Azuma is severely underrated

[Lavian]

Not that she's super awesome or anything (I'm loving her though), but she certainly doesn't deserve the derision she gets from the community.

Looking at stats on NA:
https://na.wows-numbers.com/ship/3760109264,Azuma/

She's third on wins, second on frags, first on damage, second on experience, first on aircraft destruction, and first on KDR.

She's largely the same on EU:
https://wows-numbers.com/nl/ship/3760109264,Azuma/

She's third on frags, but her position is otherwise the same.

"But Lavian! She has a small number of battles. There's not enough data to properly judge her."

Well, yes, she has a bad reputation and thus has been used a fraction of the amount of Alaska despite only being released a little over a month later.

"Her bad reputation means that only SUPER IJN CRUISER PROs play her, so she's got few games, and that must be inflating her stats."

Yeah, I might have bought that idea if I wasn't using her, but I am using her, and I'm not a good cruiser player. In about 20 games so far, my average stats with her are just below her average stats server-wide (aside from wins, which are above average, but at around 20 games I'm gonna chalk at least some of that up to luck for now). It's not too tough to perform at her average level as long as you understand her role.

She's a long range HE-slinger that harasses and baits larger ships into attempting to take long-range shots at her juicy, juicy, raised, poorly-protected citadel, keeping them lit up and not firing upon your other, perhaps easier to hit, ships. She moves in later to chunk away at cruisers once the bigger ships have been pushed off or taken down, and at any given time she takes potshots at less protected ships that seem feasible to hit from her range since her guns are quite accurate and easy to use.

She's not great at contesting caps early game, sure. For that matter she goes stern-in ready to start kiting at a moment's notice when things get too dicey and Priority Target starts counting upwards (or that's what I've done for the past few games; seems to work so far. Due to her large turning circle, going in with the bow can lead to situations that are tough to maneuver out of.). Once enough enemies start lighting her up, she speeds away while wiggling around slinging HE at every opportunity, burning down ships with her reliable damage as they struggle to land good hits.

When she does take damage, she's got a heal that has a 40 second cooldown (premium consumable of course) and a 28 second use period. A battleship has shot at you two or three times? You've got another heal ready to go. It does a lot to help expand her health pool as long as you're not eating damage too quickly, which shouldn't happen at her engagement ranges.

You've gotta play the long-game with her and not panic if a cap starts being taken early. Slowly push the enemy back and you'll take it back in due time, or just outright eliminate the enemy before time is up.


I have no idea how to use her properly in epicenter though. I just have no clue. Not sitting in caps in that mode can lead to bad things really fast.

In any case, just felt like I had to er... "vent"? about that fact that I feel that her poor reputation is undeserved. Might the other super cruisers be better? Sure. They've got better win rates. This doesn't at all mean that Azuma is having a hard time. Considering Kronshtadt was outright overpowered and had to be removed, and Alaska is outperforming every other cruiser (other than Kron) at T9, for now, Azuma seems like she's in a decent spot sitting right below them in wins.

Also, I'd like to point out that everyone likes to treat her like a worse Yoshino or Zaō, but then when you compare them...

(These links have to be copied and pasted since steam uses square brackets to mark formatting, which is screwing up the links)

https://na.wows-numbers.com/ships/compare/?id[0]=3749623504&id[1]=3760109264&id[2]=4259231440

https://wows-numbers.com/ships/compare/?id[0]=3749623504&id[1]=3760109264&id[2]=4259231440

She's actually performing better in the wins department, and isn't too far behind in other metrics. Furthermore she's a tier lower, so the comparison was always rigged against her.

Also, curiously enough, she has a higher avg. planes shot down that any other cruiser at T9 or 10.

[noralovro504]

Azuma is a great ship, + for your post. Only fools can call Azuma garbage. Those blessed by her AP's quicky eat their words.

[Donegali]

The only problem I have with Azuma is I played her pre-nerf.

[s u p e r g r a m p s]

Still would be nice if she had some thicker plating for being such large ship, I'd even be fine with like 30mm, but whatever.

[Lavian]

Originally posted by s u p e r g r a m p s:

Still would be nice if she had some thicker plating for being such large ship, I'd even be fine with like 30mm, but whatever.

Sure, that would be nice, but she doesn't need it to perform well. Giving her more armor could creep her over into overpowered territory. She's got good guns, and she gives up a lot for them, so she's a pretty temperamental ship if you aren't used to her, or if you're put into a map where she can't play to her strengths.

Also, I don't think I mentioned the value of her torpedo protection at mid-close range.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1873886371