Overview
“Which nation do I pick?””What are the differences?””What ship type suits me?”A guide for all of these questions.
News
It may not seem like much but this is one of the simple joys in my life, helping others by spreading knowledge. So thank you again for all your support and shared wisdom!
Current News:
Commander rework coming soon; Guide updates postponed until it’s release.
Commander rework has majorly disrupted the meta of the game. Until there is some form of a return to normality i likely wont update this guide.
Update:
The guide does not yet include the new ships from the US Battleship Split, or the Italian Battleships. However, I don’t plan on updating the guide until the commander rework comes out since it is such a massive change to the core of the game.
That being said,all information is currently up to date with the 2 exceptions noted above. I’ll update the guide as soon as i feel there is sufficient information after the release of the commander skill rework.
Update 2 (4/10/21):
With the commander rework still disrupting the meta, I’ve not played the game at all really and have no desire to play it until the perk “Dead Eye” is reworked into a way that does not destroy Mid and higher level games. Not asking for it to be removed, just tweaked so the game comes back into a bit more balance.
I am aware there are a few more lines that are not listed here yet. I DO plan on updating this guide, but for the time being it will just work as it is and is just missing a few ship lines.
ETA: Soon™ Unknown. “Eventually™”
Thank you everyone for your input and for your patience! ^_^
~Jes
PS: Please don’t forget to rate the guide for me!
Intro
Below is an abbreviated overlook of each kind of craft, and the differences between nations.
These are merely speculative differences and are by no means a definitive guide. Various builds and play styles may work well on different ships. User discretion and personal research is urged.
This is also not a ship by ship guide. This is to give you an idea of what nations specialize in and what to expect from ship types in the broadest sense.
I will also list some things that are purely speculation, such as “dud” ships that don’t perform well for their tier. These are speculation, and personal opinion.
On that note; most players find ships at tier 4 & 5 to be some of the more difficult ships. A lot of players often skip tier 4 entirely with Free Exp since most T4 ships don’t have good, if any, Anti-Air[AA], and T4 often has matches with multiple Aircraft-Carriers[CV] per side.
Other ships will have a quoted abbreviation. Think of this as “This ship in a single sentence.”
If you have any input, would like to see some more information, or simply have questions, feel free to comment below.
*Please note: Countries are in alphabetical order as to show no preference.
Ship Types
Keynotes:
- Good damage.
- Weak armor, stay mobile or use cover.
- Various consumables to counter enemies.
- Best when supporting Battleships[BB].
Cruisers are broken down into 2 types; Light Cruisers[CL] and Heavy Cruisers[CA]. But, with all cruisers your job isn’t to tank the damage but to deal it out and use your consumables to deal with a variety of situations.
Your job should be escorting your Battleships[BB] into battle to provide them with the covering fire they need. This does not mean staying right beside them, and often means using island cover to your advantage. Often times you also provide anti-aircraft cover for other ships, with some cruisers specializing in Anti-Air.
Just know you are more fragile than Battleships[BB], and can provide them the much needed counter fire to keep other Cruisers and those pesky Destroyers[DD] at bay.
Light Cruisers = [CL]
“Glorified Gun boats.” Consider these more the Mages of typical RPGs. They set a lot of fires. These ships are nimble, yet fragile, able to rain down rapid fire High Explosive[HE] shells on foes to start fires. They excel in harassing other ships who find themselves in the open or otherwise exposed. The weapons of this ship are often smaller in size, but much quicker in fire rate, and often come with torpedoes.
Heavy Cruisers = [CA]
“Designated Marksmen, or foot soldier.” Consider these the archers of most RPGs. These are typically respected as the most versatile ships. Often armed with larger sized cannons, with average fire rate, and torpedoes, these ships can do just about anything you need them to do, provided you are using proper tactics. Some can even tank a little damage, but don’t push your luck.
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Keynotes:
- Slow and sluggish, plan ahead.
- Push, or Hold flanks to win games.
- Angle to bounce incoming fire.
- Devastatingly hard, but slow hits.
The big, the powerful, the slow. think of these guys as the typical Tank, in RPG terms. Battleships often prefer to engage at medium to long range, able to dish out extraordinary amounts of damage, but also have deadly automatic secondary weapons to deal with those that get too close.
Your job is also to be a threat to enemy Battleships[BB], Heavy Cruisers[CA], and Light Cruisers[CL]. By using your health as the tank of the team, you can offer the chance to let your Cruisers deal the damage they need to to fend off your foes. Your big enemy though is the Destroyer[DD]. With slow firing guns, and a slow moving ship, destroyers can delete you if they get too close, or you sail into a trap.
However getting close and cuddly with Destroyers and Cruisers can prove fatal as you are most often too slow to dodge torpedo’s. And just remember, if you’re broadside to incoming fire, you’re doing it wrong. You’re not invincible, and you can be deleted in just 1 or 2 good shots. Angle, Angle, Angle, Angle, always angle yourself to bounce incoming fire, and make yourself less of a target.
Most low tier Battleships[BB] are considered “Dreadnaughts” Slow, and very sluggish, often with odd turret placement. Around mid tier they tend to swap to the more modern battleship designs, increasing in length, having more speed, and adopting a common placement of superfiring main battery turrets.
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Keynotes:
- Glass Cannon. Maneuverability, and cover are your only defenses.
- Stealthy. Most have smoke consumable.
- Limited range. Most are effective at close/mid ranges.
Nimble, yet extraordinarily fragile ships, often used to scout, and ambush enemies. Think of these as your typical rogue class. All Destroyer[DD] class ships have torpedoes and are devastating if allowed to get up close. Their favored prey is the slow, cumbersome Battleships[BB]. As a Destroyer[DD], you are best suited at dealing with these brutes with your torpedoes, but only from cover, or in a point blank ambush.
There are 2 unique play styles. Gun-Boats, and Torpedo-Boats. With some ships able to straddle the lines between the two in a Hybrid style. However, these classifications are more on a boat per boat basis, and even while some countries have 2 destroyer lines, they may not all fit so snugly into one category or another.
Torpedo Boats:
Torp Boats often are markedly better at concealment. Thus firing their torpedoes beyond spotting distance of enemies. Preferring to stay just out of range of the enemy’s spotting capability and harassing them with long range torpedo attacks.
Gun Boats:
Gunboats on the other hand are more about using positioning, agility, and their spotting capability to rain down fire spreading High Explosive[HE] rounds on exposed foes.
Hybrid Boats:
As the name suggests, these have the ability to play stealthily with torpedoes, or press the attack with artillery and speed. These often take more skill to get the fullest potential out of, but can be the mother of all assassins, and power cappers who focus on Playing the Objective.
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Keynotes:
- Passive, support oriented playstyle.
- Great for scouting.
- Great for picking off wounded prey.
- Nearly helpless if ship is spotted.
Carriers[CV] are a total departure from all other ships in the game. Rather than piloting your ship manually, you most often use the autopilot function from the map. (To use auto navigation, open the map and left click on your destination to plot an auto-pilot rout.)
You instead pilot squadrons of aircraft and manually drop bombs, torpedoes, and rockets on enemies. Knowing enemy ship AA capabilities is a very wise thing to brush up on before playing these ships.
Your primary goal in a Carrier[CV] is to scout the battlefield, apprise your team of situations on the map, and to harass ships performing covert maneuvers, and ambushes while alone. You would be wise to avoid grouped ships whenever possible as their combined Anti-Air[AA] can see you shot down before you deliver your goods.
You also excel at picking off wounded ships that have retreated to the back lines. Punish/Support ships that engage in 1v1 fights. Finish off ships that got a paddling and slinked away. And support your own ships in danger. These are your main goals. You can be the difference in victory or death for ships stuck in an ambush or in a 1V1 situation.
However; You are a sitting duck if spotted. Your job of spotting enemies is not just for your team’s benefit, it is also a major factor in your own survival. Stay hidden, watch the map, know the engagement move accordingly. Stay as close as you can to the winning side, and as just far enough away to not be seen.
The Different Plane Types are;
Rocket Attack Planes. Good for harassing Destroyers[DD], And scoring mild to moderate damage on Light Cruisers[CL].
Torpedo Bombers. Mostly used to score some damage on slow vessels such as Battleships[BB], or other Carriers[CV].They can be used against Cruisers [CL/CA] but a good Captain will almost always be able to dodge your shots if paying attention. Almost entirely useless against the ever agile Destroyers[DD] as they can dodge your torpedoes before you’ve even dropped them.
Dive Bombers. Useful for Battleships[BB], and if you can catch a Cruiser[CL/CA] by surprise. but due to the aiming nature of these attacks they are almost entirely useless against Destroyers[DD].
Cruisers [CL] & [CA]
British Royal Navy:
“The most ‘unique’ cruiser line.”
Their Light Cruisers[CL] line lack High Explosive[HE] shells entirely, and only have Armor Penetrating[AP] shells. Their Armor Penetrating[AP] have increased penetration and short fuses so are deadly to Destroyers[DD]. With average fire rate, they have a slower projectile speed. When shooting Battleships[BB] you’ll want to aim at the superstructure for a lot of your shots, as you often cant penetrate their thick belt armor.
They sadly have the worst cruiser armor in game. However, they come with a smoke generator, heal and hydro-acoustic search as consumables to offset this in the higher tiers. They also accelerate much faster than any most nations and turn very fast too, trading the armor for maneuverability.
Their Heavy Cruiser[CA] line gains HE shells that are notably good at setting fires. They lose the ability to use smoke however, and are also markedly weakly armored for a Heavy Cruiser[CA]. They are not particularly fast, nor maneuverable either. This makes them a very difficult cruiser line to play, but they can be effective in the right hands.
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French Navy “La Royale”:
Tier 1-6 are Light Cruisers[CL], while Tier 7 and higher are Heavy Cruisers[CA].
Having “Spaced Armor” it is often considered poorly armored by some, with a strange citadel layout. However due to the spaced armor design it can bounce some shots making the armor more unreliable than simply bad. These ships are very fast with speed boost consumable and reload booster consumable. Their weapons are average in all regards, save having a bad firing arc.
These ships actually fair well in open waters at longer ranges thanks to their agility and reasonable accuracy.
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Imperial German Navy & Kriegsmarine:
Their unique munitions have lower High Explosive[HE] shell damage and fire chance but, trade this with increased High Explosive[HE] shell penetration. Their Armor Penetrating[AP] shell damage is slightly above average.
These cruisers lack concealment, but have improved hydro-acoustic search consumable. Due to their armor, they are often somewhat harder to citadel(Critical Hit) than other cruisers.
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Imperial Japanese Navy:
Tier 1 – 4 are Light Cruisers[CL] Tier 5+ are Heavy Cruisers[CA].
Japanese cruisers tend to be very stealthy, and have very good torpedoes. Accurate and very good High Explosive[HE] shells, high damage but slow firing and short ranged, with a bad firing arc from tier 6 onward.
Their armor is oddly dispersed and often called “trollish”. They will randomly bounce shots at times, but will get penetrated no problem at other times. These cruisers tend to lack good Anti-Air[AA] defenses.
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Russian Navy:
Mostly Light Cruisers[CL] excluding Tier 5 and 9 that are 180mm “medium cruisers”. And latter the Tier 10 Heavy Cruiser[CA].
Armor is variable, some are better armored than others.
Slower fire rate but faster projectile speed and decent accuracy, these ships fair well in open water long range engagements.They latter have a 12km radar consumable.
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United States Navy:
Splitting at Tier 5 – 6 they have a different line for Light Cruisers[CL] and Heavy Cruisers[CA].
All US Navy Cruisers lack torpedoes, with 2 exceptions at T4 and T5. American cruisers have good AA generally. They latter have Radar consumables.The Heavy Cruisers[CA] have a 10 km radar, while Light Cruisers[CL] only have a 9 km radar, both of which come with a long duration.
Lights Cruisers[CL] have hydro-acoustic search and are best at raining down with High Explosive[HE] shells.
Heavy Cruisers[CA] firing AP shells can regularly score citadel hits against most Heavy Cruisers[CA], Light Cruisers[CL], and even some Battleships[BB]. They have better armor and the tier 8 and higher can bounce 380mm Battleship[BB] Armor Penetrating[AP] rounds.
T4 Phoenix, and T5 Omaha, are not new player friendly and require unique insight to utilize properly. Both are very weak for their level. Consider playing through the Phoenix while saving free exp, and skipping Omaha with free exp if possible. The two cruisers after Omaha, are both decent ships, but play drastically different.
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Italian Navy:
These Heavy Cruisers[CA] have relatively good speed and average armor.Their guns are reliable, and their AA protection is also average to good.
The average size cannons do not have High Explosive [HE] rounds, but instead have Semi-Armor-Piercing[SAP] Shells. These shells are strong against lighter armor such as some Destroyers[DD], and lesser armored Light Cruisers[CL]. The major downsides are that if they fail to penetrate, they “shatter” and deal 0 damage. And unlike High Explosive[HE] shells, they cannot set fires, and must over match armor.
Please note, If hitting the torpedo protection, or other spaced armor, of ships with [SAP] it will do 0 damage as the protection will trigger the explosive inside the open space. It is best to focus fire on the nose, tail and super structure of ships with this ammo.
The lack of High Explosive[HE] shells do mean they lack any ability to set fire to foes entirely, and damage to modules must be done directly by hitting it with the shell. Their Armor Piercing[AP] shells are only average, and due to their size lack the power to effectively citadel heavier armored foes, and leads to them struggling to battle some Battleships[BB] unless aiming directly at the nose, tail, and superstructure [SAP] Shells. Even then, once the superstructure, bow, and stern, have been hit a few times, it becomes damage saturated and you quickly lose effective damage against Battleships[BB] who wont show more structure to you.
Their torpedoes have good range, and quicker than average reload, but are slow in the water, and few in number, making them less than ideal for some engagement styles, but over all very viable for area denial.
Additional Material:
Full review of this branch.
[link]
And a VERY helpful video on SAP shells.
Battleships [BB]
British Royal Navy:
“Self Healing, Fire starting Snipers”
They have notably poor Armor Penetrating[AP] rounds but very good High Explosive[HE] rounds. Poor armor, lower Hit Points[HP], exposed citadel(critical zone). But above average accuracy.
National trait is the tier 9 and 10 ships have a “super heal” that heals 40% of your total hp per use. Also they have increased HE penetration, damage and fire chance at the cost of bad AP rounds.
Tier 6 – 7. Go from slow dreadnoughts to faster modern style ships.
The Tier 8 Brittish Battleship[BB] the monarch, is considered a bit of a dud among this line. Save your Free Exp to skip it.
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French Navy “La Royale” :
“Flankers, more speed than armor.”
Very fast battleships with notably poor armor, fairly inaccurate guns, and above average secondaries.
National perk is speed boost.
Tier 5 – 6. Go from double barrel turret to quad barrel turrets with horrible accuracy. Tier 7-8 gains speed boost and goes from armored and slow to weak armor armor and fast.
The Tier 5 Bretange is a bit of a dud and you should save free exp to ease you through it.
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Imperial German Navy & Kriegsmarine:
“Tough up close Brawlers, bristling with punishing secondary armaments.”
Very good belt armor, exceptionally poor accuracy, powerful secondaries with increased HE penetration. Very tough, hard to citadel(critical hit) up close. The “Turtle Back Armor” scheme does make them hard to citadel up close, but because Armor Penetrating[AP] will penetrate the outer belt armor, but not the citadel armor, it will count for full penetration damage still. Meaning that proper angeling is still very important. Also plungeing shots from range can citadel you quite easily. As such, take special care against Japanese Dive Bombers as they have Armor Penetrateing[AP] Bombs that will still citadel your ship with ease if done right.
National perk is they have hydroacoustic search at tier 8 and higher.
Tier 6 – 7. Go from slow dreadnought, to faster modern Battleship[BB]
The Tier 9 Friedrich is considered a bit of a dud, and free Exp should be saved to ease you through this ship.
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Imperial Japanese Navy:
“Tanky Snipers.”
High accuracy at long to mid ranges, less accurate up close. Their secondary armaments are decent but that is a trap as their slow rotating turrets and less accurate nature in close quarters leaves them in a position where they’d prefer not to use them if it can be helped.
Tier 3 – 4 sees them change from dreadnaught to modern Battleship[BB].
The Tier 4 Myogi is considered a bit of a dud and free Exp would be wisely spent to skip it.
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Russian Navy:
“Bow Brawlers”
Very tough, but have exposed citadels(crit spots). Very detrimental to be hit in the side as them. Very unforgiving and not newbie friendly.
National perk is they are inaccurate at long range but get very accurate up close. Also their repair party has limited uses unlike any other Battleship line.
Tier 6 – 7 sees the change from dreadnaught to modern Battleship[BB].
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United States Navy:
“Jack of All Traits.”
Average in almost everything but very good AA usually. Their armor is somewhat prone to random citadels. Work best at mid-ranges. National perk is they have a slightly improved repair and long damage control party active time. The notable cons are the overall sluggish nature of these ships, paired with relatively poor long range accuracy means they can take a little extra forethought to play properly.
Tier 7 and lower are dreadnaughts while tier 8 – 10 are modern Battleships[BB].
The Tier 7 Colorado is considered weak for its tier and free exp would be wisely spent to ease you through it.
*note: It has been buffed since. Jury is still out on it.
Destroyers [DD]
British Royal Navy:
Average Destroyers[DD]. The noteworthy points are; They have hydro-acoustic search that lasts a long time with a shorter range. Their Smoke Screen has a lot of charges but lasts for the shortest duration of any Destroyer[DD]. They lack a speed Boost consumable, making them one of the slower Destroyers[DD].
Their guns are relatively good at all typical aspects you’d expect from a destroyer. Middling range, quicker reload, lower caliber and good High Explosive[HE] damage. Their torpedoes are of average range, speed and damage, but they can launch torpedoes individually rather than always in a spread.
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French Navy “La Royale”:
Markedly fast Destroyers[DD] with a stronger Speed Boost skill in latter tiers. They do not have any smoke screen, and this makes them overall very difficult to play.
Their main guns are slow firing but have the Reload Booster skill at, tier 6 and up, to burst down enemy Destroyers[DD] in duels. Their Armor Penetrating[AP] Shells do reliably good damage, and have decent penetration. At latter tiers they have one of if not the fastest shell speeds making long range Armor Penetration[AP] very reliable.
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Imperial German Navy & Kriegsmarine:
Have hydro-acoustic search after tier 6 making them great at spotting other destroyers and giving early warning for torpedoes. They have a short duration smoke, reasonably strong Armor Penetrating[AP] Shells but lack penetrating power. Their High Explosive[HE] shells are not the best damage either. Their guns are fast loading, and their torpedoes are fast with low damage. Higher Hit Points than other destroyers. These are not very new player friendly ships.
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Imperial Japanese Navy:
Japanese research splits at tier 5 between “Torpedo Boats” and “Gun Boats”
Japanese “Torp Boat” line: “Torpedo Ninjas” Slow loading guns with high base damage, many torps that hit very hard at long range. They tend to lose in gunfights vs other Destroyers[DD] in 1v1s. Very stealthy.
Japanese “Gun Boat” line: Generally a lesser version of the torp boat line until tier 8 after which they become effectively mini Cruisers that fire copious amounts of High Explosive[HE] shells with very good Anti-Air[AA] for a Destroyer[DD].
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Pan-Asian Navy:
These ships are,… really eclectic. The Destroyers[DD] here are not built by, or designed by any one nation. As such each one has a unique feel more owing to the countries they were originally from.
However; There are some underlying differences that carry through the entire line.These ships often have long life Smoke Screens, and are the only nation to use “Deep Water Torpedoes”.
Deep Water Torpedoes, are unique in that they will pass harmlessly under other Destroyers[DD] making them useless in 1v1s. However, they are much harder to spot, and tend to have a higher flooding chance with slightly above average damage which makes them deadly for taking down all other ship types.
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Swedish Pan European Navy:
These Destroyers[DD] are torpedo boats with out the best stealth. They have very fast, numerous, long range, Torpedoes. Though as with most Destroyers[DD] that launch more torpedoes, they are rather weak hitting individually.
They have fairly average stealthiness for Destroyers[DD] But lack any smoke screens, and aren’t particularly fast or nimble. I personally found their guns to be markedly underwhelming at lower tiers, but it seems they at least become somewhat closer to average at higher tiers. Average for a torpedo boat that is.
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Russian Navy:
In spite of having 2 research branches, both lines are effectively Gun Boats.
Outfitted with very good guns, that have strong Armor Piercing[AP] and reliable High Explosive[HE] shells. They have a long range, fast projectile speed. However their torpedoes tend to be short ranged with average damage. The true downside however is their very poor camouflage rating making them far too easy to spot compared to other Destroyers[DD]. But even this is countered at higher tier by getting a heal capability.
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United States Navy:
“Knife Fighters”
Starts off as gunboats until tier 7 and higher. After which they become hybrids that can stealth torp.
Their Shells are not good for starting fires, and very slow projectile speed. Their guns reload quickly.
National trait is they have a very long duration smoke and access to the Defensive Fire skill for Anti-Air[AA].
Carriers[CV]
British Royal Navy:
Average rocket planes deal moderate high explosive damage with no stand out performance above or below expected norms.
These Carriers[CV] have a carpet bomb for their High Explosive[HE] bombers. And due to this are quite good at starting fires.
Their torpedoes tend to be a bit more lacking in numbers, but are more accurate and deal more individual damage per hit.
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Imperial German Navy & Kriegsmarine:
With remarkable speeds on most of their planes, having average, or below average health, these need to be flown with care to not end up in a swarm of AA fire.
These Carriers[CV], are unique for their rocket planes using AP rockets. These rockets are a double edge sword, often leading to over penetration on Destroyers[DD], but conversely easy citadels on Light Cruisers[CL]. Light Cruisers[CL] are often some of the best defended targets from air though, so choose wisely who you target.
Their bombers using AP bombs, can citadel most heavily armored targets. But some find these style bombs harder to properly aim and dislike how they tend to be dropped directly below rather than having any range. This makes them accurate to a fault, meaning a good player can land every shot, and a bad player will suffer from misjudging theirs.
Their Torpedoes are not the best, launching about as many as Japanese torpedo bombers, with moderate damage.
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Imperial Japanese Navy:
Average rocket planes deal moderate explosive damage with slightly less damage than their American and British counterparts.
These Carriers[CV] have strong Armor Piercing[AP] bombs, that take a good deal of skill to use properly but can actually citadel enemies. To use them effectively not only must you line up the bombers properly, but you must also time your drop so that the angle of the bomb lands nice and squarely on deck.
Their Torpedoes are above average damage and travel distance wise, and fire volleys of 2 torpedoes per run.
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United States Navy:
These Carriers[CV] have the best rockets, able to fire more of them, or swap to more powerful ones later in the trees.
They drop only a few bombs, but can upgrade them latter to deal fairly high explosive damage.
They also have the largest payload of torpedoes per attack run at latter trees, though this comes at the cost of each torpedo being weaker in power.
New Player Sections:
New to the game?
In the below sections I’ll cover some basics of the game in general and help you get the most out of your time.
Some simple rules to start with.
- Communicate often, and Politely.
- Move, and don’t stop unless behind cover.
- Change speed and direction often.
- Watch the mini-map like a hawk.
- Present your side to the enemy as little as possible.
- Don’t shoot at friendlies, and watch when using torpedoes near them.
- There is no kill stealing, only team victory.
UI and Aiming
Getting the most out of your UI may be the MOST important first step in getting started with the game and landing solid, reliable hits at long ranges.
Firstly navigate to your settings by pressing Escape, Selecting Settings, and lastly Controls: (Click pictures to enlarge if needed.)
1) Most importantly; “Alternative Interface” Consider this the “more information” mode.
2) Some quality of life things to make sure are enabled to help you as you play.
3) The second most important of all, Crosshair selection.
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“Great; now WHY did I do all that?”
Leading shots is one of THE most important skills a new Captain should master ASAP. And these changes to your UI should assist you invaluably.
To lead properly you need to know Shell Flight time, speed and direction of target. The UI can provide you with shell flight times thanks to the 1) “Alternative Interface” option you enabled. Without that, you’re left up to guess work, which is never as good for learning as getting measurements. Estimates sink ships, Measurements make sure its their’s that sinks, not yours.
In this image we can see the new look of your UI at a moderate zoom level.
Things to note:
- Shell Flight time to current target, Thanks to the “Alternative Interface”.
- Your ship’s maximum range.
- Current distance to target.
- The fixed measurement “Windage” of a ship traveling at ~30 knots with flight times marked.
- A Target Lock indicator.
“Okay…Now; How do I use this?”
Simple.
With this, read the shell flight time, and then if the ship is a Cruiser[CL/CA], often times simply align it to the corresponding number on the windage marks if the ship is giving you broadside.If the target ship is a low-mid tier Battleship[BB] Consider aiming a bit less ahead. They often travel at 20-25 knots and as such wont quite line up with the marks designed for a 30 knot speed.
If the target ship is a Destroyer[DD], at long range, good luck. At medium to close range you may have to aim a touch further ahead as a good number of destroyers can push 30-35 knots if not faster. Look for thick black smoke, without flames, coming from their stacks. This indicates engine boost is active and they will likely be going a bit faster than 30 knots.
For best results, put the bar either right on the ship’s lower hull or at the water line when using AP.
Always make sure the target is locked. This lowers the size of the shell dispersion area raising the chances of landing your shot.
Traveling away at an angle? Lead a little less to the side and a little farther behind them.
Coming more towards you? As before, lead a bit less and aim shallow.
Going directly away? Aim at their super structure and you’ll have a good chance at hitting them.
Coming right at you? often you just aim right in front of their nose and you’ll smoke em.
Shells, And Citadels: AP vs HE Vs SAP
What are Citadels?
Ships have layers. Each layer is different, and the further in you get the more vital the area is. The most critical of all these layers is the inner most core, The Citadel. Often containing fuel, Ammunition, Engines, critical systems, and massed clusters of crew the Citadel is the beating heart of the ship. The battle can be easily won or lost by destroying this, the core, the citadel, the critical spot.
Where is the Citadel?
Typically they are located in the very center of the ship, often around or just below the water line. on battleships and cruisers with large superfiring turrets, one is often located under each main turret. In short if ever you want to remember where it is, just remember the award ribbon it gives you. After all it shows you right where to gun.
HE: High Explosive
Just like the name says, these things go out with a boom! They have the least chance to bounce off a target, since they are rigged with a sensitive fuse that typically detonating on or just after contact, offering them little in the way of penetration, but guaranteed damage on target in some way shape or form. Some do have better penetration than others, but typically, if you see the ship is at an angle, or is presenting only nose or tail, this is what you load. It is suggested to aim a touch high with this to hit the super-structure and deck area. This raises your chances of starting fires with these rounds, and the weak armor of the upper decks are much more vulnerable to the explosive damage caused.
AP: Armor Piercing
As it says on the tin, if you have a nice flat, heavily armored side, this thing turns it into nice holy swiss cheese. These things deal significant damage if placed right, and if you hit a citadel, you can 1-2 hit delete many ships. Most AP shells have some explosive in them still, the timer is simply set to have a delay on the detonation time so that it punches through, then detonates inside for a nasty surprise. Some countries have better AP than others, but all in all, if you see the side of a ship at a nice flat angle, this is the ammo of choice.
SAP: Semi-Armor Piercing
Found exclusively in the Italian Navy, these shells are a unique in their power. They don’t bounce like AP Shells, more like HE, But they also don’t penetrate as deep before detonating. In all, think of these as a nice in between of the damage of AP shells, and the ease of use of HE shells.
Video Guides Worth Watching
While my guide shows some of the basics, and covers them in a written format that some users such as the hearing impaired may find useful, these video guides are simply unparalleled with their knowledge and presentation of it.
This gentleman is a true legend for taking the time to compile, and explain the wealth of information contained in his guide series.
Be sure to subscribe to him for updates and additions to his guide series. 🙂
Secondly;
This series is less a guide, and more of a “Facts to know” sort of thing. It doesn’t so much teach you how to play, but rather gives you essential information that is must know stuff from day 1.
Special Events
Here I will try and apprise players of simple events, that new players can expect to participate in.
Needless to say, there are always twitch drops available on the World Of Warships Official Twitch.[www.twitch.tv]
And any other WoWS stream when watching.
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Refer a Friend
Please note: This must be done before 5 Matches are played by the new member in game. Or if the account has not been played for at least 90 Days(bigger better rewards).
By joining World of Warships, or any of Wargaming’s other games, with a referral code, you stand to gain a great head start, including premium time, special loot crates just for referrals, and even premium ships or other items.
For full Details click the link below.
[link]
If you’d like to support me; click here for my friend referral link.[warships.us]
[link]
How to use Steam & Referral Link
Please note: This must be done before 5 Matches are played by the new member in game. Or if the account has not been played for at least 90 Days.
1) Log in for the first time in game via the Steam Client. (this makes your steam account automatically.)
2) Click your friend’s invite link. (My invite link: [link] )
3) Choose “Login”
4) Choose “Log in with your social profile: Steam”
5) Sign in Steam website.
6) Enjoy your perks!
Special Thanks:
Special thanks to the members of [FURHQ]. Several of their members have helped me tweak and update this guide.
Thanks to Snowfyre, without them this guide wouldn’t exist.
Thanks to Blazebre, who helped me fine tune the guide.
Thanks to ZeitWolf, who also helped tweak this guide.