Cruisers play a vital role in World of Warships. This middleweight warship class packs a decent amount of speed and power that neither the Destroyer class nor the Battleship class can possess at the same time.
Cruisers are important companion warships to the Battleship class. Due to the overall size and weight of the Battleship class, they cannot move in and out of battle as quickly as some of the other smaller ships can. Without the help of the Cruiser-class warships, the Battleship class will be at the mercy of Destroyers, Cruisers, and Aircraft Carriers.
If you have always been curious about how to play the multi-tasking Cruiser role, then you are in luck, as we will take a quick look at how to play Cruisers in World of Warships.
The Cruiser
As some have called it throughout the years, cruisers, or Battlecruisers, are smaller, less armored Battleships.
Cruisers are adequately armed warships with Main guns that are often not too different in size and caliber from their larger Battleship counterparts.
For example, the pride of England, HMS Queen Elizabeth, features 8x BL 15-inch Mark I Main Guns, whereas its Cruiser counterpart, HMS Repulse, features 6x BL 15-inch Mark I Main Guns. Just two fewer installments of the same caliber guns.
Armor thickness is another area where the Cruiser-class warships chose to compromise to gain more top speed.
If we take HMS Queen Elizabeth and compare its armor plating to the HMS Repulse, the HMS Repulse will have just 1/2 of the Belt Armor of Queen Elizabeth and just 3/5th of the Queen Elizabeth’s Deck Plating.
Cruisers aim to curb the maneuverability issues of the full-sized Battleship class by sacrificing a little bit of armor while keeping the large-caliber Main Guns. This gave the Cruiser-class a much better top speed than the competing Battleship-class warships, which helped it become a more maneuverable and more elusive warship, but more vulnerable to armor-piercing shells as a trade-off.
How to Play Cruiser in World of Warships
In World of Warships, the Cruiser class’ roles change depending on their team’s current needs.
Provide AA Support
Cruisers pack decent Anti-air armaments on board. Thanks to the speed and maneuverability of the Cruiser-class, they can easily escort and assist Battleship-class warships against an Aircraft Carrier’s squadron attack.
Most Cruisers in-game are fast enough to follow and lock in on enemy aircraft squadrons, forcing them to fall back or get shot down by the Cruiser’s decent Anti-air Armaments.
As such, Cruiser Captains must make it a point always to be mindful of where his fleet’s Battleship is on the map. The Cruiser must provide Anti-air support to Battleships as much as possible.
Hunt Down Destroyers
Cruisers can easily rival Destroyers in overall cruising speed. Cruisers-class warships have the upper hand, however, with their significantly more powerful Main Armament.
Destroyer-class warships are very powerful against larger and less agile warships such as the Battleship-class and the Aircraft Carrier. Larger warships are unable to escape or outmaneuver the faster Destroyers. It also does not help that a larger warship’s weapons take a good while to reload, such as the Battleship-class’ Main Armaments.
Destroyer-class warships can easily bully less agile warships like the Battleship-class and the Aircraft Carrier. Larger warships are unable to escape or outmaneuver the faster Destroyers. Battleship-class warships cannot fire back as effectively versus smaller and more agile warships such as Destroyers and Cruisers since their armaments take a good while to reload. Battleship-class Main Battery guns take a while to turn as well.
Cruiser Captains must hunt down Destroyers as quickly as possible since Destroyers are a major threat to Battleship-class warships and the Aircraft Carrier.
Play like A Destroyer (for Cruisers with Torpedoes)
Some Cruisers have torpedoes onboard as standard. As such, Cruisers with torpedoes should play more or less like a Destroyer whenever their torpedoes are up.
Cruisers can travel at speeds that rival even the fastest Destroyers. Thanks to the speed and agility of the Cruiser class, they can easily enter heavily contested territory and escape with minimal risk.
If your Cruiser has torpedoes on board, do not be scared to get in deep inside enemy territory to lay a couple of torpedoes down against larger enemy warships. Cruisers can escape fairly quickly thanks to their speed advantage anyway.
Jack of All Trades
Cruiser-class warships are the most versatile warships in-game. These warships can play a multitude of different roles depending on the needs of their team.
However, their most important role is to eliminate enemy Destroyers to protect their team’s larger warships, such as the Battleship-class and Aircraft Carrier. With speed and agility that rival most Destroyers and Main Guns that are more or less as powerful as full-sized Battleships, the Cruiser-class warships should have no problems sinking enemy Destroyers to the bottom of the ocean.
Cruisers are very versatile warships that can fit into a variety of roles. A good Cruiser player will dictate a good chunk of the outcome of most battles in World of Warships.
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