Worming Around The Gurista Burner

I'm waiting for my EVE client to update (today is Oceanus! Yay for Patch Day!), so I have a little time to type.

After the debacle with the Cruor / Blood Burner, I quickly got back to lvl4s (earning the Nestor, see previous post) and also drawing another Burner in short order (another 5 missions and 1 decline, my average is coming down).

This one was the Guristas Worm.

I was pretty gun shy.  I'd just blown a good amount of isk (at least to me) on the previous Blood Raider Chucklehead, and watching Gurista strats on youtube yielded another click-heavy fight with ample opportunity for me to miss a cap boost cycle.

My play time was limited with real life issues and great weather here over the weekend.  So I decided to fiddle a bit.  To Worm around.


My initial idea of how to handle the Blood Burner wasn't a horrible idea.  With Oceanus, we'll have multi-ship Burners available, and I will probably need to figure out a decent multi-box setup or hire a few friends.  I chose the wrong ship(s) for the Blood Burner, yes, but in the big-picture the 2-ship strat was't horrible.

Using the Incursion term, I needed an Anchor.  Someone to send in first, draw fire, and let the rest of the Fleet warp in and get situated.  The Anchor needs to contribute, but he also needs to survive.

I also had questions about Burner mechanics.  How does aggro work?  Is it static or does it jump around?  What's a target EHP and resist percentage?  How far do you have to fly before you de-aggro?

And last, can you kill the Gurista Burner without going close range?  Can you kite the kiter?  As previously mentioned, I like to fight fights differently than intended, just to see if I can do it.

So, I grabbed two ships and futzed around in EFT.

Setup #1 was for Abavus:

[Hawk, Worm Burner Anchor]
Ballistic Control System II
Damage Control II 

Small Shield Booster II
Upgraded Kinetic Deflection Amplifier I
Cap Recharger II
Cap Recharger II
Phased Weapon Navigation Array Generation Extron 

Light Missile Launcher II, Scourge Fury Light Missile
Light Missile Launcher II, Scourge Fury Light Missile
Light Missile Launcher II, Scourge Fury Light Missile
Light Missile Launcher II, Scourge Fury Light Missile
[empty high slot] 

Small Bay Loading Accelerator II
Small Anti-Kinetic Screen Reinforcer II

Setup #2 was for my Mission Alt:

[Vengeance Worm Burner Anchor]
Ballistic Control System II
Small Armor Repairer II
Armor Kinetic Hardener II
Small Armor Repairer II 

Phased Weapon Navigation Array Generation Extron
Cap Recharger II
Cap Recharger II 

Prototype 'Arbalest' Light Missile Launcher, Caldari Navy Scourge Light Missile
Prototype 'Arbalest' Light Missile Launcher, Caldari Navy Scourge Light Missile
Prototype 'Arbalest' Light Missile Launcher, Caldari Navy Scourge Light Missile
Prototype 'Arbalest' Light Missile Launcher, Caldari Navy Scourge Light Missile
[empty high slot] 

Small Capacitor Control Circuit I
Small Rocket Fuel Cache Partition I

My mission alt can't use t2 missiles for a few days, hence the Arby launchers.  I know Vengeance's bonuses are for Rockets, but I needed the range, and I was experimenting.

Both of these setups are cap stable, and very stable without launchers running.

On paper, these two ships combine to well over 300 dps, but can't apply the damage effectively because the target is small and fast.  I hoped the target painters would help.

Anyway, results:
Does aggro jump around?  Yes, it seems to rotate randomly every minute or two. I didn't test extensively, but it didn't seem to matter who was closer or who was dealing damage.  At one point he had the Vengeance scram'd but was shooting at the Hawk (which probably just indicates that the npc "module" has a very long cycle time).

What's a target EHP/Resist?  Both of these setups can perma-tank the Gurista burner.  The Hawk was the weaker of the two (the double SARII is pretty hoompty on the Vengeance if you start the 2nd halfway through the first's cycle).  Even with gang bonuses (no links running, just a Fleet) the Hawk would eventually be worn down (like in an hour or two) but it was definitely long enough to slowboat ~200km+  and back to dockup.  So, ~89% Kinetic resist, ~1170 shield HP, and 76 shield points recovered per second seems like a break-even point.

Range to de-Aggro?  For me, I had to fly off grid, something like 275km.  Weird things started happening when I hit the grid edge, but finally the scram came off and I got out.  I repeated this cycle again with the same results.

Can you kite the Kiter?  NO! Nein!  Niet! Non! Non! Non!  That little ship is just too damn fast.  Light missiles hit for under 100 damage/volley.  I tried various ammo combos (t2, faction).  Painters really didn't matter.  I was never into more than 1 pixel into his shields.  I really can't see a rail/sniper setup doing much better with him mwd'ing around the sky.

As an Anchor, either fit would be fine.  But I'll still need someone to mwd in and get a web/scram on him.  With the aggro switches, the idea of an anchor is somewhat less useful, but given the knife's edge balance that Burners seem to have, every little bit might help.


What's Playing:  Alice in Chains, We Die Young