Good Brawling Cruisers?

[LordBenjamin]

I used to have just the Cleveland and the IJN 8s, the Cleveland can brawl a bit and is somewhat hard to citadel, the Atago/Mogami have concealment and can sort of pick their moment and angle properly before engaging, etc.

 

Now I have the Pensecola though, I hate it with a passion.   I can do okay by playing back and cautious, etc.   Fine, I accept that but I just don't enjoy a ship that can't play aggressively.  

 

It's my impression the line is better armored as it continues past Pensacola.   Also that the RU cruiser line is glass-cannon types.   My basic question is what are the best cruisers at the various tiers that allow for a more aggressive style of play instead of ones that encourage sitting back and dealing damage from a long range distance.

[ValkyrWarframe]

The Tier 4 and 5 cruisers are pretty good melee fighters.  Especially Phoenix and Omaha.

[Misniso]

None...probably.  At the higher tiers, you should be taking advantage of high alpha and cruiser accuracy.  To get within brawling distance within another ship starts a game of chance that can end badly for you.

 

That said, pick the ships for their guns and not for their armor.  Your goal is to dominate them in the firepower realm since you're not expected to tank hits below 10km range.

 

Truthfully, the Pepsi can deflect cruiser shells if you angle.  I wouldn't count on it though.  Aim for overpens.

[bad_arcade_kitty]

cruisers dont brawl

if you want to brawl you either play bb... or dd

[The_GoDDfather]

Zao, Hindenburg, and Moskva.

AKA: Everything but USN.

[Macabe]

Cruisers should avoid brawling.

[10T0nHammer]

Bro.. Pensacola Best Brawler NA. It has the great AP pen values. The fastest turret traverse of the 3 ships and people think that weak armor means auto-pen. Long as you angle, you will bounce AP like nothing.

Cruisers should avoid brawling vs BBs.

FTFY

 

Cruiser on Cruiser brawling is actually possible and fun IMO

[QuantumEntropy]

cruisers dont brawl

if you want to brawl you either play bb... or dd

 

My cruisers brawl

I don't see anything wrong in 1 v 1 a bb if i have torps, Usually i win

 

[QuantumEntropy]

Zao, Hindenburg, and Moskva.

AKA: Everything but USN.

 

This^

+

Roon ( the duble strike cruiser )

Nurnberg ( got 2 close quarters expert )

Furutaka ( oversize DD with big guns )

Murmansk

Omaha

Cleveland ( Ramming Speed )

Myoko

Kuma ( had a game with 15 torp hits )

Tenyru ( torpboat )

I could say the Hipper but it get his HP drain to easy

[bad_arcade_kitty]

well, something like st. louis can brawl... for higher tiers it is not viable

 

 

My cruisers brawl 

I don't see anything wrong in 1 v 1 a bb if i have torps, Usually i win

 

 

the main problem it's that bb delete you before you go into the brawling distance, dd can avoid it due to their good concealment, small size and no citadel, cruisers cannot

[Lunarrise]

The Cleveland is the best brawling cruiser I have come across. While she doesn't have the torpedoes to slam into someone when she gets close, even six inch cruiser guns stand a good chance of shredding a battleship with AP rounds at close range, and most enemy cruisers will hear the citadel hit sound for what's left of their very short lives. As noted to Cleveland is made quite durable thanks to her citadel layout, something that severely limits the in-your-face fighting potential of most other cruisers.

[10T0nHammer]

 

This^

+

Roon ( the duble strike cruiser )

Nurnberg ( got 2 close quarters expert )

Furutaka ( oversize DD with big guns )

Murmansk

Omaha

Cleveland ( Ramming Speed )

Myoko

Kuma ( had a game with 15 torp hits )

Tenyru ( torpboat )

I could say the Hipper but it get his HP drain to easy

 

I dont consider CAs that cannot traverse guns and turn their hulls at the same time to be effective brawlers lol just outpace their turrets and you will win. Especially if you get them to force broadsiding.

[LordBenjamin]

I'm not saying YOLO down the X line is it's primary goal but sometimes victory requires someone to get close to the enemy.   Some ships are better than others at this and I'm wondering which since I haven't played all.

 

By my standards the Mogami and Atago are a decent brawler against BBs.    Their stealth allows them to get pretty close before detection, turn time is good enough to avoid torpedoes usually, pretty rare to take HUGE damage through the front, etc.

 

iChase/N3v3rforgott3n has today's video as a prime example of a cruiser brawling well (Des Moines).  

[Batwingsix]

I'm not saying YOLO down the X line is it's primary goal but sometimes victory requires someone to get close to the enemy.   Some ships are better than others at this and I'm wondering which since I haven't played all.

 

By my standards the Mogami and Atago are a decent brawler against BBs.    Their stealth allows them to get pretty close before detection, turn time is good enough to avoid torpedoes usually, pretty rare to take HUGE damage through the front, etc.

 

iChase/N3v3rforgott3n has today's video as a prime example of a cruiser brawling well (Des Moines).  

 

All you do is YOLO... I have played with you before... taking your battleship up the middle of two brothers yelling at everyone else to "Git gud" gosh...

 

 

 

[YamatoA150]

Assuming brawling anything that isn't a Battleship...

 

From what I've faced, Baltimore and Des Moines are both pretty mean brawlers with their RoF and armor durability as long as they angle, though their citadels aren't as vulnerable when caught broadsiding compared to the IJN cruisers.  They also have decent rudder shift times, so it helps them out there too.  The lack of torpedoes isn't a big deal; just one less weapon system to get disabled, and less need to expose the aft to launch them.  At brawling ranges, their arcs aren't a problem, and the amount of shells they can keep up make up for their middling damage well enough.

 

Hindenburg also brawls fairly well, and supposedly Hipper and Roon do too (still stuck on Yorck, but vs'ing them in an IJN cruiser at brawl range hurts even with angling), and so does Zao, though Zao can deliver a particularly nasty surprise in the form of her high-speed torpedoes if she does choose to brawl.  More often she's better off being a phantom pain, when spec'd for concealment (almost as painful as dealing with a pack of perma-stealthed Russian DDs working together).  I'd also personally recommend Ibuki, who can almost do as well as Zao if spec'd similarly, and is just enough of an improvement over Atago in all but the torpedo department to quickly get used to  She can also angle better than Atago, since all 3 fore turrets are forward-facing and it's the 3rd turret that is raised, so as long as you're not just firing straight ahead, you can keep 6 guns on target while angled (of course, Zao does this better with 2 3x turrets).

 

From what I've seen as far as Russian cruisers go though, you'll probably want to avoid their T9 and T10,  which requires playing more like a battleship/battlecruiser.

 

I find all the CLs lower than T5 to have issues brawling; they usually do better in hit-and-run tactics rather than a sustained brawl.  Though St. Louis is one notable exception; being a slow but sturdy pain-in-the-[edited](I swear she eats more shells than she should be able to take; and keeps on chugging).

[Billy_Sastard]

Cruisers mostly bawl,"I'm too squishy! I need a buff!" Brawl. Ha!

[QuantumEntropy]

 

I dont consider CAs that cannot traverse guns and turn their hulls at the same time to be effective brawlers lol just outpace their turrets and you will win. Especially if you get them to force broadsiding.

Furutaka can be used as a torpboat , same as tenyru and kuma . nothing wrong in running and torping stuff and not shooting the guns

well, something like st. louis can brawl... for higher tiers it is not viable

 

 

the main problem it's that bb delete you before you go into the brawling distance, dd can avoid it due to their good concealment, small size and no citadel, cruisers cannot

Tell that to the many bbs that i deleted with torps in my cruisers , they shoot at me from 15km and i can still torp them when i get close

It's a flaw in what you said , most of them suck at this game

 

I got out with 3 kills when i pushed alone with the hipper in a Yamato that was running with an Iowa and a NC ( NC was low and iowa halp hp )

2 torp kills on the NC and Iowa and after that i torped the yamato then i rammed him for the win

And that's just one story that is recent

[LordBenjamin]

 

All you do is YOLO... I have played with you before... taking your battleship up the middle of two brothers yelling at everyone else to "Git gud" gosh...

 

 

 

 

I play for fun, don't judge me you stat freak!!!

 

======

 

Anyway, the "what is the best way to play a cruiser" discussion is a valid one but it's not my basic inquiry here.   Late game situations often call for pushing into a cap and taking it from someone or forcing an invis DD out of a zone or 1 v 2 a pair of battleships with 3m left in the game and a whole host of other scenarios in which the cruiser will be forced to take damage at closer range than he'd like.   My main question is which of the cruisers can take a better pounding than the others can when that role is force upon them.   I'm sure we're all acquainted with the type of late battle situations where the BB and long range CAs are sitting on the J line while the enemy has 2 caps and slowly wins.   I'm not that type of player and like to keep the pressure up when appropriate.

[OscarMike_]

Zao, Hindenburg, and Moskva.

AKA: Everything but USN.

 

Hindenburg does a Great job and honestly The high tier German Cruisers do probably the best job at eating damage (tanking)

 

Admiral Hipper and Hindenburg!  Not sure about Roon though..

[LordBenjamin]

 

Hindenburg does a Great job and honestly The high tier German Cruisers do probably the best job at eating damage (tanking)

 

Admiral Hipper and Hindenburg!  Not sure about Roon though..

 

Yeah, that's what I suspect based off going against them in destroyers.  Hipper and Hindenburg are hard ones to kill even before they activate sonar.

 

The USN ones at New Orleans and after seem fairly decent to me but they lack torps which can really swing the difference occasionally.

[Batwingsix]

 

I play for fun, don't judge me you stat freak!!!

 

 

Noob....

[poeticmotion]

Tenryu, Kuma, to a lesser extent Furutaka all play well for me as brawlers. 

Whoever said Nurnberg is a brawler....sigh. She's got great guns but against competent players you're gonna have a bad time inside of 10 kilometers. Konig you can get away with it more because she faces lower tiers more, but still not a great idea.

Cleve's a hell of a brawler, if you are very alert for torps since she doesn't have them and her opponents often do. 

 

Pensacola has no business in a brawl. Yeah she has 203s, but they have a slow ROF and her citadel is the size of the actual city of Pensacola. She can do OKish if forced into one and you can protect your flanks, but her best range for fighting (for me at least) is 10-14 km. I love to brawl but not in a Pensa. 

[Deathskyz]

Zao, Hindenburg, and Moskva.

AKA: Everything but USN.

 

Silly Moskva, you 19km detection range...

Largest citadel in game at high tiers...

 

Moskva cannot into brawl Comrade.

[x_Quinn_x]

Zao, Hindenburg, and Moskva.

AKA: Everything but USN.

 

Your Kidding right ?

You have to be trolling

If your not just try brawling against a Des Moine in the Zao, Hindenburg and Moskva you will get your [edited]handed to you almost every time.

[Eisennagel]

Tenryu, Kuma, to a lesser extent Furutaka all play well for me as brawlers. 

 

Whoever said Nurnberg is a brawler....sigh. She's got great guns but against competent players you're gonna have a bad time inside of 10 kilometers. Konig you can get away with it more because she faces lower tiers more, but still not a great idea.

 

Cleve's a hell of a brawler, if you are very alert for torps since she doesn't have them and her opponents often do. 

 

Pensacola has no business in a brawl. Yeah she has 203s, but they have a slow ROF and her citadel is the size of the actual city of Pensacola. She can do OKish if forced into one and you can protect your flanks, but her best range for fighting (for me at least) is 10-14 km. I love to brawl but not in a Pensa. 

 

 

Nurnberg or Koenigsburg up close is a ship about to launch torpedoes at you.  They got great forward and backward firing arcs, to the point they can fire 6 torpedoes almost facing forward, then quickly shift to the other side to fire another set of 6 torpedoes at you.  Those torpedoes are also fast, so good luck dodging them.