Creating the right kind of character in EVE Online is essential if you want to do well. While any character can do anything, each race has special characteristics and specialties which make them right for certain areas, and wrong for others. Choosing the right race/specialty/bloodline and career will allow you to make more ISK, become more powerful, and generally have an easier time of playing the game.

If your character is relatively new and you know that you've made some suboptimal choices during its creation, it may be more effective to create a new one. Remember that you can have up to 3 characters on a single account but only one of them is able to learn new skills at any given time. Here's a short breakdown of available races and their most popular starting builds. While the choice of race does not limit you in any way, it can be a waste of time to start as a Gallente only to fly Minmatar ships because you will have to train the second set of skills from scratch.

AMARR A specialized race that deals considerable damage and is able to tank large amounts of damage effectively. Their weakness is the limitation to 2 damage types - electromagnetic (EM) and thermal. That makes them excel against certain types of NPC opponents but causes problems with other types. They are also considered skill-intensive: they need solid support skills trained first to really shine in the game.

Weapons: Energy Turrets (long range Beam Lasers and short range Pulse Lasers)

Recommended PvE (ratting and missions) build: Bloodline - Khanid; Heritage - CyberKnights; Career - Military; Specialization - Special Forces; Attributes: +3 to Perception and +2 to Intelligence (the latter can be changed to +1 and the additional point assigned to Willpower).

GALLENTE One of the more versatile races, prized in PvP (player versus player) and PvE combat alike. The Gallente can rely on drones as their primary weapon and can supplement them with deadly guns. Their drone ships conserve ammunition and have free fitting slots for Salvager modules and Tractor Beams, which makes them effective solo NPC hunters.

Weapons: Hybrid Turrets (long range Railguns and short range Blasters), Drones

Recommended PvE build: Bloodline - Jin-Mei; Heritage - Saan-Go Caste; Career - Military; Specialization - Special Forces; Attributes: +3 to Perception and +2 to Intelligence.

MINMATAr Often considered the best for PvP combat, Minmatar pilots rely on speed and raw damage output to kill their prey. They perform well in PvE with more flexibility in choosing the type of damage dealt than the Amarr but just like their most bitter amarrian opponents, they require longer training to be really effective.

Weapons: Projectile Turrets (long range Artillery and short range Autocannons)

Recommended PvE build: Bloodline - Brutor; Heritage - Slave Child; Career - Military; Specialization - Special Forces; Attributes: +1 to Perception, +2 to Intelligence and +2 to Memory.