Azur Lane EN PvP Guide

Aurora

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WASDE

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This fleet was an ancient USS based comp created using event ships from Fallen Wings and various ships in the base game (as this was shortly after EN launch). Eldridge, in particular, was extremely powerful due to her invincibility skill... until she got power crept.

Often, battles were decided by brutal multi-minute long Enty vs Enty duels, with the winner being decided solely through RNG. Early PvP was a dark time in Azur Lane history.

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Aurora

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Full HMS

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This fleet was created shortly after Winter's Crown Rerun released on EN (The original event predates EN's existence) and used Queen Elizabeth's incredible faction buffs to create a nearly unbeatable comp on attack and defense.

Hood's early barrage and Duke of York's slow-on-hit proc made most enemy fleets easy pickings and Belfast's smokescreen made the vanguard incredibly difficult to hit. Aurora acted as a counterpick to enemy Belfast smokescreens.

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Sheffield

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Proto-Fox Fleet

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On EN servers, Crimson Echoes actually ran before Ink-Stained Steel Sakura, causing a weird situation where people wanted to use the JP/CN meta fleet but couldn't due to Nagato not being obtainable at the time. Amagi would act as her substitute until mid-2019.

Similar to HMS comps, Belfast was used to potentially block Akaga launches with her smokescreen and Aurora was used as a counterpick to enemy Belfasts.

Though it fell out of the meta well over 3 years ago, it has since found new life as a beginner comp for new players, as observed in this sheet.

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Alternatives

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Souryuu

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Proto-Nagamiryuu

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Created in the brief period between Visitors Dyed in Red Rerun (EN) and Ink-Stained Steel Sakura's release, this fleet briefly became strong in the meta as a counterpick to Proto-Fox Fleet and more aggressive fleet comps at the time, with Yukikaze and Hiryuu being especially difficult to get rid of.

It didn't see widespread adoption, however, due to Nagato's release on EN quickly displacing it with the JP/CN styled Fox Fleet and Namagiryuu.

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Aurora

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The Classical Era

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This era began with the UI update and the end of Open Beta. With the addition of the PR system, numerous new items were added to the game. Gear no longer had to be farmed from map drops or RNG boxes, greatly increasing the overall strength of the average EN player. From here, the PvP meta changed radically and rapidly as the gamemode became more and more accessible to new players. It was during this time that many historic players made a name for themselves, especially with the establishing of duoenvy's community-run leaderboard spreadsheet. The meta still differed significantly from CN/JP, however, due to the game still catching up to those regions.

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Fox Fleet (Nakaga)

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This fleet was already meta for a very long time in JP/CN after Nagato's release made Akagi and Kaga extremely strong. The three foxes substantially, with Nagato's faction buffs stacking on top of Akagi and Kaga's twin buffs to deal massive damage. To a lesser extent, this was also seen in Souryuu and Hiryuu, which were sometimes used as alternatives (then known as Bunny Fleet).

Similar to HMS comps, Belfast was used to potentially block Akaga launches with her smokescreen and Aurora was used as a counterpick to enemy Belfasts.

Though it fell out of the meta well over 3 years ago, it has since found new life as a beginner comp for new players, as observed in this sheet.

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Alternatives

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Souryuu

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Namagiryuu

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With the releases of Amagi, Nagato, and Yukikaze, this powerful tanky fleet became dominant in the meta. It stayed strong for almost an entire year before being eventually being replaced by Namawarkai.

World 10 also gave us Jintsuu and her retrofit, creating the stepping stones that would later lead to the creation of torpmemes down the line.

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Sanrui

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Namahyuuga

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An alternate to Namagiryuu that used Hyuuga (Retrofit) to pummel enemies as they got close to the backline due to her Melee Artillery skill.

Due to the nature of this fleet, it was more commonly used on defense than attack.

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Sanrui

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HMS Again?

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A fleet comp developed shortly after the release of PR1, using Monarch as a direct upgrade to Hood and Warspite to quickly snipe off a backline enemy. While an effective backline, it could not compete with IJN faction buffs from Nagato once Azuma was released in PR2, mere months after PR1 came to EN servers.

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Alternatives

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Sanrui

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Namawarkai

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With the release of PR2 and Warspite Retrofit, this fleet became extremely strong, dominating the meta for quite some time due to Warspite's snipe position skill allowing her to effectively counter all CVs by hitting them before they could launch, pushing the meta towards Triple BB dominance.

It eventually reached the point where every fleet was using 3 BBs and each BB ran VH Armor or Rudder in order to tank Warspite's snipe skill. Full tank vanguard comps were commonplace due to the length of these battles and sometimes exercises would lead to grueling 1v1 Yukikaze duels.

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Late Classical Era

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Though technically a continuation of the previous era's way of PvPing, the notable addition of the CV Stealth mechanic had massive ramifications in PvP. Sniping using Warkai was effectively dead immediately and the meta quickly shifted to CVs and non-aimed barrages. Of great significance is the fact Operation Siren was released during this era, pushing gear to a level above what was possible before and subsequently laying the foundations for Torpmemes. Although there weren't many new fleets created during this era, it did last for quite some time (nearly an entire year). This, combined with the high dominance of IJN fleets in the previous era, has led to many players referring to this general time period as "IJN Meta". In total, both epochs combined lasted about 2.5 years.

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Shinaryuu/Namaginano

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The predecessor to Weeb, this fleet was popular before New Jersey's release and dominated the meta for nearly an entire year, using the powerful new Exercise gear (such as WNT) to ensure its survival until Shinano and Hiryuu launched. The new Gear Lab, added alongside Operation Siren, also gave Shinano and Hiryuu massively increased damage thanks to Wyverns and gold plates allowing up to +13.

Fights would often last over a minute in mirror matches due to the slow and heavy nature of this fleet, something completely unimaginable in modern PvP.

It has since fallen out of use due to numerous stronger options being available, and is now seen only in lower ranks, often used by older players who have not PvP'd competitively in years.

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Namagiryuu (Again)

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Hiryuu's extremely powerful retrofit made it so that Namagiryuu once again became relevant, particularly because Amagi's barrage did not require targetting and thus always hit the backline even if they were not yet revealed.

Ultimately, the fleet could not directly compete against Shinaryuu so players opted to create an aggressive vanguard composition using Noshiro, Naganami, and Jintsuu Kai that would become infamous throughout the entire Azur Lane community under the name "Torpmemes".

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The Preload Revolution

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The previous era came to an abrupt and violent end as the consecutive releases of Italians, Perseus, and the second ever UR, New Jersey, decimated the once stable IJN meta. Preloads cemented hyper-aggression and burst damage as the norm. Fleets became so aggressive that Juneau dropped out of the meta entirely until Anchorage's release brought back stall comps from certain doom. Despite the massive shift in the meta, this time period was actually rather short, lasting about 3 months from the first preload comp to the creation of the original Mafia fleet.

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Roman Bukakke

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The first true preload comp, named... rather lewdly... by NotADegenerate. It combined the unstoppable synergy of the new Italian ships and the old powerful torpedo vanguards to create a nearly unbeatable force in PvP. But like many other pre-Mafia preload comps, it saw limited usage on the ladder due to how NJ's event would run very shortly afterward, rendering new comps with the Italians that did not use New Jersey completely obsolete.

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Warsnipe

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Another early preload comp. This one in particular used Perseus as opposed to Aquila. Though the comp was certainly not bad, Mafia had already taken over the meta by this time and the comp quickly fell out of use, especially after the first major EN PvP tournament.

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Proto-Mafia

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Although very close to what would later become Mafia, this fleet comp saw very limited usage because there were only a few weeks between the release of the Italian ships and NJ's event running.

During this time, most players had not fully leveled their Italian ships because most did not expect the meta to shift so drastically away from the existing IJN meta.

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Mafia (Original)

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Mafia worked by having both enormously high burst and sustained damage. The opening preloads into NJ barrage, then NJ volley, then Aquila launch was absolutely devastating to a meta that had gotten used to nothing happening for the first 22s of a fight. Meanwhile, more aggressive but fragile torp comps such as those using Warkai quickly ran out of steam against Mafia.

This unique combination of heavy synergy/faction buffs, preload damage, and massive torpedo damage reduction all at once made it the perfect counter to pretty much all existing meta fleets. In addition, Duca and VV provided massive torpedo damage reduction so effectively that they essentially just removed Torpmemes from the meta entirely, bringing an end to the Preload Revolution.

Once the meta stabilised around Mafia comps, Juneau started to reappear once again, especially with the arrival of Anchorage and Shimakaze.

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Juneau

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The Age of Anchorage (and Shima)

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Anchorage single-handedly brought back the Tank vanguard playstyle, saving players from the near-instant deaths of the previous meta. Unfortunately, she also brought a friend, Shimakaze, who was so strong that she effectively power-crept all other fleets without her out of the meta. This odd dichotomy of Anchorage being necessary to counter Shimakaze and Shimakaze being necessary for Anchorage to be useful and effective created a very stable meta, one that ended up stagnating with little to no alternatives until players finally found a natural counter to Mafia using Weeb. But by then it was too late and Musashi was already on the horizon.

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Mafia (Final Form)

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By this point, Mafia was exceedingly popular due to the EN PvP Tournament and various natural encounters on the PvP ladder. But with the arrival of PR4, the fleet was forced to evolve.

It was discovered that due to Anchorage's smoke spawning the moment she launched her torpedoes, it was better if VV fired a bit later. The original 3 Italians were dropped down to 2 as Duca fell out of the meta in favour of Juneau which both extended the length of fights and allowed VV to fire outside of Anchorage's smoke timings.

Shimakaze also necessitated that Anchorage be used everywhere, lest the vanguard be blown to smithereens in the first 3s of the fight. She was essentially a walking Torpmemes fleet in one slot.

And thus, Mafia as most people would know it was born. This specific form of Mafia would remain relevant on the ladder for over an entire year.

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KMS Mafia

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An early budget version of Mafia fleet using FDG as a replacement for NJ. Since she had no Fate Sim at this point, it was a noticeable drop in power due to FDG having 0 luck and less accuracy.

Ayanami and Noshiro were also used as replacements for Shimakaze.

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Duca

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Double CV

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This was an early attempt at a more aggressive alternative to Mafia created by players who were sick of the stagnation in the meta.

Unfortunately, enemy Anchorages proved too powerful for preloads to overcome and the fleet did not see much widespread use outside of a few top players on various servers.

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Perseus

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Murica

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Monofaction USS fleet, it relies on the high damage provided by Enterprise and New Jersey while being supported by Indep Kai. Indep Kai has an early strike which can help with revealing other CVs for New Jersey as well buffing Enterprise's AVI stat.

While it can provide good burst intervals, it lacks any real defence and does not do enough damage to the current meta fleets to pose any real issues. Enterprise is only a threat during Lucky E, Indep is mostly a support ship and doesn't provide enough damage to match other ships. As such, in light of the newer ships, this fleet is rarely seen.

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Weeb

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Developed in the sunset weeks of Mafia as a direct counter, Weeb's monstrous strength harks back to the old IJN meta with Hiryuu and Shinano.

It was one of the first modern "Control" style fleets, intentionally being slower than other meta fleets but with a much higher overall winrate. In general the fleet preferred to run tanky vanguard loadouts to stall opponents in order to launch devastating airstrikes later into the fight. But this came at the cost of being far more expensive to construct (requiring 3 +13 wyverns) than Mafia.

It has since fallen out of the meta due to its successor, Meeb, supplanting it entirely due to Musashi's massively superior barrage damage and anti-vanguard capabilities.

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Teatime Terrors

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The release of HMS Vanguard and Jervis brought some serious experimentation to the table, with many trying to bring back the old Warspite Snipe playstyle. In particular, many thought to use a monofaction HMS fleet like in the Prehistoric PvP era.

The results were ultimately lackluster and the fleet, while briefly part of the meta, was quickly abandoned as people went back to Mafia or embraced Weeb and Zoomer.

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Unicorn Kai

Belfast

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Zoomer

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A variant of Mafia that was popularized by Lexington players after HMS Vanguard's release and PR5, Zoomer was aptly named for its lightning fast victories and focus on high dps, pummeling opponents with preload airstrikes and deadly torpedoes alike.

The "proper" version of this fleet always ran Anchorage - Shimakaze - Harbin as its vanguard, though some took this even further and ran Noshiro instead to maximize torpedo damage.

It has since fallen out of the meta due to Musashi and Juneau retrofit. Despite its relatively brief time in the spotlight, some traces of its playstyle can still be seen in modern meta fleets such as Yakuza.

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Duca

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The Musashi Renaissance

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With the arrival of Musashi, Juneau's retrofit, and proliferation of PR5, PvP changed drastically again. In particular, Musashi's massive damage made it nearly impossible for older fleets to compete. The ones that survived all evolved to adopt her in some way. She was effectively as busted for the backline as Anchorage was for the vanguard. Meanwhile, the vanguard meta continued to be stagnant due to the weird equilibrium of Anchorage and Shimakaze described in the previous section forcing only one vanguard slot (Off Tank) to be swappable. Various different backline fleets popped up during this era, many invented on totally different servers by newer PvPers. It was during this era that new editors picked up the old Azur Lane EN PvP Guide and its work continues to this day.

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Meeb

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The first major comp to come out of the Musashi Renaissance was Meeb, a direct successor to the old Weeb fleet. While it was very slow on attack, it had a nearly unmatched winrate when geared up, though this was extremely expensive, almost prohibitively so as it required an eye-watering 4 fully enhanced rainbow planes (3 wyverns + 1 tenrai).

Mechanically, the fleet ran a stall vanguard fleet in conjunction with WNT on the flagship to prolong the fight so both Shinano and Hiryuu could launch airstrikes and topple enemies while Musashi's quick barrages made short work of enemy vanguards. And while this proved effective, players would eventually discover that the CV stealth mechanic could be used against it to cause its own downfall.

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Triple BB (Stepmom)

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This fleet was experimented on very early after Musashi's release but didn't reach mainstream meta popularity until well into 2023 as it became a powerful counter-pick to MSN and HYMEN.

What eventually made it strong was the discovery that the disadvantage of using WNT flag could be effectively negated by Vanguard's damage increase skill, giving this fleet a significant leap in tankiness despite having less eHP than many other fleets it was competing with (Milf, MSN, etc.)

Unfortunately, its rediscovery came late as it was quickly outshined by Kearsarge and Jintsuu META dominating the meta, giving it a very unique and obscure position in EN Meta History.

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Yakuza (Pre-JintM)

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A direction evolution from Zoomer, Yakuza used Musashi to quickly obliterate enemy vanguards and secure a quick victory. The fleet had 2 major playstyles depending on the goal and was extremely versatile in nearly every matchup it came across.

As a testament to its sheer adaptability, Yakuza survived into the modern age using Jintsuu META and other radically different vanguard setups, abandoning Anchorage and Juneau entirely.

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Chise

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HYMEN (Pre-JintM)

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A now-extinct version of the modern HYMEN fleet comp, this setup was used at the peak of the tank meta that was formed in response to Yakuza, directly taking advantage of the way damage from BBs is dispersed among targets when a CV is destealthed to keep Hiryuu much safer than she otherwise would be.

In addition, this also proved effective against Meeb, as the 2 BBs in HYMEN would focus down the enemy Musashi and ignore the unrevealed CVs. This would cause the attacker to win the vanguard fight and ensure an easy victory against 2 helpless enemy CVs. This abuse of the CV stealth mechanic would later become the catalyst for the growth of MSN.

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Gross HYMEN

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A budget version of HYMEN designed for players that missed out on New Jersey. It has since faded into nonexistence due to New Jersey herself rerunning in 2023 and due to Kearsarge being a nearly-equivalent option that's available as permanent content (PR6), making FdG an obsolete pick for this fleet archetype.

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Triple BB (MILF)

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FdG's fate sim made her significantly more PvP viable than before, as her buffs would no longer shift based on her remaining health and her barrage no longer depended on her position in the backline. This made her an excellent alternative to a CV in the already popular HYMEN and MSN fleets.

Turns out, the CV stealth mechanic actually allowed BBs to focus down targets extraordinarily well, with Triple BB easily taking down fleets such as Yakuza and Meeb on attack. And for a while, the most recommended fleets were MSN and this one.

As for the name, all three members of this fleet are MILFs. We are not degenerates. We swear.

;)

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Alternatives

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NJ/Musashi/Warkai

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A variant of the original Triple BB fleet that used Warkai instead of Vanguard.

In theory, Warkai would snipe either the top or bottom enemy backliners while New Jersey and Musashi would finish off the rest of the fleet. However, in practice this proved inconsistent and suffered greatly against enemy fleets without Warkai, as her snipe was no longer enough to bring an enemy backline ship to its knees like in the days of old. In addition, her miniscule health pool was a huge detriment. And with FdG getting a fate simulation later on, Warkai was not remotely the best option for a strong PvP fleet.

Thus the fleet quickly became obsolete due to Warkai being unable to compete with modern UR BBs.

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Alternatives

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NJ/Musashi/UvH

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This battleship-heavy comp was originally developed on Lexington and popularized by Ari Naotonemai during the era shortly after Musashi's release.

Like all Triple BB comps, it was very strong on both attack and defense. However, it had the unique property of varying wildly in strength depending on where UvH was placed (Flag vs Top/Bottom) since the damage reduction in PvP applied linearly on top of her own damage debuff, though she has a much higher chance to hit and slow enemy vanguards in the top/bottom positions.

Notably, it never really caught on in the higher echelons of PvP due to UvH not being a very good PvP ship.

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GRIDMAN!!!

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This was a meme comp that had surprisingly high viability due to a combination of a bug (mechs not dying in PvP) and Chise's preload stats.

Functionally it was essentially just a Yakuza fleet with a weird vanguard. And while it was never truly top tier, it was extremely fun to use.

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Alternatives

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The Bismarck Epoch

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Bismarck Zwei's release heralded a few shifts in the meta that gave rise to some remarkably different fleets. But her debatable performance on attack led to the persistence of MSN and HYMEN on the EN ladder, which had already been well-established in the previous months. Thus to most players, the new fleets popping up in this section had little effect on their day to day PvP experience, with many not even realising there was a meta shift. Near the end of this era, the rediscovery of HMS Vanguard's interaction with WNT started to shift the meta back away from MSN/HYMEN in favour of Triple BB, but it was cut short by the arrival of Jintsuu META and Fortune META.

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MSN

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While it existed in the previous meta, MSN gained extreme popularity following the release of Bismarck Zwei, as it countered Yakuza and Meeb much like HYMEN did, but also countered Triple BB fleets using Bismarck Zwei which were notorious for being stronger on defense than attack.

Functionally, MSN worked by stalling the enemy fleet long enough for Shinano to launch her planes and deal massive damage (due to using 2 +13 wyverns) while NJ and Musashi shredded the enemy vanguard and BBs. Unlike its counterpart, HYMEN, MSN could not be used with a more aggressive vanguard composition due to its reliance on Juneau healing.

With the arrival of Kearsarge and Jintsuu META, MSN has gone the way of the dinosaur, reaching extinction as it failed to defend against the devastating torpedo and reveal onslaught of the newer fleets on both Defense and Offense alike.

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Alternatives

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Triple Cowgirl

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A rather controversial BB fleet created after the release of Bismarck Zwei, it had the very unique property of being significantly stronger on defense than on attack due to the positioning of Bismarck Zwei's black hole.

Her summon, Geryon, also provided massive damage against vanguard ships and could bait shots from enemy BBs, making it sort of a soft counter to MILF. However, the fleet was annihilated by Shinano's airstrikes and thus remained in the shadows well into the modern PvP age, with the rise of torpedoes not helping its case.

Some players continue to insist it is still the best possible backline comp (including one of the former sheet editors). Your opinion may vary.

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Alternatives

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SEMEN

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SEMEN (Named for Seydlitz/Musashi/New Jersey) was a fleet comp originally developed during the Bismarck Epoch, though variants still exist today.

Initially there were very few Iron Blood ships viable in the vanguard positions, so players opted to run Aegir in the middle position and Shima in the off-tank position, which worked to trigger Seydlitz's buffs but definitely heavily affected the fleet's viability. Seydlitz's invulnerability and massive preload damage allowed the fleet to kill enemy vanguards much quicker than before, potentially leading to faster wins.

It saw widespread use in the upper echelons of PvPers but never really caught on afterward due to the torpedo meta despite better vanguard options becoming available (such as Felix Schultz).

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Alternatives

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BDSM

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Named for its composition (Bismarck Zwei, Seydlitz, Musashi), this fleet relied on Bis2 buffing Seydlitz to deal high amounts of initial damage followed by high sustained damage to dominate the enemy.

BDSM was originally developed on JP servers with a small cult following. However, it never became popular on EN due to extreme opposition to usage of Bismarck Zwei, despite Seydlitz solving pretty much all of Bis2's downsides by absorbing damage intended for her and allowing the fleet to run a meta vanguard setup with no issues.

Like many other fleets using Bismarck Zwei, however, it is noticeably stronger on defense than on attack due to her black hole's spawn position. As the meta slowly shifted back towards 3BB, talks of this fleet's uses re-emerged but it permanently fell out of the meta once Jintsuu META was released.

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Alternatives

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Triple KMS

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With the advent of Bismarck Zwei, a triple Iron Blood backline was not only possible, but actually viable in PvP. Seydlitz provided massive early damage, FdG provided substantial damage and tankiness, and Bismarck Zwei buffed both of them to a significant degree.

Unfortunately, dropping Musashi made this fleet comp significantly weaker than expected and often it simply could not compare to the top tier backline fleets of its era. But that doesn't make it bad by any means. There were simply better options for most players, especially once New Jersey reran.

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Alternatives

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Double BB - "Axis Powers"

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Named for its historical interest, this fleet is a variant of Yakuza that arose due to newer pvpers not having New Jersey.

Functionally, it is identical to the Yakuza fleet, overwhelming opponents using Aquila's preload damage using aggressive tactics to ensure victory.

It is best off using the "Aggro" vanguard comp to secure kills early as both Aquila and Bismarck Zwei have poor followup damage and survivability.

Despite it's strengths, Bismarck Zwei's barrage is not correctly placed for an attack fleet which leads to inconsistent results. It relies too heavily on the defence fleet's vanguard to be in the right location for it to be affected by the barrage.

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Alternatives

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FdG

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Triple BB - "MK Ultra"

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An experimental fleet comp developed on Lexington by Ari Naotonemai and Aldarn. It was named both for its composition (Musashi + KMS = MK) and after infamous PvPer, OriginalMK, who achieved Rank #1 EoS for the first time in February 2023 after several years of trying.

MK Ultra is a unique spin on the triple battleship comp that drops New Jersey in favor of Seydlitz for her early salvo and built-in survivability.

Unlike many other Seydlitz fleet comps, MK Ultra does not require an Iron Blood vanguard ship to buff Seydlitz which gives it much more flexible vanguard options.

This fleet has since been abandoned in favour of the SEMEN fleet archetype due to PR6 adding Felix Schultz.

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Alternatives

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Triple BB - "MK Alter"

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A derivation of the MK Ultra fleet comp, MK Alter uses Bismarck Zwei to buff FdG as opposed to the more defensive pick, Seydlitz.

While certainly strong on defense, it pales in comparison to many other fleets on attack due to Bismarck Zwei's generally poor PvP performance. Even with the additional heft of Geryon, it's not enough and there are simply far better choices one could make when constructing a backline fleet composition.

Like most other aggressive fleet comps, this fleet comp prefers the "Aggro" vanguard comp to secure early kills and ensure quick victories.

Unfortunately, its lack of backline defenses have made it obsolete in the modern torpedo heavy meta.

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Alternatives

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Mafia 2

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With the 2023 rerun of the first major Italian event, many newer players were drawn to the allure and glory of the old Mafia fleet. However, without New Jersey, they could not create the comp in its original form and settled on this version, which we dubbed "Mafia 2".

This fleet worked almost identically, relying on Italian synergies to outlast opponents while Musashi quickly annihilated enemy vanguards and backlines alike.

Its lifetime on the ladder was extremely brief as New Jersey happened to rerun barely 2 months later, putting an end to this bizarre resurgence of Mafia as newer players swapped to using Yakuza and its superior descendants instead.

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Alternatives

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The Torpedo/META Dark Age

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Jintsuu META and PR6's release effectively killed MSN and Triple BB. With the fall of Anchorage, the PvP meta regressed back into its former hyper-aggressive state, with backline comps becoming increasingly more defensive in a futile attempt to survive the onslaught of multiple preload torpedo volleys from often 2, or even 3 vanguard ships. A bizarre 3-way equilibrium arose between some popular vanguard compositions, creating a sort of stand-off unseen in the meta before which lowered winrates and scores throughout every server. This meta was noteworthy for being the first one to actually use META ships, which were thought to have been non-PvP viable for years before. This era was defined by its unpredictable matchups and quick wins yet also by its slow, drawn-out duels using Hiryuu and manjuu NJ. These factors together often caused many players to lose fights simply by looking away from the screen.

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Notable Vanguard comps

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Triple Torp (Paper)

Double Torp (Rock)

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Special mention here goes to explain the bizarre "Rock Paper Scissors" effect of the 3 major torpedo vanguards, which all countered each other.

Triple Torp did enormous damage and essentially countered any comp that used Anchorage or Juneau. (Including the old stall vanguards). Anti-Torp countered Triple Torp by using Fortune META's slash barrage to remove torpedoes. Double Torp countered Anti-Torp by out-stalling it while still hitting the backline.

The PvP community eventually decided Anti-Torp was the most comfortable out of the 3 vanguards to run as it was the least likely vanguard setup to lose multiple backline members to preload torpedo launches.

TL;DR Scissors won.

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Anti-Torp (Scissors)

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Jintsuu META

Shimakaze

Fortune M

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Yakuza (JintM)

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Usually a fleet doesn't get mentioned in this archive twice. But Yakuza refused to die, instead quickly adopting the new vanguard ships to create the single most aggressive attack fleet in PvP history. At its peak, Yakuza with JintM was able to consistently do 5 exercises in the space of 2 minutes.

Unfortunately, its reign was short-lived as it was quickly stopped dead in its tracks by the fleets that rose up afterward...

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Alternatives

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Chise

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2CV - Mongolian Preload

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A bizarre fleet created as an even more aggressive alternative to Yakuza, it had massive preload alpha damage in conjunction with the ultra deadly Triple Torp vanguard composition.

The fleet sacrificed practically all defenses in favour of blowing up your enemy before they can fire/launch at you. It worked far more successfully than it sounded.

Unfortunately its lack of follow-up damage and vulnerability to fleet comps using Hiryuu meant it never saw widespread use outside of some occasional shitposting.

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Alternatives

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ENVY

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A powerful composition created on the CN servers, ENVY (eNJ - Vanguard - HirYuu) had a singular purpose in mind: raw damage.

Like Yakuza, it used an aggressive torpedo comp to quickly obliterate opponents, using vanguard's damage buffs, Jintsuu Kai's crit buffs, and Jintsuu META herself to deal ridiculous amounts of damage with Shimakaze's torpedoes. New Jersey also helped take down enemies quickly with her 2 quick barrages and damage amplification. Hiryuu was used solely as a lifeline against tougher opponents.

While very strong, the fleet saw limited used on the EN servers due to HYMEN + Anti-Torp countering it before most players were even aware of its existence.

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Alternatives

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HYMEN (JintM)

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With the death of MSN, HYMEN quickly rose up to replace it, using the powerful "Anti-Torp" vanguard fleet to assist its rise to power, as Juneau had quickly become too inconsistent in the torpedo meta to be viable.

While it had excellent winrates against nearly all other fleets, its biggest problem came... from facing itself. Mirror matches with HYMEN became brutal RNGfests filled with retry spamming and usually ended in horrible Hiryuu vs Hiryuu duels. Meanwhile, the end of Anchorage's popularity also meant Manjuu NJ rose in prominence, forcing the average PvP match to be dealing with 2 invulnerable backline members.

This remains Borgar Kun's least favourite meta fleet to date.

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Alternatives

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MK Hero

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MK Hero (Also named after infamous Lexington PvPer OriginalMK), was an offshoot of HYMEN that sought to resolve the issue of HYMEN's terrible mirror match winrate. It succeeded, though barely, as instead of a near-50% winrate, MK Hero had close to a 70% winrate against HYMEN-like comps.

Inevitably, as more players adopted MK Hero to counter HYMEN, the mirror match issue came back. And PvPers just accepted that retry spamming or losing when looking away from the screen was just a part of life.

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Alternatives

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KENNY

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Named for its composition (KEarsarge, NNew Jersey, HirYuu) and after infamous collusionist, KENNY PVP, this fleet was developed as an off-shoot of HYMEN that uses Kearsarge's CV reveal abilities to finish off the enemy backline within 1-2 full volleys while retaining HYMEN's extreme survivability and flexibility.

In particular, the double USS backline allows Kearsarge to buff Hiryuu's airstrike damage by 15%, which is quite substantial.

The advent of Laffey II and WNT + Vanguard fleets severely affected KENNY's viability, as Hiryuu was no longer mandatory to compete against torpedo comps and high damage became more valuable than high survivability alone.

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Alternatives

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KEN-A

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This fleet was a more aggressive form of KENNY that used Aquila instead of Hiryuu for faster reveals and early damage against enemy vanguards.

Like in KENNY, the double USS backline allowed Kearsarge to buff Aquila's airstrike damage by 15%, ensuring very high damage early into the fight.

However, dropping an important safety net such as Hiryuu became a liability in high ladder play, where every second counted and restarting fights is dangerous and time-consuming.

In addition, the lack of Musashi has become a serious liability with the appearance of Laffey II.

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Alternatives

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End of the Dark Age

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With the release of Laffey II in December 2023, the meta quickly shifted to adopt her. Not just because of her incredible damage reduction, but also because most players had gotten sick of the torpedo vanguard playstyle. Her ridiculous stalling power meant backlines could no longer run CVs safely, as she would always win a 1v1 duel against one. This gave rise to a large variety of BB-based comps that usually ran stall vanguards. Despite this, Juneau would not yet make a significant comeback due to the persistence of Jintsuu META and Fortune META making her healing inconsistent and unreliable. Shimakaze fell out of the meta after Fortune META's release due to Laffey II's incredible dominance. The resurgence of stall also meant Anchorage was viable once again, though most players continued to use Scissors (JintM/Laff2/FortM) due to Fortune META's poor synergy with Anchorage.

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2.5BB (Monkey)

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Named for its composition (MNK --> Monkey), this powerful BB + BBV fleet solved all of the problems its predecessors (Old Triple BB fleets such as MILF) suffered from due to Kearsarge's airstrike revealing enemy CVs.

Monkey quickly dominated the previous meta's fleets due to Laffey II's incredible stalling power and NJ + Kear's more consistent DPS. This led to the slow death of Hiryuu-based torpedo comps such as HYMEN and MK Hero.

Mechnically, like many other BB fleets, Monkey took advantage of the CV Stealth mechanic by quickly dispatching the enemy BBs then revealing and destroying the remaining enemy CVs. Divide and conquer.

Unfortunately, despite its strength against Hiryuu fleets such as HYMEN and MK Hero, Monkey ran into problems against 3BB fleets that used WNT flag with Vanguard, such as Stepmom.

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Alternatives

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3BB (Stepmom)

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So it turns out when CVs stop existing due to Kearsarge countering them, the #1 counter to any Kear fleet is just Triple BB with Vanguard, like the good ol' days before Jintsuu META.

What made this fleet comp stand out above all other Triple BB fleets was its interaction with WNT. HMS Vanguard's fleetwide damage buff skill effectively counteracted the downside of running WNT in the flag position, giving the fleet significantly more damage reduction than any opponent while attacking.

The only real downside is unlike a Kear-based comp, this fleet did not reveal CVs. But its ability to swing fights in its favour due to the sheer difference in damage reduction could not be overstated.

This was especially effective in matchups against Monkey, its main competitor.

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Alternatives

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3BB (MILF)

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As Triple BB rose from the ashes, so too did MILF. Resurrected from extinction by Laffey II, MILF got a second life as New Jersey became obtainable in the base game, making the fleet more accessible for many returning players.

Many variants of this fleet without Musashi (Such as FdG - NJ - Soyuz) were common as well.

The only two factors preventing MILF from reclaiming its throne as the definitive top BB fleet were FdG's poor accuracy/cooldown conflict with NJ and Vanguard's interaction with WNT flag.

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Alternatives

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2.5BB (VIRGIN)

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VIRGIN (Vanguard - kearsarGe - NJ) was founded on two observations. Firstly, torpedo vanguards die quickly to each other and don't need the backline to sink them with a barrage such as with Musashi. Secondly, WNT flag has its downsides effectively negated by HMS Vanguard's increased damage skill, essentially providing the fleet enormous damage reduction for free.

Thanks to Kearsarge's plane launches detecting CVs, this fleet quickly cleaned up after a devastating torpedo attack or attempt to stall out fights in order to deal massive sustained gun DPS. Its flexibility was nearly on par with HYMEN variants and with significantly more damage to boot.

Its lack of Musashi and Soyuz made it significantly weaker than most other 3BB fleets in the meta, and the total absence of CVs in the meta made it quickly fade into obscurity, as the fleets it was designed to counter had already became extinct.

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Alternatives

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2.5BB (Fresh SEMEN)

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A derivative of SEMEN, Fresh SEMEN was originally used to counter 2BB+1CV comps, something that became no longer prevalent as a real threat in the meta.

Like in SEMEN, the combo of Seydlitz's quasi-preload hitting the vanguard leading into Musashi's lightning barrage absolutely annihilated enemy vanguards (if it hit). Kearsarge allowed the backline to attack CVs earlier, which made this fleet have faster fights against older HYMEN and Yakuza comps.

Much like Monkey and many other Kear-based fleet comps, the slow disappearance of CVs in favour of 3BB comps has made this fleet become a solution looking for a problem and it ultimately never really caught on.

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Alternatives

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2.5BB (MK Villain)

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Uh oh, it's time for MK's Villain Arc! (Musashi - Kearsarge - Vanguard).

This fleet functioned identically to its 3BB counterpart, Stepmom, but by dropping New Jersey for Kearsarge instead, it gained more reliable reveals of enemy CVs (particularly enemy Hiryuus). Much like other Vanguard based fleets, this one used WNT flag without losing much damage output, giving it superior defenses and consistency.

Kearsarge's slower reload also allowed Vanguard to run the 457mm gun without any absolute cooldown overlaps, something she could not do with NJ. However this made the fleet flounder in matchups against Stepmom, its immediate predecessor.

While it held on for a while after the shift towards 3BB, Soyuz effectively drove this fleet to extinction as Vanguard's low damage and Kearsarge's slow loading speed pretty much guaranteed a loss against any fleet with Soyuz.

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Alternatives

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916

The Soyuz Spring

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The release of Sovetsky Soyuz in March 2024 cemented the death of CVs and forced a slightly more aggressive meta. Her massive AoE barrage could hit stealthed CVs (even without targetting them) and its slow basically ensured certain doom for any VG hit by it. In particular, backline units could quickly be burst down by Soyuz's barrage due to the overlapping circular hitboxes, leading to the eventual re-adoption of Juneau as the meta evolved, though Fortune META remained more popular during this time. In addition, New Jersey became available in the base game as permanent content which made PvP far more accessible to new and returning players alike.

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3BB (Heisenberg)

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Seeing as MSN and SEMEN were already taken by historical fleets, this fleet was named for "SMN = Say My Name". Now, let's begin cooking.

Much like HMS Vanguard, Soyuz's barrage procs when she finishes loading, NOT when she fires. This meant even if her gun jammed with Musashi, the barrage will still proc as Musashi begins her lightning storm. This devastating combo either annihilates enemy vanguards or deletes an entire enemy backliner for free.

Notably, her barrage can actually hit stealthed CVs with splash damage, though it cannot directly target them. This, Laffey II, and Kearsarge have pretty much cemented the 3BB archetype in the pvp meta for good. R.I.P CVs.

The undisputed king of the meta for much of early 2024, this fleet was eventually supplanted by GoT on Alsace's release.

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Alternatives

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2.5BB (Musk)

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MSK = "Musk". Unfortunately, this fleet fleet comp never bought Twitter.

This fleets worked similarly to Heisenberg but ran Kear instead of NJ. While this gave the slight advantage of not jamming Soyuz's guns as hard, Kearsarge's lack of early barrage pressure and lower overall damage put it strictly below its 3BB counterpart (Heisenberg). And since New Jersey became available in the base game, there was little reason to actually run Musk over the better option.

Like pretty much all fleets that were created before Alsace's release, it eventually was totally power crept.

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Alternatives

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3BB (Snowmen)

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An experimental fleet that originated on CN servers, (which we named after SEMEN due to similarities in how they work), this setup relied on using Seydlitz to pummel the enemy vanguard early in order to finish them off with the Musashi/Soyuz barrage combo afterward to ensure a quick victory.

In retrospect, this was much like a weaker version of the much more recent GoT fleet.

Ultimately it never really caught on in the EN ladder during the Fortune META era except for players that didn't want to put manjuu on New Jersey and was entirely superceded by GoT just a few months later.

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Alternatives

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3BB (Movies)

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Like its name suggests, "Movies" (MVS) was a very flashy and aggressive comp.

The spectacular and violent barrage procs followed by massive enhanced shelling damage made it a force to be reckoned with at the time. This did come at a great cost, however. Since none of the members of this backline were Eagle Union, the use of manjuu for invulnerability was dropped.

Due to how quick Vanguard is, Soyuz can very comfortably run the Twin 457mm gun to fire last. But this will not give her the same level of synergy with Musashi's lightning strikes. Trying to make Vanguard fire last would waste her powerful team damage buffs. So it was kind of an awkward setup to play with.

The fleet never passed Tier 1 and remained gimmicky during its tenure in the meta.

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Alternatives

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3BB (FUMOS)

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Not going to lie, we were about to name this fleet "MFs", but decided to be a little more polite this time around and instead named them after the infamous plushies.

While a very solid backline for its time due to substantial damage and tankiness from all three members, it lacked the extra competitive stride that fleets using Vanguard + WNT or manjuu/invulns did.

And later on, as New Jersey got added to the base game, there was essentially no reason to run this fleet as Heisenberg was just better in every way and equally difficult (if not easier) to construct.

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Alternatives

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