Ships & Modules

Kinda sorta sorted by SP required. I've included some non BS as they can be just as good.

Drake - Low SP L4s, very very boring. Supposed to get a nerf to it's passive tank.
Maelstrom + Artillery - Reasonably low SP. Easily pop most stuff at range but frustrating as hell close range.
Raven/CNR - Pew Pew, expect to target paint a lot.
Dominix - Should also do decent now with the new drone modules.
Maelstrom + T2 Autocannons - Baby Varg... long training on the ACs though.
Tengu - Everyone and their mother has one. Fast, moderate DPS, can speed tank just about anything. (Webs = oh ****)
Loki - Similar to Tengu except not as many people fly them / harder to fit for PvE.
Gila - Drone boat with a Drake like passive tank. Decent DPS on the drones with the new modules.
Ishtar - Like Gila but active tanked.
Macharial - High SP/cost. Fun, lots of DPS, fast for a BS.
Vargur - High SP/cost. Lots of DPS, slurps up all the loot/salvage mid fight. Artillery ranged autocannons... yum :).
Nighthawk - High SP/cost. Fit it and forget passive tank. Moderate DPS.

I know nothing of the hybrid weapon ships outside of the fact they are supposed to be not half bad now.

I am personally fond of the Mael, Mach, Vargur, and the Gila (with the new drone module)

Well you have a few good lines and choices.

Kestral - Caracal - Drake - Raven - Caldari Navy Raven - Golem/Tengu (For missile users)
It's a very very solid line. Very adaptable to any rat types.

Thrasher - Rupture - Cyclone - Maelstrom - Macharial/Vargur (For projectiles)
Pretty optimum against anything apart from rats vulnerable to kinetic damage, and even then on the mach and vargur the dps still just breaks them

Then hybrids and drones basically overlap
Cormorant/Catalyst - Moa/Vexor/Thorax/Abitrator/Gila - Ferox/Myrmidon/Ishtar - Rokh/Hyperion/Dominx - Navy Domi/Rattlesnake/Kronos
Hybrids are pretty **** for missions, but drones are good and you can do them AFK.

Coercer - Maller - Harbinger - Apoc/Abaddon - Paladin/Bhalgornn -Nightmare
Lasers are kings of anything EM/thermal - otherwise ****. The nightmare though puts out so much dps that it makes little difference.

All the high end ships at the end of each line are all really just as good as each other. You'll find some missions are easier in each type of ship so there isn't really any super king of Lvl4's but the Mach is generally considered the best because it combines speed, tank and damage, whilst lacking targetting range. So basically, it really doesn't matter what race you choose.

I've left out certain ships like the loki because even though they can do missions, they offer no ADVANTAGE at all over a much cheaper alternative

I have flown most BS and I heartily agree. Loki is fun to mix it up, but for brute force a Mach.

It depends very much on what rats you're fighting, largely because of the natural resists of your ship, and also because of your available damage types.


The best overall ship is the machariel, because it can armor and shield tank with the same rigs, and use mostly the correct damage type vs anything but guristas and serpentis, which ar eweakest to kinetic. (phased plasma still works well though)

The Vargur is very similar to the mach, though it trades the extra dps for tracking and tank. Although it's definitely a shield tanker, it makes up for that with a bonus to EM/TH resists, meaning it's still somewhat viable vs laser rats. There's also the ability to salvage on the go, if you're into that.

The nightmare's dps is a monster vs anything that's weak to EM/TH, but it's a shield tanker and very cap hungry, making it somewhat difficult to pilot since rats weak to EM/TH also shoot EM/TH. It relies heavily on the old saying that "the best defense is a good offense". The easiest way to fly it is to make use of cap boosters.

The Paladin is a great alternative to the nightmare for facing blood raiders in particular, due to the capacitor bonus, but again works well vs anything that's weak to lasers. It has the added bonus of being armor tanked, giving it naturally higher resists s EM/TH rats, compared to the nightmare. Again, there's also the marauder bonus to consider.

The Vindicator and Kronos are very similar in function. The vindi has more natural dps, while the kronos has MUCH higher tanking ability vs kin/th rats in particular, which can free up a slot or two. The kronos also has a much longer targeting range, something that can hamper the vindi on some missions. It also has those utility highs and, again, the salvaging bonus. That said, The vindicator is absolutely brilliant at applying dps to Kin/Th rats...more so than any other subcap ship in the game.

The golem is an oddity in that it has bonuses to damage application, but no actual damage bonus. I think it's been discussed enough already...you get the idea.

The CNR is commonly used instead of the golem, due to having higher raw dps, among other factors.

The rattlesnake is good at applying dps at relatively long ranges(sentries/cruise) and has a massive tank, but it was never particularly fast at clearing rooms due to the low damage from its missiles. Many people would prefer the dominix, due to the higher dps from its guns. Drone boats are kind of in flux at the moment though, due to the new damage module...we'll see where it goes. Regardless, it does work particularly well vs guristas and serpentis ewar ships, since neither F.O.F. missiles nor drones actually need you to target the enemy. It's wonderful in their respective Blockade missions.

The Tengu is good at blitzing missions, due to its ability to simply ignore the room and kill the triggers until the missions is done, or something along those lines. The faction battleships are often faster at clearing whole rooms, however. It also has the perfect damage profile (pure kinetic) and resist profile (bonused Kin/Th) to fight guristas and serpentis.



Not to be ignored is the sentry dominix. Being armor-oriented, can tank decently well against anything but angels(though the odd shield domi does pop up), but its strength is in its dps projection...not even the pirate battleships can match this thing for dealing high amounts of dps over long ranges. The tradeoff, of course, is that sentries are stationary. The navy version is even better, especially with the new modules. (it used to be that the regular domi did more dps, due to the ability to fit two sentry damage augs)

Among the T1 ships, the Hyperion, Maelstrom, Raven, Rokh, abaddon, and Apoc are all quite viable.