Land of Fire is a set of volcanic islands with a thick scattering of terrain to the East, a more open-ish zone to the West, and a central submerged caldera surrounded by ridge islands. As with most of these maps, two caps are present and deployments tend to favor one for each team. Fleets spawn on North and South sides.
Land of Fire
In Random conditions, the West side normally becomes the business of the heavy ships, with the center and East being DD fencing grounds. Under team and ranked conditions, this changes somewhat, since teams can’t really afford to spend a lot of time jockeying around.
Normally, the North side spawn pushes strong towards B cap, while the South side spawn has a generally stress-free approach to A. After the caps are divided between the teams, mid-game begins and teams begin a war of attrition to see who can take the other down more quickly, with DDs torping at each side through the gap in E/F-7. This is tactically solid, but can get a little boring after a while. Unfortunately, spawn positions and terrain pretty much dictate this outcome.
North Side
If your team has spawned to the North, your spread of ships really only gives you one cap into which all your force can shoot with relative ease, and that’s B cap. The big island in B5 and the small string leading down to E7 block some ships’ view of A cap, making it a difficult approach and potentially exposing some of your fleet to the entire approaching enemy.
So with that in mind, you should focus your first attempts at capping to B. As with other maps, a DD screen can provide denial service on A while you rack up B cap (this is something the other side won’t have luxury to do at B cap, which is another reason why it should be your primary target). If you have a couple of long-range cruisers who can be placed on overwatch while you have a DD trying for a cap on A, great – do it. The DD will light up enemies as they approach, and when the enemy DDs start appearing your cruisers can melt them. This is particularly good with an IJN DD and a Mikhail Kutuzov or similar.
At B cap, there is a very short but wide island across the center that acts as a torpedo shield and which can occasionally block fire of unusually flat trajectory. A capping DD or cruiser should position to take advantage of this, while keeping an eye on the Southern approaches. You should be able to reach and complete capping of this point before the enemy can effectively contest it, but don’t assume its security after you capture it, because sneaky DDs can make it up the 9-10 lines without being spotted. Best to keep something in orbit on this cap just in case the enemy tries this (unless you know exactly where they all are).
Once secured, forces can continue through B cap to circle South of A in order to establish crossfire or additional approaches for short-ranged ships. The large island in I6 can also provide cover for ships making this approach against long-range snipers who will be on overwatch of A cap.
Important: don’t let your main force just sit in orbit North of the cap in that open water. That just becomes a shooting gallery for the enemy at A, who will shoot over the islands when their DDs light up your fleet.
Hey, whazzat? Hoo B shootin?!? Sum1 seez us?
The 1-2-3 lines are very risky gambles with low payoff, unless your ship has particularly long range invisifire options (cannon or torpedo – ideally a Fubuki could take advantage of this area). Since a large chunk of the enemy can fire with impunity into this area, exposing oneself here is probably a costly mistake.
South Side
From the South, almost all of your ships will have an unobstructed approach to A cap, while B will require a curved approach with islands blocking fire (and providing cover). Your first DD should aim directly for A to start points ticking over for your fleet, and big guns should follow with firing solutions prepared on the cap itself for when your DD lights up any opposing light ships that might want to prevent or delay your cap of A.
Once capped, spread your heavies around the area to avoid concentrated torping, and start hammering the enemy on target priorities as your FC indicates.
A second DD (and perhaps one or two cruisers following a reasonable distance back) can make a play for B cap, as well. However, B cap has that long and shallow island across the middle – this makes torping the cap as a denial move inadvisable. You can throw a spread of fish up the corridor to where the enemy fleet will be approaching (very good for long-range torp ships), but to deny or delay the cap itself you’re either going to have to park your hull on it or shoot the enemy that is doing the capping to de-cap it. This means that the DD leading the way will have to get dangerously close to the enemy without a lot of self-defense options other than smoke. With the addition of radar to the game, playing denial on B is really a tough move. I can’t really say I’d recommend it.
Instead, hiding in the island-rich area of the 9-10 line can be a relatively safe means of threatening the enemy and making them split their attention from your main fleet. At the first sign of a chase, run.
The 1-2-3 lines, as with the North side, are generally of no value. A fast DD might make its way up this route and then cross to the enemy on the A line, but this is of little tactical value versus simply going up across A cap and cutting around the North island.
Variations:
Sending a DD and/or a fast cruiser along the 10 line: this most often will result in meeting an enemy of a similar mind, but about 40% of the time you’ll find yourself alone taking this route, which gives you an opportunity to set up a cross-fire with the rest of your fleet (or potentially to go nail their CV if they have one hiding in the rear). These tight little islands are very unforgiving of heavy ships, so it’s best to approach this space using a DD.
