[2021] Bearn in PvE

Bearn can be described as a Support-style CV.

Pros:
She has excellent Fighters, and a lot of them.
She also has a very comfortable speed at 170 knts.
She has remarkably accurate Skip Bombers that can consistently hit a broadside Destroyer for 2-8k damage (which is a lot at Tier 6)

Cons:
As a Support-style CV, she lacks damage
Her AP Bombs like to overpen whatever they touch, so their damage output is often low excepting Battleships she can citadel or higher-tier Cruisers where they may not overpen their armor.
Your Skip Bombs will be over-used and you may run out early in a match if not careful
Having only 2 plane types means only 2 Fighters deployed at any one time.

Personally, I enjoy her a lot. It's up to the test of time to see how she's adopted by the playerbase~

RU Skip Bombers are more Cruiser/Battleship oriented. They can interact with DDs, but they have a fair amount of jump height. Also, they're spaced out a bit which lessens the interaction.

Bearn's Skip Bombers are much more compact in terms of reticle/delivery. It's why they can consistently strike a small target like a Tier 6 DD. Also, their bounce height seems quite flat, so her strike window is rather generous.

Loewenhardt is extremely capable. She's a generalist in that she can put out consistent damage, has great speed for versatility, and can deal extreme citadel damage against same and uptier Cruisers with her rockets.

Loewenhardt is a beast~

I recall reading on the CC Discord that someone had mathed out her AP Bombs need 32mm of armor just to prime the fuse.

In general, she has a habit of overpenning cruisers, and I'm fairly sure that's intentional. She's specifically restrained in terms of damage dealing capability.

That's not to say it couldn't be altered later down the line after a few months of play data exists to use for balancing purposes, but for the moment it can be considered a gate to keep her Air Supremacy focused.

The AP Bombs are delivered in a Dive Bomb format, although it shares some of the carpet bomb concept. Ultimately, I believe the partitioning of the drops to "upper half" and "lower half" means off-angled ships are more protected and likely to be missed by one or both pairs of drops. I assumed that was a counter-play concept being tested in regards to angling to the drop.

As to the Skip Bombs, you should always want to skip them. The angle is very flat, so the accuracy of the drop it increased with them skipping at low levels.

Also, dropping from range means taking less AA damage. While Tier 6 AA isn't very powerful, you can always be uptiered. Tier 7 and 8 AA will result in dead planes if you are consistently going for a first line direct drop.