What's the best AA ships for their tier?

[locked_in_chastity]

Just looking for input on the best AA ships at their given tiers! Tech tree or Premiums are fine. Please explain if the ships are great by default, others need the equipment and consumables on them - but what ships do you bring out that allow you to feel safe no matter what's flying around??? Thanks!

[OuijaApologist]

*reads title

 

That's a good one 

Tier 4: any CV

Tier 6: any CV

Tier 8: any CV 

Tier 10: Halland, any CV

Odd number tiers: just dodge 

[Arctander2]

9 minutes ago, locked_in_chastity said:

Just looking for input on the best AA ships at their given tiers!

US BBs from tier 7 up. EU & RU DDs, UK CLs

[WarStore]

23 minutes ago, OuijaApologist said:

*reads title

 

That's a good one 

Tier 4: any CV

Tier 6: any CV

Tier 8: any CV 

Tier 10: Halland, any CV

Odd number tiers: just dodge 

Halland is good compared to other DDs

[WanderingGhost]

I'd have to go crunch the numbers on some of the lower tiers because down there 'best' isn't exactly good but 8-10 is easy as hell -

8; American Cruisers/BB's, Akizuki, EU DD, possibly UK and French BB (if not the next tier)

9: as above but the tier 9's, with the inclusion of Neptune, especially if you build it stealth/AA spec

10: same again, including Minotaur that actually outputs more DPS than Worcester without a boost, build it stealth/AA, it will make CV players cry foul which is more than fair cause they won't see you till flak starts knocking panes down. 

[warheart1992]

Tier I and tier II ships are probably the best ships when you want to feel safe with all the stuff that's flying around. 

Otherwise it really depends on how good the enemy CV is. A potato one will make even bad AA appear strong, whereas a good one will maneuver through the heaviest AA without many losses.

[Raven114]

The aim of this game is there are no feel safe ships. You need to be good and learn how to survive.

[Merc_R_Us]

Halland at tier 10. 

You need to account for maneuverability; just like dodging shots, the Halland is these suited ship to fight planes.*

Vs HE rockets and HE bombs, AA should be off until detected, if in a 1v1 scenario.

____

Don't play other tiers enough to say but the neptune is badass.

[Your_SAT_Score]

1 hour ago, locked_in_chastity said:

but what ships do you bring out that allow you to feel safe no matter what's flying around??? Thanks!

No ship fills that criteria. Some gets close, especially against a poor CV player. But no ship carries sufficient AA to completely block all CV attacks. Almost all can't block CV spotting. 

US BBs, Tallinn - Petro line, EU DDs T8 and up, Smolensk, Colbert, US cruisers have relatively good AA. Unfortunately, this doesn't affect always stop strikes from dealing massive damage to your ship. 

 

[mofton]

I've found the Nestle chocolate tea kettle to be the best, sometimes it survives holding water up to 70' for several seconds.

[El2aZeR]

2 hours ago, locked_in_chastity said:

but what ships do you bring out that allow you to feel safe no matter what's flying around?

Frankly there are none. AA effectiveness depends more on the skill of the enemy CV rather than any AA values no matter what you do.

This is why tankiness and utility against CV ordinance is the primary thing to look at if you want to weather air attacks, not AA. This is why Goliath and Petropavlovsk were the common picks on CBs not because of their AA, there are plenty of ships with better AA suites, but because they're not as easy to take out with a CV as the rest.

[black_hull4]

3 hours ago, locked_in_chastity said:

Just looking for input on the best AA ships at their given tiers! Tech tree or Premiums are fine. Please explain if the ships are great by default, others need the equipment and consumables on them - but what ships do you bring out that allow you to feel safe no matter what's flying around???

Ok, that makes it a lot easier.

In Tier 1-2, aircraft on the enemy team will be a rarity. Do NOT expect any.

Tier 3:

• HMS Caledon, needs upgraded hull
• SMS Konig Albert, premium
• IJN Katori, premium

Tier 4: This is where we start seeing ships that can really give CV players problems.

• RN Alberto da Guissano, fully upgraded, with catapult fighter
• HMS Orion, fully upgraded
• USS Langley, needs upgraded hull
• KMS Rhein
• SMS Kaiser, needs upgraded hull
• USS Wyoming, needs upgraded hull
• IJN Yubari, premium

Tier 5: at this tier we see the AA on ships become half-and-half in regards to distribution. After Tier 5 most ships have decent AA & all "good AA" is based on relative measures & player opinion. Also, I don't have any tier 5 ships, since I grinded aircraft carriers.

[Tzarevitch]

4 hours ago, locked_in_chastity said:

Just looking for input on the best AA ships at their given tiers! Tech tree or Premiums are fine. Please explain if the ships are great by default, others need the equipment and consumables on them - but what ships do you bring out that allow you to feel safe no matter what's flying around??? Thanks!

All ships need skills, equipment and consumables to truly be good AA ships. Figure that every CV you face unless it is a brand new one, will have almost all modules and skills devoted to helping his planes attack you. To give you an idea, I was in Midway and attacking a DM with my DBs and he was complaining that he couldn't shoot down any of my planes. I could tell the minute I entered his AA envelope that he did not have DFAA and had swapped it out for a hydro and had put zero skills or upgrades into his AA. My Midway has a 19pt Alex Ovechkin. People say that a good CV captain can always dodge flak. That isn't true. Most of the time you don't have to dodge it because the unbuffed damage output isn't a threat. Zero-upgrade AA, even from the best AA ship will be worthless against a CV that spend on upgrades. 

That being said, here is what I know from playing CVs and being attacked by them: 

DDs - 

USN - Almost all of them can mount DFAA and have good base values. I think it goes all the way down to at least T6. If you build for heavy AA they can shred planes and CVs will tend to leave you alone. Some like Somers are prewar designs which never got AA upgrades and are pretty lousy. 

IJN - Aki-boats - Akizuki, Kitikaze, Harugumo. They don't have DFAA but they do have good DP guns with good base AA values. Their biggest issue is they are big and slow and easy for CVs to hit. I generally avoid these when I am playing a CV unless it is out in the open and I see I can get a good fast hit on it that is worth the plane losses. 

Pan-European - The T9s and T10s are very good for AA, the others suck. They can't smoke though and they have moderately high surface detections. In a CV if I need to deal with one I keep my planes in the general area where I think it is operating and wait for it to fire. If you know where it is, you can do the same thing as on the Aki-boats. Line up an attack run from a distance, run in quickly, and hit them. The CV will take plane losses but that keeps it to a minimum. 

Soviets - I think these guys can build for effective AA, but I'm not sure. I don't have them and they aren't played much anymore. 

Cruisers - 

IJN - All suck. You can make some of them acceptable but it will never be enough against a top CV. They have DFAA but it is basically useless for them. 

Italian - Not good AA boats ever. As I recall they lack DFAA as well.

French - Have DFAA but aren't particularly good AA boats. 

UK - Low tier CLs have no DFAA and unimpressive base AA values. Mino and Neptune are the exception and have very high base AA values. 

Other cruisers vary. They have good base AA and can be very good AA boats if (and only if) you spend on upgrades and captain skills. 

Battleships - 

IJN - All suck except Kii. They range from sub-par to ones like Ashitaka, Mutsu and Musashi which are legendarily bad. 

All others - They can mostly be effective AA boats despite mostly lacking DFAA, but BBs have a very hard time affording the captain skills and modules to do so because it directly reduces their ability to build for survivability against DOT damage and to improve accuracy or reload, which they need to be effective BBs. (Cruisers don't take as much DOT damage and they have much better base accuracy so they can better afford to take AA skills and upgrades without sacrificing survivability and damage.) 

CVs - 

No CV I have ever seen builds for AA. They rely on distance and the CAP fighters but un-shockingly, the ships that carry planes also tend to be some of the ships with the best AA on their tiers. 

USN CVs generally have the best AA, IJN ones have the worst (although not has horribly bad as on other IJN ship classes). Most everyone else is somewhere in between. 

[black_hull4]

4 hours ago, Tzarevitch said:

IJN ones have the worst

No, that honor goes to the Royal Navy. What AA they do have is not very effective; pom-poms, 3 inch guns, Vickers MG's. Hosho's AA is mediocre, but Ryujo's is downright monstrous. Shokaku's AA is pretty good & I expect Hakuryu to be the  same. But you were right about the USN.

♦

[Sventex]

10 hours ago, locked_in_chastity said:

Just looking for input on the best AA ships at their given tiers! Tech tree or Premiums are fine. Please explain if the ships are great by default, others need the equipment and consumables on them - but what ships do you bring out that allow you to feel safe no matter what's flying around??? Thanks!

All the CVs are the best AA ships.  They are almost untouchable by air.

[LunchCutter]

1 hour ago, Sventex said:

All the CVs are the best AA ships.  They are almost untouchable by air.

They did that on purpose. In the old CV days most of the time the 2cvs would spend the majority of the game trying to kill each other.. Ignoring their team.

[Sventex]

Just now, LunchCutter said:

They did that on purpose. In the old CV days most of the time the 2cvs would spend the majority of the game trying to kill each other.. Ignoring their team.

And now CVs are coddled like children.

[iDuckman]

Yubari

[El2aZeR]

1 hour ago, iDuckman said:

Yubari

Hahahaha, yeah right.

[LowSpeed_US]

I'd say from personal experience.

USN KIDD with AA build works, which leads me to think that other USN Destroyers with AA builds are viable (specially with DFAA).

IJN Destroyers are feasable too (specially from T8 and up).

USN Alternate Battleship lines tend to swat some flies, as well as Soviet battleships.

Naturally, they are more effective versus the same tier equivolent CVs in game.

Take what you will from it.

 

[locked_in_chastity]

Thanks for those who answered with some ship suggestions! If I had said "feel safer" rather than "feel safe" maybe some of the snark might have been avoided, but hey... CV haters have a lot of feelings obviously!!! And obviously skills matter!!! I thought that went without saying! 

Now that I'm at tier 8 and have a few tier 7 ships it seems like some CVs are just murderous on my Japanese ships, especially the Mogami; OMG!!! So, I figured I'd try to learn more about better AA ships, etc. 

[LowSpeed_US]

For some, it's totally binary for them it seems. All or nothing.  In a realm where such things are not encouraged for 'fun' or 'balance'.

 

[Battleship_PrinceOfWales]

No ships have good AA except for CVs. AA is a myth.

[Roken1]

On 12/15/2020 at 6:12 AM, locked_in_chastity said:

Just looking for input on the best AA ships at their given tiers! Tech tree or Premiums are fine. Please explain if the ships are great by default, others need the equipment and consumables on them - but what ships do you bring out that allow you to feel safe no matter what's flying around??? Thanks!

Vermont, it can delete squadrons fast enough to only receive one drop at a time. Her early game deplane potential is high even against tier X CVs. That said, late game, no ship has AA since most of it is destroyed unless you've done nothing all game. 

[iDuckman]

8 hours ago, El2aZeR said:

Hahahaha, yeah right.

Name me a T4 ship that has better - or as good - AA.