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The Good
Fastest planes in the game makes turn-around time on strikes extremely quick.
Planes are very tanky, so attacking squads will almost always survive AA unless you are dropping into T10 clusters.
Very small attack reticle on both rockets and DBs means you can expect high accuracy, even on bad drop angles.
Short redrop time (1.5s for rockets and 2.5s for DBs) means you can slingshot with ease - more on this later.
DB slingshot attacks are immune to fighter aggro - more on this later
Good fire starter, with 27% base fire chance on DBs.
Reasonable conceal, 13.1 base and 11.8 with CE, means you can be relatively close to the action.
The Bad
Tiny squad sizes and reserves makes repeat dropping with the same squad impossible and heavily punishes mistakes.
Relies on fires as its main damage output, meaning damage is low-impact unless you can finish targets.
High plane speed on rockets means you will always have to circle around after initially spotting a DD with AA off.
In T10 matches with heavy AA, Indomitable cannot even suicide planes for damage as her planes will all die before reaching targets.
The Build
Captain
Indomitable can comfortably use the same captain as the RN CV line if you don’t have a second 19 point commander:
Improved Engine Boost and Last Gasp for T1
Improved Engines and Torpedo Acceleration, if this captain is also used for tech tree CVs (if not, take Adrenaline Rush), for T2
Survivability Expert, Aircraft Armor, and Demolition Expert for T3
Concealment Expert for T4
Upgrades
This is the only way to build Indomitable, as CV upgrades are pretty limited. I opted for DB HP over rocket HP as DBs are the ship’s primary source of damage output.
The Playstyle
Target Selection
Past mechanical skills like aiming drops and dodging flak, this is the single most important skill for a CV player to have. Indomitable excels at repeatedly attacking BBs which are either isolated or at the very edge of a blob. For every strike, you should try to identify a vulnerable target and repeatedly drop it until you make it pop DCP and set perma fires. Ideal targets will be circled in green, suboptimal in yellow.
The BB above A is the most ideal target, being isolated and currently engaged by my team. Alternatively, using rockets to attack the DD above B and ensure ours secures the cap is a solid play. Attacking the paired BBs or cruiser is suboptimal, as they present less threat to my team and are further away.
Despite being furthest away, the Vladivostok is the best target here to avoid heavy plane losses early game. Alternatively, rocketing the DDs in mid could help drive them away from my team. The paired Massachusetts are suboptimal targets, as striking them will result in unsustainable plane losses too early into the match.
The Georgia is the best target to strike here, as being essentially alone and rather close will make stacking fires very easy. Alternatively, rocketing the DD running up mid is a good play if it becomes a threat. Targets in yellow here are strikeable, but too far away to be efficient compared to other options.
The Technique
Indomitable relies heavily on repeat performance of one technique; slingshotting your DBs onto the target. Because of the tanky planes and slingshot invulnerability window, you can reliably drop targets with decent AA protection and only lose one plane per drop. Against isolated targets or low tier targets, you won’t lose any planes. Additionally, since you will drop with only one set of planes, fighters do absolutely nothing to Indomitable! If they aggro at all, they will de-aggro as soon as you drop. Note that because of Indomitable’s short invulnerability window and fast redrop time, slingshots should be performed against targets at roughly 8km. Demonstrations against bots with active AA:
https://streamable.com/hmxcz Solo North Carolina https://streamable.com/aiazg Montana paired with Des Moines
Fighter Use
I’ll be honest. Going out of your way to drop fighters for your team defensively is 95% of the time a waste of the consumable. It interrupts the flow of your attacks and won’t do anything meaningful to the enemy CV, especially if they know how to despawn them. I use my fighters offensively to keep enemy DDs spotted in between rocket strikes. You can also drop fighters outside of AA range as you come in for a strike to keep the enemy spotted for your team, if no friendlies are close enough to spot them.
Specifics
Rockets
Indomitable launches 16 rockets per drop with a very accurate reticle. They have 2,100 damage, 9% fire chance, and 27mm of penetration. The low damage, fire chance, and penetration makes these mainly suitable for use against destroyers, although they are also your best weapons against cruisers. Attacks are best performed from the side.
Dive Bombers
Indomitable drops 12 bombs per drop with a very accurate reticle. They have 4,700 damage, 27% fire chance, and 32mm of penetration. A slow fall speed and elongated carpet bomber reticle means you will mainly use these against battleships and occasionally cruisers parked next to islands. As with other carpet bombers, you want to approach from the bow or stern. Your best targets will be British and French battleships, as they are covered with 32mm armor, while your worst targets will be Russian battleships, due to their fast recharge Damage Control and thick deck armor.
Peculiarity
One weird thing about Indomitable is that her DBs fall back to cruise speed almost instantly after releasing the boost key. This can mess with the reticle, throwing off drops if you run out of boost right as you make your attack, so make sure you keep this in mind. Supposedly WG fixed this (https://old.reddit.com/r/WorldOfWarships/comments/e8rnm5/st_changes_to_indomitable_and_heavy_british/) but it seems like the changes didn’t get implemented to the release version of this ship.
Summary and Recommendation (TL;DR)
Indomitable is a premium CV whose gimmick is to have even less content than a regular CV by having no torpedo bombers. Her gameplay consists of repetitive DB spamming and is very low impact. Under ideal conditions, you can grief BB players extremely hard by ensuring they always have fires burning on them and never run out of planes, but if the enemy team is too clustered you will be flying around with your [edited] in your hand. Overall, I wouldn’t recommend spending money on this carrier, as there are far better options at T8 such as Kaga and Saipan.
If you’d like to see 5 hours of raw gameplay of the ship: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/530288160