Just a quick note about requesting some balance attention for the Ishkur. Its a solid ship, but in an awkward niche.
With FW plex changes it’s now forced to fight T2 and Pirate frigates, which will either out damage it, or bring some form of ewar advantage which will cripple it.
It is an excellent scramkiter, due to 4 mids, but the 3 lows and Gallente T2 resists make it nearly impossible to leverage its armor repair bonus.
I would suggest the following: -1 High slot, +1 Low slot, and give it a slight speed boost.
The 4th mid would sync very well to enable a SAAR/ADC/Exp Resist/Magstab low rack, allowing it’s tank to be solid, damage to go up (it’s around rifter level now), and be truly a flexible platform.
I’d love to see this happen, and maybe the little result of a drug fuelled three way between the Tristan, Harpy, and Incursus would see the light of day finally.
The Ishkur fills a nice role as a fast hard tackler, and your proposed changes ruin that quite well.
The utility high and 4 mids allow for dual-prop shenanigans with a nos/scram/web that is much more difficult to kill than most other options that are similarly fast without giving up a weapon slot for the nos.
There are only two things needed to fix the Ishkur:
1 - TRISTAN BASE MODEL
2 - a slight speed and agility buff, similar to how the tristan used to be 6 years ago when compared to the incursus.
I should have clarified losing a high/turret for a low, with damage bonus bump to compensate. Even then, that would make it all the better. Extra lows for nano-go-brrrr mods!
Nice solid kill rack! I love underdog ships, and you get a lot more fights in them, but I’d rather see the underused ones given some life with a few changes.
The two “Trash Tier” empire AFs are the Ishkur and Vengeance, both put there for low damage and lack of versatility. At least Vengeance has the ability to become an unkillable brick, but Ishkur is SO close to good, I felt it worthwhile to open the discussion. The active rep bonus just doesn’t work well on it, due to an explosive resist module being required, ADC being desired, and the remaining slot being your hitpoints, with no place for extra damage, tank, or mobility. Ironically, if you swapped the Vengeance and Ishkur’s slot layouts, they would both be excellent.
And with the focus being put in FW space, the timing is just too good to not bring it up!
I’ve always had a fondness for the Tristan.
Probably my favourite t1 frigate. Can be fit so many different ways and still be effective.
Ishkur being a drone boat, kind of makes sense for it to be based off the Tristan hull.
The recent changes the the Ishkur made it way worse. No idea what was being thought with it. All it needed for more CPU.
It doesnt need the utility high either.
Enyo/Incursus brawler and Ishkur/Tristan Kiter.
Right now can only brawl with the Ishkur, which the Enyo does too.
Tristan is great because that little ship can do anything. Its also cheap, and the 3/3/3 layout works well.
Ishkur is very much a ship that is made for some kind of kiting, whether point or scram, but the 3 lows make that a major challenge. Losing a high for a low would help both scram and point fits, and if you really really need a nos, well, drop a gun. I do it on a lot of my fits because utility is valuable. A low for a DDA or Magstab would make up for the gun loss anyhow.