User:神楽坂磯風/Ship Priority

Overview

This article is written on Jan 4, 2022 and may lose credibility in long terms(This things happened repeatedly, e. g. how Yuubari seized the position of "strongest CL" from Abukuma, and how Yahagi did the same from Yuubari).

The choice of ships are certainly affected by personal aesthetics. However if we only focus on developing a strong fleet that is capable to beat Hard difficulty of events ASAP, it's strongly adviced to level some ships first.

As a beginner, the first long-term aim is to build up an Armada Invencible to clear the event on casual/easy, and beat medium/hard of E1 or E2 if possible (since the first maps of an event should be easier). This means you should focus on the strongest (and the most versatile) ships at first. After that, when you start to challenge medium/hard maps, due to the tag system and historical buffs you should level up other ships as well.

The priority of the ships depend on the following factors:

Relative strength. e.g. Yukikaze Kai Ni has even higher FP than some old heavy cruisers.
Versatility. Ships(especially CL and DD) have one or more specific roles: High luck that can dispatch the boss easier, ASW, AACI, anti-installation, opening torp, seaplane fighter, and more. Some ships such as Yukikaze, Kasumi, Ise or Yahagi Kai are versatile and have multiple functionality; some ships such as Atlanta is almost only for a specific ability but do the job very well; some ships such as Yura is jack in all but master of none.
Quests. Quests are the main source of powerful equipments for the beginners(such as Murata squadron and Oscar 65 squadron). The quest system of Kancolle is a DAG(directed acyclic graph). This means you need to level up not only the quest ships, but also the ships of the prerequisite quests. Some ships are very weak but they're required by an quest, which is the common ancestor of many important quests. In order to prevent scraping quest ships, it's recommended to buy ship slots soon after your account registration. If you're willing to scrap some ship that is your first, see the quest page first and press F3 to see if there is some quest related to her. See also The directed graph of Quests
Historical bonus. Kancolle events are likely to be related with historical battles in the WWII. In the most cases "historical ships" have buff on damage and accuracy, which is the key to slay the boss. Apparently the ships which survive longer in the pacific war (such as Yukikaze and Kasumi) are more likely to have historical bonus.
Cost of remodeling. Many ships require Blueprint/Catapult. New Artillery Armanent and New Aviation Armanent and Action Reports are unlikely to be a bottleneck since they're easy to be obtained rather than consumed. It's worth to mention that Kongo, Hiei and Fletcher eat a surprisingly high amount of devmats, which require you to press F5 repeatly in 2-4.
Akashi. You need some ships to improve some equipments.

Blueprint priority

Very High = You level up these ships in order to clear casual/easy maps

High = You level up these ships in order to clear medium maps

Low = You level up these ships in order to clear easy maps

Very Low = it's unlikely that leveling these ships will make your fleet stronger

Very High

Yahagi Kai Ni B (1BP): Queen of light cruisers. Overpower strong and versatile. 4 slots. Can launch opening torpedo. Can carry Kami tanks and seaplane fighters. Very high firepower and torp. She should be your first aim of LSC as long as you've unlocked the LSC system (It's not recommended for beginners to LSC Yamato and Musashi, however).

Nagato Kai Ni (1BP): Nagato Special Attack can easily clear the most maps on Easy/Medium, and is the last hope of some very hard maps.

Ise Kai Ni (2BP, Catapult): Very versatile 5-slot aviation battleship which can carry carrier-based fighters and dive bombers. Her quest reward you two 634 squadron bombers, which can improve the range of carriers to LONG, and prevent that your carriers got Chuha before their attack.

Mogami Kai Ni Toku (1BP)： Queen of aviation cruisers. The only one in CA class with opening torpedo ability. Can carry seaplanes and anti-installation equipments.

High

Kaga Kai Ni (2BP, Catapult): It was controversial that if beginners should level up cardiv 1 (Akagi, Kaga) or cardiv 5(Shoukaku, Zuikaku) first. But it's worth to remodel Kaga first, since she have 5 slots with a large deck size which can help you clear the non-event maps easily. Her quest rewards a rocket interceptor, which is a prerequisite of medium/hard events (without a rocket interceptor it's almost impossible to get base defense AS, which is always a criterium of path opening/debuffing). In late game you can remodel her to Kaga Kai Ni Go to get an overpowered aircraft TBM-3W + 3S.

Akagi Kai Ni(2BP, Catapult): Almost same as Kaga. You need both to get two of the best torpedo bombers Ryuusei Kai (CarDiv 1/Skilled) [AKA Fuchida squadron].

Shoukaku Kai Ni A(1BP, Catapult): 4 slots armored carrier(can attack if chuha). Shoukaku and Zuikaku quests reward you many useful equipments such as Murata Squadron, Iwamoto Squadron (the best obtainable fighter) and Prototype Toukai (land based ASW aircraft).

Zuikaku Kai Ni A(1BP, Catapult): Same as Shoukaku.

Mutsu Kai Ni(1BP): Similar to Nagato. Moreover, if Nagato Kai Ni is the 1st ship and Mutsu Kai Ni is the 2nd, the damage of Nagato special attack will further increase.

Medium

Yukikaze Kai Ni(1BP to Tan Yang, 2BP to Yukikaze Kai Ni): Queen of DD. But too expensive.

Musashi Kai Ni(3BP): After the update that lifted the day shelling cap to 220, Yamato and Musashi were significantly buffed. But not easy to be obtained(if you do not have them, don't fret since they're not essential even in Hard events). Gives you a 51 cm gun.

Yuubari Kai Ni Toku(1BP): the former queen of CL. But it's still adviced to have one, as her quest rewards a Type D Kouhyouteki.

Kongou Kai Ni C(2BP): Can perform night special attack which is often crucial after the night firepower cap was lifted to 360. But 300 devmats are a painful burden...

Hiei Kai Ni C(2BP): Same as Kongou. But 330 devmats are absolutely a painful burden...

Naganami Kai Ni(1BP): Destroyer with very high firepower(if equipped with type D guns) and reasonable luck. Her quest rewards an action report each quarter.

Choukai Kai Ni(1BP): Heavy cruiser. Her quest is the common ancestor of many further quests.

Hyuuga Kai Ni(2BP, Catapult): Have some quests with Ise Kai Ni. You should remodel her after Ise is remodeled, anyway.

Saratoga Mk.II: Her quests reward night fighters/bombers. After you finished the quest, you can remodel her further to an armored carrier.

Low

BB

Italia, Roma Kai, Bismarck Drei: Remodel Italians and Germans only before an event in Europe.

CV

No CV falls in this category.

CVL

Ryuuhou Kai Ni E(1BP, Catapult): Good CVE. Quest rewards a night bomber. But since she consumes a catapult, it's not recommended to be remodeled in the early stage of the game.

Gambier Bay Mk.II(1BP, Catapult): High firepower CVE. Can carry anti-installation equipments(useful for 6-4 right route). Gives you a night fighter. But since she consumes a catapult, it's not recommended to be remodeled in the early stage of the game.

CA/CAV

Suzuya Kai Ni(1BP): Former CAV queen before being replaced by Mogami. Quest gives a Kyoufuu Kai. Can equip 8cm gun in the expansion, which implies anti-installation functionality(e.g. 3 rockets, one 203(No.3) and one 8cm in the expansion).

Kumano Kai Ni(1BP): Functionality similar to Suzuya, but you should remodel Suzuya first for quest rewards.

Zara Due(1BP): High firepower but low torp. Suitable for 1st fleet of task force.

CL

Noshiro Kai Ni(1BP): High firepower, but cannot launch opening torp like Yahagi. Noshiro Kai Ni is the only way to improve 15.2cm Twin Gun Mount Kai Ni which is the typical weapon of Yahagi.

Gotland Andra(1BP, Catapult): Her functionality is similar to Noshiro Kai Ni. Quest rewards a Seafox which is very useful for Nelson. But since she eats a catapult, it's recommended to remodel CV and BBV that require catapults first.

Abukuma Kai Ni(1BP): Can launch opening torp, but only 3 slots. Ancestor of a night bomber quest.

Yura Kai Ni(1BP): Required by some quests. Jack in all trades, but only 3 slots and her stats is poor.

DD

Ooshio Kai Ni(1BP) and Arashio Kai Ni(1BP): Anti-Installation and some quests.

Fletcher Mk.II(1BP): Versatile DD with high luck. But devmats are wailing...

Some Yuugumo class destroyers, and Akigumo(1BP for each): High firepower means higher survivablity in dogfights between small ships. Rewards D guns which are cruicial in night CI of low-luck ships. Akigumo Kai Ni is similar to Yuugumo class, and also has a bonus of 12.7cm Twin Gun Mount Model C Kai 2 +7, which can save one D gun.

Kagerou Kai Ni, Shiranui Kai Ni and Kuroshio Kai Ni (1BP each): Quest rewards a catapult. Common ancestor of several quests which reward 61cm Quad (Oxygen) Torpedo Mount Late Model, very powerful torpedoes.

Lowest

BB

Fusou Kai Ni, Yamashiro Kai Ni: The only highlight of them was the Leyte Gulf, but many years have passed since then...

CV

Katsuragi Kai, Amagi Kai: Too weak, and no quest...

CVL

Shinyou Kai Ni, Taiyou Kai Ni, Unyou Kai Ni: With the CVE in the "Low" rank, it's not reasonable to give them catapults unless you have many of them. The Unyou's quest gives some good equipments, but this quest does not require Kai Ni.

CL

Kinu Kai Ni: Since she can increase the resource gain of expedition, her priority remains controversial. But should be classified as either Low or Lowest priority.