French BB Richelieu. How the hell to play this BB?

[Alelos]

Please help me.
I can't do Dmg
I cant tank.
I am running full survivability build, I am not new to this game and my winratio is 60+ but i really found this ship very frustrating to play with.
Thanks in advance

[NoirLotus]

Get around 12-15 km from your targets, bow tank like crazy.

 

The biggest threat is HE-spamming cruisers, so focus them in priority. If you pushed too much, try to retreat with speed boost.

 

 

[Ferry_25]

Your summary is for me spot on. This ship is for me the biggest RNG troll of all. I'm doing ok-ish in it and nearly finished the grind. Somehow I'm getting a blast from it. I can't give one specific advice for it. In some situations I out-tank a Kurry on others I get a 30k punch on my nose while being angled perfectly. In others I get away with broadsiding completely to a close Yamato. Also games where I'm immune to fire or catch one even from missed HE shells (due to the water to my paint friction I suppose). Shooting tennisballs with a nuclear warhead in them. Either they bounce/ shatter/ pen without dam or they hit so gruesomely hard I'm amazed by it.

 

My tactic in Richelieu: be on the front line, point shoot, sacrifice all your sheep to RNG. I either shine or suck. There is practically no in between.

[EgyptOverseer]

I found the Rich to be more reliable than my Iowa. In fact, french BB average damage has been increasing every tier since T6. My current average damage on the stock Rich is higher than over 100 battles fully upgraded in the Iowa.

 

I have the weakest health pool and AA, but I tend to try and get stuck in on a cap trajectory, try to bow in to the most dangerous targets, blap cruisers in the area, use speed boost to disengage or do torp beats, and ensure that if I am chased by a DD I give him my rear, where all the secondaries are.

[wilkatis_LV]

One would have thought that a ship with all of its guns mounted on its bow & having the 32mm plating that only Yamato class can lolpen would be pretty easy to figure out how it's played... Then again Izumo has been in the game for years and there still are players sailing around giving their flat broadside to everyone

 

Idea is simple - stay 1...2km above your detection range (while running both concealment things, of course) so you can stealth up between shots while still being close, angle bow-on against as many AP shooting ships as you can and kill those who are on your flanks 1st then HE spammers after them. Move forwards and backwards randomly. Don't try to tank those who can lolpen your bow, don't try to square off solo against multiple cruisers at the same time. If you have to run away and you can't stealth up - run at an angle so you can fire your guns with some slight wiggling.

 

In other words - exactly the same things you would do on Izumo, Nelson or Dunkek

[SEN_SEN_Channel_Portugue]

I found the ship rewarding an aggressive play style,  pushing but not getting inside of your stealth envelope. Guns are great on lucky days, but I found investing on accuracy module improve a lot your chances to blast pain.

To conclude, a fun ship to play, I enjoyed the grind on her. Even I got a couple of Yamato.s on my victim list, catching them broadside at 7-8km... no problem to cita-kill them :)

[ColonelPete]

Maybe like this?

https://replayswows.com/replay/26214#stats

 

She is very depedent on support, as turning around and kiting the enemy is not an option.

[Corvi]

First of all, you change your survivability build to a full secondary build. Then, you use speed boost to get close to your enemy, 10km is fine as your secondaries will open up on everything around you. Get into positions where no BB would go in early game. Stay with DD's or cruisers.  Then, you point your bow at the enemy, slow down and just spam away. 

 

Congrats you now know how to play Richelieu 

[rq3dm4]

Troll accuracy but better then Bismark :), secondaries build nose in at an angle and is fine, play it as a brawler and don't spend the exp on "gun fire control" upgrade because u wont hit anything at that distance.

After this ship Alsace will be a blessing ... is the BB I enjoyed the most and I was sad when I finished the grind to Republique.

 

I wish Republique would have same turret arrangement as Richelieu.

[Flavio1997]

9 hours ago, Ferry_25 said:

Your summary is for me spot on. This ship is for me the biggest RNG troll of all. I'm doing ok-ish in it and nearly finished the grind. Somehow I'm getting a blast from it. I can't give one specific advice for it. In some situations I out-tank a Kurry on others I get a 30k punch on my nose while being angled perfectly. In others I get away with broadsiding completely to a close Yamato. Also games where I'm immune to fire or catch one even from missed HE shells (due to the water to my paint friction I suppose). Shooting tennisballs with a nuclear warhead in them. Either they bounce/ shatter/ pen without dam or they hit so gruesomely hard I'm amazed by it.

 

My tactic in Richelieu: be on the front line, point shoot, sacrifice all your sheep to RNG. I either shine or suck. There is practically no in between.

This, this and this, in some games it cannot hit a barn from inside a barn, in other games is the death star

[beercrazy]

my experience is with the Richelieu is spot on with what @Ferry_25 says

 

the ship is overall a nice ship but once your past it I cant say its something I want to rush back and play again

[ollonborre]

While bowtankig is legit in the Riche, don't forget you are fast, have great firing arcs and fast turning turrets. Going full on bowtank in every game was the mistake I did that leads to frustration, because there will be a time when everything is beyond optimal firing range, and taking potshots at 19-21 km is not going to get you far.

 

Bowtank is normally the way to go, but sometimes going stealth, popping speed boost and then just start roaming/playing it like a normal BB will also yield good results.

[MrFingers]

38 minutes ago, rq3dm4 said:

don't spend the exp on "gun fire control" upgrade because u wont hit anything at that distance

That poor Hindenburg that I triple-citadelled at the very start of the match at 25k's sure wished I didn't have that upgrade installed (I got my Richy from a crate, so already upgraded). 

 

But I agree, that 25k range is too much 9/10. One can spend some XP on it when all the other modules have been researched, but it's not necessary. 

 

I play mine as a bow-tanker, and then switch to a fast flanker to exploit holes in the defences of the enemy when the enemy team has thinned a bit. It's fairly vulnerable from the sides, so I use islands to cover the hull and shield my approach.

[Panocek]

Personally I find Richie to be fine battlecruiser - so you carry nice guns, but don't rely on armor. With Engine Boost she handles almost like a cruiser, so you tend to avoid prolonged abuse.

 

Bow tanking is valid tactic, but then turrets are just as valid target and knocking them off with BB guns is more than possible.

[_DeathWing_]

Play operation with her - problem solved

[Rahnulf]

Use the speed. Not just forward and backward. The ship has good secondaries too.

[The_Baptist]

Rich is a roaming/flanking ship, bow tanking shouldn't be your default strategy. The armour is very reistant against AP so don't be affraid of giving broadside when you have to.

Go to flanks, support dd's, you have plenty of speed and look for good AP volleys (speed boost special upgrade is recommended just don't accidentally sell it with the whole ship like I did lol because there's now way to recover it even through support).

HE spam is your enemy so don't get stuck into reversing like a mong for the whole game. I see that a lot.

Just don't expect any 200k games and you're fine.

[Rahnulf]

5 hours ago, MrFingers said:

That poor Hindenburg that I triple-citadelled at the very start of the match at 25k's sure wished I didn't have that upgrade installed (I got my Richy from a crate, so already upgraded). 

 

 

 hahaha 10 minutes ago I triple-citadelled a Izumo with my Richelieu. 

[SEN_SEN_Channel_Portugue]

I manage to cita some Hinder.s at 20 k distance, not once... With accuracy module I can say the guns are BETTER on long range then Bismark.

 

2 hours ago, Friedrich_Fruchtsaft said:

 hahaha 10 minutes ago I triple-citadelled a Izumo with my Richelieu. 

I was yesterday coming around an island and  I found stright on my face a HUUUUGE Yammy , like a big whale on beach, broadside on my nose, at 7km.

Worst of all, he was waiting for me with all turrets pointed on at me. He blast me and, sure, no way to negate the pen since my 32mm cant even dream to angle on Yamato shells...

First salvo took 1/3 of my health (some 25k maybe) then was my turn : blast him at water line and got 2 cita on him, letting him with some hilarious 4-500 HP - then a dd on my team land some tennis ball shells on him a and finish him before I could reload.

What surprised me was his arrogance, waiting me with his belly exposed like that, not even a try to angle a bit, over confident on his ability to "eat" an Richellieu salvo without problems... I did not get the kill, but I was laughing myself after...