Intermediate Guide to Tanking by Friedrick Psitalon
Passive Shield Tanking
Passive Shield Tanking is a rather unorthodox strategy probably best suited for PvE combat, but is very noteworthy in that situation. PST works on a rather bizarre principle of EVE: no matter how much shields (or capacitor) you have, it always regenerates in exactly the same amount of time, unless you have modified your regen rate. A Vexor’s shields will always regenerate in 900 seconds, no matter if it has 900 shields, or 9,000,000 shields. In the first situation the regeneration of the ship is unimpressive – 900 shields in 900 seconds is merely 1 shield per second regenerated. In the second situation, though, the rate of regeneration is staggering – 10,000 shields per second!
Obviously, no one is going to get 9,000,000 shield points on a cruiser – there simply aren’t modules impressive enough, enough slots, or enough CPU and power grid available. The concept, though, of decreasing regen time and increasing maximum shielding to take advantage of this “golden rule” is a relatively sound one.
Typically, a PST’r may use:
- Shield Extenders; these use a lot of CPU (at any size) and grid (the amount of grid used depends on the extender size), but grant you a great deal more shield points, thereby raising your total shields, and increasing your regen rate. These are mid-slot items.
- Shield Rechargers; these use a lot of CPU, but very little power grid. Their purpose is very simple: they increase shield recharge rates. These are also mid-slot items, and good for increasing regen when you can’t afford the grid drain of an extender.
- Shield Flux Coils; these use a moderate amount of CPU, and no grid, but actually take AWAY from your maximum shield total. In exchange, they provide a larger recharge rate. These are low-slot items.
- Shield Power Relays; Relays use a very small amount of CPU and no grid, but have very serious impacts on your capacitor recharge rates. These, too, are low slot items.
Mid slots, then, give you more regen for CPU and Grid, and the low slots give you more regen in exchange for max shields or capacitor regen. How does one decide which to use when?
The Mids: Extenders vs. Rechargers : Generally, it’s never a bad idea to have at least one significant extender anyhow, because a passive shield tanker will not be able to control his regeneration rate, and so will want some extra “padding.” After that first extender, though, some math comes into play. For a ship that has 1000 shields regenerating in 500 seconds, an extender that adds 500 more effectively increases the shield regen rate by 50%. (1000 in 500 seconds = average of 2 per second; 1500 in 500 seconds = average of 3 per second.) There aren’t any Shield Recharge Units that can add anywhere near that amount of recharge; the best commonly available only adds 15%. Adding a shield extender to a ship that only increases that 1000 shields by 100, though, is not as good as simply adding a recharger. Unfortunately, very few ships (realistically, probably none) can afford to slot as many Shield Extenders as they might like, so Shield Rechargers become a very good option for those lacking grid but having CPU, and wanting a faster regeneration rate, rather than using a smaller-size extender.
The Lows: Flux Coils vs. Relays: Frankly, neither of these modules is for the faint of heart. If you’re using these, you’re robbing some part of your ship’s total abilities in order to improve another part; too much of this can leave you in a bad place. Judiciously used, though, both of these devices can be quite potent. Both of these devices require knowing what your ship is good at, and where it is weak. Shield Power Relays strip a large chunk of your capacitor regeneration for shield regeneration (35% Cap Regen for 20% Shield in the biggest ones), but if your ship doesn’t use much in the way of capacitor, this may not be a big deal. Ships that use no shield boosters, little/no propulsion boosters (Afterburner/Microwarp Drive), and few other cap requiring devices can usually get away with slotting as many as two of these, lowering their cap regen by a frightening 70% - but if you’re a missile firer or projectile user, it may very well be that your only cap uses are warping in and out and the occasional shield boost or web. If that’s the case, Shield Power Relays may be for you. Flux Coils, on the other hand, are for players who are very confident that they have enough shields to get them through (maybe you have 3+ extenders onboard) and don’t mind crippling that to increase their regeneration rate. A Flux coil usually pulls 10% out of your maximum shield capacity, and in exchange gives you 25% more regeneration; a net benefit for you of 15% regen, in exchange for 10% of your total shield. Again, using these is a question of judgment – experiment carefully.
One passive shield tanking school of thought would suggest NOT using Flux Coils; instead relying on shield extenders and boosters, and, where possible, power relays. The other, slightly more maniacal school of thought takes advantage of a strange fact about Eve: regeneration rates are not a flat slope. Simply: If your average shield regen rate is 10 shields per second, at 90% shields you will get much less than 10/sec, and at 30% shields you will get much more than 10/sec. Approximately 25-35% shields seems to be the region of maximum possible regen/sec. This “sweet spot” is where your passive shield regeneration is at its finest.
The truly brave hybrid passive-and-active shield tanker, then, would do this:
Put one extender, perhaps two, to extend the “range” of shields that falls between 25-35%. (With 100 shields, 25-35% is only 10 points. At 1000 shields, 25-35% is 100 points.) Then, install one shield booster, and load up on Flux Coils. Enjoy your high-speed regeneration with the Flux Coils (and anything else you have installed) and use the booster to keep your shields hovering at 25-35%. Since they’re naturally going to fall faster (you have less), they will be spiking up and down rather quickly – you have very fast regen and loss. The shield booster can be used to push a shield system that has fallen below optimum (say, to 10%) back up to the 25-35% range, keeping shields at maximum regeneration per second. It should be noted that this strategy is quite risky unless you have mastered it, and is only for NPCs, where the damage rate is highly predictable, and requires a rather insane attention to detail in order to keep ideal. Over-boosting to above the 25-35% range isn’t a big deal, but not boosting and letting your armor get chewed up is never a good thing for a shield booster. Hybrid Shield Tanking is NOT for the faint of heart. It might, though, be the best option for players also looking to take advantage of shield resistance amplifiers, which take mid slots, but not low (since Flux Coils are low slots), and as a result tend to take less damage and stay in that regen “sweet spot” for even longer.
Passive Shield Tankers should train in…
- Shield Management: 5% more shield capacity per level, which results in 5% faster regen, too! Essential.
- Shield Operation: 5% faster regen – not as good as Shield Management, but close!
- Shield Upgrades: Let’s face it – Extenders HURT your grid. This one’s vital for cutting down the pain.
- Engineering/Electronics: More Grid and more CPU can come in handy when slotting these hard-to-fit modules.
Advantages of Passive Shield Tanking – Unless we’re talking about the Hybrid tankers, Passive Shield Tanking is very, very easy on the brain when in combat: when the shield goes under 10%, initiate warp and leave. Simple! No boosting, no capacitor to worry about, nada. Speaking of which, PST’ing means your capacitor isn’t being hurt at all. You can use your cap for much more intensive activities; afterburners, microwarps, high energy-usage weapons, etc. This isn’t suggesting you throw lasers on your favorite non-Amarr ship, but you can be a lot more free with the juice. If your PST has very high resists (say, on a Ferox, or if you’ve done a hybrid and put extenders/resist modules in your mids and fluxes in your lows) the regen rate can be pretty darn impressive. (20 shield per second is unimpressive in most cases, but if you’ve got 80% resist to Electromagnetic, it would require 100 damage/second to equal the regen rate your 20/per is pulling in.) For attention-monitoring purposes and capacitor-using purposes, nothing beats a Passive Shield Tank.
Disadvantages of Passive Shield Tanking Again, Hybrids aside, PST’ing means your regeneration rate is absolutely out of your control… and that can be pretty scary. It means you can’t pour on the juice if you’re getting clobbered, and it means you can’t divert energy elsewhere if you’re not being hammered. That regeneration rate can be quite swift, but generally is not as fast as a Shield Booster or Armor Repairer would be. Passive Shield Tanking usually requires more slots to do effectively than AST or Armor Tanking, or cross-level slots. (AST requires all mid, Armor all low, but Passive dips into both.) As a rule, the fact that you can’t heal as quickly (editor note – passive shield can usually exceed the regen of AST & Armor, at the cost of more slots than either), and that the healing is uncontrolled, means that PST’ing is more a tactic for those who fight NPCs, rather than other players.
An Example of a Passive Tank System
Ferox (Caldari Battlecruiser)– bonus to Shield Resistance Levels
3x Heavy Missile Launcher (major targets)
2x Assault Missile Launcher (frigates)
1x Medium Nosferatu (regain energy you’re not getting from the crippled capacitor to operate hardeners)
1x Small Tractor Beam (you’ve got a turret slot, but not a lot of “Free” capacitor in this build, and the Ferox is slow… bring cargo to you!)
3x Large Shield Extender (this is somewhat overkill, you can swap out one for a Web or Painter if you’re having damage-dealing problems; don’t swap two unless you’re quite confident of yourself)
2x Shield Hardeners (see last section for notes on resistance)
2x Shield Power Relay (slaughters cap regen by 70%, but gives you 40% more regen)
1x Shield Flux Coil (A small hit to max shields, but worth it since you have so much)
1x Ballistic Control System (for all those missile systems you’re using)
If you have skills with drones, you could substitute in light drones to deal with frigates and lower/remove the number of Assault Missile Launchers.
