Akizuki - The New T8 IJN Machine Gun [180k damage]

[Pupu_prpr]

Any fears that the Akizuki would be overpowered was quickly put to rest when I realized just how weak the HE was, not to mention how easy it was to counter her damage by angling. However those weaknesses do not change that it's a strong ship, different but undoubtedly with a lot of damage potential. As usual you can find my recommended build at the end.

 

 

Something I think I forgot to mention in the commentary is that this ship also loses a good chunk of speed compared to the torpedo line, meaning it can be outran by the torp boats without too much difficulty.

[creamgravy]

You can't damage T8+ BB superstructure with HE like you can with T7 BBs.

 

Also, they're potentially adding a new captain skill will allow this ship to damage T8+ DD hulls and BB superstructure with HE at the cost of fires. That'll be interesting to try.

 

Edit:

The AA is amazing for a destroyer, don't know why your not impressed by it Flamu.

 

184 DPS @ 6-7km with manual AA is fantastic.

[VeteranGamer84]

 

Also, they're potentially adding a new captain skill will allow this ship to damage T8+ DD hulls and BB superstructure with HE at the cost of fires. That'll be interesting to try.

 

Why are you gonna use the "HEAP" perk when you can use AP?

[SS_Dirty_Oar]

Are they going to change the reload booster for all Destroyers?

Would be pretty silly to encounter a Shima with a reload booster.

I would be willing to drop smoke for a few games just to try it out - for ships and Giggles. 

Think about it - 2x "Wall of nope" comning to you at 76 knts (F3 torps) 

[Earl_of_Northesk]

Are they going to change the reload booster for all Destroyers?

Would be pretty silly to encounter a Shima with a reload booster.

 

I would be willing to drop smoke for a few games just to try it out - for ships and Giggles. 

 

Think about it - 2x "Wall of nope" comning to you at 76 knts (F3 torps) 

Nope, just Shiratsuyuu and Akizuki

[creamgravy]

 

Why are you gonna use the "HEAP" perk when you can use AP?

 

It all depends on the final AP values. From the video it looks like Akizuki has RN CL style SAP, it doesn't overpen 12mm plating and has good normalisation.

 

Increasing the HE pen to 19mm will enable you to utterly wreck T8 DDs at any angle. I bet Flamu has lots of fun trying out the different builds 

[ItachiZero]

Are they going to change the reload booster for all Destroyers?

Would be pretty silly to encounter a Shima with a reload booster.

 

I would be willing to drop smoke for a few games just to try it out - for ships and Giggles. 

 

Think about it - 2x "Wall of nope" comning to you at 76 knts (F3 torps) 

 

how about 3 shimas with that. holy crap all that cancer 

[Spithas]

 

Why are you gonna use the "HEAP" perk when you can use AP?

 

So you can damage angled targets.... engage brain pls.

[Z_OnkelE]

That was quite a show. I hope this will make up for the loss of the fun which can be had with the Fubuki and a gunboat skilled captain. Such nice shell trajectories with such awesome HE characteristics.

[Hayashio]

That was quite a show. I hope this will make up for the loss of the fun which can be had with the Fubuki and a gunboat skilled captain. Such nice shell trajectories with such awesome HE characteristics.

 

I think you'll be disappointed with the HE capabilities of the Aki, but the shell speed is very nice indeed.

[Elenortirion]

Increasing the HE pen to 19mm will enable you to utterly wreck T8 DDs at any angle. I bet Flamu has lots of fun trying out the different builds 

 

ironically leaked stats says that akizukis 100mm guns have at base that 19mm he pen - even in a patch when akizuki was intruduced for testing purposes a whole DD branches got armor nerfed [any 21mm plating have become 19mm] to "make then vulnerable to akizukis guns

 

this whole situation is so confusing >.<

[cro_pwr]

 

So you can damage angled targets.... engage brain pls.

 

Dealing damage is overrated

To be honest, I'm not too impressed.  Torps are mediocre at best, and any Benson that knows what hes doing will cr@p on it without too much problems.

It has somewhat better guns then Benson in the long run, worse torps, and a laughable speed.

I hope I'm mistaken, I honestly do since I'd like to play it, but not sure it will manage to find that sweet spot next to Benson.

Another thing is, its the only gunboat in whole IJN line, so you need different captain for it...

[xXx_Blogis_xXx]

nice , it will be reason grind jp gunboat dd line lol

[cro_pwr]

nice , it will be reason grind jp gunboat dd line lol

 

Too bad there is no such thing.

Another high quality post from you...

[Verdius]

What has me kind of worried is that when you reach damage saturation on the superstructure of some ships with a lot of health your damage output drops to zero. You have torps but with only 4/8 it will be really frustrating once you get in that situation.

[Z_OnkelE]

I think you'll be disappointed with the HE capabilities of the Aki, but the shell speed is very nice indeed.

 

Yeah, Flamu made that pretty clear. Such a weird thing to use AP against DDs and then pretty much only for broadsides (sound "practical" for fast knife fights ). For me the B-hull Fubuki with upgraded guns and torpedoes was a really enjoyable hybrid so far. The only downside was her maximum speed. But wait: that one will appear again on some of the new destroyers...

 

 

But I will defenitely test them all

[K_san]

Just watched the videos from some of the community contributors  and the one from Flamu ,  and everyone except Flamu is singing praises to the "fun" new IJN Gunboat DD at tier 8  and they forget to mention the absurd weakness of its HE , and the speed that FORCES the captain to play with the speed flag at all times .

I really hoped that some of the data that was leaked before tha Akizuki was finaly revealed would be "fixed" but a DD that is slower than the cruisers that you are suposed to avoid in a DD if you want to stay alive ....... thats a prety big weakness ,  and the gun performance ?!!  once players realise the gun characteristics of the Akizuki   will be see the DD going "bow in" when fighting against this ship ??!!

[Elenortirion]

 

Too bad there is no such thing.

Another high quality post from you...

well officially, split line was meant to be more gunboaty

 

Just watched the videos from some of the community contributors  and the one from Flamu ,  and everyone except Flamu is singing praises to the "fun" new IJN Gunboat DD at tier 8  and they forget to mention the absurd weakness of its HE , and the speed that FORCES the captain to play with the speed flag at all times .

I really hoped that some of the data that was leaked before tha Akizuki was finaly revealed would be "fixed" but a DD that is slower than the cruisers that you are suposed to avoid in a DD if you want to stay alive ....... thats a prety big weakness ,  and the gun performance ?!!  once players realise the gun characteristics of the Akizuki   will be see the DD going "bow in" when fighting against this ship ??!!

 

well I'm not sure is flamu stressed that out loud enought [i thought he did] in akizuki you are free to engage enemy cruisers as long as they are not angled if they angle it's same deal as BBs - aim for dem superstructure.....

 

heck strefs vid on akizuki starts with him citadel wrecking broadsiding... not sure if it was atago or myoko.....

 

as for dds going bow in against akizuki - well he can;t stay bow in forever if he is moving toward you if he's reversing he can't stay that way forever as well because even that 33kn will be sufficient to outmaneuver reversing destroyer - not to mention your teammates being really happy to open up against so slow DD - so unless they are running away with their aft pointed at you they will have to sooner or later expose broadside or die to your teammates which in both cases is win for you not to mention "crosign the T" - usually battleship tactic irl being applied here - very little of destroyers has any reasonable firepower being able to fire up directly to the front of the ship - so he can angle to prevent your ap from penning, but he won't be able to put any reasonable retaliation while doing so

 

although one very interesting thing here is how things goes for akizuki with captain's skill revamp and leaked data on this? HEAP may be now very interestign option for akizuki to deal with angled destroyers - as long as bonus from heap will suffice to penetrate bow armor of DDs....

[cro_pwr]

well officially, split line was meant to be more gunboaty

 

 

Yeah, with Minekaze being the gem of the gun focused line of boats

[creamgravy]

HEAP may be now very interesting option for akizuki to deal with angled destroyers - as long as bonus from heap will suffice to penetrate bow armor of DDs....

 

It's moves 4" guns into the next level of plating penetration. 17mm > 19mm, so you can damage T8+ BB superstructure and DD hulls (T8+ cruisers are not effected, RN CLs being the exception). 4" HE wrecks tier 6-7 ships without HEAP.

 

...but Akizuki has an absolutely nuts fire chance, the stock ship will set a similar number of fires to Tashkent with DE. Maybe it'll be a good DD for clan wars? 2 fires on a T8 BB is around 23,000 damage.

 

 

Destroyer	Captain build (18 point)	HP	Surface detection (km)	Speed (knots)	Gun range (km)	HE DPM*	Fires per minute	Stealth fire window (km)	Torpedo	Torpedo Range (km)	Time to Target (s)	Reaction time + vigilance (s)	Torpedo DPM
Benson B	Scout	18,600	5.8	38	11.6	13,500	1.5	2	Mk15 mod.3	9.2	43	9.6	81,000
Kagero	Scout	18,300	5.4	35	9.4	11,500	1.2	0.02	Type93 mod. 2	10	33	12.2	90,000
Akizuki	Scout (AFT)	20,400	5.9	33	12.2	8,533	2.68	3.34	Type93 mod. 2	10	37	12.2	45,000
Akizuki	BB punisher (DE)	20,400	5.9	33	10.2	8,533	4.28	1.24	Type93 mod. 2	10	37	12.2	45,000
Tashkent	3x4	22,800	8.2	43	13.9	12,900	2.65	0	53-36 mod. 2	8	56	9.6	108,000
Z-23	Scout	22,700	6.2	37	10.8	9,900	1.4	0.1	G7 Schildbutt	9.5	38	10.2	77,000

 

*HE DPM against a competent T8 destroyer. Akizuki with HESH = 21,000. I don't have enough info for SAP but it'll be between 20,000 and 30,000 agasint broadside ships. Both are very scary DPM values.

 

 

[Elenortirion]

It's moves 4" guns into the next level of plating penetration. 17mm > 19mm, so you can damage T8+ BB superstructure and DD hulls

 

ok that's a stample of approval on my planned akizuki captain build

 

fires are nice thing but I'd prefer to be able to do my escorting well regardless if of angle of the approach of hostile ship

[creamgravy]

Be warned, fires usually do far more damage than small calibre HE pens on BB superstructure. A theoretical 'HEAP' build should only be used if you want to utterly wreck DDs. It combines very high DPM, no angle mechanics with constantly breaking modules (Something you don't get with SAP)

Anyway, that's something to look forward to in the future. 

[Elenortirion]

well I'm that kind of a weird person who is going to play akizuki as close to her irl original as it gets - aka escorting bigger ships

[most likely will end up playing her mostly when division with a friend is an option]

 

in this role not being much faster than a battleship is not that important since I don't want to get too far from said battleship either.

 

also in such scenario my main priority it to uterrly wreck the biggest foe of my friend - an enemy destroyer trying to torp him, or enemy aircraft trying to pick him a target - so yeah "utterly wreck DDs" falls into what I intend to do, even if it means hampered ability to help with dealing with battleships - for these I thought of making use of close range dropped torps to either force him to show his broadside to my big friend or make him regretting not doing so - unfortunately I can't have at the same time AFT, CE, HEAP, and doubled skill in torp acceleration tier and I do recall something much more wanted in said tier....

 

at this point I wonder thought how that -6% fire chance from HEAP is meant to be calculated - is it additive scaling percentage point fror chance of fire leaving such akizuki at -1% fire chance or it is factuall -6%?

 

[on a second thought I may consider training up 2nd cap for her for those matches where I cannot hope for div with a good friend BB....]