Fall 2015 Event/E-4

Branching rules

 * Surface Task Force starts D.
 * Choice between F and G. If F is chosen, fleet goes F>I>K at 100% rate.
 * Any Italian ship guarantees branching from H to J. Random branching between I and J otherwise.
 * Carrier Task Force starts A.
 * Akitsushima guarantees branching from B to F. Random branching between C and F otherwise. If routed to C, refer to Surface Task Force route above.
 * ​1 CT and 1 Hayasui in CTF will guarantee B>F, had confirm for
 * ​ both in main fleet
 * Hayasui in main and 1CT in escort
 * Routes rejoin at node K. Choice between M and N.
 * LoS check at node N. If failed, route to deadend node L. If passed, route to boss node O.

Recommended Fleet Composition:

 * 2 BB 2 CL 1 CA 1 CV + 1 CL 2 DD 3 CLT (DEFIKNO)
 * 1 CL 1 BB 1 CV 1 CA 2 CL + 1 CL 2 DD 3 CLT  ( DEFIKNO ) Hard mode final kill possible without armour debuff. CA recommended to be Maya Kai ni for AACI, all DD and CL must be loaded with ASW. CV uses 3 fighters, 1 torpedo bomber. This will overwhelm the boss with ASW during daytime. Consider using full ASW on CLT or at least on Kiso as they have better stats than DDs.
 * 1 (F)BB 2CA 1CV(B) + 1 Abukuma(CL) 2DD 3CLT (DEFIKNO) farming boss kills on easy
 * 1 Katori/Kashima(CT) 1 Hayasui 4 CV(B/L) + 1 Abukuma(CL) 2DD 3CLT (ABFIKNO) easy and reliable to reach boss for farming

Going to node J (For Armor Reduction Purposes)

 * Having Roma, Italia or Libeccio (the three known Italian ships) in your fleet seems to guarantee H to J (Still need further testing)
 * 1 CA 3 (F)BB 2 CVL + 1 CL 2 DD 2 CA 1 FBB
 * 4 (F)BB 1CV 1CA + 1 CL 2 DD 2 CA 1 FBB
 * It's possible to go to both debuff node in a single run via DEGHJKM

Going to node M (For Armor Reduction Purposes or farming Prinz Eugen)

 * 2(F)BB(V) 2 CA(V) 2 CVL + 1CL 1 CLT 2 CA 2 DD
 * 3 (F)BB(V) 2 CA(V) 1 CV + 2 CA 2 DD 1 CL 1 CLT
 * 2 (F)BB(V) 2 CA(V) 2 CVL + 2 CA 2 DD 1 CL 1 FBB
 * 4 (F)BB(V) 1 CA(V) 1 CV + 2 CA 2 DD 1 CL 1 FBB
 * 3 (F)BB(V) 1 CA(V) 1 CV 1 SS + 2 CA 2 DD 1 CL 1 SS
 * 3 (F)BB(V) 2 CA(V) 1 CV + 2 CA 2 DD 1 CL 1 FBB
 * If you use Carrier Task Force, add an Akitsushima for fixed routing that avoid node C
 * Possible composition: Akitsushima 4 CV 1 BB + 1 FBB 1 CA 1 CL 1 CLT 2 DD

Debuffing (Weakening) Boss

 * Defeating Anchorage Water Demon and Harbour Princess in Node M and J respectively at least once will weaken/debuff the Boss.
 * The Debuff seems to be applied in the Boss Node even if you use Surface Task Force at least to a certain extent, even though there's no change in the CG. (Source) To keep track in this situation, use the timer at the top of the page to know if your debuff for the day has reset, or remains active.
 * The change in CG and Voice Line for when the Boss is debuffed seems to only apply when you use Carrier Task Force to face the Boss. (See the Submarine Princess Page.)
 * The debuff carries into Last Dance if you did it before.
 * The debuff will reset if you reset the difficulty. It is not possible to debuff in Easy and clear in Hard.
 * The debuff seems to reset if you cleared the map. Probably player can try to see if redebuffing work after clearing the map.

AS Values

 * Easy: PA: >62, AS: >138, AS+: >276
 * Medium/Hard: PA: >68, AS: >153, AS+: >306

Anti-Submarine Warfare

 * To clear the map, your main goal is to defeat the Submarine Princess. Sinking all other ships is necessary for S-ranks if you want to farm for drops, but is not necessary if you only want to clear the map for the reward.
 * The Escort Fleet in the Combined Fleet system deals NORMAL ASW DAMAGE in Night Battle, unlike single fleets. You may proceed to Night Battle to take down the Submarine Princess if you couldn't do this in Day Battle. (SOURCE)
 * Since the main fleet has two shelling phases but does not enter night battle, while the escort fleet has one shelling phase followed by night battle, both fleets get to use ASW attacks twice.
 * Submarines only perform torpedo attacks on the escort fleet after the escort fleet's shelling phase. If possible, use a Surface Task Force, fill the main fleet with anti-ship builds and the escort fleet with anti-submarine builds - so your main fleet will take out the surface ships first, leaving the ASW ships in better shape to deal with the boss and other submarines. If a carrier task force is used instead, fill the main fleet with the strongest two ASW ships together with the carriers, and load anti-ship builds in the escort fleet instead, so the ASW ships are kept in better shape. Do NOT load the bulk of your ASW ships in the first fleet to engage, or the Battleship Princess or Standard Carrier Wo-Class will shoot them with impunity while the ships cannot attack anything but the submarines.
 * If possible, using a Surface Task Force may deny the submarines from ever getting to launch their closing torpedoes.
 * Due to the nature of ASW calculations where base ASW is square-rooted before being doubled, while ASW equipment have their bonuses increased by 50%, 4-slot CLs and CTs are always stronger than 3-slot ships regardless of their base ASW values. Consider Isuzu Kai Ni only as a last resort if there are insufficient 4-slot ships for use. The main ships of note are . As the former two are both CLs, only one of the two may be used at any one time in the Escort fleet; as the latter two are CTs and are not restricted in numbers, you can sortie both in the Escort fleet together with one CL.
 * The SS-hime has exactly 73 (93) armor on Hard and 53 (73) on Easy and Medium (final kill in parenthesis). Your fleet must be ready to do heavy damage to both surface and undersea targets, so dedicate certain ships to certain roles.
 * Carrier Task Force seems to go Southern Route, and has a slight chance to detrack to node C meaning 0% fuel at the boss node, however it seems that CTF offers better accuracy.
 * STF goes west and has 2 sub nodes along the way. It seems easier arriving at boss node with 20% fuel but with 60% ammo left, 20% more than CTF south route (if it didn't detrack, otherwise a whole 40% more ammo, and no remain ammo firepower debuff, see Damage Calculation)
 * It is recommended to bring Type 3 SONAR and Type 3 Depth Charge on all ASW capable ships. Consider upgrading each of them, at least to +1.
 * For final kill (Hard mode), the boss become very resistant toward ASW. In order to sink her, it is  suspected that node J and M  will weaken the Boss (Her lines and appearance changes) . Or it is still possible to sink her if you get a Green T-cross. However, it is unsure whether this scenario applied to medium or easy mode.
 * When/IF using Boss node support fleet, do not use all 6 Ships. 4 are sufficient (2DD+2CV), and do the job well. any additional ships just waste resources as they cannot hit Submarines.
 * If you had decided to clear E4 and farm on boss, it is recommended to do daily boss armor debuff so that you can focus on killing Wo and BBhime with more surface set up and may choose 2nd formation (double line) while boss is killable. Example in Easy, debuff boss armor when down to 20 (u_m_y) making boss killable without proper ASW.

Prinz Eugen Farming

 * There have been no reports of anyone obtaining a a second Prinz Eugen with one already present in the fleet.
 * There are isolated reports of unknown reliability of it being possible to obtain a second Prinz Eugen if the first one was scrapped.
 * Therefore, it is possible that Eugen may only drop in E4 node M if no Eugen is present in the fleet, in the same way that Akashi is known to only drop from 2-5 boss if no Akashi is present in the fleet.
 * Admirals wishing to farm Eugen for FuMO25 Radar by scrapping and refarming run the risk of never getting her again in this event if they are unlucky with drops.
 * Currently there has been no record of Prinz Eugen drops for Diamond Formation Pattern at M node for E4 Easy. (with a sample size of 1000+ Prinz Eugen obtained in Easy, none of them come from diamond easy formation, according to data recorded in poi-statistics, plus some manual report)(It is not the case for medium (乙) or hard (甲), despite a pattern-based drop rate variation is still possible on these difficulty as pointed out by the data below). See the section below on how to use this information to farm for Eugen more effectively on Easy.

How to Farm Prinz Eugen in EASY Mode
ATTENTION: The guidelines written on this section apply ONLY TO EASY MODE !!!

In Medium and Hard difficulty, Prinz Eugen drops from all possible enemy patterns in node M.

 Only the following Enemy Formations in EASY Mode will drop Prinz Eugen:
 * To farm Prinz Eugen in EASY Mode, the player is required to face the patterns at M node where the enemy fleets are in Line Ahead formation and obtain S-Rank Victory in EASY Mode.


 * There is a way to force the second formation type to appear nonstop in EASY Mode . It is more difficult than the first formation, but doing this ensures that the Diamond formation pattern that doesn't drop Prinz Eugen to be eliminated.
 * To do this, sink the Boss Submarine Princess 3 times (S-Rank is not required. You just need to completely sink the Boss 3 times), or at least somewhere below 25% of the total HP Bar. This converts the Map to the Final Formation Stage.
 *  DO NOT VISIT THE BOSS AGAIN UNTIL YOU ARE DONE FARMING NODE M FOR PRINZ EUGEN! 
 * Please note that node M is NOT A BOSS NODE. Due to the fact node M is a regular node, there is a chance that nothing will drop. Please be patient and keep on going with your efforts until you get Prinz Eugen.
 * Please note that since node M includes PT Imp Pack, you are recommended to bring equipment that allows you to hit the PT Imp Packs such as Secondary Guns. Since the Anchorage Water Demon is an installation boss, Type 3 Shell will deal more damage against it, while also allegedly increasing your accuracy against the PT Imp Pack at the same time.
 *  If you have already cleared E-4, this Guide will unfortunately not apply to you , and there will be no way to guarantee yourself from avoiding the Diamond Formation Pattern in Node M. However this does not mean you can't farm Prinz at easy after cleared the map, just that your chance of getting Prinz would be further reduced.
 * THIS APPLIES FOR EASY MODE ONLY. In higher difficulties, all compositions will drop Prinz Eugen, and fixing the node composition as the Final form simply makes it HARDER to S-rank the node.
 *  Just in case you still haven't noticed, this applies for Easy Mode ONLY. 

Drop list
Red ship names indicate notable drops.

Click the small arrow next to the header cells on the first row to sort by ship types/names (Type/Ship) or group drops in that particular node together according to ship drop difficulty (A, B, C, etc.). You also can multi-sort.

Pattern-based drop rate for some ships
Prinz Eugen at node M: