[Ankle-deep "Review" Of] HMS Skagerrakschlatch

[Paladinum]

Welcome to another [Ankle-deep "Review" Of], this time, the ship is Jutland, British Tier 9 tech tree destroyer, available in the Royal Navy tech tree.

Disclaimers: All the experience I have with the ship so far is contained within a very restrictive mode - Ranked Battles. Because of that, there are many things that I cannot say for sure or foresee to be issues when playing this ship in Random Battles. Ranked Battles, as a mode, keeps DDs alive better than Random (if they don't offer themselves to the enemy, that is). There are less crossfiring, fewer radar, fewer enemies in general. It's a different environment altogether.

Why can't there be more fewer player modes? Random availability (aka always) but Ranked number of players.

 

 

She doesn't seem like a ship of good sheet stats

Main guns

Hull A configuration: I don't talk about that.

Hull B configuration: Six 113 mm dual-purpose cannons, laid out in three twin turrets, two bow and one aft. Base reload is 4,5 second, HE and AP alpha are 1700 and 2100 respectively.

This gives her raw HE APM of 136.000 and AP of 168.000 (I use dot as decimal separators, deal with it). All calculations are from wowsft.

HE/AP DPM of all current DDs in T9:

• Friesland: 233.300 / 280.000
• Kitakaze: 192.000 / 272.000 
• Östergötland: 177.400 / 224.300
• Fletcher/Black: 161.700 / 188.600
• Chung Mu: 154.300 / 180.000
• Udaloi: 136.800 / 187.200
• Tashkent: 136.800 / 180.000
• Z-46: 136.000 / 270.000
• Jutty: 136.000 / 168.000
• Yūgumo: 135.500 / 138.700
• Benham: 131.000 / 152.700
• Mogador: 120.000 / 162.000 (has MBRB)
• ZF-6: 108.700 / 221.200 (has MBRB)
• Neustrashimy: 108.000 / 156.000
• Z-44: 107.100 / 214.300
• Paolo Emilio: 87.500 / 136.800 (SAP)
• F. Schultz: 82.700 / 180.000

Holy mother of goats, Z-46's AP DPM is twice her HE DPM *gasp* 

Yes, Jutty seems to be in the middle of the list, but the absolute number is that she has only ~50.000 higher raw HE DPM than the lowest one in the list, but is 100.000 raw HE DPM lower than the highest HE DPM ship. Not to mention ZF-6 and Mogador that have MBRB, which can increase their DPM by a lot in a few short seconds - and that can potentially wreck Jutty. In a DD vs DD gunfight, this means Jutty has the potential to lose against 11 out of 18 DDs in her own tier, even with full HP.

I hate this kind of rainbow. It's all floaty, and slow, and irritating. And it gets nowhere.

 

Torpedoes

2 x 5 tubes. 10 km, 62 knots, 133 seconds reload per set of tubes, 1,3 km detectability, torpedo alpha 15.533.

Without any skill or upgrade to swiften torpedo reload time, you can get ~90 torpedoes out for a 20 minutes battles. In an average battle length - ~15 minutes, she can get ~68 torpedoes out. That doesn't take into account that players don't just launch torps randomly whenever reload is finished.

Her torpedo angle is fairly narrow (not the worst amongst T9 DDs, but is still bad), so she needs to turn nearly full broadside to launch torps, and that is quite bad.

There is only one good stat - detectability, but that is counteracted by being one of the slowest of the tier. There are a bunch of factors that contribute to the overall power of a ship's torpedoes, however, torpedo speed this slow will always be at a disadvantage.

And the whole world has to answer right now,
Just to tell you once again,
Who's bad?
IJN CA torpedo angle. That's who.

 

Speed and Maneuverability

I'm so proud of myself for typing "maneuverability" correctly for a long time. The UK spelling of the word is bloody BS and I ain't using that.

She is slow AF. The slowest in her Tier, in fact. And she doesn't have Speed Boost to boot. This would make the ship fairly miserable when under enemy fire, or when escaping radar and aircraft. The only thing that allows Jutty to survive is her very good maneuverability. Sheet stats say she's worse than Östergötland in this aspect.

 

 

In Reality...

But there is no such thing as a DD vs DD gunfight that lasts for a whole minute, don't be silly. A DD vs DD skirmish won't last for a minute - ever. 20 seconds at most unless I'm really out of range of my allies. My full main gun build Jutty can do more than enough fire power to beat up most of her same-tier peers, even those with high APM. All her turrets can turn 360, regardless of hulls, this means she can manuever and shoot much better than most other T9 DDs, whose turrets cannot turn 360. 

Her torpedoes are a highly offensive tool (as in attacking people, not as in "attacking" people) - with stats like those, I wouldn't expect Jutty to be a torpedo boat. Her torpedoes are a combination of drawbacks: not very hard-hitting, not fast, not far-reaching and not quick-reloading. Her torpedo angle is narrow, she needs to broadside to launch torps, and that is bad. They require positioning so good that I cannot achieve if I don't improve a freaking lot. Sneak around an island next to a reversing BB and torp. Get close to the smoke screen of a hydro-less DD and torp. Torping as a method of deterrence doesn't seem like a good idea, she isn't a Z-44, Z-46, Fletcher or Östergötland. Even Udaloi can be better at torpedo deterrence than Jutty. BTW, in terms of raw sheet stats, Fletcher B torps are the best torpedoes in the game.

She is a tricky ship - as in having many tricks, not being difficult to play - well, she can be difficult to play (if you want all the damage), the point is: her trickery is her strength.

 

This ship is a trickster

As in, Jutty has a bunch of tricks in store for her captain to utilize.

One of the least detectable DDs in Tier 9. She's only more detectable than Yūgumo and Chung Mu - both of which Jutty can outgun to death. Friesland is more detectable than Kitakaze and I will always have issues with that.

Ironically, due to her slow speed, she boasts very good handling - A vehicle moving too fast is harder to control. On top of that, RN DDs have really great acceleration and deceleration, Jutty can increase and decrease speed extremely quickly, giving her the ability to dodge things swiftly. If anyone want a ship line to learn torpedo beating, this is my personal best recommendation.

With her Repair Party, she can have an effective HP pool of ships far above even T10 DDs. 1% of maximum HP per second for 10 seconds. 22.080 for Hull B with 2 charges of Repair Party and no India Delta and Survivability Expert. That's more than the stock HP pool of most T10 DDs. 25.860 for Hull B with 2 charges of Repair Party, Survivability Expert and no India Delta, which is almost the same as Harugumo's stock HP pool.
I think 2 examples is enough to prove that this ship has the staying power larger than most T9 DDs, as long as her captain plays the ship with the long game in mind.

Her Hydro lasts for a week. I even bought the Hydro special Upgrade for Coal and now that makes me hard feel like a god everytime I go into a cap and activate Hydro. With her amazing agility, it's really difficult to hit this ship with torpedoes, with or without Hydro on.

I see her Smoke exclusively as an escape mechanic - like how cartoon characters use smoke bombs to run away. And it works well that way.

Enemy spotted. Stay hidden. Radio for backup. Let's pounce on that Lion. That prideless Lion. Haha, word plays.

 

Recommendations

Because of the extra survivability gained via her Repair Party, I recommend immediately researching Jutty's Hull B. And guess what, she gains one extra gun with better turret placement when using Hull B. A surprise not seen on many ships.

With many of her trickery exist as consumables - there are 3 besides DCP, I believe in choosing all captain skills that enhance her consumables. More charges of Hydro -> more fighting chance against torpedoboat DDs. More charges of Smoke -> more chances to escape unfavorable fights. More charges of Repair Party -> more survivability so you can last longer. Why does that sound suggestive?

Gameplay-wise, it's best to be a scout and a survivor in the first minutes of the battle. Capture points, avoid fighting, like a ninja whose main purpose is to gather intelligence and stay alive. The later parts of the battle should be like a rEdEMpTIon ArC - stop being a coward, be a hero and get into fights with enemy DDs that try to capture your team's points or those who lurk around trying to torp your teammates. This ship has the tools for that. Good tools.
If I would get into a DD on DD action that doesn't favor me, I would still shoot, but I also pop Smoke immediately and run in the opposite direction like a wuss. Do as CAPTAIN Jack Sparrow heroically said "We must fight... to run away!", and survival is vital in playing DDs in general - and Jutty has the tools of a ship that runs away, only to fight in later minutes. ChARaCteR DEvEloPmEnT!

As for offensive methods, I suggest attacking people with main guns instead of torpedoes, because unless you really want a torpedoboat Jutty, a main gun Jutty requires much less to enhance what she's already good at. It needs one main gun skill and one Upgrade for a good main gun build, but three torpedo skills and two Upgrades to fully enhance her torpedoes. That's my thinking, at least. I don't believe in extending main gun range for this ship - extremely floaty shells will ruin even <10km salvos. Jutty's primary targets for her main guns are DDs.
Fight in close quarters, around islands, to and from Smoke screens. When the enemy has only BBs left, "be not afraid", and the angel Jutty will allow me to annoy them to death while dodging BB shells like a gracious dance of destruction.

In the early minutes of a battle, remember this: "Sometimes cowards do survive", Starscream said in Transformers 2, and to survive is to fight on later. Now THAT is an advice for this ship.

Spoiler

For those who think this advice extends to BBs, LMAO. DDs cannot take as much damage as BBs do. Any ship being alive to fight later is good for their team (depends on circumstances, however), but being a coward in a BB can be quite different from being a coward in a DD. In a BB, that means stop firing if the enemy fire is too much to handle, don't fire at unimportant targets (like a BB in a flank on the opposite edge of the map), don't run away but stop firing and backing off, etc. BBs still need to be close to the front to have the presence of a threat, but shouldn't always be too close to the front.

Being a coward and still contributes is not the same as being a coward in the literal sense of the word, and being a contributing coward is needed (perhaps not wanted) and a general coward is shunned. 

Nothing is ever really black and white (not even this statement), not even black and white themselves, so screw your blanket statements that justify your sh*tty actions.

 

Conclusion

Do you people see how much gimmicks have been put into this line now? Or the Royal Navy in general?

Admittedly, the gimmicks in this DD line are not as obnoxious as the CR lines, or especially the BB line, whose HE WG just plain refuse to nerf. Why can't the RN BB line cannot be a line of Warspite - more traditional for the game, or a line of Duke of York, whose HE isn't a totally braindead choice?

There are people who complain about Russian Bias, hello, how about British Gimmicks? It's almost like WG want to ram as many gimmicks into the RN in this game as possible - and not just reasonable or acceptable ones. No no no. Obnoxious short-fused AP. Broken BB HE. Broken HE. On BBs. Russian Bias is bad? Don't make me laugh, pathetic ones. Those ships are made for psychological warfare, but can inflict physical damage in the process. There is no way in Davy Jones' locker that a Kreml can be as obnoxious as a Conq or a Thund. At least a Kreml doesn't torture its targets like a Conq or a Thund does. Slow, painful death by fires while the bloody w*nkers laugh their way into top BXP places in their team, just because WG want to torture players that don't play those ships in that battle!

And what about Allied Bias? Has there been any Axis ship that has radar? Meanwhile, more and more Allied ships get Radar. A US DD even gets TRB. It's like a way of ego-stroking for the victors. FFS. It's not Russian Bias that you have to whine and b***h about, it's British Gimmicks and Allied Bias!

THE ALLIED NATIONS ALWAYS GET THE BEST THINGS!

WAKE UP SHEEPLES!

[Paladinum]

Fun fact: Druid has the same camo pattern as HMS Barfleur.

[Reinhard_of_Avercland]

So the ship needs to be nerfed again? - WG, probably

[S4pp3R]

Good review, I like using her smoke to farm BBs too though

[RenamedUser_2003248997]

Jutland is a monster, it (and the Lightning) are the boats that I've enjoyed the most in this game.

[dejiko_nyo]

I believe that when the line first came out, they were supposed to be and called "defensive dds" by wg themselves. Since I don't play or have much attachment to T9s, I will reference her T10 counterpart instead. 

Daring serves her role as "screening dd" well and requires support from another ship. Those single launch torpedoes can be nasty in a drive-by. THE PROBLEM: In any mode where there is lack of coordination (ie, everything except CW and your div), there is a limit to how aggressive you can get. Hunt torpedo loliboats? Not fast enough. Hunt gunbotes? Dangerous proposition given the questionable armament. How do I put this.... it is her lack of offensive flexibility that makes me play less RN DD (and the lack of a high point captain to make her work, which again is a downward spiral since play less = less captain points) that I would like especially in modes that I mentioned earlier.   

[Paladinum]

I let this thread fermented for nearly a week before posting. Some decisive person I am.

 

2 hours ago, FG_Yomamamoto said:

Jutland is a monster, it (and the Lightning) are the boats that I've enjoyed the most in this game.

Lightning is cool but if she has Heal, she'd be even cooler. Like, ULTRASUPEROMEGA cool.

 

2 hours ago, dejiko_nyo said:

I believe that when the line first came out, they were supposed to be and called "defensive dds" by wg themselves.

I recall being pretty mad about that. "Defensive DDs"... what the heck does that phrase even mean, when this game is about moving forward and nothing is there to defend at the start of a battle. I mean, she still can do some damage, but my skill level is not enough to deal enough damage to make profit.

 

[RenamedUser_2003248997]

Lightning would be plain broken with heal. 

[dejiko_nyo]

58 minutes ago, Paladinum said:

I let this thread fermented for nearly a week before posting. Some decisive person I am.

All the more to enhance its flavour.

[dejiko_nyo]

1 hour ago, Paladinum said:

I recall being pretty mad about that. "Defensive DDs"... what the heck does that phrase even mean, when this game is about moving forward and nothing is there to defend at the start of a battle. I mean, she still can do some damage, but my skill level is not enough to deal enough damage to make profit.

"Defensive" as in to "defend your useless team"...

[Frosted_Cat]

1 hour ago, FG_Yomamamoto said:

Lightning would be plain broken with heal. 

Doesn't the Orkan have healing parties ? She does lack smoke though, if i'm not mistaken.

[Reinhard_of_Avercland]

1 hour ago, Paladinum said:

Lightning is cool but if she has Heal, she'd be even cooler. Like, ULTRASUPEROMEGA cool.

That would powercreep Kidd significantly. Having better stealth, more guns, more torps, and better smoke that fits the meta already make Lightning barely balanced. It's actually impressive WG haven't tried to "balance" Lightning yet. WeeGee somehow gets fixated on Jutland instead which has gone really far from she used to be.

[Paladinum]

1 hour ago, Reinhard_of_Avercland said:

That would powercreep Kidd significantly. Having better stealth, more guns, more torps, and better smoke that fits the meta already make Lightning barely balanced. It's actually impressive WG haven't tried to "balance" Lightning yet. WeeGee somehow gets fixated on Jutland instead which has gone really far from she used to be.

2 hours ago, FG_Yomamamoto said:

Lightning would be plain broken with heal. 

1 hour ago, Frosted_Cat said:

Doesn't the Orkan have healing parties ? She does lack smoke though, if i'm not mistaken.

WG can give her Jutland Heal, buff main gun RoF by 0,5s, and take away the torpedoes completely, and Lightning would probably be better than she is now. That's how much I care about Lightning's torps.

 

Anyway, see you morans in the next Ankle-deep "Review". Gotta go find a new ship(s) to review. Most likely a CR.