Wormhole types

Inside the wormhole, there is a 'class' of the wormhole, like C5. You can look up the system name, such as J100015, to figure out the class, OR you can look at the 'region' it is.  A means Class 1 (C1), while F means Class 6 (C6).  Our previously mentioned J100015 is in C-R00015, so is a C3. Each can give bonuses or negatives based on that class too, so some are better for shields while others are better for speed tanking, etc.  These appear near your capacitor.   The higher the class, the more likely you're going to have major effects, also to have stronger spawns.  All wormholes have the option for 'statics', like they always link to certain space.  Once you roll that static, you find another location similar to the previous one.  http://anoik.is/systems has the list of systems where their static goes to.

C1 thru C3 is better suited for smaller ships, they will have smaller sites.  They often have gas sites and safe Exploration sites.  There are a lot of wormhole corps living in small sites, and just look for the signs.

C6's MAJORLY change your ship performance, so pay attention to the bonuses you receive!  You can even get double your DPS!

The larger wormholes might be occupied by a larger member corporation.  The member corporation might leave ships, Player Owned Stations (POS), or more likely citadels.  Any abandoned citadel in K-space drops all their loot if it dies, while all citadels in J-space drop all their loot when they die.  This type of life style is not suited for people who come and go from the game for this reason.

Loot the site

You have to loot the site and get it back to empire!   Using a jita alt helps here quite a bit.  Because you're constantly scanning holes, it's usually easy to drop the loot off in low or high sec.

Rykki’s Guide

However, something I will put up front and center is this document:  https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vSaCHnBRDw8Ki6nuamMzQv3InN978Zh7F6RcwlYdJHnlQkDrrdz5zrG3Of_8eoyxeqJimMHt9-7GjLn/pubhtml# 

That document is one of the many continuations of Rykki’s Guide, a compilation of wormhole combat site data.  There are several sources out there for this data, but this is my preferred guide.  We will cover this information more later, but I just wanted to drop the link here in case this is what anyone was looking for.  Thank you to Grubu aka @popup for maintaining this!

Ships and Fits

Compared to other types of ratting, wormhole ratting requires very specialized fits because of the sites’ unique properties discussed above.  However, the most important thing is to be able to tank the required damage and neut pressure for the sites you wish to run.  Reference Rykki’s Guide for this info.

For C2 ratting you can use a Drake, but again, C2 ratting is not recommended compared to C3.  You can find one here:  https://ashyin.space/how-2-krab-3-low-class-sites/ 

C3 Ratting

For C3 ratting, you have several choices.  These are not the only options, but they are the most common.  However, a lot of different things work here if you can meet the tank, capacitor, and damage requirements.  I personally use a fit for C3 ratting that I have never seen referenced anywhere else, but it gets the job done.

The first and perhaps most common option is a Praxis.  There is no single “best” C3 Praxis fit because different fits have different strengths and weaknesses.  In general, your fit will involve Rapid Heavy Missile Launchers and some drones with an active shield tank, and exactly how you fit it is a balance between damage, cap stability, and shield reps.  Some fits have very high shield reps but cannot run them constantly because they are not cap stable versus site neuts.  Others forgo cap stability for more damage.  Figure out what works for you, but here are a couple examples:  (post when I get a chance)

• Cruise missiles used to be common but their application versus C3 sites, which are mostly composed of cruisers, is rather poor.  For this reason RHML is generally a better option.

The Praxis’ main strengths are its tank and its price.  A RHML Praxis, when factoring in the RHML’s long reload time, has similar or less DPS to other C3 ratting options.  However, it has the best tank of all of them and is relatively cheap.

The second option is a Gila.  A C3 Gila has relatively low skill requirements and although it is a bit more expensive than a Praxis, it is also more agile and can reach higher DPS numbers due to the RHML’s reload time.  A C3 Gila fit will almost always be a passive fit with Rapid Light Missile Launchers and Hammerhead drones.  (ed: the Gila is particularly expensive right now)

There are basically two styles within this category.  One is to straight up tank the site with passive regen; shield amplifiers and 3 Shield Power Relays can tank the full site damage.  You can drop a mobile depot and refit Shield Power Relays for Drone Damage Amps and back again as the waves permit in order to keep your damage up when you don’t need the full amount of regen.  You can find such a fit here: https://ashyin.space/how-2-krab-3-low-class-sites/

• The Rattlesnake at this link is technically an option but it’s way too expensive in my opinion.

The other style is to sig tank the site.  This will involve a fit that doesn’t technically meet the site breakpoints, but can mitigate damage by keeping speed and transversal up.  In particular, you will want to fly to a specific location on the site to be on top of high pressure waves when they spawn; that way you can get yourself in orbit around the battleship even if you get webbed.  This video shows how to do this on a Fortification Frontier Stronghold as well as the associated fit:  https://youtu.be/xZeW2vSH-uM 

C3 Ratting (cont)

This sig tanking technique will be important for the third C3 ratting option as well.  Also, there is an image album out there of the wave spawn locations for every single wormhole combat site, allowing you to learn where to properly “anchor” for each site.  I found it once and have never been able to find it again.  If someone finds this and sends me the link (Discord: wavec022) I will give them a 50 PLEX bounty (ed: first person only, was 500!), and it will be added to this guide.

The main strength of the Gila is the combination of SP requirement, general performance, and agility.  If something suspicious shows up on D-scan, it will be faster to get a Gila out of the site than a Praxis.  Additionally, if you are sig tanking, you will be further from the warp-in so if someone warps on you uncloaked then they will land a good distance from you.  Other than that, the Gila is just an all around solid option for C3 sites especially with the sig tanking method. 

The third option for C3 ratting is a Strategic Cruiser.  All four of the T3Cs can be fit to run C3 sites fairly easily.  Again, there are some variants for exactly how you want to fit them, but just use the site breakpoints as a guide.  Sig tanking with T3Cs is more common and requires less precision than with the Gila fit because it is easier to fit a more respectable tank while not sacrificing on damage.  Just like with anything T3C related, fitting is a personal endeavor and also factors in how much you want to spend on it.  Ashy’s Fit Kitchen articles for each T3C also include a C3 fit for them; here is the one for the Tengu:  https://ashyin.space/fit-kitchen-the-tengu/ 

The main benefits of a T3C are the general performance that comes with being a T3C, being able to fit a cloak and probes, and the psychological factor of being a T3C on D-scan.  The T3C is my preferred ship for day-tripping because of the cloak and probes, and it will also generally be the hardest to catch of the three ships listed.  However, it is pretty expensive and also has a higher skill requirement than the other two.

How to Find “Good Sites”

This portion is a bit more subjective but here is what I have learned regarding how to find better / more sites.

Wormhole systems adhere to standard cosmic signature mechanics, meaning that once a site is cleared it will immediately respawn elsewhere in the same constellation.  Although wormholes aren’t linked to the rest of the constellation via stargates, they do indeed have a constellation assignment that you can see in the system info.  Because some systems in a given constellation are inhabited or more heavily traveled, their sites will get cleared out, and respawns tend to stack up in other empty systems.

The #1 factor, I have found, that categorizes these empty/undesirable systems is a lowsec static.  I have both lived in a C3 and lived in lowsec looking to C3 daytrip, and I found my average daily income to be higher with the daytripping strategy.  Wormhole groups like highsec statics for logistics and nullsec statics for content, and day trippers will be most common from highsec or nullsec.  Lowsec static wormholes on the other hand are often ghost towns full of sites, and your main dangers will be scouts from other connections within the hole, or a local who comes across the hole after you do.  So if you’re not ready to commit to living in a wormhole, or just want to try out wormhole ratting for a change of pace, consider basing out of lowsec or HS/Null next to lowsec and daytripping from there.

Also, if you are living in a wormhole, most of your content will come from your static than from your home hole.  This is because you can reroll the static if it is inhabited, doesn’t have many sites, or you clear all the sites.  For this reason, many wormhole groups will elect to live in C2s or C4s that have C3 and/or C5 statics.