Someone else's Quick Review: Captain skills post-rework

[Reymu]

Yeah, me. Played a lot of cruisers, just keep in mind I haven't Stalingrad nor Kronstadt nor played the Italian CR line, otherwise think reasonably know which skills are useful/meh/idiot. A few are definite must-haves, but exception rather than the rule.

Skill name is underline. Rating is bold. Rest is my take.

Tier 1:

Grease the Gears: Useful. Most any cruiser's chief firepower is the MB. Quick rotation is always handy, especially if need to 180 and run from a collapsing flank.

Note that certain ships like Yoshino, Stalingrad, Minotaur, and Wooster can/should ignore.

 

Swift Fish: Idiot. Useful on Yoshino and Zao, in Neptune/Minotaur if you're crazy about torp runs (and want a few seconds less of reaction time), but otherwise useless.

 

Consumables Specialist: Meh. If it affected radar and hydro CDs, it'd be a must-have. As it is, only French cruiser line desires this power-up.

 

Gun Feeder: Idiot. Maybe the supercruisers could use, but very situational. Waste of skill point.

 

Incoming Fire Alert: Meh. Good substitute for PT (if not taking the 2-point version). I've found in my cruisers it's best to assume incoming rounds whenever A) I'm spotted and B) red BB is within 18km of me.

 

Last Stand: Idiot. French cruiser line is famous for their fragile rudder, so is a good precaution there, otherwise don't bother. Given how often the incoming AP rounds are citadel and from red BBs, the massive damage there is a bigger concern than disabled engine and/or rudder. I mean, once your speed or agility is shot, your life expectancy tends to be a few seconds. Other cruiser lines benefit little from this.

 

Tier 2:

Pyrotechnician: Idiot. The 3-point version was at least worthwhile. Here, the 1% buff is laughable. If got spare points or your HE rounds are at 9% or lower, worth considering. Otherwise, forget it exists.

 

Fill the Tubes: Meh. Certain ships like Zao and Yoshino, if into torpedo walls, can use this. With the torp reload module in slot 6, you can get it from almost 3 min to about 2.4ish, but in my experience, with reload times that long, it's maybe 1 more volley of fish every other match, and that's assuming you're firing them as soon as they're loaded.

I run this on my Zao captain only because no better option, FYI.

 

Consumables Specialist: Must-have/Useful. Hydro, radar, smoke, and engine boost all 10% longer. Every cruiser line has something useful. Longer smoke means minotaur fanbois will take this as first T2. Every cruiser and supercruiser with radar should take this just to upset lolibotes more.

Also, note this buff also stacks with the slot 2 modules in Armory that buff hydro's duration. If remember right, both skills put a German cruiser's hydro at ~235 seconds, or almost 4 minutes. Every torp DD's worst nightmare.

 

Eye in the Sky: idiot. In all my battles, less than 40 instances of a cruiser using spotter plane. A cruiser like DM can benefit, but should keep its long reload in mind.

 

Priority Target: Meh. If you're the sort that needs to know how many BBs glaring daggers at you, this is your best friend. More wary cruiser players like myself, who prefer not to be treated like pinatas, can get by without. Certain cruisers like Henri IV and Stalingrad tend to need this skill to know right away when to disengage.

 

Expert AA Marksman: Idiot. My experience is CVs will get the first strike off anyway, so more productive to try to force the CV to run into teammates' AA and either flee or attack again.

 

Tier 3:

Heavy HE and SAP Shells: Useful. Cruiser players with balls of steel who like to dodge while HE spamming. However, this is not advisable on cruisers with gun caliber below 190mm as you need pens. Keep in mind you won't be as able to support cap-pushing or and definitely no hunting DDs if take it given the concealment debuff.

Note the concealment debuff only applies is gun caliber is below 149mm, so Atlanta/Flint captains might want this.

 

Enhanced Torpedo Explosive Charge: Idiot. 15% damage buff to torps. TBH this should be in the DD skill tree. Also, why this bad rating? Because most of the time, you're not stealth torping in a cruiser. Minotaur in full concealment is 9.1km. Yoshino and Zao can do it too with longest-ranged torps.

How often are you pulling this off? DDs are between you and the big fat BBs, and even a stock Izumo will be hard to touch if has 20+ seconds of reaction time.

If you run this on a KMS cruiser, you are definitely an Idiot.

 

Adrenaline Rush: Useful. You're already familiar with this skill. For an extra skill point it now buffs continuous AA damage (WG trolling) and torp reload time (Yoshino anyone?).

 

Heavy AP Shells: Meh. Wait, why average? Because 190mm minimum gun caliber. That means RN CR crowd has reason for torch and pitchfork.

TBH this skill is very underwhelming. Only useful if run AP a lot or someone like DM that has the ROF to stack up the extra damage.

 

Superintendent: Must-Have. Same skill as before rework. Must-have on radar cruisers at minimum. T8-10 with Repair Party should take this for extra healing charge.

 

Survivability Expert: Idiot. Surviving a few seconds of fire or couple overpens from BB is neat, but aside from Smolensk, the extra 3500 is too small to make a difference.

 

Tier 4:

Top Grade Gunner: Meh. IDK who needs secondary reload buff on cruisers nowadays, but the invite is 8% quicker MB reload if there's a visible red ship within your detection radius. Fire, MB firing, and whatnot? Game ignores those in deciding if you get this buff.

Supercruisers, Henri, Hindenburg, Moskva, and other cruisers with good long-range MB can trip this buff fairly regularly--heck, argument can be made for taking this instead of CE--but careful of the lolibotes unless your radar sees them. I've found that if combined with Consumables Specialist, TGG helps radar CRs, but again, have the DD within your detection range.

DM and Salem players will also want this skill: along with AR's buff, this easily shaves off more than 10% reload time....if position well, that is.

 

Outnumbered: Idiot(x2). If you're outnumbered, generally it'll go badly anyway. The MB dispersion buff is godly, the few times I got to use it, but simply can't activate nearly enough to be worthwhile. Some might like the built-in Engine Boost, but 8% is not even 4 extra knots, and if the DD stalking you is running Swift in Silence, this skill won't do much good.

In short, don't bother. Waste of 4 points. I forgot to respec my Roon captain prior to Wednesday, so now he has 4 wasted points. See? Reymu confirmed Idiot!

 

Radio Location: Meh. If you need to know where to aim your guns, or tend to get ambushed, this is handy. Certain ships like Minotaur can abuse this for getting close enough to light up DDs.

However, given the T8-10 meta generally has a lot of sniping, I wouldn't recommend this unless actively DD-hunting.

 

Inertia Fuse for HE Shells: Meh. If you're the sort that relies on HE spam for raw damage, definitely grab this. If you prefer fire RNG, don't take.

 

Concealment Expert: Must-have. Only a dumb captain likes to draw attention to himself. Everyone likes easy kills. A few ships like Henri and Moskva, given their playstyles, can skip this skill, but for most part, taking this is generally necessary. Your survival rate (and not being easily detected by lolibotes!) will thank you!

 

AA Gunner: Meh. Given how CV players can take a skill that reduces flak damage, this is almost necessary to keep your AA deadly. However, I've found it drops a few more planes at best, so unless seriously worried about CV being the "fun police"  (Yes, cops love playing games with kids), pretend this skill is am empty slot.

 

If you read to the end, you are a good peasant. Good boy (or girl)! [headpats]

[SKurj]

really gun feeder is idiot for ONE point in a bb? sorry saw the list didn't see the bit about cruisers only...

 

can you change title?  just an idea... 

[SuperUnicumInBed]

Well done on your hard work, +1 :-)

[neptunes_wrath]

[KilljoyCutter]

29 minutes ago, Reymu said:

Last Stand: Idiot. French cruiser line is famous for their fragile rudder, so is a good precaution there, otherwise don't bother. Given how often the incoming AP rounds are citadel and from red BBs, the massive damage there is a bigger concern than disabled engine and/or rudder. I mean, once your speed or agility is shot, your life expectancy tends to be a few seconds. Other cruiser lines benefit little from this.

"once your speed or agility is shot, your life expectancy tends to be a few seconds"

So the skill that mitigates your speed and agility "getting shot" is bad?  Doesn't seem to follow. 

 

[Rouxi]

39 minutes ago, Reymu said:

Enhanced Torpedo Explosive Charge: Idiot. 15% damage buff to torps. TBH this should be in the DD skill tree. Also, why this bad rating? Because most of the time, you're not stealth torping in a cruiser. Minotaur in full concealment is 9.1km. Yoshino and Zao can do it too with longest-ranged torps.

How often are you pulling this off? DDs are between you and the big fat BBs, and even a stock Izumo will be hard to touch if has 20+ seconds of reaction time.

If you run this on a KMS cruiser, you are definitely an Idiot.

I think this skill is good in 1v1 brawls where yolo torping is a standard tactic but obviously useless in every other game mode.

[KilljoyCutter]

Regarding GTG, it desperately needs to be changed so that it gives the more benefit the slower the base rotation of the turrets is. 

 

[SirPent13]

50 minutes ago, Reymu said:

Gun Feeder: Idiot. Maybe the supercruisers could use, but very situational. Waste of skill point.

 

Entirely disagree, being able to switch from HE to AP when a cruiser pops up broadside is invaluable. EL can be the difference between a 5k AP salvo and a 30K one. It's an absolute steal of a skill.

52 minutes ago, Reymu said:

Priority Target: Meh. If you're the sort that needs to know how many BBs glaring daggers at you, this is your best friend. More wary cruiser players like myself, who prefer not to be treated like pinatas, can get by without. Certain cruisers like Henri IV and Stalingrad tend to need this skill to know right away when to disengage.

 

PT should be mandatory on all cruisers because it not only tells you when to disengage but also when to keep engaging. Trying to push up to an island and get spotted? If PT doesn't go up, then you know you can still push the island. 

52 minutes ago, Reymu said:

Expert AA Marksman: Idiot. My experience is CVs will get the first strike off anyway, so more productive to try to force the CV to run into teammates' AA and either flee or attack again.

Id say this is meh instead of an idiot. If you've only got 2 points left, it's not a bad skill.

54 minutes ago, Reymu said:

Adrenaline Rush: Useful. You're already familiar with this skill. For an extra skill point it now buffs continuous AA damage (WG trolling) and torp reload time (Yoshino anyone?).

This should be mandatory. This skill is still insanely powerful, and an argument could be made for making it worth 4 points. Also, the AA boost was the only new thing, torp reload used to be affected even before rework.

55 minutes ago, Reymu said:

Top Grade Gunner: Meh. IDK who needs secondary reload buff on cruisers nowadays, but the invite is 8% quicker MB reload if there's a visible red ship within your detection radius. Fire, MB firing, and whatnot? Game ignores those in deciding if you get this buff.

TBH, what else are you going to take row 4 other than CE? I take it on pretty much every cruiser.

55 minutes ago, Reymu said:

AA Gunner: Meh. Given how CV players can take a skill that reduces flak damage, this is almost necessary to keep your AA deadly. However, I've found it drops a few more planes at best, so unless seriously worried about CV being the "fun police"  (Yes, cops love playing games with kids), pretend this skill is am empty slot.

Taking the flak skill is only a good choice on FdR, all other CV's benefit much more from other skills. Also, this skill is worth considering on something like a Mino or Worcester, given their already strong AA values.

[SaiIor_Moon]

19 minutes ago, KilljoyCutter said:

Regarding GTG, it desperately needs to be changed so that it gives the more benefit the slower the base rotation of the turrets is. 

 

Yep, I've been saying this like, how many times now? Well, I'll say it again then!

GREASE THE GEARS IS BASS-ACKWARDS DUE TO THE MATH!!!!! IT'S GIVING LESS BENEFIT TO SLOWER TURRET TRAVERSE AND MORE BENEFIT TO FASTER TURRET TRAVERSE!!!!

IT'S STUPID STUPID STUPID!!!!

[Skpstr]

1 hour ago, Reymu said:

Gun Feeder: Idiot. Maybe the supercruisers could use, but very situational. Waste of skill point.

I disagree. Cruisers with 7-10+ second reload can use this to switch quick enough to adapt on the fly, whether it be a suddenly appearing DD, or a slippery cruiser which shows broadside in flashes.

1 hour ago, Reymu said:

 

Incoming Fire Alert: Meh. Good substitute for PT (if not taking the 2-point version). I've found in my cruisers it's best to assume incoming rounds whenever A) I'm spotted and B) red BB is within 18km of me.

Where this is useful is if you're in a slippery cruiser. Yes, you can watch one or two of the ships shooting at you to know when to dodge, but any more enemies shooting, or trying to shoot another target in a different direction, things can get busy. IFA makes it simple. It lights up, you dodge, whatever else you're doing. Also works well if the ship shooting you is behind an island, otherwise you don't know he's fired until the tracers come over the hill, which lessens your reaction time.

1 hour ago, Reymu said:

Priority Target: Meh. If you're the sort that needs to know how many BBs glaring daggers at you, this is your best friend. More wary cruiser players like myself, who prefer not to be treated like pinatas, can get by without. Certain cruisers like Henri IV and Stalingrad tend to need this skill to know right away when to disengage.

Always good to know how many are locking you up. 

But if nothing else, 2 points is a reasonable price to pay for a skill that will indicate that torpedoes have just been fired at you. Yes, it can be spoofed, but with the quality of playerbase we have, it's not going to happen that often.

Besides, you're playing a cruiser, what else are you going to do with your points?

1 hour ago, Reymu said:

 

 

[KilljoyCutter]

1 minute ago, Skpstr said:

Besides, you're playing a cruiser, what else are you going to do with your points?

Kinda the central question of the entire skill rebork. 

 

[jags_domain]

Posta a boats love eye in sky.  If i could takw spotter on Balty and Buff I would 

I have been taking aa and it works great.

Outnumbered needs to go. Has anyone used it ever?

[Skpstr]

21 minutes ago, KilljoyCutter said:

Kinda the central question of the entire skill rebork. 

 

To be fair, I had the same issue before the rework. BBs and DDs, never have enough points. Cruisers, (most anyway) plenty of points left, might as well throw darts at a chart of skills to use them all up. I mean, previously, I think I had Fiji maxed at 16 points, nothing left but dump skills.

I think they should have basically had an equal number and effectiveness of general, heavy, and light skills.

[NashW8]

Actually, for a single point I find Incoming Fire Alert one of the more useful alerts for a cruiser. I don't need to know how many are aiming at me, but the instant they are doing something about it. You see the little red line on your screen and can almost be certain a bit of immediate WASD will save your bacon. 

[Rouxi]

25 minutes ago, Skpstr said:

To be fair, I had the same issue before the rework. BBs and DDs, never have enough points. Cruisers, (most anyway) plenty of points left, might as well throw darts at a chart of skills to use them all up. I mean, previously, I think I had Fiji maxed at 16 points, nothing left but dump skills.

I think they should have basically had an equal number and effectiveness of general, heavy, and light skills.

It's not hard to use 21pts on a cruiser. In fact I wish I had more for some ships like atlanta.