¶ Summary
¶ Skills
¶ Tactics
PvE
With no need to tackle the kind of enemies faced in new-player PvE combat and Level 1 missions, Rifter pilots can try mounting a small shield tank and putting a Damage Control and Gyrostabilizers (for more damage) in the low slots. The Rifter is a perfectly good ship for most or all Level 1 mission work, but pilots will probably soon move on from the Rifter to the Thrasher and then (for Level 2 missions) the Rupture.
PvP
The Rifter sees some use in small-scale Faction Warfare battles. With its speed and its falloff bonus (and especially with T2 autocannon, which can use the falloff-boosting Barrage ammo), the Rifter can try to kite at the edge of warp scrambler range. Artillery fits are a squeeze, but can attempt kiting beyond scram range and within point range.
In PvP fleets, the Rifter is not a bad choice for a new Minmatar character who wants to bring some small-sized DPS to the table, but it is worth checking with your FC whether or not a tackling Slasher might offer more utility to the fleet.
¶ Notes
Since a major frigate rebalancing in the middle of the 2010s, the Rifter has become a significantly weaker ship, and one seen much less often in PvP. Its iconic silhouette is still used in game for the fitting window icon and the cargo hold button within the Fitting window, however, and outside the game itself a picture of the Rifter is used as the icon for the popular third-party fitting tool PYFA.
More recently, the 2022 Uprising expansion has attempted to breathe new life into the Rifter with an increase to its firerate with small projectile turrets.