Is Zao Any Better Than Yodo? - T10 Japanese Cruisers 

People be asking Zao buff because of power creep, so they made Yodo so Zao doesn't feel power crept.

So the idea of Yodo was to basically make Zao look stronger

Zao was so good back in the day, now it needs a turret/topr re arrangement to be competitive

Doubling Zao's turrets traverse speed would fix a lot of issues.

Zao is still a great ship, I play it once in a while and never dissapoints.

Played Yodo on PTS, it cannot hold a candle to Zao. Which says more about Yodo than about Zao. Zao has good speed and maneuverability, great concealment and good accuracy. I play her with range mod and disengage whenever I get focused. She's a pain to deal with that way.

All those broadside cruisers and zero AP salvo shot infuriated me so much. Especially w that DM at the end.

Imo since when they gave it DD dispersion it became pretty fun and solid. Now with more HP, even better.

Can't wait to play Zao! I enjoyed the line in my last account, but I only got as far as Mogami that time, glad to see it's not struggling as heavily as I'd feared.

Zao is my fav ship in the game. It's the only tech tree ship I bought an economic bonus package for. It's just fun to play! I would like to see a One Take on the Henri IV, if it's possible. I can't seem to make that ship work and would like to see how you play it. (non-lighthouse build) Thanks for the content!

When I first started playing this game years ago I started to grind the Zao. After coming back to the game I'm happy to see that it is still somewhat worth grinding. I'm currently at the Aoba so I still have a long way to go.

I think the Yoshino has taken over Zao’s role. Better range and improved HE pen make a huge difference.

Zao stealth + accuracy + AP is devastating. It is perfect to move unspotted into a broadside position and dev strike cruisers. Example: 9 of 12 shells into a Worchester with 8 citadels for a dev strike from nearly full health. Insane. Look at how many times PQ lands 12/12 shell salvos. insane.

I have been back on WoW for about a month and I have yet to have an Ocean map since being back (used to be about 5-10% rotation a few years back). I know people seem to not like it, but I like how it changes gameplay, especially for Cruisers.

Perfect timing, just finished Yodo vid :)

Really wish they hadn't taken the rudder shift off the legendary module for Zao, giving it back would make a big difference as it would enable you to shoot all the guns and angle up again like you used to be able to. Similarly I think it should have Atago deck armour. The HP buffs they gave it were not really worth very much.

How do I get this HUD overlay, that shows how much hp we heal back, and the ship angles on the bottom left?

one thing that sticks out to me is that you used IFHE on the yodo and as others have said that is essentially crippling its damage output, IJN fires are brutal.

I think many people sleep a bit on the Zao because many streamers like flamu are making a meme out of it and constantly tell anybody how bad she is. But she is not bad at all. She does the things she can do perfectly well and fits her designed role greatly. Are there better cruisers out there? sure. Are there more versatile cruisers out there? sure. But who cares. Zao is Zao and does her thing reliable as she always did

Zao has been my love from the moment I picked up the game to the moment I stopped playing, I am/was a cruiser capitan at heart and loved heavy cruisers, Zao and Venezia being my favourites, and speaking to people who still play the game i hear sad stories about Zao, still she seems she can do her bit here, maybe in a few days I'll fire up wows again and check out the state of things

The Zao is a legend and my most played cruiser in the game. Even though it has alot of drawbacks I still continue to play it. I run the range mod (18.4K) over the legendary mod (17.5K) which is one hell of a mod and was the best mod back then. Zao also has trollish armor and people sleep on it. I tend to open water gun boat at max distance, use eye in the sky talent for more planes and 1 minute uptimes and it worked out or me. the only drawback on the Zao is the Torp Angles and Turret Traverse but if youre open water gun boating and using its range to your advantage you wont need to worry about the turret traverse or the Torp angles as you only have 12KM torps. I can see if it had Yoshino levels torp ranges. Its greatest asset is the guns. even with a slow turret I put myself in a kiting position and burn people to the ground. The Zao is a great ship in the right hands of those who can overcome the negative stigma and knows how to play the ship correctly. hugging islands is not one of them because the gun arcs will not let you shoot over. True story about the AP: I was playing a match in my Zao and conducted a volley shot on an Ibuki from 11KM out and literally one shotted the ship from full health. Also, There is one other ship with the same if not similar legendary mod: The Moskva. both legendaries make the guns extremely accurate. but the Moskva gets a negative side effect of slower turret traverse. Zao's legendary is the same with pinpoint dispersion with 0 negative effects. However, Moskva's range is further than Zao's so keep that in mind.

so, zao or hindenburg? who is the best 12 guns 203mm spammer of tier 10?

Thx, definitely going to drop the Yodo line now and turn for the Zao instead. I was about to go to tier 8 and the tier 7 felt quite frustrating until now. Glad to know the tier X isn't really worth the grind.

Zao is still my favourite burner cruiser to play. Love that troll armour too.

Zao seems to start more fires than it should even years later.

Thanks!

stealth fire was damn good stuff

How about next doing the other, other JP heavy cruiser Yoshino?

The second game was a perfect example of why it's best to play with the chat disabled.

maybe give shimanto and yodo (t9 and t10) 1/4 pen like the germans? so you can skip the IFHE skils and focus somewhere else?

what mods you using?

maan i really miss the stealth-fire days on my Zao or Khaba :D

What mods are you using

I'm playing Shimanto now, it's awesome. Does the line actually get worse after that?

have you noticed that a lot of high tier games have very few DDs at the moment?

I really enjoy zao, it’s probably my favorite ship and I feel very consistent in it. I wonder if people would think it would be a meta ship simply by giving it radar (I know they won’t do that and am not necessarily advocating for it)

I highly recommend my custom zao build with rudder mod in slot 5 and reload mod in slot 6. You can comfortably cosplay as an extremely hard hitting gunboat dd because you literally maneuver better than Harugumo in every way.

I tend to treat zao as an area denial tool nobody likes to go near one, as for poor armor just don’t get hit honestly. Good rudder and speed juke works quite well. Yodo is kinda sad tho

Yodo is an island hugger that sends occasion torps to ward off incoming ships.

I've had great results in Yodo. It's fine as long as it's built, skilled, and played correctly. Same with Zao, although it's easier to be consistent in Zao.

With legendary mod, the accuracy, shell velocity, fire chance, spotter plane, concealment and the torps still make this one of my favourite cruisers, downside very slow turrets, terrible torp angles, slow rudder, low default firing range.

Zao is spite of the age...and that people count cruiser health in Zao's....says quite a bit that regardless of how much it got kicked and punched it holds well pretty ok

Remember a time when the Zao was amazing? Firespammer. Troll armor. Stealth firing! Overall, even the world was a better place back them. *sips coffee*

I would love if the Zao got buffed to 32mm midsection and 27mm bown/stern

zao is one of my favorite t10 cruisers. I just don't play it too much anymore because its not competitive

I havent had Ocean map in a very long time

Zao has always been of of my most hated ships (to play against).... right up there with CVs, subs, Conquerer, and Smolensk

let us not forget that zaō is the most balanced ship in a perfect state where it does not need any changes at all omegalul

Zao is still fun, needs a little bit of love though. I use the legendary mod and it performs amazingly. AP Zao is underrated.

#1? I was actually thinking to get this line done....

The torp angles are fine on this ship!! And it’s a great ship if you play it properly!! Just play the ship the way it’s ment and it’s a great ship!!!

Been playing the zao since I got it a few months back as my first tier X cruiser (yes I know it's not the best for beginners). People underestimate zao AP a lot is what I've learnt to take advantage of, other cruisers just don't expect u to load AP so they'll just go broadside a lot. I don't think I'll ever stop playing zao, way too fun of a ship even if it's weak

Zao would be massively improved even if she only got the 'homing' torps that are on newer ships. Having to do a gamer turn to get them off is what makes this ship so frustrating to play

The Chung mu in the last game, big mouth 45% spamming chat till the end of the battle, calling other players trash when he went full yolo.

I like Zao, I think she's a great ship. Easy to play, crazy consistent guns, light cruiser maneuverability, troll armour. Firing angles suck ass but everything else about her is very solid. When I want to play some low-effort games, chill and farm damage, I take either Zao or Yoshino and always have good time in them. Zao actually holds the highest average damage on my account (131k over 36 battles)

I think shell velocity is very important I find the guns on the US DDs very hard to hit with at range Mind you I don't play the game much But when I did, I loved the Zao's gun's and shell velocity

Only buffs Zao needs is maybe more HP, definitely some more armor (seriously, remove those humps in the citadel), better turret traverse and angles and the torps angles Yodo has. Zao is a fine ship if you ask me, her strengths are as a long range marksman, not an HE spammer (Same as Yodo but Zao is not as limiting as Yodo and can do more)

Supported game for years. Yodo broke the camels back.

12:37 it hits 12 of 12 shells!

Their was never a need for a light Japanese cruiser because zao is a light cruiser essentially, if anything they needed a heavy cruiser line

Yes.

23:52 You probably hit the deck, it's 50mm.

I am once again asking for Yodo reload buffs

This Ship need Atago deck Armor

Super Zao when

MZGA- Make Zao Great Again!

Don't have the Yodo, but I just got the Zao and think that she is pretty good.

zao is so good when angling away from an enemy

There was a time when conqueror was called mega zao

Also compared to yodo which has turrets that almost get knocked by every kind of HE zao at least doesn't have that problem

That just goes to show you that most players have no idea how to play a certain classes. How can you just sit in radar range on an ocean map. Especially in a Shima.....

Every kiting cruiser added to the game since 2017 is just "better Zao"

Zao is a total HE sniper, very easy to do raw damage to battleship extremities with skilled and steady hands.

The torps are not as effective because you play it so far away. The Zao is best in class in the (very non meta) close in play style. Play it far away like that and no, the torps are a non factor. And yes, there are many other tier ten cruisers that play at range better. Build it for close in DD hunting and Ambush play style and you have more fun with it.

They brought Yodo to shut people up about Zao's misery. Even Zao feels like a supership after Yodo.

Yodo is a great smaller ship killer. Though I've killed enough BB. So mostly killing DDs & Light Cruisers. The Zao is so heavy, she might as😂 well be a stinky BB. LoL ya I hate playing Battleships.

There needs to be an aptitude test or something in order to play superships, jeeeeesus

U have Ap shells as well :/

Shell velocity itself is amazing on the Yodo, it's actually higher than on the Zao, the issue is that massive firing arc. The firing arcs and the non-existing DPM kill the yodo massively.

For me, the Yodo only has turret rotation for it and torpedo angles and it barely fires faster from the Zao. The Zao is "better" armored (troll armor), much more agile, a little bit more stealthy, velocity plus shell trajectory is definitely more interesting, not to mention its monstrous accuracy, range & fire chance, HE penetration . Against DDs, the Zao is also better... Really, it's only my opinion, but I sincerely find that the Yodo has nothing for him (But, give me back the old rudder shift =D, I don't care of this shitty buff of 4000HP)

The Zao is a ship that just has zero impact on a game's outcome for the most part. It cannot contribute much to the team aside from being a constant thorn in the enemy's side, and that's only if you aren't being constantly stared at by BBs/big gun cruisers and DDs. Even back then she was quickly rendered obsolete when Hindenburg and Henri IV (at least until they nerfed her acceleration to hell) got small buffs and became better HE spammers, and when it came to splattering DDs, Minotaur was far better for that task.

dont forget - Zao has the absolut beste long range precision in the game - i love my Zao, you need to know how to wiggle a butt-

Most cruisers in high tier are very boring to play these days. Most of the time you re busy hiding from all the overmatching BBs, then get some chip damage in and go hide again while the god class is able to strike you whenever he wants to and the other griefer class spotting you when you want to change postion... Over the last few weeks i ve grinded the italian cruisers. And the most fun i ve had with them was at T6 & 7. There you still can make clutch plays by going close, smashing DDs with SAP and cruisers with AP. I managed to get over 80k average damage on Trento, more than with all other ships of this line. But i havent played Venezia alot yet. Its just baffling to me how WG sh*ts on the core classes just to favour the insufferable griefer classes they squeezed into this game with sheer ignorance. How to loose players 101.

i rather play an Agincourt at lvl 10 than Yodo.

They need to buff Yodo with at least 130m of less/better turning Radius. The Turning Radius is that thing that's totally ridiculous and kills Yodo most of the Time. And even than it might not be enaugh, cause Rudder Shift is a joke and Reload is just super bad as well as the Pen. Zao in my Opinion doesn't need a Buff - it's just good as it is. The only thing that's pissing me off is all those stupid "all overmatch" BBs that never existed in real World and never wouldn't have been build. If there only would be Yamato in the Game, Zao would just be fine. But with all the other Fantasy Trash (Incomparable, Thunderer, Satsuma, ...yada yada yada) they added last few Years, there isn't much you can do to balance Zao.

I love your vids but one thing I notice about your play style is that you are more concerned with farming using HE then helping your team by destroying ships. Countless videos you have ships flat broadside and won't use AP and those ships you had a chance to destroy or do major damage too, ends up killing your team mates.

Yo, last night just after your Yodo vid, I was playing a losing match. Everybody except me, a random DD, and a Yodo were left. The Yodo was trying to finish off a Napoli, which had 300 health. Just to see what would happen, I decided to not help with the Napoli and watch. The Yodo, which had about 10k health, shot off 3-4 salvos, first AP, then HE. The Napoli did not heal. Somehow, it also did not die lmao Napoli killed him afterwards XD

pq freakng over a 8k shot into that patrie but casually misses a 10.5k salvo at 7:58

zao is go to fire starter

So frustrating even just Watching the suicidal Chung Mu talk trash about the rest of his team after he's dead in the second game.. Great content nonetheless from your side :P, just unfortunate that the worst people are some of the loudest..

in the age of powercreep , japanese line gets yodo which is worse then old japanese CA, which is one of the ships that was powercrept the most , hmm wargaming where is the logic ?

sometimes it seems to me that Ibuki is better than zao

God it's sad to see a game that hard fought but just doomed no matter what you do. It's vicariously demoralizing.

zao and yodo is different ship yodo can defeat zao in 1v1 bu🤗t zao will eazy in randam because of his mai battery i make some tutorial vedio about world of warships !welcome to my channel!

I prefere Yoshino, but i own Zao and i see nothing useful in Yodo.

Yodo = Dodo...

anything is better than Yodo💀💀💀