Missions & Complexes

Hey all.

I've tried to do some research on this but I can't seem to get a clear answer.
Several veteran players have explored my fit and have given it the stamp of approval.

However I know that having your passive shield skills to a certain point will be the deciding factor.
I have read that you should have your engineering skills to 4 or 5.

But obviously it isn't necessary or even wise to level all of engineering to this point, especially if all I am concerned about is tanking level 4s.

I also know that shield rigging is a requirement, and that is not engineering. Which makes me wonder if I may be missing another critical skill.

Could any one please give me a list of the skills I should have to 4+ to successfully tank level 4 missions?

Not the answer you're after, I know, but .....


When I first started lvl4 missions I was flying a hurricane, with less tanking capability than your drake. What I did was, rather than waiting on particular skills to get to a certain level, was to check mission-by-mission with a veteran mission-runner in our corp.

I'd say "Hey, I've got Angel Extravaganza" and he'd just laugh. But when there was one he thought I'd be able to cope with he'd suggest I go for it and brief me on the tricks and troubles with that particular mission. Some lvl4s can be fairly easily completed in smaller ships ... if you know the mission and take care. Over time I got to know those missions and finally completed AE4s bonus room solo in a hurricane.

So, IMO, you'd be better off making use of those veterans and getting into lvl4s right away ... but probably not every lvl4. Take care, and take your time. Also study the mission survival guide for each mission, it provides good info about what to be wary of, and how to blitz the mission if you wish.
If you want to complete missions quickly in a low-mid skilled BC, then stick to lvl3s.

Good luck.

It doesn't matter so much - just have shield operation + shield management to 4, be able to use T2 shield power relays, T2 active shield hardeners, medium core defense field extender rigs, and half decent missile skills. Honestly, for the vast majority of L4 missions, tank is not the issue - your dps will be the issue. Also, I would recommend being able to use T2 small drones (e.g. hobgobs). If you notice a frig has you pointed, just kill it with drones and warp out if you are taking too much damage. When I started running L4s, the overview would not show if a ship had you pointed - so it was impossible to know. So, I used to always just kill all the frigs first in case I need to warp out. Lucky for you, you don't have to do that (especially since frigs are triggers on some missions).

If I were you, I would avoid the following missions:
damsel in distress
drone missions in general (they suck anyway from an isk/hr perspective)
worlds collide 2nd room
the three part one that you can just run in a shuttle anyway (at least the first two parts)
any mission against a major faction that will just nuke your standings

Other than that, the rest of the missions are quite easily tanked in a passive drake. Vengeance, pirate invasion, anything extravaganza, anything blood / sansha, gone berserk, and many more are quite easy. Your dps will be the major issue.

The key to your tank is to have high resists, so go with a pair of T2 hardeners for the primary damage type and a single for the secondary. For example, against blood / sansha, use two photon and one therm. For angel, I go with 1 explosive, 1 kin, 1 therm. For guristas, 2 kin, 1 therm.

If you like sub battleship stuff, you can do L4s quite efficiently in a tengu or nighthawk. I like the nighthawk because I can passively tank it and still fit 3 damage mods while being able to tank almost any mission.

Otherwise, you could aim for cruise / torp raven, CNR, golem, rattlesnake. You're probably better off overall in atengu or nighthawk than plain 'ol raven.

Anyway, hope that helps.

Skills are not that important in case of Drake. Unlocking T2 modules besides guns is very easy. But the DPS on a Drake will be horrible without T2 bays. I started doing lvl 4 missions with my Drake when I unlocked T2 Heavy Missile Launchers. Every Amarr space mission was a piece of cake, just warp in, don't even move...shoot everything, thats all (use drones for frigates). For most of lvl 4 missions, common Drake PvE build is overtanked.

You can get away with fuckall skills in a drake. Just over-tank the crap out of it mod-wise and tone down the tank for more gank as you get used to it.

A drake will complete l4s pretty easily.... eventually. But you're probably better off running l3s until you can properly fly a raven or tengu. The drake has to sacrifice some dps to be able to tank l4s, and that kills your completion time. L3s will simply make you more isk per hour in a drake.

We all have our niche. I for example am pathetic at exploring.