japanese light cruisers

[Curco]

does anybody likes that line? they F sucks for me, weak af ships

[Leo]

They are the some of the worst ships in the game. I would strongly recommend not playing them until they are significantly buffed.

[Jackson]

They've worked ok for me so far. They're not my favorites, but a way above my least favorites. I'm only to T8 though so have no opinion on the 9 and 10 as yet.

[jaquig]

light cruisers explode if you look at them to hard. all of them.
The Japanese cl aren't special in their weaknesses but they improve in performance if you try to use them as a destroyer leader ( Kuma ) in play style, top speed and always moving, changing course. They are complete garbage at the hide behind island and dpm farming but as active run and torp and gun they do fairly well.

[christof]

Peculiar in play style, but not really bad in my opinion. I just wished that the ships below Shimanto would have better turrets. Thankfully WG decided to buff the rudder shift on some, they just weren't maneuvrable enough before in my opinion.

[Nepgear]

IMO their purpose is to let you say "At least [tech tree cruiser] isn't as bad as [IJN CL]".

[Superczar]

Its hilarious b/c as bad as Yodo is (and its bad), the guns on it seem so much better than on Takahashi/Shimanto, which says a lot about how bad those two ships are (and boy are they).

[Grudgewrought]

If you get Division of Three players that communicate the Japanese Light Cruiser can kite, but this won't work often with Human players. Also it may reduce your DPS using this tactic if you care about that metric.

[Leo]

Originally posted by Grudgewrought:

If you get Division of Three players that communicate the Japanese Light Cruiser can kite, but this won't work often with Human players. Also it may reduce your DPS using this tactic if you care about that metric.

The issue is the other Japanese cruiser line with the Zao is so much better at kiting. They have harder hitting guns and better turning.

[Nelsons other eye]

Originally posted by Nepgear:

IMO their purpose is to let you say "At least [tech tree cruiser] isn't as bad as [IJN CL]".

+1

[Totally Innocent Chatbot]

Originally posted by Leo:

Originally posted by Grudgewrought:

If you get Division of Three players that communicate the Japanese Light Cruiser can kite, but this won't work often with Human players. Also it may reduce your DPS using this tactic if you care about that metric.

The issue is the other Japanese cruiser line with the Zao is so much better at kiting. They have harder hitting guns and better turning.

Which is pretty painful considering that, prior to the CLs' release, Zao was considered by far the most obsolete and powercrept T10 cruiser in the game. Possible to get good results in it, of course, but basically any other kiting cruiser could simply do its job better at the same tier.

[SUPERMCNUGGET]

The main good they have going for them is that the other tiers have some of the longest torpedo ranges in their respective tier ranges, for instance the Tier V Agano has a whopping 12km range with a quad torpedo armament when most other ships have a range of 4-8km torp range, the only thing coming close at that point are some of the Italian cruisers at 10km torp range. Even going up to Tier VII ships none of other ships can match your torp ranges outside of a few Italian ships coming close. Don't try to get into close range slugging matches, stay far away from the enemy and stay near other packs of friendly ships or friendly Battleships/Battlecruisers and just support from the back or middle of a formation.

That being said that torp range is really their only good thing going for them.

[Dee-Jay]

I lost interest after T7 (although I had decent results). I do know the higher tiers are annoying as hell to play against when controlled by a competent player who's set them up for agility - spamming torps from range with the odd HE salvo to set you alight. Constant threat and distraction.