HogHammer Posted October 23, 2023 Share Posted October 23, 2023 Note: These guides are courtesy of Your_SAT_Score from the old forum and saved by request. Table of Contents: Introduction Skill level Who should play this line Captain build and ship upgrades Line Characteristics Armor and Durability Main Armament Secondary Armament Anti-Air Defense Anti-Sub Airstrikes Maneuverability Concealment Consumables General Playstyle Individual Ship Rating Gameplay Tips Final Thoughts Sources used If you just want quick gameplay help, I recommend reading the "Captain build and ship upgrades", "General Playstyle", and "Gameplay Tips" sections. Introduction The following is my review of the Japanese Battleship tech tree line. My assessment is current as of March 2023 in patch 12.1. Barring major changes, this guide will remain relevant throughout the future. Summary: Mid-long-range Battleship with great guns. Sluggish handling, but usually well protected. This guide is also relevant to the following premium ships: - Ishizuchi - ARP Kongo, Haruna, Hiei, Kirishima, and HSF Hiei (all Kongo clones) - Mutsu - Ashitaka - Ignis Purgatio and Ragnarok (Warhammer 40k ships, Amagi clone with slightly better accuracy for worse reload) - Kii - Bajie (Pan-Asian BB almost-clone) - Hizen - Musashi - ARP Yamato (exact same stats as Yamato) - Shikishima Skill Level Skill floor: Low Great survivability due to their thick armor and high HP pool Excellent torpedo protection lowers the consequence of not dodging torps Very simple playstyle with few notable gimmicks, beginner BB players can focus on the basics without being overwhelmed Archetypical BB playstyle: Tanky ships that can land devastating salvoes when blessed by the Emperor Skill Ceiling: Low Turret rotation can be difficult to manage but provides valuable experience for beginner BB players Sluggish handling can make repositioning or target acquisition difficult While accurate at long range, leading targets requires practice due to the average ballistics Who should play this line Recommended for: Long-range gameplay - Better accuracy than other lines past ~12km (this is not an excuse to snipe at 20km at full HP) Direct engagements - Japanese BBs can out-damage and outlast other lesser ships in mid-long-range fights Beginner BB players - This line trains many good habits that carry over to other lines Not recommended for: Competitive viability- Mediocre performance in ranked and clan battles Aggressive pushing - Sluggish turrets and poor maneuverability make them unwieldy in close combat Captain build and ship upgrades Recommended Battleship Tank Build: https://share.wowssb.com/W31f Take the skills in the numbered order: Preventative Maintenance - Reduces the chance of guns or rudder being knocked out. Grease the Gears - Japanese BBs have awful turret traverse, so Grease the Gears will slightly fix that problem. Adrenaline Rush - Mandatory skill for all BBs. Gives you free firepower for tanking for your team. Fire Prevention - Reduces the number of times you will be lit on fire. Extremely useful for every BB. Concealment Expert - Useful for positioning and controlling your fights. Emergency Repair Expert - Extra heal is very useful for late game but is a lower priority than the other 4-point skills. Basics of Survivability - OK skill, but not nearly as useful as the other skills. Usually, I would recommend Concealment Expert first for BB lines. However, Japanese BBs are an exception due to their mid-tier ships having awful base concealment. You will be spotted no matter what on the smaller mid-tier maps. Therefore, I suggest taking Fire Prevention first, then Concealment Expert once you get Amagi. Upgrades: Main Battery Mod 1 - Standard module to reduce risk of guns getting knocked out. Damage Control System Mod 1- Standard module for BBs. Aiming Systems Mod 1 - You need every dispersion reduction modifier you can get. Steering Gears Mod 1- Japanese BBs have the worst rudder shift, so SGM1 is necessary to offset this issue. Concealment System Mod 1 - Concealment is simply too useful to pass up even for BBs. The ability to control when you fight is extremely powerful. Main Battery Mod 3 - Faster rate of fire is always better. You don't need the extra range. Co-op/Operations only build: https://share.wowssb.com/dbXj Secondaries are built for maximum close-range firepower. I don't recommend this build outside of PvE, as their secondary firepower is relatively poor. Unique Captains: The Suzuki brothers have enhanced Emergency Repair Specialist, but that -1% doesn't lower the cooldown by even 1 second. i.e You literally won't notice the difference. Still, the Suzuki brothers are nice as starting with 10pts lets you start with Fire Prevention. Japanese DDs take priority for Suzuki, but it's fine to put him in BBs if you have no one else better. The Suzuki brothers are available in the armory, one for 35k coal and the other for 1500 doubloons. Yamamoto is a powerful captain, but battleships do not benefit as much as other lines. His biggest benefit is the enhanced Grease the Gears, which shaves off a second or 2 off the turret traverse. +1 consumables is ok if you don't have Enhanced Repair Expert, but the extra heal/other consumables are needed more on other lines. Second wind is a funny skill, but its steep requirements mean by the time you earn a Kraken, the game has already been decided. The heal is also wasted as it is essentially a 2-minute standard repair party. It cannot heal back "unrecoverable" damage like torpedo hits. That being said, you are effectively immune to fires for ~120s when it does activate. -34% reload time provides a funny DPM boost. I've gotten Yamato's reload down to 13s when Second Wind activated. Still not useful as the game ended 30s later, but it's hilarious to see it in action. Armor and durability High HP pool, usually one of the highest of their tiers Robust Torpedo Defense System, also one of the best in their tiers Small superstructures - can be hard for DDs and CLs to inflict direct damage Thick deck armor Somewhat vulnerable citadels - Poorly angled IJN BBs frequently take citadel hits Note: Japanese BB ship design varies wildly between tiers. There are a lot of exceptions to the above traits compared to other lines. Tier 10 Yamato external armor example: Spoiler Internal armor plating: Spoiler Japanese BBs are generally hard to kill when played properly. A combination of a high HP pool and a good armor scheme makes them very durable, even under intense focus fire. Their generally small superstructures and thick deck means sub-152mm HE rounds struggle to deal direct damage. High-tier BBs get 57mm deck armor that will shatter even heavy cruiser HE shells. Fires are usually your biggest threat as they ignore armor and deal percentage damage. Angling is also very important due to their vulnerable citadels. BBs at close range can easily hit your raised citadel despite the thick belt armor. As long as you angle, you can bounce almost any AP round that comes your way. Unlike other BBs, torpedoes are more of a mild inconvenience due to IJN BBs having excellent torp protection. A torp that would cripple other ships would deal only half the damage against IJN BBs. That being said, prevention is still the best medicine, so always dodge torps when possible. Note: All BBs of the same tier share the same chance to catch fire. i.e No individual ship is statistically more vulnerable to fires than other ships. That is a combination of bad luck and confirmation bias. Quite tanky when angled properly, not so much when broadside to other BBs Main Armament Unique dispersion formula trades close-range accuracy for better long-range dispersion (~12km) Tighter horizontal dispersion but worse vertical dispersion Longest main battery range of any tech tree line Average - slower than average shell flight times Slowest turning turrets, average firing angles Excellent AP shells with high penetration High HE alpha, but poor fire chance Slow reload Yamato's dispersion is shown: Spoiler Japanese BBs use a unique dispersion formula. Horizontal dispersion is significantly worse than other BBs until roughly ~8km. Past this range, Japanese BBs scale better than almost every other BB line. Unfortunately, this trait doesn't apply to their vertical dispersion. It starts bad and remains bad at all distances. Compared to other BBs, IJN BBs start with poor base accuracy, but retain their accuracy over longer distances. The combination of great horizontal and bad vertical dispersion results in a more circular dispersion ellipse compared to other BBs. It has its ups and downs, but overall it's beneficial past roughly 12-14km. Individual sigma values between individual ships vary, but high-tier ships have higher sigma leading to tighter dispersion. To quickly summarize their accuracy, they are poor under ~8km and become notably better past 12km. Synergizing with their long-range accuracy, IJN BBs also have the longest main battery ranges in the game. Their ballistics are generally average, so don't use your accuracy as an excuse to snipe past 20km. You are a battleship, so don't be afraid to take hits if it means you one-shot the enemy in return. Taking hits will also boost your adrenaline rush bonus, offsetting your slow reload speeds. Unfortunately, Japan's lack of WD-40 means their turrets turn extremely slowly. This severely hurts them at close range or in other situations where you have to react quickly. Even turning around will take your guns out of the fight for a minute or 2. The firing angles are at least acceptable, but you can't fire a full broadside without exposing a little side yourself. Like every BB, AP rounds are your main ammo type. High armor pen lets you reliably penetrate all but the thickest plates of armor. You will frequently land citadels hits on broadside cruisers at all ranges. Some BBs like German BBs have turtleback armor, making it very difficult to hit their citadel. Still, landing multiple pens on their broadside will deal heavy damage. Starting with Tier 7 Nagato, overmatch also contributes to their overall effectiveness. Even if cruisers angle to you, your shells can ignore the bow/stern armor and deal damage anyways. Yamato and Satsuma can even overmatch BB 32mm bow/stern armor. Japanese BB HE is actually good, but there is rarely a situation where it is better than AP. Though they are bad at starting fires, they have the 2nd highest alpha damage behind the British BBs. Great against DDs and angled BBs, but lack of fire chance means AP will cause more damage in the long run. Spamming HE will only cause players to laugh at you for playing like a potato. Only use against the above ships if you have no better targets to shoot at. AP is your bread and butter. HE is usable but reserved for specific situations. Secondary Armament Normal secondary dispersion, i.e can't hit the broadside of a Satsuma. 140mm guns are an exception as their dispersion formula is the same as other accurate BB secondaries like Georgia and German battlecruisers. Relatively low range. Typical near-useless secondaries common to many BB lines. Japanese BBs also hate close-range combat as their main gun dispersion becomes notably worse than other BBs Investing into secondaries doesn't fix their problems Just don't bother with it unless you are exclusively clubbing bots. If you want to take a secondary BB into randoms, play Iwami or a German BB/BC. Play Iwami if you want a Japanese BB with good secondaries. Anti-Air Defense Flak count: Low. Long: Tickles enemy planes. Medium: It literally doesn't exist unless you count Satsuma. Short: Irrelevant, and doesn't shoot anything down anyway. Spoiler Nothing is more historically accurate in World of Warships than Japanese ships getting smashed by CVs. Like irl, the BBs only get 2 kinds of AA: useless short-range and practically useless long-range AA. No matter how many 25mm guns you put on your ship, infinity x 0 AA is still 0 AA. Longe range AA is slightly better, but any half-awake pilot will just ignore it. If you are alone, enemy CVs will easily get off 2 attacks, potentially 3 if they have enough planes. You can still angle to attacks, but don't expect to dodge if the enemy maneuvers around you. Rockets are the least of your worries. You cannot dodge them, but at least the worst they can do is set fires. Dive bombers are another story though. IJN BBs are so thicc that even a blind pilot can hit every bomb on your ship. HE bombs will consistently deal 10-20k while lighting multiple fires. AP bombs will just double/triple cit you for 1/3 your HP per run. Skip bombers aren't fun either, but at least they have a chance to shatter on your belt. Japanese BBs surprisingly fares better against torpedo bombers than other BBs due to their excellent torpedo protection. You won't shoot anything down, but at least the torp belt does a good job of reducing damage. If you can't dodge the plane torps, take it on the belt. Better to eat the damage than to risk a permaflood. Just watch the video in the spoiler. ASW Airstrikes Same ASW as other same-tier battleships Long range, but low damage Spoiler Japanese BBs share the same depth charge airstrikes as some other same-tier battleships. Deals minor damage, but the extra range is very useful for hitting subs at standoff distance. That being said, multiple airstrikes from different ships can 1 shot subs if everything hits. Airstrikes can also be used to bait out enemy AA, giving keen players a rough estimate of the enemy’s position. Safe spammable damage. Subs are still miserable to face. Maneuverability One of the slower lines with the exception of Kongo and Amagi. Small turning radius with exception of Kongo and Amagi. Slowest rudder shift of all tech tree BBs. For the most part, Japanese BBs are slow dreadnaughts that trade maneuverability for survivability While they have relatively small turning radiuses, their glacially slow rudder shift negates this advantage. Even taking rudder shift in slot 4 doesn't help that much. All this combines to form a large clumsy ship that can't react to developing situations. The Japanese battlecruisers (Kongo and Amagi) are exceptions as they trade armor for their high top speed. Still can't turn for crap, but at least they can actually move around the battlefield. Japanese BBs don't dodge. They tank hits with their face, just as the emperor intended. Concealment Mid tier BBs have the worst concealment in the game High tiers are better, but still quite bad Awful air detection, but that's expected of a battleship Spoiler Anything Tier 7 and below are a lost cause. Smaller maps and high base concealment means you will be spotted no matter what. For example: Fuso has 18.3km base concealment, with 16.5km being the lowest you can get No matter which map Fuso gets, she is spotted as soon as she takes 2 steps out of spawn. It's a better story for Tier 8+ ships as they can reduce their concealment to a more manageable ~14km radius. With so many high firepower threats running around, building concealment is essential for long-term survival even for Japanese BBs. You can tank better than most BBs, but that doesn't mean you will last long against 5 ships shooting at you. Like all BBs, their aerial detection is quite bad. There is almost no way to avoid plane spotting when a CV is in play. Everyone will generally play further back, but this arguably plays into your favor due to your accurate long-range guns. You still don't want to get hit by CV attacks, but at least you don't have to change your playstyle. The only BB line that can be seen from space. Consumables Japanese Battleship Damage Control Party(DCP) 10s immunity period 80s cooldown Japanese BB DCP is notably weaker than BBs from other tech tree lines. The short immunity period means enemies can quickly relight fires after only 10 seconds. Be careful when timing DCP. You don't want to take a flood when your DCP is down. Standard Repair Party Heals 14% damage over 28s at baseline 80s cooldown Repairs: 100% of fire damage 50% of pen damage (both HE and AP) 10% of citadel damage 4 charges Same basic repair party available to most battleships. Important consumable for surviving into the mid-late game. Spotter Plane +20% range for 100s, also raises the camera allowing for easier shots over terrain 4 charges 240s cooldown Available starting with Tier 5 Kongo While you don't need the extra range, the camera change is quite useful for hitting ships in smoke or behind islands. It also doubles for spotting ships behind islands, though only do this when necessary due to the 6 minute cooldown. Fighter Plane (shares slot with spotter plane) Fighters hover for 60s, shoots down 3-4 planes 3 charges 90s cooldown Available starting with Tier 7 Nagato Generally useless when compared to the spotter plane. It doesn't actually stop the attack, but shoots the planes down after they finish their run. The fighter plane can stop 1 follow-up attack but this doesn't matter if the CV won't attack more than once or against Russian CVs. Just stick with the spotter plane so you can snipe the CV across the map. Weak DCP, normal heals, usable spotter plane. We don't talk about the fighters. General Playstyle Japanese BBs are essentially everything you envision a battleship should be, massive, imposing ships that can eliminate ships at long range. With 20+km range, you can strike fear into broadside cruisers even from across the map. Thick deck and belt armor provide excellent protection as long as you don't show broadside. Don't be afraid to tank for your allies. They take less damage, you get a free Adrenaline Rush boost. At roughly under 10km, their guns become unreliable due to their relatively worse dispersion and slow turret traverse. Above waterline citadels is also a concern, showing broadside to enemy BBs will result in heavy damage. Not that they can't perform but you have to be careful around ships that excel at brawling range like German BBs. It's quite hard to get close anyways due to your slow speed and poor concealment. Japanese BBs perform best at mid-long range, roughly between 12-18km. At these ranges, excellent AP performance and good accuracy will result in frequent citadel hits. Vary your positioning depending on the enemy strength. If you are facing weaker ships and torps are not a threat, get closer to press your firepower advantage. Against stronger opposition like several HE spammers, might be better to play safe and stay further back. Once committed to a flank, it is hard to dislodge them for both the player and the enemy. Enemies will find it hard to kill a kiting BB without lucky fires or torps. The IJN BB player will find it equally as hard to rotate flanks should he be needed elsewhere, though the long maximum gun range offsets this problem. Think of IJN BBs as powerful sledgehammers, utilizing brute force to win fights. However, they lack the tactical flexibility to quickly adapt should they misread the situation. Successful players will pick off vulnerable ships while tanking for their team. They will also anticipate where they are needed 3-5 minutes in advance, giving them as much time as possible to prepare. Early Game (20:00 - ~15:00 in-game time) In the early game, IJN BBs are best played between mid and the flanks due to their poor mobility and excellent gun range. For most maps, this roughly corresponds to positioning above the caps. Here, they can attract enemy fire while their allies wrestle for the flanks. Any enemy trying to do the same risks showing broadside. They can also quickly switch flanks by simply turning the guns around. Not every map has enough room for flanking, or sometimes you spawn mid. In that case, your positioning will be similar to that of a kiting cruiser or battleship. Wherever you decide to position, your goal is to create crossfires and pick off vulnerable ships. DDs and broadside cruisers are your priority. Getting them out early can snowball the flank, and potentially the match. Broadside BBs are fine but don't lose track of potentially better targets. Play it safe early on. No need to rush to your death. Give your DDs and/or CV time to spot the enemy deployment before you commit to any important moves. Mid Game (~15:00 - ~5:00 in-game time, or until ~4 ships remain on each team, whichever comes first) After the first ~3-5 minutes, look at the minimap and team health and take stock of the situation. If your side is weak or about even, you get the easy job of kiting the enemy to death. See the "General Kiting Rules" in Gameplay Tips for more info. If all goes well, you will farm a lot of damage while the other flank hopefully hasn't died. In less-than-ideal situations, it may be necessary to run to the other side of the map to reinforce a failing flank. You can rush over in 2-3 minutes and hopefully stem the bleeding. While you may not save the flank, you can still save the game by preventing the enemy from gaining complete map control. If you get the strong side, then set up for a potential push. Prioritize enemy DDs so your own can move up. Depending on the map layout, you may need to advance slowly so you don't expose broadside to the other flank. Still, try and move up so you can tank for your team. With some luck, you can annihilate the enemy and push into their spawn uncontested. Maybe even snipe the CV if you are lucky enough. However, in most games both teams will generally duke it out for several minutes before 1 side is forced to retreat. IJN BBs excel in this style of combat as the majority of the fighting occurs within their optimal gun ranges. Besides broadside ships, also focus on bow-in cruisers like US heavy cruisers. Your big guns can punch right through their armor, forcing them to slowly back away or die trying. If they try turning out, now they have to show broadside to you. Always keep tabs on the rest of your team and anticipate if you need to help them. If you are in mid, just turn your guns and you can start helping immediately. Of course, getting closer helps alot against more mobile targets. But you can snipe stationary targets who may not expect a cross-map shot. Late Game (5:00 to end of the game, or when there are only a few ships on the map) Hopefully the game is decided by this point as late-game pushes tend to work against IJN BBs. The late-game meta favors ships who excel at 1v1/2v2 close-range fights, something you are definitely not good at. Don't let this deter you though, there are far more important factors that decide the late game like positioning and remaining HP. You will still bully cruisers and Yamato/Satsuma will punch through the bow of any BB they face. Either way, the overall strategy is to obtain/maintain the point lead. Healthy ships should run down the enemy while damaged ships provide support or take unguarded caps. Usually it's best to group up as you can pick off lone enemy ships. As a BB, your job is to spearhead advances with your massive HP pool. Lesser ships will be forced to run away, letting you or your allies take and hold the caps. You can also just sit on your cap and block any attempts by the enemy to take it. Force enemies to work around your massive durability so your allies have the breathing room to support you. Quick Individual Ship Assessment The tier 3-4 ships face so many bots that I can't give an accurate assessment of their capabilities. You will quickly grind past them, so it matters little. Kongo: 5/10 Kongo remains a decent Tier 5 BBs despite being one of the oldest. Unlike other Japanese BBs, Kongo plays more like a battlecruiser. i.e worse survivability but higher speed. She is very fast for a Tier 5 BB and her enemies will frequently underlead their shots. Combined with her high HP pool, she is surprisingly hard to kill even with her lack of armor She somewhat lacks in the firepower department, but it's good enough for most situations. She isn't as tanky as other BBs, so avoid getting drawn into direct slugging fights. Use your mobility to get into ideal positions, catching enemies off guard as you punish their broadsides You can still tank if needed, but be prepared to run if you start taking heavy damage. Otherwise, she plays the same as other Japanese BBs. Punish broadside ships and focus DDs when possible. Fuso: 8/10 Fuso is a hilarious mid-tier monster. She reloads ridiculously quick for a 12 gun BB, almost 20% faster than other comparable 12 gun BBs. Although she is the least accurate BB, this provides little comfort for the lightly armored cruisers dodging her shotgun salvoes. AP works wonders against cruisers, though their low armor pen makes them less effective against BBs. Thankfully Fuso also carries powerful HE rounds, letting her deal with angled BBs when needed. The hull is not quite as good, but it gets the job done for most game. High HP pool and minimal superstructure makes it hard for cruisers to damage her. The citadel is poorly protected, so always stay angled when fighting other BBs. Due to her pagoda masts, Fuso has the absolute worst surface detection in the game. You will be spotted no matter what you do, but this hardly matters. Enemies will just see their impending doom without being able to do anything about it. As long as you angle properly and dodge the torps thrown at you, Fuso will carry you to the top of the scoreboard. In ranked, Fuso ranks as one of the better tech tree BBs available. Her ability to outtrade almost every ship makes her a powerful asset to any team. Nagato: 5/10 Nagato is surprisingly good considering Tier 7 ships usually get shafted in Tier 9 matchmaking. Her mid-long-range playstyle lets her transition smoothly into high-tier matches. Tier 8-9 ships outclass you, but you can do reasonably well with proper support. The 410mm guns are a major upgrade over the old 356mm guns. Though you only carry 8 of them, its high caliber lets you overmatch equal and lower-tier BB bow/stern armor. 2.0 sigma also makes it deadly accurate against anything that shows broadside. On the other hand, the armor is a slight step backwards. While she has a large HP pool, the citadel is poorly protected especially in the rear. 26mm deck armor also makes her vulnerable to most cruisers to face, though you are still somewhat safe against DD caliber guns. It's not the worst armor scheme, but getting surprised citadel is never fun. Oh and your rudder frequently breaks because WG says so. No other IJN BB does this and I have no idea why. Here is a replay of Nagato in action: Spoiler Amagi: 6/10 I want to rate Amagi higher, but 90% of her games were pure suffering due to uncooperative teammates. Anyways, Amagi is also a battlecruiser like her Tier 5 counterpart Kongo, trading armor for higher speed. In fact, she is currently tied with Kongo for the fastest Japanese BBs in the entire line. 32mm plating can bounce BB AP shells, but heavy cruisers and some light cruisers can quickly tear her apart. Use your speed to stay at a safe distance while your main guns wear them down. At least your citadel is difficult to hit due to your turtleback armor. Amagi uses the same 410mm guns as Nagato, but with 10 guns instead of 8. And less range for some reason. They are still good guns, but you will feel their lack of range and penetration when fighting Tier 10 ships. Broadside cruisers will still eat citadels, but don't expect to citadel many BBs. Pen damage still does a lot of damage, so don't be discouraged if you can't citadel high tier ships. Overall Amagi is still a good ship and actually one of the better-handling BBs for her tier. She feels like she has just enough of everything to succeed in most games. Only CVs and subs will pose a consistent threat. Unfortunately Amagi is not well suited for ranked nor clan battles. Due to the close range meta of those formats, brawling BBs like Massachusettus and Vladivostok outclass her. Lack of durability also hurts her in direct fights, something she can't avoid in either formats. Izumo: 6/10 Izumo has come a long way since the beginning of the game. When WoWs was first released, she was widely considered the worst ship in the game. Her AP rounds had ~Tier 6 BB levels of penetration and her armor was trash. Basically she was a decent Tier 7 BB that was misplaced into Tier 9 matchmaking. After 7 years of gradual buffs, Izumo has matured into a solid BB. She is no Musashi or Georgia, but she is quite strong for a tech tree BB. With 57mm deck armor and almost no superstructure, cruisers and gunboat DDs will struggle to hurt her. Either they aim for the bow/stern section, upper belt armor, or hope for fires. BBs have similar issues as their AP rounds will ricochet when angled properly, at least most of the time. Her citadel is somewhat high, but not easy to hit in practice. The main issue actually comes from her unusual stern layout. Starting with Izumo, Japanese BBs have flat stern panels where enemy AP rounds can penetrate. Problematic when the enemy is directly behind you. Due to her all-forward turret arrangement, Izumo has a notable blind spot in the rear where enemies can farm her for free. The turrets themselves don't even make use of the all-forward arrangement. The middle turret cannot rotate the full 360° degrees and the 3rd turret is just a misplaced rear gun with worse firing angles. Oh, and you can't use your front gun for kiting unless you like showing broadside. It's no wonder the Japanese went with the Yamato design irl. At least her shells are quite good. In fact, they are one of the fastest in the game. Even maneuverable enemies will find it hard to dodge your attacks. Because of this, you can comfortably stay at range where you can still hit enemies while minimizing your poor turret angle disadvantages. Izumo can still kite, but it's fairly tricky due to her turret angles. Like other Japanese BBs, Izumo doesn't perform well in the ranked or CBs meta. This time though, it's less of Izumo's fault but rather Tier 9 is full of far superior premium BBs. Georgia literally runs circles around her, Rupprecht (not a premium ship) will secondary her to death, and Musashi is practically a tier 10 version of you. Izumo can still win when played properly, but I would advise a different ship if you want to rank out faster. Yamato: 5/10 Spoiler I find Yamato to be surprisingly just average for being a legendary ship. Besides having a normal turret layout again, Yamato is one of the few BBs that can overmatch 32mm armor. French and British BBs cannot angle to you at all, your shells just overmatch anywhere they hit Your AP is so good there is almost no reason to use HE, even against DDs. However, slow reload and only having 9 guns gives her a somewhat underwhelming damage output compared to other Tier 10 BBs. Slow turret traverse doesn't help as it can cost you salvoes on briefly-lit ships Her armor performs better at long range thanks to her 57mm deck armor and 410mm belt armor. While her citadel sits high above the water, thick belt armor protects you at longer ranges (roughly past 16km) At closer ranges though, enemies can take advantage of your "cheek" citadel weakness. Unlike most BBs, Yamato's citadel is more octagonal in shape. Even when appropriately angled, the citadel shape creates a flat surface under the 1st and 3rd turret which enemies can exploit. Because of this, sometimes it's better to ignore the rear gun when fighting under 10km. It's not like you perform well at close range anyways, so only get close when its safe or you have to make an aggressive play. Again, Yamato isn't a bad ship, but she doesn't feel as strong as other powerful threats at her tier. It doesn't help that some superships significantly outclass her, despite being just 1 tier higher. Of course, I may be biased due to my impressively bad luck with IJN BBs. But that is why I recommend looking at other players reviews so you can get multiple perspectives. As usual, Yamato is rarely used for clan battles and ranked. In ranked, Yamato suffers at close range due to her cheek citadel weakness. Heavily armored German and Russian BBs also somewhat negates her overmatch advantage. Can't overmatch 50+mm deck armor and the bow/stern sections are hard to aim at. Even after WG banned literally half the BBs for clan battles, Yamato struggles to find use due to her poor mobility. She is simply too slow to make plays in the fast-paced environment of CBs. Satsuma: 8/10 Satsuma's hull is essentially a scaled-up version of Yamato, including the same strengths and weaknesses. 59% torpedo protection gives her the strongest torpedo belt in the game. She also resists gunfire equally as well, though ships can still exploit her large superstructure and cheek citadel weakness. Fires are actually her biggest threat, so play carefully if gunboat DDs and light cruisers start focusing you. On the bright side, your 8x 510mm guns will smash everything it hits. 3 Citadel hits is enough to dev strike almost every cruiser in the game. And if that's not enough, you only need ~3 salvoes to charge up your combat instructions. It doesn't even have to hit. As long as the shells land near the ship it counts. When activated, you can expect to hit at least 5 shells if you aimed correctly. Basically she becomes a dev strike machine if your aim is on point. The 510s are less reliable against light cruisers due to frequent overpens, but shooting while they angle can somewhat fix this. DDs are also an issue, but there isn't much you can do to fix your poor close range dispersion or hitting dodging DDs at range. They are still high-priority targets so take every good shot you can get. Remember, an overpen still does ~10% damage to your average DD. While her 510mm guns are undeniably strong, the main gimmick is her unique combat instructions. After landing enough shells (usually 3-4 salvoes), she can activate her combat instructions to make her next salvo super accurate. The ability OP on paper, but the gamble lies both in your ability to aim and your target's ability to dodge. Observant enemies can dodge your salvo and waste your efforts. Still, a dev strike or even a 30k salvo on command is game-changing when used properly. Also, keep in mind an uncharged meter will start to degrade after ~45 seconds. You have a ~15s grace period in between salvoes before you lose progress. Once fully charged, you can hold on to the funny button for as long as you want. Just don't wait too long for that perfect shot. A sub-optimal use is better than never using it. Lack of mobility is always an issue, but at least this doesn't hurt your damage output. Don't need to get close to an enemy if you can slap him across the map. Overall I would consider Satsuma to be the best of the 3 super BBs, with Patrie coming in second and Hannover a close third. Her guns will single-handedly carry games when aimed properly while she can comfortably tank entire teams at long range. Lack of mobility and utility still puts her at a disadvantage when dealing with DDs, so I still rate Conde and Annapolis as better overall. Still, Satsuma is fairly easy to play for a supership. If you can play Yamato, you can certainly play Satsuma. Gameplay Tips Most tips can also apply to other ships Researching Priorities (Applies to all tech tree BBs) Always research B-hull first, use free exp if you have to. Japanese BBs gains a massive boost in combat effectiveness when they research the B-hull upgrade, more so than other lines. You don't want to be playing a crippled version of your ship at high tiers for 5-10 games. Engine upgrade is nice, but not strictly necessary to do well. I still recommend it as the extra mobility helps a lot in many situations. For longer grinds, the extra performance will make the easier in the long run anyways. Range upgrade is the only one you can truely skip. All IJN BBs already start with enough range, so another 2km doesn't help much with the exception of Amagi. Only get the extra range if you plan on keeping the ship after the grind. Don't rush up the line (Applies to all tech tree BBs) The grind is not about the destination, but about the journey of self-improvement. Mid tiers are a great learning environment, letting you make mistakes without getting overly punished. If you rush up the lines too quickly, you won't learn the valuable lessons to be successful at high tiers. You will suffer as everyone will mercilessly farm you for free damage. Don't be the teammate everyone dreads, take your time and don't burn yourself out on the grind. AP vs. HE (applies to all BBs) AP is your primary shell type as they are effective against all but heavily angled targets or ships with no armor. With some luck, you can deal heavy damage to broadside cruisers and BBs. HE is reserved for healthy DDs and bow in BBs that you cannot overmatch with AP. They have great alpha damage, but aren't exactly good at starting fires. Keep an eye on enemy DCP usage, and time your salvoes for when the immunity period ends. Vs. DDs, AP vs. HE depends on their health. HE is superior against high HP DDs, both for damage dealt and for breaking every single module on the ship. At around 1/2 to 1/3 HP remaining, AP becomes better due to its consistency. As damaged DDs can be heavily saturated, HE will start dealing less damage. AP doesn't care as it will always deal 10% damage via overpens. You also have a slightly larger target since AP can travel underwater and still hit the ship. Against cruisers, ~10-16km usually gives you the best damage output. Citadel and full penetrations are more likely while you are less likely to overpen ships, especially light cruisers. Realistically speaking though, just fire whatever round thats loaded. If you try switching to the "optimal" round, the DD will have likely escaped by then. As long as you hit the DD, you will deal significant damage. For Yamato, Shikishima, and Satsuma, their AP overmatches 32mm so they almost never use HE even against DDs. Timing your Shots (Applies to all BBs) BBs are not about spamming salvoes, but punishing vulnerable enemies at the right time. Of course, most enemies have some sort of self-preservation instinct and won't give you broadsides for free. This is where allies come in handy. Most players will prioritize whoever is shooting at them, and will dodge accordingly. If he is shooting They can angle to your allies but give you broadside if he doesn't know you exist. Once he commits to his turn, that is when you strike. By the time he sees your shot, it's too late. Crossfires (Also applies to other battleships and large cruisers) If you and your allied BBs position correctly, you can ensure enemies must show broadside to either of you. Not only will the enemy take heavy damage, but you can limit their movements for fear of showing broadside. Setting up crossfires requires some social distancing and a bit of geometry. Typically this is done with 1 BB in middle (you) and another on the flank. From mid, you can even set up multiple crossfires on both flanks on wide-open maps. Below is an example of a crossfire: Spoiler Having BBs in different areas of the map can heavily restrict enemy movement. If the enemy angles to 1 ship, then the other BB can punish their broadside Here is a fun exercise, guess which ships are in a crossfire The answer is Nagato and Richelieu When they leave the island, Florida will punish their broadside. If they try to escape north, then I punish them. Surrey and Cherbourg don't count as none of the BBs can shoot their broadsides, they will die from CV and overmatch instead so slightly better? While my positioning looks bad, none of the BBs truly had a broadside shot on me. Shchors is hiding behind an island, so I do not have shots (for now). AP overpens everything 😞 AP will overpen in 2 situations: The armor is too thin to arm the shell, or the shell passes completely through the ship before exploding. In the first scenario, BB shells fuses will only arm on thick plates of armor equal to 1/6 of the gun's caliber. For example, Izumo's 410mm AP rounds needs a minimum of 68mm to arm the fuse. Typically this means only the belt, bulkhead, and other citadel armor sections are thick enough to activate the fuse. In the second scenario, some ships are so thin that AP shells simply pass though before then detonate. This isn't as common, but a few ships like Atlanta and Smolensk make notable use of it. Aiming at or slightly below waterline will let shells arm on the water before penetrating the underwater armor into the ship's citadel. This doesn't always work due to BBs being inherently inaccurate, not to mention you can completely miss if you aim too low. Against cruisers, you can actually shoot them while they are angled. Shells will have enough time to arm if they travel the length of the ship. Of course overpens are inevitable in practice. Some targets have weird armor profiles and other times your BB dispersion refuses to cooperate. When in doubt, better to aim too high than too low. Aiming too high will give you overpens on the superstructure, but it's better than completely missing the target when you aim too low. Note DDs are an exception as BB AP damage is capped at 10% i.e. BB AP shells always deals overpen damage even if it is registered as a full pen. Engagement Ranges While I said the ideal IJN BB fighting range is roughly 12-18km, this doesn't mean you only fight at those ranges. Against weaker enemies, get closer and press home the advantage. Sure your close range accuracy isn't as good, but getting closer still improves your dispersion. The faster you end the fight, the faster you can snowball your advantage. If you are at low HP or there are a lot of threats, then play further back. Better to play safe than to die a horrible death in 2 minutes. Remember you are a threat as long as you live. Even a heavily damaged ship can repair and become a threat in just a few minutes. Adapt your positioning to the situation at hand in order to maximize your effectiveness. Think about where to position 2-3 minutes ahead This is the part WG is referring to when they say "World of Warships, the thinking man's action game". While individual salvoes can decide games, the ability to position for such shots gives you the best chance for success. A lot of this comes down to experience and judging each side's relative strengths. For example if your other side loses a DD early on, they will likely give up the cap and possibly move away due to a lack of spotting. You may need to play aggressively to win your flank or consider switching flanks to prevent a total collapse. Act as early as possible as you need time for your slow hull to lumber into position. Close Quarters Combat Japanese BBs are somewhat mediocre at close-range combat due to their slow turret traverse and bad dispersion. You can still smash cruisers, but there isn't much you can do once the enemy gets to your broadside. Try to stay at ~5-10km, close enough to hit shots but far enough to avoid torps and other hazards. Change up your speed and rudder and remain unpredictable. Whatever you do, don't let the enemies get close enough for a drive by. Your raised citadel and large size means anything can either score multiple citadels or torpedo dev strike you. Your own turret will struggle to retaliate, sometimes even letting the enemy go unpunished after the drive by. Take the ram if you can't kill him in time. Both of you may die, but it's better than dying for free. Certain Japanese BBs also have a "cheek" weakness where they can be citadeled when angled. Yamato is the most famous example, though Satsuma and Nagato also suffer from this. Smart enemies can exploit this weakness, so be especially careful when getting close. Adrenaline Rush Abuser (Works with all ships) Everyone benefits from Adrenaline Rush, but BBs are especially well suited due to their ability to control their HP. High HP pool and good armor means you can safely fight even at half HP. As long as you don't overextend and die, you essentially have +10% DPM for the rest of the game. Keep in mind sometimes it's better to heal early if you are expecting a major fight. This way your next heal is ready to go once the fight starts. Your DPM instantly drops to 0 once you die, so don't procrastinate on your heal. Spoiler After letting 3 Yoshino fires burn, I return the favor in kind with an additional -16% reload time Since there are no nearby threats, I don't mind sitting at 15k HP as I have time to heal it all back. I don't recommend losing this much HP but this screenshot demonstrates how effective AR can be in the late game. General kiting rules (Useful for all ships) The goal of kiting is to out outtrade the enemy and slow his push. It's like holding the high ground, making it harder for enemies to hit you while you have an easier time hitting in return. However, this comes at the cost of giving up space. Oftentimes it's a cap, but it can be a valuable chokepoint or even allow the enemy to flank your team. A good kiting position is one that best balances survivability and damage output while forcing enemies away from their next objective. Usually this is done on the edges of the map, but BBs with sufficient long range performance (Like IJN BBs) can also sit in mid, potentially crossfiring ships on both flanks. Japanese BBs kite well at ~11km - 18km gun range. While they are durable, the slow speed can make it difficult to outrun fast pushes Don't be afraid to run early if the entire team is mashing W in your direction. Focus on out-trading the enemy, deal more damage than they do to you. On bigger maps, you can also draw enemies away from your team. Instead of running towards your team, run at a ~90° to the enemy push to setup a crossfire. Either the enemy gives you free broadsides or they send a few ships after you. You may even convince them to turn back to spawn, buying valuable time for your team. When the enemy is sufficiently weakened, you can counter-push and punish them for letting you live. Their death is an acceptable price for failure. Turret Management It's important to pre-aim your guns rather than spending precious seconds reacting to new threats. By the time your guns are on target, he may have already angled and a golden opportunity will have been lost. To pre-aim your guns, point your guns to 1 side and lock them into position with either Ctrl + X or holding down Right Mouse Button. This prevents the guns from rotating while you turn your ship into position. When the ship is near your desired angle, disengage the lock and you are good to go. Pre-aiming your guns is also important if you plan on doing drastic maneuvering like dodging CV attacks or rotating guns to the other side. Starting early reduces the amount of downtime before the guns can rotate back into position. Dodging Torpedoes Not taking torps is kinda important if you want to stay healthy. For a visual demonstration, click here for a video by OverlordBou that goes over the basics of dodging. Dodging torps itself is mostly predicting where torps are likely coming from, then not being in that area or angling. Before the match starts, take note of how many torp DDs, IJN/Pan Asian CLs, and subs you are facing. During the early game, your DDs and CV should be able to spot which of those ships you will be fighting. Ideally keep a DD in front so he can keep the torp threats in check, or at least spot them. Stay angled to their general direction and keep varying your speed. Most DDs torp at the white line, so you will unlikely get hit if you constantly adjust your course. Even in the unlucky event the torps are on point, at least you are prepared to dodge. When you spot the torps, quickly turn parallel to them. Turning into them is the best way to dodge, but be careful of your end position. It does you no good if you get stuck bow in with no way out but broadside death. Turning out is not as good, but generally will leave you in a better defensive position against surface ships. In practice though, your starting angle will determine if you turn in or out. CVs are using you for target practice 😞 While CVs don't change your playstyle all that much, a lack of AA means they will ruin your day at will. If the enemy CV is focusing on your side, play safe and don't get too aggressive. Stay near allies for AA support. You can space out if the enemy CV is playing on the other side. If your CV is playing your side, consider holding your shots for when he spots a target of opportunity. You can time your salvo just as the enemy is spotted broadside, potentially dealing huge damage before the enemy can react. Enemies will try to dodge CV attacks, even if it means giving you broadside. Again, time your salvo to when your CV does his attack run. When done correctly., the enemy will dodge your CV's attacks right into your salvo. You get free damage while your CV doesn't. A win-win situation. While you can't dodge, you can at least make it harder to line up a good shot. Rockets deals relatively low damage, therefore low priority You can turn parallel to the attack run, but don't make yourself vulnerable to other ships in the process. Not a good trade if you dodge a 5k rocket salvo only to eat a 20k BB salvo instead. As I mentioned in the AA section, Japanese BBs are slightly more resistant to torpedo bombers. Not that you want to take torps, butBBs aren't good at dodging torps anyways. Still, you want to turn into the torpedo bombers to make life more difficult for the CV The 2nd and 3rd strikes might not be possible to dodge, so try to take the torps on your belt. This minimizes the chance of taking a permaflood. Dive bombers are also quite deadly, with AP bombs able to take out 1/4 of your HP on a lucky run. Unlike other planes, always turn broadside to the DB attack run. You will probably still take damage, but getting hit by 1-2 bombs is better than all 6. Skip bombers are essentially sideways launching HE bombers, so treat them like a long-range rocket attack. Turn into them if you can, but don't give up your broadside to other BBs. Passive matches, it's been 15 minutes, and no one has taken a cap Japanese BBs perform well in passive matches. If everyone wants to sit at range, that's fine. Your superior range and accuracy tilts the fights in your favor. Don't play too passively though, you need to tank shots for your lesser-armored allies. Getting close still makes your shots more accurate, though do this when it's safe to move up. Not all games are winnable You will get unwinnable games from time to time. Even the best players with the most try-hard divisions cannot win 100% of their games. At the end of the day, World of Warships is a game designed for entertainment (and farming dev strikes for YouTube content) If WoWs is making you miserable, it's time to take a break. Get up, walk around, do something productive. Anything to get your mind off of WoWs. You can always come back later. Final Thoughts Overall the Japanese Battleships are a solid beginner friendly line. Many aspects of the line will provide valuable lessons, but not to the point of handholding the player. Instead, players can take these lessons to heart so they can avoid making similar mistakes in the future. Lessons that will serve them well once players move on to more exotic lines. Japanese BBs may look vanilla, but underestimate their capabilities and you will get dev struck back to port. As this is my 4th tech tree line guide and 6th guide overall, feedback is welcome so future articles will be of higher quality. I focus mostly on tech tree guides, though I will publish premium ship guides if I find them interesting enough. If you want to learn how a particular line works, let me know and I might be inclined to (eventually) make a guide for it. Due to my busy work schedule, I expect to publish a guide roughly every 3 weeks - 1 month. It's hard work to make each guide, even if I reuse a lot of gameplay tips. Not to mention I play each ship several times to get a good feeling for their capabilities. Paper stats tend to differ significantly in the real world, so it's always important to play the ship to assess its practical performance. Since you have reached the end of the guide, have a complementary dev strike as a reward: Sources Used Wows-ShipBuilder: https://app.wowssb.com/ Used for all relevant ship parameters. The dispersion and ballistic charts are also very helpful to visualize how good/bad your dispersion is. WoWs Shiptool: https://shiptool.st/ Excellent for comparing entire tiers or classes of ships In-Game Armor Viewer I wish WoWs would get a hit penetration simulator similar to [edited]. It would make armor tests a lot easier to assess Various clips used Be sure to check out both Lord_Zath and OverlordBou on Twitch and YouTube. OverlordBou streams regularly on Twitch and provides ship reviews and funny wows moments on YouTube. Zath provides replay commentary for both his Twitch and YouTube channel. I recommend sending him replays of ships you struggle with. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UnrepentantSinner Posted February 28 Share Posted February 28 Thank you, for reuploading this, the OP has put quite some work into this, i found it very helpful and interesting to read. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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