Commander

Revision as of 20:41, 30 January 2019

The Commander recruitment window.

Recruiting

Once Account Level 7 is unlocked, a ship may not be queued for battle without a commander assigned to it. Thereafter, a commander can be recruited for a ship without one.^[1] There are several options offered when recruiting a new commander:

• Send to a Senior Commanders Course for 25 to earn three (3) skill points.
• Send to the Naval Academy for 7,500 to earn one (1) skill point.
• Be content with Basic Training at no cost for zero (0) skill points.
• Clicking the small, circular icon below the commander's name (middle left) in the recruitment window generates a new name and portrait for the commander. This can be repeated until the player is satisfied with the combination.

Recruiting is not the only way to obtain commanders. Certain missions, campaigns, and Scenarios award commanders. Experienced commanders can be bought in the Arsenal for Coal or Doubloons, or from the Premium Shop for real money. Awarded ships and some purchased ship bundles include experienced commanders.

When a ship is purchased from the tech tree, it can be with a newly recruited commander or without one. The latter option is useful when you intend to assign a commander from Reserve or another ship.

Managing Commanders

Clicking on the Commander portrait in the top right of the Port screen brings up the Commander interface. This screen allows players to manage their Commanders in various ways.

The Commander Interface: current skills (Red 1), redistribution (Orange 2), reserve Commanders (Green 3), current Commander (Blue 4), and Elite Commander experience (Purple 5).

The currently selected Commander is shown in the top right; the Commander skills trained are shown in the center. The drop down menu next to the Commander's name allows players to assign the Commander to another ship, send him to Reserve, dismiss him, or Go to their Personal File. Directly below the currently selected Commander is shown other Commanders that are eligible for use on the selected ship. The toggle at the top shows either commanders currently assigned to other ships, or those that are in Reserve.

The center of the Commander Interface displays the Commander skill tree — discussed in detail below — with currently trained skills highlighted. At the far left is the Redistribute function, that allows players to "respec" their Commanders by clearing their skill selections and allowing all skill points earned to be assigned again.

Commander Skill Points

The crux of the Commander system — and the main portion of the Commander interface — revolves around the various skills available to train. Players accomplish this by earning Commander experience, then spending that experience on Commander skills.

Commanders who have available skill points to spend will show unspent points in the Port screen.

Earning Commander Experience

Commanders earn commander experience (CXP) in the same way that ships do, including any bonuses to ship XP earnings. Additional bonuses that affect only commander XP — such as from Restless Fire  camo or the Zulu Hotel 🚫 signal — are added on top of this number. Therefore, it is possible to earn considerably more commander XP in a match than ship XP. See the Economics article for details of how CXP is calculated. Players can view how much commander XP they earned in a given match on the 'Credits and XP' tab of the post-battle report.

The table at right shows the experience requirements for a Commander to buy skill points.

The skill confirmation window.

Spending Commander Experience

Each commander displays his skill points overlayed on his portrait as available/total. Thus a commander with 15 points, only 3 assigned, would show "12/15" on the lower left of his portrait. Clicking on the commander's portrait brings up the Commander Interface screen (see the graphic above), where a new skill may be selected. The interface will ask for confirmation.

Some skills are only useful to certain classes or to ships with certain weapon systems. Skills that are not useful to the current ship are marked as such. They may still be selected. (If a skill is not useful on the current ship, it may become so when the commander is moved to a different ship.) However, considering the amount of time it takes to train a highly skilled Commander, it is best to focus his skills on ones that are immediately useful. A complete list of skills, their point cost, and effects appears below.

When training skills in Rows 2, 3 or 4, Commanders must have at least one skill trained from the previous row. Commanders are free to train any skill in a row before selecting any skill in the subsequent row; they are not confined to skills only within the sub-groupings shown below (and in the skill tree in the Commander interface).

Try the World of Warships Commander Skill Builder

List of Base Skills

Icon	Skill Name	Skill Point Cost	Description	Effect	Notes
	Situational Awareness	Free.		An indicator is displayed when your ship is detected by an enemy ship or aircraft.	All commanders receive this ability at no cost.

List of Endurance Skills

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Icon	Skill Name	Skill Point Cost	Description	Effect	Notes
		1	The detection indicator displays the number of opponents that are currently aiming at your ship or squadron.	For a ship, the number of opponents aiming at the ship with main battery guns. For a carrier squadron, the number of ships firing their AA guns at it.	This skill will not work during retraining.
		1		-30% to the risk of incapacitation of modules.	This skill does not affect secondary or AA batteries.
		2	Hastens the next availability of the ship's Damage Control Party.	-10% to reload time of the Damage Control Party consumable.
		2	Decreases the reload time of all ship and squadron consumables.	-5% to reload time of all consumables. - unconfirmed for aircraft -	Stacks with other consumable reload time modifiers such as the High Alert skill or November Foxtrot () signal. During retraining, a 50% penalty is applied to the effect of this skill.
		3	Increases both ship and aircraft HP, including fighters, depending on the ship or aircraft carrier tier.	+350 HP for each ship tier. +15 HP for each ship tier.	Example: a Tier V ship would gain 1,750 (5x350) additional hit points. Has greater value on smaller ships or more fragile planes.
		3		-15% to time of repair, firefighting, and recovery from flooding.	Reduction applies only to passive repairs, firefighting, and flood control.
		4		-15% to the maximum dispersion of shells for the secondary armament of Tier I-VI ships. -60% to the maximum dispersion of shells for the secondary armament of Tier VII-X ships.	This doesn't mean manual aim. It improves the accuracy of the secondary battery by decreasing their dispersion, but requires the player to manually select a target by holding down CTRL and left-clicking on it. With this skill, the secondaries will not fire at all without manual target selection.
		4		-10% to the risk of fire. Ship can have a maximum of 3 fires burning at once.	For battleships and cruisers, this skill also caps the number of fires in the superstructure of a ship at one (whereas there are ordinarily two fire zones there). For more information on how fire chance is calculated, visit the Fire page.

List of Attack Skills

Icon	Skill Name	Skill Point Cost	Description	Effect	Notes
	Expert Loader	1	Accelerates shell type switching if all main battery guns are loaded.	-50% to reload time when the shell type is switched.	All guns must be fully loaded for this to have effect.
	Air Supremacy	1	Decreases aircraft servicing time.	-5% aircraft restoration time.	what about catapult a/c?
	Expert Marksman	2	Increases traverse speed of the guns.	+2.5 deg/s to the traverse speed of turrets with a gun caliber up to 139 mm. +0.7 deg/s to the traverse speed of turrets with a gun caliber above 139 mm.
	Torpedo Acceleration	2	Increases the speed of torpedoes launched from both ships and aircraft while reducing torpedo range.	+5 knots to torpedo speed. -20% to torpedo range.	Applies to all types of torpedoes (i.e. both ship-launched and air-dropped).
	Torpedo Armament Expertise	3	Reduces reload time of torpedo tubes and servicing time of torpedo bombers.	-10% to reloading time of torpedo tubes. -20% to servicing time of torpedo bombers.	Stacks with other torpedo and aircraft servicing reducers, such as Torpedo Tubes Modification 3, Flight Control Modification 1, or Aircraft Servicing Expert.
image	Aircraft Armor	3	Reduces continuous damage to aircraft in short-, mid-, and long-range AA defense zones.	-10% continuous damage
	Inertia Fuse for HE Shells	4	Increases the armor penetration of HE shells fired from both main and secondary battery guns, at the expense of decreasing the chance of setting the enemy ship on fire.	+30% to the armor penetration capacity of all HE shells. -1% to chance of fire on target caused by HE shells with a caliber up to and including 139mm. -3% to chance of fire on target caused by HE shells with a caliber above 139mm.	The mechanics for HE penetration can be found in the Gunnery & Armor Penetration article. Also see Armor thresholds for more specific analysis. This skill is frequently paired with Demolition Expert.
image	Sight Stabilization	4	Speeds up the aiming of a carrier's aircraft.	+5% Attack aircraft aiming speed +5% Torpedo bomber aiming speed +5% Dive bomber aiming speed

List of Support Skills

Icon	Skill Name	Skill Point Cost	Description	Effect	Notes
image	Improved Engine Boost	1	Increases the Engine Boost time of a carrier's squadrons.	- effect TBD -
image	Last Gasp	1	Fully restores the Engine Boost of the carrier's last strike squadron.	- effect TBD -
	Smoke Screen Expert	2	Expands the smoke screen area.	+20% to the radius of smoke screens.	This skill will not work during retraining.
	Direction Center for Fighters	2	More effective fighter squadrons.	Upon activating the Fighter consumable, an additional aircraft takes off. Decreases fighter flight time.
	Basic Firing Training	3	Improves performance of main guns with a caliber up to and including 139mm and secondary guns. Increases the continuous damage of short-, mid-, and long-range AA guns.	-10% to reload time of main battery guns with a caliber up to and including 139mm and all secondary battery guns. - AA effect TBD -
	Superintendent	3	Increases capacity of consumables.	+1 additional charge to all consumables mounted on a ship.	Does not affect the consumables of aircraft carrier squadrons. This skill will not work during retraining.
	Advanced Firing Training	4	Extends firing range of main guns with a caliber up to and including 139mm and all secondary battery guns. Increases damage per second within the explosion radius of shells fired by mid- and long-range AA defenses.	+20% to firing range of main battery guns with a caliber up to 139mm and all secondary battery guns. - AA effect TBD -
	Manual Fire Control for AA Armament	4	Improves the efficiency of AA sector reinforcement and decreases its action time.	- effect TBD -	This doesn't mean manual aim. It requires the player to manually select a target by holding down CTRL and left-clicking on it, in order for this skill to double the long-range AA DPS. ??

List of Versatility Skills

Icon	Skill Name	Skill Point Cost	Description	Effect	Notes
	Incoming Fire Alert	1	Provides a warning of long-range artillery fire.	A warning is displayed when shells are fired at your ship with a flight time longer than 6 seconds.	Think of this as a "turn now!" warning. This skill will not work during retraining.
image	Improved Engines	1	Increases the speed of a carrier's squadrons.	- effect TBD -
	Adrenaline Rush	2	Increases reload speed of all armament as the ship's health decreases. Increases the speed of aircraft carrier's squadrons as the aircraft's HP decreases.	-0.2% to reload times of all types of armament for each 1% of total health lost. - Carrier squadron effect TBD -	This skill affects main battery guns, secondary battery guns, and torpedoes; it has no effect on anti-aircraft armament. This skill will not work during retraining.
	Last Stand	2	When the engine or steering gears are incapacitated, they continue to operate (but with a penalty).	The ship remains able to move and maneuver - slowly - while the engine or steering gears are incapacitated.	This skill will not work during retraining.
	Demolition Expert	3	Increases the chance of ship and aircraft armament starting fire (HE shells and missiles).	+2% to chance of fire on a target caused by a main caliber shell, secondary shell, bomb, or rocket.	For more information on how fire chance is calculated, visit the Fire article.
	Vigilance	3	Extends ship's torpedo acquisition range.	+25% to the detection range of enemy torpedoes. Does not work on aircraft carrier squadrons.	Provides additional time to react to incoming torpedoes. Stacks with both Target Acquisition System Modification 1 () and Hydroacoustic Search .
	Radio Location	4	Shows the direction to the nearest enemy.	Applies to ships and aircraft carrier squadrons. The enemy is alerted that a bearing has been taken.	This skill will not work during retraining.
	Concealment Expert	4	Reduces ship detectability range.	-10% to the detection radius of all ships and aircraft.	Stacks with other detection range reduction bonuses such as Concealment System Modification 1  and camouflage.

Redistribute Commander Skills

Players will sometimes want to change the skill selections on one of their Commanders. This is accomplished in the Commander Interface by utilizing the "Redistribute" button (shown highlighted in orange on the graphic above). Redistributing Commander skill points costs either 25 or 10,000 Elite Commander XP per spent skill point; players are not charged to redistribute unspent skill points. Upon confirming the redistribution, all currently trained Commander skills are cleared, the corresponding skill points are refunded, and players may begin assigning those skill points again as they see fit.

Note that when using Elite Commander XP, up to level 7 it is cheaper to recruit a new commander and accelerate their training than to redistribute skills of an existing commander. This will also result in two commanders instead of one.

On occasion — such as Christmas or other holidays — Wargaming offers sales on redistribution. Clan Battle participants have been enjoying one week of free redistribution at the beginning and at the end of Clan Battle seasons.

Reserve Slots

Reserve slots — (shown highlighted in green on the graphic above) — hold unassigned commanders. Commanders in the Reserve can be assigned to any ship (of the same nation) as normal, subject to re-training costs (see below).

Each player starts with four (4) Reserve slots. Additional Reserve slots can be purchased with doubloons -- normally four (4) slots for 100. Slots are very rarely available though other means.

Retraining Commanders

Once trained to a non-premium ship from the tech tree, a Commander's skills can be fully utilized only on that ship. Transferring to a new tech tree ship requires the commander to re-training to that ship, which is usually accomplished by earning a certain amount of Commander XP in his new ship (see the table to the right). Normal commander training resumes once re-training has been accomplished.

When re-training is required, players are offered several options. Commanders can spend:

• 500, completing re-training instantly.
• 200,000, requiring them to earn 1/2 the Commander XP normally required (see table) to completely re-train (or spend the full amount of doubloons).
• nothing, requiring them to earn Commander XP in order to fully re-train for their new ships.

Commanders can also spend Elite Commander XP (and/or Free XP) equal to the remaining cost of re-training, finishing re-training instantly. This can be combined with the 200,000 option in order to save ECXP.

Premium Ships

a commanders can be assigned to a premium ship of the same nation at any time without undergoing re-training. His skills will continue to work at full strength on the premium ship. Commander XP earned while assigned to a premium ship counts toward re-training on his specialized ship. This makes premium ships a great way to re-train commanders while avoiding retraining penalties.

Elite Commander Experience

No commander can earn more commander experience (CXP) than the amount needed for 19 Commander skill points. One who earns 19 points becomes an Elite Commander. All XP earned by Elite Commanders becomes Elite Commander XP (shown highlighted in purple on the graphic above). Elite Commander XP (ECXP) does not accumulate on the earning commander but is added to a common pool on your account.

The Accelerated Training window.

Using Elite Commander XP and Free XP

Elite Commander XP can be:

• Applied to any non-Elite Commander to gain additional Skill Points.
• Used to retrain any non-Elite Commander moved to a different ship (instead of spending doubloons).
• Used to reset all mastered Skills (in lieu of using doubloons)
• Converted into Free XP for doubloons.

How to Spend Free XP on Commanders

Free XP can be used in the same way as Elite Commander XP. After all ECXP is spent, Free XP can be spent:

• on promoting any non-Elite commander to the next rank, thus increasing his number of Skill points.
• to retrain a Commander, when assigned to a different ship, to 100% (instead of using doubloons.)
• on resetting all Skills mastered by a commander (in lieu of spending doubloons). (See Restistribute Commander Skills above.)

Elite Commander XP and Free XP can be spent together, like the way Ship XP and Free XP are spent on researching ships and ship modules.

When Elite Commander XP and Free XP are spent, the following rules apply:

• To retrain a Commander, promote them to a new rank, or reset Commander Skills, the available Elite Commander XP and/or Free XP should be sufficient to fully complete such an operation (for example, to re-train a Commander to 100%). Otherwise, the operation will not be successfully completed.
• When an operation can be completed, Elite Commander XP is spent first and Free XP is used only if there is not enough Elite Commander XP available.

When training/re-training a Commander, the total amount of Elite Commander XP and Free XP spent is equal to the amount of the Commander's own XP (Commander XP) required to train this Commander to a 100% level or earn the next Skill point. The total amount of Elite Commander XP and Free XP required to reset Commander Skills equals the amount required for such resetting.

Conversion of Elite Commander XP to Free XP

Elite Commander XP can be converted to Free XP in the same way as Elite (ship) XP -- ( 25 ECXP + 1 => 25 Free XP ). Free XP cannot be converted back to Elite Commander XP.

Access to Operations Involving Elite Commander XP

Elite Commander XP and Free XP become available for leveling up Commanders at Account Level 7, where the Commanders feature itself becomes available. However, Elite Commander XP can be spent only after it's been earned. Unlike Elite Commander XP, Free XP is already accessible to players before the Commanders feature is unlocked. Because of this, Free XP can be spent as described above before any Elite Commander XP has been earned.

Unique Commanders

Some commanders have unique talents or modified commander skills. Check out the list of unique commanders to learn more.

Commander Ranks

As a Commander gains levels, they are given ranks based on their nation. These roughly correspond to the historical ranks awarded to officers of their nation's respective navies. The table below lists these ranks as they appear in game.

Skill Points	USA	Japan	USSR	UK & Commonwealth	Germany	France	Italy	Poland	Pan-Asia
0	Warrant Officer	Kaigun Shōi Kōhosei	Michman	Warrant Officer	Oberfähnrich zur See	Aspirant	Aspirante Guardiamarina	Chorąży marynarki	Midshipman
1 - 2	Lieutenant Junior Grade	Kaigun Shōi	Leytenant	Sub-Lieutenant	Leutnant zur See	Enseigne de deuxième classe	Guardiamarina	Podporucznik marynarki	Sub-Lieutenant
3 - 4	Lieutenant	Kaigun Chūi	Starshiy-Leytenant	Lieutenant	Oberleutnant zur See	Enseigne de première classe	Sottotenente di Vascello	Porucznik marynarki	Lieutenant
5 - 6	Lieutenant Commander	Kaigun Daii	Kapitan-Leytenant	Lieutenant Commander	Kapitänleutnant	Lieutenant de vaisseau	Tenente di Vascello	Kapitan marynarki	Lieutenant Commander
7 - 8	Commander	Kaigun Shōsa	Kapitan 3 Ranga	Commander	Korvettenkapitän	Capitaine de corvette	Capitano di Corvetta	Komandor podporucznik	Commander
9 - 10	Captain	Kaigun Chūsa	Kapitan 2 Ranga	Captain	Fregattenkapitän	Capitaine de frégate	Capitano di Fregata	Komandor porucznik	Captain
11 - 12	Commodore	Kaigun Daisa	Kapitan 1 Ranga	Commodore	Kapitän zur See	Capitaine de vaisseau	Capitano di Vascello	Komandor	Commodore
13 - 14	Rear Admiral	Kaigun Shōshō	Kontr-Admiral	Rear Admiral	Konteradmiral	Contre-amiral	Contrammiraglio	Kontradmirał	Rear Admiral
15 - 16	Vice Admiral	Kaigun Chūjo	Vitse-Admiral	Vice Admiral	Vizeadmiral	Vice-amiral	Ammiraglio di Divisione	Wiceadmirał	Vice Admiral
17 - 18	Admiral	Kaigun Taishō	Admiral	Admiral	Admiral	Vice-amiral d'escadre	Ammiraglio	Admirał floty	Admiral
19	Fleet Admiral	Gensui Kaigun Taishō	Admiral flota	Admiral of the Fleet	Großadmiral	Amiral	Ammiraglio di Armata	Admirał	Admiral of the Fleet

Notes

1. ↑ To recruit a commander to Reserve, temporarily move the commander of a ship to reserve, recruit a new commander, then swap back.