Plane Proficiency

Planes have the ability to earn experience and gain ranks. Experience is gained from combat, be it normal sorties or LBAS attacks and defense.

• Certain elite planes such as the Tenzan Model 12 (Tomonaga Squadron) already have some ranks when they are obtained.

Overview

As planes earn experience, they will progress through the ranks as follows:

Rank Level	Displayed Insignia	Experience	Fighter Power Bonus (All Planes)	Aditional Fighter Power Bonus
				Bomber	Hayabusa
0	(blank)	0-9	0	+0	+0
1	|	10-24	+1 ~ 1.549	+0	+0
2	||	25-39	+1.581 ~ 1.975	+1	+2
3	|||	40-54	+2 ~ 2.324	+1	+5
4	\	55-69	+2.345 ~ 2.627	+1	+9
5	\\\	70-84	+2.646 ~ 2.898	+3	+14
6	\\\\\	85-99	+2.915 ~ 3.146	+3	+14
7	❱❱	100-120	+3.162 ~ 3.464	+6	+22

Notes

• Planes will gain ranks at different speeds, each having a fixed leveling speed.
  • See below for more details.
• Planes getting shot down will lose ranks.
  • A slot getting emptied has a high chance of resetting plane ranks.
  • Ranks cannot be gained or lost in PvP.
• Abyssal planes do not have proficiency.
• Opposing PvP fleets do have proficiency.
• It is important to secure air superiority where possible to preserve plane proficiency.
• The "Fighter Power Bonus" is calculated as

[math]\displaystyle{ \text{Fighter Power}_\text{proficiency} = \sqrt{\frac{\text{Exp}_\text{plane}}{10}} }[/math]

with

• [math]\displaystyle{ \text{Exp}_\text{plane} }[/math] the experience of the plane.
  • Unlike most other formulas in the game, it is not rounded down.

Rank Effects

Fighter Power Bonus

The biggest bonus from plane proficiency is giving a fighter power bonus to help during the Stage 1. The innate bonus is added onto the fighter power bonus of the relevant plane to get the full fighter power bonus.

Fighter Power Bonus for ❱❱ Planes

Plane Type	Plane Type	Fighter Power Bonus
Fighters	Hayabusa	+25.464
Seaplane Bombers	Bomber	+9.464
All other planes	SpLBReconbomber	+3.464
ASW Aircraft		+0

Notes

• Fighter-Bombers and Jets are considered dive bombers and only get the +3 bonus and not the +25.
• This is a flat bonus applied after the fighter power of the slot is calculated. This means it is not affected by rounding.
• Even if the plane has 0 , it will still get the relevant bonus.

Critical Bonus

The proficiency give two different bonuses to critical hit. It gives a bonus to the critical hit rate and also to the critical damage modifier.

Critical Hit Rate

There are multiple formulas for the critical modifier bonuses from plane proficiency.

• The "Captain" refers to the plane in the 1st slot.
• See here for more details.

Airstrike and LBAS Modifier
[math]\displaystyle{ {Crit}_\text{proficiency} = \lfloor \text{Mod}_\text{slot} \times \text{Mod}_\text{rank} \rfloor }[/math] With [math]\displaystyle{ \text{Mod}_\text{slot} }[/math] the slot modifier: [math]\displaystyle{ \text{Mod}_\text{slot} }[/math] Attack type Attack modifier First carrier slot 0.8 Other carrier slots 0.6 LBAS slots 0.8 [math]\displaystyle{ \text{Mod}_\text{rank} }[/math] the effect given by the rank of the plane: [math]\displaystyle{ \text{Mod}_\text{rank} }[/math] Plane Rank Crit Modifier (blank) 0 | 1 || 2 ||| 3 \ 4 \\\ 5 \\\\\ 7 ❱❱ 10
Notes This bonus is calculated slot by slot for Airstrike and LBAS, Planes in empty slots do not count toward proficiency bonuses.

Carrier Shelling
[math]\displaystyle{ {Crit}_\text{proficiency} = \sum_\text{Planes} {Mod}_\text{proficiency} }[/math] With [math]\displaystyle{ {Mod}_\text{proficiency} }[/math] still under investigation but if the plane is ❱❱ it's: 8 for the captain, 6 for the others,
Notes This formula only work at ❱❱ . The effect for lower proficiency is still under investigation. This also applies to carrier night attacks. Unlike other carrier night attacks formulas, non-night capable planes are taken into account for calculating the proficiency critical bonus. Planes in empty slots do not count toward proficiency bonuses.

Carrier Cut-In Attacks
[math]\displaystyle{ {Crit}_\text{proficiency} = {Const}_\text{captain} + {Mod}_\text{proficiency} }[/math] With [math]\displaystyle{ {Const}_\text{captain} }[/math] being 8 if the captain participates in the CVCI, and 0 otherwise, [math]\displaystyle{ {Mod}_\text{proficiency} }[/math] still under investigation but it's 13 if all planes are ❱❱ (excluding jets?).
Notes This formula only work at ❱❱ . The effect for lower proficiency is still under investigation.

Computed values for airstrike and LBAS:

[math]\displaystyle{ {Crit}_\text{proficiency} }[/math]
Plane Rank	First carrier slot LBAS slots	Other carrier slots
(blank)	0	0
|	0	0
||	1	1
|||	2	1
\	3	2
\\\	4	3
\\\\\	5	4
❱❱	8	6

Critical Hit Damage Modifier

Carriers get a bonus critical modifier when equipped with high-proficiency planes. This modifier is multiplicative with the normal critical modifier. See here for more details.

Critical Hit Damage Modifier
[math]\displaystyle{ \text{Mod}_\text{proficiency} = 1 + \sum^{\text{ Plane slots } } \frac{\lfloor \sqrt{ Exp } + Const \rfloor}{ {Slot}_\text{Mod} \times 100} }[/math] With [math]\displaystyle{ \sum^{\text{ Plane slots }} }[/math] For carrier shelling attacks (both day and night) the bonus given by each plane is summed. For airstrikes and LBAS the bonus is calculated slot by slot (there is no sum). [math]\displaystyle{ Exp }[/math] the current experience value of the plane. [math]\displaystyle{ {Slot}_\text{Mod} }[/math] a modifier that change according to the slot: Being 1 for the first carrier slot and every LBAS slot, Being 2 for every other carrier slots. [math]\displaystyle{ Const }[/math] a constant that depends on the experience [math]\displaystyle{ Const }[/math] Plane Rank [math]\displaystyle{ Exp }[/math] constant value (blank) 0-9 0 | 10-24 1 || 25-39 2 ||| 40-54 3 \ 55-69 4 \\\ 70-79 5 80-99 7 \\\\\ 7 ❱❱ 100-120 10
Notes This is the Vita formula that has been validated by tests [2].

Exception

• For day CVCI (night CVCI follow the above formula), the formula is yet to be understood. We do know that the bonus is 1.256 if all planes are ❱❱ .
• The two Hayabusa(20th)
  do not follow the same formula as other planes.
  • The experience seems to have a 0.85 modifier but we lack data to confirm it.

Accuracy Bonus

The average proficiency of all "bombers" on the carrier are taken into account for calculating the accuracy bonus.

• This bonus is used to calculate the Hit Rate, and maybe the LBAS accuracy.
• The formula is:

Accuracy Proficiency Bonus Formula
[math]\displaystyle{ \text{Acc}_\text{proficiency} = \sqrt{0.1 \times \text{Exp}_\text{Avg} } + \text{Mod}_\text{proficiency} }[/math] With [math]\displaystyle{ \text{Exp}_\text{Avg} }[/math] the average experience level of all relevant planes on the carrier. [math]\displaystyle{ \text{Mod}_\text{proficiency} }[/math] the extra bonus depending on the proficiency level. Accuracy Bonus Rank [math]\displaystyle{ \text{Mod}_\text{proficiency} }[/math] [math]\displaystyle{ \text{Acc}_\text{proficiency} }[/math] (blank) 0 0 | 0 +1 || +1 +2 ||| +2 +4 \ +3 +5 \\\ +4 +6 \\\\\ +6 +8-9 ❱❱ +9 +12
Notes Remember that fighters are not counted for the accuracy bonus.

LoS

• The developers have stated that proficiency will provide a bonus to LoS and contact rate.
  • The increase is either bugged or too small to be observed.

Expeditions

For Expeditions that require Stat threshold to be completed, when using planes, proficiency will affect the amount of stat given by said plane.

• Those exact effects are unknown yet but not negligible.
• See here for more dedails.

Ranking Planes

Carrier-Based Planes & Seaplanes

Carrier-based planes and seaplanes can be ranked anywhere. The most resource-efficient way is to send them on sorties to surface nodes with little to no air power. It is possible to rank them through LBAS but it gets expensive. The following are recommended spots:

• 1-1: "any fleet"
• 2-2: 3CV(L)/BBV + 3XX "off route"

Land-Based Planes

Land-based planes can only be ranked through LBAS. This makes ranking them quite expensive. Outside of events, only 7-4, 6-4, and 6-5 have LBAS available to use for now. Of these:

• 7-4 is the best place as it has multiple submarine nodes that are easy to reach, and are on the main resources farming route. This allows any land-based plane to be ranked while doing regular "risk-free" resource farming.
  • See here for more details
• 6-5 is also a good place, as it allows the use of two land bases and has a Range 1 submarine node at node B, that can be reached using 1CL and a mix of DD & DE.

Important Notes on Ranking Planes

• "Air group" planes like the Ryuusei (601 Air Group) start at |.
• "Ace squadron" planes like the Type 97 Torpedo Bomber (Murata Squadron) start at ||.

Air Group Planes Air Group Planes 4th Recon Saiun (4th Recon Squad) 20th Type 1 Fighter Hayabusa Model II Kai (20th Squadron) Type 1 Fighter Hayabusa Model III Kai (Skilled/20th Squadron) 54th Type 1 Fighter Hayabusa Model III A (54th Squadron) 64th Type 1 Fighter Hayabusa Model II (64th Squadron) 65th Bomb-carrying Type 1 Fighter Hayabusa Model III Kai (65th Squadron) 244th Type 3 Fighter Hien (244th Air Combat Group) 251 Type 0 Fighter Model 22 (251 Air Group) 343 Shiden Kai (343 Air Group) 301st Fighter Squadron Shiden Kai (343 Air Group) 407th Fighter Squadron Shiden Kai (343 Air Group) 701st Fighter Squadron 352 Reppuu Kai (352 Air Group/Skilled) 601 Suisei (601 Air Group) Tenzan (601 Air Group) Ryuusei (601 Air Group) Zero Fighter Model 52C (601 Air Group) Reppuu (601 Air Group) 631 Zuiun (631 Air Group) Seiran (631 Air Group) 634 Suisei Model 22 (634 Air Group) Suisei Model 22 (634 Air Group/Skilled) Suisei Model 12 (634 Air Group w/ Type 3 Cluster Bombs) Zuiun (634 Air Group) Zuiun Model 12 (634 Air Group) Zuiun (634 Air Group/Skilled) Zuiun Kai 2 (634 Air Group) Zuiun Kai 2 (634 Air Group/Skilled) Prototype Night Zuiun (Attack Equipment) 901 Toukai (901 Air Group) 931 Type 97 Torpedo Bomber (931 Air Group) Tenzan (931 Air Group) Type 97 Torpedo Bomber (931 Air Group/Skilled) CarDiv 1 Ryuusei Kai (CarDiv 1) Ryuusei Kai (CarDiv 1/Skilled) Reppuu Kai 2 (CarDiv 1/Skilled) Reppuu Kai 2 Model E (CarDiv 1/Skilled) Eastern Caroline Saiun (Eastern Caroline Air Group) Hachiman Zero Fighter Model 52C (Hachiman Force) Type 1 Land-based Attack Aircraft (Hachiman Force) Tainan Type 0 Fighter Model 21 (Tainan Air Group) Type 0 Fighter Model 32 (Tainan Air Group)

Ace Planes Ace Planes Egusa Type 99 Dive Bomber (Egusa Squadron) Suisei (Egusa Squadron) Ginga (Egusa Squadron) Iwai Zero Fighter Model 62 (Fighter-bomber / Iwai Squadron) Zero Fighter Model 52C (w/ Iwai Flight) Iwamoto Zero Fighter Model 21 (w/ Iwamoto Flight) Zero Fighter Model 52A (w/ Iwamoto Flight) Type 0 Fighter Model 53 (Iwamoto Squadron) Murata Type 97 Torpedo Bomber (Murata Squadron) Tenzan Model 12 (Murata Squadron) Nonaka Type 1 Land-based Attack Aircraft (Nonaka Squadron) Tomonaga Type 97 Torpedo Bomber (Tomonaga Squadron) Tenzan Model 12 (Tomonaga Squadron)

• Remodeling planes to better versions through quests will retain their ranks if it is higher than the default rank.
  • Exceptions are for remodels that require the plane to be at maxed proficiency like for the Zero Fighter Type 53 (Iwamoto Squadron).
  • Remodelling a plane using Akashi's Improvement Arsenal will only retain 60% of the plane's proficiency.
• Ranks can decrease by 1-2 if a large number of planes are shot down.
• Ranks will be reset if the entire squadron is shot down.
  • Even elite squadrons with default ranks can lose all their ranks.
    • There is a visual bug where elite squadrons may retain default ranks visually, sortieing them again will update it to their actual value.
• Rank loss is calculated before rank gain, therefore it is possible for a squadron that was wiped to retain 1-2 ranks if it did well.
• Rank is only calculated once the fleet returns to port.
  • It is possible to save ranks by quitting the sortie before the results screen is shown. This can be useful during events to save preparation time for boss kills.
• Planes will not gain or lose ranks in Support Expeditions or Exercises.
• Planes must participate in aerial combat or detection to gain/lose ranks.
  • Planes in 0 slots will not gain or lose ranks.
  • If planes are not launched due to failing Detection, they will not gain or lose ranks.
  • In Combined Fleets, when facing a single fleet, no plane in the escort fleet will not gain or lose ranks.

Leveling Speed

Planes gain a certain number of internal proficiency points with some random variance every time they participate in Aerial Combat or Detection. The amount gained depends on the exp-rate group of the plane.

Detection: Seaplanes, Recons, Large Flying Boats

Aerial Combat: Fighters, Dive Bombers, Torpedo Bombers, BomberSeaplane Bombers, Seaplane Fighters, Jets, Land-based Bombers, Interceptors, Land-based Heavy Bombers

LBAS Attack, LBAS Defence, Jet Assault, and LBAS Jet Assault also count as Aerial Combat.

• Each LBAS Attack wave counts as one round of Aerial Combat, so planes attacking the same node twice gain experience twice. There is no Detection for LBAS, so recons (including Land-based Recons) do not gain experience.
• Because Seaplane Bombers participate in both Aerial Combat and Detection, they effectively level twice as fast as other planes of their group in most cases.
• Jets receive experience from both Jet Assault and the following Aerial Combat, effectively leveling twice as fast as other planes of their group in most cases. However, Jet Assault does not occur against all-submarine fleets, so they gain experience only once in this case.

Leveling speed is measured in the estimated number of battles it will take to get a plane from no rank to ❱❱ .