Introduction
Planes have the ability to earn experience and gain ranks. Experience is gained from combat, be it normal sorties or LBAS attacks and defense. The only planes unable to earn experience are Autogyros, the Type 3 Spotter/Liaison (ASW) and Land-based reconnaissance planes. Certain elite planes such as the Tenzan Model 12 (Tomonaga Squadron) Will 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 | Innate Bonus | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
    
|
| |||||
| 0 | (blank) | 0-9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 1 | | | 10-24 | 0 | 0 | +1 | |
| 2 | || | 25-39 | +2 | +1 | +1 | |
| 3 | ||| | 40-54 | +5 | +1 | +2 | |
| 4 | \ | 55-69 | +9 | +1 | +2 | |
| 5 | \\ | 70-84 | +14 | +3 | +2 | |
| 6 | \\\ | 85-99 | +14 | +3 | +2-3 | |
| 7 | >> | 100-120 | +22 | +6 | +3 | |
Important Notes
- Planes will gain ranks at different speeds. Exactly what determines that is unknown. Please see below for more details.
- Planes getting shot down will lose ranks.
- A slot getting emptied has a high chance of resetting plane ranks.
- 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 innate bonus is calculated as [math]\displaystyle{ \sqrt{\frac{\text{Exp}_\text{plane}}{10}} }[/math]; where [math]\displaystyle{ \text{Exp}_\text{plane} }[/math] is the current experience level of the plane.
Rank Effects
Fighter Power Bonus
The biggest bonus from plane proficiency is giving a fighter power bonus to help during the air control phase. The innate bonus is added onto the fighter power bonus of the relevant plane to get the full fighter power bonus.
| Plane Type | Fighter Power Bonus |
|---|---|
|
|
+25 |
|
|
+9 |
      
|
+3 |
Important Notes
- Fighter-bombers are considered dive bombers and only get the +9 bonus instead of 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
There are two separate critical modifier bonuses for plane proficiency. One affects normal carrier attacks and carrier night cut-ins, the other affects carrier cut-in attacks.
Carrier Attack Modifier
[math]\displaystyle{ \text{Mod}_\text{CVAtk} = 1 + \text{Count}_\text{equipped} \times 0.1 + 0.1\text{(If max proficiency plane in first slot)} }[/math]
- [math]\displaystyle{ \text{Count}_\text{equipped} }[/math] is the number of max proficiency planes equipped.
- This means a carrier with two maxed proficiency planes equipped in the top two slots, it will have a 1.3x bonus. This makes her total critical strike modifier 1.95x (1.5 x 1.3).
- 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.
Carrier Cut-In Attacks
[math]\displaystyle{ \text{Mod}_\text{CVCI} = 1.106 + 0.15\text{(If the plane in the first slot participates in the attack)} }[/math]
- The average skill level of all planes is taken into account when calculating the modifier. The 1.106 value assumes all planes equipped are of max proficiency.
- If you have multiple aircraft of the same type equipped, the plane in the first slot, "the Captain" will always take priority.
- This bonus is multiplicative with the base critical modifier. This means if the Captain participates in the CVCI, the attack gets a critical strike modifier of 1.875x (1.5 x 1.25).
Accuracy Bonus
The average proficiency of all torpedo bombers, dive bombers, seaplane bombers and large flying boats on the carrier are taken into account for calculating the accuracy bonus.
[math]\displaystyle{ \text{Acc Bonus} = \sqrt{0.1 \times \text{Exp}_\text{Avg}} + \text{Mod}_\text{proficiency} }[/math]
- [math]\displaystyle{ \text{Exp}_\text{Avg} }[/math] is the average experience level of all relevant planes on the carrier.
- [math]\displaystyle{ \text{Mod}_\text{Skill} }[/math] is the extra bonus depending on the proficiency level.
| Experience Level | Proficiency Bonus | Accuracy Bonus |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 0 | 0 |
| 10-24 | 0 | +1 |
| 25-39 | +1 | +2 |
| 40-54 | +2 | +4 |
| 55-69 | +3 | +5 |
| 70-79 | +4 | +6 |
| 80-99 | +6 | +8-9 |
| 100-120 | +9 | +12 |
Important Notes
- Remember that fighters are not counted for the accuracy bonus.
Ranking Planes
Carrier-Based Planes
Carrier-based planes 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
- 2-2: 3CV+ off route
Land-Based Planes
Land-based planes can only be ranked through LBAS. This makes ranking them quite expensive. Outside of events, only 6-4 and 6-5 have LBAS available to use. Of these, 6-5 is the best place because it allows the use of two land bases and has a Range 1 submarine node at B. This allows any land-based plane to be rank and only requires a fleet of at least 1 light cruiser and a mix of destroyers and destroyer escorts.
Leveling Speed
Leveling speed is measured in the estimated number of battles it will take to get a plane from no rank to >>.
