Wolfpack

Being in a wormhole isn't all rocks and pve. Knowing what end of the blaster to point at other players is important, as defending your home takes on new meaning when you are invaded by hostiles. Smart players who live in a wormhole have several ships at their disposal; ships for pve of choice be it rocks or sleepers, and ships for pvp.

Pvp fits in w-space for the most part are not any different then from null sec roaming bands. This is because the although they are fundamentally different, the rules are the same both w-space and null.

The rules are as follows:

1. There are no rules.
2. If you in some moment of insanity believe there is some rule or order, see rule number one.

Bubbles, trash, HICs, Caps, cepters, bombs and bombers, you name it, its there. Or can be there. No rules like low or high sec. Just outright carnage and killing. And jumping. And ganking. Fun.

So what kind of ship fittings would be considered solid pvp WH fits?

Again, anything that works well in null will find a good home here in w-space. One of my favorite pvp ships is the Wolf.

The Wolf isn't much to look at, and is usually passed over for its sleeker, faster cousin the Jag. But what I like about the Wolf over the Jag is the bonuses. Specifically, the bonus to range. Where as the Jag gets kinda hosed in having an optimal range bonus (which blows for projectile turrets), the Wolf gets a solid boost to falloff, the true meat and potatoes of any projectile weapon.

The best thing about the Wolf is how little training time it takes to get into one. So if pvp isn't really your thing, it doesn't take long to learn how to fly one. Then instead of being a liability when hostiles come knocking, you become at least helpful.

Allow me to share one of my favorite Wolf fits, as it is cheap and effective. I usually keep 2 or 3 of these on hand all the time.

Wolf, Pack Dogfighter

4x 200mm Autocannon II (Barrage S)

Catalyzed Cold-Gas I Arcjet Thrusters

Faint Warp Disruptor I

200mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates

2x Tracking Enhancer II

Damage Control II

Small Projectile Burst Aerator I

Small Projectile Collision Accelerator I

What is this heresy? No Gyrostabs!!!!

Let me explain about the weapon systems on this ship first. Autocannons, like all projectile weapons, have a very short optimal but a really great falloff. When you combine that with the Wolf's natural bonus and add Barrage to the mix, you get a very long range ship that hits like its not. Tracking Enhancers are some of the best mods you can put on a projectile ship, as it increases not just optimal, but falloff and tracking. This makes the Wolf's Autocannons loaded with Barrage a long range terror, and makes up for the loss in tracking as well.

The Wolf doesn't really have the CPU to start stacking Gyros. For the cost of one Gyro, I can fit 2 Tracking Enhancers and get double the benefit to range. What kind of ranges am I talking about? While the optimal range just under 2k isn't all that impressive, the falloff of 22km+ is. With the way falloff works, this means you are hitting about 50% of the time at 24km. Moving in to about 13 to 14km out will net you a comfortable 83 to 85% ish hit rate. With max skills this Wolf can track anything short of a Dram and do around 170 dps with just the Barrage.

Need more damage for the killing blow? Switch to faction EMP, Fusion, or Phased Plasma. The Wolf will reward the pilot with 213 dps and a very respectable 1k optimal and 14km falloff. Overloading the high damage stuff will net an additional 33 dps for 246 total. Overloading Barrage will increase the damage to 196 at range.

The added benefit of engaging at range is the ability to avoid scram, which will not have the range to shut down your MWD. The Wolf is always considered a slower ship when compared to the Jag, this evens the playing field a bit. A smart pilot will use this to his advantage, keeping transversal up while using the MWD to control range. Thus the addition of a disruptor. The Wolf doesn't have the CPU to fit a Warp Disruptor II, so the meta 4 fainter is the way to go here. With 20km of disruption range, 24 when overloaded, its more then enough to engage at the best possible range. As long as you avoid scram range, picking fights is easy, and escaping when things are clearly not going your way is possible.

This Wolf packs an EHP total of just over 7k. The Damage Control is the main mod here, and the 200mm plate is buffer. 400mm plate can be wedged on the ship but you pay for it either in damage or range, depending on the fittings mods used. I prefer to use the 200mm, as it doesn't make me too slow but gives me enough to engage at the range I want to. Considering all the the stuff that can hit you the hardest (ie small weapons) can't shoot that far; and the medium and large weapons that have the range will have difficulty hitting the Wolf's smaller sig radius, it is not a terrible trade-off.

This Wolf is pretty tight on CPU, so make sure your fitting skills are up to par. The Wolf has a serious condition Pvpers call “two f-ing midslots”, so flying the Wolf is a bit different then your classic frig with 3 mids for the holy trinity of prop, point and web. Just running in and shooting isn't going to work. Finesse is needed, so learn how to manually pilot the ship. Stay in your engagement range, and avoid scram distance at all cost. One scram will ruin your day in a hurry.

Luckily, these things are cheap! So don't be afraid to engage and learn.