Drake

Drake Of the meticulous craftsmanship the Caldari are renowned for, the Drake was born. It was found beneath such a ship to rely on anything other than the time-honored combat tradition of missile fire, while the inclusion of sufficient CPU capabilities for decent electronic warfare goes without saying. Battlecruiser Skill Bonus: 5% shield resistance and 5% bonus kinetic damage of heavy missiles and heavy assault missiles 99% reduction in the CPU need of Warfare Link modules. Structure Structure Hitpoints 3,906 HP Max Velocity 140 m/sec Inertia Modifier 0.628 Magpulse Propulsion Strength 6 points Mass 14,010,000 kg Volume 252000 m3 Capacity 345 m3 Fitting powergrid Output 850 MW Low Slots 4 Med Slots 6 High Slots 8 CPU Output 525 tf Launcher hardpoints 7 Turret hardpoints 0 Calibration 400 points Upgrade Hardpoints 3 Capacitor Recharge time 750000 s Capacitor Capacity 2812.5 GJ Targeting Maximum Targeting Range 60 km Max Locked Targets 8 Gravimetric Sensor Strength 19 points Signature Radius 285 m Scan Resolution 195 mm Shield Shield Capacity 5469 HP Shield Em Damage Resistance 0 % Shield Explosive Damage Resistance 50 % Shield Kinetic Damage Resistance 40 % Shield Thermal Damage Resistance 20 % Shield recharge time 1.4E+6 s Armor Armor Hitpoints 3,906 HP Armor Em Damage Resistance 50 % Armor Explosive Damage Resistance 10 % Armor Kinetic Damage Resistance 25 % Armor Thermal Damage Resistance 45 % Drones Drone Capacity 25 m3 Drone Bandwidth 25 Mbit/sec Miscellaneous CPU Need Bonus -99 % Tech Level 1 Rig Size Medium

Blueprint Drake Blueprint Required skills Primary Skill required Caldari Cruiser III Spaceship Command III Caldari Frigate IV Spaceship Command I Secondary Skill required Battlecruisers II Spaceship Command IV Material Requirements Skill / Industry Industry 1 Material / Mineral Tritanium 2,688,743 Pyerite 673,277 Mexallon 185,510 Isogen 19,214 Nocxium 13,600 Zydrine 3,963 Megacyte 923 Waste Waste Factor 10%

Summary

The Drake is a Tier-2 battlecruiser specializing in missile deployment. With a strong main missile battery and powerful shields, it is considered to be one of the best PvE ships in the game.

Role

PvE

The Drake was created to fill a missile platform gap between the lightly-shielded Caracal and the powerful but expensive Raven battleship. Up until that time the preferred ship for Level 3 missions was the Ferox battlecruiser. While carrying powerful shields and 5 missile hardpoints, it received not bonuses for them as the ship is intended for the railgun sniper role. However it survived in missions where the Caracal could not, and with its price being a 1/5 of a Raven, it was the best, if not ideal choice.

The Drake changed this. With 7 missile hardpoints and bonuses crafted specifically to its missile armament, it packs superior firepower compared to the Ferox while still retaining an excellent defense. As missile deployment is considered to be the preferred weapon against NPCs, it has all but completely replaced the Ferox in this role.

PvP

While the Drake was by and large created specifically as a mission-running ship, it is not entirely out of place in PvP. While missiles are often discouraged for use against other capsule pilots, the shorter engagement range and quick flight time of heavy missiles somewhat mitigates this. Its attractiveness however, lies in its extremely powerful shields, and with the right fitting the Drake is recognized as having one of the strongest shield tanks in the game. For this reason it is often used as a bait ship or heavy scout, purposefully drawing fire in order to set aggression timers on enemy capsuleers. Once it is established that the enemy ships have committed to hostile action, friendly forces will then jump in to assist, where more than likely the Drake will still be holding its own despite heavy fire.

Fitting

See also: Drake (Fitting)

Armament

See Also: Weapons Guide

The standard Drake armament almost always consists of 7 heavy missile launchers, though sometimes these are swapped out for Heavy Assault Missiles for extra damage. The Drake does not have a range bonus to its armament, and its slow speed usually steers pilots towards long range weapons. PvP pilots may prefer heavy assault missiles if they expect close range combat, and it should be noted that the Drake receives a damage bonus to both Heavy Missiles and Heavy Assault Missiles.

With 8 high slots, the Drake is comparable to some battleships in its potential. While there are no hard points for turret weapons, a multitude of nos, neutralizer, smart bomb, and other weapons can be carried, though this flexibility is somewhat mired by a lack of power grid for extra modules.

Often overlooked and seldom carried is a warfare link module, of which the Drake is but a handful of ships capable of using. As most Drakes are used in a solo PvE role, these are not needed, and those Drake pilots in large scale PvP can often leave fleet command modules to the more effective Command Ships.

Defense

See Also: Defense Guide

With 6 mid-slots and a built in bonus to shield resistances, the Drake is a shield tanker. Most defense setups will opt for a passive tank in order to fully utilize the Drake's built in resistances. A combination of passive shield hardeners and large shield extenders can increase the shield strength to battleship class levels. Savvy pilots with good skills might use some of these in combination with a shield recharger and/or shield flux coil in order to boost the passive regen rate to the same level as some booster configurations. A high passive regen combine with high damage mitigation from the shield resistances can shrug off all but the most concentrated fire. Active boosters can be used, though to do so would negate one of the Drake's primary tactical advantages. (see Tactics)

With the right selection of Tech II equipment and high level skills the Drake is fully capable of tanking the damage recieved in level 4 missions. Some fits are able to have unbreakable shields against ten NPC Battleships and a host of smaller support craft while still having enough offensive firepower to successfully take down a Battleship without drone support - albeit slowly - and quickly rip through anything Battlecruiser-sized and below.

Special Modules

Most Drakes are fitted to utilize all 6 mid-slots to augment its tank, with the low-slots being used for further shield augmentation or damage output. Some PvP pilots however may prefer to use one or two mid-slots for a support module such as a remote sensor dampener, especially if they don't expect to find themselves at the center of attention.

Pilots will undoubtedly want to find something to put in the 8th high slot. For PvE mission runners, this can take the form of a salvager or tractor beam to assist in clean-up, while PvP pilots may go for a nos, energy neutralizer, or smart bomb. Perhaps the better choice for group missions however might be a medium armor repairer, which pilots will find that they can run for a significant amount of time without compromising their defenses.

Drones

The Drake has a 25m/3 drone bay, allowing it to carry one full batch of light drones. For PvE, 5 light combat drones are usually the order of the day in order to help fend off small frigates too small for the Drake's heavy missiles. Groups may benefit from a support wing such as logistics or ECM drones.

Tactics

The Drake is a PvE machine. With high resistances and the traditional Caldari bonus to kinetic missile damage, it is a Gurista nightmare. It is already proven to be incredibly popular, with E-ON magazine reporting tens of thousands in service, more than any other battlecruiser.

The Drake is heavily armed and armored, and can feel like a pocket battleship at times. Yet it is the slowest of all battlecruisers, and while its defenses can match those of a full scale battleship, it utilizes a high proportion of its slots to do so. This makes most Drakes rather inflexible for solo PvP work, and a Drake will need assistance from other wingmates for tackling and electronic warfare if it is to maintain its primary strengths at their fullest.

One of a Drake's primary strengths lie in its potential immunity to nos and energy neutralizer systems. As missile launchers do not require any capacitor energy to fire, a passively tanked Drake will not suffer any degradation in offense or defense at the hands of energy draining weapons. Many a Drake pilot will laugh at the sight of a neutralizer being directed upon it while its shields stay intact and missiles continue to fire.

Another not-so-obvious strength to the Drake is its unusual potential to be highly resistant to some forms of electronic warfare. Tracking disrupters won't do anything since the Drake doesn't use turrets, ECM systems can potentially be countered without additional equipment to do so by using Friend or Foe missles, Target Painters are only useful if someone is trying to target the Drake with capital class weapons, and the Drake is slow already so Webifiers really won't make much of a difference.

Recommended Skills

As the Drake is heavily tilted towards boosting the shield resistances a high as possible, having skills in the 4 schools of shield compensation as well as ranks in the battlecruiser skill will help you get the most out of your tank. Shield management and shield operation will increase the base hitpoints and passive shield regeneration, respectively. Good missile skills should go without saying.

Additional Images

Below are additional ships images. Click the image below for a larger version:

Drake 1

Drake 2

See Also