Season 2 of Eve Galaxy Conquest has introduced new ships and commanders, making it the perfect time to update my Top Fleets list. With more time and data samples, I’ve identified new effective fleet combinations. If you missed my previous Fleets post, many are still viable, though some now have counters—find them in Season 1 Top 10 Fleets.
Based on your feedback, I’ll be focusing more on F2P-friendly fleets or those using ships and commanders that everyone has access to. And yes, Scythe and Maelstrom fan club, rejoice! I’ve got builds for them right here.
UPDATE: If you’re playing on a Season 3 server, you can check my newest fleet analysis here: Top Fleets in EVE Galaxy Conquest – Season 3 Meta Update.
Table of Contents
Inquisitor – Faus & Ketzi
- Ship: Inquisitor
- Lead Commander: Faus (Kinetic Damage %, Grid Damage % for PvE, Build: A-A-A)
- Deputy Commander: Ketzi (Kinetic Damage %, Grid Damage % for PvE, Build: A-A-A)
Why This Fleet Works
This is one of my absolute favorites for several reasons:
- It’s incredibly affordable – I run this comp on all six of my characters, and it works without any stars on commanders.
- It dominates early-season PvE – I call it the zero-loss Swiss Army knife fleet. It handles any tile defenders, including direct counters, and consistently wins up to tile level 9 with little to no losses – send in forget in most cases.
- It’s built around powerful synergy – The Empires & Generals bond triggers up to eight attacks (~50% each) in the first two turns, ensuring high burst damage right from the start.
Faus’ Coordinated Assault guarantees early damage output, while Ketzi’s first ability keeps your commanders at the top of the turn order, ensuring they land hits while bypassing absorb shields and evasion. Both commanders also provide control effects, which helps mitigate incoming damage.
Why the Inquisitor?
The Inquisitor is well-balanced in firepower, HP, and data rate. While it’s a great ship for energy-based commanders, it works just as well with this kinetic setup. Most players can upgrade it to 4 stars, which boosts stats by 32% over the base value.
- Faus’ preparation skip makes it excellent for high upfront burst damage.
- Armor Repairer module provides additional sustain, making it surprisingly tanky.
The overall setup minimizes RNG and delivers consistent early-game wins.
Key Leveling Strategy
- Early leveling & season start – Invest all skill points into damage for both commanders. Avoid control abilities, as most battles will be over in 1-2 turns.
- Mid-to-late game (~level 35, tile level 8-9+) – Combat lasts longer, so it’s worth respeccing into passive skills (7/7) that provide enemy control.
Alternatives
While Faus and Ketzi are fixed, the ship is flexible:
- Omen (3+ stars) – A strong alternative, but best used later in the game for tile 10s and PvP. The Omen is tanky but slow on damage, requiring 4-8 turns to fully utilize its attacks. Since most fights are only 2 turns, Omen’s module abilities often deal 0 damage.
- Oracle – A fantastic alternative, offering high firepower, great sustain, and useful commander buffs.
BTW, I compiled all ship stats into a sortable table in this article—check it out!
Vexor – Victor & Pomik
- Ship: Vexor (HP % rigs for PvP, Grid Damage % for PvE)
- Lead Commander: Victor (Kinetic Damage %, Grid Damage % for PvE, Build: A-A-A)
- Deputy Commander: Pomik (Repair Amount % implants, Build: A-B-A)
Why This Fleet Works
This was quite an unexpected discovery—a mix of high damage and sustain, making it deceptively strong. At first glance, it might seem similar to the classic Santimona & Gear setup, which struggled due to abysmal damage output. But in reality, this composition performs far better in early-to-mid-game engagements.
- Victor delivers guaranteed damage thanks to Reconquest, making this fleet highly effective for pre-level 10 tile captures, level 8-9 pirate battles, etc.
- Pomik provides significant damage support with Cruising Attack and is particularly useful against enemy Vexor comps.
- His 2B ability heals both the ship and drones, making it three times more efficient than Santimona’s single-target ship heal.
Why This Fleet Stands Out
This is another low-loss fleet, which is crucial for early-season progression. Along with the previous fleet, it was one of the only two compositions that could capture same-power tiles with <5% losses, over and over again. Why Vexor? – High armor, HP, and the ability to spread incoming damage across three targets makes it one of the most sustainable ships in this game.
PvP & Late-Game Viability
While decent in PvP, it’s not exceptional. For level 9-10 tiles, I found it less effective—requiring recon and often leading to draws. It also lacks factional and full formation bonuses. So once formation and faction bonuses come into play, I’d recommend switching to another setup.
Alternatives
There aren’t many viable swaps for this setup:
- Dragon (3-star tested) – Despite having a 3-star Dragon, I found that a 0-star Vexor still performed better.
- Statios, Worm – nope, not even close.
Dramiel – Karth & Mens
- Ship: Dramiel (Data Rigs)
- Lead Commander: Karth (Any implants with max raw Offense, Build: A-B-A, or Data set if Karth 3 – A-B-B)*
- Deputy Commander: Mens (Kinetic Damage %, Grid Damage % for PvE, Build: A-A-A)
Why This Fleet Works
This build is technically functional with 0-star commanders, but it’s extremely fragile at that level, requiring careful target cherry picking. However, early in the season, it performs well—especially since most players already have a 2-3 star Dramiel which helps a lot.
- Strong first-turn burst damage – Rapid Fire from Mens can create insane combos.
- Critical skill investment – To make this build work, you must put one point into Mens’ 2A passive for the preparation-phase debuff—otherwise, his main third ability won’t trigger.
- Skill progression tip – Prioritize Rapid Fire first. Once you unlock the third tier of skills, add one point to the armor debuff, then max out the 7/7 trigger chance instead of focusing on raw damage.
While the fleet works with 0-star commanders, your first major investment should be Karth’s 2B ability, which provides +10% Barrage chance on the ship. This enhances both damage and sustain for Dramiel.
Weaknesses
ECM is the biggest threat – Even level 8 Pirates with 175k power can destroy this 600k power fleet if they have ECM-capable commanders or ships that can lock down your direct fire attacks. Pick your fights wisely!
Alternatives
If you don’t have Mens, you can try:
- Yorlas (2-star) – Provides solid damage support and 2B ability provide ECM protection.
- Karin – Her third ability provide ECM protection too, making her a great counter-pick.
- Avoid Santimona – While usable, she lacks real synergy with this setup.
- Never use Vepas with Dramiel – His shield interferes with Dramiel’s double shield, completely wasting a key skill.
Scythe – Bishop & Ameline
- Ship: Scythe (Energy % or Firepower % rigs, depending on commander skills)
- Lead Commander: Bishop (Energy Damage % implants, Build: A-B-A)
- Deputy Commander: Ameline (Data Rate implants, Build: A-B-A)
Why This Fleet Works
The Scythe is an unusual ship—it’s one of the most fragile in the game (third-lowest HP) but compensates with the second-best Energy stat and solid Firepower (ranked fourth overall). It has some sustain, thanks to self-healing and a drone that acts as a decoy to soak some hits, but ultimately, it’s a glass cannon.
- Works even at 0-star commanders – In this case, most of your damage comes from kinetic attacks, making Firepower rigs the better choice.
- Consistently deals damage – Even if it loses a battle, it can still inflict 30-40% damage on the enemy fleet, softening them up for follow-ups.
- Anti-tank potential – By speccing into Energy skills, this setup is especially effective against Thunderchilds, Omens, and Drakes. Kinda ;D
It’s not my top-performing fleet, but I found myself using it simply because my Scythe reached nearly 4 stars, thanks to my “great luck” pulling blueprints from Evermore recruitments hahah (thumb up if you in a same boat!).
Key Build Tip
Don’t invest more than 1 point into Bishop’s first talent (Data Rate boost) – Otherwise, you’ll heal for 0 on turn 1, making it a wasted skill.
Weaknesses
- Extremely fragile due to low HP.
- Heavily dependent on healing – Avoid fights against Amily, Catalyst, or other -heal debuffers, as they can shut this build down completely.
Alternatives
Still experimenting – I believe this ship can perform even better, so stay tuned—or better yet, share your experiences in the comments!
- Jamyl I – If you have her, she’s a fantastic replacement for Ameline, maximizing Scythe’s high Energy damage potential. In fact, she is much better, but most of us do not have her.
Maelstrom – Karth & Mens
- Ship: Maelstrom (Firepower % rigs, or Data Rate if you found getting countered by another Karth-builds)
- Lead Commander: Karth (Any implants with max raw Offense, Build: A-B-A, or Data set if Karth 3* – A-B-B)
- Deputy Commander: Mens (Kinetic Damage % implants, Grid Damage % for PvE, Build: A-A-A)
Synergy & Why It Works
I know—you’ve been asking for a Maelstrom build for ages, and here it is! And guess what? It’s actually a fantastic comp for multiple reasons.
First and foremost, it’s a stable Thunderchild killer—one of the most problematic ships of Season 2, thanks to its massive armor and HP pool. The Maelstrom was practically designed to counter it. But it doesn’t stop there:
- Dominates multiple ship types – It reliably takes down Apocalypses, Omens, Drakes, Rifters, and more.
- Extremely resilient – The Sensor Booster module makes it very difficult to shut down.
- Every skill synergizes perfectly – Karth ensures the fleet goes first, SeBo stripping armor, followed by massive hits from Mens, which helps repeat all that thanks to Rapid Fire buff.
Does It Work With 0-Star Ship & Commanders?
Technically, yes—but ideally, you want to upgrade:
- Karth 2-star – This is crucial for the build.
- Maelstrom 1-star – Also mandatory for effectiveness, reactor debuff is huge helper.
- Mens can stay 0-star, since his left-side skills are all you need.
- Karth 3B – If unlocked, it elevates the build significantly, allowing Mens’ assassinations and Maelstrom’s modules to strike up to 5 times per turn—absolutely devastating!
Alternatives
- Maelstrom & Karth are locked in—but you can swap the third commander:
- Yorlas (2-3 stars) – Acceptable substitute.
- Karin – Works, but turns this comp from fantastic to just good.
Weaknesses?
Honestly? I can’t think of any.
- It bypasses shields with multiple attacks.
- It resists control.
- It has massive burst damage.
- Armor isn’t an issue—it shreds through it.
- It has some healing, good armor, and a fair HP buffer.
If anything, the only real counter might be another Maelstrom with higher data rate—or perhaps the next fleet on my list!
Rifter – Karth & Yorlas
- Ship: Rifter (Data Rigs)
- Lead Commander: Karth (Any implants with max raw Offense, Build: A-B-A, or Data set if Karth 3* – A-B-B)
- Deputy Commander: Yorlas (Kinetic Damage % implants, Build: A-B-B)
Synergy & Why It Works
The Rifter is a unique burst-damage ship, featuring four damaging modules, making it perfect for first-turn kill setup. This fleet follows a turn-1 dominance strategy, similar to the previous two Barrage builds, and is once again centered around Karth. Yup, this gentleman is clearly S-tier this season!
If you’ve been following these builds, you’ll notice a trend—Karth is the #1 commander to invest Data Chips into. He’s essential for multiple top-tier fleet compositions, including this one.
Performance at Different Star Levels
- 0-star setup – Functional, but don’t expect much, mostly trades.
- 2-star Karth – A solid win rate with acceptable losses.
- 3-star Karth & Yorlas – This is where the fleet shines. You’ll be able to wipe out 800k power fleets in one turn, often without taking much damage—including against the previously mentioned Maelstrom build.
Because of this insane first-turn potential, you’ll want to stack as much Data Rate on the ship as possible and pounce other Rifters too. This fleet can take down 4-8 enemy fleets before being defeated, making it a powerful offensive choice.
Alternatives
- Few viable swaps – You can try Mens, but this exposes the fleet to ECM counterplay, meaning you’ll need to play more carefully.
Oracle – Santimona & Flaherty
- Ship: Oracle (Firepower Rigs)
- Lead Commander: Santimona (Repair Amount % implants, Build: A-A-A)
- Deputy Commander: Flaherty (Repair Amount % implants, Build: A-A-B)
How It Works
In this setup, all the damage comes from the ship, and the Oracle delivers a serious punch. Currently, it has the highest firepower in the game, along with two damaging abilities—a single-target strike and an AOE attack.
- The Tracking Computer passive ensures that both Oracle and its commanders can spam abilities every turn with a very high activation rate.
- Santimona & Flaherty provide sustain, keeping the ship alive while also clearing debuffs from themselves and Oracle.
- Shields help mitigate incoming damage, adding durability to the fleet.
- Flaherty’s 3B ability reduces the enemy’s chance to activate skills and modules by 15%, further weakening their offense.
For optimal performance, it’s highly advisable to upgrade Oracle to 2 stars, as this grants +6% activation chance for commander skills, making a significant difference in battle.
Weaknesses
While this fleet can obliterate most enemies, it struggles against:
- All Barrage ships, especially Dramiel – Barrage damage is too fast and overwhelming to be countered by 2 shields. Dramiel’s commanders typically lack active skills and modules, rendering Flaherty’s disruption ineffective.
- Drake – This ship can absorb nearly all attacks from Oracle, making it another bad matchup.
Alternatives
One of Oracle’s strengths is its versatility—there are many viable commander pairings:
- Flaherty & Karsoth
- Victor & Santimona
- Santimona & Falek
- i’ve seen even Draea & Morda!
Since Oracle is not commander-locked, you can experiment with which commanders you have available and upgraded—this ship offers plenty of flexibility!
Thunderchild – Chelm & Santimona
- Ship: Thunderchild (HP or Energy Rigs)
- Lead Commander: Chelm (Tactics or Energy Damage implants, Build: A-A-A)
- Deputy Commander: Santimona (Repair Amount % implants, Build: A-A-A)
Why It Works
The Thunderchild is an armored juggernaut with few true counters, and let’s be honest—everyone reading this has probably been wrecked by this fleet at least once (in season 2).
- With legendary rigs and implants, it can wipe out 5-15 fleets in a row.
- It can solo level 10 resorts and even take down x40 Level 9 escorts with 620k power—I’ve seen it happen firsthand!
- The insane sustain from armor and damage reduction makes it nearly impossible to kill in a fair fight.
Personally, I try to avoid fighting it altogether, opting to drain its stamina instead. Only one of my fleets—Maelstrom—can reliably counter it, while everything else barely scratches it.
Key Mistakes to Avoid
- Santimona should be A-A-A, not A-B-A – You need the left-side skill not just for healing but also for debuff removal.
Alternatives
While this fleet is strongest in its vanilla form, some variations exist:
- Baer instead of Chelm
- Mila or Pomik instead of Santimona
That said, any variation performs noticeably worse than the original build, so save your time and plug-in Chelm & Santi.
Update: After further testing, I recommend assigning Santimona as the deputy commander. Polok has been removed from the recommendation list. Baer’s performance has declined following the June 2025 nerf, but there are currently no better alternatives.
Breacher – Bishop & Thumbar
- Ship: Breacher (HP Rigs)
- Lead Commander: Bishop (Energy Damage % implants, Build: A-B-A)
- Deputy Commander: Thumbar (Kinetic Damage %, Build: A-A-A)
Synergy & Why It Works
This is a mystery build—on paper, it looks average at best, with mediocre ship stats and a loose interconnection between commanders and ship. Yet, in PvP, I keep getting beaten by it 😀
What makes it work?
- It counters kinetic-heavy compositions (including the classic Dragoon build) by stacking 47.75% kinetic damage mitigation plus reduction from armor.
- High ability trigger rate ensures consistent damage output.
- Bond, faction, and formation bonuses synergy adds another layer of effectiveness.
Much like my Scythe build, this fleet likely won’t win without losses, but it will last long enough to inflict heavy casualties on the enemy team. It’s a solid underdog comp, and with proper target selection, it can ruin someone’s day!
Alternatives
- Krugar can replace Bishop – He offers bond, faction, and formation bonuses, plus kinetic damage mitigation via Salvo debuff. Since all three commanders are Epic-grade, this is an easy-to-build comp without requiring heavy legendary investments. At 4 stars, this setup gets extra skill points and raw ship stat boosts, further improving its viability.
Leveling Vexor – Infinite Experience
- Ship: Vexor (HP Rigs, Encirclement formation)
- Lead Commander: Pomik (Repair Amount % implants, Build: A-B-A)
- Deputy Commander: Paladin Crusader (Repair Amount % implants, Build: A-A-A)
Why This Fleet Is Called Infinite Experience
This fleet is designed to provide maximum experience per lost component while keeping stamina costs minimal. The key to this strategy is engaging NPC Vexor fleets. Due to their relatively low damage, tile defender respawn mechanics, and the high endurance of this fleet, battles can result in 20-30 consecutive draws.
After testing various ships and commanders, this particular composition has proven to be the most efficient, consistently providing 2-4 million experience for 15 stamina and eating ~20,000 components in about 45-60 minutes.
What makes this method truly infinite is that stamina and component regeneration occur at roughly the same rate as the draw loop itself, meaning you can keep farming indefinitely. To sustain the cycle, all you need is a proper resource flow and an unoccupied level 9 or 10 resource tile, depending on your commander levels. If this explanation isn’t enough, let me know in the comments, and I’ll consider writing a separate in-depth guide.
How This Fleet Works
The Vexor is an ideal ship for this strategy due to its high armor, solid HP, and active modules that enhance its durability. More importantly, it fields three targets for enemy attacks, two of them being drones that soak up damage. Since NPC Vexor fleets always use Phalanx formation, switching to Encirclement formation provides an additional 15% damage reduction, improving suitability.
Pomik’s second ability is crucial because it heals both the ship and drones, unlike Santimona, who only heals the ship. His third ability provides a massive AoE attack, which is key to gaining experience, as experience is earned per damage dealt. However, the goal is to maximize damage without killing the enemy, allowing the loop to continue. Typically, this means putting zero points into Pomik’s second passive and limiting his third passive to one or two points.
Paladin Crusader plays a supporting role by providing additional damage, absorb shields, and a guaranteed heal every turn, though this only affects the ship. A major advantage of this composition is that it primarily uses less valuable commanders and a ship, allowing your four strongest fleets to focus on PvP operations or PvE progression.
Alternative Commanders
Another solid combination is Anvent and Paladin Crusader. This version provides slightly less healing and damage, leading to a lower experience gain per hour, but it still vastly outperforms standard farming methods. I recommend using it only if you do not have Pomik 2-stars.
Bad Picks to Avoid
Certain commanders are inefficient for this strategy and should be avoided, including Mila, Santimona, Flaherty, Victor, and ships – Scythe, and Thunderchild.
This method may take patience, but for those looking for the most efficient and sustainable way to farm experience with minimal cost, it’s unmatched. If you have a steady resource flow and a good farming location, you’ll never run out of experience, meaning you can level from lvl 40 to 45 in under 2-3 hours and till 50 under a day with minimal effort.
That’s it for today! I hope you picked up something new from this guide. I didn’t just want to list fleet compositions—I aimed to explain how things work, so you can experiment and create your own builds. This part of the game has a lot of depth and flexibility, and I find it incredibly rewarding to explore.
If this guide helped you hold the line or win the war, consider fueling the next round of fleet theorycrafting with a coffee. Every cup helps. ☕️
o7
Fly efficiently!
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