How is DPS calculated in EVE Online?

DPS is the volley divided by cycle time, then multiplied by your bonuses. Volley is the sum of the four damage types on one shot, and cycle time is the seconds between shots. The result is multiplied by your total damage multiplier and by how much of that damage actually applies to the target.

What is volley damage?

Volley is the total damage a turret or launcher deals in a single cycle — the sum of EM, thermal, kinetic and explosive damage on one round or charge. High-volley, slow-cycle weapons like artillery alpha-strike, while fast-cycle weapons spread the same DPS across more shots.

What does the damage multiplier include?

It is the combined effect of your ship's weapon damage bonus and any damage modules such as Magnetic Field Stabilisers, Heat Sinks, Gyrostabilisers or Ballistic Control Systems. Because these modules suffer stacking penalties, enter the final stacked multiplier from your fitting tool rather than adding raw percentages.

Why is applied DPS lower than full DPS?

Full DPS assumes every shot lands for full damage. In practice fast, small or distant targets cause turrets to miss or graze and missiles to deal reduced damage. The application percentage models that loss, so applied DPS reflects the damage you realistically deal in a fight.

How do I increase applied DPS against small targets?

Improve tracking or explosion velocity with rigs, scripts and modules, slow the target with webs and stasis grapplers, paint it with target painters, or switch to a charge that trades raw damage for better application. The right damage type against the target's weakest resist also raises effective damage.

EVE Online DPS Calculator

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Compare EVE Online fits by real damage output

This calculator turns your weapon stats into the same damage-per-second number that fitting tools and combat logs use, so you can compare two fits, ammo choices or upgrades on equal footing. It works for turrets and launchers, since both follow the same volley-over-cycle model. Everything runs in your browser — nothing is uploaded.

How it works

Each weapon fires once per cycle. The damage landed in one cycle is the volley, and the volley is the sum of the four EVE damage types on the round or charge:

volley = EM + Thermal + Kinetic + Explosive
baseDPS = volley / cycleTime

Your ship’s weapon bonus and damage modules raise that figure. Because those modules suffer diminishing returns (stacking penalties), the tool takes a single combined multiplier rather than adding raw percentages:

fullDPS = baseDPS * damageMultiplier

Finally, not every shot lands for full damage. The application percentage models tracking, signature and range losses against the actual target:

appliedDPS = fullDPS * (application / 100)

Example and tips

A Hawk firing Caldari Navy Scourge rockets might deal 60 kinetic plus 60 thermal per shot on a 4-second cycle. That is a 120 volley and a 30 base DPS. With a 1.45 ship-and-module multiplier the full DPS is 43.5, and at 85% application against a cruiser-sized target you land about 37 DPS. Against a fast frigate the application could drop below 40%, so always test the same fit against the size of target you expect to fight. To close the gap between full and applied DPS, web and paint your target, fit application rigs, or switch to an ammo that trades a little raw damage for far better tracking or explosion velocity.