Destroyers..... Briefing (By MasterWolf)

Excellent choice - one of the most fun classes in WoWS

But you ask - what is the difference between USA and IJN ??

As this is the newcomers area i'll confine myself to tiers 2 -5 and talk in fairly general terms

At these low tiers both are primarily torpedo boats - they have really fast torp reload times and fairly average guns so the torp is their main weapon.

So USN - DD killers - The US Navy DD's are dedicated destroyer hunters - their torps are short ranged, slowish and do not hit very hard - but they have lots of them and separate port and starboard broadsides so you get double the fun.  They also have guns that excel at killing other Destroyers and can even annoy a cruiser if used right.

What they are not however is brawlers - they lack the armour and HP to do this as well as a cruiser and must rely on agility to stay alive - so fire off a spread, then snap of a few HE rounds and RUN until your torps reload.

With USN DD's try to pick your targets - lower tier cruisers are fair game but and equal or better tier cruiser or any BB is going to eat you alive in short order.  You can sometimes get in really good torp runs on these big opponents, but don't expect to sink too many unless you get lucky.  What you will do is annoy the heck out of them and soften them up for the main fleet.

Spread your torps out unless you have a sure thing - you fire a lot so a wide spread can make it hard for the enemy to dodge them all - you don't do as much damage but if you are hunting DD's one is enough.

ok so onto the IJN - the glass cannons of the WoWS lineup at low tiers

They have a limited number of long rage fast running, hard hitting torps and are a terror to any unsuspecting or inattentive ship of any size.

IJN DD's are ship killers - they can drop a BB in one salvo and many Cruisers in 1 or 2 torps  (what they do to enemy DD's if they hit is best not described using PG language)

The problem is - they are fragile and they do not have a lot of torps - so you need to pick your shots to make them count.

On IJN guns - forget it - at best they are handy for finishing off a crippled ship or setting fire to a fleeing carrier - other than that - the guns on an IJN DD are best left as decoration - if you are concentraing on shooting the guns you are not dodging, or setting up your next run and both of these are much more important

A pair of IJN DD's especially isokazes (as at their tier one torp is deadly) can own an entire match by combining their fire and flooding the enemy fleet with an un-avoidable spread of torps.

A word to the wise - spam torps with care - your torps will run a long way and an incautious drop can often see your team mates being the in intended victims of your enthusiasm.  - They will not thank you for it!!!

Try to use the close spread setting as it increases your chance of a deadly blow and means that even at the end of your run the chance of a hit is high if they do not dodge.

onto a bit about the DD's worst enemy AA fire - TURN IT OFF - if you are trying to be stealthy - the moment you open up on enemy aircraft you generate spotting checks and almost certainly loose any cover you had.

Turn it back on once you are in the thick of things - but your smoke is far less effective if some ensign is rattling of 100 round bursts off AA tracer from the back deck at a spotter plane when you are trying to run for your life..