Austin Worth The Steel? - Full Review

I like this ship. I think it is one of the best examples of a premium/reward ship to enter the game in a long time. It offers a very unique, hard playstyle that is difficult to master. I do not think this ship is overpowered due to the difficulty in playing it.
Watch me live on Twitch: / potatoquality_
I'm Potato_Quality, a member of O7, and probably one of the best players in this game. Hopefully, on this channel, I can teach you a bit about how I play the game. Thanks for watching.
If you want to know how I mod my game to look the way it does here is a video: • A Video on the Mods I ...
Keep in mind I may be using different mods to the ones in this video. The primary reason I made this video is to show how to get mods for your game, and it's up to you to find the ones you want.
Carry, Pushing, Tier 10, How To Win, How To Carry, Pro, Unicum, Tutorial, Guide, World of Warships, Fun, Funny, Captain Skills, Changes, Build, Setup, Austin, Steel, Reward, Premium, USS, American, Atlanta, Reload Boost, Infinite,

[@JTBacchanalist]

"I don't think the ship is overpowered" *laughs maniacally every time reload booster is activated*

[@mercantile1803]

try playing it, it's pretty tough as you will get dev striked if you make a tiny error

[@martinpalmer6203]

Yeah the last time I was devstruck in Austin I was well positioned against everything on my flank, got spotted by a CV and then 2 shells clipped me from a Shikishima 28 km away on the other flank across 2 islands Game over. I have literally gone years playing and never gotten Dev Struck. Austin takes 2 shells from across the map because your spotted one time.. and you die. If you get one you'll be Dev Struck more often than any other ship you've ever played, not 2x more... its about 20x more likely to be devstruck than most ships and probably 2x more vulnerable than the likes of Minotaur which is notoriously easy to Dev strike, but it has Smoke and more HP.

[@vadimanochin]

@@martinpalmer6203 If you correctly refer to the class of such ships (cardboard blasters) that was introduced into the game in 2016 by the first blaster Atlanta, then it’s quite possible to play. You need to understand right away that this is just a big destroyer, NOT MORE, not less. And yes, two Shikishima shells from 28 km at any angle and IMMEDIATELY 72 citadels and a port. You should not pretend to be a hero and climb forward on the battleships to throw torpedoes and do piu piu SAP shells

[@colmcorbec7031]

The B in Wargaming stands for Balans.

[@rndm_person]

But there is no b in wargaming

[@destawaits]

r/wooosh

[@cyhawk4788]

Got em

[@jordananderson2728]

@@rndm_person there is on the map, but have you noticed it's always taken by the other team?

[@rndm_person]

Huh are we talking about the name of the company or just the game itself

[@DrydockDreamsGames]

That Kuznetsov red flare from Kremlin falling down on the wreck was priceless.

[@TheExcessive1]

A situational ship that is fun to play. The same description the Flint had when it came out, which is now a port queen due to all the changes this last year. So the question is what global changes will WG implement to ruin this ship after everyone has spent their hard earned steel on this ship in its current condition.

[@TheBimjo]

Exactly

[@torenico]

Flint =/= Austin.

[@hwill2453]

@@torenico Literally, no. The metaphorical reference to Flint is the high skill floor AND the high skill ceiling that paid off well for those who could work the ship. Flint's stats has already tanked before the commander rework due to coal availability. The rework raised the skill floor even more but made the skill ceiling and payoff much lower. Basically it's not worth playing anymore, which is insulting since some of us paid steel for this ship. It remains to be seen if WG does the same with Austin but their track record is not encouraging.

[@vaughnblaylock6069]

You just talked me out of it. Much like what they did to the Smolensk. Great point.

[@Jean-oz2yy]

Great review. Find you explaining your thought process very helpful. Thank you for taking the time to produce this video

[@bigjim1488]

I’d love this ship but by the time I get that much steel I’ll probably be retired from the game

[@northernzeus768]

I’m 51 and play about 6 games a day. By the time I earn enough steel to get this ship... let me do the math. (Furiously using calculator). Answer: I’ll be dead from old age.

[@nickgarcia504]

My only complaint is that there’s literally no reason for this thing to have 32mm side plating, seems like a slap in the face to some heavy cruisers that have worse armor than that

[@piotrwosiak]

Yeah, I envy this 32mm side plating when I play in my DM. It's funny that this puny Austin is more tanky than the DM at times

[@IncomitatusExcelsior]

Heavy cruisers are/were "heavy" because of their guns, not their armor. They were often more lightly armored than light cruisers.

[@PK-lo6ws]

you dont get the application of the term heavy here.. heavy cruisers means ships with bigger guns, does not relate to armour profile

[@Terrathrax]

I can't help but think that once you have a certain amount of games in this thing and know how to use it, it's certainly OP. Must be nice to have steel.

[@timknight68]

Players in good AA ships will not often help team mates in average or poor AA ships until WG rewards the player proportionately for providing Support actions over Damage dealing.

[@ruskimofia]

New potato quality video is of exceptional quality. Almost as ironic as WeeGee testing ships before release

[@ainzooalgown7589]

its a strong ship when you have reload booster activated, without reload booster its DPM is meh, its also a strong when you div with a DD that can provide smoke and spotting if not when you play it solo its requires islands and above average skill since other cruisers can out DPM you in a one on one when you dont have reload booster

[@2639theboss]

Wait you mean using the consumables on a ship make it better? Well huh. News to me.

[@issacfoster1113]

Thats why he said its not good for 50% wr players like you

[@Meonium]

There's something really wrong if it have good DPM even without the reload booster activated...

[@Choukai_Chan]

*Austin pops reload-booster* Me in my Z or any other DD: "Guess I'll die."

[@sharath2273]

Flamu: The Austin is awful, don't get it Flambass and PQ: haha MBRB + SAP go brrr

[@cup_of_potato]

69 knot torps, nice

[@Omegawerewolfx]

I literally just got cussed out in game for what I did to a w00ster and a Buffalo in back to back reload boosts:P

[@Midnight-wr1ty]

@potatoquality is the Austin worth getting instead of the bourgogne, I'm interested in both but not sure which to get? Love your vids :)

[@BasJon]

Looks awesome, my one complaint is, the alpha damage seems quite a bit higher than my paolo, and that has higher caliber guns, I know there is 12 vs 8, any ideas why this is.

[@ashleighelizabeth5916]

Last week I came around the corner of an island in a clan battle and surprised one of the enemy DDs. I popped reload booster and happened to be loaded for HE shells and I just annihilated him in about 10 seconds. It was incredible. Some of my clanmates think I am crazy for running her because she is so fragile but I almost always have solid games in my Austin in ranked or clans. It's a lot harder in a random because the map is so cluttered with enemy ships and everything within range wants a piece of an Austin.

[@1Tankmarine]

I love this ship. My first steel ship and I would buy it again if I could.

[@watchthe1369]

his ship preys on destroyers and provides air cover to it's own destroyers. This thing helps win the spotting battle so the long range hevies can bap the opponent heavies without too much retaliation.

[@sabertx3273]

So should I go after the shiriskima (probably misspelled that) or the Austin?

[@hwill2453]

PQ, One question.... Do you think this ship has a role in Clan Battles?

[@MrTs7520]

From what I've heard it is even more powerful in a division so I would say it could be good

[@Bajie_Smuggler]

Some will do it for the memes but Petro and Stalin will murder it as they bounce the sap plus you have to dedicate a smoke dd to cover it. Smol does similar role without needing the help.

[@mercantile1803]

@@MrTs7520 it's got great AA and if it teams up with someone with smoke, it could do some real damage

[@watchthe1369]

You need to be good enough to play YOLO style. Austin goes BRRRPPP! and the torpedoes club you in the bals as it ducks around the corner. The "Home Alnoe" ship.

[@jamiewilson343]

you should do a video on the return of the blimp event. which ships would be best how to defend and push.

[@yankeewithnobrim226]

So it’s a tier X Atlanta?

[@semi-skimmedmilk4480]

10:57 why is it that everytime you make a poor play, the other player is "getting lucky"? The Yamato didn't get a "lucky" salvo, you just misplayed by reversing out in front of him and he took advantage of it. I like you PQ, you're a great player, but sometimes you don't half sound bitter about losing.

[@zktwo]

@@nephalos666 More cancerous that OG smol and thunderer? You’re joking right? Austin can be oppressive in the right hands, but thunderer and smol are oppressive in anyone’s hands. Big difference. Would you prefer if Austin was more like Thunderer and Smol in that aspect? And while we’re at it... there’s a lot of ships that can be oppressive in the right hands. Many of which are not considered op/toxic by the community. Austin is very specialized and is good at what it does, but is much less forgiving to the player than Thunderer and Smol. And if you play dd and got caught by an Austin... then it’s kinda your fault. Austin has no radar and obv gets out spotted by dds, so the only way a dd gets caught is by closing your eyes and sailing blindly. Austin is reliant on punishing misplays.

[@Brswing]

@@nephalos666 I don't know that I agree with you. The reason why Smolensk and Thunderer are so bad is because they were super strong in the hands of average players, and they were fairly accessible when it comes to average players. Honestly, if Austin were far more accessible to more players, I'd laugh because there would be so many players overestimating how much power they have and straight up dying, which is something that isn't necessarily the case when it comes to Thunderer or Smolensk because there aren't conditions attached with those ships when it comes to their capabilities, compared to the Austin. Design wise, I think the Austin is a very well designed ship when it comes to the game and its balance. The only thing that I think you can criticize is the ship only being available for Steel. And even if it was accessible to more people, I really don't think that it would get anywhere near as bad as something like Thunderer or Smolensk. Obviously that's personal opinion of course.

[@semi-skimmedmilk4480]

@@IIIJG52 nah you see, had the Yamato got overpens then PQ would have gotten lucky. The Yamato killing him at that range is the correct outcome.

[@eikskjold]

I mean, I keep hearing "squishy" and "bounce BB shells"... looks like another WG seal clubber

[@savage_warior3449]

26:16 I see what you did there ;)

[@ucpmod]

This is the most objective and fair review of the Austin I have seen so fat, so great job PQ!! Super Unicums will be the most likely to play this ship well. The rest of us will do well in it once in a while I think.

[@CarlosdCover]

Austin is a Battleship.

[@eslamessam7404]

how can i download and install this mod ?

[@austinpowersfasjer]

Its nice for them to add a ship named after me, but its not necessary to make it so overpowered.

[@christianwilson3853]

Is there any way to get that special American commander in the game right now?

[@syndragon7204]

U have to accomplish the campain "hit hard, hit often" its very US shipish

[@christianwilson3853]

@@syndragon7204 that’s for Halsey, I meant the commander he used in the video with the buffed SE that is American

[@positron5687]

Hey Protato, do you need a good replay from Big Hunt ? 2 036 654 dmg, 20 zita, 176 torpedos hits, 51 spotted, 25 kills, 360 secondary hits. If anyone wants i can send you the file. Have a nice day

[@SappeREffecT]

You don't think it's OP, but in the hands of a pro... ..? Like I have absolutely no issue with a ship that's only good in the hands of a pro, as long as it isn't too much so. I think you may be right and once the dust settles she'll be acceptable (considering she's a steel premium) but I don't think she's 'balanced' at all, I just think it takes a lot of skill or a skilled division to capitalise on her potential. Just by nature of going up against Stalin and Plymouth she needs to be, I would consider all of them at a minimum 'strong'. And while I think 'broken' and 'OP' are thrown around way too much, I do think many T9-10 premiums are too strong; Austin looks like it's flirting with the line a bit.

[@mercantile1803]

Yes it is very hard to play. I play a lot of Atlanta and Anchorage but it's much less forgiving at T10. The reload booster means you can shred an overconfident DD in about 10 secs but it's very, very easy to be caught out and when you're getting hit by T10 bbs you won't last long. If it had smoke, it would be OP, but it doesn't.

[@user_23165]

Sooo .. Bourgogne or Austin if you had the choice now?

[@Addfour]

Go with Bourgogne. If you want to have an Austin like experience get the Atlanta/Flint. It's been nerfed but playing against lower tiers is vastly easier/fun than playing tier X in that type of ship without smoke.

[@piotrjuszkiewicz7025]

Better take Austin or Bourgogne or maby Plymouth?

[@lost4356]

Bon jovi if you BB player, Plymouth for Support and utility Austin if you love challange and good in the game, i mean really good because of high skill floor.

[@zktwo]

Plymouth is a bit of an anti-dd meme ship, I wouldn’t get it before Bourg or Austin. Personally I’d get Bourg first, one of the most fun bbs in game.

[@sameh59younis15]

I am grinding to get this beast need just a little less than 8 k steal hopefully it wouldn't take to long

[@Karnsteinchen]

Personal opinion, just judging from theorycrafting and putting other (better) players opinions into perspective: I think the ship is strong, it is also situational OP. But it's also average in a ton of situation and has a very high skill floor, compared to the other two superlight t10 cruisers. Even Colbert: What do I mean by that? Situational op = the amount of potential DPM you get within a activation time of the booster is nuts, but you only get 15s of it and you pay for that with a) having way worse DPM than both Colbert and Smol running GFCSM2 instead of MBM3 if it's on cooldown and b) while HE+SAP synergies better with the new skill rework compared to HE+AP on those two, you do lose the option to pen more than 36mm of plating. You also have less defensive tools, lacking both smoke (Smol) and the option to get out of jail fast or run down a ship with motorboost like colbert does. Which means playing solo you are even more map/MM dependent than those two, because the thing is so fragile. Now you can work around that with a proper division, but again that raises the question: Except for those short timed insane DPM bursts, what does a Gearing/Somers/Black+Austin (or even double Austin) division do, what a one with the other superlight (maybe with a dash of Plymouth or Mino, esp. Radar-Mino) can't? Yes, maybe stupid DDs die 2 seconds faster, but any DD that gets caught out flat broadside or turning away by the div-DD with those kind of cruisers sitting in smoke will die anyway. And those combination either add back-up smoke (Smol, Mino, Plymouth) and/or utility through radar (Radar-Mino, Plymouth). Bottomline: 95%+ of the server pop will die more often than not without achieving much if the play solo. Even in a proper div, a lot of the server pop will fail if the DD is playing too aggressive and thus Austin loosing his smoke bot. I mean what does a US-DD in such a div do most of the game? Lay smoke, spot..spot...spot and don't play too aggressive = possible high WR , but potential a ton of mediocre rounds in terms of XP and DMG. And a majority of players are pretty selfish. Then adding the fact that this ain't a coal ship like smol, I expect Austin will end up similar to Colbert: Only the really good players and a few whales will get in the near future, the first group would also screw you (not you Potato, but the average WoWs player) with whatever other working div-combination anyway and the whales will die pretty fast more often than not anyway. Even in the long run with more and more average players getting the steel for it from ranked, low-tier CBs and snowflakes or paying extra for Dockyard stages, I don't think server population will peak that much above Colbert. Smol populace won't get reached ever and that's a ship I don't see a lot post rework compared to the "easy mode" time with 19.2km range and way higher DPM.

[@danny_d_bongo]

Thats a great summary. Im not the best player, but i think i am decent. And i really like light cruisers and can play them. But ur comment helped me finally to decide between Plymouth and Austin. Maybe the Austin stays for some time, them she is the next one.

[@armansagmanligil1144]

haha! khaba 50mm plate vindication!

[@picazzo5150]

I have enough steel for Borgueone or Austin….now I’m not sure which to get

[@davislong9476]

I have the Burgogone Its a great bb number one bb, have to play It carefully sides are squishey soften up ships with it can go 40 km. ship showing sides are in trouble 25,000 to 45,000 dpm reload booster sends them home. I have killed a Petro with one salvo. Depends what you want are you A crs or a bb player Im a bb player.

[@jonathansullivan6706]

I want this ship so badly, but my clan never has enough players online for clan battles...gotta trudge through rounds as a mercenary to earn steel.

[@TheKingmanthe1]

go to another clan that has players

[@jonathansullivan6706]

@@TheKingmanthe1 I've thought about it. Just not sure I want to just up and leave the friends I've got in this one.

[@rak7101]

Austin or Stalingrad?

[@2138Dude]

Whenever there is austin i see ir is always dev strike

[@user-ms4ef8xz9t]

An Atlanta with the armor to bounce 18" shells..... yea sure.

[@aslan9867]

In SEA server, unicum player already abusing other players with this ship team up with a gearing. Imagine when you don't have a radar ship to deal with it, literally no counterplay at all.

[@mkgaming990]

Asian Players Sucks all bots player running from the full pledge flank and doing stupid things.

[@djtonylee]

Oh dear, all servers are as terrible as each other.

[@martinpalmer6203]

Literally no counterplay??? Lol try shooting it. It dies super fast from many angles to every ammo type, and on SEA, Cross map sniping is a thing mostly because its hard to get T10 games where you have competant battleships on both flanks who push just enough that they keep their flank locked down and enemy bbs concerned enough they are worried about whats in front of them, not whats 30km away on the other flank. Austin is *by far* the easiest ship to kill in the game. It take full pens, it takes stupid amounts of dmg per shell... and its Gimmick is only usable once every 2 minutes and requires the perfect victim ship to be in the perfect angle with no support.... otherwise your shells just bounce. Its plenty balanced.. anyone claiming its not should actually get one and try playing it . Smolensk is still a better ship, its not as "fun" but overall its going to get more consistent results.

[@aslan9867]

@@martinpalmer6203 You are so funny. You are ignoring that I am talking in situation that Austin have a gearing smoking him up and no one have a radar to spot him. Good luck blind fires him when he is not a noob and keep moving in smoke.

[@martinpalmer6203]

Guess what, Smolensk can do it without a gearing. Teamwork on SEA is often so rare its easy to see why you might call it overpowered . However to use smoke fire you also need spotting, and to spot you also need to leave the smoke, meaning the Destroyers on your team werent doing their job. Additionally several classes of ships have Hydroaccoustic search , there are *plenty* of ways to deal with smoke firing ships. Torpedoes into the smoke on the right angle will also do the same. Austin however is perfectly fine, Its like trying to say that Marceau is overpowered because he teamed up with a carrier and they hunted down all your teams Destroyers, thus overcoming the main limitations of Marceau, its stealth. Your argument is extremely weak. Actually try playing Austin. Its just not the unbeatable killing machine you make it out to be and over the course of the game, several other ships are just as good, if not better than Austin will ever be. Its easy to work around an Austin, you be 16km away or you don't give it broadside and there's *zero* it can do. Then you shoot it. You can also ask BBs with spotter planes to smoke fire it, every shell they land is likely to take 30%-50% of austins health. But that would be teamwork... which by your standards would make ships that help you or your own ship overpowered.....really... LOL 😆

[@captainmorgan9066]

Why? Just why? I am undecided between getting Bourgogne and Austin and you are saying Austin is great right after I peersuaded myself to get Bourgogne ( I still need a couple hunderd steel though).

[@fredrikeriksson5199]

The main thing is it not have radar :( Else is it a good ship :D

[@salamender8547]

just imagine, an austin, adrenaline rush, reload booster, and then halsey confederate proc'! fingers not fast enough to follow up the rate of fire xD

[@riquelmeone]

just keep the finger on the mouse

[@salamender8547]

@@riquelmeone it would not work because ull lose some dpm, front guns already reloaded when ur still shooting with back ones

[@TheLDK47]

Man, so glad i left the game for good since the commander "rework". These new ships will enrich the gaming experience in wows for sure lol.

[@martyincanuckistan3635]

I left after CV’s like watching that’s it. It seems streamers disagree on this ship. Frankly I think this ship is stupid unless your in a division. Your bored for 60% of the time when you have no reload booster

[@magnus_bd6185]

ship is great but its not worth that much steel. It only excels if you are playing in a division. Minotaur and Worcester out perform it

[@biktwr]

Austin players worth a mouthfull of teeth

[@snafufubar]

Watched flambass today take a hindy from full to dead in 15 seconds. It is way way OP.

[@Brswing]

You could do the same in a ship like the DM, or any other high DPM cruiser, or hell even a BB. That doesn't make it OP. It makes it strong within the context of the situation that you saw him delete the Hindy of course, but what makes a ship OP is whether or not an average player would be able to put themselves in that type of position more often than not in order to do that sort of thing, while not getting deleted themselves.

[@usstexasbb3555]

I don't need sleep I need answers

[@jackz166]

It's totally broken, I can't believe WG releases this kind of OP ship. I expect they remove it within few months.

[@miklos1298]

Are you just listening to streamers or do you even have the ship yourself?

[@07azrael]

All this comment is a noob comment

[@soarinskies1105]

WAIT JUST A MINUTE IT HAS THICKER SIDE PLATING THAN DES MOINES WHAT THE FUCK?

[@GoldenCat0418]

khaba is a cruiser LOL

[@Alexyrion]

I don't know man, I get it, the ship is not super strong and impossible to counter, it isn't easy to play either, I get it. BUT What pisses me off is stuff like the 32mm plating, why the fuck does a light cruiser get that and actual heavy cruisers that could use it don't, you know? It makes the game look stupid, these old ships we have been playing for years simply become obsolete, these new things just shit on them even on places they have no right in being good at. It's very frustrating. ALSO there's the fact that a huge portion of the player base simply does not get the chance to have fun with this ship because steel.

[@stevepeterson6070]

Hmm, the most overpowered cruiser ever released, not even close. But, I like it so I'm going on record that it isn't over-powered.

[@sper8556]

hard to play confirm

[@doods7566]

U should say green screen instead of black cuz u can't see green screen but u can see black lol

[@reggaesurvivor251]

kremlin?

[@mkgaming990]

Still some people thinks Russian Bais fuk those people.

[@rafidhassanoney4007]

no !

[@nonamenameless5495]

"Great ship"...yeah just like the Smolensk was a "great ship" and yet extremely detrimental to the game. But hey, this is a common theme in your reviews, you never look at the bigger picture...and the fact that many will struggle with it won t make things any better, it s even likely it makes matters worse as it s a steel ship...commonly obtained by the most committed players, players that are running divs more frequently etc...yeah and now imagine how fun this will be for the majority to face a div with those or a smoker. It s "fun" in the same way the Smolensk was fun... and given this is a SAP ship, it s actually likely it ll turn out more versatile and influential.

[@liamfreeman1812]

The thing is, the reason Smolensk was ridiculous is the lack of counter play and the ease of play. It’s main targets were battleships, which it could farm easily, and it could do dmg to them from any angle. All the bbs could try to do is try to get undetected. Smolensk has good range, crazy dpm and Fire chance. And all you had to do was sit broadside to the bbs or pop smoke since you get over penned anyways. It was a ship that did a lot of dmg while it was hard to do dmg back. Meanwhile, Austin has a thicker citadel and no smoke, meaning it’s much harder to play because it’s only real staying power is the 32mm plating. That in correspondence with the bad artillery range means bbs have a lot more chance to do dmg and kill it. Also, while Smolensk could do big damage no matter what the enemy did, angling to Austin means taking much less damage during its reload booster, and it has bad dpm after.

[@samuelstrobel281]

You shouldnt defend wows for releasing such abominations

[@ironwracu5822]

This ship is complete bullshit. Cant stand what is happening to this game.

[@djtonylee]

Couldnt disagree more. This ship is pure unadulterated cancer.

[@olafmesschendorp147]

Do you even have it?

[@senbonzakura_kage]

This thing is CANCER! Seems like wg didn’t even played it before release.