I guess you meant more low slots and yes that can help tank, if it's armor and depending on the fit (you also get 1 less rig slot though).

But the main reasons AFs are much beefier are 1) much higher native resists as all T2 ships (though they almost always have a big hole vs. 1 dmg type) and 2) higher native shield/armor/structure hit points.

Is Ishkur too much of a isk investment?

One other question: I have exclusively used blasters in PVP but I have noticed that most Ishkur's are fit with rails. Is it a bad idea to use blasters on a Ishkur?

One other question: I have exclusively used blasters in PVP but I have noticed that most Ishkur's are fit with rails. Is it a bad idea to use blasters on a Ishkur?

Small rails are usually used to scram kite.

Scram kiting means trying to stay at the edge of scram range (9 km). Usually you try to stay about 7-8 km from your opponent, while holding him down with a scram. Effective against short-range weapons (blasters or autocannons) since at that range they can't hit you.

However, due to poor rail tracking, to apply more damage it's best not to orbit, but try to keep range instead, minimizing angular velocity.

To successfully scram kite you usually need an afterburner, a web and a scram, and preferably a fast ship. That way you can be faster than your opponent, allowing you to maintain the 7-8 km range and minimize angular velocity. Otherwise, he will be able to either close range and hit you or pull range and escape from your scram.

Rails can also be used to kite at point range (around 24 km), but at the moment lasers (both pulse and beam) do better damage than rails at that range.

Another advantage of rails is that you can usually hit someone who is kiting you (at 24 km).

Finally, rails benefit from ships with tracking bonuses (such as the comet) - the ishkur doesn't have them.


Blasters are effective at short range, obviously. Tracking is great, damage is higher than rails, only issue is you have to be within a few km (though the Ishkur's optimal range bonus can help in hitting farther off, especialy if you use null ammo).


I have limited experience PVP-ing in ishkurs, but personally I'd fit them with blasters and try to avoid ships that can easily kite me (though my drones would still hit). Blasters also require less CPU, which is kinda tight on the ishkur (as on most AFs).


TL;DR blasters are fine imho, actually I'd personally have some doubts on fitting rails on an Ishkur

Honestly the tristan does rail fits better than the ishkur does. I used to fly a rail ishkur quite a bit until I realized that its too slow for the fit. This isn't to say it can't be done, but it won't be able to kite against most frigates. Instead fit it with ions and try to use your mid slots to control range instead of the ship's base speed.

Thank you for the advice. I thought blasters would work, but almost every single fit I've seen online had rails which made me think I was missing something.