The DD is the fastest and stealthiest class in the game, with the capability to deliver a devastating alpha salvo and significant additional damage with its artillery array.<\/p>\n
It is important to note that Russian DDs like the Kiew and Tashkent behave a bit more like cruisers than they do destroyers \u2013 particularly the Tashkent.\u00a0 They have embarrassingly large spotting distance, and because of this need to use terrain a lot more than the other DDs.\u00a0 Depending on the flavor of the game at hand, you may be pressed into a role more suited for a cruiser, and this is fine.\u00a0 Just be aware of the limitations \u2013 and advantages \u2013 that this imposes on you.<\/p>\n
Since I first started writing this, a new development has arisen that is of particular note to Destroyers, and will be extremely impactful on your gameplay:<\/p>\n
Radar.<\/em><\/p>\n Tier 8 cruisers of the Russian and US lines have been given a consumable, radar, which grants them 10km +\/- perfect visibility of anything floating on or flying above the water \u2013 which means you, DD captain.\u00a0 It can see through smoke, it can see through ships, it can see through islands<\/em>.\u00a0 So a cruiser can light you up completely with no risk to itself whatsoever if it has range on you.\u00a0 The Soviet model has a duration of something like 20s, and the American can go as high as 40s (I don\u2019t have those figures handy right now, so make sure you check out the Chapayev and New Orleans to be sure).\u00a0 This is a lot like a CV having fighters over your head, but without the option to shoot them down or hide in a smoke cloud.<\/p>\n And that means you need terrain to block line-of-fire, or you need to dodge like a superhero.\u00a0 It makes the early-warning skill immensely more valuable to you, since without it you may never know that you\u2019ve been spotted until the first salvo comes down and detonates you.<\/p>\n I still recommend that your first priority remains getting caps secured \u2013 but if you get lit up by enemy radar, you need to move your ass out of there.\u00a0 A live DD is worth a lot more than a few extra seconds of capping.<\/p>\n Early game<\/strong> roles for the DD are to be scouts, spotting the enemy heavies and fencing with the enemy DDs.\u00a0 You will be the first to arrive on cap points and it will be your responsibility to interdict those points from the enemy while securing them for your team.\u00a0 Most importantly though, early in the game it is vital that you STAY ALIVE<\/em>.\u00a0 Your ship is worth more points than a few seconds on cap, and you can always contest the cap or light up the enemy for your heavies to decap with artillery fire.\u00a0 If you are up against a team with significantly more DD strength than yours, and you realize the cap is being contested, get out with your skin and return to light up the enemy for your team after a torp salvo or two.<\/p>\n In the case of the IJN models, these should avoid direct contact with all enemy ships, and salvo torps from stealth.\u00a0 That may mean hiding in your own smoke, or simply relying on your ship\u2019s inherent stealthiness.\u00a0 Three-turret versions do have significant firepower when needed, so long as the guns are already pointed the right way and you won\u2019t be circling at close range.\u00a0 If Russian, you have to make the judgment call on distance and firepower, whether you can tackle any opposition you run into \u2013 and whether their backup will sink you during the fight.\u00a0 US DDs will dominate a direct one-on-one, but of course the enemy heavies in the back make that feeling of superiority vanish rather quickly.<\/p>\n Never engage in a fair fight.<\/em><\/p>\n Mid-game<\/strong>, it\u2019s likely that both teams have a cap at this point, and the remainder of the fleet is peppering the other side.\u00a0 As a DD your role has now changed a bit \u2013 if there\u2019s a third cap, it\u2019s time to fight for it between the two teams, and that means tactics very similar to the early game.\u00a0 If your team has a lead and both sides are gaining points equally or yours has an advantage, then the enemy has to come to your caps or kill your fleet from long range to knock your lead away.\u00a0 With this in mind, you should be monitoring approaches to your fleet\u2019s most vulnerable cap and sending torps to intercept enemies that get too close.\u00a0 Your weapons in this case serve two functions:\u00a0 one to kill ships as they come too close, and the other to force them to turn off \u2013 costing them time, and more importantly forcing them to show weak side armor to your fleet.\u00a0 Note also that dropping a smoke cloud on an approach is intimidating enough that most players won\u2019t approach it \u2013 so you can dump smoke and go cover a different approach so long as you don\u2019t get spotted.<\/p>\n If the enemy has the lead, your job is to highlight lone-wolf cruisers or DDs to enable your team to dispatch them and even the score.\u00a0 If they have one or more caps, you can pick the lesser-defended one and either steal it or paralyze it temporarily by driving through it.\u00a0 If there are more than one of you, wolfpack the weaker cap and do your best to catch defender(s) in the torpedo crossfire while the rest of your fleet follows you in.<\/p>\n End-game, <\/em><\/strong>if your team has a significant advantage and the enemy will be forced to attack you.\u00a0 In this case, get to the cap(s) you already hold and keep them.\u00a0 The enemy has to step on-cap to stop you from winning, or kill all your ships.\u00a0 Drop smoke and sit elsewhere on the cap \u2013 the smoke will attract artillery\/torpedo salvos and focus enemy attention while you act from another location.\u00a0 If there are planes in the air, save your smoke for when you are about to be, or are, detected \u2013 and pop it then to make targeting you harder.\u00a0 Don\u2019t be afraid to maneuver outside of the cap to get a better shot; if you kill the interloper or re-enter the cap before it is completely taken you will halt their capture attempt and when the intruder leaves the cap or dies it will revert to your team\u2019s full ownership.<\/p>\n If you are on the losing side during the end-game, at this point you\u2019re already in deep trouble (no pun intended).\u00a0 First priority is to stop the enemy from gaining more points \u2013 and that means inhibiting or stealing all<\/u><\/em> of their caps.\u00a0 If you leave even one ticking, you are only about 100 ticks from a loss.\u00a0 As a DD, you are in the most fragile ship in the game and you are now stuck with the worst situation \u2013 you have to take defended territory from the enemy.\u00a0 I won\u2019t sugar-coat this, if you are the last ship(s) on the board, the game is probably lost at this point.<\/p>\n In the case of IJN ships with their long-range torpedoes, if the enemy has very few ships holding their cap you can set up a \u2018strategic bombardment\u2019 of the cap by first firing at long range with your torps and then chasing them in \u2013 this creates hazardous moving terrain ahead of you that your enemy might not see until too late once they spot you (they may focus on your ship, while missing out on the fact that there are torps just ahead of you).\u00a0 Using speed boost to keep up with your torps helps, and as soon as you are spotted start jinking plus blow smoke to try to avoid being blown out of the water.\u00a0 Even if the enemy dodges your salvo (likely), they may assume you just<\/em> launched them, which sets up a surprise move you can pull by launching your next salvo when they aren\u2019t expecting it.\u00a0 They may actually charge your smoke thinking that you are still in reload mode.\u00a0 If so, let them have it.<\/p>\n Russians and US DDs have a bit of a harder time with this, as their torpedoes are shorter-ranged, but their speed and maneuverability give them a dodging advantage here.\u00a0 It\u2019s not much, but it\u2019s a chance \u2013 on open ocean there\u2019s not much hope.\u00a0 On a tight island cap however, they can arrange to approach without giving the enemy too many opportunities to fire at them before they can unload.\u00a0 Throwing down smoke as you emerge from an island in this case is the best method of avoiding retaliatory fire.\u00a0 If your enemy has no torpedoes, you can halt in the smoke and continue to fire if the enemy remains spotted, or wait for the enemy to approach and torp from within it at point-blank range.\u00a0 I don\u2019t want to inspire any false hopes here, if you\u2019re in this situation then chances are high that your game is already lost.\u00a0 But still, some small chance is better than none.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The DD is the fastest and stealthiest class in the game, with the capability to deliver a devastating alpha salvo and significant additional damage with its artillery array. It is important to note that Russian DDs like the Kiew and … Continue reading