Tirpitz

Referred to as the "Derpitz" or the "Torpitz" — due to a large number of inexperienced players choosing to purchase her outright without knowledge of high tier gameplay — Tirpitz is surprisingly flexible for a battleship and can be used as either a proper battleship or as an impromptu battlecruiser. Probably the most surprising thing players will find is that her main battery load time is about 26 seconds, which can be daunting to face. She also has torpedo tubes, useful for when cruisers or battleships get in too close or when the ship is able to work its way into melee range. Her 15-inch guns are the smallest BB guns on Tier VIII battleship (tied with her sister Bismarck), and have not only a high amount of dispersion when firing at maximum to extreme range but will find trouble punching through armor designed to protect against 16-inch shells. However, the smaller caliber means that shells are less likely to overpenetrate cruisers, and when combined with the good turret traverse and reload time (for a battleship), this can make Tirpitz excellent at clearing the battlefield of enemy cruisers.

Her AA suite — once considered sub-par — has gone through several rounds of improvements but is still unreliable, and will not save you from a dedicated carrier assault. As a capital ship, she will, of course, still be a priority target for enemy aircraft carriers, and thus captains must be wary of an enemy CV should they find themselves against one. At 30.7 knots, it may be easy for her to outrun her team; excellent map awareness and an eye on positioning of friendly ships is key to playing Tirpitz well, so much so that inexperienced players that fail to consider it quickly earn the ire of their teammates. Many Tirpitz captains will put too much or not enough trust in her armor, either rushing too far forward for a torpedo rush and quickly sinking from a focused enemy barrage, or staying too far back, where her guns are inaccurate, lose power, and make her vulnerable to plunging fire. The key to success with Tirpitz is proper positioning and knowing the right balance for your positioning in a given scenario. Being a German vessel, she was designed and built with the relatively short range battles of the northeast Atlantic and Baltic in mind, not the long range battles of the Pacific. Thus, her armor is a double-edged sword, very thick on the side for short range attacks, but very weak on the deck should a round manage to land and penetrate there. Similar to her cruiser counterparts in the German tech tree, her AP shells far outshine her HE shells, which leave much to be desired.

With her handling characteristics, there are two primary ways to drive this ship: either joining the main wave as part of the battle line, or as the capital ship for a cruiser group that did not join the main line to form a flanking unit. One important thing to remember is that Tirpitz has fallen from its place as the top brawler at tier VIII, for a number of reasons. While still a daunting opponent, the addition of the Bismarck means you can no longer be sure of beating anything at close range. With its equal secondary armament (though no longer superior as of the range buff in update 0.6.4) and access to Hydroacoustic Search, the Bismarck is fully capable of outbrawling the Tirpitz. However, If you find yourself in a close range fight, your torpedoes can provide a valuable advantage. But if you intend to utilize a brawling playstyle, remember that you are no longer assured of victory at close range.

Tirpitz is a very capable ship in the right hands, and especially inside its torpedo range, is not to be underestimated. However, it has become very difficult to play effectively. With all these things considered, team play and knowing where to be, when to be there, and using her assets effectively when you get there will carry you to victory.