Raven

The Raven and its variations are often considered the 'King' of PVE in EVE due to the fact that they can mount a large number of Cruise/Torpedo launchers as well as a robust active shield tank, allowing them to hit ships of all sizes at all ranges using every damage type if necessary, while coming under heavy fire. The Raven is sometimes used in PVP as a DPS platform, though often relies on logistics support to maintain tank in this capacity, as its mid slots would be used for electronics modules to increase sensor strength, range and targetting speed.

Fitting your Raven

Tank

In PVE, an active tank is often the preferred method of protecting the Raven from damage. It usually consists of an XL Shield Booster, a Shield Boost Amplifier and four Shield Hardeners (usually varied on a mission by mission basis depending on the damage type the enemy is known to be dealing). Ravens are often fitted with up to three Capacitor Control Circuit rigs in order to boost capacitor regeneration, as active tanks can use a large amount of capacitor energy. It is not possible to 'Perma-Tank' in a Raven using active shielding without the use of very expensive, faction modules, so controlled boosting as necessary is recommended.

For PVP, a buffer tank using Shield Extenders or Armor Plates is often recommended, increasing the overall hit points of either the shield or armor to prolong the length of time that the ship can survive sustained incoming DPS (since capacitor energy will most likely be neutralised by an attacking fleet). Fitting a single Damage Control unit is recommended to boost your effective hit points.

Weapons

The Raven can mount, and has bonuses towards, Cruise Missile Launchers and Siege Missile Launchers, which are long range and short range platforms respectively. While Cruise Missiles have a very long range (over 250KM with high skills and rigs), they do significantly less damage than Torpedoes (upper limit of around 60KM with skills and rigs). The Standard and Raven Navy Issue have a 5% bonus to Cruise and Siege Launcher Rate Of Fire and 10% bonus to Cruise Missile and Torpedo Velocity per level, whereas the Golem has a 10% bonus to cruise missile and torpedo velocity and 5% bonus to cruise missile and torpedo explosion velocity per level.

For extra DPS, the Standard and Raven Navy Issue are also capable of mounting turrets in their remaining slots, though have no bonuses which affect this type of module. The Golem can only fit missile launchers (it has 4 launcher hardpoints, but a 100% bonus to missile damage, leaving more high slots open for different types of module such as tractor beams and salvagers).

Drones

All variations of the Raven have a 75m3 drone bay with 75m/bits bandwidth meaning they can carry a good selection of drones to assist in missions. Since the Raven should have no trouble damaging large targets such as structures and other battleships, a good idea is to carry 5 Medium Drones, and 5 Light Drones, which are useful for taking down battlecruisers/cruisers and frigates respectively.

Recommended Skills

The following skills up will greatly increase the performance of your Raven. It is recommended that you train all of them to at least level IV.

• Caldari Battleship - Training this skill increases the damage output of your Raven. While it can take between 23-30 days to train to level V, it is a worthwhile investment of training time for any serious Battleship pilot.
• Engergy Management - 5% bonus to capacitor capacity per level
• Energy Systems Operation - 5% reduction in capacitor recharge time
• Navigation - 5% ship velocity bonus, the Raven is a slow and lumbering ship and can often have to cross large distances between jump gates in various missions.
• Electronics - 5% Bonus to ship CPU output per skill level. This is a necessary skill if you want to fit a robust tank to your ship.

Additional Images

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

• Raven1.jpg

  Raven 1

• Raven2.jpg

  Raven 2

See Also

Raven (Fitting)