T1 Showcase - the Punisher

The Punisher wins the showcase on style points. Is it equally competent in PvP?

Welcome to the final part of the frigate T1 showcase - this time we'll be taking a closer look at the mainstay of the Amarr newbros since forever, the Punisher!

Ship Overview

The Punisher comes with an unusual slot layout of 4/2/5. The ship bonuses to energy turret activation and armor resistances would hint that it should be a brawler but with only 2 mid slots you can't run the usual combo of Afterburner, Webifier and Warp Scrambler. As such, your choices are to be a brawler with no range control, or a kiter with low speed and little damage. Tough choice.

What it lacks in the control department, it definitely makes up with its staying power. The armor resistance bonus, paired with both 5 low slots and generous power grid lets you build an incredibly durable ship. Just keep in mind that exactly because of those attributes more seasoned players expect the Punisher to be a bait for a bigger fleet and may be reluctant to fight you.

Fitting Breakdown

Showcase Punisher Fitting (click to show)

• We ignore the capacitor use bonus and go for Autocannons as they have lower fitting requirements than the lasers. We slap in the biggest ACs we can for extra damage and range

• In the mid slot we have the Afterburner and a choice of either a scram, a Warp Disruptor, or a Webifier. Scram lets you dictate range against t1 destroyers like Catalyst or Coercer, Disruptor prevents people from simply flying away from you while they have you webbed (with long range ammo, we can still deal some damage up to 15km). The web works the best but then you have nothing that prevents your opponent from simply hitting the warp button.

• The low slots are filled with 2 big Armor Plates, a Damage Control and Multispectrum Coating to further enhance our resistances, and a single Gyrostabilizer to push our DPS into more respectable range

• For rigs, we have Burst Aerator to further help out with the damage, and 2 Auxiliary Thrusters. This should give us a chase potential when people realize they are losing the fight and start to disengage. (in hindsight, I should have went full tank with 2 Trimark Armor Pumps, increasing my effective HP by 40%).

The Gameplan

We have zero control over what goes on during the fight so our plan is very simple - approach, heat the guns, hope they explode before we do. We're basically stat checking other ships in space. Set your 'keep at range' distance to around 3000m to mitigate some transversal speed from people orbiting you and just hope you have more damage than they do. Thanks to the generous HP the fights tend to be less hectic than your usual frigate affairs, so it is decent pick when it comes to learning the basics of mechanics, like changing your ammo on the fly or adjusting your movement to adapt to your opponent.

Entry Level Fitting

Given that the presented Punisher is based on having more stats than your opponents, I'd stay clear off it without having really good SP invested in both your gunnery and armor skills. As such, the entry level fitting uses my alternate pick, the dual web Tormentor.

Entry Level Tormentor (click to expand)

It flies similarly to our Rifter in that you want to sit at the edge of your web range and melt your opponents. With dual webs it's easy to maintain range control, all you have to do is keep them committed to the fight.

On Amarr Frigates

It feels that Amarr T1 frigates are in especially bad spot. They all use one ship bonus slot for a perk that basically reads 'you can use your racial guns', putting them at a huge disadvantage compared to other empires. Paired with very similar layouts and no range/application bonuses, they don't offer varied gameplay like the ships from other factions. Only when you move to faction frigates things start to get interesting but even then, all the options are incredibly skill intensive. Personally, recording this part of the showcase took me the longest, both with figuring out a fit to use, and gathering enough footage where I wasn't just getting steamrolled by the opponents.

Summary

I hope you enjoyed the T1 Frigate Showcase. It was quite a journey for me, putting me well out of my comfort zone when it comes to the ships used. If there's one takeaway from this series, it's that your piloting skills matter a lot. You may have less SP or ISK than the people around you but you can make up for that with grit, determination and open mind to learn from each fight you take.