User blog:Kuras/Fall Event 2016 E-4

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To start off, I want to say that I consider this map in my "Top 5 hardest event maps to clear", along with Summer 2014 E-7, Summer 2015 E-7, Spring 2016 E-7 and Summer 2016 E-5. However, do not let this discourage you from trying to clearing this map (on Hard)! Your luck may just be better than mine was. Although it may take some time, eventually you will obtain that final kill! Now that you have depleted the TP gauge, it is time to definitively clear the map through the "old-fashioned" manner, by depleting the HP bar and scoring a final kill on the boss. Killing the boss can be achieved with several fleet compositions and corresponding route to the boss. Though, let us first discuss the pre-boss nodes. Regardless of fleet composition, all fleets will have to go through nodes O, P, S, and Q to reach boss node V. At the same time, this is also the shortest route that can be taken to encounter the boss. In fact, this guide mainly focuses on discussing clearing the map through route O-P-S-Q-V. Other viable fleet compositions and routes will be discussed here as well though. The first node to be encountered is node O, an air strike node. The boss comes from the direction of node Q or V and attacks your fleet with an air strike. The enemy fleet that your fleet will encounter here is the boss's main fleet. (Yes, you will have to fight a 6v12 battle against the boss!) At the pre-final kill condition, air superiority can be relatively easily achieved at this node (and node Q and V), with an air power of 263 or above. As such, paired with a shipgirl with an AACI setup, this node should not be too big of a concern. Though, your shipgirls remain exposed to potential heavy air strike damage. The following node is node P, a submarine node which contains many powerful abyssal submarines. As usual, their torpedoes are capable of dealing heavy damage, even against some tougher shipgirls. Just pick the line abreast formation and pray for your girls' safety! The enemies at node S will frequently send your fleet back to base. This should not come to a surprise when considering the enemies residing at this node. At all times, four Flagship Ru-Class BBs are to be encountered here. Although, the enemy fleet has no air power at all, they are capable to heavily injure even your toughest shipgirls. The last pre-boss node is node Q. This is basically a copy of the first node, O. It thus is another air strike node with the boss's main fleet being the one to perform it. Again, during pre-final kill sorties, this node should not cause much trouble often either. Though it is quite possible that your already moderately injured shipgirls are caused to be heavily injured. Before discussing the boss node/battle, there are still two pre-boss nodes which your fleet might have to go through, depending on the fleet composition. With a Fast fleet, but a fleet composition other than 1 fBB, 2 CVL, 1 CL, 2 DD, your fleet will get routed to node R. Node R contains two Flagship III or IV Wo-Class Kai CVs and will frequently heavily injure your shipgirls. Even the toughest shipgirls can succumb to the one-shot capabilities of the Wo-classes, be it during the opening air strikes or shelling phases. If possible, this node should be avoided as much as possible. Therefore, it is recommended to take the shortest route, O-P-Q-S-V, for pre-final kill sorties. I would even argue taking this route for the final kill as well for several reasons, which are discussed further below. If you have either a Slow fleet, or at least 5 (f)BB(V)s and CV(B)s combined, your fleet will be detoured from node P to node N, and node R afterward. Node N is yet another air strike node, but this time performed by the fleet at node R. As mentioned above, said fleet is capable of one-shotting even the toughest shipgirls. I have had my Musashi being instantly one-shotted from full hp to 4 hp at this node.. Similar to map 6-5, the boss battle is one where your fleet has to fight a 6v12 battle. However, a big difference is that no LBAS support is available here. Therefore, boss support is very highly recommended, for both pre-final and final kill sorties. The actual boss of this map is CV Hime II for both the pre-final and final kill(s). However, only her escorts gain an "upgrade" in final "form". Most notably, the double Flagship Nu-Class CVLs in the main fleet become Flagship II Wo-Class Kai CVs. The "upgrades" affect both air strike nodes O and Q, since those are based on the boss's main fleet. Again, for pre-final sorties, an air power of at least 263 is required to achieve air superiority at these nodes. While a minimum of 518 air power is required against the final "form". Keep in mind that planes will be shot down as your fleet progresses through the pre-boss nodes. Thus you have to start with higher air power to retain enough for the further nodes. If you go through the longer routes, you will need to have a buffer of close to 100 air power (during final kill attempts). The escort fleets at the boss node can be tough to clear, but earning (a what would be) an A rank on them should not be that hard. In the pre-final form, all of the enemies in the main fleet except for the boss can be killed relatively easy. However, CV Hime II herself has quite high survivability and is hard to kill even during night battles. Having night-time torpedo cut-in setup on your shipgirl(s) is recommended to increase your likelihood to finish off the boss. Considering the powerful enemies at the pre-boss nodes as well as at the boss node, sending both boss support and normal node support is very highly recommended. If you find your fleet having trouble reaching the boss node and/or surviving day-time boss battles (relatively unscathed), you might want to sparkle your shipgirls as well. I have only sparkled my fleets for the final kill. I wish a LOT of luck clearing this map!

Back to top Fleet Composition & Equipment Setups

For pre-final kill attempts, it is without a doubt most efficient and most effective to go through the shortest route, using the above fleet composition. The CAV can be swapped out for a second fast CVL. Although your fleet can still perform well at air parity, with less fighters and more bombers on the CVL, I preferred to gain air superiority. Air superiority allows the fBB and CAV to perform day-time special attacks. Furthermore, the Night Recon cannot be triggered in night battle when air parity was achieved during the day-time battle before. Yukikaze with her torpedo cut-in setup was assigned in the flagship position to increase the trigger rate of said cut-in. However, you may want to assign your fBB there instead, since the flagship shipgirl has a higher chance to perform day-time special attacks. The DD with torpedo cut-in setup can be assigned to the last slot of your fleet, to let the other shipgirls clear the escorts first. Additionally, you can equip Abukumi Kai Ni with a torpedo cut-in setup as well. Having Abukuma taking the position of CL is not necessary, but it is recommended. You do not need to save her for E-5, especially if you have an adequately leveled Sakawa. A minimum of 263 air power is required to achieve air superiority at the boss node. However, many aircrafts will be shot down on the way to it. A large buffer is therefore required. Because of the several powerful air strikes that your fleet have to be exposed to, having a DD on AACI duty is a must!

During my attempts to score the final kill, I have experimented with several fleet compositions, which can be found below. Regardless of whatever fleet composition you go for, attaining that final kill will not be an easy task, unless you are extremely lucky. First of all, justifying my choice to keep sortieing the initial light fleet with minor changes, this fleet has the highest rate to reach the boss node (without any shipgirl being heavily injured). Second, this fleet composition avoids the dreadful nodes N and R, where even the heaviest of fleets are often send back to base. And third, though requiring a bit more luck during the boss battle, this fleet has capable night-time (torpedo cut-in) damage to finish off the boss. The disadvantages are that this is obviously a light fleet and therefore has comparatively low survivability and lower firepower, it is reliant on night-time torpedo cut-in(s) being performed, and is not capable of achieving air superiority at (node Q and) the boss node. For the final kill, Abukuma was given a torpedo cut-in setup as well and assigned as the flagship to boost her night-time cut-in rate, since her luck stat is (still) unimproved at 20. Furthermore, Chiyoda had a fighter replaced with a torpedo bomber and was moved up in the fleet position, which allowed her to attack before the weaker shipgirls during the second shelling phase. Since the boss node requires 518 air power to achieve air superiority, I aimed to achieve air parity instead. Note that this means that the Night Recon could not be triggered. You may even want to aim for air incapability at the boss node to allow the Night Recon to trigger and having the possibility to nuke the boss with your bombers. Yukikaze was moved to the last slot in the fleet to allow the others to (hopefully) clear the escorts for her. Alternatively, the CAV can be replaced by another fast CVL.

This fleet goes through route O-P-R-S-Q-V. It is heavier than the recommended one and therefore has higher survivability and firepower. In exchange for these advantages, it has to go through a longer route and through node R. The double Flagship III or IV Wo-Class Kai CVs have a high chance to send the whole fleet back to base, if not with opening air strike, then during the shelling phases, even with the whole fleet sparkled. With the sortieing fleet returning to base prematurely, your shipgirls in the boss support fleet lose their sparkles quicklier. Although 629-638 air power may seem like an overkill, compared to the minimum of 518 air power required to achieve air superiority, having "merely" around 600 air power is not sufficient to attain air superiority at the boss node, since your fleet (and aircrafts) will have to go through many nodes with heavy enemy AA beforehand. If you lack sufficient good fighters, you can aim for air parity at the boss node instead and equip more bombers on your CV(B)s. You can replace one of the CAVs with a shipgirl dedicated to AACI, preferably Maya Kai Ni. This might actually be preferred.

This "super heavy" fleet will to go through route O-P-N-R-S-Q-V. Although this fleet is almost as "heavy" as it can get, it is still hard to score the final kill with it. The double Flagship III or IV Wo-Class Kai CVs at node R, and also N with this fleet composition, remain a major threat. As mentioned further above, they can one-shot even my Yamato-class shipgirls. Besides, having to go through this many nodes will result in a pretty large evasion penalty for your fleet at the further nodes. It resulted in almost all of my shipgirls being heavily injured by the end of day-time battles against the boss, even when they were all fully sparkled. Alternatively, Maya Kai Ni can be swapped out for another (f)BB(V). This is not recommended however, since you want to have AACI to protect your fleet against the many powerful air strikes.

Back to top Support Expeditions

Unlike in the TP phase of E-4, you want to have CVs instead CVLs in your support fleets, since the enemies here are very powerful. Normal node support is therefore also highly recommended, for both pre-final and final kill attempts, regardless of fleet composition and route.

Boss support is also very highly recommended since your fleet will have to with 6 against 12 enemies at the boss node.

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