Japanese Light Cruisers: How Best to Play Them 

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The low speed is a puzzling choice as IJN cruisers focused heavily on being fast historically.

Don't. Just skip the entire line and save yourself some time.

I've played a little bit with the IJN light cruisers, and in my opinion, gunboating is not the strength of the IJN CL line. You tend to want to want to play them more like big destroyers: torps are what you want to go all-in on in your build. That's not to say gunboat builds don't work, but you really want to approach these ships like they're an outsized Shimakaze.

step 1: don't

I like it when opponent team plays them

"Prove that you are a master of cruisers by playing these". I think the statistics will already be telling you that most people are going to decline your very kind invitation given these boats are complete and utter rubbish. They simply cause a massive squabble amongst all opposing BB and CAs on the map as to who gets to shoot at them and make them explode first. I am sure your counter argument would be that is good because it is distracting them from shooting at everyone else other than for the fact that it really only takes one decent salvo to make them go BOOM.

The ambient music absolutely slaps with the cinematography of this video!

Seems like an apology instead of a guide.

Efficient and easy to learn>???? What game are you playing IJN CAs crazy hard to play

The IJN line needs some love, especially the likes of Takahashi, Shimanto and Yoda. The ships don't bring that much impact to a game not without either coming across a poor enemy team or being at a professional level. The takahashi for example has the curse of being T9 so super ships will have you on the menu most games, The hull is paper and it's manoeuvrability is poor. The Torpedo's though can do a lot of damage are extremely slow which nullifies the long distance they have. When you look at the DPM the reload time is slow and the gun angles aren't great. The ship has a heal which isn't that good with the damage taken at most times being horrendous or just wiping you off the planes of existence. The ship would benefit from a buff to either torpedoes, it's guns or it's utility. A buff to one of this would make the ship more of an asset to a game rather than being a wasted ship choice in the game.

This entire line needs a MASSIVE buff, not only that, the heavy cruiser line of IJN also needs a massive buff, no one plays Zao in 2023.

戦う時に気をつけることと、このツリーの難しさの警告してくれるのは有り難いです。

So its a light cruiser but doesn't get: Light cruiser DPM, Light Cruiser Utility, or Improved Shell Characteristics. And in exchange you get more range, flatter arks, torpedoes, one of the longest light cruisers ever with a massive citadel. This feels like a Zao that underwent mitosis and spit into two halves, leaving it with smaller but double the guns, and more torpedoes, with all the amazing attributes Zao brings that no other ship has to offer, such as:

After experienced a very painful time grinding this line, i wonder.. has i wrong using it as a Gunboat !! Then i chose the capt skill focus on Torps, but the mods were full on gun power ! Make it a hybrid, then it's good, honestly !! The trick of this line is you have to play it like the Minotaur line with Torpedoes ! Their's Torps were scary, so they're useful for acquiring the gaps between island ! While the decent guns with high firing angle will be kinda good for farming behind island ! Their's role would be like the Chinese cruisers, to deal with the Brawler ! Ofcouse this meaning it would depend on MM, i mean if you got in to a match with 2 Vermount then basically you're done, but if you got into a match with German or Soviet ships, you would be nightmare to them with the Torpedoes

TLDR: bad ROF, weak DPM, vulnerable hull and low HP. Their advice: avoid ships.

Definitely an improvement over earlier videos. Pleasing visuals, an enjoyable music choice, and, dare i say it, actually useful information for new or new-ish players. I especially liked the use of arrow indicators to point out the position of the enemy Montana during the torpedo ambush. Stuff like this should prove helpful to people who want to up their situational awareness.

Man, they’re really dodging around how unbelievably average and unimpressive these things are lmao

I personally really like the ijn light cruiser line. It's fun once I learned how to play properly. Although Omono is unbearable...

How to play the new cruisers: you don't

Easy. Select another ship or Exit Game.

8:00 meanwile harugumo: im joke to you?

Here’s my personal tip if it’s not in the video: T5-T6, play them like a torpedo boat. After T7 play them like a German cruiser with better torpedoes. Meaning kite

After watching this video, playing as USS CL or UK CL aren't bad

"sometimes interrupt your artillery fire". Like I wouldn't be doing that already, with a base reload of 12.5 seconds on Yodo (or even 15 seconds if we look at the T8/9)

They are just huge destroyers, even the game recommends researching torp improvement skills

"easy to learn" heavy cruiser and aircraft carrier lines :

we introduce shiity line, for the "cruiser art masters"

I haven't played for a while, but somehow, this video makes me feel EVEN LESS inclined to rejoin and pick one of these CLs up. They just sound like straight up utter rubbish

TLDR - They don't have dps/ range or any special ability to make them even remotely worth playing.

These ships are best described as underwhelming. When even your best players generally underperform, you know it's not the fault of the player base, rather, the ships themselves are lacking. The slow reload, combined with guns that can be described as a disaster, take away damage potential, which is one of the two things that make a light cruiser a light cruiser. Not only this, but light cruisers usually have utility, being able to support their team with extra vision, AA support, and cover all at once. These cruisers have no such ability, in many instances, they are less equipped than their heavy cruiser counterparts. I simply do not understand the use of these ships. I loved Yahagi and was hoping they would perform similarly to her regarding equipment and playstyle. But unfortunately, I was mistaken, and I got this instead. I was very excited about another Japanese line, they are some of my favorites, But I can't really say I will be investing much if any time at all into these ships. Hopefully, WG will deliver a more digestible line in the future. A for effort I suppose.

1:50 when even WG says, that they aren't good ... they will suck af Range sucks HE sucks AP sucks And Torpedos ... in this sniping meta? A shipline that was dead on arrival :/

This ship line I had high hopes for. I wanted this line since I obtained the zao 5 years ago. I think this line needs some love, along with other older lines.

Anybody know the song name they used from 0:25 to 1:10, this song would fit perfect for a freeskiing video :)

Yamamoto cries in corner at how bad these ships are.

These are basically japanese torpedo destroyers in cruiser size. You use mostly concealment and torpedos, while the guns are mostly for finishing off heavily damaged ships.

how to play new ijn cruiser : fighting with submarines in bottom of the sea

i like agano but i didnt invest in the rest of the line .....

very nice... thanks!

This promotion video is crazy LOL. Japanese CA EASY TO LEARN? LOL

Moral of the video.... don't play Japanese light cruisers😂

Well, just about to start the Yodo line today. I finally finished the Zao line and well the teir 5 in the line sucked and made me quit the line and do others but I pushed pass thr teir 5 and the rest of the line was great. Only time i got nuked was when i did something stupid and deserved to get nuked. Not to many times i got nuked without doing something dumb. Also helps i did thr Henry line and knew the throttle juke maneuver so i was able to avoid most incoming

This is my faborite game since 2020 and y habe lots of fun playing it.

why do u ask us what we want and give us the opposite lol

the basics are simple and easy to learn. to get good at playing isn't so much.

3:20 SURPRISE ATTACKS? WITH 10km STEALTH? IN A CV / SUB Meta? :'D

They could just can’t add the 155mm guns on Yodo. This will fix 99.9% of the ship’s issue. Making the ship be a Heavy HE spammer with 8 seconds reload. While also vulnerable to getting hits. How hard this has to be?

How can you call these ships Light Cruiser with that HUUUUGE size ? Takahashi and Yodo are a lot bigger than the Zao, plus they are slow and less concealled (with a longer reaload time than the 203 mm of the Zao), the Zao looks much more of a light cruiser than the Yodo.

It's like playing on a bigger Akizuki

i played the T6 and loved it. its an incredibly mean little monster. if higher tiers are anything like it, this might become one of my favourite lines! i like light cruisers in general, so thats not really a surprise tbh. ;)

Save all the exp you would waste on this whole line and just get the Azuma instead.

So. By your own admission, WG, This line is pretty terrible. SO WHY THE HELL RELEASE THEM AT ALL?

The real gimmick of this line is to pretend you don't exist in the game so you can think you do damage. The sad thing is that I can count 100+ more ships who can do the exact same thing and more, minus the "think" part.

So, what's the term that means the oppositie of power creep?

These light cruisers play like battleships. You would think their light armor would make them more nimble in game play.

After i get Takahashii. I can tell... Every feature from this line is pure pain. Everything so miserable. For example > even i'm install 2 steering gear modification, but the maneuver still bad. WUT

I am just waiting for when they will do a line with some kind of counter radar or an Italian line with their gufo radar

Tommorow is my birthday make a video about uss north carolina pls

These are best for PVE (Operations Coop etc).. and possibly Randoms but not Ranked, Handicaps a team to play these in Ranked too frail not able to make any difference, better play a DD if you want light with low detectability and Torps...plus you get better Firirng rates on DDs no Citadels to offer up as Cannon Fodder. Many DD's can Out DPS Cruisers and Sinki BB's with HE. so..ya..not really Samurai or Warrior Ships.

A video telling you how mehhh this ships are. The wg hate for ijn continues.

How often did they have to use the word "modest" in this video? I see a drinking game opportunity 😅

Perfekt tree to reset and re-research for research points... and not play them.

In six months I'd like to see the stats of how much this line will have been played.

Fix the reload time main gun💀

Yes very light cruiser 10k more hp than Zao LMAO

I liked Omono, although her armour was total crap and AA was disaster. Still i had fun with it.

p l s make the reload time faster

Try and play them but after the game im just like.... What does it do this ship? (Take t9)

Make reload faster might as well play the heavy cruisers

Long range HE spammers that can’t even long range HE spam

I mean Light Cruisers would be worth playing in WoWS if AA wasn't crap. Before the AA reworks done back during the Aircraft Carrier Reworks, no carrier would dare take a squadron over something like a Cleveland for fear that they would lose the squadron. Now they don't care, because AA will never do enough damage to the planes to stop an attack. So congrats on adding more Light Cruisers that can't do anything but be xp farms for everyone else.

The line is significantly underperforming. It needs quad guns instead. Yodo with 6x4 guns thank you very much.

The ship is best used as destroyer hunter

reminds me the 155 mogami but at least that had armour

Best way to play this line is by NOT play it at all.

Seems like the best IJN CL isn't even in the CL lineup.

That's the neat part, you don't.

i aim a ship i shoot a ship i miss a ship .... so what is the point with that turning torp mechanics?

Hermoso y con gran calidad el vídeo. Me dieron ganas de jugar esta rama!

and I thought Holland(Netherland) and SEA line cruiser is bad enough..... paper armor and citadel like a Omaha/Kuma for free citadel hit Slow reload and useless AP and torps that enemy can see >1.8km away

"japanese ships are popular in our game" 💀💀💀💀💀dafuq you mean the most underpowered ships in the game we need a buff

Wg performs to sell sand for touaregs.

one DD missing in last scene 🙄

don't be food aa fire, it does basically nothing. you can't stop planes from dropping their payload no matter what. all you can do is reduce the drop by a plane or two at best.

Alright players, as usual stay at the edge of the map, spam HE, throw some torps and just play cowardly. Nothing new. Oh yeah remember AA still useless :)

Turtle velocity

Turret traverse speed is horrible .

useless aa, long ass reload with weak pen values, glass cannon armor but without the canon, manages to make zao look like a decent ship in some aspects, you really outdid yourselves

Way too many "dynamic camera angles" in this video.

Light cruiser with lacks of DPM haha

You took the impressive type 5 15 cm gun and nerfed the reload from 6 second to 12.5 seconds. Therefore don't even bother with this line.

Pure garbage line

If you removed the citadels from these ships, they might be worth playing. Far too fragile. Light cruisers have not been meta for years in this game if they don't have smoke.

Honestly? I just started the game, and chose this line because Shimanto is on Azur Lane (and she's cute). Kinda dissapointed to know that the investment won't be very good

Only good enough for cooperation games

the people who master this line isn't a master of playing cruisers, they're a master of wasting time and listening to the wrong kind of advice

This poor branch needs a bufg

Don't play them is the answer. Light cruiser caliber guns with a Heavy Cruiser reload time is not worth playing.

Now if only you guys properly released the line 3 months ago maybe there would’ve been some hype, instead of these asinine “Early Access” events that kill all hype for the new lines.

dont