Japanese Destroyer Captain -. Rookie Player

[Lea_Flamma]

Hi there! I am playing this game since three... Four days. A lot of the things are quite overwhelming, but I am learning. And in my pursuit for knowledge, I ended up here.

Recently I acquired the ability to distribute points for my Japanese Destroyer Captain. As the first skill, I picked Preventive Maintenance, as disabled engine and stead have been quite the pain in my side and reason of many deaths. On the second tier I picked so far the Last Stand, for the same reasons as above. There are some other tempting choices in the tier two line, especially the Jack of All Trades, Smoke Screen Expert and Adrenaline Rush. What would be the desired choice from there on? Pushing to tier three and four or stall and grab the tier two first? Both the Survivability Expert as well as Superintendent sound like something worthwhile, although Torpedo Armaments Expertise is also tempting.

 

Am I thinking here right? Or am I making a huge mistake?

[Cunnedda]

4 minutes ago, Lea_Flamma said:

Hi there! I am playing this game since three... Four days. A lot of the things are quite overwhelming, but I am learning. And in my pursuit for knowledge, I ended up here.

Recently I acquired the ability to distribute points for my Japanese Destroyer Captain. As the first skill, I picked Preventive Maintenance, as disabled engine and stead have been quite the pain in my side and reason of many deaths. On the second tier I picked so far the Last Stand, for the same reasons as above. There are some other tempting choices in the tier two line, especially the Jack of All Trades, Smoke Screen Expert and Adrenaline Rush. What would be the desired choice from there on? Pushing to tier three and four or stall and grab the tier two first? Both the Survivability Expert as well as Superintendent sound like something worthwhile, although Torpedo Armaments Expertise is also tempting.

 

Am I thinking here right? Or am I making a huge mistake?

There is a WoWs wiki on official site. http://wiki.wargaming.net/en/World_of_Warships You can find answers for almost all your questions. Specifically ship builds and captain builds for each ship. But keep in mind that you don't have to stick to what's written there. Keep experimenting. 

 

[Verblonde]

4 minutes ago, Lea_Flamma said:

Hi there! I am playing this game since three... Four days. A lot of the things are quite overwhelming, but I am learning. And in my pursuit for knowledge, I ended up here.

Recently I acquired the ability to distribute points for my Japanese Destroyer Captain. As the first skill, I picked Preventive Maintenance, as disabled engine and stead have been quite the pain in my side and reason of many deaths. On the second tier I picked so far the Last Stand, for the same reasons as above. There are some other tempting choices in the tier two line, especially the Jack of All Trades, Smoke Screen Expert and Adrenaline Rush. What would be the desired choice from there on? Pushing to tier three and four or stall and grab the tier two first? Both the Survivability Expert as well as Superintendent sound like something worthwhile, although Torpedo Armaments Expertise is also tempting.

 

Am I thinking here right? Or am I making a huge mistake?

Firstly, welcome!

 

The 'standard' build for the first ten points on a DD captain are normally: PT (most people seem to prefer information to stop them getting hit in the first place, although I often take PM the same as you), LS, SE (extra hp), and CE.

 

I would personally say that LS and CE are absolute must haves (as you say, engine/rudder/propellers getting shot off happens a lot), and you have a bit of flexibility with the other two...

 

Check out the wiki (http://wiki.wargaming.net/en/World_of_Warships), if you haven't already - each ship entry includes some suggestions apropos the usefulness of each captain skill for that particular ship. Ship comrade is also worth looking at as well: http://shipcomrade.com/

[2brutal4u]

 

Personally i would choose Torpedo Armament Expertise.  Torps are your main role , so buffing them will help increase your damage output.

 

Then next skill take concealment expert (4 points)

[Cunnedda]

Skill up your captain and unlock all four lines of skills. That's the best aprouch with any captain on any ship. 

[martin035]

Japanese DD's like most DD's are pretty fragile, a lot of shells tend to hit around the stern of your ship knocking out either your engine or rudder and a DD without either is usually a dead DD. So those 2 skills are normally mandatory for any DD.

 

However, I prefer Priority Target for skill 1 and use propulsion mod 1 in upgrade slot 2 to mitigate the lose of Preventative Maintenance

 

 

[DFens_666]

You want to get the 3 and 4 point captain skills aswell. Usually when you have your first 10 captain skills, you pick one of each so 1+2+3+4 = 10 points.

One of the best/most valuable captain skills is Concealment Expert (4 point captain skill).

 

A little thought about the skills you want to pick:

- Jack of all trades -> you dont need that for DDs really, there are better choices.

- Smoke Screen Expert -> also not really useful (sounds good, but its not that great)

- Adrenaline Rush -> this is a good skill if you manage to survive long enough and take some damage in between. Im not sure if i would necessarily take it for DDs, but on the higher tiers Torpedo reload is pretty long, so basicly it would help (but so does Torpedo Armament Expertise). I think you should have enough skillpoints to take it tho if you want.

 

- Super Intendent -> not really necessary for IJN DDs, BBs/Cruiser benefit more from that mainly because of the extra heal.

- Survivability Expert -> this is something you want for DDs, as they gain the biggest % benefit out of all classes.

- Torpedod Armament Expertise -> If you go with the Torpedo line (to Shimakaze) then you can/should take it. The alternative line starting with Hatsuharu doesnt need that, as they are more gun focused.

 

PM and LS are the right skills you picked as first 2 for your DDs. Good call on those one for playing only a couple of days You could go Priority Target aswell, but a DD doesnt want to be spotted (usally), and if you are spotted, you can expect to get shot at.

 

In short what you want to do:

- Dont take any 2 point captain skill, wait till you can take a 3 pointer.

- Take Survivabilty Expert or Torpedo Armament Expertise. As you are a new player, you will gain more from the first one because it helps you survive. You cant throw torps when you are dead^^

- After that take Concealment Expert.

[Verblonde]

@Lea_Flamma - it's early days for you at the moment, but it's worth having an eye on a couple of medium-longer term objectives with regards to captains.

 

Get some 10 point+ captains:

 

For a lot of ships, 10 point captains make a huge difference (and become almost essential from the mid tiers), as that's when you get CE for the first time - vision control, especially for DDs, is crucial to doing well. Besides simply grinding, you can get a few 10 pointers (or better) through doing well in some of the weekly Ops, which will save you a lot of time. There are several available for coal in Arsenal as well. Finally, you can sometimes buy them for money via the premium shop, although this can be expensive!

 

Get one (or more 19 point captains:

 

This will probably take quite a long time, depending on how many captains you are running at once - it took me about a year to get my first (I think), as I have a *lot* of captains, rather than focusing on just one. This matters as a 19 point captain (as well as being more useful, because of all the skills) generates elite captain xp, which can be applied to other captains, so levelling them up faster. Each 19 pointer you get, makes getting the next one faster, and so on...

 

Identify upcoming 'skill heavy' ships:

 

Whilst ten points is (arguably) the point at which captains start to become useful for mid-higher tiers, there are some ships that won't perform to their utmost without a more skillful captain e.g. things that need IFHE as well as CE (say). It's worth making a note of any such ships ahead in the lines you are working on, so that the need for such a skillful captain doesn't come as a surprise, and you get a chance to develop a suitable captain in advance.

[Verblonde]

BTW the seal-clubbers which you'll start to meet when your battle count goes up, will be very happy if you don't take CE the first chance you get: it means they'll spot you (and start shooting) before you can see them!

 

When playing against real people, assume that everyone has CE, and cammo (most reduce detection distance), and the concealment mod (that becomes available at higher tiers) when mentally calculating the opposition's likely level of visibility. Do that, and the worst that can happen is that you may spot someone sooner than you expected!

 

 

[El2aZeR]

Some general advice since everyone else has practically answered your question already:

 

This may be extremely disappointing to you, but I believe it's better to mention this now rather than have you find this out on your own later on. High tier IJN torp DDs are among the worst DDs in this game currently because not only do they lack the firepower to fight other DDs, their torpedoes are garbage as well due to their extremely high spotting range giving your target more than enough time to avoid most, if not all of them unless you catch them completely off guard (at which point any other torpedo type will do the trick just as well, if not better because they reload faster).

 

If you like the torpedo playstyle of low/mid tier IJN DDs it's best to transition to a different nation altogether. I actually do not know what the best torp line overall is currently, but the Fletcher is arguably the most flexible along with one of, if not the best torp DD in the game.

[Aotearas]

There is typically a baseline build for the first 10 captain skill points that's basically universally applicable (with only CVs being an exception as to the wildly differing nature of how they interact with other ships).

 

Typically it goes as follows for DDs:

 

First row: Priority Target or Preventative Maintenance!

The first (PT) can be a very valuable information tool showing you how many ships are aiming at you¹, which can be used to ascertain how many ships you're dealing with in the immediate vicinity as that counter shows even currently unspotted targets (as long as they aim at you). Very helpful in squishy ships that don't want to be surprised by loads of shells, but the value diminishes the more stealthy you are as you need to be spotted in the first place. It becomes more relevant in competitive modes however where every bit of information can give an edge.

The latter (PM) is a universally helpful skill as it increases module survivability. Solid pick overall though keep in mind it only effects ship modules that can be incapacitated (such as mainguns, torpedo launches, etc.) and not modules that can outright destroyed when taking sufficient damage (such as AA or secondary gun mounts).

 

Second row: Last Stand!

The bread and butter to staying alive under fire for DDs. Nothing much that needs to be said really, you simply don't want to be stuck cruising in circles with a rudder gone or stopping with a dead engine in plain view of the enemy having easy shots on you.

 

Third row: Super Intendant, Survivability Expert or Torpedo Armament Expertise!

SI straight up gives an additional consumable charge. You like your smoke screens, you get another one. You like going fast, you get another spood-beast. You really don't like aircraft, you get another DFAA. Simple, self-explanatory and depending on your playstyle an easy choice or something you can give up in favour of something else without much of a fuzz.

SE gives a flat 350 HP per ship tier (so 3500 extra HP on a tier X ship, 1750 extra HP on a tier V, etc. pp.). A very valuable skill to pick in DDs as with their low base HP you get a lot of value out of it and it really can save your bacon in a pinch to have that extra HP. If you find yourself knife-fighting with other DDs or in general exchanging fire with other ships on a regular basis, this is one of the skills that will by far benefit you the most.

TAE on the other hand goes full into increasing your ability to throw metal fishes into the water with a flat 10% reload buff. If you know how to stay undetected and got a DD that's doing most work through its torpedoes, this is a reasonable pick though sometimes relegated to being a later pick in favour of SI or SE as torpedoes aren't that reliable for damage dealing if you're facing enemies that have mastered the mystical art of the WASD.

 

Fourth row: Concealment Expert, Concealment Expert and Concealment Expert!

As a DD, you live and die by your concealment. Getting a flat 10% buff on your detectability drastically improves your survivability. Must-pick for every DD that isn't a pure gunboat².

 

 

That's for the first 10 captain skill points. As your captain grows more experienced you can get up to a total of 19 captain skill points to spend. Building up on a standard 10 point captain you have more choice to finetune the captain, but there are still a couple universally acclaiming skills to get such as Adrenaline Rush, or getting skills you'd like but had others to prioritize first (such as multiple third row skills).

 

 

 

¹Note the "mainguns" caveat. If you aim at a ship with your torpedoes, it doesn't count for the skill. Smart players with good situational awareness can tell someone's trying to torpedo them when the PT number suddenly decreases by one for a couple seconds and then increases again. You can also use that for your own advantage however, say if you're confident you won't be suddenly surprised by another DD you can have your torpedoes selected by default, even when they're not loaded, and if you spot anything you won't count to the number until you switch to your mainguns. Works vice versa, obviously.

 

²Pure gunboats as in RU DDs leading up to the Khabarovsk, or for niche builds even the IJN Harugumo. Those ships engage so frequently with their mainguns that they will be spotted anyway and as such can chose to opt for something buffing their mainguns instead, like Advanced Firing Training for additional range on their DD caliber guns, or a greater number of lower row captain skills such as Basic Firing Training and Demolition Expert. There's not many DDs that would (or should) eschew CE, but it's prudent to point out the typical exceptions.

 

 

For more detailed captain builds for individual ships, gameplay tips, etc. I always recommend watching some Youtube guides and commentaries from people like Flamu and iChaseGaming. The former has a vast library of ship and gameplay commentaries offering valuable insight, but don't expect to pull off games like those he showcases until you've grown more experienced with maps, ships, positioning and prediction skills. The latter has a number of very informative basics guides that help people get a solid grounding and build up from there.

 

 

Last but not least, don't be afraid to ask for help. As long as you keep an open mind and show your intent to learn you'll find people are generally very helpful and eager to give advice.

[nambr9]

1 hour ago, Lea_Flamma said:

Hi there! I am playing this game since three... Four days. A lot of the things are quite overwhelming, but I am learning. And in my pursuit for knowledge, I ended up here.

Recently I acquired the ability to distribute points for my Japanese Destroyer Captain. As the first skill, I picked Preventive Maintenance, as disabled engine and stead have been quite the pain in my side and reason of many deaths. On the second tier I picked so far the Last Stand, for the same reasons as above. There are some other tempting choices in the tier two line, especially the Jack of All Trades, Smoke Screen Expert and Adrenaline Rush. What would be the desired choice from there on? Pushing to tier three and four or stall and grab the tier two first? Both the Survivability Expert as well as Superintendent sound like something worthwhile, although Torpedo Armaments Expertise is also tempting.

 

Am I thinking here right? Or am I making a huge mistake?

 

This is the bread and butter build for any torpedo boat, specially IJN DD line (except for the Akizuki, Kitakaze and Harugumo that are gunboats and require different build).

 

http://shipcomrade.com/captcalc/0100000000000011011000000000001119

 

The order of taking:

 

PM - keep your modules safe

LS - keep your engine and rudder safe

TAE* - reload torpedoes faster

CE - concealment is life

SE* - more HP

AR - when your HP drops, reload torpedoes (and guns) even faster

RL - know where the enemy DDs are

 

* at high tiers you might consider taking SE before TAE. Your choice.

 

One rule ... dont forget to use guns. Ever. Use your guns whenever you can use them safely.

Biggest mistake people do in IJN DDs is refusing to use their guns.

 

Good luck.

[Verblonde]

18 minutes ago, nambr9 said:

One rule ... dont forget to use guns. Ever. Use your guns whenever you can use them safely.

Biggest mistake people do in IJN DDs is refusing to use their guns.

This. In spades.

 

My most played ship is Asashio (because I'm sick + twisted), perhaps the most effective IJN torp boat available; at time of writing, a shade under a third of my kills in her are with guns - despite their flaws, IJN torp DD guns are worth using...

[PassTheSalt]

ALWAYS HAVE AN EXIT STRATEGY.

Save your smoke until you need it, using it premptively gives away your position and invites torpedos, if you can make your opponent smoke he's the sitting duck; use yours to cover your arse if you need to run.

 

[nambr9]

15 minutes ago, Verblonde said:

This. In spades.

 

My most played ship is Asashio (because I'm sick + twisted), perhaps the most effective IJN torp boat available; at time of writing, a shade under a third of my kills in her are with guns - despite their flaws, IJN torp DD guns are worth using...

 

Asashio is ... interesting to me.

The only problems I have with it (and DW torpedoes in general) is not being able to torpedo other DDs. Thats why I still did not buy it.

[Verblonde]

24 minutes ago, nambr9 said:

 

Asashio is ... interesting to me.

The only problems I have with it (and DW torpedoes in general) is not being able to torpedo other DDs. Thats why I still did not buy it.

It's a very odd fish; in the current radar meta, she is quite nice to play, as you can be making yourself useful doing other things (spotting, and ruining BBs' days) whilst you wait for your team-mates to blow up said radar; the recent buff made her guns a bit more useful too.

 

If the IJN torp spotting distance ever gets fixed, then something like Harekaze would be far more fun (she's already a much better DD if there aren't any BBs about), but in the meantime...

 

There's a secondary advantage to playing Asashio too: most people either don't know what it is, or assume you'll be hopeless and spend your entire time just spamming torps from 20 km away; this can give you some good opportunities for mischief making...

 

 

[eliastion]

2 hours ago, Lea_Flamma said:

Hi there! I am playing this game since three... Four days. A lot of the things are quite overwhelming, but I am learning. And in my pursuit for knowledge, I ended up here.

Recently I acquired the ability to distribute points for my Japanese Destroyer Captain. As the first skill, I picked Preventive Maintenance, as disabled engine and stead have been quite the pain in my side and reason of many deaths. On the second tier I picked so far the Last Stand, for the same reasons as above. There are some other tempting choices in the tier two line, especially the Jack of All Trades, Smoke Screen Expert and Adrenaline Rush. What would be the desired choice from there on? Pushing to tier three and four or stall and grab the tier two first? Both the Survivability Expert as well as Superintendent sound like something worthwhile, although Torpedo Armaments Expertise is also tempting.

 

Am I thinking here right? Or am I making a huge mistake?

Ok, I'll start with recommendations:

1. While "priority target" is often considered a better pick than "preventive maintenance", this is not that clear-cut and while normally I'd advise PT, this might not necessarily be the case for a new player. PT gives extra information that you, as a newbie, might not be able to utilize (as you say, things are overwhelming when you start of) so PM might be the best choice for you.

2. Last Stand is one of the most important choices for a DD (destroyer) captain - it allows you to better utilize damage control and helps you avoid situations where you get immobilized or lose ability to steer in a ship that is both prone to such damage and very reliant on ability to GTFO as primary survival strategy. So - good choice

3. I'd strongly advise AGAINST picking any more t2. Push to t4 as fast as possible. The order I'd recommend would be as follows (the first two you already have):

PM->LS->Torpedo Armament Expertise->Concealment Expert

You could maybe switch TAE for something else from t3 (Survivability Expert might be tempting) but you should definitely aim to acquire Concealment Expert as quickly as possible. As IJN DD (Japanese Destroyer) you're going to have to rely on not being seen a lot for both survival (you tend to be squishier than even other DDs) and offense (being closer makes it easier to set up a good torpedo strike).

 

Now, some extra thoughts on specific skills you mentioned:

 - Jack of All Trades isn't that useful. It only affects consumables and as IJN DD you're not likely to get much benefit of being able to use them faster after previous use. Sure it's a nice bonus but not really worth the points

 - Smoke Screen Expert - again, not very useful. If you go too fast and smoke spawns behind you, it will STILL spawn behind you. If you go slow enough to be hidden, you won't see that much benefit from the puffs being bigger. There are ships that benefit from SSE but IJN DDs don't belong to that group.

 - Adrenaline Rush - it depends. It's a great skill but in case of IJN DDs it depends on playstyle. It definitely isn't a skill you should be picking in an IJN DD before Concealment Expert.

 

One more thing to note: the advice above is mostly relevant to the main IJN DD branch that focuses on torpedoes. If you aim for the alternative branch, then my additional advice would be

1. Don't. The ships at t8,9 and 10 of this branch are by no means bad ships but require a lot of perks to perform adequately and you're going to struggle a lot as a new player that only starts grooming middle- and high-point captians. It's very frustrating if you can't set up a 14-point captain on one of them the moment you acquire the ship...

2. If you insist on going there as your first branch, don't take TAE as your t3 skill (pick SE or BFT, or DE instead) and make sure that your build includes IFHE (Inertia Fuse for HE Shells) right after or even right before Concealment Expert. Be aware, however, that this skill - crucial for these three ships - is pretty much useless to their predecesors of tier 7 and below - there's a HUGE shift in playstyle and build between t7 and t8 on this branch.

 

 

The ships at t8,9 and 10 of the alternate branch are very different

[Bear__Necessities]

As a first line of the bat, IJN DD's are higher skill better reward than some of the others. Low tier IJN are solid then it gets .... frustrating if you don't have at least a 10 point captain with Concealment expert. Ships like Mutsuki and Hatsuharu are one hell of a painful grind. Were for me the first time round and I consider myself a pretty DD and IJN DD captain. If at any point you ever need advice. Always ask the forum. Honest help is always given if asked. Good luck buddy. 

[Chiledip]

My advice is to play more than 1` line of ships to take advantage of those daily bonuses, If you want another dd line maybe look at the US. Would also play at least 1 line of BB and cruiser. Knowing other classes will help you learn how to combat those ships/classes. GL and HF mate.

[Verblonde]

19 minutes ago, Chiledip said:

My advice is to play more than 1` line of ships to take advantage of those daily bonuses, If you want another dd line maybe look at the US.

This is good advice. Quite apart from anything else, there is something to be said for playing at least one of the more gun-orientated DD lines, as it'll help you practice gunnery, so giving you the skills to make best use of your IJN guns when the time comes (although the ballistics are kinder with the IJN guns).

The US line is a good choice, as they are good hybrid DDs (so make use of both torps and guns fairly equally); decent dakka, and (from T7) you can also fire torps from stealth...

[Turnipsi]

4 minutes ago, Verblonde said:

This is good advice. Quite apart from anything else, there is something to be said for playing at least one of the more gun-orientated DD lines, as it'll help you practice gunnery, so giving you the skills to make best use of your IJN guns when the time comes (although the ballistics are kinder with the IJN guns).

It also helps you get familiar with the capabilities of the other destroyers, which will help a lot when you face them.

[Lea_Flamma]

Thanks guys, that's a lot of good advice.

 

I am considering the Superintendent for that battleship that might ask for smoke. They sometimes do.

 

I am still learning the playstyle, so it's an interesting experience. I am learning how to lead torpedoes so as to not damage friendlies and when to use guns and when not to. Islands are my waifus now. I don't fully grasp the detection and stuff yet, but I learned not to shoot all the time.

 

Edit: I am playing lots of ships. Destroyers are so far my fav. So mostly playing them.

[ForlornSailor]

7 minutes ago, Lea_Flamma said:

I am considering the Superintendent for that battleship that might ask for smoke. They sometimes do.

 

Yea, they sometimes do, because they dont know how the game mechanics work / have changed. General advice: ignore BBs that ask for a smoke. They will fore their guns and will be detected anway. This wasnt the case for a long time, but it is nowadays. IF you want to give your smoke to your teammates, give it cruisers, and only the smaller ones. Also, japanese smoke is not the best for smoking up teammates, that would be the US DD smoke. You should concoder keeping your smokescreens for yourself, as a devensive tool, when some other DD is rushing you, since IJN DDs (with the exeption of the later gunboats) often lose the gunfight against other DDs.

 

So, Superintendent is a good pick for US DDs f.e. (I run it myself there) but I dont run it on my IJN DD. There, you first go survivability expert and when you have more then 10 points and want to pick another 3-point-skill, you´d take Torpedo Armament Expertise.

[DFens_666]

4 minutes ago, Lea_Flamma said:

I am considering the Superintendent for that battleship that might ask for smoke. They sometimes do.

 

99% of the time you can ignore that request. Because these days, a BB will be detected when he sits in the smoke and he is firing his guns. Only if he sits there doing nothing he probably wont get spotted. And a BB not shooting or tanking is a waste. That leaves 1% where it helps, when the BB is about to die and you can try to save him with your smoke. Then its ok if the BB is smart enough to be undetected for so long that he can either escape or get his heal back up. But most players dont even understand that, so they keep shooting and then your smoke is pretty much wasted.

Every class has different detections when they shoot from smoke cover.

DDs usually have <3km.

Cruisers range from ~4,5km to 12 or even more dont even know all the values for the big Cruisers like Stalingrad f.e.)

BBs are probably all like ~15 or so (well except the lower tier ones i suppose)

 

4 minutes ago, Lea_Flamma said:

I am learning how to lead torpedoes so as to not damage friendlies and when to use guns and when not to. Islands are my waifus now. I don't fully grasp the detection and stuff yet, but I learned not to shoot all the time.

 

The best advice to not torp friendlies is to not use torps when you are in the 2nd line or even further. Sure, it probably will happen, we have all been there. But you definetely want to minimize the chance.

And you probably dont want to use your guns on IJN DDs most of the time. Someone else mentioned it, not sure who, that you certainly should remember that you have guns. Thats ofc true, but you dont want to shoot your guns maxrange vs a full HP BB to tell everyone "hey here i am".

Always remember, when you are spotted as a DD in torprange, the enemy most likely will start to evade. So be careful if you have torps in the water to not reveal yourself unnecessarily. (ofc there are exceptions to this, but you shouldnt worry about those right now, as you have to learn other stuff first. Lets say, you can trick your opponent into evading if your torps would otherwise miss him, and maybe make him turn into them).

[Aotearas]

15 minutes ago, Lea_Flamma said:

Thanks guys, that's a lot of good advice.

 

I am considering the Superintendent for that battleship that might ask for smoke. They sometimes do.

 

I am still learning the playstyle, so it's an interesting experience. I am learning how to lead torpedoes so as to not damage friendlies and when to use guns and when not to. Islands are my waifus now. I don't fully grasp the detection and stuff yet, but I learned not to shoot all the time.

 

Like others have already said, you need not really bother with smokescreens for battleships. Once they shoot they get spotted by anything within ~12km anyway. It can however be useful if a battleship is under heavy fire and trying to retreat, in that case laying a line of smoke can really help.

It's a really subjective thing to say if it's a good idea or if it isn't ... don't wreck your head about this however. Rule of thumb should always be if you can spare the smoke and don't need to go out of your way and/or risk exposing yourself then you can go for it. If it's risky for you though better play it safe because if things go wrong, both of you might get sunk.

 

 

As for what is possibly the best piece of advice you can get, which has already been alluded to, is to play other classes aswell (not just other DD lines). Know your enemy and all that. It's much easier to know where you can be effective if you have some experience in playing the other classes and know where they like to be and how you'd react to the threat of a destroyer around. It also helps with learning how to torpedo effectively, since even an aware ship can still make predictable turns if they think they're being torpedoed and you can compensate for that.