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Drake Skillset / Role
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Ace Uoweme
Republic Military School
Minmatar Republic
#1 - 2013-06-06 05:34:43 UTC
Have some questions about skills/roles and preferably for someone who flies Drakes as a preference (yo, faction mates!):

1. What are the critical skills by importance to level for a Drake built (not just recommended for the hull)?
2. Should priority be for Heavy Assault or Heavy missiles (would be nice to level both, but there's other skills that take time)?
3. What are the side skills not listed in Evemon ship planner to be an effective Drake built (notes I have are years old)?

Essentially want to fly a Drake through level 4s and possibly latter in fleets when the side skills are maxed.

Secondly,

A. Is it still passive tanking for Drakes (seen some more active tanking builds on Battleclinic)?
B. Has the Drake role in fleets changed since years ago - do they still tank; or are bait ships now?
C. What drones to specialize in? Gallente? ECMs?

Any other tips?

_"In a world of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act." _ ~George Orwell
DeLindsay
Galaxies Fall
#2 - 2013-06-07 00:13:36 UTC
Ace Uoweme wrote:
Have some questions about skills/roles and preferably for someone who flies Drakes as a preference (yo, faction mates!):

1. What are the critical skills by importance to level for a Drake built (not just recommended for the hull)?
2. Should priority be for Heavy Assault or Heavy missiles (would be nice to level both, but there's other skills that take time)?
3. What are the side skills not listed in Evemon ship planner to be an effective Drake built (notes I have are years old)?

Essentially want to fly a Drake through level 4s and possibly latter in fleets when the side skills are maxed.

Secondly,

A. Is it still passive tanking for Drakes (seen some more active tanking builds on Battleclinic)?
B. Has the Drake role in fleets changed since years ago - do they still tank; or are bait ships now?
C. What drones to specialize in? Gallente? ECMs?

Any other tips?
Drakes are viable as Passive Shield, Shield Buffer and Active Shield as well as HAM's and HM's so the choice is really up to your preferred play style. As a suggestion get all Core skills to LvL 5. These would be everything for Ship HP/Target Speed/Ship base Speed/Cap/etc (Shield Management/Mechanics/Hull Upgrades/etc). Secondary Core skills are anything needed to actually fit the modules/Rigs on the ship within the constraints of CPU/Pwr Grid like Engineering/Electronics/Shield Upgrades/etc.

For Weapons it'd be nice to have T2 of either/both HAM's (PvP mostly) & Heavies (PvE & PvP). Some of the Missile skills would need to be LvL 5 for T2 Launchers but not all. Drones are by choice and really more of a concern of what you will fly against and who with. In PvP it's often preferred for ships with a small bay to use Warriors to help catch/kill Inties, or ECM as you mention. For PvE you'd want either Hobs or Warriors (mostly) based on the Mission rats.

The Operative: "There are a lot of innocent people being killed in the air right now".

Capt. Malcolm Reynolds: "You have no idea how true that is".
Ace Uoweme
Republic Military School
Minmatar Republic
#3 - 2013-06-07 12:15:00 UTC
Thanks for the heads up.

Have a couple questions about the drones: for ECMs what faction? Any advantage in one over the other?

I'm been seeing the Warrior II drones on Drakes in the PvP videos, but why over Hobgoblins (which I see a lot even still on builds)?

There's a lot if info out there on builds and such, but little to explain the choices. Trying to figure out why this over that deal.

_"In a world of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act." _ ~George Orwell
RavenPaine
RaVeN Alliance
#4 - 2013-06-07 15:09:57 UTC  |  Edited by: RavenPaine
Ace Uoweme wrote:
Thanks for the heads up.

Have a couple questions about the drones: for ECMs what faction? Any advantage in one over the other?

I'm been seeing the Warrior II drones on Drakes in the PvP videos, but why over Hobgoblins (which I see a lot even still on builds)?

There's a lot if info out there on builds and such, but little to explain the choices. Trying to figure out why this over that deal.




With ECM drones you dont really buy them according to 'Faction'.
They come in sizes, ECM300 (small), ECM600 (medium), ECM900 (large).
Their hulls are faction based, but choice is not really optional, only size is optional.
Drake can fit 5 smalls.

For damage drones, Warriors are faster, but Hobgoblins do more damage.
People choose 1 or the other based on personal choice.

For my Drakes:
I buffer/resist tank them and generally have at least 1 speed mod mounted. I like overdrive injecters, because generally, I;m burning straight at something or straight away from something.

I like Heavies for the range. Most fights get spread out over a large battlefield, and I like applying damage from 60km away if needed. (Also, I simply have better skilled Heavy Missiles)

80% of my drakes will have ECM Drones.

Edit:
An old kill mail with a *base* fit. Sometimes I drop the web for another invuln. Sometimes I drop the nanofiber for another balistic control.

http://eve.battleclinic.com/killboard/killmail.php?id=14586452
Mari Hata
Main Street Crafts and Goods
#5 - 2013-06-12 16:47:27 UTC
Ace Uoweme wrote:
Essentially want to fly a Drake through level 4s


You will get through L4s eventually, but according to a friend who did the same, they will take an awful lot of time.

♫ ♪ ♪
Ylariana
School of Applied Knowledge
Caldari State
#6 - 2013-06-13 10:28:34 UTC
I've done some L4s in a drake Pre-04/06, buts its painfully slow, entirely possible, but mind-numbingly dull.

The problem isnt the tank, the drake has that in spades. Its the DPS. To maximise DPS you need to go shortrange, which means you need speed, which compromises your tank.
If you go Long Range, tougher targets (elite cruisers, Battleships with decent resists) will take a month of mondays to pop.

Like I said, its doable, its just not much fun.

I'd trade up to either a Tengu (incoming nerf of undefined nature though) or a Raven. The Cruise Missile buff in 04/06 makes them very tasty these days.

Thats my opinion anyway.
Ace Uoweme
Republic Military School
Minmatar Republic
#7 - 2013-06-13 12:05:53 UTC
Went in with a Raven to test out level 4s. It was brutal without level 5 skills, especially in energy management (cap recharging was horrible...and not going to make/buy a cap recharger rig, as that can be fixed within a week of skills training).

Definitely this: Drake for level 3 missions with level 3-4 skills. Raven+ for level 4 missions with level 5 skills. Anything less gets to be quite expensive trying to compensate (large modules are costing 17+ million each). Can use a Drake in level 4 missions, but after seeing how long it takes with level 3 in cruise missiles to down anything...yep, heavy missiles (even if using T2 and advanced training) will take forever and cost a mint on missiles.

Also read up more on the Drake and it's higher cousin the Raven. Drakes have a lower signature radius thus avoiding the damage (was wondering how I can now zip through level 3s with ease). Ravens higher signature radius means it will take a beating, and this is where the shield compensation skills and amplifiers (active tanking) comes in to play. Drakes (combat battlecruisers) are mid-tier ships that are more agile than Ravens, and have more tank than cruisers. They are excellent ships for their purpose (leading a gang of frigates/cruisers) and being the tank, or as brawlers.

Although I don't have maxed skills yet, I can still say between the Drake and Raven, the Drake still feels like a better choice for a goto ship for me. It's cost (1/4 of the Raven, even more cheaper than the Tengu); higher agility; less need for active tanking (and getting neuted in PvP) means it's perfect for PvE and PvP tasks. It doesn't win on DPS, but it can really soak up a lot of damage, and that's the play style I prefer, tanking. The naval version even has more tank, and with some more skills training, can get it past 100k EHP (EFT built I have has it around 88k on the Drake, 121k for the Raven). In PvP that is much lower, but the ability to not be drained of shield regen compensates for the lack of active shielding.

It's a pretty solid ship and the size, agility and tank is sweet. Will have to try other faction battlecruisers, but with the naval version of the Drake out, I'll be hard pressed to switch. }:>

_"In a world of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act." _ ~George Orwell
Tsukino Stareine
Garoun Investment Bank
Gallente Federation
#8 - 2013-06-13 12:10:01 UTC
Drakes are pretty good at running level 4s which are against kinetic weak rats. I've done a number of missions against angels with a drake and I can confirm it is extremely boring.

Art of Explosions
Marcus Walkuris
Aww yeahhh
#9 - 2013-06-17 05:00:40 UTC
The only way for you to enjoy flying a drake in PvE is in a gank fit usually doing lvl3 missions.
Meaning prop mod tracking rigs, and BCU over shield regen.
That said I would go with HM over HAM any day unless you intend on doing lvl4 missions with it and you just shouldn't period the end ^^.
So there is your answer the drake can do a wonderful job decimating lvl3 missions if you mean to grind some standing.
Of course with the new navy battle-cruisers it is really the low sp/missile only, or poor mans boat compared to the navy hurricane for example.