How to Play Pensacola - World of Warships 

How to play Pensacola: Detect an enemy, wait 84 years for the turrets to turn, get nice citadels on cruisers, get deva striked by a triple citadel, go back to port.

How to play Pensacola: Take some painkillers, grind until you get enough free xp to unlock tier vii.

Great advice here. Normally when I play my Pensacola, 90% of the time I only last about 5 - 10 minutes, but I will now try and play this way and maybe I will stay alive in more games. Thanks again

i miss tier 7 pensa with its OP tier 7 mm and its turrets that could rotate 180 degrees in slightly under a century

Pro-tip for any USN cruiser. Don't be the first ship spotted or the only ship spotted. Let your destroyers get ahead and stay near your islands and battleships at the beginning of the match. Hold fire till enemy ships expend their salvo then let yours fly. If more than one ship is shooting at you, get undetected. As the match progresses and there are less enemies you can set the engagements a bit more aggressively, but always try to have an escape plan. You are a support ship. A great cruiser hunter and pretty good destroyer hunter. Yes, you can chip away at battleships but they are not your primary source of damage since you are their food. Everyone loves shooting at a Pensacola :) The longer you can stay in a match as a USN heavy cruiser, the more of a threat you are. Even when I play my Des Moines and I see an enemy Des Moines, I'll call on my team to focus fire it because I know it's a huge threat. Never pick a fair fight because you only have your guns to rely on since you don't have torpedoes. That means if get stuck behind an island shooting and get corned a smart enemy will rush you (BB, CA/CL with torpedoes, DD, even CV). Yes, a CV can target you. Use your defensive fire wisely. Once activated, if the planes are shot down and no more are near press P twice to turn off AA and enable it again. This will reset the defensive fire cooldown quicker so you can have it back up sooner.

Thank you so much. I really wasn't sure which way to go between Dallas and Pensacola, but your video helped immensely.

How to pensacola: play 1st half like a dallas, 2nd half bow shield foward and engage enemy cruiser -s- tip: learn to shell beat.

"Cap A" - "I know what I'm doing" LOL

Thanks chase, this video made a difference. I suck at Pensacola, but after watching this video, first game 85k dmg and a Kraken, second game 105k dmg and Confederate. I now just hold back a bit and check which way the game is going before I start engaging.

Can you do the USS Dallas next? I'm really struggling to play it cause it's so fragile.

Basically, how to go on the run, once you break out of prison

It’s a tough ship to master. As always, Thanks for the great tips. I couldn’t agree with you more.

How to play the pensacola, get a Pepsi, get a Cola, hit broadside cruisers while drinking pepsicola, you have successfully played the Pensacola

Can you also do a guide on the rest of the USN heavy cruisers? I am trying to grind up the line but am struggling.

For me, Pensacola was very much an "all-or-nothing" ship to play. I would either have monster games where I would delete cruisers and destroyers left and right, or would get dev struck and sunk by a battleship in the first five minutes. Even on the old Tier VII Pensacola, the turret traverse made me want to pull my hair out, and after the cruiser line change, it got so much worse. I'm much happier with Dallas for my Tier VI play, but I'll keep these tips in mind for when I go back to my New Orleans.

Yesterday I did what you said I should not do at 8:35 in the vid. Luckily he was stupid and did not shoot me for some reason. I was able to get a quad citadel on him for 22k dmg. He was a Nelson on top of that if he was not so attached to British HE he would have deleted me in return.

she's a great ship once you learn the get in, get out style, switching ammo and on occasion she can brawl some of the smaller destroyers and light cruisers one on one if you catch them lacking

"Has good firepower" Don't be silly hahahha Best advice HE and try to start fires

To be honest, the Pensacola could probably use a bit of a buff (it has the lowest win rate and average damage of all 16 t6 cruisers). I think they should reduce its detection range by 1-2km. That would make it a lot more interesting to play, because it would be better at sneaking into good positions and ambushing other cruisers.

Omaha, Pensacola, and minotaur are the 3 ships that are most targeted for dev strike and citadels. Assume the 1st hit is going to take at least 1/2 your health. I agree with most posts that the turrets rotation is bad in that you can over turn the turrets in a hard turn and wait to turn them back. This can force you to turn a little then wait for the turrets. I would say that if you can do damage equal to your health pool your doing fine. Server average is 28,500 and the top 25% are 42,300. T8 Pensacola 285 battles 47% win rate, t6 Pensacola 57% win rate 28 battles.

Hi m8, can you do a video about Dallas, whit the PEF campaign many got it, and for me used to play British/German/French cruisers it's a challenge . Thx and keep doing this kind of videos because they really help to improve my gaming.

Nice video Chase! For a request, maybe consider New Mexico or Nagato?

I know this statement is a little unfair, but I had many fun games in my Pensacola before WG moved and tweaked her. She has always been fragile but with 10 AP round at under 10KM would make BB player swear I was what playing a hacked ship and I was going to be reported to WG. The new and improved Pensacola requires you to play a little farther back then before. Mostly for the anemic turret rotation. Old Pen I love to go DD hunting, new is not so easy to now. I think I going to equip it with RPF to help be away of DDs to compensate for the slow guns turrets. Old or new you had to master one thing most of all. Your situation/map awareness. My advice is not to skip her. It was my first 19 point commander and it was fun to get high on the results screen being bottom tiered. Like the videos. Having you demo the ship of topic with a low point captain is a great benefit to the community. Not everyone will have a 19 point commander on her.

GREAT tutorial as usual. Thanks iChase!!

Really nice format

I actually didn't find Pensacola hard to play at all, considering the first cruiser line I played was the IJN cruiser line, and thanks to the lessons of CA gameplay that Furutaka teaches early on, and carries through the entire line up, I had no problems when I started to branch out to the US cruiser line.

I played the Pensacola at T7 before the US cruiser split and hated it. For all the reasons Chase stated. My situational awareness is problematic (still is), the turrets turned like glaciers...ugh. My win rate was like 31%. Maybe I'll take Chase's advice and buy it back as a self-trainer....

Nice series of videos Chase, I appreciate it... I have two requests 1) I'd like to see some videos on some of the stinkers of tier 8 and 9 AND 2) How to play Mikasa, that one ought to be interesting

How to play Admiral Hipper! I have such problems making that ship work beyond "first spotted, first dead"

Wtf that was literally the closest game ever, you barely missing the bayern in the end, and at the last second your teammate gets the final shot.

She was my favorite cruiser when she was at Tier VII. Haven't played her as much since the split and downgrade. Played right, with a good team who actually understands what teamwork is, she's a lot of fun.

Damn. No mention of the red who got 1800 base xp in losing battle with 6 kills. Jeez

When I unlock the "old" (T7 Pensacola) , my friend urge me just Free XP it without telling me the reason. I don't believe them and they were right. Pepsi was so painful to play (but it does have nice 203 US AP to fight cruiser) The old + stock version have concealment like 15+km , on map that require player to cap for team, once the enemy DD spotted you for their team , RAINS of AP shell from the red team BB + Cruiser will Focusfocus FIRE AT YOU until you area dead Because almost every capable BB player know Pensacola is a one hit EASY KILL.... The other "dreadful" cruiser for new player probably Emerald ... Full ship Citadel and bad range ...

Almost done suffering my way through the omaha, should i go pensa or dallas? Also consider the tech tree for each cruiser

I HATE this ship. I'm almost at Ibuki, halfway to the Seattle and I want to get to the New Orleans and then Baltimore, but I cannot play this POS. Why do the turrets turn slower than on my Amagi - literally?? I can handle squishyness, and slow reload, and yes, the guns themselves are quite good. But there is no reacting to anything, you are always way too late. This ship makes no sense, its turrets belong on a tier 3 battleship.

I tell you how to play Pensacola: Gain enough free XP to get over it ASAP if you want to go on the line. This is 1 of the worst ships in the game. Frustrating like hell. If you get into an average random team, you will certanly lose. You cannot afford a playing style like in this vid presented. If you don't contribute actively, your team loses. And with this piece of garbage you cannot be active. The maneuverabilty is of a BB, guns are CC-ish, armor doesnt exist. None of its capabilities is usable. My 2 cents: Terrible, useless junk.

That's my biggest fault in my playstyle...I am too aggressive. First line I got to high level was my DD's....but I still play ALL ships like a DD at times. Even my BB's. Try to run in and get up close and personal with other BB's at times. lol

The Pepsi is much better at tier 6 than it was at tier 7, though it's still a citadel fiesta for the opposing team if you make any mistakes. OK, sometimes you don't even have to make a mistake. This ship can take citadels from some odd angles. However, I like it more than the premium Indianapolis.

Chase, you keep forgetting that you are in the top 10% of players and that 90% of your audience isn't in your class and half of them don't know what you're talking when you start throwing out random stats.

How to play the USS Pensacola? Just Free XP past it.

More please. Good video and explanation

Don't? Actually didn't mind the ship much but playing it on the CV Beta stock with 0 point commander was brutal.

Help BBs by spamming HE, oh wait - you can't. Turrets take next month to decide where to aim.

thats it. thx for your work. and i miss the old melody 😋

yes forcees you to be best player fok . i dont know if it was a mistake but pensacola pissed me eveveryrryrtititme i drive her lmfao/

That's how you play the Omaha

How to play: if u see a cruiser showing broadside, punish it with your guns

Nice ship, but tricky. I run John Doe on her, with buffed expert marksman, it makes all the difference. The guns are MONSTROUS at tier 6. You need to plan approaches and have jedi level WASD hax to live long enough to fully capitalize on the guns, however.

I mainly got her cause shes highly recommended to me and I'm about shit to her

How to play pepsicloa: What HE? it is a RN cruiser in disguise. What armour? it is a RN cruiser in disguise. if you can make radar minotaur works, you surely can make pepsicola works. if you still have no idea on how to play this ship after watching this vid, watch "how to furutaka" by Yuro.

It made me chuckle a bit as you citadel'ed that Nürnberg. I really hate that ship. Every bit of damage you receive is basically a citadel... so frustrating. Few days ago a Shchors hit me at the tip of the stern at around 30-40 degrees... boom, citadel...

The Cleveland. . . I have been tempted to ask you to do this again, but you seem like a nice guy and it may be just too much pain. Watched your work-in-progress review. Checking in my port it looks like they upped the range of the upgraded guns to 15.2 km and knocked half a second off of reload. Seems like this is nowhere near enough - the gun arcs are probably still in the low-earth-orbit category. Any shots fired at long range in the last minute of the game will not land until the next game. Higher tier battleships and cruisers are much less likely to sail in straight lines while your shells meander downrange. The gun arc was a nerf to the original Tier VI Cleveland to take it from crazy OP to just OP. Maybe we should start an "Un-NERF the Cleveland" campaign. . .

Very nicely done. Can you please travel back in time and put this out immediately after the USN cruiser split appeared? (People like to knock this ship, but I have nearly 80K XP in her despite not even needing to play her. She can be a LOT of fun in co-op.)

I dislike the new T6 Pensacola. I enjoyed the ship much more at T7. The glacial turrets are a bridge too far for me. Give me a premium Salt Lake City with the old traverse and take the improved autobounce angles away if you have to.

Thanx iChase, I don’t play Cruiser but enjoyable video non the less. I absolutely love BB and would like a video on Colorado, Fuso tier BB’s.

I'd like to request KITAKAZE and Harigumo.. are they any good ??

method worked started gettin more damage and started livin longer

Yes, more please! My one criticism, when you were showing the comparative stat block, it obscured a lot of the screen for a significant portion of the action. I wanted to see what was going on there. If you could either pause the game in the background while showing something like that, or make it smaller/not leave it up so long, that would be great! Thanks!

8:53, if you used HE youd probably perma burn or flood that GC. But OK, statement is valid although kinda a gamble.

Thanks Chase. Tier VI may be the best for me - sure you get up-tiered a lot, but at least you are not facing the Tier IX and X insta-delete cruisers and destroyers. I started a WoWS sabbatical while Pensacola was still Tier VII - always liked the ship but did not do well. There was always the comparison with the fairly tank-ey Cleveland then at Tier VI. 8-inch guns at Tier VI offer some interesting possibilities - I think the Aoba is a bit tougher, but making six-gun warships work is a challenge. I have been playing the French Tier VI cruisers a lot recently, and it may be good practice for the Pensacola. Good maneuverability and paper mache armor.

This just helped me alot. Been struggling with this ship. Watched your video played a match and completely changed how i view the Pensacola

What the hell I only have 3 captain points how do I get more

How about Mahan? Although it was buffed ago, it seems still many people suffers because of its damn concealment.

If you can play Pensacola then you can play anything.

How to play any tier 5-7 cruiser except for the Pensacola? Locate an enemy Pensacola, switch to AP, and collect citadel ribbons.

Plz do USN line and the difference of Buffalo from the others, I had trouble (finally got Des Moines) but it would help and I would like your advice on it.

I am a fan of pensacola because it is a high skilled ship

I'm was an amazing Pensacola player, when she was t7.

Calm down, I know what I'm doing! Love it

The Pensacola with a good Cpt (not me!!) at the helm can be very scary to any cruiser or even same/lower BB at range. I have much enjoyed the Pensa in Operations where you have a better chance of choosing engagements. Great video of a commonly held mid-tier ship iChase! Moar please.

How to play Pensacola: stay close to BB give them extra AA support provide cover bugger off once they start targeting you oh and islands are your friends.

Great commentary, very informative! I just got this ship and it seems underwhelming however it appears I was just playing it wrong lol

when your alternating between playing Pensacola German bbs and google how not suck at pensecola...

Once I got the upgraded turrets after a couple of battles, I loved Pensacola at t7 (with the little I played it after the rework, I actually enjoyed it a little more at t7 than t6). I get why people always hated her after the Cleveland (and I admit that hate did make me not upgrade to Pensacola until shortly before the rework) but she was such a fun ship to play and could pretty consistently put out decent damage games if you played intelligently. The couple of times I took t7 NO into randoms or scenarios I felt there were some similarities to the old Pensacola, but I didn’t feel like I had as much fun as I tended to in Pensacola. I wouldn’t necessarily be one to buy a premium that’s basically a copy of a tech tree ship, but t7 Pensacola would definitely make me consider getting Indianapolis in the future.

Other then the turret travers IMO this ship might even be Op.

Could we see a Emile Bertin video soon??

Excellent video! Although she is not my favorite - I appreciate your insight, especially on the gun angles!

Could you do the Ibuki again? Its been a year of powercreep since your last vid ^^

UR offending the Pensacola! This ship identifies as a man and you have just insulted him 30 times in one go!

"Pensacola is not for aggressive players" well that explains why I hated it. wait... I knew that.

Pennnn sacola gets pens to much by bbs

Hi iChase , can you recommend what kind of ship module upgrade for Pensacola ?? Thanks!

I don't know how to play the pepsicola But i do know how to kill it dem tasty citadels.... yum!

Nice vidéo on a particular play style. I tend to be agressive and bad with cruiser.

what is the intro song called? I have wondered for a while now.

how about the Helena please chase?

How to play the bismark

This applies to all the USN line and its great advice, support is the name of the game great video keep them coming

wait did the code still avaiable?

How about the tier 7 Colorado

Excellent. Would love to see more of these How To Play ship videos, particularly mid tier ships.

Plzz do amagi I have it just not long ago and I wanna see if I playing it right

Nice vid Ichase, very helpful vid. Been struggling with the Pensacola and trying to get better with it.

I would like to see the Nürnberg!

Tirpitz in a lvl 10 match

It's a horrible ship.

How to play lexington?

Now for the Furious taco

I'd like to see a How to about the Seattle. That's a ship I don't understand at all.

I'd like to request Fuso ,Bayern and Gniesenau