Fittings for Glorification – FFA Destroyers

With just a week to go until the destroyer proving grounds kick off, now is the time to be planning out the fits you want to fly. You’ll only have a weekend to participate so you need to act fast. The format this time is also very different to anything we’ve seen before in EVE. It’s a five-person free for all, or a 1v1v1v1v1 if you wanted to say that! For this reason, I expect the ultra tanky and the super fast ships to really shine. If you can outlast everyone else then there likely isn’t going to be much left for you to clean up at the end.

As a reminder, the ships that you’re able to pick from are as follows:
Coercer, Dragoon, Cormorant, Corax, Catalyst, Algos, Thrasher, Talwar, Sunesis

I’m going to try and include fits for most, if not all, destroyer options here but options are going to be a bit limited. Going with a high damage gank Catalyst, for example, will see you blown up by the other four dessies that don’t want to deal with that today. Likewise, if you’re in a dangerous-looking ship or are an EVE celebrity then I fully expect you to be primaries. Self-preservation is king, my friends.

We’re also going to be going race by race this time. They’re nearly all kitey and this is a solo affair so take your pick. There are some legitimate concerns about collusion, but the effect of that remains to be seen. And no there isn’t a Sunesis section, it’s kind of terrible. If you desperately want to run with it then check out my SoCT article and try the kiting fit there.

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Minmatar – Talwar & Thrasher

One of the obvious picks when it comes to surviving and performing well in a long range role is the Talwar. With its sig bonus, decent tank, great speed, and passable damage it really does just work. The max range you can hit to is around 63-72km and I would consider this to be the max range of any T1 destroyer before you start venturing into the realms of a dual sebo ships. With such few slots available to this hull category, I would avoid doing that in the abyss. You really do need a good mix of tank, speed, DPS and range.
The Thrasher is a different beast, but we’ll get to that in a moment.

Now, many people would immediately dismiss my fit for having a Small Shield Extender and I get it. They’re usually trash and an MSE does so much more. The fit below brings a lot to the table, though. Nearly 8k EHP, 70km range and better damage than you find from a fast Talwar or an MSE Talwar. Speed isn’t the greatest, but rig slots can be swapped to achieve that with ease.

Next up we have one pretty standard Thrasher with autos and a.. weirder artillery option. Thrashers are typically very good arty boats, but kiting with them becomes quite difficult. It’s the struggle of trying to fit a respectable tank while still getting the range, damage, and speed. Nevertheless, it’s definitely an option. I would suggest that you be careful and try to avoid appearing too threatening with your high alpha damage, lest someone primary you instead.

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Caldari – Corax & Cormorant

Having mentioned the Talwar, I can’t really get away with not talking about the Corax. It has nearly the exact same stats as a Talwar but with more of an emphasis on (shield) tank than speed. I like it a lot and, if I’m right, it is going to be very effective ship due to the sheer amount of punishment it can take. The Cormorant, on the other hand, is quite different and likely won’t dominate as it does in kspace longbow fleets. The reason being that a “proper” longbow fleet needs to quickly delete dangerous ships, using that range as their only tank. In the abyss this means that any Talwar who gets within 60km of you will delete you within five volleys.

So how do we solve that problem? Smaller railguns and lower expectations. By dropping to 125mm guns and accepting a max range of 65km (instead of 100km) we can bring our tank to over 8k with a significant 240 DPS at point range. This is just enough to kill things quickly while also matching Talwar range in case you get into a 1v1 against one. Using an ancillary shield booster can also help you recharge your shield if you manage to hide away on the edge of the arena for a minute. A brawling Cormorant is also possible but it’s only really a bad Catalyst.

Back to the Corax, there are two ways I like to fit this and neither use rockets. If you’re going to be using a slow ship to brawl in a kiting arena then you’re killing yourself. Coming to a finale against a single kiting dessie means it’s game over. For starters anyway, there is the obvious attempt at a kiting fit; something of a Talwar-like Corax. The fit below will do that just fine and even gets the bonus of naturally resisting the explosive-locked Talwar missiles. It does an ok job.

What really gets me excited, though, is a super tanked propless Corax. I’ve not had a proper chance to test it yet, but with well over 20k EHP against kinetic or explosive you should easily be in for a win unless everybody else shoots you. The downside is that you don’t have any real movement speed and you’ve got relatively low DPS. If 2v2 cruiser matches are anything to go by, that shouldn’t be a problem. If you fly this then try to aim for anyone who shoots you first or anyone with a high-damage brawler. You can’t avoid them so kill them before they get near you.

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Gallente – Algos & Catalyst

Another popular choice, I’m sure, will be the Algos in this format. The ease of use of drones and their ability to fly anywhere you want them to is going to be a very useful trait. Defanging them isn’t even particularly useful since they can still do up to about 200 extra DPS from their turret high slots. It’s sister ship, the Catalyst, I’m sure is still going to be used plenty, too. The heritage of the Catalyst being the big damage destroyer is certainly an attractive feature. It even manages to run a unique railgun setup due to natural Gallente hull tank, tracking, and falloff bonuses.

So as with many of the fits that have come before, it’s no surprise that I’m not really using an armour Algos here. It isn’t super fast and slowing it down to 1,300m/s with plates is just depressing. The possible 14k EHP isn’t worth it and is matched by a shield tank or a hull tank anyway. Instead, my favourite way of fitting it is with a dual MASB setup. This drops your control via tackle to zero, but provides 13.44k EHP with the potential for reloads and autos which will defang opposing Algoses quicker than you can say Hobgoblin. If you want to run something better with more speed then you don’t need me for that. Slap on some bulkheads, tackle, and your favourite weapon system.

Moving on to a proper brawling choice, there’s the aforementioned Catalyst in two different hybrid flavours, rail and blaster. The blaster setup is about as basic as it gets. It has 8.7k EHP, 542 DPS, and is one of the fasted options in-class for catching those pesky Talwars. Rush your opponent and finish things quick.

A rail Catalyst, then, is much more interesting. You’re looking at a great tracking bonus, a defensive web, and ammo ranging between 15km and 41km. Damage is respectable and your priority target should be the other actual kiters in the arena. You have the advantage of better application and DPS as long as you can get within about 20 or 30km to properly apply it. Sit around lazily at the edge and a light missile fit will just snipe you.

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Amarr – Dragoon & Coercer

And so we finally move onto the laser bois, the Amarr. For this race we have the two options being a “traditional” laser boat in the Coercer with good range and application, and a neuting drone boat with the Dragoon. Both are viable and I certainly expect to see a few brick tanked Dragoons floating about. They reach around 18k EHP and will still do about 140 DPS with their drones in a similar way to the Corax above. If you think really hard, you can also just about imagine a passive shield tanked version which will easily outlast many destroyers in regen.

The other way that I see the Dragoon working well is utilising heavy neuting to disable anyone else with cap based weapons. It’s a risky play, but the fallback of having three flights of light drones is a good one. A hull tank is preferred here for better speed and more EHP than the equivalent armour buffer setup. I only feel slightly disappointed that there’s so much powergrid remaining to be used.

Back to the Coercer, it’s a ship that I recommend treating like an Oracle and using it to kite. As we’ve already discussed, kiting in this arena format should be more effective and will help you avoid getting held down by someone in a Catalyst and killed off first. Both beams and pulses are good thanks to Scorch, with the shield pulse version reaching out to 20km for 281 DPS hot. Up close this translates to 455 DPS of “oh shit get this Catalyst off me.” An armour beam setup will work at similar ranges but with the option to push out to 45km as well. I like both fits and it just remains to be seen if this sort of thing works in a free for all arena.