Warfare & Tactics

Hi,

while getting more and more experience in solo and very small gang PvP I get the feeling kiting is the superior tactic. Example: shield nano Harb vs armor Harb. A nano Harbinger offers some great advantages over the armor Harb in small scale PvP:

- more damage
- more range
- better tracking
- ability to GTFO

So could someone tell me why should I use an armor tanked ship in small scale PvP? In theory it offers much more tank and more ewar med slots. In reality tank means nothing when the blob arrives. Avoiding the blob is very important when PvPing solo/small gang. So more damage and range is a better tank here imho.

More free med slots is a good reason to armor tank. But why else do you armor tank in solo PvP? Ofc I know as soon as armor logistic comes into play it is no question...but that's not the case here.

I also ask because of T2 Amarr...it just seems silly to shield tank an Absolution or a Legion...but an armor tank is much better here on the other hand..


Additional question: somewhere here I read the HM Drake is considered as better kiting BC. Why is that? A nano Harbinger offers:

- more damage at long point range
- the ability to deal almost twice the damage of a HM Drake if necessary by getting close and using AN MF/Conflag
- more speed (but less agility)

A HM Drake deals the same DPS every time - up to 80km. To do more damage (against BC+) a Drake needs to refit to HAMs. A Harbinger only switches to Conflag and gets in close range.

Thanks for any hint!

Well pretty much by definition of solo or very small gang (less than 5), you won't be using logi and probably won't have more than one recon. In any case, you are basically right in your assessment Denuo Secus. Blobbing the crap out of people is very much the standard tactic these days so if roaming solo or in a very small gang, you absolutely must fight at extended ranges in a kiting ship. Other than the curse and slicer, the amarr don't really do this all that well compared to the other races.

Some ships like the harb can be nano'd but they are inferior to other nano'd ships of their class like the hurricane. This is due to fewer midslots, cap issues and in virtually all cases, a lower base speed and agility. That said, the curse is a real beast solo or with 2-3 dps ships. A typical 5 man kiting gang will look something like this: 3x arty canes, 1x curse or rapier (not both) with faction point, 1x skirmish ganglink ship (t3 typically but a t1 BC works fine too). This type of setup will allow you to point targets to 50km with heat and do near full dps at 30-40km, well outside normal point range. The curse or rapier will help with maintaining distance by either capping out targets so they can't mwd or by webbing them. Incidentally, that's why those two recons are more popular than the other options. Their EW is both defensive and offensive at the same time. The points on the arazu are offensive only while the ECM of a falcon is defensive only.

A Nano Harb is actually quite underestimated vs other Nano BCs. Really the only two other counterparts would be the Drake and the Hurricane.

Nano Harb lacks the tank of an Armour Harb but can dish out significantly more damage as the OP has already stated. What is often overlooked is the larger drone bay of the Harbinger that can set it apart from other BC's in the Nano field.

Basically the way I look at it, Nano-Harb > Nano-Cane who are both bested by the Nano/HM Drake.

Nano Cane has a decent damage projection at ~20km point range but nowhere near a scorched Harbinger. The advantage of a Hurricane over a Harbinger is in it's neuting ability and greater speed. Therefore a Hurricane will want to get into the <10km range to apply better DPS and neut the Harbinger. The tactic would be to keep the Hurricane burning at you for as long as possible whilst dealing more damage at range. Once the Hurricane is pointed, medium EC-600 drones come into effect. Even one successful jam would mean 30secs+ of unanswered Harbinger DPS (at this point you would also burn at the Cane and change crystals for more damage and better tracking). Even with backup on the way, one good jam and you got your GTFO ability at point range but a lot of this is based on luck, of course.

A small gang of EC-600 Nano Harbingers is actually a pretty good fleet IMHO.

Unfortunately a Nano/HM Drake will always win the field simply due to it's greater versatility in the role: speed, damage projection and tank. HM Drake will pound you from range and be able to get out if anything goes awry. Despite it's lower DPS, it's tank will ensure that a Nano Drake will out-survive a Nano Harbinger. The EC-600s are useful in this instance, but only to chase the Nano-Drake off the field as he will outrun you.

Armour Harbingers are great, but only if you get into range straight away and once you press F1 you are in it for the long-haul. If you come up against a nano ship and he is dictating range... de-agress if you are near a gate/station or EC-600 so you can warp away... otherwise you are toast.

On thr flip side, if your outside 30km and solo you can't hold onto anything. Even small gangs would need to be at least in point range unless you've got badass dedicated tackle that isn't wiped off the enemy windshield once they see your arty fit.

It's "superiority" is situational, I know a lot of good brawl-mode only PvPers. They get more kills than me, but when something unexpected crops up (hostile logi landing, falcon decloaking, local spikes by 20, etc.) they usually die and sometimes get really, really mad at the game. When a kiter gets falconed or local spikes, they (90% of the time) align to a celestial, overheat MWD and warp off.



-Dual webs to nuke dualprop/AB-only frigs effectively with HMLs, stay out of scram range against sturdier oppposition and hold down people who try to bail.
-Long range of HMLs.
-Cap is life; the nano-Drake has plenty and doesn't waste any to fire it's weapons.