Imperial Navy Slicer

The Slicer is the Imperial Navy's pride and joy, and one of its biggest weapons in the continual fight against Matari insurgents. Boasting tremendous range and versatility in equipment fittings, a great deal of armor strength and a powerful capacitor, the skilled Slicer pilot is able to take out most frigates with ease.

I mentioned the slicer previously in my discussion of the crusader. These two ships are similar in a lot of ways, including looks! Slot layout is similar, with the slicer receiving an extra low for a 3/2/5 layout (like the fire-tail, it receives a large turret bonus to bring damage in line - 25% per level in this case). What makes the slicer interesting is its optimal range bonus; pulse lasers already have very good optimal range for a close ranged weapon system thanks to the wonder that is scorch crystals, and on the slicer this only gets better. An unmodified slicer can already hit out to about 15km at optimal, and with a few rigs or tracking enhancers that can be pushed out to over 20km!

This excellent range gives rise to the most common slicer variant - the kiting slicer. These will typically be MWD fit, with beefed up optimal range (about 20km give or take) and a good damage output. The rest of the fit may vary, from pure speed (on the basis that their best chance of survival is in not getting caught in the first place) from moderately tanky (which while reducing kiting ability, gives the ship the ability to see off many of the ships which could potentially tackle it. Unlike the crusader, the slicer will be receiving the full signature radius bloom from running a MWD, so larger ships may simply be able to pick them off as they try to kite.

Some pilots choose to fly the slicer as a brawler, with the 5th low allowing for additional tank or gank compared to the crusader. While you're not going to see anything like the tank of the Amarr assault frigs, a fairly moderate active tank (or mix of active and buffer) is possible. The slicer also has a free high slot which it can potentially use for a NOS to keep that tank going - due to a weak power-grid, this is uncommon on kiting setups due to the need for a MWD and higher caliber weapons.

A MWD slicer will naturally do between 3 and 4km/s, and with overheat it can push that up to nearly 6km/s. Unless you can handily outrun that speed, I recommend not chasing a MWD slicer directly - try to get them close to you instead, either through manual piloting or by having them chase you in warp. The DPS output of the slicer is quite surprising even with scorch, and by chasing from 20km you're handing them a significant advantage - even if you're able to close the distance the chances are you'll have taken significant damage by the time you've done so. At close range the slicer puts out a lot of damage, and thanks to its choice of weapon system it can switch between scorch and multi-frequency without needing to wait and reload. Even if you're able to catch a kiting slicer, the fight is by no means over. Brawling slicers tend to do slightly less damage due to using their low slots for tank, but you can still expect quite a tough fight.

Since the slicer can only deal EM damage (with some thermal), an armor tanked ship or Minmatar t2 will generally perform well against it - t1 shield tankers should probably avoid this fight unless you're feeling confident. If the slicer is tanked it will generally be in armor, so explosive or kinetic damage is a good choice. Remember that the slicer doesn't receive a tracking bonus in close, and the high caliber turrets of a kiting slicer may be avoidable at close range - convenient given that the slicer often fits a MWD and long point and can't field a web, generally giving you the advantage in range control if you're able to scram it. The slicer is also reliant on cap for both weapons and tank (if it has one), and combined with an MWD and long point this can make the slicer a very cap-intensive ship to fly. If you have a neut, it may serve you well in this fight - particularly if the slicer has already burnt cap MWDing around. That said, most fights involving a slicer are over before a single small neut would have begun to make an impact.

Amarr Frigate Skill Bonuses (Per Skill Level):

• 10% bonus to Small Energy Turret optimal range
• 25% bonus to Small Energy Turret damage

• Amarr Frigate II
  • Spaceship Command I

[Imperial Navy Slicer, Escort Slicer]
Small Focused Pulse Laser II
Small Knave Scoped Energy Nosferatu
Small Focused Pulse Laser II

Initiated Compact Warp Disruptor
1MN Afterburner II

Heat Sink II
Multispectrum Coating II
Small Ancillary Armor Repairer
200mm Rolled Tungsten Compact Plates
IFFA Compact Damage Control

Small Energy Burst Aerator I
Small Energy Metastasis Adjuster I
Small Energy Locus Coordinator I



Imperial Navy Multifrequency S x1
Nanite Repair Paste x1

[Imperial Navy Slicer, Solo PvP Pulse]
Small Focused Pulse Laser II
Small Focused Pulse Laser II

Warp Disruptor II
5MN Y-T8 Compact Microwarpdrive

Nanofiber Internal Structure II
Nanofiber Internal Structure II
Small Ancillary Armor Repairer
Heat Sink II
Heat Sink II

Small Energy Locus Coordinator I
Small Energy Locus Coordinator II
Small Energy Locus Coordinator II



Gleam S x2
Scorch S x2
Imperial Navy Multifrequency S x2
Nanite Repair Paste x16

[Imperial Navy Slicer, Solo PvP Beam]
Small Focused Beam Laser II
Small Focused Beam Laser II

Warp Disruptor II
5MN Cold-Gas Enduring Microwarpdrive

Nanofiber Internal Structure II
Nanofiber Internal Structure II
Extruded Compact Heat Sink
Extruded Compact Heat Sink
Small Ancillary Armor Repairer

Small Ionic Field Projector II
Small Energy Locus Coordinator II
Small Energy Locus Coordinator II



Aurora S x2
Imperial Navy Multifrequency S x2
Gleam S x2
Imperial Navy Xray S x2
Imperial Navy Standard S x2
Nanite Repair Paste x32