Sandbox/Key Ships

The Ships

Destroyers - DDs

Your Starter

So before we continue, if you're reading this guide, odds are that your starter ship is *probably* one of your higher-levelled ships.

The starter ships are Fubuki 吹雪, Murakumo 叢雲, Sazanami 漣, Inazuma 電, and Samidare　五月雨. You're probably wondering how they will fit into your overall strategy, well there's good news and bad news:

The bad news is that only Fubuki 吹雪 and possibly Murakumo 叢雲 have any real long-term potential, as they're the only two with K2 forms that greatly increase their stats. The good news is that for now, we need immediate power, and a well-le

The point here is: With a few key exceptions, destroyers are effectively equivalent to each other until they reach Kai Ni at around level 70. Training a ship to level 70 in the early game is a significant investment in time and resources. If your starter is well-levelled and modernized, she'll do just fine in the context of easy mode, especially since you will be picking up at least Yuudachi and Shigure during your preparation.

Light Cruisers and Torpedo Cruisers - CLs and CLTs

Jintsuu 神通 - Level 60

Jintsuu has no tricks, she's just really good at hitting targets really hard. Possessing an FP/TP combination of 71/98 makes her the strongest day attacker in terms of raw stats. Two guns and a plane place her at a base of 96 (71+10+10+5)

Abukuma Kai Ni 阿武隈 - Lander/Tank Capable, Minisub Capable - Level 75, Blueprint

Equipment-wise, 2 guns and a minisub is generally better against lighter opposition (effectively giving her two lighter attacks against different targets), while a full torpedo loadout is superior against heavy opposition, even capable of crippling Flag-Ru

By designation, Abukuma is a CL; however, in practice, she is a CLT. This is because she possesses the unique ability to equip the Kou-Hyouteki, better known as the midget submarine, allowing her to perform opening torpedo attacks. This ability alone makes her probably the single strongest CL in the game.

While her FP/TP is just 56/94 (Jintsuu being 71/98), firing an opening torpedo with a power of at least 111 (94+5+12) early means that she gains an attack phase. Her torpedo serves as her main damage in the day, having the additional benefit of preventing an enemy from shelling, and her short range prevents her from clashing with any ships with stronger shelling power (e.g. Heavy Cruisers).

It often becomes feasible for her to be equipped with dual torpedoes (refer to image). This boosts her daytime torpedo power directly, keeps her range at short to prevent her from clashing with stronger ships, and also enables her to perform a torpedo CI at night. No other surface ship in the game (save perhaps Maya) innately benefits from running a torpedo set (the CLTs are at daytime torpedo cap of 151 already); consequently, she is a natural candidate for luckmodding, which allows her to keep her boosted day power while improving her at night. She can also carry tanks and daihatsus, making her extremely versatile against hardened installations, while also allowing her to contribute on a strategic level as an expedition leader.

The Four-Slotters: Yuubari 夕張 and Ooyodo 大淀

Discussing the Light Cruisers

Abukuma vs Jintsuu vs Ooyodo

Abukuma and her midget submarine form the the gold standard of damage output, being capable of dealing damage early before enemies are capable of

Despite this, it is most important not to overestimate her, she is incredibly strong and possibly overpowered, but remember that other cruisers do possess their niches, Ooyodo with her four slots in particular is often better at anti-installation combat. She is also extremely expensive to obtain, not only being relatively rare, but only reaching her full combat potential at level 75 while also requiring a blueprint to do so.

Heavy/Aviation Cruisers - CAs and CAVs

It is easy for new players to neglect levelling their Heavy Cruisers (CAs) and Aircraft/Aviation Cruisers (CAVs), especially once they have acquired more powerful ship classes such as the Battleships. However, CA(V)s occupy an important niche between the lighter ship classes (DDs and CLs), and the aforementioned heavier ships. A summary follows:

1. They can sometimes be used in place of Battleships in (Combined) Fleets, when not as much firepower is necessary to clear a map; especially when shiplocking and branching rules require careful planning in terms of which ships are deployed to which maps
2. While their daytime firepower is not nearly as overwhelming as that of the Battleships, as with DDs and CLs, they are capable of dealing much more damage during Night Battles against non-installation type enemies, due to their relatively high torpedo power (most Battleships have none)
3. As with Battleships, they can equip Type 3 Shells for better effectiveness against installations
4. CA(V)s begin with three slots (enough for Artillery Spotting), and with four slots after their first remodel (Level 25 in most cases), they have more freedom to equip utility or LoS equipment, as opposed to CLs or DDs, which usually require a combat loadout across all 3 slots
5. Most Aircraft/Aviation Cruisers begin as Heavy Cruisers, and remodel into their new sub-class
6. Aircraft/Aviation Cruisers in particular can also equip WG42 rockets that are effective against hardened installations (which Type 3 Shells are ineffective against), but this piece of equipment is difficult to come by early on in the game
7. Aircraft/Aviation Cruisers are capable of deploying seaplane bombers and fighters, further supplementing your Fighter Power; in some situations, they may be your only source of Fighter Power in the fleet
8. Aircraft/Aviation Cruisers can equip drum canisters as well, which are sometimes important for routing and transport maps
9. Nevertheless, CA(V)s also have their weaknesses; most significantly, their combined HP and Armour makes them particularly vulnerable to being reduced to Taiha / Red Health from damage taken from heavier enemies, or even from critical hits from less heavyweight opponents

Essentially, while CA(V)s may be the most versatile ships out of all the ship classes, they are also particularly vulnerable to damage from enemy ships, due to the way in which combat damage is calculated, along with the "Overkill Mechanic". In spite of that, CA(V)s will still play an important part in your fleet, and neglecting them will only make your life more difficult later on.

Generally, when a certain ship subtype, such as a CA or CAV is mandatory, the designation is given sans brackets i.e. CA or CAV respectively; when either a CA or a CAV is allowed, a fleet composition will have the designation CA(V)

Furutaka-Class

Furutaka 古鷹 and Kako 加古

Aoba-Class

Aoba 青葉 and Kinugasa 衣笠

Myoukou-Class

Myoukou 妙高, Nachi 那智, Ashigara 足柄, and Haguro 羽黒

The Myoukou-class is one of the best

Takao-Class

Takao 高雄 & Atago 愛宕

The next two Takao sisters will be reviewed separately, simply because they have vastly differing roles in a fleet, Maya is an overall strong K2 with a specialization in anti-air, while Choukai is the single-best night attacker in the game apart from the CLTs.

Maya 摩耶

Choukai 鳥海

Tone-Class

Tone and Chikuma are pretty special, they become CAVs when they hit level 70

Tone 利根 and Chikuma 筑摩

Battleships, Fast Battleships, and Aviation Battleships - BB, FBB, BBV

Fast Battleships - FBB

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Editor's note, yes, Kongous started out as Battlecruisers which would be designated CCs, but in Kancolle, they're often referred to as FBBs

Fleet Carriers and Armored Fleet Carriers - CVs and CVBs

Armored Fleet Carriers - CVBs

The good news is that there are only three armored carriers in the game, Shoukaku 翔鶴, Zuikaku 瑞鶴, and Taihou 大鳳, the even better news is that since they're all but out of reach for beginners and even intermediate players, there's no real need to worry about them.

In any case, we're going to go through them here, both as a showcase of the Shoukaku-class's capability in future, and on the off chance that you actually went out and crafted Taihou (you absolute madman).