Battleship Strategies

[Ignatius_Hood]

Playing as a battleship in World of Warships is a game of patience.  You have a slow moving, hard hitting, and heavily armored ship killer at your fingertips.  Captains with the ability to anticipate the ebb and flow of battle correctly and position themselves to capitalize on situations as they present themselves will find great success.  Armor and health can buy you time.  Firepower available to you means only other Battleships can take your hits and hit back effectively.  You are not invincible, but you are tough.  Destroyers, Enemy Aircraft, and groups of Cruisers working in concert are your biggest threats.  A few simple guidelines will help you survive, and thrive on the battlefield.

 

• Angle your armor – You best defense in battle is to simply deny your side to the enemy.  You give another battleship a clear flush shot at your open broadside at anything less than 15km will result in heavy damage or outright death.  I have personally killed enemy battleships on full health with my ship being heavily damaged simply because he left his broadside exposed and I angled myself just enough to deny a clear shot but not so much that I cover up my guns.
• Adjust your speed and heading often – When under fire I’m always speeding up, slowing down, and shifting port and starboard to confuse my attackers.  When in close contact angling is even more important.  Against enemy battleships close to 5km and then start pulling back out again, angle away, make them chase and pound the hell out of them.
• When all else fails, show them your [edited]– Don’t stand and die, turn and run, drag your death out, make the enemy waste time killing you.  Die as hard as possible and focus on the easiest targets to kill as you’re dying.  You might take a few of them with you.  My team has won many times because the enemy was too focused on trying to kill me and they failed to notice until it was too late that they were getting capped.  Also, when possible, run back to support.  Drag the enemy into your team’s kill box by using yourself as bait.
• Take down the cruisers first – Kill the unsuspecting.  I’m always on the lookout for the enemy cruiser not paying attention.  Either he thinks I’m too far away to hit him or he doesn’t see me or he’s not paying attention, regardless of the reason take shots at them at long range 20km or more and inside of 10km.  I try to avoid shooting Cruisers between 20km and 10km.  They are too maneuverable and they will see it coming, but Cruisers can be killed in a couple broadsides or in most cases a single salvo from a well-timed battleship’s broadside at the perfect angle.  Sometimes simply giving a citadel shot to a Cruiser at long range will take him out of the game as he tilts and tries to save himself instead of shoot at your team.
• Play to your strengths (Close on the Japanese, stay away from Americans) – Nothing makes me happier than seeing a Kongo rushing to close the range on my New York.  The Japanese battleships are Snipers, the Americans are brawlers use them that way.  Never close inside of 10km in a Japanese battleship against an American one.  I’ve killed Amagis in close range brawls with my New Mexico.  Hint, they have almost the same amount of citadel armor, Nagatos, Fusos, Kongos, have even less.  This is why inside 10-15km you can beat them to death but drop shots bounce at range.  On the same token I’ve had my New Mexico devastatingly struck by a Kongo I couldn’t even see.  He was at 22km.
• Use AP all the time – You only have to get lucky once to instantly kill a Cruiser or a Destroyer with AP and you don’t have the rate of fire to burn down enemies with HE in a Battleship.  So don’t bother.
• Run away from Destroyers – Make them chase you, make them maneuver to torp you.  The more a Destroyer Skipper has to do the more likely it is he’ll make a mistake and with your guns, any mistake he makes will be instantly fatal.
• Test shots are for losers.  Broadside or nothing.  Wait for the clean lead against a stable course if possible and follow these guidelines with the base optics for Battleships up to Tier 7.  These are broad generalizations and your mileage may vary.  Also realize that the more away or towards you a target faces the less lead you need to give.  It’s the lateral movement that is the real impediment.
  • 20-25km range
    • Battleships, 11 to 12 ticks from center, a bit more for Japanese a bit less for Americans.
    • Cruisers, don’t bother unless you have nothing better to shoot at
    • Destroyers, don’t bother at all
  • 20km range
    • Battleships 9-10 ticks from center
    • Cruisers 11-12, perhaps a bit more for the light cruisers
    • Destroyers, don’t bother at all
  • 15km range
    • Battleships 7-8 ticks from center
    • Cruisers 9-10 ticks from center
    • Destroyers, don’t bother at all unless you have nothing better to shoot at
  • 10km range
    • Battleships 4-5 ticks from center
    • Cruisers 8-9 ticks from center
    • Destroyers 11-12 ticks from center
  • 5km range
    • Battleships 1-2 maybe less, don’t hesitate to zoom out a click or two.  At this range it’s reasonable to go for disabling shots on turrets, rudders, engines etc.
    • Cruisers 4-5 ticks from center
    • Destroyers 8-9 ticks from center

 

Here are a few of the maps I seem to end up on and my approach tactically to them when I’m in my battleships.  I really enjoy Big Race, Fault Line, and New Dawn those maps seem to be made for solo battleships allowing you to use terrain to take on many enemies at once and in World of Warships, if it hasn't happened to you yet, when you start living long enough it will and you'll enjoy those maps like I do.  I left some maps out because I don't play them enough to have an opinion really or like open ocean its a crapshow no matter what and you have to go full Horatio Nelson and just stay alive long enough to survive to the end and hope your team can kill them all or you win on points.

 

Fault Line: Maneuver west from either north or south spawns regardless of position.  The goal, regardless of map mode is it ‘turn the corner’ on the west side and push through to the opposite edge and then work east to grab enemy capture point or northeast/southeast to grab capture point ‘B.’ Under no circumstances do you want to get near the middle until all enemy DDs have been cleared from the field.

New Dawn: Move towards the South East corner regardless of spawn or start position.  The goal regardless of map mode is to overload the edge and ‘turn the corner’ and then push west or north to enemy capture point or potentially northwest to capture point ‘B.’

Big Race: Move to the Northeast corner.  The goal is not to push through, but to break the enemy force there.  After the outcome is decided the goal is to move back west or south to move back across the middle to secure or defend capture points.

Two Brothers: Your start position with dictate your movement, move to your side.  The goal is to probe the enemy but not overcommit.  If your side is outnumbered, conduct a fighting withdrawal back towards spawn.  If you have numbers, push aggressively to the open capture point or enemy capture point.  Speed is everything if you have the numbers advantage.

North: Regardless of spawn or position move west.  Like Fault Line your goal is to ‘turn the corner’ on the west side and push east.  Under no circumstances do you want to get near the middle until all enemy DDs have been cleared from the field.

Solomon:  If you have a more northern start position you have to drive to ‘turn the corner’ on the Northeast edge of the map.  Be careful not to get pinned against the landmass on the north east edge of the map and be prepared to withdrawal.  Most DDs will try to slip between the island and the main landmass and you should be prepared for close contact.  Also they will push the middle gap and can get behind you.  If you are on the southern side of spawn be prepared to defend the south flank, probably by yourself of with minimal support.  Withdraw, don't die if you can help it and run north towards spawn and draw the enemy ships into range of the rest of your fleet.  Pick off the cruisers as you run.

Fire Island:  Stay out of the ‘Briar Patch’ on the east side.  Avoid getting flanked between capture points ‘A’ and ‘B.’ Your best bet is to drive west nearly to map edge heading north or south depending on spawn.  Secure your flank and push east towards the middle.  DDs will likely stay on the east side until the small ship combat is concluded and you can expect to start dealing with survivors as you move east if the battle lasts that long.  This map is still pretty new and 75% of the time someone on your team will screw up so be prepared to fall back to save cap or capture 'A' and 'B' if necessary.

Hot Spot:  Your job is to play the edges, east or west sides.  Once again like on most maps your job is to ‘turn the corner’ break the enemy and move towards capture points.  Under no circumstances do you move to the middle of the map or get inside the island chain until enemy numbers are reduced and the DDs are eliminated.

 

I hope this will help new players and old alike as they try to learn how to play this awesome game.  I play a lot, I play just battleships, and I see so many people fail to succeed that I thought this would be a good way to spend an hour. 

 

quotes

"A stern chase is a long chase."

"Stay alive at all costs because you can't kill anyone from a life raft."

"Every rule has exceptions, winners know when to ignore the rules and when to follow them"

 

 

[HortaFan]

I don't understand why destroyers kill battleships.  I've both killed battleships with destroyers and been killed by them.  I had a DD chase me down and torpedoe me multiple times without being able to fire my secondariy batteries.  What am I missing?

[aether_tech]

I don't understand why destroyers kill battleships.  I've both killed battleships with destroyers and been killed by them.  I had a DD chase me down and torpedoe me multiple times without being able to fire my secondariy batteries.  What am I missing?

 

Use your main guns.

[HortaFan]

They (and I've) gotten so close you can't train the main guns on them.  Why don't your secondary guns kill them?  That's what they're for.

[KiwiColdbeer]

Thanks for taking the time to write this, very informative.

 

Worthy of a "pinning" perhaps Mr Moderator??

[aether_tech]

TLDR

AFTW.

Aim. For. The. Waterline.

[Gizuke]

 

Use your main guns.

 

[HortaFan]

For the waterline, aim I will!

[HortaFan]

Sunk again,  I was!  At least sunk him, I did.

 

This ws good addvice, but the rate of fire was so slow that I couldn't get off more than two salvos.

[KiwiColdbeer]

Just calling back to say a big thanks to the OP for these tips, they worked a treat.

 

And the evidence

My First "tentacles" in a BB.......WOOHOO!!

[inktomi19d]

A couple of notes:

 

First IJN BBs tend to suffer at close range because of their armor, but they tend to have very good secondaries, especially if you have the captain skills which buff secondaries. So, while taking a Kongo in close versus a New York shouldn't be your first choice, closing with lighter ships isn't always a bad idea. If you find yourself in an IJN BB fighting at close range, angling your armor a bit is often enough for your stronger secondaries to win the fight for you (but again -- getting close to another BB shouldn't be your first choice most of the time). I win an awful lot of close-up fights in the Kongo, but I have a lot of games in that ship so keeping the armor angled even when close is second-nature to me.

 

Second, it's not always good to run from DDs. Yes, as a general strategy it's better to run than to close with them, but it's more important to get the narrowest part of your ship pointed at them as quickly as possible, and if they have torps on the way it's generally easier to dodge by turning toward them rather than away. Or sometimes if the BB runs that will mean the whole team collapses. So 'away' is most often the best choice, but not always; when you aren't running away though, you should be pointed directly towards.

[Kenjister]

I actually prefer to turn towards DDs myself, if the situation permits it. Often it lets you dodge their torps handily, while putting you closer to them so you can blow them out of the water,

 

This is best done at tier 6 and above though, because the Minekaze's fast reload only lets you fire one broadside before you're in danger of torps again.

 

Post tier 6 though, it works great, with time for two HE salvoes. In ships like Nagato that have great secondaries, hunting DDs is fairly fun.

[Ajatcho]

well I find the 15-10km range to be 5-7 clicks from center in the Colorado against other BB

[Royeaux]

I'll disagree about the part of the Kongo being a sniper or Japanese Battleships in general, because its guns don't really become effective until their under 15kms.  It's more of a lancer, charging at cruisers and delivering devastating blows, or charging in and finished off wounded Battleships.  Its bow will prevent citadel damage, and the ship needs to close range in order to deal the damage needed to pull its weight.  And the Kongo doesn't need to run away from DDs, unless your guns can't point in the right direction fast enough.  Charge those cheeky DDs down and give'm the 14" of hot death.  The strength of the Kongo comes from its speed, allowing to close the range of enemy ships whether it likes it or not, the trick is knowing when to charge, since your bow can only protect you from one direction.

 

Back to that Japanese Battleships are snipers thing, their not.  I once found an enemy afk CV at 16km with my Fuso.  I stopped the engines and began endlessly firing salvos of AP shells dead center on it's hull.  The shells plunged into the deck, hitting the citadel on rare occasions.  It took a solid 4 minutes before I finally killed the damn thing (about 8 salvos), and that was against a large, unarmored unmoving, afk ship.  While Japanese Battleships can fire their guns at long range, their dispersion is so terrible that it's really something to keep yourself entertained while closing the distance, and don't forget that the IJN BBs have better secondaries.  The Myogi is a battering ram, the Kongo is a lancer, the Fuso is a berserker, the Nagato is a Jack-Of-All-Trades brawler.  These ships are meant to get into the thick of things an opportune moment, then leave when the situation turns bad, their shock troops while the US Battleships are more like a shield wall or phalanx.

[IronMike11B4O]

I had a cheat sheet similar laminated to the stock of my M-14 in Iraq. I loved the idea so much I did the same. I put my daughter to use making the Mil lead chart while I was playing. Good father daughter time.

[KromaBaSyl]

The most important point to all aspiring BB captains out there, is what the OP didn't say to do, which is to hide in back. Get within 12-15K of those CAs and start putting that DPM to work.

[aether_tech]

The most important point to all aspiring BB captains out there, is what the OP didn't say to do, which is to hide in back. Get within 8-11K of those CAs and start putting that DPM to work.

fixed that for you.

[KromaBaSyl]

fixed that for you.

 

Baby steps.

[vonKaiser]

In the event of a Battleship vs Battleship battle, IE I'm head on closing on an enemy battleship who has his broadside to me.  Is it better to stay pointed directly at him or angled slightly?  I've been trying both methods as of late with my Wyoming and Myogi with varying results, no clear cut winner.  For instance last night was closing in on an ARP Kongo in the Myogi.  Granted Kongo is a tier higher so might not be the best example.

 

I would sail straight on, wait for them to fire, then during their reload swing to bring full broadside, then swing back to straight on before they could fire again.  This is all 10km and closing in until about 3 or 4km.  Worked OK and knocked them down to about 20% health from full until some long range shooting from a New York knocked me out (My kingdom for one Citadel hit on that Kongo lol).  However when sailing straight on I noticed a few hits I had taken which resulted in some rather heavy damage.  Would this have been lessened if I were slightly angled or was it a flawed engagement no matter what I would have done?

[GT5p33d]

Very informative. For DD's, I usually don't bother on them if I have a Cruiser behind me because of my role. But there are cases that you need to charge the DD specially if DD is not on smoke. Getting close to a DD gives you a better chance to hit it better than sailing away and evading its torpedoes better than sailing away.

[Eisennagel]

 

 

Different ships also require tuning in the aiming strategies.

 

Kongo, Tirpitz and Amagi when targeting them, can nearly be regarded as cruisers when target leading against them.  

 

The Fuso and Nagato requires a bit more target lead than US "Standard" battleships when aiming at them.

 

When shooting from the New Mex, this ship requires less target lead than the Fuso or Kongo or most other battleships.

[Pence14]

Hey folks, just started playing WoW last week and coming to grips with the learning curve. I really enjoyed reading the posts in this thread, very informative and thanks for taking the time to share your knowledge.

 

One question, which may seem silly, what does DPM stand for? Everything else I've picked up!

 

Thanks

[bagmantis]

The learning curve for hitting the dds in a bb close is all in the lead IMO. If he is full speed an close I can usually take most of their health by gauging up down by putting reticle on him then go all the way in front of the direction he is moving right or left with his ships back end barely showing on my zoomed screen. If he is a good pilot and u cant get a bead on him make two guesses, fire both sides one should hit. As a mainly T8 BB guy there is no worse feeling than fighting another BB and get torped by planes or DDs an feel like it ruined the fun. Thats why I took all the AA stuff for my NC to where i have 80ish aa really helps but with DDs once u get the hang of the lead its gets to the point where DDs will be your first kills alot

[bagmantis]

and thats damage per minute i think Pence ...someone else?

 

[Kenjister]

Yeap, DPM is damage per minute!