Almost trained into the rattlesnake for lvl 4 missions and maybe when i am more confident some ded sites, my questions are should i am to get a stable fit? and also should i use rapid heavy missile launchers or cruise.
what i have come up with so far is this stable fit
[Rattlesnake, *Rattlesnake lvl 4]
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Ballistic Control System II
Ballistic Control System II
Shield Power Relay II
Shield Power Relay II
Damage Control II
EM Ward Field II
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
Large Shield Extender II
Large Shield Extender II
Large Shield Extender II
Large Shield Extender II
Rapid Heavy Missile Launcher II
Rapid Heavy Missile Launcher II
Rapid Heavy Missile Launcher II
Rapid Heavy Missile Launcher II
Rapid Heavy Missile Launcher II
Large Core Defense Field Extender II
Large Core Defense Field Extender II
Large Core Defense Field Extender II
Garde II x2
Scourge Fury Heavy Missile x250
and this unstable fit
[Rattlesnake, *Rattlesnake lvl 4]
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Ballistic Control System II
Ballistic Control System II
Shield Power Relay II
Shield Power Relay II
Damage Control II
EM Ward Field II
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
Large Shield Extender II
Large Shield Extender II
Large Shield Extender II
Large Shield Extender II
Rapid Heavy Missile Launcher II
Rapid Heavy Missile Launcher II
Rapid Heavy Missile Launcher II
Rapid Heavy Missile Launcher II
Rapid Heavy Missile Launcher II
Large Core Defense Field Extender II
Large Core Defense Field Extender II
Large Core Defense Field Extender II
Garde II x2
Scourge Fury Heavy Missile x250
both fits using rapid heavy’s. Would i be better off fitting a target painter on these fits
•You will want Large Core Defense Field Purgers as rigs for a passive fit. Otherwise you will be hard-pressed to rep enough passive shield to stay alive. Also note that passive fits can be by their very nature cap unstable (that’s ok).
• You don’t need a target painter (or missile guidance computer) with rapid heavy missile launchers. However, with a passive fit you will find the missile range lacking and may want to look at cruiser missiles instead.
• Three C3-X hybrid ballistic controls will give you a lot more damage than three specific T2 ones for drones and missiles.
• You will want to fit some variant of a 500MN microwarpdrive for in-mission gate travel (drop one large shield extender).
• An ideal mix of drones will consist of Curators, Wardens and Gardes so you can apply specific damage types against various NPCs. You will also want a Drone Link Augmentor II in your spare high slot to extend drone operational range.
There are two ways to fit a Rattlesnake: Active and Passive (the latter being your fit). Either are perfectly acceptable, although you will be able to deliver more damage and application with an active fit over a passive one. A passive fit is a good way to ease into the Rattlesnake, though. Good luck!
Rattlesnake is a great mission runner, my preference is a passive tanked MJD sniper.
Use the Micro Jump Drive to pull range - cruise missiles and Wardens can hit from beyond 100Km. The sentries apply well to small targets as long as they are flying straight toward you ( no tracking issues). If the rats start getting close, pick up your drones and jump again. With a bit of practice you can use the MJD to move around the grid quite effectively.
The Rattlesnake can also be used as a brawler - fit with torpedoes or rapid heavy launchers and a Gecko (or pair of heavy drones). I have no experience with this configuration but would expect application for the torpedoes or reload time for the rapid heavies to be a source of frustration.
I do have experience using Gila for level 4 missions and that is a lot of fun. A couple of augmented medium drones with the 500% role bonus can melt battleships quickly and are practically invulnerable. Meanwhile, the Gila is small enough and fast enough to speed/sig tank most incoming damage from battleships.
Just some further observations to expand on what they are saying. These are only observations, not criticisms, since I don’t know what your goals for the fit are or what your flight style will be.
This fit has a ton of tank it in, but I think will be light on damage application, that might work against you. It is a viable strategy to leave some tank on the table if you can get your DPS up to kill things faster to mitigate incoming damage. The LSEs are also raising your sig, so you will actually take more incoming damage from BSs and such, so it might be a wash.
You are likely to miss having a prop mod as well. The Rattler is really slow, so that might start to annoy you on some of those mission sites, particularly as this appears to be more of a mid-range/brawler fit.
Last, if you are doing missions, consider swapping out the AIFs for damage-specific mods depending on the mission. More micromanagement, but more effective.
When I fly a rattler I prefer to use double prop, MJD + MWD, and active tank. I use a clone with missle implants, misle precision (explosion radius, etc.) + velocity.
Tank is active usually omni so no need to swap between missions.
DPS is focused on cruise missles. With a single missle comp + precision script I can melt anything really quick at MJD range, sentries are there just to support the main DPS. Its not optimal on paper but works great. I can reload to precision missles and kill all frigates even at point blank range, then swap again and kill everything destroyer+ size.
My usual is to warp in, go right into the biggest concentration of rats or position myself inbetween all groups, drop MTU and start poudning away, when or IF I get to about half tank I MJD away and snipe while my MTU collects everything and I rep.
Things of note: I don’t use just sentries. The rattler is slow but even in a rattler I want to often stay moving and then picking up sentries is a huge timesink, so I use heavies as well. Also if a heavy starts to get too much damage, you can just recall it and have it come back, whereas a sentry you have to go pick it up or lose it.
These types of fits are not optimal on paper (or in simulator or whatever fitting tool you use) but work out great in practice, their flexibility comes from minimizing travel, you don’t have to waste time picking up sentries, you don’t waste time between missions refitting or waste cargo space with modules and depot to refit, you have absolute zero trouble vs frigates even at point blank ranges and sniping long range and then killing any size hull. They do take a little bit longer to actually kill all the rats in a pocket, but then they more then make up for it and come ahead when running multiple sites of whatever type in a row.
I love the Rattlesnake. It’s a poor man’s marauder. I’ve always been a fan of a cap stable active tank fit version:
[Rattlesnake, Cap Stable Active Tank]
Drone Damage Amplifier II
Ballistic Control System II
Ballistic Control System II
Capacitor Flux Coil II
Capacitor Flux Coil II
Capacitor Flux Coil II
Gist X-Type Shield Boost Amplifier
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
Pith X-Type X-Large Shield Booster
Gist X-Type 100MN Afterburner
Adaptive Invulnerability Field II
Cap Recharger II
Cap Recharger II
Rapid Heavy Missile Launcher II, Caldari Navy Inferno Heavy Missile
Rapid Heavy Missile Launcher II, Caldari Navy Inferno Heavy Missile
Rapid Heavy Missile Launcher II, Caldari Navy Inferno Heavy Missile
Rapid Heavy Missile Launcher II, Caldari Navy Inferno Heavy Missile
Rapid Heavy Missile Launcher II, Caldari Navy Inferno Heavy Missile
Small Tractor Beam I
Large Capacitor Control Circuit II
Large Capacitor Control Circuit I
Large Capacitor Control Circuit I
Federation Navy Hobgoblin x5
Salvage Drone I x5
Hornet EC-300 x5
Gecko x1
With only moderate skills, you can get 1000+ DPS and 1000+ EHP/s without drugs or implants (more with additional bling). I used to run C3 wormholes with this fit and face tank all of the L4s. For a little extra safety/maneuverability in a pocket, you can replace one of the invulnerability fields with an MJD. Drop an MTU and you can salvage as you go. I’ve always preferred face tanking with RHMLs, but it adapts well to a sniper fit with cruise missiles, an MJD and sentry drones - a little less tank and DPS but super safe. You almost can’t lose one of these in an L4 without doing something really boneheaded.
Off topic but I used to use a rattler for missions but I switched to the praxis for the expanded drone capabilities and extra slots for tracking/presicion/drone range and speed.
People say its short on cpu but its really just heavy on slots.
you will find this to be the case lol. BS level PVE smashes them faster for more isk. Not as fun though imo. Gila was more fun for me than Rattler. I prefer tengu over golem/cnr as well for the fun factor.
Well said. I keep a couple of different fits- the sniper Rattler is for blowing through sites quickly almost on autopilot while I watch TV, the Tengu/Gila comes out if I want to be more active and zip around (but take a bit longer to clear the site).
Nothing wrong with doing either one depending on what kind of mood you’re in
OP if you want to go active shield tank all you need is 70% omni and a medium pith shield booster runing 24/7 for tank. Use sentries at range to instant blap frigs, cruise missiles for battleships and battlecruisers. If you get constant drone aggro swap to navy issue drones. They have slightly less dps but more tracking for application and a much heftier tank. Also Faction cruise > Precision Cruise if you have to swap out from fury to kill small stuff.
Other than that don’t mess up your triggers (google the mission online) and your golden.
