Any tips for WoWS noob about flags, captains and upgrades?

[seXikanac]

Any tips for WoWS noob about flags, captains and upgrades?

[Tyrendian89]

you should probably give us a few more details on what you want to know... or if you really are after the very basics, youtube vids (either by WG themselves or by the various contributors) are a much better starting point than any walls of text we can throw your way here...

[seXikanac]

I like destroyers, a bit of cruisers, almost never play battleships and I never play carriers. So what are best flags to waste?

[Mad_Dog_Dante]

DD signals: -100% splosion, speed boost flag, -5% consumables, +0.5% fire flag, +15% leakage flag (unless torps are short range and hardly used), and the other one (0.5% and 15% combo). On any DD with healthboost use the +20% HP recover flag :D

[DFens_666]

DDs:

Detonation flag (juliet Charlie) because DDs detonate the easiest out of all classes

Sierra Mike because faster is always good

Juliet Whiskey Unaone for some DDs which have lower flooding chance... but im never sure if its really worth it.

Fire flags (India X-Ray/ Victor Lima) for gunboat DDs which rely on fires.

 

Economic flags if you want to grind ofc

 

Cruiser:

India Delta if the Cruiser has a heal, otherwise not

Fire flags (India X-Ray/ Victor Lima) unless you are a UK CL

Sierra Mike because why not. Mostly useful for open water Cruisers like French/Russian/IJN/German

November Foxtrott for Cruisers with Heal/Radar/Hydro

November Echo Setteseven if you are in a division with CV, otherwise... eh

[seXikanac]

14 minutes ago, Europizza said:

DD signals: -100% splosion, speed boost flag, -5% consumables, +0.5% fire flag, +15% leakage flag (unless torps are short range and hardly used), and the other one (0.5% and 15% combo). On any DD with healthboost use the +20% HP recover flag :D

Whats DD with healthboost?

 

8 minutes ago, DFens_666 said:

DDs:

Detonation flag (juliet Charlie) because DDs detonate the easiest out of all classes

Sierra Mike because faster is always good

Juliet Whiskey Unaone for some DDs which have lower flooding chance... but im never sure if its really worth it.

Fire flags (India X-Ray/ Victor Lima) for gunboat DDs which rely on fires.

 

Economic flags if you want to grind ofc

 

Cruiser:

India Delta if the Cruiser has a heal, otherwise not

Fire flags (India X-Ray/ Victor Lima) unless you are a UK CL

Sierra Mike because why not. Mostly useful for open water Cruisers like French/Russian/IJN/German

November Foxtrott for Cruisers with Heal/Radar/Hydro

November Echo Setteseven if you are in a division with CV, otherwise... eh

Whats open water cruiser?

[Mad_Dog_Dante]

50 minutes ago, seXikanac said:

Whats DD with healthboost?

 

Whats open water cruiser?

A ship that can heal part of it's hitpoints, usually only found in higher tiers. Open water cruisers use range, speed and manouvrability to mitigate incoming damage in open waters while shooting.

[Verblonde]

1 hour ago, seXikanac said:

captains

For DDs, your first ten points probably want to look like this:

 

 

You probably don't want to get into the +2 MM bracket without at least a ten point captain.

 

I'll leave the cruiser meisters to comment on optimum builds for them - I suck at cruisers...

[dasCKD]

As a general rule. For destroyers, prioritize concealment modifications and skills above all else. Unless you are in an Akizuki, Kitikaze, or Harugumo in which case take IFHE first. Take fire chance boosting flags, they'll pay dividends both on cruisers and on gunboat destroyers. Not the British cruisers though, they're special and should be avoided by a new player. Also, if you can afford it, take speed flags. It allows you to better catch up to other ships, allows you to better run away, and allows you to better reposition. The speed flag goes on as many ships as you can afford, but especially for destroyers.

1 hour ago, seXikanac said:

Whats open water cruiser?

As a general rule of thumb: anything Japanese, Russian, or French is open water. These ships will want to stay on the move constantly and they can easily hit enemies at long ranges. British and American cruisers are better used behind or around islands which they can hide behind. These are island camping cruisers. German cruisers are a bit between the two and they tend to suck and should be avoided. Generally for a new player, the Japanese or the French are probably the best to get you accustomed to cruisers. Make sure you get as many fire chance flags as you can afford for these. You can buy flags using silver in the armory, though it is expensive for a new player.

[WashedandDeceased]

@seXikanac it will help us a lot if you can share which ships are you currently working on :) 

[seXikanac]

10 hours ago, Verblonde said:

For DDs, your first ten points probably want to look like this:

 

 

You probably don't want to get into the +2 MM bracket without at least a ten point captain.

 

I'll leave the cruiser meisters to comment on optimum builds for them - I suck at cruisers...

What is +2 MM bracket? I presume +2 tier match making but when that starts?

 

10 hours ago, dasCKD said:

As a general rule. For destroyers, prioritize concealment modifications and skills above all else. Unless you are in an Akizuki, Kitikaze, or Harugumo in which case take IFHE first. Take fire chance boosting flags, they'll pay dividends both on cruisers and on gunboat destroyers. Not the British cruisers though, they're special and should be avoided by a new player. Also, if you can afford it, take speed flags. It allows you to better catch up to other ships, allows you to better run away, and allows you to better reposition. The speed flag goes on as many ships as you can afford, but especially for destroyers.

As a general rule of thumb: anything Japanese, Russian, or French is open water. These ships will want to stay on the move constantly and they can easily hit enemies at long ranges. British and American cruisers are better used behind or around islands which they can hide behind. These are island camping cruisers. German cruisers are a bit between the two and they tend to suck and should be avoided. Generally for a new player, the Japanese or the French are probably the best to get you accustomed to cruisers. Make sure you get as many fire chance flags as you can afford for these. You can buy flags using silver in the armory, though it is expensive for a new player.

What is a gunboat destroyer?

 

is there any other solutions to earn flags? Since I never bought any and I have some? Also, do premium consumables worth its price?

 

[seXikanac]

4 hours ago, Freyr_90 said:

@seXikanac it will help us a lot if you can share which ships are you currently working on :) 

At the moment I have next DDs: Hatsuharu, Atsuki, Faragut, Podvoiski, G-101, Valkyre, Fusilier, Phra Ruang + Pensacola, Cleveland, Karshrue but I dont play much with cruisers

 

I prefer fast ships, armed with torpedoes and not long reload time. I can use guns but I prefer torpodoes

[Panocek]

15 minutes ago, seXikanac said:

What is +2 MM bracket? I presume +2 tier match making but when that starts?

From tier 5 onwards you will see +2 MM. Tier 4 can at worst see tier 5, but tier 5 can see tier 7. Also it gives you opportunity to bump into radar aka Surveilance Radar, detecting all ships within range regardless of cover or smoke screen.

 

16 minutes ago, seXikanac said:

What is a gunboat destroyer?

Artillery focused destroyer. Prime example here are Russian destroyers, having great ballistics on their 130mm guns at expense of torpedo armament. They also gain access to 

 

12 hours ago, seXikanac said:

Whats DD with healthboost?

Repair Party, commonly called "heal". Which, well, recovers some of your hp

 

14 minutes ago, seXikanac said:

I prefer fast ships, armed with torpedoes and not long reload time. I can use guns but I prefer torpodoes

Alas, only truly fast ships are Russian and French destroyers. Former are almost entirely gunnery focused, latter are bit more balanced. But they are IMO one of the hardest line to do well, due to no "oh  button" in shape of smoke or heal combined with subpar concealment.

[RAHJAILARI]

On 9/9/2019 at 10:14 PM, seXikanac said:

I like destroyers, a bit of cruisers, almost never play battleships and I never play carriers. So what are best flags to waste?

Good starting point lad @seXikanac, if you are looking for an exiting playstyle. Action packed and fast-paced unlike BB's. I specialized on DD's myself first, after some initial dabbling with BB's which soon began to bore me. I have now begun to focus more on Cruisers tho (more dakka).

 

Well, the flags and Commander skills much depend on the DD line you are playing. You will have to customize depending on the ship. For example, for Japanese DD's I will take any skill which boosts their torps. If 10km torps, I will take PM, LS and TAE + CE. For the first 10 points at least, then TA when I reach 12 points (for those DD that have 10 km torps only - otherwise EM). When I have 15 points, I would take BFT, Then at 17 SE and JoAT last for 19 points. All this because torps are your main armament, guns are basically just there to assist in extreme emergencies.

 

For a US & Pan Asian DD however, since their specialty is relatively good AA, but short range torps until mid tiers. I would take anything that buffs their AA and gun performance instead of torp skills. So: PM LS, BFT, AFT, CE, DE, EM. Is an OK build and since AFT also increases gun range and American guns having high shell trajectories this enables you to fire at enemies from behind islands too, in case you have already used up all your smokes.

 

For Russian DD's much the same setup is good, except that instead of AFT, I have taken SE + PT to increase their HP and see when I'm being focused on (time to haul a*ss and get away from there). Shorter gun range when compared to taking AFT also allows me to get away from spotting range faster. I have also taken these same skills for my German and French DD's.

 

For British DD's, which are quite smoke-dependent on optimal performance, I have taken: Supt, + PT instead of AFT.. CE is pretty much mandatory for any DD except perhaps Khaba, but I might take it for her also.

 

There is some variation from this formulae, depending ot the individual characteristics of the ship you have. For those, which depend on their consumables for best performance, always take Superintendent, for example. Those, which do not have any smoke, or which operate in open water (RU, French and TRB DD's) consider Survivability Expert. German and British DD's have smokes with a short duration so there is no point in taking SSE, but you might want to consider it for some US or Pan-Asian DD's and so on and so on. The list is long. You will just have to see for yourself, what you ship is particularly good at and choose those skills that maximize that advantage. Alternatively, sometimes it is also necessary to mitigate their worst weakness somehow, like concealment for RU DD's, for example - It will never make it good, but at the least CE will help a little.

 

Do not fall into the trap of going for a "Generic" commander build, which is the same for all your DD's, because this will only prevent you from taking full advantage of your particular ships' strong points while also not necessarily helping to minimize its weaknesses either. You'll just end up with an uneasy compromise. Because of this reason, I have always resisted the temptation to transfer captains from one ship to another for a temporary advantage and built all my commanders custom-made for their permanent command. In long term this is most advantageous. But then again, I also have something like 70 19 point captains already with all the rest at 10 points or more, so I can afford the luxury.

 

As for signals. I always mount the Juliet Charlie on my DD's if I have them. Juliet Whiskey for all other DD's except the Japanese (their torps already have kick-a*ss flooding chance). Sierra mike for all slow DD's like Japanese and US + British. November Foxtrot for all TRB and British DD's (consumable-reliant) and  November Echo Setteseven for all my AA DD's (US). Victor lima is a good flag, but I will save it for my Cruisers, which have 8*203mm guns (Algerie, Hipper). I will use a combination of Victor Lima and India X-ray for those Cruisers, which have 6*203mm guns (Exeter, Furutaka, Aoba) and also use the same for my IFHE Mogami. All my cruisers will also mount Mike Yankee Soxisix every time, if I have them. I also use Novenber Foxtrot for all Radar Cruisers, RN Cruisers and Huanghe (all of these Commaders also have the JoAT-skill, which nicely stacks up with this signal).

 

Oh yeah upgrades then... Well Main Armaments Mod 1 works for both DD and Cruisers although if adverse to detonating, you can also consider Magazine Mod1 for DD's. For DD take propulsion mod and cruisers The Steering gears mod next. for 3rd slot I always take Aiming Systemsm Mod for both, except for AA ships, which will have the AA Guns Mod. next slot, I usually take Steering Gears mod for both (because you will need to dodge a lot). For tier 8 slot, Concealment Systems Mod is good for a beginner anyways, you can always experimend with the target Acquisition System or Steering Gears later on. I'll leave the tier 9&10 Mods up to you because by then you will not be a Noob anymore and will surely already have some ideas on what you want.

 

But of course, keep in mind that in the end all this is just an explanation of how I or the others are going about things. In the end you have to make the decisions and decide what is best for you, considering the ship(s) you have and your overall playstyle. I hope this will be of some help tho. Good luck sailor!

[RenamedUser_92906789]

From  OPs content ... I think he is just trolling you guys.

[WashedandDeceased]

Troll or not, the mere fact that the community has gathered in an attempt to help out in a nice and civil way has brought some faith back in me

[dasCKD]

1 hour ago, seXikanac said:

What is a gunboat destroyer?

French and Russian destroyers and the Akizuki, Kitikaze, and Harugumo are the pure gunboat destroyers and you want fire flags for those. Japanese destroyers are otherwise torpedo boats and don't benefit much from gun fire chance. British, American, and Pan Asian destroyers are hybrids, and generally fire chance flags aren't worth much on those ships either.

Quote

is there any other solutions to earn flags? Since I never bought any and I have some? Also, do premium consumables worth its price?

You gain flags from achievements, but for a new player it is far from consistent. It can also be received from crates which, with your resources, is probably more valuable than anything else out of those crates right now. Premium consumables are almost always worth the price, though as a new player you probably want to budget premium consumables. Take premium repair and DCP for battleships. Take premium repair, radar, and DCP on cruiser once you get them. Take premium smoke, main battery reload booster, and torpedo reload booster on destroyers that have those consumables. Personally, I run full premium consumables. As you probably can't afford that however, just pick the most important ones. You can use credits to buy premium consumables, don't waste doubloons on them. Also, don't skimp on camouflage. The concealment camouflage is only 8000 credits IIRC, well worth the price.

[Verblonde]

2 hours ago, seXikanac said:

Also, do premium consumables worth its price?

Depends on ship, specific consumable, and game mode; one key functional difference between premium and non-premium consumables is cooldown, whilst the other is charges - premiums get an extra charge - how much those matters varies.

 

Personally, I run premium DCP on just about everything, regardless of mode; Coop usually sees non-premium almost everything else, unless I'm not caring about silver income for some reason. Any 'useless' consumables for the mode I'm playing will be basic e.g. any mode with no CVs doesn't require premium fighter consumable. Modes with decent rewards (PvP and some Ops) will usually call for a higher proportion of premium consumables, and any competitive mode will usually want 100% premium loadout (except when CVs are missing).

 

The skills that one's captain has can also impact choice - if you have superintendent, it might increase the possibility of managing with at least some basic consumables.

 

Generally though, if you're running premium account and can do reliable damage (which is the key driver of silver earning), life is easier the more premium consumables you run...

[seXikanac]

9 hours ago, nambr9 said:

From  OPs content ... I think he is just trolling you guys.

I might report you for insulting me

 

To everybody else, thanks for valuable infos

 

10 hours ago, RAHJAILARI said:

Good starting point lad @seXikanac, if you are looking for an exiting playstyle. Action packed and fast-paced unlike BB's. I specialized on DD's myself first, after some initial dabbling with BB's which soon began to bore me. I have now begun to focus more on Cruisers tho (more dakka).

 

Well, the flags and Commander skills much depend on the DD line you are playing. You will have to customize depending on the ship. For example, for Japanese DD's I will take any skill which boosts their torps. If 10km torps, I will take PM, LS and TAE + CE. For the first 10 points at least, then TA when I reach 12 points (for those DD that have 10 km torps only - otherwise EM). When I have 15 points, I would take BFT, Then at 17 SE and JoAT last for 19 points. All this because torps are your main armament, guns are basically just there to assist in extreme emergencies.

 

For a US & Pan Asian DD however, since their specialty is relatively good AA, but short range torps until mid tiers. I would take anything that buffs their AA and gun performance instead of torp skills. So: PM LS, BFT, AFT, CE, DE, EM. Is an OK build and since AFT also increases gun range and American guns having high shell trajectories this enables you to fire at enemies from behind islands too, in case you have already used up all your smokes.

 

For Russian DD's much the same setup is good, except that instead of AFT, I have taken SE + PT to increase their HP and see when I'm being focused on (time to haul a*ss and get away from there). Shorter gun range when compared to taking AFT also allows me to get away from spotting range faster. I have also taken these same skills for my German and French DD's.

 

For British DD's, which are quite smoke-dependent on optimal performance, I have taken: Supt, + PT instead of AFT.. CE is pretty much mandatory for any DD except perhaps Khaba, but I might take it for her also.

 

There is some variation from this formulae, depending ot the individual characteristics of the ship you have. For those, which depend on their consumables for best performance, always take Superintendent, for example. Those, which do not have any smoke, or which operate in open water (RU, French and TRB DD's) consider Survivability Expert. German and British DD's have smokes with a short duration so there is no point in taking SSE, but you might want to consider it for some US or Pan-Asian DD's and so on and so on. The list is long. You will just have to see for yourself, what you ship is particularly good at and choose those skills that maximize that advantage. Alternatively, sometimes it is also necessary to mitigate their worst weakness somehow, like concealment for RU DD's, for example - It will never make it good, but at the least CE will help a little.

 

Do not fall into the trap of going for a "Generic" commander build, which is the same for all your DD's, because this will only prevent you from taking full advantage of your particular ships' strong points while also not necessarily helping to minimize its weaknesses either. You'll just end up with an uneasy compromise. Because of this reason, I have always resisted the temptation to transfer captains from one ship to another for a temporary advantage and built all my commanders custom-made for their permanent command. In long term this is most advantageous. But then again, I also have something like 70 19 point captains already with all the rest at 10 points or more, so I can afford the luxury.

 

As for signals. I always mount the Juliet Charlie on my DD's if I have them. Juliet Whiskey for all other DD's except the Japanese (their torps already have kick-a*ss flooding chance). Sierra mike for all slow DD's like Japanese and US + British. November Foxtrot for all TRB and British DD's (consumable-reliant) and  November Echo Setteseven for all my AA DD's (US). Victor lima is a good flag, but I will save it for my Cruisers, which have 8*203mm guns (Algerie, Hipper). I will use a combination of Victor Lima and India X-ray for those Cruisers, which have 6*203mm guns (Exeter, Furutaka, Aoba) and also use the same for my IFHE Mogami. All my cruisers will also mount Mike Yankee Soxisix every time, if I have them. I also use Novenber Foxtrot for all Radar Cruisers, RN Cruisers and Huanghe (all of these Commaders also have the JoAT-skill, which nicely stacks up with this signal).

 

Oh yeah upgrades then... Well Main Armaments Mod 1 works for both DD and Cruisers although if adverse to detonating, you can also consider Magazine Mod1 for DD's. For DD take propulsion mod and cruisers The Steering gears mod next. for 3rd slot I always take Aiming Systemsm Mod for both, except for AA ships, which will have the AA Guns Mod. next slot, I usually take Steering Gears mod for both (because you will need to dodge a lot). For tier 8 slot, Concealment Systems Mod is good for a beginner anyways, you can always experimend with the target Acquisition System or Steering Gears later on. I'll leave the tier 9&10 Mods up to you because by then you will not be a Noob anymore and will surely already have some ideas on what you want.

 

But of course, keep in mind that in the end all this is just an explanation of how i or the others are going about things. In the end you have to make the decisions and decide what is best for you, considering the ship(s) you have and your overall playstyle. I hope this will be of some help tho. Good luck sailor!

OK, so Japan DDs have best torpedoes? Which DDs are good with torpedoes besides Japan?

[Panocek]

6 minutes ago, seXikanac said:

OK, so Japan DDs have best torpedoes? Which DDs are good with torpedoes besides Japan?

Japanese destroyers used to be "torpedo boats", then nerfs to torpedo detectability happened. They still have above average damage per metal fish though and ships themselves have (mostly) pretty good concealment to sneak around, but guns... can leave something to be desired when you find yourself molested by other "gun oriented" destroyer.

 

Issue is, other destroyers with tiers up get increasingly potent torpedo armament as well, while retaining their gunnery advantage. For low tiers, you can give them a go, with Umikaze still being top tier meme with 8km torps every 25s or so. Early French DDs also have surprisingly potent torps, but you don't have smoke nor heal as "oh  button", so keep that in mind

[Verblonde]

4 minutes ago, seXikanac said:

OK, so Japan DDs have best torpedoes? Which DDs are good with torpedoes besides Japan?

Ish - the problem with (most) IJN torps is that they can usually be spotted from the moon, making them easier to evade. Doesn't mean they're no good, but you have to be a bit more cagey with your shots a lot of the time (or just fire a wall of skill that's got so many torps in it that some are bound to hit something).

 

The German torps are pretty worthwhile (and a lot of the KM DDs have smoke and hydro, which can be quite powerful) - the line is a pretty decent hybrid one. The PA DDs with their DW torps are good (and most of the higher tier ones can make planes regret their life choices), although you can't hit DDs (plus, the T10 has been horribly nerfed, so many people stop at T9). The US line gets a stealth torp window at T7 (when upgraded), and has access to DefAA which can be helpful if there are planes about. RN torps are useful too, and get the ability to single fire, which can be powerful with practice (albeit a bit short-ranged at times). There are also a few 'oddballs' here and there e.g. Groz is mainly a gunboat, but the 10 km torps come in really useful at times.

 

If you want a discrete recommendation, I'd go German and US (although the latter's torps are frustrating until you get to T7).

 

15 minutes ago, seXikanac said:

I might report you for insulting me

I wouldn't take offense - the thought did cross my mind briefly! These sorts of questions more usually show up in the newcomers section, whilst people who put them in gameplay are often pulling one's plonker (as it is written).

[Panocek]

5 minutes ago, Verblonde said:

If you want a discrete recommendation, I'd go German and US (although the latter's torps are frustrating until you get to T7).

That is why USN DDs teach you how to get along with guns during cap brawls with other DDs, while short ranged fishes (hopefully) spark some... creativity around smokes and islands. 

[dasCKD]

31 minutes ago, seXikanac said:

OK, so Japan DDs have best torpedoes? Which DDs are good with torpedoes besides Japan?

The Americans, Pan Asian, and arguably the French are better torpedo boat than the Japanese destroyers. They're torpedo destroyers because that's all they do. They really are not the best torpedo destroyers, they're just not good for anything else. Avoid them if you can. If you want mostly pure torpedo destroyers, Americans and Pan Asians serve their jobs far better.

[MadBadDave]

23 hours ago, seXikanac said:

Any tips for WoWS noob about flags, captains and upgrades?

When your captain is high enough and you’ve already taken concealment, RPF is very desirable.

[RenamedUser_92906789]

1 hour ago, seXikanac said:

I might report you for insulting me

 

I'm sorry If you got that impression, but sure ...  If you must report me  ... please do,  you have every right to do so.