Table of Contents

Advanced Tackling

If you're looking for the use of warp scramblers and disruptors, see the guide to Tackling


Overview

Interdictors (usually shortened to just dictors) are Tech 2 Destroyers specialized for tackling. They are fairly fast, poorly armored, and mount the firepower of three frigates. Their primary function in combat settings is deployment of warp disruption bubbles from their specialized Interdiction Sphere Launcher module. These temporary bubbles prevent all ships from warping and break ships engaging warp within their 20km radius for 2 minutes.

An interdictor is very much a double edged sword, much more so than any other type of ship in Eve. Interdictors are called primary the second they appear on grid, and get their pods caught in their own bubbles easily. As such, using expensive implants while flying an interdictor is not recommended for beginners and during fleet ops.

The Interdictor skills used to expand on the ones required for Interceptors. However, with the Odyssey release the prerequsites were changed and now form a progression with the skills required to train interdictors being mostly a lower level of those needed to train Interdiction Cruisers. Interceptors, Interdictors and Heavy Interdictors fill a broad spectrum of specialist tackling roles, each with their own strengths and weaknesses.

See Heavy Interdictors and Interdictors.


Skills

At a minimum you will need the following skills to set foot into an Interdictor.

As well as the following to equip and use the interdiction sphere launcher.


General Tips

  1. Here's a basic guide to using an interdictor
    1. Dictor bubble radius is 20km
    2. Account for the ~1.5s delay between launcher activation and bubble drop when moving
    3. Bubble affects ships that have activated warp, whether trying to warp in or out of it.
    4. Know where the undock is for station camping
    5. Bubble the middle of the gate for system gate camping
    6. Place bubbles outside of anticipated smartbomb range, 5km (this is less necessary with Rev 2's bubble HP boost)
  2. Interdictor pilots will have poor Kill/Death ratios. You will be called primary in every engagement with the enemy. You will be the number 1 threat to any enemy fleet, so focus on survivability (read: escape), not damage output. Drop a bubble and jump out or warp away. If you do this and come back to the fight, chances are the enemy will not call you primary straight away.
    1. Practice bubble dropping to get accustomed to the delay. A good dictor pilot knows the time and range to launch for his ship to ensure a perfect placement while passing at top speeds.
    2. Speed is Life -Because you want to live, fit speed mods (overdrives/nanofibers) in the low slots.
    3. Fit a MSE - Medium Shield Extender, this is your buffer. You should have between 1500-2000 HP of shield by comparison with speed rigs my sabre has around 650 HP of armor. Once you get below 50% seriously think about warping away. Once that shield buffer is gone, you will just about be alpha'd.
    4. A MWD is required to escape. Remember, though, that the MWD will drastically increase your sig radius, after leaving your bubble either warp out or transition smoothly into a high transversal orbit. You need to travel faster than 3.5kms (and preferably over 4kms) to speed tank missiles.
  3. Bubble launcher does not auto-repeat. (Rev2.0)
  4. The dictor launcher can fire fast enough to perma-bubble with one launcher.(Rev2.0) Train Interdictors to V to make the most of this.
  5. Be ready, always position yourself on the center of the gate either above or below it and aligned to something so that you can drop your bubble, burn and warp out. When camping a gate do it with your ship directly under the little stargate icon in the middle of the stargate if it's Gallente or Caldari. If it's an Amarr gate, right in the middle of the ring on top of the icon instead. If it's a Smuggler Route gate, a little towards the front of the gate, just in front of the icon.
  6. Cloaked interdictors are great for laying traps (and general survival). If an enemy ganksquad is nearby, consider cloaking a dictor under a gate and have the rest of the fleet >15au away from that gate, outside of scanning range. When the enemy jumps in, the dictor decloaks, drops a bubble and then jumps out. The rest of our gang can then warp in to bookmarks above/below the gate and rape them. Even if the gang has a cov ops scout, they will think its clear and jump in. (note: does not work anymore as of Crucible as launching a bubble agresses you)
  7. You might want wrecks on your overview; you're going to want to use them as warp-ins to bubble the rest of the enemy fleet. <i>see How to be a Hero</i>

About the Bubble (Warp Disrupt Probe)

  1. It cannot be targeted, thus it is vulnerable only to bombs and smartbombs. Bubbles have 1000 hitpoints with no resists (revelations 2)
  2. Launching a bubble now counts as aggression AND once someone tries to warp inside your bubble, you will become aggressed.
  3. Interdictor bubbles cannot be deployed outside of 0.0 space.
  4. Bubbles function with an anchored bubble nearby.
  5. Bubbles stop cap ships in them from cyno-ing out.
  6. Bubbles will cancel warps in-progress in the same way as warp scrambler modules
  7. Bubbles will NOT prevent emergency warps (from logging off) if they (the bubble) are deployed AFTER the ctrl-q / log off.
  8. Bubbles last for 2 minutes, during that time they act just like Warp Disruptors, but will only catch ships that initiated warp AFTER the dictor bubble was deployed.

Fleet ops

  1. Establish your Fleet Commander's bubbling policy. Some will tell you to bubble anything you can, others want only sniping bs's, others want you to bubble only on order. A bubble where your FC doesn't expect one can get your gang caught and killed.
  2. Always know where the Fleet Commanders safe warp to spot will be. Often this a POS or a spot near the Sun. This can be tricky, but you must ensure that your bubble would not be in line with this safe spot and prevent your fleet from warping out. They will get sucked into your bubble.
  3. After-warp bubble deployment in fleet fights can be hairy, since lag and timing issues might drop your bubble too far from the enemy.
  4. You will receive some angst from fellow gang mates when you get them killed with your bubbles. Take it in stride but learn from your mistakes.
  5. Get a microphone for TS; you're going to be given specific orders and your FC will want a response.

Advanced/Comedic Techniques

  1. Bubble - The Best way to catch ships.
  2. The Jump and Bubble - Simple as it sounds. You don't aggress any more by bubbling, so simply bubble up and jump.
  3. Using your bubble like an anchor'd bubble. When a hostile enters local but not from your gate, bubble then move to the edge of your bubble that is facing the gate they came from, if possible get others to assign you drones. This will help in decloaking covops. If you are doing this solo, be aligned, at 3/4 speed, and constantly spamming scan. The worst thing you can catch will be a rapier (follow'd by other recons), but the decloak calibration should be enough for you to escape to warp. Everything else dangerous you will be able to scan before it is caught. I don't know if this was ever the case and was stealth patched or was never the case but dictor bubbles now pull anywhere ongrid (I've personally confirmed this, anchored bubbles still have a limit of 150km). It is just like using a medium anchor'd bubble, except 1. the bubble only lasts 2 minutes,2. will only catch things that initiate warp AFTER bubble is deployed and 3. will give you a 30sec aggression timer whenever someone tries to warp within your bubble or if they land on the edge of it.
  4. Bubble the whole fleet (with a double-bubble dictor): Every sniping BS fleet aligns on something and its easy to see what it is. When you get a warpin and land at the enemy fleet Drop your bubble and align on the same thing they are. Drop your second bubble just infront of them so that they are forced to travel through the whole thing. Warp-out, jesusfuckdontdie.
  5. Delay bubbling: A technique pioneered by BlackOps; used when gatecamping, often useful for catching small ships. When the target jumps through the gate, the dictor waits until it decloaks before bubbling. Often, a person jumping through a gate into a gatecamp will try to warp away immediately if they see they're in a bubble, especially if they're in a small, fast ship. Then, when the dictor drops his bubble, not only will the attempt to warp be aborted, the person will also be aggressed and thus unable to burn back to the gate to jump through. Often, the person falling for the delay bubble trick will be confused for a couple of seconds when the warp fails, until he notices the bubble - which is all the time you need to tackle him. The weakness of delay bubbling is that unless the dictor pilot is paying close attention, or if the system is considerably lagged, the bubble will be dropped too late to catch the target.
  6. Screening: This is a useful technique for stranding baitships (or faster tackling ships) away from their main gang and killing them before their support arrives. Two interdictors, a high dps gang composition, good timing, and people who know what the fuck they are doing are required. Setup: First the friendly gang plays chicken by running from the hostile gang and jumping into the next system. After jumping in, Dictor A, and the bulk of the friendly gang warps to the next gate at 50km. Dictor B waits for Dictor A to land on-grid then warps to Dictor A at 100km. The rest of the friendly gang gets to a safe engagement range to the sides or behind Dictor A. Execution: When the target ship enters system, Dictor A drops his bubble. Now the enemy ship to be killed will be caught 50km off the gate in bubble A (assuming they are being aggressive and warping blindly to the next gate). As soon as the rest of the hostile gang enters system Dictor B drops his bubble and gets the hell out. The rest of the hostile gang will land in bubble B and be trapped 100km from the first ship, allowing the mark to be quickly snuffed-out without help from his buddies. Ships burning towards the stranded ship can be picked-off as well.
  7. Speed Bumps: You can slow down a pursuing enemy gang by bubbling. This is accomplished three ways. The safest method for the interdictor, and more importantly the friendly gang, is to bubble off of the “exit” gate at 100km. Simply warp to the next gate at a 100km, making-sure no friendlies are behind you, and drop your bubble. Now burn the hell out of the bubble, and warp out (or cloak). The enemy fleet will have to burn out to the gate, or warp to a planet and warp back in to the gate. You, in your dictor, are now trapped in-system, but you saved the day. Another method is to bubble the exit gate directly (or at a short distance such as 20), allowing the dictor to bubble and then burn to, and jump through the next gate. The pursuing gang will now have to traverse the bubble to make it to the gate. The disadvantage to this method is that it is really only effective on slow ships, and the interdictor runs the risk of being aggressed and stranded on the gate. The third method is to bubble the Entrance Gate upon loading system. This is the riskiest method and has the least payoff. Burn back to the gate and bubble (again making sure that you bubble no friendlies), now burn out and warp away. This is a great way to get yourself accidentally aggressed by a late-warping gangmate and potentially get yourself, or your gangmates killed. Generally speaking, don't do it.
  8. Probing Dictor: By fitting two Co-Processor II's you can squeeze a Bubble launcher and an Expended Probe Launcher on a Heretic and still have room for a Microwarpdrive. You do not get any scan bonuses but if you have four Combat Scan Probes out set up with 1 or 0,5 AU range you will get 100% hits on battleship on grid easily. Which means you'll be able to warp to that sniper fleet about 8 seconds after they appear on grid to bubble them. Since you have no tank at all you'll very likely die but you cannot be popped on the way in. An Onyx can do the same thing, making it the coolest of all hictors (khefron sperg in 3… 2… 1…).

How to be the Hero

I am adding this because dictors command so much power in Fleet battles. You are the Number One Threat to the enemy fleet, and you will be treated as such (read: primaried). At the same time, you can be a hero and single handedly turn a blueballs fleet encounter into a full on rape. Follow these simple guidelines:

  1. Accept the fact that you are already dead. Most of the time you will die, so you must make sure you cause maximum anguish to the enemy.
  2. Not all fleet fights happen at or beyond 150Km. When the battleships are given a warpin, warp in at 50Km or more. If you judge your warp correctly, you will exit warp beyond most enemy optimals and be more than 150Km from their fleet. (this is potentially terrible advice, you could warp in closer to the enemy fleet depending on where the warpin is setup at, please use judgment/learn from experience)

Very true. A certain amount of spatial awareness is required to pull this off. Coming in with the fleet then burning out of range then cloaking is also a decent tactic provided you don't get popped.

  1. Align towards the enemy fleet with your MWD off and wait for something to pop.
  2. As soon as a wreck appears in the enemy fleet, warp to it at zero and launch your bubble. Immediately align to a warpout and hit the MWD. You will most likely die, but you will also have the satisfaction of hearing the FC talk over TS about how good that bubble was and you will know that you managed to completely fuck a 100 man BS fleet in the process.
  3. If you survive, you are a lucky bastard. If you die, go fit another dictor, then do it all over again. Your job is to be a goddamn kamikaze and cause the enemy to be bubbled and fucked EVERY FIGHT.

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