Once again, tier list I use and timestamps in the description! NEWEST TIER LIST: slaimuda.github.io/ectl/#/home Here's some clarification from the Reddit post regarding the list: Is this for PvE or PvP? PvE Why isn't this ship as good as I have heard in other threads/lists? This list is based off the current state of the CN server and the hardest content available there. However, as the EN server is nearly caught up to that of CN/JP, this list is very applicable to the current end game content on it. In general, ships with better air and anti-air capabilities are more valued at higher levels, which should be factored in when using this list.
Dude, if you thinking of doing more of this kind of tier list explanation, may i suggest doing more research and explaining more on the ships. This series can be good for beginners to stumble upon. I mean like showing the stats, explaining the skills, comparing between each ship in each tier and each roles each ship fits into. And ties these aspets to the ship's placement. Like for instance you say you disagree with Saratoga being tier 0 (I'm guessing due to her RNG skill?) But her stats and skills would show her as solid mob fleet carrier for world 12 and 13. Heck, her HP and gun barrage even qualify her to run world 10 as mob fleet even better than any other carrier can. You need to explain why you think she should be tier 1 so that people can see your prespective. Also, what an unforgivable sin you've commited by calling Formidable a "maid"? She is a gothic lolita, you uncultured monster! lol jk Sorry for the long post.
Thanks for the constructive criticism! I'll definitely try in the future to be more detailed in my explanations, I just did not want my videos to be a whole hour long, since just doing a "brief overview" has already caused the video to be past 10 minutes. 😋 You make up a very good point of being able to see from my perspective with that Saratoga comment. Also, I know I messed up big time by calling Formidable a maid, please forgive me for my uncultured comment, it meant nothing bad towards her. I love Formi's design and her [ZA WARUDO] is great too. 😌
@@ItsAnderYT i mean, seriously dude, this content's got potential. It would also be beyter if you can provide us with visual aids such as how their skills look like, and statistics. Most ship reviewers forget that another part of what makes a ship higher in the tier list is their raw stats. Like he said, Sara has the best AVI, the only one to have AVI above 400+ iirc, her HP is monstrous and her plane set up has the highest potential for damage. That's the reason why Ranger, a COMMON, LIGHT CARRIER managed to somehow get to tier 2 simply because of her double dive bomber set up imo.
@@ItsAnderYT Sara's damage output is similar to Enty (I run both of them on Escort Cargo daily and they're constantly fighting for MVP). Sara doesn't have the invul, which makes her worse on PvP, but for PvE her vanguard buff and the artillery support can really help clear out mobs, so I'd say she's better than Enty in PvE Also, Hiryuu and Souryuu are actually better than Akagi and Kaga in PvP in my experience, and their spaced out airstrike triggers make them very suited for clearing mobs
@ダーリンKaga It doesn't specifically state that it cannot stack, so it probably does stack. Even if it does not, the VF-17 has very good stats for a gold fighter so you won't be missing out on any damage.
Before you get to your heavy cruiser vidoe, v50 of this tier list just released which had a bunch of changes to the T0 of Heavy Cruisers. Also Intrepid was given T1 ranking by Usagi. Keep up the good work!
Thanks for doing these Ander. As a new player it helps me understand how the ships compare and some of their strengths when you talk about them. Please keep them coming!
You're sleepin on Saratoga, I've had her sometimes beat out Enterprise in damage while having slightly worse gear and being a few levels behind. This is mostly due to a few unique aspecs; 1. She can equip 1 Fighter and 2 Dive bombers, meaning that her damage has no chance to miss like with torpedoes. 2. Her 3rd skill (Witch's Prank which you get after retrofit) is almost identical to Enterprises with the 70% chance to proc an extra airstrike, the only difference is that it does less damage and causes Fire and Flooding DoTs. 3. Her 2nd Skill (Fleet Carrier) gives a 15% damage bonus for 8s to all Vanguard ships, this translates into more theoretical damage output for Saratoga, (im totally guessing but its something like 3-5% of the vanguards total damage) All this combined leads to Saratoga being a more consistent source of damage, whereas Enterprise is somewhat random doing less than most carriers without a proc but doing massive amounts if you hit all the procs in a fight. Overall I like to use Saratoga for most things over Enterprise because shes more reliable (and cute), the only Exception is pvp because the only way to beat and Enty fleet is to use another Enty fleet or a Warspite fleet, but I hate the Royal Navy so im forced to watch 5 month long owadi da battles. Just to drive my point home if you're still not convinced. My Saratoga and Enterprise are currently both 120 and Oathed and their stats are similar but ultimately I think Saratoga has more where it matters, having 7513 HP vs Entys 6544, 464 AVI vs 454, and 370 AA vs 348 (Saratoga's health combined with AA make her similar in survivability to Enterprise IMO due to Enterprise requiring a skill proc to become immune) . She falls behind considerably in luck, 66 for Saratoga and 93 for Enty but as far as I know that only effects hit and crit chance. Their RLD stat is only 3 points off which means nothing considering that airstrike reload speed is mostly up to the aircraft you have equipped.
In CN tier list Enterprise is now T0.5 due to the lack of utility in PvE, and Saratoga been T0. Keep in mind this tier list is made for 13-4, the hardest level to date, and Saratoga's skill fits it perfectly. But she's still behind Essex and Centaur when considering a 3-CV comp. Also, this does not represent PvP, EX, or World bosses (e.g. Essex event, Dido event). Saratoga is pure garbage in PvP but Enterprise gives nightmares, for example.
@@nerobiblios4086 I don't think you payed attention in the video but Ander stated that he didn't think that Saratoga was worthy of being T0 when compared to other CVs in T0 rating. 4 weeks late but that's just a statement. Overall I prefer Saratoga over Enterprise mainly because she is more flexible and because of the double Helldiver equip will absolutely decimate the screen.
For those seeing this video a few months after release: Shangri-La and Essex are now in the standard Special build pool. Both have a construction time of 04:25:00.
I started playing Azur Lane 4 days ago only because I saw someone do the secretary story of Tahoe. You are most definitely right she does have some massive “bombs” Especially in her cocktail dress. Yanderera FTW
New subscriber here. Carriers are probably my favorite ship class after Destroyers so I am happy to see this guide. Still salty as still can't get Centaur though lol. Looking forward to see a DD guide 💜
aww that sucks that you couldn't pull centaur yet but she'll come home eventually! The rates are great in this gacha game. A DD guide will be coming out soon after I finish up discussing supports, light cruisers, and heavy cruisers. Sit tight! (I've got a lot to say about them, so brace yourself)
@@ItsAnderYT I'm excited to see it. As long as we get the credits that my shipfu Yukikaze-sama nanoda gets, I am a happy camper. Even if she didn't, I am still okay with that ^_^
Also, correction: Hiryuu gets her immortality skill without her retrofit, but her retrofit is really useful because of the damage boost and her extra skill that launches extra planes 10 seconds after the battle starts and then 20 seconds every other time after that. Edit: At 7:17, I say Shoukaku/Zuikaku are from the 2nd carrier division. THAT'S TOTALLY WRONG! I correct myself at 8:11, that's what I get for speaking faster than what my brain can process. EditEdit: I AM SO SORRY FORMIDABLE YOU ARE NOT A MAID YOU ARE A NOBLE WOMAN PLEASE FORGIVE ME
Carriers are probably the best buff stacking class right now. In PVP, I field Enterprise + Essex + Centaur as my backline with Noshiro + Sirius + Baltimore up front. Their damage output is insane especially if Enterprise procs Lucky E, which is most of the time, and considering how high Enterprise and Essex's Luck stats are, they'll pretty much crit their strikes a lot. Unless the enemy Defense fleet is stacking AA ships like Sandy Retro, everything gets obliterated on the first air strike. Especially Battleship backlines. And using this lineup for World 13, it was Auto all day cakewalk.
The reason for Saratoga being in the list at T0 is due to her last Retrofit item, the Witch's Prank, which is alluded to in her lines. Starting at Rank 1, it has a 40% chance to Proc and it applies both Fire and Flooding damage to targets, as well as being considered an extra attack. It's not like Enterprise's double-damage attack, but the DOT's sure help out. Seems the US carriers all tend to get something like this, more or less (Intrepid's Soaring Silver Wings which decreases Armor, though only on enemy BBs, Hornet's Doolitle Air Strike, Wasp's Double Sting when paired with RN ships. Plus the Quick Takeoff and Assault Carrier abilities on the CVLs like Casablanca or Long Island, which either cause double damage for an attack or cause the CVL to reset its attack cooldown, effectively launching 2 attacks in succession). The IJN carriers have indications like this, but not as literal (Taihou's Predestined Launch or Souryuu's Flowers of Fate which ties in to her playing Hanafuda. For some reason, the IJN skills seem to have a thing for fate :|)
I see Akashi before Unicorn. Me thinking of the time I switched Unicorn for her. Since then I never used her, why, she died in the first battle and health lesser then Unicorn because her health was already that low by the time the skill activated, thanks to Enterprise I still won that battle. But now that I see these videos, I think I have to aproach the game differently and look at the skills for once. I play this game for more than a year and almost reached 90% of the collection while still not having completed chapter 10 cause of the events and the poor result of boss only drops. Now I am grinding when there is time and oil in 9-4. Thanks for encouraging me to make a full list of every ship with their skills. Tosa is really discouraging to do this
I dont see agreeing with your opinion but i do respect your opinions btw you can make ranks out of S,A,B,C,D,E In tier 0 i would put Saratoga retrofit,Lucky E,Essex,Perseus i dont find agreeing with Ark royal in tier 1 because mixing her with the 2 torpedo bomber cv cancer(Centaur and formid)makes your fleet even better Bataan is very good in taking down planes so i give her tier 1
From my experience, Enty is not even close to Essex in terms of damage, probably because Essex always has the flooding damage and overall better stats. Also Saratoga is very decent thanks to her barrage and overall stats. I had a meh experience using Enty (and I got her to lv105), whereas Essex is litterally always MVP on higher levels
I will agree that Sara is significantly less useful than Essex, Centy and Formi, simply because those 3 are overpowered. Saratoga however is a tier 0 mob fleet carrier for a simple reason. Double helldiver with 140% efficiency + the 2nd highest base AVI (Formi at skill lvl 10 is better) in the game, without restricting backline or vanguard choices (like Essex for example). And then: Her reload is also fast because of the fighter slot and high reload stat. Her HP is exceptional which makes her playable in both mob fleets and boss fleets. She has a good support skill for the vanguard, which very few viable carriers have. Her cover fire actually hits like a truck and hits consistenly because of high luck stat EVERY 10 seconds: this means she will also occasionally destroy suicide boats and cruisers that get too close (this could make her the best 1:1 carrier in the game). This skill adds a lot to her survivability bringing it closer than you'd think to Enty in PVE. Her retrofit skill is just icing on the cake for more free damage to ships that somehow survive her airstrikes. (70% activation is as good as lucky E). Enty on the other hand can be better than Saratoga if and when she procs every time, which is possible but not consistent. A missed proc from Enty against mobs (usually you get 2 airstrikes off before it's gg) will mean that Sara will outdamage her by a lot...and i mean a lot. In boss fleets Enty will still be better than Sara most of the time simply because of torps. In PVP? Yeah a lucky Enty is foockin broken.
imo Saratoga is fine in the bottom tier of the T0. Her skills fit. Specially with the support skill (Imagine your vanguard with roon and azuma, with that extra damage increase). The retrofit skill just makes her more powerful. Flooding and Burn damage in one skill? It almost competes with Enterprise in my opinion. Except saratoga doesn't evade everything. Her artillery cover is really impactful in many fights. It saves you your torpedoes for more powerful enemies rather than using it on other less significant enemies. Plus her retrofitted stats. Saratoga has the highest AVI stat (if i remember correctly) after the retrofit and not to mention her health rivals most battleships. Again this is just my opinion why Saratoga is fine in the low T0 spot.
hey man i just got essex. I already have enterprise and formidable lvl 100+ in my main fleet. Is essex worth levelling up and have her instead of one of the 2? Or should i keep Enterprise and Formidable and use essex on the secondary fleet?
The video content is informative, but I wished there was more visual stimulus... Like displaying the ship’s stats and skills and highlighting the parts of said stats and skills that define their tier placement.
I have a new player question. I just got enterprise and am super stoked. I loved the 3 carriers that survived the war (Saratoga, ranger, enterprise.) would they be a good line up as a new player? I also have Lexington and was considering maybe replacing ranger with her, I see ranger is higher here but I’m not super sure why Lexington seems really awesome (and the barrage is v useful.)
i thought yorktown will be up there because i literally keep hearing her saying "jiyuu no tame ni" a bajillion times at once and thought that sounded pretty op
I don't really feel like you're giving Sara enough credit. In my experience she frequently can outdamage Enterprise and certainly has a lot more utility. She has the highest base AVI among all carriers, 3rd highest AA and 4th highest HP value.
Depending on where you put her, Mob fleet she will outshine Enterprise (suicide boat: say what), the boss fleet enterprise will out damage Sara by far.
hi im new in azur lane so my question is u think akagi and kaga(my favorite shipfus after illustrious) are better for killing bosses or mobs ?, i just got my akagi yesterday but still doubting in wich fleet put them on
they're pretty good at both, but generally speaking, Carriers are better suited at dealing with mob fleets as they can clear the screen with their airstrikes. For bosses, Battleships are usually more preferred due to how you can focus fire them and do more precise damage.
when i gacha infront of my azur lane's friend old player, i got both centaur and enterprise, my friend told me that i need to become airforce fighter lmao. and now i get it why he said that.
Best carries are the carriers that can do CQC. that what anime version tells me. and This Video is invalid. DON't you dare talk bad about my Megane bunny ear waifu Souryuu. Ark Royal, she can equip 2 torp bombers + 25% chance to do damage(when max out yellow skill) is another reason she is high up there. if met with boss that slow or static. she can do a lot of damage. comparable to Big E or Centaur. but Shikikan needs to how to utilize her well and definitely can compete with big 3(or big 4?) of carrier, in general usage.
Victorious was said to be average. Can you please explain why she's in tier 2 despite that? Even just speculation on why please. I got her but don't really know much about how to use her.
Good balance of fighter-bomber-torpedo, Scramble (her 2nd skill iirc) increases her DPS ceiling. She out damages T3 carries and can be considered as T1 against BB bosses.
I heard that Saratoga is T0 now because she is the best at taking out repair ship, the most annoying enemy on W13, probably because she has more dive bombers than other T0s. I haven't tried it myself (in fact i haven't challenge W13 yet because i'm too lazy) so i don't know for sure, but there is video that demonstrate that www.bilibili.com/video/av94827625
Wait, 1:44 You described one of Centy's skills. The one increasing avi/fp in main fleet. It sounds like You either don't have Essex, or rarely use her.
I once was determined to get those dam foxes, i decided to keep grinding till i got one... I skiped a night of sleep and spent about 14 hours grinding nonstop, (thank god for the auto battle) i actually ran out of oil, i think i spent like 6k or somthing like that...ive since lost all will to ever try again, Akagi is hot af but im not gonna sacrifice that much sanity for her
7:17. Zuikaku and Shokaku were from the 5th division of japanese carriers not the second. Well atleast until 1942 cause we all know what the attack on pearl harbor cause later on to the IJN.
Totally correct. I realized my mistake at 8:11 and properly corrected myself. Sorry for the tongue slip. Edit: i just put a note on my pinned comment addressing this, just in case people don't see my correction, thanks for pointing it out!
She's in tier 1, very good but not absolutely broken like the other tier 0 carriers. www.reddit.com/r/AzureLane/comments/hcg79q/cn_usagi_senseis_tier_list_n53_19062020_helena/
I feel like I’m super super lucky I got my first carrier illustrious then got Essex then went on a spree getting enterprise and saratoga centaur and Lexington from gacha (also I don’t know how I got Essex from gacha I just opened a few builds got Essex)
Ander, I'm sorry to break it to you, but Formidable is... not a maid... She's a "lady", meaning a noble, just like her sisters illustrious and victorious, rather than a maid, all maids are vanguard ships, after all.
Did you just call Zuikaku not good?! I really do like zuikaku, Zuikaku has a very good hp pool, what makes her a good tank in gigher maps and she survives quiet a beating
Damn i got akagi and kaga and bunkerhill and they are hard to farm and this year thier just freaking T2 WTF It Takes Me To Grind For The Three Of That Ships To Get
man so much disrespect to Saratoga, bruh I have Enterprise as my first SSR then got Saratoga after 1 month of playing and guess what? Ive been using Saratoga more than E... why? try grinding some stages and always check ur clock or watch, u will see the very big difference on HOW FAST saratoga wipes everything ....
Sara is geared towards the mob fleet. Her auto cannon takes out suicide boat very easily, and her anti-air is perfect for high-level air-demand maps. Enter on the other hand is more geared towards the boss fleet since your front line will have high anti-air defense so it makes up her lacking.
Bro why do you got to star the video saying some stupid ass shit like that I was gonna be fully invested in watching this video but hear "what's crackalackin" killed everything
Probably because Sara retro has so many abilities. Her "cover fire" does a solid amount of HE damage, her airstrikes inflict flooding, and she buffs the vanguard's DPS a bit whenever she procs her airstrike. This seems like she's super good since she offers so much, but all of these abilities combined just aren't as crazy good as Enty's double damage airstrikes. Double the damage for an airstrike just wipes screens, and the "evading everything for the next couple seconds" is just a cherry on top. Especially since this list focuses heavily on W13, being able to take out certain key targets fast and reliably are highly valued, and Enty does just that.
Saratoga also has the HIGHEST Aviation stat of all the carriers by a good amount. And can equip essentially 3 dive bomber squadrons which do more damage than torpedo bombers, Then she can also do decent chunk damage with her arty skill and 1 of 2 carriers that can shoot down bombing ships. And then you got her flooding and fire damage.Then you got her vanguard buff.take her and a USN vanguard and enty really isnt a threat while Saratoga is just a way more reliable damage dealer.
@@mr2tuner136 the way I see it, since I have been using both of them for a while now, (both of them are in my boss fleet), Saratoga retro is more of a team player. She makes your good team even better. She provides support for suicide ships, great support skill for the vanguard. Her airstrikes deal ridiculous damage since she has a double dive bomber set up, her AVI is top notch for hard modes and can help with the ACV, she is super cute as well but her skill voice gets pretty anoyying sometimes since she uses a skill literally every 10 seconds, her skill has 70% chance for flood damage. Enterprise on the other hand is the very definition of a HARD CARRY. You can put her in a weak ass fleet and still manage to win it somehow just because her ONLY 1 skill is just so broken, it doesn't really matter who she's with, she gonna nuke the enemies, end of story.
@@justinemarkdajay7485 I agree with that. Considering i set my "teams"up with each ship filling a role instead of just as much DPS as possible. Especially in PvP. I get so much use out of saratoga. She was my first Retrofit and pretty much been in my main fleet since i first started playing. I havent had issues with Enterprise in so long in pvp fleets. I get a bit of a chuckle seeing enty in fleets. my pvp fleet is South Dakota,Illustrious,Saratoga kai,Helena,Cleveland,HMS Aurora/San diego/Montepelier. So yea i kinda love running USN ships. Have an HMS fleet but they can't stand up to carrier heavy backlines any where near as good.
@@mr2tuner136 yup. My ships in my fleet will always have roles, not just because you can deal alot of damage. Saratoga was my first retro as well. Laffey was the 2nd. And if i need a damage dealer, id put Enty in and just be done with it. Main reason why i dont engage teams in pvp with a level 110+ Enty. You can only hope she doesn't "owari da" your fleet into oblivion. Lol
cuz high efficiency on torpedo bombers, they fire before AA ships can touch then so they suit map 13 perfectly. Also generally more dmg cuz no fighters.
I think that her placement in tier 3 is only due to how she's classified as a light carrier, meaning she has less stats than a regular carrier. She loses a lot of aviation from this and many people prefer raw damage over good skills. Her skills are great so it's unfortunate that just because of her stats she's dropped so far down.
Why Hiryuu not tier 0?! She's the reason why IJN fleets are cancerous in PVP! I will fight Enterprise any day in PVP but not Hiryuu. If you ever fought a Namaryu fleet, you should know.