User blog:Kurono21/1° experience at ranking (UNFINISHED)

I am currently trying to get to top 500 for the first time, as kinda-new TTK (started playing in March, 2 Events under my belt), i will write about the usual problems one might find in his way to reach top ranking and trying to get the sweet exclusive equipment that one gets once you reach the top 500 rank at the end of the month.

Honestly, this is my first time writing and blog and im mostly tring to vent off some tension from the stress of ranking, but hopefuly this will help someone to get a better idea at what kind of preparations you have to get before tackling this ordeal.

(I AM WRITING THIS ASSUMING YOU, THE READER, CAN EASILY CLEAR 1-5, 1-6, 2-5, 3-5, AND 4-5. If you have problems with those its better that you dont try to rank and focus on doing those extra operation maps in a regular fashion each month, if you need help with those maps its better to ask help around the wiki)

First of all, DONT TRY TO RANK IF YOU HAVENT CLEARED 5-3, your ranking is determined by HQ points that you can get by winning (AKA at keast getting B-rank) at the Boss node of any map. Currently, the best way to do so is farming 5-4. Everyone will tell you that is the most easy map to farm, which it is, but certain prep work is needed.

Second, ITS NOT NECESSARY TO CLEAR 5-5 TO RANK AT TOP 500 (but it helps a lot!). 5-5 gives a lot of ranking points (when you clear a extra operation map, it rewards you with a medal and ranking points ;EXCEPT 1-6, IT ONLY GIVES RANKING POINTS;. So obviously, one might think that clearing 5-5 would be necessary to rank, but it isnt so if you arent going for Top 100 or above, although you will have to compensate by doing 5-4 a LOT. its up to you to decide if its worthy  to try 5-5 for the extra boost. I will not talk about how to clear 5-5 but i will say that it requires high lvl ships (above 90) and CAREFUL planning depending on which route you take (the wiki already has a, scarce yet sufficent, section dedicated to the map and routings, so check it if you neet extra info). Also Re-chan (RE class battleships) ISNT AS SCARY as somepeople might, but she is indeed annoying, her opening airstrike might taiha your CV/Ls and Elite Re has a opening torp like our CLTs, so i recomend sparkling CV/Ls and using support node (sparkle 4 support ships to get them to appear more often).

Also, by doing 5-5 the traditional way (3 BB, 1 CVL, 2 CVs) with support node, takes around 15 HOURS (depending on RNG, sparkling runs and how long can you play each day) Consider this carefully before going