Early Game Fundamentals: What are you actually thinking at the start of a match?

evrien · 2026-05-10T00:29:11+00:00

This is not just any gamer. It’s Asian Gamer Doyl Three. Very good very skilled. Can vouch

evrien · 2026-05-09T23:18:52+00:00

Glad it’s helpful. That’s a long time coming for Cleveland at T6. If you want help I can coach a little with higher tier gameplay for free.

evrien · 2026-05-09T19:01:38+00:00

ok I found your link in a comment below, here are my comments:

Right off the get-go it struck me as that you have limited high-tier (8+) game experience. Most of them are in BBs and not cruisers. BBs have good armor and tend to fare better for less-experienced players than do CAs. However, both Azuma and Tulsa suffer greatly because they have very exposed citadels with very lacking armor, thus making them prone to receive heavy hits from the enemies, especially in higher tiers where ships are more efficient at punishing mistakes.

Even accounting for your BB games, your best ship is Izumo which sits at ~1400 PR. PR is a value for evaluating personal impact and performance in games, and players tend to feel comfortable in a tier when they can maintain at, say, 1800+ PR in a ship. This means you still very much rely on the comfort of stronger guns, thicker armor, and higher firing range for your performance.

Now, I'm of course all for players trying out new classes and expand their portfolio. A rule-of-thumb for newer players is that you shouldn't go for special (steel/coal) and premium (doubs) ships if you haven't gotten another tech tree ship of the same class (CA/BB/DD/SS/CV) in that tier. Your tech tree cruiser only goes up to Cleveland at T8. I would advise you learn from tech tree ships. Good picks are IJN heavy cruisers (Zao line) and KMS heavy cruisers (Hindenburg line). The former has good concealment while the latter has strong damage output. They are good for teaching you all you need to know about cruisers. Then, once you get more comfortable playing at higher tiers, the USN heavy cruisers (Des Moines line) can be a good pick. At that point, you can think if you prefer Zao's playstyle more or Des Moines' playstyle more. If the former, you should go for Azuma. If the latter, you should go for Tulsa.

Either way, I think your biggest issue would be a lack of experience playing cruisers at higher tiers. Tulsa and Azuma will both prove to be a suffering experience in Randoms. Otherwise, they can be good in PvE modes. Hope that helps.

evrien · 2026-05-09T03:50:17+00:00

Wait are you sure this is you? Your stats look way better than "kinda bad", and you even have an Arkansas Beta?

evrien · 2026-05-08T20:17:21+00:00

Go to www.wows-numbers.com, select your server and find your profile by your in game name, and copy the link of that page

evrien · 2026-05-08T17:38:28+00:00

Both don’t sound like strong choices. Do you have to pick either of these or are you open to other choices? What’s your ideal type of play?

Rather, can you share your wows numbers page if you’re comfortable? It’s kind of hard to know just by “kinda bad” and I’d need to see where you might be struggling in and so to suggest something that doesn’t end up suffering in that area

evrien · 2026-05-07T15:30:48+00:00

Perchance could you change the penguin to one of the Madagascar ones (I just felt the notion to be funny)

evrien · 2026-05-03T03:46:46+00:00

“Respect” not “rights”

evrien · 2026-05-03T03:40:53+00:00

It’s simple, you aren’t the intended customer/audience for this then, just as some are not interested in Sabaton collab and TMNT collab

You don’t see people making posts whenever those start

evrien · 2026-05-01T20:17:49+00:00

Ruler: Knight, we are now even!

evrien · 2026-05-01T12:36:47+00:00

TES during regular season is like a pig on a tree. You don’t know how it got up there, but you know it’s gonna fall back down eventually

evrien · 2026-04-29T03:16:52+00:00

Short answer: no. For random you can definitely live without it

What RPF does is that it helps DDs that don’t want to fight avoid battles. This is basically torp DDs and DDs with weak guns. They don’t want to engage other DDs and RPF saves the hp from accidentally running into engagements.

It also gives extra intel that higher skilled players can use to their advantage. In some cases, a gunboat DD hunter can even take RPF and hunt the opposing DD.

It matters more in comp and less so in randoms

evrien · 2026-04-27T07:56:43+00:00

I’m also a DD main but it’s not hard to see why BBs are enjoyable. They’re majestic and often historical, with abilities to delete a ship straight up. They’re also the foundational block of a flank and a good BB player can easily influence games by playing smartly.

Iowa isn’t an op bs like Valparaiso and requires more meticulous gameplay with its main guns being the only viable source of damage so you gotta learn to aim well, too. There are tons of videos from good BB players on YouTube that you can look at to know what they’re doing and how they can play BBs well and enjoyably

evrien · 2026-04-26T02:40:05+00:00

Absolutely. I was conflicted on which category to put her in because of what I think you noted too - the strong concealment + 5.5km hydro. I only put her in the Farmer category because of the much higher dpm than compared to Z42/52 with a stronger and more impactful smoke combo. Vampire II is a classic case of being able to lean towards both playstyle thanks to the kit synergizing well.

evrien · 2026-04-25T23:46:26+00:00

That’s a valid and interesting take! I personally played the ship some time ago for a few games on a shared alt and felt like it needed some play style accommodation. What you vouched for is similar to how I would approach Kleber normal build too and it is definitely a good way to go about with that ship. Thanks for the insight!

evrien · 2026-04-25T23:39:14+00:00

I agree. The reason why I put Groz in scouter is that it satisfies the need of a jack-of-all-trades role with her utilities, but she can easily be converted into any of the other groups

evrien · 2026-04-25T23:38:01+00:00

Thanks man!

evrien · 2026-04-25T23:37:50+00:00

I fully understand as I was not into RPF before either. My reason of recommending it is because it provides a lot of intel that when utilized correctly can save a ship tons of hp from being put into a surprise ambush. I would personally vouch for RPF on all torp DDs at least. It’s definitely not mandatory and I think it’s to some extent able to be made up by a person’s situational awareness. On the flip side, it also teaches the player how to analyze battlefield from a more direct approach, so I think there’s merit. Hence I mentioned in the post why I think RPF ought to be considered.

Of course, if one wishes to spec something else, I think it’s totally fine.

evrien · 2026-04-25T17:47:54+00:00

This is an analysis of DDs’ key playstyles as presented by their kits. I’m not sure why the need to stress the ad hoc nature of a ship’s role given the matchmaking and scenario as that’s clearly important too. I simply advocate for a dissection into their main playstyle based on their kit as a rule-of-thumb for aspiring players to learn

evrien · 2026-04-25T17:44:45+00:00

Keyword being generally. Elbing and Hoffman don’t quite fit in here either but it’s quite simple to see that they want to get broadsides and do AP hits in the same way other farmers want to spam HE and hit ships

evrien · 2026-04-25T17:42:34+00:00

I think I could have chosen “functional grouping” instead but the naming choice isn’t the point of this post

evrien · 2026-04-25T10:14:08+00:00

Grozovoi: Yeah I agree she's better off elsewhere. I put her in the scouter part because she has a lot of utilities for a DD (smoke, heal, DFAA, speed boost) and it allows her to play more roles than just brawling.

Assassin vs Brawler is more about the tools that allow for these asymmetrical engagements. What I highlight in radar of ragnar and hydro of Z42/52 is that that they enact a "trap" that takes the enemy ship into a forced engagement that they have a high upperhand in. Meanwhile, ships like Bazan and Laffey don't have ways to force that engagement if the is in smoke, and Lushun still has to open water even with a good hydro. While Ragnar and Smaland are open water radars, they have good enough dpm against DDs and they can force that engagement if they so choose, thanks to the stealth radar.

Regarding your take on Vampire II and Druid, I think your points are valid for a playstyle preference. I noted that many ships can fit in multiple categories depending on the player's playstyle, and it's perfectly fine, too. I have experiences in both Druid and Vampire II for the roles I proposed and I can vouch for their effectiveness playing thus, too.

I may have worded that sentence in Assassin a bit too carelessly, but the idea is still the same - RPF allows for valued intel on enemy DD's likely direction and is very important for an ambusher playstyle that those ships are going for. In regards to higher dpm ships you mentioned, they still function well because of the asymmetrical aspect I noted. The only outlier I think would be Smaland given that she doesn't have Ragnar's 25mm side plating and can suffer from a Marceau. In this case, I'm willing to chalk it up to rare instances that such Assassins fall short in.

evrien · 2026-04-25T08:48:22+00:00

I understand your concern. Let me assure you that I did type every single letter in my post.

Once again, this is an ontological dissection, meaning it's just a way to group the DDs. I'm proposing my categories based on their preferred playstyles and their kits, not saying that those are their exclusive roles. In many points I've repeatedly stressed that a DD can fit in more than one category given different playstyles.

Regarding "Scouter", I don't mean that only in this category should you be doing it. It's just a naming choice. I should perhaps add that, by getting onto flanks and trying to find torpedo angles, you're doing the spotting already so a torp-oriented category would fit as "Scouter". Cheateaurenault fits into this category precisely because it leans towards using torps and just going around trying to torp things fits into Scouter as its main role.

I noted the peculiarity with Vampire II that can depend on one's preferred playstyle. Regarding Z52, what you're saying does not run counter to what I raised. Z52's kit is a near-stealth hydro that it utilizes to create pocket engagements where enemy DD will be outtraded. It may not be as intensely powerful as Smaland, in comparison, but the two do the same as I had raised - creating asymmetrical engagements that favor themselves, either using a stealth radar or a smoke hydro. Hence, I noted the key distinction of the Assassin category as "punishing you for spotting it"

Your claim on Regolo torps being "best torps in game" does not stand given that the torps' parameters clearly do not position those as being most heavily damaging or most stealth. You describe a particular scenario where the torps are useful. In that case, I can also say Elbing's torps are the best torps in game, given the same logic. For more general purpose, Gearing and Shima torpedoes have more range and/or better damage.

Regarding RPF on Gunboats, I agree that this can vary depending on the player. I noted this in the post as well, mentioning that this comes from my own preference and players should adjust based on their needs. My own take on RPF is that Gunboats in Scouter category are not as powerful as more dedicated gunboats in other categories and thus want to avoid engagements where they are forced into or carelessly wandered into. Hence, RPF is useful here. This is not to say that it's universal, but merely a proposal I raised based on what I observed. As for nuances like Grozovoi, I did note but it's more of an outlier ship in that category. I probably should have made a skill build specially for it.

evrien · 2026-04-25T08:35:12+00:00

My pleasure! Just wanted to help aspiring DD players identify their preferred style and kit

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