Ships & Modules

I'm biased towards the Raven, but if you want to do anything past BS (or outside of PvE) you're wasting time training missiles. From what I've heard lasers aren't in great shape either, so I would say Rokh, Mega or Maelstrom.

Edit: I love my Navy Raven for mission running, it even does pretty durn good in incursion fleets, but there are better weapon systems out there that aren't like a pinata for the CCP nerf bat right now.

You can run the Brutix in 4's, and you probably will. BC's, BS's, command ships, T3's. Since you have a hybrid cruiser, I'd probably head towards the megathron navy issue. Yeah you said you don't have the isk for it, but you will after you train and run in the t1 megathron for some time. I'd keep building BC skills as well, maybe get a navy brutix at some point.

i'm using normal typhoon for mission L4 and doing good

meta 4 weapon + light drone, that's all i use not very fast but still ok

Hey Dilly
i'm a new player and fly only Gallente ships. If you ask about L4 in highsec space
i would definitely recommend Dominix. Not the Navy one. With MJD it is the sniper-Domi.
Microjump, depoly bouncers, when red crosses come closer switch to gardes, repeat if necessary
Distance is the nice tank and in most of cases i even don't have to turn on my LAR
Armor tank, T2 fit, 3DDA, 2DLA, 2 Omnilinks, SensorBooster.. etc.. nothing special - very cheap and efficient
red crosses sniping machine

To make mission running easy, Raven is the way to go. Easy to fly, relatively easy to fit, mounts an incredibly strong shield tank, can hit hard from long ranges. That's not to say you can use it with minimal training investment; it still needs decent missile skills to use, but doesn't take quite as long to train up to as the other ships you mentioned. The only thing the Raven has trouble against are small targets, but you've got scout drones to handle those for you.

Seeing as you've mostly used armour tanking gunboats, you might be more comfortable with an Apocalypse or a Megathron (I'd avoid the Abaddon/Hyperion/Rokh; those are less forgiving ships in general). The Megathron I find it to be an incredibly capable ship; it mounts a huge tank, and does great DPS. But it is rather demanding on gunnery skills to do good DPS, and might take a while to train up to. Also, as an active armour tanker, it is twitchy against anything that does Kinetic or Explosive damage, and drains cap quickly to keep itself alive. And you might have some trouble dealing steady damage to the Angel Cartel. Over all, it takes a lot more training to use it well, certainly more training than the Raven would require.

As to which to pick between the two; if you enjoyed the Omen, go with the Apocalypse. And if you preferred the Brutix, you'll like the Megathron.

Dominix is a really good ship, too; I prefer it to the Megathron for mission running. The sentry sniping Dominix is hillariously powerful; it has selectable damage and long range, but is just as heavily dependent on good drone skills as the 'Thron is on Gunnery and Tanking. The close-range Dominix is tougher to fit and use, though equally powerful, and, quite honestly, even more fun than the sniper fit. It requires more intense concentration to make sure you don't blow up and to keep your heavy drones alive, so it keeps you busy.

However, the Dominix takes as long, if not longer, to train up to use well as the Megathron, and will pull your training away from Gunnery for a significant amount of time.

If you plan to go into Marauders or pirate faction Battleships, go with one of the turret-based ships and work your way up from there. If you just want to run L4s comfortably, go with the Raven or the Dominix (or the Armageddon, which has similar skill requirements to the Dom).

Raven is probably your best choice; very newbie friendly shield tank, damage projection, proven hull, etc.. Personally, I just can't get excited by railgun/blaster battleships for level 4s. The laser boats limit you to just Amarr space. Plus most of the ships you mentioned require armor tanking which isn't nearly as nice as shield tanking for level 4s.

Second best choice would probably be the Maelstrom.

Keep in mind that
Apoc deal EM/Therm will struggle against Angel and to a lesser extend Guristas and Serpentis (Scorch crystals deal mostly EM).

Megathron is stuck to Therm/Kin but that's a bit less of an issue because all NPC are weak to one or the other.


Angel EWAR is the easiest to deal with, doesn't require any modules to counter it.
Sansha/Blood Raider EWAR is a joke if you are using missiles or drones but a serious pain in the ass otherwise.



I consider damage selection to be invaluable, here is what I would recommend :

Pemier League : Dominix, Typhoon, Raven, Maelstorm
Second : Tempest, Megathron, Hyperion
Third : Apocalypse, Abbadon, Rokh, Armageddon, Scorpion

Also look at the Faction BS and Marauders as a long term goal and try to get into something that use the same skills.

Projectiles, not railguns. (Railguns are hybrids.)

IIRC, you'll want to use artillery with the Maelstrom due to range projection issues with ACs. Probably with a MJD in case you get swamped at close range. (Or use a mobile fitting depot to switch to ACs.)

One of the big advantages to the Raven is damage projection, in that missiles hit for "max" damage out to essentially max targeting range (i.e. no need to worry about optimal/falloff limits.)

To fly a battleship you have to first get over any aversion you may have against drones. Like it or not you will use them to destroy frigates, and if you don't you will slip up once and be in a pickle.
In case you were referring to sentries, once you get into using drones efficiently, sentries are just the next logical step up.

So now you know, you HAVE to like sentries because I told you so!

Typhoon or Fleet Typhoon are my fave L4 ships. I even prefer Fleet phoon over my Vargur.

The ship does everything, 5 sentries, missiles and it's fairly fast.