New Pilot – Understanding Skills

Why Skills Matter

Unlike many MMOs, your character in EVE Online doesn’t gain power by grinding experience points. Instead, your character improves by training skills over time—even while you’re offline.

Every ship you fly, module you fit, and activity you perform is unlocked or improved through skills.

Think of skills as your pilot’s qualifications. The better trained you are, the more capable your character becomes.

Skill Levels

Every skill has 5 levels.

LevelTime RequiredBenefit
IMinutesUnlocks basic use
IIMinutes to HoursSmall improvement
IIIHoursRecommended minimum
IVDaysExcellent value
VDays to WeeksMaximum performance

Each level takes longer than the previous one.

For example:

  • Mining Frigate I → only a few minutes
  • Mining Frigate IV → around a day
  • Mining Frigate V → several more days

The jump from IV to V often takes longer than all previous levels combined.

Do You Need Level V?

No.

One of the biggest mistakes new players make is training everything to Level V immediately.

A better approach is:

  • Train many important skills to III.
  • Upgrade key skills to IV.
  • Only train Level V when it unlocks something important or provides significant value.

This lets you become useful much faster.

Skill Categories

Skills are grouped into categories.

Common ones include:

Spaceship Command

Allows you to fly new ships.

Examples:

  • Mining Frigates
  • Industrial Ships
  • Mining Barges
  • Exhumers

Engineering

Improves:

  • Power Grid
  • Capacitor
  • CPU
  • Fitting room

These skills help almost every ship.

Makes ships:

  • Faster
  • More agile
  • Better at warping

Shield

Improves shield hit points, recharge and resistance.

Very useful for mining ships.

Targeting

Allows:

  • Longer lock range
  • Faster locking
  • More locked targets

Resource Processing

Improves mining and refining.

Examples include:

  • Mining
  • Astrogeology
  • Mining Upgrades
  • Reprocessing

Drones

Essential for miners.

Mining barges and exhumers rely on drones to destroy NPC pirates.

Skill Prerequisites

Many skills require other skills first.

For example:

Exhumers
 └── Mining Barge V
      └── Industry V
           └── Mining IV

This creates a progression path that gradually unlocks larger ships.

Skill Queue

One of EVE’s best features is the Skill Queue.

You can add many skills to train one after another.

For example:

  • Mining IV
  • Astrogeology III
  • Mining Upgrades IV
  • Mining Barge I

Your character continues training automatically, even when you’re logged out.

Always keep your queue full.

Skill Injectors

Skill Injectors allow you to instantly gain Skill Points.

They can be purchased from the market or other players.

While useful, they are expensive and generally not necessary for new pilots.

Learning the game while your skills train naturally is usually a better long-term experience.

The Magic 14

The Magic 14 are core skills that improve almost every ship in EVE.

They increase things like:

  • Capacitor
  • CPU
  • Power Grid
  • Shield
  • Targeting
  • Navigation

Every pilot benefits from training them.

LSE recommends training these alongside your chosen career rather than completing them all first.

Training for a Career

Instead of trying to train everything, choose a goal.

Examples include:

  • Miner
  • Industrialist
  • Explorer
  • Mission Runner
  • Hauler
  • PvP Pilot

Once you know your destination, you can train only the skills that move you toward it.

For new LSE members, we recommend progressing from:

Venture → Mining Barge → Exhumer

while gradually improving your Magic 14 and mining support skills.

Attribute Remaps

Your attributes affect how quickly different skills train.

New pilots receive bonus remaps, but don’t worry too much about them early on.

The time saved is relatively small compared to choosing the right skills to train.

Focus on training useful skills rather than trying to optimise every minute.

Skill Plans

EVE allows you to save Skill Plans.

These are pre-built training paths that help you work toward a goal without constantly deciding what to train next.

LSE provides recommended skill plans for:

  • Magic 14
  • Essential Mining Skills
  • Venture to Exhumer Progression
  • Orca Support Pilots
  • Industrial Careers

Using a skill plan makes progression much easier.

LSE Recommendations

For new mining pilots:

  1. Keep your skill queue running at all times.
  2. Train broad skills before specialising.
  3. Don’t rush every skill to Level V.
  4. Train the Magic 14 alongside mining skills.
  5. Fly the biggest ship you can afford to lose, not simply the biggest you can fly.
  6. Ask experienced corp members before investing weeks into a long skill.

Remember: in EVE, knowledge is just as valuable as skill points. A well-informed pilot in a Venture will often outperform an inexperienced pilot in an Exhumer.