noob question, how to play DD when plane dominate the sky...?

[PGM991]

even after a year of playing IJNDD till shimakaze, I still can't get my head around this problem.

 

when I pick shimakaze and unlucky enough to have CV in match, all CV are at least tier 8

at that tier, they have so many plane and many squadron

they can spread out to cover all cap area or dominate central area of map, and with plane speed, any gap open can be cover up quickly before I can slip through.

 

last match with shimakaze, CV is in match 

their plane dominate whole central line of the map and I can't do anything, all my torpedo being detected by plane and missed, I can't cap, or even advance further because they gonna spotted me. (I'd say their CV doing job well when it's come to scouting for DD.)

 

all I can do is stick with team, pew pew a few thousand damage and cover team with smoke... that's all,

end up lowest rank in team...

 

all shimakaze clip on you-tube? I watch it all and I can say it's all luck.

CV ignore them, radar ship ignore them, gunboat ignore them, all ship go straight line, etc

 

I know it impossible to avoid CV via MM, I have to face it, bare with it.

and I know I have to git gud (so, don't say it =w=)

but I need a guide, really.

-------------------------

 

oh, by the way, I'm on my way on USNDD line, at Farragut.

this ship is fun, but CV can still ruin her day... T_T

 

it's more like, 'how to play DD when plane dominate the sky' rather than only IJNDD one

[Bex_o7]

IJN DD's, except the Akizuki, have a pretty hard time against air threats. Hell, even the Akizuki can be difficult because it turns like a bus. Cap contesting at the start of the round isn't what IJN DDs do best, try to avoid that and you'll live longer.

[SZYZWY]

It'll depend on how the air matchup goes and how your team moves.
Luckily you are in a Shimakaze with access to 12 km torps, so even sticking with the team can make for some good torp area saturation regardless.

If the air matchup is in favor on your team, it's actually a good point to follow your team's CV planes. Their presence will 'usually' deter enemy planes for you to torp in peace.
If it's in favor for the enemy team, then it becomes a bit tricky. First of all is keeping track of where the enemy CV is focusing their attention and moving away the engagement areas from it. If that doesn't work then, you can almost always go to your team's weak flank and stall pushes with your 15 torps every few minutes. All the while making sure that you are in your team's AA bubble, and that's the only area you can safely operate.
Knowing the enemy CV is also gonna be a good knowledge to have. If the enemy is a strike focused CV, then you can operate in the 2-3 min at which it takes for him to reload his planes. So keeping track of when the enemy CV does his drops is best. For purposes of the situation, they can still hover you to death, which is why I will repeat that your operating area in these types of matches will always be ~5km from the nearest ally ship that has at least decent AA. Your 12km torps will make it an effective 17km range from that said ship. And even in the more passive games, I personally have never been in a situation where I can't "torp them safely" using that guideline with a CV in a match.

As a special note, if you saturate the narrow spread with all 15 torps of yours, bow in targets will most likely take 2-3 consistently, so even if your torp spread IS detected, as long as the target is confined in the area given, you are going to get your juicy hits.

[Burnt_Out_Koalas]

Okay, DD's will always struggle to hide in the higher Tiers if you YOLO even without CV's in the skies.

 

Advice, don't go to a zone without support.  

So DON'T TURBO boost into a ZONE

Wait for your your Cruisers and BB to be close enough to the zone before you go in.

Being a IJN TORP DD, don't fire back but bait the other DD's to fire at you and then get your CL/CA/BB to fire at them (click on the ship and press F3)

Concealment BUFF helps.... Get a commander that can drop your concealment, even in the skies.

Don't drop your torpedoes at the path the ship is going at, predict the path it will run.

Don't drop your torpedoes while a enemy plane is spotting or near you....hold off then when it flies away then drop your torps

Try and look for ships coming behind islands to torp

Use your smoke to protect the fleet not yourself

Always turn into the torps from the CV

If a bomber planes are coming ... do lots of WASD hacks to avoid maximum hits .... don't travel in the same path.

 

Good luck.

 

[icy_phoenix]

Like CV players say many times, they cannot be everywhere. So as a DD, re-positioning is the key. Just forget the cap where your CV won't be supporting. If you see CV is not supporting any cap, try to draw his attention.

 

Or just follow your Des Moines or RN CLs, as they tend to be very close to cap points most of the times.

 

If you see Fletchers or Gearings, you can stick with them. If you rush early to the cap, and you see strike is about to come to you and still 5-6 km away, just smoke up, cap and leave. Don't sit braodside in smoke tho, always point towards your spawn area when sitting in a cap. It makes exit easier.

 

Watch out for possible plane movement before torping. Use torps as a means of herding big ships, like prevent them from going to somewhere they wanted to. You may not hit them but they cannot continue their path anyway.

 

Last but not the least, IJN DDs are smaller in size (mostly) and with good amount of WASD tricks, it is possible to dodge their torps. For cross drops move away from the first drop and move into the 2nd one. This works for me most of the time.

[W_M1]

Just pray to the god that your teammate CV will dominate the air with superior fighter control. Otherwise, good luck.

[K135Blitzkrieg]

I was seen the match when i play Akizuki  and shoot dow about 13-14 enemy plane (i already thought i good enough), but after watching the match result, i see my team  Fletcher shoot down more 40 than planes, i feel very sorry for enemy Shoukaku

So sometime stick together with other AA DD (which is very rare build) and   make enemy CV surprise may be good ideal 

[legionary2099]

There is nothing you can do if the CV want you dead literally AA or not , the only chance you have is to stay within 8km of a nearby AADF source , otherwise , if he want you dead you are.

CV control can be hectic and sometimes your CV will not be able to cover you or he is trying to kill a dd in another area.

Another chance is to not loiter in an area for too long , if he spotted you and you think he wanted you , give up and move to a different area

Play more passive and ask CA/CL to move close to cap with you and never ever venture alone. More than once i have punished DD who think stealth and smoke will save them or they think speed boost will let them escape.