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Shield vs Armor Tank
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Da'iel Zehn
Evil Frosty's Premium Liqours and Fine Wines
#1 - 2013-12-02 19:19:15 UTC
Which is better? Why?
Thaddeus Eggeras
Urkrathos Corp
#2 - 2013-12-02 19:20:23 UTC
Both are good, just depends what you are using them for.
Da'iel Zehn
Evil Frosty's Premium Liqours and Fine Wines
#3 - 2013-12-02 19:21:55 UTC
Thaddeus Eggeras wrote:
Both are good, just depends what you are using them for.


How about PvP?
Thaddeus Eggeras
Urkrathos Corp
#4 - 2013-12-02 19:25:11 UTC
For active tanking Solo or small gangs without logi shields are usually better. For tanking massive amount of damage armor is better. Fleets with logi, either work fine. Really both work fine, it usually comes down to what you are fighting and which would be best against said enemy.
Degnar Oskold
Moira.
#5 - 2013-12-02 19:30:46 UTC
Armour tanking allows more e-war, less damage, less mobility, is usually focused on short range due to lack of mobility

Shield tanking allows more mobility and damage but is vulnerable to e-war. Is usually focused on ranged weapons to take advantage of mobility.

Neither is better than the other overall.

But there are situational advantages. If you can position yourself so that the fight will start at close range, armour is usually better because your low speed will not matter, and you can apply e-war immediately.

If you can position yourself so that the fight starts at range, shield is usually better
Dorian Wylde
Imperial Academy
Amarr Empire
#6 - 2013-12-02 21:40:28 UTC
Armor is usually preferred because of implants, but that's mostly for capital ships. At the same time, shield is usually preferred because you can fit more damage mods. It's all a tradeoff, and there's quite a bit of give and take for each.

Armor plates reduce speed and agility (lower speed, more damage taken); shield extenders increase sig radius (faster targetting time, more damage taken)

Armor reps repair at the end of the cycle, and are usually more cap efficient; shield reps repair at the beginning and are usually cap hogs

Shields recharge naturally, allowing for the coveted passive tank; armor has higher base resists

Armor gets an oversized buffer module (1600 plate); shield gets an oversized active module (XL booster)

Armor gets a passive omni module (EANM), which benefits greatly from the armor compensation skills; shield gets an active omni module (invuln) which gets better overall resists at the cost of cap

There's more, but those are the main points. There really is no better overall, just in specific situations. Due to implants, most alliance prefer armor capitals (other reasons too, but thats a big one). Due to extra damage mods, most incursion fleets are shield tanked. Passive shield tanks in pve are very popular because they are so easy to do. Multiple rep armor tanks can be quite effective in pvp, and the armor buffer tank numbers can be quite absurd (damnation, proteus, etc)

Pick an activity and we can probably help you out a bit more with a fitting.
Jack Miton
School of Applied Knowledge
Caldari State
#7 - 2013-12-02 21:46:59 UTC
You take away certificates and look what happens...
Real men hull tank.

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