This post will cover the Harbinger.
Overview
The Harbinger is an Amarr battlecruiser that is based around using medium energy turrets to apply damage; it has bonuses to the amount of damage that medium energy turrets produce and the capacitor taken to power them. The Harbinger can field a flight of medium drones to complement its turrets and energy weapons allowing it to project damage reasonably well out to long point range (24km or thereabouts). Shield tanked Harbingers are sometimes used in k-space where they can take advantage of higher speed and mitigate the penalty of lower effective hitpoints but the close range engagements in w-space mean that they are almost always fit with an armour tank.
The Eve Altruist post covering the Harbinger and the other battlecruisers can be found here.
The Eve Altruist post covering the Harbinger and the other battlecruisers can be found here.
What is it used for in wormhole space?
The Harbinger is seen relatively rarely in wormhole space; it is most typically used in PvP armour fleets. The ability of energy turrets to instantly project damage to significantly longer ranges than blaster weapons can be extremely useful to gangs, allowing targets to be hit at around 30km - ideal for picking off Stealth Bombers that might otherwise be hard to quickly force off the field. Although a Legion or Zealot may outperform the Harbinger in this role, the Harbinger is significantly cheaper and has significantly lower skill requirements.
Harbingers can be used for running combat sites in Class 1-3 wormholes, though they need a fleet with them in Class 3 systems as they don't have the tank for sustained engagements. In general armour tanks perform more poorly than shield tanks for running combat sites in wormhole systems; the larger a shield tank is made, the more significant the passive recharge becomes. This means that increasing the buffer on a shield tank makes it not only take longer to work through due to the raw hit-point advantage, but a significant portion of the incoming fire is mitigated (or negated completely) by the passive recharge. As passive armour tanks do not have this recharge component an active armour tank is needed, which in turn requires valuable slots to be assigned to improving capacitor performance in order to run the active tank and creates a vulnerability on capacitor power that shield tanks do not have.
Harbingers are sometimes dual-purposed for clearing and then running gas sites in Class 1-3 wormholes; unlike a Drake they have turrets available in the high slots that allow them to mount Gas Cloud Harvesters.
Harbingers can be used for running combat sites in Class 1-3 wormholes, though they need a fleet with them in Class 3 systems as they don't have the tank for sustained engagements. In general armour tanks perform more poorly than shield tanks for running combat sites in wormhole systems; the larger a shield tank is made, the more significant the passive recharge becomes. This means that increasing the buffer on a shield tank makes it not only take longer to work through due to the raw hit-point advantage, but a significant portion of the incoming fire is mitigated (or negated completely) by the passive recharge. As passive armour tanks do not have this recharge component an active armour tank is needed, which in turn requires valuable slots to be assigned to improving capacitor performance in order to run the active tank and creates a vulnerability on capacitor power that shield tanks do not have.
Harbingers are sometimes dual-purposed for clearing and then running gas sites in Class 1-3 wormholes; unlike a Drake they have turrets available in the high slots that allow them to mount Gas Cloud Harvesters.
How is it typically fit?
PvE fits for Harbingers come in a host of small variations on a theme, normally along the following lines:
[Harbinger, WH PvE]
Medium Armor Repairer II
Damage Control II
Heat Sink II
Heat Sink II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Cap Recharger II
Cap Recharger II
Experimental 10MN Afterburner I
Stasis Webifier II
Heavy Pulse Laser II, Multifrequency M
Heavy Pulse Laser II, Multifrequency M
Heavy Pulse Laser II, Multifrequency M
Heavy Pulse Laser II, Multifrequency M
Heavy Pulse Laser II, Multifrequency M
Heavy Pulse Laser II, Multifrequency M
Core Probe Launcher I, Core Scanner Probe I
Medium Capacitor Control Circuit I
Medium Auxiliary Nano Pump I
Medium Nanobot Accelerator I
Vespa EC-600 x5
Warrior II x5
The tank is below 200dps, but nothing higher is required for combat sites in Class 1 and 2 wormholes. Some fits will switch down one gun size from Heavy Pulse Laser IIs to Focused Medium Pulse Laser IIs if the pilot has sub-optimal fitting skills or problems with tracking . Personal preference can see people switch one of the Heat Sink II's to a Tracking Enhancer to improve range and tracking somewhat. One of the only advantages of the Harbinger over the Drake for combat site running in lower-class wormhole systems is the ability to field a flight of medium drones; EC-600s provide a reasonable chance of managing to jam any potential ambusher allowing you to flee the scene.
PvP fits are a little different;
[Harbinger, WH PvP]
1600mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Damage Control II
Heat Sink II
Heat Sink II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Small Capacitor Booster II, Cap Booster 200
Faint Warp Disruptor I
Experimental 10MN Microwarpdrive I
X5 Prototype Engine Enervator
Heavy Pulse Laser II, Multifrequency M
Heavy Pulse Laser II, Multifrequency M
Heavy Pulse Laser II, Multifrequency M
Heavy Pulse Laser II, Multifrequency M
Heavy Pulse Laser II, Multifrequency M
Heavy Pulse Laser II, Multifrequency M
[empty high slot]
Medium Trimark Armor Pump I
Medium Trimark Armor Pump I
Medium Trimark Armor Pump I
Hornet EC-300 x5
Valkyrie II x5
The above fit needs a +1% powergrid implant to fit (the Inherent Implants 'Squire' Engineering EG-601); not using one or using lower fitting skills will mean potentially dropping one of the Heavy Pulse Laser II's to a Focused Medium Pulse Laser II or switching the 1600mm plate to an 800mm one and fitting a nosferatu, neut or smartbomb into the spare high slot. This 1600mm fit has 71k EHP and Scorch lets it put ~440 dps to a 23km optimal with a 5km falloff - close range Imperial Navy Multifrequency allows it to kick out 550dps before drones.
A note about the drones on this fit - they add an extra ~130dps and I would definitely go for medium damage drones with light ECM drones - the reverse of the site running set up above. This is because you're going out looking for trouble in this ship - not looking to run - and light combat drones aren't as useful in wormhole systems as they are in known space as there are significantly fewer frigates.
Occasionally you will run into beam-fit Harbingers used for both PvE combat site running and PvP. These are significantly rarer than the pulse-fit variants and less dangerous - although a beam-fit Harbinger can ruin the day of any stealth bombers in a fight.
How much of a threat is it?
Running a site: Harbingers are generally a substandard way to run sites in a Class 1 or 2 wormhole system, and aren't really viable in Class 3 or above. They will generally have a borderline tank in C2 systems, and are vulnerable to capacitor pressure from energy neutralizers; they will generally be able to be killed by most battlecruisers or strategic cruisers that are fit for PvP one on one. They are not a very good bait ship as both the raw hitpoint total and the active component of the armour tank are so low. Expect those medium ECM drones to be deployed!
As backup in a POS:
The Harbinger is pretty capable second responder; it's clearly not going to have the same capabilities as a strategic cruiser, but it has a reasonable tank and can project damage well.
On the field in a fight:
The Harbinger is a good call for a primary target if there aren't any recons on the field; although the tank is reasonable it is no-where near as robust as strategic cruisers and the lack of a resistance bonus on the ship means that a more significant fraction of the EHP is made up of raw armour hitpoints, and less resistances. This means that logistics reps will not be as effective when applied to it compared to other ships that have better resist profiles such as Tech 2/3 ships or ships with resistance bonuses such as the Prophecy. It will also be able to apply its damage across the field relatively easily; the longer range on pulse lasers don't force it to be within a handful of kilometers of its targets, unlike hybrid turrets. Given it has a fixed damage type, it may be worth considering how that EM/Thermal damage will stack up against the ships that you have on field - if you are heavy on Minmatar Tech 2/3 ships then it is probably lower down the threat list, whereas if you have a number of Drakes in the fight, it is a more significant threat.
Harbingers are generally unlikely to bring any electronic warfare to bear, although if they do it will almost certainly be fit in place of a capacitor booster, making the Harbinger vulnerable to capacitor pressure. While they have good damage projection, Harbingers don't have quite the range required to threaten logistics ships without pushing out of the main fight.
On the field in a fight:
The Harbinger is a good call for a primary target if there aren't any recons on the field; although the tank is reasonable it is no-where near as robust as strategic cruisers and the lack of a resistance bonus on the ship means that a more significant fraction of the EHP is made up of raw armour hitpoints, and less resistances. This means that logistics reps will not be as effective when applied to it compared to other ships that have better resist profiles such as Tech 2/3 ships or ships with resistance bonuses such as the Prophecy. It will also be able to apply its damage across the field relatively easily; the longer range on pulse lasers don't force it to be within a handful of kilometers of its targets, unlike hybrid turrets. Given it has a fixed damage type, it may be worth considering how that EM/Thermal damage will stack up against the ships that you have on field - if you are heavy on Minmatar Tech 2/3 ships then it is probably lower down the threat list, whereas if you have a number of Drakes in the fight, it is a more significant threat.
Harbingers are generally unlikely to bring any electronic warfare to bear, although if they do it will almost certainly be fit in place of a capacitor booster, making the Harbinger vulnerable to capacitor pressure. While they have good damage projection, Harbingers don't have quite the range required to threaten logistics ships without pushing out of the main fight.
How do I counter it?
The simplest way to deal with a Harbinger is damage; they have a relatively flat resistance profile and any damage type will do just fine against them. Most fleet compositions in wormhole space will have equal or less range than a pulse fit Harbinger so holding them in place and keeping range is unlikely to work in your favour - dependent on the ship types you are fielding. If a Harbingers is engaging at the outer edge of it's range, sensor dampeners may prove effective, and tracking disruptors will be useful. Energy neutralizers will probably lessen the amount of firepower that the Harbinger is kicking out but not mitigate it completely - most PvP fits will be cap boosted and will always be able to fire right after injecting cap.
Final note: If you encounter any inaccuracies on this page, please contact me ingame with an EVEMail or on twitter @OV_Fellblade and I'll try and get them sorted.
Final note: If you encounter any inaccuracies on this page, please contact me ingame with an EVEMail or on twitter @OV_Fellblade and I'll try and get them sorted.
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