Talk:Tutorial: Leveling/@comment-26049705-20150404034416/@comment-24978536-20150404045300

What Shinwalee said, but there is also 5-4-A - It is not as good as 4-3 for grinding a DD only, but it is useful if you have other ships you want to grind too. It also consumes very few buckets, only the flagship Ri-class heavy cruiser is really a threat to your buckets, and she only appears 1/3 of the time.

The flagship exp is around 750, which is what you will be gaining for your Murakumo all the time if you go with 5-4-A. Due to the lower amount of exp, it'll probably consume more fuel than 4-3 overall, despite the fact you'll be including a SS with 5-4-A grinding method. That is why I recommend this method only if you have other ships you want some experience for too, or if you desperately want to avoid using more buckets (5-4-A will consume somewhat less of them than 4-3 will, most likely).

I personally grinded my Hatsushimo up to lvl 62 or so with 5-4-A, mostly due to the fact I also wanted to level up Maruyu's to Kai for luck modernization. Rest of the levels I gained slowly through PvP only.