GulvkluderGuld

Uhm, first off, Mutsuki is tier 6 and dont get matched with Blys/Mahan. Second there are lots more Blyses and Mahan / Sims at higher ranks than IJN dds, so they get matched a lot against themselves too, which should even out the stats. Actually it has 18.500 hp with SE It surprises me you dont love seeing Blyses. Blys has atrocious rudder shift time around 4,8 s, so I would expect it to be the easiest DD to torp (except the Kiev). @ SkyBuckFlying: I had the dubious "pleasure" to encounter his strike ranger on my way to rank 5. Sure he sunk the enemy CV after 2 strikes while we lost 2 dds to the enemy CV. Then went on a rampage while the enemy wiped out the rest of our team. Finally he ran out of planes before the enemy ran out of ships. Needless to say, that one was a loss

In my experience, yes, but the time of day matters more. I found that all the idiots tend to play during daytime and sundays in particular. Even in the 2-5 bracket, teamwork and coordination can be atrocious during daytime. Usually those teams are composed of Rank 5 people. Play from 6-7 pm CET and the later it goes, the better the teammates. This is how I earned about 1 rank / day. As to skill level, there is a slight shift up and more of a meta shift. It took me a day or two from earning rank 5 to keeping it while I adapted. Some meta things like smoking BBs and CAs, which caps to go for on certain maps and focus firing just become mandatory if you want to rank up beyond 5. Most of my wins were with more rank 4+ people in the team than the opponents, but as Syrchalis posted, games may also go the other way.

I remember that game, you took out the enemy CV and I barely had to do anything after weathering the initial DB attack! Can only imagine the waiting times. CVs in the Premiere league are quite rare (fortunately, from a DD perspective), maybe 1/10 games. FYI something wierd seemed to happen to my wait time when I reached rank 2. So much so that I suspected MM were up to something (besides giving me tomato teams)

Tonight I finally reached Rank 1. It happened from a starting position of rank 2** with a losing streak and win/lose sequences dropping me to 3****, but from there I hit an almost straight 7 game winstreak to finally rank out. I can't say it's been fun, but it has been steady progress with about one rank gained each day. In the end it took 306 battles with a 55% winrate to get from rank 15 to rank 1, most of them played in my Blyskawica. Avg. damage is on the low side, but that is because I found the Blys with a 15 point captain to be an amazing spotter, as soon as hatsus and mutsu were down. Tips that helped me along the way as a DD player: - MM decides 1/10 game or so by giving one team no BB. 1v2 BB are actually often winnable for the 1 BB with proper smoke use, since that team often has more DDs. - Steady performance every game bring stars home. - Calling out objectives in chat and preparing the team for any aggressive moves I made before executing them - It is usually more beneficial for the team to smoke a BB and be out spotting, than it is to sit in a smokescreen and blaze away at BB/CA. This is because nobody else likes to spot (except IJN dds, so kill those first!) - always sit bow-on in smoke facing the direction of expected torps and keep moving back and forth - It almost reduced the amount of random torp hits I took to zero. - Most DDs even in the Premiere league seem to sit still and broadside on in smoke while blazing away. It is appalling how often I sunk one or more with torps - After a lot of practice, I dare postulate that It is actually easy to reliably hit torps on targets firing from smoke. Thank you to all those of you from here that I played with along the way. It was a pleasure to play and chat with you!

Not your fault. That really is the sh*tty ships fault. Stats wise it should be tier 3½, not tier 4.

Negativvv, on 17 July 2016 - 01:15 PM, said: The Kirov can be fun but you need to accept it's limitations. It's mostly a HE spammer at long range, I find it's AP overrated and you have to expect to have it's HP chopped down every time a DD looks at you. I love AP with this ship. It Citpens cruisers easily at all ranges. AP is my main source of dmg. On the other hand, the Kirov itself seems to take CitPens at all ranges. I remember Citting it with Karsruhe at 12 kms once! @ Limitations: Do you realize this thing as has a larger turning circle than even BB and CVs of equivalent tiers? (860 m to be precise).

The Kiev used to be insanely OP, then she was heavily nerfed in the first quarter of 2016. Most people still consider her a strong ship, and she is among the top 5 ships in the current ranked season. I used this ship in ranked season 2 and reached rank 4. Didnt have time to keep playing so never made it all the way up. Watch a few videos on youtube on her playstyle - it is different than USN dds. You rely on speed and distance for defence and should be shooting your guns all the time. The shitty concealment doesnt matter much, as the RU dds aren't suited for capping. Setup and hints: - Get the captain perk AFT. It really, really helps. - Don't cap (first) unless you KNOW it is a free cap (all other enemies are spotted/in known locations). - Stay outside 5 km of USN dds and 10 km from all CAs and BBs, minimum, preferably 12 km. For tier 8+ CA the range limit is 12 km minimum, and you should avoid Atagos and 155 mm Mogamis like the plague. - Exception to the above rule is when you invade some dd's smoke or sneak up close to a CA/BB using an island to torp it. The Kiev has insanely fast torps (70 knts) in 2x5 launchers. Tight spreads are almost impossible to dodge. Gun usage: - never use anything other than HE on dds. Ever. - AP will only really damage broadsiding targets. - Shoot for the superstructure with AP. Volleys should do 1,500-3000 dmg inside 10 km vs 0-30 degree angles. If they don't, adjust your aim and try again. (I typically do this from smoke, and I've done 30-40k dmg in one smoke duration) - Damage vs CAs falls off quickly with angling, but not so much for BBs.If damage falls off, switch to HE. It is hard to give you advice without watching you play, but watching a youtube video should do the trick along with picking up AFT and staying at range. Practice your skills by kiting a Cleveland class CA to death (or untill he retreats). You should hardly take return damage if staying at 10-12 km and using wasd-hacks appropriately.

Colorado if you like pushing and putting good armor to use (and good shell arcs, not NC mortars). NC if you want to sit bow-in and theoretically be able to respond to what happens elsewhere on the map, but pay for it by taking massive Citpens (but also finally having the hp to take some hits). Both ships have excellent AA. Overall I've got to give it to the NC as the more powerfull of the two, but it teaches you the joys of high tier play and gets into tier X matches just like Tirpitz. I've chosen to keep both, because i love my Colorado and still havnt unlocked the Iowa. The Colorado is hands down the most fun BB I've played.

Tell that to the BB victims of my 10 km stealthfire + demo expert benson. Sure radar can spot me, but nobody will be able to kill me at that range. Not to mention it will always be the zone superiority dd for ranked play due to good concealment + great guns.

Almost the same as RU dds. Not as good? I barely notice a difference. It kites Clevelands to death from 10+ km just fine. The Blys has lower caliber guns (120 mm) and especially AP pens somewhat worse than RU dds. It also has a large 2-3 km stealh fire window with just AFT.

This is exactly how it feels. It just isnt fun...even in tier 4 matches! I made it through without free Xp-ing it but I used every +Xp flag and camo + daily Xp for some +250% xp games. Never had any 4 kill games - except possibly low hp targets I ks'ed and was lucky if I hit 15k dmg (most due to 85% of my matches being tier 5+).

Last Stand > Expert marksman for the grind at least. The Tashkent is made out of engines and every single hit it takes knocks the engine out. You lose the engine almost every game. Your Kiev problem is mostly solved by taking AFT and fighting Mogamis and Atagos at longer than usual range (<12 km they CAN hit you if they can aim. From 13+ km not so much). Those two CAs are by far the most dangerous enemies, although I suspect SN Cruisers will command the same respect. Dodging works by shifting course every few seconds, but never at max turn - only at half. The ship bleeds too much speed if you turn at more than half.

Dont have the exact stats in a link, but I'm sure you can find it in the patchnotes from early 2016. It went smth like this: - Hp down 3k - HE shell dmg down 200-300ish - % fire chance down from 9ish to 6ish. I played both ships and sold my Kiev long ago and bought Blys. Kiev is a fine DD for randoms where people cant hit a fast moving target. For high ranks, its main problem is that it lacks concealment, so it can't spot if it is the only DD (left). Also the Blyscawica does everything it can do, only better (both concealment, torps and gun dmg output as well as gun placement). Blys has 41 knots top speed, Kiev 44 including speed boost.

DIdnt want to quote the initial wall of text, so picked this as an example of the gist of what I read. You talk about the importance of sneaking and positioning and want to fight gunships head on? Currently rank 5 here and I can tell you IJN dds (properly handled) is the public enemy #1 of opposing teams. They spot enemy DDs for their own gunships and CAs without getting spotted in return. High ranked play is not about solo assisinations or 1v1 on caps, but about teamwork and spotting. IJN dds are perfect for the role, as long as they work together with their own gunships to take down enemy gunships. And those Hatsu/Mutsu peashooters you talk about? I've seen them used to deadly effect for hit-and-run assasinations of low hp dds. They do quite respectable damage, and the IJN dd is a very small and agile target. Not to mention the guns work just fine from inside smokescreens too. You also talk about tier 7 as if it is different from other tiers. Last Ranked season was World of Bensons (at least in high ranks) and this season is World of Mahans (and Sims). I don't see any difference there. Kiev is just so pityful after the nerfs, the ship is an easy kill and are practically extinct from high ranks. No Russian bias there. I havn't seen an Oggy in 50 games either. Blyskawica is frigging OP and the only DD pre-nerf Kiev captains respected and feared as an equal. It has seen lots of play in all ranked seasons. Again: No difference. IJN dds worked just fine in previous seasons as spotters and I see no difference this season (except Fubuki had a bit better guns). All Tier 7 DD have worse concealment and are inferior to their tier 8 counterpart (Possibly exempting RU dds here, but they both have atrocious concealment) The main difference I see is in Cruisers, where silver ships are now viable and competitive (Myoko, Shchors) compared to tier 8 Atago Pay To Win spam. My five cents: This is a change in the right direction. TL;DR I like the variation tier 7 ranked battles has brought and I don't miss Tier 8 ranked. It would have been nice if WG had announced this change in better time, however that is a different matter.

Maybe for the Kiev, the other SN dds have quite high HP pools already. Trading SE for AFT in a CE build means you will need to get closer to your targets and potentially take more damage. For my Tashkent, minimum safe distance from most CAs and BB are 12 km. Any closer and they will hit me consistently despite all the speed in the world.

Up untill the Kiev and possibly including it, you can get by without Vigilance. However, from the miserable trashkent onwards, torpedoes start to become the biggest threat due to high speed + slow rudder shift. Slowing down takes a lot of time and distance, and the ship goes so fast it is almost on top of the torps before you can react - without Vigilance. I also believe most people run stealth + AFT builds on their Khabas, and I can tell you from my experience on tier 8 that getting CE on my Tashkent made a BIG difference (concealment 7,5 km instead of stock 10ish). I consider both mandatory for my Tash. I'm currently about 60k off the udaloi and have paused my SN dds, since I focus on ranked. My build on a 15 point captain: 1 - Situation Awareness 2 - Last Stand 3 - Vigilance 4 - AFT 5 - CE From what I've read, Demo expert isnt so much of a deal since most of Uda and Khabas damage comes from AP shells, but I cant attest that from personal experience. I tried Demo expert on the tash and blyscawica (14 point captain ) - but I never missed it when I gave it up for CE. it is more something I would run on US dds with their terrible fire chance, since they dont really benefit from AFT.

The problem isn't so much in tier 4 games (although they still suck). It is tier 5 and tier 6 games. Everybody and their mother outranges the Karlsruhe (something the Kolberg does not suffer as much from due to being tier 3) Also it can't push out any worthwhile damage compared to Kolberg, while having effectively the same range. Only good things about is really nice torp angles, plus it is slightly faster than st. louis and kolberg so at least it can kite them from max range. If you like this ship, tell me how you used it. I used it to kite tier 3 at max range and destroyer hunter-killer missions. Any tier 3 CA except the tenryu will beat it by ROF and dpm if only they make it into range. Likewise for tier 4 unless someone shows a big broadside Tier 5+ can easily kill it from outside its own range, although sometimes it can get plunging fire Citpens if targets get in range. About tier 7+, I doubt will be that much of a problem, since those ships at least have decent range and damage

I think the OP is bringing up two seperate problems. 1) smoke is OP 2) ranked gameplay at ranks > 5 are stale and repetitive (due to smoke) Would love to see variation in the gameplay, so I will agree #2 is problematic. For #1 I personally do not like the offensive use of smoke, eg. using it aggressively to invisifire. If this is indeed the problem OP is describing, changes are in order. On the other hand, what I read is that each team rush the cap, smoke up and use it defensively to protect their capital ships and CAs. This represents intelligent use of smoke.

Kiev is a dd (and is hands down inferior to Blys) Yorck and shchors idk, but both take significant damage from dd smoke fire Myoko on the other hand do not. Sailing pepsi's in ranked is only for masochists and incredibly good pepsi players.

Doesnt have to be compartmentalisation. One torp can kill a dd if it hits the center Two torps sometimes dont kill the target, if they hit bow and stern. Not sure which dds have so low torp dmg, but it happened multiple times in last ranked season while sailing my benson.

US CAs are sh*t. anything the can do, RU CAs can do better, except for rudder shift times and in some cases, concealment. got my NO fully upgraded and it still has howitzers for guns. it's HE neither causes fires nor does more han inconvenience dds (4-6 hits = full forward turret salvo does maybe 2k dmg to a dd) AP is decent but wihout torpedoes of its own, the NO has no business getting close enough to make use of it. AA which is supposedly a US national strength is mediocre and worse han tier 6 cleveland. armor is good on paper, but in practice only while bow-on (like the BB North carolina). since the ship is so short, any hit at all is almost bound to citipen it. the only worthwhile point of the NO is its relaively decent concealment, maneuverability and very good turret firing-arcs.

Stupid question. What is the price for Saipan in game this week? CV player here and dont have one yet

Had the same problem last Ranked season. Got to rank 7 real fast and there were only 68 players above me on the entire EU server. Had to stop playing for some time to wait for more players. Should be better this season with the best losing player not dropping a star.

The problem is: Sometimes 1 bb and 3 CAs will hang back despite facing only 2 CA and 1 BB. Sometimes they even run away. Despite having superior numbers. I consider myself a decent DD player and almost always goes for an early cap, but as the capping dd you need to be aware that often you dont have enough backup, or sometimes your team are cowards. That means always planning an escape route. In case of cowards, I may try one more time to carry the game, but often refuse to cap untill said cowards approach the cap because I will die. (realitiycheck: they will never back me up, so in the end I farm damage instead because it is an inevitbale loss)

Fixed it for ya! My little dds love it when nobody else caps. Easy 2k XP games.