Seeking advice/opinions. Which Tier X DD to select for upcoming ranked

[Wildf1re]

EDIT: Just wanted to update this with my experience so far from ranked play with the DD I ended up choosing.

Thanks all for your input and advice. I ended up with the Grozo and have had a ton of fun with that DD in ranked so far (at rank 12 now). Disregarding the salt, of which there have been surprisingly little so far, and the occasional potato disaster - the Grozo have turned out to be a really good choice for me so far.

 

Returning player since before the CV rework, I have just started again and are planning to participate in the upcoming ranked play. Knowing how frustrating it can become to play ranked after a while, I do not aim for rank 1. The aim is to see how far I can go until the salt/back line damage players (avoid loosing a star) becomes too prevalent and take away the fun for me. That said, I definitely aim to provide the best support available for my random team, play to win and have as much fun as I can.

 

I have 5 DDs to choose from:

 

• Shimakaze
• Gearing
• Grozovoi
• Z-52
• Yueyang

 

I (as can be seen) prefer the stealth and Jack Of all Trades DD play. I am no unicum, more of an accomplished potato ...

 

Just from the DDs I have available I would be curious to hear this forums opinions/advice on which DD to take into ranked. Especially as I know there are some quite experienced DD players on this forum.

As I don't have oceans of time to play and know from experience that if I switch too much between the different DDs, my game play and tactics tends to suffer, I intend to stake my ambitions on one DD, two at the most.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Note: While I will definitely read any input with great interest, please don't expect an immediate reaction from my side as I have a full time job and family to balance my time with .

[JoeSparkx]

given the prevalence of CV's in ranked now, most teams don't use a DD as the CV spots. 

 

Shima has been pwercrept, so has the gearing.

 

Grozovoi meh

Z52 could do worse

Yueyang got a nerf not too long ago, best go look up the details.

 

My choice? Solid light cruiser with brutal AA. Smolensk has been quite popular much to peoples chargrin. Radar is less of an issue given how few DD's are in ranked atm. so play what you want.

[neorvo]

I only play co-ops my first T10 was grozovoi more like gunner and has AA defense, and smoke I had a capitan level 17 with it, with accelerated torps. I didn't play the last two weeks, cause I sm trying Russian CV's for geating Moskva, and the last changes could change my impressions. It is like play as a light cruisers as said  Adamcriz.

Gearing is also nice for caping and be steal, but I found its torps weak ( distance is good but slow to reload) and AA is not better than Grozovoi ( in my opinion, please check statistics, I am not sure)

Give a try Grozovoi.

[Wildf1re]

48 minutes ago, Adamcriz said:

given the prevalence of CV's in ranked now, most teams don't use a DD as the CV spots. 

 

Shima has been pwercrept, so has the gearing.

 

Grozovoi meh

Z52 could do worse

Yueyang got a nerf not too long ago, best go look up the details.

 

My choice? Solid light cruiser with brutal AA. Smolensk has been quite popular much to peoples chargrin. Radar is less of an issue given how few DD's are in ranked atm. so play what you want.

Shii.. I don't do well in cruisers in the higher tiers and I don't have a Tier X cruiser in fact. And yea, I already noticed how much of a pain CVs are for DDs - when on red team - nice to have a good one on green team though :). Anyway thank for the input.

[Wildf1re]

3 minutes ago, neorvo said:

I only play co-ops my first T10 was grozovoi more like gunner and has AA defense, and smoke I had a capitan level 17 with it, with accelerated torps. I didn't play the last two weeks, cause I sm trying Russian CV's for geating Moskva, and the last changes could change my impressions. It is like play as a light cruisers as said  Adamcriz.

Gearing is also nice for caping and be steal, but I found its torps weak ( distance is good but slow to reload) and AA is not better than Grozovoi ( in my opinion, please check statistics, I am not sure)

Give a try Grozovoi.

Yea, I kind of know and remember the plays for the different tiers, have grinded my way through random (not much for coop) to the tier Xs in each nation. Groz is actually one I considered myself.

[veslingr]

1 hour ago, Adamcriz said:

given the prevalence of CV's in ranked now, most teams don't use a DD as the CV spots. 

 

Shima has been pwercrept, so has the gearing.

 

Grozovoi meh

Z52 could do worse

Yueyang got a nerf not too long ago, best go look up the details.

 

My choice? Solid light cruiser with brutal AA. Smolensk has been quite popular much to peoples chargrin. Radar is less of an issue given how few DD's are in ranked atm. so play what you want.

There is no teams in ranked. What are you talking about?

 

Also he asked for dd not cruiser. 

 

Smolensk has bad AAA

 

Who will spot for you in smoke? CV? No CV will hunt that solo BBs on other side and far him leaving you without spot 

 

 

 

P.s.

Dd wins games in ranked when there is no CV in game and more games you will be without CV than you will have it. 

[veslingr]

1 hour ago, Wildf1re said:

Returning player since before the CV rework, I have just started again and are planning to participate in the upcoming ranked play. Knowing how frustrating it can become to play ranked after a while, I do not aim for rank 1. The aim is to see how far I can go until the salt/back line damage players (avoid loosing a star) becomes too prevalent and take away the fun for me. That said, I definitely aim to provide the best support available for my random team, play to win and have as much fun as I can.

 

I have 5 DDs to choose from:

 

• Shimakaze
• Gearing
• Grozovoi
• Z-52
• Yueyang

 

I (as can be seen) prefer the stealth and Jack Of all Trades DD play. I am no unicum, more of an accomplished potato ...

 

Just from the DDs I have available I would be curious to hear this forums opinions/advice on which DD to take into ranked. Especially as I know there are some quite experienced DD players on this forum.

As I don't have oceans of time to play and know from experience that if I switch too much between the different DDs, my game play and tactics tends to suffer, I intend to stake my ambitions on one DD, two at the most.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Note: While I will definitely read any input with great interest, please don't expect an immediate reaction from my side as I have a full time job and family to balance my time with .

Grozovoi from your list

[Wildf1re]

2 minutes ago, veslingr said:

Grozovoi from your list

Ty 

[ClappingLollies]

Midway or Haku. Best DD's. 

[GulvkluderGuld]

2 hours ago, Wildf1re said:

I have 5 DDs to choose from:

• Shimakaze
• Gearing
• Grozovoi
• Z-52
• Yueyang

Grozovoi or Shima from your list.

 

In general: Things that deal well with Hakuruy AP bombs and can deal with HE spammers such as Smolensk.

The first rules out things like DesMo, Salem and Stalingrad clones, eg. most CAs which are generally the counter to the latter.

That leaves fighting fire with fire, eg. CLs like radar minotaur, worchester and smolensk which are immune to all but the best CV players.

That is what DDs have to deal with in ranked, and also what makes TX ranked so damned obnoxious to deal with.

CVs, Smoked up HE spamming CLs, radar minos and the odd radar CAs.

 

Grozovoi has speed, heal, servicable aa and good guns so you can harass from range.

Shima has the best stealth...and also torpedo wall of skill to counter skillensks camping in their smoke. F3 in particular is brutal,  but likely not useful in Ranked.

[El2aZeR]

Isn't next ranked going to be played in Arms Race mode?

You know, the gamemode in which CVs can outright negate AA with just a few buffs collected by their teammates?

 

If yes, then AA capability should be the last thing on your mind since it won't matter at all anyway. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Major_Damage225]

Personally i have limited XP on TX DD's, i got shima (OBT was well, bad for it but thats my error) Z-52, Harugumo. 

So with my limited knowledge, i would vote Z-52....why?

It's verry flexible, and in my book flexibility always beats specilization (shima is torp, haru is DPM) 

It can be a ok scout, decent concealment, it can torpedoboat, it can gunfight, smoke is short but you dont need it for long anyway, unless you DMG farm but in CB/Ranked thats wasted time in my opinion, and the hydro is a good bonus, overall it's a decent flexible overall pacage that can adapt to changes on the battlefield, witch is what counts in competitive..... Again, just my opinion. 

[ForlornSailor]

1 hour ago, MortenTardo said:

Midway or Haku. Best DD's. 

 

I saw the topic and wanted to write exactly that ^^

 

6 minutes ago, El2aZeR said:

Isn't next ranked going to be played in Arms Race mode?

 

Yep.

 

@Wildf1re Id suggest, if you really want to play a DD - wait a few days before you start. The best CV players will rank up pretty fast - and they will/would make your life really miserable. You´d be better off playing another class in the start of the season. Thats my personal opinion. And keep in mind: not only will the CV be really strong in 7x7 - he will also get the buffs. This will impact even average CV players and lift their abilities to carry games.

 

Then about the DDs: First you need to ask yourself, in which you are most comfortable. Then you gotta ask yourself: how do you contest the buffs against the enemy DD? (lets forget about the CV for a moment - a competent CV will just kill you right away, lets not kidd ourself here).There are some option there.

Radar YY - but against good DD players you will not be winning any price here. Dont mind the missing smoke, as I said: If there is a good CV around, smoke will not help you.

Z-52 - can bully your way to the buffs and once you secure them for you and your team, the weaknesses of the ship can be balanced out.

Grozovoi is just a good pick overall (as some have stated). It might overall be the save pick, to deal with any situation.

Shima is... I mean you need to kinda fight with the other DDs. Dont expect your team to help. If you leave the buffs to the enemy team, your torps will not help you to turn the game. Prolly last pick on my list.

Gearing is sort of the "I can do anything but really nothing". If you are used to her, its possible. But prolly Grozovoi is the better pick overall.

 

 

 

[Verblonde]

3 hours ago, Wildf1re said:

I have 5 DDs to choose from:

 

• Shimakaze
• Gearing
• Grozovoi
• Z-52
• Yueyang

That's pretty close to what I have available too.

 

The glib answer is 'whatever you do best with', although you may need to spend a few games working out what the latest Ranked meta looks like, plus the optimal choice(s) may well vary as you head up the ranks.

 

For example, the prevalence of CVs will have a significant impact on what's viable and what isn't, plus I won't be surprised to find that you can 'get away with it' against CVs more frequently at the lower ranks than at the higher ones - as we know, a good CV will pretty much always kill you with relative impunity; you're basically hoping to meet average ones (at worst) - luckily, there are plenty of those around.

 

I have zero intention of going above rank 10 myself (basically, I aim to get the reduced service cost flag and then call it a day - the frustration beyond that is intolerable), and I'm thinking that - depending on meta - Groz might be worth a punt (fierce - for a DD - AA, fast, decent balance between dakka and torps, a heal; plus, if there turn out to be a lot of CVs, an AA build *might* be worth a look, although it'll do nothing against a good player); Z-52 has the nice smoke/hydro combination and is another good hybrid, and *maybe* Gearing (long-range torps to keep radars at bay, and tolerable AA by DD standards; I run the LU build, so mine is quite sneaky too).

 

YY is still probably too heavily nerfed (plus, at lower tiers anyway, most players won't take advantage of your radar, and with a smoke build Gearing is better), and Shima will likely get crucified if there are plenty of CVs and radar about...

[Bortasqu]

Tier 10 DD Smolensk.

[HMS_Kilinowski]

5 hours ago, Wildf1re said:

I have 5 DDs to choose from:

 

• Shimakaze
• Gearing
• Grozovoi
• Z-52
• Yueyang

 

I (as can be seen) prefer the stealth and Jack Of all Trades DD play. I am no unicum, more of an accomplished potato ...

First of all the term "accomplished potato" is most beautiful definition I have ever heard for that stratum.

 

The thing is, I couldn't tell you which of these DDs is gonna work. It's difficult to imagine how this Ranked Season is going to work out. The combination of CVs in the game and the small buff circles, will imo make this a very aggressive/brutal game mode, especially for DD-players. The buff circles are a bit like epicenter, the reward is too tempting to ignore it. You fear of the other DD getting the buff will drive you towards the circle. In there it's going to be a [edited] fight arena, where CVs and radar cruisers throw tainted goods at each others cocks.

 

It will be utterly frustrating cause you will rely on support from your team mates. If the past is any indicator, Ranked has no teams. They will not risk being destroyed since it ruins their chance of keeping their stars. They will bully you into the buff circles or your sense of responsability will make you go in there. Then you will depend on having a CV that protects you from the enemy rocket planes and helps you spot and kill the enemy DD. You will also need a radar cruiser that can get close enough to radar the buff circle and add his firepower to the team effort of killing the enemy DD. If any of these things are missing, if your CV-player is bad or your radar cruiser is incompetent or gutless, you will have a very hard time.

 

Ofc the situation is mirrored for the enemy team. Their DD is living hell, too. If their radar ships or CV fail more than yours, you will prevail.

 

That said, if I picture this correctly, you will need a DD with

a) smoke (lots of it)

b) good concealment

c) good guns

and ideally

d) hydro.

 

You will sit in the cap and very likely you will either be spotted by planes or by the DD. If one of both spots you, the other one will make contact and attack you as well. If the DD spots you, expect planes on the scene within 30s. If planes spot you, expect the DD to torp you or shoot you from smoke. So you will need to smoke up often. You will not be able to leave the smoke since planes will be circling over you, so you need hydro to carefully dodge torps within the smoke cloud. I can already sense, how much fun this is going to be, an environment as toxic as an illegal mafia waste dump.

 

If your CV keeps the DD spotted, you need to smoke up and shoot it, so you need good guns. And you need a lot of smoke, since you will need to reposition a lot and might get spotted by the CV over and over.

 

So the DD I would pick is the Daring, since it has a lot of smoke and fast cooldown. It also has hydro, lasting for a long time and great in a defensive role. It also has single torpedos, great to torp Kremlins on the nose - you're gonna see lots of them. The long reload will be mitigated as long as you can secure the initial buffs and get your torp reload down.

 

Problem is: You don't have a Daring. So I'd go for either Gearing or Z-52.

 

Frankly, if you are not sure you are up to this very demanding play, I wouldn't go for it. This game mode will be decided by the amount of players who got a feeling of entitlement towards a specific high impact class, while not having the wits to master it. So it comes down to observing the meta in a low impact class, trying to determine patterns and make a realistic call if one can do better then the other players in a given class. If so, go for it at all cost. If not, stay away from it without remorse.

[GulvkluderGuld]

4 hours ago, ForlornSailor said:

Shima is... I mean you need to kinda fight with the other DDs. Dont expect your team to help. If you leave the buffs to the enemy team, your torps will not help you to turn the game. Prolly last pick on my list.

Daring would be my favorite DD pick due to infinite smokes. Or Smolensk/Minotaur.

 

Allow me to elaborate since i argued in favour of shima:

- stealth will be very valuable if there are no CV in the game. 

- Daring will be popular, and if backed by a Smolensk, Shima can be a strong counter to Daring by permaspotting it.

- Since one of the buffs is a heal, alphastrike will be important. Shima torpedo wall is a  good alpha strike counter to any smoked up ships.

[Yedwy]

From your list - Z-52, preferably with a gun heavy build (BFT+MBM3) so you can gun down some of the other DDs you might run into, also long range hydro can be a useful tool for carry if you get (more likely then not) a brain dead team

[kfa]

I will run haku or mino

[Yosha_AtaIante]

Shimakaze 8km torp setup. 

[piet11111]

I had fun with the z52 hydro where an enemy dd in smoke could not spot me but he was visible to me.

 

Also it has good torpedo reload.

[ForlornSailor]

5 hours ago, GulvkluderGuld said:

Allow me to elaborate since i argued in favour of shima:

- stealth will be very valuable if there are no CV in the game. 

- Daring will be popular, and if backed by a Smolensk, Shima can be a strong counter to Daring by permaspotting it.

- Since one of the buffs is a heal, alphastrike will be important. Shima torpedo wall is a  good alpha strike counter to any smoked up ships.

 

No doubts about your points. In ranked, I try to run ships, that dont rely on my teammates too much. Thats why radar YY in theory would be very good, in praxis you will need your own guns pretty often, since nobody will support you or shoot the DD you radar. And the heal on DDs: I wouldnt overestimate it. There are heal buffs. In the T9 season I took 28 or 29 k damage in one game with my Fletcher and had almost full health in the end ^^. Thats why Z-52 is a decent pick aswell. But if anyone has a Kleber....

[I_come_bearing_gifts]

2 hours ago, ForlornSailor said:

But if anyone has a Kleber...

Nothing like charging around making a nuisance of one self. 

[GulvkluderGuld]

3 hours ago, ForlornSailor said:

There are heal buffs. In the T9 season I took 28 or 29 k damage in one game with my Fletcher and had almost full health in the end ^^. Thats why Z-52 is a decent pick aswell. But if anyone has a Kleber....

I've forgotten how much you healed, but I also remember that getting healing buffs was very RNGesus dependent.

Kitakaze was a favorite pick back then, and Black. But there were no CVs then to finish offlow-hp targets.

 

As for Z-52 the one-trick, it sounds good in thery, but I havn't touched mine in ages. The omniprecence of radars and CVs seriously blunts its efficiency, and it's a big target. If there is one thing random teammates are good at, it's camping back and using radar to focus aggressive DDs. I expect being small and nimble is likely more important than offensive capabilities, although I might be wrong and using Z-52 hydro from behind strategic island waifus might be more useful than i expect.

 

Kleber might be interesting if CV will leave you alone and there are other DDs on the team.

But I'm going for Rank 1 and in the higher leagues last season it was all CLs and CAs with a few BBs thrown in. And CV every game ofc. If there were a T10 Friesland available, I'd pick it in a heartbeat to deplane the stupid CV and rain fire from range, before moving in to cap.

[elblancogringo]

If next ranked is in arms race mode I'd go for Z52 because of torp reload and combination of stealth buffs with long range hydro.

If normal ranked, I'd go for Grozovoi from your list.

Good luck have fun.