Is Azuma good now

[Itwastuesday]

It has horrible tinfoil armor, but does it even matter with all the overmatch guns added to the game? Has bad AA, but I don't see any cruiser players celebrating how their great AA save them from lolcarrier. No radar, a deficiency for sure and often in cruiser it feels like the biggest disadvantage you bring to a team compared to the opposite radarship. 

 

It has good range and ballistics, seems accurate enough and good HE shells and AP pen seems pretty good too. A big pile of HP, improved heal (?). 

 

If before trash armor made it trash, how about now when no cruiser armor feels enough anyway?

[R3DR1D1NGH0OD]

Does that mean it's safe to buy her?

[Captain_Newman]

What do you mean "good now", she was always good. Great guns on a squishy hull. Is the Mino bad for having a squishy hull? It just deals with that in a different way to Azuma, using smokes, good stealth and/or islands. Azuma uses her great range, ballistics and accuracy to stay at distances where kiting is possible.

 

If you know how to read the minimap, position properly, kite, dodge, and most of all ignore the idiots giving you for not going to brawl that advancing GK, Kremlin and Agir, she'll reward you with lots of damage and you can really punish enemy pushes with her. BTW "no radar" is not a drawback given her playstyle which is basically "spam from range, if you get close you die". Radar on that hull would be wasted since getting into ranges to actually put it to use would be suicidal.

 

She's just less tolerant of potato moves than most other cruisers, so, don't make any and you'll be fine. Most of the time. If you're the sort of player that knows how to read the map, aim, kite and dodge, get her. If you're the sort of player who thinks ships like the Charles Martel or Ibuki are garbage because you always go boom when bb's look at you the wrong way, then you won't enjoy the Azuma either.

[Itwastuesday]

4 minutes ago, Captain_Newman said:

What do you mean "good now", she was always good.

That she sucks is what I heard, anyway. 

[Uglesett]

TBH, I'd hold off on picking up any super cruisers until I see how hard they get ed by the captain skill rework.

[Spartan_Renegade]

Vastly better than Seattle, Inferior to Siegfried/Agir

[Captain_Newman]

11 minutes ago, Itwastuesday said:

That she sucks is what I heard, anyway. 

Fair enough. I've heard three types of criticisms of her, I disagree with one completely, and can kind of see the other two.

 

1: "Azuma is trash because no armor".

No, she isn't, but like I said, she punishes potato moves and generally trying to play her in any way other than what's optimal for her. Does that make her bad outright? Not if you play her right. Does that mean she lacks adaptability? Yes.

 

2. "Azuma is boring, all you do is kite from range".

I can see that. I play her occasionally, not all the time, so I don't get bored. I imagine being at max range spamming HE all day long would get boring, though. It is sometimes possible to get closer late game, but to do that you need to play carefully to begin with so you're still alive when that happens.

 

3. "Azuma has no carry if you get into a bad team".

True. I'd argue that truly awful teams that get steamrolled can't be carried in anything, but yes, there are situations where something like an Alaska might have been able to turn it around, whereas Azuma couldn't as she lacks the adaptability due to basically having no ability to tank and almost always relies on her team to spot for her.

[Verblonde]

I think mine fell out of a box last Xmas; I just gave her a secondary build and muck about with her in Coop - whilst I'm not a cruiser god (not even close!), I simply find Yoshino better in all important respects.

 

5 minutes ago, Uglesett said:

TBH, I'd hold off on picking up any super cruisers until I see how hard they get ed by the captain skill rework.

This too!

[Captain_Newman]

BTW one thing Azuma's (and Yoshino's) guns excel at is making certain annoyances go boom that tend to get overpenned otherwise.. Blapping a Smolensk in his smoke using your Azuma's AP and spotter plane can be pretty satisfying.

[Itwastuesday]

My experience is that while she can't tank in a BB way or how probably a soviet cruiser tanks, she doesn't exactly get blown out of the water any worse than CA like Hindenburg or Zao would. I've often had quite a bit of potential damage at the end of game while remaining afloat. Like the worst things for a cruiser to eat are less worse if you have a big chunk of HP to eat them with? 

[Captain_Newman]

4 minutes ago, Itwastuesday said:

My experience is that while she can't tank in a BB way or how probably a soviet cruiser tanks, she doesn't exactly get blown out of the water any worse than CA like Hindenburg or Zao would. I've often had quite a bit of potential damage at the end of game while remaining afloat. Like the worst things for a cruiser to eat are less worse if you have a big chunk of HP to eat them with? 

Yup. Honestly I'd worry more about the AP from ships like Stalingrad, Alaska, PR, Petro, etc than I would about BB salvos. Those supercruisers are more accurate and far less likely to overpen you. I know that, when playing the Azuma, I tend to worry more about a Stalingrad looking at me than a Kremlin, though both can absolutely nuke you. It's just that Stalingrad is more likely to do just that to you, in my experience - it's harder to dodge those magical 305's blessed by the father of the motherland himself.

[CptBarney]

@HaachamaShipping Think this is your area of expertise.

[lafeel]

Mews flash: She was never that bad. @Itwastuesday

[Itwastuesday]

8 minutes ago, lafeel said:

Mews flash: She was never that bad. @Itwastuesday

 

Right, I just thought it was a common opinion that she is bad.

 

10 minutes ago, Captain_Newman said:

Yup. Honestly I'd worry more about the AP from ships like Stalingrad, Alaska, PR, Petro, etc than I would about BB salvos. Those supercruisers are more accurate and far less likely to overpen you. I know that, when playing the Azuma, I tend to worry more about a Stalingrad looking at me than a Kremlin, though both can absolutely nuke you. It's just that Stalingrad is more likely to do just that to you, in my experience - it's harder to dodge those magical 305's blessed by the father of the motherland himself.

 

Yeah, well I've found some CA and DD to be the most harmful to be around, personally. Like Kitakaze today. Wait, I'm totally melting here, this was a huge mistake 

[lafeel]

3 minutes ago, Itwastuesday said:

Right, I just thought it was a common opinion that she is bad.

 

Just because it's a common opinion does not mean it's the only one, or the only right one..

[Itwastuesday]

34 minutes ago, Uglesett said:

TBH, I'd hold off on picking up any super cruisers until I see how hard they get ed by the captain skill rework.

By the way, would the captain skill rework, as much as we know about it at the moment, be a less severe nerf to Azuma than other supercruisers, being that her playstyle isn't all that dependant on the tanking skills anyway?

[22cm]

54 minutes ago, Itwastuesday said:

That she sucks is what I heard, anyway. 

Its currently the 9th of the 16 tier 9 cruiser, so in the middle of the pack. Is better than most tech-tree cruisers, but it is the worst of the premium cruisers.

 

 

[Mad_Dog_Dante]

4 hours ago, lafeel said:

Mews flash: She was never that bad. @Itwastuesday

 

[jss78]

She's never been bad.

 

It's a valid criticism she's one-dimensional. She mainly does that mid-long range fire support and needs to play conservative to avoid crossfires. However when top tier you can up your aggression level and run down the enemy.

 

You could say she's "a worse Yoshino" but then she's a tier lower so that's not exactly shocking. Personally I got both and play both a lot, depending on whether my div mates want to do a T9 or T10.

[lafeel]

18 minutes ago, jss78 said:

She's never been bad.

 

It's a valid criticism she's one-dimensional. She mainly does that mid-long range fire support and needs to play conservative to avoid crossfires. However when top tier you can up your aggression level and run down the enemy.

 

You could say she's "a worse Yoshino" but then she's a tier lower so that's not exactly shocking. Personally I got both and play both a lot, depending on whether my div mates want to do a T9 or T10.

Also can up your aggression considerably if whoever you're being aggressive against has something distracting him, lets not forget..

[HaachamaShipping]

13 hours ago, CptBarney said:

@HaachamaShipping Think this is your area of expertise.

Azuma is ok. It just suffers from Yoshino providing much the same but better, so anyone with less worries about economy will find it not worth it compared to more novel alternatives. Kind of like Roon is decent, but why keep it once you unlock Hindenburg? 

[CptBarney]

19 minutes ago, HaachamaShipping said:

Azuma is ok. It just suffers from Yoshino providing much the same but better, so anyone with less worries about economy will find it not worth it compared to more novel alternatives. Kind of like Roon is decent, but why keep it once you unlock Hindenburg? 

I wouldn't mind seeing a furutaka like supercruiser with 310's or 330mm guns at somepoint, weegee could make it quite an interesting ship too be honest.

[jss78]

2 hours ago, HaachamaShipping said:

Azuma is ok. It just suffers from Yoshino providing much the same but better, so anyone with less worries about economy will find it not worth it compared to more novel alternatives. Kind of like Roon is decent, but why keep it once you unlock Hindenburg? 

For social play, there's a twist though. There are lots of really popular T9 premium ships these days -- Jean Barts, Missouris and Musashis top many people's most-played-ships lists. When I play with my division mates, they frequently want T9 specifically, and this makes me play the Azuma more than the Yoshino.

 

(We've found stuff like 2xJean Bart+Azuma, or Jean Bart + Azuma + Kronshtadt to add radar, incredibly powerful combos. That's a monstrous amount of muscle charging down an enemy's flank at 35 knots, and the friendly ships guarantee your Azuma a good spot to fire from second-line safety.)

[R3DR1D1NGH0OD]

You all make Azuma sound really interesting. Is there an option to try a ship before I buy her first? Or maybe I should wait and see how the ARP Yamato will be sold.

[22cm]

1 hour ago, R3DR1D1NGH0OD said:

You all make Azuma sound really interesting. Is there an option to try a ship before I buy her first? Or maybe I should wait and see how the ARP Yamato will be sold.

You do understand that it has been currently powercrept? All the other buyable premium tier 9 cruisers are better than Azuma right now.