Aiming and shooting | Game mechanics World of Warships Guide

To deal some damage to your enemy, you must hit him. It might seem trivial, all one need to do is aim at enemy ship silhouette and pull the trigger. Such attempt will work on close distance, but if enemy ship is 15 km away from you and the bullet is flying for eight seconds, you must think greatly ahead. You must consider the direction in which enemy ship is sailing, its speed, and even type, which will tell you a lot about probable enemy behavior.

Aiming

In case of aiming, the most important thing you must consider is distance between you and your enemy and how fast the enemy is moving. After switching to sniper mode (shift key by default) you must aim some distance in front of the ship itself. Your bullet may fly for even few seconds. It is wise to shoot first from one cannon and check if you have aimed properly. If yes, then you can unleash the whole salvo. Sadly, there is no universal rule for aiming at long distance. You must simply train a lot until you're able to instinctively approximate where you should send the bullets. Playing on St. Luis cruiser is a very good idea, it has large amount of fast reloading cannons. It allows you to send few dozens of bullets in one minute. There is no better shooting training than that. From my own experience I might add that you should aim high-explosive bullets slightly above enemy ship and at water line or slightly above it in case of armor piercing ammunition.

Successive hit at citadel will deal maximum damage. Image source: Official website of the game.

Once you learn how to hit enemy ship, you should focus on its specific parts. High explosive ammunition should be aimed at the bow and the stern of the ship, more or less up to the place where the first main artillery turret is located. The armor is rather thin in that spot, you should deal large damage. A good idea in case of HE ammunition is also shooting at the cannons, quarterdecks and chimneys. You won't deal large damage, but there is a large change to damage some important module or set the ship on fire. When shooting with armor piercing ammunition, you should aim only at ship's hull, preferably at water level. If you use small caliber cannons, then aim similarly to as with HE ammunition, at the front and the back of enemy ship. If you have high penetration and enemy is positioned side towards you, you should try to hit the so-called citadel. Citadel is the part of the ship in which the vital rooms are located, such as machine room. Usually, citadel is located between the first and the last turret of the main artillery, more or less starting from the water level to the half altitude of the hull. If it's possible, you should shoot under the ship's chimneys or at the hull on water level. If you penetrate the armor and hit the citadel properly, you will deal the maximum damage of your ammunition. Few such shots are capable of taking down even a battleship.

Shooting

Once you properly aim your cannons, it will be time to shoot. Despite appearances, at this point you still have more than one option. By clicking once, you will shoot from a single turret. It's useful when giving the first shot at enemy who is far away. It allows you to see whether you have aimed properly and where had the bullets landed. By holding the left mouse button you will shoot with a sequence fire, successive turrets will activate more or less every half second. Such fire mode is useful when shooting at enemy close by, when the bullets aren't flying for too long. It allows you to adjust bullets flight in real time.

Third shooting mode is a simultaneous fire from all cannons (twice clicking the left mouse button). It should be used only if you're sure you have aimed correctly. After giving the salvo you are helpless for from few to more than a dozen of seconds. This mode should be also used against destroyers and fast cruisers. After shooting a salvo you can suddenly change your position or swimming direction.

Torpedoes

Use the two torpedoes shooting modes wisely. Each of them will work in different situations.

Torpedoes are a special weapon type. They deal massive damage and can cause flooding, but it is very hard to hit target with them. First thing you should take interest in are two shooting modes - wide and narrow. They differ in dispersion of torpedoes in a single salvo. Wide mode should be used when shooting "blindly", on large distance, or when enemy is agile and can escape quickly. Narrow mode is used for shooting at very slow warships such as battleships and airship carriers when they are very close.

Don't treat the gray field that helps in aiming as some sort of oracle. It's very imprecise and doesn't consider many factors.

When you change torpedo aiming mode, next to the rotation range a gray field will appear. It's a helpful pointer that aims itself at the closest opponent and shows how to shoot the torpedoes to hit him. Of course, it's a very simplified tool that only helps in aiming. All enemy needs to do is slightly change his course for the torpedoes to miss him. Despite that, it's a useful tool early in the game while you're still learning to aim and shoot.