Abyssal Deadspace
The Abyss is about actively engaging with PVE, and reaping substantial rewards for that :effort:. We, and EVE generally, lack any centralized, updated, thorough guide on what to fly, how to fly, and what you might encounter while doing PVE in THE ABYSS. The goal of this guide is be useful and accessible, whether you're a cute new bee in an Alpha clone, or a vicious bittervet with more ISK than sense.
Below are some reference links to other resources for flying in the Abyss:
- This is a basic EVE tracker that can be very useful in tracking your progress through the Abyss. It collects data on everyone else doing abyssal runs so you can see what is popular and what isn't in terms of ships and fits. It does not give you much in the way of context so be wary as using it as your only source of information, lest you want lose 144 million ISK Worms in T1 Dark sites.
- https://wiki.eveuniversity.org/Abyssal_Deadspace This is obviously someone in EVE Uni's dissertation on the Abyss but like a lot of information in EVE Uni while it is great at describing the ins and outs of what something is, it falls short in giving solutions on how to actually do it. Still, it's a wealth of information so definitely give it a read.
WHAT IS ABYSSAL DEADSPACE
Abyssal deadspace is (mostly) a series of 3 deadspace rooms in a chain connect by TRANSFER CONDUITs (basically an acceleration gate with a triangle RP name). You can enter abyssal deadspace by using a tradeable item carried in your cargo hold, called an abyssal filament.
Entering abyssal deadspace via filament requires that you are currently in a fleet, and that you use the right number of filaments for the ships you plan on bringing. The current breakdown is this:
- 1 filament = 1 cruiser sized hull (no T3Cs)
- 2 filaments = 1-2 destroyer sized hulls (you CAN use T3Ds)
- 3 filaments = 1-3 frigate sized hulls
The number of filaments is based on hull type. You cannot mix and match, and you have to use the right number of filaments, even if you're only bringing in 1 frigate. Because fuck you.
Abyssal filaments come in 7 tiers, numbering from 0-6. This corresponds to the difficulty of the rats spawned in each room, and the average value of loot you will fail to extract when you die to the timer.
Tier 0 - Tranquil Tier 1 - Calm Tier 2 - Agitated Tier 3 - Fierce Tier 4 - Raging Tier 5 - Chaotic Tier 6 - Cataclysmic
Oh that's right - all abyssal deadspace instances come with a neat 20 minute timer (it shows up on the top left of your screen like normal debuffs). If you don't manage to clear all three rooms of rats and fully extract before the timer is up, you die.
A large part of abyssal deadspace encounters is how random they are - each room is chosen from 12 different seeds of 7 faction rats (see: below), and populated by a semi-random distribution of rats. Each room also has 1 bioadaptive cache (loot box), 0-3 resource caches (many players rightfully ignore these), 0-2 triglavian towers, and 1 TRANSFER or ORIGIN CONDUIT. These are gates to the next rooms in the chain, or back to the spot where you filamented in (respectively).
The structures cannot be destroyed, and the towers can either help you or fuck you over because that's how the abyss do.
NB: the entry point spawned by an abyssal filament doesn't despawn. This means that people can, and fucking will, scan down where you entered the abyss and gank your dumb ass when you extract. https://zkillboard.com/kill/88439908/
Remedy this by doing filaments on grid with some of your most bloodthirsty friends. Preferably at a camp like E3 while also logged in with your capital alt. this way you can camp and make money at the same time!
NB: I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND DOING THIS IN M2- UNLESS YOU WANT TO RISK BEING SMARTBOMBED BY PROTEUSES. But that can also happen on grid at that Imperial Palace so fuckit, I guess.
ABYSSAL WEATHER, EFFECTS, and TOWERS
NdGT_Event-Details-Header-mobile.jpg (I searched for Al Roker but I guess this works too)
By now you’ve probably noticed that there are several different flavors of abyssal deadspace filament. These correspond to the weather and effects present in the rooms you will encounter. Each type of filament offers one penalty, and one bonus. The bonuses are always the same, but the penalties range from 30%-50% in T0-T3 filaments to 50%-70% in T4-T6 filaments.
NB: the weather and effects apply to ALL SHIPS AND DRONES inside the deadspace pocket. That means that your new EM hole is also a new EM hole for that fucking triangle burning through your structure.
