Minotaur Captain Skills

[Flid_Merchant]

Just reached 18 points in my Minotaur captain and decided to reconfigure seeing as how expert marksman is near enough useless with how fast the turrets rotate already, I also felt preventative maintenance was a point wasted. So now I have 8 points to spare, plus one more when I eventually reach rank 19. Currently I have priority target, smoke screen expert, superintendent and concealment. I'm just not sure how to spend the last few points. I could go dark side with RPF. I have also considered a bank of 2 point skills - jack of all trades, adrenaline rush, and high alert, although I barely consider adrenaline rush necessary with the DPM already. There are also people saying the extra HP from survival expert stacks well with the heal skill. So I'm just asking for advice really, on how to spend my last 9 skill points. I've decided against AFT as there are no secondary guns and air defence is more than adequate already.

[BillydSquid]

Survivability expert stacks very well, get it. The Repair party heals a % of the total HP of the ship, per second, hence the greater the HP the larger the % healed per second when RN repair party is activated. It's actually very good. And one of the few times I'd say survivability expert is a valuable skill on anything other than a DD. 

[Flid_Merchant]

Alright done. So now my last 6 points, I'm considering maybe jack of all trades, high alert and adrenaline rush. Or maybe JOAT and RPF, even if I feel a bit uneasy about it being in game, other people are using it so why not.

[daki]

Alright done. So now my last 6 points, I'm considering maybe jack of all trades, high alert and adrenaline rush. Or maybe JOAT and RPF, even if I feel a bit uneasy about it being in game, other people are using it so why not.

 

Adrenaline Rush is by far the best option.

RPF is highly situational, and very seldom will it actually help you.

AR on the other hand will help you in all battles most of the time - since I assume that matches where you do not lose HP in Minotaur are extremely rare.

 

So AR gives 0,2% increase of ROF for every 1% of lost HP.

If you are at 25% HP for example, it means that your reload is buffed by 15% i.e. from to 2.8s (with Main Battery Mod. 3) to 2.38s

While it might not sound as much, it has a great effect on all ships with high ROF (and Minotaur is one of the champions there )

Why? Because you get very quickly extra salvos which you would not get otherwise.

 

Lets crunch some figures:

With 2.8s reload you get 21.43 savos per minute.

However, with 2.38s reload, you get 25.21 salvos per minute, i.e. almost 4 more!! - I guess everybody knows how much damage 4 well placed salvos in Minotaur deal to their poor opponents

Another way to look at it is that in this case you get a "free salvo" every 15s!!

 

A bit more extreme example (yet a very common situation in any cruiser) is that you are at very low HP so lets assume a buff of 19%

This leads to 2.27s reload, which means 26.4 salvos per minute or 5 more salvos - i.e. additional salvo every 12s

 

Of course remember that AR buffs also torpedo and secondaries reload 2 which comes in handy very often as well.

 

As you can see, even in short engagements (e.g. lasting 30s) it leads to quite a big firepower advantage.

 

Hence for me AR is a "must have" skill for Minotaur (and all high ROF ships).

 

I would personally spend 18 points as follows:

Level 1: Priority Target

Level 2: AR + JOAT

Level 3: Survivability Expert + Superintendant + Vigilance (a much better skill imho for hunting DDs compared to RPF)

Level 4: Concealment expert

 

Edit: last but not least, if you have 1 unspent point I would suggest to spend it on Preventive Maintenance since it is so much more useful than the Incoming alert

[C4PT41N_0BV10US]

Nuh uh. "Double build" is the bestest build. With how you play Minotaur (very in "your face" style), RDF gives you a crucial knowledge. It also gives you the edge in DD fights. Minotaur is agile when moving, and you have hydro for smoke barrage to keep you safe from torps. So, how you gimp your Mino to kill everyone:

1. Whatever. Priority Target or Preventive Maintenance (I go preventive cause when I'm spotted I'm assuming every freakin ship on the map is targeting me).

2. Adrenaline Rush. Not really so for RoF buff, but for torpedo reload. You rely on torps a lot in Neptune/Mino, so having them sooner helps. And a bit faster salvoes is always good.

3. Superintendent. A must have.
4. Camo

5. RDF

6. Survivability Expert

7. Jack of all trades.

This is the bestest of the bestest builds, 10/10 would build again. Doctors hate me, cause I found a way how to rape in Mino. Enjoy.

[Flid_Merchant]

Well I picked Jack of All Trades so that now pretty much limits me to RPF, or two tier 2 skills. Possibly regret smoke screen expert but it does help stop in smoke faster and obviously team support advantage. Thanks for the help everyone. If I reach rank 19 and I'm still not happy I might just train a new captain with the free captain XP.

[deadly_if_swallowed]

I am fairly sure this is my current Minotaur build (18 points atm, last point will probably be IFA): 

http://shipcomrade.com/captcalc/1000001001000000000001000000011119

 

I do acknowledge RPF to be a very powerful perk but it requires quite a lot of skill and experience to properly read it and come to the right conclusions. Skill and experience I do not yet have (BBaby mainly, so no use for such refined traits )

 

[C4PT41N_0BV10US]

 

Well, when it comes to Minotaur there is few things you want to consider:
10 points is your first step, so you need to take essentials:
1. Priority Target/Preventive Maintenance - tier I perks are mostly useless, so just grab anything you consider good enough to have. PT and PM are the real choices here. I grew to like Priority, but it is kinda lazy thing. It's more like "how dumb can I get at this moment" perk. But, it has it's merits, so I think it is viable choice. Maintenance mostly helps with turrets damage, but it's a placebo effect - you won't notice it work, but this is my choice for Mino captain.
2. Adrenaline Rush - just too good to not take. Faster torp reload, as well as slight buff to RoF. And bearing in mind how often you sail in Mino with half or third health - it's actually profitting in every battle
3. Superintendent - More smokes and heals. Pretty no-brainer here. Just take it and that's it.
4. Camouflage Expert - 8.9 camo on Mino is just crucial for optimal performance. Mino is a big ship, so minimizing the spotting is one way to work around it's fragility.

 

Now, the next step is 14 points - that's where you pick your second 4 point skill. I think RDF helps Mino with so many situations it's just too good to pass. With 8.9 camo and RDF Mino becomes decent DD hunter. It helps you to position yourself in smoke, it helps you to position yourself for ambush - it just helps so much with overall awereness. Knowing where enemy is currently is just too good to pass. However, you can also take AFT or MCF if you find CV's a problem. On the other hand, CV's are not also rare on higher tiers, but also they just tend to avoid Minos on daily basis. Which leaves you with 4 points just being wasted. 

 

Next Step is 17 points - your second III tier perk. There are 2 options here. Survival Expert and Vigilance. Both are pretty important. However, like it was mentioned before, SE just scales nicely with heal, as well as brings you the chance to survive massive hits. I can't stress enough how important it is. As long as you're not imploded to 0 HP, you're still the same threat you were with full HP. You can heal back, you can deal damage from smoke, hell, you can invisi torp if needed. I strongly recommend this perk on Neptune and Mino. Vigilance is also important - mostly for sitting in smoke. However, you already have hydro, which should be used almost instantly when you smoke yourself. Boosting hydro range is nice, but it doesn't really change stuff that much. But, if you really don't like SE you should choose Vigilance.

Next step is at 19 points. You choose your second tier II perk. I recommend Jack of all trades. It's a small boost, but nothing else is really worth 2 points. Jack at least shortens your CD's, and it is pretty important to have your smoke ready asap, as well as hydro and heal. Due to unique gameplay of RN cruisers, they use their consumables almost "on cooldown", so having them faster helps a bit.

As for modules, there is no real need to boos your AA power so much. Aircraft spotting range is limited, and with all that AA range you won't be able to utilize it to full effect. Also, remember that CV's are rare, and they keep their planes away from you. Module for AA range shouls be enough. Pick the RoF module on Mino, as the more DPM the better. It scales with Adrenaline Rush too, so you can look at 2.5s reload at half HP - which is pretty insane.

 

Ah, one more thing. Few dudes asked about bigger smoke and radar use - they watched Yuro or how this dude is called and wanted to try it themselves.
As for bigger smoke - if you need bigger smoke, then you're doing something wrong. There is plenty room to manouver. When you brake for smoke, when you hit 21 knots and turning you can safely put the cloud on. It will be big enough to move around it dodging blind shots, and DD's will have harder time hitting you. Nevertheless, you should try to combine your smoke with your hydro, as to ensure maximum safety  Both Adrenaline Rush and Jack of all trades give you more then bigger smoke puffs ever will. 
As for radar consumable. You can do it, sure. You can also take Fighter Plane instead of radar on Des Moines. That there is such option doesn't mean it's good. RN cruisers were desinged with smoke in mind, and they should keep it. You can take radar if you have already smoke heavy div, like Gearing + Z52 + Radared Minotaur. But it's kinda gimping yourself for no real advantage. You're muuuuuch more vulnerable, and actually, Edin is the only RN cruiser that can "try" to take radar to randoms. Overall, it's possible, but you will lose some carry potential, and have more frustrating games. 

I've written this in previous topic about skills for Minotaur captain. You can check the topic for more knowledge too. It's like 10 topics below this one. 

 

[fallenkezef]

Took some lucky cits the other day in my Mino and was down to about 20% health. The RoF from adrenaline rush was just insane

[Flid_Merchant]

I've written this in previous topic about skills for Minotaur captain. You can check the topic for more knowledge too. It's like 10 topics below this one. 

 

 

Thanks, very useful. Pretty much confirms my smoke screen expert pick was a waste, especially as I have the smoke screen mod on too. CVs are rare enough at high tiers and the base AA is good enough anyway I decided not to opt for any AA skills. The fear factor is almost enough to deter enemy CVs, much like the Cleveland. I guess I'll play this out to 19 points and then maybe have a reconfigure, unless the BBs are released by that point in which case I'll probably start grinding them (yay more BB overpop). I also didn't realise Vigilance stacks with Hydro, I've usually took the view that if the threat of torps is about then I'll pop hydro anyway so not really considered vigilance on this ship.

 

And yes AR does seem quite useful considering how long you can linger at low amounts of health. Although I'd say more for main guns than torps, as it can take longer setting up a torp drop than the reload limit.

[15_22]

So I have another question. Want to spec for AA. In this case AFT or manual AA is better? Can't take both yet...

[Flid_Merchant]

Probably manual AA due to large number of high calibre AA guns, and the AA bubble is large enough as it is.

[C4PT41N_0BV10US]

Thanks, very useful. Pretty much confirms my smoke screen expert pick was a waste, especially as I have the smoke screen mod on too. CVs are rare enough at high tiers and the base AA is good enough anyway I decided not to opt for any AA skills. The fear factor is almost enough to deter enemy CVs, much like the Cleveland. I guess I'll play this out to 19 points and then maybe have a reconfigure, unless the BBs are released by that point in which case I'll probably start grinding them (yay more BB overpop). I also didn't realise Vigilance stacks with Hydro, I've usually took the view that if the threat of torps is about then I'll pop hydro anyway so not really considered vigilance on this ship.

 

And yes AR does seem quite useful considering how long you can linger at low amounts of health. Although I'd say more for main guns than torps, as it can take longer setting up a torp drop than the reload limit.

No probs m8. The thing with Neptune and Mino is that you really rely on those torps. Not only on dealing damage, but more on denying certain area or forcing your target to turn. They're very important and I almost use them on CD, especially later in the game. 

 

[Ferry_25]

I'd highly recommend this skill:

 

[Flid_Merchant]

Yeah I do that a lot, but when someone comes looking that's when the 16 torp tubes come into play.

[_KEANO_]

personally i wouldnt use smoke expert and I went for AA spec with AR and CE. Same on neptune, lots of juicy premium cv aircraft to blap!

[Karl_567]

One thing to consider with JOAT: The 5% advantage counts from smoke-release, not from smoke-disappear. I use this with my 19pt-captain on Neptune (who will move on to Minotaur shortly) and found this - having smoke again asap - much more helpfull than AR.

 

SIncerely

 

Karl

[OhMyDoge]

This is what i use on my Minotaur, that give the best potential to the ship.

Spoiler

 

[C4PT41N_0BV10US]

How do you make that build work BlackTorp is beyond me. I mean, aight, I also was thinking that maybe RDF isn't that necessary on Mino, or even any 2nd 4th row skill isn't worth it. But 3 row 1 skills? Bigger smoke? What the...? But, I think it's more a testimony to the fact, that captain skills doesn't matter that much when you're a good player. Overall, will try this too, as it seems interesting. Maybe it's better then mine.

[tsounts]

GG BlackTorp, great stats by the way! What modules do you use?

I've also seen SailingRobin's vids on youtube and he is hardly using any AA upgrades.

Got flamed yesterday for using SE on mino, my explanations that it synergizes with heal fell in empty space, particularly by someone who insta died....

[tsounts]

I just keep getting bots' teams when I play this ship, just now, all team went in one side except for me and 2 dds, we managed to hold that side and all the others died and we lost...

[BillydSquid]

3 hours ago, tsounts said:

I just keep getting bots' teams when I play this ship, just now, all team went in one side except for me and 2 dds, we managed to hold that side and all the others died and we lost...

 

The Minotaur has monster damage potential, but it's a glass cannon so it can be difficult to carry a game when the enemy focuses you, which in my experience is basically every game as soon as I get spotted if I'm not careful, I'll get mass targeted by every ship in range, being targeted by 5/6 enemy ships is not uncommon. 

[OhMyDoge]

On 17/7/2017 at 3:25 AM, Dropsiq said:

How do you make that build work BlackTorp is beyond me. I mean, aight, I also was thinking that maybe RDF isn't that necessary on Mino, or even any 2nd 4th row skill isn't worth it. But 3 row 1 skills? Bigger smoke? What the...? But, I think it's more a testimony to the fact, that captain skills doesn't matter that much when you're a good player. Overall, will try this too, as it seems interesting. Maybe it's better then mine.

I use PM because it's pretty annoying to lose a torpedotube or a turret. Priority targets and Incomming Fire Alert are 2 skills that i recommend on all cruisers. They help a lot when you want to dodge salvos and this gives you additionnal information: If you have to disengage or not for exemple

.

The bigger smoke: yeah, it's more comfortable, you can move into the smoke easily. And of course you can set a smoke with a higher speed of your ships (+/- 22knots) So this skill helps to avoid fails with smoke :)

 

AR and Torpedo reload give better potential and this is what i want with this ship :)

[C4PT41N_0BV10US]

I get the PM, I'm using it also. I just assume, that when I'm spotted in Minotaur, then everyone and their moms are wishing to shoot me, so I just watch what happens around me in those situations. I grew to like Priority Target though, it let's you be lazy. It's an interesting build, clearly it works for you. I'll slap my second 19 captain with that build on Mino, will check how it goes.

[C4PT41N_0BV10US]

So I played a bit with that build. I slapped the torpedo reload module and managed to bring torp reload to 73s (with few % boost from adrenaline rush you can get it to around 60 - 65s), which is kinda funny, but it's mostly usefull when you defend and need to slow down enemy team.

Overall, this is a funny build, and a viable one, however. I still think bigger smoke is just a waste here. I didn't notice any difference whatsoever with it, so I think you can just get rid of it. Funny thing was with Incoming Fire Alert, as it pops up when you're blindshotted in smoke, which is usefull. I missed RDF though, and it was pretty hard to find those DD's.

Overall, I think it's a certainly viable build and a funny one too boot, but still I prefer mine.