Help me with the choice of T7 destroyer

[shiftyah]

Hi!

 

I have decided to treat myself with a Christmas present. I have some doubloons and a coupon, so I am looking at doubloon ships from the armory.

My choice currently is between Z-39, Leningrad or Sims. I like to think that I am a decent destroyer captain and I generally do ok with all nations. Recently played quite a bit of Minsk and as far as I understand, Leningrad is similar just with longer range torpedoes.

Or maybe any recommendations on Monaghan at T6? How good is that boat?

[NoirLotus]

Leningrad is quite over-powered now,

 

Sims is still okish but lacks a bit of punch.

 

Z-39 is really good thank of being able to mount the stealth upgrade.

 

Forget about Monaghan, if you want a T6 DD, go for Aigle or T-61.

[_HomTanks_]

If you want to get a Tier 7 Premium DD, I'd suggest Haida instead. 

But if you are open to other tiers, you have more options like, Tier 6 T-61, Tier 8 Kidd, Lo Yang, etc.

[albin322]

19 minutes ago, shiftyah said:

Hi!

 

I have decided to treat myself with a Christmas present. I have some doubloons and a coupon, so I am looking at doubloon ships from the armory.

My choice currently is between Z-39, Leningrad or Sims. I like to think that I am a decent destroyer captain and I generally do ok with all nations. Recently played quite a bit of Minsk and as far as I understand, Leningrad is similar just with longer range torpedoes.

Or maybe any recommendations on Monaghan at T6? How good is that boat?

would not get lenin if you have minsk they are so similair you can just play minsk!

[Max_Kammerer]

Haida is great with her crawling smoke and great guns, Z-39 is interesting choice thanks her hydro and HP pool, Sims is the best ballerina of the High Seas - probably the most nimble >6 tier lollibote in the game with several gimmicks (slow long invisible torps, good AA)... Leninrad was very good in the past , but today she is only medium-good - abbysmal turret traverse, not very good torps and except high speed also bad maneuverability...

[Isoruku_Yamamoto]

I got Sims lenin Z39 and haida on T7. I really ennjoy all, if you like DDs i dont think any of them are a bad choice. Lenin is strong mainly for guns, sims has good guns and usable though slow torps- but american smoke.

Haida has creepins smoke-awesome!- good guns, hydro and single fire torps excellent for close range stuff.

Z is a fun allrounder, that doesnt excel at guns bit instead brings strong hydro, decent torps and amazing concealment

[ForlornSailor]

22 minutes ago, shiftyah said:

My choice currently is between Z-39, Leningrad or Sims. I like to think that I am a decent destroyer captain and I generally do ok with all nations. Recently played quite a bit of Minsk and as far as I understand, Leningrad is similar just with longer range torpedoes.

 

Yay thats my topic! With the current matchmaking beeing what it is for T7, I can strongly suggest the Z-39. Best concealment, because she can mount the concealment module. Z-39 is also a teamplay-DD. You are good in contesting / bullying caps and spot enemy DDs with your hydro. Since the HE pen buff, the guns of the Z-39 are really nice. You pen 32 mm by default, which means, you should not take IFHE and instead enjoy the high(er) fire chance - which is really decent for a DD. Thus it often gives you the opportunity to go for a specific target (usualy a BB), try to hit one or 2 torps, make him use his damage con and then smoke up and set a few perma fires - which usually works. So as Z-39 you play a hit & run tactic and bully the objectives.

 

Leningrad is quite different from that. (back in the day, I was heavily thinking between Z-39 and Leningrad myself). Leningrad is more of the continous nuisance on the flank. You spam a target with HE and try to wither it down. you dodge with speed and are not the guy, that stays around the caps all the time. Thats basically the decision you need to make. But yea, with T7s beeing in T9 games very often, you tend to meet DDs that can do your job a lot better then Leningrad and ofc face cruisers, that have less of a problem fighting and withstanding you.

 

About Sims: These days, I dont see much reason anymore to get her. Other premiums are stronger overall, because they excel in a specific area. The US smoke you get with Mahan aswell, which isnt a particualr good T7 DD these days. And same goes for Sims. Sims has a build in XP-modifier tho, which yields really nice base XP. But you need to work for it to get there.

[shiftyah]

I remember Haida being very strong in ranked , did not enjoy playing against that bully. But without a tech tree, there are no captains to retrain with her.

I already have Aigle at T6. And I am not going to spend  any real money so T8 boats are out of the equation.

[HARBINGER_OF_SKULLS]

WG suggests the Yudachi. Pretty cheap to get this Xmas! 

[lafeel]

1 minute ago, HARBINGER_OF_SKULLS said:

WG suggests the Yudachi. Pretty cheap to get this Xmas! 

Might as well just drive the Shira instead, even better and far cheaper.

[HARBINGER_OF_SKULLS]

Just now, lafeel said:

Might as well just drive the Shira instead, even better and far cheaper.

But he insisted on wasting dubloons!

[lafeel]

2 minutes ago, HARBINGER_OF_SKULLS said:

But he insisted on wasting dubloons!

Then get a Gallant.  Cheaper and has about as many redeeming features compared with her tech tree counterpart (ie none)

[Skyllon]

39 minutes ago, shiftyah said:

Hi!

 

I have decided to treat myself with a Christmas present. I have some doubloons and a coupon, so I am looking at doubloon ships from the armory.

My choice currently is between Z-39, Leningrad or Sims. I like to think that I am a decent destroyer captain and I generally do ok with all nations. Recently played quite a bit of Minsk and as far as I understand, Leningrad is similar just with longer range torpedoes.

Or maybe any recommendations on Monaghan at T6? How good is that boat?

Helping you with T6 russian premium would be so much easier... Oh well... 

[Prospect_b]

None. Stay away from that tier.

[lafeel]

41 minutes ago, shiftyah said:

Or maybe any recommendations on Monaghan at T6? How good is that boat?

Monaghan is actually pretty decent. Basically a four gun Farragut with the option of a torpedo reload booster (which I personally highly reccomend)

 

Also highly reccomend you stay far, far, away from the B hull. As tempting as getting the better torps might be, losing half your gun armament just isn't worth it.

[DFens_666]

If those are the options, take Z39. The flaws of T7 have been mentioned tho, so thats something to consider. However, Z39 has decent concealment even when lowtier (6,1km) with an excellent healthpool of 22k. Compare that to IJN DDs (Shira f.e.), which have equal concealment of 6,0km, but only 15k HP, so 1/3 less.

[Ronchabale]

More than half the time you will be playing against tier 8-9 (Radars etc. none of them DD:s do all that well (Z39 and Haida do have a bit of an edge however Haida has no tech tree so not much point there)

IMO Yudachi is rubbish, torps are so slow but they go 15km and u can get lucky, it can also be used as a captain trainer for the Shiratsuyu -> Akizuki -> Kitakaze

So in some strange way (in the long run) you would be better off getting the Yudachi

[shiftyah]

8 minutes ago, Ronchabale said:

More than half the time you will be playing against tier 8-9 (Radars etc. none of them DD:s do all that well (Z39 and Haida do have a bit of an edge however Haida has no tech tree so not much point there)

IMO Yudachi is rubbish, torps are so slow but they go 15km and u can get lucky, it can also be used as a captain trainer for the Shiratsuyu -> Akizuki -> Kitakaze

So in some strange way (in the long run) you would be better off getting the Yudachi

Yudachi is not up for sale in armory though, and I refuse to participate in unregulated gambling(just a principle of mine).

 

T7 doesn't scare me though. I am grinding through T7 right now, and have finished almost all T7 destroyers. So I have enough experience with radars already. So far I am leaning towards Z-39.

 

While I'm here, can you guys explain a bit about AP on german dds? When playing tech tree ships, I mostly use HE, but I've seen many german dds shoot ap enemy destroyers.

[Ronchabale]

6 minutes ago, shiftyah said:

Yudachi is not up for sale in armory though, and I refuse to participate in unregulated gambling(just a principle of mine).

Ok, didn´t know that

Well then, save your money, you have Hatsuharu so -> Shiratsuyu -> Akizuki (where it starts to make sense) -> Kitakaze

If not Z39

[FlyingBender]

On tier 6 T-61 is great.

From your list for tier 7 Sims is funny. But in this tier, Haida is a better ship IMO

[RAYvenMP]

z-39 is best T7 DD.

[DFens_666]

29 minutes ago, shiftyah said:

While I'm here, can you guys explain a bit about AP on german dds? When playing tech tree ships, I mostly use HE, but I've seen many german dds shoot ap enemy destroyers.

Germans have rather weak HE but strong AP for their caliber. Gaede has only 1500 HE but 3000 AP damage. Farragut with similar caliber has 1800 HE and only 2100 AP damage. Z39 even has 3700 AP damage.

If a US DD is shooting AP vs HE, it makes little difference, if you get pens, you will only deal 100 more damage, but you lose almost 400 damage if you get an overpen. For germans, this is different.

Gaede getting an HE pen would result in ~500 damage, while an AP pen would do ~1k damage, and an overpen still 300. You lose 200 damage with an overpen, but you can gain 500 with a pen. If the target is flat broadside, you might get overpens, but if its angled you should get pens.

[Verblonde]

1 hour ago, shiftyah said:

My choice currently is between Z-39, Leningrad or Sims.

IMO the best T7 DD is Haida, but - due to having no silver counterparts - you really do need a way to get at least a 10 point captain for her, and 13-15 is even better (at least until the rework). If you do get her, invest in coal mod(s), especially for the sonar.

 

Of those in your list, I would go with Z-39 (and put a coal sonar mod on her), although she does have the 'big' guns, which means a BFT captain is less use on her than might be so otherwise; T-61 is probably better tier-for-tier though (and matches exactly the majority of your silver captains), and again wants the coal mod.

 

Sims is great fun, and perhaps suffers less from the current CV/radar meta as her concealment was pretty poor already, so you can perhaps argue she loses less from being regularly spotted; very nimble, has better (or less bad, anyway) AA than most at her tier, and since they got their range buffed, the slow torps can come in handy too.

 

I find Leningrad to be the least useful of the three, but then the 'glue the left mouse button down and never go unspotted' play style doesn't really agree with me; she does have more useful torps than the tech tree equivalent, but her party piece (her speed) has been largely made unremarkable with the arrival of the French DDs.

[invicta2012]

1 hour ago, lafeel said:

Then get a Gallant.  Cheaper and has about as many redeeming features compared with her tech tree counterpart (ie none)

Gallant has 8k torps and speed boost. Icarus has a 10 torpedo broadside.  These are fun ships.  Tier VI and VII are full of brilliantly fun to play destroyers... it's only "the meta" that stops being worthwhile. 

 

2 hours ago, shiftyah said:

My choice currently is between Z-39, Leningrad or Sims.

Z-39 is a mini cruiser and requires some working out. Leningrad has the Soviet DD playstyle but with sensible torpedoes. Sims is a cross between an American DD and a British one - fast firing, nimble, more of a gunboat than her Tech Tree equivalent. 

 

(Haida is great, the best balanced of the British derived DDs at Tier VII, and Yudachi can also be fun but needs taming with the right captain skills / modules. Don't be sad if it drops out of a santa crate. )

[shiftyah]

Thank you all for your input! Greatly appreciated.

I have pulled the trigger on Z-39.