Which BB line is currently dominating?

[Grand_Commander_LuXun]

Hi guys, I've been on a medium-long absence from the game due to burnout and the camp fest that had spread to the mid-tiers (not sure if it's gotten any better), and I've returned to playing Atlantica Online and some other games for the past couple of months. Atlantica, by the way, I've played since 2010. Since I've not played for quite a while, I wonder which BB line is dominant, and whether BBs in general are still the most played class of ships. Any particular BBs that you've found 'easy' to get into? My play style is fairly aggressive, often even too aggressive, but my ideal fighting range is 9-15 km. I like something that has decent survivability, maneuverability, and not 'gimmicky'. I enjoyed the USN dreadnoughts at Tier 6 and Tier 7, and the Orion. I did well in the Kongo (before MM changes), but not so much in the Fuso and Nagato due to changes in the MM.

 

  Do Tiers 5 to 7 still get up-tiered a lot? Has the meta been less campy?

[Rusty_Python]

Meta is still the same, more or less. T7 was being uptiered for a while, but right now it's alright. The German BB's aren't too gimmicky, and they do best at the closer ranges. (under 12 km or so). T6 is uptiered quite a bit, so be aware of that.

[Grand_Commander_LuXun]

Guess I will stick to Tier 7 then, but before that, I'll play a few games down at T4 to warm up.

[Rusty_Python]

That, or take ur t7 into co-op to get a feel for them again.

[Hatework]

Keep in mind its also the weekend.  the few games i could play tonight were all camp fests, the rest of the week was alot of moving.

As far as dominant BBs?  I have to admit, none are really scarier than any other right now.  Folks make a big deal about British HE shells, but i havent really seen it be a big deal. 

Personally, i still love my IJN BBs.   Good consistant damage, and alot of folks love giving up those broadsides these days.

[Grand_Commander_LuXun]

Hmm, looks like my return will be imminent. I'm glad things have gotten a bit better, at least on the weekdays.

[Warped_1]

 Actually think the US BBs are back in vogue. The German and British BBs had a surge but the last season of clan battles really showcased the MT and the Alabama and Missouri premiums are really prevalent anymore.

[manon45]

The british BB's obviously, power creep has a nasty habit of doing that, they will be dethroned by the upcoming french BB's though.

[Battlelust]

Wait for the French BB line, it looks like that line is just right for you. Watch a YouTube video or two on them, they look fun especially if you like to brawl!

[sasquatch_research]

Hey

Meanwhile the Germans continued to get screwed because of the dispersion which has plagued them forever, they need a slight buff in that department to remain competitive, the only good thing is their armor.  Guns are crap compared to everyone else, so is their gun range, they have the fewest guns of all BB's, their AA is middle of the road, AP lacks punch, HE is ok, Speed is ok at upper tiers, they are not in the top 2/3's of the pool anymore.   Power creeped for sure.

 

Pete

[HazeGrayUnderway]

None of the BB Lines are that dominating over the others.  From Tier III->X, it goes back and forth, especially when sticking with Tech Tree ships.

[manon45]

1 hour ago, HazeGrayUnderway said:

None of the BB Lines are that dominating over the others.  From Tier III->X, it goes back and forth, especially when sticking with Tech Tree ships.

Tech tree ships its only back and forth between KM and RN the 2 newest BB lines while the other 2 have suffered from large amounts of power creep.

III: Nassau

IV:Orion

V:Konig

VI: tough between QE and Bayern, Id say its a tie maybe a slight edge to bayern

VII: KGV not even close

VIII: Bismarck

IX: Lion

X: The strongest ship in the game Conqueror.

[HazeGrayUnderway]

15 hours ago, manon45 said:

Tech tree ships its only back and forth between KM and RN the 2 newest BB lines while the other 2 have suffered from large amounts of power creep.

III: Nassau

IV:Orion

V:Konig

VI: tough between QE and Bayern, Id say its a tie maybe a slight edge to bayern

VII: KGV not even close

VIII: Bismarck

IX: Lion

X: The strongest ship in the game Conqueror.

Even Conqueror isn't all that.

Tier X BBs is actually one of the most balanced ship tiers out there as they are all excellent ships for different reasons.

Tier VI Fuso has been doing the best of tech tree VI BBs, Bayern & QE are at the bottom.  Matter of fact, Fuso is the only Tech Tree VI BB that is pulling numbers similar to the superior Premium BBs there.

Tier VII is a lolfest though, Scharnhorst broke it, KGV is better, then you got Nelson laughing over all of them.

At Tier VIII Bismarck hasn't been a leader in Tier VIII BBs in a long, LONG time.  Amagi is still amazing and doing numbers rivaling the best there.  Not to say Bismarck is a bad boat, but the competition is very sharp at Tier VIII BBs and Amagi's more consistent gunnery, the selling point of the ship, has always made her a good performer.

 

All the BB lines have their good and bad parts.  Gone are the days when it was IJN vs USN only and IJN were vastly superior.  Gone are the days when German BBs ruled the BB World up and down the tiers.  Even the new RN BBs have some mediocre ships, and the one everyone complains about, Conqueror, isn't even all that.

[manon45]

3 hours ago, HazeGrayUnderway said:

Even Conqueror isn't all that.

Tier X BBs is actually one of the most balanced ship tiers out there as they are all excellent ships for different reasons.

Tier VI Fuso has been doing the best of tech tree VI BBs, Bayern & QE are at the bottom.  Matter of fact, Fuso is the only Tech Tree VI BB that is pulling numbers similar to the superior Premium BBs there.

Tier VII is a lolfest though, Scharnhorst broke it, KGV is better, then you got Nelson laughing over all of them.

At Tier VIII Bismarck hasn't been a leader in Tier VIII BBs in a long, LONG time.  Amagi is still amazing and doing numbers rivaling the best there.  Not to say Bismarck is a bad boat, but the competition is very sharp at Tier VIII BBs and Amagi's more consistent gunnery, the selling point of the ship, has always made her a good performer.

 

All the BB lines have their good and bad parts.  Gone are the days when it was IJN vs USN only and IJN were vastly superior.  Gone are the days when German BBs ruled the BB World up and down the tiers.  Even the new RN BBs have some mediocre ships, and the one everyone complains about, Conqueror, isn't even all that.

Tier VI was definitely one I had trouble picking the best at but fuso didnt even come close to the top for me, from my experience with them fuso is worse in every way compared to new mexico:

 

worse armor

worse firing angles

worse agility

worse accuracy

its a much larger and therefore easier to hit ship

much higher detectibility

I hear praise for fuso everywhere but I cant see it as anything other than the most extreme mehboat in the game.

 

tier VII is awkward because everyone can overmatch each other bows except for little KGV who just throws HE at everything that moves and Mr tier 9 in disguise nelson steamrolling through effortlessly but the clear edge goes to KGV its straight up an overpowered ship (also Im only considering tech tree ships so nelson cant take its rightful throne) 

 

Tier VIII I only gave to bismarck because of the massive potential if the player is smart, considering there was no nerfs to bismarck or buffs to other tier 8's the only reason its no longer the top is because of a massive decline in player skill and if not the bismarck then it would go to the very close second North Carolina which is basically a tier 8 yamato if played right, lolpen guns for its tier and angles to be nearly immune to AP.

 

And while tier X might be close between the montanas speed and agility combined with the highest overall firepower , yamatos lolpen with great armor despite the abundance of massive weakpoints and the citadel you really cant miss and , and conquerors non existent citadel and HE spamm across the map. The clear winner is the conqueror.

[HazeGrayUnderway]

23 hours ago, manon45 said:

Tier VI was definitely one I had trouble picking the best at but fuso didnt even come close to the top for me, from my experience with them fuso is worse in every way compared to new mexico:

 

worse armor

worse firing angles

worse agility

worse accuracy

its a much larger and therefore easier to hit ship

much higher detectibility

I hear praise for fuso everywhere but I cant see it as anything other than the most extreme mehboat in the game.

 

tier VII is awkward because everyone can overmatch each other bows except for little KGV who just throws HE at everything that moves and Mr tier 9 in disguise nelson steamrolling through effortlessly but the clear edge goes to KGV its straight up an overpowered ship (also Im only considering tech tree ships so nelson cant take its rightful throne) 

 

Tier VIII I only gave to bismarck because of the massive potential if the player is smart, considering there was no nerfs to bismarck or buffs to other tier 8's the only reason its no longer the top is because of a massive decline in player skill and if not the bismarck then it would go to the very close second North Carolina which is basically a tier 8 yamato if played right, lolpen guns for its tier and angles to be nearly immune to AP.

 

And while tier X might be close between the montanas speed and agility combined with the highest overall firepower , yamatos lolpen with great armor despite the abundance of massive weakpoints and the citadel you really cant miss and , and conquerors non existent citadel and HE spamm across the map. The clear winner is the conqueror.

Fuso was ROCKING IT in Ranked.  By far the best tech tree BB in the demanding confines of VI Ranked.  The only Tech Tree BB to keep up in numbers with Warspite, AZ.

[manon45]

3 hours ago, HazeGrayUnderway said:

Fuso was ROCKING IT in Ranked.  By far the best tech tree BB in the demanding confines of VI Ranked.  The only Tech Tree BB to keep up in numbers with Warspite, AZ.

And from what everyone says about it I believe that might be true. But mathematically and just from my experience with them new mexico is just a way better ships and nothing even comes close to the bayern.

[Levits]

 

Below Tier 8:

US BB line: Slow obviously (most of the lower tiers are of course). Has some decent maneuverability though. For the very low tiers though, they seem to have inferior armor. Never had a New York scare me in a match yet. The one to look forward to for brawling is the New Mex. <you get all 12 guns pointed at a cruiser and pull the trigger, usually that cruiser disappears from the map. BB's too definitely feel it when the shells stick. The one ship in the group that you will want to get into close range with... though doing so will be a challenge at whatever 20-ish knots you go in it.

German BB line: Not very bad ships. The most notable for me was the Konig as it was my go-to BB for deleting cruisers. In fact, it is specifically geared towards that role with its smaller, faster caliber guns. Don't try to go toe-to-toe with another BB though; it's an up hill battle. The Geno (however that Tier7 thing is spelt) is an odd one. It's nice since it's a later model ship and thus faster, but the guns (or lack there of) are terribly inaccurate at range and getting into torpedo range is far too risky a move usually as you will probably end up dead long before you get that close. So... somewhere in the middle is where you want to be.

Japanese BB line: Kongo. Best tier 5 ship in the game. If you can keep from getting hit, that ship does well even into higher tier matches. Fuso is where I'm at now and it's also a very lethal ship. These lower tier Japanese ships are the best overall and especially for long-range sniping. Though if you do see a target that's close, focus on that. Using my Fuso, I keep an eye out and wait for closer enemy ships to turn broadside. With AP ready, its usually a instant kill no matter how much health a enemy cruiser or DD has.

British BB line: Close range brawling isn't really British bb's forte, but it seems to handle it a bit better than most other BB lines of the lower tiers. HE spamming targets all day long, this line is fun and might fit your playstyle throughout the whole line a bit better if you like close combat. German BB's may win out with close combat brawling in later tiers simply because of their secondary's and armor, but these ships don't really have a problem with it as long as you keep from getting focused by the whole enemy team or cit'd.

 

From Tier 8 - onwards:

US BB line: Play at long range is preferable or close up if you are having issues hitting a target. Regardless; Front ALWAYS facing the enemy. Some of the best frontal armor in the game with a majority of its guns set in that position. Ignore the rear gun unless you know for certain that you're not about to get shot with AP. Do not get surrounded.

Decent grouping of shells but they take forever to get to a target at maximum range (21km).

German BB line: Get in close. Preferably within the 11km range so that your secondary's get a workout (only if you can do so without becoming the focus of attention). Your main guns will take the chunks of health out of the enemy while your secondary's create continuous DPS. Do not go full broadside despite the armor layout. You are tough, but not tough enough to avoid citadels at 11km. You can angle your ship to bring your rear guns around, but do not go full broadside to another BB at those ranges.

Worst long-range shots I know of for BB's. Too few shells fired to make up for the dispersion I suppose. But they quickly get to a targets location making it less guess work than the US line and they dish out great AP dmg when the shells land a hit.

Japanese BB line: Haven't gotten to Tier 8 yet. Good range and better armor than the US line I think (or at least it seems that way to me). Staying at range seems to be the preferred method and I don't often see the Japanese BB's played that often except for the Yamato of course. Izumo (from what I hear) is a joke and to tell the truth, I've never actually been afraid of any Japanese BB's past tier 7... (except of course for that Yam).

British BB line: Haven't gotten to Tier 8 on this line either. Tough though, even if the devs said that they were "more fragile". Their HE is just lethal to anything and they can take a beating. Might be a bit slow on the turret traverse but that's about the only thing to count against them. Their boosted healing helps them to greatly mitigate any normal damage they receive, so as long as you don't end up taking a citadel, you can pretty much repair all the damage taken. Again, probably the best line overall for your style of play. They have better concealment keeping you invisible until you've closed the distance. Expect to take damage, but if you can sneak away, you can usually repair almost all of it and turn right back around to do it again.

[manon45]

6 minutes ago, Levits said:

 

Below Tier 8:

US BB line: Slow obviously (most of the lower tiers are of course). Has some decent maneuverability though. For the very low tiers though, they seem to have inferior armor. Never had a New York scare me in a match yet. The one to look forward to for brawling is the New Mex. <you get all 12 guns pointed at a cruiser and pull the trigger, usually that cruiser disappears from the map. BB's too definitely feel it when the shells stick. The one ship in the group that you will want to get into close range with... though doing so will be a challenge at whatever 20-ish knots you go in it.

German BB line: Not very bad ships. The most notable for me was the Konig as it was my go-to BB for deleting cruisers. In fact, it is specifically geared towards that role with its smaller, faster caliber guns. Don't try to go toe-to-toe with another BB though; it's an up hill battle. The Geno (however that Tier7 thing is spelt) is an odd one. It's nice since it's a later model ship and thus faster, but the guns (or lack there of) are terribly inaccurate at range and getting into torpedo range is far too risky a move usually as you will probably end up dead long before you get that close. So... somewhere in the middle is where you want to be.

Japanese BB line: Kongo. Best tier 5 ship in the game. If you can keep from getting hit, that ship does well even into higher tier matches. Fuso is where I'm at now and it's also a very lethal ship. These lower tier Japanese ships are the best overall and especially for long-range sniping. Though if you do see a target that's close, focus on that. Using my Fuso, I keep an eye out and wait for closer enemy ships to turn broadside. With AP ready, its usually a instant kill no matter how much health a enemy cruiser or DD has.

British BB line: Close range brawling isn't really British bb's forte, but it seems to handle it a bit better than most other BB lines of the lower tiers. HE spamming targets all day long, this line is fun and might fit your playstyle throughout the whole line a bit better if you like close combat. German BB's may win out with close combat brawling in later tiers simply because of their secondary's and armor, but these ships don't really have a problem with it as long as you keep from getting focused by the whole enemy team or cit'd.

 

From Tier 8 - onwards:

US BB line: Play at long range is preferable or close up if you are having issues hitting a target. Regardless; Front ALWAYS facing the enemy. Some of the best frontal armor in the game with a majority of its guns set in that position. Ignore the rear gun unless you know for certain that you're not about to get shot with AP. Do not get surrounded.

Decent grouping of shells but they take forever to get to a target at maximum range (21km).

German BB line: Get in close. Preferably within the 11km range so that your secondary's get a workout (only if you can do so without becoming the focus of attention). Your main guns will take the chunks of health out of the enemy while your secondary's create continuous DPS. Do not go full broadside despite the armor layout. You are tough, but not tough enough to avoid citadels at 11km. You can angle your ship to bring your rear guns around, but do not go full broadside to another BB at those ranges.

Worst long-range shots I know of for BB's. Too few shells fired to make up for the dispersion I suppose. But they quickly get to a targets location making it less guess work than the US line and they dish out great AP dmg when the shells land a hit.

Japanese BB line: Haven't gotten to Tier 8 yet. Good range and better armor than the US line I think (or at least it seems that way to me). Staying at range seems to be the preferred method and I don't often see the Japanese BB's played that often except for the Yamato of course. Izumo (from what I hear) is a joke and to tell the truth, I've never actually been afraid of any Japanese BB's past tier 7... (except of course for that Yam).

British BB line: Haven't gotten to Tier 8 on this line either. Tough though, even if the devs said that they were "more fragile". Their HE is just lethal to anything and they can take a beating. Might be a bit slow on the turret traverse but that's about the only thing to count against them. Their boosted healing helps them to greatly mitigate any normal damage they receive, so as long as you don't end up taking a citadel, you can pretty much repair all the damage taken. Again, probably the best line overall for your style of play. They have better concealment keeping you invisible until you've closed the distance. Expect to take damage, but if you can sneak away, you can usually repair almost all of it and turn right back around to do it again.

Mostly correct, just a few things:

 

Kongo is no longer the best tier 5, its not even the best tier 5 tech tree anymore.

British are actually brawling beasts, long range HE close range AP they have short fuse AP so its less likely to pen at range but will basically never overpen so as long as you're close you'll be deal massive damage

Describing the early game KM BB's as anything other than overpowered is just kind of silly, kaiser a force of destruction in the right hands and even though orion might be a bit better (or alot better) kaiser is far past the point of being just a gudbote. Konig is appropriately named as it is the undeniable king of tier 5. Bayern, not a single tier 6 BB will pose any threat to you if you know how to make it work, the accuracy though....yeah lets not talk about that. I just got gneisenau and I have been having so much trouble actually making it work so I cant say much about it but from what Ive heard its way better than the others.

and with high tiers you were correct on all except IJN BB's, at tier 8 the amagi is good at putting the hurt on everything but it also gets hurt, badly, from everything. The way to play an amagi is to just run, it might sound like a bad idea and teamates who know nothing about amagi are going to yell at you, but you need to be kiting all game and only stop when you're no longer spotted so you can re position to kite again, its really fun honestly but imo amagi just cant match the sheer penetration and armor of the NC and the secondary HE spamm of the bismarck.

 

[Levits]

Just now, manon45 said:

yeah lets not talk about that. I just got gneisenau and I have been having so much trouble actually making it work so I cant say much about it but from what Ive heard its way better than the others.

You know, I found that I enjoyed the Colorado a lot better. The only thing I could hold against it was it's speed. Gneis is just... strange. Not bad, but not good and there's something about it that makes it hard to figure where it fits in a battle.

Not sure about the Kongo though. Against other tier 5's I've yet to get into an altercation against other BB's that I couldn't take on (assuming things go well and I'm at range where I want to be); but I've noticed many times that fighting against other BB's can become an issue. Not that I've not been able to take out a BB before (those guns certain are capable of causing enough damage) but they lack the hit that other, heavier caliber guns dish out.

Against a Konig though... yeah, I can certainly see that ending badly for a Kongo if it's close enough. I'd personally have to say that they have their respective elements and in those elements they are king. lol for any Kongo players out there, the Kongo is as close to a cruiser as you can get with BB's and Konig is designed to wreck cruisers; don't let it get close enough to do that.

The Gneisenau (<so that's how you spell it) is a hard one to get use to. I skipped it when I won the Bismark and I just don't see the resemblance between the two. Gneis is just a stepping stone it seems as I don't really know any other ships (maybe other than the two premiums) that feel the same in the German line.

True on the Amagi though. That thing has certainly been a ship that stands out on the map. I can't say that many ships of the Japanese BB line scares me, but I know better than to write them off. Amagi is one of those you never turn your sides to.

[manon45]

14 minutes ago, Levits said:

You know, I found that I enjoyed the Colorado a lot better. The only thing I could hold against it was it's speed. Gneis is just... strange. Not bad, but not good and there's something about it that makes it hard to figure where it fits in a battle.

Not sure about the Kongo though. Against other tier 5's I've yet to get into an altercation against other BB's that I couldn't take on (assuming things go well and I'm at range where I want to be); but I've noticed many times that fighting against other BB's can become an issue. Not that I've not been able to take out a BB before (those guns certain are capable of causing enough damage) but they lack the hit that other, heavier caliber guns dish out.

Against a Konig though... yeah, I can certainly see that ending badly for a Kongo if it's close enough. I'd personally have to say that they have their respective elements and in those elements they are king. lol for any Kongo players out there, the Kongo is as close to a cruiser as you can get with BB's and Konig is designed to wreck cruisers; don't let it get close enough to do that.

The Gneisenau (<so that's how you spell it) is a hard one to get use to. I skipped it when I won the Bismark and I just don't see the resemblance between the two. Gneis is just a stepping stone it seems as I don't really know any other ships (maybe other than the two premiums) that feel the same in the German line.

True on the Amagi though. That thing has certainly been a ship that stands out on the map. I can't say that many ships of the Japanese BB line scares me, but I know better than to write them off. Amagi is one of those you never turn your sides to.

My only problem with kongo is the dispersion, I have had so many well aimed barrages turn into wide misses because of that insane dispersion it feels more like a german BB than an IJN one.

[Grand_Commander_LuXun]

Thanks. Once I return I will give the BB lines a try again, but hmmm.... the British seem really appealing. I used to have some really good matches in the buffed Colorado. I did not bad in the New Mexico and Kongou.