World of Warships Gremyashchy Review & Guide

World of Warships Gremyashchy Review & Guide by LittleWhiteMouse

Quick Summary:  Arguably the best tier 5 Destroyer in the game at present, with an excellent balance of speed, concealment, artillery and torpedo capabilities.

Cost:  Was only available through pre-order packages for World of Warships during Closed Beta and is under agreement not to be sold for a minimum of one full calendar year since that time.  Individually, she cost $29.30 USD and came with 2500 doubloons as well.

PROs

• Largest caliber of Destroyer guns currently in the game at 130mm, with good AP performance and a max base range of 11.9km
• Guns fire on a flat trajectory with good muzzle velocity.
• Able to fire from outside of detection range of 10.6km with camouflage.
• Small turning circle at 510m with a good rudder shift of 2.7s.
• Good torpedo armament @ 14,400 alpha strike and 8km range which is outside of surface detection range of 6.8km with camouflage.
• Surprisingly strong AA armament for a destroyer @ 48dps base.

CONs

• AA is limited to self defense ranges only.
• Torpedoes are slowest for their tier at 55kts.
• Turret traverse is painfully slow at 36s for 180′ rotation.
• “Slow” for a tier 5 Destroyer at “only” 37kts.

The Full Review

When the trio of pre-order ships were sold, I heard a lot more fuss being made over the Yubari and the Sims at the time.  I attribute this primarily to the meta which was still quite favourable to US Destroyers during the Closed Beta (her guns fired at a flatter trajectory and smoke screens were much more powerful) and a glowing review by the Mighty Jingles in regards to the Yubari.  As the game has matured, the Gremyashchy has emerged as the front runner of these three pre-order vessels as the best of the litter.  The Gremyashchy has a lot of strengths and only one glaring weakness.  Is it any wonder she’s become a Beta-Tester’s favourite?

Yet with the introduction of the Soviet destroyer tech tree, the Gremyashchy has remained a curiousity.  Though she shares some traits with her sister ships, including the namesake of her class, the Gnevny (also at tier 5), the Gremyashchy remains a unique and well loved destroyer that’s arguably the best of her tier.

Primary Armament

The Gremyashchy is armed with four 130mm B-13 naval guns in a very forgiving arrangement.  Guns #1 & #2 face forward and with the superfiring arrangement, can both target directly ahead.  Similarly, guns #3 and #4 face to the rear in superfiring positions, allowing both to track anything directly behind.  In both pursuit and flight, this makes the Gremyashchy a very comfortable firing platform — at least so long as one maintains a steady course.  The primary fault (and some would argue balancing factor) of these guns is that the traverse is beyond sluggish.  At 36s for 180′, this the same speed as the Tirpitiz’s primary battery.  This makes tracking a target while maneuvering difficult, especially at close range.  It should never be surprising that two of your guns will usually be off target if you take any form of evasive action.  Though frustrating, the limited traverse speed often feels little more than a nuisance compared to the strengths of both the gun and the platform upon which they’re mounted.

The biggest strength of the 130mm guns isn’t their hitting power but their flight mechanics.  The trajectory for their shells is very flat by comparison to other destroyer caliber weapons without having the limited range of IJN class guns.

Destroyer Name    1km     2km     3km     4km     5km     6km     7km     8km     9km    10km    11km    12km 

Nicholas         0.48s   1.03s   1.66s   2.31s    3.03s   3.83s   4.83s   5.83s   6.92s   8.38s  9.68s  11.21s

Minekaze         0.46s   0.99s   1.53s   2.23s    2.93s   3.82s   4.58s   5.67s   6.75s    NA     NA      NA

Fujin            0.46s   0.99s   1.53s   2.23s    2.93s   3.82s   4.58s   5.67s   6.75s    NA     NA      NA

Gnevny           0.42s   0.90s   1.42s   1.93s    2.48s   3.06s   3.77s   4.44s   5.15s   6.01s  6.83s   7.63s

Gremyashchy      0.42s   0.90s   1.42s   1.93s    2.48s   3.06s   3.77s   4.44s   5.15s   6.01s  6.83s   7.63s

Though the American 127mm/38 Mk21 has longer overall range, the high arc of it’s trajectory makes long distance gunnery more challenging.  At boosted ranges beyond maximum (through Captain Skills), this flight time only exaggerates further — something with which the Gremyashchy doesn’t have to contend.

When firing her guns, the Gremyashchy appears to lose 3.6 to 3.8km worth of concealment, making her visible at 10.6km when equipped with Concealment Camouflage.  This gives her the ability to shoot from cover, firing with impunity outside of the spotting range of the ship she’s bombarding.  This is on top of the usual tricks of hiding within her own smoke screen and using terrain to block line of sight while shooting.  Overall, this makes her a good long range gunnery platform but her performance doesn’t stop there.  Up close, the 130mm are more than capable of comfortably penetrating (and even citadel penetrating) some cruisers with AP rounds.  Though ill advised to get this close to a wary cruiser, this does open up the chance to use something other than constant HE spam against opponents.

Her AP rounds are the hardest hitting of her class, with 2500 max damage which props her her modest 1900 HE max damage rating.  This said, with a 9% base fire chance per HE shell combined with her rate of fire, this gives her the best chance of lighting ships ablaze among the tier 5 destroyers.  Against a known fire resistance target such as the stock Fuso with the usual Battleship kit, the math works out as follows:

(“Ammo’s fire rate” + Pyromania perk) * (“Ship’s fire rate” * (1-(Modification from upgrade + Modification from perk))

(“Ammo’s fire rate” + 0) * (“0.76” * (1-(0.07 + 0.05))

(“Ammo’s fire rate” + 0) * (“0.76” * (1-(0.05 + 0.07))

(“Ammo’s fire rate”) * (0.6688)

Gremyashchy / Gnevny (9%):     6.019% per shell * 12 rpm * 4 guns  = 2.97 fires per minute.

Fujin / Minekaze (8%):         5.350% per shell *  6 rpm * 4 guns  = 1.28 fires per minute.

Nicholas (5%):                 3.344% per shell * 15 rpm * 4 guns  = 2.06 fires per minute.

Cleveland (12%):               8.026% per shell * 7.5rpm * 12 guns = 7.22 fires per minute.

Atlanta (5%):                  3.344% per shell * 12 rpm * 14 guns = 5.78 fires per minute.

This doesn’t make the Gremyashchy quite the firebug as say the USS Cleveland or USS Atlanta, but it does give her a very respectable chance of harassing a larger class of vessel if given enough time.  This makes this Soviet Destroyer exceedingly valuable at lending supporting fire against a focused target of the fleet, able to use her artillery to punch out much higher damage totals than would otherwise be expected for a ship of her displacement.

Secondary Armament

The good news doesn’t stop there.  Though unable to compete directly with the torpedo armament of the IJN Destroyers, the Gremyashchy’s torpedo armament isn’t like the short ranged horrors found in the Soviet Tech tree.  Compare:

Ship Name      Armament      Damage   180' Turn     Range    Ship Visibility    Speed      Reload    DPM

Fujin          3x2 533mm     14,400      7.2s        7.0km         6.2km        68kts       47s     110,298

Minekaze       3x2 533mm     14,400      7.2s        7.0km         6.2km        68kts       47s     110,298

Gremyashchy    2x3 533mm     14,400      7.2s        8.0km         7.0km        55kts       69s      75,130

Gnevny         2x3 533mm     14,400      7.2s        4.0km         7.0km        65kts       70s      74,057

Nicholas       4x3 533mm     11,733      7.2s        5.5km         6.7km        56kts       66s     127,996

The most important traits are the range of 8km with the ship’s base visibility beginning at 7km.  This allows the Gremyashchy the luxury of launching torpedoes from concealment — something the other Soviet Destroyers don’t enjoy until the tier X Kharbarovsk (assuming you equip her with concealment camouflage).  This creates a rather unique experience for Soviet Destroyer captains, who enjoy the gunnery potential of the American Destroyers with their good rate of fire and range, with the shell trajectory of the IJN Destroyers and the hitting power and ability to launch fish from concealment like the IJN as well.

The only fly in the ointment is a tiny one.  The Gremyashchy’s torpedoes are the slowest for her tier at a ‘mere’ 55kts.  Combined with their range, this gives opponents more time to avoid the incoming strike but this is only a minor setback.

Maneuverability

For a Destroyer, the Gremyashchy is rather agile.  She has a top speed of 37 knots which is tied for slowest among the tier 5 Destroyers with the Nicholas.   However,compared to the lead of her class, she excels.  The Gnevny has a 610m turning circle to the Gremyashchy’s 510m.  The Gnevny’s rudder shift time is 4.4s compared to the Gremyashchy’s 2.7s.  These two combined traits are excellent when combined together, making the Gremyashchy one of the most responsive Destroyers afloat in the game.  This is more than sufficient to thread the needle between hammer & anvil torpedo strikes from carriers.  The only downside is that your gun turrets will not be able to keep up with the acrobatics of your ship and after such a maneuver you will be struggling to bring your guns to bear.

Durability & Defense

The primary defense of a Destroyer will be her ability to keep from being spotted.  As stated previously, a Gremyashchy with concealment camouflage has a surface visibility of 6.8km or 10.6km when she fires her guns.  None of her weapon systems require her to slip within that range to be effective, so this gives the Gremyashchy some wonderful survivability provided she can keep her opponents at arm’s length.  When concealment fails, she must rely on finding cover, either through the use of her smoke screen, destroying her aggressor or by using her agility to break contact.

In close range encounters, the Gremyashchy is decidedly at a disadvantage against anything short of an IJN Destroyer.  Close range knife fights are exceedingly dangerous for the Gremyashchy with her inability to track targets quickly with her guns.  Players should endeavour to keep any opponent that’s not distracted at arm’s length.

Oddly, she has a rather good anti-aircraft rating for a Destroyer.  Capable of putting out 48dps, this more than any other tier 5 Destroyer.  Her AA batteries are painfully short ranged, with her maximum firepower only coming into effect at 0.9km without a boost from her Captain’s Skills.  This severely limits her AA complement to self defense only, and even then it’s only really suited for shooting down lone spotter aircraft.  Against incoming squadrons, this is unlikely to shoot down even a single plane but it can be a welcome bit of additional support when the squadron is being hit by flak from other ships or friendly fighters.

How to Kill It

Normally this would be where I would tell you to handle her the same way you would handle any other Destroyer, but the Gremyashchy presents a quandary normally only seen in higher tiered Destroyers.  She can fire guns from concealment and answer any efforts to close with her with the threat of torpedoes.  Some gunboats, like Battleships, will find themselves utterly ill equipped to handle a well played Gremyashchy, outclassed in every respect to such a degree as to stand no chance.  Inexperienced cruiser players can also find themselves chasing a phantom that casually stacks increasing HE and fire damage and providing no target to retaliate against.

The best equipped ships to solo a Gremyashchy are other Destroyers and Aircraft carriers.  Though able to fire from concealment, the Gremyashchy is still a ‘big’ destroyer in terms of it’s surface spotting distance.  This allows ships like the Minekaze and Fujin to slip within detection range and remain unspotted themselves, providing eyes for their team.  Shadowing this Soviet Destroyer is dangerous, of course, as she can easily outgun an IJN Destroyer though if the latter gets the first shot and closes in, all bets are off.  US Destroyers should endeavour to get in close where their fast turning turrets and double-broadside of torpedoes becomes a significant advantage.  The Gremyashchy will not be able to open the distance on any pursuing destroyer, being equal to or slower than other tier 5 ships.

Her real weakness, like most Destroyers, is being spotted from the air.  Though arguably ill equipped to kill a Destroyer, carriers using their planes to spot and shadow these lurking threats can send them to the drink by keeping them lit for allied cruisers.  Similarly, spotter aircraft launched from cruisers and battleships can also assist in flushing one of these ships out, though only temporarily as they make their circular orbit.

Overall Impressions

The challenge in writing this article lay not in finding the information, but in finding the nerve to say:  “Anyone that didn’t get this destroyer really missed the boat.”   She is too good.  The weaknesses of the Gremyashchy are so minor as to be mere footnotes — the only worth mentioning is the slow turret traverse and that doesn’t seem to hinder her much at all.  This ship truly goes against the adage that Premium Vessels will be weaker than a fully upgraded one.  The Gremyashchy is better than the Gnevny short of top speed.  It’s better than the Nicholas, Fujin and Minekaze too when taken as a whole.  The IJN DDs may be more stealthy, slightly faster with better torpedoes but the NIcholas and Gnevny aren’t better gunnery platforms.

The only thing that keeps this ship beneath the radar, I think, is the general under performance of Destroyers in general compared to other classes.  Battleships and Carriers wow everyone with their higher damage-per-game totals and cruisers with their pyromania.  It’s the inherent fragility of Destroyers, not just the Gremyashchy that keeps this premium from being outright viewed as a monster.  A poorly played Destroyer is a dead destroyer, usually sunk in the opening minutes without accomplishing anything.  But every now and then, when they’re played competently, they have the potential to show how truly monstrous they can be.

And the Gremyashchy has all of the right tools to be considered a demon in all respects.  She just awaits a competent captain to take the helm and take everyone to school.

Would I recommend?

If she becomes available again?

BUY THIS SHIP

Are we clear?

Recommended Modules, Captain Skills & Consumables:

The Gremyashchy should be considered a gunship destroyer first and a torpedo boat second.  To this end, your first pass through the Captain’s Skill Tree should be:

• Situational Awareness (tier 1)  – allowing you to know when you’re spotted.
• Expert Marskman (tier 2) – reduce that turret rotation by 2.5 degrees per second (down to 24s for 180′ from 36s)
• Superintendent (tier 3) – giving you an extra smoke screen and engine boost charge to 3 each.
• Advanced Firing Training (tier 4) – increasing the range of your guns from 11.9km to 14.28km.
• Concealment Expert (tier 5).- reducing your surface spotting range from 7km to 6.3km.

Concealment Expert can wait (nice as it is).  I would strongly recommend snatching up Basic Firing Training (tier 1) and Pyromania (Tier 4) beforehand.  If your remember the Fuso example from above, this would increase the chance of starting fires from 2.97 fires per minute to 3.85 fires per minute — or roughly one every 25 hits..

Concealment camouflage should be your go to rather than disruption camo, reducing her surface spotting range down to 6.8km.  For upgrades, I would recommend the following:

• Main Battery Modification 1 is superior to the Torpedo Tubes Modification 1, if only for the 20% reduction in possible ammo-rack hits.
• Gun Fire Control System Modification 1 is preferable to all of the others, providing a marginal increase in accuracy without any penalties.  Again, the Gremyashchy should be considered a gunboat first.
• Propulsion Modification 1 is the best choice for the third slot.  When your engine is knocked out, you can’t turn, so the Steering Gear Modification is less valuable.  And the reduction of fires and flooding is the least of a Destroyer player’s concerns.