Think it may be time to put zao on the shelf

[Sinboto]

I love my zao, she's my little princess, my jewel, my crown of the CA line, but I've not been having fun with her over the past month or so.

Think it's time to put her away and grind up the BB line.  

[QuantumEntropy]

You can put it near mine so they look pretty

 

[SeaRaptor]

I largely put mine aside when they nerfed her HP down to Tier VIII levels.  Hindenburg fits my playstyle better anyhow. =)

[Show_Me_Your_Cits]

Funny, since I got my Zao, I've done the opposite and shelved my BB's for the most part. It's nice being able to hit what I'm aiming at, where I'm aiming at, with nearly all my shells and not watching my salvos bracket the target every time I click while being set on fire and waiting for my reload so I can bracket the target again. Or maybe get some glorious overpens. 

[Stevepidge]

I have had an awful hard time with her recently. She seems to suffer from the jack of all trades master of none problem. My he is very unpredictable and has a low alpha strike factor and relies on stealth to get into good firing solutions. Don't even get me started on the AP rounds, they are absolutely dreadful shooting at anything over 10k. My torp arcs are the worst of the jap cruiser line and quite frankly she needs a lot of support to do well, and when I mean support I mean the entire fleet soaking up attention.

[MrDeaf]

I have had an awful hard time with her recently. She seems to suffer from the jack of all trades master of none problem. My he is very unpredictable and has a low alpha strike factor and relies on stealth to get into good firing solutions. Don't even get me started on the AP rounds, they are absolutely dreadful shooting at anything over 10k. My torp arcs are the worst of the jap cruiser line and quite frankly she needs a lot of support to do well, and when I mean support I mean the entire fleet soaking up attention.

 

Zao is good at ONE THING

Invisifire HE spam to set fire to everything in range.

 

That is, literally, the only correct way of playing Zao, when you compare it to the other T10 cruisers :v

[Stevepidge]

 

Zao is good at ONE THING

Invisifire HE spam to set fire to everything in range.

 

That is, literally, the only correct way of playing Zao, when you compare it to the other T10 cruisers :v

 

which in a match with over 4 dds is almost impossible to achieve, even with CE. Add CVs to the mix and I'm spotted all match long lol.

[MrDeaf]

 

which in a match with over 4 dds is almost impossible to achieve, even with CE. Add CVs to the mix and I'm spotted all match long lol.

 

Yeah, that's the problem with one trick ponies. And there are a lot of one trick ponies in WoWs, especially in the IJN line.

[SeaRaptor]

Zao is good at ONE THING

Invisifire HE spam to set fire to everything in range.

 

That is, literally, the only correct way of playing Zao, when you compare it to the other T10 cruisers :v

 

I couldn't disagree more.  That may be what Zao is best at or known for, but it's far from the only thing she's good at.  

[TenguBlade]

I largely put mine aside when they nerfed her HP down to Tier VIII levels.  Hindenburg fits my playstyle better anyhow. =)

Why would your HP matter when you set 3-4 fires per salvo on enemy battleships?  Only a fool will try charging you with that much DoT eroding his health reserves.

I couldn't disagree more.  That may be what Zao is best at or known for, but it's far from the only thing she's good at.  

That may why you get bodied in the Zao.  I disagree that HE spam is the way to play IJN CAs at all (see the rant in the "What's Wrong with the Myoko" thread), but high-tier meta doesn't allow for anything else.

[SeaRaptor]

Why would your HP matter when you set 3-4 fires per salvo on enemy battleships?  Only a fool will try charging you with that much DoT eroding his health reserves.  That may why you get bodied in the Zao.  I disagree that HE spam is the way to play IJN CAs at all (see the rant in the "What's Wrong with the Myoko" thread), but high-tier meta doesn't allow for anything else.

 

Because 40k HP is not a lot of HP at Tier X.  People talk like Zao is some invincible, invisible, fire-spewing machine.  She isn't.  You still have to be careful and cognizant of your position, speed, and angling.  When you spawn in, she's 3 Yamato citadels away from death (4 if you repair some).  I can count the number of times I've been able to successfully sustain stealth fire on targets on one hand (in ~150 games).  Between DDs and CVs spotting you it's just not that common, and if you go out of your way to engineer such a position on the board, generally you're hanging your team out to dry in some other fashion (especially since Zao's AP is quite solid, and great for ambushing squishy cruisers from stealth).  I've never set more than 2 fires in a salvo anyway, and I eat torpedoes (ship and aerial) just as easily as the next heavy cruiser.  Smart players won't charge a Zao because they'll get torpedoed, not because of her HE.  I've sent more than a few Des Moines' to the bottom who tried that particular gambit.

 

I'm well aware that I am barely an average player in Zao, but I've tried to play her the way everyone complains about and every time I do my team folds like a cheap house of cards.  I just don't understand what the big deal is.  

[Stevepidge]

I love creeping broadside stealth against an unsuspecting cruiser, waiting for him to fire on someone, the whabamm! AP citadel then turn away and leave Topps in my wake. Problem is, for whatever reason, once you are seen, you arever immediately focused by anyone in range.

I recommend the rudder shift mod and wasd until CE kicks in. The Zao can be a ninja, and I believe this was the design principle WG was going for.  For what it's worth, my Zao is more fun than my Yamato.