Kirov might make me a better player

[Lert]

I finished the Svietlana and sold it, without any plans of ever looking back at her, unless said look back is accompanied by both hands flipping the bird. The empty slot thus created was quickly taken up by Kirov. I used free XP to fully upgrade her, re-trained my captain and - my experience as supertester fresh in mind, I took her into battle.

 

Remembering just how soft she was, I changed my gameplay. Far less aggressive, staying at range, using my range, letting other teammates go ahead of me and keeping the enemy's attention on them rather than me. That's different from other 'soft' cruisers like the german ones, just because my experience in supertest hammered home that Kirov is about as soft as a destroyer, and as agile and large as a small battleship.

 

So far after two T7 battles and one T5 one, this is my result so far:

 

 

At 3 battles, luck is still a significant factor and I'm under no illusion that my stats will remain at this level, I know they'll drop.

 

But playing Kirov these three battles, it 'clicked' for me. I'm going to try and apply the same playstyle to other 'soft' cruisers, see what happens.

 

Anyone else ever had that ship where something just 'clicked'?

[crzyhawk]

I just took mine out for the first time, and holy crap, you aren't kidding when you said soft.  She makes my Pensacola feel pretty tough.

[MrDeaf]

I just took mine out for the first time, and holy crap, you aren't kidding when you said soft.  She makes my Pensacola feel pretty tough.

 

Citadelling a Kirov through the bow, with Kirov's own 180mm guns, is a thing, when you get into a show down with one.

[Lert]

you aren't kidding when you said soft

 

I have destroyers with the same armor thickness as Kirov. Should say enough.

[Koschka]

Yeah I have had a few ships where I just click with it, where I just do well right off and keep doing well with it. The Colorado for me was one such ship. I am like you I have 3 games in the Kirov and have very similar numbers at the moment.

[DeutschyDesu]

Kirov is soft like pudding and cream, even a breeze can knock its modules out and sometimes I'm afraid the waves will damage the ship as I sail it.

 

That said, it's teaching me a lot about how to play it safe, so I think the Kirov will be a valuable experience to players who want to improve themselves or at least learn how to raise their survival rates

[Cobraclutch]

I finished the Svietlana and sold it, without any plans of ever looking back at her, unless said look back is accompanied by both hands flipping the bird. The empty slot thus created was quickly taken up by Kirov. I used free XP to fully upgrade her, re-trained my captain and - my experience as supertester fresh in mind, I took her into battle.

 

Remembering just how soft she was, I changed my gameplay. Far less aggressive, staying at range, using my range, letting other teammates go ahead of me and keeping the enemy's attention on them rather than me. That's different from other 'soft' cruisers like the german ones, just because my experience in supertest hammered home that Kirov is about as soft as a destroyer, and as agile and large as a small battleship.

 

So far after two T7 battles and one T5 one, this is my result so far:

 

 

At 3 battles, luck is still a significant factor and I'm under no illusion that my stats will remain at this level, I know they'll drop.

 

But playing Kirov these three battles, it 'clicked' for me. I'm going to try and apply the same playstyle to other 'soft' cruisers, see what happens.

 

Anyone else ever had that ship where something just 'clicked'?

 

 

After 17 games this weekend i have a 88% w/r and about 55k average damage.

 

Still early but the Kirov and I have been clicking very well.

[poeticmotion]

It took longer to settle into Kirov than I usually take with a ship. Had her since Fri night and really just today I got in a good rhythm with her. She's definitely squishy, but if you can position her to be in range while being either out of range of the enemy, shielded by islands, or have meatshields drawing fire instead of you, she can dish out some serious pain. I hated her my first 10-15 games and I'm starting to like her.

Had low dmg and kills early on because I would die too quick playing aggressively, so even though I was having pretty decent DPM my overall damage would be low. But played her half a dozen times today and she clicked for me, so my numbers with her are going up fast. And she's surprisingly decent at AA.

 

 

 

[QuantumEntropy]

Pls nerf Kirov

[MrDeaf]

Yeah I have had a few ships where I just click with it, where I just do well right off and keep doing well with it. The Colorado for me was one such ship. I am like you I have 3 games in the Kirov and have very similar numbers at the moment.

 

I think it plays very similar to T7+ heavy cruisers... minus the extremely bad armor and agility.

It feels pretty natural playing Kirov, coming off of T8 cruisers.

[Turbotush]

After 3 very bad runs with my Kirov I got frustrated and said so in the team chat.  I then got bashed by some guy that preceded to say I didn't know how to play cruisers and my KD ratio shows I suck (.94).  After messaging while in my port (yes, he was one of those dipweeds) I disregarded  anything the stat nazi said or tried to say about Kirov.  A vew games later after being one shoted, that enemy was kind enough to give me the same advice that you have on Kirov play style.  So far  even though I am retraining the captain I am doing better and am playing it like a small BB.  Thanks for your advice.  FOR THE GLORY OF MOTHER RUSSIA!

[LordBerk]

Atago for me.

 

I've heard bad things about it going in, and initially I played it not expecting much, as well as trying my damnest to force it to be a beauty like the aoba was. My win rate reflected this - 38% in 37 games. Then came the ARP event and I picked up the pinkie.

 

But most important for me here was I changed my mindset - I thought OK we know it certainly is NOT an aoba, It does turn like a pig, but it kinda can take a beating when you angle it right and it certainly can dish out the pain when it can bring all guns to bear, but even front or back is decent...

 

Win rate for pinkie: 63% in 40 games.

 

This ship has made me a better player.

 

 

[Batwingsix]

Ran into a poor Kirov today while I was in my Iwaki. I kinda felt bad when I pop'd smoke and citadel'd him to death... then I remembered the times I was taken to the cleaners by AP in my Kirov. Thing has some meaty guns but it is pretty bad when I feel more secure in an Atlanta than that thing. My rule of thumb is... Consider myself dead wiithin a minute the first time anything other than a destroyer looks at me unless I have cover that I can race to.

[Taichunger]

Yeah, the Konigsberg was like a revelation from the gods for me. Totally changed my playstyle. 

But thanks for the tips. Please do not get better, Lert! You're already scary enough. 

 

 

[Camo68]

So far the Kirov has been pretty poor for me, I like to play aggressive and its suicide in this thing. Have adjusted playstyle after being spanked. In my last game played very defensive and damage jumped from 20k to 50k with a 5 citadel salvo on an Omaha which was nice. Not sure if I will continue with RU cruisers as I get frustrated hanging out the back of the fleet.

 

Ships that click - Kamikaze (no surprise as I loved the Minekaze) such a good little ship, I do more damage in this than the Fuso or Kongo!

[MrDeaf]

aaaand, I'm done with Kirov

Too squishy for my tastes.

 

I have outdone my average damage in Kongo and New York with Kirov.

[anonym_9qa81sg1ET3c]

One more reason the Kirov sucks its its 180mm guns. While that seems cool at T5 it sucks vs DDs because they over pen.

[Iron_Knickers]

I finished the Svietlana and sold it, without any plans of ever looking back at her, unless said look back is accompanied by both hands flipping the bird. The empty slot thus created was quickly taken up by Kirov. I used free XP to fully upgrade her, re-trained my captain and - my experience as supertester fresh in mind, I took her into battle.

 

Remembering just how soft she was, I changed my gameplay. Far less aggressive, staying at range, using my range, letting other teammates go ahead of me and keeping the enemy's attention on them rather than me. That's different from other 'soft' cruisers like the german ones, just because my experience in supertest hammered home that Kirov is about as soft as a destroyer, and as agile and large as a small battleship.

 

So far after two T7 battles and one T5 one, this is my result so far:

 

 

At 3 battles, luck is still a significant factor and I'm under no illusion that my stats will remain at this level, I know they'll drop.

 

But playing Kirov these three battles, it 'clicked' for me. I'm going to try and apply the same playstyle to other 'soft' cruisers, see what happens.

 

Anyone else ever had that ship where something just 'clicked'?

 

Yep, if I'm having a bad day I play the Myogi, then I switch back to my North Carolina and feel like god

[MrDeaf]

One more reason the Kirov sucks its its 180mm guns. While that seems cool at T5 it sucks vs DDs because they over pen.

 

I was scoring 4000dmg salvos against the typical T4/5/6/7 DDs?

[Lert]

One more reason the Kirov sucks its its 180mm guns. While that seems cool at T5 it sucks vs DDs because they over pen.

 

HE doesn't overpen, and AP from the other T5 cruisers overpens as much as Kirov does.

 

Kirov doesn't suck, btw. It's not great at killing DD's, but it smacks other cruisers around and can put serious hurt on BB's.

[poeticmotion]

One more reason the Kirov sucks its its 180mm guns. While that seems cool at T5 it sucks vs DDs because they over pen.

 

It's the best BB killer out of the T5 cruisers(which isn't saying a lot, as cruisers ideally shouldn't be in 1v1s with BBs) on any map but Ocean (i.e. terrain to use to your advantage.) I've been slaying BBs with long-range 180mm HE fire and even doing some dmg with AP. 

 

It's about even with Furutaka or Konig for anti-cruiser work, off the top of my head. You've got to make your salvos count more than Konig because slower ROF, but you have 50% more guns than Furutaka or Aoba. 

 

And she's very good in the anti-DD role with HE; AP overpens but HE just melts DDs and that fast turret traverse is great. Slow ROF but if you aim well and use sequential fire to keep the DD under fire she does fine. 

 

Kirov can compete with any type of ship as well as other t5 and some t6 cruisers when it comes to dishing out pain. Yes, she's also the weakest of t5 cruisers in regards to how easy she is to kill, but you can ameliorate that a bit with her speed and with using terrain (islands, etc.) well. She's a ship that requires her driver to play to her strengths and weaknesses; you can't hop in a Kirov and play the same way you play an Omaha or a Furutaka and expect to do well. 

[Warped_1]

I really suffered on the learning curve with this ship but I am starting to feel my groove with her.  She is my Izumo trainer.

[desmo_2]

I look at my stats in game and on warshipstats.com, but your screen shots don't look like either.  Where are you getting those screenshots?

[centarina]

 

I think it plays very similar to T7+ heavy cruisers... minus the extremely bad armor and agility.

It feels pretty natural playing Kirov, coming off of T8 cruisers.

 

I have no issue with t7 cruiser.   Kirov is much softer.   only way I can play her is to stay way back and behind everyone and snipe all match. I love yorck, which is also soft, but much tougher than kirov.  I still havn't clicked with kirov.

[Lert]

Where are you getting those screenshots?

 

Here.

 

Kirov is much softer.

 

Quite. She's the softest thing in the game in my opinion, if you take armor, tiering and opposing guns into account. She has up to 50mm armor, and there are destroyers with that amount of armor. Plus her rudder and engine are very easily knocked out.