Destroyers

Hi folks!

Today, we'll take a look at ships in the destroyer class. 

The Destroyer

Destroyers are the second choice, beside the early battleships, when reaching tier two and branching out. They are small, fast craft with less artillery than cruisers, but with the largest torpedo loadout in the game.

Historically, destroyers developed out of torpedo boats, and were designed as fast attack craft with hit-and-run capabilities, as well as submarine hunters. Since subs are not a thing in World of Warships, we're left with the fast attack craft role. According to the in-game hints, they're the hardest class to play, and that's somewhat true, you need to understand the role to play it successfully, not just "sail and gun".

Strategies

Your destroyer will have the lowest hitpoints in the game, about half to one third of a cruiser. This means that a full salvo or two from pretty much anything - torpedoes or a battleship's main battery, two good broadsides from a cruiser or a drop of aerial torpedoes from a wing of carrier craft will sink or severely damage your ship. It doesn't have much in terms of armour / damage reduction either, so armour piercing shells go right through.

In return, a full torpedo salvo is the most devastating attack in the game. It'll instantly kill any rival destroyer in its way, most cruisers, and seriously damage even battleships. It usually takes a fairly long time to reload, so you'll probably only get 3 to 4 shots off during a battle. 

Destroyers have one defence - stealth. They've got the lowest observability in the game, and are fast and agile enough to use the islands to their advantage, staying hidden until the target is in range, striking, and running away quickly.

Against Other Classes 

Destroyer-on-destroyer battles are among the most exciting in the game. You both don't have much health, but are agile enough to avoid most torpedo salvos. A lot of it comes down to predictions - where is the enemy going to turn next, so you can catch them with a broad spread. And gunnery - even your small main guns do sufficient damage, and they reload quickly. It's a battle of wits and experience.

Cruisers are a nuisance: while your torpedoes are still deadly against them, they are somewhat agile, so you've got to get close to them first - and they have quick-firing main guns that can shred your destroyer to bits, once they zero in on you.

Which gets us to the destroyer's preferred targets: battleships and carriers. They're big, slow, don't turn well, and few things are as satisfying in the game as watching a whole broadside of torpedoes crashing into one of those bathtubs. Mind you, the battleship's main guns can make very quick work of your ship, so try to flank them and get onto the other side, since their turrets take a while to rotate around.

And keep an escape route in mind, because a destroyer which is reloading torpedoes is easy prey.

Nations

While there's a lone British destroyer as a premium ship around, the main factions in the tech tree are the American and Japanese ships.

The US destroyers usually carry a bit more guns, while their torpedo range isn't quite as long as the Japanese (~6km vs. ~8km). Given that you can't usually hit anything reliably beyond 6km anyway, I'd give a clear advantage to the US destroyers here. Something to keep in mind when you're deciding which side of the tech tree you're going to follow.

Destroyers are great fun, once you've learned the tactics. Keep moving, time your shots, and pick your targets.

Next time, we'll look at carriers, so stay tuned.