World of Warships Destroyer Tactics

Hi all,

I thought I would try something a bit different and talk through some of the techniques I have been getting some success with in Destroyers. I thought I would have a little experiment with this as I haven't really done anything like this before. This post is  a little later this week as I had to spend a bit of time doing some work to get something that would help me explain my tactics. My illustrations are still in their early days with this but I hope you like it (and that it also makes sense).

Destroyers in general are fast, agile , stealthy and hard to hit. These are you main advantages as a Destroyer. Your disadvangages are that you have no armour (and therefore low HP), being caught out in the open normally means getting one shotted and you have low caliber guns. Time and time again I witness destroyer captains yollo up to multiple enemy in open water with no support which in most cases earning them a untimely one way ticket to their harbours. Don't get me wrong there are times you have to take risks but you do have to pick and choose your times to engage.

In this post I will talk through my approach to the enemy, Working as a spotter for the rest of your team and thinking about how and when to engage.

1: Initial Match up and map.

As a Destroyer Captain you are more or less what a light tank is in World of Tanks. You are the eyes of your team in the initial stages of the match. Your surviving in this crucial point really depends on your choices you make and taking the right choices can mean you live to the latter stages where you can start to be effective. Your main concern when looking at the ships in each team are how many fast firing guns are going to cause a problem and where the possible areas these ships will go. Cruisers in particular like the Cleveland have fast firing guns that can cause a significant problem for destroyer captains as 3-4 good hits can effectively take you out of the match. a Destroyer doesn't have enough health to trade in a fire fight so caution is normally your best friend. Open water should be avoided at all costs where the enemy will be able to see you. A dead Destroyer is no help to your team and you spotting for your team helps them get those softening up hits in the early game. 

2: Spotting

In the initial stages of the match most destroyer captains will push up using their speed to their advantage. This is a good thing for a Destroyer captain to do as you will start to light up the enemy team for your Battleships and long range Cruisers. Pushing too deep without their support like in world of tanks tends to leave you isolated and normally ends up getting you focused fired down. 

'The Kamikazi Run' to spot the enemy , common mistakes like this leave you exposed in open water

Big ship = Battleship, Medium Ship = Cruiser, Small Ship = Destroyer

Red outlines = Enemy Team, White Outlines = Friendly Team

If their are lots of Battleships on your team you may want to be more cautious in pushing up and sitting further towards your teams half of the map. Battleships are slower so this style of play allows them to move up and tank the damage whilst you get into a better attack position. Where the enemy battleships will have no problem spotting and firing at your teams spotted battleships their will be plenty of enemy cruisers and destroyers that may working their way into the middle of the map to get range on the spotted battleships. This is dangerous for destroyer drivers as they will be singled out as the only viable target for shorter ranged vessels if you are too far forward. Use your team as HP piñatas to detract away from your sneaky stalking methods.

Sling Shooting gaps like this enables you to spot and quickly get back into cover.

When approaching land masses which you think you would be able to spot enemies (from looking at the team list and noting faster ships or battleships) duck in behind one land mass before hard turning  in a almost 180 degrees behind another land mass. This enables you to get spots on incoming enemies that are pushing up in the safest possible way. This tactical use of this spotting technique only shows your ship for the smallest amount of time possible. It reduces the time you could possibly receive damage if you are spotted at all. This spot also gives your team a better idea of where the enemy are coming from because you have done an early spot and enables them to manoeuvre to into a more advantageous position

3: Stalking

Good use of cover in destroyers is essential for survival. It not only helps to obscure your position to the enemy team but also enables you to get the drop on a enemy ship with with torpedoes. Its like being a Panther, you stay in the shadows and then unleash fury.

Stalking take time to get to grips with as it requires map awareness which many players lose track of mid to late game. This style of play is only really a option once you team have moved up and are spotting and being spotted by the opposing team for you to move into a good ambush position. (think HP Piñatas)

In this imaginary example, friendly battleships have moved up from your initial spot and the game has moved into the mid stages of the match. at this point you should be using cover to keep line of sight off you and assessing the enemy position to see how you can best get the drop on.

Battleships at the point will be firing salvos at each other or cruisers that have been spotted (or unfortunate destroyers who have done a kamikaze run). You should be looking at the map and scanning the enemy visual contacts making use your not inside your surface detectability. Keep an eye out for scout planes as this can potentially give away your position when stalking as planes can see over islands.

In this 4 stage attack you should have singled out a enemy who may be alone or you feel you could get some torpedoes on. Look for enemies in difficult positions to turn in, that are moving towards narrows and also towards land masses.

At the second stage you should be checking the map for spotter planes or other ships that could potentially be a problem whilst hugging the cover as best you can to maintain concealment . This is probably the most important time of the stalking attack run as this is where you can abort the run without being seen by your target(if something pops up unexpectedly you can pop smoke and run away).

In the third to fourth stage or attack you swing the ship into a turn whilst dropping you Torp's in the water. In this stage I like to turn away as I attack rather than sail out into the open (I see this happen far to much only to shink the ship they were attacking and then getting mobed by the remains of his team). Doing this makes sure as I am half way through a turn before I am spotted and secondary guns open up on me. By the time I am almost completely turned away, torpedoes are already on course ready to shaft the enemy. If by chance the ship has its guns pointed towards me, I will be presenting the smallest possible target to him and can drop my smoke screen to aid my escape.

The Oh Crap... Torps moment.

4: The Boom and Spoon

The last tactic I want to go through its the boom and spoon tactic. This tactic really only works in the later stages of the game if you are lucky to be alive in a destroyer (This is why being cautious and staying alive to the end of the match is important). 

In this Attack I keep outside my detectability range and spot the enemy ships guns and which way they are pointing. Because in this attack you are likely to take a bit of fire from secondary or primary guns, look to your remaining hit points as you have likely taken damage throughout the game. Assess from this if you could survive this kind of risky attack.

While stalking the enemy keep a check on the mini map . They will only be able to fire once if at all in my Zoom and Spoon attack. I sail straight towards (Zoom) the enemy without showing any of my side. Doing this I give the smallest possible target to any salvoes from primary or secondary fire. I try to close to a minimum of 3 km before I start the turn to let lose my metal fish or if the enemy has his guns on me after he fires.

Starting the attack turn to early gives his guns a bigger target to hit and provide a longer time for him to position himself against incoming torp.  Really this attack it meant to devastate your opponent within 15 second of him noticing you are making a run on him. It is using the naturally large gun dispersion and long reload time of a Battleship against him, whilst using the tiny profile of your ship to its maximum potential. 

Perfect example of close range gun dispersal from a battleship at close range

Note these shots were at a side on battleship and not a head on destroyer.

 Once within a range your know the Battleship won't escape my Torp's he May have already started to turn into or away from you/ turn his turrets. The Spoon is where you turn to maximise you torpedo hitting potential and turn with the battleship to avoid fire from main or secondary guns by scooping round his helm or stern. this way the main danger time is the turn to get the torps out on target. You will probably take a few hits from secondary guns (hence knowing at the start if you can take exchange a few HP to secure the kill/win the game).

I see people trying this but turning slightly to hit them with all their guns, in doing so they receive more effective fire from presenting a larger side target. This ends up getting their components crippled by the enemy ships, get killed or in some cases pulling off a successful attack but take way too much damage in doing so. Timing your turn after a salvo being fired at you or choosing to attack from a position that the guns cant hit by the time you get into close range increases your survivability in this attack.

This is one of my favourite tactics to use on lone ships/battleships at the end of a game. This can work on cruisers but I faster firing ships are a problem in this attack as their shell dispersion tends to far smaller. Ships like this tend to damage steering or engines to easily in a short time to make this attack viable. Also if there is more than one ship using this attack is substantially more dangerous as you expose more of the side of your ship to at least one of the ships you do this attack on so I wouldn't recommend it unless the situation call for it.

Hopefully that helps all you budding destroyer captains out there, Take care and stay sea worthy.