Flamu: Khabarovsk - IFHE Not Recommended

[Wulfgarn]

 

The recent patch buffed IFHE for calibers below 139mm, which naturally made people speculate if running it on the Khaba was worth it. My short answer is no, my long answer is the commentary itself. As usual you can find my (still) recommended Khaba build at the end.

[BrentD15]

Why would anyone want less fire?

[MrDeaf]

On 9/25/2017 at 9:01 AM, BrentD15 said:

Why would anyone want less fire?

because penetration damage is more reliable than fires.

[Umikami]

On ‎9‎/‎25‎/‎2017 at 6:01 AM, BrentD15 said:

Why would anyone want less fire?

With the new IFHE mechanic, it is only 1% less fire. This is easily overcome by more shooting, or adding Demo Expert.

[m373x]

On 9/28/2017 at 9:39 PM, Umikami said:

With the new IFHE mechanic, it is only 1% less fire. This is easily overcome by more shooting, or adding Demo Expert.

 

 The thing is that those 4 points that IFHE requires are not going to come from thin air. You have to give up something, and given the fact that the benefit from IFHE is minuscule compared to the skills that you have to give up in order to free those 4 points it is more than safe to say that IFHE is a complete waste of 4 points.

[Umikami]

7 hours ago, m373x said:

The thing is that those 4 points that IFHE requires are not going to come from thin air.

You raise a good point and one that every player who considers IFHE should think about; what am I losing by taking IFHE? As you point out, you don't get nuthin' for free. But every choice in Captain's skills is a trade off; I like IFHE in certain situations and am willing to pay that price; but you are right, and players should never forget, there is always a price for any skill you take, because you definitely have to give something else up.

[NoCoGaming3645]

Ultimately, if you don't want to listen to Flamu drone on, even with the only 1% reduction pf IFHE, it boils down to this for the Khab:

1. The increase in penetration is from 22 to 28mm of armor.
2. The only thing that increase in penetration helps you with is against cruisers:  T8-10 bow and stern plating, T8+9 deck armor, and some T8+9 upper side armor. Everything else you can either already penetrate, or requires more than 28mm of penetration, so IFHE won't help.
3. Against those cruisers where IFHE should help, you can do at least as good by being smart with using AP (when they're broadside) or HE (and aiming at the superstructure, particularly when end-on).
4. The (now) 1% reduction for fire using IFHE results in a best-case scenario of 10% reduction in the number of fires you start, and, worst case (if you don't run DE and the flags) a 25% reduction.  That's a LOT of fire damage you're giving up to obtain *possibly* some additional shell damage against cruisers.
5. The 4 captain points you give up for IFHE really hurt, because there's lots of other skills that provide substantially better benefits. You'll be giving up two of: SE, DE, SI, AR, PT.  SE/SI/PT provide a large amount of damage reduction/recovery capability, DE is your fire chance, and AR is ability to inflict more damage.

Number 5 is the killer:  you simply have to give up a lot of other benefits to get IFHE, which in and of itself has only marginal improvement.

[Umikami]

1 hour ago, EAnybody said:

if you don't want to listen to Flamu drone on

OMG I know, right! I think Flamu is spot on with his stats and recommendations, but I would pay to have anyone but him narrate his vids!