Conqueror Review
HMS CONQUEROR -- Review and analysis
HMS Conqueror is a Tier 10 Royal Navy battleship. As the pinnacle of a line that has slowly been powercrept into obscurity, Conqueror's reputation is not particularly good. She is plagued by the same weak protection of the earlier tiers, but now adds appalling evasion to the mix. Conq tries to make up for this with raw DPM and firestarting potential, which only sometimes works.
DIFFICULTY: Moderate
How hard is it to stay afloat and perform decently well in this ship?
EFFORT REQUIREMENT: Moderate
How much screen-tapping and situational awareness is needed to perform decently well?
POTENTIAL INFLUENCE/OUTPUT: Fairly high
In skilled hands, how much damage output or game influence can this ship exert?
..........................................................................................
..........................................................................................
SUGGESTED EQUIPMENT:
Slot one: Dispersion (-7%)
Slot two: Acceleration (+20%)
Slot three: Concealment (+10%) OR Legendary module
Bonus: Elite gun operator.
Conqueror runs a fairly standard T10 BB build. Concealment is the default for her third slot, with stealth being one of the few categories where Conq is above average. However, if you can afford the legendary module I highly recommend it- it makes Conqueror substantially less painful to handle.
..........................................................................................
Most of Conq's advantages come with an asterisk (*). Her raw DPM is good, but only at closer range. Her firestarting is good, but sacrifices raw damage output. There's some good here, but a lot of bad keeping it in check.
..........................................................................................
FIREPOWER:
Conqueror's 12 guns lend her good on-paper DPM, but suffer from slow shells, mediocre penetration, and dispersion that is uncomfortable at best. She throws more shells than most counterparts, but usually won't score more hits at long range. Above 11km, her gun efficiency is quite poor, leaving her to be out-traded by just about everything she faces. At closer ranges though, she packs much more of a punch. With AP loaded and RR2 ready, Conqueror's DPM is very high- if you're close enough to hit your targets reliably. On occasion, this leads to a hilarious duel where she obliterates an unsuspecting Colombo or Yamato. Enjoy these fights when they happen, because they won't be possible every game.
Her AP DPM is very competitive- at close range. Her HE DPM isn't competitive anywhere, relying solely on fire damage to pad the numbers.
As per the "gimmick" of the British BBs. Conqueror has relatively high-performing HE shells. These are useful to have in some situations, notably for battleships that have just wasted damage control, or for when destroyers are nearby. However, her HE shells are also a noob trap- many players wind up exclusively spamming HE shells, which leads them to bad results.
AP not only deals significantly more damage, but it also has higher penetration- on raw damage alone, AP will always hold a rather large advantage over HE, which needs fire damage to pad output. Now, with low numbers of shell hits (ie. 20 AP vs 20 HE hits) it is entirely reasonable for fires to bridge the damage gap. On a smaller scale, only two or three permanent fires are needed.
But as the number of shell hits scales up (and as a volume-of-fire ship, they really scale up), the damage gap between AP and HE grows exponentially. Instead of counting on two or three permafires, she starts needing upwards of ten just to match the damage AP shells score by default. The amount of luck required is simply too much to be viable. Because of this, the absolute WORST thing a Conqueror can do is exclusively spam HE.
The obvious exception to this guide is when an enemy wastes their damage control. In such a case, throw an HE volley their way!
Aside from reduced output, one of the core problems with HE spam is the inevitable wasted salvos. If enemy damacon is still active, it prevents fires from being set. Sometimes the enemy already has a triple fire going, so you can't set any more. Against appealing HE targets, alternating shell types between salvos is a good solution. This allows the benefits of firestarting, but avoids the potential "wasted salvos" of pure HE spam. In games where your luck just isn't working, you still have those AP volleys to help pad damage output. Know when to, and when NOT to use HE shells to achieve best results.
...........................................................................
PROTECTION:
Conqueror's HP pool and fire resistance are both middling, and her belt armour is thick enough to repel enemy shells. This is where the good news ends. Aside from the two British premiums at the tier, Conqueror has the worst deck armour at T10 (even worse than Schlieffen, a literal battlecruiser). Her damage reduction is low, as is her citadel protection and torpedo damage reduction. Conqueror takes heavy damage from all sources, relying almost exclusively on HP and heals to tank.
Conq's rather tall deck hitbox makes for an easy target at all ranges.
To play around weak armour, Conqueror counts on good positioning. Try to avoid being the first BB spotted and focused, letting the actual battleships on your team attract the first attention. When the time comes for you to tank, try to bait shots into your belt- this is the only place that will consistently repel enemy fire. Conq isn't able to take sustained fire for long, so be ready to fall back and heal up. With poor agility and speed, this ship needs advance planning to get herself out of trouble.
Bad scores in the protection department hurt a lot, considering her general reliance on close range to deal high damage. Be extra careful in the early-game period, making sure to heal enough HP to make a strong late-game push.
...........................................................................
EVASION:
From tier 7 through 9, the British BBs enjoy agility and concealment scores that are decidedly above average. While even they have suffered heavily from powercreep, these good evasion scores are both comfortable to use, and useful in battle.
Conqueror throws it all out the window.
Starting with her concealment, which at a base of 11.58km is just usable. While this score is technically above average at the tier, it isn't particularly good, and has been heavily powercrept by new premiums and tech lines alike. Concealment is nonetheless fairly important for Conqueror, allowing her to remain hidden while enemy ships pick their first targets.
The agility department is where Conqueror's scores drop from "meh" to "garbage". Her acceleration and rudder shift are both middling- they are slow and sluggish, as is expected from a T10 battleship. Conq herself is also fairly slow, able to outrun Vermont and the Yamatos, but slower than everything else. Her worst score is in traverse speed (turning radius). Conqueror suffers from an appalling 4.4 deg/s turn rate. This is worse than EVERY BATTLESHIP AT HER TIER, including notorious slugs like Kurfurst and Kremlin. Bad agility isn't just troublesome for torpedo evasion, it's also extremely uncomfortable to use. If you're willing to dump 250k free xp on this ship, I suggest the legendary module for this reason- it doesn't make Conqueror agile, but at least makes her less infuriating to operate.
For a line- an entire NATION full of agile ships, Conqueror feels incredibly out of place. She is an absolute brick, taking ages to respond to control inputs, and her movements being painfully inept. Even discounting the expectation of British ships being agile, Conq's status as one of the smaller and more slender T10s makes her awful evasion ever more disappointing.
...........................................................................
ANTI-AIR:
With the Great British AA buff™, Conqueror's AA damage skyrocketed from "bad" to "well above average".
Conqueror's AA damage is on the higher end for T10, but most of this damage is concentrated in the short-range mounts. This means that she will shoot down several aircraft if directly attacked, but is less effective for team support. Conqueror's long range AA battery is not particularly strong for the tier, so she will not repel incoming strikes either.
Despite her good AA damage, Conqueror is an easy target for CVs. Low damage reduction, low evasion, make her easy to farm damage from, and her AA damage output doesn't have enough range to prevent the strikes. Conq's best defence is to keep a low profile and hope the CV targets something else.
...........................................................................
FINAL REMARKS:
Post-buff Conqueror gets a more favourable outlook than before. By no means is this a competitive ship, but the boosts to dispersion and reload make her a more consistent damage dealer than before. With proper use of both shell types, Conqueror can throw out a serious amount of damage. Just... don't get shot at.
There are still disappointing elements of the ship though. Her armour protection is quite bad. Her agility is strangely terrible and highly uncomfortable to use. If these are areas you heavily value, Conqueror probably isn't for you.
Overall, Conqueror is a very playable ship. And that's it.
