Abyssal Deadspace

A guide to abyssal deadspace, covering basics, mechanics, filaments, weather and environmental effects, fits, strategies, and more!

For more specific pages covering fits and enemy spawns, take a look at Abyssal Fits and Abyssal Enemies.

Introduction

While not something that might immediately come to mind when people think about "exploration" in EvE, the abyss is a rewarding and challenging activity that can be done from nearly any part of New Eden and forces players to learn piloting, decision-making, fitting, and threat assessment skills useful in every area of the game.

What is Abyssal Deadspace?

Released in 2018, abyssal deadspace (also known as just "the abyss") is instanced PVE (player versus environment) content vastly different from other PVE such as belt and deadspace ratting. Players entering the abyss have 20 minutes to complete a site consisting of 3 randomly generated rooms. These rooms are instanced, meaning that they're separate from the main EvE universe. To complete a room, a player must destroy all NPCs (rats) in the room to unlock a gate to the next room. Destroying all rats in the third room unlocks a gate exiting the abyss, which spits the player back out near where they entered the abyss from. Abyss rats don't leave wrecks. Instead, each room has a main Biocombinative Cache near the gate and potentially smaller cans around the room, which can be destroyed and their wrecks looted for the room's loot.

There are 7 tiers of abyssal deadspace (0-6), with each tier being considerably more difficult than the previous one. There are 5 weather effects, which apply site-wide effects to your ship and all rats. There are also various localized weather effects.

Sites are surrounded by a spherical field that will progressively damage ships the farther beyond it they go, appearing as a red energy grid when nearby. Failure to complete a site within the 20-minute time limit will instantly destroy both your ship and pod. If you lose your ship in the abyss, the rats will attempt to destroy your pod as well. For these reasons, any ship that enters the abyss should be considered fully committed and potentially lost until the site is finished.

To enter the abyss, you'll need to use abyssal filaments, which can be bought off the market from other players. Low-tier filaments are dropped by pirate and drone data sites and all filaments are dropped by abyssal sites. Filaments are consumed on use.

How can I run it?

Abyssal sites can be run using 1 of the following 3 ship compositions:

• A single cruiser, not including T3.
• Up to 2 destroyers in the same fleet, including T3.
• Up to 3 frigates in the same fleet.

Destroyer or frigate pilots can run their respective sites alone should they want to. Loot is doubled for destroyers and tripled for frigates relative to cruisers, but only for the main cache in each room. Site difficulty is unchanged, but destroyers and frigates will obviously tank less and output less damage then cruisers. To enter a destroyer or frigate site with multiple pilots, all pilots must be in the same fleet and within 2500 meters of the filament to access it. If using a destroyer or frigate, you must be in a fleet even if running solo.

You'll need to use 1 filament of the correct weather and tier from your ship's cargo for cruisers, and 2 and 3 for destroyers and frigates, respectively. You'll still need the full 2 or 3 filaments for destroyers or frigates even if you're running abyssal sites alone. To use a filament, just right-click and activate it from your ship's cargo hold.

Where can I run it?

You can run abyssal sites out of nearly any system, but there are some restrictions:

• You can't activate filaments in 1.0 or 0.9 security systems.
• Tier 4 filaments can only be run in 0.7 or lower security systems without incurring a suspect timer upon leaving.
• Tier 5 filaments can only be run in 0.6 or lower security systems without incurring a suspect timer.
• Tier 6 filaments can only be run in 0.5 or lower security systems without incurring a suspect timer.

For specific recommendations on where to run and how to avoid ganks, visit this section of this page.

What should I use?

Generally, people run abyss in cruisers or frigates. Everyone new to the abyss should start off in t0 and t1 to get a feel for the unique mechanics. Cruisers are an easy ride in t0 and t1, but solo frigates will make 3 times as much and are more than viable in those tiers. Using a solo frigate in t0 or t1 will also teach important piloting skills, whereas a cruiser might simply overpower spawns in those low tiers.

Destroyers combine the slow speed and poor agility of cruisers with the low damage and tank of frigates, and as such aren't recommended for most abyss runners, especially when starting out.

Solo frigates mainly see use in t0 and t1, with solo assault frigates seeing some use in t2. Above t2, multiple frigates are needed. For solo high-tier abyss running, cruisers are necessary. As with other PVE, the Worm and Gila are ever-popular in the abyss, but nearly any cruiser can handle up to t4 if you put in the effort.

So to summarize, frigates effectively fast-track your learning in low tiers and earn more, but one slip-up can get you killed. Cruisers tend to just overpower low-tier enemies, but are necessary if you want to solo anything above T2.

How do I make ISK from this?

Ah, perhaps the most important question. The abyss can be very profitable with some experience, and scales from being a decent ISK source for new players starting out at low tiers to some of the best PVE income in Eve outside of wormholes at high tiers. Here's a handy table showing median ISK per run in each tier. ISK/hr depends on how long each run takes. For a "minimum" figure, just assume 20 minutes per run and multiply the below values by 3.

Tier	Cruiser ISK/run	Destroyer ISK/run	Frigate ISK/run
0	760,000	1,480,000	2,250,000
1	2,560,000	3,430,000	5,240,000
2	5,530,000	8,500,000	13,730,000
3	12,480,000	21,380,000	34,060,000
4	32,170,000	59,180,000	84,570,000
5	66,260,000	112,480,000	170,800,000
6	126,640,000	223,030,000	340,860,000

Note that these are rough median figures taken from user submissions in Abyss Tracker. Actual income varies based on room-specific loot drops, weather-specific loot tables, and filament and other expenses, along with how you're selling loot.

On that subject, there are several different types of loot that can drop from the abyss. The bulk of loot value is in Triglavian Survey Databases, also known as "red loot." These items can drop from every main Biocombinative Cache in every weather and tier. They're very compact, and sell for 100,000 ISK apiece to NPC buy orders in CONCORD stations (NPC buy orders will have high quantities and very long expiration times). Do not sell these to player buy orders in Jita; there are CONCORD stations with NPC buy orders just a few jumps in the Lonetrek region, which will not display in the market from Jita, which is in The Forge region. Databases do not drop from extraction nodes.

Another major component of loot value is Zero-Point Condensate and Crystalline Isogen-10. Both drop from main caches and side nodes, and are used in industry to manufacture Triglavian ships and equipment. Condensate is significantly bulkier than red loot, but still decently valuable. Isogen is low-value and extremely bulky, and usually not worth looting. Sell both to other players or use for your own manufacturing.

The third major contributor to loot value is mutaplasmids. These are items that are applied to specific types of modules, mutating them in the process to create a unique module that can only be traded on contracts. Mutated ("Abyssal") items gain random increases and decreases to certain stats. The strength of the stat changes depends on the quality of the mutaplasmid. In order of lowest to highest potential changes: Decayed, Gravid, Unstable. For example, a Gravid Medium Shield Booster Mutapladmid will give moderate stat modifications to a medium shield booster it's used on. Mutaplasmid value varies wildly depending on quality, with Unstable mutaplasmids being the most valuable by far. Damage module mutaplasmids can drop from any weather, while other types can only drop from specific weathers. See the Weather section below for more information on where specific mutaplasmids drop. Sell mutaplasmids to other players, or use them yourself.

Additionally, main caches can drop Triglavian skillbooks and blueprint copies. The skillbooks are rare, but can be valuable. The BPCs are almost universally worthless, with the "Veles" faction blueprints being the only moderately valuable ones.

Filaments

There are 7 tiers of filament (T0 through T6), in increasing order of difficulty. Additionally, each tier has 5 different filaments, each with a different site-wide weather effect that applies to all player and NPC ships in the site. This makes for 35 filament types in total. T0, 1, and 2 filaments can drop from pirate and drone data sites. The other filaments can drop from abyss sites in any tier. You can also get filaments via the AIR career program and daily login rewards.

Weather Effects

Every abyssal site will have 1 of 5 site-wide weather effects, depending on filament type. Unlike wormhole system effects, abyssal weather applies to all rats as well as your ship. The strength of the weather effects depends on what tier you're running. Each type of filament has 2 effects: a bonus and a penalty. The weather effects are as follows:

Weather	Bonus	Penalty
Dark	+50% Maximum Velocity	Turret Optimal and Falloff
Electrical	+100% Capacitor Recharge Speed	EM Resist
Exotic	+50% Scan Resolution	Exotic Resist
Firestorm	+50% Armor HP	Thermal Resist
Gamma	+50% Shield HP	Explosive Resist

The strength of the penalty can be 30%, 50%, or 70%, depending on filament tier:

Tier	Filament Name	Penalty Strength
0	Tranquil	-30% or -50%
1	Calm	-30% or -50%
2	Agitated	-30% or -50%
3	Fierce	-30% or -50%
4	Raging	-50% or -70%
5	Chaotic	-50% or -70%
6	Cataclysmic	-50% or -70%

Additionally, while all weathers can drop damage upgrade, such as Heat Sink, mutaplasmids, each weather has 1-2 additional mutaplasmid drops unique to it. Weather filament prices can fluctuate wildly as different ships gain and lose popularity and demand ebbs and flows.

Dark

This weather applies a maximum velocity bonus and turret range penalty. Unlike the other weathers, there's no resistance penalty. This makes dark weather a natural choice for missile ships, as the range penalty doesn't apply to them and they have perfect damage selection; dark weather requires exploiting rats' natural resist holes through clever ammo swaps, since there's no site-wide weather resist hole to use. Dark fits tend to be undertanked compared to fits for other weathers due to reduced enemy range and therefore damage. However, squeezing every bit of damage is important here, since there's no weather resist penalty.

Popular dark ships include the Kestrel, Caldari Navy Hookbill, and Hawk for low tiers, and the Muninn, Sacrilege, Cerberus, and Ikitursa for high tiers. Propulsion mutaplasmids, such as for 100mn afterburners, only drop from dark weather.

Electrical

A popular choice for many players due to its immense and universally useful capacitor recharge bonus, electrical filaments tend to be the priciest, especially at tier 6. Electrical weather lets players focus less on managing capacitor and more on squeezing the most damage out of their ships, and the weather is a perfect fit for amarr ships due to the capacitor bonus and EM resist penalty.

Popular electrical ships include the Punisher and Retribution for low tiers, and pretty much any ship that can do EM damage for high tiers. Capacitor mutaplasmids, such as for large cap batteries, and cap warfare mutaplasmids, such as for heavy energy neutralizers, only drop from electrical weather.

Exotic

Exotic filaments are the closest you'll get to a "vanilla" abyss experience: they give a kinetic resist penalty and a scan resolution bonus that helps lock stuff faster.

Exotic filaments are popular for ships bonused for kinetic damage, such as Worms, Gilas, and Cerberuses, and tend to be reasonably priced. Unfortunately, they also tend to have the worst drops, with their exclusive tackle mutaplasmids, such as for warp disruptors, not being in particularly high demand.

Firestorm

With its bonus to armor HP and penalty to thermal resists, firestorm weather is considered the most challenging by far. This is because it creates a perfect storm of making spawns that already take a long time to clear due to their armor HP, such as overminds and lucid deepwatchers, even tankier, and increasing the damage dealt by spawns that deal thermal damage, such as Triglavians, which are already the deadliest spawns to most fits, and armor tanked to boot. Firestorm filaments are typically considered equivalent to the next tier up in difficulty. The armor HP bonus also doesn't really benefit active tanked player fits.

Due to how difficult they are, firestorm filaments are by far the cheapest. They also drop high-demand armor mutaplasmids, such as for plates and repairers. Ikitursa and Cerberus are known to handle T5 firestorms. No known consistent T6 firestorm fits exist, aside from 3-frigate setups and a ludicrously expensive Cerberus fit.

Gamma

A more forgiving shield version of firestorm, gamma weather increases shield HP and lowers explosive resists. Fortunately, only one "long" spawn is shield-tanked: Karybdis Tyrannos, which doesn't primarily deal explosive damage and doesn't take as long to clear as an overmind anyway. Gamma weather also benefits certain player fits by massively boosting shield HP and therefore recharge rates on passive Gilas and similar fits, and providing enough shield buffer for things like Ishtars to not be torn to ribbons by alpha damage.

Gamma filaments tend to be the second cheapest after firestorm, and drop decently lucrative shield mutaplasmids, such as for extenders and boosters. They're popular among passive Gila and shield Ishtar users. The Ishtar's better than the Gila here, since while the Ishtar mainly deals omni-damage through Geckos, the Gila relies on Minmatar drones in gammas due to the explosive resist penalty, which are the lowest-damage drones available. On top of the shield bonus, this means that Gilas risk timing out in high-tier gamma filaments even with expensive drone damage amplifiers and mutated drones.

Environmental Effects

In addition to site-wide weather, every room in the abyss will have a random assortment of local environmental effects. Below is a handy table of all of them. Note that all clouds are perfect spheres despite their appearances. With the right graphics settings, it's possible to look past the cloud effect and see the effect sphere itself. Using environmental effects to your advantage is an imporant part of learning the abyss.

Name	Type	Description	Effect	Consequence
Bioluminescence Cloud	Cloud	Light blue	+300% Signature Radius	Makes you and rats take much more damage
Filament Cloud	Cloud	Yellow-orange	-40% Shield Booster Strength, -40% Shield Booster Duration	Makes your shield booster drain cap faster
Tachyon Cloud	Cloud	White	+300% Velocity, -50% Inertia Modifier	Flings you and rats around the room and possibly out of the barrier
Short-Range Deviant Automata Suppressor	Tower	Spews red projectiles around it	Deals heavy damage to all drones, missiles, and rogue drone frigates within 15km of it	Bad for drone and missile ships, great against Tesselas
Medium-Range Deviant Suppressor	Tower	Spews red projectiles around it	Deals low damage to all drones, missiles, and rogue drone frigates within 40km of it	Manageable for drone and missile ships, speeds up clear times against Tesselas
Short-Range Multibody Tracking Pylon	Tower	Releases red pulses	Provides an 80% tracking bonus to everything within 15km of it	Great for turret and drone ships, bad if Karybdis or Overmind gets near it
Medium-Range Multibody Tracking Pylon	Tower	Releases red pulses	Provides a 60% tracking bonus to everything within 40km of it	Good for turret and drone ships, annoying if Karybdis or Overmind gets near it

Tiers

Each tier is a considerable step up from the previous one in terms of difficulty and rewards. For people completely new to the abyss, it's recommended to start at T0 to get a feel for the mechanics. For most Gila and Heavy Assault Cruiser fits, it's a good idea to start no lower than T3, as you'll simply overpower most spawns in lower tiers with those ships.

Credit goes to Caldari Joans for testing and compiling many of the starter fits listed here, or at least providing a basis for them. His Streamlit site is a great repository of fitting advice and piloting tips.

To cut down on this already long page, full fits with detailed piloting advice are available on the Abyssal Fits page.

Tier 0

The easiest tier, and a good starting point, with mild weather effects and very manageable enemies. This tier also has the lowest loot potential. Cruisers can expect to make roughly 750,000 ISK a run, with runs lasting mere minutes. Multiply that value by 2 for destroyers and 3 for frigates; a cheap solo frigate can run T0 for a median of roughly 2.25 million ISK a run. Not bad at all for a hisec activity that can be done by day 0 pilots!

To do T0 safely, pilots should aim for a minimum of 90 DPS (damage per second) in their weather's preferred damage type. Going lower can work, but risks failing the 20 minute site timer with several long spawns. Nearly anything that does enough damage and has something vaguely resembling a tank can handle T0 just fine, popular and effective hulls include the Punisher for electricals, Kestrel for darks. Starter fits for both are available here.

Tier 1

This is where many pilots start feeling that "considerable step up" in difficulty. Instead of fighting one Skybreaker or Damavik at a time, you'll fight three. You'll also start seeing new enemies, such as the Tessera rogue drone battlecruiser, Lucifer Cynabal cruiser from the Angel Cartel, and Devoted Knight cruiser from Sansha's Nation.

To clear T1 solo, you'll want at least 150 DPS with your weather's preferred damage type. You don't need much tank here; one Tech II shield or armor repper on a frigate is fine. Your tank comes from speed, small signature, and damage. Repair modules aren't for permatanking enemy spawns; they're for buying time until you can kill them and get incoming damage to 0 that way.

Popular T1 frigate hulls include the Punisher and Caldari Navy Hookbill. T1 Gallente and Minmatar frigates struggle with low skills when it comes to damage and projection for this tier. More advanced options include the (expensive) Succubus and Worm for alphas, and the Retribution and Hawk for omegas. Starter fits available here, with more advanced "blitz" fits available here.

Help, my frig just died!

Since many pilots start to feel the pressure in this tier, specifically in solo frigates, here are some tips for dealing with the tough new enemies you'll encounter in T1:

• Tessera: A rogue drone battlecruiser with extreme tracking (4000!), extreme damage (enough to kill a frigate in one shot), and low range (2km optimal + 6km falloff). The only way to beat these in a frigate or most cruisers is to outrange them. Keep your distance up (at least 15km if you can) and transversal high. Fortunately, you'll only face one at a time in this tier. This is a good example of why brawling frigates aren't very viable in T1.
• Kikimora: A Triglavian destroyer with good tracking, good projection, and high damage. Sometimes spawns with a Damavik for support (prioritize the Kiki). Its range is 25km (17.5km or 12.5km in darks due to the weather penalty, depending on severity). Due to its combination of tracking, projection, and damage, your options are to outdamage it up close or outrange it. Even with high transversal, you'll only avoid some damage up close. The recommended Punisher fit above can outrange the Kikimora even with Tech I guns by using Radio crystals. The recommended Hookbill fit benefits from the dark weather penalty to reduce the Kiki's range. This is a good example of why Minmatar and Gallente starter fits just don't work well in T1: A Rifter will either barely out-brawl the Kiki in a best-case scenario or more likely just die.
• Lucifer Cynabal or Devoted Knight: An Angel Cartel or Sansha's Nation cruiser, respectively, possibly with a frigate for support. Lumped together due to how similar they are. These cruisers have good damage and projection but relatively poor tracking. The way to deal with them in most fits is to manually spiral into a 500m orbit while killing the support frigate, then pulse your repper as needed while killing the cruiser from up close. You'll get neuted, but that's fine. You just need enough cap to keep your afterburner going and occasionally repair damage that gets through.

Tier 2

The next big step up in difficulty. It's possible to run a solo Assault Frigate in this tier, but it'll require additional pilot skill and time to clear rooms. Running solo T2 frigates is more for the challenge than anything else. Popular starter cruiser hulls for omegas in this tier include the Vexor, Arbitrator, and Stabber, with a starter Vexor fit available here.

Tier 3

This tier's in a strange place. Solo frigates can't run it, Tech I cruisers can't run it, and navy cruisers will struggle. On the flip side, beefier ships like Gilas and HACs will simply overpower T3 spawns. This tier's mainly used by players testing blingy fits in lighter conditions before going up to high tiers. As such, there's no recommended starter fit here.

Tier 4

The first taste of high-tier gameplay, T4 features every non-shipyard spawn you can possibly pull in T5 and T6, just with fewer enemies. The bad news is that if you want to play this tier and higher solo, you're limited to Gilas, HACs, and maybe Phantasms. The good news is that every HAC's viable in T4 if you want it to be.

Due to how forgiving they are to learn with, the T4 fits section features 2 tried-and-tested Gila fits: an active and a passive option. Other popular hulls include pretty much every HAC, as well as the Phantasm.

Tier 5

Tier 5 is pretty much just Tier 4 on steroids, with the same spawns, just with greater numbers of ships. Since the recommended active Gila fit can handle T5 with a few upgrades and some overheating, the T5 fits section covers some non-Gila options. Popular T5 hulls include the Gila, Cerberus, Muninn, Sacrilege, Ikitursa, Vagabond, Stormbringer, and Phantasm.

There is one room unique to this tier (it doesn't appear in Tier 6): the Shipyard.

What is this Shipyard?

The Shipyard is a possible room in T5 and only T5. You can only get it after first using a T5 filament, not after taking a gate within a filament. It features a huge swarm of Leshaks (Triglavian battleships) sitting at a loot can far away from the entrance and exit gates. The exit gate is unlocked by default, so you can just burn to it and leave if you want. You'll be shot right back out of the abyss. If you can survive the leshaks and pop the can, you'll get loot equivalent to 3 normal T5 rooms along with unique items like Triglavian dreadnought BPCs and lore items from the Triglavian invasion storyline. The Shipyard does not appear in T6.

Tier 6

You made it! This is the final and hardest tier of the abyss, where players use multi-billion ISK fits to make some of the best PVE income in Eve outside of high-class wormholes. Hull selection really thins out here, since some T5-capable ships like the Eagle, Phantasm, and Zealot simply don't have the slot layout, base stats, or bonuses to consistently clear T6 even with considerable bling. Using implants and pre-rolling boosters is vital here. Solid spawn and piloting knowledge is also critical. For a selection of T6-capable fits that have been proven to work, check out this section.

Abyssal Enemies

The separate Abyssal Enemies page has a detailed breakdown of all possible enemy spawns in the abyss. For dangerous spawns for solo frigates, consult this above section of this page.

Avoiding Ganks

It's every abyss runner's worst nightmare: exiting the abyss in their expensive cruiser only to end up in a "4th room" of Catalysts, Coercers, Thrashers, Taloses, or Tornadoes. So how can you avoid getting ganked?

While there are dedicated abyss hunters out there, there aren't that many of them and most abyss ganks are opportunistic. You can significantly reduce your odds of getting ganked just by taking basic precautions to make yourself a higher-effort target than other abyss runners. This advice mainly applies to cruisers, since frigates are usually far less valuable targets and can escape ganks easily.

• Don't run near Jita. Seriously, don't. Find a low-traffic system with a suitable security status in Gallente, Amarr, or Minmatar space away from major trade hubs. There are plenty of 0.5 systems out there that never get checked by gankers.
• Create some abyss running safes. These should be at least 14.3au (outside dscan range) from any gates or direct gate-gate routes. Being outside dscan range of stations and player structures is a bonus. If it's a choice between a low-traffic system without good safespots and a higher-traffic system with them, pick the system that has good safes. The safes should be deep safes, meaning no direct routes between warpable objects.
• A great way to get very deep safes well outside dscan range is to use the abyssal safe method. If you experience a server disconnect, say due to downtime, while in the abyss, you'll be spit out at a random point in system when you log back in. This point could be very far from anything else in the system. Give it a few attempts, and you'll get a great faraway safe.
• The only way to get to an abyss runner at a safe is to combat probe their trace. By keeping your trace off dscan, you give would-be hunters passing through the system no reason to come back with combat probes.
• Check the corp information and zkill history of people in system. Anyone with a history of blingy Gila suicide ganks?
• Tied to the above, get to know the "regulars" of the system you're running in. If something doesn't feel right, don't run abyss.
• Consider getting a market alt separate from your abyss running character. While a market alt's generally a nice thing to have, in this specific case it'll be used for buying high-tier filaments and selling abyss loot. Hunters sometimes put up sell orders for high-tier filaments or buy orders for mutaplasmids to see who's running high-tier abyss.
• Related to the above, consider hauling filaments and loot on a separate character. Hunters sometimes cargo scan ships in trade hubs, specifically Jita, to see who's moving a lot of filaments around. Hauling valuable loot in hisec on an alt is also very useful during wars.
• Even if you're hauling with your main character, split up the hauling into multiple trips. Use a fast-align ship like a Sunesis for filaments and loot, since abyssal loot tends to be pretty compact. Also, consider hauling any expensive modules separately and fit your abyss-running cruiser for fast align instead. You don't want some tornado ship scanning your multi-billion ISK fit and taking a crack at it.
• Some ships are easier to gank than others. Being a Tech I pirate cruiser, a Gila makes for a tempting and easy gank target. People will cargo scan Gilas in Jita just to see if they're carrying filaments, and run locator agents to find where they're running abyss. Passive-fit Gilas are harder to gank due to their thick shields, and even if they are successfully ganked, most of their value tends to be in their instawarping pods. Heavy Assault Cruisers can run assault damage controls, which make them very difficult to destroy before CONCORD arrives. Ishtars and Cerberuses specifically are very tough against Catalysts and Taloses (common gank ships) due to their Gallente and Caldari T2 resists.
• Some players like to run in wormhole space. This can be safer than hisec if your corp has a good handle on the system, but removes CONCORD as a layer of protection and lets any random T3C with combat probes have a crack at you. Your trace might also be accidentally picked up by combat probes even if no one was specifically looking for you.

In short: just taking some common sense precautions will already make your risk of getting ganked very low. And don't name your ship something like "Lord of the Abyss" or "Abyssal Bling Machine."

It's also worthwhile to mix up your abyss running with other activities, like actual exploration.

FAQ

Where should I start?

T0 in a starter frigate or cruiser.

What weather should I do?

Electrical's easy and popular because it makes cap management much easier. Run the weather that your fit's best suited for.

Can a fit run multiple weathers?

Yes, but the result's going to be more expensive and less effective at each weather. Weather effects are so important that fits are designed around them specifically. For example, this Cerberus by Gustav Mannfred's (allegedly) capable of consistently clearing every weather (2 years ago), but will cost you upwards of 15 billion ISK and not really perform better than dedicated fits.

What weapon system should I use?

Drones are the most popular and easiest to use, since they mostly ignore piloting, have perfect damage selection, and operate independently of the host ship. Popular drone ships are the Gila and Ishtar. Using drone frigates or destroyers isn't recommended, since light drones are very flimsy even with HP bonuses. The possible exception is the Worm, but even that's inferior to the Hawk for Omegas. Do not use drone ships in dark weather; the range penalty combined with the velocity bonus make drones perform very poorly. For other weathers, use the drones that match the weather resist penalty.

Missiles are also popular and straightforward with perfect damage selection, and they don't care about tracking. However, application is still somewhat dependent on pilot skill due to missile damage mechanics, and they can be shut down by rooms with a lot of guidance-disrupting rats. A prime example of this is Triglavian rooms with a lot of Ghosting Damaviks, which are small frigates that hurt your missile application while remote repairing each other. Popular missile cruisers are the Cerberus, Muninn, and Sacrilege.

Turrets are the most skill-intensive weapon system, since their performance is directly affected by piloting. They're not recommended for beginners. Popular turret cruisers are the Vagabond and Ikitursa.

Why not destroyers?

Destroyers aren't recommended for learning the abyss, since they combine the weaknesses of frigates (thin tank, limited damage, bad capacitor) with the weaknesses of cruisers (slow, large signature) in a single package. Destroyer setups are mainly reserved for more experienced players in higher tiers. Popular ones are 2 Jackdaws and 2 Draugurs in T5.

Why isn't my favorite ship included here?

Destroyers aren't included for the reasons above. When it comes to frigates and cruisers, this page isn't meant to provide an exhaustive list, just some tried-and-true options for each tier.

How can I make my favorite ship work?

Download Pyfa and import a tried-and-tested fit for the tier and weather you want to run. Then try to replicate the following stats with the hull you want to use:

• DPS
• DPS considering reloads
• EHP/s
• Buffer (less important)
• Resists (particularly thermal)
• Range
• Application
• Total capacitor
• Capacitor recharge
• Neut resistance
• Velocity
• Signature

One way to do this is to try to get similar stats using the blingiest faction/deadspace modules and implants you can, then scaling down cost where certain stats are excessive. The Abyssal Lurkers Discord is a great place to ask for advice about ships and fits from experienced people.

As an example, a Sacrilege is basically an armor Gila (good) with a thermal resist hole (bad) and its missile and drone damage contribution flipped (workable).

What about multi-ship setups?

You don't have to fly abyss solo: you can take 2 destroyers or 3 frigates into the same filament. They can be other players or your alts. While dual destroyers realistically cap out at T5, triple frigates can go all the way to T6 for income upwards of a billion ISK per hour. However, multi-ship setups are difficult to use and punish mistakes heavily due to being much thinner than cruisers, and so are not listed in the fits section here. If you want to learn more about multi-ship setups, Gustav Mannfred has 3 tested setups on his Streamlit page.

That said, there's nothing wrong with taking 3 Punishers or Retributions into T1-2 and just having some fun with friends. 3 solo Retributions can even do T3 electricals!

Where's the best place to start with high-tier cruisers?

Gilas. Check the T4 fits on this page; there's an active and passive version.

I haven't played since the olden days. Is my favorite fit still good?

In late 2020, new rooms were added and existing rooms were changed. Fits made during or before 2020 should be considered outdated. In 2021, HACs lost their MWD signature radius penalty reduction and ships gained resists across the board. Be wary of MWD HAC fits from before this time. In November 2022, the Cerberus got a shield boost role bonus, the Muninn was reworked to a missile instead of projectile ship, and the Sacrilege got a boost to armor resists. In general, anything made after November 2022 should be considered up-to-date as of writing (November 2023).

What's the most profitable weather to run?

That depends on mutaplasmid demand and filament cost. For example, electrical filaments drop valuable cap module mutaplasmids, but are far more expensive at T6 than other filaments as of writing. Meanwhile, exotic filaments are cheaper, but generally drop the least-demanded mutaplasmids.

Should I use an AB or MWD?

Generally, the default choice should be an AB. MWDs are difficult to manage due to their signature penalty, cap penalty, worse fitting, and tendency to get shut down by scram rats, and are only really seen on specific fits that are designed to capitalize on the increased speed and range control.

MWDs also run the risk of flinging ships, especially frigates, out of the boundary if they enter a [Abyssal_Deadspace#Environmental_Effects white cloud].

Should I go for Extraction Nodes?

Frigates and destroyers don't gain much from side nodes due to the extra loot rolls only applying to the main Biocombinative Cache. Cruiser extraction nodes only become worthwhile in tiers 5 and 6. In lower tiers, you'd probably make more just clearing the filament sooner and popping a new one.

Even with high-tier cruisers, don't go for side nodes until you get comfortable with the timer and difficulty level.

How long should I take in each room?

The total time limit is 20 minutes, meaning 6 minutes 40 seconds per room on average. Realistically, try to be out of the 1st room by the 6 minute mark at the latest. You could get multiple long rooms like Overminds back to back.

How do I roll boosters?

Non-accelerator booster effects are removed when you change clones, and there's no cooldown for clone jumping withing the same station or player structure. Therefore, you can pop a standard or stronger booster and keep resetting booster effects by jumping to another clone in the same station and back to your abyss clone until you get a roll with no side effects.

Will I lose standings?

Nope!

Tips and Tricks

• After entering a new room, player ships get an invulnerability period also known as an iframe, during which rats will not react to you. Use this to get your bearings and make a plan. Iframe ends when you take any action, such as aligning your ship or targeting enemies.
• Related to the above, upon entering a new room from another room, all active modules will continue running, and your ship will move forward even while invulnerable. You can use this to safely coast out of blue clouds or get closer to kitey ships like Karens and Leshaks before they start running away from you.
• Learn enemy names and prioritize the biggest threats to your fit. This is something you'll learn with time.
• Consider having a secondary overview tab for Vila rooms that doesn't have Abyssal Drone Entities on it.
• Overheat! Learning heat management is essential to doing well in the abyss, and is basically a requirement for running higher tiers. Learn to space your modules as well (your most-heated active modules should be far away from each other). Also, bring nanite paste and repair whenever you can.
• Hardeners take very little heat damage and have long cycle times. Reps take more heat damage and cycle faster. Propulsion modules and weapons take a lot of heat damage and burn out after a few cycles. Triglavian and EDENCOM weapons take so little heat damage that you can pretty much permarun them.
• A 3 million ISK drug can save a 3 billion ISK ship. Use drugs in higher tiers.
• Federation Navy afterburners cost pennies compared to how much high-tier fits go for, and provide good speed and fitting. Stop running enduring afterburners on T6 fits.
• Spend where it makes sense. Taking a 10 billion ISK cruiser into T6 having never done abyss before is just asking for a 10 billion ISK lossmail.
• The safest approach to a CONCORD room is usually to turn right around and burn at least 65km from the battleships while clearing smaller targets. Use iframe to get out of blue clouds if you spawn in one.
• Triglavian ships deal more damage over time, and can be deadly in large groups. Exiting their range or shifting their aggro to drones resets their damage ramp.
• Triglavian ships are slow on their own, but have MWDs. This can be exploited by exiting their weapon range to trigger them into using their MWDs, thereby blowing up their signature and improving your application against them.
• Speed clouds can be deadly due to their velocity boost and inertia effect. You can exploit this to fling rats past you and out of their weapon range, or out of the barrier. Rats get damaged by the barrier too!
• The barrier's damage increases the farther out you go. The damage right at its edge is negligible.
• Karens and Leshaks will try to kite away from you. By getting between them and the barrier, you can herd them back to the gate.
• Learn where you can save time, and don't waste time. Going for an extraction node at the edge of a room can cost you entire minutes while you slowly get back to the gate, and could cause you to time out.
• Short-Range Deviant Automata Suppressors will make mincemeat out of rogue drone frigates (Tesselas). The medium-range variants will speed up clear times, but not significantly enough to spend time specifically seeking them out. If you spawn far away from a suppressor, consider if it's worth spending time motoring over to it.
• Get comfortable with the idea of losing ships as you're learning. High-tier abyss is considered some of the hardest content in Eve for a reason.
• Don't bother going for side nodes until you're comfortable clearing rooms well under time.
• A good benchmark for going up a tier is when you've encountered every spawn type in your current tier and handily cleared them under time from memory.

Additional Resources

• The Abyssal Lurkers Discord server is invaluable for advice, fit sharing, feedback, upcoming changes, and general discussion on all things abyss-related.
• The "Abyssal Lurkers" ingame channel serves a similar purpose.
• Caldari Joans' Streamlit app for starter fits, more advanced personal fits, and tips and tricks. Probably the best personal abyss blog currently around. Has a YouTube channel. Unfortunately, Streamlit has poor SEO and specific sites using it are difficult to find without a direct link.
• Gustav Mannfred's Twitch channel, Streamlit, and YouTube channel.
• Torvald Uruz's Streamlit and YouTube channel.
• Lokival's Twitch channel. Lots of multiboxing, now with VR!
• Abyss Tracker is a website featuring user-submitted fits and loot totals as well as a plethora of statistics regarding ship use, success rate, and more.

Acknowledgements

Guide conceived, maintained, and updated by Arachnis.