4th Level Skill on Scharnhorst.

[gillhunter]

DE or AFT? Thanks for your input.

[MexicanPanda]

 

This is actually the second time in a week I've answered this, but the answer is, which ever floats your goat. I personally went with AFT since I rarely use HE and I love getting closer to hit the enemy with my sword, but pick which ever you think will benefit you more.

[DerKrampus]

I took the other tack.  I took DE, so that I could pester distant BBs (or angled BBs) more effectively.  I figure I'm far more likely to do damage with fires than I am to tear something up with my secondaries.

 

Then again, that's a dedicated Scharnhorst captain.  I may change my tune once I get the Bismarck.

[Yamato_Rekka_ProjektA150]

DE

[HazeGrayUnderway]

AFT to improve AA and Secondaries Range even without an AA or Secondaries Build.

 

DE on a Battleship, IMO, is a waste.  +3% Fire Chance only works for faster firing Cruisers and Destroyers where the spam and improved chance makes DE very useful.  Think USN 127mm gunfire with their ROF and improvement of 5% Fire Chance to 8% with DE.  On the flip side, sacrificing a tier 4 captain trait to improve by only 3% for a slow firing BB?  It's wasteful and meaningless, IMO.  Scharnhorst may fire faster than other BBs but it's not Cruiser fast.

[anonym_0iFlpG1hOlLJ]

FIRE!

[GhostSwordsman]

This is actually the second time in a week I've answered this, but the answer is, which ever floats your goat. I personally went with AFT since I rarely use HE and I love getting closer to hit the enemy with my sword balanced lances, but pick which ever you think will benefit you more.

 

FTFY

[JochenHeiden]

AFT!

[DukeRust]

I don't have it yet, but I'm leaning DE.

 

When the Scharn is down tier as a BB, you will do almost no damage to enemy BBs with AP. It's like throwing pebbles against a tin roof.

 

DE increase in fire chance is pretty substantial on a Scharn. 15%. By comparison, on a Gneisenau, it's about 8.8%. Cruisers can see improvements of like 25-33%. So it's not that good, obviously. But when you're looking at doing zero damage or making them blow a Damage Control, I think it can be worth it. 

[MexicanPanda]

I don't have it yet, but I'm leaning DE.

 

When the Scharn is down tier as a BB, you will do almost no damage to enemy BBs with AP. It's like throwing pebbles against a tin roof.

 

DE increase in fire chance is pretty substantial on a Scharn. 15%. By comparison, on a Gneisenau, it's about 8.8%. Cruisers can see improvements of like 25-33%. So it's not that good, obviously. But when you're looking at doing zero damage or making them blow a Damage Control, I think it can be worth it. 

 

I've gotten citadels on Iowas with my Scharnhorst.... And AP to the superstructure of a BB is no slouch either. And we always have the option of shooting at something else, especially since the Scharnhorst is a cruiser killer, not a proper BB.

[mmfullen]

AFT for me. 7.2km secondaries can help set fires too. 

[SCygnus]

AFT all the way.

[Landing_Skipper]

AFT to improve AA and Secondaries Range even without an AA or Secondaries Build.

 

DE on a Battleship, IMO, is a waste.  +3% Fire Chance only works for faster firing Cruisers and Destroyers where the spam and improved chance makes DE very useful.  Think USN 127mm gunfire with their ROF and improvement of 5% Fire Chance to 8% with DE.  On the flip side, sacrificing a tier 4 captain trait to improve by only 3% for a slow firing BB?  It's wasteful and meaningless, IMO.  Scharnhorst may fire faster than other BBs but it's not Cruiser fast.

 

FWIW my Scharnhorst shot down 21 planes in one battle. BFT + AFT. Saved my bacon!

[A_Horde_of_Sharks]

I personally went with AFT, the Scharnhorst benefits heavily from the secondary armament and aa increase. You could always get DE instead of a 5th level skill later on.

[SCygnus]

Rely on your secondaries for the fires.  HE is useful on the Scharenhorst, but you should be using AP more often.

[Not_Your_Average_Potato]

I got AFT cause I got the captain spec for manual secondaries. Also helps with the AA range as well.

[DukeRust]

 

I've gotten citadels on Iowas with my Scharnhorst...

Every week someone wins the lottery. But it's a bad idea to build your life with that expectation.

 

People who call Scharn simply a "cruiser killer" are people who refuse to use HE. Everything dies in fire.

 

EDIT: I just realized I have AFT on it. But I may respec. I look at my secondary damage and it's...low. It helps vs DDs and such, but this was the results of a knife fight with 2 BBs in my Scharn. I used HE primarily. That's a fair amount of secondary fire and a pretty pathetic amount of dmg. The fires were mostly from HE main shells, but I think I did start 1-2 with secondaries.

 

[Histopicker]

AFT baby, Make your captain stronk for use in Bismark!

[SeaRaptor]

I use AFT and MFAA.  I do fire HE, but - like Hindenburg - I find that I don't fire enough to warrant sinking 4 skill points into it.

[TenguBlade]

AFT.  Scharnhorst's secondary battery may not be worth it to you, but boosting her AA output is absolutely worth AFT instead of DE.  If you really want more fires mount flags - you get a 2% increase from mounting both the Arsonist and Witherer flags.

[Hunter_Steel]

AFT all the way, her secondaries are good on Cruisers and Destroyers, while they set fire to BBs as well, they're worthless there. Still fun to have them, plus the much needed boost to her DP guns for AA. A Saipan or Hiryu may still get planes on you, but they'll lose one or two planes doing it.

 

~Hunter

[Nimitz_1701]

 

I've gotten citadels on Iowas with my Scharnhorst.... And AP to the superstructure of a BB is no slouch either. And we always have the option of shooting at something else, especially since the Scharnhorst is a cruiser killer, not a proper BB.

 The Iowa is a citadel  piñata, so saying that you get a citadel on one means nothing. On the other hand you are right about the fact that the Scharnhorst is a cruiser killer. When you play her focus cruisers first then deal with battleships, unless of coarse they show  a broad side. 

[Koschka]

I will say this, since it is a premium I have used my BB and CA captains on it. Both are 15 point captains, one is a secondary build for BB's and the other is a stealth fire build for CA's. I find the Scharnhorst does equally well with both captains. I have played about the same number of games with both captains and my damage numbers, win rate etc are all pretty much exactly the same.

 

I think they are both good skills and it comes down to more play style on which is better for you. So AFT or DE are IMHO both a good choice for the Scharnhorst

[Gunar_Konrad]

3% on fire chance is very very low gain vs 20% range on AA and sec (second are going to give you fires anyway). Just use both fire chance flags and that is better.