World of Warships- Z-42 First Impressions: Murdered By Nerfs?

[@scatoletta6618]

Honestly I don't understand what the point of this ship is. You want a dd hunter? There's daring, ragnar, marceu and they can also be decent farmers as well. You want a farmer? Harugumo, sherman, khaba. It feels like z-42 is supposed to be able to do both but it's not particurarly good at either of them, for coal it might have been worth it, but for steel absolutely not

[@skld1295]

The only point of this ship is that it's the 2nd german DD with short smoke+hydro and the only one at T10 Unique aspect is 105mm guns with massive AP damage Maybe WG thought that having somewhat unique playstyle was enough to sell this ship for steel Of course, in that regard Austin, Bourgogne, Mecklenburg or Shiki are much better

[@Sapphic001]

Junk. The end. Killed by nerfs before release….

[@steveoltjenbruns2366]

Par for German DDs. Kinda good at everything but not very good at anything in particular.

[@charlestownshotokan5704]

Good timing on this review. I was considering dropping the steel on this. Missed seeing you streaming last night too.

[@cheungjackjackt02006]

I was interested in the ship at first, but those turret angles and turret traverse are pretty big deal breakers for me. Ragnar it is i guess then

[@momchilgradinarov6428]

I have Ragnar. It is awesome, very few things can outgun in.

[@abagofwater1076]

Surprised you endorsed the ap but didnt take the 2 pt 7.5% damage increase. I also usually prefer to take reload mod in t6 and extend range with captain skills if needed. Also Id probably favor the hydro duration mod in slot 2. Not sure id take ifhe... i really try to get by without if at all possible. It certainly helps agains cruisers, some battleships... its debatable.

[@artlailey1496]

Yeah the build is really strange. On this dd specifically it also seems like GtG is essential

[@sealordmountbatten]

Yes that is something I was considering taking, and probably will switch around

[@ynge8046]

Thanks for the viewpoint. I tend to obtain my resource ships based on likes than strengths. DDs are my main, so I may get this one in a year or so.

[@jaywerner8415]

Given her layout, she reminds me of a Fletcher. I suppose she might make for a good "aggressive escort", Speaking from my limited XP with German DDs (played though the tier 6 so far up to tier 7) they play SIMILAR to US DDs for best results. Nice reload btw when you got under half hp, its not gonna outgun a dedicated gunboat but its decent to duel with hybrids and torpedo boats. STILL hate how every German Torpedo seems to be the Tier 6 torps with more range. That 26mm requires IFHE (ouch!), with all the radar in her MM spread the smoke might not be as helpful as it could be, German hydro is best Hydro. But yeah, Screen your teammates from enemy torpedos, DDs, Subs if they push into you like a moron and use that burst smoke to farm enemy ships.

[@markwurden6564]

They do NOT play like US DDs. Why? Hydro. They are cap beasts. get in a cap, turn hydro on, and no other DDs can enter the cap to contest it. Also then spots any torps they send your way. Can't do that with US DDs. They also have much lower smoke screen dispersion, which also impacts their play...you can't really smoke for teammates as you can with US DDs.

[@sleepygryph]

I've been playing her still trying different builds, so far I've noticed that she is balanced around Lutjens. In essence the ship is crippled out the gate until you start popping his abilities. Still a bit torn about IFHE because despite only 5% chance of fire the thing seems to be a flamethrower.

[@Mithril_Antimarr]

Not of the calibre that it is worth paying steel for, if you love German dds and absolutely must have them all, why not, but for most players this is a very average ship with many free tech tree line dds of the same tier being stronger... when it first started testing I thought finally a german dd that can stand up to the Marceau, now it isn't worth getting after the nerfs. Frankly there are better dds to spend res on... maybe this might be worth buying for free xp or possibly coal if they buff it a bit. Not a terrible ship, it just doesn't appear to do anything better than other ships.

[@billwalker9509]

It was a choice for me between the Z-42 and USS Austin. I saved the Austin for next as I have a lot of the other Steel ships. I'm surprised you didn't take both the Hydro and Smoke upgrades playing to 2 of the Z's strengths. Also, 18 second turret traverse is not a long time if you are a slow shooting BB or CA/CB but an eternity in a fast turning DD fight. Big difference between 18 seconds and building for 13 seconds. You are right, the ship is quite different from the Z-52 and will take time to get used to. And you are also right about arriving at a cap with no close support, but that is any DD. My major flaw I am trying to break myself out of. 👍

[@adiaz36]

As always, appreciate the info

[@grzegorzkapica7930]

It is not entirely true, that IFHE decreases fire chance. Because fire chance depends if the shell penned or not. So for all instances, when it would have penned normally or would not pen even with IFHE, the fire chance is halved, but for the instances, where pen occurs only with IFHE the fire chance is normal.

[@mattgearytransplanted]

don't play much dd really. mostly just the tromp but one thing I noticed very quickly is how top heavy the skills are for the commanders. hard to squeeze everything useful. much more complicated than BBS and cruisers. doesn't feel like it brings anything particularly interesting to the party though. glad I just bought plymouth and didn't wait for this.

[@jammo7370]

Tbh IFHE and the reload commander skill could be swapped out for range commander skill and heavy AP, that would let you take reload mod, letting you keep the range that range mod gives while massively increasing your damage output. Considering how pretty much the only use you get out of HE is firestarting given its low damage, buffing pen on it while gimping fire chance just seems like an awful decision to me.

[@Houmer]

You are right. This build just doesnt fit Z-42 strenghts. Heavy AP and Radio location for playing solo around caps, switching to range when playing in div or dmg farming. Also the full potential kicks in with Lutjens. Getting 140 hits is pretty easy early game using short smokes, then you go murder some DDs your hydro+smoke+elevated DPM combination. Late game is usually range farming bigger ships or torping depending on the build. Lutjens miniheal for spotting helps with this part. Easy ship to play? No. Strong in experienced hands or in div? Hell yeah! Also getting Shikishima for 32k steel when you can run leg-mod Yamato with better consistency and for free just doesnt make any sense.

[@brett76544]

Steel available through the year. Battle pass 1200 a month or 14400 a year. Ranked bronze wins for 600 per sprint for 3600 for the season and 4 seasons per year. 14400 a year total. More if you get into silver or gold. Clan battles 2250 for 30 wins in the first level at 4 times a year. 9000 a year in clan battles. Just the low hanging fruit a year is 37800 in steel. Then there are containers and the snowflakes at Christmas and the game anniversary for tier 8 and 9 ships at what 75 steel to be knocked off.

[@wojtek1582]

Wouldn't call some of those low hanging fruit. All these ranked and clan battles consume insane amount of time.

[@rowinglove4ever]

For people that only thing they doin at their lives is playng wow yes! if you have a full time job of 40+ hours of work per week! plus other interests too no! this is not hanging fruit! I play rank silver mainly for farming steel and simetimes gold and my plan is to get the t8-9 ships from 41 to 60 next year! why? From every ship i get 83 steel with addition of my clan per ship so 5000 steel from snowflakes is a good chance to get one steel ship per year! this year i get my first, the Ragnar and no regret till now!

[@brett76544]

@@rowinglove4ever like work, work out before it gets light, hunting, fishing, Ice fishing, rebuilding a barn, covered bridge, making maple syrup now, then maintaining a GF, they love to have attention for some funny reason. Then there is being on the borough council and chair of the sewer authority. Not much time. Then never play ranked the last night or two of a sprint for sanity reasons. Clan battles maybe 2 nights a week.

[@brisancomstock9366]

She’s just another German hybrid DD to me

[@MechFrankaTLieu]

if supported , these days that is the most difficult part , how often you see Cruisers actually doing actual CLOSE support , or BB doing fire suppression and fire cover , and there's simply too many going against the boat , planes, SS, Radar, long range Hydro + mad machine gun CL , even peers like F. Sherman , Z-52, and yes Ragner ... and all that restriction for 27K steel , I sincerely think WG simply run into one of those cases of failed closed testing which do not tell them how the boat would perform on the wider spectrum, wider player base and wider game situations , for real this boat need many buff before it can stand as one against the like of its peer ( even many tech tree peer )

[@sardaukerlegion]

Not the "Droid" i'm looking for.

[@jensgaus781]

You made a torpedo DD to a gunboat. You could have buffed the torps up to 70 knots easily. I don't understand this change at all.

[@tmboz18]

Personally I don’t think it will be very good at being a torpedo boat because the torps are low alpha and short range. I might be wrong though

[@Moon_Cricket_Stinks]

Go with Japanese torp line if you want the torp experience. This is ship is just a meh ship, nothing making it worth 27k steel

[@yourfavoritelawnguy2722]

a torp boat with 5 turrets? okay dude

[@Terrados1337]

Still salty about the tier 5.5 torps. One thing you can rely on in WG titles: german vehicles get a kick in the nuts every other month. Have great secondaries! But no accuracy! Have the smallest main guns but also the least amount of main guns... And no accuracy! Wait what? Clausewitz is a super ship... From Lidl. They are going to nerf Schlieffen through the floor the second it's average winrate ticks above 48%. But atleast the ships are always gorgeous! **WG releases Zieten** OH COME ON!

[@TIPP_X]

i have all the steelships i want and its a DD so i picked it upp, i find it pretty fun but difficult sometime to play

[@NeptuniaMorgan]

We all knew that WG would nerf it after the first Devblog this appeared in. Now you just gotta wonder if it's actually worth it. Is it? No, absolutely not. Not for steel and there are other alternatives, better alternatives. I wonder why WG even releases completely OP concepts and then nerfs them upon releasing them. Do they want people, who didn't read the following devblogs, to still buy it?

[@Brezzanater]

Very disappointed with this one. Saved the steel but will just have to wait for the next steel release

[@Moon_Cricket_Stinks]

If they made this like a German Ragnar I can see that being an interesting buy, but this ship is just a plain Jane that any tech ship can give you and better. Weegee is just seeing how gullible ppl Sri are to the shiny new ship complex

[@stevenwiederholt7000]

13:00 Wish I had a dollar for every time that happened to me.

[@kresokovacevic3157]

usualy you have good points,but regarding this dd you missed completly,ap 90% of time,IFH huge miss,dont need it at all,range module,another miss,high skill shipp,but amazing,just not for your or simular playstly,,ap is huge for shoting everything,bc it doesnt overpen almost nothing,3-5k salvos on BB,just not your cup of tea

[@joecarlson6428]

Very disappointing DD. WOWs nerfed the ship that the comments below are high lighting her profound under performance. Fear based development at its best.

[@gothicalpha]

We have entered Navyfield territory with this ship

[@michaelclarke8507]

Collector so it’s mine if it’s poor or good it will sit till all sub’s played out till 2024

[@rowinglove4ever]

If you are a dd main and dont have Ragnar , get the Ragnar! this ship is a scam! 160.000 HE base dpm when akizuki have 192.000!

[@JanKowalski-si6sm]

haragumo has smaller guns but HE pens 30 mm

[@momchilgradinarov6428]

Do a Plymouth review.

[@OllieVK]

...does an IFHE build "use AP, do not use HE"

[@sealordmountbatten]

HE is for farming BBs down after you use the AP to murder DDs

[@donosprey8754]

So if their willing to give this thing only 26mm pen why in the hell do the Japanese DD gunboats still have 30mm pen still. Fix those stupid dds

[@mooneym.3642]

It should be available for coal tbh.

[@joshtheking1772]

Is it a good ship? Maybe...?! Is it worth that much steel? NO, not by a long shot. There are other DD's that are just flat better, and some of those better DD's are in a standard tech line. It should be a Coal ship and not steel.

[@anthrax2413]

Why the hell WG thought this lackluster DD was worth 27k steel? WG has completely lost the plot. Monkeys would balance this game more properly.

[@Darren4352]

I absolutely agree! Based on the features and stats this destroyer can be most accurately described by one word. Meh 😑

[@rowinglove4ever]

they dont care! if they would care they would listen to older players that keep telling that they destroy the game eith all that cvs and subs! what they care is in the future launch premium superships that then they could sale for 300-500 euro my guess

[@Cerberus0076]

How in the world should get one that ammount of Steel 🥺

[@deaninchina01]

Ranked is very good, CB when it is on is also good. Lower rate of earn from combat missions, free battle pass. Use the discount coupon and its not too hard to get that amount of steel to buy a ship each time the coupon is renewed.

[@harajiko123]

i think this ship is very strong and it doesn't need IFHE. again the ship is just as good as the person playing it. you just need to know how o work it.

[@terkish6203]

Just play z52

[@mikedignum1868]

Too expensive and I'm not that good with destroyers.

[@Moon_Cricket_Stinks]

Even if you were; Halland, and shima/harugumo can do better than what this is going for. Daring is a nice package as well. Ragnar is the DD you should focus on. That is fantastic.

[@Cedric8486_1]

left over steel.... lol

[@mulletoutdooradventures6286]

Just stick to your BB skippy. You are not good enough to review anything else. Bottom of the Sea Lord 😂😆😂

[@djdoom29]

Nerfed to Trash No one Play it. Well done wg. Good in DD divi but No solo Warrior AS harugumo. Wg realy hate Germans

[@tomashermann2994]

omg you are so bad dd player.....this ship is mega strong

[@StewpidSixtynine]

can anyone tell me why a Destroyer is called DD?

[@champion914]

USN terminology.....destroyer DD.....Battleship BB....etc.