Final Review: German Tier X Battleship Schlieffen
9 min readWith update 0.10.9, the entire new German battlecruisers will be available. Now the big question is if it’s worth grinding this line. Well here is my opinion on the question.
Historical background
Sitting at the end of the new German battlecruiser line, the Schlieffen is based on the Schnelle Großekampfschiffe GK 5041. Out of all the known designs, this was the biggest, armed with eight 420 mm guns in four twin turrets in an AB XY configuration and displacing no less than 50 000 tons at standard displacement.
Just like the rest of the previous German battlecruiser designs, this one was canceled at the end of World War I.
If you want, you can learn a bit more about those late World War I battlecruiser designs here.
In World of Warships, we are getting a hypothetic modernized GK 5041 with a revised superstructure, stronger secondary armament, anti-air and also the addition of deck-mounted torpedo launchers.
She gets battlecruiser dispersion on her main battery, Massachusetts dispersion on her secondary battery, her 4th turret can turn at 360° and she gets a German Hydroacoustic Search as well as the same Damage Control Party as Soviet Battleships.
The Good and the Bad
The Good
- Battlecruiser dispersion
- Fast reloading guns
- Good ballistics
- German improved HE penetration
- Great secondaries with improved dispersion and long firing range
- 13.5 km torpedo range
- High top speed
- Well protected citadel
- Good overall protection
- Great concealment by sea
- Fast Damage Control Team consumable
- German Hydroacoustic Search
The Bad
- Bad AP penetration
- Low firing range
- Weak HE shells
- Very vulnerable torpedo tubes
- Large turning radius
- Very low HP pool
- 27 mm bow and stern
- The casemate-mounted secondaries are fairly big weak spots on the hull
The camouflage
The permanent camouflage of the Schlieffen provides the classic bonuses for tier X ships:
- -3% to surface detectability range
- +4% to maximum dispersion of shells fired by the enemy at your ship
- -50% to the cost of ship’s post-battle service
- +20% credits earned in the battle.
- +100% to experience earned in the battle
Modules
Hull | Engine | Gun Fire Control System | Main battery | Torpedoes |
Schlieffen | Propulsion: 200 000 HP | FKS Typ 10 Mod. 1 | ![]() 420 mm/50 SK L/50 on a Drh LC/1918 mount | G7a T1 |
General Characteristics and Playstyle
Tier | X |
Health | 76 100 HP |
Torpedo Damage Reduction | 23 % |
Displacement | 50 482 tons |
Dimensions | |
Overall length | 282.0 m |
Beam | 33.6 m |
Overall height (keel to the highest point on the ship) | 30.3 m |
Freeboard | 5.6 m |
Main Armament | |
Maximum Firing Range | 19.806 km |
420 mm/50 SK L/50 on a Drh LC/1918 mount | 4 x 2 420 mm |
Secondary Armament | |
Maximum Firing Range | 8.300 km |
150 mm/55 SK C/28 on a Dop. MPL C/36 mount 105 mm/65 SK C/33 on a Dop. L. C/31 mount 105 mm/65 SK C/33 on a Dop. L. C/37 mount | 8 x 2 150 mm 4 x 2 105 mm 8 x 2 105 mm |
Torpedo Armament | |
Maximum Firing Range | 13.500 km |
533 mm Vierling | 4 x 4 533 mm |
Maximum speed | 34.1 knots |
Turning Circle Radius | 970 m |
Rudder Shift Time | 16.1 s |
Surface Detectability | 16.04 km |
Air Detectability | 13.04 km |
Detectability After Firing Main Guns in Smoke | 15.9 km |
Slot 1 | Slot 2 | Slot 3 |
Fast Damage Control Team ![]() Number of charges: 4 Work time: 10 s Cooldown: 40 s | Repair Party ![]() Work time: 28 s Cooldown: 80 s HP regeneration: 0.5%/s Casemate damage regeneration: 50% Citadel damage regeneration: 10% | Hydroacoustic Search ![]() Work time: 120 s Cooldown: 120 s Torpedo spotting range: 4.0 km Ship spotting range: 6.0 km |
The Schlieffen is fairly different to the Grosser Kurfürst in terms of playstyle. From the start, she is FAR more fragile with her combined low HP pool and thinner armor protection. Generally speaking, the Schlieffen requires a slightly more subtle playstyle as she heavily relies on her speed and concealment to get close and get your sweet secondaries to work.
As I said though, you really need to be careful when going in close combat because while she can hold her ground against one or two ships, more than that can get you killed relatively quickly depending on which ships we are talking about.
Another great gimmick of the German battlecruisers is the Fast Damage Control Team which fits well with the… I guess you can call it a guerilla kind of playstyle?
There is just one last thing to keep in mind and it’s the XP gain. A lot of your damage will come from your secondaries, and this damage is poorly rewarded in terms of XP.
If you want to see the ship in action, here is a replay of one of my games:
There is still the WIP watermark because she is missing the last main battery reload buff that she will get with the next update.
Main Armament
4 x 2 420 mm/50 SK L/50 on a Drh LC/1918 mount | |
Maximum Firing Range | 19.806 km |
Reloading Time | 27.0 s |
180 Degree Turn Time | 30.0 s |
Optimal firing angles at the front | 34° |
Optimal firing angles at the rear | 33° |
Sigma | 1.70 sigma |
Maximum Dispersion | 215 m |
Shells | |
Type of Projectile | HE – 420 mm P.Spr.Gr. L/50![]() |
Alpha Damage | 4 600 |
Penetration capacity | 105 mm |
Explosion size | 2.38 |
Fire chance | 27 % |
Projectile Speed | 835 m/s |
Air Drag | 0.244 |
Projectile Mass | 1 050 kg |
Type of Projectile | AP – 420 mm Spr.Gr. L/50![]() |
Alpha Damage | 12 950 |
Projectile Speed | 835 m/s |
Air Drag | 0.244 |
Projectile Mass | 1 050 kg |
Projectile Krupp | 2 300 |
Projectile Detonator | 0.033 s |
Detonator threshold | 70 mm |
Ricochet Angles | 45° – 60° |
The main battery of the Schlieffen is… meh. It’s not straight-up terrible but really nothing to write stories about. You get more reliable guns than you would have on a Grosser Kurfürst thanks to the battlecruiser dispersion but don’t get your hopes too high, it remains a German ship and you still have to deal with the 1.7 sigma and the fact that you only have 8 guns.
When it comes to the performances of both shell types, the HE is your classic anemic German HE with improved penetration but low damage and fire chances. The AP is also quite bad for 420 mm guns honestly. In fact, outside of Bourgogne’s 380 mm AP shells, the 420 mm AP shells of Schlieffen are the worst at tier X in terms of penetration. At the same time, the shell velocity is really good thanks to the low air drag and decent initial shell velocity so you will be overpenetrating targets fairly often.
Secondary Armament
8 x 2 150 mm/55 SK C/28 on a Dop. MPL C/36 mount | |
Maximum Firing Range | 8.300 km |
Reloading Time | 6.7 s |
Sigma | 1.0 sigma |
Shells | |
Type of Projectile | HE – 150 mm Spr.Gr. L/4.5![]() |
Alpha Damage | 1 700 |
Damage | 670 |
HE penetration | 38 mm |
Explosion Size | 0.54 |
Chance to Cause Fire | 8 % |
Projectile Speed | 875 m/s |
Air Drag | 0.33 |
Projectile Mass | 45.3 kg |
4 x 2 105 mm/65 SK C/33 on a Dop. L. C/31 mount 8 x 2 105 mm/65 SK C/33 on a Dop. L. C/37 mount | |
Maximum Firing Range | 8.300 km |
Reloading Time | 3.0 s |
Sigma | 1.0 sigma |
Shells | |
Type of Projectile | HE – 105 mm Spr.Gr. Kz.![]() |
Alpha Damage | 1 200 |
Damage | 330 |
HE penetration | 26 mm |
Explosion Size | 0.31 |
Chance to Cause Fire | 5 % |
Projectile Speed | 900 m/s |
Air Drag | 0.33 |
Projectile Mass | 15.1 kg |
Now we are on to the main dish and these secondaries are straight-up nuts. They combine a large volume of fire (up to 20 guns on target), a high firing range (up to 12.5 km firing range), improved dispersion and on top of that, the German improved HE penetration.
They work wonderfully on the Schlieffen thanks to the low spotting range (can go down to 12.6 km spotting range by sea) and the high speed of the ship that allows her to quickly get in range and disengage if needed.
The real magic happens when you take Inertia Fuse for HE Shells. With this skill, the 105 mm secondaries can penetrate 32 mm platings and the 150 mm can penetrate 47 mm. Basically, anything in range gets melted as long as it isn’t a heavily armored battleship or a very fast destroyer staying at max range.
Torpedo Armament
4 x 4 533 mm Vierling G7 T1 Ausf.C | |
Reloading Time | 160 s |
Maximum Distance | 13.500 km |
Optimal firing angles at the front | 32° |
Optimal firing angles at the rear | 29° |
Damage | 16 533 |
Flooding Chance | 279% |
Speed | 50 knots |
Surface Detectability | 1.2 km |
The torpedoes on Schlieffen and the rest of the German battlecruisers… are more decorative than anything else. Or well… That’s if you like having destroyed torpedo launchers on your ship. These launchers are very exposed and they will just decide to randomly get knockout or straight up destroyed after just a few salvos, may it be HE or AP.
When they are functional, the sea mines torpedoes are useful for area denial or in brawling situations but for the latter… you really have to pray to any existing God that they remain functional long enough and don’t get nailed by a random secondary hit.
Also, if a battleship shoots HE at you, consider that you are about to lose at the very least one torpedo launcher permanently.
Anti-air Armament
4 x 2 105 mm/65 SK C/33 on a Dop. L. C/31 mount 8 x 2 105 mm/65 SK C/33 on a Dop. L. C/37 mount | |
Sector range | 0.1 km – 5.2 km |
Hit chance | 75 % |
Sector’s damage | 66 |
Sector’s damage frequency | 0.29 s |
Sector’s damage per second | 231 |
Flak clouds number | 9 |
Flak cloud damage | 1 540 |
3 x 2 55 mm/77 Gerät 58 on a twin mount | |
Sector range | 0.1 km – 4.0 km |
Hit chance | 75 % |
Sector’s damage | 34 |
Sector’s damage frequency | 0.29 s |
Sector’s damage per second | 119 |
12 x 4 30 mm/45 Flakvierling 103/38 | |
Sector range | 0.1 km – 3.0 km |
Hit chance | 70 % |
Sector’s damage | 97 |
Sector’s damage frequency | 0.29 s |
Sector’s damage per second | 340 |
The anti-air of the Schlieffen is not great at all. Just like for a large part of the German ships, the range is terrible because she is stuck with the 105 mm DP secondaries. The mid-range is straight-up trash and it’s not the short-range that will compensate for the rest.
The only “saving grace” would be the high number of flaks but it will only help against bad CV players that eat as many flaks as a Bavarian drinks beers at the Oktoberfest.
The Armor
Overall, the armor protection of the Schlieffen is a weird mix. The ship is tough to citadel thanks to the spaced armor and when angled GENERALLY, you will be able to tank for a fair bit of time.
The problem is that there are multiple flaws in her protection. The most obvious one is the 27 mm armor on the bow and stern allowing a lot of battleships to just overmatch them. For the bow, it’s not that bad though because there is the large extended belt.
The second (and in my opinion the worst) flaw is the position of the secondaries. Unlike on other tier X battleships, some of the secondaries of the Schlieffen are casemate-mounted. The thing is that the spots where they are located turn into perfect shells magnets and even when angled, they can lead to you taking a lot more damage than you normally would. In the end, when fighting another battleship or large cruiser with AP loaded, you want the shells to hit the angled central part of the ship where there are no casemate-mounted secondaries.
External armor protection:
Front and rear armor protection of the middle section:
Hidden deck:
Citadel armor protection:
Turrets armor protection:
Hidden armor protection inside the bow and stern:
Final Opinion
As a whole, the Schlieffen has been a blast to play. She is definitely very reliant on her secondaries but she has a lot of characteristics that help her to get them in action.
I cannot lie, there were those incredibly passive games with everything just running away in spawns but even then, I was still able to find a way to get up close and get decent-ish results.
As for the rest of the line, it generally was the same experience and there are no real stinkers or… almost. I would honestly advise you to skip the tier III (Von der Tann) and IV (Moltke) unless you want to get bullied by carriers with literally no way to defend yourself.
Recommended Build
For the Schlieffen, I recommend the following commander build:
- Demolition Expert
- Inertia Fuse for HE Shells
- Long-Range Secondary Battery Shells
- Concealment Expert
- Manual Secondary Battery Aiming
- Emergency Repair Expert
- Adrenaline Rush
I heavily recommend using Günther Lütjens on these German battlecruisers for the secondary buff talent that gets activated in no time.
This concludes my review of the Schlieffen. Thank you for reading this article!
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Have a good one and see you soon!
Fast damage control when subs are looming on the horizon, what a greaaat idea. And here’s another wonderful game design decision which will prove to be disastrous within a few months.
Naaaaaaah!
It’s gonna be fiiiine! Right? Right?…
Christ have we done to deserve that?…
Is Von der Tann decent when not being focused by carriers? How does it compare to other Tier III battleships? I’ve been playing Moltke and I enjoy it, though you’re right that when CVs focus on you, all the fun is blown away.
Given Auxiliary Armaments Mod 1 is preferred and you recommend Lutjens, wouldnt preventive maintenance for tier 1 skill be preferable? That would help the torps to survive? And if the turrets are anything similar to the BB line they will need it to?
Thanks
Preventive maintenance will only help to limit the chances for the torpedo launchers to get incapacitated. Won’t change anything to them getting destroyed permanently. Demolition Expert is much better to optimize the damage you can get from your secondaries.
Main Armament mod 1 is also preferable to Auxiliary mod because even though the secondaries are very strong, in the end, you will still do more damage with your main battery and since the turrets aren’t particularly well armored, you want to make sure that they won’t let you down randomly. Also, the secondaries are overall quite resilient. Unless you get HE spammed by Thunderer and co, you won’t lose that many of them.
The one design attribute of the Schlieffen which was no mentioned is the launch arc of torpedoes. They are very similar to Atago. Therefore, when engaging another BB one on one, the Schlieffen does not have to expose broadside. It is effective one versus one against any BB in the game. It is also a very solid ship in CB or Ranked where it it less likely to become focus fired by more than two ships when played carefully.
Why did you go with IF HE?
it isn’t similar to andrea doria? i mean a warship that must carefully select ships to engage with and avoid any big caliber ships and engage with cruisers mainly?