The Return of the Arena

May 19, 2022

Captains, it's time to go back—again. Arena seasons return, with three of them set to rock this update. Let's check out what's coming!

This time around, Arms Race bonuses are active, but with a small, albeit significant change—HP regeneration is no longer in the pool of available buffs. Otherwise, the system stays the same: Three waves of buffs spawn on the map at certain times throughout each battle, always at similar distances to each team's spawn points. Those effects benefit the whole team and can be stacked, so don't take them for granted!

The list of bonuses now looks like this:

Main battery gun reload speed—+10% single stack; +33% at six
Consumable cooldown speed—+10% single stack; +40% at six
Rudder-shift speed—+20% single stack; +60% at six

One more important thing to mention—in case the battle timer runs its course, the side with the most enemy ships sunk is declared the winner. Note that this rule can result in situations where a team can win despite having lost all of its ships!

To spice up the process of climbing the leaderboards even more, we're bringing in a set of missions. Get any medals on ships from Tier IV to Legendary Tier—in Standard Battles or Arena—and get prizes. Sounds good, right? You'll find the breakdown of what you can get below. Please note: The number of medals for each step indicates the TOTAL number you need to get to obtain the prize.

Medalista mission: Obtainable from May 19 through 26, and available for completion from May 19 through June 2, for 1,100,000 credits

3 medals: 12x Revolutionary camouflages
7 medals: 50 Steel
12 medals: 1x Spring Big Crate
Final Prize: 5x Promotion Orders

Supermedalista mission: Obtainable from June 2 through 9, and available for completion from June 2 through 16, for 2,200,000 credits

4 medals: 25x Hunter camouflages
9 medals: 100 Steel
15 medals: Japanese Tier II Premium cruiser Mikasa; 1x Spring Big Crate
Final Prize: 1x Insignia; 5x Promotion Orders

Hypermedalista mission: Obtainable from June 16 through 23, and available for completion from June 16 through 30, for 3,300,000 credits

3 medals: 12x Sci-Fi Space camouflages
7 medals: 200 Steel
12 medals: 2x Spring Big Crate
18 medals: 1x Insignia, 1x Commendation
Final Prize: 1x Super V crate

Also, TheSailingRobin comes to the rescue yet again! He's here to provide the best ship choices for each season. You can find those in the corresponding sections.

Below, you can find the full list of rules, including prizes. You can expect to get those, depending on your placement on the leaderboard, after the season has concluded.

Season 11

May 19–23 (7:00 UTC/2:00 CDT start and finish)

Ship tier: IV
Ship types: No carriers
Team size: 3
Arms Race mechanic active
Divisions of up to three players are allowed
Number of best battle results counted daily: 10
Maps: Crash Zone, Haven, Land of Fire, Neighbors, New Dawn, Ring

TheSailingRobin pick: If you're lucky enough to get your hands on Early Access Pan-European Tier IV destroyer Visby, you'll start the season with a competitive pick—it's the only destroyer at Tier IV to get the Repair Party consumable. While you forego the trusted Smoke Screen that can definitely help you in a pinch, your fast torpedoes combined with decent guns will definitely surprise the opposition. Otherwise, Farragut would be the second most trusted pick, combining firepower with utility, and bringing the versatility of USN destroyers to the playground.

Prize distribution

Participation

2x Promotion Orders
2x Pan-European Destroyer crates
200 Paint

Top 90%

8x Promotion Orders
2 days of Premium Account
150 Steel

Top 50%

1x Insignia
10,000 Global XP
250 Steel

Top 25%

1x Commander Crate
2 days of Premium Account
300 Steel

Top 10%

15x Promotion Orders
1x Pan-European Destroyer Big Crate
400 Steel

Top 1%

1x Commendation
2 days of Premium Account
500 Steel

Season 12

June 2–6 (7:00 UTC/2:00 CDT start and finish)

Ship tier: V
Ship types: No carriers
Team size: 3
Arms Race mechanic active
Divisions of up to three players are allowed
Number of best battle results counted daily: 10
Maps: Crash Zone, Haven, Land of Fire, Neighbors, New Dawn, Ring

TheSailingRobin pick: For this Arena season, we have to keep in mind the important game changer for our pick—there are no Heal buffs. This means that ships with the ability to repair damage at sea can be the decisive factor in tightly fought games. With that said, it's likely that your opponents (as long as they're not battleships) will also be unable to restore HP. What does this mean? You have to strike hard, first, and fast. Devonshire is probably not the most forgiving cruiser to play, but her 8.8-inch (203 mm) hard-hitting guns will help you deplete your target's HP before they can deplete yours. And guess what? The ship also has the Repair Party consumable.

Prize distribution

Participation

2x Promotion Orders
250,000 credits
200 Paint

Top 90%

8x Promotion Orders
2 days of Premium Account
150 Steel

Top 50%

1x Insignia
2x Pan-European Destroyer crate
250 Steel

Top 25%

15x Promotion Orders
2 days of Premium Account
300 Steel

Top 10%

1x Commendation
1x Pan-European Destroyer Big Crate
400 Steel

Top 1%

1x Pan-European Destroyer Big Crate
3 days of Premium Account
500 Steel

Season 13

June 16–20 (6:00 UTC/1:00 CDT start and finish)

Ship tier: VI
Ship types: No carriers
Team size: 3
Arms Race mechanic active
Divisions of up to three players are allowed
Number of best battle results counted daily: 10
Maps: Crash Zone, Haven, Land of Fire, Neighbors, New Dawn, Ring

TheSailingRobin pick: Tier VI sees the appearance of some of the most powerful vessels, as well as consumables such as Radar, long-range Sonar, and other gimmicks that are not easy to counter. We'll look at battleships this time, and out of all the popular competitors such as Scharnhorst or Sinop, one battleship takes the cake for this pick, especially in a 3 vs. 3 vs. 3 vs. 3 environment—Francesco Caracciolo. With the ability to close the distance under the cover of her Exhaust Smoke Generator so she can put her SAP secondaries to work, this brawler will surprise you with how quickly she can dispatch target ships in the right circumstances. Our advice? Build for secondary range and survivability.