Combat
For detailed explanations on specific mechanics, see their respective pages:
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.
- Combined Fleet uses a modified combat order.
- For Air Battle Only nodes (1-6 and certain event map nodes; may be a single-fleet or Combined Fleet), there is no Opening Torpedo Salvo, and Day Combat is completely replaced by a second round of Aerial Combat.
- Thus ships that cannot participate in Aerial Combat cannot attack. They can still perform Anti-Air Defense, as usual.
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 firepower, hit rate, and defense. This step is skipped if you have 3 or fewer ships. |
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 (and will result in your Air Superiority value treated as 0). If no message is shown, it is treated as a failure. |
Jet Assault | CVBs armed with Jet planes will launch a Jet Raid attack where Jets will attack enemy units. If enemy units also uses jets, they will eliminate each other in the same way fighters do and are also subjected the enemy AA fire. Once completed, they will then attempt to damage enemy units and then any remaining Jets will return to partake in the Aerial Combat. |
Aerial Combat | Participants: CVLs and CVs equipped with fighter or bomber planes; BBVs, CAVs, AVs, and SSVs equipped with seaplane bombers; some enemy-specific ship classes If a side achieves Air Superiority or Supremacy in this stage, that side can use Artillery Spotting. All ships capable of launching attack or bomber planes will launch them in this stage (unless Detection is failed), regardless of current HP status. This step is skipped if there is no eligible participant. |
Opening Stages |
Supporting Fire from Sortie Support Expeditions. This has an aspect of randomness and may not trigger. Participants:
The attacks are done in order of range, and all qualified participants will perform the attack.
Participants:
The orientation of the allied and enemy fleets is displayed. The engagement form affects both fleets equally. |
Day Combat |
Participants: All ships except:
Firing order alternates between allied and enemy sides, starting with allied.
Participants: Same criteria as 1st round.
Participants: Requires current HP > 50% of Max HP, Base Torpedo Value > 0 and being one of the following classes:
Like the opening torpedo salvo, all participants attack simultaneously.
|
Night Combat | Participants: All ships except:
The first slot allied ship attacks, then the first slot enemy ship attacks, and so on. 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 firepower and hit rate.
- Combined fleet uses a different set of formations unless it is a night battle only node. Click here for details.
Formation Modifier
Formation | Formation Icon | Surface Firepower Modifier | Anti-sub Power 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% | 60% | 100% | Medium | High | High | Low | |
Double Line 複縦陣 (Fukujuu-jin?) |
80% | 80% | 120% | High[2] | Medium | Medium | Medium | |
Diamond 輪形陣 (Rinkei-jin?) |
70% | 120% | 160% | Medium | Very Low | Very Low | High | |
Echelon 梯形陣 (Teikei-jin?) |
60% | 100% | 100% | Medium | Low | Low | Medium | |
Line Abreast 単横陣 (Tan'ou-jin?) |
60% | 130% | 100% | High | Very Low | Medium | Medium |
- The surface firepower 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.
Jet Assaults
Players who arm thier Jet planes they obtain from the Jet Plane update from the December 9th,2016 Update to thier Armored Carriers will be able to conduct an phase known as the Jet Raid Phase where your Armored Carriers will launch thier Jets first into battle. During this phase, the following will happen:
- Jets will launch attack enemy units
- Jets will attempt to eliminate other enemy jets present in battle if any are present (Using AA combat mechanics similar to that found on the Aerial Combat Mechanics page).
- Jets will become subjected to being shot down by enemy fire during this phase.
Once they complete this phase, any remaining Jets will return again to assist in the Aerial Combat phase.
Aerial Combat
Split into a separate page due to its length.
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, SS) equipped, and the Enemy Battleship Re-Class.
- Torpedoes are fired from all ships simultaneously, and accuracy is affected by the selected Formation type.
- Ships capable of firing in this phase will launch torpedo even if suffering moderate / heavy damage (which prevents launching torpedo during Closing Torpedo phase).
- Opening torpedoes will prioritize targeting ships that can be damaged by them. If no such target exists, the torpedo will launch but always miss.
- The Opening stages finish with the display of the Engagement form and the formation of the two fleets.
Engagement Form Modifier
Form | Firepower Modifier | Chance | Chance with Saiun |
---|---|---|---|
Parallel Engagement 同航戦 (Doukousen?) |
100% | 45% | 45% |
Head-on Engagement 反航戦 (Hankousen?) |
80% | 30% | About 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% | <1% |
- All engagement forms affect both sides equally, including crossing the T (Advantage or Disadvantage).
- Regular night battle and aerial combat are not affected by engagement forms. Nodes starting with Night Combat, however, do take engagement forms into consideration (despite it not being displayed).
- 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 is split into 2~3 phases: 1st Shelling, 2nd Shelling (if applicable), Closing Torpedo
Phase | Ship Class/Armaments | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|
1st Shelling Phase (Range Order) |
At the start of the 1st shelling phase, the firing order is fixed as Allied Ship with longest Range → Enemy Ship with longest Range → Allied Ship with second-longest Range → … | ||
Carrier Attacks | CVLs CVs CVBs Hayasui Kai (if equipped with ) |
Must be equipped with either or to attack | |
Regarding Seaplane Bombers |
CAVs, BBVs, and AVs |
Cannot utilize seaplane bombers (shelling attack is based on own firepower), unless performing anti-submarine warfare (see below) | |
Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) |
DDs, CLs, Katori, Kashima, and CLTs |
If enemy submarines are present, depth charges will be dropped instead of normal shelling attacks | |
CAVs, BBVs, AVs |
If enemy submarines are present and the ship is equipped with either seaplane bomber, Autogyro, or ASW Liaison, ASW attacks (via plane dropping depth charges) will be carried out instead of normal shelling attacks | ||
Hayasui Kai (if equipped with ) and CVLs |
If enemy submarines are present and the ship is equipped with or , ASW attacks (via plane dropping depth charges) will be carried out instead of normal shelling attacks
| ||
No ASW attacks will be carried out, regardless of equipment setup. | |||
Regarding Range |
In order: Very Long → Long → Medium → Short → Very Short | ||
2st Shelling Phase (Lineup Order) |
Only takes place when any of the following ships is present (in either side): BBs, BBVs, or the enemy has one of the special ship classes (鬼 Oni/Ogress, 姫 Hime/Princess) that acts like a BB/BBV. | ||
Closing Torpedo Salvo (Simultaneous) |
Torpedo attacks |
|
Requires Current HP > 50% of Max HP (i.e. not in moderate or heavy damage).
|
Night Combat
- Night battle power 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 be heavily damaged (red) in order to attack in night battle.
- Certain combination of weapon equipment (Main Guns, Secondary Guns, Torpedoes) will cause Cut-In or Double Attacks at night, greatly increasing accuracy and/or firepower
- Auxiliary equipment (e.g RADAR, SONAR, Depth Charges, Searchlights, Turbines, Special ammunition, Pure AA Equipment, Torpedo Bulges, and Midget-subs) will not affect the combination.
- 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.
- Damage against submarines is greatly reduced during regular Night Battles (to scratch damage).
- Formation power modifiers do not apply in Night Battle (always 100% for regular shelling).
- For nodes which initially begin at night, or in Combined Fleet situations, Formation anti-sub power modifiers apply, and subs may be damaged as though it was day.
- Engagement Forms are not explicitly shown in Night Battle nodes, but the modifier will apply.
- The animation for ships equipped with 2 different torpedoes may be different but the power output is still the same.
- E.g. A Prototype FaT Type 95 Oxygen Torpedo Kai + 61cm Quint (Oxygen) Torpedo Mount will show a cut-in animation of FaT+Quint+Quint and if equipped the other way around, Quint+FaT+FaT, both animations produce the same power output.
Damage Calculations
Main Formula
Pre-Cap Attack Power = Base Attack Power + Night Spotting Bonus | |
---|---|
Attack Power Before Cap = [Pre-Cap Attack Power × Pre-Cap Modifiers + Light Cruiser Fitted Gun Bonus] | |
Cap-Adjusted Attack Power = | Attack Power Before Cap, if it is less or equal to the Attack Power Cap |
Attack Power Cap + √(Attack Power Before Cap - Attack Power Cap), if Attack Power Before Cap is over the Attack Power Cap | |
Effective Armor = Enemy Armor × 0.7 + Random(0 ~ Enemy Armor -1) × 0.6 | |
Final Attack Power = [Cap-Adjusted Attack Power × Critical Modifier] × Post-Cap Modifiers | |
Damage = (Final Attack Power - Effective Armor) × Remaining Ammo Modifier | |
Notes:
|
Base Attack Power
Type | Base Attack Power | Notes |
---|---|---|
Opening Air Strike | Modifier × ((Bomber's Dive Bomb or Torpedo stat) × √(Number of Planes) + 25) | Number of planes is post anti-bomber combat and fleet anti-air defense Modifier is 1.0 for dive bombers, either 0.8 or 1.5 (50% chance for either) for torpedo bombers
|
Shelling (Carriers) | {[Firepower + Torpedo + Effective Bonus (Shelling) + (Dive Bomb × 1.3)] × 1.5} + 55 | This is also the formula for Land-Based Abyssal ships during shelling rounds. (Uses the standard Night Battle formula at night.) |
Shelling (Others) | Firepower + Effective Bonus (Shelling) + 5 | |
Torpedo | Torpedo + Effective Bonus (Torpedo) + 5 | Applies to both Opening and Closing Torpedo Salvo.
|
Anti-sub warfare | √(Base Ship ASW) × 2 + Equipment ASW × 1.5 + Effective Bonus (ASW) + Ship Class Constant | Ship Class Constant: 13 for DD/CL/CLT, 8 for CAV/BBV/AV/CVL/LHA
|
Night Battle | Firepower + Torpedo + Effective Bonus (Firepower) + Effective Bonus (Torpedo) | This is the formula for all ships participating in night combat (including Standard Carrier Wo-Class Flagship and Light Carrier Nu-Class Flagship).
|
VS Regular Installation | Day: 250% (if Type 3 Shell Equipped) × [Firepower + Effective Bonus (Firepower) + Shelling Modifier for the fleet (+5 for regular fleet, varies for combined fleet)] + WG42 Bonus
Night: 250% (if Type 3 Shell Equipped) × [Firepower + Effective Bonus (Night Battle) + Night Contact Modifier (+5 if Type 98 Recon Seaplane (Night Scout) triggered)] + WG42 Bonus |
WG42 Bonus:
This applies to all land-base enemies that Type 3 Shell is effective against. |
VS Other Land Structures | ??? | Supply Depot Princess, Artillery Imp, Isolated Island Princess all take extra damage from Daihatsu-class Landing Craft, Daihatsu-class Landing Craft (Type 89 Medium Tanks & Marines), and Type 2 Ka-Mi Tank. |
The effective bonus comes from improving equipments, see that page for details.
Pre-Cap Modifiers
These are the factors directly applied to your ship's attack power.
- Formation Modifier (see "Firepower modifier")
- Engagement Modifier
- Health Modifier
- ASW Synergy
- Night Attack Modifier
Effects from the modifiers are multiplied cumulatively. Formation Modifier, Engagement Modifier, and Health Modifier are applied sequentially.
Ship's Health Modifier
Attack Power | Modifier |
---|---|
Minor damage (小破, Shōha?) or less | 100% |
Moderate damage (中破, Chūha?) | 70% |
Heavy damage (大破, Taiha?) | 40% |
These modifiers do not affect Aerial Combat.
ASW Synergy
There are three primary kinds of ASW equipment:
- Sonars (i.e. Type 93, Type 3, Type 4, and Type 0 Sonars)
- Depth Charge Launchers - DCLs (i.e. Type 94 Launcher and Type 3 Launcher)
- Depth Charges - DCs (i.e. Type 95 DC and Type 2 DC)
Do note that Type 3 may refer to either the sonar or the launcher.
ASW Equipment Carried | ASW Power Modifier |
---|---|
Sonar and Depth Charge Launcher (Launcher) and Depth Charge | 144% [3] |
Sonar and Launcher Only | 1.15 |
Sonar and Depth Charge Only | 1.15 |
Launcher and Depth Charge Only | 1.1 |
Bonuses are only granted once, having multiple of a certain type of equipment does not increase the synergy bonus.
Night Attack Modifier
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.
Type | Modifier | Notes |
---|---|---|
Special Attack (Double Attack and Cut-In Attack) |
120% for Double Attack. Varies for Cut-In Attack depending on type. See here for details. |
Any misses on Cut-In Attack and Double Attack becomes scratch damage instead. Firepower cap applied to each attack separately for Double Attack and Cut-In Attacks that calculates power twice (such as Torpedo Cut-In). |
Normal | 100% | |
Anti-Submarine | 0% for regular map nodes Formation Modifier for Combined Fleet battle nodes and Night Battle nodes. |
This results in scratch damage against submarines during normal night battles. Engagement Form modifiers will apply for Combined Fleet battle nodes and Night Battle nodes. |
Attack Power Cap
Applies after the pre-cap modifiers. This is a soft limit on your effective attack power.
Condition: If your Attack Power Before Cap exceeds:
- 180 for Day Battle,
- 300 for Night Battle, or
- 150 for Anti-submarine attacks,
then the Attack Power Cap will kick-in, reducing attack power. The calculation is:
[math]\displaystyle{ \text {Cap-Adjusted Attack Power} = x + \sqrt {\text {Attack Power Before Cap} - x} }[/math], where x represents the attack power cap applicable to the attack.
Daytime Attack Cap (180) often makes it important to utilize Artillery Spotting since they boost your attack power after the cap, while Night Combat can be very dangerous and/or rewarding due to having a very high cap (300) and the summation of torpedo and firepower being used to calculate the base attack power.
Post-Cap Modifiers
In firepower calculations, Post-cap modifiers apply after the cap, but before enemy armor reduction. They are therefore effective ways to boost your damage output, especially against heavily armored enemies who may have significantly more than 180 armor.
Currently, the post-cap modifiers are from:
- Critical Hits
- Contact (Opening air strike)
- Artillery Spotting (a.k.a. Day time special attacks)
- AP Shell
Critical Modifier
All attacks have a chance to be a critical hit (although bombing during aerial battle has significantly lower chance to do so), thus gaining a power boost of 50%.
Attack Type | Modifier |
---|---|
Normal Attack | 100% |
Critical Hit | 150% |
A few notes:
- Any attack that deals 40 or more damage always display as critical damage regardless of whether it actually is a critical hit or not.
- Any attack that deals 14 or less damage never display as critical damage even if the attack actually is a critical hit.
- If an attack is determined to be a critical hit, the attack cannot be evaded (the evasion check happens after the critical hit check).
- A rounding-off takes place after Critical Modifier is calculated, prior to calculating the other Post-Cap Modifiers shown below.
Contact
- Contact takes place during the Aerial Combat phase. It increases bombing power 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.
- Seaplane bombers, Type 3 Spotter, and Ka-type Autogyros cannot perform contact.
- 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 Power Modifier
Accuracy Bonus |
Power Modifier |
---|---|
+0 | 112% |
+1 | 112% |
+2 | 117% |
+3 | 120% |
Artillery Spotting
Certain equipment setups provide a chance to trigger special attacks during day battle, giving boost to both attack power and accuracy. All ships require at least 1 seaplane that is not a seaplane fighter to perform Artillery Spotting. Ships that have carry capacities of 0 (e.g. Yuubari and Tenryuu) cannot perform these attacks, artillery spotted attacks are also impossible if all seaplanes on a ship have been shot down (Most often seen when seaplane bombers are used in small slots on CA's or CAVs).
AP Shell
When either a Type 91 AP Shell or a Type 1 AP Shell is equipped alongside a large caliber gun, power against certain ship classes are increased. The effect works also for enemies in Exercises (PvP).
Eligible targets to whom this bonus applies are:
- (F)BB(V)s
- CA(V)s
- CV(B)s
- All land installations
- All Bosses who are one of the above (鬼、姫、水鬼…) [4]
Equip Combination | Power Modifier | Notes | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
+ + | + | 108% | ||
110% | ||||
115% | ||||
+ | 114~115%? | |||
115~116%? |
Remaining Ammo Modifier
Remaining Ammunition | Modifier |
---|---|
50% or more | 100% |
40% | 80% |
30% | 60% |
20% | 40% |
10% | 20% |
0% | Scratch Damage |
- More specifically, the modifier is [math]\displaystyle{ \min \{ 100 \%, 2 \times \text {% of Ammo Remaining} \} }[/math]
- The Remaining Ammo Modifier affects all phases, including the opening Aerial Combat Phase.
- At the end of the combat, 20% of Maximum Fuel is consumed for all ships. Depending on whether both day and night battle phase occurred, either 20% (if only Day or Night battle occurred) or 30% (if both Day and Night Battle occurred) of Maximum Ammo will be consumed.
- When entering night battle (from day), the Remaining Ammo Modifier on a vessel remains same as the day battle.
- Even if you do not engage in night battle along the way, if the boss node is the 5th battle of the sortie, the damage dealt is dramatically reduced. It is even worse if it's the 6th (or later!) battle, as you can only deal scratch damage. Either scenario will dramatically reduce the chance of you winning.
- An example of the latter scenario would be 2-4's northwest route. Because node G is a combat node if coming from D, the boss battle ends up being the 6th battle. This is the primary reason why players typically end the sortie early if sent on that route.
- This is also the reason to avoid night battles and maelstroms along the way when trying to win at a boss node.
- Submarine-only nodes on limited-time event maps do not consume ammo in Day or Night Battle.
Player Damage Taken
While the above formulas and statements are generally true for damage taken by a player's ships, there are additional limits that apply to friendly units only.
- For ships entering battle at chūha (orange) or higher HP:
- Damage taken cannot reduce HP below 1 (i.e. ship cannot sink).
- At 1 HP, any further hits will become misses.
- For flagships, as well as ships with 20 morale or more (i.e. not red face):
- If the incoming damage is greater than or equal to current HP, it is instead reduced to 50%-79% of current HP (see formula for exact mechanics of how this is calculated), rounded down.
- For attacks with multiple hits (such as night battle torpedo cut-in attacks), each hit is calculated separately (and reduced if appropriate).
Combat Equipment Setup
- See Artillery Spotting for day-time attack setups.
- Night Battle Special Attacks
- Common Setups
- Full Setup List
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
- Ability to act at night
- Current HP > 25% of Max HP
- Certain equipment setup (see below)
Set up and Attack Modes
Different set ups have chances to trigger different modes of attack. Attack modes are only determined by the prerequisite. Any auxiliary equipment (AP shell , seaplane , AA gun , etc.) can be added without changing the attack mode.
- 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 attacks are made, the total damage is displayed together but the power 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, and is not dependent on luck. This typically results in more consistent and higher average damage output than cut-in setups for ships with normal luck values.
Night Cut-in chance
[math]\displaystyle{ (\text{Luck} + \text{Placement Modifier} + \text{Health Modifier} + \text{Searchlight Modifier} ) \% }[/math]
In the old formula, it was Luck × 0.85.
- 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.
Modifier |
Value | |
---|---|---|
Placement | Flagship | (+25) |
Other | +15 | |
Health | Little or no damage | 0 |
Minor damage (小破 Shōha) | (+5) | |
Moderate damage (中破 Chūha) | +20 | |
Searchlight | Allied | +5 |
Enemy | -10 | |
Star Shell | Allied | +5 |
Enemy | -10 |
Anti-Sub Warfare
Any enemy submarines will force Destroyers, Light Cruisers, and Torpedo Cruisers to target them. Cut-In and Double Attacks are ignored. In normal Night Battles, all ASW attacks result in scratch damage only. In battles starting at night, Formation Modifiers will apply.
As of June 30, 2016, Destroyers, Light Cruisers, Torpedo Cruisers and Training Cruisers can now perform a preemptive Anti-Submarine Attack on enemy submarines. Isuzu Kai Ni can do preemptive attacks unconditionally; other light cruisers as well as destroyers, torpedo cruisers and training cruisers need to have an equipped sonar in addition to 100 nominal ASW (counting equipment stat adjustments but not improvement through Akashi's Improvement Arsenal).
Destroyer Escorts can perform a preemptive Anti-Submarine Attack with a nominal ASW of 60 or higher, assuming that at least one Sonar is equipped. If a Sonar is not equipped, Destroyer Escorts must have a nominal ASW of 75 or higher, and must also have any non-Sonar based equipment with an individual stat of +4 or higher.
Taiyou has her own set of rules determining whether or not she is capable of performing a preemptive Anti-Submarine Attack:
- Taiyou (not Kasuga Maru) can utilise OASW under the following conditions: She must have a nominal ASW value of 65 or higher, and must also be equipped with a Type 97 Torpedo Bomber (931 Air Group).
- Taiyou Kai and K2 both require a nominal ASW value of 65 or higher, and at least one Torpedo Bomber (of any type) that has an ASW stat must also be equipped.
Common Setups
Destroyers
Function | Slot 1 | Slot 2 | Slot 3 | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
General Use | / Main Gun |
/ Main Gun |
Auxiliary | 12.7cm Twin Mount Type-B Kai 2 can be substituted for 10cm Twin High-angle Mounts, and are especially effective after being improved and equipped onto a high-repower destroyer like Yuudachi or Ayanami. Otherwise, 10cm Twin High-angle Mounts or 10cm Twin High-angle Mount + Anti-Aircraft Fire Directors are preferred for their fleet AA defense modifier, though the latter is difficult to obtain. |
High-Luck Night Battle | Torpedo | Torpedo | Torpedo or Auxiliary |
Auxiliary equipments typically are equipped on destroyers; however, luck-based destroyers benefits the most from adding an additional torpedo to their equipment in terms of night battle damage output. Candidates for night battle cut-ins without luck modernization include (in order of descending luck), Yukikaze, Hatsushimo, Shigure, and Ayanami. |
Anti-Sub Warfare | Sonar | Sonar | Depth Charge |
On maps with few subs, or where you don't need to kill the subs, two main guns and a sonar in the third slot are useful. |
Anti-Air Cut-In | High-angle Gun | Anti-Aircraft Fire Director |
Anti-Air RADAR or High-angle Gun |
Using an Air RADAR increases the effect of the Anti-Air Cut-In at the cost of night battle damage output (cannot perform double attack with only 1 gun equipped). |
Ship-Specific Armaments | Slot 1 | Slot 2 | Slot 3 | Notes |
Yuudachi/Ayanami | / Main Gun |
/ Main Gun |
RADAR | These two have high firepower, so they are typically equipped with guns. Priority equipment includes 12.7cm Twin Mount Type-B Kai 2 and 10cm Twin High-angle Mount + Anti-Aircraft Fire Director, or any improved small caliber main guns. |
Hatsushimo/Shigure | Torpedo |
High-angle Gun |
Anti-Aircraft Fire Director |
Ships with both high luck and AA can also be outfitted to carry both an AACI and a mixed night-cut in. The cut-in attack, relative to a torpedo CI, has both lower chance-to-activate and power, and is in general an extremely poor choice. |
Akizuki-Class Destroyers | High-angle Gun |
High-angle Gun |
Anti-Air RADAR | Akizuki-Class Destroyers can perform anti-air cut-ins without a fire director; they only need either two high-angle guns or a high-angle gun and an AA RADAR. |
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.
Function | Slot 1 | Slot 2 | Slot 3 | Slot 4 | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
General Use | Main Gun |
Main Gun |
Seaplane |
N/A | Offers a potent double attack in both daytime Artillery Spotting and Night Battle.
For Ooyodo and Katori-Class Training Cruisers, a RADAR or auxiliary equipment may be placed in the 4th slot. |
Torpedo Cruisers (Kitakami Kai Ni, Ooi Kai Ni, Kiso Kai Ni) |
Main Gun |
Main Gun |
Type A Ko-hyoteki |
N/A | Torpedo Cruisers should be equipped with a Type A Ko-hyoteki to participate in opening torpedo strikes. |
Heavy Cruisers/Aviation 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.
Aviation Cruisers can use seaplane bombers instead of regular recon seaplanes; they also can equip SCAMP to increase their attack range and firepower.
Function | Slot 1 | Slot 2 | Slot 3 | Slot 4 | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
General Use | Main Gun |
Main Gun |
Seaplane |
RADAR |
Provides day and night double attack potential |
Installation | Main Gun |
Main Gun |
Seaplane |
Type 3 Shell |
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.
Carriers
Carriers should almost always carry enough fighters to achieve Air Superiority or Supremacy, then fill out with Torpedo Bombers on larger slots for airstrike power, or in rare cases, Dive Bombers on smaller slots for shelling power. When all bombers on a carrier have been shot down, the carrier becomes unable to attack. This is especially visible in against enemies with strong AA, such as the Tsu-class Elite.
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 useful to allow the CV(L) to go first in fleets with medium-short range ships.
Full Setup List
- What follows is an (non-extensive) list of possible equipment setups (and if applicable, whether they can perform Artillery Spotting and/or special Night Battle attacks).
- Some specific equipment notes:
- All high-angle guns have the icon, but could be either a main cannon (shown as below) or secondary cannon (shown as ); find the appropriate setup below according to the role of the gun.
- Type A Ko-hyoteki does not count as a for special attack purposes; if equipped, look at the equipment setup only considering the other equipments to see what special attack the setup will generate (if any).
- Remember that a combination of two or more guns and/or torpedoes must be equipped for any special attack to be possible.
- Yellow: Cut-In or Double Attack Possible
Two Slots
Three Slots
Four Slots
Victory Conditions
Damage Gauge calculation: (Sum of enemy fleet HP reduced) / (Sum of enemy fleet HP at start of combat) × 100% In PvP, even those considered "sunk" are treated as having 1HP remaining for gauge calculation. (This is clearly visible against a submarine fleet.) Higher conditions have higher priority on this list. Unless specified, the condition assumes no friendly ship sunk.
- Perfect S
- All enemy ships sunk and Enemy Damage Gauge is 0%.
- In PvP, no damage taken and all enemy ships considered "sunk".
- S (Victory)
- All enemy ships sunk.
- If any friendly ship is sunk, it is B Victory instead.
- In PvP, all enemy ships "sunk".
- If any friendly ship would be considered "sunk", then it would be a B Victory instead, as well.
- A (Victory)
- Required number of enemy ships sunk.
- In this case damage gauge does not matter.
- Enemy flagship does not need to be sunk.
- Cannot happen if enemy fleet consists of only 1 ship.
- B (Tactical Victory)
- Note: This rank is the minimum requirement to clear maps without boss gauge.
- Enemy flagship sunk (in this case damage gauge does not matter)
- Enemy flagship alive, A victory condition not met, Damage gauge at least 2.5 times of the enemy damage gauge.
- Enemy flagship alive, friendly ship sunk, A victory condition met, Damage gauge at least 2.5 times of the enemy damage gauge.
- Enemy flagship alive, friendly ship sunk, A victory condition not met, Damage gauge at least 3 times of the enemy damage gauge (multiplier in question)
- Enemy flagship sunk, friendly ship sunk, number of friendly ships sunk < number of enemy ships sunk.
- C (Tactical Defeat)
- Enemy flagship alive, Damage gauge higher than enemy gauge but not reaching 2.5 times as much.
- Enemy flagship alive, friendly ship sunk, A victory condition met, Damage gauge higher than enemy damage gauge but not reaching 2.5 times as much.
- Enemy flagship alive, friendly ship sunk, A victory condition not met, Damage gauge higher than enemy damage gauge but not reaching the multiplier required for B Victory (see 4th B Victory condition)
- Enemy flagship sunk, friendly ship sunk, number of friendly ships sunk ≥ number of enemy ships sunk. (Note that maps with boss gauges, such as 4-4, 5-3, event maps, etc, can be cleared under this condition.)
- D (Defeat)
- Enemy took less than a certain amount of damage (Own gauge is less than 0.05%).
- Both sides taking 0 damage is also D.
- Enemy flagship alive, damage gauge lower than enemy gauge (C is possible under this condition if both sides have a high gauge)
- Enemy flagship alive, friendly ship sunk, damage gauge lower than enemy gauge, but not fulfilling E loss condition.
- E (Defeat)
- Enemy flagship alive, over a certain number of friendly ships sunk. (see below)
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
- ↑ Source: 艦これ-チラ裏検証- / 夜戦陣形と命中回避 (Jan 1, 2015). 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".
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ Actually 143.75%, calculated from 115 * (100% + 15% + 10%)
- ↑ For example, there is no bonus against Destroyer Princess, or Air Defense Princess, as they are classified as Destroyers