside a plex, you know almost exactly where an enemy ship will enter. Likewise, when entering an occupied plex, the opponent(s) within will have positioned themselves knowing where you will appear. The occupant of the plex always has this tactical advantage in initial positioning. |
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| − | These can be thought of as larger frigates with very poor range control due to their speed, but great DPS/EHP ratio to make up for it. They can be kited by a skilled T1 frigate pilot very effectively but they are also able to tear their way through much more expensive Faction or Pirate frigates if both ships have similar optimal ranges.
| + | === Deadspace === |
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| − | ===T1 Cruisers===
| + | FW plexes are [[deadspace]]. You cannot warp to a fleetmate who is over 150 km from you inside a FW plex. Nor can you warp to a wreck or to a tactical bookmark that is over 150 km away from you. A fleet mate who warps to you when you are inside a plex will land from warp ''outside'' the plex, at the acceleration gate. |
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| − | Relatively rare sights in Low Sec plexes, and a magnet for other cruisers, or advanced ships such as pirate frigates and T3 destroyers looking for an expensive killmail. The few cruisers you do see flying solo are often fitted specifically to kill adventurous or foolish frigate pilots, and new pilots should avoid engaging them. In particular anti-frigate cruisers such as the [[Vexor]] and [[Stabber]] should be avoided.
| + | As a result, it is sometimes possible to string out and separate a group within a plex. |
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| − | ===T2 Assault Frigates=== | + | === D-scanning for fights === |
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| − | Despite their frigate hulls, in performance Assault Frigates are more similar to T1 destroyers. Like the T1 destroyers, they trade manouverability for higher DPS and EHP, however the Assault Frigates do so at a considerably higher cost. They are not very popular in the current game as they are generally outperformed by T3 destroyers, and even some Pirate frigates, while not being that much cheaper.
| + | A lot of PvP happens before you land on grid, and revolves around picking fights and having tactics in place before you start. For this, you need intel. |
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| − | ===T3 Destroyers===
| + | The most basic form of intel you need is whether a plex contains a ship already, and if so, what kind. Or, if you are already inside, what ships are coming your way. The tool for this will be your Directional Scanner, or D-Scan. |
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| − | These are have effectively replaced Assault Frigates as the best small ship option in PvP. They are only marginally slower than standard frigates (and often faster when in propulsion mode), while also retaining the excellent damage and a strong tank of the destroyer hull. They make for great Brawlers and Kiters alike and are virtually impossible to counter in a T1 frig except in a few select scenarios. Pirate and Assault frigates may stand a chance, however only in skilled hands and with good tactics. Less experienced pilots should simply avoid these ships without substantial support.
| + | The Wiki [[Directional Scanner Guide]] is already an excellent and detailed resource on using this tool and should be read in detail. For scanning use in and around plexes in particular: |
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| − | =Basic Ship Meta=
| + | # When scanning plexes from outside, keep your D-Scan set at a 5 degree angle, and max range, and hold down your D-Scan hotkey (by default “V”) then click on the plex within your overview to quickly and efficiently scan each one |
| | + | # D-Scan will not tell you if a ship is actually inside a plex, or outside, next to the gate. If you see a ship on D-Scan which is too large for the plex, they are sat outside the gate, and may be trying to catch ships entering |
| | + | # When inside a plex, set your D-Scan to 360 degrees, and 1AU range, and ensure you are scanning regularly to detect anyone landing on the acceleration gate who may be about to enter. Switch to a longer range now and then to check what is happening elsewhere. |
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| − | Ships for PvP in general are grouped primarily by their optimal range. All other things being equal, winning a PvP fight, whether solo, or when leading a huge fleet, usually means ensuring that you are in your optimal range, and your opponent is not.
| + | === Lowsec solo ships === |
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| − | *0-5 km Optimal Range - '''Brawlers'''
| + | Many ships ''can'' be used solo in lowsec, but this section covers some of the ones most likely to be open to new characters, and most likely to be encountered in FW complexes. |
| − | *5-10 km Optimal Range - '''Scram Kiters'''
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| − | *10-20km Optimal Range - '''Kiters'''
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| − | *20km+ Optimal Range – '''Snipers'''
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| − | In Low Sec PvP, as most fighting is in plexes where much of the engagement takes place around the fixed point of the beacon, it’s important to note that Micro-Warp Drives (MWDs) are generally not preferred, as they can be immediately de-activated by a warp scrambler, rendering you at an immediate speed disadvantage. While MWDs can be useful for Kiters, and some more unusual fits, the predominant propulsion module used is the afterburner. It should be noted though that in Null Sec PvP, without Plex mechanics, MWD fitted ships are the dominant force.
| + | ==== Base T1 frigates ==== |
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| − | ==Brawlers==
| + | Any player flying T1 frigates in lowsec should not expect to get many fights against similarly-fitted players, and should expect to also take challenging fights against faction/pirate or T1 destroyers, and prepare accordingly. |
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| − | Brawlers use high damage, close range weapons, such as blasters or pulse lasers. Because of this, they rely on quickly getting into close range, and preventing opponents from pulling away.
| + | T1 fits which work effectively tend to be "surprising" fits designed to out-wit more expensive ships by presenting an unexpected tactical profile, such as a dual web [[Merlin]] or kiting [[Punisher]]. |
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| − | When defending a plex, they will orbit the beacon very closely, and immediately try to [[scram]] and [[web]] any incoming ship to hold them at close range and prevent them pulling away.
| + | ==== Faction/pirate frigates ==== |
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| − | When attacking a plex, they will need to try and swiftly close the range between them and the defending ship to get into their optimal range.
| + | These are very common sights in lowsec: they are technically T1 hulls, and so can enter Novice complexes, but they are more powerful than base T1 frigates. |
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| − | Due to range being key, fast brawlers like the [[Atron]] or [[Federation Navy Comet]] are very useful here due to their raw speed, as well as the damage boosts to brawling weapons. An alternative is a ship which carries dual stasis webs, such as the dual-web armor [[Kestrel]] or the [[Caldari Navy Hookbill]]. These are relatively slow ships in general terms, however the double web effect applied to your opponent will remove the speed advantage of almost any other ship, and allow you to dictate range despite being the slower ship on paper.
| + | Faction frigates are a more expensive step up from base T1 frigates. While powerful, they can still be killed by a skilled base T1 frigate. The [[Federation Navy Comet]] is an especially popular option due to its excellent balance of low cost (and SP requirement) against high combat effectiveness. Other ships such as the [[Caldari Navy Hookbill]] and [[Imperial Navy Slicer]] are also effective at fighting a wide range of opponents. |
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| − | ==Scram Kiters==
| + | Pirate frigates are substantially more expensive, but also have subtantial advantages versus almost all other frigate variants, and are some of the toughest opponents. Many, such as the [[Succubus]] or [[Daredevil]] are deliberately designed to "break" the typical rules of the solo PvP meta in some way. These are quite advanced ships, and new pilots should probably neither fly nor fight them without backup. |
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| − | An effective defence against a brawler is to fight from outside their optimal range, but still within warp scrambler and web range, normally between 7–9km. This is called "'''Scram Kiting'''". At this point, brawling damage will be minimal, however mid-range weapons such as beam lasers, railguns or rockets can still hit an opponent for substantial damage.
| + | ==== T1 destroyers ==== |
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| − | Once again, this tactic relies on relative speed to maintain range. When defending a plex you will likely orbit the beacon at your optimal range, however a brawler could quickly close range if they have a notable speed advantage.
| + | These can be thought of as larger frigates with poor range control due to their speed, but great DPS. They can be kited (or occasionally scram-kited, on which see below) by a skilled T1 frigate pilot, but they are also able to tear their way through almost any frigate (including pirate/faction hulls) if it's caught within their optimal range for long. |
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| − | Likewise, when attacking a plex, if a brawler is waiting at the beacon you will need to pull range before you take too much damage, which requires your ship to be faster overall than the brawler, as well as being tanky enough to survive the initial damage long enough to pull out of range.
| + | T1 destroyers can be excellent choices for newer pilots, as they are cheap, they insure well, they use small weapons, and they can fight a much wider range of opponents than T1 frigates. |
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| − | For this reason, scram-kite ships often still fit speed modules and rigs to try and maintain speed advantage. Common scram-kiters include [[Breacher]], [[Tormentor]] and [[Incursus]]. The Dual-Web [[Kestrel]] and [[Caldari Navy Hookbill]] noted earlier can also be equally effective as a scram-kiter as rockets can deal effective damage up to 9km, while the dual webs maintain your speed advantage.
| + | T1 destroyers are more vulnerable than frigates to larger weapons, and will suffer if caught by larger ships outside the FW complex context, e.g. on a gate. |
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| − | ==Kiters== | + | ==== T1 cruisers ==== |
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| − | The other key factor in the meta are long range kiting ships. These will equip a warp disrupter to tackle at 20km+ ranges, and use long range weapons to fight well beyond the range of other ships. They are generally glass cannons, maximized for speed and damage. As they will not be able to apply a stasis web to their opponent at such long ranges, they usually rely on Micro-Warp Drives to maintain a speed advantage. However as a MWD can be switched off by a warp scrambler, if they can be closed down and tackled they will usually die quickly.
| + | Lone T1 cruisers are relatively rare sights in lowsec plexes, and can be a magnet for other cruisers, or advanced ships such as pirate frigates and T3 destroyers looking to punch up. |
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| − | A good Kiting ship who is already inside a plex is very difficult to kill, as they will orbit the beacon well outside of scram range, and closing them down is very challenging. A ship such as a [[Tormentor]] with beam lasers can switch to long range ammo to damage the kiting ship at range, but without the ability to close range and get tackle, the Kiter is likely to simply warp away if they take too much damage. The primary disadvantage of a kiting ship is that they are very poor at attacking a plex, as any defending ship is likely to immediately scram and web them on the beacon and prevent them pulling range.
| + | The few cruisers encountered in lowsec are often fitted specifically to kill frigates pilots, and new pilots should exercise caution around them. In particular, cruisers such as the [[Vexor]], [[Stabber]], [[Bellicose]], [[Caracal]], and [[Arbitrator]] work very well against frigates if thoughtfully fitted, and should probably be avoided by smaller ships. |
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| − | Common kiting ships are the [[Condor]], [[Imperial Navy Slicer]] or [[Tristan]]
| + | A T1 cruiser is not an overwhelmingly long train for a newer player, they insure reasonably well, unlike pirate/faction/T2 frigates, and they offer certain advantages to the new PvP pilot. In particular, everything happens more slowly in a cruiser, which gives you more time to observe and learn from the fight. On the other hand, they cannot enter Novice or Small complexes. |
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| − | ==Snipers== | + | ==== Assault frigates ==== |
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| − | While very uncommon, snipers aim to sit at extreme ranges, with very high alpha damage weapons, and deal huge damage at long ranges as soon as an opponent lands on grid. They are extremely rare in the current meta in Low Sec, however they are more common in Null Sec, particularly in gate camps, and it is important to be aware of the possibility. They usually trade considerable tank and maneuverability for their high damage output, and as with kiters, if they can be closed down they will die rapidly.
| + | T2 assault frigates ("AFs") can enter Small plexes, and combine the agility of a frigate with higher DPS and much stronger tanks; when fitted with an Assault Damage Control, they can become briefly invulnerable. They are an extremely difficult fight for any other frigate or T1 destroyer. Common solo AFs include the [[Hawk]] (with an extremely strong MASB shield tank), or the [[Retribution]] (often flown as a kiting ship, similar to a much tankier version of the [[Imperial Navy Slicer]]). |
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| − | =Key Concepts= | + | === Basic frigate meta === |
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| − | ==Range and Speed==
| + | Ships for PvP in general are grouped primarily by their preferred fighting range. All other things being equal, winning a PvP fight usually means ensuring that you are in your ideal range, and your opponent is not. |
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| − | As should be clear from the above, controlling range is the single most important factor in PvP. Being able to impose your range on a fight will allow even a T1 fitted frigate to kill much more expensive fits. Overheating your afterburner gives you a huge 50% extra speed boost, and should always be done at the start of a fight.
| + | * 0-5 km range - '''Brawlers''' |
| | + | * 5-10 km range - '''Scram Kiters''' |
| | + | * 10-20 km range - '''Kiters''' |
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| − | This emphasis on speed and range impacts on all aspects of Low Sec PvP. For instance, buffer armor tank fits with armor plates are very rare due to the speed penalty incurred, with most armor ships favoring active armor repairers which do not harm your speed or acceleration. Likewise, ships which cannot fit a stasis web alongside their scram and afterburner, such as the [[Punisher]], are very rare as they are completely unable to dictate range versus any ship carrying at least one stasis web.
| + | In lowsec frigate PvP, as most fighting is in plexes where much of the engagement takes place around the fixed point of the beacon, MWDs are less commonly used than in other environments, as they can be immediately de-activated by a warp scrambler. While MWDs can be useful for kiters, the dominant propulsion module is the afterburner. |
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| − | ==Tracking== | + | ==== Brawlers ==== |
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| − | An additional consideration when trying to minimize damage, is tracking. Longer range weapons such as beam lasers and railguns have very poor tracking, and will miss a lot of shots against a ship in a fast orbit. Orbiting your opponent while using these weapons is therefore not the optimal method of engagement, instead use the “keep at range” command to minimize the transversal velocity.
| + | Brawlers use high damage, close range weapons, such as blasters or pulse lasers. They therefore rely on quickly getting into close range, and preventing opponents from pulling away. |
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| − | Conversely, when attacking ships with these poor tracking weapons, advanced pilots will “spiral” into close range, using a high transversal velocity to minimize damage taken as they close to close range. This is a good way for fast brawling ships to get within range of scram kiters without dying before they can close the range.
| + | When defending a plex, they will orbit the beacon very closely, and immediately try to warp-scramble and web any incoming ship. |
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| − | Ships using blasters, drones or rockets also suffer much less from tracking issues, and a fast orbit in these ships can minimize incoming damage from poor tracking weapons while ensuring good damage application for your own weapons
| + | When attacking a plex, they must swiftly close the range between them and the defending ship. |
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| − | ==Intel==
| + | Since range is key, fast brawlers like the [[Atron]] or [[Federation Navy Comet]] are very useful due to their raw speed, and their damage bonuses. An alternative is a ship which can carry dual webs, such as the dual-web armour [[Kestrel]] or the [[Caldari Navy Hookbill]]. These are relatively slow ships in absolute terms, but the double web effect removes the speed advantage of almost any other ship, and allows you to dictate range despite being slower on paper. |
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| − | All of the above means that knowing the fit of your opponent before you engage in combat gives you a huge advantage over rushing in blindly. With good intel, you can avoid fights which obviously don’t favor you, and devise tactics to win fights which would otherwise be equal engagements.
| + | ==== Scram-kiters ==== |
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| − | Often, just knowing the type of ship via D-Scan gives you some indication of the fight you can expect. For instance, a [[Condor]] is almost always kiting fit, [[Atron]]s are usually brawling fit, [[Breacher]]s are most commonly scram-kiters.
| + | An effective defence against a brawler is to fight from outside their optimal range, but still within warp scrambler and web range, normally between 7–9 km. This is called "'''scram-kiting'''". At this point, brawling damage from, for example, blasters will be minimal, but longer-reaching weapons such as beam lasers, pulse lasers with Scorch, railguns, or rockets can still hit for substantial damage. |
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| − | If there are relatively few people in local, or if you already know the identity of the pilot you will face, you may want to research them on ZKill, to see their most commonly used fits and help you guess at what you will be facing.
| + | Once again, this tactic relies on range control. When defending a plex you will likely orbit the beacon at your optimal range, but remember that a brawler could quickly close range if they have a notable speed advantage. |
| − | For this reason as well, never name your ship anything which includes your character’s name. This just makes it easy for an opponent to research you and devise a counter for your ship.
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| − | ==Surprise==
| + | Likewise, when attacking a plex, if a brawler is waiting at the beacon you will need to pull range quickly, which requires range control. You must also tank the initial damage close-range long enough to pull distance. |
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| − | This idea of anticipating your opponent can also be used against an experienced pilot to surprise them with an unusual fit, or a ship you rarely fly.
| + | For this reason, scram-kite ships often still fit for speed. Common scram-kiters include the [[Breacher]], [[Tormentor]], and [[Incursus]]. The dual-web [[Kestrel]] and [[Caldari Navy Hookbill]] noted earlier can also be equally effective as scram-kiters, because rockets can deal effective damage up to 9 km, while the dual webs maintain range control. |
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| − | The king of this approach is the [[Tristan]]. The Tristan can be fitted very effectively in numerous ways; the standard kiting Tristan, a brawler blaster Tristan, a scram-kite rail Tristan, or a Neut Tristan relying on close range Energy Neutralisers to drain an opponent’s capacitor and shut down their ship while your drones slowly kill them. As there are so many viable fits for the Tristan, it is almost impossible for an opponent to know beforehand what they will be facing and devise a counter-strategy in advance. This makes the Tristan very powerful in the meta game, and can get you a good number of surprise wins as a new player.
| + | ==== Kiters ==== |
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| − | Similar ideas can also apply to more unusual fits such as a kiting [[Rifter]], a neut [[Slasher]], or a dual web [[Merlin]]. A surprise [[ECM]] module such as a tracking disrupter or damp can also turn an otherwise unpromising fight in your favor.
| + | The other key factor in the meta are long-range kiting ships. These will equip a warp disrupter to tackle at 20 km+ ranges, and use long range weapons. They are generally glass cannons, maximizing speed and damage over tank. As they cannot web an opponent at such long ranges, they usually rely on MWDs for a speed advantage. Since they are lightly tanked and a warp scrambler shuts down an MWD, they usually die fast if brought to close quarters. |
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| − | =Finding a Fight in Null Sec=
| + | A good kiting ship already inside a plex is very difficult to kill, as they will orbit the beacon well outside of scram range, and closing with them is challenging. A ship such as a [[Tormentor]] with beam lasers can switch to long range ammo to damage the kiting ship at range, but the kiting ship can avoid tackle and leave at will, so damage projection alone only forces a draw. The primary disadvantages of a kiting ship are that they are very poor at attacking a plex, as they are forced to arrive in a predictable place, and that they require smart, alert manual piloting. |
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| − | Low Sec PvP is by far the most common arena for solo players and small gangs of 2-3 players. Null Sec solo/gang PvP is absolutely possible, however it is much harder to find fights, let alone get kills without having a substantial fleet jump in on top of you.
| + | Common kiting ships are the [[Condor]], [[Imperial Navy Slicer]], and [[Tristan]]. |
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| − | In order to find fights in Null you’ll need to head towards the active SOV of another alliance, there are several tools on the map that will help you do that, checking the “active pilots in space during the last X minutes” box for example. Once you are headed towards a populated part of Nullsec there are several ways to find a fight. The ideal thing would be to find a ship of your size actively trying to solo too and proceed with a honorable 1v1, but that’s not going to happen a lot.
| + | ==== Other approaches ==== |
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| − | A more reliable way to find fights is simply to annoy residents enough and provoke them into fighting you. Killing their ratters, killing their miners or simply taunting them in local might do the trick. Once they’re annoyed they are likely to send a gang, what you are going to need is to try to split this gang using advanced tactics such as gates, bubble and aggression mechanics, or simply splitting them on grid. If a player is 100km away from his mates, he’s effectively alone for a while as you can only warp to fleet mates further than 150km. Suitonia’s youtube channel Eveiseasy is full of him doing that and you should probably head towards there for practical advice.
| + | Pilots can take other niche approaches to plex combat. |
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| − | Another thing you can do in Nullsec is to bring a few warp disruption bubbles and set traps next to system gates.
| + | [[Capacitor warfare]] can render an opponent helpless, but requires a significant sacrifice of high slots, usually also a mid slot for a cap booster, can be negated using cap boosters and nosferatus, and does not shut down all weapons: projectile guns, drones, and missile launchers do not require cap to deal damage. Small energy neutralizers reach out for most of scram range, but lose their effectiveness at scram range's edge, making it possible—just—to scram-kite some neuting ships. |
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| − | =The Null-Sec Meta=
| + | EWAR of various kinds can offer advantages. Tracking disruption, for example, can making kiting or scram-kiting easier by reducing an opponent's range, or can make fast brawling easier by reducing an opponent's tracking speed. The faction EWAR frigates, such as the [[Griffin Navy Issue]] and [[Vigil Fleet Issue]] are designed around EWAR tactics. |
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| − | The key difference between Null-Sec and Low-Sec meta comes down primarily to propulsion modules. In Null-Sec, MWDs are far more common compared to the predominately Afterburner meta of low-sec, which has a substantial impact on tactics.
| + | Frigates with two armour repairers in the lows and a capacitor booster in a mid slot can mount a formidable sustained active tank, often enough to outlast an opponent. Their weakness is a lack of speed and range control, so it's usually possible to leave a fight if you realise your opponent's dual-rep fitted, and it's also possible to kite such a ship and slowly wear it down. |
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| − | There are several reasons why Microwarpdrives are so common in nullsec. The first one is that an AB ship is helpless against a gang, you will not be fast enough to separate several people on grid and you will not be fast enough to reapproach gates and separate your foes using gates and aggression mechanics.
| + | == Solo PvP beyond lowsec == |
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| − | The other main reason is warp disruption bubbles: Nullsec is full of bubbles (both deployable and interdictor made) and speed is critical for both escaping them and taking advantage of them. For this, the substantial speed boost of the MWD is invaluable. An Afterburner can still be a good idea to bring in nullsec as long as you have an MWD too. This fit is called a dualprop ship and is great for soloing as in this case the MWD allows you to escape bubbles and close range rapidly to an opponent, while the afterburner lets you also retain a speed advantage once in scram range (where both of your MWDs will likely be deactivated by your respective warp scramblers)
| + | Though lowsec FW complexes are a traditional starting-point, it's very possible to do solo PvP elsewhere, even as a newer player. Other types of space have their own advantages and disadvantages. |
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| − | MWD brawlers and MWD scram-kiters basically function the same as AB ships except they are faster initially while moving around on the grid and then considerably slower during a fight once they have been tackled and their MWD deactivated by a scram. This means the initial engagement range is going to be extremely critical and the most decisive factor: the actual speed difference between a fast and a slow ship are going to be a lot less important. For example, the difference in speed between a webbed MWD [[Atron]] and a webbed MWD [[Merlin]] is only 50m/s (the difference with Afterburners is around 150m/s). For this reason, slower ships such as the [[Harpy]] which are rarely seen in Low Sec 1v1 PvP are much more viable in Null Sec
| + | In nullsec, wormholes, and Pochven, you must contend with warp disruption bubbles. On the other hand, there are no gate or station guns and no security losses for combat. Moreover, since bubbles make podding more common in nullsec, solo/small-gang pilots in these areas only rarely fly with the kinds of expensive implants which some pilots use in lowsec. This difference goes some way towards levelling the playing field for newer players. |
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| − | This massive reduction in speed has many other collateral effects. For example, it makes rocket ships drastically better. Since fights happen at a slower velocity, rocket ships are able to use rage rockets and apply their full damage with a single web (as long as the enemy isn’t dual propped)
| + | In wormhole space and Pochven, the delayed Local gives you a much better chance to surprise targets. |
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| − | The fact that almost all ships will be MWD fitted by default also means that kiting becomes more challenging. Kiting ships which are viable in Low Sec such as the Tristan no longer have a speed advantage in Null Sec where your opponent will also be MWD fit. Instead, kiting relies on ships with natural speed bonuses which allow them to outpace even other MWD fits. Examples include the [[Garmur]] or combat interceptors such as the [[Raptor]]
| + | === Bubble MWD meta === |
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| − | Another big change with MWDs is that you get a strong capacitor penalty simply for fitting one, and on top of that using the MWD in itself uses a lot of capacitor. What this means is that both MWD ships get a lot less capacitor to work with at the beginning of an engagement in scram range. This is a huge drawback to capacitor intensive ships that use hybrid and lasers and like to work with a small ancillary armor repairer at the same time: the [[Tormentor]] and [[Incursus]] which are very effective ships in AB engagements become a lot less potent in this meta, while shield tanked rocket and projectile ships such as the [[Talwar]] or the [[Jaguar]] get a notable advantage due to their lower capacitor needs
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| | + | Bubbles are commonly used in nullsec. An MWD is much better for burning out of a bubble quickly than an AB. Therefore, most PvP ships in nullsec fit an MWD as a standard first propulsion module. Some fits use both an MWD and an AB ("dualprop"), and some smaller ships will fit an oversized AB, which can offer MWD-like speeds at the cost of agility ("overprop"). |
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| | + | The proliferation of MWDs means that combat grids tend to be very fast-moving, especially for smaller ships of the sort newer players might fly—unless or until someone gets warp scrambled, at which point combat often becomes ''slower'' than in lowsec, as many ships have no AB and must travel at their basic sub-warp speed when scrambled. |
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| | + | It is possible to camp an anchored bubble solo, or (more rarely) to roam or camp solo in an [[interdictor]] or [[HIC]]. |
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| | + | === K-space nullsec === |
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| | + | In known-space nullsec, Local chat's member list will announce your presence whenever you enter a system. You therefore need either to move fast and surprise targets who are at a disadvantage—PvE ships and lone PvP ships who are hard- or soft-countered by your ship and fit—or take fights outnumbered and surprise enemies with your piloting skills and/or fit. |
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| − | <!--
| + | Often hunting a sovereign nullsec group's ratting or mining ships is a good way to draw a response. Responses are typically overwhelming, and you shouldn't feel bad about refusing to fight if this happens. |
| − | This is going to be an introduction to Solo PvP. On top of being a very fun thing to do in Eve, it will help you develop the skills you need to fly in small gangs without anchors. It will also improve your general knowledge of the game which will come in handy if you want to command fleets at some point in your career.
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| | + | The grid ''outside'' the [[Encounter Surveillance System]] gate in any sovereign nullsec system is [[deadspace]], and you can use this to try to split enemy gangs up and take individual ships out. |
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| − | == First things first: Frigates and destroyers ==
| + | You can also try to use a fast ship to string a gang out on a normal grid: if one of their ships is isolated, but is ''less'' than 150 km away from the rest of its gang, they cannot warp to it. But remember that micro jump drives allow some ships to teleport exactly 100 km! |
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| | + | If you jump or warp into a gate camp with a bubble, you must quickly decide whether to crash down to the gate and try to get through, or burn at speed out of the bubble and warp off. If part of a gang aggresses on you on one side of a gate and you jump through, those ships which aggressed cannot follow for 1 minute; this mechanic can let you split up an overwhelming gang over the two sides of a gate and then engage half of them on one side. |
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| − | Frigate vs frigate fights are a great introduction to the different solo PvP mechanics, that’s because frigates are mostly cheap and they get to choose which engagements they take thanks to their speed, their align time and their small sig (which makes locking them slower). Frigate fights are generally the most common type of 1V1 engagements which means it will be easier to find a fight. Now the more you’ll fight, the better you’ll get. The reason I’m mentioning destroyers is you can basically think of them as oversized frigates that are both slower, tankier and more powerful. It would be a mistake to see destroyers as a “better frigate” though. 1v1 is all about fighting on your terms and range control will often be the most decisive factor, this means being slow can be a huge drawback: it’s often the difference between winning and being countered. Some frigates fits will hard counter some destroyer fits and vice versa. Now T3 destroyers are kind of a special case but we’ll get to that later.
| + | In k-space nullsec, good map-reading with a resource such as Dotlan proves extremely useful. Look for recent NPC kills and NPC kills delta to locate ratters, look at ships-in-space and recent jumps data to find general player activity, and look at recent kills data to find recent combat. zKillboard has a page for each region in the game which can let you see recent kills with a 5- to 30-minute time-lag, and this can alert you to roaming gangs or recent fights. |
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| | + | You can use Needlejack filaments to get into nullsec, and to "reroll" your position in nullsec. Pochven filaments can let you extract back to low/highsec, as you can filament to Pochven and then either find a wormhole or wait 15 minutes and use a Pochven extraction or glorification filament. A ship with at least core probes, such as a [[T3C]] or a [[Stratios]], can also use the j-space wormhole network to reposition. |
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| − | == Security Status disclaimer == | + | === Pochven and wormholes === |
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| − | If you want to have fun solo PvPing you are going to lose sec status, it can’t be avoided. I know as a new player that might sound scary but that’s actually not a big issue at all. There are two reasons for that. The first reason is that you may completely circumvent the whole Security status by using another character. If you live in lowsec or nullsec, having a sec status won’t really affect you as you can simply use a hauler alt to get ships from Highsec to where you live. You may pretty much any Highsec activity with an alt and you get two other chars on your account to do that with.
| + | Delayed Local is the most defining feature of Pochven and wormhole systems. This makes the intelligent use of d-scan key both to finding targets and to avoiding them. It helps to know as much as possible about the local geography, whether that's the immediately adjacent wormhole connections in a j-space system, or the immediately surrounding pipe in Pochven. Knowing in a wormhole system that a particular wormhole is mass-critical, or only lets frigates through, can be a precious tactical advantage; similarly, knowing in Pochven that you have a wormhole near Jita or that there is a surviving freeport in the next system can make a big difference. In Pochven, Dotlan remains useful as an intel source. J-space systems can be looked up on zKillboard using their j-code. |
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| − | The second reason is that security status may simply be “bought back” using clone soldier tags but you probably won’t want to that as most people who live highsec generally don’t want to turn back and end up leaving it for good.
| + | Stealth plays a greater role in PvP in these areas, and you can expect to see more T3Cs, recon ships, covops ships, and prototype cloaks on ships such as interdictors. Make sure you understand wormhole polarization mechanics and (in Pochven) the behaviour of local NPCs. |
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| | + | == Solo in larger ships == |
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| − | Now if you are reading this article because you are a member of Eve-University, you might run into a little trouble here. From what I remember you are discouraged to go below a certain sec status while in the uni, so if you start to solo PvP seriously, you might run into Sec status troubles after a few dozens of fights or so. I recommend asking the E-Uni solo PvPers (such as Kelon Darklight) how they manage it, if you really bump into a wall, you may simply need to leave the Uni and find a corp more oriented towards a PvP lifestyle. Still, you should know that your sec status will take time to degrade and that it will take a while to become an issue, you may definitely dip your toes into solo PvP without any big consequences and while staying in the Uni.
| + | Once you have grasped solo mechanics work for small ships, it is relatively straightforward to apply this knowledge to larger ships. |
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| | + | "Scram kiting" is very limited for ships cruiser-sized and up. Short-ranged medium and heavy guns always hit far enough to work anywhere inside scram range. Therefore in some ways the meta simplifies: there are only brawlers and kiters. |
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| − | == Soloing in Nullsec versus soloing in Lowsec ==
| + | Any solo fit for a ship of cruiser size or above must have one or more defences against frigates and destroyers, which can close in and "fly under" medium or heavy turrets, and which can outrun or mitigate a lot of medium or heavy missile damage. Typical PvP frigate speeds can also trouble even light drones, which tend to spend most of their time chasing the frigate rather than shooting it. |
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| − | Most aspiring soloers don’t realize that the 1v1 metagame varies between lowsec and nullsec. First of all it is generally harder to find a 1v1 frigate fight in null: being alone against a gang is a much more common occurrence than true 1v1. In this case, you will generally try to separate gangs using gate mechanics, bubbles, or simply managing to split the enemies on grid. Eveiseasy is a youtube channel mostly dedicated to this kind of PvP and you will find a ton of info about creating opportunities for 1v1 there. What can be said right now though is that a Microwarpdrive is borderline mandatory if you are going to solo in SOV space that doesn’t belong to your corp. An exception can be made for oversized Afterburners (this means fitting a cruiser sized Afterburner on a destroyer or fitting a Battleship sized afterburner on a cruiser/BC). There are several reasons why a Microwarpdrive drive is so important in nullsec. The first one is that an AB ship is helpless against a gang, you will not be fast enough to separate several people on grid and you will not be fast enough to reapproach gates and separate your foes using gates and [[Timers|aggression mechanics]]. The other main reason is bubbles: Nullsec is full of bubbles (both deployable and interdictor made) and they will screw an AB ship a lot more badly than an MWD ship. Speed is critical for both escaping them and taking advantage of them. Now an Afterburner can still be a good idea to bring in nullsec as long as you have an MWD too. It’s called a dualprop ship and is great for soloing as in this case the AB is not used as a tool for moving around but as a mean to do two other thigs: it allows you to control range in scram range during 1v1s and it allows you to Signature tank bigger ships than yourself (cruisers, BCs, BSs), this can be great if you are trying to gank null ratters for example.
| + | Some typical anti-frigate tools include: |
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| | + | * ''Neuts''. Medium energy neutralizers cover most of scram range, and heavy neutralizers cover much of normal point range. Both devastate the capacitors of smaller ships. |
| | + | * ''Webs''. Reaching out just beyond the edge of scram range, a web can cut a small ship's speed enough that bigger weapons might apply better. This works best when combined with a scram. |
| | + | * ''Rapid Light Missile Launchers''. RLMLs fire a ''small'' weapon, which therefore applies well to small targets. They also have respectable burst DPS for hunting targets of any size. Their main drawback is their very long reload time. |
| | + | * ''Entropic Disintegrators''. These have very high tracking for their size, combined with fierce DPS. |
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| − | Lowsec is a whole different beast: first of all there are no bubbles, secondly there are far more people willing to solo, especially in faction warfare space. Thirdly the Faction Warfare (“FW”) [[Factional Warfare|Plex mechanics]] in lowsec promotes having an afterburner for fighting in scram range. Novice, Small, Medium and large complexes (“plexes”) are places in a system specifically dedicated to PvP, they are open to anyone, not only to the people engaged in FW. These places are only accessible by using a single acceleration gate (similar to those you can find in missions). This means that there is a single entry point, if you are in a plex already and waiting for someone to come in; you know for sure where the other person will enter. So, if you decide to sit at the exit point at 0, the person invading the plex will warp straight on top of you which will net you a quasi-automatic scram if you wish to scram which renders the other person’s MWD obsolete if he has one. An AB on the other hand stays active while scrammed.
| + | === Kiting === |
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| | + | While a pure kiting frigate wants to be faster than anything, a larger kiting ship generally wants to be able to kill anything that can catch it, and able to outrun or outrange anything that can kill it. |
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| − | Now I do not mean at all that an AB is mandatory in FW space, there are MWD fits that counter AB fits in the grand scheme of things, there’s a rock-paper-scissors mechanics of frigate PvP. Just remember that, contrarily to nullsec, an AB is a completely viable thing in FW space, it is even preferred in the current meta.
| + | It's quite possible to get decent kiting performance out of T1 cruiser hulls: the [[Stabber]] and RLML [[Caracal]] can do well, for instance. RLML-armed Caracals have an easy time with damage application, but can't scale up to high brawling DPS as a kiting Stabber can. The [[Hurricane]] can just about kite effectively, and has more punch to deliver to whatever can catch up with it. Among more expensive ship options, the [[Omen Navy Issue]], [[Osprey Navy Issue]], [[Scythe Fleet Issue]] and [[Orthrus]] all make strong mid-size kiters. The [[Vedmak]] is an extremely strong kiter, with good options including overpropped 100MN fits; its only real drawback is that its fearsome reputation precedes it, and opponents will not underestimate one seen on d-scan. |
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| | + | Kiting battleships are rare, but it is technically possible to make some Minmatar battleship hulls surprisingly fast for their size. |
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| − | == The rock-paper-scissors Mechanics of frigate PVP ==
| + | The Sansha's [[Phantasm]] and [[Nightmare]] deserve special mention as their unique bonuses let them use afterburners like microwarpdrives, making them especially tricky and mobile. |
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| | + | === Brawling === |
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| − | People usually divide PvP ships in two categories: Brawlers and Kiters. Brawler as a generic term generally describes ships who want to fight into warp scrambler range, this means the fight is happening below 10km. Ships engaged in a brawl will not be able to use their MWD (that’s what a scram does) and thus, the ships will generally move quite slowly.
| + | Brawling cruisers can be fun to fly and can rapidly dismantle most smaller- or even-sized targets they can land scram on. All four main races' cruisers can be fitted to brawl effectively, though the [[Vexor]] in particular deserves mention as a T2 blaster fit with a light tank can use [[overheating]] and its dual damage bonuses to reach around 900 DPS. However, with neither the option of fitting an MJD as larger hulls can, nor (most of the time) the mechanics of FW complexes to set up brawling starts to fights, brawling cruisers constantly face the challenge of landing scram in the first place in a world very fast-moving MWD fits. Consequently, it sometimes works best to use a suboptimal ship to play with people's expectations: a brawling HAM [[Bellicose]], for instance, can catch enemies unawares. |
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| | + | Solo brawling is viable with battlecruisers and battleships. Typical fits use an MJD as an escape mechanism, and are designed to defy entire gangs of enemies with a huge tank and annihilate everything that gets into scram range, thereby keeping the MJD available for use. It's possible to use a big buffer tank, but a very powerful active tank can also work, making this viable for ships with active tank bonuses such as the [[Cyclone]] or the [[Maelstrom]]. With cap injection, three armour repairers and the appropriate drugs, a [[Myrmidon]] can shrug off an extraordinary amount of DPS (though its own offensive power will be limited). Truly dedicated brawl fits even sometimes risk fitting an MJD as the only propulsion module. |
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| − | On the other hand, Kiters wish to fight at full MWD speed all the time using a warp disruptor instead of a scram, they rely on their speed and longer range to destroy the other ship without it being able to reach them, this mean they’ll try to avoid getting webbed at all cost and getting into scram range will generally put them in a very bad position. They will usually try to fight between 13km (overheated web range of the other ship) and 24km (the range of a tech II warp disruptor). Now not messing up as a kiter can be pretty hard when both ships are moving at 3000+ m/s per second (MWD speed), but it’s going to be easier if the other guy is moving at 1300 m/s (AB speed). Now there are a few exceptions to this, a few ships have special bonuses with longer webs, longer scrams, longer disruptors or exceptional AB speed. Offgrid links boosting can be a factor too as they increase tackle range and speed considerably.
| + | MJD-brawling fits can be countered by overwhelming them with small warp-scrambling ships in numbers, or by scrambling them from beyond normal range with a ship such as the [[Lachesis]] or a [[HIC]], so as to shut down their MJD. |
| − | Now, there’s an additional layer of subtlety to frigates and destroyers because they use small sized weapons. In their cases, brawling comes in two varieties: Scram kiting brawlers who are designed to fight at the edge of the scram range (between 6 and 9km) and brawler brawlers who are designed to fight between 0 and 4km. Yes, as you have noticed the denomination is not quite completely clear and brawling can mean two things, thank god you’ll generally understand what people mean with the context.
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| − | | + | [[Category:PvP]] |
| − | So the goal of scram kiters is to fight outside the range of full-brawlers so they don’t get hit. While the goal of full-brawlers is to catch them and and kill them with their superior close-range DPS (in general: the smaller your range is, the harder you hit).
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| − | [[File:Frigatepvp.jpg]] | |
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| − | == Frigate 1v1 in scram range ==
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| − | When a brawler and a scram-kiter engage in scram range (under 10km), the outcome is almost always decided by the range the two-ships actually fight at, if the Brawler manages to fight at his optimal (usually less than 4km), he’s most likely going to out-DPS the scram kiter. On the other hand if the scram-kiter manages to get out of the brawler’s effective range, he will generally win as he’ll barely get hit. This means that the engagement range (the distance both ships are at when they apply scram and web on each other) and the speed of each ship are going to be the most important factors for winning the fight.
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| − | Let’s try to explain the whole mechanics with a few examples, we’ll have an AB in in mind at first, then explain what changes with MWD ships. Here are a few t1 frigates: let’s see how they interact.
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| − | Slow brawler: AB blaster Merlin: 220 overheated DPS at 1km (3km falloff) 6,4ehp and 1350 m/s heated, 607 m/s heated and webbed
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| − | Fast scram-kiter: AB beam executioner: 175 heated DPS, 2,5k EHP, +3,16k active EHP at a rate of 100EHP per second with perfect small ancillary armor repairer usage (no overreping), 1700 m/s heated. 765 m/s heated and webbed.
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| − | Fast brawler: AB Blaster Atron: 220 heated DPS at 1KM (4,5KM falloff), 2.6k EHP + 2,9k active EHP at 100 EHP/S assuming perfect SAAR usage, 1800 m/s heated. 810 m/s heated and webbed
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| − | Slow scram-kiter: Rail Incursus: 160 heated DPS at 6.75km, 3,56k EHP + 5K active EHP at 166 EHP/s assuming perfect SAAR usage, 1450 m/s heated, 652 m/s heated and webbed
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| − | Now let’s see how these ships interact with each other:
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| − | We’ll start with the most one sided match-up: Slow brawler vs fast scram-kiter, even if the fight starts at 0,1km which would be the best for the merlin, he would have to apply his full DPS for 20 seconds to break the active tank of the executioner, since the executioner is moving 150m/s faster than the Merlin it would only take him 6,6 seconds to get out of the Merlin’s optimal range, past that point It becomes easier and easier to active tank as seconds into fall-off pass, the Merlin has the choice to switch to Null ammo (which takes 5 seconds) but even then, the fight is going to be a struggle and the Merlin will probably lose. Now this was assuming the best possible engagement range for the Merlin, if the fight starts anywhere between 4km and 7.5km, the Merlin theoretically won’t win. Now I must insist on the “theoretical” aspect of these fights, that is if the two players play well and don’t mess up. If the executioner forgets to apply his web or forgets to overheat is AB for a few seconds, he might very well lose.
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| − | Fast brawler versus slow scram kiter: You might think “well this is simple: it’s the opposite of what we just saw, the fast brawler will catch the slow scram-kiter and kill it”. Well, that’s actually not true. Let’s take the blaster Atron vs rail Incursus match-up for example: if the fight starts close, then the webbed AB Atron is 150m/s faster than the webbed AB incursus, this means he wil be able apply the entirety of his theoretical DPS by always staying at his optimal range. But a 150m/s different is not nearly enough to orbit at 0 and create big enough transversal velocity to outtrack the incursus, this means that if the Incursus burns away from you, he will be able to apply his full theoretical DPS to you as well. In this case, even though the Atron does more damage, the Incursus is much more Tankier than the Atron. It takes theoretically 34 seconds for the Incursus to kill the Atron while it takes 38 seconds for the Atron to kill the Incursus, which means the Incursus theoretically wins. Now as the initial engagement range increases, the match-up gets tougher and tougher for the Atron because he first has to catch-up before being able to apply his whole DPS. Even if the fights starts at 4km which is moderately close, the Atron will need to catch up 3km at 150 m/s before applying his full DPS which means he’s going to lose even harder. Now once again this is whole theoretical, if the incursus forgets to overload his prop, he’ll get caught a lot faster, if he forgets to overload his guns or his tank, if he forgets to launch his small drone he might very well lose the DPS race. If neither mess-up but the Atron has considerably superior turret and tanking skills, he might win the DPS race too.
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| − | Slow Brawler vs Slow Scram-kiter / Fast Brawler vs Fast scram-kiter:
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| − | In these match-ups, both ships’ tank are going to be pretty much the same and they’ll fly at pretty much the same speed, so these match-ups are usually purely decided by the engagement range: If the brawler manages to be right on-top (0 to 1,5km) of the scram-kiter when they both apply scram and web he’ll probably win. If the Scram kiter manages to engage outside 4km he’ll probably win. The player who messes up and forgets to overload the AB or applies his web late is going to lose almost automatically.
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| − | Mirror match-ups, Brawlers VS Brawlers and Scram-kiters vs Scram-kiters:
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| − | These are the only match up where speed will not be as relevant to actually win the fight but the fastest ship might still be able to run away if he realizes he’s losing. In this case pure damage*EHP ratio will generally win fights, the most important thing will be to have a good fit, the second most important thing will be to overload your modules (it’s crazy how many people forget/ only do it halfway through the fight), and the third most important thing will be damage and tanking skills.
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| − | == Meta-breaker in scram-range ==
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| − | Now there are a few ships that are not going to fit into the system that I just described, I’ll call them “meta-breakers”
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| − | Dual web ships:
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| − | They will be able to completely control range. A dual-web brawler will catch-up to its target quickly and a dual web scram-kiter will be able to exit the range of a brawler in seconds; this makes the initial engagement range largely irrelevant and is great to invade a plex for example. The drawback is that you are using one of your mid slots for range control instead of using it for Tanking, which means you are going to be better at countering other types of fits but will struggle more when engaging the same type of ships. A dual web Artillery firetail for example might very well lose to a beam tormentor or a rail incursus in a pure DPS race. Viable dual web turret based frigs include the Firetail (very popular), the Merlin and the Slasher.
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| − | Dual web rocket ships are a special case, the dual web hookbill is very popular but the dual breacher and kestrel or viable dual web frigs too. Rockets do not need to track which means you can play as both a scram-kiter and a brawler. You’ll be able fight brawlers by keeping them at the edge of the scram range and you’ll be able to fight scram-kiters by orbiting them at 0 and mitigate some of their DPS.
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| − | Tracking disruptors:
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| − | This module has two uses: the first, is to decrease your enemy’s optimal and falloff range by half which allows you to basically scram-kite other scram-kiter. The crucifier navy issue is designed around this idea. This might also allow the autocannon TD Slasher which is theoretically a Brawler to scram kite other brawlers. The second use of the TD is to reduce your opponent’s tracking; this is mostly useful against bad brawlers who do not have a web, or generally people with less range control modules than you. The hookbill for example may fit two webs on top of a TD which allows him to get under the guns of other scram kiters by orbiting them at 0.
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| − | Neuts:
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| − | Having a neut or several neuts on a brawler may completely break the DPS race mechanics by turning the opponent’s guns off. This allows the slasher or the neut Tristan to beat ships that rely heavily on capacitor for their damage and their tank, SAAR hybrid and SAAR laser ships are very popular in the current lowsec meta which makes neuts very powerful.
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| − | Dual reps:
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| − | These are pretty popular ships that rely on a simple gimmick: sacrificing all range control in order to have as big of a tank as possible and win thanks to pure DPS/EHP ratio, this is basically the opposite to a dual web ship. The big difference is that you can’t run away from a dual web ship that counters you, but you can always run away from a dual rep frigate that counters you, that’s what makes dual-rep ships bad.
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| − | The dual rep incursus is the most popular but the dual MASB Breach exists too (and it is terrible, as having no web on a rocket ship means abysmal DPS), flying a ship like that basically relies on the other guy not realizing you don’t have a web. In order to fight these gimmicky ships you need to stay out of their range and poke them until it run out of cap booster charges, if you don’t have the means to poke it without getting hit then you should simply leave and go somewhere else.
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| − | == How fighting in scram-range changes in Nullsec ==
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| − | All this was written with AB ships and faction warfare lowsec in mind, which is a place where MWD ships that fight in scram are rare. In nullsec though, people tend to fit MWDs and I will now explain how that changes the deal: it’s quite the same with a few significant differences.
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| − | MWD brawlers and MWD scram-kiters basically function the same as AB ships except they are faster while moving around on the grid and slower during a fight. This means the initial engagement range is going to be extremely critical and the most decisive factor: the speed difference between a fast and a slow ship are going to be a lot less important. For example, the difference in speed between a webbed MWD Atron and a webbed MWD Merlin is only 50m/s (the difference was 150m/s earlier with Afterburners). This massive reduction in speed has a collateral effect: it makes rocket ships drastically better. Since fights happen at a slower velocity, rocket ships are able to use rage rockets and apply their full damage with a single web (as long as the enemy isn’t dual propped). On the other hand, rocket ships are not as good with ABs: they need to either use faction rockets with one web which means not great damage, or rage rockets with two webs which means not great tank.
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| − | The other big change with MWDs is that you get a strong capacitor penalty simply for fitting one, on top of that using the MWD in itself uses a lot of capacitor. What this means is that both MWD ships get a lot less capacitor to work with at the beginning of an engagement in scram range. This is a huge drawback to capacitor intensive ships that use hybrid and lasers and like to work with a small ancillary armor repairer at the same time: Tormentors and Incursii who are at the at the top of the food chain in AB engagements become a lot less potent while shield tanked rocket and projectile ships become a lot better. Another small speed-related difference is that low tracking-high damage T2 short range ammo (Void, Hail and Conflag) become somewhat viable in nullsec: when both ship are close to each other and going at 150 m/s, the extra damage is sometimes possible to apply reliably.
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| − | Finally, a more down to earth difference between Nullsec and lowsec is that nullsec players are generally worse. They get much fewer opportunities to fight 1v1 which moves they don’t improve at it as fast (or at all). This is actually double edged: yes it will be easier to beat nullsec players in 1v1 because they’ll have terrible fits and no web but they will also be a lot more prone to blob you.
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| − | == How to win a fight in scram range, recap and remarks ==
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| − | The most important thing is to choose your engagements well, when you see a ship on Dscan, you need to know what are the most popular fits for the ship and what to generally expect from it. If you can link the ship on dscan to a name in local, you should search his name on zkillboard and try to find what fit he used last time he lost that ship as most people tend to buy fits in bulks and use the same over and over. This applies both ways, if you can use an unpredictable fit; the enemy might engage wrongly thinking he counters you.
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| − | Secondly you need to maximize your chances and try to use a fit that have both good counter potential and good DPS/TANK ratio, that will allow you to brute force through engagements that look close on paper. Now in order to have good countering abilities you need range control, the first thing to it is to always have a range control module, possibly more than one if you feel like maximizing your counter-ability and lowering your brute forcing ability. As I said earlier, the person with the most range control modules dictates the range of the engagement and gets the choice to disengage if he wants to. If you are flying an AB ship in lowsec, a web is mandatory. If you are flying an MWD ship in Nullsec, fitting an afterburner on top of your MWD (dualprop) will give you even better range control than a web does (but, remember that you should never fly a rocket ship without a web, you won’t be able to apply damage). You may also go dualprop+web on ships with plenty of mids like the Hookbill, this makes you the king of scram range control in Nullsec.
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| − | But, if you are flying a scram MWD frigate, you should always be super wary of AB ships, even if they are rarer in nullsec, they remain a distinct possibility. If you notice that the other guy is moving around on the grid at a speed between 900 and 1400 m/s, this means he has an AB and no MWD fitted: he sacrificed the ability to move fast on the grid which turns him into kiting food (I’ll get to that later) in exchange for super control in scram range so he might very well counter you there. Since he is so slow and you are fast, you always get the choice not to engage if you don’t want to and you’ll have to evaluate the risk: if getting scram-kited or brawled with 250 neutron blaster DPS is a possibility you should run away. On the other hand, if you know for sure his optimal range is the same as you and you think his DPS/EHP is lower than yours, then you are clear to engage. The worst thing that might happen is him managing to run away once he starts to lose.
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| − | Now if you are flying against someone with the same amount of range control modules as you, the decisive factor will be speed: sacrificing speed is almost always a bad idea, armor rigs generally have an awful speed penalty and are generally bad with a few niche uses. Plates are generally seen as pretty bad for the same reason but less so, their EHP gained/speed loss ratio isn’t nearly as bad as the armor rigs’. Still, in the current meta, the best way to armor tank your ship is generally to go with a small ancillary armor repairer, you may couple it with small auxiliary nano pumps for rigs as they give you good tanking ability without sacrificing speed, be careful though as these ships are susceptible to being neuted out. This piece of advice can be expanded to bigger stuff too: kiting with a decent armor tank becomes possible by combining armor repairers to Energized adaptive membranes and auxiliary nano pumps. Trying to buffer tank an armor ship is often subpar in the current metagame as it means sacrificing way too much speed. Shields do not have this issue and can be both buffer and active tanked. The penalty for buffer tanking shields is sig radius and it is not often big enough to be a major drawback.
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| − | == Kiting, the art of fighting outside scram range ==
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| − | One of the biggest pros of kiting is that it allows you to fight outnumbered, but it is a lot more difficult than fighting in scram-range as it should be done by piloting manually. Most of the time, the orbit and keep at range buttons are not viable options as they’ll get you either hit or slingshotted (I’ll get to that later), you also need to manual pilot in order to track your opponents: orbiting someone in an imperial navy slicer (the most famous kiting frigate) will not work for example, you’ll have too much transversal to track your target. The only time where keeping at range might be viable is when kiting a very slow AB brawler who has no means to hit past 20km. But even then, manual piloting should be recommended as it is more fun and allows you to improve. On top of being good for soloing, kiting by manual piloting is extremely useful in a small gang situation. The ability to manual pilot is, in the current Meta, what separates the average and the great solo/small gang PvPer.
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| − | The principle of kiting is to stay between 13km (the other person’s web range) and 24km (your warp disruptor range) which basically allows you to hit brawlers without getting hit yourself. You are trying to avoid getting caught while staying close enough to keep your target from running away with your point, in order to do that you’ll need to be able to activate and overload your mwd and your point with hotkeys while double clicking in space at the same time for controlling your ship. Now this whole double clicking in space thing is actually quite impossible to fully explain by writing and I suggest watching Chessur’s slicer videos on youtube as they currently are the best tutorial you can find. As an MWD brawler (in this case the term “brawler” also applies to scram-kiters) the counter to kiters is a maneuver called the slingshot. You first double click in space away from the kiter: the goal is to get him to rush towards you, when he does you suddenly change course and rush towards him as fast as possible in order to catch him, you’ll find several youtube videos showing you this mechanic. This basically means 1v1 as a kiter or against a kiter isn’t simply a matter of fitting and hard-countering your opponent, it’s a matter of piloting skill which makes the fight more organic and piloting base. One ship stat that’s going to help you tremendously with all that is speed, both kiting and slingshotting will be easier the faster you are. A duel between a kiting slicer and a brawling MWD comet is a perfect example to this peculiar synergy as both have good chances to win; the outcome of the fight is not decided in advance and depends mostly on both pilots’ piloting skills. In order to practice kiting and slingshot, I strongly recommend going to the Test Server where you get instant fights and infinite money to play with.
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| − | There are basically three main ways of kiting with frigates: light missile launchers which have low DPS but apply their damage almost perfectly to pretty much anyone (except maybe interceptors), drones which have better DPS but can be killed and are limited by their speed. They need to fly towards the enemy before doing damage and it may also be hard to apply drone damage on a very fast linked and snaked (speed implants) target. The final way is turret based kiting which mostly means good damage but might struggle to hit when transversal is high.
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| − | == Pirate frigs, destroyers and T2 frigates ==
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| − | Now you might be asking yourself, where do Interceptors, Assault frigs, Destroyers, Interdictors and Tactical destroyers fit in all that? Let’s consider those cases one by one:
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| − | Interceptors come in two flavors, the combat ceptor and the fleet ceptor. The fleet ceptor is basically worthless in 1v1. Combat ceptors can be decent as they get some very useful nullsec utility (being invincible to bubbles), the thing is this extra-utility isn’t really handy when it comes to pure 1v1. They unfortunately don’t make for potent kiters; else the Sig bonus would be quite insane. Still, their low speed and sig can be very handy for catching kiters for example (the crusader is notably good at that). Also, the dual prop Taranis is quite renowned for its ability kill ratters. Generally, combat ceptors are decent but do not make insane dueling frigates when it comes to DPS/EHP ratio, they can definitely be killed by T1 frigs and are quite expensive. They will mostly lose 1v1s against comets for example.
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| − | Destroyers:
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| − | Think of it as very big frigates with bad range control but great DPS/EHP ratio to make up for it, they can be kited by frigates and die miserably but they might also be able to tear their way through much more expensive Pirate frigs in a mirror Brawler/Brawler or Scram-Kiter/Scram-kiter match up. They can make half decent kiters too because even though they are ridiculously slow, their sheer DPS/EHP ratio might allow them to brute-force through a something even though they’ve been singshotted.
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| − | Pirate frigs:
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| − | They are either meta-breakers are exceptionally potent frigates: The daredevil for example is the equivalent of a double web ship, it can also make for a niche kiter that fights between scram range and the edge of Web-range. The Dramiel is basically a super-fast brawler with good damage and paper tank. The cruor is a pretty niche neut-metabreaker. The succubus gets a bonus to AB which allows it to either be flown as a super-fast brawler that controls scram range well or a weird slow kiter than can’t get scrammed and has amazing sig-tanking. The Astero is a big-ass Tristan. The Garmur is a meta-breaking kiter that is able to outkite other kiters, it also gets a defensive scram to defend itself against brawlers trying to slingshot it. (But Garmur can still very well get slingshotted, a few kilometers of scram range might not be enough when both ships move at 4500 km/s). Worms have the DPS and tank of destroyers while being frigate fast, they are mostly flown as kiters but since they apply their damage perfectly anywhere and have great tank, they’ll be great in scram range too.
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| − | Don’t be too afraid of pirate frigs though; they can all be countered by specific T1 frigate and T1 destroyer fits and they are often flown by terrible pilots with terrible fits.
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| − | Assault frigates:
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| − | Think of it as marginally better, marginally slower and a lot more expensive T1 destroyers. They are not very popular right now as they are generally a lot worse than Tactical destroyers while not being that much cheaper.
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| − | Interdictors:
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| − | The sabre is pretty much the only one used for solo and it’s always flown as an Autocannon brawler, which means it’s scram-kiteable. The Eris has insane blaster DPS but only two mids which means it’s scram-kite food. The heretic and flycatchers mostly struggle with fitting issues and are rarely seen solo. You might see them once in a while in kiting gangs though.
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| − | Tactical destroyer:
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| − | They are very close to being “better frigates”, they are marginally slower than frigs but are still very fast in prop mode. They have great damage and decent tank. They make for great Brawlers and Kiters alike and are virtually impossible to counter in a T1 frig except in a few select scenarios, they can still be hard-countered by Assault and Pirate frigs but are overall better than them in cost/efficiency ratio. If you are reading this guide and not that good at solo PvP yet, you should probably stay away from them from them for now.
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| − | Command destroyers:
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| − | They aren’t quite as fast as tactical destroyers and do slightly less damage but they do have great tank. They are most flown in a gang but are sometimes seen solo in small plexes trying to brawl small gang of frigates by themselves with insane active tanks.
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| − | == How to choose a small ship to solo PvP with ==
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| − | We are coming to the end of this introduction to solo PvP and we are now ready to tackle one the trickiest issue: what ships you should fly.
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| − | Well there are several types of ship that are worth flying: one option is to fly notoriously good ships with a wide engagement range that allow you to fight different things: powerful scram-kiters (by that I mean not very fast but high DPS/tank ratio) are a very good place to start as they’ll allow you to have good odds against all types of brawlers and other scram-kiters. When it comes to Afterburner oriented scram kiters, the beam Tormentor, the rail Incursus and the rail Comet are at the top of the food chain. On top of being great in sram-range they have the ability to use long range ammo (infrared and Iron) and drones in order to fend off kiters. In Nullsec on the other hand, a strong and cheap rocket ship like a Kestrel or a Breacher might work very well (I suggest watching Suitonia’s kestrel videos, you’ll see destroying Brawl-Sabers worth 60m with Kestrels worth 6M), an MWD scram-kiting comet might be a great idea too.
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| − | Another advice would be to fly ships that can be fit in a wide variety of way. A Tristan for example is a very polyvalent ship that can be fit in a lot of ways: the blaster Tristan, the neut Tristan, the rail scram-kiting Tristan and the Kiting tristans are all very good, if the other guy doesn’t know how you’re fit he’s less likely to engage you with a counter (but he’s also more likely to run away).
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| − | It might also be a good idea to run with less known ships and fits that are not currently the flavor of the month. The only issue is that theorycrafting good ships by yourself is going to require some good solo PvP knowledge already. What you could fly in this vein is a neut slasher or even a Neut+TD slasher, a neut Tristan can be very fun and skillful to fly too (you’ll need good module micromanagement as it should be flown without a cap booster). Meta breakers are generally good and fun as long as they are not super obvious and expected (for example the Artillery double web firetail is probably a bad idea). Double web AB frigate might also be a cool thing to start with, they’ll be a little less versatile but have more counter potential, the AB double web kestrel is quite unknown and good at the same time, the different variations of the AB double web Hookbills are very well-known but extremely potent in lowsec, they make the hookbill at the very top of the foodchain for 1v1 AB duels.
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| − | If you want to learn to kite the Tristan, condor, possibly breacher are good ways to start with, if you want to start with turret based kiting cheaply, a beam executioner with Standard S can be a very fun and unexpected little thing to fly and will be a good introduction to the slicer. Kiting comets and hookbills might get you some success too, they won’t be as good as the slicer but they’ll be unexpected and generally more forgiving. Another good idea would be the Coercer or the Cormorant; they are very slow for kiters but they pack such a high DPS/EHP ratio that you might very well still tear through anything that catches you, including T2 and Pirate frigs.
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| − | Finally going with a T1 destroyer might be a good idea too, you’ll be die more to gatecamps and you’ll generally be scarier which means you might get less fights but you’ll get to have a better shot against more expensive stuff like pirate and T2 frigs. The Coercer for kiting and the Algos for brawling might be very good places to start with.
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| − | == Finding and engaging in a fight in practice ==
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| − | All right, now that you’ve got a few ships fitted, it’s time to go roaming. Your best bet will probably to head towards active FW space: you can find that by opening your map and checking the “militia ships destroyed in the last x hours” box. Don’t head for one specific system with lots of kills, instead head for an area of space with several moderately to highly active systems. Once you’re there, you should start watching for open plexes. Open means that they appear on the overview (if you have faction warfare complexes checked), they’ll only show if someone has already warped to them. This means complexes that show on your probe scanner window but do not appear on your overview have never ever been warped to, so you won’t find a fight there.
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| − | Now, you are specifically looking for novice and small plexes (because only frigates and destroyers can enter them), and you want people inside. This means you need to DSCAN them with a five degree angle. A tip for d-scanning something quickly is to bind a hotkey to the “point the [[camera]] towards an object”. This means you don’t actually need to move the camera in space and manually “find” the object you wish to dscan. You only need to activate your hotkey and click the overview object to get the info you are looking for. If the open plex is far away, you’ll need to travel within 14,3AU to Dscan it. This means you are going to need to find a planet (or the sun) within 14,3AU of the plex and warp at 100 to it. Warping at 100 as a frigate/destro means you are relatively safe, the bigger stuff you fly though, the bigger align time you’ll get and the more “safes” (bookmarks) you’ll need to create. Now some people might advise you to bookmarks dozens of things everywhere you go before even thinking about fighting people but that’s a pretty dumb and risk averse mentality, especially if you are learning to solo in cheap t1 frigs, warping to things at 100 is often enough.
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| − | All right, once you find a single ship sitting in a plex with your Dscan, the first thing to do is try to link that ship to someone in Local, if you are only three or four in local you may simply look up for the other pilots on zkillboard to find who it belongs to straight away. If the ship has a Russian name and there’s a pilot from a Russian corp in local that can be your link too. The general goal is to quickly find the fit of your opponent before the start of the fight. Be aware though that once he spots you on DSCAN he’ll probably try to do exactly the same thing. Once you get a little accustomed to the metagame and you know the different ways a ship can be fit, you’ll sometimes know wether or not you should take the fight without looking at the fit and may completely skip this part.
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| − | If you are flying something that is not absurdly cheap and that you do mind a little losing, you’ll probably want to check if the other guy is truly soloing or baiting for his gang. If you managed to link the ship on Dscan to a name, check if he has fresh kills with the ship you’re seeing, if others appear on the killmail he’s probably not alone. If you can’t really link the ship to someone in local you’ll just have two guess using the corps of the other persons in system: if there are several people of the same corp in local, do you think these people live there? Do you think they are shipspinning in station or do you think are they are roaming around in frigs? Some Dscanning and a quick check on zkillboard might give you the answer. Once again, if you are starting out, what I highly recommend is to fly cheap things you can afford to lose en-masse and don’t spend too much time zkillboard-ing/metagaming your fun away. Take risks, don’t engage your direct counters of course but take fights when there’s some hope of winning, don’t be afraid of gangs, have fun and rack-up some experience.
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| − | Let’s use a basic scenario to show you how the whole thing works: You dscan down a Merlin in a novice plex in Minmatar FW space, you see 4 people in local, 3 of them are people who seem to live here and you don’t see them on dscan, the fourth one is a pilot engaged in amarr militia. You quickly look him up on zkill and sees he often loses Blaster Merlin when Soloing. The story checks out and nothing seems fishy, you are clear to engage if you want.
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| − | Now you need to think about wether your ship has a chance to win and what will be the most important thing to do so (most of the time it’s gonna be range control so you’ll need to pre-overload your modules and hit your “AB-lock- keep at range-scram-web” buttons as fast as possible when landing in the plex. That’s how the initial engagement range will be decided, don’t forget to launch your drones too if you have some.
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| − | Another way to get Intel on a ship is simply to use the “look-at” function and watching [http://i.imgur.com/Wsf2ban.jpg what kind of guns the other ship has]. For example, if you are sitting in a plex as a t1 scram-kiter like an incursus and you see a comet approaching on Dscan, you might want to burn away from the beacon to a comfortable and safe distanc. Once the comet lands on grid, you should look at it. If he has railguns fitted he is most likely to be a better scram kiter than you and you should probably leave. If he has neutron blasters, it might be a fight you want to take. You’ll generally try to let it burn into you and stay as far as possible in order to negate null ammo damage while still being close enough to scram if he tries to run. Killing the drones might be a good idea too if you can do it before the comet starts shooting you. On top of that, if you notice that he’s going at 3500+ m/s instead of the 1000+ m/s you are expecting, it means he is MWD fit and that you’ll be able to completely control range in scram-range. (Be careful though as the blaster comet is still very potent with null ammo and might be able to brute-force his way through weaker scram-kiters).
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| − | If you are flying a kiter, finding fights in lowsec might be a little more difficult as you can’t really afford to enter a plex if someone with a scram is waiting for you in it. You’ll generally want to either catch people on acceleration gates, third party existing fights, or sit in a plex of your own waiting for someone (in this case, you’ll get generally get better fights by tricking people into thinking you aren’t a kiter, if you can get AB ships to engage you are golden).
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| − | You might also be able to take some fights on gates/stations and flying as a kiter will generally help you with that. Lowsec FW space is full of people like you who are not actually engaged in FW and are simply here to fight, this means that they’ll often have suspect timers which means you can attack them at gate and station without getting hit by the sentries. Do not engage Neutral (not suspect) people on gate if you’re flying a frig or a destroyer though, the sentries would destroy you. People with low enough [[Security Status Details|security status]] are also engageable in lowsec without sentries interfering. Generally being aware of the Timers that affect gate mechanics are also going to help you with that kind of engagement.
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| − | == Finding a fight in Nullsec ==
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| − | This is a whole other matter and is going to take more skill than fighting a solo fight in lowsec, if you live in null far from active lowsec space this might be your only shot at soloing though so it’s always worth trying.
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| − | In order to find fights in Null you’ll need to head towards the active SOV of another alliance, there are several tools on the map that will help you do that, checking the “active pilots in space during the last X minutes” box for example. Once you are headed towards a populated part of Nullsec there are several ways to find a fight. The ideal thing would be to find a ship of your size actively trying to solo too and proceed with a honorable 1v1, but that’s not going to happen a lot. A more reliable way to find fights is simply to piss-off residents enough and provoke them into fighting you. Killing their ratters, killing their miners or simply taunting them in local might do the trick. Once they’re pissed off they are likely to send a gang, what you are going to need is to try to split this gang using gates, bubble and aggression mechanics, or simply splitting them on grid. If a player is 100km away from his mates, he’s effectively alone for a while as you can only warp to fleet mates further than 150km. Suitonia’s youtube channel Eveiseasy is full of him doing that and you should probably head towards there for practical advice.
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| − | One important thing to know about the initial engagement range of two frigates in nullsec is that if both Players approach each other at full speed and apply Scram/Web at the same time, the momentum of both ships will bring them to overshoot each other. Ships can’t turn on a dime so they’ll cross, by the time they turn back they’ll generally be between 7 and 13km which gives scram-kiters the advantage. If you are flying a brawler in null and you and the other guy both approach each other, you might want to start turning before actually crossing your target by double clicking in space behind you. This can be tricky but might prevent the overshoot.
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| − | In the same manner, you might be able to separate gangs in lowsec if you have a MWD fitted. Warping to a fleet member is completely disabled both inside Plexes and on the outside of them (next to the acceleration gates) so these are great places to split people up.
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| − | If you are kiting, you don’t even absolutely need to split people up, you might be able to engage people close toeach other as long as you can stay out of the effective range of all of them and you don’t get caught by webs and scram (this applies to nullsec and lowsec alike).
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| − | Another thing you can do in Nullsec is to bring a few anchorable bubbles (the smallest ones are very cheap, they cost around 2m in jita) and set traps next to tube systems’ gates.
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| − | == Soloing big, the case for Cruisers and above ==
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| − | All right, now that you understand how solo mechanics work for small stuff you may understand how they apply to bigger things. Now first of all there’s no “scram kiting” a cruiser, the short range variations of medium and heavy guns always hit far enough to work anywhere inside scram-range. There are only Brawlers and Kiters. A second thing when considering soloing as a cruiser and above is that you must always be able to fight smaller stuff than you, if frigates can easily get under your guns, you are going to get bopped repeatedly. This is a huge constraint and it restrains the range of fits you can use solo by a whole lot because there aren’t that many tools for fighting small stuff as a big ship:
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| − | Kiting: There are very few ships that apply well to frigates outside of scram range and Rapid light missile launchers ships are the undisputed king. The Orthrus famously is the best at it, but the other RLML cruisers are viable solo ships too: Caracals, Scythe fleet issues, Osprey navy issues. Those are pretty fast ships that can find good success kiting Frigates and Cruisers alike. Other very specific ships like the scorch Omen navy issue or the Phantasm might be successful as solo kiting boats too because their specificities allows them to apply their damage to small stuff.
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| − | Brawling: It is always an option to brawl as a Cruiser vs frigs, destroyers and even T3 destroyers. You’ll mainly rely on your Medium Neut and Web to fight smaller stuff in scram range but be always be careful, as a brawling cruiser you’re probably kiting food. A duel of brawling Cruisers will usually be decided by DPS/TANK ratio, fights might last a while so killing enemy drones can be critical. Big active tanks will only be good as long as they are not overly out-DPSed.
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| − | Contrarily to solo kiting, solo Brawling is viable with stupidly big ships too, in this case you’ll probably only get to fight several people at once, the general philosophy behind it is that if you can Perma-Tank entire gangs of enemy with a huge active tank and annihilate everything that gets into your scram range, then you’ll be free to MJD away whenever you wish to disengage. The few critical modules to do that are armor repairers/shield boosters and drugs for active tanking. For offense you’ll use Neuts (a medium Neut can instantly empty the cap of a frig from 10km away, a heavy neut from 30km away), Webs (and their recently introduced stasis grappler variation), and Target painters. You’ll generally want the highest tracking guns as possible coupled to the drop drug if you wish, afterburners and oversized afterburners are good things to have if you can as they’ll help with the tracking too.
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| − | This kind of ship will be countered by a group of kiters with high DPS, a few logis or command destroyers to get it off the gate. A few players specialize in this kind of PvP and MrHyde is the most famous one. You’ll find plenty of exemples and advice on his Youtube channel. -->
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Fighting in a fleet is lots of fun, and is, in many ways, the classic EVE experience.
However, fighting solo, or in a small "microgang" of 2 or 3 people can be just as fun, much easier to get set up, and develops all-round skills: flying solo, you must perform all the functions of a PvP fleet, and so it offers an intense education in all aspects of combat at once. Skills such as scouting, target calling and general fleet command all transfer well from solo/microgang PvP up to fleets. In EVE, many of the best fleet commanders started out flying solo or small-gang, and many of them still roam solo when not leading fleets.
Solo PvP is a vast topic exceeding the scope of a single wiki article, but this page covers some general principles and offers advice on one common starting-point for solo flying, small-ship PvP in lowsec space.
General principles
EVE Online is a massively multiplayer online game: most combat pilots fly in groups, and, outside of some Proving Grounds formats, no rule prevents other players from ganging up on you. Be prepared for solo PvP to be hard, and understand that sometimes a group will overwhelm you and even the most carefully-fitted and well-flown ship will die. On the plus side, this makes every kill that much more satisfying.
A key point to grasp for fitting your ship is that a solo PvP ship in any kind of space must perform all three of the key combat functions of a PvP fleet: damage-dealing, tanking, and control. You must also be your own scout and navigator so, wherever you fly, prepare to get acquainted with geographical and intel tools such as Dotlan and zKillboard.
A further point to grasp is that, despite the game's reputation, it is quite hard to force PvP on another player in EVE. While ambush attacks are possible, especially in Pochven and wormhole space, in much of the game alert use of Local chat and the directional scanner allows most players to see you coming. Your ship choice conditions the kind of fights you will find: you certainly can hunt in a relatively costly and highly-effective ship such as a Vedmak, but doing so guarantees that you will mostly fight the foolish, the unlucky, and those with serious backup hidden nearby. It can be worth exploring cheap options which can surprise enemies with counterintuitive fits.
Geography
Because different types of space play by different rules, pilots typically fit and prepare their ships for combat in a particular type. It is worth knowing the differences.
Lowsec
Bubbles and bombs cannot be used in lowsec, making it relatively safer space in which to move around. Since you do not need a MWD to burn out of bubbles, it is much safer to take an afterburner as your only propulsion module in lowsec than in other types of space. Since bubbles cannot be used to trap your pod after the loss of your ship, you have a higher chance of preserving your pod in lowsec than in more dangerous types of space.
Aggressing a pilot not flagged as a criminal, war target, or suspect in lowsec will cause a small loss of security status and will flag you yourself with a 15-minute suspect timer, letting others engage you. Podding someone will cause a significantly larger loss of security status. Security status can be regained by killing NPC pirates or by handing in criminal tags.
Aggressing a non-criminal, non-suspect pilot on-grid with a gate or a station will also draw down the wrath of the local sentry guns, which can be tanked by larger ships but present a serious threat to smaller ships.
Lowsec is also the location for Faction Warfare ("FW"). FW complexes have unique mechanics which allow you to limit the hull size and tech level (but not raw number) of ships engaging you, and you do not have to be involved in FW to take advantage of these mechanics.
Fighting other players is one of only a few reasons people go to lowsec, so you stand a high chance of finding combat there; on the other hand, you also stand a higher chance of finding well-prepared, experienced and well-equipped opponents.
Lowsec FW complex PvP is a traditional starting-point for new solo PvP players, though it has its drawbacks as well as its advantages.
Nullsec
In nullsec, there are no gate or station guns, and no security status implications from any kind of combat.
Bubbles can be used to trap people at gates or to suck targets out of warp. Since a MWD is necessary for most ships to get out of a bubble quickly, MWDs are much more commonly fitted for travel and combat in nullsec; this in turn makes many ships more vulnerable to warp scramblers, which can shut off a MWD but not an afterburner.
In nullsec, especially sovereign nullsec owned by players, there are far fewer NPC stations, and therefore fewer opportunities to dock up for safety or repairs.
There are more non-combat reasons to be in space in nullsec than in lowsec, so you are likely to find more targets in PvE ships or with limited combat preparation; on the other hand, you are likely to find fewer fights overall.
Pochven
Mechanically Pochven space is very like nullsec: bubbles and bombs can be used, and there are no security status implications to combat. However, cynos cannot be lit in Pochven, so hotdropping is not a danger.
Pochven, like wormhole space, has delayed Local chat, so you cannot easily tell who is in a system with you. Pochven has a fixed, mappable geography, but the systems are arranged in a triangle, and most systems only have two gates, so it is particularly good space for gate camps and player movements are relatively predictable. Filaments and relatively-reliable wormhole connections link Pochven to the rest of the game and make entry and exit surprisingly easy.
There are NPC stations in many Pochven systems, but you won't be able to use most of their services without good Triglavian standings.
Gangs of potentially-hostile NPCs roam each Pochven system. If they are hostile to you, they will engage you, and they are capable of destroying player ships. They will pod you if they can. It is possible to get positive standing with the EDENCOM and Triglavian NPCs in Pochven; the Drifters, Rogue Drones and Sleepers will always be hostile.
Wormhole space
Wormhole space has delayed Local chat, like Pochven. Also similarly to Pochven, wormholes have normal nullsec mechanics with bubbles and bombs, but with no cynos.
The geography of wormhole space is constantly shifting. Groups can manipulate their wormhole connections by "rolling" wormholes, something which is normally too much complex work for one solo PvP ship.
The delayed Local and shifting geography put a strong emphasis on d-scan, stealth and surprise, so combat ships in wormhole space lean towards those able to fit a covert ops cloak and warp while cloaked. Almost everything of interest in wormhole space must be probed down, and leaving from wormhole space often requires probing, so many ships fit at least a core probe launcher.
There are no NPC stations in wormhole space, except in Thera.
Lowsec FW complex combat
Much small-scale PvP happens in Faction Warfare ("FW") lowsec.
FW space contains FW Complexes (commonly known as "plexes", not to be confused with PLEX), which are effectively PvP arenas.
These appear on your overview and probe scanner window as beacons which all players can warp to with names such as “Gallente Novice Outpost” or “Caldari Large Installation”. All available plexes appear in the probe scanner window, but a plex only appears on the overview once someone has entered it.
The key factor to note is the "size" of the plex, indicated by the middle word in its name. Size tells you which hulls can enter the plex.
- "Novice": T1 frigates only
- "Small": T1/T2 frigates, T1/T2 destroyers (no T3 destroyers)
- "Medium": all frigates and destroyers, T1/T2 cruisers (no T3 cruisers)
- "Large": any ship
When you initially warp to any Novice, Small, or Medium plex, you will encounter an acceleration gate. The gate will only let appropriate ships warp into the plex itself. Large plexes have no gate and allow any ships in.
Plexes provide a fixed point for fights. The size limitations mean that you can, to some extent, control the fights you take: if you are in a Novice plex, you will not have to fight a T3 cruiser.
The gate limits ship sizes, but not numbers. You can still be overpowered by a gang of ships if you don't stay alert.
The beacon
When you activate the acceleration gate and “slide” into a Novice, Small or Medium plex, you arrive within 2.5 km of a "beacon" in space. This beacon should be visible on your overview as you land. If not, adjust your overview settings to display all brackets (items in space): the beacon's placement is key.
Any ship entering the plex will also next to this beacon; there is no way to warp in at range.
This mechanic means that once you are inside a plex, you know almost exactly where an enemy ship will enter. Likewise, when entering an occupied plex, the opponent(s) within will have positioned themselves knowing where you will appear. The occupant of the plex always has this tactical advantage in initial positioning.
Deadspace
FW plexes are deadspace. You cannot warp to a fleetmate who is over 150 km from you inside a FW plex. Nor can you warp to a wreck or to a tactical bookmark that is over 150 km away from you. A fleet mate who warps to you when you are inside a plex will land from warp outside the plex, at the acceleration gate.
As a result, it is sometimes possible to string out and separate a group within a plex.
D-scanning for fights
A lot of PvP happens before you land on grid, and revolves around picking fights and having tactics in place before you start. For this, you need intel.
The most basic form of intel you need is whether a plex contains a ship already, and if so, what kind. Or, if you are already inside, what ships are coming your way. The tool for this will be your Directional Scanner, or D-Scan.
The Wiki Directional Scanner Guide is already an excellent and detailed resource on using this tool and should be read in detail. For scanning use in and around plexes in particular:
- When scanning plexes from outside, keep your D-Scan set at a 5 degree angle, and max range, and hold down your D-Scan hotkey (by default “V”) then click on the plex within your overview to quickly and efficiently scan each one
- D-Scan will not tell you if a ship is actually inside a plex, or outside, next to the gate. If you see a ship on D-Scan which is too large for the plex, they are sat outside the gate, and may be trying to catch ships entering
- When inside a plex, set your D-Scan to 360 degrees, and 1AU range, and ensure you are scanning regularly to detect anyone landing on the acceleration gate who may be about to enter. Switch to a longer range now and then to check what is happening elsewhere.
Lowsec solo ships
Many ships can be used solo in lowsec, but this section covers some of the ones most likely to be open to new characters, and most likely to be encountered in FW complexes.
Base T1 frigates
Any player flying T1 frigates in lowsec should not expect to get many fights against similarly-fitted players, and should expect to also take challenging fights against faction/pirate or T1 destroyers, and prepare accordingly.
T1 fits which work effectively tend to be "surprising" fits designed to out-wit more expensive ships by presenting an unexpected tactical profile, such as a dual web Merlin or kiting Punisher.
Faction/pirate frigates
These are very common sights in lowsec: they are technically T1 hulls, and so can enter Novice complexes, but they are more powerful than base T1 frigates.
Faction frigates are a more expensive step up from base T1 frigates. While powerful, they can still be killed by a skilled base T1 frigate. The Federation Navy Comet is an especially popular option due to its excellent balance of low cost (and SP requirement) against high combat effectiveness. Other ships such as the Caldari Navy Hookbill and Imperial Navy Slicer are also effective at fighting a wide range of opponents.
Pirate frigates are substantially more expensive, but also have subtantial advantages versus almost all other frigate variants, and are some of the toughest opponents. Many, such as the Succubus or Daredevil are deliberately designed to "break" the typical rules of the solo PvP meta in some way. These are quite advanced ships, and new pilots should probably neither fly nor fight them without backup.
T1 destroyers
These can be thought of as larger frigates with poor range control due to their speed, but great DPS. They can be kited (or occasionally scram-kited, on which see below) by a skilled T1 frigate pilot, but they are also able to tear their way through almost any frigate (including pirate/faction hulls) if it's caught within their optimal range for long.
T1 destroyers can be excellent choices for newer pilots, as they are cheap, they insure well, they use small weapons, and they can fight a much wider range of opponents than T1 frigates.
T1 destroyers are more vulnerable than frigates to larger weapons, and will suffer if caught by larger ships outside the FW complex context, e.g. on a gate.
T1 cruisers
Lone T1 cruisers are relatively rare sights in lowsec plexes, and can be a magnet for other cruisers, or advanced ships such as pirate frigates and T3 destroyers looking to punch up.
The few cruisers encountered in lowsec are often fitted specifically to kill frigates pilots, and new pilots should exercise caution around them. In particular, cruisers such as the Vexor, Stabber, Bellicose, Caracal, and Arbitrator work very well against frigates if thoughtfully fitted, and should probably be avoided by smaller ships.
A T1 cruiser is not an overwhelmingly long train for a newer player, they insure reasonably well, unlike pirate/faction/T2 frigates, and they offer certain advantages to the new PvP pilot. In particular, everything happens more slowly in a cruiser, which gives you more time to observe and learn from the fight. On the other hand, they cannot enter Novice or Small complexes.
Assault frigates
T2 assault frigates ("AFs") can enter Small plexes, and combine the agility of a frigate with higher DPS and much stronger tanks; when fitted with an Assault Damage Control, they can become briefly invulnerable. They are an extremely difficult fight for any other frigate or T1 destroyer. Common solo AFs include the Hawk (with an extremely strong MASB shield tank), or the Retribution (often flown as a kiting ship, similar to a much tankier version of the Imperial Navy Slicer).
Basic frigate meta
Ships for PvP in general are grouped primarily by their preferred fighting range. All other things being equal, winning a PvP fight usually means ensuring that you are in your ideal range, and your opponent is not.
- 0-5 km range - Brawlers
- 5-10 km range - Scram Kiters
- 10-20 km range - Kiters
In lowsec frigate PvP, as most fighting is in plexes where much of the engagement takes place around the fixed point of the beacon, MWDs are less commonly used than in other environments, as they can be immediately de-activated by a warp scrambler. While MWDs can be useful for kiters, the dominant propulsion module is the afterburner.
Brawlers
Brawlers use high damage, close range weapons, such as blasters or pulse lasers. They therefore rely on quickly getting into close range, and preventing opponents from pulling away.
When defending a plex, they will orbit the beacon very closely, and immediately try to warp-scramble and web any incoming ship.
When attacking a plex, they must swiftly close the range between them and the defending ship.
Since range is key, fast brawlers like the Atron or Federation Navy Comet are very useful due to their raw speed, and their damage bonuses. An alternative is a ship which can carry dual webs, such as the dual-web armour Kestrel or the Caldari Navy Hookbill. These are relatively slow ships in absolute terms, but the double web effect removes the speed advantage of almost any other ship, and allows you to dictate range despite being slower on paper.
Scram-kiters
An effective defence against a brawler is to fight from outside their optimal range, but still within warp scrambler and web range, normally between 7–9 km. This is called "scram-kiting". At this point, brawling damage from, for example, blasters will be minimal, but longer-reaching weapons such as beam lasers, pulse lasers with Scorch, railguns, or rockets can still hit for substantial damage.
Once again, this tactic relies on range control. When defending a plex you will likely orbit the beacon at your optimal range, but remember that a brawler could quickly close range if they have a notable speed advantage.
Likewise, when attacking a plex, if a brawler is waiting at the beacon you will need to pull range quickly, which requires range control. You must also tank the initial damage close-range long enough to pull distance.
For this reason, scram-kite ships often still fit for speed. Common scram-kiters include the Breacher, Tormentor, and Incursus. The dual-web Kestrel and Caldari Navy Hookbill noted earlier can also be equally effective as scram-kiters, because rockets can deal effective damage up to 9 km, while the dual webs maintain range control.
Kiters
The other key factor in the meta are long-range kiting ships. These will equip a warp disrupter to tackle at 20 km+ ranges, and use long range weapons. They are generally glass cannons, maximizing speed and damage over tank. As they cannot web an opponent at such long ranges, they usually rely on MWDs for a speed advantage. Since they are lightly tanked and a warp scrambler shuts down an MWD, they usually die fast if brought to close quarters.
A good kiting ship already inside a plex is very difficult to kill, as they will orbit the beacon well outside of scram range, and closing with them is challenging. A ship such as a Tormentor with beam lasers can switch to long range ammo to damage the kiting ship at range, but the kiting ship can avoid tackle and leave at will, so damage projection alone only forces a draw. The primary disadvantages of a kiting ship are that they are very poor at attacking a plex, as they are forced to arrive in a predictable place, and that they require smart, alert manual piloting.
Common kiting ships are the Condor, Imperial Navy Slicer, and Tristan.
Other approaches
Pilots can take other niche approaches to plex combat.
Capacitor warfare can render an opponent helpless, but requires a significant sacrifice of high slots, usually also a mid slot for a cap booster, can be negated using cap boosters and nosferatus, and does not shut down all weapons: projectile guns, drones, and missile launchers do not require cap to deal damage. Small energy neutralizers reach out for most of scram range, but lose their effectiveness at scram range's edge, making it possible—just—to scram-kite some neuting ships.
EWAR of various kinds can offer advantages. Tracking disruption, for example, can making kiting or scram-kiting easier by reducing an opponent's range, or can make fast brawling easier by reducing an opponent's tracking speed. The faction EWAR frigates, such as the Griffin Navy Issue and Vigil Fleet Issue are designed around EWAR tactics.
Frigates with two armour repairers in the lows and a capacitor booster in a mid slot can mount a formidable sustained active tank, often enough to outlast an opponent. Their weakness is a lack of speed and range control, so it's usually possible to leave a fight if you realise your opponent's dual-rep fitted, and it's also possible to kite such a ship and slowly wear it down.
Solo PvP beyond lowsec
Though lowsec FW complexes are a traditional starting-point, it's very possible to do solo PvP elsewhere, even as a newer player. Other types of space have their own advantages and disadvantages.
In nullsec, wormholes, and Pochven, you must contend with warp disruption bubbles. On the other hand, there are no gate or station guns and no security losses for combat. Moreover, since bubbles make podding more common in nullsec, solo/small-gang pilots in these areas only rarely fly with the kinds of expensive implants which some pilots use in lowsec. This difference goes some way towards levelling the playing field for newer players.
In wormhole space and Pochven, the delayed Local gives you a much better chance to surprise targets.
Bubble MWD meta
Bubbles are commonly used in nullsec. An MWD is much better for burning out of a bubble quickly than an AB. Therefore, most PvP ships in nullsec fit an MWD as a standard first propulsion module. Some fits use both an MWD and an AB ("dualprop"), and some smaller ships will fit an oversized AB, which can offer MWD-like speeds at the cost of agility ("overprop").
The proliferation of MWDs means that combat grids tend to be very fast-moving, especially for smaller ships of the sort newer players might fly—unless or until someone gets warp scrambled, at which point combat often becomes slower than in lowsec, as many ships have no AB and must travel at their basic sub-warp speed when scrambled.
It is possible to camp an anchored bubble solo, or (more rarely) to roam or camp solo in an interdictor or HIC.
K-space nullsec
In known-space nullsec, Local chat's member list will announce your presence whenever you enter a system. You therefore need either to move fast and surprise targets who are at a disadvantage—PvE ships and lone PvP ships who are hard- or soft-countered by your ship and fit—or take fights outnumbered and surprise enemies with your piloting skills and/or fit.
Often hunting a sovereign nullsec group's ratting or mining ships is a good way to draw a response. Responses are typically overwhelming, and you shouldn't feel bad about refusing to fight if this happens.
The grid outside the Encounter Surveillance System gate in any sovereign nullsec system is deadspace, and you can use this to try to split enemy gangs up and take individual ships out.
You can also try to use a fast ship to string a gang out on a normal grid: if one of their ships is isolated, but is less than 150 km away from the rest of its gang, they cannot warp to it. But remember that micro jump drives allow some ships to teleport exactly 100 km!
If you jump or warp into a gate camp with a bubble, you must quickly decide whether to crash down to the gate and try to get through, or burn at speed out of the bubble and warp off. If part of a gang aggresses on you on one side of a gate and you jump through, those ships which aggressed cannot follow for 1 minute; this mechanic can let you split up an overwhelming gang over the two sides of a gate and then engage half of them on one side.
In k-space nullsec, good map-reading with a resource such as Dotlan proves extremely useful. Look for recent NPC kills and NPC kills delta to locate ratters, look at ships-in-space and recent jumps data to find general player activity, and look at recent kills data to find recent combat. zKillboard has a page for each region in the game which can let you see recent kills with a 5- to 30-minute time-lag, and this can alert you to roaming gangs or recent fights.
You can use Needlejack filaments to get into nullsec, and to "reroll" your position in nullsec. Pochven filaments can let you extract back to low/highsec, as you can filament to Pochven and then either find a wormhole or wait 15 minutes and use a Pochven extraction or glorification filament. A ship with at least core probes, such as a T3C or a Stratios, can also use the j-space wormhole network to reposition.
Pochven and wormholes
Delayed Local is the most defining feature of Pochven and wormhole systems. This makes the intelligent use of d-scan key both to finding targets and to avoiding them. It helps to know as much as possible about the local geography, whether that's the immediately adjacent wormhole connections in a j-space system, or the immediately surrounding pipe in Pochven. Knowing in a wormhole system that a particular wormhole is mass-critical, or only lets frigates through, can be a precious tactical advantage; similarly, knowing in Pochven that you have a wormhole near Jita or that there is a surviving freeport in the next system can make a big difference. In Pochven, Dotlan remains useful as an intel source. J-space systems can be looked up on zKillboard using their j-code.
Stealth plays a greater role in PvP in these areas, and you can expect to see more T3Cs, recon ships, covops ships, and prototype cloaks on ships such as interdictors. Make sure you understand wormhole polarization mechanics and (in Pochven) the behaviour of local NPCs.
Solo in larger ships
Once you have grasped solo mechanics work for small ships, it is relatively straightforward to apply this knowledge to larger ships.
"Scram kiting" is very limited for ships cruiser-sized and up. Short-ranged medium and heavy guns always hit far enough to work anywhere inside scram range. Therefore in some ways the meta simplifies: there are only brawlers and kiters.
Any solo fit for a ship of cruiser size or above must have one or more defences against frigates and destroyers, which can close in and "fly under" medium or heavy turrets, and which can outrun or mitigate a lot of medium or heavy missile damage. Typical PvP frigate speeds can also trouble even light drones, which tend to spend most of their time chasing the frigate rather than shooting it.
Some typical anti-frigate tools include:
- Neuts. Medium energy neutralizers cover most of scram range, and heavy neutralizers cover much of normal point range. Both devastate the capacitors of smaller ships.
- Webs. Reaching out just beyond the edge of scram range, a web can cut a small ship's speed enough that bigger weapons might apply better. This works best when combined with a scram.
- Rapid Light Missile Launchers. RLMLs fire a small weapon, which therefore applies well to small targets. They also have respectable burst DPS for hunting targets of any size. Their main drawback is their very long reload time.
- Entropic Disintegrators. These have very high tracking for their size, combined with fierce DPS.
Kiting
While a pure kiting frigate wants to be faster than anything, a larger kiting ship generally wants to be able to kill anything that can catch it, and able to outrun or outrange anything that can kill it.
It's quite possible to get decent kiting performance out of T1 cruiser hulls: the Stabber and RLML Caracal can do well, for instance. RLML-armed Caracals have an easy time with damage application, but can't scale up to high brawling DPS as a kiting Stabber can. The Hurricane can just about kite effectively, and has more punch to deliver to whatever can catch up with it. Among more expensive ship options, the Omen Navy Issue, Osprey Navy Issue, Scythe Fleet Issue and Orthrus all make strong mid-size kiters. The Vedmak is an extremely strong kiter, with good options including overpropped 100MN fits; its only real drawback is that its fearsome reputation precedes it, and opponents will not underestimate one seen on d-scan.
Kiting battleships are rare, but it is technically possible to make some Minmatar battleship hulls surprisingly fast for their size.
The Sansha's Phantasm and Nightmare deserve special mention as their unique bonuses let them use afterburners like microwarpdrives, making them especially tricky and mobile.
Brawling
Brawling cruisers can be fun to fly and can rapidly dismantle most smaller- or even-sized targets they can land scram on. All four main races' cruisers can be fitted to brawl effectively, though the Vexor in particular deserves mention as a T2 blaster fit with a light tank can use overheating and its dual damage bonuses to reach around 900 DPS. However, with neither the option of fitting an MJD as larger hulls can, nor (most of the time) the mechanics of FW complexes to set up brawling starts to fights, brawling cruisers constantly face the challenge of landing scram in the first place in a world very fast-moving MWD fits. Consequently, it sometimes works best to use a suboptimal ship to play with people's expectations: a brawling HAM Bellicose, for instance, can catch enemies unawares.
Solo brawling is viable with battlecruisers and battleships. Typical fits use an MJD as an escape mechanism, and are designed to defy entire gangs of enemies with a huge tank and annihilate everything that gets into scram range, thereby keeping the MJD available for use. It's possible to use a big buffer tank, but a very powerful active tank can also work, making this viable for ships with active tank bonuses such as the Cyclone or the Maelstrom. With cap injection, three armour repairers and the appropriate drugs, a Myrmidon can shrug off an extraordinary amount of DPS (though its own offensive power will be limited). Truly dedicated brawl fits even sometimes risk fitting an MJD as the only propulsion module.
MJD-brawling fits can be countered by overwhelming them with small warp-scrambling ships in numbers, or by scrambling them from beyond normal range with a ship such as the Lachesis or a HIC, so as to shut down their MJD.
