British (UK) tech tree review / World of Warships guides / WoWS
By Denis Marasan ☆ 08/Aug/2019Here’s a complete overview of British tech tree in World of Warships (play now!) Learn about UK Destroyers, Cruisers, and Battleships, including premium ships, the main features of each tech tree line, as well as their suitability for novice players.
British Destroyers
Main features of UK Destroyers:
- Single-fire torpedoes – each torpedo tube can fire individually
- Mid- and high-tier Destroyers have Hydroacoustic Search
- Low- and mid-tier ships are well-balanced and a bit inexpressive
- UK Destroyers from tier II to tier VII are not very good for beginners, whereas high-tier ships are overpowered, comfortable and easy to play, though require an Inertia Fuse for HE Shells skill to play.
The main feature of British Destroyers is their single-fire torpedoes. This means that unlike other nations every torpedo tube can fire individually, so when launching torpedoes from a short distance you can decrease the spread significantly for the sake of killing the enemy with one mighty blow. Or missing the salvo entirely. The torpedoes are rather short-ranged and they will stay like this till… tier VIII. Sorry, guys, but if you want to play with long-ranged torpedoes on low-tier ships you’d better choose IJN Destroyers instead. Or spend Free XP to research tier VIII Lightning, she’s great!
Smoke Generator consumable has additional charges and shorter reload time at the expense of shorter generation time. The setting is perfect for breaking a line of sight and hiding from enemies every time it’s appropriate, which is good. But it prevents from such tactical opportunities as setting a smoke screen for using HE shells on enemy Battleships or capturing points of interest when playing against enemy Aircraft Carriers.
Another great feature is the ability of some gun turrets to traverse 360 degrees. This effectively increases the net DPS (Damage Per Seconds) when maneuvering, but this feature is not something unique in World of Warships, e.g. other nations, e.g. German and Pan-Asian, have the same feature.
On tier VI Icarus British Destroyers get the Hydroacoustic Search consumable. There’re two things that shall be noted. First, this is a short-range version. Meaning that any other ship with Hydroacoustic Search (like Cruiser or German Destroyer), will spot you first. Though it’s enough to spot enemy torpedoes in advance to take an evasive maneuver or spot an enemy destroyer standing in a smoke screen to open an unrequited fire. Second, the layout of turrets is not convenient enough when nosediving towards the enemy.
And here comes tier VIII Lightning that has a perfect layout of gun turrets and comfortable torpedo range. The difference between Lightning and lower-tier British Destroyers is so great it’s kind of ridiculous.
Destroyers to notice: tier VIII Lightning is obviously overpowered, whereas tier IX Jutland and tier X Daring are great at the very least.
Notes on tier X Destroyer Daring: this top-tier British Destroyer is good for killing both enemy Destroyers by gunfire and capital ships by torpedoes.
Premium British Destroyers: tier III Campbeltown is of collector value, though provided you’ve got a 10-point commander this ship has some long-range torpedoes. The same applies to tier VI Gallant. Tier VIII Cossack is great both in terms of gun and torpedo power.
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British Cruisers
Main features of UK Light Cruisers:
- No HE shells, AP shells with short fuse time
- Single-fire torpedoes – each torpedo tube can fire individually
- Fragile ships with large and high-positioned citadels
- Mid- and high-tier Cruisers have Smoke Generator
- British Cruisers are meant for experienced players
British Light Cruisers get Repair Party starting from tier III Caledon. The availability of Repair Party on all-tier Cruisers sounds like an overpowering feature, but in fact, it’s not. First, it’s required to counterbalance the overall fragility of British Cruisers and high-positioned citadels. Second, the use of premium consumables increases the cost of after battle maintenance.
Later on, in addition to Repair Party, tier V Emerald gets Smoke Generator. Though I don’t know a single person who really likes low-tier British Cruisers, in my opinion, those ships are OK at the very least.
British Cruisers shine starting from tier VI Leander, she’s great. And tier VII Fiji is even better; this is arguably the best tier VII Cruiser in World of Warships. As for higher-tier ships, the use of Smoke Generator becomes increasingly problematic, because more and more enemies get Surveillance Radars, spotting and killing British Cruisers in smoke. Though tier VIII Edinburgh, IX Neptune, and X Minotaur can be played with the Surveillance Radar consumable instead of Smoke Generator, this is even more difficult taking into consideration their fragility.
Another feature of British Light Cruisers is that they don’t have any HE shells except for premium tier VII Belfast. To make AP shells more efficient against weakly armored ships they got short fuse time. So damaging enemy fore and aft ends and superstructures isn’t a problem, but this rules out the possibility of setting enemy ships on fire. And killing enemy ships going bow first towards British Cruisers is practically impossible.
And last but not least, Brits feature speciality single-fire torpedoes, so when launching torpedoes from a short distance you can decrease the spread significantly for the sake of killing the enemy with one mighty blow. Or… you know the drill!
British Light Cruisers to notice: tier VII Fiji is one of the fairest Cruiser on her tier. Though any tier VI to tier X ship is good enough.
Notes on tier X Light Cruiser Minotaur: after she first appeared in World of Warships Minotaur was arguably the best high-tier Cruiser. But since then the number of ships with Surveillance Radar increased significantly, which spoils her play if playing with Smoke Generator installed. The alternative solution is the use of aggressive build with Surveillance Radar instead to spot and gun down enemy Destroyers.
Premium British Light Cruisers: Tier VIII Belfast is so great she was removed from sale. If somehow you’ll get a chance to buy her, don’t hesitate. Even though Belfast has no Repair Party consumable, she has HE shells to burn them all down. Premium Heavy Cruisers (Exeter, London, Cheshire, etc.) are considered below.
Main features of UK Heavy Cruisers:
- No Smoke Generator, HE shells are present as opposed to UK Light Cruisers
- Single-fire torpedoes – each torpedo tube can fire individually
- Poor firing rate and range with high trajectory
- Fragile ships with large and high-positioned citadels
- British Heavy Cruisers are meant for experienced players
British Heavy Cruisers are very much different from Light Cruisers since they have large-caliber guns, HE shells with high chances of setting a fire, and no Smoke Generator. Though there are still plenty of similarities, like overall fragility. Coz these ships are rather bulky and take too much damage to my mind, though thanks to Repair Party consumable they are capable of restoring hit points. This helps to prolong life in battles over time, but this doesn't save British Heavy Cruisers from collapsing under focus or bull's eye shots from enemy Battleships. And Brits tend to receive huge one-time damage, eating AP and HE salvos from enemies quite often.
Another problem is the poor firing range. British Heavy Cruisers are considered as ships for close combat and they're forced to play from the range from which they are easy to hit. This requires cautious play by using islands for both leaving the detectability range to lose enemy focus, as well as firing from behind islands thanks to a high trajectory.
Tier V Hawkins is definitely not the best Heavy Cruiser in the game, but considering most of the time she faces low-tier opposition, she's capable of dealing much damage to enemy ships with her 190 mm HE shells. Whereas tier VI Devonshire is obviously better, the opposition she faces and hence the level of battles is not so comfortable. The same applies to tier VII Surrey and tier VIII Albemarle, though Brits become stronger with each tier, the opposition grows even stronger. This doesn't mean they are bad, of course. British Heavy Cruisers are quite capable of dealing substantial damage to enemy ships with both AP and HE shells.
In terms of survivability those ships remind me of USN Boise (aka Nueve de Julio), a premium sistership of very squishy linear tier VII Helena with Repair Party consumable.
Tier IX Drake and tier X Goliath are supposed to be very tanky. This is achieved by impressive hit points pool, effective Repair Party consumable and thick 203 mm main belt armor. But these ships are still easy to collapse if played carelessly due to high-positioned citadels, whereas large-caliber 234 mm main battery guns are disappointingly slow firing.
Another problem is that the role of Drake and Goliath in battles is not clear. They don't have Radar and flat trajectory to hunt down enemy Destroyers, long firing range and rate to tease enemy Battleships or concealment and agility to unexpectedly citadel careless enemy cruisers.
All in all, though British Heavy Cruisers are definitely not bad, they require a cautious approach that in turn requires a good balance between aggression and care. Because without due care you may end up being killed or crippled at the very beginning of a battle, whereas without due aggression you may end up coming in first in the defeated team.
British Heavy Cruisers to notice: tier IX Drake and tier X Goliath. Both ships are built around the same concept, so if you like Drake you'll definitely enjoy Goliath.
Notes on tier X Heavy Cruiser Goliath: this is an attempt to make a tanky Cruiser out of the fragile ship with a high-positioned citadel. Since it worked the ship is highly recommended for your collection.
Premium British Heavy Cruisers: tier V Exeter is the first British Heavy Cruiser on tap. She’s great and fun to play. Unlike linear British Light Cruisers, she has HE shells. Considering the fact that Exeter has no Smoke Generator, the experience of playing on Exeter is very similar to IJN heavy cruisers. Though thanks to Repair Party consumable she’s obviously easier to play and quite possibly better. Unlike any other Heavy Cruiser tier VI London features Smoke Generator. This makes this ship very comfortable in terms of dealing a no return damage to enemy warships that is counterbalanced by increased visibility in smoke due to large-caliber main battery guns. Tier VIII Cheshire is still under development, but her 234 mm guns look juicy on her tier.
British Battleships
Main features of UK Battleships:
- HE shells with increased penetration and chance of fire
- High-tier ships have the Repair Party consumable with an increased damage repair capability
- British Battleships are arguably the easiest to play and hence are perfect for beginners
Low-tier British Battleships are rather slow, so this is the ideal tech tree line to make the acquaintance of Battleships in World of Warships. The slower the ship – the less is the possibility of sticking your neck out, but the less is the interest for the experienced player. So getting those ships early on is definitely a good idea. The same applied to USN Battleships, btw.
Everything changes on tier VII with King George V. The ship suddenly loses in caliber but gains in overall firepower, turret rotation speed and maximum rate of sailing. The aforesaid makes King George V one of the easiest and the most comfortable Battleships on her tier. Tier VIII Monarch is not so good compared to King George V, mostly because it encounters the stronger opposition.
Tier IX Lion and tier X Conqueror got their speciality feature, the boosted Repair Party consumable. It can repair up to 50% of white damage, surprising enemy players. The reverse of the coin is that high-tier British Battleships soak up damage like sponges thanks to their light-gage steel. So getting under the enemy focus is not a good idea. However, this applies to any ship.
Battleships to notice: tier VII King George V is absolutely awesome compared to lower-tier British Battleships. Tier IX Lion and tier X Conqueror are great thanks to their overpowered Repair Party.
Notes on tier X Conqueror: thanks to her overpowered Repair Party consumable, and HE shells with increased penetration and chance of fire, Conqueror is an easy and comfortable damage dealer.
Premium British Battleships: tier III Dreadnaught is of collector value. Tier VI Warspite and tier VII Hood have no special HE shell settings that linear Brits have, like better damage, penetration, and chance of fire. So if the plan is to buy a premium British Battleship to test the speciality features of British Battleships, avoid those ships. Buy tier VII Duke of York instead, she’s a great lighter. Or go for tier VII Nelson that can be obtained for Free XP, coz it also has an overpowered Repair Party similar to tier IX and X linear Battleships.