The Thing About Destroyers...

[anonym_FDOLXpxOfXXq]

2 hours ago, Sir_Sinksalot said:

One thing I would like to know though, is it possible to combine the Advanced Firing Training skill(increased gun range) and have enough camo value(with skills, camo paint etc) to allow a destroyer spot a target and engage a target at maximum gun range yet not get spotted for shooting... to "kite" a target without being spotted?

As far as I know, stealth firing has been removed quite a while ago, meaning that if you increase your range with AFT, the gun bloom will make you detected at that increased range as well.

[SlightlyOff]

Vor 7 Stunden, Sir_Sinksalot sagte:

 to "kite" a target without being spotted?

No. The firing bloom makes sure you are always spotted at least as far away as your guns can shoot.

 

The only ways to shoot a  target with main guns without being spotted are across an island and from inside or behind a smoke screen, as long as no enemy is within your smoke firing penalty ("concealment after firing main guns from smoke").

 

https://wiki.wargaming.net/en/Ship:Detection

 

Note (2:12) that when using island cover, all you need to conceal is the detection point of your ship, located "at the center of every ship, on the upper border of its highest armoured item". This makes it possible to hide the complete ship by positioning less than half of it behind an island, so you can shoot targets unseen with any guns that are not occluded while avoiding detection. This means that under the right conditions, you can do it even with high velocity guns and flat shell trajectories if you park at just the right spot, or shoot at just the right time while you're sailing into island cover and the target maybe is sailing out of it.

 

As long as there is no other enemy in line of sight to your detection point, not even a plane.

 

 

 

[LOZFFVII]

7 hours ago, Sir_Sinksalot said:

One thing I would like to know though, is it possible to combine the Advanced Firing Training skill(increased gun range) and have enough camo value(with skills, camo paint etc) to allow a destroyer spot a target and engage a target at maximum gun range yet not get spotted for shooting... to "kite" a target without being spotted?

5 hours ago, AmiralPotato said:

As far as I know, stealth firing has been removed quite a while ago, meaning that if you increase your range with AFT, the gun bloom will make you detected at that increased range as well.

Sorry to say, but 'invisifiring' was patched out about 2.5years ago.

I remember it well, mostly because back then the T9 and T10 IJN gunboat DDs did not exist and basically the only thing Akizuki had going for her was being able to invisifire (the IJN 100mm guns still only had 1/6HE pen instead of the current 1/4, making doing damage even to same-tier DDs a problem).

These days, the second you open fire your detection range blooms out to your maximum shooting range. That also means that if you buff your shooting range, then the new range becomes your new "detected while shooting" range.

[Panocek]

8 hours ago, Sir_Sinksalot said:

Thanks guys. I'm actually finding myself player destroyers more than any other class, increasingly so. They're just interesting and fun since they offer a lot of playstyle variation so they're never really boring to play I would say. There's just many ways to play them and that's not really true of the other classes which lack that flexibility and attributes.

 

One thing I would like to know though, is it possible to combine the Advanced Firing Training skill(increased gun range) and have enough camo value(with skills, camo paint etc) to allow a destroyer spot a target and engage a target at maximum gun range yet not get spotted for shooting... to "kite" a target without being spotted?

You could... back in 2016, when "stealth firing" was a thing. 30m*[gun caliber] was the rule, so actually quite a number of DDs and few cruisers had margin for stealth firing with maxed out camo alone. Now, any range extension automatically increases detection radius when firing.

[Sir_Sinksalot]

Hey guys

 

Another DD Q and A. 

 

This one is important since it took a bit of time to get this far with my crew skills.

 

Ship in question -  Fubuki 

 

Ok so I really love this ship and I've stayed with it to work on my commander skills, not really interested in climbing any more tiers, this is good for me here right now. So, take a look at the screenshot and shine some light on what this next and most likely last skill for a while should be. Note, I am happy with the ones I currently have for this boat.

 

 

This is a DD that focuses on camo, evasion and and dealing damage primarily with it's 3X3 torps, it's a really nice boat for leaning towards torping other ships and it's pretty good at it but has very slow reloading guns, is a slow ship by DD standards of this tier and so can't afford to really ever get into a gunfight with other ships. That said, its guns have high fire chance HE shells and so I took on that skill which boosts the % chances even more. While it can't afford getting into a toe to toe brawl with other ships it's certainly capable of torching ships and draining them of hp and repair kits while under the cover of smoke, even with slow reloading guns, generally just 1 volley is enough to torch a ship.

 

For the T2 skill, possible Last Stand would have been a more suitable skill to take on since as mentioned, it's not really a ship for gun fighting and more about torping and staying unseen but I'm not going to go paying to reset that and that increase in RoF might actually become useful  vs another DD that's either a lower tier, down on hp or vs another Fubuki without that skill.

 

So then, I have grinded to have 3 more skill points available. The tempting options for me are(and why I need some experienced guidance here from you guys), in no particular order, 

 

Superintendent - 1 extra consumable. There were times during several battles I can recall where it would have been SO nice to have had 1 more smoke screen to pop so I could add my guns to the fight in a close battle. Also, this a slow DD of 35knts so that extra engine boost would have been really welcome during a few battles I can recall in which I just hadn't the speed to keep a cruiser at arms reach and remained unspotted along with just getting back to reset a cap or alternatively getting to the enemy cap to help win that bit faster during a tight battle.

 

Torpedo Armament - 10% torpedo reload speed. Well, this is a DD that leans heavily on torping things and it has a lot of them, as mentioned, 3X3 torps so since that's what this ship is all about when it comes to dishing out the damage, reducing the reload from 76 seconds to 68.4 would be pretty nice indeed. Of course, you need to consider the gains across an entire battle, not just a one off reload in which 7.6 seconds gained may seem not particular impressive. Certainly, there were times in which if had that improved reload I would have killed a ship and not been killed myself, agonizingly short of being reloaded.

 

Survivability Expert  - 350 extra hp per tier. So, this is a tier6 ship and the Fubuki actually has a pretty strong base hp of 12,900 so that with this skill it would be + 350hp X 6(2100) = 15,000 hp. Now, as mentioned, this boat does is not particularly fast and it only has 2X2 slow reloading guns, I just don't see it as a brawler BUT that being true, there's still going to be a lot of moments in future battles in which I do get spotted, be it by careless play, good enemy play or aircraft, and so, having the ability to take a few shots and live to fight about it instead of being dead and out of the battle is a really nice attribute too. Certainly if that meant the difference of winning and losing a battle. 2100 extra hp can certainly stand up to being on fire for a while and also some over pens etc from enemy ships. All things equal, if I was in a fight with another Fubuki without this skill and we equally damage each other shot for shot, I win simply because I out lasted him with more hp.

 

So, where do you guys think the skill points should go with the Fubuki?

[Panocek]

1 hour ago, Sir_Sinksalot said:

Hey guys

 

Another DD Q and A. 

 

This one is important since it took a bit of time to get this far with my crew skills.

 

Ship in question -  Fubuki 

 

Ok so I really love this ship and I've stayed with it to work on my commander skills, not really interested in climbing any more tiers, this is good for me here right now. So, take a look at the screenshot and shine some light on what this next and most likely last skill for a while should be. Note, I am happy with the ones I currently have for this boat.

 

 

This is a DD that focuses on camo, evasion and and dealing damage primarily with it's 3X3 torps, it's a really nice boat for leaning towards torping other ships and it's pretty good at it but has very slow reloading guns, is a slow ship by DD standards of this tier and so can't afford to really ever get into a gunfight with other ships. That said, its guns have high fire chance HE shells and so I took on that skill which boosts the % chances even more. While it can't afford getting into a toe to toe brawl with other ships it's certainly capable of torching ships and draining them of hp and repair kits while under the cover of smoke, even with slow reloading guns, generally just 1 volley is enough to torch a ship.

 

For the T2 skill, possible Last Stand would have been a more suitable skill to take on since as mentioned, it's not really a ship for gun fighting and more about torping and staying unseen but I'm not going to go paying to reset that and that increase in RoF might actually become useful  vs another DD that's either a lower tier, down on hp or vs another Fubuki without that skill.

 

So then, I have grinded to have 3 more skill points available. The tempting options for me are(and why I need some experienced guidance here from you guys), in no particular order, 

 

Superintendent - 1 extra consumable. There were times during several battles I can recall where it would have been SO nice to have had 1 more smoke screen to pop so I could add my guns to the fight in a close battle. Also, this a slow DD of 35knts so that extra engine boost would have been really welcome during a few battles I can recall in which I just hadn't the speed to keep a cruiser at arms reach and remained unspotted along with just getting back to reset a cap or alternatively getting to the enemy cap to help win that bit faster during a tight battle.

 

Torpedo Armament - 10% torpedo reload speed. Well, this is a DD that leans heavily on torping things and it has a lot of them, as mentioned, 3X3 torps so since that's what this ship is all about when it comes to dishing out the damage, reducing the reload from 76 seconds to 68.4 would be pretty nice indeed. Of course, you need to consider the gains across an entire battle, not just a one off reload in which 7.6 seconds gained may seem not particular impressive. Certainly, there were times in which if had that improved reload I would have killed a ship and not been killed myself, agonizingly short of being reloaded.

 

Survivability Expert  - 350 extra hp per tier. So, this is a tier6 ship and the Fubuki actually has a pretty strong base hp of 12,900 so that with this skill it would be + 350hp X 6(2100) = 15,000 hp. Now, as mentioned, this boat does is not particularly fast and it only has 2X2 slow reloading guns, I just don't see it as a brawler BUT that being true, there's still going to be a lot of moments in future battles in which I do get spotted, be it by careless play, good enemy play or aircraft, and so, having the ability to take a few shots and live to fight about it instead of being dead and out of the battle is a really nice attribute too. Certainly if that meant the difference of winning and losing a battle. 2100 extra hp can certainly stand up to being on fire for a while and also some over pens etc from enemy ships. All things equal, if I was in a fight with another Fubuki without this skill and we equally damage each other shot for shot, I win simply because I out lasted him with more hp.

 

So, where do you guys think the skill points should go with the Fubuki?

Once more, why no LS and SE, alternatively Torp Armament Expertise? Demo Expert on torpedo oriented destroyer, prefering to stay unnoticed is 

[invicta2012]

Fubuki? in order....  Priority Target, Last Stand, Torpedo Armament Expertise, Concealment Expert, Adrenalin Rush, Survivability Expert, Whatever you like for the last four points. 

 

You need to know how many people are looking at you (PT), you can't afford to be immobilised (LS), more torpedoes = good (TAE), not being seen is vital (CE), damage = faster reload  to get you out of trouble (AR), more HP is always good (SE)....

[Sir_Sinksalot]

Hi guys,

 

Moving forwards into higher tiers, what are considered the better destroyers for T7->T10? I have 3 tier6 destroyers and things are now slower to grind and much more expensive so I'd like to avoid what would be considered the weaker nation or line from tier7 onward. Perhaps there is no simple answers for this and the nations and lines get strong and weak at different tiers but perhaps there are a few lines and nations that can most definitely be worth avoiding or generally strong at most these higher tiers. 

 

I have the German and Pan-Asia line at tier6 with tier7 unlocked. I also have the Japanese line with the Fubiki, also with the tier7 unlocked. The find the Fubiki and Ernst Gaede great fun and very effective, both totally different styles. I've lost favor with the Fushun. I was also going to take on the second Japanese line since it's unlocked, starting with the tier6 Hatsuharu but at a glance it looks inferior to the Fubiki line. 

[LOZFFVII]

1 hour ago, Sir_Sinksalot said:

Moving forwards into higher tiers, what are considered the better destroyers for T7->T10? I have 3 tier6 destroyers and things are now slower to grind and much more expensive so I'd like to avoid what would be considered the weaker nation or line from tier7 onward.

Yeesh, you're a newbie and yet you're already asking for the most OP ships?

 

Okay, so firstly, while Akatsuki is considered pretty strong for a T7, Gadja Madah (the Pan-Asian T7) is the best T7. No ifs ands or buts, she's pretty overpowered.

For T8, I don't think there's any non-premium that's considered much stronger than the rest, and they all bring something different to the table. Akizuki has excellent firepower, Kagerou has very good stealth, Lightning and Z-23 are both excellent cap contesters, Hsien Yang has access to radar (if you are fine losing smoke). (FYI, the premium Kidd is considered the strongest T8 DD, she has Heal, pretty good AA with Def Fire AA and only pays for it with the loss of a torpedo launcher, also she's a Fletcher-class DD, which basically means she's a T9 ship at T8)

At T9 we start to see some clear variance. You'll be hard-pressed to find anyone who doesn't consider Kitakaze to be very strong - if not overpowered. By comparison, Yuugumo and Chung Mu are considered the weakest (Yuugumo because more of your opponents won't fall into your torpedo traps so readily and Chung Mu because she and the T10 Pan-Asian, Yue Yang, got overnerfed over the past year). If I'm not mistaken, Z-46 is the first KM DD to get the KM CA signature 6km hydro, so she's pretty good at cap contesting, same goes for Z-52, the T10, but they pay for it in all other areas. Also, the brits at T9 get access to heal, giving them some staying power (but they pay for it with tiny guns that struggle to pen most of your targets, even with HE). Fletcher is considered an excellent all-rounder.

At T10, Shimakaze and Yue Yang are considered the weakest (for the same reasons as their T9 elder sisters), but Shima-chan at least gets 20km lol torps if you really want to piss off your team mates. Harugumo is again considered very strong/OP like Kitakaze. Gorozovoi is supposedly an AA-DD, but I don't really have much knowledge about her, although I do have a Gearing set up for AA and it's a bit hit-and-miss.

Those are all the ones I can think of, but I'm sure others will be able to fill in all the blanks.

 

1 hour ago, Sir_Sinksalot said:

Fubiki [...] Fubiki [...] Fubiki

FubUki.

It means 'Blizzard'. Also, most who are familiar with KanColle call her Bucky for short (not quite the same pronunciation, but close enough).

[ollonborre]

1 hour ago, LOZFFVII said:

If I'm not mistaken, Z-46 is the first KM DD to get the KM CA signature 6km hydro, so she's pretty good at cap contesting, same goes for Z-52, the T10, but they pay for it in all other areas. Also, the brits at T9 get access to heal, giving them some staying power (but they pay for it with tiny guns that struggle to pen most of your targets, even with HE).

Z-46 gets 5 km hydro, which is good but you can feel the difference from the Z-52.

 

The Brits are overall great though. They mainly suffer from beeing captain point heavy but have decent enough torps, short fuse AP, 360 degree turrets, long duration hydro, smokes on demand (low duration though) and are still fairly stealthy.

[Panocek]

3 hours ago, Sir_Sinksalot said:

Hi guys,

 

Moving forwards into higher tiers, what are considered the better destroyers for T7->T10? I have 3 tier6 destroyers and things are now slower to grind and much more expensive so I'd like to avoid what would be considered the weaker nation or line from tier7 onward. Perhaps there is no simple answers for this and the nations and lines get strong and weak at different tiers but perhaps there are a few lines and nations that can most definitely be worth avoiding or generally strong at most these higher tiers. 

 

I have the German and Pan-Asia line at tier6 with tier7 unlocked. I also have the Japanese line with the Fubiki, also with the tier7 unlocked. The find the Fubiki and Ernst Gaede great fun and very effective, both totally different styles. I've lost favor with the Fushun. I was also going to take on the second Japanese line since it's unlocked, starting with the tier6 Hatsuharu but at a glance it looks inferior to the Fubiki line. 

Closest to "consistent" tier7->10 lines would be USN. Every line have gems of theirs, which often can lead to different kind of ship which in turn may need different set of skills to perform best like Z1->Z-23 or Lightning->Jutland

 

Tier 7:

Pan Asian Gadjah Mada - very decent combination of gunpower, speed, concealment and torps, as well Aliexpress smokes. Her sister ship, Jervis of UK is tad worse by having worse concealment, no Engine Boost and 7km torps instead 8km. But just like Brit stuff, she has single launch torpedoes.

German Maass (or Z1 if you want to go by numerical designation) - lacking concealment at 6.8km, but for once German DD doesn't have mediocre gunnery per tier, while having solid set of torps as well truckload of hp

IJN Akatsuki - similar to Maass, surprisingly good guns and torps at expense of concealment

(premium) Commonwealth Haida. The closest to overpowered by having equal gunnery to Gadjah Mada/Jervis, decent torps although only one quad launcher of them with single launch option and 5.7km detection, making her more than competitive when uptiered. Also hydro, engine boost and unique "crawling smoke"

 

Tier 8:

USN Benson - OG of cap contester and she still holds strong. Excellent short range gun dpm, blitz fast turrets and workable set of torps. She's also quite fast at 38kts base. Somewhat overshadowed by premium USN Kidd, having equal gunpower, but trading one set of torpedo tubes for heal (and useless AA)

UK Lightning - exceptional ship in UK somewhat bland line of destroyers until this point. Average, if somewhat short ranged torps, but solid guns combined with excellent 5.5km concealment of hers makes her one of the best DDs when playing for the objective. Also all turrets have 360 traverse, surprisingly handy feature

(premium) UK Cossack - Lightning but different and kinda better. Single quad launcher of actually decent torps with overbuffed reload (66s), same concealment and base speed to Lightning, but have access to Engine Boost. She can outgun Lightning when she can bring all four turrets to bear, something easier said than done due to BAD firing arcs of 4th turret.

RU Kiev - Russian gunboats finally get heal, allowing them to do open water shenanigans for longer.

IJN Kagero (and premium knockoffs) - THE best concealment at 5.4km, guns hit hard although with lengthy reload and slow turret traverse. Torps are also nothing to sneeze at. If you're extra brave, gunboat build on them for one of the most potent cap contesters.

IJN Akizuki - she IS the gun dpm hose, trading speed, handling and concealment for ridiculous gun dpm with potential to penetrate 32mm plating with IFHE skill

 

Tier 9:

USN Fletcher - THE tier 9 DD. Excellent guns, excellent torps, decent-ish AA. Only drawback - only 36.5kts of speed

UK Jutland - she is turning point where UK destroyers turn from "gun oriented cap contesting hybrids" into gun dpm hoses. While she have more than workable concealment and torpedo set is decent, her gun output is borderline ridiculous. 34kts of top speed is crippling flaw though and requires IFHE skill to damage other destroyers with HE. Oh and she has a heal.

IJN Kitakaze - Akizuki but with flaws fixed. decent 36kts and concealment in line with "normal" destroyers makes her one of the most potent ships. She is still clumsy to handle.

RU Tashkent - once more, open water gunboat but with even more hp and range. Also get Dual Purpose turrets, fixing lack of turret traverse

 

Tier 10:

USN Gearing - gun hose combined with excellent Fletcher torps, while also having 16km option as well. If not for her clumsiness, she would be straight up improvement over Fletcher

UK Darling - even more extreme gun hose, but loses on concealment, making cap contesting not quite as smooth as one might expect.

IJN Shimakaze - arguably the worst, or the best T10 DD, depending on who you ask. She combines high speed of 39kts with 3x5 torpedo potential, so she can be played as absolute teamwork 404 not found kind of ship going on solo yolo adventures. She also have the best concealment at 5.6km and her gunnery is nothing to sneeze at, making her absolute pain in the [edited] when contesting caps - every ship that have significant gun advantage, she outruns and outspots. Ships that can catch up to her, she outspots by at least 1.5km margin and they aren't exactly nimble, so can be torped.

IJN Harugumo - Kitakaze but even more extreme. Gets 5th turret, making for 25% dpm increase, but in return she truly handles like a battleship and she, alongside Khabarovsk, still can eat full AP penetration damage, making her potentially least survivable despite massive hp pool.

German Z-52 - while ship is somewhat nothing to write home about except having fast torpedoes, she carries "German" Hydroacoustic search with 6km range, which can make her extraordinarily annoying ship when fighting over caps. She also can use said Hydro to close "concealment gap" down to 100m, as her surface detection is 6.1km. Gun dpm, especially HE is mediocre though.

[Sir_Sinksalot]

Thanks

 

Don't get me wrong, I'm not being lazy here, I actually spend a lot of time comparing destroyers on wowsft but number crunching doesn't give an insight into how those figures really translate in a battle situation and often the important details and characteristics can only be understood by playing them so player feedback is more important I would say.

 

So to save me time and more importantly, credits, grinding nations I don't currently have. Which of the 4 options would you guys recommend I take on first as I make my way into higher tiers. Which is the most forgiving of the following destroyer lines. I'd imagine I'll be spending a lot of time playing a conservative game to gain more experience and learn the various ships I will have to fight. So while I not be as aggressive as other, more experienced DD initially, equally I don't want a totally weak or ineffective ship either. 

 

2 Japanese lines

Germany

Pan-Asia 

 

Btw, what do you guys look for in a destroyer? What do you guys consider to be the most important attributes in a DD? Also, what do you consider to be a fun DD to play?

[rnat]

If you're comfortable with the spotting job and have no big problems with your torpedo-predictions (and getting into a good position to use the fishies) you can't go very wrong with the IJN main-line. Note that though their torp-speed and dmg tends to be very good their torpedo-concealment is the worst of the bunch. That means you'll usually have to target ppl that are less able (or likely) to dodge you since they'll have more time to react to your torps than those of other nations. You'll also have to be picky about your fights and kite enemy DDs to out-trade them in a gunfight and learn when to disengage after getting a few of good salvos in when (or better before) ppl start focusing you. Their strenght tends to be rather situational though, if the enemy team is just running from you you'll be almost useless so take than into account in your positioning.

 

The IJN gunboat line is very different. While both lines are fairly similar up to the Shiratsuyu (the better T7 IJN torpedo slinger hands down) as soon as you hit the Akizuki you'll basically become a light cruiser without a citadel. Very consistent high DPM 100mm guns are the bread and butter of that line. Treat it a bit like a more sneaky USN CL that comes with it's own smoke. An over-all strong line but you really want a gun-focused 14-point captain at T8+ since that allows you to use IFHE to pen high-tier BB-armor. (basically standart DD-build with SE &CE but pick IFHE at 14 points). You will sit in your smokes and behind islands quite a bit to dakka the enemy  so weather you like that gameplay is up to you. The Kita (and Aki) has the option to ambush enemy DDs and murder them though since it has a more normal 5.9km concealment rather than >6km for the other ones.

Certainly worth a try in my book.

 

The Germans have the advantage of being relatively tanky for a DD and being able to bully most other DDs out of a position with their hydro if needed.

That power is heavily dependent on your opposition though (other German DDs, RN dds that could counter-rush, radar) and also needs you to get fairly close to make use of it (typically ~1k closer than your concealment until you hit the Z52) so to get the most out of it you need to have a good amount of situational awareness. Their guns also only work well if you can get some broadside due to the lack-lustre HE. And the torps lack the Alpha for a decisive strike against high HP targets (though they do reload fairly quickly).

There's nothing really wrong with them but you'd miss a good portion of their strenghts so i'd advise to take your time with this line.

Otherwise they'll be used mostly as sub-par RNs or USN- replacements.

 

The Pan-Asians aren't bad at high tier. Certainly not as versatile or universally strong as their USN counterparts but their torps can be rather nasty.

Take this if you're comfortable with your gunplay and want an all-around decent package with maybe a bit more of a torpedo-alpha focus than ze Krauts.

 

[Panocek]

10 hours ago, Sir_Sinksalot said:

2 Japanese lines

Germany

Pan-Asia 

Personally I'd focus on IJN lines, as they give very different experiences (from Akizuki onwards that is) and also cover two archetypes of DDs - torpedo boats and gunboats. Germans aren't bad, but due to subpar concealment and mediocre HE damage output it will be you doing the carrying, not the ship If you spec ship from "torpedo line" into gunboat (EM, BFT, gun reload upgrade on tier 9+) you also get quite serious cap contester, as you still have concealment advantage and buffed guns can bring plenty of hurt, even more so as you have 2/3 of your guns in the rear, handy when kiting away.

PanAsia ends at Gadjah Mada, as next ships are basically inferior USN equivalents. They can get the job done... but whatever they do, USN does just as well, if not better.

10 hours ago, Sir_Sinksalot said:

Btw, what do you guys look for in a destroyer? What do you guys consider to be the most important attributes in a DD? Also, what do you consider to be a fun DD to play?

If you want to play for the win, concealment and gunnery to bully your way through caps. As gunfire support for capping teammates, then Russians and French works best as they can actually hope to extract themselves out of sticky situation.

 

And "fun DD to play"... well, for me its whatever I feel like doing for the moment. Bullying my way through caps? Z-52, Lightning, Gearing, Daring. Open water shenanigans? Kiev, Tashkent, Kleber. Gun hose? Daring, Kitakaze. Wanting a challenge? Z-23.

[Sir_Sinksalot]

Sound advice guys. I'll on work on both IJN destroyer lines, makes sense and ya to answer the question do I have a taste for brawling with a DD, most definitely and it seems that getting stuck in with guns instead of sailing torps in all battle from the back like a bit of a dork seems to be more effective, at least, that's what that tier6 German thought me which was as you describe, a light cruiser sort of ship only with the downside of having less hp compared to a cruiser but the big advantage of a superior camo, no citadel and of course, the ability to pop a smoke screen when things turn ugly or just for the ability to sit in smoke and bring those rather large caliber and hurtful high RoF guns to bear on enemy ships being spotted by someone else, I totally learned the value in that and just how effective, immediate and destructive/disruptive it is compared to spinning the lottery wheel with torps.

 

Btw, I am using that tier6 PvE mode "Operation of the week" to train a second IJN crew for the Hatsu line and was just wandering if you guys think picking up the French Aigle destroyer is decent buy for the cool involved. I don't know anything about it and it might suck at PvP by comparison to it's equal tier alternatives but in a PvE mode maybe it might be a useful credit and crew grinder for me? At least it has smoke screens unlike most French DDs so while that wouldn't be an amazing game changing feature in PvP it will probably be pretty effective against bots that tend to saturate smoke screens with torps very often. Besides, it's a DD which is a class I like the most, the only tier6 I can get for my coal and I have a discount coupon. But if you guys think its really bad or something, even for PvE and credit grinding in Operation of the week, I will not buy it. What you think?

[Panocek]

20 minutes ago, Sir_Sinksalot said:

Btw, I am using that tier6 PvE mode "Operation of the week" to train a second IJN crew for the Hatsu line and was just wandering if you guys think picking up the French Aigle destroyer is decent buy for the cool involved.

Stat wise, Ayyygle would be the best DD for Operations due to one of the best gun dpm, truckload of hp and smokes, unlike other FR destroyers. Main issues - very slow shell velocity making 8km+ gunnery against nimble targets... frustrating and ATROCIOUS firing arcs, also she SCREAMS for Expert Marksman (skill you would want on FR destroyers anyway).

 

I'd get her for coal for other reason too - to not get her from Supercontainers

[Sir_Sinksalot]

Good enough for me, sold! Besides, I don't have many ships, even fewer tier6 ships and least of all premiums. Only other is a free Warspite and I don't really like the battleships slow dorky playstyle tbh. 

 

 

The German performs admirably against bots too... she went down swinging!

 

 

 

[Panocek]

12 minutes ago, Sir_Sinksalot said:

Good enough for me, sold! Besides, I don't have many ships, even fewer tier6 ships and least of all premiums. Only other is a free Warspite and I don't really like the battleships slow dorky playstyle tbh. 

 

 

The German performs admirably against bots too... she went down swinging!

 

 

 

Ayygle works just fine with captain you would set for silver FR DDs as such, her torps are nothing to sneeze at either since she got range buff to them

https://wowsft.com/ship?index=PFSD506&modules=11111&upgrades=143200&commander=PCW001&skills=2417132545&consumables=111&lang=en

 

PT-LS-EM-SE-CE would be the order. AFT is handy on tier 8+ DDs, on Ayyygle (and silver DDs up to tier 7) its kinda a waste though.

 

[Sir_Sinksalot]

12 minutes ago, Panocek said:

Ayygle works just fine with captain you would set for silver FR DDs as such, her torps are nothing to sneeze at either since she got range buff to them

https://wowsft.com/ship?index=PFSD506&modules=11111&upgrades=143200&commander=PCW001&skills=2417132545&consumables=111&lang=en

 

PT-LS-EM-SE-CE would be the order. AFT is handy on tier 8+ DDs, on Ayyygle (and silver DDs up to tier 7) its kinda a waste though.

 

 

Her maiden voyage 

 

 

Ya it seemed like a decent decent enough destroyer that can dip its toe in a bit of everything. A jack of all trades master of none sort of thing... and I haven't even fitted her with upgrades yet, totally stock. straight out of the box and into battle as she is. As we mentioned, for PvE modes she's turned out to be a decent performer and since it cost me really nothing, just coal and a little bit of steel I picked up for free, it was hardly a bad deal at that and for the type of battles it will fight in most the time. 

[Verblonde]

On 10/10/2019 at 4:39 AM, Sir_Sinksalot said:

Btw, what do you guys look for in a destroyer? What do you guys consider to be the most important attributes in a DD? Also, what do you consider to be a fun DD to play?

Most important: it must be fun, although fun can be covered off by various different combinations of attributes, and may well vary with game mode e.g. many of the IJN torp boats are in trouble against CVs.

 

Key attributes: whatever combination of guns/stealth/torps/other works best for your preferred play style; that said, it can be valuable to play a range of DDs as that is likely to improve your overall play. Personally, I usually like generalists (especially the US) for randoms, as they can cope with more or less anything that comes their way, but often pick other things for other modes e.g. any mode without CVs might provide an excuse to give my IJN DDs a run-out.

 

Fun DDs: very much varies with personal taste. I like hybrids in the current meta, although last time I looked my most played DD of all time was Asashio (which I rarely use now with the CV population spike). If you like the US ones, Fletcher (and sisters) is glorious, Sims is pretty worthwhile, and Loyang (although PA, it's really Benson) can be a hoot. The T7 IJN 'dakka' DD is great fun, especially if you take TRB over smoke (you can do something similar with Kagero too) - walls of skill, provided you've got the hang of the spotting mechanics.

[kiteohatto]

Low tiers are rough as dds and especially if you are new without extra free exp or skilled captains around.

 

As you get higher into tiers it becomes better, you will have concealment expert and a concealment module to install on the ship, plus the camo bonus too.

 

Most dds of higher tier will have concealment of 5.6-5.9km depending on the nation and 9-10km torps.

 

However thats different for gunboat dds, they play like cruisers without a citadel and therefore they dont care about concealment as much.

 

Anyways, at low tiers make use of islands and cover to ambush with torps.

 

Also, you job is to spot and area deny with torps if possible.

 

What i like to do is stay ahead of the team, drop smoke so they are in it and then charge forward to the cap and spot for everyone in smoke, they tend to say thank you quite a lot.