Faction Warfare Complexes

Faction warfare complexes, or "plexes" for short, are key to Minmatar territory control. By capturing complexes, pilots gain loyalty points and contribute to flipping systems for the Minmatar Republic—gaining us more territory and increasing our benefits from faction warfare.

To capture a complex, you need a basic understanding of ships and the faction warfare map. This guide focuses on Minmatar vs Amarr space, where we primarily operate; however, the same information applies to the Gallente vs Caldari warzone.

Faction Warfare Map

The Minmatar Republic is in a constant struggle against the Amarr Empire. By capturing complexes, we eventually siege systems and bring them under Minmatar control. Pilots also gain loyalty points for every complex they capture; LP is the primary income source for many faction warfare pilots.

The first step is understanding the map. Dotlan can look daunting, but it is extremely useful for warzone information: Amarr vs Minmatar Dotlan Map

Systems controlled by Amarr and Caldari are offensive targets for Minmatar. Offensively capturing complexes in those systems yields higher LP and adds victory points to the system (0.7% per complex). Once the bar reaches 100%, we can siege the system.

Faction Warfare Complexes

Below is a table of faction warfare complexes and the ship classes that can capture them. The great balancing factor of faction warfare is that complexes only allow certain ship types: each complex has an upper limit on hull class, but any smaller hull under that limit can also enter.

Complex Name	Capture Time	Maximum Ship Class	Recommended Solo Ship
Scout Outpost	10 Minutes	Frigates	Tristan, Breacher, Rifter
Small Outpost	10 Minutes	Destroyers	Thrasher, Algos
Medium Outpost	15 Minutes	Cruisers	Vexor, Stabber
Large Outpost	15 Minutes	Battleships	Cyclone, Hurricane
Open Outpost	15 Minutes	Anything	Cyclone, Hurricane

Aside from Open and Scout complexes, each size can be either "Navy" or "Advanced", denoted in the site name along with the maximum number of ships that receive full LP payout.

• Navy complexes allow Navy-class ships and below. Stabber Fleet Issues, Thrasher Fleet Issues, and Republic Fleet Firetails are examples of ships allowed in Navy complexes.
• Advanced complexes allow Tech-2, Tech-3, and Pirate ships. Vagabonds, Stilettos, even Marauder-class ships such as the Vargur can enter an Advanced complex of sufficient size.

Examples of Complexes

Complex Type	What Can Enter and Receive Full LP
Small NVY-5	Up to 5 Navy Destroyers or below
Medium ADV-5	Up to 5 Tech-2 Cruisers or below
Large NVY-1	Up to one Navy Battleship or below

Remember: You can take smaller ships into larger plexes. For example, a fleet of 5 Thrashers could capture a Large ADV-5.

• Note: The ship count in a complex name is not a hard cap on entries—it is a cap on how many pilots receive the full LP payout.
• Note: Tech-3 ships (Tactical Destroyers and Strategic Cruisers) count as one size larger than their hull size. A T3 Destroyer can enter Medium and above complexes. A T3 Cruiser can only enter Large and Open complexes.

Offensive Plexes vs Defensive Plexes

Complexes can be run offensively or defensively. Both are necessary for the Minmatar war effort.

• Offensive Plexing (O-Plexing) is done in Amarr-controlled systems. In Amarr systems, you must kill the NPC guarding the site for the timer to tick down. Guardians generally respawn up to 5 times during the plex timer; Amarr NPCs have "Imperial" in their name. The guardian does low DPS but requires minimum DPS to break its tank.

Complex Type	Minimum DPS
Scout	50
Small	100
Medium	200
Large	400
Open	400

• Defensive Plexing (D-Plexing) is done in Minmatar-controlled systems. In Minmatar systems, you do not need to kill the guardian NPC—it is friendly. Minmatar NPCs have "Republic" in their name. Because DPS is not required to tick the timer, it is common to D-plex in smaller hulls. However, these plexes are offensive for the Amarr, so expect fights.

So, Where Do I Plex?

Faction warfare systems fall into three types: Frontline, Command Operations, and Rearguard.

• Frontline systems directly border hostile territory. Minmatar frontlines always sit next to Amarr frontlines.
• Command Operations systems border friendly frontline systems.
• Rearguard systems only border Command Operations and other rearguards.

Plexing in frontlines generates the most LP and victory points, so frontlines are the most common plexing grounds. Command Operations and rearguard systems yield much less of each, but sneaking advantage and contest into enemy rearguards can sometimes produce a surprise system capture.

Important Plex Mechanics

Complex mechanics are straightforward (at least relative to other EVE mechanics), but understanding them greatly improves your success when engaging players inside or around one.

Outside the Plex

Warping to any plex first lands you near an acceleration gate. Keep the following in mind to avoid dying on the gate.

• Activating the gate works like a normal warp. Pre-align to the deadspace pocket once landed to activate the gate instantly.
• Gates have a 90km activation distance. Warping to 100km usually puts you at roughly 90km from the gate, but you might land outside activation range.
• A warp disruptor or scram prevents gate activation.
• The gate is a collidable object. Warping to the plex at 0km means a high chance of getting stuck on the gate when activating it.
• The greater your warp distance, the safer you are. You always land between the gate and your warp origin. Someone warping at 100km from another celestial will end up more than 100km from you.
• You can warp to items on the grid outside the plex.
• Open plexes have no acceleration gate—you land directly inside at your chosen warp distance.

Inside the Plex — General

After activating the acceleration gate, you warp into a deadspace pocket. These rules apply inside:

• You cannot warp to anything on the grid, including objects and fleet members.
• You still cannot warp to anything on the grid even after the plex finishes.
• You can always warp out (unless scrambled or pointed), but warping back returns you to the acceleration gate.
• The central structure has no collision hitbox.
• The capture zone is 30km, but the deadspace pocket is much larger—you can travel several hundred km in any direction.

Inside the Plex — The Landing Beacon

You land within 3500m of the landing beacon at a random spot. If you are already inside the plex, use the landing beacon to position yourself before a fight starts.

• Turn on all brackets in space to see the beacon.
• The beacon is a large collidable object with a small hitbox. You are unlikely to get stuck on it.
• Sitting on the beacon at 0m gives the shortest distance to anyone entering the plex.
• Keep the beacon at the range you want to start any potential fight from.
• The NPC spawns from the central structure at roughly 8000m–12000m from the landing beacon.

Inside the Plex — Landing Mechanics

You land at a random spot within 3500m of the landing beacon. These mechanics are critical:

• Any player inside the plex can see you before you land and can approach or orbit you before you come to a standstill.
• The landing player always decelerates to 0 m/s.
• The landing player has 10 seconds of invulnerability after landing. Any action aside from preheating modules instantly ends invulnerability.
• If you are punching into the plex, use the invulnerability period to orient yourself and analyse the fight. Where is the enemy? Do you burn away or towards them?
• If you control the range of the fight, stay close to the beacon (if you expect help) or burn away (if you expect enemy reinforcements). Allies and enemies always land on the beacon—they cannot choose to land on a friendly already inside.

Faction Warfare Income

Capturing a complex awards loyalty points based on its size. LP can be converted to items sold on the faction warfare NPC market.

Offensive vs Defensive LP (Part II)

LP payouts differ between offensive and defensive plexing. Numbers below are for O-plexing in frontline systems.

Complex Size	LP per Pilot
Scout NVY-1	18500
Small ADV-1	28150
Medium ADV-1	37500
Large ADV-1	45000
Open	45000

• LP from D-plexing in defensive frontlines depends on the system's Contested percentage. The closer a system is to being taken by Amarr, the more LP you gain from D-plexing there. D-plexing in a system with very low contested percentage yields much less LP.
• NVY-1 complexes yield ~20% less LP than ADV-1 complexes.
• NVY-5 and ADV-5 complexes yield the same LP per pilot, but can pay the full value to up to 5 pilots inside. For example, if two pilots finish a Small NVY-1 site, the 28150 LP payout is split. If 5 pilots finish a Medium ADV-5 complex, all 5 receive 37500 LP. Flying with friends really pays off.

Victory Points and Contested Percentage

Capturing a complex earns victory points for the system. VP totals are hidden; they are displayed as the Contested percentage in system status.

Size	VP	Capture Percentage	Time
Scout NVY-1	25	0.03%	10
Small NVY-1/5	50	0.07%	10
Small ADV-1/5	75	0.10%	10
Medium NVY-1/5	150	0.20%	15
Medium ADV-1/5	175	0.23%	15
Large NVY-1/5	250	0.33%	15
Large ADV-1/5	300	0.40%	15
Open	350	0.47%	15
Battlefield	2000	2.67%	30-45

• Higher advantage means more victory points per capture. Larger complexes count more and are extremely important for pushing systems.
• See the Advantage Guide for advantage mechanics.

Infrastructure Hub

At 100% contested, the infrastructure hub becomes vulnerable. Capture a few complexes past 100% before attacking the i-hub, as the enemy will likely try to bring the system back down.

After destroying the infrastructure hub, the system flips sides and victory points reset to 0.

Additional Resources

• Guides index
• Advantage Guide