Italian battleships worth the grind?

[Myrmix]

I've started WoWs again after 2 years of break and after I've grinded some lines for CW, I was curious if it's worth it to give italian BBs a try.

I really like how they look, they are beautiful to me and I love the idea of having smoke to maneuver in aggressive positions.

But I've heard some bad stuff.

I usually try to tank and brawl, played the germans back then when they didn't have circumsized secondaries.

Is the SAP and shitty accuracy made up for by number of guns? How satisfying is the line to play in random battles?

Just curious before I start a line that will just frustrate me in the end.

[Srle_Vigilante]

Same as the Italian cruisers really. Huge damage output in the beginning, struggle to finish off targets and large damage drop-off as the game goes on.

They are very fun and forgiving with they super duper disengage smoke :) I tend to use it as a final ditch kamikaze strike most of the time. 

 

Tier 6 is Ok

Tier 7 Is better

Tier 8 is good

Tier 9 is excellent

Tier 10 is great

 

You get a very good bumps in performance on each tier, which makes it feel super rewarding progressing through the tiers.

[S_h_i_v_a]

I'm at T7, but not liking them.

Bad secondaries, bad range.

And looks like this ship line was build keeping in mind the "Dead Eye" captain skill - which was removed with the last patch.

So at high tier bad accuracy.

 

[WorthyOpponent]

Italian battleships are I'd say pretty balanced. Some hate playing them, some like me love them, some just think they're fine. 

[Miragetank90]

In a word: Yes. Most fun and interesting line I've played in a very long time. 

[ZeMalm]

I can only say that I hate them..... really much.

[BruceRKF]

My opinion about the Italian BBs (I am at tier 9 and grind them only because I have no other line to grind right now, if I had I would prefer any other over them): I don't find anything past tier 6 very appealing at all (gameplay-wise that is, appearance-wise they rank from pretty to gorgeous). All of them have the problem of being useless against DDs, and I find SAP to be less reliable than HE against angled targets and the damage done is not too much better than you would get with AP if aiming properly anyway. That is my experience so far.

Short brakedown by tier: Alighieri and Cavour are decent (especially the trolly armour), but won't be played much because of the tier. Doria is quite good. Caracciolo and Veneto I did not like at all. Unreliable guns and long reload is a disastrous combination, imo. Lepanto is a bit better, but still nothing stellar. Because of that, I am doing the grind very slowly, without using any Dragon Flags, and normally only playing until I get the daily win bonus (so rarely more than one or two games). I just don't want to play them more. That is pretty damning for a line.

[Myrmix]

(Sorry for the necro).

I guess I won't be grinding them, since they seem to specialize in close combat. And with that beeing more and more difficult as it is (hello submarines), it's probably not worth it, even if I find them pretty.

[Nit0]

On 8/10/2021 at 7:20 PM, Myrmix said:

(Sorry for the necro).

I guess I won't be grinding them, since they seem to specialize in close combat. And with that beeing more and more difficult as it is (hello submarines), it's probably not worth it, even if I find them pretty.

It's more medium range tbh, it's not a brawler like the german bbs, and you also have the get away card with the smoke. I really enjoyed to the grind, except for the tier 7 one. Tier 9 and 10 are both great ships for its tiers.

[tomkrist]

I am not looking forward to the tier 9 ship. Is this ship as bad as some says?:)

[Nit0]

On 8/16/2021 at 9:59 AM, tomkrist said:

I am not looking forward to the tier 9 ship. Is this ship as bad as some says?:)

No, it's not. For me it's in the top 3 of battleships at tier 9 (I have most of them).

[Trench4nt]

Lepanto is definitely worth the grind.

It is stronger at T9 than Colombo at T10 (relatively).

 

[johncl]

So far i like the T8 ...7 was average 6 average ...5-4 Errr what's that 

[KillSlim]

I started at T5 and it was okay. Standard affair shotgun battleship. I'm now on T6 and first impressions are poor. My shots are going wide at broadside battleship targets at 10km. I'll persist to see if it's luck or the ship, but I'm not impressed. 

[SV_Kompresor]

20 hours ago, KillSlim said:

I started at T5 and it was okay. Standard affair shotgun battleship. I'm now on T6 and first impressions are poor. My shots are going wide at broadside battleship targets at 10km. I'll persist to see if it's luck or the ship, but I'm not impressed. 

Well, my experience with the line was:

1. Try a tier 7
2. Realise it's horrible
3. FXP to tier 8
4. Realise it's even worse
5. FXP to tier 10
6. Never touch the line again unless it's for the SC event

[TheWarJaC]

Guys, try also to check these reviews about the beach, they could be useful 😊: 

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdmVniQwwlc
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_dPY2JvMQg
• https://worldofwarships.com/en/news/game-guides/italian-battleship-branch-review/
• https://forum.worldofwarships.com/topic/236609-i-really-tried-italian-bbs/

 

[von_chom]

tier 8 ... the worst t8 ingame for me

tier 9 ... starts to work

tier 10 ... worth just for the look ! Its actually quite good

[KillSlim]

57 minutes ago, TheWarJaC said:

Guys, try also to check these reviews about the beach, they could be useful 😊: 

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdmVniQwwlc
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_dPY2JvMQg
• https://worldofwarships.com/en/news/game-guides/italian-battleship-branch-review/
• https://forum.worldofwarships.com/topic/236609-i-really-tried-italian-bbs/

 

Two vids about the T9 and T10 battleships, and a thread full of people complaining about how bad the line is? 

 

Nobody at all is talking about T5, 6, 7, or 8, I suspect because they are indeed as bad as everyone is saying.

[doerhoff_damian]

Italien BBs have a beautiful Design. You get fast Ships from T6 onwards.

They have alot of Firepower but the accuracy can leave something to be desired.

Since they have the French/Italien BB Dispersion Elipse and not the best Sigma.

So any Buff to the Accuracy can result in a massive Improvement.

Because it helps with Hitting Specific Parts of an Enemy Ship like the Waterline of an Enemy BB with AP and the Superstructure with SAP.

You can Brawl with them since they have good Turret Angles but the Turtleback is only 25mm and can be overmatched easily.

So keep your Angling. 

You also have a good Number of Secondary Guns specially from T9 onwards but the fast firing 90mm Guns can´t Pen anything and are only useful for making Fires.

From T8 onwards you will get an Italien Cruiser Smoke. You can´t use the Smoke for Stealth Firing because your Smoke Firing Penalty is too big but you can use the Smoke to disengage and turn savely infront of several enemy Ships.

 

Overall I like the Playstyle with fast and reasonable armored Battleships. The deciding Factor will be the Accuracy and that accuracy can be changed/improved.

 

T4 Dante Alighieri: 12 305mm Guns The Ship is simmilar to the Gangut

T5 Conte di Cavour:13 305mm Guns

T6 Andrea Doria: 10 320mm Guns This Ship looks like a Cesare but is atually not a Sister Ship

T7 Francesco Caracciolo: 8 381mm Guns

T8 Vittorio Veneto: 9 381mm Guns Sister Ship of the Roma

T9 Lepanto: 12 381mm Guns

T10 Cristoforo Colombo: 16 381mm Guns

T9 Premium Marco Polo: 9 406mm Guns This Ship has no Smoke

[USS_YourMom]

Port Decorations mostly

[Nit0]

On 8/30/2021 at 11:31 PM, scr1337 said:

Port Decorations mostly

It's what you get when you free exp through the whole line, and then play the tier 10 ship 5 times. What op asked for is if it's worth the grind.

[Nit0]

On 8/30/2021 at 3:43 PM, KillSlim said:

Two vids about the T9 and T10 battleships, and a thread full of people complaining about how bad the line is? 

 

Nobody at all is talking about T5, 6, 7, or 8, I suspect because they are indeed as bad as everyone is saying.

Tier 7 is lackluster, but I would say tier 8 is a solid ship, and tier 9 is excellent. Overall it's a totally fine BB line to grind.

[KillSlim]

18 hours ago, Nit0 said:

Tier 7 is lackluster, but I would say tier 8 is a solid ship, and tier 9 is excellent. Overall it's a totally fine BB line to grind.

I've heard some raving about the T9, so I'm curious as to how that performs 1st-hand. I'm confused about the design decisions about the TX. 

[MoveZig]

I got Lepanto for the gimmick secondary build, knowing it would be suboptimal despite the majestic rate-of-fire on the secondary battery. It's fun to watch, but frustrating. 1 extra mm of HE-pen on the 90mms would make all the difference against DDs and cruisers if IFHE'd. That said, secondaries don't have bloom, so that synergizes with the smoke. Best to have a spotter/radar ship nearby.

[Nit0]

1 hour ago, KillSlim said:

I've heard some raving about the T9, so I'm curious as to how that performs 1st-hand. I'm confused about the design decisions about the TX. 

I found a lot of success with this ship at medium range (12-15km range). I know some are complaining about the guns not being accurate enough, but at medium range I think they do their job well, you really can get some awesome ap damage with this ship. And the smoke is great for several scenarios.

You can turn around and flee without being punished.

You can avoid air attacks (let's say you just used repair party, and want to avoid those incoming Midway bombers that almost guarantee a double fire). 

You can use it in a "drive-by" brawl, guaranteeing you with first shot (and maybe kill before opponent can return fire)

You can turn around and pop the smoke and spotter plane, while you charge the destroyer who was chasidim you.

It's a fun ship, and within top 3 favourite of tier 9 battleships for me (I have most of them).