How to Play: Cruisers in World of Warships in 2024

The cruiser’s combination of survivability, firepower, and maneuverability makes it the most attractive and sought-after class of combat vessels in World of Warships.

In addition to the characteristic advantages of battleships and destroyers, cruisers also combine the disadvantages inherent in these classes of ships, which must be competently masked or compensated for.

We also advise you to familiarize yourself with a helpful article: How to Fire Torpedoes in World of Warships Properly

How to properly play on a cruiser in WoWs to avoid common mistakes, use the advantages and avoid the disadvantages, we will understand further.

Features of the “Cruiser” Class in World of Warships

The specifics of cruisers are:

• combine the advantages and disadvantages of destroyers and line ships;
• are a separate class with individual strategies and tactics of naval combat.

Depending on the prevalence of specific characteristics, cruisers are:

1. Light – high maneuverability, medium firepower, weak armor.
2. Heavy – maneuverability, firepower, and survivability are balanced.
3. Super-heavy – survivability, medium firepower, and poor maneuverability are predominant.

Equipment

The cruiser armament set includes:

• main caliber as part of gun turrets of various armor penetration;
• anti-mine (auxiliary) caliber, which allows destroying torpedoes;
• air defense system consisting of anti-aircraft guns and ejectable aircraft;
• torpedo tubes;
• depth charges.

Depending on the particular ship, the kit may include all or only part of the weapons, but it is obligatory to include the GC, TA and air defense system.

Tips for Practical Cruiser Play in World of Warships

To fight effectively on a cruiser, you need to accept its weaknesses and play from them rather than from its advantages.

Speed and Maneuverability

When controlling a cruiser, you must constantly change speed and direction to avoid getting hit. The enemy will aim preemptively, assuming the future location by the current course and speed, so if you see that a volley is made, you need to stop, accelerate, or make a turn.

To better evade enemy attacks, it is advisable to install improvements that increase mobility, such as:

• “Steering Machines,” which reduce the time to change the onboard rudders by 40%;
• “Power Plant,” which increases initial power and reduces acceleration time.

Stealth and Range of Fire

The optimal distance to the nearest enemy should be 2 – 3 km more than the detection distance so that, being out of sight, it is possible to make targeted hits from the main caliber guns.

To increase the accuracy of hits and the damage inflicted, it is necessary to purchase upgrades that improve camouflage, which will reduce visibility and make it possible to reduce the distance to the enemies.

An alternative to improving stealth is to increase the range of your targets, as long as this is not accompanied by an increase in projectile dispersion, which reduces your Sigma value.

Common Cruiser Mistakes

The main mistakes in cruiser control are made due to the overuse of specific tactics.

Excessive Evasion

Getting carried away with maneuvering, some cruiser commanders break away from the main allied forces and become the target of attacks for two or more enemies, because of which evasive maneuvers cease to work because:

• When evading a salvo from one of the opponents, you have to perform a particular maneuver – stopping, accelerating, or turning;
• Seeing this maneuver, the second enemy predicts the future location and performs a volley with the necessary anticipation, hitting the target exactly.

Do not break away from the main group, it is optimal to have a heavy battleship in front of you in the line of fire, which is the main target of the opponents, covering which will manage not to become a target.

Trying to Become a Battleship

A typical mistake of captains of heavily armored cruisers is insufficient maneuvering in the hope of survivability and thickness of armor; as a result:

• A heavy cruiser that does not yet have the survivability and armor of a line ship becomes a slow-moving target of numerous enemies;
• Losing to a battleship in firepower, the cruiser cannot launch counterattacks commensurate with the damage and is defeated early.

Maneuvering should not be neglected even on a heavy cruiser, despite its armor and degraded evasion performance.

Pros and Cons of Cruisers

The cruiser’s advantage is its versatile fighting ability, in that it can equally well due to its full range of armaments:

• inflict damage at long range from main caliber guns;
• eliminate the threat of torpedo attacks;
• defend itself and its allies from air attack;
• torpedoing battleships;
• dropping depth charges on careless submarines.

The disadvantages of cruisers usually manifest themselves in their weak armor, which forces them to maneuver constantly, but their evasive abilities do not allow them to do so quickly enough due to large turning radii and long rudder changes.

Battle Tactics for Cruisers in WoWs in 2024

The best tactical solution for the cruiser is to attack from a distance of 2 – 3 km above the line of sight of the ship, but at the same time, you need to be behind the allied battleship, thanks to what:

• The armored and survivable battleship takes on enemy fire;
• the cruiser, together with the battleship, fires remotely at the most dangerous enemies and protects the battleship from air attacks that pose the greatest threat;
• being behind a battleship may not require constant maneuvering because the fire will be concentrated on other targets;
• even under the cover of other ships, it is necessary to attack with the bow guns rather than the port side, being at an angle to possible hits to create conditions for ricochets.

Do not forget about islands and smoke screens, which can be a good cover from enemy attacks, allowing you to inflict damage while remaining out of sight and without damage.