Commander

Revision as of 16:37, 19 October 2018

Upon reaching Account Level 7, players earn the ability to assign Commanders to their ships. Commanders can learn a variety of useful skills that enhance the performance of their ship. Sometimes these are straight buffs to the vital statistics of a ship — such as faster turret traverse speed or more hit points — while others confer entirely new abilities or tools for players to utilize while in combat. A highly-skilled Commander is among the most powerful upgrades a ship can obtain in World of Warships, and works in conjunction with the installed upgrades, chosen consumables, and equipped signals to enhance the performance and capabilities of a given ship.

The Commander recruitment window.

Recruiting Commanders

Once Account Level 7 is unlocked, a ship may not be queued for battle without a Commander assigned. Commanders are available to all ships without one; they can be recruited at any time via the Port screen, and are offered for "sale" when a new ship is purchased from the tech tree. Certain missions or campaign tasks will award commanders as a reward as well. Players are offered several options when recruiting a new Commander:

• A new Commander can be recruited with zero (0) skill points for free.
• A new Commander can be recruited with one (1) skill point for 10,000 credits.
• A new Commander can be recruited with three (3) skill points for 25 doubloons.

Clicking the small, circular icon below the Commander name in the recruitment window gives players the option to randomly generate a new name and portrait for their commander. This can be done repeatedly until players are satisfied with the combination.

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 experience (XP) in the exact same way ships do, including any applicable bonuses from camouflage and flags. Additional effects that affect only Commander XP — such as Restless Fire () camouflage or the Zulu Hotel (🚫) signal — are added on top of this number. It is, therefore, possible to earn more Commander XP in a match than ship XP. Players can view how much Commander XP they earned in a given match on the "Credits and XP" tab of the Results screen. The chart at right shows the experience requirements for a Commander to earn skill points.

The skill confirmation window.

Spending Commander Experience

Whenever a Commander has a skill point available to spend, an icon indicating how many skill points are unassigned is displayed over their portrait on the Port screen. By clicking on the portrait, players are taken to the Commander interface, where they are able to select a new skill to train. Once a skill is chosen, the Commander interface will ask for confirmation. This is an important step, as redistributing Commander skills after a skill is trained costs doubloons.

Many skills are only useful to certain classes. It is left up to players to learn the difference, since skills from a different class could potentially become useful if the Commander was transferred to a different ship. However, considering the amount of time it takes to train a highly skilled Commander, it is best to focus their skills on ones that are useful to a specific class anyway. A complete list of available skills, their point cost, and effects is 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

Icon	Skill Name	Skill Point Cost	Description	Effect	Notes
		1		Situational Awareness indicator will show the number of opponents currently aiming at you with main battery guns.	This skill will not work during retraining.
		1		-30% to the risk of incapacitation of modules.
		2		-10% to reload time of the Damage Control Party consumable.
		2		-5% to reload time of all consumables.	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		+350 HP for each ship tier.	Example: a Tier V ship would gain 1,750 additional hit points. Does not depend on the ship class, therefore the bonus for smaller ships is higher in relative value.
		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 take effect.
	Aircraft Servicing Expert	1	Increases servicing speed and HP for carrier-based aircraft.	+5% to HP of carrier-based aircraft. -10% to servicing time of carrier-based aircraft.
	Expert Marksman	2	Increases traverse speed of the guns.	+2.5 deg/s to the traverse speed of guns with a caliber of up to 139 mm. +0.7 deg/s to the traverse speed of guns with a 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.
	Emergency Takeoff	3	Makes it possible to launch and recover aircraft while on fire.	+100% to aircraft servicing time while aircraft carrier is on fire.	This skill will not work during retraining.
	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 HE shells for main battery guns with a caliber up to and including 139mm. -1% to chance of fire on target caused by HE shells for main battery guns with a caliber up to and including 139mm. +30% to the armor penetration capacity of HE shells for main battery guns with a caliber above 139mm. -3% to chance of fire on target caused by HE shells for main battery guns with a caliber above 139mm.	The mechanics for HE penetration can be found in the High Explosive section of the Gunnery & Armor Penetration page. Also see Armor thresholds for more specific analysis.
	Air Supremacy	4	Changes number of aircraft in squadrons.	+1 fighter per squadron. +1 dive bomber per squadron.	Increases the number of aircraft in each fighter and dive bomber squadron by 1. Does not affect torpedo bomber squadrons or the number of reserve aircraft. As of Update 0.6.4, this skill no longer affects catapult aircraft launched from cruisers or battleships. This skill will not work during retraining.

List of Support Skills

Icon	Skill Name	Skill Point Cost	Description	Effect	Notes
	Direction Center for Catapult Aircraft	1	When the Catapult Fighter or Spotting Aircraft consumable is activated, an additional aircraft is launched. However, the airspeed of catapult aircraft is decreased.	+1 catapult aircraft. -20% to the speed of catapult aircraft.	This skill will not work during retraining.
	Dogfighting Expert	1	Increases the attack power of fighters while in combat against higher-tier aircraft. The greater the difference between tiers, the greater the increase. Does not work for Catapult aircraft.	10% to combat performance of fighters for each tier of difference between them. +10% to fighters ammunition.	The skill calculates improvement based on aircraft tier, which may not correspondent to ship tier. Skill provides no benefit if enemy fighters are equal or lower tier. Does not affect Catapult Fighter .
	Smoke Screen Expert	2	Expands the smoke screen area.	+20% to the radius of smoke screens.	This skill will not work during retraining.
	Expert Rear Gunner	2	Increases efficiency of self-defense armament for aircraft with rear gunners.	+10% to average damage per second of self-defense armament for aircraft with rear gunners.	Applicable to dive bombers and torpedo bombers only.
	Basic Firing Training	3	Improves performance of main guns with a caliber up to and including 139mm and secondary guns.	-10% to reload time of main battery guns with a caliber up to and including 139mm and all secondary battery guns. +20% to average damage per second of AA defense.
	Superintendent	3	Increases capacity of consumables.	+1 additional charge to all consumables mounted on a ship.	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. Also increases range of all AA guns.	+20% to firing range of main battery guns with a caliber up to 139mm and all secondary battery guns. +20% to AA defense firing range.
	Manual Fire Control for AA Armament	4	Significantly improves the efficiency of large-caliber AA guns firing at priority targets designated by the player.	+100% to average damage per second of AA guns with a caliber exceeding 85mm against a designated target.	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	A warning about the risk of exposure to long-range artillery fire is displayed (when shells are fired at you with a flight time longer than 6 seconds).	Indicator of long-range artillery fire.	Think of this as a "turn now!" warning. This skill will not work during retraining.
	Evasive Maneuver	1	Decreases the airspeed of strike aircraft, but also reduces their detectability and increases their HP when returning to the carrier.	-20% to detectability of strike aircraft when returning to the carrier. +75% to HP of strike aircraft when returning to the carrier. -30% to airspeed of strike aircraft when returning to the carrier.	You must use the designated key-bind (F) to activate this ability. Using the waypoints will not give the bombers this bonus.
	Adrenaline Rush	2	Increases reload speed of all armament as the ship's health decreases.	-0.2% to reload times of all types of armament for each 1% of total health lost.	This skill affects main battery guns, secondary battery guns, and torpedoes; it has no affect 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, albeit while the engine or steering gears are incapacitated.	This skill will not work during retraining.
	Demolition Expert	3	Increases the chance of setting an enemy ship on fire.	+2% to chance of fire on a target caused by a main caliber shell, secondary shell, or bomb.	For more information on how fire chance is calculated, visit the Fire page.
	Vigilance	3	Extends ship's torpedo acquisition range.	+25% to the detection range of enemy torpedoes.	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 ship. The enemy player is alerted that a bearing has been taken on their ship. This skill will not work when playing as an aircraft carrier.		This skill will not work during retraining.
	Concealment Expert	4	Reduces ship detectability range.	-10% to the detection radius of destroyers. -12% to the detection radius of cruisers. -14% to the detection radius of battleships. -16% to the detection radius of aircraft carriers.	Stacks with other detection range reduction bonuses such as Concealment System Modification 1  or 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 doubloons 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 — redistribution is sometimes free of charge for a limited period of time. Clan Battle participants have been enjoying one week of free redistribution at the beginning and one the end of Clan Battle seasons.

Reserve Slots

Reserve slots — (shown highlighted in green on the graphic above) — allow players to retain Commanders without assigning them to a ship. Commanders in the Reserve can be assigned to any ship as normal, paying any appropriate costs for retraining (see below).

Each player starts with four (4) Reserve slots on their account. Additional Reserve slots can be purchased with doubloons or earned through various mission or campaign rewards.

Retraining Commanders

Once assigned to a researchable ship out of the regular tech tree, a Commander's skills can only be utilized on that ship. Transferring them to a new tech tree ship will require them to retrain, which is accomplished by earning a certain amount of Commander XP with the transferred commander in his new ship (see table). Normal commander training resumes once this retraining amount has been earned.

When retraining is required, players are offered several options:

• Commanders can spend nothing, requiring them to earn Commander XP as shown on the table at right in order to fully retrain them for their new ship.
• Commanders can spend 200,000 credits, requiring them to earn Commander XP equal to 1/2 of the Commander XP shown on the table at right in order to fully retrain them for their new ship.
• Commanders can spend 500 doubloons, fully retraining them for their new ship instantaneously.

Commanders can also spend Elite Commander XP (and/or Free XP) equal to the remaining cost of re-training, finishing retraining them for their new ship instantaneously. This can be combined with the 200,000 credit option in order to spend less XP.

Premium Ships

Commanders can be assigned to premium ships of the same nation at any time without undergoing retraining. Their skills will continue to work at full strength, regardless of what ship they are Specialized in. Commander XP earned while assigned to a premium ship counts toward the retraining on his silver ship. This makes premium ships a great way to retrain commanders while avoiding most of the regula retraining penalties.

Max Rank Commanders and Elite Experience

No Commander in the game can earn more experience than the amount of XP needed to earn 19 Commander skill points. To become an Elite Commander, the Commander must earn the maximum amount of XP: enough to earn 19 Skill Points. All XP earned over that value becomes Elite Commander XP (shown highlighted in purple on the graphic above). Elite XP is a type of in-game currency. It does not accumulate on any single Commander but is stored in a common pool of Elite Commander XP 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 open a new level of Skills, or to get additional Skill Points free of charge.
• Used to retrain any non-Elite Commander moved to a different ship (instead of doing the same with Doubloons).
• Used to reset all mastered Skills at no cost (players will now be able to choose whether to reset Commander Skills using Doubloons or Elite XP).
• 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 Elite Commander XP is spent, Free XP:

• Can be spent on promoting any Commander (that hasn’t reached the highest rank) to the next rank and increasing their number of Skill points.
• Can be used to retrain a Commander, when assigned to a different ship, to 100% (instead of retraining this Commander with Doubloons.)
• Can be spent on resetting all Skills mastered by a Commander (players will now be able to choose whether to reset Commander Skills with Doubloons or by spending Elite Commander XP/Free XP) -- the cost of redistributing Skills is 10,000 Elite Commander XP multiplied by the number of Skill points spent on mastering Skills.

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 retrain 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/retraining 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 "ordinary" Free XP using the same rules as the rules for conversion of the accumulated Ship XP. The conversion cost will be the same as the conversion cost of Ship XP into Free XP (25 XP for 1 Doubloon). Free XP cannot be converted back to Elite Commander XP. But, "ordinary" Free XP can now be directly spent for the same purposes as 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