Lion

Lion — British Tier IX battleship.

The last British battleship designed and laid down before the breakout of World War II. In many respects, the ship was a development of the King George V-class ships, but, unlike her predecessors, she had greater dimensions, heavier armor, and modern 406 mm main guns.

Ship Stats

Survivability

Health: 52,510

Citadel Protection: 12.50%

Fire and Flooding Resistance: 15%

Damage Reduction: 13.50%

Torpedo Damage Reduction: 16.50%


Armour

Bow: 32 mm

Stern: 32 mm

Deck: 80 mm

Belt: 381 mm


Maneuverability

Top Speed: 29.18 Knots 

Time to Full Speed: 26.31 s

Max Traverse Speed: 5.10 deg/s

Turn Time: 15.30 s


Main Guns (419 mm L/45 Mk.2 3x3)

Reload Time: 20.5 s

Range: 14.39 km

Dispersion Min/Max/Vertical: 138 m / 357 m / 64.80 m

Sigma: 2 σ

HE Damage: 1,475

Fire Chance: 19%

AP Damage: 1,888

Citadel Chance: 12%

Citadel Damage Rate: 250%

Turret Traverse: 4.50 deg/s


Secondary Guns (133 mm L/50 Mk I 8x2)

Reload Time: 7 s

Range: 5.87 km

Dispersion Min/Max/Vertical: 90 m / 300 m / 60 m

Sigma: 0 σ

HE Damage: 354

Fire Chance: 2%

Turret Traverse: 12 deg/s


Anti-Aircraft Armament

Large Caliber AA Damage: 255

Large Caliber AA Range: 3.90 km

Small Caliber AA Damage: 448

Small Caliber AA Range: 1.80 km

Total AA Damage: 703


Concealment

Surface Detection: 10.86 km

After Firing Guns: 14.76 km

Ship Skills and Elite Bonus

Rapid Reload II x2

Main gun reload time: -30% for 20 seconds

Before: 22 s

After: 15.4 s


Torpedo Defense System

Torpedo Damage Reduction: +10%

Before: 16.50%

After: 18.15%


Elite Gun Operator

Main Battery Reload Time: -3%

Main Battery Traverse Speed: +7%

Before: 22 s / 4.50 deg/s

After: 21.34s / 4.84 deg/s

Ship Play-style

Lion seems outwardly similar to Monarch, but sees a slight shift in playstyle owing to her higher tier placement. This ship will face Tier 10 battles frequently, meaning she has to play more passively than before. 

FIREPOWER

Lion's guns are a mixed bag. They have a good dispersion value, as well as decent damage. They are relatively comfortable to use at long ranges. However, the guns are let down by low shell velocity and mediocre pen retention. Lion relies on hitting weakpoints like bow or stern at maximum range, but should aim for deck plating below 11km. Much like Monarch, Lion defaults to AP for the bulk of her damage- only use HE against destroyers, or battleships that have visibly used damage control. It's worth noting that Lion has very poor firing angles on her main guns, meaning she has difficulty kiting or angling.

PROTECTION

Lion's belt armour is strong, and this is essentially where the upsides end. Her HP pool is mediocre, deck armour weak, and damage reduction values on the low end of T9. Against T10 guns, Lion fares quite poorly, necessitating good use of evasion to survive. When under fire, it is best to simply disengage to the best of your ability- she won't hold up for long against large calibre guns, torpedoes, or stacked fires. 

EVASION

Lion is sneaky, fairly quick, but has mediocre agility. Concealment dominates her playstyle- she should use it to position in the early game and let tankier allies eat the bulk of enemy fire. Once positioned, she can deal her damage before falling back. When caught under heavy fire, Lion should stop shooting and stealth up. She isn't very agile and has appalling rearward firing angles, so kiting is not all that viable in this ship.

ANTI-AIR

Lion lacks the AA damage or range to be a viable threat to CVs. 

Historical Info

Lion was a British battleship design that was laid down, but never completed. The Lion in-game is partially accurate to this design, but carries ahistorical 419mm guns.