Know Your Wormhole Enemy: Hurricane

In the Know Your Wormhole Enemy series (name shamelessly stolen from the Eve Altruist series of posts and then mutilated) I'm going to look at a variety of different ships, how they are often fit and flown in wormhole space, and what they mean to you. This may include, but will not necessarily be limited to; example fits, engagement scenarios, how you should react to their presence on directional scan, at a POS or on grid, what good counters to them are, and how you can potentially use them.

This post will cover the Hurricane.

Overview

The Hurricane is a Minmatar Battlecruiser that has bonuses to both Damage and Rate of Fire for Medium Projectile Turrets. This double damage bonus can result in some dangerously high dps figures with - thanks to the projectile turrets - selectable damage types. It can field a single flight of light drones.

Hurricanes are seen often with both shield and armour tanks in known and wormhole-space thanks to both the slot layout and base hitpoint values being well balanced. They are one of the faster Battlecruisers around, although that takes a hit with the armour variants. Hurricanes will almost always be passively tanked, and their effective hit point totals will generally be around that of the Harbinger, and lower than that of the Brutix or Drake.

The Eve Altruist post covering the Hurricane and the other Battlecruisers can be found here.

What is it used for in wormhole space?

The Hurricane is used for both PvE and PvP in lower class wormhole systems. While they are far from the ideal PvE boat even for lower class wormholes, they can hold their own in class 1-2 systems and can run as part of a fleet in class 3 wormhole systems. As with the other Battlecruisers, they are often used by pilots without the wallet or skill points required to fly Tech 3 ships for PvP, and are seen in both shield and armour PvP fleets.

How is it typically fit?

There is no standard PvE fit for Hurricanes; they are significantly worse for running sites than Harbingers or Drakes and I would put them on par with the Brutix. As with the Brutix there is a damage application issue with the weapons systems that the Hurricane can use; Autocannons have excellent tracking but a relatively short range, and Artillery has excellent range but relatively poor tracking. A sample passive shield recharge Autocannon fit is below;

[Hurricane, PvE Passive Shield]
Shield Power Relay II
Shield Power Relay II
Gyrostabilizer II
Gyrostabilizer II
Gyrostabilizer II
Damage Control II

Large Shield Extender II
Experimental 10MN Microwarpdrive I
Large Shield Extender II
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II

425mm AutoCannon II, EMP M
425mm AutoCannon II, EMP M
425mm AutoCannon II, EMP M
425mm AutoCannon II, EMP M
425mm AutoCannon II, EMP M
425mm AutoCannon II, EMP M
Core Probe Launcher I, Core Scanner Probe I

Medium Core Defense Field Purger I
Medium Core Defense Field Purger I
Medium Core Defense Field Purger I

The fit above can kick out ~520dps using vanilla EMP ammunition, excluding drones, but only out to a range of 1.5km. At 13.5km it will be much closer to 270dps - but it can close range at a reasonable 1.3km/s. The tank of 215dps omni is enough for Class 1 and 2 wormhole sites, but will struggle in Class 3's - even when running in a fleet the damage kicked out can mean that a shield Hurricane has to warp away repeatedly. The energy neutralizers fielded by the Sleeper NPCs can rapidly turn the shield hardeners off, as the Hurricane's capacitor recharge is crippled by the Shield Power Relays. Artillery fits are also viable, but suffer somewhat due to the lack of a tracking bonus on the Hurricane hull. Active armour tanks are also possible, but tend to kick out less damage, and tank less damage, and do it with an increased reliance on capacitor. So I wouldn't use them unless you don't have any other option. Expect site running Hurricanes to have a flight of ECM drones for a getaway.

The PvP fit I'm going to show below is an armour example, for variety. If you convert the PvE fit above to a PvP fit you will need to:

1. Swap out the Core Defense Field Purgers for Core Defense Field Extenders
2. Swap the Core Probe Launcher for a Medium Neut
3. Switch out two 425mm Autocannons for 220mm Autocannons
4. Swap the two Shield Power Relays for two Tracking Enhancers, or one and a Nanofiber

That will give you 587dps using Republic Fleet EMP M with really nice tracking and 1.4km/s when running MWD if you chose the Nanofiber option. With the maximum drone damage loadout the damage will peak at a shade off of 700dps - but the majority of the time the Hurricane will be in falloff and not living up to it's full potential. Note that my preferred fit for a PvP shield Hurricane in wormhole space does not include a point. This gives it an omni tank of about 60k EHP - the Hurricane is likely to be primaried fairly early on and it will find it hard to make use of the speed advantage over other Battlecruisers in wormhole systems. Rely on some friends bringing tackle with them, and ensure the Fleet Commander knows that you don't have any!

On with a sample PvP armour fit:

[Hurricane, PvP Armour]
1600mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Gyrostabilizer II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Gyrostabilizer II
Damage Control II

10MN Microwarpdrive II
ECCM - Magnetometric II
Stasis Webifier II
Warp Scrambler II

220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP M
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP M
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP M
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP M
Dual 180mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP M
Dual 180mm AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP M
Medium Unstable Power Fluctuator I

Medium Trimark Armor Pump I
Medium Trimark Armor Pump I
Medium Trimark Armor Pump I

Hammerhead II x1
Hobgoblin II x4

The fit above has a tonne of different options available to tweak it, but the headline figures are 609dps including a full flight of damage drones, a 68k EHP tank, and a top speed of just over 1km/s. You can easily drop one or both Gyrostabilizers for more tank, possibly going for hardeners instead of energized plating, but that does take away one rather significant advantage that this ship has going for it - it has an entirely passive tank and weapons that use no capacitor either. The only modules that use any capacitor are the midslots and if you are worried about being under heavy energy neutralizer pressure, you can always switch the Medium Neutralizer for a Medium Nosferatu. If it's being used for bait in a PvP engagement the size of the guns can be dropped a size, the medium Neut dropped a size, and double plating put on for a surprisingly large EHP total.

The ECCM in the mid-slots can be switched for any other electronic warfare module that you might find useful, giving the 'cane quite a bit of flexibility. If you're going heavy on tank and using active hardeners it may well be worth switching the ECCM for a capacitor booster.

How much of a threat is it?

Running a site: Site running Hurricanes should not be regarded as a significant threat, and are almost certainly not bait. The number of slots they have to dedicate to get a reasonable shield tank precludes having any tackle, and unlike a Drake they cannot make do with Core Defense Field Extenders in their rig slots - they need to use Core Defense Field Purgers to increase the passive recharge and so have significantly lower total EHP. If the Hurricane is using an active armour fit for site running it similarly won't have the total EHP to be bait, and will easily be neuted out and killed.

As backup in a POS:

The Hurricane is a good backup ship for PvP in wormhole space. Inexpensive enough to be thrown away if needed, and the pilot can make a good guess as to damage type while in warp to the location of the combat - so there's a decent chance it will be your resistance hole that will be being hit when it arrives. If there's a manned Hurricane sat at a player owned station in a lower-class wormhole system, it's even odds as to whether it's PvP fit or not - and that won't necessarily govern whether it comes to assist with any fight or not.

On the field in a fight:
The Hurricane with Autocannons has a deficit in pure DPS compared to a Brutix with Blasters, but that is offset by better tracking, better damage projection and selectable damage types. In my experience the Brutix is probably a more important target than an armour Hurricane if logistics are on the field and targets are taking a while to die, as it can travel to closer range and then apply it's damage. In a fight where logistics is not present and targets are dying quickly, or where the action is spread over a slightly larger range, the Hurricane will generally be the better target.

How do I counter it?

In it's PvP armour fit the Hurricane is less susceptible to both capacitor warfare and tracking disruption than the Brutix or Harbinger, so the Gallente and Amarr Battlecruisers are better targets for those particular e-war types. Shield fits can have their hardeners shut off with energy neutralizer pressure, so a may still be a viable target for neuts if you suspect it is shield fit. Pure damage is the most effective way of dealing with the Hurricane; it's often a good idea to put a bit of fire onto a Hurricane to see how it's shield holds up; if any shield tank is present, it's a good primary target as it will be kicking out significantly more damage than the armour variant, with a significantly weaker tank. Drawing it into the fight by switching sides of a wormhole link is also a good way to get it into a position where it's Autocannons will have their range advantage over Blasters reduced.

Final note: If you encounter any inaccuracies on this page, please contact me ingame with an EVEMail to "Fellblade" or on twitter @OV_Fellblade and I'll try and get them sorted.

Know Your Wormhole Enemy: Brutix

In the Know Your Wormhole Enemy series (name shamelessly stolen from the Eve Altruist series of posts and then mutilated) I'm going to look at a variety of different ships, how they are often fit and flown in wormhole space, and what they mean to you. This may include, but will not necessarily be limited to; example fits, engagement scenarios, how you should react to their presence on directional scan, at a POS or on grid, what good counters to them are, and how you can potentially use them.

This post will cover the Brutix.

Overview

The Brutix is a Gallante Battlecruiser that has bonuses to Medium Hybrid Turret damage and the amount replenished by Armour Repairers. The bonus to active armour tanking means that despite the disadvantages that armour tanked ships have in lower-class wormhole combat sites, the Brutix can manage them reasonably well. Although its tanking bonus only applies to active tanking, the Brutix is often used with a buffer tank for PvP. The majority of the Brutix's damage is applied at point blank range with Blasters, but it is capable of fielding a full flight of medium drones, which improves damage application a little and adds significantly to the headline DPS figures.

Shield tanked Brutixes are occasionally seen in wormhole space (as in known space) and although their tank is lackluster to say the most, the damage they can kick out ranges from "very very high" to "terrifying".

The Eve Altruist post covering the Brutix and the other Battlecruisers can be found here.

What is it used for in wormhole space?

The Brutix is a mainstay of PvP armour fleets in lower-class wormholes, used for brawling at point blank ranges. It doesn't have the staying power of a Tech III Strategic Cruiser, but can match the firepower of a Proteus and will cost around a fifth of the price. For newer pilots with lower skill point totals or limited wallets the Brutix is a fantastic stepping stone towards the Proteus. It handles in a similar fashion to its more capable brethren and allows a pilot to get used to the limitations of hybrid weaponry and managing their position in a fight without putting as much on the line.

Similar to the Harbinger and most of the other Battlecruisers, the Brutix is capable of running combat sites in class 1 and 2 wormholes and can run sites in class 3 wormholes alongside a fleet. The issues with active armour tanking for site running in wormhole space hold true for the Brutix as they did for the Harbinger. Also similar to the Harbinger, the Brutix can be used for harvesting gas sites after clearing them of Sleepers.

How is it typically fit?

There is no real 'standard' PvE fit for Brutixes; I have come across both Blaster and Railgun fit site runners. Both have significant downsides - an example Railgun fit is provided below:

[Brutix, PvE]
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Damage Control II
Medium Armor Repairer II
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II
Tracking Enhancer II

Experimental 10MN Afterburner I
Cap Recharger II
Cap Recharger II
Stasis Webifier II

Coreli A-Type Small Remote Armor Repairer
250mm Railgun II, Antimatter Charge M
250mm Railgun II, Antimatter Charge M
250mm Railgun II, Antimatter Charge M
250mm Railgun II, Antimatter Charge M
250mm Railgun II, Antimatter Charge M
250mm Railgun II, Antimatter Charge M

Medium Auxiliary Nano Pump I
Medium Auxiliary Nano Pump I
Medium Capacitor Control Circuit I

Warrior II x5
Hornet EC-300 x5

The problem with site running Brutixes is that neither Railguns or Blasters are a very good match for the varied target profiles that Sleepers provide compared to the Pulse Lasers that Harbingers can field. Railguns have the range necessary to engage the sleepers without too much time spent burning around the site and alongside the warriors kick out around 500dps, but the tracking on them is sub-par and thus the sleeper frigates can be problematic to engage. To clear the frigates out in any reasonable time frame, drones are required - but sleeper AI has a tendency to prioritize drones, especially when only a single ship is running the site. That's why the fit packs a remote armour repairer - because otherwise you're going to be going through a lot of Warrior IIs. An additional problem with the Railgun fit Brutix is that if you are engaged while you are running a site, there is a very good chance you won't be able to land any fire on your attackers as long as they orbit you at reasonably close range. Just as well you have some EC-300s to try and land a jam...

Blaster fit Brutixes have a different problem; the tracking is good enough that the extra 50 or so dps that they buy you will actually be applied... but only when you're within range. and the effective range is about 2-8km. That means a lot of burning around, and that means getting a Micro Warp Drive fit and accepting the capacitor penalty associated with it. In contrast to the Railgun fit, an unwary attacker that drops on a Blaster-fit Brutix could end up with a fairly bloodied nose. One caveat is that if you decide to forgo the two sets of light drones and go for either medium ECM or damage drones, you will be vulnerable to being pinned down by Stealth Bombers at long point range. Even with the sets of light drones, it's advisable to pack some Null M to allow you to try and get some damage out to around 20km.

A typical Brutix set up for PvP will be buffer fit;

[Brutix, Armour Brawler]
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II
1600mm Reinforced Steel Plates II
Damage Control II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Energized Explosive Membrane II

Experimental 10MN Microwarpdrive I
Warp Scrambler II
Stasis Webifier II
ECCM - Magnetometric II

Small Nosferatu II
Heavy Ion Blaster II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge M
Heavy Ion Blaster II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge M
Heavy Ion Blaster II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge M
Heavy Ion Blaster II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge M
Heavy Electron Blaster II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge M
Heavy Electron Blaster II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge M

Medium Trimark Armor Pump I
Medium Trimark Armor Pump I
Medium Trimark Armor Pump I

Hammerhead II x5

The above fit needs a +1% power grid implant to fit; alternatively one of the Ion Blasters can be demoted to an Electron Blaster, or the Tech II 1600mm plating can be exchanged for a 1600mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I. Including drones it kicks out a respectable 680dps with Caldari Navy Antimatter; if you care about the numbers rather than the actual applied damage you can sacrifice the tracking and put Void in for just under 730dps. The tank is a respectable 82k omni with a flat resist profile of 67-72%.

The ECCM in the midslot can be switched for alternative electronic warfare modules as desired, and the tackle can be changed up as the situation calls for. Dropping a Cap Booster into the midslots is also a completely reasonable option as it will lessen the vulnerability to capacitor warfare.

When flying it significant care needs to be taken to ensure that you are inside the narrow band of effective ranges for its blasters

How much of a threat is it?

Running a site: A Brutix running a site is not a massive threat; it should be easy to identify whether it is Blaster or Railgun fit and then the suitable range to engage it at can be selected. The tank is borderline for class 2 system combat sites and 400dps or so should be enough to push it over the edge. Expect ECM drones to be present.

As backup in a POS:

The Brutix is one of the more dangerous Battlecruisers as a second responder; it can be warped into the fight at a position to do the most damage and with enough forewarning can have ewar suited to the fight it is ploughing into. A bubble being present around the fight can draw it out of warp into a less favorable position and force it to take some time to manoeuvre so it can apply its damage.

On the field in a fight:
The damage that a Brutix kicks out is significant - particularly if it is a shield Brutix - but short ranged. Although the damage is high and there is the potential for electronic warfare to be fielded by them, the substantial tank on armour variants means that they will rarely be the primary target if there are other Battlecruisers on the field. If there are targets with a higher firepower to tank ratio than the Brutix, they will clearly be a better target and if the Brutix's firepower can be mitigated by a faster fleet keeping out of range they can be knocked further down the target priority list.

How do I counter it?

The Brutix has short range weapons, and so simply staying away from it as much as possible goes a long way to mitigating it's damage. If you have any long range webs on the field these can be used to hold a Brutix at arm's reach and prevent it from applying its formidable dps effectively. Blasters don't have the best tracking so if there are relatively few hostile webs on the field applying a Tracking Disruptor with a Tracking Script can mitigate some of the damage. Failing that Tracking Disruptors with Range Scripts can reduce the already poor damage projection of Blasters to 'terrible'.

Energy Neutralizers and ECM will have varying effectiveness according to what the Brutix has fit in its mid slots. Pay attention to the visual effects and any applied electronic warfare coming from the Brutix during the fight and apply your own ewar to taste.

Although the Brutix's total EHP is good and the resistance profile is flat the resistances aren't ridiculously high, so it won't hold up under logistics repairs as well as Tech II or Tech III hulls.

Final note: If you encounter any inaccuracies on this page, please contact me ingame with an EVEMail to "Fellblade" or on twitter @OV_Fellblade and I'll try and get them sorted.

Know Your Wormhole Enemy: Harbinger

In the Know Your Wormhole Enemy series (name shamelessly stolen from the Eve Altruist series of posts and then mutilated) I'm going to look at a variety of different ships, how they are often fit and flown in wormhole space, and what they mean to you. This may include, but will not necessarily be limited to; example fits, engagement scenarios, how you should react to their presence on directional scan, at a POS or on grid, what good counters to them are, and how you can potentially use them.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Know Your Wormhole Enemy: Drake

In the Know Your Wormhole Enemy series (name shamelessly stolen from the Eve Altruist series of posts and then mutilated) I'm going to look at a variety of different ships, how they are often fit and flown in wormhole space, and what they mean to you. This may include, but will not necessarily be limited to; example fits, engagement scenarios, how you should react to their presence on directional scan, at a POS or on grid, what good counters to them are, and how you can potentially use them.

The first ship covered will be the Drake.

Overview

The Drake is a Caldari battlecruiser that has the distinction of being one of the most boring ships in the whole of EVE Online. It generally has a large passive shield tank, it is slow, it rarely has electronic warfare to apply to other ships, and uses missile systems that you do not need to manoeuvre to get the most firepower out of. Nevertheless, it is an important ship in wormhole space because of it's ubiquity.

The Drake has bonuses to the resistance of it's shield tank and a high number of available mid slots, making it one of the most heavily tanked battlecruisers available - although a recent reduction in the strength of it's tanking bonus has impacted this a little. It also has an offensive bonus to the damage of Heavy Missiles and Heavy Assault Missiles, but only for the kinetic damage type. For this reason, it's very rare to see Drakes firing non-kinectic missiles.

For reference, the slightly outdated Eve Altruist Know Your Enemy section on the Drake can be found here; it is still correct in generalities, but some specific numbers are slightly off.

What is it used for in wormhole space?

The Drake is used for everything in wormhole space; many players in high security space use their Drake for running level 3 and sometimes level 4 agent missions, and will have skills that complement the Drake trained to a relatively high level. If someone moves into a wormhole either as part of a new corporation or when joining an existing corp, the Drake will often be recommended as both a good site-running ship for Class 1-3 wormholes and as a reasonable PvP ship for a shield fleet.

As a result the variety of Drake fits is spectacular - and a fair number of them are spectacularly bad. That's often because although the new pilot has been recommended to use a Drake, they necessarily have been provided with an example fit that is tailored to their skills and the task to hand. As a result of the ubiquity of the Drake in lower-class systems, they are often used as disposable bait by wormhole corporations looking to tempt people into attacking a ship on a site. Baiting, assessing whether a ship is bait or not, and how to (relatively) safely "take the bait" will be covered in a later post on The Excession. There's something of a saying that "The Drake is always bait", and in wormhole space quite a lot of the time it will be, but never quite frequently enough to make it a hard and fast rule, or to put people off engaging them.

How is it typically fit?

As described above, how it is typically fit is probably not the best question to ask, but how should it be typically fit is a reasonable one. There are two basic fits that you will find being used in wormhole space, with a variety of different flavours according to the individual pilot's taste or fitting skills.

[Drake, PvE WH]
Ballistic Control System II
Ballistic Control System II
Ballistic Control System II
Beta Reactor Control: Shield Power Relay I

Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
Large Shield Extender II
Shield Recharger II
Large F-S9 Regolith Shield Induction
Experimental 10MN Afterburner I

Heavy Missile Launcher II, Scourge Fury Heavy Missile
Heavy Missile Launcher II, Scourge Fury Heavy Missile
Heavy Missile Launcher II, Scourge Fury Heavy Missile
Heavy Missile Launcher II, Scourge Fury Heavy Missile
Heavy Missile Launcher II, Scourge Fury Heavy Missile
Heavy Missile Launcher II, Scourge Fury Heavy Missile
Core Probe Launcher I, Core Scanner Probe I

Medium Core Defense Field Purger I
Medium Core Defense Field Purger I
Medium Core Defense Field Purger I

The Heavy Missile Launcher Drake is the ship that the vast majority of wormhole-based pilots will have had their first experiences in. It has good damage projection, hitting out to around 45km with Scourge Fury Heavy Missiles. The tank is a rather significant 304dps passive recharge at peak, and people tend to play around with different combinations of Adaptive Invuln fields, EM Ward Fields, and Shield rechargers. For a PvE fit Drake that can be rapidly re-purposed for PvP, the Core Defense Field Purgers are often swapped for Core Defense Field Extenders - the increased total shield HP does provide a boost to shield recharge, but not to the same extent. You will often see the Shield Power Relay switched for a Damage Control to aid cap regeneration, or one or more BCS swapped for more Shield Power Relays if the pilot has low support skills for shield tanking. Drones are either Warrior IIs for helping to run sites faster, or EC-300s for  escaping lone tacklers.

[Drake, PvP HAM]
Ballistic Control System II
Ballistic Control System II
Ballistic Control System II
Damage Control II

Large Shield Extender II
Large F-S9 Regolith Shield Induction
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
Experimental 10MN Afterburner I
Fleeting Warp Disruptor I
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II

Heavy Assault Missile Launcher II, Scourge Heavy Assault Missile
Heavy Assault Missile Launcher II, Scourge Heavy Assault Missile
Heavy Assault Missile Launcher II, Scourge Heavy Assault Missile
Heavy Assault Missile Launcher II, Scourge Heavy Assault Missile
Heavy Assault Missile Launcher II, Scourge Heavy Assault Missile
Heavy Assault Missile Launcher II, Scourge Heavy Assault Missile
Small Nosferatu II

Medium Core Defense Field Extender I
Medium Core Defense Field Extender I
Medium Core Defense Field Extender I

This fit can project damage out to 30km with Scourge Javelin missiles while doing 400dps, or drop down to Scourge Rage missiles for 700dps on larger targets that are within ~17km, and that's not including drones. It has 92k EHP and a minor EM hole - given so much of the damage that it will be facing in wormholes will be kinetic and thermal, I wouldn't worry too much about that. This fit has an afterburner to afford some degree of mobility, but if you are light on tackle or need a bit more zip you can drop the afterburner and put a micro warp drive on - all that needs to be done is to drop the Tech II shield extender to Meta 4 and then either drop the nosferatu for something else or use a +2% CPU and +1% grid implant and a meta nos.

Heavy Assault Missile Drakes are much better for PvP at the short ranges likely to be encountered in wormhole fights, although that damage can be mitigated somewhat due to the large explosion radius on Heavy Assault Missiles compared to the small signature radius on Strategic Cruisers. A brief guide on the mathematics of missile damage explaining exactly how these values factor in can be found here

There are also more specialized fits out there, such as budget "Jamgu" fits created by fitting an armour tank to a Drake and filling the mid slots with electronic warfare modules (jammers, damps). These are, however, pretty rare.

How much of a threat is it?

Running a site: the Drake itself is probably not a significant threat to most ships, but it may well be bait for a larger force as noted above. If the Drake is not bait, then the most significant issue that you may run into is that the Drake may be a full passive-recharge fit. If the Drake pilot ignores a propulsion module and is well-skilled, a Drake can break a 700dps recharge rate without having to use any shield boosters! To crack a passably well fit site-running Drake in a reasonable time will generally require at least a couple of battlecruisers or strategic cruisers; any less will give any reinforcements a huge amount of time to finish dinner, log on, get a cup of tea, then warp over to the Drake and assist it.

As backup in a POS:

Almost any other ship would be better as a second responder than a Drake. Typically your heavier, tankier ships should be in the first wave to soak damage from your targets while your second responders should aim to do more damage. If Drakes are used as second responders they should ideally be HAM fit for maximum damage, but frankly are likely to be whatever the pilot had lying around at the time.

On the field in a fight:
In the vast majority of situations, virtually any other ship will be a better primary target than a Drake on the field. Their room-temperature damage alongside spectacular tank means that if called as a primary target a large amount of firepower will be expended on removing an under-par amount of damage from the field. The only exceptions to this situation are:

• If you want to prolong the fight to try and draw more hostiles into it, deliberately targetting the Drake as it will die more slowly may assist you
• If you have vulnerable ships on the field and the Drake has sufficient range to damage them (generally a Heavy Missile fit, possibly HAMs using Javelin ammo), where other ships on the field do not. Examples of such ships would be Tech 1 or dual boxed logistics, or recons such as Falcons.
• If the opposition are fielding an armour fleet with armour logistics but have a Drake on the field (or any other shield ship for that matter), then it should be the primary target as it will not be aided by the logistics support as effectively

How do I counter it?

Drakes have a high native resist to Kinetic damage, so the go-to ship for cloaky damage in wormholes - the Proteus - is actually not ideal to take them on due to a high percentage of it's blaster damage being kinetic. Neutralization can help turn off some of the tank in the form of the Drake's active hardeners, but it won't take it down completely, and nor will it turn off the weapons systems. The best counter to a Drake is damage - preferably EM / Thermal, and Hurricanes at point blank range with Phased Plasma or EMP ammo do a pretty good job of tearing them up.


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.

Edit: Fixed a fitting mistake on the first Drake fit.