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IntroductionEdit

Combat is where the majority of the game's action takes place. When sortieing to a map, you will notice along the way that there are red nodes scattered all over the maps. These are combat nodes, in which your goal is to sink the enemy ships. Combat is completely automated, save for a few decisions you can make during some sections.

This article explains the basic flow of combat mechanics and is more focused for beginners to gain an understanding as to how combat works. In case you already have a basic understanding of this, use the tabs above to navigate to the topic you're interested in.

• Formation Selection
• Detection
• Aerial Combat
• Engagement Form Modifier
• Day Combat
• Night Combat

Damage CalculationEdit

Before we actually explore each combat phase though, it is important to know what the relevant stats are when dealing damage and how they are applied during each phase.

Icon Description
The health of a ship. If a ship reaches 0 , she will be sunk. A player's ship can only be sunk when the fleet advances to a new node on the map while one of the ships in the fleet is heavily damaged.
The stat decides how much damage you do to your opponents per shot during the shelling phase.
The stat increases the damage of all forms of torpedo attacks against your opponents. Affects all form of torpedo attacks.
For Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW). This stat affects how much damage you do against enemy submarines.
The stat generates an armor roll that decides how much damage is subtracted in case the ship suffers a direct hit. Higher armor stats increases the scope of the armor roll value.

Each form of attack has their own mechanics associated with them as well as a damage cap. The damage cap is also known as the softcap and any damage value that goes past the damage cap will be met with diminishing returns. Of course, there are exceptions to anything, but more to that later.

Type Relevant Stats Damage Cap Description
Shelling Attacks 180 Attacks that involves firing a barrage at your opponents.
Torpedo Attacks 150 Any form of torpedo attacks that are performed during the day.
Opening Airstrikes or 150 The aerial attack of an opening airstrike.
ASW 150 Anti-Submarine attacks, which involves attacking the enemy submarine with depth charges or by attacking them with aircraft.
Night Battle + 300 During night battle, all forms of attacks are treated the same.

Formation SelectionEdit

When approaching a red node, you are given the choice to select a fleet formation. There are 5 formations for the player to choose and each formation has its advantages and disadvantages.

However, in case the player has less than 4 ships, you will not be given the choice and the fleet will default to Line Ahead formation.

Note: Keep in mind that the formation you select here, will only affect your own fleet.

Formation ModifierEdit

Formation Icon Damage Modifier Accuracy Modifier FS Prot
Shelling ASW Night AA Shelling ASW Torp Night

100% 60% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 45%
Double Line

80% 80% 100% 120% 120% 120% 80% 90% 60%
Diamond

70% 120% 100% 160% 100% 100% 40% 70% 75%
Echelon

75% 110% 100% 100% 120% 120% 60% 80% 60%
Line Abreast

60% 130% 100% 100% 120% 120% 30% 80% 60%

Note:

• The values are based from data found in Kancolle Vita. All the analysis and tests done on the browser version seems to match the current values so far.
• This table consists of only damage and hit rate modifiers of each attack, which are the basic essentials. In case you are interested in the full table, check out Day Combat for more info.
• The surface damage modifier applies to both shelling and torpedo attacks but does not affect Opening Airstrikes or Anti-Submarine attacks.
• All attacks during night battle have a 100% damage modifier, regardless of formation.
• The exception being against submarines.
• Enemy's fleet is affected by the same formation modifier as us; furthermore, the formation shown on screen is based on the perspective of both fleet. This may result in the situation where the formations of both sides are shown as "line ahead" icon on-screen, but it is actually "line abreast".
• Flagship protection is the situation where a non-flagship ship protects the flagship from being damaged by receiving the attack instead. This will only work if there is a healthy (green health) non-flagship ship available in the fleet. In case all the requirements are met, the chances will trigger every time a flagship is targeted.

Factors that decides which formation you should choose:

• Line Ahead: This formation has the highest offensive power for surface combat. This is generally the choice you should always be choosing when surface combat is involved. Keep in mind though that ASW damage is very poor.
• Double Line: This formation increases the shelling accuracy, but lowers the damage output in return during the day. This is a good choice in case the enemy fleet contains a mix of submarines and surface fleets, but because of the firepower penalty, you are recommended not to choose this formation for the increased accuracy.
• Diamond: This formation has the strongest anti-air modifier and is almost as good as Line Abreast for ASW purposes. Diamond is the formation you should always be using when you have to defend yourself in an Air Raid node. This is also a good alternative to Double Line when you are faced with mixed fleets.
• Keep in mind that Diamond formation is only available when there are at least 5 ships in the fleet.
• Echelon: A somewhat balanced formation with relatively high ASW damage but relatively low firepower and torpedo accuracy that is a good option for engaging submarine fleets that also contain surface ships.
• Line Abreast: Line Abreast is the best formation for anti-sub purposes, but has the worst damage modifier against surface targets during the day. Please be advised that although this formation does have the highest Evasion modifier among the five for Night Battle Nodes, due to the Evasion Cap, it will have diminishing returns, and therefore you are more recommended to go Line Ahead.

DetectionEdit

Success Failed
Effects
Allows the participation of allied planes.

Note: While it states that and have increased, there is no evidence of that actually being the case.

Prevents the participation of allied planes.
Fleet LOS affects Detection rate.

In detection, your fleet attempts to detect the enemy fleet by either sending out recon seaplanes, using radars or detect them using sonars, in case you are dealing with submarines. The success rate of a detection is influenced by the of your fleet.

In case your fleet fails to detect the enemy fleet, your fleet will not participate in the Aerial Combat Phase, resulting in an automatic Air Incapability. Failing the detection will also run the risk of your recon seaplane getting shot down.

Aerial CombatEdit

Aerial combat is a phase where both friendly fleet and opponents send their planes out at the same time trying to determine the air control status while shooting down each others' planes. The fleets then start their anti-air defense against bombers and the remaining surviving bombers would then launch an attack on the enemy ships.

The important main stages that take place in aerial combat are in the following order:

• Fighter Combat
• Fleet Anti-Air Defense
• Bombing Phase

Fighter Combat (First Stage)Edit

In this phase, all fighters and bombers fight for the air control to establish air superiority. The air state is dependent on how many fighter power your fleet has, compared to the enemy fleet. Planes are proportionally shot down depending on which air state has been achieved. The air states are as follows:

• AS+: Air Supremacy
• AS: Air Superiority
• AP: Air Parity
• AI: Air Incapability

In case your opponent does not have any fighter power, you will gain Air Supremacy by default. If neither side have aircraft that can participate in the fighter combat, the air control will default to parity. You are advised to always attempt to obtain at least Air Superiority and in cases where it's possible, Air Supremacy. The stronger your air control, the more advantages you gain in your favor.

Fleet Anti-Air Defense (Second Stage)Edit

After the first stage, all the fighters will retreat, as they already finished their job of establishing air control. In this phase, all your bombers will approach the opponent fleet in an attempt to attack them, while the enemy will attempt to shoot them down through fire.

The strength of the fire is heavily dependent on the equipment and Anti-Air Cut-In attacks. While base stats of a ship do contribute to your anti-air, it is the least relevant.

Bombing Phase (Third Stage)Edit

All remaining surviving bombers will randomly choose and attack a target among the enemy fleet. The damage done is affected by the amount of planes in a slot and whether you have used a dive bomber or a torpedo bomber.

Note: Opening Airstrike accuracy is not affected by morale and the damage is not affected by formations or engagement modifiers.

Engagement Form ModifierEdit

During every battle, an engagement form is declared, which further modifies the amount of damage you can potentially deal.

Form Damage Modifier Chance Chance with Combat Screens
T字戦有利 (T Ji-sen Yuuri?)
120% 15% 15%
Parallel Engagement

100% 45% 45%

80% 30% 40%
T字戦不利 (T Ji-sen Furi?)
60% 10% 0%

Note:

• All engagement forms affect both sides equally, including crossing the T (Advantage or Disadvantage). In the case of Green T, both sides will gain a 120% boost in firepower.
• Night battle and aerial combat are not affected by engagement forms. However, day torpedo attacks are affected by engagement forms.
• Engagement modifiers do affect opening phases like Opening Torpedo or Opening ASW, even though they happen before the engagement modifier is declared.
• Equipping a effectively prevents Red T.

Day CombatEdit

Main article: Day Combat

During day combat, your fleet and the enemy will exchange fire and attempt to sink each other. It is basically the phase where also the most action happens, including the majority of the phases that was explained above.

This is further categorized into two categories:

• Opening Phases: The opening phases consists of stages where attacks are fired pre-emptively against your opponents before any other attacks are performed. This phase ends when the formation modifier gets displayed.
• Shelling Phase: After the formation modifier is displayed, the shelling phase will start. In this phase, all surface ships will each take a turn in firing a barrage against the enemy fleet. This can extend to a 2nd shelling phase if a battleship is present.
• Torpedo Phase: The end of the shelling phase is concluded with a torpedo phase, in which all ships with torpedo capabilities will fire off a torpedo against their enemies. In case there are no enemies present who are vulnerable to torpedo attacks, this phase will be skipped instead.

Due to the length of the day combat phase, you are recommended to check out Day Combat instead for more in-depth information regarding this phase.

Support ExpeditionsEdit

Support expedition involves sending a fleet into an expedition to provide additional support to the current fleet that is at sortie. Depending on whether you used a node support that supports you on the way or a boss support, the expedition fleet will appear on the battle nodes and fire an opening barrage against the enemy fleet. The type of support you receive depends completely on what kind of ships you have sent to the expedition. This mechanic is part of the Opening Phase.

Note: Keep in mind that this is only available for World 5 and event maps.

Artillery SpottingEdit

When at least Air Superiority is achieved during the Aerial phase, ships that are equipped with a Seaplane will be eligible to use Artillery Spotting during the day shelling phase. Artillery Spotting is either a strong but accurate single attack (Cut-In) or a powerful double attack (Double Attack) that deals double the amount of damage against surface targets.

All forms of artillery spotting attack deal extra post-cap damage, meaning that the extra damage is not restricted by the damage cap. Note that Artillery Spotting does not work against submarines because guns are useless against them. Note that Artillery Spotting does not work during the night, as no aerial combat takes place in the night phase.

Anti-Submarine WarfareEdit

Any submarine present in the enemy fleet will force Destroyers, Light Cruisers, Torpedo Cruisers, Training Cruisers, and to target them during the shelling phases even if there are surface targets present. It also applies to Aviation Heavy Cruisers, Aviation Battleships, Seaplane Tenders, Light Carriers and equipped with seaplane bombers, or .

Note: Guns are completely useless against submarines, hence they should not be used if you are only facing submarines as enemies, like 1-5.

Night CombatEdit

In the scenario that the enemy fleet has not been defeated yet during Day Combat, the player has the choice to pursue them in a Night battle (夜戦) to finish them off. Ships who utilizes both Firepower and Torpedo stats have a drastically increased strength, giving them a stronger edge against the tougher armored opponents. The damage soft cap is raised to 300 during the night, allowing your ships to effectively unleash even more damage to your opponents. Bombers cannot attack during the night, unless they are equipped with the or the (exceptions being , , and ).

The common way of entering a night battle is by selecting 夜戦 at the end of a day battle, although there exists nodes that forces the fleet to immediately start in a night battle. Battles that start during a night battle will not transition to a day battle usually, but such nodes do exist.

Night Battle EffectsEdit

During night battle, the following effects are applied:

GeneralEdit

• The ammo usage on that node is increased by 50% if night battle is entered from day. As most nodes on normal and event maps alike uses 20% ammo, this will be increased to 30% for example.
• Night battle damage depends on both the and stats for attack power. Consequently, DDs, CLs, CLTs and CAs have drastically increased strength at night.
• Any vessel that is heavily damaged (大破), is not allowed to attack during the night.
• Certain combinations of weapon equipment (Main Guns, Secondary Guns, Torpedoes) will cause Cut-In or Double Attacks at night, greatly increasing accuracy and/or firepower.
• All ASW attacks during night battle are reduced to scratch damage. This means that submarines are impossible to kill during night, as you cannot sink a ship with scratch damages. However, in battles starting at night and/or Combined Fleet sorties, ASW damage will apply as normal.
• With the exception of Vanguard, formation damage modifiers and Engagement Form damage modifiers do not apply in Night Battle (i.e., they are always 100%).

Night BuffsEdit

• All CA(V)s gain a +5 .
• All CA(V)s equipped with the gain an accuracy boost (applied after modifiers, but before the hit rate cap).
• Destroyers equipped with Surface Radar and will gain an evasion bonus.

The following night equipment buffs can trigger when equipped. Keep in mind that only one of them triggers if your fleet contains duplicate equipment (e.g. 2 searchlights, 2 starshells).

Equipment Effect Requirement(s)
• Increase the of your fleet.
• Increase the cut-in rate of your fleet.
• Decrease the cut-in rate of the enemy fleet.
• Ship must have at least 5
• Trigger rate is 70% each.

• Increase the of your fleet.
• Increase the cut-in rate of your fleet.
• Decrease the cut-in rate of the enemy fleet.
• The evasion of the ship equipped with it is sharply reduced and is attacked more often by the enemies.
• Ship must have at least 2
• Increase the cut-in rate of the ship equipped with it.
• None
• Increase the of your fleet.
• Increase the of your fleet by +5.
• Increase the critical hit rate of your fleet.
• The recon is not equipped on a 0 slot.
• The air control is either AD, AS or AS+.
• The air control is either AD, AP, AS or AS+ in PvP.
• The success rate is dependent on the level of the ship it is equipped on.

While entering a night battle offers many benefits, keep in mind that this also applies to your opponents! Enemy destroyers who aren't as much as a threat during the day will also gain a huge increase in firepower during the night, so be careful that you don't end up on the short end of the stick.

Night Battle Special AttacksEdit

Night battle special attacks allow your ship to Double Attack (DA) and Cut-In (CI) at night. Compared to artillery spotting, these special attacks are less demanding on equipment setups and give different bonuses. Note that it is important to realize the differences between the two types of special attack and know when to use which.

RequirementsEdit

• Not in heavily damaged (大破) state.
• CV(L) performing the attack is not in moderate damage (中破) state.
• Certain equipment setups (see below).

Setups and Attack TypesEdit

Different setups have chances to trigger different attack types. Attack types are only determined by the prerequisites.

• is used to indicate a Main Gun. is used for Destroyer Cut-Ins.
• is used to indicate a Secondary Gun.
• is used to indicate a Torpedo, note that is not a torpedo.
• For Carrier Cut-Ins (note that placeholders are used in order to avoid confusion):
• For a given attack type, any other equipment can be added on the remaining slots, as long as it does not switch the attack type. Feel free to add any auxiliary equipment ( AP shell, Seaplane, Anti-Air Gun, etc.).
• When your set up fulfills the prerequisites for multiple attack types, the one closer to the bottom of the list will be used.
• When the setup does not fulfill any prerequisites or when its special attack is not triggered, the ship will perform a normal single attack (one hit, no special damage modifiers).
• Two hit attacks will have two independent chances to miss, hit or deal a critical hit, as well as two independent armor rolls. For Double Attacks the damage values are displayed as is for each hit twice, for two hit Cut-Ins they are displayed as a sum once.
• The animation for ships equipped with 2 different torpedoes may be different but the damage output is always the same.
Attack Type Prerequisites Notes Pre-cap
Damage
Modifier
Hits Trigger
Chance
Double Attack No additional 1.2 2 ~99%
Mixed Torpedo Cut-In Additional allowed 1.3 2 Luck-Based
e.g., 87%
Mixed Gun Cut-In No additional 1.75 1 Luck-Based
e.g., 77%
Gun Cut-In + Any on the remaining slots 2 1 Luck-Based
e.g., 71%
Torpedo Cut-In + Any on the remaining slots 1.5 2 Luck-Based
e.g., 82%
Submarine Cut-Ins With New Submarine Torpedoes 1.6 2 ?
1.75 2 ?
Destroyer Cut-Ins 1.3 1 ?
With 1.625 1 ?
Synergy with evasion bonus 1.2 1 ?
Carrier Cut-Ins is or

is a Night Fighter
is a Night Bomber
is only

1.18 1 ?
1.18 1
1.18 1
1.18 1
1.18 1
1.18 1
1.18 1
1.18 1
1.18? 1
1.2 1
1.2 1
1.2 1
1.25 1
Sortable table
Setup Hits Pre-Cap
modifier
Norm Total crit
modifier
Norm Trigger Accuracy
- 1111.51.51?
TLR 11.21.21.81.80.62??
TGR 11.31.31.951.95??
TGR (12.7D) 11.6251.6252.43752.4375??
GGS 11.751.752.6252.6250.77?
GGG 122330.71?
GG 21.22.41.83.60.99?
TG 21.32.61.953.90.87?
TT 21.532.254.50.82?
SS 21.63.22.44.8??
SR 21.753.52.6255.25??

Night Double Attack ChanceEdit

Has a very high (~99%) and relatively consistent activation chance.[1] Activation rate is not dependent on luck. This typically results in more consistent and higher average damage than cut-in setup for ships with normal luck values.

Night Cut-In ChanceEdit

The probability of a Night Cut-In occurring is given by the general formula:

$\text{CI Chance} = \frac{\text{Base Value}}{\text{Type Factor}}$

The result of which can be multiplied by 100 and interpreted as a percentage.

$\text{Base Value} = \begin{cases} \big \lfloor 15 + \text{Luck} + 0.75\sqrt{\text{Level}} + \text{Modifiers} \big \rfloor, & \text{ if } \text{Luck} < 50 \\ \big \lfloor 65 + \sqrt{\text{Luck} - 50} + 0.8\sqrt{\text{Level}} + \text{Modifiers} \big \rfloor, & \text{ if } \text{Luck} \ge 50 \end{cases}$

Where:

• Level is the ship's level
• Luck is the ship's luck
• Type Factor: is a modifier defined by the cut-in type:
Type Value % per Base Value
Gun Cut-In 140 0.71%
Mixed Gun Cut-In 130 0.77%
Torpedo Cut-In 122 0.82%
Mixed Torpedo Cut-In 115 0.87%
• Modifiers: is a sum of various other modifiers:
Modifier Value %
Gun Cut-In Mixed Gun Cut-In Torpedo Cut-In Mixed Torpedo Cut-In
Placement Flagship 15 10.7% 11.5% 12.3% 13%
Other 0
Health Moderate damage
(中破 Chuuha)
18 12.9% 13.8% 14.8% 15.7%
Any other health state 0
Allied 7 5% 5.4% 5.7% 6.1%
Enemy -5 -3.6% -3.8% -4.1% -4.3%
Allied ?
Enemy -?
Allied 4 2.9% 3.1% 3.3% 3.5%
Enemy -10 -7.1% -7.7% -8.2% -8.7%
Allied 5 3.6% 3.8% 4.1% 4.3%
Enemy 0
• The effect of over the cap is negligible, thus going over it is generally not recommended. Starting at 51 , any extra luck will suffer from strong diminishing returns.
• No bonus is received when ships enter light damage state.[2]
• Marriage itself does not increase cut-in chances.[3]
• The above formula originates from KanColle Kai[4]. Generally, it's close to the previously researched formula and is in agreement with the experimental data.[5][6][7]
• According to this formula, torpedo cut-in types have higher probabilities than gun cut-in types.
• When Destroyer cut-in requirements are met, they will attempt to activate first. In the case of failure, the game will then attempt to activate any other cut-ins that the ship may fulfil. (Example: Gun/Torp/Radar will attempt to activate Mixed Torpedo cut-in after failing.) This gives Destroyer cut-ins effectively a "double roll" when attempting special attacks at night.
• can increase the multiplier of destroyer cut-ins, with one gun adding x1.25, and the second gun adding x1.125. Both modifiers are added multiplicatively, however, only is able to use the second multiplier due to equipment slots and cut-in equipment requirements.
• In the case of , if she is able to fulfil both destroyer cut-ins, as well as a normal night cut-in (Example: Gun/Torp/Radar/Lookout), she will attempt to activate all three cut-ins in succession, starting in priority of GTR > TRL > Mixed Torp. This makes her the only destroyer that is able to "triple roll" on attacks.

ReferenceEdit

In the scenario that the enemy fleet has not been defeated yet during Day Combat, the player has the choice to pursue them in a Night battle (夜戦) to finish them off. During night battle, the following effects are applied:

• The ammo usage on that node is increased by 50% if night battle is entered from day-battle. As most nodes on normal and event maps alike use 20% ammo, this will be increased to 30% for example.
• During night, the firepower is and stats combined together. Consequently, DDs, CLs, CLTs and CAs have drastically increased strength at night.
• Any vessel that is heavily damaged (大破) are not allowed to attack during the night battle.
• Night battle damage cap is raised to 300.
• Any attack against submarines in regular Night Battles are automatically nullified and reduced to scratch damages, practically making them invincible. Avoid going into a night battle against a submarine, unless one of the following happens, which allows you to do damage against submarines as normal:
• Formation damage modifiers and Engagement Form damage modifiers do not apply in Night Battle (i.e. they are always 100%).

Night Battle Special AttacksEdit

• Certain combinations of weapon equipment will cause Cut-In or Double Attacks at night, greatly increasing accuracy and/or firepower.
• If night combat nodes are anticipated, it can be very helpful to utilize specialized night battle equipment such as s, and , as they provide bonuses during night-battle and also increases your Cut-In chances.

Note: Unlike Artillery Spotting attacks, the special attacks performed during the night are not post-cap, meaning that it will be affected by the damage cap.

For more information regarding night battle and the setups, check out Night Battle.

Victory ConditionsEdit

For victory conditions for Air Raid Battles (空襲戦), see Events/Mechanics.
For alternative formulation of victory conditions, see Partials/Victory Conditions.
Perfect S (完全勝利, Total Victory)
• All enemy ships sunk and no damage taken.
S (勝利, Victory)
• All enemy ships sunk and no allied ships sunk.
A (勝利, Victory)
• Required number of enemy ships sunk (see below) and no allied ships sunk.
B (戦術的勝利, Tactical Victory)
• Sinking the enemy flagship guarantees at least a B as long as no allied ships are sunk.
• Enemy flagship sunk, friendly ship sunk and number of friendly ships sunk < number of enemy ships sunk.
• Damage gauge at least 2.5 times higher enemy damage gauge.
• This rate is the minimum requirement to clear maps without boss gauge.
C (戦術的敗北, Tactical Defeat)
• Didn't clear any of the conditions for A or B, but enemy took over a certain amount of damage.
• Damage gauge higher than enemy gauge, but not reaching 2.5 times as much.
• Friendly ship sunk, damage gauge higher than enemy, but not 2.5 times as much.
• Friendly ship sunk, enemy flagship sunk and number of friendly ships sunk lower than number of enemy ships sunk. It is possible to clear maps with boss gauges (eg. 4-4, 5-3, event maps) with a C if the enemy flagship is sunk.
D (敗北, Defeat)
• Enemy took less than a certain amount of damage.
• Both sides taking 0 damage is also D.
• If your fleet consist only 1 ship and it is reaching Heavy Damage without meeting any winning requirements, it will instantly judged as D as well.
• Damage gauge lower than enemy gauge.
• Friendly ship sunk, not all enemy ships sunk, and gauge lower than enemy gauge.
E (敗北, Defeat)[1]
• Over a certain number of friendly ships sunk. (see below)
• Friendly ship sunk while not meeting any victory conditions.
• No damage done to enemy, while taking over a certain amount (Never happens in a fleet of 1).

NotesEdit

• The Minimum Sunk Requirement:
• 4 ships out of a fleet of 6
• 3 ships out of a fleet of 5
• 2 ships out of a fleet of 4
• 2 ships out of a fleet of 3
• 1 ship out of a fleet of 2
• Victory status affects the chance of getting drops and rare drops on the specified node.
• B rank or above is necessary to obtain drops.
• A rank or above is typically necessary for obtaining rare drops.
• S rank has a higher chance of obtaining rare drops than A rank, and is required for some very rare drops.
• Getting Perfect S does not give you an increased drop rate, compared to a regular S rank.