Wormhole Essentials

• they are transient paired objects which connect two systems, temporarily allowing ships to jump between them
• they must be scanned down with probes
• their jump range is 5 km—double that of stargates & Ansiblexes—and their radius is 3 km, so they can be entered from a 16 km-wide sphere centered on their brackets
  • this is a skosh over half the spawn diameter of the smallest stargates, so wormholes are much easier to interdict than gates
• their associated Cosmic Signatures are always 10 km from the wormhole's center which is the same as 7 km from its nearest edge (explanation if this is unintuitive)
  • unless the hole leads to Pochven or Drifter/Uni space. more on both later, but one quick point first:
    • CSigs for Pochven holes are undeadspaced and 75 km from the hole. those for Drifters/Unis (if not static) are deadspaced 75 or 88 km away (and slightly below)
  • rarely, a cloaked covert ship can be decloaked if its warp to a Cosmic Signature passes through the hole.
    click to show/hide unnecessary & untested musing about this

    • the "decloak cone" constitutes ~5% of space so you'll decloak roughly that often if we assume all starting orientations wrt the cone are equally likely
      • in fact, warpable objects in EVE are usually aligned to orbits and orbits are generally horizontal-ish
        • so the actual decloak chance is probably slightly higher than 5% since origins will usually be in the same plane as the decloak cone
          • some objects like const/region gates, incursion beacons, etc have huge vertical offsets, but most objects do not
          • I don't care to maffs this all out. ~5% is a reasonable estimate
          • hulls with larger radii will also have slightly higher decloak odds; another reason why COs > T3Cs for pure scanning & holefinding tasks!
            • this is a tiny difference since T3Cs are only ~170 m larger, but it's definitely nonzero!
    • it may be possible to pass through a hole without decloaking on it, since ships are instantiated at points along their warp vectors rather than across their whole lengths
      • I don't think this is possible since it'd require the hole being conveniently located in a gap in warp instantiations
        • I think even a 35 AU/s Pacifier would have decelerated enough that the instantiation gaps would be too small near the hole
    • if you must avoid this possibility, warp to the sig at 70/100 km, bookmark the hole, warp to a nearby celestial or to an on-grid probe BM and then to the hole BM
• they have these 5 characteristics (see whtype.info for a visualization):
  1. a Type of 1 letter and 3 numbers, visible in space & on the overview. one hole of a pair is always K162. the non-K162 Type is always the originating side
  2. a lifetime counter which begins ticking down only when someone initiates warp to the wormhole's grid. a hole disappears or "collapses" once its counter reaches 0
  3. a total throughput mass which, if exceeded, causes the wormhole to collapse
  4. an individual ship mass limit. this is related but not identical to Maximum Ship Size which is detailed further below
  5. an origin and a destination category. there are 14 possible categories in 6 groups:
     1. 3 categories of Known Space AKA KS or New Eden - 5,213 stargate-connected systems in 65 regions grouped into High-Sec (HS), Low-Sec (LS), and Null-Sec (NS)
        • tmk, wormholes do not spawn in the new 53-system PvP-less starter/tutorial region called Exordium
     2. 7 of J-Space AKA JS or Anoikis - 2,598 systems grouped into Classes 1-6 and 13, only accessible via wormholes. all named "J" followed by 6 digits (except one)
     3. 1 of Drifter/Uni space - 5 named systems only accessible via "Unidentified" wormholes, the large quantities & unique mechanics of which set these systems apart
     4. 1 of Thera - a single giant system with numerous wormholes. has stations with jump clone & home station functionality. its holes are publicly mapped by EVE-Scout
     5. 1 of Pochven - 27 systems connected in a loop via a separate gate network. accessible via wormhole or filament. filaments are useful for exfiltrating stuff to Jita
     6. 1 of Tabbetzur and Turnur - Turnur became a mini-Thera in 2022 and EVE-Scout map it. Tabbetzur got a similar treatment in 2025 but EVE-Scout don't map it
        • they're both also in KS. I give them their own group because they share similar hole mechanics which are unique to them, detailed down in Supplemental Facts
• they reveal they above 5 characteristics via their visual appearance and/or Show Info windows, so with knowledge, you can know those things before jumping, even at a K162
  • specific KS region destinations can be identified before jumping, too, if you can recognize the nebulae. more on this in the visual appearance ID guide
• it's customary to always BM the hole itself rather than its sig. assuming you avoid being interdicted (or smartbombed or lanced or whatever) this has two benefits:
  1. warping to a hole BM at more than
     7,500 m3 km hole radius plus
     2 km decloak radius plus
     2.5 km warp variance toward hole
     cannot cause a decloak on the hole itself (though it's still possible to decloak on ships/objects near it)
  2. warping to 0 on a hole BM always lands you in jump range (whereas going to 0 on a sig can land you outside jump range)
• you can jump a particular wormhole only twice every 5 minutes. you're polarized with respect to a hole you can't jump through due to recent transits
• unlike stargates & Ansiblexes, you can jump wormholes with a weapons (combat) timer
• ~40% of JS systems have 1 of 6 system-wide effects which alter the performance of ships & modules (you can filter for these with anoik.is/systems)
• Local chat in Drifter/Uni space, JS, Pochven and Thera only shows present pilots in the Member List if they send a message. in KS, Local always lists all present pilots

visual appearance ID guide (link to separate page)

Supplemental Facts

• you can determine JS class by clicking the system name at the top left; the first letter of the Region name indicates the Class:
  • A=C1, B=C2, C=C3, D=C4, E=C5, F=C6, G=Thera, H=C13/tripnull, K=Drifter/Uni
• C1, C2 and C3 are often referred to as lowclass whereas C5 and C6 are highclass. C4 is one of those or neither, depending on who you ask
  • broadly, higher-class holes have more difficult & lucrative PvE sites so are more desirable to inhabit, hence the distinction
• wormhole spawning mechanics are fairly well (although not completely) understood
• wormholes cannot connect a system to itself, but they can connect systems which are adjacent by stargate
• the mechanics governing how far ships spawn from wormholes differ considerably from stargate spawning mechanics
  • wormhole spawn distance is not fixed, but is instead based on hull mass and the hole's remaining throughput mass (Ctrl + F "potential distances" here)
  • given a "lower bound of 2.5km," wormhole spawn radii vary between 5,500 and 16,800 m (diameters 11,000-33,600)
    • the nearest edges of spawned ships are placed in those ranges
    • these values are measured from a hole's center, not from its Overview-reported edge. read about zero spheres and look at this image if you don't appreciate this
    • lighter ships spawn in the closer side of that range, heavier ones toward the farther
      • wormhole spawn distances increase (still as a function of hull mass) as remaining hole mass decreases
        • the largest radius/diameter listed above is a maximum for the heaviest possible ship jumping a crit hole
• shattered systems have ruinous planets and no moons, contain unique PvE sites, and can spawn sites from a class above or below their own
  • a unique group of 25 of these called C13s or Tripnulls only connect to JS/NS via Small wormholes. they get expanded site spawns & C6 Wolf-Rayet effects
  • 3 shatterd C4s are unique in having Sansha instead of Sleeper rats, among other things: J005299, J010556, and J011195
• structures as well as POS and POCOs can be anchored in non-shattered JS but one cannot jump clone into or out of JS structures or set them as home stations
  • you can jump clone within a single JS structure, i.e. swap clones
• capitals can't jump into C1-C4 (nor non-Nestor BS into C1) but they can be built there if players anchor a structure & harvest/import the raw materials as necessary
  • this is why there are capital kills in C1-C4 despite capitals being unable to jump into them
• Small holes technically have 3 million tonnes of throughput, but that value regenerates. they really have infinite throughput, collapsing only when their life timers end
• wormholes can be either static, wandering, or reverse static
  • statics respawn in the same system with a random connection
  • wanderers respawn in a random system with a random connection
  • reverse statics respawn in a random system with the same connection
    • 35 * 8 planetary systems have associated reverse-static Types:
      • Thera has 5: ~3 T458 from HS, ~2 M164 from LS, ~3 L031 from NS, ~4 F135 from C2-C6, and ~1 F353 from C1
      • Tabbetzur has 1: ~5 J492, from C1-C4
      • Turnur has 1: ~5 J377, from C1-C4
      • each of Pochven's 27 systems has a single associated C729 with its own unique spawn zone, each quite small compared to other spawn zones
        • * note that this March 2026 patch changed C729 into a normal rather than a reverse static. its spawn zones & the mechanics of other holes are unchanged
        • some of the spawn zones partially overlap. the zones are shown in these maps
      • the 5 Drifter/Uni systems constitute the region K-R00033. each system has ~40 reverse-statics which spawn in systems with Jove Observatories
    • Pochven as a region also hosts several instances of 2 Types which wander around its systems: F216 from C2-C6 and U372 from the Dronelands
  • if you're confused by the difference between normal and reverse statics,
    click to show/hide a clarification

    • a normal static respawns inside its host system and its K162 appears somewhere in its spawn zone if the conditions are met
    • a reverse static respawns outside its host system—somewhere in its spawn zone—and its K162 shows up in the host system if the conditions are met
  • note: certain wormhole Types can include both static and wandering wormholes, but specific individual wormholes out in space are never both
    • e.g. a C5 system might host a static H296 and a wandering H296 simultaneously; those two wormholes are distinct, unique entities
      • the static H296 will respawn in the same system after collapsing whereas the wandering H296 will respawn in a randomly-selected C5
• in addition to their ~5 reverse statics to C1-4, Tabbetzur and Turnur each have 6 Extra large normal statics:

  • Type, Dest.	Tabbetzur	Turnur
    B449, HS	1	1
    N944, LS	4	2
    S199, NS	1	3

  • most B449s, N944s and S199s are wanderers, not statics. such wanderers can spawn in Tabbetzur and Turnur, but they'll respawn in randomly-selected systems if rolled
• most static holes respawn 60 seconds after collapsing. the static VLs in Tabbetzur and Turnur take 20 minutes. Drifters/Unis probably take 20 m, too, but I've not seen proof
  • it'd be hard to determine the respawn timer of wandering holes because you'd need lots of eyes to check sig spawns in all of a relevant class/security
    • I've never seen CCP comment on this, but highclass krabs sometimes talk of testing C6 wanderer mechanics (only need eyes in 118 systems for that)
• HICs and the Odysseus can use Zero-Point Mass Entanglers. while active, ZPMEs greatly reduce both mass and mobility. HICs and Odysseis can enter Small holes this way
• each KS region has a unique skybox and thus a unique wormhole graphic, but they have similarities based on their relative locations
• each JS class from C1-C6 has a unique skybox & wormhole graphic. Thera, the 5 Drifter/Uni systems and all 25 Tripnulls share one
• there are 8 sizes of total wormhole throughput mass, listed here (in tonnes, not kg) along with average throughput for various hull classes. data last updated June 6th, 2025
  • there is much variation within these averaged groups. for exact throughput numbers, use my calculator or use a dscan tool w/tonnage totals then divide it in
    • there's only one 5 mil hole (D845) and it only fits BS and smaller. 500k and 100k holes only fit BCs/Haulers/Nestors and smaller

  • mass, t↓ hull→	Cap	Freighter	Rorqual	Bowhead	Marauder	Orca	BLOPs	BS	Nestor	Barge	BC	Hauler	Cruiser	Porpoise	Shuttle	Destroyer	Frigate	Corvette	Capsule	Zephyr
    5,000,000	✖	✖	✖	✖	33	34	34	51	250	286	376	378	433	1,112	3,125	3,386	4,326	4,337	156,250	1,000,000
    3,300,000	3	4	5	9	22	22	23	34	165	189	249	250	286	734	2,063	2,235	2,855	2,863	103,125	660,000
    3,000,000	3	4	4	8	20	20	21	31	150	172	226	227	260	667	1,875	2,032	2,596	2,602	93,750	600,000
    2,000,000	✖	3	✖	5	14	14	14	21	100	115	151	152	173	445	1,250	1,355	1,731	1,735	62,500	400,000
    1,000,000	✖	2	✖	3 *only fits through C729	7	7	7	11	50	58	76	76	87	223	625	678	866	868	31,250	200,000
    750,000	✖	✖	✖	✖	5	5	6	8	38	43	57	57	65	167	469	508	649	651	23,438	150,000
    500,000	✖	✖	✖	✖	✖	✖	✖	✖	25	29	38	38	44	112	313	339	433	434	15,625	100,000
    100,000	✖	✖	✖	✖	✖	✖	✖	✖	5	6	8	8	9	23	63	68	87	87	3,125	20,000

• semantic fluff of little consequence (click to show/hide)

  • instead of JS or J-Space, some people say WS or w-space, for wormhole space. some also say they "live in a wormhole" or suchlike
    • to me, this unnecessarily muddles two distinct concepts: planetary systems and wormholes
      • every "place" in EVE (apart from Abyssal Deadspace) is a system, and no system is also a wormhole (a wormhole being a transient gatelike object)
        • as I said, this distinction is of essentially no practical consequence, but I'm a tedious pedant who values precision & distinctness in language

Exploring/Scanning Best Practices (make these habitual)

• ABC: Always Be Cloaked. if you don't need to be uncloaked, be cloaked
• bookmark both holes, and again, the holes themselves rather than their sigs
• use the directional scanner to reduce the likelihood of being caught unaware
• recall your probes ASAP when done scanning. they betray your presence