Ministry of Balance: Skillful Adjustments

The second batch of balance changes this summer is coming with the new update. This time, we're buffing a variety of ships, including high-tier ships from the latest Pan-American Tech Tree line, as well as adjusting a series of Commander skills and base traits. You'll find all the details in this article.

Ships

Buffs

Somme

• Main battery reload time reduced from 4 to 3.6 s
• Torpedo damage increased from 10,800 to 11,833
• Torpedo AoE damage increased from 800 to 1,000
• Torpedo flooding chance increased by ~8%

Z-44

• Torpedo reload time reduced from 85 to 75 s

Elbing

We wanted to make Elbing feel more distinct from the alternative German destroyers while also giving her a buff. To achieve this, we've improved her torpedo armament, given her a long-awaited increase to main battery range, and added Engine Boost.

• Main battery firing range increased from 10.8 to 11.1 km
• Torpedo reload time reduced from 90 to 85 s
• Torpedo speed increased from 50 to 65 kts
• Added Engine Boost to Slot 4:
  • Number of charges: 2
  • Cooldown time: 90 s
  • Duration: 180 s
  • Speed boost: 15%

Halland

The standard Pan-European destroyer line struggled with survivability during battles, and its torpedoes didn't stand out as much as we wanted them to. That's why we've buffed both aspects for Halland, Småland, and Skåne.

• Ship HP increased from 19,200 to 20,500:
  • Bow HP increased from 2,300 to 2,500
  • Stern HP increased from 2,000 to 2,100
  • Casemate HP increased from 14,400 to 15,400
  • Steering gear HP increased from 5,800 to 6,200
  • Superstructure HP increased from 1,500 to 1,600
  • Engine HP increased from 19,200 to 20,500
• Torpedo reload time reduced from 100 to 85 s
• Standard Engine Boost replaced with a special one:
  • Number of charges increased from 2 to 3
  • Cooldown reduced from 180 to 100 s
  • Duration reduced from 120 to 60 s
  • Speed boost increased from 8% to 30%

Småland

• Stock hull ship HP increased from 16,500 to 18,000:
  • Stock bow HP increased from 2,000 to 2,200
  • Stock stern HP increased from 1,700 to 1,800
  • Stock hull HP increased from 12,400 to 13,500
  • Stock steering gear HP increased from 5,000 to 5,400
  • Stock superstructure HP increased from 1,300 to 1,400
• Upgraded hull ship HP increased from 18,500 to 19,200:
  • Upgraded bow HP increased from 2,200 to 2,300
  • Upgraded stern HP increased from 1,900 to 2,000
  • Upgraded hull HP increased from 13,900 to 14,400
  • Upgraded steering gear HP increased from 5,600 to 5,800
• Stock torpedo reload time reduced from 90 to 80 s
• Upgraded torpedo reload time reduced from 80 to 70 s

Skåne

• Main battery firing range increased from 9.6 to 9.7 km
• Main battery reload time reduced from 3.2 to 2.9 s
• Upgraded hull ship HP increased from 13,000 to 14,400:
  • Upgraded bow HP increased from 1,600 to 1,700
  • Upgraded stern HP increased from 1,600 to 1,700
  • Upgraded hull HP increased from 9,800 to 10,800
  • Upgraded steering gear HP increased from 3,900 to 4,300
  • Upgraded superstructure HP increased from 800 to 900
  • Upgraded engine HP increased from 13,000 to 14,400
• Upgraded torpedo speed increased from 76 to 80 kts
• Upgraded torpedo flooding chance increased by ~9%

Orage

• Stock torpedo reload time reduced from 115 to 110 s
• Upgraded torpedo reload time reduced from 105 to 100 s
• Upgraded torpedo maximum fire-setting chance increased from 400% to 500%
• Upgraded torpedo damage increased from 13,600 to 14,800

Lambros Katsonis

Although Lambros Katsonis has very high potential DPM, her gun placement prevents her from making full use of it. That's why we're buffing this aspect of the ship even further.

• Stock main battery reload time reduced from 4.2 to 3.8 s
• Upgraded main battery reload time reduced from 3.8 to 3.5 s
• Stock and upgraded HE shell damage increased from 2,000 to 2,200

Fletcher

• Stock torpedo reload time reduced from 109 to 105 s
• Upgraded torpedo reload time reduced from 122 to 115 s
• Upgraded torpedo maximum range increased from 9.15 to 10.5 km
• Upgraded torpedo speed increased from 55 to 62 kts

Bayard

We're making Bayard the first cruiser ever to have an unlimited Main Battery Reload Booster! Currently, this cruiser doesn't make particularly good use of the consumable, so we're making it much stronger while also improving her ambush potential with better concealment.

• Detectability range by sea reduced from 13.25 to 12.8 km
• Detectability range while firing in smoke reduced from 6.67 to 6.31 km
• Detectability range by air reduced from 7.95 to 7.68 km
• Main Battery Reload Booster has been improved:
  • Number of charges increased from 2 to infinite
  • Reload speed boost increased from 50% to 67%

Nottingham

• Main battery reload time reduced from 13.0 to 11.0 s
• Torpedo reload time reduced from 96 to 90 s
• Torpedo maximum range increased from 7.98 to 11 km

Coronel Bolognesi

We're really happy to see how you're using Advanced Sonar on Pan-American cruisers. However, even with this consumable, these ships struggle to withstand heavy damage from the main batteries of other ship types. That's why we've increased their HP and given ships from Tier VII and above an improved Repair Party. Combined with a consumable-focused build for Commander Joaquim Marques Lisboa, this will dramatically improve their survivability.

• Stock maximum speed increased from 31.5 to 32.5 kts
• Upgraded maximum speed increased from 31.5 to 32.5 kts
• Stock main battery reload time reduced from 7.5 to 7 s
• Upgraded main battery reload time reduced from 6.5 to 6 s
• Engine HP increased from 31,400 to 35,400
• Stock hull ship HP increased from 27,100 to 31,100:
  • Stock bow HP increased from 1,000 to 1,100
  • Stock auxiliary spaces HP increased from 3,400 to 3,900
  • Stock stern HP increased from 900 to 1,000
  • Stock hull HP increased from 20,300 to 23,300
  • Stock steering gear HP increased from 8,100 to 9,300
  • Stock superstructure HP increased from 2,900 to 3,300
• Upgraded hull ship HP increased from 31,400 to 35,400:
  • Upgraded bow HP increased from 1,100 to 1,300
  • Upgraded auxiliary spaces HP increased from 3,900 to 4,500
  • Upgraded stern HP increased from 1,000 to 1,100
  • Upgraded hull HP increased from 23,600 to 26,600
  • Upgraded steering gear HP increased from 9,400 to 10,600
  • Upgraded superstructure HP increased from 3,400 to 3,800

Ignacio Allende

• Stock main battery reload time reduced from 7 to 6 s
• Upgraded main battery reload time reduced from 6 to 5.5 s
• Stock detectability range by sea reduced from 13.5 to 12.5 km
• Upgraded detectability range by sea reduced from 13.5 to 12.5 km
• Stock and upgraded hull HP regeneration increased from 50% to 70%
• Repair Party consumable has been improved: repair rate increased from 0.7% to 1.2% per second

Santander

• Stock main battery reload time reduced from 7 to 6 s
• Upgraded main battery reload time reduced from 6 to 5.5 s
• Stock and upgraded hull HP regeneration increased from 50% to 70%
• Repair Party consumable has been improved: repair rate increased from 0.7% to 1.2% per second

San Martín

• Hull HP regeneration increased from 50% to 70%
• Repair Party consumable has been improved: repair rate increased from 0.7% to 1.2% per second

Marlborough

• Main battery shell grouping increased by ~10.7% (from 1.4 to 1.55 sigma)
• HE shell damage increased from 5,300 to 5,500

Nerfs

Lepanto

After all the changes, Lepanto is still disproportionately strong in main battery-focused builds, so we're nerfing her damage to match Colombo’s numbers and make her secondary and main battery builds more balanced.

• Maximum AP shell damage reduced from 11,000 to 10,250

Kijkduin

For a long time, we have been trying to balance Dutch cruisers around the fact that they could still use Airstrike to perform "stealth bombing." However, we agree with the community that this mechanic has made them very strong, so we are essentially removing this option almost entirely for the whole branch. With certain Commander builds, it will still be possible, but only within a few hundred meters of the cruisers' detectability range.

• Detectability range by sea increased from 10.98 to 12.2 km
• Detectability range by air increased from 6.59 to 7.32 km
• Detectability range while firing in smoke increased from 5.04 to 5.87 km
• Replaced the "Hidden" trait with "Pyromania"

Eendracht

• Detectability range by sea increased from 11.43 to 12.7 km
• Detectability range by air increased from 6.86 to 7.62 km
• Detectability range while firing in smoke increased from 5.34 to 6.24 km
• Replaced the "Hidden" trait with "Pyromania"

Haarlem

• Detectability range by sea increased from 11.84 to 13.15 km
• Detectability range by air increased from 7.1 to 7.89 km
• Detectability range while firing in smoke increased from 6.63 to 7.6 km
• Replaced the "Hidden" trait with "Pyromania"

Johan de Witt

• Detectability range by sea increased from 12.12 to 13.47 km
• Detectability range by air increased from 7.27 to 8.08 km
• Detectability range while firing in smoke increased from 7.66 to 8.69 km

Commander Base Traits

Buffs

Günther Lütjens: Gimlet

• Cruiser's main battery AP shell damage bonus increased from +0.3%–6% to +0.4%–8%

Giuseppe Cigala Fulgosi: In the Fog

• Smoke Screen deployment time bonus increased from +0.5%–10% to +0.75%–15%

Stig Hansson Ericson: Thunderbolt

• Engine Boost cooldown time acceleration improved from –0.15%–3% to 0.2%–4%
• Torpedo damage bonus increased from +0.15%–3% to +0.2%–4%

Norman Scott: Directed Impact

• Cruiser main battery shell grouping bonus increased from +0.25%–5% to +0.3%–6%

Commander Skills

Buffs

Loyalty to the Navy

This is a unique skill of Commander Günther Lütjens.

• Bonus to cruiser main battery shell grouping when shooting at destroyers increased from +2/2.6/3.3/4% to +3/4.6/6.3/8%.

Squid's Ink

This is a unique skill of Commander Giuseppe Cigala Fulgosi.

• Made the skill's drawback less punishing: Smoke screen dispersion time is now reduced by 5/10/15/20% instead of 10/23/36/50%.

Sheltered Arms

This skill is available for the following Commanders: Stig Hansson Ericson and Vincent Mordoff.

• Added new effects:
  • Incoming splash damage to main battery is reduced by 4/6/8/10%
  • Incoming splash damage to torpedo launchers is reduced by 4/6/8/10%

Armed and Ready

This skill is available for the following Commanders: Norman Scott, Thomas Kinkaid, and Shelly Beapley.

• Incoming fire dispersion bonus is increased from +0.5/1.5/3/4.5% to +2/3/4/5%
• New effect: Rudder-shift time is reduced by –2/3/4/5%

Equilibrium of Power

This skill is available for the following Commanders: Thomas Kinkaid, Norman Scott, Azur Lane Montpelier, Azur Lane Chapayev, Azur Lane Avrora, Stepan Makarov, Nikolai Kuznetsov, and Ivan D.B. Lightful.

Despite its strong positive effect, this skill's drawbacks often outweighed its benefits. That's why we've decided to remove one of its negative effects and add another positive one instead. Note that the logic behind the new modifier matches skills like Igniter and Burn It Down XXL: it is added to the fire-setting chance instead of being multiplied.

• Removed the following effect: HE shells fire-setting chance is reduced by –25%
• New effect: Cruiser HE shells and bombs fire-setting chance is increased by 1.5/2/2.5/3%
• The skill's drawback is now the same at all levels: cruiser main battery HE shell damage is always reduced by 20%

Nerfs

Testudo

This skill is available for the following Commanders: Angelo Iachino, Konuri Maki, Charles Kingsmill, Henrique Fernandes, and José Ferrándiz y Niño.

• Incoming damage from shells, torpedoes, and bombs to your battleship while Repair Party is active is now reduced by 6/9/12/15% instead of 10/13.3/16.7/20%.