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HMS Tiger -- Review and analysis
HMS Tiger is a British Tier 8 premium light cruiser, with an extremely unconventional setup. Similar to the British CL line, Tiger only carries AP shells, and is equipped with a smoke generator. However, the setup of this ship dramatically shifts her playstyle compared to the line.
DIFFICULTY: Hard
How hard is it to stay afloat and perform decently well in this ship?
EFFORT REQUIREMENT: Extremely high
How much screen-tapping and situational awareness is needed to perform decently well?
POTENTIAL INFLUENCE/OUTPUT: Moderate
In skilled hands, how much damage output or game influence can this ship exert?
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RECOMMENDED BUILD
Slot 1: Reload module (-5% reload)
Slot 2: Acceleration module (+20% accel)
Slot 3: Concealment module (+10% concealment)
Bonus: Cruiser modernization
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Tiger hides her woeful gunnery and protection behind a wall of best-in-tier evasion stats.
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FIREPOWER
Tiger's firepower is appallingly difficult to use. The guns do not have exceptional range, nor high shell damage, nor good ballistics. The ship has effectively no alpha-strike, so she needs a long time to deal any meaningful damage. The slow shells and loopy arcs don't help her either, making her gun efficiency drop off a cliff at ranges above 7km. Tiger NEEDS to get close for her damage output to be reasonable at all. With no HE shells to pad damage output at long range, and no torpedoes for high burst damage, I cannot give her firepower anything but a bad ranking. Comfortable reload and turret traverse are the only upsides to her guns.
The bad firepower is infuriating when you remember her setup; all other aspects of the ship seem designed to hunt down enemy DDs. Unfortunately, Tiger isn't a stellar DD chaser on her own. The lack of alpha-strike hurts her the most, as she is unable to slap a destroyer for big damage before they take action. Once a DD is aware of your presence and begins disengaging, the wonky ballistics and dispersion make it exceedingly difficult to finish them off. Tiger best used to screen for DDs, light them up and keep them pinned for teammates with more damage output.
Against larger ships, Tiger needs to aim for weakpoints to deal damage at all. At long range this is difficult due to her aforementioned gunnery woes, so she relies on proximity to consistently hit these points. Be patient and get yourself into a forward position before breaking cover to open fire. Let the enemy tunnel vision onto an allied ship, THEN drop smoke and open fire. Bow and stern will yield the most consistent AP damage, so hit here for best results.
When playing Tiger, it is imperative that you understand something: Anything bigger than a DD can and WILL beat you in a gunfight. Know what fights you cannot win and use your evasion to get out of them.
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PROTECTION
Similar to her gunnery, Tiger's protection is horrible. She is your typical fragile British CL, with exceedingly thin armour plating and a low HP pool. Her damage reduction values are nothing to speak of, her torpedo reduction simply not present. This ship CANNOT afford to take hits if they can be avoided.
An upside of Tiger is that she has exceptionally thin bow and stern plating. Large caliber shells will overpen these points. When taking fire, change speed and heading constantly. It will decrease the hits taken, and increase the chance of enemy shells overpenning these points. Avoid giving broadside if you are being targeted, Tiger's belt armour being a serious weakpoint. Enemy shells will consistently deal full damage to this point, so minimise it's profile whenever possible.
Combined with her gunnery, it's easy to see why this ship is so tricky. Tiger needs time to deal damage with her guns, but she cannot tank for long enough to do this. Good use of concealment and smokes are the best protection she has. Moving on.
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EVASION
Tiger hides her flaws behind a wall of evasion. She is the sneakiest T8 cruiser by a significant margin, with a 7.68 km detection range (stock!). The ship boasts a best-in-tier rudder shift and turning circle, as well as fast acceleration typical of the British CLs. She is small, sneaky, agile, and boasts three of the best smokes in the game to further pad this stat. The only downside Tiger has in this area is the relatively low speed of just above 30 knots. Everything else is either best-in-tier or a contender.
Evasion comes to dominate Tiger's playstyle. She is able to pick and choose when she jumps into a battle, which is a very significant advantage. When playing this ship, always look for potential cover, support, enemy placements, and escape routes, BEFORE opening fire and getting spotted. Concealment is this ship's single greatest advantage, neglecting to use it WILL hurt your performance. Remember that your gun performance only becomes passable at close range, so it's often beneficial to stay hidden until you can get closer. Remember that everything outguns you, so stealth up instead of fighting 1v1 battles you can't win. Use your concealment to pick the optimal time to join a battle, quickly maximising your damage output and falling back before retaliation.
As stated in the protection area, Tiger's agility should be heavily abused whenever possible. With fast response times across the board, she can reactively dodge incoming fire, or direct it into bow and stern where it will deal reduced damage. She relies heavily on using agility to get out of focus fire, so ensure to use both acceleration and rudder while engaging enemy ships.
Tiger also packs three long-duration smokescreens, which are very useful tools. These are your best tickets to damage farming, allowing you to remain undetected while farming enemy ships even at close range. Be sure to dance around while in smoke, to make enemy blind-fire difficult. The enemy will know you're there, but may choose to fire at more appealing targets than the small agile cruiser shifting undetected through smoke. Aside from personal gain, you can also use this long-duration smoke to shield allied ships. Keep an eye on your team setup and be ready to provide cover if needed- you are a support ship after all.
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ANTI-AIR
It's understandable that her damage is so low, but I expected better from post-war AA.
Tiger is proof that good AA requires a combination of long range, high damage, and a high-level DFAA consumable. Lacking in any of these aspects prevents it from being effective. Tiger boasts excellent range on her batteries, which allows her to cover teammates more effectively than other ships. She also boasts the DFAA III consumable, which doubles the output of her large caliber, and TRIPLES the output of her small caliber. This all looks excellent, but there's one thing that kills it...
Tiger has T5 AA damage. The output is pathetic, so much so that enemy squadrons will casually overfly you while taking minimal losses. Activating DFAA brings the damage to passable levels, but as soon as that consumable runs out you are basically a non-threat. The damage stat single-handedly kills Tiger as an AA ship, so building into this stat is nothing more than a waste of slots.
The best use of Tiger's AA is to stack her (rather large) AA bubble with those of her teammates. She cannot and WILL NOT repel strikes against herself.
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OVERALL THOUGHTS
I unironically like Tiger. I think she's fun, unique, and excels in my favourite stats (evasion). But THIS IS NOT A STRONG SHIP. Tiger is indisputably weak, with a lack of competitive damage output and inability to tank for her team. She works best in the support role, working to help teammates who can do the damage for her. This is not a ship that can run off on her own and carry a flank solo- doing so will get you sent back to port with little damage to your name.
If you choose to get Tiger, you must play your games knowing that you are at an inherent disadvantage in any engagement. Play accordingly, and you may find some success. Of course, other ships at the same tier can perform significantly better without such difficulty. Tiger is not competitive, so you must decide if you like this playstyle before making a decision to grind/buy it. If you don't like what you see, steer clear.
Tiger was never going to be an easy ship to balance. Frankly I'm just glad they didn't give her HE shells, which would leave us with another obnoxious smoke-camping spammer.
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