Ranked Ships of Choice (Opinions Requested)

[OgreMkV]

So what ship are you playing (mostly) for the new ranked?
Out of the ships I have...
I still prefer the New Mex and Fuso in battleships. New Mex is more fun, but the Fuso can be brutal at range. I'm not sure about the Warspite. I have the Bayern too, but without a commander right now. 
I actively don't like the Fubuki and the Hatsuharu, though the Fubuki is slightly less hated. And I'm just no good in gunboat DDs like the Farragut and Gnevny. I'm learning to Farragut, but I have long ways to go. 
The only T6 cruisers I have left are the Cleveland and Nurnberg. Both are decent ships, but the Cleveland is so fragile. I guess it depends on how much CV action will be in the matches. Both ships with Adrenaline Rush are just brutal.

Then there's the Graf Spee, which I don't like all that much either. 

Thoughts?
 

[DreadRaybo]

I'm going to try the various ships I have, which are most of the ones you have listed, and see what I do best in.  Last season I started off in my Gneisenau, but wasn't doing as well as I thought I should be.  Ended up in my Akatsuki where I definitely found my mojo.  She got me to rank 10, which is where I stopped like a lot of people did due to lack of incentives and the grueling grind after that.

 

So try different ships out and see what fits.  Your eventual selection may surprise you!

[Khafni]

Farragut. I have a 14 point captain on her which is enough but I might move my 19 point Gearing captain over. Don't know yet.

I am more than a little perturbed that rank 10 isn't irrevocable this time. Makes the grind from 12 to 5 a little less desirable.

[SnowDriftTurtle]

I am looking at Warspite and La Gal.  Though the LG only has a 6 point captain in her, might stick with the Warpsite.

New Mexico if I'm desperate but probably won't bring her in.

[alexf24]

Budyonni, De Grasse, Sninonome, Anshan, Farragut, Bayern, Warspite in that order

 

Maybe Arizona and Fuso - we'll see.

 

[Crucis]

My preferences for tier 6 ranked ships largely comes down to which ones have well-skilled captains in them. For me, the list is as follows:

 

Farragut,

Arizona,

Shinonome,

Cleveland,

Molotov,

and possibly my Nurnberg (can't remember if her captain is suffiently well-skilled to be good enough for Ranked battles).

 

 

 

[Admiral_Franz_von_Hipper]

These ships:

[Wulfgarn]

 

[Estimated_Prophet]

For 'Reasons' basically amountinting to being wierd with how I use my ships, (always play so the total equals the next highest '5;') it will be thus;

 

Independence; exactly four games, 19 point captain.

Ryujo; exactly two games, 19 point captain.

Cleveland; exactly one game, possibly 19 point captain, but at least an 18 point captain.

New Mexico; exactly two games, 19 point cptain.

 

After that? I'll have all my tier 6 ship's game counts in Ranked where I want them, and will default to Warspite, (16 point captain, unless I train him up,) New Mexico, and possibly Farragut, (19 point captain,) five games at a time.

[AVR_Project]

I'm going to have fun with it.

One ship - one battle.  No repeats until they are all done.  My roster has 19 tier 6 ships.

5 battleships - Fuso being the only non-premium

7 cruisers - 2 grinders, 2 elite, and 3 premium

2 CVs

5 DDs - 2 grinders, 2 elite, and one premium.

My play history is obvious:  If I ever take this seriously, I fail miserably.  So I'm grabbing what's there and doing my best.

There are no goals, no objectives, and no pride.  Just play the game.

[Estimated_Prophet]

11 minutes ago, AVR_Project said:

There are no goals, no objectives, and no pride.  Just play the game.

 

Slightly different, but not by much. I play to get the season flag, and that's it.

[Special_Kay]

Battleships

High density-of-fire battleships (Fuso, New Mexico, Arizona) will have a place providing reliable gunnery against cruisers and destroyers. It will be difficult to get Fuso to perform (firing angles, dispersion) but when she does she has a higher potential for carnage than NM/AZ. They will take care and skill to perform against higher-calibre battleships.

High calibre battleships (Warspite, Mutsu, Bayern) will have a place exploiting overmatch against battleships. Bayern is much better armoured, but has far worse gun performance, so it is the a novice-friendly low-ceiling alternative. They will take care and skill to counter destroyers and cruisers as well as is often necessary.

In either case you will need to husband your hit points while wearing down enemy assets in a timely fashion, lest you find yourself on the wrong end of a blow-out. Make your choice based on which set of your skills you trust in more, as well as what the battleship population looks like while you're playing.

My recommendations: Warspite, Arizona

 

Destroyers

Farragut will be useful for brawling on caps and smoking teammates. Her defensive AA fire will see very little use, between infrequent CVs and a general player preference for higher DPM.

Shinonome will be perhaps the best smoke-buster with her nine-torpedo spread and favourable reload speed due to fewer tubes per launcher. While her fish have less range and slightly less damage than Fubuki's, She also sports a nasty bite with her 2x3 broadside, and since she is at parity with Fubuki in hit points and concealment, Shinonome is probably the ideal choice. It will help her case that Shimakaze commanders can be dropped straight down without re-training, as well.

Gaede, being an ersatz Shinonome/Farragut hybrid, is interesting for the sonar. Unfortunately it will struggle in brawls against competent destroyers. Gaede does better when the enemy isn't aware of you and either happily sits in smoke to receive easy sonar beatings, or gives you easy broadsides to spare you the embarrassment of your impotent HE. He also is best suited for making up for shortcomings in your team lineup, however those shortcomings usually only exist because you brought Gaede in the first place.

Anshan and Gnevny will be the meta-bending flankers. Gnevny has no serviceable torpedoes in this role, while Anshan sports an 8km range on hers. Gnevny's only advantage is by ~200m concealment, which is of no help when you are raining HE from the flank at 13km out, and serves you practically no better when you are silently providing vision around the sides of the enemy's smoke screen.

My recommendations: Shinonome, Farragut, Anshan

 

Cruisers

In a tier with no radar, smoke and sonar will be potent tools. Nürnberg and Graf Spee sport the best sonar, most capable of being used offensively. However, density of fire reigns supreme for smoke-busting cruisers and so Spee's presence means that your team is deprived of a more useful set of guns. While every tier six cruiser can bring some form of sonar, those which aren't bringing the good stuff will want some other potent utility. Perth's unique creeping smoke could be a potent advantage—I haven't used it so I cannot say with certainty. Leander is an attractive option, and though she gives up DPM against battleships for want of HE shells, her rapid-fusing AP is powerful against at-tier cruisers and destroyers.

Budyonny and Cleveland will be popular choices, though for my money their guns won't perform quite well enough to justify giving up smoke or excellent sonar. Between the two Cleveland is superior for her impressive protection amongst cruisers. Budyonny's armour is good, but simply cannot provide enough protection for the enormous citadel she bears.

Heavy cruisers will be liabilities, just as they were in last season's tier seven matches. While sufficient skill can succeed in any ship, these ships do not bring strong enough advantages over their light cruiser contemporaries. Like Gaede, they will only succeed against certain compositions, in this case in the absence of battleships. Aoba's excellent armour layout props up her inferior density of fire, while Molotov's glorious 180mm battery is about the only good thing about the ship. Spee's guns are less accurate, too slow, and too few to make up for the fact that they occasionally punish battleships to great effect.

My recommendations: Nürnberg, Leander, Perth(?)

 

Carriers

I'm no expert, but 3/1/1 Ryujo seems to be the clear winner. Air superiority through more squadrons, with a better strike component than 2/0/1 Independence, leads to vision control for your team, leads to victory. Though I expect to see AS potatoes being sniped by strike unica, and all sorts of other shenanigans which can only occur in the 1v1 setting of carrier matchups.

My recommendations: pls don't

[Admiral_Cirno]

It's going to be World of Clevelands, mark my words.

[Estimated_Prophet]

52 minutes ago, Special_Kay said:

My recommendations: Nürnberg, Leander, Perth(?)

 

While understanding that others feel differntly; I wouldn't use that useless pile of refuse in ranked for a million fxp.

 

CVs? Don't worry, it won't be for long, just six games for 'reasons.'

[grumpymunky]

2 hours ago, Estimated_Prophet said:

CVs? Don't worry, it won't be for long, just six games for 'reasons.'

No! You've gotta play multiples of 5!

[TheTitan0914]

I prefer the Cleveland. Not sure how much she's been nerfed since the early days when she had super fast turret speed, super fast fire rate, and basically impenetrable armor. She'll always hold a spot in my heart

[Estimated_Prophet]

50 minutes ago, grumpymunky said:

No! You've gotta play multiples of 5!

 

From season five, (four? the one where they did the t4-5 split:) I need four games in Independence to reach a total of five, and two games in Ryujo to reach a total of five, (game each played in all seasons of ranked.)

 

The games listed for other ships are also what is needed after leftovers from previous seasons

 

(Also three in Bogue for a total of twenty, four in Furutaka to total fifteen, two in Fujin to total ten, and four in New York to total five; but I doubt tier five will ever be used in Ranked again.)

 

Even counting Operations Mode, (which apparently WG doesn't track, but I have,) all my ship use totals are as I've said, (nearest five,) in every mode except Ranked.

 

https://na.warships.today/player/1015732350/Estimated_Prophet

[aethervox]

Well, since I only have three T6 ships in my port, I will play all three of them in Ranked.

They are Gnevny, Cleveland & Ryujo.

Cpts? My Cleve is weak, Gnev & Ryu have decent ones.