Best Country for Cruisers at Tier 7+

[ArnoldSchoenberg]

Currently I am at Aoba, Leander, Nurnberg, Penescola, EBertin for cruisers.

Which country shall I focus on to reach tier 9-10 first (considering Yamamoto campaign)? Which country is more enjoyable?

BTW I have Atago and Belfast which I enjoy very much.

 

Personally I am inclined to proceed with Royal Navy first... What's your opinion?

 

 

 

[StableGenius]

Baltimore and Des Moines are a lot of fun, I also enjoy to play my Neptune and hopefully in the near future the Minotaur

[BlazerSparta]

USN and RN are both tons of fun, but you need a certain degree of skill to make the ships work.

 

The high tier cruisers are mostly decent and enjoyable ships, if you can get used to the playstyle.

 

Maybe Hipper is a bit of a drag, Donskoi isn't great...

 

Other than that, all good.

[Combined_Fleet_HQ]

Germans have solid CAs at VIII, IX, and X. Their X Hindenburg is one of the most versatile CAs at that tier. Good HE, good AP, solid AA, turtleback armor scheme comes in handy here and there. Its a great ship for kiting. Just not the fastest...

[IronWolfV]

Toss up between Russian, Japanese and German. I mean Russians have the 152 demons, IJN are fire breathers and Germans? Hindenburg.

[Estimated_Prophet]

I'll just stay quiet...

 

Beyond just saying the only upper tier cruiser I've ever had any 'fun' with was Pensacola.

 

Atago? The supposed awesome cruiser? Above average win rate, pathetic average damage... I have no idea why... Just that I basically suck in it...

[IronWolfV]

1 minute ago, Estimated_Prophet said:

I'll just stay quiet...

 

Beyond just saying the only upper tier cruiser I've ever had any 'fun' with was Pensacola.

 

Atago? The supposed awesome cruiser? Above average win rate, pathetic average damage... I have no idea why... Just that I basically suck in it...

Trust me, look at my Atago stats. No bueno.

[2ndAcr01]

Hindenburg hands down. I prefer it over all the other Tier 10 cruisers. But it was my first Tier 10 cruiser so I have way more time in it than the others

[1nv4d3rZ1m]

All the lines are good at this point for the most part. It really just depends on how you want to play because all the lines have different focuses. 

[Kapitan_Wuff]

There is no best, it's really all subjective and up to what you like.

 

For me:

 

USN- Loved the Pensacola but moving up to the New Orleans I just stopped enjoying this line, not calling it bad, just not fun for me. 

IJN - The t7-9 all seem basically like the same ship over and over and I got bored playing this line to, kinda stalled out on the Ibuki. (Mogomi with the 155s was my fav)

VMF - I like the guns on these a lot, fragile ships though. Ultimatly I enjoy playing the t5-8 on these.  At the Dmitri now and it's not the best but I am thinking Moskva will be my first t10 CL.

KMS - Yorck and Hipper are great they feel a bit tougher than other CL lines, Roon.. I hate the gun layout and struggle making it work but the Hindenburg looks worth

getting through the Roon. 

RN- Fiji is so great, much fun. Edin feels like a lateral move that in a tougher tier. The seem to reliant on smoke to me and haven't yet moved past t8.

French- My new favorite cruiser line. Algerie is a boss, and tons of fun. Charles is also very strong and enjoyable ship. They have similar fire starting high accuracy of the Russians with bettor armor. The t9 and 10 also look great, like that none of them look like a rough grind.

[Stonehammers]

All of them at this point; they all have some good aspects in high tier play, and some weaknesses too. I don't think there are really any OP or UP high tier tech tree cruisers at this point.

[Kapitan_Wuff]

18 minutes ago, Estimated_Prophet said:

I'll just stay quiet...

 

Beyond just saying the only upper tier cruiser I've ever had any 'fun' with was Pensacola.

 

Atago? The supposed awesome cruiser? Above average win rate, pathetic average damage... I have no idea why... Just that I basically suck in it...

 

Before they removed open water stealth firing Atago was OP if you stealth spec'd and just spammed HE from range.  Only played it a few times since then but you can still stealth torp and then kite away starting fire after fire after fire... high tier cruisers in general are not really my jam though.

[_no_one_]

1 hour ago, USSRichardNixon said:

Currently I am at Aoba, Leander, Nurnberg, Penescola, EBertin for cruisers.

Which country shall I focus on to reach tier 9-10 first (considering Yamamoto campaign)? Which country is more enjoyable?

BTW I have Atago and Belfast which I enjoy very much.

 

Personally I am inclined to proceed with Royal Navy first... What's your opinion?

 

 

 

Germany tier 9 and 10  is where the tech tree shines, unfortanely the York have a dumb boring playstyle and the Hipper have a stupid 13 second reload. 

British is all great for dumb and [edited] players . If you want a tech tree so dumb to play and hide like a [edited] go for it.

The problem  with the japanese is the range. You will need to adapt because of this limitation.

Russian is all about rail guns at extreme ranges and turn like you were sailing in BB.

I will not comment about the french and americans.

[Ramsalot]

I was eyeing Hindenburg lately, but I am very reluctant grinding another tree brunch from scratch...  Is Hindenburg worth grinding for when you already have Zao and Moskva with 19 point captains and permanent camo?

[Pope_Shizzle]

Germany.  The Yorck at tier 7 is, IMO, the best of the 7 cruisers.  Hipper was a turd.  Roon and Hindenburg are the cream of the tier 9 and 10 crop.

[Pope_Shizzle]

Just now, Veksha said:

I was eyeing Hindenburg lately, but I am very reluctant grinding another tree brunch from scratch...  Is Hindenburg worth grinding for when you already have Zao and Moskva with 19 point captains and permanent camo?

 

Yes.  Hindy plays nothing like Zao or Moskva.  It is glorious.

[HazeGrayUnderway]

4 hours ago, USSRichardNixon said:

Currently I am at Aoba, Leander, Nurnberg, Penescola, EBertin for cruisers.

Which country shall I focus on to reach tier 9-10 first (considering Yamamoto campaign)? Which country is more enjoyable?

BTW I have Atago and Belfast which I enjoy very much.

 

Personally I am inclined to proceed with Royal Navy first... What's your opinion?

 

 

 

 

Depends on what you're after.

 

For solo play and you worrying only about yourself, in high, high tiers, RU, IJN, German, French Cruisers are all good.  Just go farm damage and not worry about anything else, and you're gold.  The gunnery of Moskva, Hindenburg, Zao are good.  I don't have HIV but I do have Saint-Louis and she is rock solid reliable in doing damage.  Roon, is no slouch in her guns and protection.  Dmitri Donskoi has railguns but is easy to detect, sluggish to turn, and squishy if caught on the sides.  These 2 as well as Saint-Louis can have pretty good AA if specced for it.

 

If you're looking for Cruisers in those tiers that have more uses outside damage farming, which IMO Battleships have a very valid, very strong claim also, US Cruisers are it.  US Cruisers at Tier IX-X have okay-ish concealment but they bring great AA, Radar.  You can even opt to go Radar + Hydro and still have okay concealment and protection (Baltimore, at least for a Cruiser).  These US Cruisers are ideal in the short ranges, island infested portions of the map.  The Radar & Hydro together make them very, VERY good in cap contesting if you know how to get them into position.

 

Technically, Moskva & Dmitri Donskoi can do Radar & Hydro also their concealment is bad, especially Moskva's, that it's hard at times to get her into position without eating fire from everyone across the map.

 

Technically, Minotaur can do Radar & Hydro also, and still have deadly AA, as well as the best concealment range of any Tier VIII+ Cruiser.  But to slot Radar, tin-can-armored Minotaur needs to drop smoke.  Neptune?  She can do the same but you'd have to drop smoke for the one RN CL that has the worst concealment range of the line.

 

Tier VIII+ US Cruisers are like RN CLs, they demand great positioning.  If you got the right map and right position, DM, Baltimore can help control the caps, drive the enemy DDs and any cap attempts away, cover the cap with AA so the DDs can do their job.  The other nice thing with US Radar, though they lack the range of RU Cruisers, they have much longer duration.  Stuff in Surveillance Radar Mod 1 onto DM, you have about a minute of Radar active time.  RU Radar has reach but it lacks duration, and often times it's not enough time for the guys to pummel the DDs / smoked ships into oblivion before the Radar is on CD.  All this is why I believe they are rather excellent in fulfilling needs in a Division.  Do you need a Cruiser to have answers to various scenarios outside damage?  US Cruisers are a great choice.  I've been playing Divisions a lot lately, and my buddies love Tier X.  Des Moines has been a frequent piece of the "Division Puzzle."

 

But if you ask Baltimore and DM to be in open waters and sling shells, they're going to be suffer.  The guns suck at range with their floaty shells and Des Moines in particular goes "squish" fast.  If you can get into a short ranged fight, you can make anyone pay dearly.  DD, Cruisers, even BBs.

[IronMike11B4O]

Get Battleship Hindenburg as soon as you can you won't regret it.

[HazeGrayUnderway]

11 minutes ago, IronMike11B4O said:

Get Battleship Hindenburg as soon as you can you won't regret it.

 

The "Battleship" nickname associated with Hindenburg is laughable.  She gets deleted just as easily as any other Tier X Cruiser.  Very solid ship, but not in protection.  She's tough for a Cruiser, but it's still Cruiser Armor in tiers where BBs lurk in large numbers.

[IronWolfV]

4 hours ago, _no_one_ said:

Germany tier 9 and 10  is where the tech tree shines, unfortanely the York have a dumb boring playstyle and the Hipper have a stupid 13 second reload. 

British is all great for dumb and [edited] players . If you want a tech tree so dumb to play and hide like a [edited] go for it.

The problem  with the japanese is the range. You will need to adapt because of this limitation.

Russian is all about rail guns at extreme ranges and turn like you were sailing in BB.

I will not comment about the french and americans.

Range stops being a problem at Ibuki. I built it for range and I have just over 19km. Zao can do the same.

[zapporius]

Personally, I found Moskva boring and clumsy.

Zao is great "dancer", annoying the beejesus out of BBs while setting them on fire. Oh and occasional torp strafe runs on BBs are gold.

Minotaur is repetitive, but every now and then you get those mad glorious matches where you get 5-6 kills dancing between island, popping smoke at cruical moments, and torping around islands.

Des Moines, I think its maybe best tactical cruiser. You can hold choke points, you can endure quite a lot with face tanking, and guns are awesome when you figure it out. Arcs are something to master tho.

[crzyhawk]

22 minutes ago, zapporius said:

Personally, I found Moskva boring and clumsy.

Zao is great "dancer", annoying the beejesus out of BBs while setting them on fire. Oh and occasional torp strafe runs on BBs are gold.

Minotaur is repetitive, but every now and then you get those mad glorious matches where you get 5-6 kills dancing between island, popping smoke at cruical moments, and torping around islands.

Des Moines, I think its maybe best tactical cruiser. You can hold choke points, you can endure quite a lot with face tanking, and guns are awesome when you figure it out. Arcs are something to master tho.

I dislike my Moskva too.  Honestly, I preferred the Donskoi.

[Jerych]

6 hours ago, USSRichardNixon said:

Currently I am at Aoba, Leander, Nurnberg, Penescola, EBertin for cruisers.

Which country shall I focus on to reach tier 9-10 first (considering Yamamoto campaign)? Which country is more enjoyable?

 

Knowing which ship-line you will enjoy most requires an appraisal of your play-style.  And for that, I only have your statistics to go by.

 

One thing that jumps out is your survivability percentage; you're dying at an extreme rate in your cruisers.  This is not unusual among new players like yourself.  But it is a warning sign against using the US cruiser line.  These are fragile ships that BB players love to citadel.  The Brit cruisers have the advantage of smoke and maneuverability if they get caught out of position.  Unlike the Brits, the Yank cruisers do not have any get-out-of-jail-free cards.  You will not enjoy the New Orleans, as USN CAs become heavier and more sluggish after the Pensacola.  And the higher in tier you go, the more likely you will be facing 15+ inch shell salvos fired by more experienced (and accurate) Battleship drivers resulting in instant deletion - which will probably not be fun at all.  Once you're out of position, it's over.  Going forward, if you can play your Atlanta approaching 40% survivability in your games, then you'll probably survive long enough in the rest of the US cruiser line to be able to enjoy it.  Otherwise, don't bother with the hassle.

 

6 hours ago, USSRichardNixon said:

 

BTW I have Atago and Belfast which I enjoy very much.

 

 

I recommend the Japanese cruiser line, first and foremost.  Like the Atago, the Aoba (and every Jap CA after it) is well armored with excellent firepower and shell velocities, geared towards kiting and skirmishing tactics. 

 

Next, the German cruiser line is probably the most survivable if you find yourself yoloing and charging in a lot.  The Nurnberg is fragile, but is worth grinding because the T7 Yorck and every Kraut cruiser afterwards acquires turtle-back armor, making them very survivable (but not invincible) especially in a brawl.  Together with their torpedoes (and good firing arcs), they are lethal at close range.

 

Lastly, French cruisers are less survivable as they require evasion tanking; faster with tighter turning circles than the Japs, but with less armor and worse steering response.

 

 

6 hours ago, USSRichardNixon said:

 

Personally I am inclined to proceed with Royal Navy first... What's your opinion?

 

 

If you can get the hang of the positioning, go for it. The Belfast is an overpowered ship by nature, so be warned that it is not an accurate baseline to judge the line as a whole.  But the Brit CL's are excellent and forgiving in many ways.  Just avoid two big faux pas I consistently see even experienced Brit CLs make:

 

1) Watch your positioning and anticipate detection.  Do not wait until you are detected before slowing down to pop your smoke.  It is very easy for Battleship players to delete you as you panic-brake to smoke yourself, firing just as you reach the optimal coasting speed.  You have excellent concealment, so use it.  Smoke in anticipation of your opposition, before you are detected, while taking care to note the position of radar ships.  If you suncertain of nearby ships detecting you, at least slow down to 1/2 or 1/4 speed, and proceed with caution.

 

2) Do not stop moving in your smoke.  Just because you are concealed does not make you invulnerable.  I get a laugh out of players who complain about smoke metas, egging WG to nerf smokes like the recent dust-up about gunfire canceling out the smoke effect.  In fact, most capital ships are easily citadeled when they fire from smoke because they stay perfectly stationary inside, the muzzle-flashes providing a perfect aim-point for their deletion.  Keep moving backward and forward at 1/4 speed, angled against anticipated DDs, as this movement will also give you the necessary momentum to avoid torps easily with the help of your Hydro.

 

[HazeGrayUnderway]

5 hours ago, Pope_Shizzle said:

Germany.  The Yorck at tier 7 is, IMO, the best of the 7 cruisers.  Hipper was a turd.  Roon and Hindenburg are the cream of the tier 9 and 10 crop.

 

You'd probably get a lot of disagreements from others about Yorck but I agree with you.

 

Yorck was fine, the funny thing is her HE shells are, shell for shell, the best the German Cruiser Line has to offer.  Better even than Roon & Hindenburg's, who only surpass Yorck's HE simply because they have fast firing guns.

 

As for Hipper / Eugen, I felt they were "meh."  They didn't have anything great or terrible about them.  Just lackluster.  Only thing they have is the best Cruiser AA at Tier VIII.

[YamatoA150]

I'd go with the Japanese from T7+, the T8 and T10 of the German line, and the T8-T10 of the French cruiser line.

 

Granted, I've had the most fun out of those 3 and own them full time, but toyed around with DM and Moskva on PTS when T10s are available to test.  DM's great but situational, and Moskva can just camp and spam and tank to some degree, but they're just not as fun as the Zao, Hindenburg, or Henri.

 

As to the 3 lines in general: (All personal opinions)

 

The IJN cruisers remain fairly consistent in gun performance and handling from Furutaka onwards, with only a notable jump with Zao due to newer guns.  Just don't use the torpedoes unless you're already in stealth or already making a getaway due to bad arcs.  Mogami gets 15x 155s if you like HE spamming away, but switching to the 203s gives you an early taste of Ibuki's gameplay (Ibuki just does it better with Healing and T9+ module access).  They still have the IJN cruisers' lack of traverse speed and average RoF.

 

The KM cruisers from T6 onwards on the other hand have built-in IFHE, allowing them to do a bit extra damage to the superstructures and sections of certain battleships, great traverse, decent RoF, and a turtleback that sometimes works (almost always guaranteed to fuse a BB's AP shell though, but decent vs other cruisers and DDs).  Their Hydro is the best of all cruisers to date, and while shorter ranged than Radar, lasts longer and lights up torpedoes too.  I didn't like the Roon though; just due to the same main gun setup as Konigsburg/Nurnburg, but at T9.

 

The MN cruisers are just silly fun to play past T7.  Speed boosting to get you out of (or into) trouble faster, reasonable gun performance, and the T10's guns are only slightly inferior to Moskva's despite being slightly larger.  But with IFHE added, Henri can do extra damage to the FdG and GK, as well as actually do some harm to Khab's ridiculous armor.  I find their only weakness to be their lack of concealment vs other same-tier cruisers, closer to the KM and VMF cruisers rather than the USN or IJN cruisers.  But considering they should almost always remain mobile, and take advantage of their great maneuverability and speed, their lack of concealment isn't a big issue.