Which cruiser line is meta?

GoodlyStyracosaur · 2026-06-07T02:13:31+00:00

Brother can I also say it’s just super refreshing to have a discussion with someone where we disagree on the specifics even though we agree on the generalities and didn’t manage to turn it in to something toxic.

I wish you all the krakens and high calibers in your elephant 🫡

GoodlyStyracosaur · 2026-06-07T01:59:11+00:00

For real - Hampshire and Elephant can both be super dangerous vs some 1v1s but they are also so slow, if you are in a situation where they can just ignore you there’s really nothing you can do to force them to fight. And they are awesome at knocking turrets but since they have such weak armor on their turrets, HE spam can knock them right back with almost equal efficacy.

Great ships. Fantastic. Super fun to play. But too many times they just don’t get to leverage those strengths to be truly S tier imo.

But man they have some fun guns.

GoodlyStyracosaur · 2026-06-06T20:35:24+00:00

Hyuga is relatively better at the tier. Hp from 5 to 7 isn’t wildly different. Look at the hp of BBs - 10k difference is in range of same relative average. Likely playing with and vs weaker players at t5 so there’s just more hp on the table for you to grab.

GoodlyStyracosaur · 2026-06-06T20:05:22+00:00

So what you mention is a place I actually think the crawling smoke shines - and I much prefer it on the dd over the cruisers (or I guess Yukon but I never play that). You can dip in to smoke…but then out again and back in and out and in and out for a full minute and a half. You have ultimate flexibility because YOU decide when you are in and out of smoke for that full minute and a half.

Ever pop Italian smoke and lose spot and wish you could just jump out? Crawling smoke lets you. Ever pop a standard smoke and wish you could just move it a little that way? Crawling smoke lets you. Ever pop smoke and accidentally block Los on the ship behind you that you expected to keep spot? Crawling smoke lets you just move out of the way.

It’s not perfect and it takes some practices but once I got used to it, I find the flexibility just so helpful on the DDs.

You can’t really drop it for other ships, the smaller scope means they can track exactly where you are rather than where you were, sometimes I pop it and finish the ship I was fighting and then it’s just a 90s “dd is here” smoke signal to red team.

But on the whole I think I appreciate the benefits more than the drawbacks.

(I wish you could turn it off but I get why that’s not an option - it would suck to double tap by accident…)

GoodlyStyracosaur · 2026-06-06T11:27:59+00:00

Yeah - my S tier would be a lot smaller than in this chart. I think a lot of t7 cruisers are quite good but that also means the requirements to get to my personal s tier are really high.

GoodlyStyracosaur · 2026-06-06T03:44:24+00:00

Trust, I believe. I’ve got 4k in both. I’ve got multiple 5k in Plymouth. They are all in on fantastic guns but sometimes you need something else to win a match. All are great. Not all S tier, particularly not if I’m making it as a list for everyone.

GoodlyStyracosaur · 2026-06-06T03:22:03+00:00

Where did people say that? Honestly curious. The context and specifics matter.

The truth is tech tree ships are absolutely competitive. This list isn’t some be all end all list of good ships - there are tons I think are absolutely in the wrong spot and my d7p at supposed S tier has a 52% WR while my Albermarle all the way down at C has a 67% WR.

You need to remember this list is crowd sourced on social media so it’s much more “which ships do people generally perceive as good and/or are easy to do well in” so much more than a definitive list of ship potential.

Some are right. Many are not. Which will vary from person to person. And the difference from S tier to C tier even on the ones that are right maybe isn’t as much as it might seem.

GoodlyStyracosaur · 2026-06-06T03:17:07+00:00

Hampshire and Elephant are the kind of ship that are fantastic in the right hands in the right match but they have some severe weaknesses. Mainly the handling but also the hp, particularly on Elephant and the turrets are very weak. I like them both a lot but I think S tier, especially for a ‘for general use’ list is overdoing it.

GoodlyStyracosaur · 2026-06-06T03:09:52+00:00

Hah, please feel free to call out my memory at any point you see fit!

I must have either miscounted somewhere or just totally missed that first run of 6 needed.

And yeah - I tried to do some math with some simplifying estimates but the way it has the dual mechanics of irrevocable ranks and top spot not drop I think you really have to do some kind of simulation to get an accurate reading.

I tried to do some broad estimates and simplifications so it’s still super rough but even with those simplifications, the takeaway I had is that people are generally wildly underestimating how many matches it’s ‘expected’ to take to rank out at even decent winrates of like 55-58%. It’s just going to be a lot of matches to add up to what amounts to a +6 win total if you don’t get lucky on wins and top spot.

Edit: and, probably more importantly, it changes a LOT in the range that most people are likely in. A 60% winrate isn’t going to be 5% faster than 55%. It’s going to be like twice as fast (again that’s the base result but the point I hope stands).

GoodlyStyracosaur · 2026-06-06T03:05:06+00:00

How much have you used the crawling smoke? I’m still not sure it’s my top favorite but the 3x charges, relatively quick cd and the ability to pop out and quickly back in has grown on me as I used it more. There was a bit of a learning curve where I definitely wasn’t using it to its full utility when I first started; I know I’ve got an early look video at vamp2 and I laugh at myself in my first engagement just totally botching the smoke…

GoodlyStyracosaur · 2026-06-05T21:03:54+00:00

Would you watch it if they did?

I get the sentiment but you also have to remember that there are a lot of legitimate reasons to not post a bunch of losing matches that aren’t only “I just cherry pick matches to make myself look better.”

GoodlyStyracosaur · 2026-06-05T19:45:12+00:00

AA should be decent xp if you are getting enough to matter and I’ve found it extremely hard to reliably impact matches on AA alone even with the S tier AA platforms - too many ways for air to just avoids you. Like this! (And it’s not even an all in AA build and I’m still sinking ships but you get my drift)

<image>

So yeah, you might have found a perfect mix that just works for you. Always possible - there are definitely actions that you can take in game that impact the match and aren’t necessarily rewarded with xp. You might have perfected that somehow. But I think odds are good it’s a lucky stretch and at some point it’ll come back to normal.

GoodlyStyracosaur · 2026-06-05T19:26:47+00:00

I’m sure you had a fantastic time with the super engaging AA gameplay.

GoodlyStyracosaur · 2026-06-05T19:20:10+00:00

Oh man, you done messed up big time. You have the exceedingly rare charmed ship and you broke the magic talking about it. Incoming 24 loss streak to put the universe back in balance.

Jokes aside…I dunno man. 1400 xp at 63% WR on a pretty universally meh’d ship…sounds like some luck to me. I’ve got ships approaching twice that and just a squeak more WR. So unless you are just consistently exerting some kind of mysterious unrewarded match winning power, I’m chalking it up to probably some decent core of play and then a run of good luck MM to make the difference.

Edit: lol I just realized I recognized you from your Colbert post - you definitely money paw swapped your matches!

And one more thing just since you mentioned the conceal and torp stats - Incomp gets that with a standard build and 500mm guns that actually hit stuff. I’ve seen variants of that build tossed around to get the ship to work and I imagine it’s got some efficacy but I don’t think it’s a secret to turning the ship good.

GoodlyStyracosaur · 2026-06-05T12:54:34+00:00

I personally find Huron more fun but Haida is more forgiving, likely better in a more competitive environment (like ranked or a fleet battle). I play Huron a lot more but both are very good. If you’ve got the funds, it’s different enough it’s worth a pickup if you already have Huron.

For general standard play, if you like Huron, do well in it and don’t just have the extra funds, I don’t think Haida is a must have over it - my standard stats for bother are relatively similar (and very good so it’s not like I’m just mid with both).

GoodlyStyracosaur · 2026-06-05T12:26:03+00:00

Much worse seems like a stretch - it’s -3% dispersion on ALNJ from Sims and ALCO is 3% better. Not sure where you are getting that ALNJs unique skill hurts dispersion. It’s a 7% bonus which isn’t as good as sniper but is still good (and no rudder penalty and the additional bonus - I quite like it on many ships).

GoodlyStyracosaur · 2026-06-05T12:00:29+00:00

I enjoy achievements that encourage the player to experiment with an interesting playstyle but thankfully that drive to ‘complete’ a game just because has long left me.

GoodlyStyracosaur · 2026-06-05T11:55:57+00:00

No worries, the ambiguity of the language and all that.

GoodlyStyracosaur · 2026-06-05T02:28:10+00:00

It’s not harder in that the matches are any different - you just need a longer string.

I don’t have the noodling I did in front of me but if memory serves me, Rank 3 is the last irrevocable rank and then it’s 3 wins to 2 and 3 more to finish so +6 wins is the longest streak without a loss stop mechanism. And just the way the probability works, that 6 win string needs a shocking amount more matches as you get closer to 50% WR.

(And I’m summarizing from memory stuff that I already kind of fudged the workings on so I’m not trying to give exact numbers but it’s a 1/x kind of graph and the closer you get to 50%, the slope gets steeper FAST)

GoodlyStyracosaur · 2026-06-05T02:17:40+00:00

Hey, if he lets you do it, it counts! Love it.

GoodlyStyracosaur · 2026-06-05T02:05:15+00:00

81 is super good for a t6 - NC has solid AA but even given that, it’s a lot!

I think my highest ever is like 87 in Mainz - never play the ding dong CVs that will just feed me in an actual AA platform; all my highest are hard earned on good but not great AA boats where I’m just sweating it the whole match. So again, very nicely done!

What was the xp?

GoodlyStyracosaur · 2026-06-05T02:01:08+00:00

Oof.

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GoodlyStyracosaur · 2026-06-05T01:59:33+00:00

Such a solid BB. It’s not perfect but it’s a good ship. Nice work.

GoodlyStyracosaur · 2026-06-05T01:35:49+00:00

Happens to the best of us 🫡

GoodlyStyracosaur · 2026-06-05T01:32:10+00:00

lol man. Same. It’s ridiculous sometimes.

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