The Magic 15
The Magic 14
This page lists fourteen fundamental skills which apply to every single ship that a player can pilot in eve, from a shuttle to a titan. Each of these skills is worthwhile for a new character to train as early as possible, especially if you haven't decided what type of play style you may be interested in pursuing yet. The scope of this guide is to examine only those skills which provide bonuses to all ships regardless of modules, implants or rigs.
Engineering
CPU Management (1x, 30k ISK)
5% bonus to ship CPU output per skill level. Starting Skill Level: IV - Alpha Clone Limit: V
Basic understanding of spaceship sensory and computer systems.
This skill improves the ability to fit modules which utilize ship CPU enabling more sophisticated modules to be fitted.
Power Grid Management (1x, 30k ISK)
5% bonus to ship power grid output per skill level. Starting Skill Level: IV - Alpha Clone Limit: V
Basic understanding of spaceship energy grid systems.
This skill improves the ability to fit modules which utilize power grid so modules which consume power can be fitted more easily.
Capacitor Management (3x, 200k ISK)
5% bonus to capacitor capacity per skill level. Starting Skill Level: III - Alpha Clone Limit: IV
Skill at regulating your ship's overall energy capacity.
This skill improves the maximum capacity of your ship's capacitor which allows active modules to remain active for longer periods of time before the capacitor is fully drained.
Capacitor Systems Operation (1x, 60k ISK)
5% reduction in capacitor recharge time per skill level. Starting Skill Level: III - Alpha Clone Limit: III
Skill at operating your ship's capacitor, including the use of capacitor boosters and other basic energy modules.
This skill decreases the capacitor recharge time which enables more active modules to remain online for a longer period of time. Sufficient levels of training in this skill will make it easier to fit a ship which is capacitor stable. This means all fitted active modules can remain on indefinitely.
Armor
Mechanics (1x, 30k ISK)
5% bonus to structure hit points per skill level. Starting Skill Level: II or III, depending on race - Alpha Clone Limit: V
Skill at maintaining the mechanical components and structural integrity of a spaceship.
This skill increases the hit points of your ship's structure, thereby increasing its effective hit points.
Hull Upgrades (2x, 85k ISK)
5% bonus to armor hit points per skill level. Starting Skill Level: II or III, depending on race - Alpha Clone Limit: V
Skill at maintaining your ship's armor and installing hull upgrades like expanded cargoholds and inertial stabilizers.
This skill increases the hit points of your ship's armor, thereby increasing its total effective hit points. Training this further to V will allow you to fit modules like Energized Adaptive Nano Membrane II, Armor Explosive Hardener II and the larger T2 plates, which comprise a T2 armor tank.
Shields
Shield Management (3x, 170k ISK)
5% bonus to shield capacity per skill level. Starting Skill Level: I or II, depending on race - Alpha Clone Limit: IV
Skill at regulating a spaceship's shield systems.
This skill increases the hit points of your ship's shields, thereby increasing its total effective hit points.
Shield Operation (1x, 55k ISK)
5% reduction in shield recharge time per skill level. Starting Skill Level: I or II, depending on race - Alpha Clone Limit: IV
Skill at operating a spaceship's shield systems, including the use of shield boosters and other basic shield modules.
This skill decreases the time required for your ship's shields to regenerate which helps to mitigate damage during combat as well as enabling faster recovery when the battle is over.
Targeting
Long Range Targeting (2x, 100k ISK)
5% bonus to targeting range per skill level. Starting Skill Level: I - Alpha Clone Limit: III
Skill at long range targeting.
This skill enables your ship to lock targets at greater distances which can be helpful for kite tanking and sniping.
Signature Analysis (1x, 100k ISK)
5% improved targeting speed per skill level. Starting Skill Level: I - Alpha Clone Limit: III
Skill at operating targeting systems.
This skill enables your ship to lock targets faster which enables you to quickly apply offensive modules and weapons to a hostile ship. It can mean the difference between whether or not you are successful at tackling a ship before it warps away and escapes.
Navigation
Navigation (1x, 30k ISK)
5% bonus to sub-warp ship velocity per skill level. Starting Skill Level: III - Alpha Clone Limit: V
Skill at regulating the power output of ship thrusters.
This skill enables your ship to travel faster at sub-warp speeds which enables you to more effectively chase down fast moving ships, escape more powerful opponents or mitigate damage by speed tanking.
Evasive Maneuvering (2x, 35k ISK)
5% improved ship agility for all ships per skill level. Starting Skill Level: I - Alpha Clone Limit: III
Skill at regulating the power output of ship thrusters.
This skill improves your ship's agility which enables it to turn, accelerate and enter warp more quickly. It can mean the difference between escaping in a pod or losing expensive implants.
Warp Drive Operation (1x, 45k ISK)
Each skill level reduces the capacitor need of initiating warp by 10%. Starting Skill Level: I - Alpha Clone Limit: III
Skill at managing warp drive efficiency.
This skill reduces the capacitor usage when entering warp which can be helpful when traveling across larger systems, especially when warping large ships into a combat scenario. When arriving at a battle it is best to have as much remaining capacitor as possible. Exceptionally large systems, such as some wormhole systems, can cause ships to cap out, forcing your ship to drop out of warp before it arrives at your chosen destination.
Spaceship Command
Spaceship Command (1x, 30k ISK)
2% improved ship agility for all ships per skill level. Starting Skill Level: III - Alpha Clone Limit: IV
The basic operation of spaceships.
This skill improves your ship's agility which enables it to turn, accelerate and enter warp more quickly. It can mean the difference between escaping in a pod or losing expensive implants.
Alpha Clone - not importable as day limited.
Training magic 15 up to Lvl 5 where allowed.
CPU Management V
Power Grid Management V
Capacitor Management IV
Capacitor Systems Operation III
Mechanics V
Hull Upgrades V
Shield Management IV
Shield Operation IV
Long Range Targeting III
Signature Analysis III
Navigation IV
Evasive Maneuvering III
Warp Drive Operation III
Spaceship Command IV
Drones V
The Fifteenth Skill which is Drones
Basic skills:
Drones (1x, 30k ISK): Allows you to operate 1 drone per level (up to 5 at level V). This is the foundation skill of any drone pilot, should be trained to at least level III as a top priority, and to level V soon after (at latest when you start flying ships with 25m3 drone bays or larger).
Combat drone skills:
These skills allow you to use light, medium, heavy, and sentry combat drones, respectively. Level V is needed for Tech 2 and 'Augmented' drones; all others only need level I. Additionally, these skills increase the damage of their respective drone group by 5% per level. Note that you don't need any skills to load drones into your drone bay; you only need the skills to launch and control them.
Improved drone performance skills:
These are the "drone support skills", which improve the performance of your drones. Nearly every skill requires Icon skillbook2.png Drones to level IV or V.
Racial drone specialization:
These skills are requires to use each faction's Tech 2 and 'Augmented' drones. Additionally, they increase the damage of these drones (but not other drone types) by 2% per level. These skillbooks come from LP stores and therefore vary in price; they require Icon skillbook2.png Drones V.
Support drone skills:
These skills unlock the electronic warfare (EW), combat utility, logistics, and mining drones.
Spaceship Command
Lastly, if you're flying a drone boat, training its spaceship command skill will often improve the performance of your drones considerably. For instance, if you're flying a Gallente Vexor cruiser, training Gallente Cruiser gives a 10% bonus per skill level to your drones' damage and hit points. Unfortunately, these bonuses don't transfer to other ship classes or factions - your Gallente Cruiser skill won't help you to fly an Amarr Prophecy battlecruiser, or improve the performance of its drones - but if you're planning to flying a particular ship for a longer period of time, then investing skill training time here can be very beneficial.