The Art of the Hurricane 1: Kiting Cane Setup

Other posts in this series:
Art of the Hurricane 2: Kiting Cane Maneuvers
Art of the Hurricane 3: Hurricane Basics

This is the first of a series of posts about the Hurricane Battlecruiser and my two personal favorite fits. This one will be talking about the current iteration of my kiting fit. Before I get into the nitty gritty of it, first I have a few disclaimers:

1: I have (and always use) a full LG snake set, a 3% falloff implant, a 3% ROF implant, a 5% medium AC damage implant, and a Skirmish Warfare Mindlink. All my numbers and theory crafting are based on my skills and these implants. My Skills on EVE Sheet

Of my skills, one of the most important to note with regards to Hurricanes is that I have Battlecruiser V. Any pilot intending to master the Hurricane would do well to have this, as the bonus is massive.

I also make use of the rarely touched Synth boosters, and will talk on them in this article.

2: I do not limit myself in terms of isk. Both of my setups cost more than is generally reasonable for a battlecruiser, and may not be completely viable. At the end of this post, I will discuss the budget alternatives of these setups without skirmish warfare links or faction mods.

3: I am basing the kiting setup on the new falloff numbers and ammo clip sizes from the test server (Dominion numbers, in other words). In Dominion, the physical volume of projectile ammo has been standardized and decreased, allowing for more in cargo. In addition, 425mm ACs now have 10% more falloff, and dual 180s have 10% less (the same goes for the tiers of small and large ACs).

4: This article (and other fitting theorycraft articles to follow) ARE NOT INTENDED as proscriptive. In other words, I do not expect or want anyone to copy my fits. The ones I fly are (aside from being extremely expensive for canes) very specific to my tastes, abilities, skill focus and strengths/weaknesses as a pilot, and I fully expect many people to disagree with my fitting choices. One does not teach painting by having students copy the teacher’s artwork stroke by stroke. I am merely attempting to illustrate my thought process with these ships and perhaps to get others to start thinking of their own setups in a new light.

Before we get into the details of the Kiting Cane, we should talk about kiting in general.

What is Kiting?

Kiting (sometimes incorrectly called “speed tanking”, which is actually a term for a slightly different school of tactics) is a tactic in which a player stays out of range of foes while still being within the range of their own weapons. A classic example of kiting is the caldari Crow interceptor (which is also a speed tanker, but more on that latter) which orbits at around 17-20km of a foe, peppering the target with missiles while being out of the range of most counterattacks.

Dedicated “Kiting” ships generally fight somewhere between 14 and 20km from their targets, using speed and other advantages to keep range while witling an opponent down.
Kiting comes from early MMO slang for a caster technique in which the caster attacks an opponent or mob with ranged spells while running backwards, staying out of the enemies attack range. The idea is that it looks like the caster is dragging the enemy along like a kite being flown by a child on a windy day.

Why does it work?

Greater than 14km and less than 21km is the range in which one can reasonably guarantee tackle on a foe, but outside of the range of (even overheated) hard tackle such as stasis webbifiers and warp scramblers, which can hamper mobility and prevent the “kiter” from holding range.

This is also outside of the range of the vast majority of common PvP weapons; medium tier lasers without scorch, medium ACs without barrage, and all but large blasters (and even then, only with null) cannot hit this far. Even with scorch, most lasers track poorly at this range, and barrage fit ACs without falloff ship bonuses or rigs lose a huge chunk of their damage.
A kiting fit ship will be set up to hit solidly at this range, however, providing a DPS advantage over an opponent. Kiting also has a massive added advantage known as “GTFO” ability; the speed freedom of movement to be able to simply arc off into space and escape from a fight if things turn against the kiter.

Is sniping kiting? What about EWAR?

Broadly speaking, both ranged EWAR ships and sniper fit support ships utilize kiting. However, since EWAR ships (other than the Min/Gal recons, which DO count as kiters in my book) are often outside of tackle range and thus generally cannot solo, they fall into a different role known as support. Likewise, dedicated snipers fall into one of two roles: fleet DPS (in which they are fighting other sniper fleets, and are thus exposed to damage from the opponent, IE not kiting) or support (taking out foes such as tacklers at range) which, while technically falling into the kiting category, is more closely tied to the support category.

So technically yes, but actually no.

How is kiting relevant to piracy?

Kiting in particular and skirmish warfare in general are both extremely relevant to piracy in EVE. The way I see it, there are two broad categories piracy in EVE: Gank fighting, which consists of blobbing and camping, and “old school” solo/small gang roaming piracy. While there is (and I stress this) absolutely nothing wrong with the former, I do not personally find it very fun.
One thing that both categories share is a strong aversion to loss of ships. Nobody likes to die, and especially in the for-profit and/or for-fun world of piracy, loss avoidance is an important consideration when choosing tactics. Gank/Blob tactics are good at avoiding losses in most situations: when you overpower an enemy so dramatically, it is easy to come out of a fight without losses. Where they fall short is when they encounter bigger fish, in which case losses can be catastrophic.

The personal variation of “Old School” piracy I practice largely revolves around what I call “Skirmish Tactics”, or hit-and-run. The idea is to maximize both mobility and damage potential, allowing a well put together skirmish gang to easily and quickly kill (or incapacitate for ransom), while remaining able to easily avoid or escape from opponents big enough to crush the gang (or solo pirate).

When it comes to this kind of tactics, Kiters are ideal. They tend to have moderate to good damage potential, and they maintain an unrivaled level of mobility by not only staying out of tackle range, but also have the high speed and maneuverability required to stay at said range.
It should be noted that Kiters are not the only effective skirmish setups. Quite the contrary, a wide variety of setup styles and combat tactics can be employed by a skirmish gang, and the gank cane setup I will be discussing in the follow up to this article is another example of an effective skirmish ship. I merely mean to say that kiters are ideal for the skirmish role, and fall into it naturally by their very nature.

Alright, so with that out of the way, let us return to the Hurricane. While the Hurricane is not “pre-defined” as a kiter like many ships (note the Vagabond’s speed and falloff bonuses for one clear example,) it nevertheless fits the role quite well: It has high mobility and speed for its class, it deals a considerable amount of DPS, and it uses weapon systems that can easily be modified to hit outside of 14km. Kiting canes are nothing new, either. The day after Revelations came out (introducing not only tier 2 Battlecruisers but also rigs), I remember encountering a number of so-called “vagacanes”.

The same “vagacane” or “nanocane” setup is still used by a number of people, and a modified close range version of it has become almost cookie-cutter in 0.0 warfare. The original setup goes something like this:

[Hurricane, Vagacane]
Gyrostabilizer II
Gyrostabilizer II
Gyrostabilizer II
Nanofiber Internal Structure II
Nanofiber Internal Structure II
Damage Control II

10MN MicroWarpdrive II
Warp Disruptor II
Large Shield Extender II
Large Shield Extender II

425mm AutoCannon II, Barrage M
425mm AutoCannon II, Barrage M
425mm AutoCannon II, Barrage M
425mm AutoCannon II, Barrage M
425mm AutoCannon II, Barrage M
425mm AutoCannon II, Barrage M
'Malkuth' Heavy Missile Launcher I, Caldari Navy Widowmaker Heavy Missile
'Malkuth' Heavy Missile Launcher I, Caldari Navy Widowmaker Heavy Missile

Medium Projectile Ambit Extension I
Medium Projectile Ambit Extension I
Medium Projectile Ambit Extension I


Hammerhead II x1
Hobgoblin II x4

This setup has a number of advantages over its close relative, the cookie-cutter Vagabond. While it lacks the Vagabond shield resistances (and indeed some Vagacanes fit an invuln field to cover this a bit), it makes up for it somewhat in increased base shield HP. And while it is less quick and agile than the Vaga, it does a considerable bit more dps (648 at all lvl 5 skills, as opposed to the cookie cutter vaga’s 450). It also achieves the same falloff with autocannons as the vagabond, and indeed this setup will be slightly boosted post dominion with the addition 10% bonus to falloff on 425s. It is also somewhat more cap stable than a cookie cutter vagabond, pulling off 5 minutes and 36s of capacitor at full burn as opposed to the vaga’s 1m 46s.

However, the trade off from vaga to cane is not completely to the Hurricane’s advantage. While this setup excels at gank, it shares with the vagabond a certain fragility (especially against EM damage.) And despite having more stable cap than the Vaga, the lack of capacitor booster tends to make it mincemeat to Curses and BS neuts. It also lacks range control when compared to the vagabond, with no web and considerably less speed (1,552ms with all lvl 5 skills). Still, not a bad setup overall. It even works pretty well at close range due to its overwhelming DPS.

When I set out to fly a kiting cane, I decided I wanted something that would leverage those disadvantages. Initially, I took what was at the time the standard dual rep fit and slapped falloff rigs on it, dropping the HAMs on the cookie cutter fit for heavies.

[Hurricane, Kiting Cane First Attempt]
Gyrostabilizer II
Gyrostabilizer II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Damage Control II
Medium Armor Repairer II
Medium Armor Repairer II

Y-T8 Overcharged Hydrocarbon I Microwarpdrive
Warp Disruptor II
Stasis Webifier II
Medium Capacitor Booster II, Cap Booster 800

Advanced 'Limos' Heavy Missile Bay I, Caldari Navy Widowmaker Heavy Missile
Advanced 'Limos' Heavy Missile Bay I, Caldari Navy Widowmaker Heavy Missile
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, Barrage M
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, Barrage M
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, Barrage M
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, Barrage M
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, Barrage M
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, Barrage M

Medium Projectile Ambit Extension I
Medium Projectile Ambit Extension I
Medium Projectile Ambit Extension I


Hammerhead II x1
Hobgoblin II x4


This worked surprisingly well, especially with snakes. Pre-Quantum rise, this setup went over 2kms with snakes plugged in, which was more than enough for my purposes. Even without snakes, it went 1,550ms, and I discovered a truism then: to kite effectively, you don’t need to go “nano-fast” as was the trend during those days. You just had to be faster than your enemy. The web on this setup was initially left on simply because I didn’t know what to do with that mid slot, but I came to strangely rely on it.

This was, admittedly, before warp scramblers could turn off microwarp drives, but the principle still works today: it doesn’t matter if you get caught in a single web, because you can web the foe back. If they are pushed 60% down in speed (90% back then) the same as you, you STILL have a speed advantage over them, since both people are slowed by the same factor. I latter applied this same logic to the vagabond with similarly good results, though the setup is no longer as viable for the vaga since the advent of “hard tackle” scramblers. When overheating became an option, I found this to be even more usefull, even required on most kiters (especially somewhat slow ones like the hurricane).

This was demonstrated especially dramatically when I was playing around with a kiting sleipnir fit on the test server. I was arrogantly boasting that the Sleipnir, if kiting fit, could beat up any non-caldari command ship. A BoB Astarte pilot took me up on my boast and fought me 1v1. He overheated his web and MWD, got me in web range, and tore my Sleipnir a new asshole. He then recommended I fit a web on my Sleipnir fit to prevent that kind of thing from happening in the future. This cemented the web’s position on my cane fit.

My fit remained unchanged for many years, until I encountered a certain Veto pilot who is well known for solo Hurricane PvP. I got into a small fight with Kaileen Starsong, with me in my Vagabond and a few of my corps rookies along with me. Near the end of the fight, I was shocked when Kai’s hurricane webbed me at 15km. When I asked him if he had a faction web after the fight was over, Kai replied that no, the cane was fit with a Skirmish Warfare Link: Interdiction Maneuvers module that boosted the range of the web to 13km un-overheated (with mindlink plugged in).

Months of training later, I revised my cane fit as such:

[Hurricane, Kiter Take 2]
Gyrostabilizer II
Gyrostabilizer II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Damage Control II
Medium Armor Repairer II
Medium Armor Repairer II

Y-T8 Overcharged Hydrocarbon I Microwarpdrive
Warp Disruptor II
X5 Prototype I Engine Enervator
Medium Electrochemical Capacitor Booster I, Cap Booster 800

Skirmish Warfare Link - Interdiction Maneuvers
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, Barrage M
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, Barrage M
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, Barrage M
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, Barrage M
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, Barrage M
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, Barrage M
'Arbalest' Assault Missile Launcher, Caldari Navy Bloodclaw Light Missile

Medium Projectile Ambit Extension I
Medium Projectile Ambit Extension I
Medium Projectile Ambit Extension I


Hammerhead II x1
Hobgoblin II x4

While the added web range was nice, I felt it was lacking something. Post QR, the frigate or AF with warp scrambler problem got especially bad, and I had to figure out a way to cram a neut on the setup. For a while I flew:

[Hurricane, Take 3]
Gyrostabilizer II
Gyrostabilizer II
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Damage Control II
Medium Armor Repairer II
Medium Armor Repairer II

Y-T8 Overcharged Hydrocarbon I Microwarpdrive
Warp Disruptor II
X5 Prototype I Engine Enervator
Medium Electrochemical Capacitor Booster I, Cap Booster 800

Skirmish Warfare Link - Interdiction Maneuvers
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, Barrage M
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, Barrage M
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, Barrage M
Dual 180mm AutoCannon II, Barrage M
Dual 180mm AutoCannon II, Barrage M
Dual 180mm AutoCannon II, Barrage M
50W Infectious Power System Malfunction

Medium Projectile Ambit Extension I
Medium Projectile Ambit Extension I
Medium Projectile Ambit Extension I


Hammerhead II x1
Hobgoblin II x4

But the damage was just too low (404, lower than a vagabond) and while it worked okay, it felt like there was something missing. Recently, I came up with a new iteration of the above setup, and recently I re-tooled it for the Dominion AC changes. It is:

[Hurricane, Skira Ranos Kiting]
Gyrostabilizer II
Gyrostabilizer II
Gyrostabilizer II
Damage Control II
Medium Armor Repairer II
Medium Armor Repairer II

Y-T8 Overcharged Hydrocarbon I Microwarpdrive
Warp Disruptor II
Shadow Serpentis Stasis Webifier
Medium Electrochemical Capacitor Booster I, Cap Booster 800

Skirmish Warfare Link - Interdiction Maneuvers
425mm AutoCannon II, Barrage M
425mm AutoCannon II, Barrage M
425mm AutoCannon II, Barrage M
425mm AutoCannon II, Barrage M
425mm AutoCannon II, Barrage M
425mm AutoCannon II, Barrage M
Small Energy Neutralizer II

Medium Projectile Ambit Extension I
Medium Projectile Ambit Extension II
Medium Ancillary Current Router I


Hammerhead II x1
Hobgoblin II x4

This is the best kiter I have yet flown, and I love it to death. Let’s dissect the fit:

Gyrostabilizer II - 1
Gyrostabilizer II - 1
Gyrostabilizer II - 1
Damage Control II - 2
Medium Armor Repairer II - 2
Medium Armor Repairer II - 2

Y-T8 Overcharged Hydrocarbon I Microwarpdrive - 3
Warp Disruptor II - 4
Shadow Serpentis Stasis Webifier - 5
Medium Electrochemical Capacitor Booster I, Cap Booster 800 - 6

Skirmish Warfare Link - Interdiction Maneuvers -7
425mm AutoCannon II, Barrage M - 8
425mm AutoCannon II, Barrage M - 8
425mm AutoCannon II, Barrage M - 8
425mm AutoCannon II, Barrage M - 8
425mm AutoCannon II, Barrage M - 8
425mm AutoCannon II, Barrage M - 8
Small Energy Neutralizer II - 9



Medium Projectile Ambit Extension I - 10
Medium Projectile Ambit Extension II - 10
Medium Ancillary Current Router I - 10


Hammerhead II x1 - 11
Hobgoblin II x4 - 11

Cargo (Post-Dominion): - 12
13x Cap Booster 800 - 12
50x Nanite Repair Paste - 12
2,100x Barrage M - 12
2,100x Republic Fleet EMP M - 12
2x Synth Sooth Sayer - 12
2x Synth Exile - 12

1: Gyrostabs

I recently pulled the EANM off of my setup and substituted in another gyrostab. I found a surprisingly massive jump in the DPS over the older setup, and with the dominion falloff changes I was able to switch out for 425mm ACs, further increasing the DPS advantage. As opposed to the prior setups 490 and 404, this setup deals a staggering 605 dps with my skills, which is almost as high as the “vagacane”. This helps maximize the Hurricanes gank and GTFO role: with higher damage potential, fights are shorter are small ships can be picked off more easily before they get in range. This setup is now more capable of killing opponents before backup arrives, and subduing ransom targets quickly and decisively before they can start to break the tank with drones or missiles. In addition, with the DPS advantage, this setup can shift to faction EMP and close range to 5km to break hard missioner shield tanks if need be.

2: Tank

Dual MAR tank with a single DCU may not be exceptional tough, but unlike a passive tank it does not slow the ship down, and unlike a shield buffer it leaves mid slots free for utility. Even without the EANM, the setup nullifies 120 incoming DPS (155 overheated) and has 28,900 EHP (about the same as a 1600mm plate rax). An active tank also means something else for a skirmish ship: sustainability. In an ideal situation, incoming damage will be reduced to merely drones and the ocational lucky hit at extreme falloff. With an active tank, such damage can be mostly or entirely ignored, as the reps will completely nullify it: as long as incoming DPS that actually lands is less than 155, the net gain in armor hit points over the course of a rep cycle will be 0, resulting in a completely un-touched tank at the end of the fight.

As a Pirate, this is especially important. It means that, ammo and cap booster permitting, a pirate can rep heat damage in a safe spot and plunge back into a fight before GCC is even up, or return to a fight with full health after having to warp out to reposition. This sustainability factor can be increased by anchored secure cans full of ammo and booster, or by stockpiles of ammo and booster (+ drones) in stations with insta-undock bookmarks.

Loss of an EANM: This setup notably loses an EANM over my previous setups. This means a net loss of 30 DPS sustainable (150 un-overheated) or 50 (overheated) sustainable, and 3k EHP (32,020 vs 28,900). Compare that to the 57 (un-overheated) 65 (overheated) DPS gained from the extra gyro. This is a fairly even trade in my opinion. While the extra DPS only helps against a single foe at a time and the tank helps against all foes, as already mentioned this setup is designed to maximize firepower while using range to mitigate damage. Some people may prefer an EANM on this setup, but I have found the added DPS to be immensely helpful. The tank on this ship is never very hard with a kiting setup, so I find that focusing on an all-or-nothing gank and kite fit to be extremely effective at this chosen role.

1 and 2: On the Lack of Nano

I chose to avoid speed upgrades (nanofiber and overdrive) on this setup from the start because of the little truism I mentioned earlier: You don’t need to be epicly fast, just faster than your opponent. I find that in the speed nerfed world of post quantum rise EVE, this hurricane is fast enough to outrun anything that can outfight it under web range and strong enough to outfight anything faster than it without snakes. However, the advantage is massively multiplied by a Low-Grade (or, ideally, a High Grade) snake implant set. A full LG set runs around 400 million (and don’t buy a set without an Omega, its next to worthless without every single implant). With a LG set, this setup gains 200ms, putting it at around 1,552 (or the same as the vagacane without snakes).

3: MWD

First off, despite the inherent disadvantages of a MWD (scramblers, mission busting, plexes, fitting, cap draw) a MWD is completely and totally essential on a kiting fit like this. If I have to go into a mission, I use a gank fit with an AB.

Secondly, on the Y-T. There is a reason that the Y-T MWD is currently more expensive than the T2: while the T2 MWD gives a smaller cap penalty, and is definitely better than T1, it draws a simply massive amount of power while active. The Y-T has a slightly bigger cap penalty, (and thus, for ships that only use MWD to get in range then turn it off, is worse than T2) it draws massively less cap when active. For Kiters that use their MWDs often or nearly constantly in a fight like the hurricane, the Y-T is the clear winner. If you simply cannot justify the 10m+ expense, a T2 or even T1 is acceptable (but inferior.)

4: Warp Disruptor

Obviously, a warp disruptor is required for a setup that fights outside of 10km. With the Skirmish Link, this goes out to 28km without even overheating, and hits over 32km overheated, allowing you to snag people a considerable bit farther than they're expecting. Don’t forget that overheating helps you keep fleeing foes in range just as much as it helps catch them in the first place. Prepare to receive accusations of “domination/sansha’s fitting” or even “cheating” when tackling people with this, but don’t forget about the inherent limitations of the Skirmish bonus when using it (more on that under the Skirmish Link entry).

5: SS or DG Web

The Shadow Serpentis or Dread Guristas web is an essential part of this fit if you want to push it to its fullest extent. While a non-faction web is simply “pre-overheated”-getting 13km without having to overheat first and 17 with overheating- using it overheated for extended periods of time is a recipe for disaster, so it only really works as a tackle deterrent to get people at around 15km or to catch pesky vagabonds farther than they expect. With an SS or DG web, however, you not only have the anti-tackler and kiter catcher bases covered, but you can actually web your opponent while in orbit range. I find that 15km is a good range to orbit at to keep them within web range (their movement and your MWD will fling you a little far, and you need to be within 17 to keep them webbed). This is amusingly effective. It’s like having your own personal Hyena with you on every fight.

6: Cap Booster

While the Cap Booster is another core element to this fit, there is really little to say about it. It will barely keep you sustained with every module active, so if you’re in a tough fight and burning all mods make absolutely sure to hit it exactly as it loads a new booster. When fighting neut boats, as long as their DPS is not overwhelming (Curses in particular) use your cap booster in tandem with MWD and tackle cycles to keep in gun range and keep your enemy from running away and forget about using your reps unless you’re truly fucked.

7: Skirmish Warfare Link

I played with the idea of using a speed link here instead, and indeed if you cannot afford (or do not want to buy) a faction web that is the link you should be using instead for a kiter. However, if you can justify the faction web, this link gets incredibly useful, as already detailed on the tackle sections. The important thing to remember about the link is its inherent limitations. It does not work unless you are assigned a booster position in your fleet (Squad Commander with Leadership only, Wing Commander if you have the skill Wing Commander and another person with at least Leadership 1 can be found to serve as squad command, or Fleet Commander if you can find a qualified squads AND wing commander and have the stupidly hard to train for Fleet Commander skill) and there is at least one person in every rank below you, including squad member. That means in a two person gang, you need to be Squad Commander and there has to be a Squad Member present. It will bonus all members below your rank in the fleet as long as they are in the same system, but none above your rank or the same rank.

A member of your fleet must be in space in the same system as you for the link to function. A good way to determine if the link is working is to have the skill Siege Warfare to at least level 3; when your bonus becomes functional, a small bit of damage will appear to hit your shield as its total HP pool increases. I dual boot with a Cheetah alt on my other screen at all times to ensure I can use my warfare link even when solo.

Another (unexpected, extremely pointless, and annoying) limitation of the Skirmish Link is that it can only be turned on when you are on a grid. This means you cannot activate it when in warp, and any time you enter warp its affects will cease to function on you and all your gang members (even before the module cycle finishes and turns off). I think CCP’s logic behind this limitation is that it prevents a command ship or other warfare linked ship from simply warping around untouchable while giving out bonuses. In reality, this limitation does little or nothing to discourage such behavior anyway. Leadership bonuses and Super Capital bonuses function fine while you are in warp, and the prevalence of POS sitting Command Ships proves that the untouchable warfare link ship is far from unviable. What it ACTUALLY does is piss of pirates, who have to activate one more module when hitting grid before they turn on their tackle. Basically, put your Skirmish Link in a slot where it is easy to remember to turn it on, and make absolutely sure you turn it on when the fight starts (preferably while you are locking).
Also remember that the warfare link requires cap, and while the draw isn’t much, it is still much more than a DCU and if you’re pressed for cap you may need to turn it back on (or leave it off to conserve, depending on the situation).

A small advantage of having a Skirmish Warfare Mindlink implant is that it gives you and all your gang members an additionaly 15% agility increase when you are in a fleet. This bonus replaces and does not stack with the base 10% Skirmish Warfare skill bonus.

8: 425s

As repeatedly stated, in Dominion these will have 10% more falloff than current. 220s will be unchanged, and 180s will lose 10% falloff. The ramifications of this with regards to this setup are mostly with regards to rigs, but one advantage is that (with my skills) the setup gains 12 DPS and 500m falloff over my last version, and can fit a small neut.

9: Small Neut

This energy neutralizer is here mostly as a panic button. If you can justify an additional 10m-ish, you can switch out the damage control for a best named and switch this neut out for an assault launcher, but the small “justifiable expenses” on this ship were simply getting out of hand for my budget and I decided to call it quits around here. This small neut will help you fuck up any frigates that manage to get the drop on you and get inside tackle range. Coupled with your T2 light drones, even ceptors and AFs should be scraped off with relative ease as long as there aren’t more than two of them.

10: Rigs

With the 10% increased falloff, I was able to drop one falloff rig for an anciliary router and upgrade to 425mm ACs. This gave me the exact same falloff as before, but slightly better DPS (and made me feel more manly with my nice meaty high tier ACs). With a T2 Ambit rig (now down as low as 25-30m thanks to Medium Rigs, thank you CCP!) this gains around 500 to 1k setup (with synth sooth sayer) falloff more than my old setup. However, this puts the total cost over 100m. Oh well, I like expensive toys I suppose.

11: Drones

The main reason to use thermal is that this ship deals almost exclusively explosive and kinetic damage with its signature ammo type, meaning that it is highly ineffective against heavily shield tanked or explosive bonused ships. Having some therm on board evens the damage type output a bit, even when the ship can’t afford to switch to EMP and close range in some situations.



This is particularly important to me, living in Caldari-Gallente low sec. I end up fighting about 20 to 50% shield tankers, and with such a heavy slant on explosive damage I’m less effective at breaking these. In addition, another common sight is Amarr T2 ships like the Zealot, which have an inate explosive resistance and a very low thermal. Likewise, Myrmidons are a common sight, and they often fit an explosive hardener.


In addition, the difference in DPS between explosive and thermal drones is shockingly massive. The gap from explosive to thermal is almost 50% (!). For those bad at math or percentages, that means that explosive drones deal only about 2/3rds as much damage (yeah I know it seems confusing, but trust me it differs in percentage depending on which way you’re going.) With a DPS gap that huge, explosive drones are only better against omni or untanked armor tanks (and not very much more effective at that, about 12% better, which is 6 dps more for this fit)

Though there are times that fitting explosive drones make more sense, but as a roaming pirate fitting thermal is a more logical choice.

12: Cargo

13 cap boosters is as many as you can cram in while still fitting ammo. Likewise, a balance of 2,100 of each ammo type (with slightly more barrage, as it’s the default I have loaded into the guns) is as much as you can cram in while still having a tiny bit of room for synth booster and nanite paste. 50 nanites is usually more than I need, but any less and I risk running out on long roams.
For the synth boosters: these only require biology 1, and while their effects are slight, its like having another implant plugged in. I highly recommend them, as they cost less than a mil a pop.

That’s it for today. Check back next time for more details on solo and gang kiting cane tactics and tips.