Fleetbuilding Guide

Author(s): Samheart564
Current Version: 1.9.0 | Last Updated: May 12th, 2024

Introduction

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Fleetbuilding for hard content is something many players struggle with. This guide hopes to give a comprehensive overview of fleetbuilding for hard content in Azur Lane.

This guide assumes all ships are properly geared, check out gear guides for more information.

If you just started Azur Lane...

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Just stick to 1 fleet for now and ignore this guide. This guide is meant for mid-game players who have enough ships leveled to get a second fleet going.

You can use unlocking Operation Siren as a benchmark. Once you have unlocked Operation Siren, come back to this guide.

• Note: When farming, refer to the Farming Guide for more information

Mob Fleet vs Boss Fleet

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• Mob Fleet:

• Kills everything on the stage that is NOT the main boss.

• Built to sustain multiple battles in a row.

• Can be used for leveling ships.

• Used for 90% of all Azur Lane content.

• Boss Fleet:

• ONLY attacks the main boss of the stage.

• Boss Fleet ships should be at full health going into the fight.

• There is also an Ammo Bonus damage advantage.

• Built to do the maximum amount of damage in 1 fight.

• Has your best ships and gear.

Backline Ship Roles

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• Notes:

• Consult a tierlist/other guide, or make your own judgements for ship viability. The order of ships listed below is NOT a ship rating criteria.

• Some ships might fall into multiple roles! Read their skills for more information. The roles assigned below are roles I would use them in personally.

• See Skill Syncing for more information on Faction Fleets and Pair Skills.

• See Preloads / Staggering Damage for more information on Fast Loaders

Healers

• They sustain a mob fleet over the course of a sortie through enormous healing.

Permanently Available:

Event-Locked:

Collaboration:

Flagship BB

• Provides a strong (position-dependent!) frontal barrage and/or have fleetwide benefits from being in the flagship position from their skills. This slot also gives BBs optimal secondary gun range.

• Bismarck, Nagato, Richelieu, Amagi all have support capabilities, read skills for details.

Permanently Available:

Event-Locked:

Collaboration:

Off-Flag BB

• Provides damage and/or support without being position-locked. Using multiple BBs can also provide extra secondary gun support.

• All BBs in this section can act as the Flagship BB, but the opposite is not true!

• Multiple ships in this section all have varying support capabilities, read skills for details.

Permanently Available:

Event-Locked:

Collaboration:

Damage CV

• Provides strong damage (usually more AoE oriented).

• Multiple ships in this section all have varying support capabilities, read skills for details.

Permanently Available:

Event-Locked:

Collaboration:

Support

• These ships have slightly less per-strike damage in exchange for additional fleet support.

• Aquila, Ark Royal, Formidable, Illustrious μ can also do damage if you focus damage over support, read skills for details.

Slow/Stop Support:

Damage Support:

Bulk Support (Healing / Shields / Damage Reduction):

Vanguard Ship Roles

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• Notes:

• Consult a tierlist/other guide, or make your own judgements for ship viability. The order of ships listed below is NOT a ship rating criteria.

• Some ships might fall into multiple roles! Read their skills for more information. The roles assigned below are roles I would use them in personally.

• See Skill Syncing for more information on Faction Fleets and Pair Skills.

Mob Main Tank

• These ships are more susceptible to high damage bullets, but work great as Mob Tanks.

• Most Mob Main Tanks can also fall into the Damage Dealer and/or Support category, read skills for details.

Permanently Available:

Event-Locked:

Boss Main Tank

• These ships are extremely tanky, in addition to having decent damage.

• All Boss Main Tank ships can also Mob Main Tank extremely well, but the opposite is not true!

Permanently Available:

Event-Locked:

Collaboration:

Damage Dealer

• These ships focus on dealing strong personal damage.

• Damage levels can vary wildly in this section; read the ships' skills or other guides for more information.

• Bulk levels can vary wildly in this section; read the ships' skills or other guides for more information.

• Support capabilities can vary wildly in this section; read the ships' skills or other guides for more information.

• Ships that only deal damage from torpedoes and have nothing else going for them are noticably worse than other ship types when playing on auto-battle. However when playing on manual-battle, they are noticably better than other ship types. Use with caution.

Permanently Available:

Event-Locked:

Collaboration:

Support

• These ships have less personal damage in exchange for additional fleet support.

• Some ships will overlap with other sections. This is because they are good ships even outside of their support, but not acknowledging their Support capabiliities would be doing them a disservice.

• Read the ships' skills to see any condition(s) needed for the support to activate.

  • Some support skills are harder to trigger than others!!

• Some supports are more specific than others, read their skills for more information!

• Some supports might not be worth using over Damage Dealers, consult a tierlist/other guide for more information.

Fast Loads / Staggering Damage

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Having all your BB shots or CV airstrikes overkill a wave does not help with clear times. This is why staggering damage helps.

• Ways to stagger damage:

• Slightly adjusting Planes (CVs) or Main Guns (BBs) can help stagger damage slightly.

• Equip the following pieces of gear on some (not all!) of your ships to stagger damage artificially.

  

  Admiralty Fire Control Table

  

  High Standard Fire-Control Radar

  

  Homing Beacon

  

  Elite Aviation Maintenance Manjuu

• Using one of the ships listed below that have built-in stagger through their skills.

List of Fast Loader Ships

• Consult a tierlist or other guide for ship viability. Ships are NOT ordered by viability.

• Ships in this category also fulfil other roles (sometimes multiple!), which are marked accordingly. The role listed is the role I would personally use them in.

• Some ships are more strict with requirements to Fast Load than others, so be wary of ruining your fleet composition. Read skills for details!

Preload

75% - 99%

50% - 74%

25% - 49%

Skill Syncing

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Timed Skill Syncing

20 Second Syncing:

Example: Helena

With standard equipment, all backline options sync with Helena for at least 2-3 strikes.

• Helena has different sync timings when equipped with a SG Radar. When equipping an SG Radar, she cannot sync with most CVs.

15 Second Syncing:

Don't bother with syncing to 15s. BBs need the Prototype Twin 457mm Mk A Main Gun Mount, and CVs can't sync to this at all.

On Shot / Strike Syncing

Example: Vanguard, Duke of York, Ark Royal, Implacable, Centaur

1. Read ship skills to see what timings are necessary, and see if a ship needs to launch first/last.

2. Adjust equipment such that:

   • All ships launch at roughly the same time (within 1 second of each other).

   • Ships that need to launch first/last are able to launch first/last without issues.

Faction Fleets

Faction Fleets are sub-optimal. A well-built mixed faction fleet will perform better than a well-built faction fleet 100% of the time.

List of Faction Buffer Ships

Pair Skills

These are ships that receive buffs from sortieing with specific ships (usually ships of the same faction).

• 1-2 Ships Needed: It is fine to build the fleet around this buff.

• Example: Howe's Covenant of the Immortal Knights.

• 3+ Ships Needed, and the benefit is good: It is fine to build the fleet around this buff.

• Example: Shinano's Protector of the New Moon.

• 3+ Ships Needed, and the benefit is mediocre / bad: It is fine to ignore this buff.

• Example: Bellona's Throwing Down the Gauntlet.

• Bad Ships Needed: Don't build the fleet around this buff.

• Example: Portland's Best Sister.

Damage Distribution

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Backline

• The Flagship generally takes the most damage. All ramming boat / plane damage distribution is random, so be careful!

• Due to concealment, CV/Ls are generally safe when they are not revealed.

Vanguard

• The Main Tank takes the most damage. The Off-Tank takes the 2nd most damage. The Protected (Middle) Slot takes the least damage.

• For ADVANCED PLAYERS: To determine relative ship bulk, check out this EHP Sheet by @mebot. Sheet and numbers are a work in progress, and may not accurately reflect in-game bulk / performance.

Campaign Fleet Compositions

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Theory

ECTL does a great job going over the theory and mechanics of fleetbuilding, which you can find here. Check it out if you are interested.

Mob Fleet

• Backline:

• Slot 1 (Off-Flag): Healer

• Slot 2 (Flagship): Flagship BB or Off-Flag BB

• Slot 3 (Off-Flag): Off-Flag BB or Damage CV or Support

• Vanguard:

• Slot 1 (Main Tank): Boss Main Tank or Mob Main Tank

• Slot 2 (Protected): Damage Dealer or Support

• Slot 3 (Off-Tank): Damage Dealer or Support

Generic Boss Fleet

• Backline:

• Slot 1 (Off-Flag): Off-Flag BB or Damage CV or Support

• Slot 2 (Flagship): Flagship BB or Off-Flag BB

• Slot 3 (Off-Flag): Off-Flag BB or Damage CV or Support

• Vanguard:

• Slot 1 (Main Tank): Boss Main Tank

• Slot 2 (Protected): Damage Dealer or Support

• Slot 3 (Off-Tank): Damage Dealer or Support

For specific campaign stages...

Check out the Chapter Walkthough guide at ECTL, found here. They do a great job explaining chapter mechanics that you can tune your fleet towards.

Operation Siren Fleet Compositions

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See also: Operation Siren

Theory

Since most of the large buffs given by Support ships (from Main Fleet or Vanguard Fleet) target a specific Hull type (like BB, CV, etc.), building around maximizing those buffs is most optimal.

• Fleet Types:

• 1 Mob Fleet

• 3 Boss Fleets

Mob Fleet (Operation Siren)

Main Article: Mob Fleet

Generic Boss Fleet (Operation Siren)

Main Article: Generic Boss Fleet

BB Boss Fleet (Operation Siren)

• Backline:

• Slot 1 (Off-Flag): Off-Flag BB or Support

• Slot 2 (Flagship): Flagship BB or Off-Flag BB

• Slot 1 (Off-Flag): Off-Flag BB or Support

• Vanguard:

• Slot 1 (Main Tank): Boss Main Tank

• Slot 2 (Protected): Damage Dealer or Support

• Slot 3 (Off-Tank): Damage Dealer or Support

• OpSi Specific Notes:

• Ideally, at least one of these Supports (from Main Fleet) are used: Vanguard, Howe, Duke of York

CV Boss Fleet (Operation Siren)

"Ryuusei" Fleet

The purpose of this fleet is to slow down the enemy enough for all equipped converging Torpedo Bombers to land on the target for massive damage. Operation Siren bosses are slow in nature, which makes this fleet reliable.

• Backline:

• Slot 1 (Off-Flag): Slow Support (Implacable, August von Parseval, Ark Royal, or Formidable)

• Slot 2 (Flagship): Damage CV

• Slot 3 (Off-Flag): Damage CV or Support

• Vanguard:

• Slot 1 (Main Tank): Boss Main Tank

• Slot 2 (Protected): Damage Dealer or Support

• Slot 3 (Off-Tank): Damage Dealer or Support

• OpSi Specific Notes:

• Ideally, at least one of these CV Damage Supports are used.

"Rocket" Fleet

The purpose of this fleet is to take advantage of certain ships' high damage fighter slots and load them up with Rockets to land on the target for massive damage. Operation Siren bosses are slow in nature, which makes this fleet reliable.

• Backline:

• Slot 1 (Off-Flag): Slow Support (Implacable, August von Parseval) or Independence (Retrofit) or other Damage CV

• Slot 2 (Flagship): Enterprise

• Slot 3 (Off-Flag): Yorktown II (ideally) or other Damage CV

• Vanguard:

• Slot 1 (Main Tank): Boss Main Tank

• Slot 2 (Protected): Damage Dealer or Support

• Slot 3 (Off-Tank): Damage Dealer or Support

• OpSi Specific Notes:

• Ideally, at least one of these CV Damage Supports are used.

Submarine Fleet Compositions

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If you are a new player, don't worry about Submarines. Focus on Main/Vanguard Fleets first!

Submarine Fleet Positioning

Submarine Fleet Positioning come down to 3 main factors:

• Enemy Movement - Some enemies tend to congragate in one area of the map (stage-dependant). You want your highest damage submarines to target all their damage in that area (including barrages), which necessitates moving them to the optimal slot(s) to take advantage.

  • If there is no specific enemy congregation pattern, put your highest damage submarine in the middle, so that it can hit the widest area of enemies.

• Ship Skills - Some Submarines (ex. Flasher, U-101) incentivize certain positions over others.

• Survivability - Some Submarines resurface in the middle of their attack patterns (ex. Nautilus, Homura), and therefore you want to put them in a slot to minimize harm. This is stage-dependant.

International Submarine Fleet

KMS "Wolfpack" Submarine Fleet

USS "Fishpack" Submarine Fleet

Tempesta Submarine Fleet

Note: This is just for fun, it won't perform better compared to traditional submarine fleets!

Other Fleetbuilding Tips

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Cross-fleet Effects

Cross-fleet effects are skills that activate in battles the ship isn't directly participating in. Some of the effects are useful in Operation Siren or when farming easy content, to speed up the process.

• You should NOT build fleets specifically around these ships.

Hard Mode Requirement Help

Below are a list of tips to meet Hard Mode stat requirements, whether for Events or Campaign.