My top picks for tier 9 ranked! And why I think so.

[BOBTHEBALL]

Ok so tier 7 one was kinda successful and I thought why not do another one for this amazing season of ranked that I am starting to enjoy more and more. Same concept as before tier 9 tech tree only ships, my top 3 of every class. BB, cruiser and DD.

 

Tier 9 Tech Tree DDs:

Kitakaze:
HOLY MOLY where do I start, I was grinding with this thing fully stock because I can't be bothered to buy the modules. And I've got to say man this ship is easy mode. You can gun fight basically everything and it's incredibly easy to deal with the enemy DDs with your toolkit. Gunpower is top of the tier, hp pool also is good. Stealth is average, could be better but pure DPM and the fact you get 30mm base pen elevate it greatly

MOGador:
This ship, sheesh ok. While it's not giga-broken I feel like the turret angles hold it back too much. It's a very very strong DD. Requires a different playstyle compared to Kita, more of a DD ambusher. However her insane speed and means it's so so easy to dodge enemy salvo
which makes open water gunboating which is the playstyle you'll have to adapt to with this ship so much easier. Also the torpedoes even though they have short range are still amazing. (Also your gun arcs are so good) Just be careful though because without MBRB your DPM is quite bad, make sure to use all charges.

Udaloi:
I don't think anyone expected this pick, mainly because barely anyone grinds the Grozovoi line these days. However Udaloi is kind of cracked in my opinion. It's definitely not as good as Mogador or Kitakaze. (It has much much worse gun DPM than the other two mentioned) However it makes it up by being so so so survivable and having amazing gun arcs. This ship is so underrated in my opinion. You get smoke, heal, speedboost and dfaa(lmao). If we talk about the guns, the DPM is quite sad if I'm honest, however it's so easy to land all your shots and the AP is great to use. I love using AP in my DDs, people should do it more. Gives out so much more damage. (Also it has a whole bunch of torps so yeah have fun)

 

Tier 9 Tech Tree Cruisers:

Nothing is good here, play a different class. Even counting prems I can't recommend anything.

 

Tier 9 Tech Tree BBs:

Rupprecht:
This ship is just easy mode to be honest. 12.2km conceal with 12km secondaries. I hate how great WG made AI at shooting secondaries. I think the Schlieffen line needs to be changed a bit but man. I won't lie, I have commit several war crimes in ranked with Rupprecht. You also get some ok 16 inchers (Relatable) and you make quick work of literally anything. Also when you're getting down and dirty with another ship, just bend her over and shove all those torps into them. If you want to W key this is the ship to do it with.

Iowa:
Without a doubt, Iowa is second on this list. Stealthy, accurate, mobile and really sexy. Her kit is amazing to work with, 9 accurate hard hitting 16 inchers. 38mm plating while not the highest value is still very useful and you get the combo of speed and concealment. Finally a fast American BB in the tech tree (NC does not count as fast, it's still slow as balls and overrated as all hell). But yeah if you want a ship that rewards good aim and that can overmatch and deal with a Rupprecht take the NC, very fun and good car!

Delaware:
If I'm honest most of the times hybrids are overrated asf. Louisiana is kinda of mid and the tier 8 is so so bad. However I feel like Delaware is quite good. She doesn't have as many guns as Iowa sure, however she gets her own spotting and a lowered citadel for all the potato players (Very useful for all of us). All while keeping the 16 inchers which are a great gun to have and use. Now the reason I don't rate this car above Iowa is because it has less guns and horrible horrible horrible gun angles. Still great though, much success.

 

I forgot to finish writing up this so it took a while but eventually it came (That's what she said). I hope you all find it useful and take out some of these great ships into ranked season #69. I will be back for Ranked Season #420 and yeah. Hope you enjoy the read.

- Boob

[disa_destroyer]

Thank you for your legendary service. +1

[Kruzenstern]

1 hour ago, BOBTHEBALL said:

Tier 9 Tech Tree Cruisers:

Nothing is good here, play a different class. Even counting prems I can't recommend anything.

Well, techtree tier9 cruisers certainly are nothing to write home about, but imho Neptune, Seyoung and Roon are not as bad as the rest?

And with prems, we have Alaska, Schröder, Michelangelo, Kronshtadt, which all served me well in asymmetrics at least, they can't be THAT bad in ranked PvP, can they? Of couse, neither of these is readily avaliable...

[Itwastuesday]

1 hour ago, BOBTHEBALL said:

Tier 9 Tech Tree Cruisers:

Nothing is good here, play a different class. Even counting prems I can't recommend anything.

High impact workhorse class by the way! Kek

Maybe Donskoi/Riga/Brindisi. I'd do Ägir if I had the time. 

No love for Izumo/Soyz? 

[BOBTHEBALL]

58 minutes ago, Itwastuesday said:

High impact workhorse class by the way! Kek

Maybe Donskoi/Riga/Brindisi. I'd do Ägir if I had the time. 

I have tried, many many cruisers. The best games I had where with Buffalo but even then that was filled with lots of painful moments.

1 hour ago, Itwastuesday said:

No love for Izumo/Soyz? 

Izumo I find doesn't really have anything going for it besides the guns, which are great. And Soyuz just doesn't have guns that are consistent enough in my opinion to value being on the list.

[BOBTHEBALL]

1 hour ago, Kruzenstern said:

Well, techtree tier9 cruisers certainly are nothing to write home about, but imho Neptune, Seyoung and Roon are not as bad as the rest?

Ehh they don't really do anything for making plays and helping carry. At least with Donkey(Donskoi) and Riga(Horrible) while their damage output is pitiful at least they have radar.

1 hour ago, Kruzenstern said:

And with prems, we have Alaska, Schröder, Michelangelo, Kronshtadt, which all served me well in asymmetrics at least, they can't be THAT bad in ranked PvP, can they? Of couse, neither of these is readily avaliable...

Alaska and Schroder and Michel are all the best options. Kronstadt is quite bad these days. 

[ArIskandir]

8 hours ago, BOBTHEBALL said:

Tier 9 Tech Tree DDs:

No love for Jutland? The little bugger is Cap control Royalty and packs all the toys. HP is meh but does it really matter if You are not spotted?  

The german Z-boat with full gun build is also an underrated good option... T9 is packed with good DDs 🙂

 

Edited June 10 by ArIskandir

[HogHammer]

8 hours ago, BOBTHEBALL said:

Tier 9 Tech Tree Cruisers:

Nothing is good here, play a different class. Even counting prems I can't recommend anything.

Come on Bob, someone has to play cruisers.

If you are lucky enough to have T9 Alaska in your port, or Alaska B it would probably be the overall best choice for cruiser in ranked.  Riga would also be an interesting/good choice.  The Michelangelo would be an interesting cruiser to try in rank just to see how it performs. 

The Alaska however is pretty much a jack of all trades especially with Halsey as commander.  Good AP (w/improved pen angles), good HE, hydro, radar.  For a cruiser it checks all the right boxes.  And, for a non-cruiser player, if forced/needed to play cruiser, it is relatively forgiving.

If you did not have Alaska in your port, my fallback recommendation would be Riga. Slightly improved pen angle versus other cruisers, just not as good as Alaska and has short fuse AP.  Hydro and radar a plus.  There is a required higher skill level to play Riga versus Alaska.  If you play RU cruisers often, then you should be fine.

[ArIskandir]

11 hours ago, BOBTHEBALL said:

Tier 9 Tech Tree Cruisers:

Nothing is good here, play a different class. Even counting prems I can't recommend anything.

Sometimes you gotta play Cruisers for whatever reason, missions, grind or whatever... T9 is a black spot on most Cruiser lines but if life give you lemmons... 

I've yet to experience the T9 ships of both lines, but so far at T7 the Spanish and Commonwealth cruisers are workable. Uganda in particular has a very good utility pack letting you be quite deadly against Subs, DDs and BBs (as long as you have someone spotting), if the T9 goes along the same lines it could be a decent pick. Asturias is a decent farmer and quite tanky for T7, her range is absurd (in a good way) making her really good at kiting and sniping BBs, the problem is you need people able to 'hold the line' while you work from afar. The T9 doesn't look particularly suited for Ranked, my gut feeling is it won't be comparatively as strong as the T7.

I know it might not be a popular opinion but I prefer Riga over Buffalo, she's very tanky and the 12km radar can be used more comfortably. You can bow tank for days while using your Radar to control the contested cap, in this role she's much better than the Americans. You won't get too much damage but you bring Riga for the Radar to control the Cap, and controlling Caps win matches. 

Sejong might be useful too, considering in Ranked is common to have enemies pushing into you, which is what you want in a PA Cruiser. 

None of the long range spammers (Roon, Saint-Louis, Donskoy, Brindisi, etc) are particularly useful in Ranked, you'll still be very reliant on team mates holding the line. 

Lack of HE makes Neptune very weak against the BB overload. She's a hard no for me. Santander is my biggest blindspot, I still haven't tried her. 

[torino2dc]

15 hours ago, BOBTHEBALL said:

Nothing is good here, play a different class. Even counting prems I can't recommend anything.

My friend, we can do better than just helplessly throwing up our hands.

Drake: 10.4km detect on a super-heal CA. Very good for covering DDs and burning down pushing battleships. Has great matchups against popular super cruisers (Alaska, Ägir, Siegfried, Riga) which it will often force into the MM. 

Andalucìa: Extremely versatile burst-fire cruiser with a very forgiving armor scheme. Great for supporting DDs with the Spanish clap, good for AP cruiser ambushes as well. Multiple options for late game brawls between the burst fire and the torps. 

Encounter: Fantastic DPM for a CA with 10.5km detect and a portable smoke screen. Great for supporting DDs, can farm while the BBs take contact, and has torps for late game problem solving. 

Santander: Extremely potent once it has its funny button up. Has radar to support caps, but can do anything due to uncanny survivability, great firepower, and versatile long range torpedoes.

[BOBTHEBALL]

9 hours ago, ArIskandir said:

No love for Jutland? The little bugger is Cap control Royalty and packs all the toys. HP is meh but does it really matter if You are not spotted?  

The german Z-boat with full gun build is also an underrated good option... T9 is packed with good DDs 🙂

 

If I had to add another ship to the list it would be Z-46. Jutland is just not very good anymore, meh hp  pool like you mentioned, torpedoes are meh as well and gunpower is lacking. Slightly less base DPM than an Udaloi on it's HE while it doesn't have the great gun arcs to make up for it. It's a sad ship these days.

[BOBTHEBALL]

8 hours ago, HogHammer said:

The Alaska however is pretty much a jack of all trades especially with Halsey as commander.  Good AP (w/improved pen angles), good HE, hydro, radar.  For a cruiser it checks all the right boxes.  And, for a non-cruiser player, if forced/needed to play cruiser, it is relatively forgiving.

If you did not have Alaska in your port, my fallback recommendation would be Riga. Slightly improved pen angle versus other cruisers, just not as good as Alaska and has short fuse AP.  Hydro and radar a plus.  There is a required higher skill level to play Riga versus Alaska.  If you play RU cruisers often, then you should be fine.

6 hours ago, ArIskandir said:

Sometimes you gotta play Cruisers for whatever reason, missions, grind or whatever... T9 is a black spot on most Cruiser lines but if life give you lemmons... 

I've yet to experience the T9 ships of both lines, but so far at T7 the Spanish and Commonwealth cruisers are workable. Uganda in particular has a very good utility pack letting you be quite deadly against Subs, DDs and BBs (as long as you have someone spotting), if the T9 goes along the same lines it could be a decent pick. Asturias is a decent farmer and quite tanky for T7, her range is absurd (in a good way) making her really good at kiting and sniping BBs, the problem is you need people able to 'hold the line' while you work from afar. The T9 doesn't look particularly suited for Ranked, my gut feeling is it won't be comparatively as strong as the T7.

I know it might not be a popular opinion but I prefer Riga over Buffalo, she's very tanky and the 12km radar can be used more comfortably. You can bow tank for days while using your Radar to control the contested cap, in this role she's much better than the Americans. You won't get too much damage but you bring Riga for the Radar to control the Cap, and controlling Caps win matches. 

Sejong might be useful too, considering in Ranked is common to have enemies pushing into you, which is what you want in a PA Cruiser. 

None of the long range spammers (Roon, Saint-Louis, Donskoy, Brindisi, etc) are particularly useful in Ranked, you'll still be very reliant on team mates holding the line. 

Lack of HE makes Neptune very weak against the BB overload. She's a hard no for me. Santander is my biggest blindspot, I still haven't tried her. 

2 hours ago, torino2dc said:

My friend, we can do better than just helplessly throwing up our hands.

Drake: 10.4km detect on a super-heal CA. Very good for covering DDs and burning down pushing battleships. Has great matchups against popular super cruisers (Alaska, Ägir, Siegfried, Riga) which it will often force into the MM. 

Andalucìa: Extremely versatile burst-fire cruiser with a very forgiving armor scheme. Great for supporting DDs with the Spanish clap, good for AP cruiser ambushes as well. Multiple options for late game brawls between the burst fire and the torps. 

Encounter: Fantastic DPM for a CA with 10.5km detect and a portable smoke screen. Great for supporting DDs, can farm while the BBs take contact, and has torps for late game problem solving. 

Santander: Extremely potent once it has its funny button up. Has radar to support caps, but can do anything due to uncanny survivability, great firepower, and versatile long range torpedoes.

OK ok let me say this. If I had to play a tier 9 cruiser in ranked (Which is a torturous idea) I would play Alaska. However that doesn't mean I think Alaska is great, I actually find them quite easy to deal with in my DDs and BBs. The reason you'll do ok in Alaska is forcing the other team to have some poor guy in his Drake or Santander you can dev strike quite easily.

As for Riga, no she's not very tanky. She can get slapped through the bow quite easily from basically all the BBs and her guns are not punchy enough at all to warrant the dispersion curve and lack of good HE. Her 12km radar is mediocre and if I had to take a ship purely because of radar it'd be Dmitri Donkey because it gets standard duration. 

Drake isn't great for covering DDs because her shells are easy to dodge, for dealing with BBs she can be overmatched and has the lovely citadel british ships love to have. Also no radar for teamplay so it's even worse than I thought.

Andalucia, it's alright but has the same fate as Drake (not sure if it has the step citadel though) It does get better AP which is nice and a cool burst which is fun but it's eh

Encounter farming cruiser, nothing special, not really recommended.

Santander finally a radar recommendation but no HE is annoying (can be worked around with good positioning) however gets bent over often and is an eh pick.

 

When I think about it deep down, if I was forced to play a cruiser in ranked that was not Alaska. I would uh... I think play Buffalo, yeah. Buffalo because it gets 10km radar, punchy guns that can farm and improved AP so it will have a slightly easier time punishing cruisers.  I do hope WG gives some love to tier 9 cruisers, would love to see a Donskoi, Roon and Riga buff soon. Would make the tier more fun for us all.

 

[ArIskandir]

1 hour ago, BOBTHEBALL said:

It's a sad ship these days.

You are likely right... it's been quite some time since I played Jutland.

1 hour ago, BOBTHEBALL said:

I would play Alaska.

Any of the DDs you'll be facing would make you for BBQ. I can't convince myself she's a better option... if I want Radar there are better options; if I want to farm, there are better options. 

1 hour ago, BOBTHEBALL said:

As for Riga, no she's not very tanky. She can get slapped through the bow quite easily from basically all the BBs

At 12km+ it goes to the hands of RNGesus to place a shell right through your bow and into your cit... it happens very rarely, and you shouldn't be coming closer than that. I still think in practice, she's a better (more durable) bow tanker/island camper Radar ship than Alaska or Buffalo.

1 hour ago, BOBTHEBALL said:

Encounter farming cruiser, nothing special, not really recommended.

The crawl smoke lets you safely support DDs on Cap, closer and for longer than any other Cruiser. You have Hydro to keep you safe from torps and also FU-Sub key with Airstrike in case there's a Sub roaming, that's a very useful pack for close Cap support pack.

 

 

[BOBTHEBALL]

3 hours ago, ArIskandir said:

At 12km+ it goes to the hands of RNGesus to place a shell right through your bow and into your cit... it happens very rarely, and you shouldn't be coming closer than that. I still think in practice, she's a better (more durable) bow tanker/island camper Radar ship than Alaska or Buffalo.

It's still a common thing to happen and those two ships have much better damage output so they can actually kill things. 

3 hours ago, ArIskandir said:

The crawl smoke lets you safely support DDs on Cap, closer and for longer than any other Cruiser. You have Hydro to keep you safe from torps and also FU-Sub key with Airstrike in case there's a Sub roaming, that's a very useful pack for close Cap support pack.

Just be careful of that smoke fire penalty. Even then I faced some Encounters. They were the last alive sure but lost heavily. It's not a carry ship, it's a ship that can only farm damage. 

[Andrewbassg]

On 6/10/2024 at 8:42 AM, BOBTHEBALL said:

Tier 9 Tech Tree Cruisers:

Nothing is good here, play a different class

Oouuchhh....

LAska, Agir, Kron, Schroeder (or his cat) all solid picks, for the less adventurous...

For the latters  Nep, Sejong, ENcounter.... or some T8 fun...

 

Edited June 11 by Andrewbassg

[BOBTHEBALL]

16 minutes ago, Andrewbassg said:

LAska, Agir, Kron, Schroeder (or his cat) all solid picks, for the less adventurous...

Like I said before Alaska is the best bet out of everything.

Agir is overrated for some godforsaken reason

Kron is just plain bad (If you think this ship is good you either are stuck with a mindset from years ago, haven't played it since or another reason I can't risk saying.)

Schroder is eh

18 minutes ago, Andrewbassg said:

For the latters  Nep, Sejong, ENcounter.... or some T8 fun...

Neptune is meh, gets blown up easily.

Sejong only works when you're being pushed into

Encounter, well I've gone over it before.

Tier 8s, well this is a discussion on tier 9s so that's why I haven't mentioned them.

[Andrewbassg]

7 hours ago, BOBTHEBALL said:

or another reason I can't risk saying.

Well ..... we had this discussion before and idk wazz goin on the Asia server, but on EU or NA those are good picks. And no offence, but your whole premise is wrong. If the expectation is that the ships should carry your skin......well it is wrong. They are all tools, a combination of consumables, capabilities, strengths and weaknesses. It is up to the driver to combine them into a useful tool.

While there is no doubt that cruisers, regardless of tier are in a bad spot, it doesn't mean that they are bad, it simply means that Wedgie DGAFF about proper balance and does it with its feet. Or rolling its head on the keyboard.

Which translates into the  fact that proper skills play an even greater role. And those skills are positioning and map reading  coupled with anticipating the red teams intentions and then using the  available tools to counter them and to play the objectives

Wows isn't about who press W harder, even if that's Wedgie's not so sekrit wet dream. Wows is a LOT more.

7 hours ago, BOBTHEBALL said:

Agir is overrated for some godforsaken reason

Yet I regularly brawl down "ur precious" Rupprecht's in her . And not only.

7 hours ago, BOBTHEBALL said:

Kron is just plain bad (

Again, I'm gonna infer server differences here. Maybe on Asia every game has a CV, but not on EU or NA. in fact they are rare.  

Look, if you wanna properly asses the potency of a ship, then you have to look at from the other side i.e which ships you don't wanna see as opponent, in peer class.

As for T8.... current ranked is T8-9. There are good picks there. For the ..... adventurous.

Edited June 11 by Andrewbassg

[Love_Ur_Cits]

I can only comment on DDs and Cruisers since I rarely play BBs on either my NA or EU account.

As far as DDs in ranked for Tier 9, without a doubt, the Kitakaze.  Plain and simple, it is just a beast.  Due to the ships I normally see in rank, Kit is by far the ONLY DD I would play.  There are others that are good, but Kitakaze is just that much better.

On 6/10/2024 at 12:42 AM, BOBTHEBALL said:

Nothing is good here, play a different class. Even counting prems I can't recommend anything.

 

This is rather puzzling to me. We are talking about only one tier, not being up-tiered. Tier 9 was a great place to be at one time, but with matchmaking the way it is now and the introduction of SSs having had a significant impact on overall play, probably 80-90 percent of this tier will struggle in normal matchmaking. I am somewhat disappointed that you basically discounted this category in ranked.  If you are going to make ranked recommendations, you should at least cover/make recommendations for the entire group of ships in ranked.

For tier 9 cruisers, I have three I would take out, depending on which server I play. 

Alaska - For me, one of my favorite cruisers on the NA server, and one, even if up-tiered, can hold its own.  In a game with only tier 9s floating around, this thing can rule.  I would highly recommend it for tier 9 ranked.

Baltimore - It is not that good when up-tiered, but in a tier 9-only battle, it serves its purpose very well.  Different play style than the Alaska that does well against other cruisers and DDs.

Kronshtadt - I only have this on my EU account, and I wish I had it on my NA (I use Riga instead). This thing is lethal in the right hands. RU cruisers have an entirely different level of skill required to play.  One is either good or bad - there is usually no middle ground for the vast majority of the player base.  I love the Kronshtadt in ranked and feel completely comfortable playing her.  I don't care what ship I'm facing in the Kronshtadt; they will pay the price for any foolish move.  She punishes with her AP and, if angled correctly, can take an unbelievable beating due to her armor layout.  The Kronshtadt has, at times, some questionable dispersion (especially at or near max range), but there is a sweet spot range where everything is just near perfect - I find this true with most RU cruisers.

Below is ranked Gold results:

  

 

[BOBTHEBALL]

10 hours ago, Andrewbassg said:

Look, if you wanna properly asses the potency of a ship, then you have to look at from the other side i.e which ships you don't wanna see as opponent, in peer class.

Oh yeah I use this all the time, I'm not really scared of any tier 9 cruiser. However when I begin to think about the DDs or BBs I would have to face, then I get a bit scared. Some extremely powerful ships there.

10 hours ago, Andrewbassg said:

Yet I regularly brawl down "ur precious" Rupprecht's in her . And not only.

Just because you killed the average 44% Wehraboo in a good ship in your bad ship doesn't mean the bad ship is suddenly good. Agir is the biggest noob trap to have entered Wows and till this day it keeps picking up players and outing them.

I can kill a Wisconsin in a GK, that doesn't mean Wisconsin is bad now or that GK is OP does it? It just means someone got killed by the other player, it happens all the time.

It's the same with people posting screenshots of good battles in bad ships

8 hours ago, Love_Ur_Cits said:

  

Like this, this doesn't mean anything. Bad ships can get good results. You posting a screenshot of a good game in a bad ship doesn't disprove my point at all. Kronstadt is bad these days and it's not the great ship it once was. I'd rather suffer in a Riga than in a Kronstadt, at least then your guns are semi accurate at close range and you don't suffer from 60s fires.

[Andrewbassg]

12 minutes ago, BOBTHEBALL said:

Just because you killed the average 44% Wehraboo in a good ship in your bad ship doesn't mean the bad ship is suddenly good. Agir is the biggest noob trap to have entered Wows and till this day it keeps picking up players and outing them.

I can kill a Wisconsin in a GK, that doesn't mean Wisconsin is bad now or that GK is OP does it? It just means someone got killed by the other player, it happens all the time.

 

Yes!! Thanks for proving my point!  You have to know how to play a ship, coz every ship out there could be a noob trap. Which was my point. Like Roon. There is a good reason why in wows there is a thing called "Rooning around". 

Agir got a bad rep coz all the Wehraboo;s out there, who think that she is a sec monster and all they have to do is press W. Just the other day i had one, who told me that Agir is an "open water ship". Needless to say that i laughed a good half hour 

Now, if what you wrote is your opinion......that's all fine, but I got the impression that is a bit of a benchmark, so couldn't  let it just pass....

[BOBTHEBALL]

4 minutes ago, Andrewbassg said:

Yes!! Thanks for proving my point!  You have to know how to play a ship, coz every ship out there could be a noob trap. Which was my point. Like Roon. There is a good reason why in wows there is a thing called "Rooning around". 

Yeah but not every ship is a noob trap, unlike Agir which is in-fact a noob trap. 

5 minutes ago, Andrewbassg said:

Agir got a bad rep coz all the Wehraboo;s out there, who think that she is a sec monster and all they have to do is press W. Just the other day i had one, who told me that Agir is an "open water ship". Needless to say that i laughed a good half hour 

Agir lost the secondaries after that funny Flamu video of him melting two Alaska's. Now if that was the Agir we'd got man I'd recommend it so hard, unfortunately WG tooketh away. But yeah Agir can't play open water and needs lots of cover to get in closer where it can actually do some damage and not get overmatched through the deck.

 

[Andrewbassg]

16 minutes ago, BOBTHEBALL said:

Yeah but not every ship is a noob trap, 

But it is. You have to know how to play them. I kept laughing how badly  people played Zieten, when she is actually a good ship, IF played right. 

16 minutes ago, BOBTHEBALL said:

.... unlike Agir which is in-fact a noob trap. 

Which is your opinion. Not a fact.

[BOBTHEBALL]

25 minutes ago, Andrewbassg said:

But it is. You have to know how to play them. I kept laughing how badly  people played Zieten, when she is actually a good ship, IF played right. 

Yeah most of the playerbase don't know how to play anything besides the backline Yamato and island hugging cruiser

[Itwastuesday]

Encounter is rubbish, mostly a direct downgrade from Auckland. If you compare the attributes and armor you'll think it's a joke or some kind of a mistake. 

Cruisers just suck and they have no useful role. There's never a problem where I go 'oh man, if only I had Hindenburg I could solve this!'. 

[Love_Ur_Cits]

Tier 9 Ranked recommendations and summary from Flamu (love him or hate him, he does know his ships)

Link to recent video (7 months old)