Your top 5 premiums/freemiums

[Itwastuesday]

With whatever reasoning. What you like, what you think is strong, historical, cool, your best performer, whatever! Discussion about ships encouraged too. I feel like we don't talk much about ships here. 

Mine :

1, Prinz Eugen. It's lean, mean, got armor, got heal, punchy ap, yolo torpedoes, cxp boost and it existed. Looks nice too. Citadeled Tirpitz with it once. Very fun to play. 

2, Kidd. It's the destroyer, the one that most keenly focuses on destroyer duties and teamwork, and excels at them (save for possibly ones that I don't have and Daring). 

3, Roma. Looks great with normal or beer can camo, makes money, has no stupid gimmicks. It's stealthy, fast(ish), has fast turret traverse and great shell velocity, decent penetration, armored for business. 

4, Asashio. It's just so strong at it's primary job. For the times you really get angry about battleship players, it is the remedy. 

5. Wichita. It's a Baltimore that didn't eat all the cheetos, and I feel it's better at a roaming playstyle. Looks great too like most american ships. 

[palestreamer]

Okhotnik. The only premium ship, won in a container, that I actually play regularly. It vomits out torps, so always the go-to ship for torp missions, which can easily be knocked off in co-op. Also good for torp spotting missions as you have to get close to put out the short range torps.

G. Kurfurst. The monster reward harvester of assymetric. Also good for the secondary missions with Lutjens in command.

Iwami for randoms. Easy to play, sails and turns well, hard-hitting, good long range torps.

Agir for cruiser missions. Tough, hard-hitting, although a little sluggish.

Lazo. For some reason I have an 85% win rate in 20 random games with this. A real fast shooter, although fragile.

[Verblonde]

You'll probably get a different answer tomorrow, but for today (in no particular order):

• All manner of Atagos (including both Mayae): the original premium, if memory serves. Great combination of decent guns, hefty torps (with at least one set having better arcs than the tech tree equivalent), hydro, and a healing potion. Mine all live in PvE most of the time, but are great fun, and totally worth the price of admission.
• Orkan: healing DD with radar; has supplanted both Kidd and Lo Yangs as my go-to for T8 Ranked. Decent dakka, and - surprisingly - the radar still comes as an unpleasant surprise to a lot of opponents.
• Kamikazes/Fujin: last I checked, my WR was better in the tech tree equivalent, but these things are still glorious (provided you don't get CVed, and I withdrew from Randoms when submarines were added, so can't comment there). 5.4 km sneakiness, and the rapidly reloading torps are always pretty fearsome. Don't play mine as much as I might, as too much of that kind of thing results in you going to hell...
• Harekaze: the OG one, not the distressing Mk 2. Sneaky little blighter, decent torps, and something like 3/4 of the dakka of an Aki - what's not to like?! Bonus points for the ludicrous cat permaflage.
• Any one of Cossacks, Kidd, Lo Yangs, Neustra, or Smaland - all great fun in Ranked. If I had to pick one, it might be Neustra - ludicrous heal, reasonably sneaky, and 'good enough' everything else.

[Justin_Simpleton]

Viribus Unitis, my first Super Container drop, always brings home the bacon.  Since I like foward-turrent ships, Nelson, Duquesne and Lenin are always my favorites.  The Z-44 is feeling pretty comfortable, and Tirpitz is pretty reliable.

[OldSchoolGaming_Youtube]

Good initiative!
 

My 5 would be:

1. Asashio - The OG. Imho the strongest Premium in the entire game (if you know how to play IJN torp DDs). Cant count the number of 200 K and Kraken games I gotten in this ship. Gotten 2 of my 3 Solo Warriors in it. Shits on T10´s and would Shit on T11´s if it had the chance. People often say "But what do you do if you only get a couple of BBs in the match?" Well, then you dev strike those BBs, Kill the CV and grab a couple of caps while you help gun down some DDs and cruisers.

2. Missouri - Mostly historical reasons, but also quite good at T9 with broken eco boost and a radar which still surprise a whole lot of players.

3. Vampire II - Recent purchased but quickly becoming my favorit gun DD in the game. Just OP with that DPM, fire chance, crawling smoke and hydro. I puff my way to Victory!

4. Sherman - Before I got Vampire this was my favorite gunboat DD. Built if for range so I get 15-16 km range on devastating DPM of HE and SAP that could get an entire enemy flank to start turning around. NOBODY wants to be detected in range of an angry Sherman. And if you get Confederate with Halsey this already insane DPM transforms into Miniguns from Hell!

5. Smolensk - Sorry, just have to include it! Most broken OP premium they released. Thank god they nerfed the range because when I ran range build I just burned down poor BBs hiding behind tall islands 18 km away. Great ship when you need to carry 4-5 bots in Random to a win. Its the "One man army".

 

Honorary mentions: 

Kamikaze R - The OG "I dont give a fook bote". Kille entire world with torp soup Deluxe and then marry the prom queen. Can get over 200 000 damage games in this little T5 gem.

Marceau - Hard to learn to lead with those lofty arcs, but when you do its a monster. Can push in to caps late game and devastate DDs and other ships with guns and torps.

Jean Bart - Just pure fun and after Missouri probably the best moneymaker.

U 4501 - Just a fun Sub if you wanna troll the heck out of the server an evening.

Napoli Secondary specced (of course....) - Read above

Kidd - A Cap contesting work horse. Take a knife fight with enemy DD in cap, go dark, cap heal up, go to next cap, Take a knife fight with enemy DD in cap, go dark, cap heal up, go to next cap, Take a knife fight with enemy DD in cap, go dark, cap heal up, go to next cap, Take a knife fight with enemy DD in cap, go dark, cap heal up, go to next cap, 

 

 

 

Edited May 3 by OldSchoolGaming_Youtube

[Type_93]

1. Napoli. Cuz it’s one of the best cruisers in game. 
2. Marceau. Very good gun boat. 
3. Kamikaze. Best DD at its tier. 
4. Iwami. Very good BB at tier. 
5. Moskva . Very good for competitive play. 

[mashed68]

1- Massachusettes. OP

2- Napoli. OP

3- Weimar- The first light cruiser I've ever liked. Got in a crate, proceded to do excellent in ranked with it. 

4- Scharnhorst. Just a fun boat. 

5- 3 way tie between Tirpitz, Toulon, and Rio de Janeiro because those are the only premiums I have left that I enjoy from time to time. 

 

[Silence_CN]

Interersting question because I think the answer would probably  - and mainly - depend on how you consider the game.
Do you really play to win all the time or do you also play for fun ?

Ships might be VERY different according to your goal.
And to your mood of the day too...

As for me, I tend to try and win, but I never forget the fun (am not good enough anyway to be good with every all ships 😁)
So, not in a specific order and with my mood of the day :

- Sims (got both version : a real dancer)
- Ferruccio (very interesting ship imho)
- Maestrale (a little monster)
- Jäger (self explains)
- Shchors (no armour but great guns)
 

But the limitation at 5 ships is a handicap. 🙂 
There should be many more of course.

 

 

 

[Admiral_Karasu]

Uhm.

(I plan to get back to this later on...)

[Wrath_of_Deadguy]

Salem - Take all that glorious Des Moines 203mm American Piercing dakka, add superheal, cackle with glee.

Napoli - Memes, armor, and speed- what's not to love?

Sims - The DD that dances.

Wichita - Like a Baltimore that got into track and field.

Massachusetts - My go-to "chill out and cruise" ship.

 

...and another five, for reasons:

Alaska - Like a Baltimore that got into bodybuilding.

Prinz Eugen - Just a good, well-rounded, tanky, utilitarian brick of a cruiser.

Atlanta - Dakkadakkadakkadakkadakkadakka...

Forrest Sherman - ...dakkadakkadakkadakkadakka...

San Diego - ...dakkadakkadakkadakkadakka!

 

[Wolfswetpaws]

1 hour ago, Itwastuesday said:

With whatever reasoning. What you like, what you think is strong, historical, cool, your best performer, whatever! Discussion about ships encouraged too. I feel like we don't talk much about ships here. 

Mine :

1, Prinz Eugen. It's lean, mean, got armor, got heal, punchy ap, yolo torpedoes, cxp boost and it existed. Looks nice too. Citadeled Tirpitz with it once. Very fun to play. 

2, Kidd. It's the destroyer, the one that most keenly focuses on destroyer duties and teamwork, and excels at them (save for possibly ones that I don't have and Daring). 

3, Roma. Looks great with normal or beer can camo, makes money, has no stupid gimmicks. It's stealthy, fast(ish), has fast turret traverse and great shell velocity, decent penetration, armored for business. 

4, Asashio. It's just so strong at it's primary job. For the times you really get angry about battleship players, it is the remedy. 

5. Wichita. It's a Baltimore that didn't eat all the cheetos, and I feel it's better at a roaming playstyle. Looks great too like most american ships. 

Fun topic.  🙂 

I like too many to narrow-down my list to just five.  🙂 

[Frostbow]

Why limit ourselves to just five? Man, this is a very hard question already! 😄

Atlanta 
When I saw how easy it was to top Narai with this light cruiser, I got hold of one and has never looked back. Before the Operations rework, this ship with the appropriate signals can bring 35,000 to 40,000 Free XP per Narai run. And even after the economy rework, a single blue FXP booster can still generate a reasonable and decent amount of Free XP.

Azuma 
They said not to get it because it is boring. I used my Free XP to get one because the ship is simply beautiful. And she's been very kind to me ever since. 

Jean Bart 
I can still vividly remember the CVs that her reload booster sunk. Pelts on the Wall, they all are.

Salem 
Auto loading 203mm guns with better heal. Perfect for Co-op.

Napoli 
Borderline overpowered cruiser. Even Don Vito Corleone agrees.

[Daniel_Allan_Clark]

Mikasa, the most fun ship to play that is classic World of Warships.

Hilariously OP, but not game breaking.

Ark Royal, very historical...and a specialist at attacking light ships.

[yss_turtleship]

Kidd-Great at doing DD things in around cap.My first Premium that I got exclusively for when CB played tier VIII.
Cossack-The antivenom to Kidd. Received as a gift from Capt_of_Satisfaction, may he rest in peace.  He's always in my thoughts when I think and play this ship.
Marceau-While her guns are lofty, she's the dakka queen!
Napoli-Keeps those pesky DDs at bay while still being able to do some tanking.
Atlanta-I see rainbows when the guns are shooting!

For those very few who didn't know Capt_of_Satisfaction:

https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/legacyremembers/rand-herron-obituary?id=53264833

Edited May 3 by yss_turtleship
Capt_of_Satisfaction

[Silence_CN]

41 minutes ago, Frostbow said:

Azuma 
They said not to get it because it is boring. I used my Free XP to get one because the ship is simply beautiful. And she's been very kind to me ever since. 

Very true 🙂
(and a good money maker 😛 )

 

[Jakeshuffle]

1 - Black

2- Smaland

3- Karl XIV Johan

4- Napoli

5 - Cossack

6- BLACK

 

My reasoning is based on fun factor and I'm okay-ish at the ships.

Edited May 3 by Jakeshuffle

[Darlith]

Napoli - I play PvE modes and the secondaries are easy to get into action. Just so much fun letting the secondaries chew up one ship, while the main guns smack another      and the torps toddle their way into a third.

Yoshino - For some reason I just love the guns on these, and after the Napoli are my next highest damage ship I have played enough for it to matter

Salem - I love the American heavy cruiser guns, so on a premium with a big ol heal, what's not to love.

Graf Spee - I had bought this back in the day to play in ops when there were still t6 only and heal capable cruisers were very rare instead of only uncommon. I loved the torp angles on it, how different the guns are from the other cruisers. I like it because it is different and still enjoy it.

Fifth is a hard one, I am considering Schroder, Alaska, Somme, Mainz, Bayard, PE Freidrich, Okhotnik, and Vampire for various reasons

Schroder its secondaries are fun, but not as fun a ship as Napoli for lack of torps and smoke

Alaska is a hard hitter, but lack of torps and inconsitancies in Co-op of getting the angles to really nail bots make it less satisfying then I'd like some matches

Somme just feels like a comfortable mix of guns and torps for co-op

Mainz and Bayard are the same basic feel in many ways, love those light cruiser guns, just haven't played them enough yet

PEF has lovely secondaries and I really do enjoy sailing it close to bots

Okhotnik of course spews torps

Vampire just always felt fun to play but I don't play it much anymore because of events
 

After long consideration I think I have to give slot five to Mainz and Bayard for being ships I likely will play a lot in over time.

 

Even so there are many others I still enjoy or haven't played enough to form a proper opinion on yet. Much easier to point at those I either don't like or feel like aren't worth playing. I don't have the huge fleets many do but still have something like 60 assorted premiums and freemiums to sail around in.

[ArIskandir]

So, my top 5...

5. Prinz Eugen/Atago: Good all-rounder classic Cruisers, they are comfortable to play, durable, flexible... what's there not to like?

4. Gato: Quitaessential assasination machine, the only problem is the dirty feeling of indulging in some nasty nasty deeds. Great for when you don't feel troubled by empathy. 

3. Bearn: Best CV for CV haters. Best CV for DD haters. This is a catharthic experience.

2. Cossack/Kidd: Good ole all-rounder DDs, perfect for all the classic DD roles. Useful even if bottom tiered, can't go wrong when playing them. 

1. D7P: My precious, the best pick ever for a CV Ranked season. No other surface ship can provide such a significant change of play perspective.

[Ensign Cthulhu]

The XP totals speak for themselves: Salem, Smolensk (both over 1.2 million) and Jean Bart (third place with > 900,000) are my most-used premiums by a country mile. Salem is probably the earliest example of a tech-tree ship being cloned (though not precisely in this case) to create a premium that can be accepted out of the gate as balanced. As a mostly co-op player who likes to get in very close, that superheal matters more to me than the DM's better radar, hydro in its own slot and strong unique upgrade. (For PvP and especially competitive PvP, I wouldn't want to pick a fight with anyone who said DM was the better choice.) I got all three for coal.

Kaga/Kaga Black: That near-bottomless torpedo plane reserve (if you don't waste them stupidly) makes this my go-to carrier for bot bashing, CV damage and torpedo-ribbon missions where the choice of ship is not restricted. I tried her out in a play-for-three-days mission offer and fell in love, bought the B version because she was slightly cheaper, then got the vanilla version in a Santa crate afterwards. Or rather I got the vanilla version back, because the XP I had earned on the rental ship years beforehand was still there!

Star Kitakaze takes the fifth spot: not necessarily because of her inherent qualities - she only has access to F3 torps, which can be limiting in PvP - but as someone who only ever kept Harugumo in port for the snowflakes and the resets and prefers the T9 to hose stuff down in co-op and yolo-torp at touching distance, Star Kita lets me reset the IJN gunboats as often as I want and not feel the lack of her tech-tree sister. 

Honourable mention goes to Aquila, another Santa Crate acquisition, which is my favourite tool for farming CV or type-unrestricted citadels and CV rocket hits, particularly when co-op throws a red bot Aquila at me. With a gazillion AP rockets per salvo and the broad side of my Aquila's evil twin to shoot at, citadel hits in the order of a dozen per game are almost guaranteed.

Edited May 3 by Ensign Cthulhu

[a252]

1. Thunderer
2. Smolensk
3. Massachusett
4. Malta
5. Warspite

 

Other boats I would like to talk:

Weimar used to be excellent especially for the "grind day" Narai fxp farming, but since the randomised Ops rework Mainz seems to take Weimar's place.

[aleksi111]

Pretty good guestion...

...hmm

In no particular order, 1st five that come to mind as ships I enjoy taking for a spin more often than not:

• Georgia
• Alaska
• ARP Takao/Maya
• Ægir
• Yoshino

I could name few others, but those what come to mind as ships with playstyle/traits I like

[S7CentNickel]

1.Smolensk

2. Kamikaze

3. Pommern (a lot of PVE with torps if needed, unlike the Masachusett)  Great with secondary Lutjens.

4. Mainz (same as above)

5 toss up - maybe the Marceau or maybe just take another Smolensk

 

[hipcanuck]

I have so many but I'll pick the top 3, in no particular order, simply because I have between 1 and 3 million xp on each of them.

Missouri, the original credit printer. Oddly, I despised the Iowa and did poorly with it.

Kaga. I love my Kaga and love being in T10 matches with it and can regularly pull in 200k damage. It is also my go to Ops ship, Ive been close to 400k damage a few times with it in an Op.

Tirpitz. I so miss the 12v12 Tirpitz matches when it was first released. I think it was the first premium ship? I have fond memories of this ship, including killing a Yamato from full HP with 4 torps and a salvo with a bunch of cits. It suits my play style in a BB which, sadly, doesnt do well in the current campfest that this game has become.

[clammboy]

] Agincourt (Super fun boat 15 guns great secondary's good fire starter and much better AP then given credit for.)

] Massachusetts  (Just an all around good ship easy to play can handle itself when up tiered another fun ship)

] Vladivostok ( You need to get in a little closer but this ship when angled right is very tanky it can take a beating and dish one out as well hard hitting guns.)

] Scharnhorst 43 ( This ship has a lot of fun perks speed boast secondary's fast reloading another fun ship that holds up well when up tiered)

] Genova ( I don't know if this is a good ship but it seems like every time I play the Genova I get a great team and a win so it's on my list lol.)

 

 

Edited May 5 by clammboy

[tocqueville8]

1. Colbert - historical, unique looks, very rewarding. My most-played ship in Ranked and overall.
2. Jean Bart - somewhat historical, my first high-tier freemium. A beast of a ship back then: with no subs, no German BCs and no superships, she could take point near an island and hit broadsides all game. A Petro-before-Petro, trading some of that braindead tankiness for firepower. Broke my damage record 3 times in a few days, still holds my only game with 9 kills.
3. Roma - historical, great to look at, uptiers well with her concealment, shell performance and armor. Very reliable.
4. Hood - historical, fast, pretty tanky. She'd still hold my xp record almost 3.5 years later, if it weren't for subs and their bollocks multiplier...
5. Salem - historical, a powerhouse at mid-range. My first Tier 10 freemium and one I've kept playing ever since.

Edited May 4 by tocqueville8