Navy battlecruisers in EVE are cool as hell. They’re this awesome balance of attributes and they tend to pump out great DPS. You can also usually fit them however you like; even the shield Harbinger Navy Issue is good! Better still, they all have tracking/application and range bonuses. Basically, they’re like big destroyers.
I’m going to go through each ship here in turn and talk a bit about some of the ways to use them in small gang and fleet situations. I won’t be able to cover everything in just one article, but I’ll try and encapture a mix of gameplay styles. Here are the stats anyway:
Hurricane Fleet Issue
Minmatar Battlecruiser bonuses (per skill level):
10% bonus to Medium Projectile Turret damage
10% bonus to Medium Projectile Turret tracking speed
Role Bonus:
Can use one Command Burst module
50% bonus to Command Burst area of effect range
25% bonus to Medium Projectile Turret optimal range and falloff
Harbinger Navy Issue
Amarr Battlecruiser bonuses (per skill level):
7.5% bonus to Medium Energy Turret tracking speed
10% bonus to Medium Energy Turret damage
Role Bonus:
Can use one Command Burst module
50% bonus to Command Burst area of effect range
25% bonus to Medium Energy Turret optimal range and falloff
Drake Navy Issue
Caldari Battlecruiser bonuses (per skill level):
10% bonus to Heavy Missile and Heavy Assault Missile damage
5% bonus to Heavy Missile and Heavy Assault Missile explosion radius
Role Bonus:
Can use one Command Burst module
50% bonus to Command Burst area of effect range
25% bonus to Missile velocity
Brutix Navy Issue
Gallente Battlecruiser bonuses (per skill level):
10% bonus to Medium Hybrid Turret damage
7.5% bonus to Medium Hybrid Turret tracking speed
Role Bonus:
Can use one Command Burst module
50% bonus to Command Burst area of effect range
25% bonus to Medium Hybrid Turret optimal range and falloff
Hurricane Fleet Issue
Beginning with my absolute favourite battlecruiser, the humble HFI. This is a lovely little boat with the second-best potential for alpha damage (single shot) in class next to the Loki. You’ll be firing about 5,000 damage into most targets if you can hit them with artillery. And you should hit them with the tracking bonus. This is enough damage to one or two shot most T2 frigates and destroyers. For nullseccer perspective, a Munnin hits for 3,000 on a good day.
As you’d expect, the first fit below is a shield artillery Hurricane Fleet Issue. There are a few different variants, but this one is a modern take on an old friend of a fit. Artillery skirmish fleets were the Foxholers bread and butter back in 2017-2018 where I combined them with Sleipnirs for links and points. It’s a super fun fleet, you just have to be sure that you bring Scimitars and Rapiers. Perhaps this doctrine isn’t as important in this day and age with Surgical Strike, but this fit at the very least serves as a great frigate/destroyer deterrent in any other shield fleet.
If you still want to do an arty fit but want more of a solo/nano HFI then consider the armour variant instead. By freeing up the mid slots you can pack in 50MN as well as a point and a long web thanks to Skirmish Command Bursts. What you need to recognise, though, is that this thing effectively has no tank. Yeah, that’s 44k EHP with an ancil rep. Great. It won’t do anything for you when there’s a Brutix on your face. The way you fly this kind of Hurricane is by flying away from your enemies. Keep on running and get them to chase you, you’re looking to pop those juicy frigates as they fly into a 22.6km web.
To finish the HFI off, I’ll give you an autocannon fit, too. There’s nothing particularly inventive going on here, just 850 DPS, an ok 95k EHP armour tank, and a jump drive to escape with. Some more interesting variants you could go with are:
Triple resist rigs for fleet / Drop MJD and fit Command Burst instead of the neut or nos / High DPS, low tank with an extra gyro and rig swapped to a Collison Accelerator / 220mm guns and double medium neut.
Truly, the best buffer brawling Hurricane Fleet Issue, though, is the hull tank one. I don’t need to give you a fit for that – it’s just Bulkheads all the way down… except 2x gyros and the neuts. You might also want to try weird stuff like me and run the buffer artillery brawler. I know I’m going to be insulted by the entire EVE community for suggesting that it’s actually good but fuck me for trying to have fun with my fits.
Shield Skirmish Arty
[Hurricane Fleet Issue, 2021 Shield Skirmish]
Nanofiber Internal Structure II
Gyrostabilizer II
Gyrostabilizer II
Gyrostabilizer II
Tracking Enhancer II
Damage Control II
50MN Quad LiF Restrained Microwarpdrive
Republic Fleet Large Shield Extender
Multispectrum Shield Hardener II
Multispectrum Shield Hardener II
720mm Howitzer Artillery II
720mm Howitzer Artillery II
720mm Howitzer Artillery II
720mm Howitzer Artillery II
720mm Howitzer Artillery II
720mm Howitzer Artillery II
Skirmish Command Burst II
Small Energy Neutralizer II
Medium EM Shield Reinforcer II
Medium Core Defense Field Extender II
Medium Core Defense Field Extender II
Acolyte II x5
Hornet EC-300 x5
Quake M x2000
Tremor M x2000
Nanite Repair Paste x80
Domination Nuclear M x1000
Domination Phased Plasma M x120
Republic Fleet EMP M x2000
Republic Fleet Fusion M x2000
Republic Fleet Phased Plasma M x2000
Republic Fleet Titanium Sabot M x2000
Solo Armour Arty
[Hurricane Fleet Issue, 2021 Armour Skirmish Solo]
Damage Control II
Multispectrum Energized Membrane II
Medium Ancillary Armor Repairer
Nanofiber Internal Structure II
Gyrostabilizer II
Gyrostabilizer II
50MN Quad LiF Restrained Microwarpdrive
Small F-RX Compact Capacitor Booster
Caldari Navy Warp Disruptor
Federation Navy Stasis Webifier
720mm Howitzer Artillery II
720mm Howitzer Artillery II
720mm Howitzer Artillery II
720mm Howitzer Artillery II
720mm Howitzer Artillery II
720mm Howitzer Artillery II
Skirmish Command Burst II
Skirmish Command Burst II
Medium Command Processor I
Medium Ancillary Current Router I
Medium Polycarbon Engine Housing II
Hobgoblin II x5
Warrior II x5
Skirmish Command Mindlink
Quake M x2000
Tremor M x2000
Navy Cap Booster 400 x20
Nanite Repair Paste x250
Domination Nuclear M x1000
Domination Phased Plasma M x120
Republic Fleet EMP M x2000
Republic Fleet Fusion M x2000
Republic Fleet Phased Plasma M x2000
Republic Fleet Titanium Sabot M x2000
Evasive Maneuvers Charge x300
Interdiction Maneuvers Charge x300
Rapid Deployment Charge x300
Basic Armour Brawler
[Hurricane Fleet Issue, 2021 1600mm Autos]
1600mm Steel Plates II
Damage Control II
Multispectrum Energized Membrane II
Multispectrum Energized Membrane II
Gyrostabilizer II
Gyrostabilizer II
50MN Quad LiF Restrained Microwarpdrive
Medium Micro Jump Drive
Warp Scrambler II
Stasis Webifier II
425mm AutoCannon II
425mm AutoCannon II
425mm AutoCannon II
425mm AutoCannon II
425mm AutoCannon II
425mm AutoCannon II
Small Energy Nosferatu II
Small Energy Neutralizer II
Medium Trimark Armor Pump II
Medium Trimark Armor Pump II
Medium Trimark Armor Pump II
Acolyte II x5
Hobgoblin II x5
Barrage M x2000
Hail M x2000
Nanite Repair Paste x80
Domination Nuclear M x1000
Republic Fleet EMP M x2000
Republic Fleet Fusion M x2000
Republic Fleet Phased Plasma M x2000
Republic Fleet Titanium Sabot M x2000
Harbinger Navy Issue
Moving on to the Amarr navy battlecruiser, we have the Harbinger Navy Issue. Weirdly, I never hear anyone call it the HNI, only a “Harb Navy”. But I digress, we’re here to talk about fits. The Harb Navy is notable in much the same way as the Hurricane Fleet Issue with good range and tracking bonuses. It doesn’t do that crazy alpha damage, but 800 DPS from tracking bonused beams is cool, as is 37km Scorch from pulses.
Looking at the fits I want to first present a pair of fits that work similarly to the Hurricane Fleet Issue. For one, there’s a kiting beam fit that you could use in solo PvP. It has the skirmish burst, point, web, and even an MJD. Tank is similar to the HFI in that you really can’t tank a whole lot. Use the ancil rep to patch holes and pull range to really recover that EHP. Another point of note is that you should use a Rapid Deployment charge in the skirmish burst. This is because your speed is so pathetic as it is that you really do need that burst to kite effectively. Your typical engagement range is about 20-30km for approx 5-600 DPS.
The other simple HFI style fit is a 1600mm brawler again. It has two cap boosters because lol lasers and triple heat sink to achieve a 1,061 DPS max with Conflag up inside 10km. Scorch should give you enough range (27+8km) to remove hostile kiting ships, but tracking frigates might be problematic. Either way, it has decent performance that gets better in a pair since you can go for one type of command burst each! Note that this is also the case for the previous kiting fit. Fly in a pair and you will get significant benefits from the extra links.
I couldn’t really think of many other good ways to use the Harb Navy here so my final fit to show you is the polarised version. Sure, you can do something like a 1600mm beam fit for fleets, but this is super cool. Take a look below. It has up to 1,374 DPS without implants or boosters and has great range for a polarised ship. Load Scorch and you’ll see 28+10km range with 662 DPS cold. That’s up to 910 DPS with heat and drones from around 30km away. When you’re talking about 48.2 turret tracking this is the equivalent of a kiting Orthrus getting caught and ground to dust by a Megathron. I’m showing the fit below with implants and Pyrolancea to demonstrate just how cool that Scorch is. Yeah, you could use an Oracle, but everyone already knows what that is gonna do!
Solo Kiting Beams
[Harbinger Navy Issue, 2021 Solo Beams]
Nanofiber Internal Structure II
Multispectrum Coating II
Medium Ancillary Armor Repairer
IFFA Compact Damage Control
Heat Sink II
Heat Sink II
50MN Quad LiF Restrained Microwarpdrive
Medium Micro Jump Drive
Medium Capacitor Booster II
Warp Disruptor II
Caldari Navy Stasis Webifier
Heavy Beam Laser II
Heavy Beam Laser II
Heavy Beam Laser II
Heavy Beam Laser II
Heavy Beam Laser II
Heavy Beam Laser II
Skirmish Command Burst II
Medium Polycarbon Engine Housing II
Medium Polycarbon Engine Housing II
Medium Ancillary Current Router I
Vespa II x5
Warrior II x5
Plated Brawler
[Harbinger Navy Issue, 2021 Plated Brawler]
Heat Sink II
Heat Sink II
Heat Sink II
1600mm Rolled Tungsten Compact Plates
Multispectrum Coating II
Damage Control II
50MN Y-T8 Compact Microwarpdrive
Small Capacitor Booster II
Small Capacitor Booster II
Warp Scrambler II
Stasis Webifier II
Heavy Pulse Laser II
Heavy Pulse Laser II
Heavy Pulse Laser II
Heavy Pulse Laser II
Heavy Pulse Laser II
Heavy Pulse Laser II
Armor Command Burst II
Medium Trimark Armor Pump II
Medium Trimark Armor Pump II
Medium Trimark Armor Pump II
Hornet EC-300 x5
Vespa II x5
Polarised Harb Navy
[Harbinger Navy Issue, 2021 Polarised Harb Navy]
Heat Sink II
Heat Sink II
Heat Sink II
Tracking Enhancer II
Tracking Enhancer II
Tracking Enhancer II
Caldari Navy Large Shield Extender
Caldari Navy Large Shield Extender
Caldari Navy Large Shield Extender
Medium Capacitor Booster II
50MN Quad LiF Restrained Microwarpdrive
Polarized Heavy Pulse Laser
Polarized Heavy Pulse Laser
Polarized Heavy Pulse Laser
Polarized Heavy Pulse Laser
Polarized Heavy Pulse Laser
Polarized Heavy Pulse Laser
Skirmish Command Burst II
Medium Core Defense Field Extender I
Medium Core Defense Field Extender I
Medium Energy Collision Accelerator II
Vespa II x5
Warrior II x5
Eifyr and Co. 'Gunslinger' Motion Prediction MR-703
Inherent Implants 'Lancer' Medium Energy Turret ME-803
Eifyr and Co. 'Gunslinger' Surgical Strike SS-903
Standard Drop Booster
Agency 'Pyrolancea' DB5 Dose II
Drake Navy Issue
The Drake Navy Issue, or DNI, is a super cool ship. It used to sit in a place where nobody knew what to do with it but a few patches hit and now it sits as king of the heavy shield meta in wormholes… until you jump to Nighthawks. Nevertheless, it retains the benefit of damage selection over the Nighthawk and it’s overall a pretty cool ship. My only issue with them is that they’re scary. Maybe this is only a me-problem, but it’s one of those ships I simply cannot fly without everyone around me docking up in fear.
Now I think the best use of the DNI is in a polarised setup. I certainly didn’t invent this fit and you can get a lot more insight into it from this video. The reason this works is because it does 1,500 DPS with 15-22km webs (depending on your wallet…), it has decent speed, and most importantly: nobody really realises what this fit can do. It’s certainly becoming a bit more popular these days, but the massive damage out to 21km with an application bonus is still incredibly surprising for most people. I recommend flying this as a way to learn resist holes in other ships. Get it right and you’ll turn them to paste.
As for heavy shield brawlers, your fit here depends on if you subscribe to the mindset of “Multispectrum Hardeners will be neuted off”. I personally think they offer such a huge advantage over passive resists in most fights that I’d rather include them and keep in mind that they might turn off. To that end, my version of this fit uses an active hardener with passive hardeners as a backup just in case. The original version had a specific kinetic resist to face off against Nighthawks and regular Drake fleets, but I’ve modified this one to have more generic resists.
And for my third DNI (I don’t know why I keep doing these in sets of three), why don’t we take a look at heavy missiles? It turns out that you can make a shockingly decent alternative to the Cerberus. It needs an info link (which can fit on the DNI with a fit modification), but it gets approx 117km range which rivals that of the fury missiles on a Cerb. I’m not saying that fleets should start using Drake Navies instead of Cerbs, the speed issue and lack of an Assault Damage Control are troublesome. It does, however, remain a great alternative that brings damage selection, improved application to small targets, and slightly higher DPS.
Polarised Rythm DNI
[Drake Navy Issue, 2021 Polarised Rythm]
Ballistic Control System II
Ballistic Control System II
Ballistic Control System II
Nanofiber Internal Structure II
50MN Quad LiF Restrained Microwarpdrive
Large Shield Extender II
Large Shield Extender II
Stasis Webifier II
Stasis Webifier II
Warp Disruptor II
Polarized Heavy Assault Missile Launcher
Polarized Heavy Assault Missile Launcher
Polarized Heavy Assault Missile Launcher
Polarized Heavy Assault Missile Launcher
Polarized Heavy Assault Missile Launcher
Polarized Heavy Assault Missile Launcher
Polarized Heavy Assault Missile Launcher
Skirmish Command Burst II
Medium Core Defense Field Extender I
Medium Core Defense Field Extender I
Medium Warhead Calefaction Catalyst II
Infiltrator II x5
Warrior II x5
Zainou 'Snapshot' Heavy Assault Missiles AM-703
Zainou 'Deadeye' Rapid Launch RL-1003
Agency 'Pyrolancea' DB5 Dose II
Inferno Rage Heavy Assault Missile x2000
Mjolnir Javelin Heavy Assault Missile x2000
Mjolnir Rage Heavy Assault Missile x2000
Nova Rage Heavy Assault Missile x2000
Scourge Rage Heavy Assault Missile x2000
Caldari Navy Inferno Heavy Assault Missile x2000
Caldari Navy Mjolnir Heavy Assault Missile x1000
Caldari Navy Nova Heavy Assault Missile x1000
Caldari Navy Scourge Heavy Assault Missile x1000
Nanite Repair Paste x150
Evasive Maneuvers Charge x300
Interdiction Maneuvers Charge x300
Rapid Deployment Charge x300
Heavy Shield DNI
[Drake Navy Issue, 2021 Heavy Shield]
Damage Control II
Ballistic Control System II
Ballistic Control System II
Ballistic Control System II
Warp Scrambler II
Caldari Navy Large Shield Extender
Pithum B-Type Thermal Shield Amplifier
Multispectrum Shield Hardener II
Gistum C-Type EM Shield Amplifier
50MN Quad LiF Restrained Microwarpdrive
Heavy Assault Missile Launcher II
Heavy Assault Missile Launcher II
Heavy Assault Missile Launcher II
Heavy Assault Missile Launcher II
Heavy Assault Missile Launcher II
Heavy Assault Missile Launcher II
Heavy Assault Missile Launcher II
Medium Energy Nosferatu II
Medium EM Shield Reinforcer II
Medium Core Defense Field Extender II
Medium Core Defense Field Extender II
Hammerhead II x5
Hornet EC-300 x5
Inferno Rage Heavy Assault Missile x2500
Mjolnir Rage Heavy Assault Missile x2500
Nova Rage Heavy Assault Missile x2000
Scourge Javelin Heavy Assault Missile x1500
Scourge Rage Heavy Assault Missile x2000
Caldari Navy Mjolnir Heavy Assault Missile x1500
Caldari Navy Scourge Heavy Assault Missile x2500
Electronic Hardening Charge x300
Electronic Superiority Charge x300
Sensor Optimization Charge x300
Nanite Repair Paste x100
Active Shielding Charge x300
Shield Extension Charge x300
Shield Harmonizing Charge x300
Evasive Maneuvers Charge x300
Interdiction Maneuvers Charge x300
Rapid Deployment Charge x300
Information Command Burst II x1
Shield Command Burst II x1
Skirmish Command Burst II x1
Stasis Webifier II x1
Target Painter II x1
Initiated Compact Warp Disruptor x1
Heavy Missile DNI
[Drake Navy Issue, 2021 Heavy Missile DNI]
Ballistic Control System II
Ballistic Control System II
Ballistic Control System II
Damage Control II
Large Shield Extender II
Large Shield Extender II
Compact Multispectrum Shield Hardener
Missile Guidance Computer II
Missile Guidance Computer II
50MN Quad LiF Restrained Microwarpdrive
Heavy Missile Launcher II
Heavy Missile Launcher II
Heavy Missile Launcher II
Heavy Missile Launcher II
Heavy Missile Launcher II
Heavy Missile Launcher II
Heavy Missile Launcher II
[Empty High slot]
Medium Core Defense Field Extender II
Medium EM Shield Reinforcer II
Medium Thermal Shield Reinforcer II
Brutix Navy Issue
Let’s round out the article by talking about the class hull tanker, the BNI. You already know what the first fit is and it’s a hull tank. Something you might not know about hull tanks is that they get better and better with more bulkheads. This is opposite to the regular stacking penalties that you see on hardeners. So naturally, the solution is to fit max bulkheads, right? That’s certainly an option but I like to fit at least one damage module in order to not end up being permatanked by someone in a Tengu. You’ll be getting a lovely 164k EHP in this fit, but an Abyssal Damage Control can take you over 200k if you get a good roll. Now. Click approach and press F1.
And then we have the standard kiting railgun Brutix. This is pretty much straight out of Rhiload’s old Zkill Guide to it. I don’t see much to improve on the fit, in fact, it works in exactly the same way as the Harb Navy and Hurricane Fleet Issue. Keep your distance, web things if they approach, shoot stuff. The same tactic of using the ancil rep to patch holes still applies, it barely reps much at all so just pull back and repair without being too risky.
I think I’ll leave it there for now anyway. I have a final fit which is dual rep, cap boosted, double mag stab etc. It’s just not that good, though. Repping 667 EHP/s in this meta just isn’t enough for a brawling ship that only has 60k EHP. The regular Brutix does it much better with an actual rep bonus. You might also want to do a regular armour tanked Brutix. In all honesty, I didn’t think this would take me 8 hours to write either but here we are.
Actually, fuck it, here’s the third fit below. Armour plates and blasters. Simple.
o/
Hull Tanked BNI
[Brutix Navy Issue, 2021 Hull Tanker]
Damage Control II
Reinforced Bulkheads II
Reinforced Bulkheads II
Reinforced Bulkheads II
Reinforced Bulkheads II
Reinforced Bulkheads II
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II
50MN Quad LiF Restrained Microwarpdrive
Medium Capacitor Booster II
Warp Scrambler II
X5 Enduring Stasis Webifier
Heavy Neutron Blaster II
Heavy Neutron Blaster II
Heavy Neutron Blaster II
Heavy Neutron Blaster II
Heavy Neutron Blaster II
Heavy Neutron Blaster II
Medium Energy Neutralizer II
Medium Transverse Bulkhead II
Medium Transverse Bulkhead II
Medium Transverse Bulkhead II
Kiting Rail BNI
[Brutix Navy Issue, 2021 Kitey]
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II
Medium Ancillary Armor Repairer
Damage Control II
Tracking Enhancer II
Nanofiber Internal Structure II
50MN Quad LiF Restrained Microwarpdrive
Medium F-RX Compact Capacitor Booster
Federation Navy Stasis Webifier
Warp Disruptor II
250mm Railgun II
250mm Railgun II
250mm Railgun II
250mm Railgun II
250mm Railgun II
250mm Railgun II
Skirmish Command Burst II
Medium Ancillary Current Router II
Medium Hybrid Locus Coordinator II
Medium Hybrid Locus Coordinator I
Berserker SW-900 x2
Warrior II x5
Plated Blaster BNI
[Brutix Navy Issue, 2021 Plated Brutix]
Damage Control II
Multispectrum Energized Membrane II
Reactive Armor Hardener
Corpum B-Type Explosive Energized Membrane
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II
Magnetic Field Stabilizer II
1600mm Rolled Tungsten Compact Plates
Warp Scrambler II
Stasis Webifier II
Small Capacitor Booster II
50MN Quad LiF Restrained Microwarpdrive
Armor Command Burst II
Heavy Neutron Blaster II
Heavy Neutron Blaster II
Heavy Neutron Blaster II
Heavy Neutron Blaster II
Heavy Neutron Blaster II
Heavy Neutron Blaster II
Medium Ancillary Current Router II
Medium Trimark Armor Pump II
Medium Trimark Armor Pump II
Infiltrator II x5
Warrior II x5
As always, good info to digest.
Thanks for the post!