Ahoy! Welcome to the sixth bounty in our 'how to get into' series. For these bounties, we want you to share tips and advice explaining how to get started and progress through Elite's various official and unofficial careers. Having covered mining, salvage, bounty hunting, exploration, and trade, we're moving onto piracy!
So share your best guidance for new-to-intermediate Elite Dangerous players who want to make piracy their career of choice.
Important: Here are three things we're not looking for:
Advanced and complex piracy tips - We're open to intermediate tips here, but we intend to turn your advice into a beginner-friendly guide. Later, we'll run separate expert-advice bounties for each of Elite's career paths.
Piracy ship builds and outfits - We're open to piracy ship and module recommendations and build tips, but we'll also run a separate piracy ship outfitting bounty. We also plan to run a piracy ship tier-list bounty.
Smuggling, mercenary, or assassination tips - we'll run separate bounties for those too, so please save your advice.
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Although it's not my style of game, piracy can be fun, especially for rpg players who like to be on the dark side of the force haha. Imagining myself as a space Davy Jones, I would follow these steps to reign with my Flying Dutchman:
At first, be very careful in your attacks, you don't need fights with vast destruction, my focus is on SAVAGING, focus on disabling your target and doing your job. To do this, I recommend that you have a good ship, I would recommend the Cobra Mk III for your start and in the future acquire the Python or Krait mk II as both also have a good ratio of attack power and storage. Remember to include the main tools in your ship to enable you to hunt:
Interdictor: Take targets out of supercruise.
Hatch Breaker Limpets: Steal cargo from targets.
Manifest Scanner: Identify valuable items in the enemy's inventory.
Once you've got your ship and equipped it with what you need, focus on attacking the right location, always with busy areas and merchants, as well as popular trade routes. Now comes the main thing: Don't be afraid to abort the mission and leave, just run away.
You will need to pledge to a pirate faction. Power Play 2.0 will have you benefiting pledging to a pirate faction. You will also want to jump into Hazardous Points of interest and you will need a hatch breaker limpet along with cargo space and be half full with limpets for collecting. A multipurpose limpet would work best in this case so that you do not use up to many slots. After you get that set up creating a ship for combat is entirely up to you and what you're willing to risk while you're out pirating.
Tired of following rules that don’t make you rich and repeating the same activity hundreds of times? Become a pirate!
In Elite Dangerous, piracy can be a great activity for those who want to cause chaos in the galaxy while earning a bit of cash on the side. Well, to be honest, it won’t make you super wealthy, but being a pirate isn’t about riches - it’s about taking risks and living adventures on the fringes of the law, chasing the dream of stealing finding a fortune for yourself.
Ethics aside, being a pirate requires solid combat skills and a well-equipped ship - or just the knowledge to exploit weak and defenseless targets, like passenger ships. Tourist hotspots are excellent places to start your plundering. Ships like the Orca are usually armed with nothing more than proximity mines and an FSD for escaping, so your only real challenge is taking them down quickly before they jump away.
Since you don’t need versatile combat capabilities, stick to lasers - they’re effective against both shields and hulls. Of course, you’ll also need collector limpets to gather the loot you find.
But let’s be honest, blowing up passenger ships isn’t true piracy - it’s more like scavenging. For proper piracy, you’ll need a few additional modules on your ship: a Manifest Scanner to identify valuable targets, Hatch-Breaker Limpets to access their cargo, and an FSD Interdictor to pull ships out of supercruise, ensuring they’re isolated and helpless. Don’t forget to equip Cargo Racks to store your plunder and limpets - I would recommend at least 80t of cargo capacity.
Once you’re ready, head to a system (preferably one in an Anarchy state to avoid notoriety and fines), target transport or mining ships like Type-9s or Haulers, interdict them, and confirm they’re worth your time. In your Target Panel, focus your fire on their Power Plant to disable the ship, making your job much easier. Then, let your limpets do the heavy lifting while you thank the generous crew for their donation.
There are additional mechanics worth mastering, like using a Wake Scanner to chase fleeing ships or employing missiles to precisely target specific modules. But you’ll pick these up with experience. Now go on, get out there, and start plundering, you scoundrel!
Without any worries about pledging or political structures, lets take this back to the basics - Assuming you own a Sidewinder Mk II, you're going to need 3 things: hatch breaker limpets, cargo space, and some gun.
Take yourself to the lowest risk area of space you can find, this means finding systems in anarchy, either for political reasons or due to the fact that nobody lives there, now, get ready because you're gonna wanna find yourself a target, a low risk ship that has cargo ready for the taking.
Once you have a target, shoot a hatch breaker limpet at it, at this point, your target may try to flee or fight back, keep them busy, but dont kill them before the cargo is dropped, no, just wait til the time is right and go scoop that loot up, or use more limpets!
If you'd like to get away with this piracy game in non anarchy space however, I highly recommend bounty hunting instead, just steal cargo from your target first, and don't let any police catch you with any Trinkets of Hidden Fortune.
for my personal opinion I wouldn't recommend doing piracy, be nice, but I know a little how to do it, so follow those steps:
You will need a ship, even you are doing on food piracy, it will be a way easier to flee if you have a personal ship, but now I will be talking about only the space part of it.
So for you ship if you are in the first steps in Elite I recommend you a ship that can hold nice amount of cargo and do some combat, for that there are the Cobra Mk III and Vulture. The vulture for me can be a really good pirate ship even against medium ships! When having one of those you have to equip some important things in them, the main are Weapons, laser and multi cannon are good starter weapons since they are easy to use, than you have to equip a Frame shift interdictor to pull your targets from supercruise and then cargo since will must have space to storage you spoils.
With you ship ready to go you must go to an anarchy system specially if you want to avoid bounties on your head, and there will be no defence force of the system, so the only threat to you will be your target, (remember that you must start it only with npcs, take down other player is a hard quest). You can find your targets flying around or at some extraction sites.
Fighting you target there will be some common actions that the ship can do, try to escape, fight back, drop the cargo. If they drop the cargo just get them and leave the ship go, and now go to another target and go to sell them.
And the final step is to go to the right port to sell the stolen goods, you can filter on the galaxy map the system that has black markets or use Inara that will show the one closest to you. That are the steps that I recommend and fly safe space pirate!
First and foremost, I like to see a pirate as a plunderer, not a murderer. So first and foremost, focus on securing your loot, eliminating the enemy only when necessary, as the possibility of running away after taking the loot will often be the best option!
As for ships, the best options are balanced ships with good speed, firepower and cargo. As the guide is focused on beginner/intermediate players, I would recommend ships like the Cobra Mk III, Asp Explorer and Python. They are all great ships with plenty of cargo and considerable mobility and firepower. Of the three options, my favorite is the Python, it's my favorite and one of the best ships in the game for most professions!
In addition to the ships, what you equip is important, so try to focus on equipment like the Interdictor to pull targets out of supercruise. Hatch Breaker Limpets to take the load off your targets. Manifest Scanner to know what's worth stealing and Shield Boosters to survive during the theft. In addition, equip your ship with firepower to be prepared for unexpected battles!
When looking for your targets, look for areas with more traders, but that aren't dangerous and always prioritize ships with high-value items, to make it worth the cost of the profession! Learn to surprise your target, disable his ship as soon as possible to get control of the situation and secure your cargo. If you can't do it in time, run away at any sign of danger!
As we are talking about an initial guide, an indispensable tip is: Don't look for strong targets. You won't be prepared to face them, so look for smaller ships with a higher loot success rate. When you have more experience, continue to evolve your ship and gradually increase the challenge, but always be careful.
The rest is play. Have fun annoying other players and ruining the lives of NPCs who are passing by.
How are you supposed to let people know how cool you are without a hat? And the bigger the feather the better. Now, if you can steal your hat from the freshly dead corpse of your enemy, all the better, but if you can't do that, just get one on Amazon and lie. (Because you are a pirate.) A good pirate hat shows that you're one of the brave, bold few with a lack of regard of the law, rules and basic common sense that makes you... a Pirate!
A ship.
(Author's note: Your ship will look NOTHING like this.)
Pirate's ship says as much about him as his Hat (See above). ANY ship can be a pirate ship, don't let anyone tell you different. It's not about the size or the shape of the ship, it's about what's in her cmdr's heart. And if that heart is filled with the ability and willingness to blow some noob to kingdom come just for 3 units of Biowaste, Well, then that is a pirate ship.
A lack of funds. (I.E. you're broke.)
We've all been there. Work dries up, investments go bad, Ex-wife's lawyer finds where you've been hiding. There are a plethora of reasons as to why we find ourselves financially embarrassed. But it takes a special soul who says, "I'm gonna fix my problems by making somebody else poor." If that sounds like something you'd say to your self in the mirror of the local Sheetz you've been showing in since Grandma kicked you out of her house, Then you are well on your way to be coming a Pirate. Which brings us to the last thing you will need to be a True pirate in the world of Elite:Dangerous.
A complete lack of common sense.
Now, the most important thing to understand about Piracy in Elite:Dangerous is this: You can literally do ANYTHING and make more money than you will in Piracy. For the Love of the Thargod, DON'T DO IT! Between the fines and repairs you make no profits AND all the stuff you steal sells for less than just normal goods! It's just not worth it.
The only 2 Kinds of people who get into Piracy are kind with more money than sense and Sociopaths. And if you are either of those kind of people... Carry on, I guess. More power to you, you crazy buggers.
In Elite Dangerous we have ships. Pirates have also been using ships. So could we consider Elite as a game about pirates? Probably not, but if you want to become one of them and even named one of your ships "Black Pearl" or "Flying Dutchman", then you should also know how to get into this activity.
Piracy is ganking other ships, NPC or Commanders, for the purpose of getting wanted status and get bounty for your head or to gain resources that may be carried by some ships (for free!).
Piracy and PowerPlay
What's more important, you don't have to do this only for yourself as piracy on its own isn't very profitable activity, commiting illegal actions and crimes in a system can decrease Powers popularity that is controlling this system, so it's useful for the PowerPlay and is considered as an Undermining task.
Safe Systems
But if you're not interested in PowerPlay nor dealing with the local security forces, you should aim for the systems with Anarchy or Low Security status. Anarchy systems don't have any rules. You can do anything without risk of any bounty. Low Security contain weak and low-effort security vessels so they are pretty safe for the beginners.
Basic Outfitting
Before you can get into piracy, you should equip your ship (combat or multitask like Cobra, Krait Mk.2, Vulture) with these modules:
- FSD Interdictor: Tool that can be used only in the Supercruise, allows you to catch another ship and force its Frame Shift Drive to malfunction and leave the Supercruise. After interdiction you and your target will be thrown into same instance and you can start shooting at your target.
- Operations Multi Limpet Controller: It's a limpet controller that allows you to shoot Collector, Hatch Breaker and Recon limpets. Collector are for collecting materials in the space, hatch breaker will hack ships cargo scoop, forcing it to eject some cargo (then you can collect it with collector limpet). Reckon limpets are more for hacking station and megaships hackable terminals.
- Manifest Scanner: Feels like using an x-ray, allows you to scan ship and see its cargo. Way better option than blindly launching hatch breaker limpets and wish for something good.
- Frame Shift Wake Scanner: If an NPC holds valuable cargo, it may be also harder to shoot down or force him to eject that cargo. If they manage to escape into Supercruise, you can use Wake Scanner to scan the wake that was left after ship jumped into Supercruise (or Hyperspace) and follow it, where you can once again use Interdictor and begin fight again.
- Weapons and Cargo Racks: Big storage space and decent hardpoints are key for quick kills and collect as much cargo as possible.
Remember that limpets also takes cargo space and needs to be bought at a station, they are not restocked like the ammunition.
Cargo Acquired, Black Market Trade
Stealing cargo from another ship is labeled (I think so, station will know it has been stolen), so to sell your treasury, you need to visit Anarchy system or a starport with active Black Market. Black Market often offers lower prices than for a legal commodity but as far as I know it's the only way to get money for the stolen goods.
Piracy in ED is, like all other gameplay mechanics, fascinating and fun, especially when you enjoy roleplaying your character.
My main advice is, in the beginning, start with small missions against NPCs taken from the mission board of any station.
And, as always, have as a starting point the enjoyment of the mechanics over and above the simple earning of credits.
Ship:
It must be assumed that a good ship for piracy will be one with a high armament capacity, obviously a certain amount of cargo, and with great manoeuvrability and the ability to quickly ‘disappear’ from the scene.
Basic equipment:
FSD Interdictor
Cargo Scanner
Hatch Opener
Collector limpets
Shield and Weapon Booster Modules
Targets:
It is preferable to attack commercial or mining ships, as they often carry valuable cargoes and have less defence capabilities. Needless to say, engagement against well-armed combat ships should be avoided at all costs.
We should always try to be the ones to initiate action if we see an opportunity, and be unashamed to get out of the way if we see that our target was not what we had hoped for. Be smart and be quick.
Interdiction and boarding:
The usual tactic for a pirate is to use the FSD interdictor to take the target ship out of Supercruise. Once successful, the cargo should be scanned to verify that it has anything of value. If the target is a player, a chat message can be sent ‘politely’ requesting that they part with their valuable cargo to avoid an ‘unpleasant’ encounter. If he agrees, we will have to pick up the cargo with our limpets. If he does not agree, or our opponent is an NPC, we must try to open his Cargo Compartment through the hatch opener.
We are pirates, not assassins, so we must not destroy ships or kill anyone... as long as it is not strictly necessary for our survival.
Security Forces:
Whenever we engage in acts of piracy, it is essential to be aware of the presence of security in the system. Likewise, when we start a confrontation, we will have to be quick and skilled to be able to finish our work before we can be disturbed by third parties.
Reputation:
As a general rule, hacking actions will negatively affect your reputation. If this is not compensated with ‘legal’ missions, we will have to adapt our future gameplay by being aware that we are ‘outlaws’. If this is going to be the case, perhaps partnering with lawless factions/powers is a good tactic to have higher rewards and lower penalties.
Fines and Rewards:
Pirate activities are going to result in fines and bounties on our heads, so we should try to remove these penalties whenever we can through station contacts.
Selling the goods:
And, as a final point, remember that everything you steal will be legally ‘someone else's’, and selling it will not be an easy task... look for Anarchy systems and black markets as the main points of your operations... no one is going to want to welcome you on a respectable Empire or Federation station.
To get into piracy is quite easy, you need a ship with enough cells for both external and internal equipment, as an example for a beginner is Cobra Mk III and in the future you can move to Anaconda.
Also in connection with the new Power play 2.0, you can join Archonte Deline and get thanks to his quite nice bonuses: +30% to the profit on the black market on the territory of your power and -100% reduction in the cost of rewards assigned for you on the territory of your power.
Piracy is not very lucrative compared to exobiology, but it is quite interesting.
Hello, this is Cmdr Donald Duck, Not-Thrustmaster (chairman) of the 147th most misinterpreted business men the galaxy has ever seen, called Screaming Eagles from beautiful (and independent!) Kurughnaye.
Here are some tips, suggestions and thoughts for those who are desperate enough to leave their mark on the galaxy trying to get rich and (in)famous by robbing others...
Firstly, piracy can be an entertaining challenge both pvp and pve. Secondly and basically, it’s more fun than profit most of the time...
To start, one needs a proper ship. Strong enough to be a threat, fast enough to keep up when the target tries to run or you need to run, and with enough hardpoints, internal and utility slots to mount all needed modules. Multi-purpose ships like the Krait Mk II or the Alliance range seem to be the choice of many, personally I use a Viper, an FdL or a Python Mk II recently when I do it for fun, as they have only low cargo capacities, and a Cutter when it’s ‘more serious business’.
Equipment needed
Frame shift interdictor
Manifest scanner
Wake scanner
(Operations multi) limpet controller(s) for hatch breaking and collector limpets
Grom bombs (rocket propelled containment missiles) and/or dumbfire missiles with fsd interrupt special effect (sometimes called ‘China Groms’ for reasons unknown)
A weapon to snipe modules like drive and fsd with - I prefer seeker missiles or a rail gun, but different weapons work
Cargo space for enough limpets and tonnage
Limpets, the ones you should not forget
Point defense. Might sound strange, but npc pirates will come for your cargo too and then this item will be handy.
I usually min/max everything, but of course you are free to decide on your own how much you want to engineer your stuff.
Since you will need to use a lot of different equipment, you will need several fire groups which can be confusing and requires some training. However, setting up the fire groups in chronological order reflecting their order of usage during a robbery can help, but is of course subject to individual preferences. Once the ship is ready, there are two scenarios of pirating, which have much in common but are distinct in detail.
PvE
The easiest one to start with is of course robbing npcs. Additionally, doing so in anarchy systems will make things easier as no police will come to protect your prey.
The first look should be at the target’s outfitting, revealing if it actually is a hauler and if so, if they have a point defense which would shoot down your hatch breaker limpet later and render your efforts useless. Both cases don’t make sense for piracy.
When instancing with the target after having interdicted it in supercruise, encountering it right in front of a station or close to a surface settlement, hatch breakers can be launched right away. Like this you won’t know what you will get, but to start and get a feeling for how things work, why not?
The next ‘level’ is using a manifest scanner, revealing what the target has loaded. There are three results known for scanning an npc, that I have encountered over the years, but do not know if and when they work nowadays:
They start shooting and will jump out before being destroyed, if you shoot back
They stop and wait
They continue flying normally and will jump out
After having verified that the target’s cargo is something you want, launch hatch breaker limpets. It will connect to the target and after some seconds containers will fall out. How many depends on the hatch breaker limpet controller’s class.
These containers can be collected by hand or with collector limpets. Have in mind that when the target fights back or continues flying, containers can spread around a pretty wide space. More so, if you launch multiple hatch breakers. Once you stop sending hatch breakers the target will jump out sooner or later.
To avoid the target’s escape in normal space or high/low waking, it’s drive and fsd should be destroyed. Without drives the target will just float on, so be aware it will continue its way with the same speed it had when drives blew and spread its cargo widely. Here timing and a feeling of when to destroy the drive can be essential. If it floats fast, you can slow it down by moving in front of it and block it with your ship but that’s a rather tricky maneuver, as physics apply and a fully loaded T9 is just much heavier than a Krait, for example.
Of course, the target’s attempts to jump out can be cancelled by fsd interrupting missiles at any point, but actually destroying the fsd is better. Npcs will not react to the timing of these weapons’ effects – as described in more detail below – right away, but they will sooner or later and jump. Even with drives (thrusters) out, targets can still jump away as long as their fsd is intact. Mind that the message ‘frame shift drive detected’ is only announced while targeting the ship. So, if you don’t have it targeted, don’t wonder if even a crippled ship jumps out without any warning in the middle of your operations.
Overall pirating npcs is not that tricky, once you have tried it a couple of times.
The biggest challenges can be not destroying the target while trying to snipe drives and fsd, as well as rather disappointing cargo. For the first targeting practice is necessary or using seeker missiles to make things easier, but in any case, you need to hit the module directly.
For the second the area of hunting can be selected accordingly. Normal npcs in normal systems usually transport rather random combinations of normal goods. You could encounter targets with more valuable cargo at places that provide valuable cargo, such as mining hot-spots, systems with rares or – sometimes – at political or economic centers.
Furthermore, even with all above mentioned details working properly and having the proper equipment, a large heist of e. g. 200 tons of low temperature diamonds can take up to an hour as collecting the containers just takes that long.
PvP
In general, it is trickier to rob players as they are players, but basically it works the same like with npcs, so let’s start with the details that can obstruct the proper robbery of Cmdrs:
Instancing and all that comes with it, like combat logging, is the first problem and you can do nothing about it
Second is communications. Even if you politely ask your target to stop for a scan, who knows if they speak your language?
Third is encountering an experienced commander who knows how to get away or an inexperienced hot-shot who tries to defend his cargo uselessly. Even if you are able to overcome both in the end, it complicates matters unnecessarily.
So, once instanced, since you are a pirate and not a killer, hail your target with a demand to stop for a scan like “o7 Cmdr, this is a robbery, please stand by for a scan or face the consequences!”. This message can be copy/pasted for faster proceeding. The target’s reaction to your message will determine further proceedings.
Best case the target stops, answers, you can scan it and issue your demands. Players usually accept a small number like 5 – 10 tons without objections, but it has also happens that they log off during the scan or try to escape when you demand more. If they run or fight without answering it helps to calm them by eliminating their shields to show your superior fire power or to interrupt their fsd.
If they don’t comply although I remind them that I just want to rob them, I send my hatch breakers so that they understand I want to rob and not to kill them, or – worst case – kill them, if they don’t give up or attack me fiercely.
Larger ships, like Imperial Cutters, T9 or the likes might also try to jump out without any communications, as you cannot mass-lock them even if they low-wake – unless you are in a heavy ship yourself.
For this scenario you need Grom bombs and/or dumbfire missiles with the fsd interrupt effect to keep them from jumping.
You need to know that the interruption of their fsd, respectively its rebooting, lasts 17 seconds (19 for Grom bombs with the fsd interrupt effect) and can be applied every 29 seconds. This opens a 12 (10) seconds window in which the target can jump out.
Experienced pilots know and take advantage of this, but when you are able to hit the target with an additional normal dumbfire missile fsd interruption effect at the right time after 17 (19) plus 1 seconds, you can keep the target from jumping out. Mind that – as far as I know – these effects do not stack, so timing is essential.
You can probably imagine this requires concentration or even counting the seconds during the process, so it is not an easy task, while you might be conversing with your target, be managing your limpets and/or weapons during this period and not be looking at a stop watch.
If everything has worked out the way you wanted, hail the player and let them leave. Collect your treasures and off you go, home to feed your kids 😉
Additionally, mind the following
If not in an anarchy, police will show up sooner or later. Here it can be useful to hunt in a wing, as one can collect the cargo while the other(s) take(s) care of the police.
Always be ready to run. Bounty hunters (npcs and players), the police or even your target might be stronger than expected. Know where you are, where you can rearm and repair and where to high wake to, if necessary.
Find an exemplary build of a Python Mk II here to give you an idea about modules and cargo
Pirating at community goals can be interesting depending on the goods required for the cg. Best case the cg stations has a black market to sell the stolen goods and participate in the cg. Doesn’t happen very often, tho.
Powerplay 2.0 provides some rare opportunities…
A bottle of Rum is obligatory, a parrot can be handy but birds seem to have troubles in zero G…
If you are interested in pirating and other funny stuff to do in ED, let me know below, find me in game or on Inara and send me a private message there.
Piracy in Elite Dangerous with PowerPlay 2.0 is easier than ever.
I recommend allying with the "Archon Delaine" power, as it grants a “100% reduction in the value of bounties on your head in your power's territory” and “+30% Increase in black market earnings in your power's territory”
And as for which ship to use, I recommend an agile, sturdy ship with the capacity to store loot. The Cobra Mk III is an excellent choice for beginners. From there you can move on to the Python mk2.
First you are going to need ship with decent cargo space, maneuverability, and hardpoints for both weaponry and utility.
Popular options include the Cobra Mk III, Asp Explorer, and Krait Phantom.
As you get better, you might also look at heavier ships like Python or Anaconda.
Again you need to visit engineers to help you upgrade modules and make your ship more effective for piracy.
Frame shift drive interdictor it's a must, as it is very important for pulling players or NPCs out of supercruise.
You need hatch breaker limpets to break into cargo holds of ships once they're disabled.
Cargo scanner will help you to assess the cargo of your target ship.
You need collector limpets to collect cargo once it’s dropped.
Focus on weapons that can disable ships without destroying them. Lasers are good for shields and multicannons are best for hulls as well.
Hang out near trade routes, Resource Extraction Sites, or shipping lanes in populated systems.
Systems in anarchy or low security are ideal since the authorities are sparse or nonexistent.
Traders, haulers, and miners are your main targets. Scan the ship’s cargo hold first to make sure they have something worth taking. Most of the time avoid ships that are too strong to take down.
Use your frame shift drive interdictor to pull a target out of supercruise. Also try to avoid missing targets, as each failed interdiction increases your notoriety and can or will prompt police response.
You’ll need to either to disable the ship or intimidate the pilot into dropping their cargo, once you've successfully interdicted your target.
You can use text or voice comms to demand cargo from human players, or simply attack them until they begin dropping cargo.
If they don’t comply, launch hatch breaker limpets to forcefully open their cargo hatch, and use your collector limpets to gather the cargo efficiently.
Take your cargo to a black market or to anarchy system where you won’t be questioned by authorities. Some stations don’t have black markets, so make sure to pick your destination carefully.
Avoid Security Forces: After a successful hit, it's important to jump to another system as soon as possible, especially if you were in systems with strong police presence.
Each act of piracy may increase your notoriety. To clear it, avoid illegal activity for a while or seek an Interstellar factor to pay off fines or bounties.
Most of the time as soon as authorities show up, it’s usually a good idea to leave the system.
Many players are armed and may respond aggressively. So be cautious with other players, target those with low combat rankings to increase your chances of success.