In rust we trust (T4 Electrical Abyss Vagabond guide)

So as I've been talking about for my last few posts, this is going to be my mini-guide to using the Vagabond Heavy Assault Cruiser in Electrical Abyss Filaments, specifically T4s (Raging). It's possible to upgrade the fit a bit and fly in T5s (Chaotic) but I have not yet made this switch, and I'm comfortable in T4s for now. I may update this guide at a later time with a T5 fit and associated tactics.

So first things first, I cannot claim full credit for this Vagabond fit. I took it from a Reddit post that was made a year or so back and I adapted what was written there for my own purpose. Full credit for the initial fit is given to u/SuigintouKurotenshi.

However to avoid simply stealing a fit, changing it a little and just claiming all the hard work, I'm going to talk about the benefits of the Vagabond over other ships, how to fly it, and discuss options you have to downgrade for budget reasons.

Without any further ado here is the fit:

[Vagabond, Abyss PVE Electrical T4]

Gyrostabilizer II
Gyrostabilizer II
Tracking Enhancer II
Tracking Enhancer II
Assault Damage Control II

Pith X-Type Large Shield Booster
Thukker Large Cap Battery
10MN Afterburner II
Multispectrum Shield Hardener II

220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP M
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP M
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP M
Heavy Assault Missile Launcher II, Caldari Navy Mjolnir Heavy Assault Missile
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP M
220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP M

Medium Core Defense Operational Solidifier I
Medium Projectile Burst Aerator II

Imperial Navy Acolyte x5

Caldari Navy Mjolnir Heavy Assault Missile x2000
Republic Fleet EMP M x10000

Stats from PYFA, all V skills and Electrical Filament applied

Compared to some ships you see fitted for the abyss this Vagabond is fairly cheap. Current prices are around 660 million (Jita) and no implants or drugs are required to make this work, however I am personally using a full set of "Basic" implants plus these hardwires:

- 3% Capacitor (603)

- 3% Motion tracking (703)

- 5% Medium Projectile Turret (805)

- 5% Rate of fire (905)

Why the Vagabond?

There's some pretty good reasons to run the Vagabond over other popular Abyss ships (e.g. the infamous Gila)

• As we've already mentioned the Vagabond is quite cheap. Admittedly you can outfit and fly a passive Gila for around 300mil but cheap Gilas tend to be risky and many experienced Abyssal Gila runners that I have spoken to have recommend fits that are closer to 500-700mil for safety and consistency.
• It is very easy and simple to fly due to massive cap stability and similar tactics no matter the spawns you get
• It has a strong tank through a combination of small signature, high speed and T2 resists. Plus you have the panic button of an Assault Damage Control if you run into major snags
• My typical site time with practise and decent skills is around 10 to 12 minutes, which is very good for T4 sites (15minutes or faster is the typical "aim for" benchmark)
• I personally cannot stand drone mechanics, and having to deal with drone travel time, rats focusing drones, and possibly forgetting them between rooms is a hassle I'd rather not deal with. The drones on the Vagabond are very much "surplus", and I have previously run a couple of sites without using them once due to three rooms in a row with Automata Suppressor Towers. 
• The Vagabond is not known as a typical abyss ship compared to the Gila, Sacrilege, Ikitursa, Worm etc. This means that Abyss ship gankers are unlikely to scan your ship expecting expensive modules (unless you are seen entering or leaving a site of course), and if you run the budget fit you'll probably never get hit.

The only real downside to the Vagabond that I have found is that it has a relatively high ammo consumption compared to other ships. Otherwise there are very few things I can find wrong with it.

How to fly

First of all I would always recommend flying a ship you're a novice with on Sisi (Singularity Test Server) for atleast 8-10 sites. This is the ideal test bed for trying out a new ship/fitting changes or risking a cheap modification to see what you can get away with. If you're unsure of how to connect to Sisi, it's very simple.

That being said flying this Vagabond is extremely easy, and if you just want to hop straight in to T4s without trying it on Sisi this is probably one of the few ships you could get away with that, as the margin for error is fairly forgiving.

Pretty much every pocket runs like this:

• Spawn in, turn on shield booster, multispec hardener, AB
• Approach Bioadaptive cache (aim off at 30-40 degree angle if there's an Abyssal Overmind, Karen or Deepwatcher spawn due to threat of high alpha)
• Primary significant targets as you fly in (typically you can hit from around 30km): 
• Neuts (in large numbers, your cap can handle one or two smaller neuts if needed)
• Webbers
• Logi/Remote Reps
• Tracking disruption
• All other rats
• Drop drones at 10-15km from targets to minimise travel time and reduce chance of losing drones before you can recall them
• Pop and scoop Bioadaptive Cache as you fly past using HAM launcher while keeping gun DPS on rats
• Leave large targets until you have cleared EWAR and Logi rats (you easily have DPS to kill big EHP spawns so don't feel rushed to engage them)
• Kill large targets once major EWAR threats are dead (if applicable)
• Lead any survivors on a merry run around the pocket and shoot the rats as they chase you.
• If there's any other caches within 30-40km of the gate you can grab these as you fly about
• Once there's only 2-3 small rats left, head for the conduit and orbit at 500m. Recall drones
• Jump through once everything is dead
• Rinse and repeat

Additional steps as required:

• Pop a standard Blue Pill if your tank is struggling and you're getting heavily webbed
• Turn on Assault Damage Control if bleeding armour/wrecking shots knock you into hull
• Overheat shield/AB as required to aid tank/pull range

As you can see, very easy and requires little thought once you've practised a few sites. Obviously if you see big bois like Karen or Overminds, be very careful not to fly straight at them because they have LOLALPHA and can literally two or three shot you.

This is a priority list I stole from a Gila focused Abyss group but it's good for knowing what all the weird names mean.

Seraph pls I have no monies (Cheaper fit)

If you're trying to do T4 Abyss sites on a shoe string and need to be as ISK efficient as possible, welcome. I'm gonna point out the obvious "don't fly what you can't afford to lose" yadda yadda, but you can put together a slightly less blingy Vagabond for around 160mil less, for a total of 500mil. There's also the bonus that you've not got any complex modules fitted so the chance of you getting suicide ganked is very minimal.

Here's the fit:

[Vagabond, Cheap option T4]

Gyrostabilizer II

Gyrostabilizer II

Tracking Enhancer II

Tracking Enhancer II

Assault Damage Control II

Caldari Navy Large Shield Booster

Thukker Large Cap Battery

10MN Afterburner II

Multispectrum Shield Hardener II

220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP M

220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP M

220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP M

Heavy Assault Missile Launcher II, Caldari Navy Mjolnir Heavy Assault Missile

220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP M

220mm Vulcan AutoCannon II, Republic Fleet EMP M

Medium Core Defense Operational Solidifier II

Medium Core Defense Operational Solidifier II

Imperial Navy Acolyte x5

Caldari Navy Mjolnir Heavy Assault Missile x2000

Republic Fleet EMP M x10000

Stats from PYFA, all V skills and Electrical Filament applied

So, what do you lose? Honestly not too much.

Tank drops to 527 ehp/s vs 582 ehp/s

DPS (including drones) drops to 549 from 600

Cap is 53% stable compared to 65% stable (due to extra shield repping rig)

If you're willing to throw two 3% DPS implants in, specifically Med Proj 803 and RF 903 (approx 40mil total) you can knock the DPS back up to 576 including drones which is pretty solid.

Full disclosure, I HAVE NOT FLOWN THIS CHEAPER FIT IN T4s, IT IS THEORY ONLY AS OF WRITING THIS GUIDE.

However with that being said the minor loss in DPS should only effect site times by a minute or so at most (expect average to be around 12-14mins rather than 10-12) and I've never struggled badly with tank to the point where 55ehp/s would make or break a run. If you're concerned that less tank is a really bad idea, you could pop a Synth Blue Pill (300k ISK) which brings you up to 543 ehp/s (only 39 ehp/s different) or even pop a Nugoehuvi Synth Blue Pill (3mil ISK) that gets you to 553 ehp/s, which is only 29 ehp/s less.

There's alot of options with this. Play around in Pyfa/your favourite fitting tool and see what you prefer. Obviously if you have a Mid-Grade Crystal clone lying around, you can just fly with a cheap faction shield booster and get pretty much the same tank out of it as a X-Type SB.

So that's the fit/guide/TED Talk. Let me know in the comments if you have any questions or just shoot me an EVE-Mail if you prefer in-game. Next few days I should have a Part 2 out for the Epic Arc Experiment and I'm currently moving home on two characters so I'll discuss that in a future post also!

Until then, fly safe guys o/