Help:Equipment Setup

This article aims to cover the most commonly used equipment setups for each ship type. It is to give an idea of what are the most efficient load-outs to make ships effective in a particular role. This means that this article will not cover niche setups that are specific to a map, a ship, or a mechanic. For those equipment setups, please refer to the relevant pages.

  • Please mind each individual plane slot size when applicable. Aircraft should be placed in the biggest slots available to be more effective.
  • For more details on some mechanics, please see:

Destroyer (DD)

Equipment Notes
    This is the most basic combat setup for all destroyers. Green dual-purpose guns like the 10cm Twin High-angle Mount contribute Fleet Anti-Air (FAA) while allowing destroyers to perform night battle double attacks. Ideally, using the 10cm Twin High-angle Mount + Anti-Aircraft Fire Director is preferable. Destroyer guns do not provide enough extra firepower to allow them to contribute to day combat. The extra FAA from dual-purpose guns will help more by mitigating airstrike damage. The wildcard can be anything that doesn't interfere with double attacks. In most cases, this will be an  Air. This will allow any destroyer to activate AACI API5.
    This is an alternative setup for maps with minimal enemy airpower. This setup should only be used for destroyers with fit bonuses. It is for maximizing firepower just to squeeze out every last bit of damage.
    This setup is the standard Torpedo Cut-In (TCI) setup. It should only be used on destroyers with at least 50  . Destroyers with 40   are still possible candidates for TCI, but should be placed as the flagship to maximize their trigger chances.
    This setup is an alternative TCI setup. This setup is typically used for either powerful destroyers (E.g. Yuudachi, Ayanami, Naganami) that can hit the night battle cap with two torpedoes or low luck (30  ) destroyers. In the case of powerful destroyers, the wild card can be night battle equipment or a main gun. The latter will help them maintain some effectiveness during day combat. For low-luck destroyers, the wild card should be a  . This will help increase their trigger rate somewhat.

Equipment Notes
 Small   This ASW setup maximizes the ASW by taking advantage of the synergy. One of the depth charges needs to be a Depth Charge Projector while the other needs to be a Depth Charge (Racks). Take note that reaching the OASW threshold takes precedence over everything. In this case, just replace depth charges with equipment that has a higher ASW.

Equipment Notes
    This setup is for dealing with Supply Depot Princess and her variants. Since she is the only installation that takes post-cap damage, this setup will allow any girl to kill her in one shot.
   / /  This is the more typical setup for anti-installation work. It still gives significant bonuses against all installations and allows destroyers to double attack at night. Equipment picked for the 3rd slot depends on its upgrade values and/or what the destroyer is capable of equipping.
     This is a unique setup for Tashkent. The two anti-ground artillery gives her a significant boost to firepower that allows her to cap in day and night.

Equipment Notes
    This is an anti-PT Imp Group setup. The combination of equipment makes hits nearly guaranteed and their low HP means they can be killed in one hit. It does mean that the destroyer's combat effectiveness is severely reduced against other targets though. Therefore, it is highly recommended to use Reinforcement Expansions to fit the   so that another main gun can be used to maintain double attacks.

Coastal Defense Ship (DE)

Equipment Notes
    DE are primarily used for ASW. In the event they are used for combat, green dual-purpose guns like the 10cm Twin High-angle Mount contribute Fleet Anti-Air (FAA) while allowing destroyers to perform night battle double attacks. Ideally, using the 10cm Twin High-angle Mount + Anti-Aircraft Fire Director is preferable. Destroyer guns do not provide enough extra firepower to allow them to contribute to day combat. The extra FAA from dual-purpose guns will help more by mitigating airstrike damage. The wildcard can be anything that doesn't interfere with double attacks. In most cases, this will be an  Air. This will allow any destroyer to activate AACI API5.

Equipment Notes
 Small   This ASW setup maximizes the ASW by taking advantage of the synergy. One of the depth charges needs to be a Depth Charge Projector while the other needs to be a Depth Charge (Racks). Take note that reaching the OASW threshold takes precedence over everything. In this case, just replace depth charges with equipment that has a higher ASW. Take note that DEs have bonus armor penetration from Depth Charges.

Light Cruiser (CL)

  • Also applicable to CT to some extent for standard combat and ASW.

Equipment Notes
    This is the most basic combat setup for most light cruisers. The exception would be light cruisers that have 0 plane slots. In that case, swap the seaplane for any utility equipment that won't interfere with the double attack setup.
 Torpedo  Torpedo   This setup is the standard Torpedo Cut-In (TCI) setup.
One   may be a  Minisub to add an opening torpedo for capable ships. Two   must not be minisubs, as minisubs do not count as torpedos for TCI.
   Minisub +   This is a unique setup for Yura Kai Ni that allows her to provide air support while maintaining night battle double attacks and opening torpedoes. The gun in the Reinforcement Expansion must be a 8cm High-angle Mount or 8cm Twin High-angle Mount + Additional Machine Guns.
   Minisub    This is a unique setup for Yuubari Kai Ni Toku when she isn't running the full TCI setup. The wild card can be a tank, landing craft, or anti-ground rocket for anti-installation work, or a sonar for ASW work.

Equipment Notes
 Small   This ASW setup maximizes the ASW by taking advantage of the synergy. One of the depth charges needs to be a Depth Charge Projector while the other needs to be a Depth Charge (Racks). Take note that reaching the OASW threshold takes precedence over everything. In this case, just replace depth charges with equipment that has a higher ASW.

Equipment Notes
 / /  This setup is for dealing with Supply Depot Princess and her variants. Since she is the only installation that takes post-cap damage, this setup will allow any girl to kill her in one shot.
   / /  This is the more typical setup for anti-installation work. It still gives significant bonuses against all installations and allows to double attack at night. Equipment picked for the 3rd slot depends on its upgrade values and/or what the cruiser is capable of equipping.
     Primarily only 4-slot CLs will be used for a dedicated anti-installation role because the DLC-capable CLs are better suited to other roles. The bonus firepower from the anti-ground rockets is more than enough to let any of the 4-slot CLs hit the day and night caps.

Equipment Notes
 Minisub     This is a unique setup for Yura Kai Ni's AACI. The gun in the Reinforcement Expansion must be a 8cm High-angle Mount or 8cm Twin High-angle Mount + Additional Machine Guns. The wildcard should preferably be a   to allow her to maintain night battle double attacks. If need be, the midget submarine can be swapped for a recon seaplane to allow her to perform daytime spotting.
        This is a setup to take advantage of Ooyodo's reinforcement expansion. By placing a 10cm Twin High-angle Gun Mount Kai + Additional Machine Guns in it, it allows her to perform artillery spotting and night battle double attacks while freeing up two slots for utility purposes. The wild cards can be anything that doesn't interfere with the special attacks. It can be night battle equipment or a Fleet Command Facility.

Torpedo Cruiser (CLT)

Equipment Notes
   Minisub This is the most basic combat setup for Kai Ni torpedo cruisers, opening torpedo + night double attack.
 Torpedo  Torpedo  Minisub This setup is the standard Torpedo Cut-In (TCI) setup.
Two   must not be minisubs, as minisubs do not count as torpedos for TCI.

Equipment Notes
 Minisub   Opening torp + (O)ASW.
This ASW setup maximizes the ASW by taking advantage of the synergy. Take note that reaching the OASW threshold takes precedence over everything. In this case, just replace depth charges with equipment that has a higher ASW.

Heavy Cruiser (CA/V)

Equipment Notes
     This is the most basic combat setup for most heavy cruisers. It provides both day and night double attacks. The wild card can be anything that does not interfere with the double attack setup. The wild card is usually a RADAR of some sort to increase the artillery spotting trigger rate.
     This is an alternative setup for CAs in the main fleet of a combined fleet. Do not use this setup if CAs are expected to engage in night battle. This setup gives them extra hitting power for artillery spotting at the expense of having a terrible night battle cut in. If applicable, on   can be replaced by the  SCAMP SCAMP  to gain the firepower without losing the DA.
     This is an alternative combat setup where CAs are expected to be fighting without artillery spotting. The extra secondary guns will give them extra firepower in the daytime without interfering with night battle double attacks. Any secondary gun can be used but yellow ones are preferred for the higher firepower. The wild card can be anything that doesn't interfere with night battle attacks. It will typically be night battle equipment or an additional yellow gun.
     This is the standard CA setup for Torpedo Cut-In (TCI). Since any CA that can TCI or should be luck-modded to be capable of TCI can already hit the cap with two torpedoes, it is better to have a main gun over a 3rd torpedo. This will allow them to be somewhat effective during the day and gain the bonus accuracy from equipping an IJN 20.3. The wild card can be anything that doesn't interfere with this setup. It will typically be night battle equipment.

Equipment Notes
     This is the typical anti-installation setup for CAs. It is sufficient to allow CAs to hit the daytime shelling cap against most installation targets. It also allows them to perform artillery spotting.
     This is an alternative anti-installation setup for CAVs. It allows them to do significant damage to all installation types in exchange for not being able to do artillery spotting. CAVs with this setup are able to hit the night battle shelling cap against installations.

Equipment Notes
      This is a unique setup for Maya Kai Ni. This is the typical setup that allows her to perform artillery spotting, night battle double attacks, and AACI. There are several variants to this setup depending on what role she needs to be specialized in. Trading a   for a   will let her focus more on anti-air at the expense of artillery spotting. If having two 5inch Twin Dual-purpose Gun Mount (Concentrated Deployment) or the GFCS variant, it is possible to maintain artillery spotting and AACI.
      This setup is for Suzuya Kai Ni and Kumano Kai Ni. It maximizes the air power they can bring to bear while maintaining nighttime double attacks. One SPF can be swapped out for a recon seaplane if you need them to perform daytime spotting as well.

Battleship (F/BB/V)

Equipment Notes
     This is the most basic combat setup for BBs. The AP shell enables the most powerful artillery spotting attack and provides bonus damage. This setup should be run the majority of the time. For 5-slot BBs, a   or   would generally be used for extra air power.

Equipment Notes
     This is the typical anti-installation setup for BBs. It is generally not used that often because BBs will already hit the daytime cap and losing out on APCI reduces their power and effectiveness against other targets. This setup is more viable on 5-slot BBs that can also take an AP shell and get the best of both worlds.
    /  This is a unique setup for Nagato Kai Ni and Mutsu Kai Ni. While it does give up APCI like the regular BB anti-installation setup, tanks, and landing craft have much better multipliers across a wider range of installation types. This can make for some devastating attacks when combined with their Touch mechanic.

Equipment Notes
       This is a unique setup for Musashi Kai Ni and requires a 10cm Twin High-angle Gun Mount Kai + Additional Machine Guns in her reinforcement expansion. This setup should also only be used in a main fleet of a combined fleet as it can trigger main/secondary cut-in at night. This setup allows Musashi to perform AACI. It also her a higher trigger rate of artillery spotting because the equipment setup fulfills the trigger requirements for a wider array of special attacks.

Carrier (CV/L/B)

Unlike other ship types, equipment placement order matters for carriers.

The general rules are:

  • Bombers in top slot
  • Torpedo bomber in largest slot

Equipment Notes
    
    
This is the basic setup for CV/Ls. It balances striking power with fighter power. The amount of   and   can be adjusted depending on how much enemy airpower is expected. One   can be swapped out with a Saiun if preventing Red-T engagement is necessary.

CVE and Kaga Kai Ni Go are the main carriers effective against submarines.

Equipment Notes
 / / / / /  ASW Aircraft or just planes with good ASW should be prioritized. It is possible to maintain some surface combat capabilities, by doing a normal CVCI with high ASW panes, or by stacking  .

Equipment Notes
    
    
For the standard CV/L setup to work against installations, the   must be Anti-Installation DBs. Otherwise, all bombers must be   only. Take note that using only   will prevent CV/Ls from doing CVCI.

Equipment Notes
     This setup is known as a "fighter mule". The CV/L will be unable to attack and her only role is to provide as much fighter support as possible.
    NOAP This setup is to allow CV/Ls to perform night battle attacks. Since the CV/L will lose 1 slot to fit the NOAP 
 
, careful consideration needs to be taken when running this setup.
     This setup is only for CVN as they are able to perform night battle special attacks without the NOAP. The   should ideally be a Night Aircraft to maximize NB damage and allow CVCI during the day.

Submarine (SS/V)

Equipment Notes
   This is the standard setup for SS. This setup aims to maximize their opening and closing torpedo power. Any TCI that manages to trigger in night battle is just a bonus. SS with 3 slots can either take another   or utility equipment like   or  .
Two   must not be minisubs, as minisubs do not count as torpedos for TCI.
 Sub_LM +  Sub_LM By combining Late Model Submarine Torpedoes with   or with other LM sub torpedoes, the SS will be able to trigger a "new TCI" at night, while keeping the advantages listed above.
 Sub_LM +  

Equipment Notes
  /   Equipping either allows SS/V to attack installations during shelling.

Equipment Notes
   This setup is used when taking SSV for air support.

Seaplane Tender (AV)

Equipment Notes
 Bomber  Bomber  Minisub This is the most basic combat setup for most seaplane tenders. Provides maximum potential opening damage.
AV that can't equip  Minisub or Kamoi Kai can swap for an extra  Bomber. 4-slot AVs can take an extra  Bomber.

Seaplane bombers may be replaced with fighters if more airpower is needed.

      Fighter Mule. Used to maximize the AV's fighter power. 4 slots AVs can take an extra  
     Bomber  Minisub
 Bomber  Bomber    
This setup is for 4 slots AV. The seaplane bombers give a decent airstrike and allow to perform Artillery Spotting with the double guns.

Equipment Notes
      Basic anti-installation nuke setup for all AV. 4 slot AV can add another   to increase firepower further.
          are recommended instead of   to avoid "Hidden Accuracy Penalties".
This setup is for 4 slots AV to utilize the "Nuke" with a "Night DA".

Auxiliary Ships (Aux)

Most of the other Auxiliary ships are not combat-focused, and so their set-ups are heavily dependent on special mechanics, or can serve for "stat mulling" such as fighter mulling.

Equipment Selection

While the above set-up guide recommends only types of equipment, this section gives the general rules on how to choose equipment within a given type.

Equipment of a same type are mainly differentiated by their "Stats" ( ,  ,  , ...), including Fit Bonuses (both visible and invisible) and Improvements ( ) stats, as well as some more specific attributes, like:

  • Modifiers brought in certain mechanics, ranging from combat to routing,
  • Special mechanics induced by certain equipment...

Equipment have a wide range of stats, however, not all stats are ranked the same way, some being more important than other, depending on the equipment type.

Here, equipment stats are dispatched into 3 categories:

  • Primary Stats: stats that influence the effectiveness of the equipment in its main role, being the main choosing factor,
  • Secondary Stats: stats that can influence the effectiveness of the equipment for other purposes, helping to choose between equipment sharing the same "Primary Stats".
  • Bonus Stats: All the other stats. These stats do not influence the effectiveness of the equipment much, but are appreciable for the general stat stats of the equipping ship.
Equipment Stats Category
Main Armament
Icon Equipment Types Primary Stats Secondary Stats Notes
     Main Gun & Secondary Gun    
  • for smal caliber Fit Bonus generaly are higher than base stats
  • For Medium and Large caliber Hidden Fit Bonuses plays a major role when choosing a gun
  High-Angle Gun      
  • Having an good AACI takes priority over stats
  AA Gun      
  Torpedo      
Midget Submarine
    Anti-submarine Weaponry     Armor Penetration
  • Having OASW takes priority over stats
  • When already having OASW, then ASW Synergy takes priority over stats
Aircraft
Icon Equipment types Primary stats Secondary stats Note
    Dive Bomber   AAR ❱❱  
  • If the main purpose of the ship is ASW then naturaly   becomes a primary stat
Fighter-Bomber and Jets     AAR ❱❱  
    Torpedo Bomber   AAR ❱❱  
  • If the main purpose of the ship is ASW then naturaly   becomes a primary stat
    Fighter   ❱❱  
  Carrier Recon      
  • Equipping a Saiun 
     
     
    will override Red T engagements and turn them into Head-on, see here
    Seaplane Recon      
 Bomber Seaplane Bomber     ❱❱ AAR
  Seaplane Fighter   ❱❱
    ASW Aircraft  
Other Equipment
Icon Equipment types Primary stats Secondary stats Note
  Surface Radar        
  • Because of AACI priority, radar without   may be choosed
Air Radar      
      ... Anti-intallation Equipment Anti-installation modifiers
  • The best equipment can change depending on the enemy installation
  Extra Armor  
  • The   malus is negligible
  Engine Improvement  
  • The   gained is negligible
All Other Equipment Are chosen on a case-by-case basis, being often bounded to some specific mechanics
Notes
  •   Range gained from certain equipment can either be advantageous or detrimental, depending on the situation, like for Special Attacks or when Leveling.

See Also