What 'mid-tier' ships are your 'go-to' ships... and why?

[Guest]

HMS Warspite

I have always considered "low tier" to be T VII and lower as a player, as tier VIII is sort of the golden mean for many players (for philosophy the best [moral] middle ground between two extremes). I was recently chastised, no make that corrected, with this:

Low tier = Tier 1 through Tier 4
Mid tier = Tier 5 through Tier 7
High tier = Tier 8 through Superships.

So, my mid tier go-to ships 5 to 7: I always bring on the tier V Giulio Caesara and Agincourt for good old fashioned tier V fun, along with IJN DD Minekaza. And for tier VI the Grand Old Lady Warspite my 'go-to' for her guns, and turn on a dime handling. The tier VI subs I play daily, all three from the U.S., German, and IJN lines. Best subs to play at start with the learning-curve involved. For tier VII I have a recent Santa gift Tashkent '39 DD and it's a hoot in Operations. Special mention to the tier VII Belfast as well for sheer unique play. But tier VII IJN Nagato gets special mention as a favourite brawler. 55% WR and 335 battles, one of my best BBs all round. I used to really like the Hood for her rocket AA but the WR just didn't add up finally. IJN BB Hyuga is a beauty as well at this tier.

Tier VII seems to be the unsung hero of lower--sorry mid-tiers--just an impression. Your comments on this and favourite mid-tier ships, and why?

 

 

Edited December 27, 2024 by Stauffenberg44

[Wolfswetpaws]

It depends upon what I'm trying to accomplish.

If all my missions are accomplished, I've gotten my 3 daily crates, and I'm playing just for fun, then I have several ships to choose from.

DD?  The Minekaze and the Hill at Tier-5, and the Hatsuharu at Tier-6, come to mind. 
At Tier-7 the choices are more diverse, but the Yuudachi gives me an excuse to spam "Poi!" in chat.  🙂 

Cruiser?  The Atlanta, the Flint and the Chumphon are fun as "pew-pew-pew" ships.
I also have a fondness for the Canarias, because of her connection with the Bismarck and the search for survivors of Bismarck's sinking.

BB?  The Kongo is fast enough to get me into trouble, at Tier-5, and she reminds me of the Kancolle Kongou and her "Burning Love!" voice-line.  🙂 
Also at Tier-5, I like the Bretagne with a secondary-battery build.  She's slow, yes.  But, if she can get within 7 km, the fun begins.
At Tier-6, I'm fond of the Mutsu and the Ise.
At Tier-7 my options seem to be increasing, because my Fleet has grown over the years, but I still have fond memories of sailing the Nagato in scenario operations.

CV?  At Tier-6 I can have fun in all of them, but I've pulled some shennanigans with the Furious and the Weser and the Erich Loewenhart and the Ark Royal.

Submarine?  At Tier-6, I like the U-69 and the VI Xin Zhong Guo 14 .  Definitely different flavors, but each has their virtues, vices and quirks.

Of course, these are merely the figurative tips of the iceberg.
With over 460 ships in my Port, many of them or their Captains have been the subject of creative-writing posts in another topic here on the forum and on the old forum.
 

[Guest]

26 minutes ago, Wolfswetpaws said:

Submarine?  At Tier-6, I like the U-69 and the VI Xin Zhong Guo 14 .  Definitely different flavors, but each has their virtues, vices and quirks.

I want this boat (Xin Zhong). 🙂 (no green with envy emote). And the U-69 is the best of tier VI subs IMO.

26 minutes ago, Wolfswetpaws said:

At Tier-6, I'm fond of the Mutsu and the Ise

Yes the Mutsu is great, and surprising how often those slow torps can make the day.

Edited December 27, 2024 by Stauffenberg44

[Wolfswetpaws]

2 minutes ago, Stauffenberg44 said:

I want this boat. 🙂 (no green with envy emote)

Yes the Mutsu is great, and surprising how often those slow torps can make the day.

🙂👍

[Itwastuesday]

Hood, good gimmick AP, fast, bunch of HP, just good overall with nothing too un-battleshiplike going on. Never got it to detonate, though. 

Nueve de Julio, the war crime ship, Helena guns are fun to use even nerfed and healing on these low T cruisers is very good. 

Z-39, one of the very few boats I bought with actual money. Remains decent even to this day, though I probably prefer Huron or Stord 404 these days. 

[clammboy]

 Since I really never grind for things my first 5 Battles are almost always in the same ships and in the same order.

Tier 5 Agincourt one of my favorite ships to play very strong lots of guns crazy secondaries.

Tier 6 Normande another ship with lots of fire power and she has 20k range which is nice for tier 6

Tier 7 Hyuga A fun ship with lots of guns and reload booster as well. Then tier 7 Scharnhorst 43 love this ship she fits the way I like to play good Secondiers, torps, rapid reload.

Tier 5 Genova because somehow in 42 games I have a 66% win rate and no matter how bad I play I always seem to win. She is my good luck and go to ship when I'm on one of those nasty losing streaks.

Tier 6 Graph Spee I play her like a BB or battle cruiser and do pretty well with her.

 

Edited December 27, 2024 by clammboy

[Frostbow]

For Random Battles:
Warspite
Repulse

For Operations:
Leander
Fiji
Helena

[aleksi111]

Non exhaustive list in no particular order

• Buddyonny
• Renown '44
• Duca degli Abruzzi
• Leander
• T-61
• Kamikaze R
• Kirov
• Sims
• Novorossiya
• Maya

[Ensign Cthulhu]

13 hours ago, Stauffenberg44 said:

I was recently chastised, no make that corrected, with this:

Low tier = Tier 1 through Tier 4
Mid tier = Tier 5 through Tier 7
High tier = Tier 8 through Superships.

I'm sure if you asked where high tier begins, the majority of replies would be 8 or 9. Before superships, it would unequivocally have been 8.

There is an argument to be made for Tier 9, since superships behave for purposes outside of matchmaking as Tier 11 (e.g. calculation bonus for the Survivability Expert skill), and Tier 9 is the lowest tier that can normally "see" supers. However, Tier 10 is the highest tier that actually requires a formal research grind - superships unlock immediately once the T10 is researched - and its matchmaker spread extends down to Tier 8, so I feel that regarding Tier 8 as the start of high tier is correct. It's also the tier at which access to the three most important permanent campaigns starts.

[tocqueville8]

Years ago, when Tiers 6-7 were actually my highest, mostly Dunkerque, Nelson and Blyskawica. More recently: Ise, Indianapolis, Agincourt, Hood, Duca d'Aosta, Duca degli Abruzzi...

Honestly, though, by now by game distribution has been skewed so much towards Tier 10 that Tier 8 is literally my average one, so I suppose I would have to say Roma, Alabama, Atago, Asashio, etc.

[UnderTheRadarAgain]

Leander used to be my mid tier go to ship for operations. My main game mode is operations.

Then wargaming decided to smash her with the nerf hammer. 2 rounds of nerf smashing and now she is languishing as a port queen. My theory is the nerfs were done to make the upcoming (at the time) Pan American cruiser line attractive. They were successful as not only is the T6 pan am ship more fun, so too is the T5. I miss the old Leander. Her reload used to be 7.5 seconds.

ps. Fiji too was neutered for the same reason. Just not to the same extent.

Edited December 27, 2024 by UnderTheRadarAgain

[Arcus_Aesopi]

When first building a fleet, I think the most effective ship line is German.  With Gunther Lutgens, the whole line of premiums benefits from his Unique Commander skills.

Before the economy rework, also having a couple of the "big earners" was nice as well.

Other than that folks have covered a lot of the good ones above.  Once you have a lot of ships, the mission goals tend to determine what you use.

[Utt_Bugglier]

Tier 5: Giulio Cesare, hands-down. I have and like Agincourt, but it has never supplanted GC.

Nicholas, when I have to do DD things. (Alas, I lack a Kami/Fujin family representative)

Tier 6: Arizona, WV41. Sometimes Warspite.

Farragut/T-61 for DD duty.

Tier 7: For randoms, WV44. For Ranked, Heinrich; it’s guns make me favor it over Scharnhorst 43.

Sims for DD.

For some years, I had not had a T7 BB I really liked for Ranked, ever since the original Scharnhorst was power-crept. (largely by Sinop). The arrival of Heinrich and Scharnhorst 43 filled a great void in that regard. The Sinop itself is too immobile and “stiff” for me to enjoy; I have yet to try the new Sino-Sinop.

[mashed68]

Tier 5: Agincourt or Rio de Janeiro

Tier 6: Always been Bayern, but I recently picked up Warspite and will see how it goes

Tier 7: So many more choices I enjoy here. West Virgina 44, Scharnhorst 43, Weimar, and now Lugdunum. 

[Rhamses05]

Kamikaze/fujin or GC for sure. Very fun botes (obviously)

[djc_499]

Tier V - Gremyashchy

Tier VI - T-61 & HSF Graf Spee

Tier VII - Scharnhorst

You will see me in one or more of these every morning at 4:15 am

[Aethervox]

I don't really have any 'go to' ships at T5 - T7. It is more I have some ships in these tiers that I do better with (for who knows what reason).

NA: T5 Kotovsky, Konigsberg, T6 Devonshire, Graf Spee & Gallant, T7 Gneisenau & Maas

EU: T5 ARP Kirishima, Emile Bertin, ARP Kongo, Montecuccoli, Chunking & Konigsberg 

       T6 Gnevny, Andrea Doria, HSF Graf Spee, Hobart & Bayern

       T7 ARP Nachi, Mahan, La Galissonniere & ARP Haguro

The only two common ships from these lists are the T5 Konigsberg & the T6 Graf Spee/HSF Graf Spee. I suppose these should be my 'go to' ships 😁

Edited December 27, 2024 by Aethervox

[palestreamer]

Here are my top 10 t5-t7 ships, minimum of 20 randoms games played.

For some reason I really love Omaha, a great little blaster.

 

 

Edited December 27, 2024 by palestreamer

[Utt_Bugglier]

51 minutes ago, djc_499 said:

Tier VI - T-61 & HSF Graf Spee

I don’t CA in T6 very often, but when I do, it’s always Graf Spee.

Stay “made in German,” my friends!

[Verblonde]

It rather depends on what mode I'm playing:

PvP: I almost always play DDs against real people, so in mid-tiers that usually means one of the Kamis (and hope for no CV), Haida, or Z-39/T-61. Shininomes too. As to why, I usually like to play with the vision mechanics, either by being very sneaky, or having some vision tool like hydro (yay for both); premium economy and access to 21 point captains help too.

Coop: Fast(ish) torp cruisers are my favourites here, unless I'm doing a mission that wants something else. Premium Myoko clones, Maya, and Munchens are all current favourites. The combination of decent guns, and torps, plus the ability to use them before the DDs kill everything is very helpful.

Ops/Asym: I have a horrible habit of getting sunk embarrassingly early in these modes, so plenty of hp is good, along with healing potions, plus secondaries to draw my attention to whatever I didn't notice has got close to me. This means BBs usually (although it's quite rare that I play mid tiers in these modes), especially with torps: Scharns (either flavour), and AL Prinz Heinrich (regular PH is fine too, but I can put a 21 pointer on the premium) are obvious picks for me.

[mashed68]

5 hours ago, mashed68 said:

Tier 5: Agincourt or Rio de Janeiro

Tier 6: Always been Bayern, but I recently picked up Warspite and will see how it goes

Tier 7: So many more choices I enjoy here. West Virgina 44, Scharnhorst 43, Weimar, and now Lugdunum. 

So I just realized the question posed included a "why" 

Agincourt- Lots of guns. Secondary brawler. 

Rio- the long range version of agin, in case I don't want to brawl or need fires/incapcitations

Bayern- the OG brick. Shoot me, I don't care and neither does my armor. Guns work good too. Charge em down and blow em up.  

WV44- Secondaries, 40 sec reload on heals, brawler

Scharnhorst 43- Secondaries. Torps. Armor. Brawler

Weimar- Armor works better then most CL's. Guns don't need IFHE. Torps. Spotter plane. Hydro. Speed boost, oh my! 

Lugdunum- Lots of guns. Secondary brawler.

Edited December 27, 2024 by mashed68

[Guest]

3 hours ago, mashed68 said:

So I just realized the question posed included a "why" 

Agincourt- Lots of guns. Secondary brawler. 

Rio- the long range version of agin, in case I don't want to brawl or need fires/incapcitations

Bayern- the OG brick. Shoot me, I don't care and neither does my armor. Guns work good too. Charge em down and blow em up.  

WV44- Secondaries, 40 sec reload on heals, brawler

Scharnhorst 43- Secondaries. Torps. Armor. Brawler

Weimar- Armor works better then most CL's. Guns don't need IFHE. Torps. Spotter plane. Hydro. Speed boost, oh my! 

Lugdunum- Lots of guns. Secondary brawler.

I like the cut of your jib. Agincourt, Rio de Janero and Bayern are all solid damage-dealing bricks. Add the GC and you have  my morning starters most days.

[Ensign Cthulhu]

6 hours ago, palestreamer said:

For some reason I really love Omaha, a great little blaster.

Agreed.

The thing I ABSOLUTELY HATE about ALL the premium Omahas (I don't have the Rattlehead, but IIRC she's another Marblehead clone) is that they lack the two sets of torp tubes per side. As a co-op player, I get so much use out of the extra set it isn't funny. 

[Sumseaman]

Erik Lowenhadrt, Ark Royal and Xin Zhong Gou. They are simply everyone's favourites.

[AncalagonTheWyrm]

On 12/27/2024 at 1:12 AM, Stauffenberg44 said:

HMS Warspite

I have always considered "low tier" to be T VII and lower as a player, as tier VIII is sort of the golden mean for many players (for philosophy the best [moral] middle ground between two extremes). I was recently chastised, no make that corrected, with this:

Low tier = Tier 1 through Tier 4
Mid tier = Tier 5 through Tier 7
High tier = Tier 8 through Superships.

So, my mid tier go-to ships 5 to 7: I always bring on the tier V Giulio Caesara and Agincourt for good old fashioned tier V fun, along with IJN DD Minekaza. And for tier VI the Grand Old Lady Warspite my 'go-to' for her guns, and turn on a dime handling. The tier VI subs I play daily, all three from the U.S., German, and IJN lines. Best subs to play at start with the learning-curve involved. For tier VII I have a recent Santa gift Tashkent '39 DD and it's a hoot in Operations. Special mention to the tier VII Belfast as well for sheer unique play. But tier VII IJN Nagato gets special mention as a favourite brawler. 55% WR and 335 battles, one of my best BBs all round. I used to really like the Hood for her rocket AA but the WR just didn't add up finally. IJN BB Hyuga is a beauty as well at this tier.

Tier VII seems to be the unsung hero of lower--sorry mid-tiers--just an impression. Your comments on this and favourite mid-tier ships, and why?

 

 

Duke of York, because hydro. I play her as basically a German brawling battleship except with no secondaries.

As well as anything and everything German, especially since I began focusing on Asymmetrical battles. And Blysckawica.