EVE Online English Guides - 4 Starter PvP Fits

Basic Guides > First Guides > 4 Starter PvP Fits

Last revision 92 months ago

4 Starter PvP Fits

These fits require the skill Powergrid Management at level V

In order to properly start PvP, here are 4 affordable fits (between 13 and 7 million ISK) for new players. These fits aren't best suited for supporting large fleets (I will assume that if you're in large group, you don't need me to find fittings), but they do very well alone or in small groups.

Therefore, the following fits are recommended in:

A frigate duel
A small group
A "Heavy Tackler" role in medium to large groups
- Heavy Tackler: A ship that needs to tackle the target, while being able to resist by itself to its damages for a short duration. Compared to regular tacklers, Heavy Tacklers are slower, but more resilient.

The fits are all flown the same way: Rush toward the target, activate the warp scrambler, deactivate the microwarpdrive, and brawl.

This playstyle enables you to not have to focus too much on flying the ship. Priority is given to learning to micromanage the modules. Something that is often overlooked when training a new player, because it is less noticeable than your flying skills (or lack thereof).

Besides, it is impossible to learn advanced flying techniques if you aren't already capable of properly handling your modules!

I highly recommend you to read the description of all the modules and ships presented below, in the guide's order, even if you aren't using all of them. It is important that you better understand not only how your ship works, but also your opponent's. This guide will also be constructed in a way that I will not re-explain what I already explained above.

Main modules

Microwarpdrive

The 5MN Microwarpdrive enables you to move pretty fast, but will be forcefully deactivated if you are under the effect of a Warp Scrambler. It is important to keep in mind that the ship will have a huge inertia while using this module, which requires you to anticipate the slowing down process when you reach your target. Otherwise, you will overshoot, that is, you will get carried away and actually end up in a position where the target can escape simply by moving away from you (= a "sligshot").

Since the MWD (Microwarpdrive) cycle is 10 seconds, stopping the module to slow down isn't always an option, because this action may be delayed by up to 10 seconds. It is therefore highly recommended that you use the stop ship shortcut to slow down, CTRL + SPACE.

If you feel particularly daring, you can instead try to turn your camera 180° and double click in space to accelerate in the opposite direction of motion which will slow your ship down even faster. Don't forget to stop your ship when your speed reaches 0 though, or you will turn around.

It is possible to overheat the MWD, but this will damage your modules very quickly, especially on ships with few midslots. Always keep in mind that overheating still has to inflict its damages for the current cycle, so be very very careful when overheating the MWD. If you're unlucky, 2 is already the maximum safe number of overheat cycles on an MWD.

Warp Scrambler

The Warp Scrambler must be activated as soon as possible to deactivate the MWD of your opponent. For that reason, it is possible to briefly overheat it, to be able to tackle the opponent a tiny bit earlier.

SMALL CAPACITOR BOOSTER
The Capacitor Booster will inject capactor directly into your ship when activated. The amount injected is related to the Navy Cap Booster used.

Since your ship does NOT have 400GJ of total capacitor, to avoid wasting cap, Navy Cap Boosters 200 have been installed instead.

Be careful not to waste your "cap charges" by letting the module run while you don't need it.

ANCILLARY SHIELD BOOSTER
Also known as ASB, this module also consumes Cap Charges, just like the Capacitor Booster, but replenishes your shield instead.

The amount repaired is independant of the charge consumed, and does not consume capacitor. However, the module's reload time is extremely long (which is its main weakness), requiring players to maximize the amount of cap charges loaded inside the module.

Therefore, you must always use the smallest Cap Charge allowed in your Ancilary Shield Booster. The minimum changes depending on the size of the ASB used. In our case (Medium size), we are using Navy Cap Boosters 50.

With those charges, you will have 9 cycles per module before having to reload. Therefore, be careful not to waste any cycle! Familiarize yourself with the repped HP amount, and with what this represents on your shield bar, in your UI. This will help you know when to activate the module, and when to wait for more damages to come.

It is recommended to overheat the ASBs in order to increase by 10% the amount of shield HP gained.

ATTENTION: When your ASB becomes empty due to no Cap Charges remaining, it will drain your capacitor in one or two cycles.

It is important NOT to let that happen, unless you are already on the verge of dying anyway. Otherwise, your capacitor will be emptied and may severely cripple you for the remainder of the fight.

Since the reload time is 60 seconds for this module, it is also important to empty ONE of them as fast as possible (without wasting the shield HP though), in order to start the reload process as soon as possible. This might enable said process to end before the end of the fight, effectively providing you with a bonus ASB.

And so, try to only activate one ASB, then the other once the first is empty. Instead of both in parallel. Of course, if you are taking too much damages, it is possible to activate both ASBs at the same time to give you a huge (but brief) tank.

NANITE REPAIR PASTE

The Nanite Repair Paste enables you to repair, mid-flight, the damages caused to your previously overheated modules. However, you cannot overheat while a repair is in progress nor activate the repaired modules, so time your repairs wisely. They can be cancelled by right clicking on the repairing module, which will actually retain the progress made during the repair process.

Since overheating is an integral part of PvP, all the fits below have some Paste in their cargohold.

ANCILLARY ARMOR REPAIRER

Also know as AAR, this module works like the ASB, but regenerates armor HP. It however consumes capacitor at a manageable speed even when loaded with its charges, which aren't Cap Charges, but Nanite Repair Paste.

As long as this module has Nanite Repair Paste in it (for 8 cycles maximum), it repairs three times the regular HP amount. You can then either let the module run for a lesser repaired amoount, or you can start its 60 seconds reload process.

Since this module consumes capacitor regardless of its charges state, a Capacitor Booster (to inject capacitor into your ship) is often needed when you equip an AAR.

ARMOR REPAIRER

A complement to the AAR, the regular Armor Repairer does not requires Nanite Repair Paste, and repairs at a fixed rate, in exchange of capacitor. It therefore also requires to have a Capacitor Booster equipped.

Drones

Three ships of our four below have a drone bay. In these three ship's cases, it is therefore important to use your drones in a fight if you want to exploit your ship's full potential.

The shortcut to send your drone on your selected target is F. To recall them, press CTRL + R.

Ships

MERLIN

This brawling Merlin is a tough ship with a good offensive potential. But be wary of the very short range of its weapons! It is therefore paramount to stay at 1km from the target, and to not let it escape. This is the biggest challenge while flying this ship.

Also keep in mind that your tanking isn't unlimited, so do not waste your charges! You are however capable of tanking huge amounts of damages for a short period by activating both ASBs, which may be useful if you just need to hold on while the reinforcements are on their way.

Note: The presence of T2 rigs on small T1 ships is only justified by the fact that this fitting is substantially less expensive than the other three below, and that T2 shield rigs are not expensive.

REMPLACER CECI

Incursus

Just like the brawl Merlin, the brawl Incursus has the same range, same speed, and same need to be wary of its short weapon range.

However, where the Merlin was capable of tanking lots of damages over a short period, the Incursus is capable of tanking a bit less damages over a very long period. This definitely makes the difference during very close fights.

And don't forget to use your drone!

REMPLACER CECI

Tormentor

The Tormentor is similar to the Incursus in terms of tank, since it is also capable of playing the long game. (Slightly less effectively)

However, the Tormentor is way more efficient with its weapon system than the Incursus. Not necessarily in terms of raw DPS, but instead because its weapons have a very good range (for a brawling ship), which enables them to start firing way earlier, which in turn results in superior damages when looking at the overall fight, even though on paper the Incursus has a higher DPS. Don't hesitate to try and distance yourself a bit from the target, if said target is using blasters (like the Incursus or the Merlin above) in order to fully exploit this advantage.

Unfortunately, due to Powergrid and CPU limitations, the Tormentor is fitted with two similar, but not identical, turrets in its high slots. This will make your weapon management slightly harder as you have to press two buttons instead of one each time you need to attack, stop, or change your ammo. There is however no alternative besides increasing your Powergrid skills to equip three "Small Focused Pulse Energy Beam I".

It is recommended to use the "Multifrequency" crystals as often as possible, but "Standard" crystals have better range, which might be useful in some situations. Don't hesitate to abuse the instantaneous reload time of laser turrets.

And once again, don't forget to use your drones!

REMPLACER CECI

Breacher

The Breacher is a very different ship from the other three presented so far in terms of weapon systems, as it uses rockets. The Breacher has a good range (for a brawler), and will always hit its target regardless of how close it is (as long as said target is within the range of the missile). However, its raw DPS is weaker. To offset this, it is important to make a few extra efforts:

Use the generous range of your weapons to start applying damages as soon as possible (much like the Tormentor)
Change the ammo type used (and therefore, the damage type dealt) depending on the ship you encounter.

The Breacher is the only one of the four ships presented here, that is capable of changing its damage type. It is therefore important to use and abuse this feature to unleash the Breacher's full potential!

If the opponent is shield tanked (Caldari ships, and some Minmatar ships), use Mjolnir rockets.
If the target is Armor tanked, use Nova rockets.
Try to anticipate the swapping of damage type as soon as possible, as it takes a full 10 seconds to complete.

Finally, the Breacher's tanking is exacly like the Merlin, which means good tanking for a moderate amount of time, or very good tanking for a very short time.

Also worth noting, is the fact that the breacher is 33% faster than the other three ships shown above.

And, for the last time, don't forget to use your drones!

REMPLACER CECI