With the first anniversary celebration of the side-scrolling shoot ‘em up Azur Lane now in full blast, there has been some uptick in the playerbase as the game's climb in popularity continues.
This guide is meant to focus on some of the best choices for ships in your fleet, as Azur Lane features a ton of different shipgirls with different rarities. As a free-to-play mobile title made by Chinese developers Shanghai Manjuu and Xiamen Yongshi, Azur Lane also has a gacha system in place, which can possibly turn off players.
All of that said, let’s take a look at some of the best shipgirls in Azur Lane with classification code BB and BC, denoting Battleships and Battlecruisers, respectively. You can check out a basic shipgirl recommendation guide for Destroyers (DD) here, Light Cruisers (CL) here and Heavy Cruisers here.
What are Battleships (BB) and Battlecruisers (BC)?
While the real-life definitions of these ships are much more pronounced, in Azur Lane both of them denote your main source of artillery damage. Battleships and battlecruisers are part of your fleet’s back line, which cannot be controlled directly and will only fire once they’ve sufficiently reloaded their guns. Battleships and Battlecruisers are very powerful damage dealers and can easily decimate other ships’ health pools, but great care must be taken when fitting them with guns – most of them specialize in different ammo types, and it’s important to note which ones they do best with. Battleships and Battlecruisers are denoted by a red gun symbol.
Recommended Best Battleships and Battlecruisers for your fleet
- Repluse (BC) (Rare rarity) – this is one of the best Battlecruisers you can get in the Rare category, thanks to being a great noob carrier because of her Z’s Counterattack skill. This skill allows her to increase her reload speed by a certain percentage after taking damage; combined with a fast reloading main gun, prepare to have her fire salvo upon salvo of artillery pretty quickly. Extremely great early on, even with only one skill available.
- Tennesee (BB) (Rare rarity) – this shipgirl is also another very convenient safety net for newer players, thanks to her Coercion skill. Make sure to level this skill up, as it basically reduces all incoming damage from all enemies by a flat percentage for eight seconds every 30 seconds. Really neat skill to have in a pinch.
- Pennsylvania (BB) (Rare rarity) – another great Battleship thanks to her singular skill which can easily deal tons of damage in the earlier stages of the game. Sister Penn has a chance to activate every 20 seconds, and when it does, it fires a barrage of artillery fire that deals damage based on the skill’s level.
- Rodney (BB) (Elite rarity) – one of two shipgirls for the Royal Navy that carries one of the singular most damaging skills for Battleships. Her Big Seven skill is incredibly powerful, and leveling it up as fast as possible is extremely beneficial. The skill allows for a chance to fire a special salvo after firing the main artillery guns, which deals tons of damage to the enemy fleet. Pair with Nelson for maximum chaos at the back line.
- Nelson (BB) (Elite rarity) – the other shipgirl carrying the Big Seven skill for the Royal Navy. Nelson is more or less the same as Rodney, except that Nelson doesn’t have a summer skin (if that matters) and is tsundere in direct contrast to the gentle Rodney. Nelson is a beast at destroying incoming ships though, thanks to an innately higher firepower, though having both in your back line can deal significant damage to enemy ships.
- Alabama (BB) (SSR rarity) – if you were lucky enough to draw her in time during the past event, then you’re set for most of the campaign sorties even in the later stages of the game. Alabama’s Lucky A skill increases her evasion and decreases torpedo damage for the entire fleet as long as she’s afloat. It also has a chance to launch a barrage every 20 seconds, similar to Big Seven. Her Just Gettin’ Fired Up skill makes her more resilient with each ship sunk and with every fleet skirmish won, making her excellent if you’re going up against more fleets than usual.
- Hood (BC) (SSR rarity) – with the Anniversary event giving out an SSR ship for free, it’s important to note that out of all of the possible choices Hood is probably the one to get save for if you’ve already got her. Hood is arguably the best Battlecruiser in the game thanks to her Royal Navy’s Glory skill, which works two-fold: it has a chance to fire another salvo after firing the main artillery guns, which can deal tons of damage. The real power, however, comes from the second part, which increases the reload of your entire backline by a set percentage for eight seconds. Couple Hood with Aircraft Carriers or other salvo-heavy Battleships and you’ve got a pretty powerful back line, and all it did was just decrease reload times.
Special mentions
- Renown (BC) (Elite rarity) – great starter salvo ship thanks to her Final Glory skill, which increases the damage of the next artillery salvo by a set percentage.
- Warspite (BB) (SSR rarity) – extremely powerful thanks to the Divine Marksman skill, which guarantees a critical hit barrage on the farthest enemy ship from it. Reaching level 6 with this skill uses AP ammo for the barrage, which deals extra damage to bigger ships.
Battle Monitors (BM)
Exclusive only to the Royal Navy, the BM assignation refers to three Battle Monitor ships, which carry more firepower and artillery damage than Battlecruisers and Battleships, but have lower health pools in comparison. The three Battle Monitors are Abercrombie (BM) (Elite), Terror (BM) (Elite) and Erebus (BM) (Elite). They also carry a salvo skill similar to Big Seven, although there are some small differences in between. They make for good choices in your back line, although you should be prepared to guard them better due to their softer armor. The Battle Monitors are denoted by a the same symbol as Battleships and Battlecruisers, but colored yellow.
While those are some of the better Battleship and Battlecruiser shipgirls to have in your back line, it’s important to note that you can technically take other shipgirls with the same skill and use them in their stead. Try and find a combination of skills that allow you to make the most of your fleet’s damage, while at the same time giving your back line a good balance between damage resilience and output.
Stay tuned for more guides on Azur Lane. The game is now available to play for free on both iOS and Android devices.
