Holiday Update: Christmas on the Waves

Maintenance times:

• Xbox: December 1, 01:00 – 04:00 Central / 07:00 – 10:00 UTC
• PlayStation: December 1, 01:00 – 04:00 Central / 07:00 – 10:00 UTC
• iOS: December 1, 01:00 – 04:00 Central / 07:00 – 10:00 UTC
• Android: December 1, 01:00 – 04:00 Central / 07:00 – 10:00 UTC

Update size:

• Xbox One (S/X) ~5,730 MB
• Xbox Series S/X ~5,790 MB
• PS4 ~5,681 MB
• PS5/PS5 Pro ~1,410 MB
• iOS ~1,000 MB + ~1,960 MB
• Android ~1,000 MB + ~1,960 MB

Holiday Update: Christmas on the Waves

Ahoy Captains! Christmas and New Year are coming soon, along with our very special holiday update full of gifts and activities to celebrate the festive season! Let's take a quick look at what's new:

• Big Christmas gift for all Captains
• Free campaign with a choice between two Legendary Tier ships: battleship Rhode Island and cruiser Sevastopol
• Christmas activities, Santa City Port, and Advent Calendar
• Final stage of the Road to New Year for icy battleship Lugdunum
• Windroses, improved First Win Bonus, and discounts
• Japanese hybrid battleships armed with torpedo Airstrikes in Early Access
• Full release of the new French alternate destroyer line
• War Tales returning with new scenarios in the mix
• Marceau coming to the Store for Steel
• New seasons of Ranked Battles and Brawl
• Balance changes and various improvements

Take Your Christmas Gift!

We've got a special gift waiting for you! To receive it, visit the Store between December 1 and January 19 and claim the "Magic on the Waves" free bundle. Inside, you'll find plenty of items, including Merry Tokens and new mystic crates. Plus, visit the Store daily during the first week of the update (December 1–8) to claim one free Mystic Box each day!

Merry Shipmas: Free Campaign With Two Legendary Ships

Complete the new campaign with its free Admiralty Backing and choose between two Legendary Tier ships at the end: U.S. battleship Rhode Island or Soviet cruiser Sevastopol. You'll also unlock the winter version of Pan-European destroyer Orkan along the way!

Rhode Island is a U.S. Legendary Tier battleship equipped with effective secondary guns, the Enhanced Secondary Targeting II consumable, and a choice between the Engine Boost or Radar consumables. Her main guns are rather small but reload fast, with AP shells that have improved ricochet angles.

Sevastopol is a Soviet Legendary Tier cruiser based on the second Project 69 cruiser, which was never completed. She's equipped with exceptionally accurate 380 mm guns, a strong Repair Party, and Engine Boost.

To obtain either of these two ships, first open the Campaign section and claim the free Admiralty Backing. After that, complete all 140 milestones within 7 weeks and choose which of the two ships to receive for free. The other ship will be available for doubloons in the Campaign section once you've completed the campaign itself.

And there's a third ship in the campaign! On your way to the final reward, you'll receive a special winter version of Pan-European Tier VI Premium destroyer Orkan in a white skin. It shares the same characteristics as the original ship, including a powerful Radar consumable, 360-degree rotating turrets, and good maneuverability.

Here's the complete list of rewards for completing the Merry Shipmas free campaign:

All available rewards:

• 75x Common Boosters
• 75x Rare Boosters
• 16x "Red, White, and Blue" camouflages
• 16x Victory camouflages
• 16x Peppermint Wrap camouflages
• 40,000 Global XP
• 400,000 Commander XP
• 1,750,000 Research Points
• 3,000,000 credits
• 6x Insignia
• 6x Commendations
• 50x Promotion Orders
• 5x days of Premium Account
• 750 doubloons
• 15,000 Ship Parts
• 6,000 Merry Tokens
• 4x Winter Big Crates
• 3x Mystic Boxes
• 2x Mystic Lantern crates
• 12x Japanese Hybrid Battleship crates
• 1x American Commander crate
• 1x Russian Commander crate
• Rhode Island patch base and symbol
• Sevastopol patch base and symbol
• White Flag
• Rhode Island flag
• Sevastopol flag
• Special weekly mission rewarding Renown Points
• Pan-European Tier VI Premium destroyer Orkan W
• U.S. Legendary Tier battleship Rhode Island or Soviet Legendary Tier cruiser Sevastopol

Total value of the rewards with the free Admiralty Backing: 110,060 doubloons

Christmas in Legends

This festive season is packed with fun and gifts! Play Legends from December 1 to January 19 to immerse yourself in the holiday atmosphere and earn tons of rewards, including the new mystic crates. You'll also get to enjoy the new Santa City Port and complete the traditional Advent Calendar. We'll reveal all the details in tomorrow's article and video!

Road to New Year: Final Stage

If you haven't obtained enough Ship Parts to unlock icy battleship Lugdunum yet, there's still time to catch up! From December 1 to January 19, complete the Merry Shipmas free campaign and Road to New Year mission to earn enough Ship Parts to get the ship and other rewards—and it's still possible even if you haven't started the marathon by this time! Here's how many Ship Parts you can earn during the upcoming update:

• Merry Shipmas free campaign: 15,000
• Road to New Year mission: 7,500

To unlock Lugdunum, you need to collect 20,000 Ship Parts. If you have enough Ship Parts, you'll be able to claim the ship from the Marathon screen as soon as the new update goes live on December 1.

Windroses, Improved First Win Bonus, and Discounts

• Windroses: Get rewards for your first wins of the update playing Tier IV and higher ships (December 1 – January 19):
  • All Tier IV–VII ships: 50 Merry Tokens per ship
  • Tier VIII Tech Tree ships: 100 Merry Tokens per ship
  • Tier VIII Premium ships and Legendary Tier ships: 125 Merry Tokens per ship
• First Win Bonus: Improved to x3 on December 8–15 and to x5 on December 26–29
• Discount on converting Elite XP to Global XP: Get 35 Global XP instead of 25 per doubloon (December 15 – January 12)
• Tech Tree discounts: 20% off Tier IV–V ships and 30% off Tier VI–VIII ships (December 29 – January 5)

By the way, our traditional little present awaits you, as usual! Redeem the code 2TLYS1LP7R to receive 1x Winter Big Crate, 5x Holiday camouflages, 5x Santa in Red camouflages, 10x Common Global XP Boosters, and the Captain Reader flag.

New Japanese Hybrid Battleships in Early Access

New Japanese hybrid battleships are coming to Early Access! These giants combine battleship firepower with torpedo Airstrikes, launching squadrons of bombers from their rear-mounted flight decks. You can find Tier VI–VIII Early Access ships—Ise, Suwo, and Dewa—in Japanese Hybrid Battleship crates, available through the Merry Shipmas campaign or in the Store starting December 15. One more Japanese hybrid, Legendary Tier battleship Aki, will also join the line. You'll find her in a different place that we'll reveal very soon.

If you're looking for a Commander whose skillset is perfectly suited to lead the new ships, check out the new Japanese Commander, Jisaburō Ozawa, who has already joined the Legendary ranks. You can obtain him for Commander XP or find him in Commander crates or Japanese Commander crates.

• Base trait: "Ghost Fleet Maneuver," reducing Airstrike cooldown time by up to 5%.
• Unique skill: "Hidden Hand," increasing the number of Airstrike squadrons by 1 at the cost of reducing Airstrike torpedo damage by 10% or more and increasing cooldown between Airstrikes by 50%.

French Alternate Destroyer Line Now Fully Available

The new French alternate destroyer line is now fully available: Tier IV L'Adroit, Tier V Duchaffault, Tier VI Le Hardi, Tier VII L'Aventurier, and Tier VIII Orage. Research these ships via the Tech Tree and take advantage of unique torpedoes that can cause fires on enemy ships and gain speed and fire-starting potential the farther they travel.

War Tales Are Back: Two New Scenarios

From December 1 to January 19, War Tales make their epic return with two new scenarios, including a special mission to help Santa! We've also prepared a new type of HE shell that you'll be able to try out in one of the War Tales: these shells can split into multiple subshells, causing significant damage.

All previous Tales will also be available. We'll reveal all the details in a dedicated article on Monday.

Marceau Coming to the Store for Steel

Just as we promised in the previous patch notes, new French Tier VIII Premium destroyer Marceau will become available for Steel in the Store starting December 1 and will remain there indefinitely, even after the update ends.

Ranked Battles: Seasons 90–92

This update features three new seasons of Ranked Battles for teams of five players. The rewards include Steel, Mystic Boxes, credits, camouflages, Commander Progression Items, and Boosters.

• Season 90: December 16–22; only Tier V non-carrier ships
• Season 91: December 30 – January 5; only Tier VI non-carrier ships
• Season 92: January 13–19; only Tier VII non-carrier ships

Brawl: Seasons 33–34

Two new seasons of Brawl will arrive during this update, featuring 3v3 battles. Once per battle, you'll receive Combat Orders—a choice between a defensive or offensive buff. Among the rewards are credits, camouflages, and Mystic Boxes.

• Season 33: December 24–29; only Tier VI battleships
• Season 34: January 8–12; only Tier VII cruisers

Balance Changes: Ships and Maps

The end of the year is the perfect time to review and refresh, so we're introducing a new set of balance changes to several ships and a few other updates.

Ships

Emerald

• Main battery reload time reduced from 7.5 to 7.0 seconds

Hawkins

• AP shell damage increased from 4,050 to 4,250
• HE shell damage increased from 3,050 to 3,250

Mutsu and Mutsu B

• Enabled torpedo turning mechanic, increasing torpedo firing angles
• Torpedo launcher 180° turn time increased from 7.2 to 15 seconds
• Secondary battery firing range increased from 4.0 to 5.5 km
• Secondary battery dispersion for 127 mm guns reduced
• Secondary battery dispersion for 140 mm guns increased

Zuihō

• Dive bomber movement speed increased from 115 to 125 knots
• Torpedo bomber movement speed increased from 108 to 118 knots

G. J. Maerker

• Torpedo reload time reduced from 110 to 90 seconds

Z-23

• Upgraded main battery reload time reduced from 6.4 to 6.0 seconds

Tashkent

• Main battery reload time reduced from 5 to 4.5 seconds
• Detectability by sea reduced from 7.61 to 7.23 km
• Detectability by air reduced from 3.81 to 3.62 km
• Detectability after firing in smoke reduced from 2.9 to 2.75 km

Richelieu

• Main battery reload time reduced from 30 to 28 seconds
• Main battery shell grouping increased by 5.5% (from 1.8 to 1.9 sigma)

Hawke

• Main battery shell grouping increased by 6.25% (from 1.6 to 1.7 sigma)
• Stock hull rudder-shift time reduced from 22.57 to 19.18 seconds
• Upgraded hull rudder-shift time reduced from 16.12 to 15.31 seconds

Izumo

• Main battery reload time reduced from 27 to 26 seconds
• Enabled 360-degree rotation for B turret

Bourgogne

• Main battery reload time reduced from 28 to 26 seconds
• Main battery dispersion reduced by 2.5% (from French/German/Italian-style to U.S.-style dispersion)

Vermont

• Main battery reload time reduced from 35 to 34 seconds
• Main battery AP shell air drag reduced

Yamato

• Main battery shell grouping increased by 16.6% (from 1.8 to 2.1 sigma)
• Changed dispersion parameters from U.S.-style dispersion to Japanese-style dispersion curve
• Updated Yamato's HP saturation to post-Tier VIII standards with no change to total HP:
  • Bow HP reduced from 19,500 to 7,200
  • Casemate HP reduced from 23,500 to 8,700
  • Stern HP reduced from 20,750 to 7,600
  • Hull HP reduced from 72,900 to 67,500
  • Steering gear HP reduced from 29,200 to 27,000
  • Superstructure HP reduced from 3,750 to 3,400
  • Engine HP reduced from 97,200 to 90,000
• Armor update:
  • Thickness of several bowls on the aft section of the ship, around the secondary battery and catapults, increased from 19 mm to 32 mm. This change has almost no impact on gameplay.
  • Removed rings from the barbettes. This change doesn't affect gameplay.

Z-31

• Main battery reload time increased from 5.5 to 6.0 seconds

P. Heinrich

• Main battery 180° turn time increased from 30 to 40 seconds

Kléber

• Detectability by sea increased from 6.95 to 7.3 km
• Detectability by air increased from 3.48 to 3.65 km
• Detectability after firing in smoke increased from 2.8 to 2.94 km

Marceau

Marceau is a new ship, but some players may have already sailed her as a rental ship. This note is primarily for those players, as her stats have changed since her first appearance in the game:

• Maximum AP shell damage reduced from 2,450 to 2,350
• HE shell fire-starting chances reduced from 7 to 5%
• Detectability by sea increased from 6.95 to 7.1 km
• Detectability by air increased from 3.48 to 3.55 km
• Detectability after firing main guns in smoke increased from 2.59 to 2.65 km
• Ship HP reduced from 21,900 to 20,500

Aircraft Carrier Spawn Points

With this update, we've finished centralizing aircraft carrier spawn points in all game modes and maps.

Minor Armor Updates

Several Soviet cruisers have received armor updates:

Tallinn

• Slightly changed the geometry of the main battery and hull. This change has no impact on gameplay.

Kirov

• Slightly changed the geometry of the main battery and hull. This change has no impact on gameplay.
• Increased stock main battery frontal plate armor thickness from 50 mm to 70 mm

Gorky

• Slightly changed the geometry of the main battery and hull. This change has no impact on gameplay.

Molotov

• Slightly changed the geometry of the main battery and hull. This change has no impact on gameplay.

Bug Fixes and Improvements

All platforms

• Players who obtained Brisbane B before December 1 will automatically receive the Brisbane Black commemorative flag on December 1.
• When you obtain a personal mission from a bundle in the Store, you'll now see a notification that takes you directly to this mission in the Missions section when clicked.
• The sound played after reloading the ready rack now corresponds to the number of shells it contains.
• Fixed a bug that caused an empty screen with a "Got it" button to randomly appear while viewing the Marathon screen.

Console

• Fixed a bug where Velos' and Rio de Janeiro's AA gun names were displayed incorrectly.

Mobile

• Redesigned the Campaign section:
  • Updated the notifications for starting and finishing a campaign, as well as the Admiralty Backing window.
  • Added a button for purchasing Admiralty Backing to the notification that appears upon finishing a campaign.
  • Updated confirmation windows for purchasing a progress boost, full campaign, and Admiralty Backing.
  • Long tap is no longer available for milestones; a long-tap indicator will now only be available for the campaign ship if the milestone is selected.
• Redesigned the Missions section:
  • Missions can now be accessed from the menu button in the upper-right corner.
  • Tasks are now displayed as horizontal cards.
  • You can now see the mission name above the tasks.
• Updated the appearance of regular and Bureau tasks on the post-battle screen.
• Redesigned the completed mission screen.

Merry Shipmas, Captains! Play Legends and turn the tide these holidays!