Ships & Modules

Ok for I'm thinking of flying with my alt for low sec and 0.0 exploration. The scanner will use an anathema or an Pilgrim, depending on how much worse the Pilgrimis for scanning than the anathema (assume 5/4/4 skills for scanning, sister's probes and launcher, plus implants on this char) and the other needs to fly something to actually do the fighing. The other char is skilled up T3, but it's a Legion and I've had problems in relatively simple sites with TD in a laser boat.

So my choices look something like:

Pilgrim/Legion (missile)
Pilgrim/Ishtar
Anathema/Legion (missile)
Anathema/Ishtar
Ishtar/Legion
Ishtar/Ishtar

... or perhaps something else? Anyone have experience with flying a wingman could advice on better combinations for PvE?

I fins scanning ships aren't all that great. Most (read 99%) of ships who are out in space in 0.0 for PVE purposes are people who have cloaks or a nearby POS/Station. This makes combat probes next to useless.

The best thing is an interceptor or a sentinel + a dps ship.

AN interceptor like the taranis can hold a point with MWD indefinitely but can also warp at 14au/s which is AMAZING for getting in-front of people who are travelling. Getting in-front of them lets them catch more people than combat probes will.

Also interceptors are good in combat. A taranis for example can get point blank on-top of a target and get under their tracking then rip them with 250dps until you arrive.

A sentinel can also do something similar but can dump the capacitor out of a target instead of killing it, meaning when you arrive they melt like butter.

The most common misconception is that a tacklers job is to get a point on someone so people can DPS - really their job is to get a point on them and NOT DIE. Lots of people will bait covert-ops ships then 2-shot them, warp out and laugh. They aren't designed to tackle, they are designed to scan and provide warp-in points for people.

For a 2 man gang i'd go with an Interceptor/Stealth bomber/Newly buffed t1 frig and the DPS ship is whatever you can do best with. Legion is good, ishtars tend to die quickly.

For me the ishtar works good as a 'swiss-knife' boat. i scan in it (if you have good skills and the scan strength implant, you don't even need rigs), i can tank a lot of stuff in serpentis/guristas space and it is nimble. I like to have my other character in a cheap battlecruiser to add dps and maybe poke into where i think it smells fishy.

Overall i guess t3/t3 combo is best. If you are out in null, however, where you can't dock up, then drone boats are excellent.

I have used an ishtar for 8/10s (can go up to forsaken hubs, forlorn / anything with webs are trouble), just keep your speed + transversal high at all times. It's quite fun and a nice change from sitting in slow / stationary ships.