OXFORD

Country
United Kingdom (UK)

Class
Cruiser

MMweight
9.0

Obtain Method
Tech Tree

Arena rating

B

PVP rating

B

Oxford is a great improvement from Albemarle. It has more guns and slightly better accuracy which makes its firepower one of the best on its tier. The armor is junk, but it has great maneuverability. The torpedo angle is great, but it only has 5 torpedoes on each side with 10 km range.

Playstyle

Oxford’s guns has slow shell velocity, but the air drag is much lower than US cruisers. The accuracy is only good at short range. At more than 13 km range it’s pretty bad. Hitting targets at long range is possible, but don’t expect big damage. Still, because it has great HE penetration, any shell that hits has a high chance to set fire. Oxford’s AP penetration is bad. Even if the enemy is broadsiding, it’s generally better to stick with HE. Aim at different parts of the enemy so you can set multiple fires.

Oxford has terrible armor. Even 380 mm guns can citadel Oxford from any angle. This means you have to stay at least 12 km from enemy battleships. It does have good maneuverability, but because of its big size, hitting it is easy. Kiting and lobbing shells from behind island are recommended.

Oxford has torpedoes, but don’t blindly rush the enemies unless your enemy is a cruiser without torpedo. Those torpedoes are generally used as an alternative method of attacking when kiting.

Just like other British heavy cruisers, Oxford’s smokescreen only has 4 puffs. If you’re sailing at full speed and you activate the smokescreen consumable, you must hit reverse immediately. If you don’t do that, Oxford will be out of the smokescreen when the consumable deactivates. If you just want to use smokescreen as a cover before turning broadside or running away, you don’t need to slow down.

Oxford has bad concealment. It’s not good for capturing bases, spotting enemies, or hunting DDs Oxford’s AA is not good, but with smokescreen it can protect itself from planes.

Is it worth to buy?

Oxford is a good cruiser in its tier and it’s a tech tree ship. The continuation of Oxford is Duke of Edinburgh, also a good cruiser. You should definitely grind it if you are familiar with using smokescreen and like burning enemies.

Strengths
Good HE penetration, a lot of guns, has torpedoes, great maneuverability, has fighter planes
Weaknesses
Bad AP performance, bad accuracy, bad concealment, bad armor, slow speed, planes only have 3 km spotting ability
Consumables
Elite DC, super repair (4 charges), smokescreen (3 charges)
General playstyle
Flanking, kiting, lobbing shells from behind island
Role/specialty
Damage dealer, ally smoke protection
Preferred enemy target
Cruiser, BB

Recommended Build

Equipment
Slot 1: adv. disaster retardant module
Slot 2: engine enhancement module
Slot 3: cruiser aiming system module
Consumables
Slot 1: elite damage control
Slot 2: super repair
Slot 3: elite smokescreen
Crew Skills (after basic skill)
Captain: artillery warning – hull protection – boost morale
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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