Mechanics Monday: Bubbles – Mobile Warp Disruptor Bubbles + HICs + DICs

If you've ever been to Null Sec you know what bubbles are. But for those who haven't yet ventured into the lawless areas of EVE, bubbles are deployable or projectable warp disrupting bubbles. Basically it's a bubble that doesn't allow anyone inside it to warp, and also has the ability to pull people out of warp in "some" cases.

Normal warp disruptors only allow you to "disrupt" one person at a time, while bubbles can disrupt ALL targets within their bubble's "sphere" range. This provides alot of valuable tactical advantages that can be used in countless ways to control fights and lock down targets.

There are several types of bubbles in the game:

  • Interdictor Bubbles - Which are fired from Interdictors as Warp Disrupt Probes and have a 40km range (or 20km from the ship in every direction)
  • Heavy Interdictor Bubbles - Which are emitted from the ship it's self and can have a 36km range (or 18km from the ship in every direction)
  • Mobile Warp Disruptor Bubbles - These can be launched from your cargo hold and anchored in space. The ranges very widely from the T1 Smalls to the T2 Larges

The Mechanics of these are all basically the same, they just vary in how they are created and whether or not they are moveable. The HIC is the only bubble that can move, all others stay in the same place once activated.

Any warps that have begun before a bubble is activated will still work as long as the ship has entered warp before the bubble. That means you must have reached the 75% velocity and your speed indicator shows "warping."

However if have just jumped through a gate, holding cloak, and you see a Interdictor or HIC with no active bubble, you ARE NOT safe. If you hit warp, uncloak, and then they activate the bubble, your warp will be canceled and your ship will slow to a stop. Meaning you will probably die.

This is called a delayed bubble, and is the ideal way to do it if you are the bubbler. If for example a Arazu jumps in and the HIC waits for the Arazu to uncloak for a moment before recloaking to pop his bubble, then all fast ships run at the spot where the Arazu was seen, it is likely that you will uncloak him. The reason is because he will select a celestial to warp to, click warp, then cloak, then your bubble will cancel his warp and he will start to decelerate to a stop. The means he will be in roughly the same spot as he was last seen.

To defeat the delayed bubble you need to be prepared for it. Hit warp, align, warp, align, warp, align, as a habit in these cases. Keep your ship moving and if you are uncloaked consider doing: Align, MWD, then spam warp until you are outside the bubble.

Finally, let's discuss Drag Bubbles. These are bubbles that are setup in a way that pulls you out of warp at a spot away from your desired destination, BUT only on the same grid as the destination.

A very common misconception about bubbles is that they can pull people out of warp anywhere along their warp path and this is false (you can't pull people out of warp in the middle of space somewhere between the origination and destination). Bubbles only work if they are surrounding a ship as it tries to enter warp OR if they are on the "line of warp" AND on the same Grid as the destination.

For Example:

  • You can enter warp and warp directly through a bubble on your grid as long as it's not surrounding you. So when entering warp on a grid, bubbles don't pull you out once your warp has begun.
  • If you warp from Gate A to Gate B and there is a bubble 100km in front of (or behind) you will get stuck in the bubble. EVEN if it's behind the destination, it will Drag you past the gate and into the bubble!

Let's talk more about the "line of warp" and how it effects you with the help of some original artwork I just created...

Click For Better Quality Image

In the picture above the large circle around everything is the Grid or basically everything that can be seen on overview from Gate B. Gate A is the Origination or beginning of the warp and Gate B is the Destination. The Line drawn from Gate A and then through Gate B is the Line of Warp.

The Mechanics here will allow you to slide that bubble to any point along that line as long as you stay on the Destination Grid.

Should the Bubble be past the gate (often ideal because it is more disorienting) targets will be pulled past the gate and will land right on the edge of the bubble. (Targets always land on the edge of the bubble and not inside it)

There's one more thing you should know...

When placing a drag bubble, it's best to place it about 100km from the destination gate. The reason is because this isolates the bubbled target from the gate. This makes it harder for him to run to the gate and escape by jumping, but it also makes it harder for anything to come through the gate (Gate B) and enter the fight. Should something come through Gate B you will have time to adapt because of the range.

About the author

In 2010 Abbadon21 was the first person to create Narrated Instructional PVP videos for EVE Online. This started a new era of EVE Online and opened up high level "PRO" PVP to everyone. Abbadon21 is also the Founder of EVEProGuides.com, which is EVE Online's oldest and most trusted source for high quality PRO Guides.