P

Country
German

Class
Cruiser

MMweight
8.0

Obtain Method
Tech Tree

Arena rating

C

PVP rating

D

P is a heavy cruiser design, intended as the successor of Deutschland class cruisers (Graf Spee). Work on the design began before World War II but the ship was never constructed. P has 2×3 283 mm guns in a similar configuration to Graf Spee.

P has high caliber for a cruiser, but unfortunately the guns have low performance. Only six guns, bad AP penetration, and slow reload makes those guns worse than 203 mm guns on other cruisers. The accuracy is decent, but the air drag is high and at more than 13 km the dispersion becomes wildly inconsistent. The air drag causes the shells to slow down a lot and makes aiming at long range targets difficult, despite its intended role as a long range fighter. These factors make P’s firepower feels like a relative downgrade compared to Graf Spee. In its tier, Graf Spee’s guns are capable of inflicting heavy damage. P’s guns in its tier feels like a peashooter. P has uncharacteristically long range secondary guns but the effectiveness is dubious.

P has a lot of HP for a heavy cruiser. P’s armor is pretty good for its tier. Slight angling can bounce a lot of battleship shells. However, most battleships can overmatch it from the bow or stern. P has slow speed, bad acceleration, bad maneuverability, and bad concealment. It’s a very easy target to shoot.

P has torpedoes, four on each side. The damage output from torpedoes on one side is only enough to reduce a full HP battleship to half HP. To sink a full HP battleship, P needs to turn around and launch the torpedoes from the other side. There’s a high chance that P will get sunk long before it do such maneuver, especially because it can be citadeled from the front. Not to mention that the enemy can just run away before P gets close enough. P’s concealment is bad so it can’t do sneak attack. P 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 13 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.

P can be used to ambush an enemy. This move is very risky and requires more practice. Ideally, the enemy is bowtanking, not maneuvering, and is currently taking cover from behind an island. Use the same island to hide yourself as you move closer. Quietly approach the enemy that’s on the other side of the island. If possible, try to not get spotted. The plan is to torpedo the enemy at point blank range. Rush the enemy while keeping your ship angled towards the enemy (remember, don’t point your bow directly ahead). If needed, turn your ship to the left and right regularly to throw off the enemy’s aim. When the enemy is very close (less than 2 km), drop your torpedoes. If the enemy is not sinking yet, turn your ship around then launch the torpedoes from the other side. You might get sunk before you launched your torpedoes, but if successful you might win the battle. It’s a high risk – high reward strategy.

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?

P is a well armored cruiser. With proper speed juke and angling it can live for a long time. Unfortunately, it has very low firepower and no utility which makes its impact in battle negligible.

P is a tech tree ship. If you want to get it, you just have to grind it. P is not recommended for new players.

Strengths
Big caliber guns, long range, good accuracy, good secondary guns, good armor, has torpedoes
Weaknesses
Slow reload, bad penetration, only 6 guns, high air drag, bad maneuverability, bad acceleration, slow speed, bad concealment, bad AA, no planes
Consumables
Advanced DC (20 secs duration, 20% dmg reduction), elite repair (3 charges), anti-air barrage (3 charges) / underwater search (4 charges)
General playstyle
Sniping, ambushing, kiting
Role/specialty
Damage dealer
Preferred enemy target
BB, cruiser

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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