Ships & Modules

Should I go with Hobgoblins / Hammerheads, which provide the most DPS, but is thermal-based? Or Warriors / Valkyies, which provide less DPS, but hits through the Angels explosive hole? Some of the guides I've read give conflicting information.

What are you flying?

Valks/Hobgoblins. TBH.

Warriors/Valks/Berserkers win out against Angel rats.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1dqzDomle5sFKkEYlxTfoPf6rmUb_8i9Luo9UWNxInr0/edit?usp=sharing

Edit: Look at sheet 2 for current numbers. Sheet 1 is deprecated before drone damage got boosted. Doesn't change the outcome here.

So... what am I looking at? I see numbers, but I don't know what the numbers are.

I seem to recall reading that generally the extra damage of the gallente drones at least equals the minnie ones after resist and so it's less hassle to just take them everywhere.

Might be phooey, but I've never had issue dropping angels with thermal drones.

Caveat: My experience only applies to the light breed.

Yeah, I got the relative DPS bit, but how was the relative DPS calculated? Averaged resists[1]? Was tracking taken into consideration? Etc.

A while back, I realized that the two elite angel frigates (Angel Viper and Webifier?) in level 4s (the ones that web and scram) had the least EHP versus thermal so I've always carried hobgoblins over warriors. However, my calculations were waaaaaay pre-drone re-balance.



[1] Angel armor and shield resists tend to be same, so shield and armor EHP isn't normally a factor.

If all 4 of your drone specialization skills are trained to an equal level then the best is to use damage specific drones they will give you a small edge in damage application when averaged across all NPC types.

If you do not have all 4 drone specialization skills trained to an equal level then go with the race that you have the highest spec skill for that will normally give you the best damage application across all NPC.

If you want to put a single race if drones in your bay and never change them I always found the higher damage modifier of the Gallente drones made them one of if not the best, as that higher damage modifier often overcomes any negative aspects of shooting wrong damage type.

As a general answer to your question Angels are weakest to explosive damage so the Minmatar drones would be best.
Warrior, Valkyrie, Berserker and Bouncer

Drone speed and tracking is often stated as a reason to fly or not to fly a specific drone or race of drones. In PvP there is significant truth to this statement, however in PvE activities it is essentially a non-issue. Just use proper sized drones and all of them are more than fast enough and have high enough tracking speed to get the job done.
Lights for frigate and destroyer
Mediums for cruiser and most of the battle cruiser
Heavies or sentries for the battleships and some of the larger slower battle cruisers

Range is another factor for drones pilots. In some level 3 and many of the level 4 missions you need to keep them close, if they draw agro (and they will) if they are to far out they will die before you can recall them to the drones bay.
Lights out to 15k to 20k..
Mediums out to 10k to 15k.
Heavies out ot about 5k to 10k.
Ranges will vary depending on the specific mission and on your skills but these should serve as reasonably safe ranges to start with.

This is highly situational. Are you flying level 4 missions or running nullsec anomalies? Are you in a drone boat like an Ishtar or Domi or are you using drones as a secondary weapon system?

My personal experience in missions and even in anomalies has been that drone tracking does not matter over much, aside from sentries. Even heavy drones will hit frigates often enough to remove them quickly, because they hit so much harder than lights. Elite frigates in missions can be a hassle with their tendency to target drones and their extremely low sig radius to the point that clearing a group of them with drones alone, especially unbonused drones, can be time consuming. This is why most people blap them at range before they get close enough to pick up transversal.

For anomalies, I really don't know if Beserkers or Bouncers are superior to Gardes or Ogres. As others have noted the Gallente drones have the highest damage multiplier and Minmatar the lowest so you may not be gaining anything shooting into their resist hole. On this question I would defer to someone who has run Angel anoms in null with droneboats.

For missions, using drones is such a hassle that I actually fit small guns on my Ishtar to help with the frigs. I would try to blap them at range with sentries because the elite frigates just love to tackle and kill drones of all types, and the cruisers mobs can shred heavy drones also. Best rule is to kill the frigates at range, and if you drop into a pocket ontop of them your first priority should be using an MWD or MJD to pull range.

For most of Eve's lifetime, yes, thermal drones were better against Blood/Sansha/Rogue drones. This is no longer the case; EM drones are now best against these enemies on a pure damage basis; the increased speed and tracking is just gravy.