How do I destroyer?

[Wisty]

I can't say I love playing them. They are just too fragile for my liking, but I at least want to understand how to play them competently and get maybe 1 torp hit in any given game. Right now I have only the Wickes and the Wakatake. I have had more success in the Wakatake (but not much) thanks to it's superior torpedo range, but I am abysmally bad at both of them. I have even tried playing them in bot games and I get taken out straight away with nothing to show for it. 

I just don't understand how to get in torpedo range of a target before being detected and fired on, especially in the Wickes with it's 4.5 km torpedo range. It's suicidal to get that close.

[HerrCommandant]

Q.Q Another DD player... why nu BB.

DDs have OP speed thus meant for quick strikes not full on onslaughts at BBs :3

Not to mention a DD can lob a torp around an Island and sink a BB easily due to the BB on the other side not able to fire or see you depending on where the ship is at. Also Leading leading LEADING! Some one was in a T3 American BB and was like, how do kill cause I cant at range? *facepalm* A simple and most amazing thing ever. Lead ~poi

Also use smoke and the speed boosts, they help in getting out of firefights with bigger ships and help you move around the map better.

~Poi

[AviKerensky]

The biggest thing is to not go it alone, unless you're trying to do an end-run around the outside to go nail the enemy carrier. Try to stick with at least one other destroyer (Or cruiser), and use the pack mentality. Never stop moving, save your repair parties for steering or engine destruction. Use the smoke on your way out of an engagement, and run like hell. Anytime you are 'spotted,' (See the commander's perks) fire nonstop. Keep shooting, it might make them swerve or juke. And fire torpedoes every chance you get. I fire blindly around corners, and probably a quarter of the time, I score a hit out of pure luck.

[Cobraclutch]

Not trying to be mean or rude, but there is a wealth of information on these forums on how to operate a Destroyer on paper. Just search for it.

 

The rest is all about feeling the game, and knowing when the timing is right. And when its wrong. 

 

If i were to offer a suggestion, your hp is very vital to your success. Do not loose it easily. You are a force to be reckoned with late game. 

 

BE PATIENT 

[Wisty]

Q.Q Another DD player... why nu BB.

DDs have OP speed thus meant for quick strikes not full on onslaughts at BBs :3

Not to mention a DD can lob a torp around an Island and sink a BB easily due to the BB on the other side not able to fire or see you depending on where the ship is at. Also Leading leading LEADING! Some one was in a T3 American BB and was like, how do kill cause I cant at range? *facepalm* A simple and most amazing thing ever. Lead ~poi

Also use smoke and the speed boosts, they help in getting out of firefights with bigger ships and help you move around the map better.

~Poi

 

Don't worry my American BB line is my preferred ship line. 

But my problem is knowing how to get into those opportune positions. Most often I simply fire my torps without being in range because I need to run away. I have never launched a torpedo spread without being fired on first and then immediately need to retreat afterwards, which I have never done successfully. The range is so close that I am dead long before I can exit range. The smokescreen gets me some distance, but never far enough.

[HerrCommandant]

 

Don't worry my American BB line is my preferred ship line. 

but My problem is knowing how to get into those opportune positions. Most often I simply fire my torps without being in range because I need to run away. I have never launched a torpedo spread without being fired on first and then immediately need to retreat afterwards, which I have never done successfully. The range is so close that I am dead long before I can exit range. The smokescreen gets me some distance, but never far enough.

 

If you don't get distance try Smoke then the Speed Boost? I dunno, I'm not good in my Umikaze at all so :p  actually Nor my Kuma xd But if need be I smoke then boost.

[Triela50]

How to destroyer

Step one. get a destroyer

Step two load into battle

Step three hide and sneak

Step four find battleship sailing alone and not paying attention to the world around him. (not as rare as you think)

Step Five torpedoes away

Step Six make tea with the yummy tears of battleship player 

[dahdah325]

The US DD line has probably the highest skill floor in the game right now. Basically, its all about picking the right engagements.

 

Early in a match, look for opportunities to find and eliminate any IJN DD's on the enemy team. Do this by lurking near land features in areas DD's commonly use. If you find one, assuming he doesn't have a bunch of backup, jump on him and use your dpm to take him down fast. If you don't find any IJN DD's to engage, work around the edges of the fight, using your guns to take little bites out of targets your teammates have engaged. Always be ready to turn and run as soon as their attention is turned your way. 

 

Mid/late game, you are a lion on the Serengeti; look for weakened prey enemy ships that have become separated from the herd. Stalk them using terrain if possible, then dart out to close distance for a torp run. US DD's torps dont have great range, but most have decent speed and the ability to shoot forward at fairly oblique angles. This allows you to rush straight at a weakened CA/BB, showing as small a profile as possible, then turn only slightly to release torps. When you take these torp shots, don't bang off both sets as fast as possible; release the first set, determine how he is going to turn to avoid, then release the second to compensate. 

 

[The_GoDDfather]

How to DD: http://forum.worldofwarships.com/index.php?/topic/37470-the-quintessential-dd-guide/#topmost

Try this

[RoninMcGinnis]

Island hoping is a great way to close the distance.  It can also help hide you from detection longer.  Also plan out your attack carefully and use the mini map to determain what to target and how.

 

Coop is a great training tool.  Use it to practice and prefect your style of attack.  Once you think your ready start going back into random battle.  Please note that players are not as predictable as the bots so you will need to be flexible and change your plan of attack to fit the situation your in, don't be ridged.

 

If you get sunk don't exit out right away.  Cam to another DD if your team has another player using one.  Even if it's not the same ship or even the same nation that your playing you can always watch and learn how others play their DD and incorporate what their doing into your style of play.

[illyrium_dawn]

 I have even tried playing them in bot games and I get taken out straight away with nothing to show for it. 

 

 

Ironically, co-op is a terrible place to play a destroyer.

 

While the bots are not imaginative, they're actually much more effective players than your average battleship player against you (in a destroyer):

 

1) They have total situational awareness in a way players don't; if you fire torpedoes at any bot, it will react to it by trying to dodge them the moment it detects them.

 

2) Their target priority is set to kill the weakest ships first, so if you are visible to a bot, it will switch targets to shoot at you.

 

This totally denies you the profitable niche of killing battleship noobs:

 

1) Battleships that spend all their time scoped in and totally ignore everything but the ship they are targeting.  Most sail in straight lines at a constant speed.  Some even stop.

 

2) Battleships that are so wrapped up in some mythical cult of Manly Power ™ that they always attempt to shoot the toughest target in sight (other battleships) and ignore stuff that can actually kill them really fast (torpedo planes, destroyers, cruisers spamming HE, etc.).  These players are so bad you can literally sail up to the battleship and knock on a porthole and ask to borrow a cup of milk and give them a torpedo in exchange.

[supershutze]

It can be frustrating, but that moment when an opponent in a BB who wasn't paying enough attention realizes there are twelve torpedoes in the water and there's nothing they can do about it...

 

That moment is priceless.

[IJN_Kisaragi]

It can be frustrating, but that moment when an opponent in a BB who wasn't paying enough attention realizes there are twelve torpedoes in the water and there's nothing they can do about it...

 

That moment is priceless.

 

And then come onto the forum making a thread about how torps are OP? How they spawn 500m away from their sides?