Note: prop mod means propulsion module
The Dramiel is by far my absolute favorite frigate. It is a faction/pirate frigate with excellent statistics. The Dramiel’s number 1 trait is its speed. Though you can tech 2 fit this ship decently, for it really to shine you should ALWAYS use the pirate Gistii A-Type 1MN Afterburner. I’m not going to go into costs in these series of articles but I may give some round figures. In Jita that afterburner is around 40m though recently I have seen it as high as 80m.
CLASSIC DRAMIEL
- High Slots
- 2x 200mm Autocannons (or 150mm if you have fitting issues)
- Rocket Launcher II
- Medium Slots
- 1mn Afterburner (Remember prefer the Gistii A-Type but T2 is ok meh)
- Warp Scrambler
- 5mn Micro Warp Drive
- Republic Fleet Medium Shield Extender
- Low Slots
- Gyrostabilizer
- Damage Control
- Nanofiber or Overdrive
- RIGS: Small Core Defense Field Extender x2 Small EM Shield Reinforcer x1
- Drones: 4x Hobgoblins or Warriors
- Ammo: Hail, Barrage, EMP, Phased Plasma, Nova Rage Rocket & other damage type rockets
As usual, as I am targeting intermediate to advanced pilots, I’m not listing the exact names of the modules. It will be plainly evident to Eve players which modules I am talking about. If you are confused or don’t get the way I list modules, you need to back out of my articles and search for noobie and hand-holding beginner articles and master the basics so you can come back to and read my articles properly.
The CLASSIC DRAMIEL is a dual prop little powerhouse frigate pumping out 200+dps. You might need to downgrade the guns to 150mm Autocannons if you have fitting issues. Basically, you can orbit your target at 1000m to get under long-range guns or scram kite in the 5500m to 9500m range and your naturally high transversal will limit your opponent to scraping hits. This is the perfect example of what is called a speed tank. Limiting damage because of your high speed and transversal is the definition of speed tanking. Additionally, the Dramiel as a frigate has a low signature radius which can even be lowered with a set of Halo implants or other means as the Dramiel is also a natural for ‘sig tanking’. In addition to the sig tanking and speed tanking you have one shield extender for the shield tank (well plus whatever rigs you decided on) keep an eye on that and incoming damage. You can do a quick calculation based on incoming damage and how much shield you have left. A good rule of thumb is if you haven’t beaten your opponent by the time you’ve lost half your shields, gtfo. The great thing about this Dramiel fit is the GTFO (get the fuck out) ability. If your down to half your shields and things don’t look good, overheat your afterburner and get out of there.
One of the things I always do, and I usually do this on a per ship basis, is set the default orbit and default keep at. I set the default orbit to whatever is appropriate for the ship I’m flying, but the keep at I ALWAYS set to 200,000. Let me explain why. I use the keyboard as much as I can when playing Eve. It saves from misclicks, noclicks, and shift-clicks and does one more important thing. When I have my keep at set to 200,000, if I press the ‘E’ key it will turn my ship around 180 degrees and start moving directly away from whomever I’m fighting or whoever happens to be targeted on that I have focused. When I need to orbit, I just press the ‘W’ key (default binding). Of course, I use the ctrl key in combination with my mouse to select targets from the overview, but not always, If you have something in overview focused you can use the arrow keys to move up and down the overview list. I ALWAYS preactivate my guns and/or use the Function keys (F1, F2, etc etc) to turn guns on and off. If the ship I am flying has active reps, sometimes I will put the repper in the top module row and then use a function key to turn the repper on and off (usually I set it to F8). CTRL F9 is an AWESOME key sequence that does nothing more than remove all the interfaces and overview from the screen so you just see space and your ship or the inside of wherever you’re at and your ship. Try this one (CTRL-F9) and never forget the key sequence. ‘Q’ is approach, ‘W’ is orbit, ‘E’ is keep at, ‘A’ is align, ‘S’ is warp to, ‘D’ is warp and dock. Using the keyboard is a preference, as there are many other ways to accomplish the same tasks either with the mouse alone or using the on-screen wheel (I have seen people who are expert at using the radial menu and though it’s mind-blowing, it’s way too complicated for me) radial dial I think they call it. This article is about the Dramiel but these keyboard commands have definitely made me a better pilot as many of the keys are shortcuts for things you do all day long in Eve.
- DRAMIEL WINNER ARMOR
- High Slots
- 2x 150mm Autocannons
- Gremlin Small Energy Neutralizer
- Mid Slots
- 1mn Afterburner (You really want the Gistii A-Type 1MN Afterburner)
- Warp Scrambler
- Stasis Webifier
- Small Capacitor Booster (Navy Cap Booster 400)
- Low Slots
- 2x Centii A-Type Small Armor Repairer
- Damage Control Unit
- RIGS: 2x T2 Auxiliary Nano Pumps, 1x Small Explosive Armor Reinforcer
- Pills and Cap Boosters: Exile; Navy Cap Booster 400
- Ammo: Hail, Barrage, EMP, Phased Plasma, Nova Rage Rocket & other damage type rockets
That fit is not really called Dramiel Winner, but if you fit your Dramiel just like that you will tank and win 99% of just about everything you fight if you fight smart; don’t fight blasters in void range, don’t get kited, don’t try to take on destroyers, etc etc. A Succubus or Daredevil could definitely kill this Dramiel if you fight them on their terms but if you keep up your transversal, stay out your opponent’s optimal range, and know when to use Hail or Barrage as ammunition (hint: hail short-range, barrage, mid-long range) even those high powered ships may be tamed. This is not an advanced fit by any means nor is it the I win button. It’s a very solid fit and it will take a ship with high DPS, or a very good pilot who knows how to exploit weaknesses and augment bonuses when they show up. This is another fit where you can turn on both your armor repairers and let them perma-run as long as you keep an eye on the capacitor and fill the Small Capacitor Booster (try to use a faction or pirate one, but t1 or t2 will work in a pinch). There’s nothing wrong with perma-running running your tank and frustrating your opponent by seemingly taking no damage, but don’t make this a rule. People will stop fighting you or will come after you in Daredevils and Succubi.
Bait tanking: let me say a little something about bait tanking. Bait tanking is the process of taking damage so your opponent can see your damage. But your ship is easily able to tank whoever you’re fighting so you ‘fake take’ damage just to keep your opponent or possibly others interested in the fight. You want to make your opponent think your vulnerable or about to die when in actuality you’re faking it all and can easily flip on your reppers to repair all your damage quickly. Why do this? Well, in that armor-repped Dramiel above, I can easily enter 2v1s or even 3v1s and possibly more multi-ship fights. If I perma-ran my armor repper from the beginning of the fight they might learn I can tank both or 3 opponents and the other people on grid who could possibly be killmarks will leave the field and decide to not fight. You don’t want to be so strong that no one can ever beat you, cause you won’t get any fights.
And on that point, if you can’t get someone to fight your ship, maybe downgrade a ship and even take a loss just to get the person interested. Remember, this game is about having fun, not collecting killmarks. Sometimes you might have to sacrifice a ship or two to get the fight you want. There’s nothing wrong with this but more importantly, you have no idea where this could lead. You might make a new friend, who knows? Okay, that’s all I wanted to say about that.
- DRAMIEL SHIELD REPS
- High Slots
- 2x 150mm Autocannons
- Rocket Launcher II
- Mid Slots
- Pirate Medium Shield Booster (Gistum or Pithum C-Type around 100m, A-Type around 400m)
- Warp Scrambler
- Gistii A-Type 1MN Afterburner (or T2 if isk is an issue)
- Small Capacitor Booster
- Low Slots
- Damage Control Unit
- 2x Overdrive Injector Unit
- Rigs: 2x Small EM Shield Reinforcer, 1x Small Thermal Shield Reinforcer
- Ammo: Hail, Barrage, EMP, Phased Plasma, Nova Rage Rocket & other damage type rockets
- Pills: Blue Pill (for shield reps; unless you spent 400m on the A-Type booster, ALWAYS use Blue Pill)
- Cap Booster: Navy Cap Booster 400
This is the shield rep version of the Dramiel I will occasionally fly. The biggest weakness of this fit is the fact that it does not have a stasis webifier. In this case, I have added 2 Overdrive Injector Units in the low slots which will augment the fast Gistii A-Type 1mn Afterburner (you did buy that one right?) and you will easily move 2000m/s up to 2500m/s on an afterburner! Because the Dramiel is so naturally fast there will be times and ships you fight against which might put a stasis webifier on you, but you are still faster. The idea with this Dramiel is the same. You can orbit close (500m-1000m) to get under the guns of your opponent to try to mitigate damage. Sometimes you’ll get under your own guns so take care and make sure your applying damage. If you start your orbit at 500m and it keeps missing move your orbit out to 1000m. Sometimes you have to ‘feel’ and find the sweet spot. Or you can scram kite (orbiting in the 5500m-9500m range). If your fighting blaster based ship (Atron, Incursus or other blaster void based ship) you DO NOT want that close 500m-1000m orbit; your gonna want to widen that orbit to 3500m-5000m because sustained blaster void shots have the ability to ‘break’ your tank so keep that in mind.
Some more pvp fighting theory; on overheating. When you start your fights, make sure you have everything you need over/pre heated. You want your prop mod overheated (unless for some reason you’ve decided not to use it, and there are plenty of times to not use prop mod when fighting), you want your guns overheated, and possibly your warp scrambler and stasis webifier overheated (if you think you need extra range on your warp scrambler and/or stasis webifier). Overheating adds as much as 20% performance boost to the module being overheated, however, you can not overheat indefinitely. There’s a red temperature bar for each module you overheat and you need to make sure you don’t overheat and burn out your module/s in which case those modules will become unusable until you get them repaired. It makes no sense to save your overheat for the end of the fight when you think you need an extra boost cause then you’re overheating in an effort to try to win. It will never work out that way. Always overheat from the beginning of the fight, and keep an eye on your modules and make sure they don’t overheat too much and burn out. MWD’s burn out quickly, Afterburners burn out slowly. Over time you’ll get a feel for how long you can overheat a particular module and then experience will dictate how you use your overheating. Another thing to know about overheating is how you arrange your modules on your ship fitting screen. All modules you can attach to your ship which can be overheated will have an overheat attribute listed on the show info page. Without getting too technical, it matters how modules are placed in their slots. I’ll give this one example then you can look up the details on that overheating attribute if you want to learn how to arrange your modules with overheating in mind. The example I will give is if you’re using a ship that uses two shield extenders, you can sandwich your prop mod between the shield extenders for slower burnout. If you put say a shield extender on one side and a warp scrambler on the other, the warp scrambler has a shitty overheat attribute so it will start to burn out that one shield extender faster than if it had been between two shield extenders. I realize that’s a confusing mouthful, but hopefully, you understand and this removes some of the mystery from the overheating attribute listed for each module and how it can be tactically used.
The Dramiel is a fast pirate ship and it’s best used after mastering all the basics. After you have flown many different ships and know the different bonuses and when and where to use a particular ship your ship selection will get better. There is no one ship in Eve that does it all. The Dramiel comes close for frigate but it still has a weakness to close enemies with high powered guns; for example a T1 Incursus or even a T1 Atron could give a Dramiel a run for it’s money due to the high DPS of blasters and the fact those two T1 ships are pretty quick themselves.
All right, that will do it for this article. If you have any questions or think I should expand on this or any other article, don’t hesitate to drop me a line.
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