User blog:BasakaNZ/Thoughts and musings on effective ship levelling

So, after deciding not to bother with levelling Kiso, her new art (Captain Harlock? Crossbone Gundam?!) changed my mind. I tried a few levelling methods, and here are some methods one can consider when trying to level their ships.

1-1-1

Composition: The ship you want to level.

Recommended leveling: 1-10

Recommended ship types: DD, CL

How: The first node on world 1-1 only has a single destroyer, which you can usually kill in one shot, guaranteeing S (+1) + MVP (+3) + flagship (+10) morale and exp. Each run gains you +14 morale and 108 exp. Retreating gives you a net of -1 morale, but with each run lasting ~1 minute your ship will never get tired.

Pros:

- Ships never get tired, which allows for HEAVY grinding

- Ships will probably never get hit / lose HP, saving on repairs

Cons:

- Boring

- Inefficient at levels higher than 10, and not a good ratio of res consumption : exp gained

- Mediocre drops

2-4-1(1)

Composition: Ship you want to level (flagship), 1BB, 2CV/CVL, 1 Sub, 1 wildcard

Equipment: Blue planes on CVs, best guns on everything else

Recommended levelling: Until you can pass 2-4

Recommended ship types: BB/CVs

How: Sortie to 2-4, you are guaranteed to hit the first node. The enemy there is relatively weak. Destroy, retreat, repeat.

Pros:

- Much higher exp, especially for the early-mid game

- Guaranteed to hit the node

- Enemy does not hit very hard if they survive

- Good drops (Shimakaze, Ooi)

Cons:

- Fatigue

3-2-1

Composition: Ship you want to level (flagship), 1BB, 2CV/CVL, 1 Sub, 1 wildcard

Equipment: Blue planes on CVs, best guns on everything else

Recommended levelling: up to 50

Recommended ship types: All ships

How: Similar to 2-4. As the compass will only spin you north, you are guaranteed to have a easy fight. You can also use the steel trick where you advance to the steel node then refresh the browser/flash player for easy resources.

Pros:

- Easy fights

- Good exp (320 base exp)

- Good drops, all BBs except Nagato class, Soryuu

- STEEL

Cons:

- again, fatigue.

THe ones above are the standard ones. What I'd like to discuss now is some of the less talked about ones.

4-1

Composition: Composition: Ship you want to level (flagship), 1BB, 2CV/CVL, 2 anti-sub ships

Equipment: Blue planes on CVs, Mix of guns/ASW on AS ships

Recommended levelling: all levels

Recommended ships: all ships

How: Aim to travel Nodes A->B, E->H or E->F->G. Nodes A/E have nothing strong



er than CLs and nodes B/G/H are submarine nodes. If well equipped, you should be able to take minimal damage and be able to farm 2 nodes. Node I is optional - there ARE two BBs on tha tnode, so it's up to you whether you want to retreat. It does not happen that often though. Base exp is 310 which is slightly lower than 3-2 but you do get more battles from going to 2 nodes.

Pros:

- Can do two nodes with one sortie, so more exp compared to 3-2 taking fatigue into account

- Drops (Abukuma, Kaga)

- Fuel node gives up to 120 fuel

Cons:

- Needs more prep work

- Compass sometimes spins you off to node I

4-3 (DD/CLs)

Composition: Composition: Ship you want to level (flagship), 1BB, 2CV/CVL, 2 anti-sub ships

Equipment: Flagship should be a DD/CL stuffed full of ASW. Mix of red/blue planes on CVs, ASW on other ships

Recommended levelling: All levels

Recommended ships: DD/CLs How: Aim for nodes F->D or F->K. Ships will not go F->G unless you have 2 CAs. T

hey are both submarine nodes, so there is a high chance for your flagship to gain MVP, netting up to 2200 exp per sortie. However there are sometimes other ships in the submrine node so your MVP may go to another ship. Compass will also spin you to node J sometimes, and that node may have a gold BB which may do some damage to your ships. Pros:  - Best potential exp for your flagship - up to 2800exp per sortie (if you go JFD/K) - two (or 3 nodes) means less effects of fatigue. Cons:  - Less stable routes - Gold BB :x

Currently, I'm using 4-3, as it requires the least amount of sorties to get my Kiso to 65. Don't forget to use PvPs for a good exp boost!