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Consumables!
Hey Captains,
Today we are going to cover consumable recommendations. Consumables are a topic I see a lot of questions on from day to day on the forums. Let us bring our thoughts together and see if we can create a few starting points to captain skills and consumables.
We will start with Consumables and go over their strengths and weakness. Correct consumable use and when you use them can have a profound impact on the game. There are many instances you will run into that you wished you had charge of a consumable left or it was off cooldown. We are going to go over some of those times and see if we can't improve usage of consumables. We are going to go over shipboard consumables only right now (CV tips will come in a later guide). For reference here is the wiki page that covers all the consumables: http://wiki.wargaming.net/en/Ship:Consumables.
We will start by breaking these consumables down by ship type (there are a few that crossover).
note*: This is just an example of consumables (all premium).
Consumables:
Damage Control Party: This is arguably the single most important consumable in the game. Everyone should know what this consumable does, stops burning, flooding and can repair incapacitated modules. Learning how to use this consumable properly will go a long ways in increasing your survival rate and impact on the battle. This is a consumable that you have to learn to use correctly because IT will always be there. I also strongly recommend always using the premium version of this consumable (for credits of course). Remember that each nation has different active times for DCP and ship types have different times. Let us go over a few examples on when to use this consumable correctly and when to let the flood/fire burn/incapacitated modules:
If you have 1 fire or 1 flood on your battleship unless you are close to dying, let it burn or flood. This is one of most common mistakes I see is captains using their DCP after 1 fire or flood. Before the flooding changes it made sense to repair a flood since it did so much more damage than a fire. When you use your DCP on 1 fire you are setting yourself up for players that are paying attention to set you on fire again.
If you have 2 fires or 2 floods or a combination of both, use your DCP unless you feel safe letting it tick down (maybe you are breaking LOS). While you are repairing these fires/floods make sure you are also maneuvering to reduce the amount of damage you are taking.
Of course if you have more than 2 of each, use that DCP =).
When it comes to other large ships (Stalingrad) I treat the DCP like a BB; however, other cruisers and DDs you will have to learn when to use the DCP correctly and most effectively. This could be repairing your knocked out engine in a cap or dealing with multiple cruisers shooting at your cruiser.
Repair Party: This is mainly a battleship consumable but there are certain cruisers that have this consumable as well (mostly high tier cruisers, RN CLs and Boise). Learning to use the heal and when to use the heal will also go a long way in providing you longer up-time during battle. I also recommend using the premium version of this as well. The extra charge is definitely important and combined with (superintendent) can give you 2 more charges. Remember all fire/flooding/ramming damage is 100% repairable.
Tips:
You can use your repair party to heal through a fire while taking damage.
You can also use the repair party after you have let a fire or flood burn out and then heal.
Spotting Aircraft and Catapult Fighter I am going to be 100% honest, if I have the choice I always choose the Spotting Aircraft over the Fighter. I find the Spotting Aircraft to be vastly superior to the fighter consumable and it is not even close. The Spotter Aircraft not only extends your range but it allows you to make shots over islands that you cannot do with the normal aiming view. I of course take the fighter aircraft if there is no option to change. There are a few ships that have special spotter aircraft like the Perth and the Musashi.
Use the Spotter aircraft to hit ships behind islands and in smoke (if you have been practicing this technique).
Spotter aircraft will extend your range by 20% allowing you to potentially destroy a target that is trying to successfully disengage at a long range.
Pay attention to the travel time of the shells and how far away the target it, this will impact your lead.
Catapult Fighter aircraft to me is only viable if you are on a ship that doesn't have a spotter plane option.
Smoke Generator: This is mainly a RN CL consumable (can be exchanged for radar, more on that in a bit) and a DD consumable. This is honestly pretty easy, use the smoke consumable unless you are specifically trying something with RN CLs or Pan-Asian DDs. Maybe you are playing in a division and you are bringing a DD along with you to smoke you. The Mikhail Kutuzov also has smoke (premium ship). As a DD player you will most likely have smoke unless you are playing some specific torpedo specced ships or bringing radar on the Pan-Asian DDs.
Tips on using smoke correctly:
When you are smoking up, make sure you are trying not to block LOS of your allied ships. A perfect example is you are going into a cap, you are the one spotting the enemy but they are getting into range of your allies. You smoke up and cut all LOS from your teammates thus allowing the enemy ships to get to their positions without any harassment.
When you are smoking up and intend on staying in the smoke, always be moving (if shooting) and never sit broadside. Smoke clouds are a magnet for torpedoes!
When smoking an ally, let them know you are smoking them up and then try and give them a nice long cloud of smoke to work with. Don't just drop the smoke all in one spot or there will not be a lot of room to maneuver.
Do not be afraid to use smoke to cut the vision of the enemy team as well. I would recommend letting your allies/division mates know this before you do this if you have time of course.
Radar: Oh yes, radar, the favorite consumable of many players =). Radar is pretty self-explanatory when it comes to using it correctly but let us go over it anyways. As you all know, radar was recently changed so that there is a delay between when your allies see your radar. You are also alerted in chat and you will have a radar icon on top of your ship when it is active.
Most radar range falls in between the 9-12 km range with some exceptions being the Pan-Asian DD line (7.5 km), USS Black (7.5 km) and Belfast/Salem/Atlanta (8.5 km).
Radar is used to spot DDs, ships in smoke and ships that have gone behind islands.
There are many ways to use radar but the most effective way I think is making sure you let your team know before using it and getting people aware of the enemy ship you are trying to light.
Tips:
Learn the radar ranges of all ships you play that can equip radar.
Learn the radar ranges of appropriate ships so when you run into one you know how far to stay safe.
This takes time but if you put in the effort you can definitely learn it!
Hydroacoustic Search: Hydro serves two main purposes: spotting incoming torpedoes and spotting ships in smoke, behind islands or even in the open water! KMS hydro is the strongest of all the hydros in the game but the range is still significantly less than radar so take that into consideration. Hydro does last longer and can be a great asset when you are pushing into a cap.
Tips:
Use hydro when you are pushing a cap.
Use hydro when you are trying to spot torpedoes/enemy ships when you are trying to cap or contest a cap.
If you are on a flank and consistently spotted, most like a dd or a stealthy cruiser (zao), would recommend using hydro.
Main Battery Reload Booster: This is a great consumable if used correctly. French cruisers use this consumable to pump out a lot of damage in a short amount if time.
Tips:
If a ships just DCP'ed, hit that reload booster and go to town!
If a ship is broadside, go ahead and hit that MBRB and punish broadsides.
Torpedo Reload Booster: This is a consumable that is on a few specific ships and if used corrected can cause a sea of torps. I would recommend using this on the Kagero and Yugumo instead of smoke to maximize your damage potential but this is also captain choice specific.
Tips:
Use this consumable when you are trying to zone out other ships or create a giant flood of torpedoes that enemy ships have to dodge.
The line that leads to harugumo gets this consumable also and doesn't have to trade out smoke. Make sure you pay attention to this and these ship have 1 rack of torpedoes.
Defensive AA: This is the skill that might have seen the most change since the CV rework. This is also a skill on a lot of ships that you have to choose Hydro or Defensive AA. Currently right now I recommend using Defensive AA over hydro with the amount of CVs you will see.
Tips:
This consumable will increase the amount of damage that your AA will do.
Using this in concert with your allies will significantly increase your ability to shoot down planes.
This is just a general overview of the consumables and there are things I might have missed! Feel free to discuss the consumables and what ships you use them on.
My tips:
I have Defensive AA equipped on all ships that I can currently with the amount of CVs in-game.
When using radar, make sure you or teammates can get shots on the target if possible, this might not always be possible but if you don't do any damage during the radar window, it might come back to haunt you!
MBRB on the Henri is one of the scariest things to face in a BB or DD right now for pure amount of damage that can be dealt.
Learning how to use the Spotting Aircraft is one of the best things you can do in this game. Trust me when I say this will take some practice and be quite frustrating sometimes.
Pay attention to your surroundings when you are trying to smoke up. Don't smoke up in front of allies if you are the one spotting.
Use premium versions of most consumables (I know this can get expensive at higher tiers). The spotter plane and the fighter might not need to be premium, this is up to you.
Thanks and if I forgot any consumables or you have any tips/tricks, please put them in the thread!