BISMARCK

Country
German

Class
Battleship

MMweight
8.0

Obtain Method
Tech Tree

Arena rating

D

PVP rating

B

Bismarck is the continuation of Gneisenau. It’s one of the most popular battleships from world war 2. Bismarck has the same caliber as Gneisenau (380 mm) but more guns (4×2). Just like Gneisenau, it has fast reload but the accuracy, penetration, and damage is terrible for its tier. Bismarck’s guns simply can’t hit anything beyond 18 km. Unlike Gneisenau, Bismarck doesn’t have torpedoes. On the other hand, it has better secondary guns.

Bismarck has turtleback armor scheme. The citadel is well protected at short range, but can be penetrated at long range. Even without citadel damage, Bismarck still takes a lot of penetration damage. It’s also pretty easy to get burned. To minimize damage, bowtanking is recommended. A bowtanking Bismarck is hard to sink, unless there are multiple enemies attacking it. Bismarck has very long damage control duration, short damage control cooldown, and short repair cooldown. This makes Bismarck very resilient during intense combat.

Bismarck’s maneuverability and concealment is not great, but not as terrible as its continuations (H39 and H42). The size is bigger compared to other ships in its MMweight but not by much. This makes Bismarck a good brawler and can dictate close range combats. The AA is bad. For a CV, Bismarck is just food.

Playstyle

Bismarck is a terrible shooter. Even at medium range, Bismarck’s terrible accuracy makes it unable to inflict enough damage to the enemy, while the enemy can continuously inflict damage to it. To utilize all of Bismarck’s strengths, you must get to < 10 km range. The sign of an effective range is its secondary guns start firing. At close range, the main guns start to hit reliably and the turtleback armor works well.

In PVP, use islands as cover, sail to one flank, and push together with bots (not ahead of them) so they are the ones who get shot instead of you. If possible ask your teammates to support you from the side. Shoot broadsiding players first. You can let your secondary guns kill the bots. Always angle against enemy players. Alter your sailing direction and speed.

You should equip secondary battery enhancement module and secondary enhancement crew skill to increase its secondary battery range. The secondary battery can help melt killing the enemy. Its secondary guns can set fires and inflict up to 50% of the main gun’s damage. Use underwater search consumable when there’s a destroyer or ships with torpedo near you so you can avoid their torpedoes easier.

In global arena, getting close is almost impossible. To save you from headache, don’t choose German ship in arena. If you meet a CV in PVP, just play like usual. Kill the bots in the process. If possible, kill some players too. You will die quickly, but this will give time for your ally CV to carry the match.

Is it worth to buy?

Bismarck is very situational. If the enemy ignores it, it can enter close range and win gloriously. If the enemy doesn’t ignore it, Bismarck is just a free exp farm.

Bismarck is a tech tree ship. You just have to grind to get it. No need to spend money. The top tier of German battleship line (H42) is a strong ship for PVP. H42 is easy to use and very beginner friendly. If you like rushing you should get Bismarck and continue grinding to get H42.

There’s a premium version of Bismarck, called Bismarck SP. It looks like Bismarck but with rockets on each side. Those rockets don’t do anything, though. To put it simply, it’s just a cool skin. Unfortunately, you can only get it with money or through luck in lootbox. Don’t spend money for it. It has the same characteristics as Bismarck in all aspects.

Strengths
Good HE penetration, fast reload, good secondary guns, has turtleback armor, has underwater search consumable, has fighter planes, long damage control duration, short damage control and repair cooldown.
Weaknesses
Bad accuracy, high air drag, large size, low damage, easy to get burned, bad concealment, bad AA.
General playstyle
Pushing, brawling, bowtanking
Preferred fighting range
Short range

Recommended Build

Equipment
Slot 1: adv. disaster retardant module
Slot 2: steering gears enhancement module or engine enhancement module
Slot 3: secondary battery enhancement module
Consumables
Slot 1: elite damage control
Slot 2: elite repair
Slot 3: elite underwater search
Crew Skills (after basic skill)
Captain: boost morale – hull protection – artillery warning
Gun: secondary battery enhancement – crack gunner – high speed aiming
Engine: steering master – quick shift – adv. quick shift
Damage control: emergency flooding – buoyancy reserve – extinguish

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