AF Buff

Its Frigate nerf day....I mean AF buff day.  Its going to be very interesting for me over the next couple of days, obviously being a frigate pilot predominantly and flying Hookbills mainly I am going to have to rethink my engagement envelopes.  No longer will I be able to keep range on blaster ships or try and abuse the crappy tracking of the Wolf.....ah well.

As it is buff day though I have been theorycrafting a couple of fits for what is likely to become my AF of choice, the Hawk (well I am a rocket lover).  So far I have settled on three very different setups, each with their own pluses and minuses.


[Hawk, Armour Plate]
400mm Reinforced Rolled Tungsten Plates I
Damage Control II

Coreli C-Type 1MN Afterburner
Faint Epsilon Warp Scrambler I
Fleeting Propulsion Inhibitor I
Fleeting Propulsion Inhibitor I
Balmer Series Tracking Disruptor I, Optimal Range

Rocket Launcher II, Thorn Rage Rocket
Rocket Launcher II, Thorn Rage Rocket
Rocket Launcher II, Thorn Rage Rocket
Rocket Launcher II, Thorn Rage Rocket
[empty high slot]

Small Warhead Calefaction Catalyst I
Small Ancillary Current Router I

This is basically my pre-buff fit with a tracking disruptor, with the extra mid and the second damage bonus this thing will be a beast.  8.6k ehp and not sure how much dps but its reliable out to 10km.  Essentially keep range until targets dead.

The other fit I have is the standard shield dual web fit, 250dps and 10k ehp is very nice for a frigate.

(The above was written on buff day)

Testing my fits last night, I have come to the conclusion that the Vengeance and Hawk are definitely the strongest.  Both now break 200dps in a standard fitting and with the other utility available and the fact that this dps is applied from 0-10km means they are very strong.

We had a few test fights in corp last night with people bringing all manner of AFs, although predominantly Enyos and Harpys (I guess people like blasters again).  I, myself, was in a dual rep Vengeance now with added neut.  Testing against someones Harpy, I managed to stay close enough that the neut did its work well before my tank was in trouble.  The added help of the neut on a ship with a large cap is soo powerful in frig fights, being able cap people out whilst running a powerful active tank is impressive.


[Vengeance, Dual Rep Vengeance]
Coreli C-Type Small Armor Repairer
Coreli C-Type Small Armor Repairer
Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II
Damage Control II

Small Capacitor Booster II, Navy Cap Booster 400
Faint Epsilon Warp Scrambler I
1MN Afterburner II

Rocket Launcher II, Caldari Navy Thorn Rocket
Rocket Launcher II, Caldari Navy Thorn Rocket
Rocket Launcher II, Caldari Navy Thorn Rocket
Rocket Launcher II, Caldari Navy Thorn Rocket
5W neuty thing (Small Neut)

Small Anti-Thermic Pump I
Small Trimark Armor Pump I


This is what I ran with and it worked well, its light on the DPS side of things but thanks to the new damage bonus it nearly matches my pre-buff single reps DPS.  Obviously this thing is about the tank though, all 253dps of it (pre heat).

Unfortunately people are very reluctant to engage the AFs atm.  I think this is because people just aren't sure at the moment of there capabilities.  We did get some ok fights though.
Harpy, Harpy, Jaguar vs. Rupture, Thrasher (No idea where the Retribution came from)
That fight happened fast and with the quite impressive DPS you can get out of harpys the two ships went down fast.


Tonight I am going to give my MWD Enyos a run out in 0.0, attempting the whole pull tackle off, kill tackle game.  Should hopefully work well (300 dps generally kills tackle fast :P)

Korg