Lately the last few days there's been a lot of threads about PvP, be it warranted or unwarranted and every possible view imaginable on the issue. But what I'm wondering is... where's all the up to date info on what ship builds are ideal and what the current meta is? I run an FDL for any form of combat (sometimes a vulture), but the other day I got just demolished by another FDL with barely any possibility of fighting back (I'm not yet skilled in Elite's PvP, learning it slowly but still a far cry). So aside from Obvious stuff like powerplant overcharge and dirty drives, what are the weapon builds/engi mods, loadout configs, hull armor, etc etc that are the meta for all the common pvp ships? Or is there a dedicated fan-site or something that stays up?
PvP build meta's?
- Thread starter Phazon Xenomorph
- Start date
Hi there.
No, the type of fan-site you mention doesn't exist.
Basically, although there are a tiny handful of outlier Cmdrs who have never been in a PvP player group and yet are still good at serious PvP anyway, 99% of the game's apex PvP knowledge is concentrated inside the collective minds of the established PvP player groups, who tend to share that knowledge only via spoken discussion or posts on locked sites.
The quickest way to learn what you're after would be to spend an evening with Adle's Armada, the Galactic Combat Initiative, Smiling Dog Crew or one of the other high-profile PvP groups, discussing builds on Discord and engaging in friendly sparring. More experienced players would soon gauge where you are on the learning curve and what builds might work for you and your objectives.
Of course, that type of interaction isn't for everyone, in which case there's no harm in continuing to blaze your own trail, although there can be a lot of trial and error involved, because videos and forums are poor teachers. You'll need to have a lot of playtime available to you to git gud on your own.
Although the opportunity may or may not exist, if (and it is an 'if') Frontier do a full RNGineer unlock in Beta 2.3 and also 'if' you can buy access assuming you don't already have it, a Beta can condense months of learning into a couple of weeks because you can try all the stuff against other players and see what's working for you.
No, the type of fan-site you mention doesn't exist.
Basically, although there are a tiny handful of outlier Cmdrs who have never been in a PvP player group and yet are still good at serious PvP anyway, 99% of the game's apex PvP knowledge is concentrated inside the collective minds of the established PvP player groups, who tend to share that knowledge only via spoken discussion or posts on locked sites.
The quickest way to learn what you're after would be to spend an evening with Adle's Armada, the Galactic Combat Initiative, Smiling Dog Crew or one of the other high-profile PvP groups, discussing builds on Discord and engaging in friendly sparring. More experienced players would soon gauge where you are on the learning curve and what builds might work for you and your objectives.
Of course, that type of interaction isn't for everyone, in which case there's no harm in continuing to blaze your own trail, although there can be a lot of trial and error involved, because videos and forums are poor teachers. You'll need to have a lot of playtime available to you to git gud on your own.
Although the opportunity may or may not exist, if (and it is an 'if') Frontier do a full RNGineer unlock in Beta 2.3 and also 'if' you can buy access assuming you don't already have it, a Beta can condense months of learning into a couple of weeks because you can try all the stuff against other players and see what's working for you.
Interesting, when I have free time I might give those suggestions a look. I almost have all the engineers already unlocked and at grade 5 though due to rigorous grinding to unlock them (finished up mining for selene jean today and shes grade 5 now, doing lavian brandy hauls for vitterman or w/e her name is).
Hey Xenomorph, weren't you playing Hawken? 
And don't listen to Truesilver, he just advertises Adle's Armarda! Go hardcore and stay away from clans and groups to become a fearsome Freelancer.
I mean, I know someone who is pretty decent in PvP without ever officially joining a group.
In all seriousness. I can recommend to participate in CGs in open and have a couple of rebuys in your pocket. Start with a Vulture loadout of your choice and let yourself get wrecked and learn from your mistakes.
After all experience is the most valueable good in learning something
And don't listen to Truesilver, he just advertises Adle's Armarda! Go hardcore and stay away from clans and groups to become a fearsome Freelancer.
I mean, I know someone who is pretty decent in PvP without ever officially joining a group.
In all seriousness. I can recommend to participate in CGs in open and have a couple of rebuys in your pocket. Start with a Vulture loadout of your choice and let yourself get wrecked and learn from your mistakes.
After all experience is the most valueable good in learning something
Hey Xenomorph, weren't you playing Hawken?
And don't listen to Truesilver, he just advertises Adle's Armarda! Go hardcore and stay away from clans and groups to become a fearsome Freelancer.
I mean, I know someone who is pretty decent in PvP without ever officially joining a group.
In all seriousness. I can recommend to participate in CGs in open and have a couple of rebuys in your pocket. Start with a Vulture loadout of your choice and let yourself get wrecked and learn from your mistakes.
After all experience is the most valueable good in learning something
I don't know what Hawken is. Also I never have time to join an official group outright but if they have advice to give can't hurt to learn.
Sorry then because you have the same Avatar as another Hawken play. It's a mech shooter btw.
However, as mentioned I recommend going to CGs. RAHU is currently fairly populated. And you can ofcourse just jump in to any discord server of a player group and ask for advice. There are more than I can count.
Ultimately you simply have to invest some time and once your learned how to fly your spaceship correctly you just need a certain loadout you feel comfortable with and challenge anyone you want to challenge. That said, with every patch the meta changes and with 2.3 entering beta tomorrow (iirc) the meta will change upon its release.
Currently I can say that there is not a single meta at the moment but there are still a hand full of issues such as jesus healing beams or feedback cascades against big ships.
So grab a Vulture of your choosing and just hop into the action. The hard way is usually the fastest as well
Not really true. Most games that have both PvP and PvE have different optimizations for each. A big concern in this game is ammunition. For PvP you only care about killing one ship to a few ships. For PvE, sacrificing some damage in order to have lots of ammo or lasers makes sense for longevity in a CZ or RES.
...and that's one example...
Here, have a Galactic Combat Initiative discord invite: https://discord.gg/3xfWh [it will expire, so don't hesitate to join]. Look around, ask questions, somebody will probably guide you. If you miss it, you can find them on inara and probably on reddit.
Have fun
Have fun