World of Warships - Learn to Play: Tier VII Japanese Destroyer Akatsuki

[@geordiekimbo2]

I've been playing about a year, and I gotta say I'm really enjoying the Akatsuki. I never thought I'd enjoy the Japanese destroyers - I started on the GB and German research lines. I enjoyed the German destroyers, in particular Gaede and Maas, but then started the Japanese line and love those ships.

[@ob1kenobi748]

how can you possibly enjoy the german line, they are complete garbage

[@scriptorMfaust]

I honestly love your learn to play videos, even with 6,4k battles under my belt. After having taken a break for 1.5 years, I found myself overwhelmed with high tier dd play because of every other new ship having hydro, radar, smoke or everything. Add subs and cvs and those people yelling at you for not throwing your ship away at the start of the battle ─ what do you mean you not heading straight into the cap?? ─ and it becomes even worse. Getting back to basics and into the mindset of being a teamplayer, which you clearly have, helps quite a lot. Well done sir!

[@rjcolombe]

Outside of Yugumo, Akatsuki is probably my favorite ship of the torp DD line. Triple torpedo launchers make for good spreads that are hard to dodge, plus surprisingly decent gunpower. I've used it in T7 ranked on a few occasions and had fun with it. Appreciate the review, SeaRaptor 👍

[@frosty3693]

Yep those three launchers are nice as you can leave one in reserve for emergencies. The 127mm IJN guns can, with AP, citadel squishey crusiers if you catch one at close range broadside.

[@sirboomsalot4902]

I really liked Akatsuki in ranked as well. The speed was nice. Ended up sticking with Shiratsuyu though.

[@donl7596]

Samey, same. I actually prefer being bottom tier in both these ships. I can't decide why though. It's either; I prefer the challenge, or my fire support is slightly (just an itsy bit) more competent at higher tiers.

[@old_guard2431]

Particularly with subs around I am taking RDF (“Radio Location” in WoWS language) on just about every ship that can take it. It is great for playing small island ring-around-the-rosy with a higher-tier opposing destroyer.

[@bryandavidson6386]

Great video as ever Searaptor. I certainly agree with the value of running RDF to try and stay out of trouble and help you to choose your engagements rather stumble into them! Keep up the good work 🖒

[@pcsproshop8972]

Thanks Raptor, she's my favorite boat. Appreciate you covering her!

[@chicagodon7112]

Thank you for another info packed tutorial!

[@NochKlinka]

This series of learn to play inspired me to try rpf for the first time, it's kinda nice

[@danpettersson4671]

Wohoo! KZbin suggested your video just after the two comments with Jingles. Hopefully this will continue. Thank you for the entertainment.

[@Jason-35D]

Thanks for this video. Hearing your thoughts in games is a big help. As a little side note, when you pause the game and wake keeps moving, it’s pretty fun to watch the ghost ship. Edit: also a CV that knows they have an engine and isn’t a landing strip? Color me impressed.

[@M8Marco]

Gotta love how the waves in front of the ship just keep going at 23:59, when you pause the replay :D

[@petermcdonough6383]

Great content there Raptor! I am allways enthralled with the amount of information you provide. Keep up the good work. Look forward to the next one.

[@timreffold2853]

Thanks again for your content. Also congrats on your starring role with Jingles

[@wildlifeman6365]

Raptor is right, the Akatsuki is a challenge. The 6.4 detection range is so out of character with the rest of both IJN lines that I think that people tend to struggle with her (even the mighty Harugumo at T10 has a better detection at 6.2 than she does and she is more frigate than dd). My best advice is that if you're struggling with her, go back and play your Farragut and your Mahan. Remind yourselves that having a high detection range dd just takes a bit more attention to the minimap and keeping your aggression in check until it is the right time to unleash your weapons. Raptor, cant wait until you introduce people to the French dd line. 6.4 will look good and will put the Akatsuki into prospective.

[@nomaddc5289]

Love this series

[@porten1277]

Thank you

[@frosty3693]

Oh yes the Akatsuki is a problem ship, it just struggles. The AA is historical. The Japanese dual purpose guns had a slow reload and tracked slowly and usually did not have an AA director. So the guns were mostly used to target an area the planes were going to fly through rather than directly target an aircraft. With some IJN DDs I do not install the gun range upgrade so my gun range is about the same, or less, than the torp range. It keeps your gun firing detection range lower. With the bad detection hiding behind islands can be handy and with RPF you can set up your ambush since you can tell which side of the island your target is going to appear, I usually know from prevous spotting what ship the target is. Having 66% of your guns on the stern means you can be facing away from the threat, small target ready to run. (yay engine room mod) RPF can be used against you but unlike hydro and radar it does not have a set detection range so the ship only knows he is the closest, red ship to you not within a specific radar/hydro range. I am not sure it matters but I made a sheet with my DD's depthcharge patterns and the Akatsuki does have a rather dense pattern. So if the sub is not moving fast you can put a lot of hurt in a small area. Haven is a map I dislike intensely. Jingles ran your San Diego replay this week. Good game and he said very nice things about you and your wife.

[@SeaRaptor]

He played host to us for dinner when we went down to visit the Royal Navy Museum in Portsmouth in fall of 2022. Wonderful evening (even if I was feeling a touch under the weather). He's great people.

[@DynamoNED]

Back when I played WoWS regularly, this was the destroyer that made me quit the Japanese line for a long time. Having come from the American line at the time, it was a frustrating struggle. I gave up and went to the German destroyer line. If I ever got back to playing the game regularly, though, I'll know how to pick up with this ship.

[@SeaRaptor]

Understandable, the detection radius with the matchmaking she gets frequently leads to short games and immense irritation. Like I said, I struggled to get a decent game in the ship to showcase.

[@ponaftes9214]

my tech tree go to ranked dd, just focusing guns (consitstent damage) instead of torps and not taking the 10.4km gun upgrade(easier to disengage).40 knots base speed (with flag is op for ranked dd) and if you know how to use the spood beast and juke enemy dds you are a dd killer for the tier( except Haida and Huron). Also if you consider server lag and how practically a 6.4 km and a 6.1km spot each other at the same time , detection is not a real issue. Torps are fine but besides area denial tool , 1.6km detection and max 70 knots you aren`t connecting much. In randoms tho its hard when you are facing t8 subs, t8 cvs and kitas,moga and friesland every so often.Rpf is a must here

[@SeaRaptor]

Can't disagree with any of this. She's perfectly fine in ranked or with even-tier MM. When she's uptiered, the pain starts. I think with the IJN DDs there's a valid case for skipping the gun range upgrade for the same reasons that the mid-tier Italian DDs actually *like* having the short gun ranges.

[@donl7596]

I've only got 845 games in this ship. If you just got to have high damage every game, wrong ship. But if you would prefer to be top 3, alive, and with a W, then this is a good ship. Your build looks decent but I would change three things. I would take main battery mod2 on the ship, otherwise its impossible to keep your guns on target and maneuver at the same time. As for the captain the last three points are the toughest But for a new player I would sell out on the torps (or on superintendent) instead of survivability. RPF is a must but newer players, probably, wont get it selected until lvl21. Your concealment is better than you think, but no, not a strength. (When you consider you are usually bottom tier, and there are more dakka builds in higher tiers) Advice: Early game: SPOT, and keep tabs on your enemy DD (RPF). never get caught heading directly into the enemy, you'll die. Let the enemy catch you retreating (RPF makes this a lot easier). Most of your guns (and all of your torps) are in the rear, so make yourself small. In this position, if you need to pop smoke, you'll disappear immediately. But, the rudder shift is great in this position and you can dodge most medium range shots. Take advantage of the chip shots every chance you get (BM2 helps this). Be patient and keep your head on a swivel, you have the tools to punish anyone who makes a mistake. PS I live for clean up duty.

[@andreascdr_dagobert3588]

Very good video line. Thx a lot. Can you tell me what mod you are using for the teams in each side of the screen? For a beginner the information about radar, hydro etc. would be great.

[@SeaRaptor]

I've had to change that mod a few times over the years; I think I'm on Team Panels by TTaro at the moment.

[@jannegrey593]

Wait - so you do upgrade range of your guns with this one? This is a big departure if I recall correctly from previous Japanese DD's builds.

[@SeaRaptor]

I think you can go either way. With the mid-tier destroyers, your base detection tends to be pretty mediocre so it isn't a massive penalty (typically) to upgrade the guns. Plus you see less radar in general.

[@jannegrey593]

@@SeaRaptor True. I thought it was because 6.4km was so horrible.

[@wildlifeman6365]

Here's something I didn't expect. I'm having good success with the Akatsuki in the current Bronze Rank battles (even better than my Haida). Not sure why that is. She does have a 20 pt captain so that helps. Any ideas?

[@SeaRaptor]

She's a great ship. The detection is sub-par, but the firepower is above average. If you're able to leverage the stealth you DO have and convert it into board control and big torpedo hits, you can do great work with Akatsuki.

[@nunyabiznesssame2371]

why is it in WGs' wisdom, that they made all T7 DD detection is higher than any other tier.

[@SeaRaptor]

I dunno, but it makes most T7 destroyers very challenging.

[@flb.labaguette]

Why do I get spotted at 7.2 km with this destroyer? Is there a way to reduce the value ?

[@SeaRaptor]

There is a 4 point commander skill for destroyers called "Concealment Expert" that will reduce the detection radius by 10%.

[@flb.labaguette]

@SeaRaptor thanks a lot, keep up the good work !

[@golub1marko]

How good or bad is 1200 xp on 43 battles with fubuki ?

[@SeaRaptor]

Solid, IMHO. Especially if you're still learning destroyer.

[@golub1marko]

@@SeaRaptor I have +-600 battles in wows 😅 now playing with akazuki and there I have 1400+ xp but as you said ,some battles are OMG ,some Oooooh fuck....🤣

[@franklinb81]

I skipped this ship in the line had over 400k of free xp.