US Premium Cruiser "Helena" Review - World of Warships Blitz

This ship was recently handed out as a reward for overcoming personal challenges - who says games aren't teaching you things for life, eh?
00:00 Intro
00:44 History
02:31 Stats
05:27 Build
10:44 Battle 1
19:00 Battle 2
25:13 Conclusion

[@gleamingcolt]

The personal missions is the most fun with a event I think I have ever played, I want more of it

[@idancohen4753]

Agreed

[@ronaldknauss2866]

Absofrigginlootly agree

[@Swellington_]

I got the Helena in an event a few years ago for almost no cost,fantastic ship

[@blindboygaming]

This ship and the Massachusetts have some beautiful Histo Camo

[@clarencecayetano8499]

The USS Helena was one of my first premium ships and it was a blast to play with! Never had any complaints and if set-up correctly and you know yout ships capabilities is almost very hard not to get a win. It is very versitile and has great synergy with most ships from t6 til t8. I also got mine in an earlier version of the personal missions event way back. She is one of my personal gems.

[@COMMANDER-wm9vr]

The personal challenges were very easy to complete. Even me, who can never get ships from token events, got the Helena. I love this ship, I find eliminating destroyers with a Radar very satisfying, especially in Tier VI, where destroyer captains don't expect it. I've seen Tier VIII destroyers smoke up in front of me, and I just Radar them and shred them. It's a good firestarter too, and the AP is pretty good. I did set up my Helena with Stealth mod tho, since recently I started equipping my CL's with stealth, although I may go back to Rudder.

[@ottaviobasques]

I used many tier 3 ships to get the points needed

[@COMMANDER-wm9vr]

@@ottaviobasques I used mid tier and above. I don’t have any Tier III ships lol

[@FunandGameswithTerry]

Stealth is a valid choice - I personally prefer rudder due to the way I play ships, most of the time. In CLs, I need to compensate for lack of armour with manoeuvrability, and I'm usually keeping the guns blazing the moment something comes in range, which negates the stealth advantage outside the first and last minute of the game.

[@COMMANDER-wm9vr]

@@FunandGameswithTerry The stealth imo helps you ambush some enemy cruisers, and since it's an American CL, you can park yourself behind an island and just fire with immunity. But yea, I do like to ambush some cruisers, but you can't ambush a destroyer, which I understand about the disadvantages of the stealth. I just keep a close eye on who shoots so I have time to maneuver.

[@StingyTrigger]

Shortly after it first came out I had my first and only good experience with loot boxes and got it on the first try. Nothing good since. The reason why you would do a concealment build is that the detection range and radar are the same. So if you like to play aggressive at the start to kill DDs, the moment you're detected you're able to use the radar and that's just the right range where your shells are accurate enough to deal with small moving targets.

[@kronosmond]

I got Thomas Kinkaid from a random crate pull just before this event starts out. Despite that, I still struggle to ramp up the damage or start out fires - I'm thinking it's mostly cuz of skill issues. The event itself was good and I was heavily motivated by the fact that I loved Helena in Azur Lane. Thanks for the vid, Terry!

[@ottaviobasques]

That's nice. I got an Ohio from the easter crate using a free key

[@FunandGameswithTerry]

I have Kinkaid as well, I think bought the bundle way back when they were still selling legendary commanders. He's on Seattle now. Fires on USN CLs can be a bit hit & miss - the fire chance is very low, basically the same as on German 128mm destroyer guns. Don't underestimate the AP on these things, it's worth giving it a try, provided you're not at max range against battleships and can target the weaker bow and stern armour, the damage output can be quite frightening.

[@kronosmond]

@@FunandGameswithTerry Hmm, I see... To be honest, even against destroyers, I feel like Helena's AP hurts more than her HE. And that is saying a lot considering I'm pretty used to Amalfi's insane SAP. Terry, could you suggest, say that I got Kinkaid to max level; should I use APCS or IFHE+? I'm going to grind both US cruiser lines. 😁

[@u46kaleun85]

That thumbnail just looks nuts man. This game has some seriously underrated port sceneries going on.

[@FunandGameswithTerry]

There's a lot of "hidden" scenery, I'm always doing 360 turns to find nice angles. Especially the lighting effects can be quite spectacular

[@joelpierce1453]

The event was pretty easy to finish and I've only been playing for about 6 months.

[@explorationandhistorywithethan]

Idk why but Terry is always Convenient and Constant with Wows Blitz.

[@TheSoulfire73]

As long as you had a decent amount of ships, it was a pretty easy event to do. Hopefully they do more events like this with some of the older premium ships as a reward

[@FunandGameswithTerry]

Definitely. There are a few premiums, especially those that are quite rare, like from past Blitz passes, that are mid-tier and actually pretty decent.

[@radeksvarc8613]

Nice games, sir :) Impressive.

[@Yueh-99]

Hello Terry, check out Boblyn video about the Helena, his aggressive style reminded me of your earlier videos about British light cruisers, also don’t recall you mentioning the event camo, nevertheless great video Terry keep up the good work 🎉

[@FunandGameswithTerry]

That's because I don't have the event camo :) You can very much play CLs aggressively, but especially in the Helena, you do need to have decent torpedo prediction, or it can get hairy. USN CL AP is ruthless at close ranges. I'll check BobLyn's vid

[@ottaviobasques]

I'm not that good with this ship. But it's something I wanted to have, especially considering the Brooklyn is one of the reasons I've decided to grind the Worcester. Btw, i find the Rememberance Night camo very cool, maybe better than the historical camo

[@FunandGameswithTerry]

I quite liked Brooklyn. I was a bit doubtful about the line after Dallas, but T7 convinced me to keep going as well (I'm still at Seattle). Also, Helena just for the history, that ship has been through it all

[@ronaldknauss2866]

Terry, I was rewatching some of your ship reviews for the bazillionth time and an idea occurred to me. I'm the guy who probably drove you nuts begging for a Stalingrad maxed video. What if instead of featuring 2 battles per review with the ship set up as normal, you instead did one battle vanilla and one battle maxed, or even 2 normal and one maxed?. I would think even throwing the third battle and the maxed setup in a video would still be less work than doing two videos, and you'd get bugged less by nuts like me lol. As a side note you should do a yoshino maxed video with the legendary captain for the battleships and the apcs+ skill and try a couple battles mainly sticking to AP, puts a whole new perspective on what she can do.

[@FunandGameswithTerry]

Yes, I've been thinking about that, actually. The main obstacle is that I need to remember which battle is which - I'm recording footage when I have time, sometimes one, sometimes a couple of games, so I just end up with a bunch of files on my phone. But if I'm going to be using premium consumables, that'll work. Bit more hassle to record, but probably worth it. I'll trial it, already done with next week, but for the week after.

[@cala1012]

I'm guessing the personal challenges was why I saw you in a Ranger that week. I was like what is he doing? Too much wine?😂

[@FunandGameswithTerry]

Actually, I didn't have time to work on the challenges, the Ranger has a ... slightly different background. You'll see :)

[@worldofwarshipsblitzwithde1559]

I like the Helena, but one of the better cruisers is the Indianapolis. She also gets radar and her historical significance is awesome. You should review her sometime, she’s another old premium

[@ottaviobasques]

Funny (maybe sad) that most people know Indianapolis for her story, but many don't know the existance of her sister ship Portland, which is one of the most decorated ships of USN.

[@worldofwarshipsblitzwithde1559]

@@ottaviobasques need to look into the Portland. Wargaming should add the San Fransico at tier 6 and recreate history whenever she’s bottom tier against an Atlanta😂

[@FunandGameswithTerry]

They can only add the San Francisco after they've implemented friendly fire... too far?

[@FunandGameswithTerry]

Yep, I need to do that one as well. I quite like the USN CAs, although I feel some of them have been a bit power-crept by the CLs.

[@worldofwarshipsblitzwithde1559]

@@FunandGameswithTerry nope😂, not at all😂😂

[@Evilship994]

I think for playing this ship lil bit bb experience needed to predict torps other then that its a good ship good menuver capacity nd concealment is decent as well So yah i got her through personal challanges I am bb dd main then too i like this ship

[@FunandGameswithTerry]

welcome to the dark side of light cruisers, then :)

[@Evilship994]

@@FunandGameswithTerry haha lol

[@WitWhirlwindTV]

It took me some time but I've got it

[@MQ-xv2su]

Terry routinely says about the turret bug, "Maybe one day it will be fixed." This is a tactful attempt at informing Wargamming there is a problem. Are they listening? Worcester!!!

[@FunandGameswithTerry]

one day :)

[@LukeMan97]

Terry's pronunciation of Helena😂

[@FunandGameswithTerry]

Named after the city in Montana - did I mess it up? O_o

[@LukeMan97]

@@FunandGameswithTerry I don't know different people pronounce it differently I would pronounce it more with the e sound on the second e but it's everyones personal choice

[@jeremyfredenburg3827]

Like you're videos dude you have a way of showcasing ships in action and avoid being a dickhead so many players are toxic AF and even worse with KZbinrs they have a tendency to embarrass other players when they outplay someone...you don't show other plz stats or blast em in otherways it's refreshing and nice don't change the way you do stuff 👍🏼

[@FunandGameswithTerry]

If someone does something silly, I take liberty of poking fun at them. It's never personal - I do plenty of silly things myself, and I strongly believe in having a laugh both at your own mistakes, as well as others', is an important quality in life :) I know there's plenty of toxicity around, and of course, things can get competitive - a lot of people don't take losing a fight well. But it's a game in the end, and it's supposed to be fun :)

[@jeremyfredenburg3827]

@@FunandGameswithTerry agreed sir thnx for responding it was just something I noticed with you...cracking jokes is fun but taking time to put stats on blast and get personal is not fun for me to watch life is hard games should be fun

[@heloimhere]

Terry can you review san diego pls

[@FunandGameswithTerry]

Yep, got that on the (long) list

[@heloimhere]

yay! XD

[@bulletproof6895]

I wasted money on the Helena when it first came out. Great boat but spending money on this game is 💯 waste…..

[@bulletproof6895]

Great video though!