Its time for yet another shitty Minmatar ship guide. This time we’ll be covering that cruiser speed freak, the Stabber.
I’ve always had an affinity for smaller ships, particularly the speedy frigates. The top speed and amazing align times make them a blast to fly. The Stabber is a really the logical step from the Rifter/Thrasher progression. It is very solid all purpose PvP ship due to the respectable DPS and great speed. It’s very clearly the Vagabond’s little brother (but not little by much). Let’s start off by looking its bonuses:
- 5% bonus to Medium Projectile Turret firing speed per level
- 5% bonus to max velocity per level
Pretty useful bonuses, neh? That max velocity bonus is especially nice when playing the role of heavy tackle, which this ship is perfectly suited to. Let’s look at a sample fit:
- High
- 4x 180mm AC II
- 1x Medium Neut II
- 1x Standard Missile Launcher II/Wildcard
- Mid
- 1x 10MN Microwarpdrive II
- 1x Warp Disruptor II orWarp Scrambler II
- 1x Large Shield Extender II
- Low
- 1x Overdrive Injector System II
- 1x Nanofiber Internal Structure II
- 1x Damage Control II or Nanofiber Internal Structure II
- Rigs
- 2x Projectile Ambit Extension (optional of course)
Depending on your skills, this fit can hit very close to 3k m/s and get a point on something very far out. The advantage to using the Stabber of say an inty is that the Stabber won’t be eaten alive by Warrior II’s. About 6 months ago, I wrote about a Uni fleet chasing after some nano drakes and how the Inty pilots just got picked up because of the drones kicking their ass. This stabber fit would have been much useful particularly with a scram. The key to this ship is to fly it exactly like a Rifter. You need to get in close enough to get maximum DPS while staying out of scram range, then blast away. For smaller stuff, controlling range is important. Get outside of scram range and use long range ammo to destroy them. An even more durable setup is this one:
- High
- 4x 180mm Dual Autocannon II w/ Barrage
- 2x Assault Launcher
- Mid
- 10mn MWDI (Named or T2 if possible)
- Warp Disruptor II
- Large Shield ExtenderII (or named)
- Low
- 2x GyrostabilizerII
- Nanofiber Internal Structure
- Rigs:
- 2x medium Projectile Ambit Extension I
- 1x medium Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I
The damage goes up significantly due to the gyros and it certainly more durable because of the LSEII, but you do sacrifice speed for these advantages. I’d use this in either a solo or small gang setting since the focus is blasting the hell out of everything.
Now you can use the Stabber as a PVE boat, but I’m not a huge a fan of it as one. I much prefer the Rupture for PvE activities, but if you insist on having a fit here’s one:
- High
- 4x 220mm Vulcan Autocannon
- 2x Assault Missile Launcher I
- Mid
- 1x 10mn Afterburner I
- 1x Medium Shield Booster I
- 1x Large Shield Extender I
- Low
- 2x Gyrostabilizer I
- 1x Nanofiber Internal Structure
The key to using the Stabber in missions is kiting. You gotta get some frigate aggro then kite the fuck outta them and pulse you AB to keep them at ideal distances for Autocannon fucking. Get comfortable with your shields getting as low as 40% then pump that shield booster. See why I don’t like using the Stabber in missions? It’s :work:.
There have been some unconvential uses for the Stabber as well such as a salvager (fill the highs with tractors and salvagers) and you can also do a cloak and fit purely for speed to run gatecamps as it will still cloak faster than most ships will be able to target you.
Overall, the Stabber is one helluva fun ship to fly. Not only does it use similar piloting skills to frigates and destroyers, but prepares a pilot for flying the faster HAC, the Vagabond.
