Faction Frigates: Dance With the (Dare)Devil Part 1

As promised, the first installment on faction frigates will cover the ship that has quickly become my favorite, the Daredevil.

The Daredevil recently defected from the Angel Cartel and became the Serpentis frigate. It is a mean little beastie, to say the least, and is quite easy on the eyes, provided you dig spikes.

The ship requires Gallente Frigate and Minmatar Frigate, and you're going to want Small Hybrid Weapons, for reasons that will become clear.

The ship's bonuses are rather unique and include:

Special Ability: 200%(!) bonus to Small Hybrid Turret damage

Gallente Frigate Skill Bonus: 10% bonus to Small Hybrid Turret falloff per level
Minmatar Frigate Skill Bonus: 10% bonus to the velocity factor of stasis webifiers per level

What this boils down to is a ship whose webs have forgotten it isn't still 2008, whose damage is 150% that of a Taranis with any given hybrid, and whose turrets have a tasty falloff bonus.

The way I have discovered I like to fly this ship is very similar to how Taranises were flown pre-web-nerf.  Whether that means rails or blasters is up to the individual user.  I have both a rail and a blaster setup that I've come to prefer, both of which were heavily inspired (and some bits outright stolen) from the fitting forums on SHC.
Some basic things to remember:

1. Resist the urge to dual-prop.  Dramiels, Comets, Taranises all dual-prop.  The DD doesn't, at least not for soloing.  You will not be fast enough under AB power to make up for the 90% speed reduction your webs can easily get.

2. Range Control is Life.  As with the Dramiel, the DD has the ability to control range on anything other than a very savvy Dramiel or Slicer, or a long range, high speed scrammer like a Crow or Ares.  Use the extra range your guns have.  It can make or break you against other close-range frigates.

3. Know Your Limits. The Daredevil may be able to crank out about 400DPS overloaded, but a well tanked cruiser with small weapons is still going to eat your lunch if you aren't careful.

In the next installment, I'll discuss some more specific fittings and tactics.  Until then, I'll leave you with the overall pros and cons.

Pros: Hits like a runaway truck, webs like it's two years ago, can get decent EHP
Cons: 100+ million price tag, Not the fastest ship, Hard to get fights (even Drams run for the hills, I find), not nearly up to AF durability, and perhaps a bit shy of Dramiel EHP