User blog:Reikyu/Breaking Through: 200 armor as the new normal

aka yori dori midori

As the devs continue to throw 200 armor bosses at us, we'll just have to accept it and deal with it the best we can. This entry will look into the combined fleet yasen phase.

Recap on CLTs and 200 armor: http://kancolle.wikia.com/wiki/User_blog:Reikyu/Dealing_with_yasen_soft_cap_on_CLTs

200 armor is a big number. The way an armor roll works, damage mitigation will range between 133 to 266, or 2/3 - 4/3 of the armor. This means that the same hit can have a swing of 133 damage. You might nail a lucky crit and lucky armor roll and think you've found the answer to all your problems, but the next time around you might be doing scratch damage.

Besides your CLTs there are some other options available to you because you don't want to put all your eggs in two baskets and hope your CLTs are healthy, aim at the right target, crit, and have a good armor roll. Luckily the devs gave us the Skilled Lookouts which can up your cut in rates. Night battle cut-ins are important because double tapping just doesn't cut it these days (unless you are a CLT).

=Limitations of double taps (non CLT)=

Yuudachi = 73 FP + 93 Torpedo + 6~12 depending on how much you've upgraded your 10cm+FD guns. If we add up the FP and torpedo we get a Yasen total of 178. Last slot reserved for radar or other equipment. Double attack damage at night would be 178 x 1.2 = 213.6 damage. A critical hit would be 213.6 x 1.5 = 320.4 damage

Your average damage per hit would be 213.6 - 200 armor = 13.6 damage

Your average damage per critical hit would be 320.4 - 200 armor = 120.4 damage

What about the armor roll? You could get a good or a bad armor roll.

Critical hit with a good armor roll: 320.4 - 133 = 187.4 damage

Critical hit with a bad armor roll: 320.4 - 266 = 54.4 damage

Unless you crit you are basically doing scratch damage. If you do crit you are likely hitting in the low 100s. Throw in the 80% ammo mod for a 4 node boss journey and the damage will cap at 150 per crit tap with good armor roll.

Choukai = 85 FP + 87 Torpedo + 20 for two prinz guns for example. Yasen total of 192. Double attack damage at night would be 230.4 damage. Critical of 345.6 damage

Average damage per hit: 230.4 - 200 armor = 30.4 damage

Average critical damage per hit: 345.6 - 200 armor = 145.6 damage

A little bit better, but not by much. CLTs for comparison are hitting 80 a normal double tap and 221 per crit on average.

=Cut-in Options=

Now let's look at some of the cut-in options we have.

Torpedo Cut-in: 150% x 2 hits

Triple gun Cut-in: 200% x 1 hit

Mixed Cut-in: 130% x 2 hits

Mixed Cut-in is 130% vs. the double tap that deals 120% along with having a luck mod that could cause it to not proc at all. This is not very desirable.

Triple gun Cut-in seems like it would do a lot, but with the 300 yasen cap you will easily bump up against it and have your damage severly limited to the low 300s. Subtract 200 armor and you do just one decent hit instead of two.

Torpedo Cut-ins are where it's at and it only requires 2 slots for torpedos

=Torpedo Cut-in Examples=

We're all familiar with the yukikaze and shigure torpedo cut-in because of their high luck and decent stats.

Shigure = 57 FP + 84 Torpedo + 24~28 from two upgraded quints = Yasen power of 169. Cut-in mod of 1.5 makes 253.5 damage per hit and 380.25 a crit

Average damage per hit: 253.5 - 200 armor = 53.5 damage

Average critical damage per hit: 380.25 - 200 armor = 180.25 damage

A little bit better. Although Shigure has 50 luck and can equip a lookout to increase her cut-in rate even more, she unfortunately lacks much yasen power. 253.5 is way short of the 300 soft cap.

Yukikaze = 59 FP + 89 Torpedo + 24~28 from two upgraded quints = Yasen power of 176. Cut-in mod of 1.5 = 264 damage per hit with 396 crit.

Ayanami = 70 FP + 87 Torpedo + 24~28 from two upgraded quints = Yasen power of 185. Cut-in mod of 1.5 = 277.5 damage per hit with 416.25 crit.

Yukikaze offers better damage and has higher luck. Ayanami has less luck than Shigure but will average +24 damage per normal hit (x2 hits for torpedo cut-in) and +36 damage per crit.

Yuudachi = 73 FP + 93 Torpedo + 24~28 from two upgraded quints = Yasen power of 194. Cut-in mod of 1.5 = 291 damage per hit with 436.5 crit.

Now, Yuudachi does not have very good luck. Even with the skilled lookouts her cut-in rate is only around 60-65% as flagship. But look at that damage. 291 is higher than a CLT double tap. If you could get Yuudachi with a decent cut-in rate, you'd basically have the CLT equivalent of a boss killer. Ayanami is also a pretty good case for luck boosting as she already has 40.

Attached pic is bait. It's probably a double crit, but it's hard to fully tell with the 133~266 armor rolls

But beyond DDs, there are also CAs!

Prinz Eugen = 75 FP + 84 Torpedo + 36~42 from three upgraded quints (do you even have that many?) = Yasen power of 201. Cut-in mod of 1.5 = 301.5 which is just above the yasen softcap. Critical hits of 451.5.

Myoukou = 80 FP + 88 Torpedo + 24~28 from two upgraded quints = Yasen power of 196. Cut-in mod of 1.5 = 294 with criticals of 441. You could go three torps, but you'll bump up against the softcap and take up another slot that could be holding yasen equipment.

Prinz has 40 luck while Myoukou has 32. If you went two torps on Prinz you'll have yasen power around the strength of Ayanami. The downside to outfitting your CAs with a cut-in setup is that they use up your quints which might be better served on DDs, and just who is going to carry all the yasen gear? (Ooyodo of course)  You also take away a CA's ability to do artillery spotting during the day and they will lack red guns.

So maybe down the line: 2 CLT, luck boosted Yuudachi and Ayanami with two torps and lookouts, luck boosted Myoukou with two torps, lookout, and a night scout, and Ooyodo with another night scout, two starshells, and a searchlight... :V