Ships & Modules

This might work

[Drake, PvE]
Ballistic Control System II
Ballistic Control System II
Ballistic Control System II
Ballistic Control System II

10MN Afterburner II
Thermic Dissipation Field II
Kinetic Deflection Field II
Kinetic Deflection Field II
Shield Recharger II
Shield Recharger II

'Arbalest' Heavy Missile Launcher, Scourge Heavy Missile
'Arbalest' Heavy Missile Launcher, Scourge Heavy Missile
'Arbalest' Heavy Missile Launcher, Scourge Heavy Missile
'Arbalest' Heavy Missile Launcher, Scourge Heavy Missile
'Arbalest' Heavy Missile Launcher, Scourge Heavy Missile
'Arbalest' Heavy Missile Launcher, Scourge Heavy Missile
[empty high slot]

Medium Warhead Flare Catalyst I
Medium Warhead Rigor Catalyst I
Medium Warhead Rigor Catalyst I

2.2M sp is really low for a drake. You will not be doing any relevant dps to justify it over rushing L2 missions with rapid launcher caracal.

Get your missile support skills up. Consider using a Gnosis for L3 if you want to save training time; you will have to active tank it but the combined drone and missile bonuses make it pretty attractive for low sp.

Generally you need to be able to fit triple damage mods on a drake to make it useful for pve IMHO. The above fit is pretty good basic stuff. Use range and speed as your tanks.

Minor note: the Meta-4 Shield Power Relay (Beta Reactor Control) is just as effective as a Tech-II Shield Power Relay, but consumes less CPU.

A critical point if you're flying the Drake is what level of Caldari Battlecruiser you've got trained. Each level gives you a 10% boost to kinetic DPS from HM's and HAM's and a 4% boost to your base shield resistances; in short, you'll hit harder and tank better. To maintain a passive-recharge tank, you'll also want to have Shield Operation and Shield Management trained to V; the former gives you a straight increase to your shield recharge rate, while the latter increases your raw shield buffer (and increases your recharge rate accordingly).

Also, if you're going to commit to missile boats, you'll want to spend some time cranking up missile support skills: Projection, Bombardment, Warhead Upgrades, Rapid Launch, Guided Missile Precision, and so forth.

Holy balls ignore this fit. He's just trolling.

Your basic PVE fit is:

6 heavy launchers

3 hardeners (2/1 split based on whatever you're tanking)
2 - 3 large shield extenders
0 - 1 afterburner

4 ballistic control systems

Rigs can either be a combination of flare/rigor missle rigs, or 3 shield purger rigs.

If you need to use a fitting mod, pull one of the BCS' from the lows, that fourth one is penalized anyway.

I agree with you on all counts. Tech 2 are expensive, and with my set up, you're essentially buying two Drakes. I over-tank all my BC's & BS's because I tend to only have time to play late at night, when I'm tired, a little buzzed or both. I keep my cheap fittings for frigs & destroyers;)

I do like this one and I have 120million isk so tier 2 gear it is XD I was saving for a raven but seems like my SP are lacking right now to even half pilot the thing decently.

Here's my "lazy" Drake fit :

[Drake, My Drake]

Lows :

Caldari Navy Ballistic Control System
Caldari Navy Ballistic Control System
Shield Power Relay II
Shield Power Relay II

Mediums :

Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
Large Shield Extender II
Large Shield Extender II
Target Painter II
10MN Afterburner II

Highs :

Heavy Missile Launcher II, Scourge Fury Heavy Missile
Heavy Missile Launcher II, Scourge Fury Heavy Missile
Heavy Missile Launcher II, Scourge Fury Heavy Missile
Heavy Missile Launcher II, Scourge Fury Heavy Missile
Heavy Missile Launcher II, Scourge Fury Heavy Missile
Heavy Missile Launcher II, Scourge Fury Heavy Missile
Small Tractor Beam II

Rigs :

Medium Core Defense Field Purger I
Medium Warhead Rigor Catalyst I
Medium Warhead Rigor Catalyst I


Hornet II x5

I really should use Tech 2 rigs on it, and I swap the two hardeners for two specific ones according to the mission I'm doing ...
I also change the drones according to the mission.

I use Precision Scourge Heavy Missiles for Elite Frigates, everything else gets blown in one to three volleys ...

The two Caldari Navy Ballistic Controls are really important tough : they save some CPU (need a +4% cpu implant for a full Tech 2 fit) AND they add just that little bit of damage that makes a world of difference.

The only mission where I had to warp-out with this fit is the level 3 Angel Extravaganza bonus room, the four Battleships in there pack a mighty wallop.

EDIT : a bit of tinkering with a calculator shows that with a Tech 2 Core Defense Field Purger, a Tech 2 Rigor and a Tech 2 Flare it fits (not enough calibration for 2 Tech 2 Rigors) with a bit more defense AND a bit more applied damage on small things.

I now use a Small Remote Armor Repairer II in the last High slot instead of a Small Tractor Beam II to patch up my drones WHEN (not IF, WHEN) they get aggroed ...

My fit above is a passive level 3 mission runner, the Target Painter is there to try to draw the aggro of the Elite Frigates (check eve-survival.org for good intel on missions), but it should of course be swapped for another hardener in the tougher missions.

A fair warning too : to really work, the Drake *needs* really high skills in Shields, Fittings, Missiles and *at least* 4 in Caldari Battlecruisers ... but when you have maxed shields and fitting skills, mostly 4's in missiles with the crucial ones at 5 and the aforementioned Cal BC 4+, the only mission where you'll need to be really awake and on top of your game is the level 3 Angel Extravaganza, specifically the bonus room, because that's one of the highest incoming DPS rooms in level 3 missions.


I would'nt use my fit for ISK-making tough, the Cal Navy BCSes are hideously expensive (100+ mils each), the Tech 2 rigs will cost you another 90 mils ... i use mine for faction standing grind, getting to level 3 missions is relatively easy, but the step to level 4 mission standings is longer.

If you want to make ISKies as a Caldari pilot in PvE, the Raven/Navy Scorpion/Navy Raven are your workhorses, and the shield, missile support and fitting skills you'll need for the Drake will also help those hulls.

No matter what the fit, ALWAYS put an Afterburner on it.

This makes the missions go faster and gives you a slight speed tank in lvl4s.

It's important to keep in mind that passive shield regen is strongest when it's at 25%ish. So if your passive tanked Drake never gets below say 80% shield, that means it's overtanked. It's perfectly natural for a passive Drake to go under 50% shield (although it is pretty difficult for most level 3s to do that much of DPS to a Drake) so don't be too afraid.

Of course you can't tell how much a mission will hurt you until you actually do it so it's not a good idea to go for full gank right from the start, but as you get an idea of the DPS each mission delivers, swap your SPRs for BCSs and Purger rigs for Rigor rigs so you can kill things faster. After all, the faster you kill things, the less tank you are going to need.

^^ This is for level 3 missions. If you are going to use Drakes for level 4s (which I think you shouldn't), you'd probably be better off with full tank fittings.