Battleship - Brazil Tier V Rio de Janeiro
Captain & Ship Build and Strategy Guide
- Build focus: Standard battleship tank build
- Playstyle: Slow, hard-hitting dreadnought focused on punishing broadsides
- Main strength: Massive 14-gun broadside
- Main weakness: Very slow reload and low top speed
- Recommended skill: Basics of Survivability instead of Improved Repair Party Readiness
- Alternative: Vigilance can be useful against torpedo-heavy low-tier matches
- Tip: Use the secondary signal for slightly better secondary range
- Applies to: Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro is a classic dreadnought with one particularly memorable feature: fourteen main battery guns. Her huge broadside can deliver an intimidating amount of AP firepower, but that comes with the familiar drawbacks of an early battleship design: poor speed and a painfully long reload.
The real ship also had an unusual history. Rio de Janeiro was being constructed for Brazil when the country's rubber boom ended, leaving the Brazilian government unable to continue funding the project. The unfinished battleship was eventually sold to the Ottoman Empire and completed as Sultan Osman I.
The recommended setup is a standard battleship tank build. Because Rio de Janeiro operates at low tier, Basics of Survivability is generally more useful than Improved Repair Party Readiness; battles in this tier rarely produce the very high potential damage needed to make the additional Repair Party charge worthwhile.
Vigilance is another reasonable choice, particularly in matches where destroyers are active. Low-tier battles can become chaotic very quickly, and a longer torpedo detection window gives Rio more time to react despite her poor mobility.
In battle, Rio de Janeiro plays similarly to the slower mid-tier American dreadnoughts. Your speed makes repositioning difficult, so the minimap deserves constant attention. Try to anticipate where the next engagement will develop before committing to a flank.
The enormous broadside rewards patience. Rather than firing whenever one target is available, wait for a cruiser or battleship to expose a significant portion of its side. When the opportunity appears, put all fourteen guns to work and make the salvo count. With such a long reload, a poor shot can leave you ineffective for a substantial part of the engagement.
Avoid pushing too far ahead simply because you have a battleship's health pool. Rio is slow enough that an isolated position can become impossible to escape. Stay within supporting distance of your team, use islands when they help limit incoming fire, and look for opportunities to punish enemies that become committed to your teammates.
Rio de Janeiro is ultimately a simple ship with a demanding gun discipline requirement. You are slow, your reload is long, but landing a full broadside can be devastating. Read the minimap, anticipate enemy movement and make every salvo count.