<b>Minmatar Cruiser bonuses (per skill level):</b><br>7.5% bonus to Medium Projectile Turret rate of fire<br>10% bonus to Medium Projectile Turret falloff<br>
1,200 GJ
420 m³
Cruiser
340
25 m³
Minmatar Republic
Standard Cruisers
6
Stabber Class
0.5
The Stabber is the mainstay of the Minmatar fleet. It is light and extremely fast, yet surprisingly powerful, with a wide variety of weapons. It is one of few Minmatar vessels that have reached popularity outside Minmatar space.
The Stabber is the fastest T1 cruiser, with a bonus that significantly boosts the range of projectile weapons. This is a good ship for pilots interested in "speed tanking" and/or in kiting tactics.
In PvP fleets the Stabber can be fitted as a large tackler or an anti-frigate, anti-destroyer platform, or as mobile DPS. For solo and small-gang PvP the Stabber can be fitted to kite around the edge of warp disruption range, outrunning and outranging anything it can't out-damage.
A competently-piloted Stabber can cope with light PvE, such as Level 2 combat missions, but the Rupture is more durable and is likely to be a more optimal and forgiving choice for PvE.
Skills
As a T1 combat cruiser, the Stabber is a relatively non-specialized ship which benefits from the same broad set of support skills that help with most ships; Minmatar Cruiser and skills relevant to projectile turrets will obviously have a big influence on its abilities.
When flown in PvP fitted for its archetypal kiting role, though, some skills will synergize particularly well with the ship:
Navigation skills help the Stabber dictate range on its opponents:
Navigation: 5% faster sub-warp speed per level
Acceleration Control: 5% bonus to the speed increase from afterburners and MWDs per level
Evasive Maneuvering: 5% bonus to agility per level
Spaceship Command: 2% bonus to agility per level
Most gunnery skills help the Stabber, but two things are especially relevant:
Trajectory Analysis: 5% bonus per level to falloff; falloff is the Stabber's great strength and more of it is good
The necessary skills to fit T2 medium autocannon. Only T2 autocannon can load the Barrage M ammunition which adds even more falloff. T2 autocannon are not necessary to begin flying the Stabber, but they are a good medium-term goal for a pilot flying it in PvP, and they will be useful on many other Minmatar ships.
T1 cruisers are also the point at which most growing pilots begin to fly ships which can launch a full flight of five drones; the Stabber is one such ship, and pilots beginning to fly cruisers will want to get to Drones IV or (better) V fairly quickly. Five light drones add extra mobile and precise DPS to the ship and are useful for dealing with frigates and enemy drones.
Tactics
Compared to its sibling the Rupture, the Stabber trades out some durability and one projectile DPS bonus in return for a higher base speed and an unusual bonus to projectile turret falloff. The falloff bonus pushes the falloff range on 425mm autocannon out to about 26km with close-range ammo when a pilot has Minmatar Cruiser V. T2 425mm autocannon loaded with the special T2 ammo Barrage can achieve a falloff of about 40km; with short-range ammo loaded, they can reach out to the edge of warp disruption range. The practical upshot of this combination of range and speed is that an autocannon-fit Stabber can kite effectively at the edge of warp disruptor range (24km); it doesn't have the highest on-paper DPS, but—especially with Barrage—it can apply meaningful DPS at a range where other ships with medium-sized close-range weapons will struggle. Since it has autocannon, the kiting Stabber can easily switch to short-range, high-damage ammo to close in on frigates and destroyers, or to fly in "under the guns" of larger opponents with larger, slow-tracking weapons.
Alongside autocannon, a typical kiting Stabber mounts a light shield buffer tank, a long point, a MWD, and some combination of modules to enhance speed, agility, range, and damage in the low slots. Flying one can provide some practice in kiting and manual piloting, skills which transfer well to more powerful (and more expensive) versions of the same archetype, the Vagabond and the Cynabal. The Stabber can also be fitted counter-intuitively to brawl with a warp scrambler; it lacks the Rupture's projectile DPS potential, but can surprise enemies who think of it as a fragile kiting ship. With excellent fitting skills, Dual 180mm Autocannon, and some fitting modules, the Stabber can even fit an X-Large Ancillary Shield Booster for a shocking burst active tank. The spare high slots are usually filled with either capacitor warfare modules, or missile launchers.
The Stabber also sees niche use, fitted with an oversized afterburner, as an ideal cheap, fast ship for stealing from ESS banks in sovereign nullsec.
