What's your build? Nelson

[WES_HoundDog]

Wondering what everyone is picking for commander skills for their Nelson.   

     

[Wolfswetpaws]

8 minutes ago, WES_HoundDog said:

Wondering what everyone is picking for commander skills for their Nelson.   

     

Nelson Hull Modules
Damage Control Party 1 (upgrade available for coal)
Damage Control System Modification 1
Secondary Battery Modification 1
Steering Gears Modification 1

Captain's Skills of Commander Azur Lane Nelson (10 skill points).
Preventive Maintenance
Grease the Gears
Long-Range Secondary Battery Shells
Fire Prevention Expert

Camouflage = Azur Lane Nelson camouflage.

[WES_HoundDog]

I was thinking of going with something like this.

 

But i seriously catch on fire  everytime an HE shell hits me.  I mean i have 47% fire chance and i feel like everyone else has the 47% fire chance and i have the 13%.   But anyway even with the super heal, fires seem to be the quickest way to melt me.   So i was thinking maybe..

Or maybe swap out Furious for grease the gears and ASW expert.

 

I just found out I can print screen in game and directly paste to here.   @HogHammer it would be nice if we could crop the photos right on this page as your posting it. 😎 

 

Edited December 4, 2024 by WES_HoundDog

[Itwastuesday]

I'd go for full tank spec. Gun feeder - grease/brisk - AR - FP CE Repairskill - improved repair readiness. Nelson can take catastrophic damage really fast because of the trash hull, but on T7 people run so many Scharnhorsts you can probably tank for ages. 

Do not run demo expert on battleships. 

[Justin_Simpleton]

I've got a 55% winrate on 209 random batttles with this  build.

 

Edited December 4, 2024 by Justin_Simpleton
spelling error

[tocqueville8]

Demolition Expert on the Nelson? No Preventative Maintenance? No Grease the Gears? IFHE? Are you guys even serious?

[Nevermore135]

My standard “British BB with a super heal” build (skills in no particular order):

 

5 hours ago, WES_HoundDog said:

I was thinking of going with something like this.

Demolition expert is a not a good choice. With 46% base fire chance the extra 1% from the skill is practically meaningless. This applies to all BB main battery HE shells (and most CA shells as well, despite what the in-game recommendations suggest), Nelson being just one of the most extreme examples. For BBs, DE should only ever be taken on secondary builds, and even then I’d argue that unless you are taking it to mitigate the penalty from IFHE there are still often better choices.

Nelson benefits the most from either PM or GF for the first skill, and considering you want to switch a lot between HE and AP when appropriate (which applies to most British BBs), GF is IMO the best option.

 

Edited December 4, 2024 by Nevermore135
Changed EL to GF. Even after all this time I still think of it as “Expert Loader”

[Project45_Opytny]

1 hour ago, Justin_Simpleton said:

I've got a 55% winrate on 209 random batttles with this  build.

The entire server population should thank you for voluntarily abstaining from one of the most disliked gameplay feature of British battleships.

[Ensign Cthulhu]

IMHO Preventive Maintenance (or gun feeder if you're often switching shell types), Grease the Gears, Basics of Survivability and Fire Prevention should be your first four. 

 

[Wolfswetpaws]

8 hours ago, WES_HoundDog said:

I was thinking of going with something like this.

 

But i seriously catch on fire  everytime an HE shell hits me.  I mean i have 47% fire chance and i feel like everyone else has the 47% fire chance and i have the 13%.   But anyway even with the super heal, fires seem to be the quickest way to melt me.   So i was thinking maybe..

Or maybe swap out Furious for grease the gears and ASW expert.

 

I just found out I can print screen in game and directly paste to here.   @HogHammer it would be nice if we could crop the photos right on this page as your posting it. 😎 

 

I use Microsoft Paint to edit photos.  You can crop or merely select a small portion to copy/paste, with the Paint program/app.
It comes with the Microsoft Windows operating system, and has enough features to meet most people's image creation/editing needs.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/paint  
 

[Aethervox]

My Nelson has a 10 pt Cpt atm (2 extra pts saved up for next skill - probably a 4 pter). 

 Cpt build: ERS, GtG, BoS & ERE.  Module build: MAM1, DCSM1, ASM1 & DCSM2.

I mount the following historical flags;

[WES_HoundDog]

12 hours ago, Wolfswetpaws said:

I use Microsoft Paint to edit photos.  You can crop or merely select a small portion to copy/paste, with the Paint program/app.
It comes with the Microsoft Windows operating system, and has enough features to meet most people's image creation/editing needs.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/paint  
 

Yeah i normally just paste or upload to the paint that comes standard on windows and do the magic there.   But it was so simple to just paste it here without that step.  That's why i said it would be nice to be able to do the cropping here which is 90% of if anything i do to a picture.

[Wolfswetpaws]

54 minutes ago, WES_HoundDog said:

Yeah i normally just paste or upload to the paint that comes standard on windows and do the magic there.   But it was so simple to just paste it here without that step.  That's why i said it would be nice to be able to do the cropping here which is 90% of if anything i do to a picture.

Personally, I don't see a need for DevStrike to add more features (for handling images).

As you may already know, there is a finite limit to the total amount of data we can upload to DevStrike.
Early on, I hit my limit. 
And while the limit has been increased (which is a welcome quality of life improvement), I've learned how to source images and copy the image address instead of the image itself.
That way, I keep my actual uploads to DevStrike to a minimum.
The next thing for me to do is to get an account with an image hosting site, so that I can upload to that site and then use the image address to call my images uploaded there to be fetched here.
Because I risk hitting my new limit every time I upload something to DevStrike.

Another storage management method would be for me to delete old uploads, such as replays, once they're obsolete because of a new update for WOWs.

[WES_HoundDog]

5 minutes ago, Wolfswetpaws said:

Personally, I don't see a need for DevStrike to add more features (for handling images).

As you may already know, there is a finite limit to the total amount of data we can upload to DevStrike.
Early on, I hit my limit. 
And while the limit has been increased (which is a welcome quality of life improvement), I've learned how to source images and copy the image address instead of the image itself.
That way, I keep my actual uploads to DevStrike to a minimum.
The next thing for me to do is to get an account with an image hosting site, so that I can upload to that site and then use the image address to call my images uploaded there to be fetched here.
Because I risk hitting my new limit every time I upload something to DevStrike.

Another storage management method would be for me to delete old uploads, such as replays, once they're obsolete because of a new update for WOWs.

Personally i think it would be a great qol addition.   I have no clue how hard it would be to add.   I figure cropping is so old now it would practically come standard on any photo loading program or site.  I could be wrong on it being easy to add. 

As for posting a link.  I avoid links on a message board like the plague.

Edited December 5, 2024 by WES_HoundDog

[WES_HoundDog]

18 hours ago, tocqueville8 said:

Demolition Expert on the Nelson? No Preventative Maintenance? No Grease the Gears? IFHE? Are you guys even serious?

There are reasons why someone may take almost anything.   As for Nelson there's a lot that could be used and have an effect.   That's why i made this thread.

Demolition Expert-    Almost every ship i have i slap Demolition Expert on.    Sure the fire chance helps some ships, but it goes on every ship because i hate cancer and the 15% explosion radius on all munitions against subs.  While it might not be the cure for cancer,  it's the next best thing.

 

Preventative Maintenance-  What's your reasoning for this?   Secondary and AA survivability?  I'm not sure my AA or Secondaries surviving 15% more punishment would make anything more than a negligible improvement.  As for the 30% tougher turrets, steering gears, and engine.   I've been playing the nelson pretty hard the last few days and i've never had my rudder or engine get knocked out.   So that leaves my turrets.    Yes on occasion ONE of my turrets would be knocked out,  but that's normally only in a close brawl with another BB of which i really try to avoid in a nelson.

 

Grease the Gears-   the turrets are slow.  I would like to get grease the gears, but positioning, pre aiming and all the guns pointing forward really helps limit the pain of having them turn far.   I see GtG as a nice perk but not a necessity. So if i have points left over it gets a spot, otherwise, its a loss i can deal with.

 

IFHE-  I wouldn't take IFHE.  After my experience accidently putting it on my lion,  never again on a brit BB.   But i know people who do it for turds and giggles to citadel some cruisers or whatnot.     To each their own i guess.

Edited December 5, 2024 by WES_HoundDog

[Wolfswetpaws]

19 minutes ago, WES_HoundDog said:

Personally i think it would be a great qol addition.   I have no clue how hard it would be to add.   I figure cropping is so old now it would practically come standard on any photo loading program or site.  I could be wrong on it being easy to add. 

As for posting a link.  I avoid links on a message board like the plague.

Agree to disagree, then.  🙂 

[tocqueville8]

4 hours ago, WES_HoundDog said:

There are reasons why someone may take almost anything.   As for Nelson there's a lot that could be used and have an effect.   That's why i made this thread.

Demolition Expert-    Almost every ship i have i slap Demolition Expert on.    Sure the fire chance helps some ships, but it goes on every ship because i hate cancer and the 15% explosion radius on all munitions against subs.  While it might not be the cure for cancer,  it's the next best thing.

 

Preventative Maintenance-  What's your reasoning for this?   Secondary and AA survivability?  I'm not sure my AA or Secondaries surviving 15% more punishment would make anything more than a negligible improvement.  As for the 30% tougher turrets, steering gears, and engine.   I've been playing the nelson pretty hard the last few days and i've never had my rudder or engine get knocked out.   So that leaves my turrets.    Yes on occasion ONE of my turrets would be knocked out,  but that's normally only in a close brawl with another BB of which i really try to avoid in a nelson.

 

Grease the Gears-   the turrets are slow.  I would like to get grease the gears, but positioning, pre aiming and all the guns pointing forward really helps limit the pain of having them turn far.   I see GtG as a nice perk but not a necessity. So if i have points left over it gets a spot, otherwise, its a loss i can deal with.

 

IFHE-  I wouldn't take IFHE.  After my experience accidently putting it on my lion,  never again on a brit BB.   But i know people who do it for turds and giggles to citadel some cruisers or whatnot.     To each their own i guess.

1. The bottleneck when trying to damage a surfaced sub is not the explosion radius as much as its ability to dive before the shells reach it, making me waste my salvo altogether. If the guy's battery has run out, he's pretty much a free kill anyway. If I want to buff my ASW in general, the 2-point skill is a much better pick, since it's a straight damage increase and it hits subs when they are below and the least vulnerable (sometimes, when they're not even spotted), which is also the most common situation. Besides, it also helps with the AA and consumables.
2. The benefits of PM to turrets (fairly tanky) and AA (very weak anyway) are marginal, but it still makes you more survivable when a sub lands a torp on your stern or a CV drops you with torps/AP bombs in general. It's matchmaker-dependent, but it's good overall, since you don't have Last Stand nor, usually, the ability to just sit there unspotted and let the engine repair itself. I can see running Gun Feeder instead, but PM is at least the 2nd-best choice: no way I'd take Demo Expert instead of PM.
3. GtG is pointless if all you do is sit nose-in next to an island, which admittedly is how some people are going to play the Nelson, given her turret arrangement. However, your giant, overmatchable nose obviously makes that a bad idea in a lot of cases. You still end up needing the skill if you're playing dynamically: if you kite and have to switch sides to avoid "angle-choking", if a DD tries to rush you and you need to turn hard to dodge his torps, if you have no choice but to brawl/joust, etc.
4. Indeed, IFHE is for "turds and giggles". As I said, it's not a "serious" choice.

Just my opinion, ofc, but I do have over 500 games in the Nelson, and with good results, considering how much less experienced I was back then.

Edited December 5, 2024 by tocqueville8

[Nevermore135]

2 hours ago, tocqueville8 said:

• The bottleneck when trying to damage a surfaced sub is not the explosion radius as much as its ability to dive before the shells reach it, making me waste my salvo altogether. If the guy's battery has run out, he's pretty much a free kill anyway. If I want to buff my ASW in general, the 2-point skill is a much better pick, since it's a straight damage increase and it hits subs when they are below and the least vulnerable (sometimes, when they're not even spotted), which is also the most common situation. Besides, it also helps with the AA and consumables.
• The benefits of PM to turrets (fairly tanky) and AA (very weak anyway) are marginal, but it still makes you more survivable when a sub lands a torp on your stern or a CV drops you with torps/AP bombs in general. It's matchmaker-dependent, but it's good overall, since you don't have Last Stand nor, usually, the ability to just sit there unspotted and let the engine repair itself. I can see running Gun Feeder instead, but PM is at least the 2nd-best choice: no way I'd take Demo Expert instead of PM.

To add to this, the other tier 1 BB skills are fairly mediocre overall.

Incoming fire alert is better suited for cruisers and DDs, as most BBs have limited ability to act on the information given their longer rudder shift times.

Emergency Repair Specialist is IMO a bit of a noob trap, as it seems good on paper and is recommended in-game for lots of builds, but if one does the math the actual reduction in RP and DCP cooldown is very low (2.4s off the standard 80s cooldown).

Consumables specialist has some niche utility on some battleships with special consumables: German BBs with hydro, Japanese CCs that depend heavily on their spotter gimmick (since WG gave them normal Japanese BB dispersion rather than CB/CC dispersion), and French BBs with speed boost/MBRB for example. I also run Jack Dunkirk with his enhanced version on my Warspite to reduce the spotting aircraft cooldown to help mitigate her disappointing range.

As you said, DE’s benefit vs. subs is marginal and there are better choices for skills to improve BB ASW. One also typically doesn’t have the time to switch ammo to fire on a sub when they are spotted before they dive, even with GF, so if one needs to hit a sub with their main battery you typically are just going to fire what’s in the barrels and saturate the sea with air-dropped depth charges.

For the first 1pt skill, I tend to lean towards GF on most BBs, and PM or DE on secondary builds depending on the ship (taking into account base secondaries’ fire chance, if I’ve taken IFHE, and whether the ship has deck-mounted torpedoes). If I have a leftover point at the end of the build I’ll usually pick up either PM or CS.

Edited December 5, 2024 by Nevermore135

[Justin_Simpleton]

7 hours ago, WES_HoundDog said:

There are reasons why someone may take almost anything.   As for Nelson there's a lot that could be used and have an effect.   That's why i made this thread.

Before I got Andrew Cunningham, Jack Dunkirk was the commander I was grinding on the Nelson.  I think I reset his skills a couple of times as I learned more about this game, the impact of the skills, and the addition of gimmicks in the game.  Win rate has always been above 51% and that is excellent for me.  I get used to playing the Nelson the way it is and that's how I know what tactics will work in the given situation.  

Given the two captain builds, which will give me better results?  My presumption is Cunningham gives better performance.

[Pugilistic]

On 12/4/2024 at 2:57 AM, Itwastuesday said:

I'd go for full tank spec. Gun feeder - grease/brisk - AR - FP CE Repairskill - improved repair readiness. Nelson can take catastrophic damage really fast because of the trash hull, but on T7 people run so many Scharnhorsts you can probably tank for ages. 

Do not run demo expert on battleships. 

Tank, tank, and tank. I have alternate builds for some UK BBs with IRPR or IRPR and Furious, but Nelson feels a bit downtier for this. 

[Nevermore135]

4 hours ago, Justin_Simpleton said:

Given the two captain builds, which will give me better results?  My presumption is Cunningham gives better performance.

Of the two - Dunkirk. Not considering the boosted GtG, Cunningham’s three points in DE and IFHE are wasted on Nelson. She doesn’t have the kit for a secondary build and IFHE is sabotaging her great main battery HE. ERE is also very useful on Nelson because she only gets three charges of the super heal, especially if you don’t run FPE (you need to heal through the extra fire damage).

Edited December 5, 2024 by Nevermore135

[WES_HoundDog]

7 hours ago, Pugilistic said:

Tank, tank, and tank. I have alternate builds for some UK BBs with IRPR or IRPR and Furious, but Nelson feels a bit downtier for this. 

I have been running out of heals and getting it back up quicker would be really nice.  But it just feels like my available healing amount just won't be there to make much use out of that extra heal.  I might only get 50% use out of it on most battles and that's after taking lots of fire damage and no citadels.  Thats why ERE is not considered by me.   Let alone the fact that i don't think i've seen a battle i've broken 2 mill tanked.   So that's why IRPR  is out  as well.

Edited December 5, 2024 by WES_HoundDog

[WES_HoundDog]

14 hours ago, tocqueville8 said:

1. The bottleneck when trying to damage a surfaced sub is not the explosion radius as much as its ability to dive before the shells reach it, making me waste my salvo altogether. If the guy's battery has run out, he's pretty much a free kill anyway. If I want to buff my ASW in general, the 2-point skill is a much better pick, since it's a straight damage increase and it hits subs when they are below and the least vulnerable (sometimes, when they're not even spotted), which is also the most common situation. Besides, it also helps with the AA and consumables.

Lots of times i shoot at a sub before he's even at a depth i can hit him and smack him before he surfaces and even sees what the hell hit him.      The difference i've noticed in not having DE and having DE is almost 100% more damage.    Particularly in the AP realm which i commonly have in the barrels as a 16 inch tier 7 bb.       Being able to smack a sub for 10k instead of 5k then dropping some well placed depth charges can be the difference from killing a sub and having him disappear with a few thousand health left.    And that few thousand health very often translates into that sub doing 50% of full health damage to me or an ally.  Or him just wreaking my entire game from then on.     There is not one tier 1 ability that has anywhere near that kind of impact let alone consistent impact on a match.

Edited December 6, 2024 by WES_HoundDog