September update: the Redinforcements

August 26, 2021

Maintenance times:

Xbox: 2:00 – 5:00 AM Central / 7:00 – 10:00 AM UTC, August 30th
PlayStation: 2:00 – 5:00 AM Central / 7:00 – 10:00 AM UTC, August 30th

Update size:

Xbox One (S,X) ~3000 MB
Xbox Series S/X ~3000 MB
PS4 ~3000 MB
PS5 ~3000 MB

Summer has to end, but naval battles don't – which is quite a good thing, if you ask us! The new update is closing in on us, so let’s process all the elements we prepared for you to make this autumn better than ever.

Order and Discipline campaign

First off – a Soviet campaign with traditional 100 milestones spread over 5 weeks. Tier VII Premium Cruiser Pyotr Bagration barges in as the ultimate reward (obtainable with a 2500-doubloons Admiralty Backing). This warship, based on a project of a heavy Red Navy cruiser, is quite a formidable threat. It boasts nine 7-inch (180 mm) guns and a decent AA suite, improved with experience of naval battles of WWII in mind. With maximum speed capped at 34.5 knots there’s a lot of flexibility in your positioning. The mix of her strengths provides an interesting way to fill different battlefield roles. Try it yourself and see!

Below you can find the campaign rewards breakdown with corresponding doubloon values.

Rewards you can get without Admiralty Backing:

55x common boosters
12x Type 1 camouflage
12x Type 2 camouflage
12x Type 3 camouflage
8x Victory camouflage
235,000 Commander XP
300,000 Credits
3000 Global XP
14x Promotion Orders
1x Insignia
1x Commendation
7 days of Premium Account
5x Soviet Destroyers Crate
1x Big Soviet Destroyers Crate
1x RU Commander Crate
1x Patch background
1x Patch Symbol

Value of the rewards without the Admiralty Backing: 15,760 doubloons

Additional rewards you can get with Admiralty Backing (2500 doubloons):

35x rare boosters
30x epic boosters
20x Type 1 camouflage
20x Type 2 camouflage
20x Type 3 camouflage
13x Victory camouflage
185,000 Commander XP
1,500,000 Credits
19,250 Global XP
26x Promotion Orders
3x Insignia
3x Commendation
750 Doubloons
9x Soviet Destroyers Crate
4x Big Soviet Destroyers Crate
Tier VII Soviet Cruiser Pyotr Bagration

Total value of the rewards including the Admiralty Backing: 69,990 doubloons

The Transformers return

What are those thunderous sounds? That’s the mighty Transformers paving their way back to the seas! This collaboration sees 4 new commanders added to Legends, both Autobots and Decepticons, with corresponding skins for Tier VII ships as follows:

Grimlock with the “King of Primitives” skin for French battleship Richelieu
This scary-looking Dinobot is all about improving your Battleship's secondary caliber guns (and eating enemies, of course).
Hot Rod with the “Hot Racer” skin for British cruiser Edinburgh
Improve Radar, make spotting you from planes more difficult, hunt aircraft. Easy!
Soundwave with the “Superior” skin for Italian cruiser Amalfi
Better maneuverability and better smoke screens, great choice for Italian cruisers.
Starscream with the “Lord of the Seekers” skin for German aircraft carrier August Von Parseval
Faster aircraft with bigger health pool, what's more you can ask for a carrier Commander?

Check the store to learn more about this offer and don’t miss a blog post with detailed breakdown of the Transformers collaboration tomorrow.

Please note: you'll be able to acquire any of the Transformers content from the previous collaboration (including Megatron, Optimus Prime, Bumblebee and Rumble) starting first week of the update, August 30, while the new reinforcements of Grimlock, Hot Rod, Soundwave and Starscream will arrive on week two, from September 6.

Alternative Soviet destroyers in Early Access

Next come even better news, comrades. Three fresh-off- the-dock dangerous Soviet destroyers: Soobrazitelny (Russian for Sharp) at Tier IV, Boevoi (Russian for Pugnacious) at Tier V and Kiev at Tier VI wait for you in Early Access as an alternate branch. You can receive these warships with unique personal missions, one per ship, while opening dedicated Soviet destroyer crates and Big crates (with a better chance to get an Early Access DD). If luck is not your signature trait, worry not – those warships will become researchable as soon as the next update with Udaloi capping off the branch at Tier VII.

To learn more about these feisty vessels, check out our upcoming feature blog post.

Arena battles: seasons V, VI and VII

Arena is coming back – with three short-timed seasons this time! Arms Race mechanic is an effective way to spice up the flow of battles, and it’s active for all three seasons. Battle with Tier V-VII ships, depending on the season rules (with no carriers allowed whatsoever) and earn rewards according to your overall placement – the better you do, the more you get. Prizes include steel, commander progression items, crates and more. The action starts on 9^th September, so be prepared!

You can learn everything in detail about these Arena seasons in our dedicated blog post Thursday, September 8.

New Big crate

New season – new crate! This time, the Big one lets you obtain London, West Virginia and Błyskawica among other in-game content. Check the droprates for this crate and any other of your interest at https://wowslegends.com/containers/.

Balance changes

We are bringing in a lot of changes in this update. Those include both nerfs and buffs – to popular and less so ships (13 in total), commanders and skills, toning down a bit some of the most effective ones and improving those that are underperforming, according to our stats. You'll notice that we touch two of the most popular destroyer inspirations, and that is done in hopes of more diversity when it comes to builds, however, the well-known combo will still provide the best concealment.

Ships changes:

USA

Tier VII Cleveland

The stock main battery reload time was increased from 6.5s to 7s and for the major upgrade from 6s to 6.5s.

Legendary Tier Alaska

Radius of max dispersion of main guns decreased by 10%, penetration of AP shells increased by 5%. Repair party reload time decreased from 60 to 50 seconds, HP/second regeneration is increased by 33%.

Japan

Tier VI Nagato

Maximum speed increased to 26 knots, rudder shift time decreased for both hulls from 15.2 and 13.7 to 14.4 and 12.9 respectively. Shell grouping increased by 2.5%.

Tier VII Kagerō

Reload time of torpedo tubes decreased from 101s to 91s.

Legendary Tier Yamato

Shell grouping decreased by 5%, rotation speed of main guns decreased from 4.5 degrees per second to 4.

Tier VII Vanguard

Shell grouping increased by 2.5%, radius of maximum dispersion for main guns decreased by 10%. Rudder shift time decreased for both hulls from 19.7s and 14.7s to 18.1s and 13.4s respectively.

Germany

Tier VII Tirpitz

Shell grouping increased by 6%, torpedo tubes armor against HE shells increased.

Tier VII Bismarck

Shell grouping increased by 5%.

France

Tier VII Champagne

Maximum range of main guns increased from 17480m to 17780m. Shell grouping increased by 5%, reload time of main guns decreased from 28.6 seconds to 26.6 seconds. Repair party HP/second regeneration is increased by 33%.

Tier VII Gascogne

Repair party HP/second regeneration is increased by 33%.

USSR

Tier V Gnevny

Rotation speed of main guns increased from 6 degrees per second to 7, armor against HE shells for steering gears and engine increased as well.

Tier VII Tashkent

Repair party added to the slot with Smoke Generator as a consumable of choice.

Italy

Tier V Leone

Exhaust Smoke Generator added to the slot with Smoke Generator as a consumable of choice.

Other changes:

Exhaust Smoke Generator duration increased from 17 to 20 seconds for all Italian cruisers equipped with it (Montecuccoli, Trento, Zara, Amalfi), along with its dispersion time being increased from 30s to 35s.
At the same time, secondary guns aiming priorities were changed. Now enemy destroyers are more likely to be chosen as a target in case there are two or more options for the attacks.

Skills changes:

Buffs:

Before It's Too Late – bonus to torpedo detectability increased:
- Level 1: 3% => 5%
- Level 2: 5% => 8%
- Level 3: 7% => 12%
- Level 4: 10% => 15%
Flank Speed – penalty to rudder shift time changed to +3% instead of +5%.
Marksmanship – penalty to rudder shift time on level 4 changed from +10% to +5%.
Mortar – penalty to destroyer's visibility is now same on every level at +4% instead of 5-10% range.
Velocious – bonus to ship's speed increased, with buff ranging from 2% to 5% now instead of 1-4% range.
Evil Sparks (legendary skill) – penalty to destroyer's HE shells damage decreased on every level, to 35-20% range instead of 55-40% range.
Running with Scissors (legendary skill) – penalty to dispersion of main battery on levels 3 and 4 changed from +7% and +10% to +5% and +6% respectively.

Nerfs:

Fragile Threat – bonus to destroyer's concealment decreased:
- Level 1: -2.5% => -2%
- Level 2: -5% => -4%
- Level 3: -7.5% => -6%
- Level 4: -10% => -8%
Ingenious – guns rotation speed reduced for -0.2 degrees per second on every level.
Hide'n'Seek (Jerzy Świrski base trait) – bonus to ship's concealment is decreased on every level of skill, maximum bonus is now -4% instead of -5%.
Shifty (Erich Bey base trait) – bonus to destroyer's concealment is decreased on every level, maximum bonus is now -5% instead of -6%.

Oklahoma project deprecating

The Oklahoma project will become deprecated after the September update. It means that you need to have at least 1 research point in the project to be able to finish it later. Make sure that you research it at least for a moment, so that you can finish it, if you haven't yet!

Bug fixes

No more incorrect ship type icons in the select inspiration menu
Unintended spotlights on water surface wherever Arpeggio of Blue Steel ships are destroyed do not appear anymore
Paid and free campaign rewards are now correctly shown on the port widget screen
Vertical movement for camera on Wickes destroyer is now correctly limited.

More new ships in this update

Tier V Japanese Aircraft Carrier Zuihō, available for doubloons. First premium carrier in Legends with excellent concealment for the aircraft, make sure to try her out!
Tier VI American Destroyer Charles F. Hughes, available for doubloons. Further extends the range of Red, White and Blue destroyers, providing a lot of torpedoes to launch at your foes.
Legendary Tier Soviet Cruiser Stalingrad for 2 million Global XP.

We realize this is a very unusual way of delivery for a Legendary tier ship, but we also felt it's time to try something new. While only a handful of players will be able to get her right away, we know a lot among you have multiple Global XP ships, so while this is certainly a long-term goal, it is not beyond the horizon. Also, considering Stalingrad is our first non-Bureau Legendary ship, we're making her available with a permanent camouflage from the get-go. When it comes to what this ship is, think of a huge cruiser with 12-inch (305 mm) guns, offering an excellent performance with AP shells, serious HP pool and quite a bit of speed, and a choice between Defensive AA fire and Radar to boot. Please note, also, that Stalingrad is not a Premium ship, but simply a ship of Legendary tier, so changes to her performance are very much possible and even likely, please consider that before making a purchase.