Combat Stages

For most combat engagements, the battle will begin in day combat and follow the following set of stages. Several stages will not occur unless certain conditions are met. For Event maps, a Combined Fleet mechanic has been implemented which follows a modified combat order.

Stage Notes
Formation Selection With 4 or more ships in a fleet, a fleet formation must be selected before combat. The selected formation affects ship damage, hit rate, and defense.
Detection Requires planes or high detection stat (usually from RADAR).
Success increases accuracy and evasion.
Failure prevents participation of allied planes in the aerial combat phase.
Aerial Combat Participants: CVLs, CVs, BBVs, CAVs, AVs, SSVs

Requires any type of offensive plane (torpedo bombers and dive bombers for CVLs and CVs, and seaplane bombers for BBVs, CAVs, AVs, and SSVs) equipped as equipment on either side.
If a side achieves Air Superiority or Supremacy in this stage, that side can use Artillery Spotting.

Opening Stages

Expedition Supporting Fire

Supporting Fire from Sortie Support Expeditions. This has an aspect of randomness and may not trigger.

Opening Torpedo Salvo

Participants: [[::Category:Submarines|SS]] over level 10, ships equipped with  Type A Ko-hyoteki (CLTs, AVs, [[::Category:Submarines|SS]]) and enemy Battleship Re-Class Elite. All participants fire their torpedoes simultaneously.

Engagement Form

The orientation of the allied and enemy fleets is displayed. This affects both fleets equally.

Day Combat

Shelling, 1st Round (Range Order)

Participants: All ships except SS. Firing order alternates between allied and enemy sides starting with allied. For each side, ships with higher range have priority. The firing order is composed of only ships that are able to take part and is set at the start of each shelling phase. Any ships sunk or incapacitated before their turn results in a lost turn for the side it is on.

Shelling, 2nd Round (Lineup Order)

Participants: All ships except SS. Firing order alternates between sides, prioritizing ships at the top of the list.

Only occurs when either side has a BB, BBV, or the enemy has one of the special ship classes (鬼 Oni/Ogress, 姫 Hime/Princess) which acts like a BB/BBV: Destroyer Princess (駆逐棲姫) does not, while Battleship Princess (戦艦棲姫) does. The distinction between Bosses that do and those that do not trigger this phase is not always clear from their names.

Closing Torpedo Salvo

Participants: DDs, CLs, CLTs, CAs, CAVs, SS, Bismarck drei, Battleship Re-Class

Like the opening torpedo salvo, all participants attack simultaneously.

Night Combat Participants: All ships except CVLs and CVs.

Enemy Standard Carrier Wo-Class and Light Carrier Nu-Class of flagship level or higher can attack at night.

Must not be critically damaged to participate.

The first slot allied ship attacks, then the first slot enemy ship attacks, and so on. Similar to shelling phase, if a ship is sunk or critically damaged, the game will skip its turn.

For certain nodes and events, combat begins in the Night Combat stage, then proceeds to Day combat, if certain conditions are met.


Formation Selection

With 4 or more ships in a fleet, a fleet formation must be selected before combat. The selected formation affects ship damage and hit rate.

Formation Modifier

Formation Formation Icon Surface Damage Modifier Anti-sub Damage Modifier Anti-air Modifier Day Shelling Hit Rate Day Torpedo Hit Rate Night Battle Hit Rate[1] Flagship Protection Rate
Line Ahead
単縦陣 (Tanjuu-jin?)
 
100% 45% 100% Medium High Higher Low
Double Line
複縦陣 (Fukujuu-jin?)
 
80% 60% 120% High[2] Medium Medium Medium
Diamond
輪形陣 (Rinkei-jin?)
 
70% 90% 160% Medium Very Low ? High
Echelon
梯形陣 (Teikei-jin?)
 
60% 75% 100% Medium Low Lower Medium
Line Abreast
単横陣 (Tan'ou-jin?)
 
60% 100% 100% High Very Low Lower Medium
  • The surface damage modifier applies to both shelling and torpedo attacks, but does not affect Aerial Combat or Anti-Submarine attacks.
  • Diamond Formation is only selectable as a formation with 5+ ships.
  • Flagship protection is the situation where a non-flagship ship protects the flagship from being damaged by receiving the attack instead.
  • Line Ahead has the highest offensive power for surface combat. It is the default choice for encounters after the 3rd battle node to preserve firepower because of the remaining ammo penalty.
  • Double Line is generally a good formation for heavy BB/CV fleets. There is a significant accuracy increase that benefits the typically lower accuracy carriers, while BB often still have enough firepower.
  • Line Abreast is the best formation for anti-sub purposes.
  • Echelon has not been tested extensively, but it is hypothesized to be a defensive formation for submarines.


Detection

  • Fleet LOS affects Detection rate.
  • Success increases fleet accuracy and evasion.
  • Failure prevents participation of allied planes in the aerial combat phase.


Aerial Combat

Aerial Combat Stages

Stage Notes
Fighter Combat Battle for air supremacy. Determines if Artillery Spotting and/or Contact are possible.
Anti-bomber Combat Number of bombers shot down by fighters is affected by the result of the previous phase
Anti-Air Cut-In An Anti-Air Director may cause heavy damage to enemy bombers
Fleet Anti-air Defense Fleet defends against enemy bombers
Bombing See Damage Calculation for details


Fighter Combat

[math]\displaystyle{ \text {Fighter Power} = \sum^\text{All slots} \text{Floor(} \sqrt{\text{Number planes in slot}} \times \text {Plane anti-air stat} \text{)} }[/math][3]

  Fighter planes, and specific     Torpedo/Dive/Seaplane bombers with an +AA stat participate in Fighter Combat.
Recon planes will NOT participate in Fighter Combat.

The allied fleet and enemy fleet's Fighter Powers are compared to determine the result of Fighter Combat:

Fighter Power Result Text Display % Shot Down Contact
FP ≥ 3*EFP Air Supremacy 制空権確保!
Seikuuken Kakuho!
0~90% Allied only
3*EFP > FP ≥ 1.5*EFP Air Superiority 航空優勢!
Koukuu Yuusei!
0~80% Both sides
1.5*EFP > FP ≥ 2/3*EFP Air Parity No text displayed 0~60% Both sides
2/3*EFP > FP ≥ 1/3*EFP Air Incapability No text displayed 0~40% Both sides
FP < 1/3*EFP Air Denial 制空権喪失!
Seikuuken Soushitsu!
0~10% Enemy only
  • EFP: Enemy Fighter Power, FP: Fighter Power. Abbreviated to save space.
  • This calculation does not take into account any anti-air weaponry equipped on ships. Carrier anti-air stat is also not considered.
  • The percentage of planes shot down applies for both sides' respective outcomes, and is calculated per slot.
    • For example, securing Air Superiority means allied planes shoot down up to 80% of enemy planes, and the enemy under Air Incapability will shoot down up to 40%.
    • As this is applied per slot, 80% of one enemy bomber group can be shot down while a second has 0% shot down.
  • Contact can be triggered by having at least 1 carrier scout plane, seaplane scout, and/or torpedo bomber equipped. It increases damage during the bombing phase depending on the accuracy bonus of the squad triggering Contact.
  • Even if allied planes secure air supremacy, planes can still be lost (up to 10%), and the subsequent anti-air defense stage can eliminate more bombers.
  • If the enemy fleet launches no fighters and any planes are launched from either side, the result defaults to Air Supremacy. If both sides launch no planes, then the rest of the battle is treated the same as if Air Parity was achieved.

Enemy Ship Fighter Power

Enemy Ship Type Fighter Power Enemy Ship Type Fighter Power
Light Carrier Nu-Class 8 Armored Carrier Demon 44
Light Carrier Nu-Class Elite 24 Armored Carrier Princess 48
Light Carrier Nu-Class Flagship 23 Floating Fortress 27
Standard Carrier Wo-Class 10 Southern War Demon 41
Standard Carrier Wo-Class Elite 27 Southern War Princess 47
Standard Carrier Wo-Class Flagship 28 Battleship Re-Class 94
Standard Carrier Wo-Class Flagship 2 84 Battleship Re-Class Elite 107
Standard Carrier Wo-Class Kai Flagship 102 Northern Princess World 3-5 76

Anti-Air Cut-In

 
An Anti-Air Cut-In

Certain equipment combinations will provide a chance for an Anti-Air Cut-In (AACI) during the aerial combat. When activated, the cut-in CG (shown on the right) would appear before engaging the enemy fighters, but does not appear to affect the resulting air control state (AS+, AS, Air Parity or Denial). Although there's currently no conclusion on how it's applied onto the Fleet Anti-air Defense formula, a general consensus suggests the effectiveness scales with the AA stat ( ) of the ship triggering it.

Requirement:

Effect:

  • Provide an AoE blast on all the incoming enemy bombers, from the ship who is triggering it. (source 1, 2)

Trigger chance:

  • AA stat ( ) of the ship performing the cut-in (equipment bonuses included) affects trigger rate.  The correlation seems to be about +0.4% trigger rate for every point of AA.  (source 12)
  • Luck stat does not affect the trigger rate significantly. (source)
  • Air radar on CA does not increase the trigger chance on a large scale. (source, require further verification)
    • It's currently unknown what (if any) innate trigger rate differences there are between other equipment setups.

With an AA Cut-In from a ship with high AA stat ( ), it is possible to obliterate all incoming bombers before they inflict any damage, and even prevent opposing carriers from shelling since they have 0 bombers left. In PVP Exercises, opposing fleets can do AA Cut-Ins, but the animation is not shown.

There are reports that enemy ships in map 6-2 might be capable of doing AACI. Other than that, there is currently no enemy ship capable to blast all your bombers with AA weapons.

Fleet Anti-air Defense

Each enemy bomber slot is assigned at random to a defending ship. Those ships then, for each assigned enemy slot, have an approximately 50% chance to shoot down enemy planes. The number of planes shot down is given by the equations below:

[math]\displaystyle{ \text{Shot Down} = \text{Floor((Ship AA } + \text{Floor(Fleet Anti-air} \times \text{Formation Modifier))} \times 0.2125\text{)} }[/math] [math]\displaystyle{ \text{Fleet Anti-air} = \text{Floor(} \sum^\text{All slots}\text{Equipment AA Bonus} \times \text{Equipment Modifier)} }[/math]

The "Fleet Anti-Air" bonus is the sum of every equipment slot of every ship in the fleet (including the defending ship).


Formation Modifiers

Formation Modifier
Line Ahead, Line Abreast, Echelon 1.0
Double Line 1.2
Diamond 1.6

Equipment Modifiers

Equipment Type Modifier
46cm Triple Gun Mount 0.25
High-angle Mounts 0.35
AA Radars 0.40
Type 3 Shell 0.60
All other equipment 0.20
  • Any equipment that gives an anti-air bonus will contribute to shooting down enemy bombers.
  • The ship chosen to defend against bombers is not necessarily the ship targeted by that slot.
  • The ship selected to defend is not necessarily the target of the bomber. Any allied ship, including submarines, may be chosen to defend against bombers.
  • The forward sliding and machine gun animations seem to have no correlation with the calculations.
  • These calculations only apply for the allied fleet's anti-air defense; enemy fleets seem to use a different formula.

Opening Stages

The Opening Stages of combat proceed in order with the Supporting Expedition effect, the Opening Torpedo salvo, then the display of the engagement form

  • In World 5 and Event Maps, the Sortie fleet can receive a salvo of Support fire from fleets deployed on Support Expeditions. The type of supporting fire depends on the composition of the expedition fleet.
  • The Opening Torpedo Salvo is fired by Submarines over level 10, ships with the  Type A Ko-hyoteki (CLTs, AVs, [[::Category:Submarines|SS]]) equipped, and the Enemy Battleship Re-Class.
    • Torpedoes are fired from all ships simultaneously, and accuracy is affected by the selected Formation type.
  • The Opening stages finish with the display of the Engagement form, the orientation of the two fleets.


Engagement Form Modifier

Form Damage Modifier Chance Chance with Saiun
Parallel Engagement
同航戦 (Doukousen?)
100% 45% 45%
Head-on Engagement
反航戦 (Hankousen?)
80% 30% 40%
Crossing the T (Advantage)
T字戦有利 (T Ji-sen Yuuri?)
120% 15% 15%
Crossing the T (Disadvantage)
T字戦不利 (T Ji-sen Furi?)
60% 10% 0%
  • Please note that all engagement forms affect both sides equally, including crossing the T (Advantage or Disadvantage).
  • Night battle and aerial combat are not affected by engagement forms. Torpedo salvos are affected by engagement forms.
  • Equipping a  Saiun effectively makes what would have been Crossing the T (Disadvantage) become Head-on Engagement.
  • It is speculated that the Engagement form also impacts accuracy.


Day Combat

  • Day Combat consists of up to 3 phases: 1st Shelling, 2nd Shelling, Closing Torpedo
  • During the first shelling stage, the order of fire is determined by the ship's maximum range.
    • Ships are arranged in order from Very Long → Long → Medium → Short → Very Short range.
    • The shelling order alternates from allied ships to enemy ships if able. If two ships on the same side have the same range, the ship that attacks first from between them is chosen randomly.
  • The second shelling phase moves from the top to the bottom of the combat line.
    • Ships unable to attack at all in the shelling phase (i.e. submarines) will be skipped, but those normally able to attack but rendered unable to (e.g. damaged carriers) will still take actionless turns.
  • CVLs and CVs must be in good or lightly damaged condition in order to participate in shelling phases, with the exception of Armored Aircraft Carriers (e.g. Taihou) who can still attack while moderately damaged.
  • The Closing Torpedo salvo is fired by all SS(V), DD, CL(T), CA(V), AV, Bismarck drei, and the enemy Battleship Re-Class.
    • Torpedoes are fired from all ships simultaneously, and accuracy is affected by the selected Formation type.
    • Ships must not be moderately or heavily damaged to participate.

Night Combat

  • Night battle damage depends on both the Firepower and Torpedo stats for attack power. Consequently, DDs, CLs, CLTs and CAs have drastically increased strength at night.
  • Any vessel at night must not have taken more than moderate (orange) damage before attacking in order to participate in night battle.
  • Certain combinations of weapon equipment (Main Guns, Secondary Guns, Torpedoes) will cause Cut-In or Double Attacks at night, greatly increasing accuracy and/or firepower
  • If night combat nodes are anticipated, it can be very helpful to utilize specialized night battle equipment such as Star Shells and Searchlight. Type 98 Recon Seaplane (Night Scout) is also an option.
  • Evasion of submarines are greatly increased in regular Night Battles, so they cannot take more than scratch damage. In battles starting at night and Combined Fleet sorties, submarines do not get the Evasion boost, so they will take damage as normal.
  • Formation damage modifiers and Engagement Form damage modifiers do not apply in Night Battle (i.e. they are always 100%).
    • As an exception, in nodes that begin with Night Battle and in Combined Fleet Night Battle, Formation and Engagement Form anti-sub damage modifiers apply.
      • The Engagement Form is not explicitly shown in Night Battle nodes.


Damage Calculations

Main Formula

Damage =
Basic Attack Power
x
Pre-Cap Modifiers
x
Post-Cap Modifiers
-
Enemy Armor
x
Random Number
(between 2/3 ~ 4/3)
x
Remaining Ammo Modifier
Notes:


  • If the result is less than 1, it becomes scratch damage, which does 6-14% of current target HP, rounded down (can be rounded to 0).
  • If the pre-cap damage (Basic Attack Power x Pre-Cap Modifiers) exceeds a certain cap value, it will be modified.
  • This formula is under constant review and updated accordingly if there any inconsistencies or mistakes happens.


Basic Attack Power

Type Basic Attack Power Notes
Opening Air Strike (Bomber's Dive Bomb or Torpedo stat) × √(Number of Planes) + 25 Number of planes is post anti-bomber combat and fleet anti-air defense
Shelling (Carriers) (Firepower + Torpedo) × 1.5 + Dive Bomb × 2 + 55
Shelling (Others) Firepower + 5
Torpedo Torpedo + 5
Anti-sub warfare Bonus * ((Ship ASW / 5) + 2 * Equipment ASW + Type) Type: 25 if Sonar/Depth Charge (DD, CL), 10 if aircraft (AV, CVL, CAV, BBV)

Bonus: 1.15 if both Sonar and Depth Charge are equipped, 1.0 otherwise.

Night Battle Firepower + Torpedo
  • According to wikiwiki, multiple SONAR/Depth charges do not boost the ASW Bonus (i.e. 2 of each still makes the bonus 1.15)


Pre-Cap Modifiers

These are the factors directly applied to your ship's attack power.

Effects from the modifiers are multiplied cumulatively.


Ship's Health Modifier

Damage Modifier
Minor damage (小破 Shouha) or less 100%
Moderate damage (中破 Chuuha) 70%
Heavy damage (大破 Taiha) 40%

These modifiers do not affect Aerial Combat.


Plane Scaling

Type Attack Type Modifier Notes
Dive Bombers, Seaplane Bombers 1 This value is fixed, regardless the situation.
Torpedo Bombers 0.8 or 1.5 About 50% chance of either modifier.

Applied on bombers during the opening air strike. These are the random numbers multiplied to the plane's bombing attack power.


Night Special Attack Modifier

 
An example of a cut-in

Certain Equipment setups have a chance to trigger special attacks at night, giving boost to both attack power and accuracy. This stage is usually the most rewarding / dangerous because both sides have drastically increased attack power.

The ship must be able to participate in the night battle in order to trigger the special attacks.


Attack Power Cap

Applies after the pre-cap modifiers. This is a soft limit on your effective attack power.

Condition: If your pre-cap attack power exceeds:

  • 150 for Day Battle
  • 300 for Night Battle
  • 100 for Anti-sub attacks

The Attack Power Cap will be activated, nerfing the effectiveness of your pre-cap attack power. The calculation is:

[math]\displaystyle{ \text {Attack Power After Caps} = x + \sqrt {\text {Pre Caps Attack Power} - x} }[/math], Where x represents the attack power cap.

Daytime Attack Cap (150) often makes it important to utilize Artillery Spotting since they boost your attack power after the cap, Night Combat can be very dangerous and/or rewarding due to having a very high cap (300) and the inclusion of torpedo to firepower for the basic attack power calculation.


Post-Cap Modifiers

In damage calculation, Post-cap modifiers apply after the cap, but before enemy armor reduction. Thus they are very effective approach to boost your damage output (esp. against heavy armor enemies).

Currently, the post-cap modifiers are from:


Artillery Spotting

Certain equipment setups provide a chance to trigger special attacks during day battle, giving boost to both attack power and accuracy. The damage modifiers are applied after the cap (150), thus very effective against heavy armor targets. Note that the ship requires at least 1 seaplane on board to perform Artillery Spotting.


Critical Modifier

Most forms of attack (Torpedo, Shelling, Anti-Submarine, Preemptive Bombing) have a chance to crit the target. The damage modifier applies after the cap.

Attack Type Modifier
Normal Attack 100%
Critical Hit 150%

It should be noted that the critical message always appears when damage dealt is greater than or equal to 40, regardless of whether the 150% modifier was applied or not. On the other hand, the critical message will never appear when damage dealt is less than or equal to 14, even if the 150% modifier was applied.


Contact

  • Contact takes place during the Aerial Combat phase. It increases bombing damage for all allied bombers.
  • When successful, an image of the squadron performing contact is shown in the opposing fleet's formation indicator, with the text "触接中".
  • Trigger conditions:
    • More air control than Air Denial
    • At least one carrier scout plane, seaplane scout, or torpedo bomber equipped.
    • It's thought that each carrier scout plane, seaplane scout, and/or torpedo bomber slot equipped is given a chance to trigger contact. Once successful, the bonus applied is chosen at random with weighting from all eligible equipped planes.
  • Different types of planes have different trigger rates. They are roughly estimated as (if only one is equipped):
Type Contact Rate
Torpedo Bomber ~2%
Night Scout ~5%
Seaplane Scout ~20%
Carrier Scout ~50%
Contact Damage Modifier
  • The damage increase depends on the +accuracy bonus   of the squadron performing contact.
Accuracy
Bonus
Damage
Modifier
+0 112%
+1 112%
+2 117%
+3 120%
Notes
  •  Type 2 Recon Aircraft is useful in the case that the bombing damage bonus is desired while not removing the chance for T-disadvantage, due to its high trigger rate.
  • With contact, the maximum attack power of bombing (before defense, critical and ammo) is around 180. With some luck, it's possible to sink even Ru-class Flagships (Armor = 99) in one strike without a critical.


Remaining Ammo Modifier

Remaining Ammunition Modifier
5 to 10   bars 100%
4   bars 80%
3   bars 60%
2   bars 40%
1   bar 20%
0   bars Scratch Damage
  • In general, two bars of   will be used in Day Battle for all ships, regardless of whether they attack or not.
  • The Remaining Ammo Modifier affects all phases, including the opening Aerial Combat Phase.
  • When entering night battle, the Remaining Ammo Modifier on a vessel remains same as the previous day battle. One bar of   is used for all ships in Night Battle, regardless of whether they attack or not.
  • Because most battles will consume 2 bars of ammunition each, try to engage the boss before the 5th battle, or else achieving victory becomes unlikely (but not impossible).
  • When attempting to defeat boss nodes, avoid night battles and whirlpools on the way.
    • Whirlpools will decrease either   or   bars of your sorted fleet, which can be disadvantageous in long sorties.  Equipping one or more ships with RADAR can help reduce losses taken from these.
  • Submarine-only nodes on limited-time event maps do not consume ammo in Day or Night Battle.


Combat Equipment Setup


Day Battle Special Attacks (Artillery Spotting)

Artillery spotting allows your ship with seaplanes to double attack (DA) and cut-in (CI) during day battle.

Requirement

  • File:KanColle-140425-17422431.png
    Cut-in Type Observed Fire using 1Main 1Sec & Type 91 AP shell
    Air superiority (AS) or greater achieved in aerial combat phase
  • Not in heavily damaged (大破) state
  • Ship is carrying at least 1 seaplane . (i.e. slots are not all at 0 remaining)
  • Certain equipment setup (see below)

Set up and Attack Modes

Different set ups provide chances to trigger various modes of attack.

Attack Mode Prerequisite The Remaining Slot Damage Modifier Trigger Chance
Double Attack     Any auxiliary equipment 120% x 2 ~50%
Double Attack       120% x 2 Additional 3%~10% ?
Double Attack       120% x 2 Additional ~6% ?
Cut-In     Any auxiliary equipment 110% ~50%
Cut-In ( Radar )      - 110%......(Sec.Gun) ?

120%......(RADAR)

Additional 22%~30% ?
Cut-In ( AP Shell )      - 110%......(Sec.Gun) ?

130%......(AP SHELL)

Additional ~20%
Mixed Attack (AP)      - 120% x 2.....(DA)

150%...........(CI)

~70% (Total)
Mixed Attack (Sec.Gun)      - 120% x 2.....(DA),

110%...........(CI) ?

~70% (Total)
  •  
    Cut-in Type Mixed Attack Observed Fire with 2 Main & Type 91 AP Shell.
    These are the basic setups used in the game. You don't need to exactly follow the placement (1st slot = main, 3rd slot = seaplane, etc) as long as those equipment are placed on the same ship.
  • Any other setup variation will NOT change the attack mode or damage modifier. Feel free to add another auxiliary equipment when possible.
  • Mixed Attacks provide chances for both day battle DA and CI.
  • When either CI or DA is not triggered by chance, the ship will just do a normal single attack, dealing 100% damage.
  • Trigger chances are estimated under the following condition: AS+, FLoS = 300, companion ship..
  • The enemy is capable of doing Artillery Spotting on your fleet, both DA & CI.
  • For more info on the Day Special Attack mechanics, you may visit page Artillery Spotting.


Trigger Chance of Artillery Spotting

  • The flagship has ~15% higher chance in triggering Artillery Spotting.
  • Losing Air Supremacy (AS+) to Air Superiority (AS) will lower the trigger chances by ~12%. Higher penalty for mixed attack.
  • Higher fleet total LoS (line of sight) will slightly increase the chances, around 5% ~ 10% per 100 additional FLoS. Notice that FLoS equals to the sum of LoS stats from all the ships in your fleet, and no special formula is used to calculate them.
  • Equipment set up will affect the chances (see the table above)


Night Battle Special Attacks

Night battle special attacks allow your ship to double attack (DA) and cut-in (CI) at night. These special attacks are less demanding on the conditions, but more reliable and powerful than artillery spotting in the day.

Requirement

  • Not in heavily damaged (大破) state
  • Certain equipment setup (see below)

Set up and Attack Modes

Different set ups have chances to trigger different modes of attack

Attack Mode Prerequisite Notes on the Remaining Slots Damage Modifier Trigger Chance
Double Attack    No additional  ,  or  . 120% x 2 ~99%
Double Attack    Additional   allowed. 120% x 2 ~99%
Double Attack    Additional   or   allowed. 120% x 2 ~99%
Cut-In (Mixed)    Additional   or  allowed. 130% x 2

(consecutive)

Luck based
Cut-in (Sec. Gun)     No additional   175% Luck based
Cut-in (Main Gun)     + Any 200% Luck based
Cut-in (Torpedo)    + Any 150% x 2

(simultaneous)

Luck based
  • When your set up fulfills the prerequisite for multiple attack modes, the one closer to the bottom of the list will be considered.
  • If two simultaneous / consecutive attacks are made, the total damage is displayed together but the Damage Cap (and Enemy Armor reduction) is applied separately to each attack.
  • When either DA or CI is not triggered by chance, the ship will just do a normal single attack.


Night Double Attack Chance

Has a very high (~99%) and relatively consistent activation chance (source). Activation rate decreases with damage states (source required), but is not dependent on luck. This typically results in more consistent and higher average damage than cut-in setup for ships with normal luck values.


Night Cut-in chance:

[math]\displaystyle{ (\text{Luck} + \text{Placement Modifier} + \text{Health Modifier} + \text{Searchlight Modifier} ) \% }[/math]


  • Either diminishing returns or a hard cap on luck over 50 for torpedo cut-ins. (source 1,2)
    • Therefore, the torpedo CI chance for Yukikaze (60 luck) would be around the same level as Shigure (50 luck).
  • Either diminishing returns or a hard cap on luck over 40 for three gun cut-ins. (source)
    • Therefore, ships with high luck will suffer from 5~10% lower cut-in chances when using the 3 gun cut-in setup compared to two-torpedo.
  • Either diminishing returns or a hard cap on luck over 60 for mixed cut-ins. (source )

Modifier

Value

Placement Flagship (+25)
Other +15
Health Little or no damage 0
Minor damage (小破 Shouha) (+5)
Moderate damage (中破 Chuuha) +20
Searchlight Allied +5
Enemy -10
Star Shell Allied +5
Enemy -10
  • According to various reports, the exact values of flagship and minor damage modifiers are still in controversy. The mean values are shown in brackets, with deviation of +/- 5.


Anti-Sub Warfare

Any enemy submarines will force Destroyers and Light Cruisers to target them. Cut-In and Double Attacks are ignored. In normal Night Battles, ASW damage is scratch damage only. In battles starting at night, Formation Modifiers apply.

Common Setups

  • Common ship equipment setups and their purpose
  • Destroyers
    • As destroyers do not have the ability to field seaplanes, have low firepower but high torpedo stats, and few equipment slots, their use in fleets is generally to meet composition requirements. Their common setups focus on Anti-Sub Warfare, Night Torpedo, or Fleet Anti-Air Support
    • A Mixture of SONAR and Depth Charges (  ) make your destroyers effective, accurate sub killers when enemy fleets contain Submarines.
    • On destroyers with high luck (Ayanami, Shigure, Yukikaze), 2 or 3 pieces of Torpedo Equipment (   ) will often trigger a potent Torpedo Cut-In attack in Night Battle.
    • When facing maps with many enemy fleets with carriers, destroyers can provide a considerable amount of fleet AA support using high-angle mounts   and anti-air cut-in setups to reduce incoming bomber damage.
  • Light Cruisers
    • Light Cruisers gain access to the Medium size Main guns to buff their firepower as well as seaplanes (with a few exceptions with regards to seaplanes, those being CLTs, Isuzu Kai Ni, Yuubari and both of the Tenryuu class), making Artillery Spotting setups feasible and effective against moderately armored enemy vessels.
    • For light cruisers facing enemy fleets, a setup with 2 Main guns and a Seaplane (   ) offers a potent double attack in both daytime Artillery Spotting and Night Battle.
    • For fleets without air power, one medium main gun and two 15.5cm Triple Gun Mounts (   ) will maximize firepower while maintaining double attacks in Night Battle
    • The special class of the Torpedo Cruisers deserves some mention here: their specialty lies in their torpedoes and should almost always be equipped with a  Type A Ko-hyoteki (to enable opening torpedo strikes). To diversify their damage output, typically two medium main guns and/or 15.5cm Triple Gun Mounts are equipped to increase shelling damage and enable Night Battle Double Attacks (   ).
      • Before a Torpedo Cruiser's final remodel, due to limited slots it's advisable to use Type A Ko-hyoteki and a torpedo (  ) to make the most of their preemptive attack.
  • Heavy Cruisers
    • Heavy Cruisers see the introduction of 4 slot setups after remodeling and all of them feature the ability to launch seaplanes for artillery spotting. While they are still limited to the Medium main guns, their higher firepower and armor can make them solid combatants when Battleships are unavailable or overkill.
    • The go-to setup for most situations will be the 2 main guns, RADAR, seaplane setup (    ) which provides day and night double attack potential.
    • Certain Event bosses take additional damage when a ship is equipped with Type 3 Shells. As heavy cruisers have access to these, a Heavy Cruiser may find swapping the RADAR for a Type 3 Shell (    ) to be effective against such targets (see Airfield Princess).
    • In the case of a battle occurring with Night Battle first, one option is to replace the RADAR and seaplane with two torpedoes     , which will lose the day battle special attacks but give the chance for powerful two-torpedo cut-in attacks.
  • Battleships
    • Battleships feature a selection of Heavy Main Guns and massive resulting firepower in addition to the potent Armor Piercing shells which can cause brutal critical hits. Setups for battleships are similar to those of heavy cruisers, with one notable addition.
    • The Armor Piercing Shells that battleships have access to allows for the highly effective 2 Main gun, AP Shell, Seaplane setup (    ) which has a more effective Artillery Spotting Cut-In, while providing better stats than secondary guns.
    • Note: Official tweets state that overuse of cannons larger than what a BB is meant for will make it "overweight" and incur a "minor" accuracy penalty. (I.e. Too many 46cm or even 41cm cannons on Fast Battleships such as Kongou-class and Bismarck.)
    • As with Heavy Cruisers, the Type 3 Shell setup (    ) is effective against installation-type/land base enemies.
  • Carriers
    • Planes. Enough Fighters to achieve Air Superiority or Supremacy, fill out with Torpedo Bombers on larger slots for preemptive bombing damage and/or Dive Bombers on smaller slots for shelling damage.
    • Torpedo Bombers and Dive Bombers are roughly equivalent to each other. While Torpedo Bombers have the advantage in the preemptive aerial bombing, their damage are dependent on number of surviving planes, making air superiority very important for them. In cases where Air Superiority is not feasible, using more Dive Bombers may prove more effective.
    • It is possible to equip Secondary Guns like the 15.5cm Triple Gun Mount or the special SCAMP to increase the carrier's range and put it higher in the Range Order shelling phase, which can be very useful for prioritizing the CV(L) damage when in a DD heavy fleet.
    • To save bauxite (especially in exercises against other fleets), a combination of two 15.5cm Triple Gun Mount and/or SCAMP with a Saiun and a single bomber in the 4th slot can allow powerful shelling attacks at the cost of opening airstrike potency (    ).

Full Setup List

  • What follows is an extensive list of possible equipment setups related to Artillery Spotting and Night Battle attacks.
  • Yellow: Cut-In or Double Attack Possible


Two Slots

Equipment Day Battle Modifier Night battle Modifier
As no 2 slot setup can trigger special attacks during the day,
2 slot setups are primarily night combat focused.
    - - Single Attack 100% Single Attack 100%
    - - Single Attack 100% Single Attack 100%
    - - Single Attack 100% Single Attack 100%
    - - Single Attack 100% Single Attack 100%
    - - Single Attack 100% Single Attack 100%
    - - Single Attack 100% Double Attack 120% x 2
    - - Single Attack 100% Double Attack 120% x 2
    - - Single Attack 100% Cut-In (Mixed) 130% x 2
    - - Single Attack 100% Single Attack 100%
    - - Single Attack 100% Single Attack 100%
    - - Single Attack 100% Double Attack 120% x 2
    - - Single Attack 100% Single Attack 100%
    - - Single Attack 100% Single Attack 100%
    - - Single Attack 100% Single Attack 100%
    - - Single Attack 100% Cut-In (Torpedo) 150% x 2
    - - Single Attack 100% Single Attack 100%
    - - Single Attack 100% Single Attack 100%
    - - Single Attack 100% Single Attack 100%
    - - Single Attack 100% Single Attack 100%
    - - Single Attack 100% Single Attack 100%

Three Slots

Equipment Day Battle Modifier Night battle Modifier
Day Combat Focus
      - Double Attack 120% x 2 Double Attack 120% x 2
      - Cut-In 110% Double Attack 120% x 2
      - Single Attack 100% Cut-In (Mixed) 130% x 2
      - Single Attack 100% Single Attack 100%
      - Single Attack 100% Single Attack 100%
      - Single Attack 100% Double Attack 120% x 2
      - Single Attack 100% Single Attack 100%
      - Single Attack 100% Single Attack 100%
      - Single Attack 100% Single Attack 100%
      - Single Attack 100% Cut-In (Torpedo) 150% x 2
      - Single Attack 100% Single Attack 100%
      - Single Attack 100% Single Attack 100%
      - Single Attack 100% Single Attack 100%
      - Single Attack 100% Single Attack 100%
      - Single Attack 100% Single Attack 100%
Night Combat Focus
For Night Combat setups, see Day Combat 4 slot setups below and ignore the seaplane.
The Day attack will be a Single Attack at 100%.


Four Slots

Equipment Day Battle Modifier Night battle Modifier
Day Combat Focus
        Double Attack 120% x 2 Cut-In (Gun) 200%
        Double or Cut-In 120% x 2 or 110% Cut-In (Gun) 175%
        Double Attack 120% x 2 Cut-In (Mixed) 130% x 2
        Double Attack 120% x 2 Double Attack 120% x 2
        Double or Cut-In 120% x 2 or 150% Double Attack 120% x 2
        Cut-In 110% Double Attack 120% x 2
        Cut-In 110% Cut-In (Mixed) 130% x 2
        Cut-In 120% Double Attack 120% x 2
        Cut-In 130% Double Attack 120% x 2
        Single Attack 100% Cut-In (Torpedo) 150% x 2
        Single Attack 100% Cut-In (Mixed) 130% x 2
        Single Attack 100% Cut-In (Mixed) 130% x 2
        Single Attack 100% Single Attack 100%
        Single Attack 100% Single Attack 100%
        Single Attack 100% Single Attack 100%
        Single Attack 100% Double Attack 120% x 2
        Single Attack 100% Double Attack 120% x 2
        Single Attack 100% Double Attack 120% x 2
        Single Attack 100% Double Attack 120% x 2
        Single Attack 100% Cut-In (Torpedo) 150% x 2
        Single Attack 100% Cut-In (Torpedo) 150% x 2
        Single Attack 100% Cut-In (Torpedo) 150% x 2
        Single Attack 100% Cut-In (Torpedo) 150% x 2
Night Combat Focus
        Single Attack 100% Cut-In (Gun) 200%
        Single Attack 100% Cut-In (Gun) 200%
        Single Attack 100% Cut-In (Gun) 200%
        Single Attack 100% Cut-In (Gun) 175%
        Single Attack 100% Cut-In (Gun) 175%
        Single Attack 100% Cut-In (Torpedo) 150% x 2
        Single Attack 100% Double Attack 120% x 2
        Single Attack 100% Cut-In (Mixed) 130% x 2
        Single Attack 100% Cut-In (Torpedo) 150% x 2
        Single Attack 100% Cut-In (Torpedo) 150% x 2
        Single Attack 100% Double Attack 120% x 2
        Single Attack 100% Double Attack 120% x 2
        Single Attack 100% Cut-In (Torpedo) 150% x 2
        Single Attack 100% Cut-In (Torpedo) 150% x 2
        Single Attack 100% Cut-In (Torpedo) 150% x 2

Victory Conditions

Perfect S
  • All enemy ships sunk and no damage taken.
S (Victory)
  • All enemy ships sunk and no allied ships sunk.
A (Victory)
  • Required number of enemy ships sunk (see below) and no allied ships sunk.
B (Tactical Victory)
  • Sinking the enemy flagship guarantees at least a B as long as no allied ships are sunk.
  • Enemy flagship sunk, friendly ship sunk and number of friendly ships sunk < number of enemy ships sunk.
  • Damage gauge at least 2.5 times higher enemy damage gauge.
  • This rate is the minimum requirement to clear maps without boss gauge.
C (Tactical Defeat)
  • Didn't clear any of the conditions for A or B, but enemy took over a certain amount of damage.
  • Damage gauge higher than enemy gauge, but not reaching 2.5 times as much.
  • Friendly ship sunk, damage gauge higher than enemy, but not 2.5 times as much.
  • Friendly ship sunk, enemy flagship sunk and number of friendly ships sunk lower than number of enemy ships sunk. It is possible to clear maps with boss gauges (eg. 4-4, 5-3, event maps) with a C if the enemy flagship is sunk.
D (Defeat)
  • Enemy took less than a certain amount of damage.
    • Both sides taking 0 damage is also D.
    • If your fleet consist only 1 ship and it is reaching Heavy Damage without meeting any winning requirements, it will instantly judged as D as well.
  • Damage gauge lower than enemy gauge.
  • Friendly ship sunk, not all enemy ships sunk, and gauge lower than enemy gauge.
E (Defeat)
  • Over a certain number of friendly ships sunk. (see below)
  • Friendly ship sunk while not meeting any victory conditions.
  • No damage done to enemy, while taking over a certain amount (Never happens in a fleet of 1).

Notes

  • The Minimum Sunk Requirement:
    • 4 ships out of a fleet of 6
    • 3 ships out of a fleet of 5
    • 2 ships out of a fleet of 4
    • 2 ships out of a fleet of 3
    • 1 ship out of a fleet of 2
  • Victory status affects the chance of getting drops and rare drops on the specified node.
    • B rank or above is necessary to obtain drops.
    • A rank or above is typically necessary for obtaining rare drops.
    • S rank has a higher chance of obtaining rare drops than A rank, and is required for some very rare drops.

Additional Explanation/Details

  1. Source: 艦これ-チラ裏検証- / 夜戦陣形と命中回避 (Jan 1, 2015). Click here for a translated version of the article. Currently the hit rates only apply on nodes starting with night battle (eg. 5-3-C). In addition, please be aware that given limited sample sizes from the exp't, the measured hit rates by using different formations are NOT differing on a large scale, thus using "higher / lower" not simply "high / low".
  2. Source: 半製造BSアレコレ雑記帳 / 「艦これ」砲撃命中率について・複縦陣 中間報告 (Dec 5, 2014). If more relevant sources are discovered please add them in.
  3. Example on how to calculate a ship's fighter power using the formula. Akagi Kai's fighter power (with Reppus in slot 1 and 2, Reppu Kai in slot 3, M62 in slot 4) = Floor[ √(Slot 1) x Reppu's AA] + Floor[ √(Slot 2) x Reppu's AA] + Floor[ √(Slot 3) x ReppuKai's AA] + Floor[ √(Slot 4) x M62's AA] = Floor[ √(20) x 10] + Floor[ √(20) x 10] + Floor[ √(32) x 12] + Floor[ √(10) x 4] = 44 + 44 + 67 + 11 = 166