How to play with Halford?!

[WildWind84]

OK. let's be honest. I was start to play dds, still learn, have some lines TX BUT - honestly I can properly play dd in t6 (ok, Cossack and z-23 in T8). Just got from free battlepass container Halford, a dd with rocket planes. I am not CV player (have Chkalov from crates), from hibrid ships have Ise (also from crates) and played her 2-3 times and that isn't for me. 

I was try to play in coop Halford, but I can't even understand how I supposed to play that ship? Can anyone help me to understand? Thank you all 🙂

[Gaelic_knight]

i just play it like fletcher  and rarely use the plane .

[WildWind84]

24 minutes ago, Gaelic_knight said:

i just play it like fletcher  and rarely use the plane .

Thanks mate 👍

[Wrath_of_Deadguy]

Hybrids are pretty severely handicapped in Co-op. In an average match, you'll be stuck in before your planes are even off cooldown, and launching them would be a death sentence. If you hide your ship to launch planes safely, you're giving up all the damage you could be doing with guns and torps for maybe two strikes (more likely just one), which put together won't add up to the damage you could do with one torpedo spread. Spotting isn't that big a deal against bots, which will mostly charge right at you and only really "hide" when a pathfinding error gets them stuck behind an island, so that advantage is gone too. The planes on hybrids are mostly only useful when you've cleared your lane, but there's a bot or two left on the other side of the map, too far away for you to get your other weapons into range before they're dead.

And without the planes, Halford's other armaments are roughly equivalent to a T7.

But I still want one, because I have all of the other Fletchers in-game, and I can't stand leaving the set incomplete.

[tocqueville8]

She makes no sense in Coop, where all you want is speed and firepower: Fletcher would be much better there.

I'll get her in a few days, but my understanding is that she plays like a more cautious Fletcher than will launch planes to spot, finish off low-hp targets or just permafire people.

[MidnightPhoenix07]

1 hour ago, tocqueville8 said:

She makes no sense in Coop, where all you want is speed and firepower: Fletcher would be much better there.

In co-op, absolutely. You lose a gun and torp rack (both of which are very useful in co-op) to get a plane (that you’ll basically never use, unless you fly over to the other flank for some chip damage after clearing your own).

And even in randoms, Fletcher IMO is still the better choice. In addition to losing the gun and torp launcher, the hybrid play style doesn’t work as well in a destroyer as it does in a cruiser or especially battleship. If you ignore the plane and play like a normal DD, you’re just a gimped Fletcher. If you use the plane gimmick, you either play close to objectives like normal DDs and risk getting rushed and killed while flying, or you stay back to avoid that but take a DD “away” from your team.

Personally, I think Tromp’s airstrike works better for a “destroyer with planes” play style than Halford’s Tiny Tims. You lose the spotting ability and the opportunities to reach out and touch distant ships, but you also don’t lose manual control of a ship that should be out front and can quickly and easily die when spotted. It works for battleships, and can work for cruisers, but not as much for squishy destroyers. 

[invicta2012]

Like a DD, until your position is secure. Then bash one of the bigger enemy ships with your planes. Then go back to playing like a DD. Those rockets do hit hard, just use them when appropriate and you have no other easier striking options. Remember that Capping does get you XP in PVE games, so you can park up to take a cap and, in the meantime send those planes out to do something useful.

[WildWind84]

Thank you all 🙂 Coop was just to try him, but usually I play in random or ranked. Thanks for all advices 🙂 

[tocqueville8]

1 hour ago, MidnightPhoenix07 said:

Personally, I think Tromp’s airstrike works better for a “destroyer with planes” play style than Halford’s Tiny Tims.

There's also the fact that Tromp can trade propulsion mod for -20% reload on those planes, while Halford only -5% iirc. And you'll use the gimmick about twice as often.

Still, Halford was a real ship, so I'll get her and give her a try.