Reading a zKillboard Fit: What Every Module Tells You

A killmail’s fit is a story. Once you can read it, you can tell at a glance whether a pilot was tanked for the fight they got into, what they were trying to do, and where it went wrong. Here’s how to read an EVE Online fit, slot by slot.

The four module slot types

• High slots — weapons and utility (turrets, launchers, neuts, remote reps). Damage and projection.
• Mid slots — shield tank, propulsion, tackle, electronic warfare, capacitor. The active combat layer.
• Low slots — armor tank, damage modules, hull and cap support. The passive layer.
• Rig slots — permanent bonuses (tank, speed, range). They reveal what the pilot optimized for.

Tank: shield or armor?

Whether the tank lives in the mids (shield extenders, hardeners, boosters) or the lows (plates, hardeners, repairers) tells you the ship’s defensive identity. A near-universal tell of a competent fit is a Damage Control in the lows — it boosts all resists for a tiny fitting cost. Its absence is one of the most common reasons cheap ships die fast.

Propulsion and tackle

An afterburner suggests a close-range brawler; a microwarpdrive suggests speed and disengage potential (but a bigger signature). Scramblers, disruptors and webs in the mids mark a tackler — built to hold others in place.

Gank: damage modules

Stacked damage modules in the lows (mag stabs, gyros, heat sinks, BCS) with a thin tank signal a glass cannon: maximum damage, minimal survivability. It wins if it applies first and loses if it gets caught.

The tells: what’s missing

Often the story is in the gaps. No tank at all? The pilot gambled on not being shot. No Damage Control? A rookie mistake. Empty slots? An unfinished fit. Mismatched modules point to confusion rather than a plan.

Skip the manual reading

The free Loss Analyzer does this for you: it rebuilds the fit from any killmail, flags a missing tank or Damage Control, and links to other recent losses of the same hull. Pair it with How to Value an EVE Online Killmail.