Best Aircraft Carrier Nation Per Tier

[Sir_Sinksalot]

In short. Having great fun chilling with this class vs bots in Ops and Co-op, but wandering in order of 1, 2, 3 what tech tree Carriers are the best per tier and why you feel they fall in the order you have placed them? Thanks.

 

My experience so far.

 

There's only 4 tiers featuring them so far as I can see. I currently have just one tier4, the Hosho, haven't really played it enough or any other T4 to make a judgement about it's performance and my only other 2 are the T6 Ryujo and Furious. I've only acquired and played both those T6 Carriers this weekend and had so much fun with my newly acquired Ryujo in Ops that I used my accumulated free xp to skip straight to the Furious so do not have or ever played it's T4 Hermes predecessor. I had not enough cedits to spare on the T4 plus needed to keep some for the T6 carrier upgrades and equipment.

 

Both T6 are now fully upgraded in their top spec, with 11 and 13 skill captains commandeered from other ships I wasn't really using much or had lying around in reserve so my only limited opinion of them is based on the rinse and repeat, non-random applicable battles with them and from that I would have to say that while I really enjoy both, the Ryujo, at least in Ops, is the more potent Carrier and hardly surprising really at least in this game mode since it has 8 aircraft per squadron vs the Furious's 6 so basically that translates into 1 extra attack run which of course accumulates with each sorty to unsurprisingly average more damage per battle plus the Japanese torps hit harder, travel faster and have more range. That being true, the British torpedo bombers aim much much faster and so can easily cut back on it's target quickly without having to clear away from the ship to make space for the next attack runs aiming time distance requirements and also since the torps are slower you can fly them much closer to the target ship before dropping them... pros and cons I suppose but overall the Japanese is still better I feel. 

 

That said, there's more to it than just the Torpedo Bombers and the regular Bombers of the British deliver a really nice and potent HE carpet bomb which in general are much more effective and "one for all" against all target types whereby it drops a lovely spread of bombs across a large area, generally at least a few bombs will find their target with a reasonably sensible deployment and will both cause a lot of critical hits and set ships on fire whereas the Japanese regular Bombers(Still talking T6 here) drops an AP type of bomb and that means that while it has the capacity to hit a citadel on certain cruisers and even certain BB's, a player would really want to know their ships and tiers well since it can over-pen or just fail hard against plenty of ships too and certainly useless against DD's plus they only drops a couple of bombs so you can see how that British HE carpet bomber style is much more forgiving and thus enjoyable and effective bomber with no such "what ship is that?" or "No point attacking that DD I just spotted" headaches.

 

I can't really comment on the differences between their attack aircraft, they both seem pretty similar. I'm sure there's lots of differences but I just haven't the experience with them to say that I noticed one doing a lot more damage than the other or anything much else that stood out etc.

 

Tried the Ryujo in random battles on 3 occasions once it was fully upgraded to see how both the very inexperienced me and my ship performs in the 3 tier MM system and of course against real players. It certainly was not the 200k+ dmg in Ops, significantly less in fact, averaging 52k dmg so only about 25% of that sort of Ops dmg lol but hey, it was a learning experience too but if nothing else I like to play these Carriers vs bots, glad I discovered them if only for that and is a nice way to pass a wet and windy evening without all the stresses and strains of a more demanding class or mode.

 

Is the U.S. Ranger a worthy T6 carrier to join my carrier ranks? Tell me about all the carriers you know though, I would enjoy the read and while I looked for threads like that, they were all old and either out-dated and didn't even feature a nation or two. 

 

Thanks. 

 

[CrazyPappy_1]

I own Ranger, Ryojo Furious and Royal Arc and I most say that my favorite carrier is Ryojo for his torpedo planes  (50 knots torps, you dont even need torpedo accelleration). And  her planes look really cool! . The amount of citadel hit generated by her dive bombers is just ridiculous.

 

 

Ranger is shelved right now as her captain is on board my Lexington/Saipan. I dont really like Hermes. Arc Royal is a nice ships, better than Hermes. Ranger is a very good CV and grinding it to Lexington was fun. 

[DeviousDave02]

I imagine El2aZeR will be along at some point to give an in depth explanation of CV's per tier but in the mean time (and completely IMO)

 

At tier 4 the Hosho is the undisputed (broken) king at the moment followed by the Langley and trailing in last place is the Hermes. Not to say Hermes is bad (even if her flight group is 75% historically incorrect as far as I can tell) and is even the most balanced of the three but the duel torps of the other Carriers  just leaves her lagging now.

 

At Tier 6 the IJN dominance trend continues with the Ryujo being the king of Carriers with excellent torpedo bombers that deal very heavy damage per hit with good speed and accuracy, attack aircraft that have fantastic aiming dispersion and Dive bombers that can cause considerable damage to Cruisers and Battleships with citadels.

The Ryujo has good air group sizes and decent plane rejen and by far the fastest plane flight speed at tier 6 although her planes are the least durable but due to said high flight speed it really doesn't matter once you get good at CV plane control.

 

After this (IMO) the second best CV at tier 6 is actually the Ark Royal. She packs a very, very heavy punch with her lower tier planes which are deployed in larger numbers. Her Swordfish steal the show with three drops of THREE torpedoes combined with the British CV aiming system (fast aiming and converging torpedoes) give her an excellent torpedo run. This is backed up with fantastic level bombers that drop a huge amount of weak munitions that while individually are not much to look at but combined give a decent chance for multiple fires and considerable damage on almost any target (It's not uncommon to get 5 - 8 hits on a DD and remove a third of its HP in one go) although they do tend to shatter alot on heavy vessels armor. Her Rocket fighters are... decent but overshadowed by the Swordfish, they get the job done and if you need a low health DD who has broken through the lines and is threatening you to... die... right... now... then they are usually a good choice.

 

Good deck space and fast plane rejen round out the Ark Royal but she does pay for all this with by and far the slooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooowest planes of tier 6. The Swordfish are not going to get to their target at anything other than a leisurely stroll and due to them being tier 4 aircraft they can be somewhat vulnerable to heavy AA fire.

 

The Ranger and Furious (IMO) hold joint last place at tier 6. The Ranger has faster planes with higher damage per hit and 8 torpedo bombers per flight (same as Ryujo) but has a more finicky aiming system than the Furious (not as unforgiving as Ryujo, but you don't get the sheer damage to compensate like you do with the Ryujo) and less health per plane. Her dive bombers get to have the best of both worlds in comparison to the Ryujo and Furious as they drop in the same, accurate manner the Ryujo bombers do but use HE bombs like the Furious (just bigger) and drop three at a time which allows them to set fires and makes them more general purpose.

 

The Furious packs the least damage of the tier 6 CV's but gets the same aiming system as the Ark Royal which allows for trick shots other CV's can't pull and has the most HP per plane and excellent rocket fighters that have great accuracy (although each rocket does meh damage). Her level bombers for me, seesaw between great and godawful depending on how much RNG'easus likes you that match as the length of the bombing run  compared to the number of bombs dropped leaves too much room (again IMO) for bombs to go off course and bother fish rather than the enemy) 

 

She also comes with a great secondary battery layout which allows you to bowtank enemy ships AND fire on them at the same time (great for Naval station paininthearse'ort =)  )

 

And at tier 8, Easy E reigns supreme! (sadly I don't have her)

[El2aZeR]

In terms of tech tree ships IJN CVs are generally at the top but also are more difficult to play while USN CVs are slightly inferior in match impact but much more comfortable.

Don't touch the tech tree RN CVs. I've been told that Furious is pretty decent, every other tech tree RN CV ranges from terrible to mediocre in comparison to their contemporaries however.

[HaachamaShipping]

Best CV line is IJN by a good margin, with USN next. RN is playable if you don't care about gimping yourself and like a challenge, as the ships struggle to leave an impact on the level of the others. Still works though, as most CV enemies are incompetent and it is still a CV. Only at T6 RN has okish options, with Furious being likely the best tech tree RN CV (still worse than the Ryuujou) and Ark Royal being actually a competitive T6.

 

8 hours ago, DeviousDave02 said:

The Swordfish are not going to get to their target at anything other than a leisurely stroll and due to them being tier 4 aircraft they can be somewhat vulnerable to heavy AA fire.

Only thing T4 about them is their speed. Due to being British, Swordfish are the beefiest planes at T4 and the rocket fighters and carpet bombers have more hp than Ryuujou's while the torpedo bombers are on the same level. Cue in that unlike any other RN CV you get great restoration times and oversized squadrons and you have pretty solid hp within a squadron and more than enough to even attack higher tiers without too many issues. If AA would still spread damage within the squad, the AR would absolutely laugh at AA.

[Excavatus]

5 hours ago, El2aZeR said:

In terms of tech tree ships IJN CVs are generally at the top but also are more difficult to play while USN CVs are slightly inferior in match impact but much more comfortable.

Don't touch the tech tree RN CVs. I've been told that Furious is pretty decent, every other tech tree RN CV ranges from terrible to mediocre in comparison to their contemporaries however.

This.. basically..

IJN CVs are more specialized...

They require a little more skill to be effective but their potential is higher.

USN CVs are great all arounders... and easier to play.. when you compare them with IJN..

Long story short,

IJN has higher skill floor and higher skill ceiling than USN.. that means, harder to play, higher potential to do..in return USN are easier to play but midway does not have Haku or lexy does not have SHokaku potential to carry.

 

About the RN CVs, If you like pain, you can always grind implacable to get the worst tier 10 CV in the game.

Basically there is absolutely no reason to play an RN CV when you can have others.

 

Oh, and If you really really really like pain, you can always go buy an indomitable :D

 

[Captain_Newman]

3 minutes ago, Excavatus said:

About the RN CVs, If you like pain, you can always grind implacable...

 

There's a reason I nicknamed it "The Incapable" 

[Sir_Sinksalot]

Thanks guys.

 

Glad I asked now, the tier8 and 10 come with a pretty hefty price tag so that would have been a kick in the plums if I just ignorantly drove on with the British line for what is the least competitive higher tier carrier offerings(plus all the upgrade grinds and expense involved too!). I'm happy with the Furious anyway, no real regrets there it's a punchy and fun for Ops battles while the Ryujo is on cooldown. 

 

Anyone got any comments about the German carrier? Are the dive bombers Stuka's with that iconic siren scream during attacks?(That would be so cool, insta-purchase JUST for that lol) 

[Excavatus]

2 minutes ago, Sir_Sinksalot said:

Thanks guys.

 

Glad I asked now, the tier8 and 10 come with a pretty hefty price tag so that would have been a kick in the plums if I just ignorantly drove on with the British line for what is the least competitive higher tier carrier offerings(plus all the upgrade grinds and expense involved too!). I'm happy with the Furious anyway, no real regrets there it's a punchy and fun for Ops battles while the Ryujo is on cooldown. 

 

Anyone got any comments about the German carrier? Are the dive bombers Stuka's with that iconic siren scream during attacks?(That would be so cool, insta-purchase JUST for that lol) 

The thing is,

It actually comes down to player..

48 rockets in one wing is great to have against DDs in audacious..

But carpet bombing is not easy to use against other than floating bricks.

 

The reality in the game is, you don't need to be a good CV captain to do good against general population.

I've seen more than enough games to say "Audacious is not a weak CV" because people still struggle against CVs or play like they don't exist.

 

When it comes out that the "Audacious is just meh!" it is when you compared her to the midway and haku...

 

[Sir_Sinksalot]

6 minutes ago, Excavatus said:

The thing is,

It actually comes down to player..

48 rockets in one wing is great to have against DDs in audacious..

But carpet bombing is not easy to use against other than floating bricks.

 

The reality in the game is, you don't need to be a good CV captain to do good against general population.

I've seen more than enough games to say "Audacious is not a weak CV" because people still struggle against CVs or play like they don't exist.

 

When it comes out that the "Audacious is just meh!" it is when you compared her to the midway and haku...

 

 

There's similar real world "which is better" and "that is worse" when I read people comparing which was the best WW2 fighter between the Spitfire, BF109, FW190, P40 Mustang and the Zero etc and while they all had different marks of each aircraft and different moments where one was "stronger" than the other for a little while I came to the conclusion, just like this game, there are most definite overall better packages which are stronger in most situations and some are less situation BUT... at the end of the day, it takes a really skilled and experienced pilot to extract the full potential from what they are using and exploit the weaknesses of what it's fighting.

 

This, is a rare scenario since generally apart from a handful of Aces, none of the pilots will have the experience or skill to extract the most from their aircrafts nor exploit their opponents weaknesses and so for me the "which is best" question in regards to the redline limit of performance was less important a factor and imho the far more important question that should be asked in determining which aircraft was better would be more reserved for "which was the easiest to fly" and "which one was least likely to kill its own inexperienced pilot". But I digress.

 

I would place that sentiments on these ships and carriers in regards your comment. In a playerbase that you hint at being inexperienced and not being able to deal with CV's, the whole performance question of which one is best when pushed to the full limit is most likely also rare outside of a few really good and experienced players and so it's more a question of which carrier is the most comfortable, forgiving and ultimate "idiot proof"  is "best" 

[HaachamaShipping]

48 minutes ago, Sir_Sinksalot said:

Anyone got any comments about the German carrier? Are the dive bombers Stuka's with that iconic siren scream during attacks?(That would be so cool, insta-purchase JUST for that lol) 

Siren, yes. Stuka, no. It's a Ta-152.

 

And it's among the worst bombers in the game. Not useless, they still can ruin someone's day, but in comparison to everyone else, pretty bad.

[Nov_A]

Most has already been said, IJN carriers have more potential but are also more difficult to play. USN is okay overall, RN is generally a no-no. The only exception seems to be the Ark Royal, the slow and flimsy planes get compensated with faster restoration, biggest and highest torp strike and more bombs on their carpet bombers, making them literal a literal shotgun against DDs. Best CV available in the Shop is Kaga, as Enterprise is not on sale anymore. Saipan and GZ are playable as well, a lot of people manage to make them work (me not included). It is just that compared to all the others, they drag behind.

 

I had horrible experience in randoms with GZ, but she did really well in the 1v1 T8 ranked.

[Sir_Sinksalot]

Thanks guys.

 

The reason I free xp'd my way to the T6 RN carrier was that when I went to wowsf they appeared to have the "tankiest" aircraft and best AA CV so I figured that if one day I ever moved to higher tier CV's, which would make it random battles mostly since no Ops offered sadly, I would be in better shape defensively from aircraft attacks by other CV's while my aircraft would be able to tank shots and possible survive long enough to get in one last cheeky run on a target before being swatted from the sky. Guess I was wrong about that so thankfully now I'll be spared the waste of credits and grinding!! 

[mein_nick_ist_besetzt]

Furious is a trap :/ it's a mighty playable RN CV that leads to the worst nightmare in the tech trees - the In[insert positive adjective here].

 

You'll have fun playing the Hideous Furious, and it will trick you into believing that the T8 RN CV is just more of the same fun. It's not.

 

Topic wise - I find IJN carriers on every tier outclass all the other nations. Enterprise on T8 might be an exception but you don't meet her all that much to disturb the statistics.

[CptBarney]

Yeah ijn is probs the more skill-focused out of the branches and therefore is the hardest to learn but can give the most influnece in any given match,

usa not including entyfat are more general all-rounders with a good amount of influence epsecially with midway usually.

brits are easy to play with but have the least amount of influence and therefor don't do as well as their cousins (also heavy reliance on rng to give them decent damage numbers doesn't help either).

 

Of course we will have to wait to see how the french (probs double the sped boost for teh planes and regen booster lol) and italians (semi armour piecering rockits and better velocity).

 

Oh and you know rus-*GULAG'D*

[mcboernester]

If its your first line ever i'd strongly suggest USN as they are more forgiving while still having a good impact.  The main Reason here is the pen value of bombs and rockets which can be tricky later on (t8+) on super cruisers and bbs. From a sheer dmg point IJN is best but it's harder to play ( low pen rockets, ap bombs are trickier to drop). 

 

RN CVs felt very bad for me so far. I grinded them to t6 and skipped to t10 with free xp, and i think i played audacious only 2 or 3 times so far. They are pretty much a one trick pony with that carpet bombing, excelling in setting bbs on fire but also super frustrating to play as you will do nearly no pen dmg on german and ru bbs.

[Excavatus]

1 hour ago, Sir_Sinksalot said:

In a playerbase that you hint at being inexperienced and not being able to deal with CV's, the whole performance question of which one is best when pushed to the full limit is most likely also rare outside of a few really good and experienced players and so it's more a question of which carrier is the most comfortable, forgiving and ultimate "idiot proof"  is "best" 

Then you go for Midway..

no contest there :)

 

 

[HaachamaShipping]

2 minutes ago, mcboernester said:

RN CVs felt very bad for me so far. I grinded them to t6 and skipped to t10 with free xp, and i think i played audacious only 2 or 3 times so far. They are pretty much a one trick pony with that carpet bombing, excelling in setting bbs on fire but also super frustrating to play as you will do nearly no pen dmg on german and ru bbs.

32 mm pen doesn't even pen the centre deck of USN BBs. Bigger issue than lack of pen, imo, is that the aiming circle is too large to do meaningful damage to anything else. You can carpet bomb cruisers and DDs, but unless they are already low or you are blindbombing a smoke, it's way worse than HE DBs or AP DBs that do a lot more by not throwing most of your bombs into the sea. Thankfully, with DDs, you still got a rocket squad, but against cruisers, you basically need the torps, at least at high tier when 27 mm pen on rockets doesn't cut it anymore.

[DariusJacek]

Go for USA first, with TiTs rockets you can attack anything including BBs and still get decent direct damage plus fires, HE bombs are very good vs pretty much everything and are bread and butter of USA CVs, Torpedoes are okish vs BBs and camping cruisers, but are the easiest to dodge for paying attention enemies and it takes ages to aim them properly.

IJN CVS are the best if you are good. I am on T6 only so far and I do enjoy them a lot, but those are a bit more demanding (exept for Hoisho which is so broken with not much AA around) and harder to master at higher tiers so I'd play them as a second line later.

Furious is the definitely first and last and always in British line

[elblancogringo]

@El2aZeR is what you said about IJN/USA carriers still true for Haku/Midway?

Really interested in this. I have Midway but not Haku yet. What would make Haku better than Midway? How is it more skill-based?

Regards.

[Inappropriate_noob]

To the OP, yes the Ranger is worth it and ofc it leads to the Lexington,which itself i a good CV, Furious is just great especially i operations, Ryujo I don't find that good.

 

Tlers 8, Lexington and the now removed Big E and Kaga are the go to CV's and surprisingly for me, the Implacable Saipan and GZ to me are weak, and the Indomitable, you certainly miss those torps .

 

Tiers 10, for me there's only one and that is th Audacious, the Midway and the Hakuru I just cannot get on with,massive torp spread on the Midway, and the torp nerf Haku got, well I got her because of her torps slingshot method

 

This is ofc just my humble opinion.

[Sir_Sinksalot]

What's interesting about this is it appears that the IJN carriers are the best at not just one or two tiers but EVERY tier lol. Normally the power balance shifts over and back at different tiers, I just didn't expect it to be that one sided.

 

My preconceptions to Aircraft Carriers was the U.S. with it's strong carrier history would have at some point been the strongest at a few tiers. Didn't they kick the Japanese backside in most naval engagements during WW2 where carriers were involved on both sides? I know, way too simplified and this is a game but still... EVERY tier it's the IJN lol. Oh the RN are the weakest at every tier too, nice way of mixing it up there WG 

[Sir_Sinksalot]

3 hours ago, Bunny_Lover_Kallen said:

Siren, yes. Stuka, no. It's a Ta-152.

 

And it's among the worst bombers in the game. Not useless, they still can ruin someone's day, but in comparison to everyone else, pretty bad.

 

Never heard of the Ta-152 before. It appears to be some variant of the FW 190. O well, missed opportunity I guess, a Stuka would have been very sexy but they can always make another German carrier and feature it I suppose. Glad to see the Ta-152 still makes a Siren when dive bombing though, even if it only tickles its target for a finish lol. 

[El2aZeR]

2 hours ago, elblancogringo said:

@El2aZeR is what you said about IJN/USA carriers still true for Haku/Midway?

Really interested in this. I have Midway but not Haku yet. What would make Haku better than Midway? How is it more skill-based?

 

Midway can basically use any squad against anything since her squads are usable against at least two out of three enemy classes and as such offer more versatility.

Haku squads are specialized and more effective in their target selection, but offer little utility against anything outside of their preferred spectrum.

 

E.g. if you're out of rockets in a Midway you can always try to use bombs against DDs.

Meanwhile if you're out of rockets in a Haku you're practically out of options against DDs.

 

Naturally this means someone who can manage their reserves well is going to be more effective in Haku.

Although personally I found that Haku and Midway aren't that far apart in randoms especially after the Midway TB buff. In competitive Haku undoubtedly takes the crown however.

[DariusJacek]

1 hour ago, Sir_Sinksalot said:

What's interesting about this is it appears that the IJN carriers are the best at not just one or two tiers but EVERY tier lol. Normally the power balance shifts over and back at different tiers, I just didn't expect it to be that one sided.

 

My preconceptions to Aircraft Carriers was the U.S. with it's strong carrier history would have at some point been the strongest at a few tiers. Didn't they kick the Japanese backside in most naval engagements during WW2 where carriers were involved on both sides? I know, way too simplified and this is a game but still... EVERY tier it's the IJN lol. Oh the RN are the weakest at every tier too, nice way of mixing it up there WG 

The gap is small and only for a very good players, less skilled players will be better with US CVs IMHO.

 

Real life vs game - just think about Russian navy in WW2 vs invincible fantasy ships in this game and you'll have all the answers about WG nice way of mixing it up.