High tier IJN cruisers

[Scotty_SE]

Was watching the end of a match last night and saw an Ibuki on the opposing team completely trash and destroy the remaining ships on my own team. A half health Iowa was sent to bottom in a medium range fight, and a full health Pensacola and beat up Baltimore that turned the corner next were turned into artificial reefs in a rather scary low number of volleys. All without the Ibuki landing a single torp hit.

 

Everybody talks about the Des Moines at Tier X, but what about the Ibuki and Mogami compared to the Baltimore and New Orleans from people who played them? I've seen enough Mogami's to conclude they seem a bit 'meh', and can't stand the mid tier IJN cruisers. Haven't faced off with many Ibuki's though and there isn't much discussion about them. On paper though the Ibuki has better guns than the Baltimore and also has torps, so what's the catch?

[WinterIess]

Was watching the end of a match last night and saw an Ibuki on the opposing team completely trash and destroy the remaining ships on my own team. A half health Iowa was sent to bottom in a medium range fight, and a full health Pensacola and beat up Baltimore that turned the corner next were turned into artificial reefs in a rather scary low number of volleys. All without the Ibuki landing a single torp hit.

 

Everybody talks about the Des Moines at Tier X, but what about the Ibuki and Mogami compared to the Baltimore and New Orleans from people who played them? I've seen enough Mogami's to conclude they seem a bit 'meh', and can't stand the mid tier IJN cruisers. Haven't faced off with many Ibuki's though and there isn't much discussion about them. On paper though the Ibuki has better guns than the Baltimore and also has torps, so what's the catch?

 

Lower HP pool, perhaps?

[Goose21891]

Ibuki has a large citadel hitbox as I recall, I do love mine though

[Lert]

I have New Orleans and Zao. In general the american cruisers have better guns in things like turret traverse and reload. But that doesn't mean the IJN guns are bad, they can still rip up targets. They tend to be quite accurate too, and get 203mm guns at tier 5. They tend to have a bit less hitpoints than their USN counterparts. Also although they seem very fragile, they tend to have thicker citadel armor than USN cruisers.

 

It's my favorite line in the game. I think they're just more flexible than the USN cruisers. They can flex, they can fire at range with guns and close in for the kill. They can lay ambushes and kill any ship in the game in a hurry, at close range.

 

1v1 across open ocean at range the USN cruisers tend to out-gun the IJN ones, but this game rarely is 1v1 across open ocean, is it ...

[Guest]

Ibuki has a large citadel hitbox as I recall, I do love mine though

 

Its definitely something I've noticed in the past. 

[Scotty_SE]

Helpful comments. Everybody is rushing to the Des Monster and I simply prefer to avoid a crowd and also want to avoid another match in the Pensacrapa.

[Evocoot]

When do the Japanese cruisers start to get better? American line seems fairly solid up to New Orleans, didn't even really find the Pepsi all that painful but I'm finding the mid-tier Japanese cruisers painful.(I think I have the tier 5 sitting)

[Lert]

Aoba and up is where it starts to get good, imo.

[Biloxxi]

I am up to the Aoba and to be honest, the slow turret traverse just irks me to no end. I do have the Des Moine and the one game i have gotten to play in it was a loss, (early morning hot spot map, knew the loss was coming)  but i just really love every US cruiser line from Cleveland on up. Now i am trying to get the hang of the IJN cruisers and the turret traverse is probably not that bad, but gah that is the one thing i hate about the IJN cruisers, everything else i kind of like.

 

Edit.

 

I have found the Aoba a real joy to play now that i have gotten used to the slower turret traverse. They are a different play style compared to the US line and it is a refreshing change for me. Once this goes live i will be going to tier 10 in this cruiser line as well. 

[Scotty_SE]

IJN line is weak up to tier 6, especially with death machines like the Cleveland and St Loui's roaming around that can take half your health before you get your turrets rotated or even think about a torp launch. Fully upgraded Aoba seems to be a change for the better. 

 

i just really love every US cruiser line from Cleveland on up.

 

As OP'd as the Cleveland is it's going to get date with a nerf bat or moved tiers. It's fun, but at the expense of a current imbalance. Pensacola is so far the worst ship I've played in the game. It's long range guns are pointless because of their slow reload, and the damn things bounce off a Tier 5 BB at range anyways so what's the point. You play AA support with BB's, which is almost worthless because everybody on the map is shooting at you because of Jiffy Pop armor. I work a full time job - I don't have time nor motivation to grind through intentionally bad ships, but that's just me.

[Evocoot]

 

 

As OP'd as the Cleveland is it's going to get date with a nerf bat or moved tiers. It's fun, but at the expense of a current imbalance. Pensacola is so far the worst ship I've played in the game. It's long range guns are pointless because of their slow reload, and the damn things bounce off a Tier 5 BB at range anyways so what's the point. You play AA support with BB's, which is almost worthless because everybody on the map is shooting at you because of Jiffy Pop armor. I work a full time job - I don't have time nor motivation to grind through intentionally bad ships, but that's just me.

Might just be me but the New Orleans doesn't feel that different. 

[crzyhawk]

Helpful comments. Everybody is rushing to the Des Monster and I simply prefer to avoid a crowd and also want to avoid another match in the Pensacrapa.

 

Pensacrapa lol.  Please don't get me started on why it's a poor fit at T7, when you have the Myoko which does everything better except AA.

 

So far, the entire IJN lineup seems better than the USN cruiser lineup, with the exception of the Cleveland.  I loved my Myoko, I love my Mogami.  I actually liked my Pensacrapa, but part of that might be that my favorite ship is the Salt Lake City.  My stats show it was not one of my better ships.  my NO, seemed Meh.  I did OK in it, but that's all I can say.  My Baltimore seems OK.  I've wrecked a few Mogamis with it, haven't run into many Ibukis yet.  IJN cruisers seem pretty easy to citadel.  When I'm shooting at a NO, they seem tougher.