Update 15.8 confirmed: 11 years of WoWS, Akagi, Honolulu, and Clan Battles

The last two days have brought two main developments in World of Warships: Wargaming has officially finalized the full contents of Update 15.8, while considerably more detailed values are now available for the previously announced 15.9 test ships Akagi and Honolulu.

That brings together two different areas of work. 15.8 is the imminent anniversary update with rewards, a Dockyard, new Operations, and Clan Battles. Akagi and Honolulu, meanwhile, still belong to the Closed Test for 15.9 and are explicitly work in progress.

For EU, Update 15.8 is scheduled for Thursday, September 10. Maintenance is currently set for 04:00 to 07:00 CEST.

Anyone with unfinished business in the old 15.7 Event Pass should check it beforehand: on EU, it ends as early as Wednesday morning, September 9, at 04:00 CEST.

11 years of World of Warships: a substantial anniversary this time

After the first battle in Update 15.8, a free anniversary gift can be claimed in the Armory. It contains:

• the new Happy Blastday destruction effect
• the Blast & Bash permanent camouflage
• 3 Battle of Santiago de Cuba containers
• 3 Red Steel Titan Premium containers
• 11 days of Warships Premium Account

The much larger part of the anniversary once again revolves around the familiar Festive Rewards, formerly known as “Snowflakes.”

Festive Rewards by tier

Once again, there is also the option to use a frequently played ship to trigger additional Festive Rewards on other ships in Port. The number of extra bonuses activated depends on the size of the player's Port. With 600 or more ships, for example, up to seven additional Snowflakes can be removed at once.

That should be considerably more convenient for large accounts than having to take every individual ship into battle.

Kurama for 11,000 Festive Tokens

The standout item in the anniversary shop is the new Japanese supercruiser Kurama ⚓. She enters Early Access with Update 15.8 and costs 11,000 Festive Tokens.

The currently published values show an offensively oriented heavy cruiser with a burst option, high speed, and a substantial torpedo armament.

On paper, normal HE DPM is just under 199,400, with AP DPM at around 318,500, before Commanders, modules, or other modifiers are taken into account.

The burst mode is more interesting, however. Range drops to 12 km, but two salvos can be fired just two seconds apart. Combined with shells traveling at 970 m/s, this strongly suggests a cruiser that rewards good positioning and short windows of very heavy damage.

She also carries twenty 610-mm torpedo tubes, Hydro or an alternative support consumable, Repair Party, and Submarine Surveillance.

Red Steel Titan: Sovetskaya Rossiya as a collection reward

The new Red Steel Titan Premium containers contain elements of a historical collection with 60 pieces in total. Completing the collection awards Soviet Sovetskaya Rossiya ⚓ at Tier IX.

She is based on the Sovetsky Soyuz class, but her current profile suggests a less typically Soviet playstyle, because her main battery uses the American dispersion formula.

She retains the Soviet Fast Damage Control Team, with a short cooldown but limited charges. At the same time, the improved dispersion is intended to make the ten 406-mm guns more reliable at medium and longer ranges than those of conventional Soviet battleships.

Theoretical AP DPM currently stands at around 240,900. With a 33-second reload, she is no continuous-fire ship, but a good ten-shell salvo dealing 13,250 AP damage per shell should still make a fairly convincing argument.

Marlborough B: Black Friday starts with the Dockyard

The Dockyard in Update 15.8 leads straight into this year's Black Friday theme. Its main reward is British Tier IX Marlborough B.

The Dockyard consists of 28 phases. Of these, 23 phases can be completed through combat missions. Five phases must be purchased with Doubloons.

• individual phase: 1,400 Doubloons
• starter pack for 5 phases: 4,500 Doubloons
• starter pack for 10 phases: 8,500 Doubloons

The missions run throughout Update 15.8 and the first three weeks of 15.9.

Marlborough B: current ship data

The bare numbers explain the ship quite well. A full HE salvo offers a theoretical 88,000 alpha damage, while an AP salvo offers 168,000 alpha damage. The 25-second reload provides high sustained DPM despite the relatively small 356 mm caliber.

The price remains Marlborough's familiar weakness: 1.45 sigma, soft outer armor, and an uncomfortably exposed citadel. Anyone determined to use all 16 barrels at once must therefore watch very carefully when they expose their broadside.

The Event Pass: a good free line, with the second line costing 2,500 Doubloons

The 11 Years of Glory Event Pass once again offers two progression lines.

The free line includes:

• 12,000 Coal
• 1,200 Steel
• 1,500,000 Credits
• Commander delmar_83 with 6 skill points
• the 11 Years of Glory flag
• the Moonlight Wave and Radiant Wave permanent camouflages
• the Happy Blastday destruction effect as the final reward

The second line costs 2,500 Doubloons. Unlocking it immediately awards Commander General Greenwood with 10 skill points. Further rewards include:

• 12,000 Coal
• 600 Steel
• 60,000 Elite Commander XP
• 20,000 Free XP
• the Cold Ray and Blazing Ray permanent camouflages
• Orion '44 at Tier VI, including a Port slot and Commander
• the Press F destruction effect
• the Interdimensional Shift permanent camouflage for Zieten

The small new catch-up rule is important. Anyone who misses the daily mission for 250 Base XP receives double Event Pass points the next time they complete it. The bonus can only be stored once, however, and cannot be stacked across multiple missed days.

The complete Pass requires 500 points. Up to 760 points can be earned through regular play, with another 40 points available from special missions for the new low-tier Operations.

Three new Operations for lower tiers

Update 15.8 finally gives the lower tiers their own PvE space again.

The new additions are:

• Trial by Fire from Tier II
• Swarm of Steel from Tier III
• Beehive from Tier IV

All three Operations scale up to Tier VI.

At Tiers II to IV, teams consist of five players; at Tiers V and VI, they consist of seven. Bots can fill empty places at the lower tiers. The scenarios also become more complex as the tier increases.

The extra scaling for experienced players is interesting. Accounts with more than 200 battles can receive more challenging variants even at the low tiers.

Killer Whale also gets an adjusted Tier V/VI version, where the main objective revolves around rescuing and escorting a damaged allied cruiser.

This finally gives low-tier ships a reason to exist in Port beyond the account's first few hours.

Clan Battles Season 35: 5 versus 5 at Tier VIII

For Clans, 15.8 is likely to be particularly interesting because of Season 35, Komodo Dragon.

The format is becoming considerably more compact:

• 5 versus 5
• Tier VIII only
• battleships, cruisers, and destroyers
• a maximum of one battleship per team

Specific ship restrictions have also been announced:

• Lenin is banned
• a maximum of one Le Terrible or Le Fantasque
• a maximum of two ships from Cherbourg, Tallinn, Vladivostok, and Borodino

In the 5v5 format in particular, every single ship carries considerably more weight than in a conventional 7v7 lineup. A loss or a poor distribution of roles is much harder to compensate for.

The outright exclusion of Lenin, alongside limits on certain strong Tier VIII picks, makes it fairly clear where Wargaming itself sees problematic combinations.

Other changes in Update 15.8

Alongside the major anniversary features, several smaller changes and fixes were detailed on September 7.

These include:

• Asymmetric Battles become a little harder at Tier VIII and a little easier at Tier IX.
• Other players' Marks of Excellence can be viewed on their web profiles.
• On Shatter, spawn points in “Clans. Domination” mode are moved a little farther back and brought more closely in line with the tournament layout.
• Issues with the talents of Philippe Auboyneau and William F. Halsey Jr. in Operations are fixed.
• An incorrect HP restoration display after Yamamoto's Second Wind is corrected.
• The display of Pascual Cervera y Topete's enhanced skills is corrected.
• Several issues involving priority AA fire, Division invitations, battle type switching, and torpedo launchers are fixed.

None of these changes turns the game upside down on its own. The farther-back Shatter spawns in particular make sense for competitive play, though, as they are intended to give both teams more even starting positions.

Akagi: the full test values make the concept much more interesting

Alongside 15.8, detailed values have now been published for Akagi at Tier VIII. She still belongs to Update 15.9 and is in the Closed Test.

The core concept remains the combination of regular and tactical squadrons. We can now see more clearly how much the four aircraft types actually differ, however.

Akagi: ship and carrier basics

Regular torpedo bombers

These are typical Japanese torpedo bombers with comparatively high damage per hit. The real problem is the small reserve combined with slow restoration.

Anyone who unnecessarily throws several aircraft into heavy AA groups early on will still feel that mistake later in the match.

Regular HE skip bombers

Four bombs with 8,800 potential damage and a 50 percent fire chance each make for a fairly unpleasant tool against larger surface ships, at least on paper.

Tactical torpedo bombers

A different principle applies here. The tactical squadron returns in full after its fixed countdown and is therefore intended more for risky attacks.

Each torpedo deals less damage than those of the regular squadron, but all six aircraft attack at once.

Tactical HE dive bombers

This squadron in particular should be interesting against maneuverable targets and for targeted finishing attacks. The biggest risk remains the low aircraft HP.

Akagi's gameplay is therefore likely to be less about finding “the best squadron” and more about constantly balancing the two systems. Tactical squadrons can be spent in riskier situations, while regular squadrons need to be used as efficiently as possible throughout the match.

For an aircraft carrier, that is a considerably more interesting concept than four almost interchangeable attack waves.

Honolulu: 15 barrels, Smoke, Hydro, and a heal

Much more complete values are now available for Honolulu at Tier VII as well. Like Akagi, she belongs to Update 15.9 and remains WIP.

With 15 barrels and a ten-second reload, Honolulu reaches a theoretical 198,000 HE DPM and 288,000 AP DPM.

That is less than Helena, but Honolulu is intended to compensate for the missing raw damage with her consumable package.

Consumables

Repair Party

• 2 charges
• 169 HP per second
• 28-second action time
• 80-second cooldown

Smoke Generator

• 3 charges
• 30-second action time
• 121-second smoke duration
• 160-second cooldown

Hydroacoustic Search

• 4.0 km ship detection
• 3.0 km torpedo detection
• 100-second action time
• 3 charges

In the fifth slot, Honolulu can also choose between Auxiliary and Torpedo Weaponry Coordination, Fighter, and Spotting Aircraft.

The spotter in particular is likely to be the pragmatic choice much of the time, given the very short base range of just 13.3 km.

The overall package therefore looks like a more cautious Helena that can venture closer to caps and islands. Smoke + Hydro + Heal is a strong safety net at Tier VII. At the same time, 33,900 HP and 16-mm extremities remain a fairly clear reminder that Honolulu is not going to be a small armored fortress.

Chikuma Shō-Gō and Friedrich Carl round out 15.8

Alongside the major anniversary rewards, Update 15.8 also brings Chikuma Shō-Gō and Friedrich Carl into regular sale or the new event routes.

Chikuma Shō-Gō will be offered through the Birthday Wishing Wharf. The Japanese Tier IX hybrid cruiser has eight 203-mm guns, her own torpedo bombers, long-range ship-launched torpedoes, very good concealment, Smoke, and Repair Party. Hydro and Defensive AA share the same slot.

Friedrich Carl will also appear in the Birthday Wishing Wharf and will additionally be offered directly in an Admiral Pack.

Despite its anniversary focus, 15.8 is therefore far more than just a rewards update. New ships, a Dockyard, Early Access, three Operations, and a new Clan Battles season are closely interconnected.

Conclusion

Update 15.8 is considerably bigger than the anniversary headline alone initially suggests.

Anyone with a large Port is likely to be kept busy by Festive Rewards and the simplified Snowflake system. Kurama for 11,000 Festive Tokens is the clear long-term goal, while the Marlborough B Dockyard once again includes a compulsory Doubloon component.

For PvE players, the new low-tier Operations are probably the most interesting permanent addition. For Clans, the new 5v5 format at Tier VIII is the bigger adjustment, because every individual position matters more.

Meanwhile, the 15.9 test ships are becoming more tangible. Akagi looks like a CV where actual squadron management will matter more again. Honolulu trades some of Helena's firepower for an unusually complete toolkit of Smoke, Hydro, and healing.

That makes both worth watching. They are not yet ships to buy or earmark resources for, however: Akagi and Honolulu are still in the Closed Test, and all values may change.