What destroyer ship or line do you find hardest to use

[kriegerfaust]

I find the French line one of the Hardest to use as gunships the lack of smoke is a real draw back that is not made up for by the gun perk.  The Pan-European line is far better use of the no smoke line.  I try to steer clear of the entire of the entire line, at least the line would be better if they had twin guns like some other lines.

[hocus4957]

Agree...Definately France.

[Darlith]

I only really play the PvE modes, but for what it is worth by stats it seems the two Euro lines are my worst overall performers. Not surprising given the low torp damage and how much co-op relies on heavy torp usage for the best results. From a personal feel, the Italian line, weak torps means lack of blasting down heavier ships, nice guns for anti-dd work but not as good against cruisers at times, plus the short range on the guns means often giving up the chance for damage on some targets, consumables generally less compatable with PvE playstyle than other lines.

Of course in co-op the french line is one of the best, since the style of hurry into to battle and torp all the things while shooting the rest is perfect for them.

[Verblonde]

Depends on the mode: against real people, I struggle with anything that's 'visible from Pluto'; meanwhile, about the only things that I struggle with against bots (Coop) are the few DDs without any torps.

I just seem to (usually) gel with sneaky bar-stewards in PvP...

[HMS_Kilinowski]

I found the italian DDs the hardest to play. The smokes are too short to really have an impact while they are active. The range is too short to disencourage enemies from shooting back, when you are open-water gunboating. The concealment is too bad to sneak up on other DDs, without getting focussed on the way in. The torps are too slow for a decent hit ratio at range and too low damage to torp rush.

I just found myself spending too much time playing around its weaknesses to even utilize its strengths. I skipped the T9, since T7 and T8 were painful to play.

[AdmiralThunder]

I only DD in Co-op. I find the hardest (would actually = worst in Co-op as DD's rule there no matter how bad they are) would be...

• EU (OG side even worse than new due to no smoke) with their spaghetti noodle torps
• ITL just bad all around (Yolo Emilio aside which seems to do well)
• Russian due to huge detection (this can get you focused early by multiple bots who always target DD and Subs 1st) and for most of the line the short range torps (not a huge issue as long range torping bots is hard as they cheat BUT 4km totally limits you to yolo charges and like 8km ones allow you to stay hidden when low HP and at least spam torps and try for a longer hit)
• French T8 and below (Aigle is decent though for Co-op) but Mogador, Kleber, and Marceau are good (too good frankly - hate to spawn on same side with humans playing them)

[Asym]

8 minutes ago, AdmiralThunder said:

I only DD in Co-op. I find the hardest (would actually = worst in Co-op as DD's rule there no matter how bad they are) would be...

• EU (OG side even worse than new due to no smoke) with their spaghetti noodle torps
• ITL just bad all around (Yolo Emilio aside which seems to do well)
• Russian due to huge detection (this can get you focused early by multiple bots who always target DD and Subs 1st) and for most of the line the short range torps (not a huge issue as long range torping bots is hard as they cheat BUT 4km totally limits you to yolo charges and like 8km ones allow you to stay hidden when low HP and at least spam torps and try for a longer hit)
• French T8 and below (Aigle is decent though for Co-op) but Mogador, Kleber, and Marceau are good (too good frankly - hate to spawn on same side with humans playing them)

I agree for the most part......

I kinda like the EU for COOP....  I do quite well when used...  Even in RO's, they simply don't have much to survive.

Yes, the Emilio is about it.

The Russians, for me are a crap shoot when I play.  Sometimes they fit in and other times they are a bust.

The French for me is the Marceau.  Don't own the Kleber or mogodor yet.

What I find anymore troublesome are the non-gun boat IJN DD's....  I used to play the crap out of them and then, something changed and they seemed to get a lot more "fragile" - deadly fragile - but, under gunned to stay in the fight post torpedoes...

[ArIskandir]

For PvP that would be the German Elbing line... for starter you are not a Destroyer, trying to do regular DD stuff in one of those will get you killed.

So you are a DD that can't properly do DD stuff and are highly dependent on team mates doing the stuff that you can't do, you are a CL without citadel taking up a DD slot so you must overcome your team's starting DD disadvantage. I find it very hard to have significant match influence against opposing DDs with a functional brain. 

 

[palestreamer]

2 hours ago, HMS_Kilinowski said:

I found the italian DDs the hardest to play. The smokes are too short to really have an impact while they are active. The range is too short to disencourage enemies from shooting back, when you are open-water gunboating. The concealment is too bad to sneak up on other DDs, without getting focussed on the way in. The torps are too slow for a decent hit ratio at range and too low damage to torp rush.

Agreed.

[Itwastuesday]

The most ass lines to grind are definitely Italian and Spähkreuzer. Before T9 RM gets only 3 smokes/boosts but Adriatico isn't still particularly good. And the Elbing line I just remember being all round terrible before Elbing herself. Especially GJ Märker. 

What's hardest to use on TX I couldn't say. Anything below the most OP boats can feel absolutely trash, but if the OP boats aren't stepping on your toes anything can be suprisingly great. 

[ArIskandir]

11 minutes ago, Itwastuesday said:

The most ass lines to grind are definitely Italian and Spähkreuzer. Before T9 RM gets only 3 smokes/boosts but Adriatico isn't still particularly good. And the Elbing line I just remember being all round terrible before Elbing herself. Especially GJ Märker. 

I found the Italians up to T8 exhilaratingly fun to play. One of those rare cases where the stats don't tell the full story, by the numbers they should be trash but imo they are actually great, their handling is phenomenal and the "in-your-face" playstyle is one of the most thrilling in the game... and it all gets betrayed when you get to Adriatico, honestly one of the worst experiences I had in the game, the playstyle goes through a radical change and you lose everything that made the italians fun to play in exchange of a sad gimmick-based experience, I wanted to like Adriatico but it was a totally different experience from her predecessors. 

 

For the Spahkreuzer line GJ Maerker indeed has nothing going on for her imo, just bland and mediocre without any character. The Schultz I found difficult to play effectively (as stated above), but at least she gets her own character and even if not superbly effective, I thought she was fun to play. 

[OldSchoolGaming_Youtube]

On 11/19/2023 at 3:48 AM, kriegerfaust said:

I find the French line one of the Hardest to use as gunships the lack of smoke is a real draw back that is not made up for by the gun perk.  The Pan-European line is far better use of the no smoke line.  I try to steer clear of the entire of the entire line, at least the line would be better if they had twin guns like some other lines.

If were talking Mogador, Kleber and Marceau I think most consider those being some of the strongest DDs in the game when its comes to gun power and burning down BBs at 15-16 km range. You just cant overextend or try to go for caps in the early game. 

Kleber you pretty much play like Henri IV.

[tocqueville8]

Harugumo is my black sheep for IJN DDs 🙄

I changed builds a bunch of times, DD-hunter like Aki and Kita, smoke farmer, IFHE or no IFHE...she never "clicked". Maybe it's precisely the inconsistency, who knows...

[OldSchoolGaming_Youtube]

8 hours ago, tocqueville8 said:

Harugumo is my black sheep for IJN DDs 🙄

I changed builds a bunch of times, DD-hunter like Aki and Kita, smoke farmer, IFHE or no IFHE...she never "clicked". Maybe it's precisely the inconsistency, who knows...

I have some videos on Haru on my channel. I play it like I play Sherman, long range (16 km) smoke farmer. Only try and cap late game is necessary.

[SmokinSerj]

Ha! Nice topic.

I find the Russian DDs - Delny line,  the hardest to use. Actually can't tell exactly about Delny as I'm not there yet... I actually enjoyed Minsk a lot, after I figured out how it should be played, then Kiev in some measure as it plays almost the same... but Tashkent is just AWFUL! A real nightmare. It should be renamed Tashkant!  After some good games in Minsk, I said that if I did make it work, I can play any DD. Well, that's not true, Tashkent proved me wrong.

Some other line I struggle with is - surprisingly - the Harugumo line I use for RB resets. I chose that line for resets from the very first time, as it's the cheapest and I heard that Aki and Kita are very good DDs ... I reset it so many times that their captains are almost 19 and 20 pts respectively, without any other training. Yet I still struggle in them, as they feel so sluggish and too many times I get hit by some stray torps because they are soooo slow. They are slow starters, but when they actually got started, they barely move. 🤣  I managed to do some really great games now and then, in both of them... but most of the time I either die among the first, or I'm too little influential.

On a side note, from this line (Haru), I love the Shiratsuyu!! What a gem she is! I get great games with her almost all the time. Two weeks ago, while regrinding  after reset, I got 3 krakens in 3 consecutive days!

Other lines I enjoyed... PanEU- Halland line (especially Oster, but I like all of them) and Italian DD line (Tarigo and Cunniberti 🥰, Adriatico not so much), which was a very nice surprise to me (as I expected them to be... s**t).

Edited November 22, 2023 by SmokinSerj

[__Helmut_Kohl__]

Hardest DD to use is probably the Halford, because you have to leave the ship unattended while using your planes.

[CFagan_1987]

On 11/21/2023 at 1:49 AM, Darlith said:

I only really play the PvE modes, but for what it is worth by stats it seems the two Euro lines are my worst overall performers. Not surprising given the low torp damage and how much co-op relies on heavy torp usage for the best results. From a personal feel, the Italian line, weak torps means lack of blasting down heavier ships, nice guns for anti-dd work but not as good against cruisers at times, plus the short range on the guns means often giving up the chance for damage on some targets, consumables generally less compatable with PvE playstyle than other lines.

Of course in co-op the french line is one of the best, since the style of hurry into to battle and torp all the things while shooting the rest is perfect for them.

Can confirm. I'm grinding the Split (Pan Euro line) and the Oland (Swedish line) and while I think the Oland is much better than the Skane the Split grind is absolutely brutal.

[ArIskandir]

4 hours ago, SmokinSerj said:

... but Tashkent is just AWFUL! A real nightmare. It should be renamed Tashkant!  After some good games in Minsk, I said that if I did make it work, I can play any DD. Well, that's not true, Tashkent proved me wrong.

Whaaaaa...?   Tashkent is awesome bro.

 

[Kynami]

2 hours ago, __Helmut_Kohl__ said:

Hardest DD to use is probably the Halford, because you have to leave the ship unattended while using your planes.

I have indeed gotten quite a few torp kills on those DDs because their captain isn't in at the moment so to speak. 😅

The line I personally don't find great to use would be the middle tier Russian DDs. The torpedo range is so bad until T8 and you go without the heals for most of the line.

[__Helmut_Kohl__]

28 minutes ago, Kynami said:

I have indeed gotten quite a few torp kills on those DDs because their captain isn't in at the moment so to speak. 😅

 

Well, the planes are best used to spot enemy DDs, but that is often danger close. 😄

Edited November 22, 2023 by __Helmut_Kohl__

[tocqueville8]

8 hours ago, OldSchoolGaming_Youtube said:

I have some videos on Haru on my channel. I play it like I play Sherman, long range (16 km) smoke farmer. Only try and cap late game is necessary.

But Sherman has hydro. I always get torped in my smoke (or outside of it: the mind-reading is real, and not that hard with RPF...) and Harugumo doesn't quite have the Sherman's ballistics for open-watering...

Yet for some reason I have no issue with the Kita. Maybe it's the T10 MM...

[ArIskandir]

38 minutes ago, tocqueville8 said:

Yet for some reason I have no issue with the Kita. Maybe it's the T10 MM...

You know, to some degree I had a similar issue with Kita... they are just too clumsy. 

 

[Daniel_Allan_Clark]

For me, the hardest is the IJN torp line.

I just don't enjoy the slow reloads on the torpedoes or sailing in full concealment for most of the match...like chalk screeching in my ears.

Give me a gunboat anyday.

[OldSchoolGaming_Youtube]

15 hours ago, tocqueville8 said:

But Sherman has hydro. I always get torped in my smoke (or outside of it: the mind-reading is real, and not that hard with RPF...) and Harugumo doesn't quite have the Sherman's ballistics for open-watering...

Yet for some reason I have no issue with the Kita. Maybe it's the T10 MM...

I think its down to at what moment you smokefarm. I would never do it at start when all DDs push into the caps, then I play more passive, taking pot shots at already engaged BBs from 14-15 km while I support the more limbal better concealed DDs contesting the cap.

But after that first engagement the enemy DDs usually go for next cap or have already died, then its more safe to smoke up and farm. I usually position myself in the smoke to show as narrow profile to where I think any DDs might be and then I always more back and forth using right click every other second to continue to land shell while also keeping me inside the smoke.

But both Haru and Kita are clumsy A-F. So there are no guarantees. 

When it comes to open watering I think it works great on bow tanking BBs or BB pushing or reversing at 14-15 km and its still pretty easy to speed dodge any random incoming salvo. More faster ships is a struggle tho.

Also with those lofty shells and that range you can play it the same you can play Wooster or Marceau, just sit behind an short island and melt BBs down from concealment and perfect safety from torps.

Hares my take on the playstyle:

Spoiler

 

 

That said I usually prefer Kita over Haru since I think its almost the same ship and you get better MM with it.

Also getting Kraken with Yamamoto turns Kita and Aki into a massive Minigun, and that happens now and then.

I also LOVE the Akizuki at T8, such a strong ship at that tier. Thats why im so pleased with that certain line being the most efficient to re-grind for RB points. I usually free XP the lower tiers each re-grind and then I just play Aki-Haru and with boosters you can usually finish one tier each sitting.

Also this is what happens when the DD Hunter/Killer cruiser Atlanta picks a fight with a Akizuki.

 

Edited November 23, 2023 by OldSchoolGaming_Youtube