HaachamaShipping

While I know the feel of "Well crap, I could've done so much more" after getting three wins with close to no damage in Yukikaze yesterday ruining my average damage, I really don't think it's really something that needs to be changed. If one side is so utterly inept that they can be capped out within 5 minutes, then it's better finished quickly so a better game might come afterwards.

Given how underwhelming GZ feels already even if you got two cits out of a DB run...

First off, Kaga has actually pretty mediocre plane regen on most planes. The D4Y Suisei DBs are the sole plane I'd rate as fast regenerating and even then only if you don't look at Enterprise times. What makes Kaga able to almost never run out of planes (if played well) is that she starts out with 96 to 102 planes depending on what modifications you use and regenerates like an additional dozen planes per type ontop. Second, if you don't just waste your planes (which are T7, not T6), they actually are tough enough to survive attack runs. If you collect flak buffs though or try to drop Minos, of course they just die. But it's very possible to drop T10 BBs with it and the 4 torps per drop are no joke for a T8 CV. Graf Zeppelin is currently a bit of an underpowered CV compared to others, imo, so no surprise it doesn't do as well. One tip I do give you though is that you should not aim with WASD when you are on the aiming run. Get the approach angle right, then use your mouse. If you look at planes from behind (which in aiming you kind of always do), planes respond to mouse input, which allows for minor adjustments that don't throw off the aim. Other than that, Graf Zeppelin is a challenge, as you need to use your planes wisely. GZ needs to not lose its planes, as its entire damage comes from the speed allowing it to have a faster attack rate than others. Obviously, that gets nerfed hard next patch and getting the aiming reticule buffed on the AP DBs is unlikely to make up for that, as the fundamental issue of the DBs to me is that in the end, it'll always just be 2 bombs vs Shokaku's 3 and Enterprise's 6. Combined with some ships being outright immune to AP DB cits and the GZ having the worst anti-DD performance beyond 9.4 km makes it comparatively crap, when often much damage comes from just spamming torps and using AP DBs whenever you see a lone target of opportunity that actually eats cits.

RIP Viribus Unitis. At least I didn't have to see it suck. I really don't miss it if it means I don't have to watch that trainwreck.

Funnily enough, I don't even care about radar being useful, because the class that carries 8+ km radar is the class that gets screwed the hardest by 8 km detection range for everyone. Getting 20 seconds of 12 km radar is still a pretty meh trade for potentially running into a BB at 8 km in a Chapayev or Donskoi.

I hate that mission so much. Even more since I today got it on Roma. That was painful.

I don't have her, but i do remember the Shchors as a capable ship that really benefitted from spotter plane, so it should be decent.

defAA is likely the most useless consumable Yukikaze could ever have. With no flak buffs and a piss poor AA dps on even poorer range (1.9 km, lol), boosting this doesn't make Yukikaze any less prone to getting murdered by aircraft if caught out. for the rest, I do not think 22 mm plating is necessary, because Yukikaze fends off DD attacks already in a better manner than Kagero (if anything, F3 torps are better anti-DD torps). and there's no reason why the ship should be incredibly tanky, given it is a torp boat DD. Heal is interesting, but same logic and god knows whether it may not cause Yukikaze to overperform a bit. Overall, the Yukikaze currently is a very special Kagero, it's not OP, it strictly speaking is not UP (F3s are T9 torps for a reason), it just has a less versatile armament that in its niche is much more potent though. And no, Yukikaze does not need buffs because of reputation. If anything, the ship should only ever get buffs if it underperforms. Which I don't think it really does.

Farm the 300 and 900 exp marks? In the end, this is a contest, it's designed to not just be a walk in the park and if you can meet the higher damage marks easily, but can't even get 1.5k base exp every so often, I think the game is better off NOT encouraging whatever playstyle that is. Not that you need to be unicum for that. I certainly am not and manage to usually get 5-6 stars. And it shouldn't be that other people have to suffer, just because one player decides he plays for the damage, thus instead of bringing any DD that might be playing for objectives but in return often misses out on damage is not worth it, rather bring an Asashio, go on a merry adventure away from caps, torp two BBs that don't even die to the torps and get 60k damage on a defeat.

Unlike Missouri, Izumo also comes with 2.0 sigma, the best long range dispersion put on a BB before Georgia (IJN dispersion) and Republique-grade pen. And it doesn't matter if you don't have Yamato guns, when 406s overmatch T6 just as well. So yeah, you can have success dealing with it on your own in a T6, but as a BB, you might also just randomly get one-shot. Had that happen to me once in WV. Izumo spawns, moves a few km, oneshots my ship through the stern while I still sit just outside the perimeter after fending off the Northern wave. Very fun.

Maybe he just wanted to have a good laugh demonstrating the usefulness of post-rework AA.

Yeah. Why incentivise playing for a win over playing for damage. Hell yeah. No seriously, this is a crappy change and they shouldn't have reverted to the damage farming contest.

Doesn't even need to be incompetent CV. Given I'm one of the madlads that played DD in the past few weeks, most often it's that there's a team that doesn't understand that if they don't go anywhere near a cap circle to provide AA cover, the DD on his own certainly won't or they are dead. Of course I also had those games where the DD was exactly that kind of stupid and just suicided, because why play different if a CV is present? In general, playing DD is just barely more appreciated than playing CV these days, as you'll get reported for all kinds of crap that isn't your fault. Unlike CVs, your fun is far more limited though without support. I rather play BBs, because there people don't start flaming me as long as I get at least close to a cap circle.

I mean, if you want to take a non-secondary build, sure, that's better. But for secondary builds, no, you'd take IFHE on FdG, because being able to also pen most high tier cruisers and all high tier BBs is worth it if you want your secondaries to be useful. Conversely, on Bismarck, no, you'd not take IFHE, because 105s will only gain the ability to pen high tier DDs and lower tier cruisers. Given DDs make awful secondary targets at range (and you don't want to be at close range with a DD), only getting the ability to harm DDs is just not worth it, while gaining the ability to actually reliably harm larger ships that you can hit is worth a ton more. That's why people take IFHE on FdG and GK, but not on Bismarck. On Massachusetts also it's to farm cruisers, not DDs, thus IFHE is worthwhile. 127s can kill DDs already from the start.

Well, would have helped more, but you know, being a PEF in T8 game is kind of questionable.

That's like saying you don't use IFHE on Akizuki. It's not mandatory, but you sure as hell would want it or you can just ignore having secondaries.

Why would you though? Get IFHE and those 105s on FdG pen 32 mm plating, getting good damage on pretty much any cruiser and most BBs.

No, that's just T4 CVs. They'd be OP if they could devastate ships reliably, given noone has AA.

Depends on what you consider "low-tier". T4s? Just use rockets. T6s? Use rockets, unless you are a Ranger, then you can use DBs. Are the rockets weaker on these tiers? Yes, but you still can do good damage on low hp DDs and DBs obviously can utterly wreck these DDs. Almost no DD on these tiers has any real AA either. Overall, T4s and T6s are less prone to DD snipe, unless the DD offers itself as a target, by either being detected on their own or by actually hunting the CV (happens, usually CV wins). Mostly due to slower plane speed and lower alpha. Thus, well, played DD should have an easier time, compared to DDs facing T8s or T10s, where Lexington, Enterprise, Kaga, Saipan and Midway all have incredibly effective anti-DD armaments.

I do not know what exactly is being referenced, but to be clear about my opinion on this, as I'm being cited: Generally, DDs are a valid target. Except for Graf Zeppelin, where the rocket planes are imo just not up to the task, I would usually always either send out the rocket planes or HE DBs (in case of Kaga, as their speed is comparable to rocket planes) to do an initial scouting run and target a DD if I run into one, as the damage is disproportionally more significant on them and often they are ahead of the rest of their allies and can be easily attacked. Later in a match, if I see an isolated DD that seems like an easy target, yes, I go for it too. However, if you do not find a DD or the DD just smokes up with no clear indication of where in the smoke the DD is, it's often a waste of time to focus on that ship and better to resume dpm race on bigger and easier targets. Similarly, when playing DD, if I don't trust my AA to take care of planes I usually get by with three easy to follow steps: Never stray too far from any friendly that could provide effective aA support. Rushing into caps at the start just to die is a terrible idea and you are better off scouting closer to the main fleet where you can retreat towards them if planes appear. also, don't be in positions where being plane spotted gets you utterly shot to pieces. Keep an eye on the minimap to evade planes with AA turned off. It's surprisingly often that if you know which ships the CV will avoid and what patterns they use to scout, they will miss you due to the low spotting distance. Also, obviously, while TBs and AP DBs can spot DDs, the CV usually already has decided on a better target by bringing these and few will ever waste this on you. Conserve your smoke, it's one of the best tools to prevent getting murdered. Don't use it when you get spotted by planes that can wreck you, but when you are about to be. If you smoke up when you are already spotted, they'll just drop your last position in the smoke and hit you. Generally, this isn't some 100% way of guaranteeing no CV will ever kill you, nor is it to say DDs don't suffer from CVs, but basically, most CVs will prioritise damage race over trying to kill one DD that takes proper steps in being hard to find. And consider this from someone who mostly played AL Yukikaze for DD in the last few weeks.

Scharnhorst has 12 15 cm guns.

With reload mod, Lion is at 27 seconds compared to Monarch's 25. In absolute terms this means that without reload mod, Lion has less dpm than Monarch on the stock gun option and barely more on the improved guns (at least in AP dpm, HE dpm Monarch even beats the upgraded Lion without reload module). For going up a tier, this is imo a pretty terrible deal, because if you compare every other T8 to T9 upgrade: Iowa is the only true repeat, which has only slightly better AP dpm, but gets at least better shell velocity (Lion loses shell velocity compared to Monarch) and the choice in module on whether you want to have the better dispersion or better reload, in which case it is a dpm upgrade. Izumo guns are miles better than what Amagi offers, as you lose a gun, but you get improved accuracy and improved shell velocity (both areas where Lion stays the same or gets worse. Lion only gets improved fire chance pretty much). With reload mod, you also no longer lose dpm. Alsace is almost a 50% upgrade in dpm over Richelieu even without reload mod. FdG gets better dpm already without module, but with the reload module you are only rivalled by the Jean Bart in reload on bigger guns than Bismarck. Tier for tier, Monarch just is the highest dpm in both areas by a far greater margin than Lion is over its competition (except FdG, Musashi, Jean Bart and Alsace, which it cannot beat). Thus, strictly speaking, sure, the Lion is an upgrade to the Monarch, but even in a T10 match, I rather take a Monarch knowing the enemy gets an extra T8 than picking Lion and having an extra T9 on the enemy team. Both in terms of what it means for the team and what it means for my own ship, with the possibility that the extra T9 is a Musashi for which the Lion is just free damage. Top tier, I still rather take the Monarch, given its T8 qualities combined with the incredible reload make it just that much more useful as a top tier ship than Lion is among its peers in a T7-9 match.

Engine damage? It suffices that you lose most of your engine power. If you steam bow on into the map border, have fun getting away from there as it takes eternities to get enough engine power to reverse the momentum and get away again. As to OP. If you intentionally run into the map border with a ship that relies on dodging, you are basically counting on the enemy to be too incompetent to figure out how to properly aim. For the most part, people run into map borders due to running out of map space. The sole instance where the map border really is fun is with planes, because you basically instantly turn around and bounce off and flak has a bit of a hard time accounting for that.

Most unique is Graf Zeppelin. Doesn't make it the most useful though. And nerfs aren't exactly going to change that.