Which Research Bureau DD to get?

[Panzer1113]

Have 58,200 Research Bureau points to use.  Not a big fan of RB, but decided to re-grind to take advantage of double point opportunity.  This is enough points to get either the Druid, Vampire II or Paolo Emilio.  I am a DD main, and normally like torp boats over gunboats.  Have played almost all DDs in game other, but of course have not played any of these.  All these DDs have some interesting features.  Druid seems like something different, all forward guns, no torps, and while smoke is short-duration, looks to play like a RN light cruiser (which line I like).  Vampire II has crawl smoke, but is just an off-take on a Daring (which I already have).  Have seen a few PE's playing, and quick-hit kamikaze playstyle has some appeal.

 

Was wondering any feedback from people who have these on their merits?  Have watched vids that are out there, but was wondering if the community had some advice?

[Litigo_1970]

Paolo is very hit or miss.

Some games you are a rockstar and PE will deliver an amazing amount of fun.

Some games the radar, hydro, CV spotting will leave you unable to do anything useful. 

That said, when it shines, Paolo Emilio is the most fun ship in the game, by a considerable margin. 

 

[SerahKhan]

Agree with Paolo, very unique! 
 

[Beauregard23]

paolo is worthy.  vampire is better gunboat and dd killer than daring though, it is faster, has speed boost, guns fire faster, plus has a 5 km hydro with a veeeery long crawling smoke if you use the smoke gen upgrade

[Compassghost]

If you want an RB ship solely for fun, the Paolo Emilio is the only choice. It is remarkably fun, even when you die because you went dumb.

[Ensign_Cthulhu]

When I had to make this decision, it was Vampire 2 vs. Paolo; the Druid's release date and currency hadn't been announced yet.

It was one of the more difficult either-or decisions I've had to make in this game. In the end, Vamp 2 won out because of her general utility (Paolo is a one-trick pony which does her trick extremely well but IMHO needs a high skill level to do any other DD job competently) and more than a touch of sentimentality (I'm Australian by birth and have visited her in Sydney). 

The other part of it was that for me, I knew exactly what I was getting with Vampire 2 as I already have both Daring and Haida, and indeed she has turned out to be exactly the combination of her progenitors that I thought she would be. She was a very safe choice. If I ever again get together enough RB points from dailies plus enough FXP to do multiple line resets (I'm never doing that grind again, fun as it was), I will probably get the Paolo if she's still available.

Druid, with all her guns forward and no torpedoes to compensate for the lack of HE ammunition (compare and contrast with Friesland), isn't a place I want to go right now (though I admittedly did feel the same way about Friesland but picked her up later after driving Smaland for a bit). If you want a mild taste of what Druid's down-sides are like, go on the Public Test and play the Jutland A hull with AP only and no torps. 

[LancerUlysses]

I am rolling for Vampire II

(a.k.a. Dracula)

[AbyssAngkor]

A good DD is one that can carry well into the late game. Druid fits that bill very much with her massive 28.8k health and 3 heals. The AP dpm is downright scary with very flat ballistics (similar to Kleber). Downside is that she is very slow for a DD (no speed boost) and can't reposition quickly when caught out of position. Novice players will struggle to put up huge numbers with Druid without any HE or fires to deal guaranteed damage.

Vampire 2 is very good in the early game at contesting caps. But she depends too much on her consumables to deal damage. Open water gunboating is out of the question and she doesn't handle well against radar or aircraft. She can't recover lost health either so her effectiveness dwindles with time.

Paolo is a 1 trick pony. Hilarious when it works, but cannot really deal damage outside of those yolo torp runs.

[Mizzerys_Fate]

2 hours ago, Panzer1113 said:

Have 58,200 Research Bureau points to use.  Not a big fan of RB, but decided to re-grind to take advantage of double point opportunity.  This is enough points to get either the Druid, Vampire II or Paolo Emilio.  I am a DD main, and normally like torp boats over gunboats.  Have played almost all DDs in game other, but of course have not played any of these.  All these DDs have some interesting features.  Druid seems like something different, all forward guns, no torps, and while smoke is short-duration, looks to play like a RN light cruiser (which line I like).  Vampire II has crawl smoke, but is just an off-take on a Daring (which I already have).  Have seen a few PE's playing, and quick-hit kamikaze playstyle has some appeal.

 

Was wondering any feedback from people who have these on their merits?  Have watched vids that are out there, but was wondering if the community had some advice?

Druid. Improved pen angles above rn dd line. 252k dpm. Avg 30k dam from a smoke.

Vampire has been countered by most clans now and isn't much of a threat.

PE.... when it works it is a thing of beauty,  when a yolo fails it fails fast and hard.... highly situational. 

[Mizzerys_Fate]

8 hours ago, Ensign_Cthulhu said:

When I had to make this decision, it was Vampire 2 vs. Paolo; the Druid's release date and currency hadn't been announced yet.

It was one of the more difficult either-or decisions I've had to make in this game. In the end, Vamp 2 won out because of her general utility (Paolo is a one-trick pony which does her trick extremely well but IMHO needs a high skill level to do any other DD job competently) and more than a touch of sentimentality (I'm Australian by birth and have visited her in Sydney). 

The other part of it was that for me, I knew exactly what I was getting with Vampire 2 as I already have both Daring and Haida, and indeed she has turned out to be exactly the combination of her progenitors that I thought she would be. She was a very safe choice. If I ever again get together enough RB points from dailies plus enough FXP to do multiple line resets (I'm never doing that grind again, fun as it was), I will probably get the Paolo if she's still available.

Druid, with all her guns forward and no torpedoes to compensate for the lack of HE ammunition (compare and contrast with Friesland), isn't a place I want to go right now (though I admittedly did feel the same way about Friesland but picked her up later after driving Smaland for a bit). If you want a mild taste of what Druid's down-sides are like, go on the Public Test and play the Jutland A hull with AP only and no torps. 

The only downside to Druid is it's inability to stop a charging ship with torps. 

The dpm, excellent pen angles leads to huge damage numbers.

Often 30 k per smoke. And smoke comes up fast.

Excellent dd and cruiser killer.

[Fodder4U]

Paolo Emilio in ranked doing yolo torp runs on BBs is sooooooo fun.