Failing Upwards - The Story of How I Made it to Tier 9 in USN DDs

[CybrSlydr]

Good Lord I suck at DDs.

Can't hit anything with torps, constantly detected, can't hide, can't cap...  About all I'm good for is laying smoke for BBs.  lol

[Commander_367]

They say Fletcher is best of all … I have yet to confirm this but enjoy

[Sweetsie]

Doesn't matter... the magnificence is yours...enjoy.

[Capt_Ahab1776]

1 hour ago, CybrSlydr said:

Good Lord I suck at DDs.

Can't hit anything with torps, constantly detected, can't hide, can't cap...  About all I'm good for is laying smoke for BBs.  lol

Everybody has off days, and some are so bad  you just turn your computer completely off and do honey do's lol.  I have had meh days of late. One a Shimmy and me and my Gearing got caught behind a island and stayed perma detected under radar, hydro, and spotter/fighter planes. No lie, constant detection. Plus getting pop shotted from the A and C cap directions. One time the rays went off and I asked in open. "Could you please turn that back on? I'm getting cold over here" And poof, on it came again lol.

[Destroyer_KuroshioKai]

1 hour ago, CybrSlydr said:

Good Lord I suck at DDs.

Can't hit anything with torps, constantly detected, can't hide, can't cap...  About all I'm good for is laying smoke for BBs.  lol

Maybe I can help.  Send me a replay.  I will send you back a link to a private video review.

[Ericson38]

Let me just say this....I like the title of your subject.

Having just got one myself that I do very bad in, I bought a couple of IJN T6 torp boats just to practice in, and have fun matches in.

I'll play the Fletcher with Premium time only, otherwise it will break the coin bank, and disappoint everyone else too.

We have about the same # of battles in ole Fletch, around 40, but I was doing 16K damage in mine, you better than 26K.

[DocWalker]

2 hours ago, CybrSlydr said:

Good Lord I suck at DDs.

I just love an honest post ... and from a fellow artilleryman.   Grats on the Fletcher!

Did you happen to go to Comanche County Cannon Cocker's College? ...  I graduated in Sep '67,  just in time for you know what.

"Nothing more dangerous than an arty butter bar with a map and a radio." 

[shoy07]

she"ll grow on you.. she's a beast

[crickethunter_brown]

what u did in a the USN ships is all they are worth!!!

 

[CybrSlydr]

1 hour ago, Destroyer_KuroshioKai said:

Maybe I can help.  Send me a replay.  I will send you back a link to a private video review.

I'll see what I can scrounge up for you - do you want just one replay or a couple?  

 

48 minutes ago, DocWalker said:

I just love an honest post ... and from a fellow artilleryman.   Grats on the Fletcher!

Did you happen to go to Comanche County Cannon Cocker's College? ...  I graduated in Sep '67,  just in time for you know what.

"Nothing more dangerous than an arty butter bar with a map and a radio." 

Indeed I did, November 2010!  Most intense thunderstorm I've ever witnessed was while I was there.  We were out at the M2/Mk48 range and it just... obscene.  It was raining so hard we couldn't keep the M2 or Mk48 firing - there wasn't enough whale cum to keep it going.  It pooled almost 3.5".  Thunder, lightning, WIND...  I swore we were going to see a tornado.

The part that sucked was when I went to Afghanistan that following January, I was part of a Maneuver Battery and got to play Infantry with the SAW.  Got blown up in July and got med boarded - so I literally never got to be an Artilleryman after I got out of AIT.  lol

[Capt_Ahab1776]

The Fletcher is a really good ship all kidding aside. It is a good Jack of All Trades ship. Can out gun torp boats and out torp gun boats.

[Destroyer_KuroshioKai]

14 minutes ago, CybrSlydr said:

I'll see what I can scrounge up for you - do you want just one replay or a couple? 

Just one.  You will get more out of my analysis if you pick an average to poor game.  Obviously if you were successful in the game you saw and were able to exploit those opportunities.  I leave the choice up to you.

[CybrSlydr]

Replay sent - prepare to chuckle at my l33t skillz.  lol

[RyuuohD_NA]

Just a heads up:

 

Laying smoke for BBs as an offensive tool is no longer viable.

[Aegis270]

I'm only up to the Farragut, and I'm struggling. Don't have a 10 point captain yet, so I can't get CE. Bottom line is that I'm outspotted by the ships I'm supposed to be gunboating up over a kilometer in some cases, even with camo. The torps aren't a reliable option, and the guns only feel OK for the tier. On top of that, she has much less health than the Nicholas and can come up against radar.

But I keep hearing people saying the Farragut is a good tier 6 DD, which I just don't see. She feels like a downgrade from the Nicholas. 

[iDuckman]

Okay, so where's the story?  How did you get up to Fletcher while sucking so hard?  (I'm still on Benson.)

 

[Der_Eigenvektor]

I was average to below average with USN DDs in mid-tier, Farragut, Mahan, Benson, until I hit Fletcher. Fletcher taught me to be a decent DD captain. If a potato like me can do it, so can you! It helps that Fletcher is one of the best DDs around. 

[CybrSlydr]

Thanks to KK who reviewed and critiqued a replay of mine and then offered suggestions on refitting my ship and captain.  I took his advice and played my first game and I think it went well. :)

20190127_185729_PASD021-Fletcher-1943_22_tierra_del_fuego.wowsreplay

[Kuckoo]

On 1/19/2019 at 11:18 AM, CybrSlydr said:

Good Lord I suck at DDs.

Can't hit anything with torps, constantly detected, can't hide, can't cap...  About all I'm good for is laying smoke for BBs.  lol

Torps are always going to be a very low probability of hit weapon.  Even in the best of times.  I wouldn't stress over that too much.

Thing is to find a DD that has more than one trick up its sleeve.  Usually, good torps and good guns.

An issue is the IJN DD line, most of which are disproportionately reliant on torpedos (bc the guns suck so bad).  There are a few gunboat IJN DDs but you have to work long and hard to get to them.  And there are better DD gunboats out there, particularly US and RU.

 

 

 

[demeflac]

One of the most importante things a DD can do is spotting. Many times I'm uptiered when playing Cossack, but I use my better concealment in my favor. Fletcher is an excelent DD, u dont need to use ur guns ALL the time, unless u  r fighting other DD. I use It against Cruiser or BB only when I'm sure there is no radar around, or behind an island. Dont be overagressive, know when to advance and when to retreat, dont go cap straight, all those things people say.

Play smart, and have Fun!

[epojokke]

The Fletcher is great and I like her more than the Gearing.

And to those that say you cannot do dmg with its torpedoes, I recently had a game with 170K from torps and I never fired my guns.

[YukonHunter]

Which sums up the majority of play i see in DDs. Second most powerful class in the game; the vast majority of the time played by donkeys or at best weak players.  Only one DD disparity is enough to screw a team; be it by bad play, AFK or just wrong loadout.

[Trowa03]

Well, some people just shouldn't play certain ships. I'll never touch a destroyer or carrier again, I'm garbage in those. I'm currently trying out the French cruiser line, finally starting to figure it out at tier 7, but battleships will always be what I'm best at and my go to for anything like clan/ranked battles.

[CybrSlydr]

I don't know if this link works for you folks or not, but this is how I've done in the Fletcher since KK offered me his suggestions (from 20 January until 28 January).

https://na.warships.today/player/1004130694/CybrSlydr/interval/d5522f48-d97d-4830-8832-c118be6f3817/10172d17-668f-418d-9ee7-b12e742376f8

A 1655 WTR over 10 battles!  1.7 K/D ratio, 61k avg damage, 90% Win Rate, only 40% survival (I got cocky/lazy... but up from 23%!), 14% torpedo hit rate.

This is nothing like the best players or above average folks, but it's absolutely stunning performance for me, a BB main.  

Here's my stat-line from the Fletcher in games prior to this:

44 battles, 59.09% WR, 25,371 avg dmg, 1215 XP, 0.4 K/D, 5% Torpedo hit rate, WTR of 718.

[GUNSTAR_THE_LEGEND]

Start working on the British DD line get the Jutland.

It is in my opinion a better option than Fletcher.