BRANDENBURG

Country
German

Class
Cruiser

MMweight
9.6

Obtain Method
Tech Tree

Arena rating

C

PVP rating

D

Brandenburg is a battlecruiser with 3×3 350 mm guns. The accuracy and range are good, but the overall performance is low due to slow reload and high air drag. The air drag causes the shells to slow down a lot at long range and reduces the AP penetration. The high air drag makes fighting long range targets difficult, despite its intended role as a long range fighter. Brandenburg is only good for burning ships and citadeling obviously misplayed cruisers. Interestingly, sometimes O can outperform Brandenburg due to higher accuracy and higher caliber guns. Yes this is a top tier ship that loses in performance compared to its predecessor.

Brandenburg has a lot of HP to endure damage. The HP pool is similar to an MMweight 8.0 battleship. However, having high HP pool is meaningless because it has bad armor. Brandenburg can be citadeled by any battleship from the front. The side armor is good, but because of big size Brandenburg still takes lots of damage. Brandenburg has slow speed, bad acceleration, bad maneuverability, and bad concealment. It’s a very easy target to shoot. Against cruisers, Brandenburg’s chance of winning is still low even though it’s a battlecruiser. Any cruiser can easily burn and farm it to death. Not to mention the cruiser can just spot Brandenburg without being seen and let the battleship kill it. If being chased, Brandenburg can’t run away and will always get spotted.

Brandenburg has 4 torpedoes per side. The damage output of those torpedoes is only going to shave off half HP of a battleship. To sink a full HP battleship, it must turn back and drop torpedoes from the other side. There’s a high chance that Brandenburg will get sunk long before it can do such maneuver, especially because it can be citadeled from the front. Not to mention that the enemy can just run away before Brandenburg gets close enough. Brandenburg’s concealment is bad so it can’t do sneak attack. Brandenburg also doesn’t have the speed to chase the enemy. The only time a torpedo ambush can be successful is when the enemy ignores it for a long time.

Just like other German battlecruisers, it has underwater search consumable. It’s a useful consumable to detect ships inside smokescreen and torpedoes from long range. Equip it if you’re not going to fight a CV.

Playstyle

At the start of the battle, sail to a flank. Don’t sail too forward. Don’t get yourself spotted first. Remember, shooting will increase your detectability range so don’t do that unless you absolutely need to. If the enemy is spotted, let your battleships shoot the enemy first. Just like all cruisers, you need to find a good island to hide while still being able to lob shells. Ideally, you want to be able to lob shells to the enemy but the enemy can’t see or shoot you back. If you’re getting shot, just move closer to the island to hide or run away.

If there’s no such island, fight in open water at more than 15 km from enemy battleship. Use HE as your default ammunition unless the enemy is a broadsiding cruiser. Angle your ship away from the enemy (kiting position). Speed juke to dodge shells. You can try this simple speed juke tactic: sail at 1/4 speed when the enemy isn’t shooting, accelerate to full speed when the enemy shoots at you, reverse if the enemy shoots in front of your ship. Turn your ship away to increase its effectiveness. If the enemy is chasing you, drop your torpedoes too. Don’t show broadside and don’t bowtank the enemy. If your HP is low, just run away and stop shooting. Once you get out of your basic detection range, you won’t be spotted anymore.

To maximize your effectiveness, try to create a crossfire with your teammates. If your teammate is tanking, you sail to the side of the enemy ship and shoot at their broadside.

In a CV battle, always stay close to allied ships (especially BBs and CV) so you can protect each other with overlapping AA. You have long range, so you don’t need to get close to the enemy anyway.

Is it worth to buy?

Brandenburg was meant to be a battlecruiser but it gets outperformed by cruisers. It was meant to be a long range fighter yet it sucks at long range. It has torpedoes but it will be sunk before getting close. It is confusion of the highest order.

Brandenburg is a tech tree ship. If you want to get it, you just have to grind it. Currently, going for Brandenburg is not worth it.

Strengths
Big caliber guns, good accuracy, long range, large HP, good side armor, has torpedoes
Weaknesses
Slow reload, bad penetration, high air drag, bad maneuverability, bad acceleration, slow speed, big size, bad bow armor, bad concealment, bad AA, no planes
Consumables
Advanced DC (20 secs duration, 20% dmg reduction), elite repair (4 charges), anti-air barrage (3 charges) / underwater search (4 charges)
General playstyle
Sniping, kiting
Role/specialty
Damage dealer
Preferred enemy target
Cruiser, BB

Recommended Build

Equipment
Slot 1: adv. disaster retardant module
Slot 2: engine enhancement module
Slot 3: main battery enhancement module or aiming system module
Consumables
Slot 1: large cruiser advanced damage control
Slot 2: elite repair
Slot 3: elite underwater search
Crew Skills (after basic skill)
Captain: artillery warning – boost morale- hull protection
Gun: crack gunner – high speed aiming – burn the ship behind
Engine: quick shift – adv. quick shift – steering master
Damage control: buoyancy reserve – emergency flooding – extinguish
Torpedo: engine maintenance – excess charge – weak point attack

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