Branch of the tech tree. Which is appropriate to learn?

[lospescas]

Among so many types of ships and nations ... I do not know which to choose, with the intention of having my first tier X in the future, I am looking for an entertaining branch that allows some error than another of a novice.

 Thank you all for your suggestions, comrades .

[lossi_2018]

BBs leave room for error, so do CVs.

Errors in BBs will lose you less games than errors in CVs.

You are more important to your team in a CV, vital I would say.

[ColonelPete]

You usally start with Cruisers to learn how to shoot and position.

I suggest the US or japanese line.

 

At Tier V or VI you might want to go back to test out Battleships and/or Destroyers. That gives you more insight into the gameplay and in case you like the other classes better, you can then switch, without having spend too much time on Cruisers. Maybe you even find out that you like Carrier gameplay.

[jss78]

I might suggest the Japanese tech tree and either the BB's or cruisers (or both). They are very much gimmick free generalists.

 

This applies to US too, with the caveat that the mid tier BB's are exceptionally slow.

 

These were the first two countries in the game and established the core gameplay. All the other countries are more specialized in one way or the other.

[lospescas]

I already know that CVs are the class of ships most loved by all kinds of players in the wows and more complicated to use , although none has yet passed through my hands .

 I am looking for a consistent branch in all its tiers and a good balance between mobility, firepower and armor, do I ask too much? 

I also discovered that I still don't know how to handle destroyers, but I do suffer from them .  Maybe a cruise or a BB? 

[Elizabeth_F_Beurling]

I always found IJN cruiser the best to learn the basic of the game

Cruiser is not fragile as DD, less likely to evaporate due to just 1 mistake  and do not punish you as hard if you miss the shot or in wrong position when playing BB

[lospescas]

Thank you very much for sharing your impressions and I already have two candidate lines, BB USA and Japanese cruises.  

But I am also open to new suggestions.  Thank you all. 

[_Teob_]

I still suggest German or Russian BBs to anyone who wants to learn the game.

 

Being durable is by far the most important characteristic for new players who will make a bunch of positioning mistakes and nothing is quite as durable as those two lines.

[Verblonde]

2 hours ago, lospescas said:

I already have two candidate lines, BB USA and Japanese cruises.

I would perhaps suggest both cruisers and BBs from both nations - as others have said, they're pretty much the definition of 'core' gameplay.

 

@_Teob_'s point about durability is very well made though, but I might still think in terms of IJN/US as a learning tool in the first instance, simply because there is nothing weird about them - all the other lines (to a greater or lesser extent) have elements that aren't universally applicable.

 

Low tiers are pretty quick to research, and inexpensive to buy - if it were me, I would try and play as wide a range of types and nations as possible, just to get an overview of what as many things as possible can do...

[Otowi]

If you go with the BB lines, you can't really go wrong with whatever nation you choose, just depends on what your end goal is.

 

The US BB line is generally a safe bet. The ships are good, with solid ships all the way to tier X.

 

Same goes for the the UK an German BB line, with some really good premium ships, like HMS Warspite and KMS Tirpitz.

 

French line is pretty nice, fast BB's, and some has many guns, like the Lyon. 

 

Russian BB line was a bit hit and miss for me, but some ships like the Izmail is a fire starter, wich is good fun. Watch you enemies burn a slow death.

 

The IJN BB line has some ships that can be a bit hard to get the handle on, like the tier IX. That one is... not that good, but get past that one, and you get to the mighty Yamato, wich makes it more than worth it.

You also have the Mikasa, low tier yes, but very fun with a full secondary build, just need to get her good and close, and watch ships melt, well worth it.

 

 

[Ethernilyo]

How you describe it Japanese cruisers are what fits you mostly, uniform performance and playstyle through the entire line, also no bad ships at any tier.

Best starting dd line is prolly US and BB the Russians. As for CV avoid UK they re weaker than their peers.

 

What i would suggest you to avoid at start are the following:

1)UK battleships as they tend to teach the bad habit of always using he on bbs.

2)UK light cruisers as they are VERY squishy and hard to play for beginners.

3)German battleships as they are very forgiving of positioning and won't teach you how to angle and protect your citadel.

4)US cruisers because they are inconsistent, tier 3 is so heavy you can call it battleship, tier 4 and 5 are floating citadel speed demons although after the split it gets a bit more reasonable at t6 but they lack torpedoes.

5) European destroyers as they employ an advanced playstyle not suitable for beginners.

6)US Battleships because up to tier 7 they are much slower than the average which can lock you out of the entire match if you sail the wrong way.

 

To be fair I haven't played french so i can't voice an opinion about them.

[Panocek]

15 hours ago, lospescas said:

Among so many types of ships and nations ... I do not know which to choose, with the intention of having my first tier X in the future, I am looking for an entertaining branch that allows some error than another of a novice.

 Thank you all for your suggestions, comrades .

Instead pointing "good" novice lines, I'd point "bad" ones, British Royal Navy light cruisers as well Italian Regia Marina. And by that I mean very unforgiving ship lines due to fragility (Brits) or with peculiar ammo traits that require some game mechanics understanding to get the most out of them (Brits and Italians). Both lines end with very capable tier 10 ships, though given Venezia performance in Clan Battles, she might be next on the chopping block for threatening Stalingradmasterrace.

 

13 hours ago, lospescas said:

I am looking for a consistent branch in all its tiers and a good balance between mobility, firepower and armor, do I ask too much? 

Sounds like IJN cruisers to me, very consistent line from tier 5 onwards, heck, using the same guns until tier 10 Zao is still solid ship, though she faces stiff competition in "long range HE shelling" department.

Alternatively RU light cruisers, consistent in terms of good ballistics, good firestarting, punchy AP given shell caliber, lack of turning and imploding when caught with pants down

 

Also, relying on armor in a cruiser is a mistake, because typical 100mm plating found on cruiser citadels can be expected to stop only DD caliber guns. And CL guns past 10km. Anything bigger... yeah. Better don't get hit or (ab)use ricochet mechanics.

[BruceRKF]

What I would suggest for beginners is to not rush up in just one tech tree, but play mutliple ones to tier 5 or 6 and then go down the ones you like most. Don't skip ships ever on your first handful or so grinds, even the bad ones can teach you a lot! Also play all classes (you can ignore CVs of you want). For cruisers, Japanese are quite good for beginners I think, for BBs Japanese, US or Russian/Soviet, for DDs US or UK.

[HaachamaShipping]

If someone asks me for novice lines, I usually would say German cruisers. Not insanely powerful, they are somewhat consistent, they work decently well, they are core cruiser gameplay, have some incentives to use both ammo types and Hindenburg is a decent enough T10. These days I'd also take Hindenburg over Zao, because of the influx of heavy plating and the increased HE pen at mid tiers makes it easier for new players to get through Königsberg and Nürnberg with lower point captains. Later lines might get captains boosted with elite commander exp.

[Lootboxer]

14 hours ago, lospescas said:

I also discovered that I still don't know how to handle destroyers, but I do suffer from them

That is why you should dedicate some time to learn them because by playing this class you will learn how to counter them and what they can and can not do to you.

And maybe you will fall in love in the process like I did

[Panocek]

7 minutes ago, DariusJacek said:

That is why you should dedicate some time to learn them because by playing this class you will learn how to counter them and what they can and can not do to you.

And maybe you will fall in love in the process like I did

Given current "month of russian bias" and 12km radars, that would be one way to ragequit the game I suppose.

[Ubertron_X]

IJN cruisers and US battleships are both solid choices. IJN cruisers generally feature low visibility, workable armor, good torpedoes and good guns (albeit a rather slow reload and somewhat slow turret turning). US battleships should be most learner friendly as they feature good armor, good AA and good guns. Until tier 8 they are among the slowest ships in the game, however I do not consider this an absolute downside, as it will teach correct BB play (aka reading the map and making decisions well ahead of their time). Also keep in mind that battleships usually allow you to use low skill captains and still function as expected, which for example is not quite possible in DDs (and sometimes cruisers), e.g. in a BB you can easily use a below 10 points captain without concealment expert or other 4 point skill.

 

Edit: In addition the US BB line has some excellent low and high tier premium ships choices if you are interested in spending money on the game (premium versus free account and or premium ships). For example USS Texas at tier 5 is available for under 10 Euro (at least for me).  IJN cruisers has the excellent Atago, however I would not recommend skipping to tier 8 right now.

 

 

[Lootboxer]

52 minutes ago, Panocek said:

Given current "month of russian bias" and 12km radars, that would be one way to ragequit the game I suppose.

Considering his progress I'd be rather worried about constant 2 CVs games at T4.

Yesterday I've played TRB Yugumo and Ostergotland and it was a blast.

Maybe because it was always 2 of us spamming walls of skillz and gunning down poor red DDs

Noticed also drop in numbers of Nevskis.

I'd rather take 4 radars then just one competent CV when I play DD every-time.

[Ocsimano18]

Develop at least two lines in parallel. That way to learn much more about the game and won't get bored.

The US battleships don't have mobility till Tier 8, they have hard hitting guns with shotgun like dispersion till T8 and good armor. I's not your best pick, because they are slow.

German BBs are sturdy, have good mobility  and good at closer ranges, but imprecise otherwise. It can be your choice if you're not good at sniping.

The Japanese BBs have less armor, good mobility and better guns at long range. It can be your choice if you're good at aiming.

The Russian BBs are impossible to take out while they have the nose toward the enemy, but they are very easy to damage from the sides. Also, the guns are OP at close ranges. It can be your choice if you are good at angling, or want to learn angling.

The French BBs are quirky, I won''t suggest them for beginners.

The British BBs are good with HE, not which is different from other BB lines, so probably not the best line to start with.

 

The German cruisers are sturdy, and have devastating close range torpedos, but they are not at all agile.

The Japanese cruisers have good mobility and good cruiser armor, and very precise guns. A good line for beginners.

The Russian cruisers have very good guns but clumsy when turning and are glass cannons. Not beginner friendly.

I don't know the French cruisers.

The British light cruisers have smoke, which is fun but I would not pick them as a beginner.

The British heavy cruisers can get big hits but have heal to compensate and are really good fire starters. They are good for beginners.

The Italian cruisers have exceptional mobility, but their guns can't damage a lot of ships until they get to T8. I would not take them as a beginner.

[dasCKD]

16 hours ago, lospescas said:

I already know that CVs are the class of ships most loved by all kinds of players in the wows and more complicated to use , although none has yet passed through my hands .

 I am looking for a consistent branch in all its tiers and a good balance between mobility, firepower and armor, do I ask too much? 

I also discovered that I still don't know how to handle destroyers, but I do suffer from them .  Maybe a cruise or a BB? 

As many have said, the Japanese battleship and cruiser lines are excellent for teaching opportunities. This is because they have consistent performance on their guns whilst having fundamental vulnerabilities like a soft broadside and moderately slow turning guns that will help you to get into the mindset needed to excel in the game. There are lines that are both more forgiving and more punishing, but more forgiving lines will make it so that mistakes in your playstyle will become entrenched habits whereas you are not likely yet to have the experience to manage more punishing lines this early in the game. Once you have mastered the Zao and Yamato, you should have the fundamental understanding of the game down.

[lospescas]

I don't want to run wild when it comes to climbing branches, my main interest is to have fun level by level, enjoy and learn from each one, without leveling up to a basic level, nor do I want to be a premature victim of enemy players with more  solvency, which will be the vast majority at higher levels.

 

On the other hand, I value each of your valuable advice positively, while deciding what to do  .

[Chaos_Umbra]

2 minutes ago, lospescas said:

I don't want to run wild when it comes to climbing branches, my main interest is to have fun level by level, enjoy and learn from each one, without leveling up to a basic level, nor do I want to be a premature victim of enemy players with more  solvency, which will be the vast majority at higher levels.

Just gonna point this out but for the last few years the level of play at tier 10 is quite often worse than at tier 6 due to the players who rush to tier 10 without learning anything so most games end very quickly as the MM often seems to put a lot of the lower WR players all in the same team.

 

It is good that you are actively trying to learn properly and not rush up too fast and not focus on one nation or class.

 

In fact most fun games are found in the mid tiers anyway.

[Hirohito]

I'd say, play whatever you want up till T5 (but as some said, its easier to start with cruisers and battleships).

At T5, you should try and switch up your ship type (to for example, a DD or CV).
Even if you don't like those classes, having some very basic experience in those classes will give you a ton of knowledge on how these classes work, which is super helpful when you wanna grind a particular line past T5.
For instance, if you only play BBs you will generally miss out on some easy basic countermeasures that you can do against the classes that counter you, like DDs and CVs.
This is however something you really pick up fast, after having tried DD/CV yourself.

For instance, if you notice how you fail at torping a BB in your DD because the BB changed course, you will quickly pick up on how valuable it can be to adjust your direction/speed when sailing in a BB to avoid surprise torps.
Same with CV, once you notice how your drops are messed up by BBs that turn their ships (like BBs that turn into your torp run when you tried to drop them from the side), it is much easier to do the same thing when you're in a BB.

[Hirohito]

19 hours ago, lospescas said:

 

I also discovered that I still don't know how to handle destroyers, but I do suffer from them .  Maybe a cruise or a BB? 

That's one of the reasons you shouldn't start with destroyers.
They can't generally handle any kind of beating, but rely vastly on their concealment to stay undetected.

There's also less focus on "gunning stuff down", but more focus on strategic gameplay where you secure caps and spot for your team.

The whole concealment mechanic is something that generally takes time to learn, and it only gets harder up the tiers as CVs become more competent and radar gets introduced.
It's still a valuable lesson to have some DD games though, so that you know how it feels from their perspective.

The last thing you wanna do is ignore DD gameplay forever, since looking at the situation from the DDs perspective makes it easier to know what goes through their mind when you play BBs or cruisers.

[lospescas]

In the trajectory of this game I do not want to ignore the DD, nor the CV, but to prioritize the most optimal lines for a novice, with the intention of learning while enjoying this game.  I repeat, I am not in a hurry, I want to mature my game tier by tier and not be a burden on my team or at least ... not too much  .