World of Warships Yorck Guide

World of Warships Yorck Guide by Fog_Battleship_Kongo

The Yorck has a maligned reputation was one of the worst ships in the German CA line, and possibly one of the worst ships in the game. It feels rather sluggish, long reload and only 4 guns compared to previous iterations of German CAs, bad AP………However, the Yorck has been the series of buffs, and it’s now a decent ship.

Strengths

• You get monster 210mm guns that are big, bad, and hit hard. In addition, you get a rather fast reload of 12 seconds compared to Myoko or Pensacola’s 15 sec reload(and they have smaller caliber weapons-203mm)
• HE has great base fire chance at 12%. In addition to that, the HE shells literally devastate enemy ships. Especially with the 1/4 penetration buff to German CAs, these shells do massive damage to DDs(knock out everything), and you can reliably get 2-4k salvos on cruisers and BBs
• AP damage is great, and the 210mm shells mean you can overmatch 13mm bow armour(Fiji comes to mind)
• Great agility and manueverability. While the Pensacola is better in terms of turning circle(generally feels more manueverable), the Yorck is a close contender, and rather small turning circle(650M) and rudder shift(especially if you get the Steering Gears Mod. 2)
• As I said before, you get the 210mm guns(As far as I know bigger than every single heavy cruiser in the game). In addition to that, you get 12 second reload, compared to Pensacola/Myoko’s 15 second reload. And they have smaller caliber guns(203mm). German Engineering confirmed.
• The Yorck is the first cruiser to get a turtleback armour scheme. If you don’t know what that is, it’s why the German BBs are so “tanky” and they won’t get citadelled. While at longer ranges(12-15km), showing broadside can be fatal. However, in close quarter situations, the turtleback ensures that cruiser AP, and even BB AP will generally result in penetrations/overpens if you’re angled. Now you get go be a mini-Gneisenau with torps and troll armour :D
• Great range at 17.3km when fully upgraded. Only the Algerie(french t7 bote) outranges that.
• I don’t really encounter CVs, but AA is decent, and you get the fighter plane(panic the attacking squadrons)

Weaknesses

• While the HE is pretty good, the AP is completely rubbish. While it says that the AP has a velocity of 900m/s, which is on paper pretty good, it loses so much velocity in the air(aerodynamics i guess?) that they turn into Cleveland shell arcs. AP is only used at around ranges of 10km and below
• The turret traverse feels like a battleship. Seriously, it’s really slow.
• Although you have a German BB turtleback, this doesn’t really mean anything at mid-long ranges(12km-15km and above). If Germans are broadside at 12-15km, they eat a lot of penetrations. For the Yorck, you will get penetrations AND Citadels(and maybe a Devastating Strike for the enemy who killed you). The Turtleback is only really useful in close quarters and…….brawling in a Yorck?????
• meh HP
• AA is also meh

The Guns

The Yorck’s guns are the biggest caliber heavy cruiser guns in the game, at 210mm(excluding graf spee, which is more like a pocket battleship). The HE is rather good- the base 12% fire chance is great, and the penetration(1/4 instead of normal 1/6) means that you can easily get 2-4k salvos on BBs/cruisers, and shred DDs. However, the AP comes with a warning- while on paper, the velocity is pretty good(900m/s), it loses so much velocity in midair, that using AP at things over 10km away, and especially angled/moving quickly targets is not recommended.

TL;DR: Use HE most of the time, and AP is only good for targets under 10km away, and showing broadside(like cruisers).

Survivability

The Yorck is not as squishy as other T7 cruisers(Shcors/Pensacola), but staying angled helps a lot. At longer ranges, your armour is pretty meh. I mean, it’s at least better than the Shcors(gets citadelled from the stern :P), but showing full broadside is just asking you to get deleted. As closer ranges however, the full extend of your armour scheme starts to shine. The bow armour is pretty good, and good angling means that if you are brawling against cruisers or BBs, trying to shoot your citadel will result in overpens or bounces.

TL;DR: Your turtleback is good for close-range brawls, but won’t do anything when you are showing full broadside. Stay angled and don’t show excessive broadside

General Playstyle

The Yorck is a support ship that does not rush into the cap. It kinda plays like a Shchors, except you are less squishy than the Shchors. At the beginning of the round, don’t rush into the cap and gets focused(Rush B is not a legit strategy in WoWs, much like crossing the T). If both teams are rather passive, stay behind cover and spam HE. The arcs aren’t Cleveland bad, but they are high enough to shoot over mountains. If your team is more aggressive, you can position yourself behind a chokepoint, and ambush enemies behind islands(rather risky though).

TL;DR: Stay at range and fire HE, while letting your teammates capture the cap/flank. Read above for when to use which ammo. Stay at strategic chokepoints, and use your torpedoes and guns together to block off crucial points.

Brawling

While this usually doesn’t happen(seriously, guys……brawling in a Yorck????), once in a blue moon, you were following your DD into the cap with cruiser support, the DD died, and you found a Furutaka and enemy BB rushing your smoke(highly unlikely but I’m just making a random metaphor here). This section details what you do If you are brawling against a cruiser with torps, first of all pop your hydro. If you pop hydro, you can tell whether he fired his torps early. Firing his torps early is a rather big mistake, as knowing this you can close the distance while staying angled(stay around 20-30 degrees), and shooting his citadel with your AP, or unload your torps. If he hasn’t unloaded his torps early, start turning away while still maintaining good angling and shoot AP with your rear guns. This forces him into a disadvantage, as he is forced to unload torps while you are sailing away(much easier to dodge as torps take longer time to get to you). In addition, he simply cannot disengage, as he is forced to chase you. If you are brawling against a cruiser without torps or a BB, always stay angled about 20-30 degrees, and wait for his shells to shoot first, before showing broadside to unleash all of your torps. The turtleback at close ranges does mean that while you will get citadeled if show full broadside, angling will prevent citadels, and enemy AP shells will just pen your hull armour or overseen.