#11-4 HM help
left salmon
Just re-making fleets and putting equipment back on them for what they had when I ran 11-4 HM
then will post fleets
So here's what I ran
Fleet 1 for mob, fleet 2 for boss
What I had equipped for mob fleet
And what I had for boss fleet
rocky raven
guns/planes +10, more levels. ditch double rainbow aux on shima. i'd ditch aya for any other strong gun-focused DPS
left salmon
HM restrictions are 2 BB 1 CA 1 DD for fleet 1 and 1 CV 1 BC 1 CL 1 DD for fleet 2
left salmon
well she's my best BC
rocky raven
yeah but she's 77 and has no skill
rocky raven
she's basically useless
left salmon
whatever I put in BC will be useless
rocky raven
you probably just have to take a step back for a week and come back when they're leveled
just do any other 11-x HM map
left salmon
you mean a few months
rocky raven
if you're in 11 hm you can easily farm 11-1
1 week and they're all 120, and <1 week and hood's skill is maxed
albeit i'd go straight for amagi
left salmon
well gonna LB Amagi instead
yeah
that was the plan
issue is I have too many SR ships that need LB'ing
and never enough Bulins
rocky raven
there's plenty of good elites, no need to obsess over gold
but yeah. no need to rush as long as you can do any other 11 hard mode map. just go grind and prepare for a week and you should do fine
left salmon
well issue is less the rarity and more so, very, very few of my ships are anywhere near level 100
rocky raven
gear is mostly fine albeit I recommend that you check and fix all your vanguard aux items
left salmon
Well what would you recommend for aux slots?
rocky raven
if you're newer/broke 
on all CAs/CLs and on all DDs
left salmon
WHY DO PEOPLE RECOMMEND DOUBLE TOOLKITS?
rocky raven
because it's simply the best for pure HP which most DDs want
left salmon
wouldn't eHP be better with toolkit + extinguisher?
rocky raven
there arent many easily-accessible alternative/sidegrade HP auxes and 
is very niche most of the time or simply not needed
left salmon
I'm not looking at pure HP. I'm looking at eHP
it's Jintsuu with HE shells
I'd say the extinguisher here is needed
rocky raven
i'm aware of that, if you genuinely think your vanguard suffers heavily from burns then it's fair use
but for CAs/CLs you'd really prefer some evasion item
left salmon
But the primary issue with Jintsuu is I can't get close enough to have vanguard help with DPS, lest they take absurd damage from her shells, or I time out because backline cannot deal enough damage
And I tried switching to have fleet 2 be mob and fleet 1 be boss node
rocky raven
yeah and fire ext. are genuinely not enough to solve the overall issues of your fleets
left salmon
ofc moving ships and eq. around to make it better suited for each role
rocky raven
you lack tons of dmg, you might prolong the fight a bit, but it wont change the fact you just cant kill it before it kills you
left salmon
still didn't help
rocky raven
like, just take these fleets to 11-1, auto for a few days; they're all at 110+ and then try again. do 10-x or 11-1,2,3 HM in the meanwhile
rocky raven
no need to rush, w11 hm is already very good for core data, the ones you lose from not being in w12 hm for another week wont kill you
left salmon
ran this exact fleet setup in 11-3 HM and I had no problems
wait... hurr durr
it's 10-4 HM
I tend to do that. Mistake a world ahead
but yeah 10-3 HM was no problem, 10-4 HM is what's giving me trouble
left salmon
I can farm 11-4 no problem though
rocky raven
you deal 20-30% less dmg and take 20-30% more
left salmon
cleared that stage and believe it's on safe now
rocky raven
you have a bad main fleet without skills and low levels
just go farm 11-1, chill and try in a few days
it's just the levels/skills and minor gear tweaks
left salmon
well rn academy is working on skills for mob fleet in preparation of W12
left salmon
specifically Sandy, Reno, and Montpelier
so EVA items for CL/CA, and either double Toolkit or Toolkit + extinguisher for DDs?
rest of the gear is pretty much fine as is?
rocky raven
when going into w12 you might wanna take a good look at AA gun setups
a bad setup (too slow for example) can really break your neck if you just dont faceroll it with levels/certain ships
left salmon
What I have currently is STAAG for PoW, 113 for Sandy, and double Pom-Pom for Reno and Monty
left salmon
don't have Bofors
rocky raven
welp
left salmon
well, I do, but purple ones
rocky raven
you can try, worst case take the purps
or get some sextuples from proto core exchange
rocky raven
you usually only want one heavy hitter AA per fleet on your best AA vanguard, rest takes accelerators/sextuples and main fleets uses staags>haze>accelerator
left salmon
I tend to move equipment around a lot
rocky raven
ignore what ships have the guns
no worries doesnt matter
pretty tricky, w12 but hardly any AA
left salmon
So for 4 AA slots, what would I use, if I were to use what I have currently then?
and as for ships themselves for 10-4 HM, what would I use?
restrictions again are 2 BB 1 CA 1 DD for fleet 1, 1 CV 1 BC 1 CL 1 DD for fleet 2
rocky raven
i'd just get rid of eugen in the mob fleet, ykkz too potentially
roon can solo tank, no need for more
rocky raven
yeah that should never be a thing
left salmon
when I ran one time
rocky raven
like, listen. its the same issue again
underleveled
no dmg
you take more dmg
you build more tanky
you do even less dmg
you die, but slower
left salmon
I can't do 125 if that's what you're suggesting
rocky raven
no, again
I suggest you go to 11-1 for a few days and get them all to ~115
there's no fixing this otherwise with your gear or ships. only time can solve this now
left salmon
just ~115?
rocky raven
it'd get rid of most of the level difference
for each level an enemy is higher than you, you deal 2% less dmg and take 2% more
just a few levels can make a major difference
left salmon
yes i know how level difference works
rocky raven
then godspeed, go get grindin'
left salmon
I ran this exact fleet with nearly the exact same levels and cleared 10-3 HM no problem
but now all of a sudden 10-4 HM is stopping me cold
because it's Jintsuu's HE shell spam
in any case just one more thing
how do I level Amagi? because 11-1 seems a bit too high for a level 70 BC
left salmon
and Taihou, since she's prob my best case for non-paired IJN CV
rocky raven
i've used incredibly bad and cursed fleets there without issues
might just not wanna put her flag and use someone else, but she'll manage
left salmon
at least trying to factionalize the Namagi fleet to captalize on Nagato's skill
rocky raven
nagato + CVs is great, the vanguard side of the buff is fairly neglectable
left salmon
so this will probably be the boss fleet
can't do Nagato + 2 CVs in 10-4 HM
restrictions
best I can do is Namagi + CV
Assuming I use an IJN CV for fleet 2, my best non-paired candidates are Katsuragi, Taihou, and Akagi-chan
rocky raven
look, just take these fleets. get amagi for hood, slap roon in the boss fleet, let eugen facetank the mobs, get these levels and skills up and try again
left salmon
Should I use one of them are suck it and use a paired carrier without its counterpart?
oh ok
rocky raven
they're kinda messy but they can work
or just scrap it all and go amagi-nagato-taihou for the boss
for mobbing just get rid off arizona and get a better ship for mobbing
left salmon
Another small issue is even with best carriers and best equipment, I can only get air parity
rocky raven
or slap warspite in the boss fleet. she's much better there and rly good vs light
rocky raven
Another small issue is even with best carriers and best equipment, I can only ge...
more levels should help with that too
left salmon
Probably gonna go with Namagi + Taihou and for vanguard ykk, Helena and another CL
well whatever I go with we'll see how it works. Just that the primary issue is the HE shells brutalize whatever I throw at Jintsuu
rocky raven
just know that ykk is pretty luck-dependent as a boss
either she does fine or she eats 5 shells in a row with some burns and is toast
and these HE shells will be less scary if you close the level gap
left salmon
but essentially just medium armor and counter with HE shells of my own?
rocky raven
the armor type you bring is fairly irrelevant most of the time, but actual gun dps, mostly HE will do much better than most planes and torps vs light armored enemies
left salmon
which would be better then?
+10 127 DP or +10 120 QF for DD guns?
against light armor?
rocky raven
the twin127 does slightly better
left salmon
and for CL guns if I have to bring them?
CA is probably gonna be the HE 203mm gun
forget it's exact name
rocky raven
CL guns are weird as the best gun is HE, outperforming AP guns despite armor types
so yeah just the ol seattle gun or the new 155 kai from gear lab
left salmon
so what do I use instead of tabasco gun?
gear lab is a no-go
as I have no idea how to farm mats from OpS
rocky raven
as I have no idea how to farm mats from OpS
well, you just play it diligently
left salmon
well, you just play it diligently
I meant like, how do I get mats in the first place
what sort of zone do I run, what zones, etc
how often do I run the zones
rocky raven
literally just playing. they're random drops everywhere. mini-bosses, random drops, cat nodes, dailies, abyssals, strongholds etc
like if you literally just clear your map on reset, do the dailies, do all coordinate loggers, weekly stronghold etc and dump the leftover AP into c5/c6 maps you drown in mats
there's no secret to it other than to just do everything
left salmon
see I've barely gotten to London
rocky raven
you're still in the story?
left salmon
not even halfway by my estimation
rocky raven
hmm
left salmon
like I just got to london
rocky raven
I don't really remember the story, has been over a year since then
left salmon
I got 6 fleets, and that's where I stopped
because at that point I didn't have enough decent ships for OpS, let alone enough decent gear to outfit them all
srry 4 fleets
rocky raven
well, AL is a long-term effort. getting 6 fleets geared and ready is nothing you just do in a few months
left salmon
last zone I cleared in Ops is NA Ocean NE Sector D
or 3 zones into NE sector
realized C meant corrosion level
yeah I can barely do C3 zones
rocky raven
ye, if someone says "farm c5/c6" or similar it doesn't matter which one
left salmon
c5 and c6 zones are impossible for me rn
left salmon
Unlikely
rocky raven
I usually just use perseus+literally any tech point fodder and to 90% of ops with that
left salmon
rerun? maybe. soon? not gonna happen
rocky raven
it's quite likely the one after northern overture
left salmon
my main issue for mobbing in OpS is backline
it's always the backline for me
usually they accrue too much damage and force me to spend stuff into recovering their HP
as I have no real way to recover their HP like I do for vanguard
rocky raven
eh usually it's the good old "offense is the best defense" here again
left salmon
but the issue is I don't have good offfensive ships
people tell me do this, do that.
I can't. I do not have the capability to just 'git gud'
perseus, azuma with VH armor, UvH etc, etc.
rocky raven
if you're literate, have more than 5 brain cells and manage to read/follow/understand the main guide it's all there is to get gud
the rest is just time, and time only
we boomers had like 3 more years for gear research, grinding etc.
i can flex 30 PR rudders on you, not because im good but because have been researching gear for 3 years longer than you
left salmon
issue isn't the fact that you've had more time (though it certainly would've helped me) it's the fact that the go-to answer for most people for me, is something I literally cannot do
rocky raven
because the regulars sit in the gph help channel for 10 hours a day helping hundreds of people, so most people get generic answers
left salmon
either because I don't have access to the options, or I physically am incapable of spending hours upon hours into the game to play catch-up