Derfflinger
Also called: 德弗林格尔 Beta- Push to within secondary range (~5 km) so the secondary battery starts contributing damage
- Avoid: Torpedo Boat Brawling; with no torpedoes you cannot trade back a fight fought inside enemy torpedo range
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Derfflinger Community Stats
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Derfflinger Community Stats
Record History
Playstyle
Overview
Derfflinger is a Tier IV German secondary battleship with top-decile secondary reach out to 5 km: the kit rewards closing inside secondary range and letting the auto-fire battery work alongside the mains, not holding mid-range AP lines. HE pen sits at the 1/4 caliber ratio instead of the standard 1/6, so HE spam is a real damage option here - pens roughly 1.5x more armor than a same-caliber peer's HE round. Standout traits: best AP shell velocity in T4 BBs (855) and best punch-through secondaries in T4 BBs (38 mm).
Positioning
Push to within secondary range (~5 km) so the secondary battery starts contributing damage. A secondary BB at mid range is wasting half her kit; the geometry that pays out is close enough that the secondaries DPM peer BBs instead of the main battery alone.
Potato Avoidance
Torpedo Boat Brawling
With no torpedoes you cannot trade back a fight fought inside enemy torpedo range. Hold the band where your guns and secondaries punish them while their fish still fall short, and lean on armor and volume of fire instead of closing the last few kilometers into a spread you have no answer for.
Signature Traits
- Extended secondary range · 5.0 km
- Punch-through secondaries · 38.0 mm
HE pen at the 1/4 caliber ratio instead of the standard 1/6. HE-spam is a real damage option here, not just a fire-starter; pens roughly 1.5x more armor than a same-caliber peer's HE, shared by 6/24 T4 BBs.
- Flat AP shells · 855.0 m
- Tight dispersion · 159.7 m
- Fast AP shells · 5.05 s
62769 HE DPM, bottom decile of T4 BBs. Don't bank on burn pressure.
A brawler with no torpedoes: every trade is guns and secondaries. The sweet spot is inside secondary range but outside easy torpedo range -- close enough that the auto-fire battery works, not so close that a destroyer or torpedo cruiser lands a salvo you can't answer.
How to get Derfflinger
Derfflinger is a Tech Tree ship. The normal acquisition path is researching and purchasing it in its nation/class line. Official source cards below may also show its temporary Early Access window before it became a normal Tech Tree unlock. Container chances are shown as the listed odds of receiving this exact ship, dividing grouped ship-pool odds across the resolved ships and including nested container paths when a crate can drop another crate.
Best listed chance for this ship
-
Anniversary '23 German crate
10%
IV Derfflinger
Event · Anniversary '23 German crate
- German Battleship Big Crate 10% IV Derfflinger Archived · German Battleship Big Crate
- German Battleship Crate 5% IV Derfflinger Archived · German Battleship Crate
Official WG availability sources
- Eagles Take-off: German Battleships in Early Access Early Access Start: 2022-08-31 · End: 2022-09-28 Official early-access or tech-tree-line article. Tech-tree ships are temporary crate drops during Early Access, then move to the Tech Tree.
- Autumn Update: In the Shadow of Leaves Patch/update availability Start: 2022-08-25 · End: open/unknown end Official update notes with ship availability, release, store, event, or tech-tree context.
- Official WoWS Legends container odds Containers Official container drop rows linked below include direct and nested effective ship odds.
Show direct source rows
- Anniversary '23 German crate 10% · IV Derfflinger
- German Battleship Big Crate 10% · IV Derfflinger
- German Battleship Crate 5% · IV Derfflinger
Want the full picture? Each container page charts the odds as you open more crates — including pity guaranteed-reward timers and, for Fleet Members, pack math personalized to your port.
Builds Beta
Pair with a commander whose unique skill complements her main armament; check the build tool for current recommendations.
Have a build you swear by? Open it in the Build Tool and hit Save build to share it here.
Cohort position
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Where Derfflinger sits among Tier IV BBs (24 ships). Notable standouts are shown first; the rest of the cohort-ranked stats are in the expand below. Acquisition variants (Black Friday, Founders Edition) are counted once with their base ship, not as separate peers.
See 21 mid-pack stats
Not standouts for Derfflinger -- here's where she sits on every other ranked stat in the cohort. Stats tagged NORM are tied across more than half the cohort, so the value is the cohort default rather than a standout.
Peers in this cohort
Stats & specs
Customize in the Build Tool →Charting Toolƒ
Horizontal dispersion ellipse width at max range, from the verified WoWS dispersion model:ƒ
Vertical dispersion ellipse height at max range:ƒ
50%-hit horizontal radius:ƒ
50%-hit vertical radius:ƒ
180 degrees / 3.5 deg/s traverse speed = 51.4 s.ƒ
8 broadside guns x 60 / 26 s base reload = 18.5.HE shells
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76 mm ≈ 305 mm caliber / 4 (improved HE penetration: German BBs, Yamato-class, and a handful of others).ƒ
Zero upgrades: 3,400 HE damage x 8 broadside guns = 27,200. All upgrades (top hull shells): 3,500 HE damage x 8 broadside guns = 28,000.ƒ
Zero upgrades: 27,200 HE full-salvo alpha x 60 / 26 s base reload = 62,769. All upgrades (top hull shells): 28,000 HE full-salvo alpha x 60 / 26 s all-upgrades reload = 64,615.ƒ
18.5 shells/min x 23% fire chance = 4.25.AP shells
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floor(305 mm caliber / 14.3) = 21 mm (AP auto-penetrates plating this thick or less).ƒ
Canonical community AP formula (jcw780/wows_shell), evaluated at muzzle velocity: . Matches the in-game spec card.ƒ
Same formula at the ship's max firing range (18.3 km), where the shell has slowed to 406.1 m/s: .ƒ
Zero upgrades: 8,000 AP damage x 8 broadside guns = 64,000. All upgrades (top hull shells): 8,100 AP damage x 8 broadside guns = 64,800.ƒ
Zero upgrades: 64,000 AP full-salvo alpha x 60 / 26 s base reload = 147,692. All upgrades (top hull shells): 64,800 AP full-salvo alpha x 60 / 26 s all-upgrades reload = 149,538.ƒ
AP shell over-penetration splash radius; scales with shell mass. Wickes 102mm = 3, standard 152mm CL ~ 20, Iowa 406mm ~ 270, Yamato 460mm = 400, Incomparable 650mm = 550 (max). Larger value = bigger splash damage area when AP over-pens.ƒ
Sum across every AA aura on this ship of (aura.continuous_damage x 3.5 x aura.hit_probability). Here: (37×3.5×0.7) + (11×3.5×0.75) = 120. Covers AA-only mounts plus dual-purpose secondaries (Bismarck 105mm, USN 5"/38 cruiser secondaries) and dual-purpose main batteries (Sumner-class 5"/38, Akizuki-line 100mm). Formula validated against in-game captures on California, Sumner, Manfred von Richthofen, Dante Alighieri (exact) and within +/-17% on the remaining verified ships. Flak is NOT included: flak stops triggering once planes are inside 2.5 km, and its avoidable burst damage is shown separately in the Flak bursts section.ƒ
Longest-reaching aura across AA-only + dual-purpose auras.ƒ
Dual-purpose: your secondaries doing double duty against aircraft. The same mounts appear on the Secondary Battery card - shared guns, not extra hardware.ƒ
Effective DPS in in-game units (raw aura damage × 3.5 × hit probability, summed per contributing aura) - matches the Close-range AA DPS headline's currency. Includes 29 from dual-purpose secondaries firing as AA in this range band.ƒ
Effective DPS: 37 raw aura damage × 3.5 × 0.7 hit probability = 91 - the same in-game units as the Close-range AA DPS headline.ƒ
Far 29 + Near 91 = 120ƒ
Each ~2 s wave fires 2 quick salvos of 1 clouds ahead of the attacking squadron - up to 2 clouds per wave × 120 damage each. Planes that fly into a cloud take its damage; clouds dissipate before the next wave lands. Defensive AA Fire, where fitted, multiplies the salvo repeats within each wave.ƒ
Damage a plane takes for flying into one flak cloud, before any reductions.ƒ
Each cloud in the pattern rolls this chance to spawn, so waves average fewer clouds than the maximum. Often called flak 'hit chance', but spawned clouds always damage planes that fly into them - the roll is on spawning.ƒ
A flak wave spawns roughly every 2 s - timed frame-by-frame from gameplay footage and consistent across ships.ƒ
Flak keeps firing while at least one secondary battery mount is operational - even losing every other AA mount does not stop it.ƒ
The activation band: flak fires while attacking planes are inside it. Clouds are placed ahead of the planes' path, so bursts can land short of 2.5 km or past 3 km - once planes get inside the band, new waves stop.ƒ
Max dispersion = range (km) × 57 + 30. Each dispersion type sets its own slope; this is not a percentage applied to a standard baseline.ƒ
5 km × 57 + 30 = 315 m.Show 1 more gun family
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Dual-purpose: the same mounts also fire at aircraft, so they appear on the AA Defense card too - shared guns, not extra hardware.ƒ
Time to reach 90% of top speed (23.9 kt of 26.5 kt), from our in-house acceleration model.ƒ
Time to reach 99% of top speed (26.2 kt of 26.5 kt). 99% rather than 100% because true top speed is asymptotic (thrust meets drag), so the last fraction of a knot is never quite gained.ƒ
How many degrees the turret can swing for each degree the hull turns. Turn rate , so . Below 5 the turrets drag in a turning fight; 25+ keeps up with any rudder.ƒ
max(base sea detectability, gun-firing bloom range). Firing never pulls your detection closer than base concealment.
Damage Control Party3 charges · 40 s reload · 10 s active
Repair Party3 charges · 80 s reload · 28 s active · 6,664 HP (14% of max HP) total heal (per charge) ƒ
Heal per second (0.5%) x effective active time (28 s) = up to 14% of max HP restored per charge.ƒ
14% per charge x 3 charges = up to 42% of max HP if the whole Repair Party loadout is used.ƒ
0.5% of max HP (47,600 HP) per second = 238 HP/s. WoWS heals a flat percent of MAX HP each second, so this rate holds at any health level.
Secondary Battery Booster3 charges · 160 s reload · 30 s active · +100% grouping · -50% dispersion
See all derived stats
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All values are ship base stats with modifications and upgrade changes denoted inline.
Numbers the spec table cannot show directly: alpha-strike math, DPM, dispersion, AP penetration. Click the formula chip on any row to reveal how it is calculated.
Main battery formulas
Horizontal dispersion ellipse width at max range, from the verified WoWS dispersion model: Horizontal scatter at a fixed 5 km, from the same verified dispersion model as the rows below - a knife-fight-range anchor comparable across ships.How wide your shells scatter at 10 km, from the same dispersion model as the max-range figure above. Picking a fixed range makes this number directly comparable from ship to ship: max-range dispersion makes a longer-range gun look worse even when it's tighter at any common range. The interactive Dispersion tab on the Charts card plots the full curve from 0 to max range.Vertical dispersion ellipse height at max range: How tall the same scatter ellipse is at 10 km. Comparable from ship to ship for the same reason as the width value above.50%-hit horizontal radius: 50%-hit vertical radius: Canonical community AP formula (jcw780/wows_shell), evaluated at muzzle velocity: . Matches the in-game spec card.Same formula at the ship's max firing range (18.3 km), where the shell has slowed to 406.1 m/s: .AP penetration at a fixed 5 km, read off the same PC-validated ballistic curve as AP Pen Close/Far: the shell's impact velocity at that range fed through the canonical community AP formula . Fixed anchors make ships directly comparable at the same fighting distance; the Charts card plots the full curve.AP penetration at a fixed 10 km, read off the same PC-validated ballistic curve as AP Pen Close/Far: the shell's impact velocity at that range fed through the canonical community AP formula . Fixed anchors make ships directly comparable at the same fighting distance; the Charts card plots the full curve.76 mm ≈ 305 mm caliber / 4 (improved HE penetration: German BBs, Yamato-class, and a handful of others).This ship's HE shells use a 1/4 (~0.25) caliber-to-pen ratio instead of the standard 1/6 (~0.167) - 0.249 in this case. Lets HE pen ~76mm armor instead of ~50mm. Hits every German cruiser (150mm CL, 203mm CA) and BB (350mm+), British heavy cruisers / Lion / Nelson, a handful of other premiums.floor(305 mm caliber / 14.3) = 21 mm (AP auto-penetrates plating this thick or less).AP shell over-penetration splash radius; scales with shell mass. Wickes 102mm = 3, standard 152mm CL ~ 20, Iowa 406mm ~ 270, Yamato 460mm = 400, Incomparable 650mm = 550 (max). Larger value = bigger splash damage area when AP over-pens.All 8 barrels bear on the broadside.180 degrees / 3.5 deg/s traverse speed = 51.4 s.Zero upgrades: 3,400 HE damage x 8 broadside guns = 27,200. All upgrades (top hull shells): 3,500 HE damage x 8 broadside guns = 28,000.Zero upgrades: 8,000 AP damage x 8 broadside guns = 64,000. All upgrades (top hull shells): 8,100 AP damage x 8 broadside guns = 64,800.Zero upgrades: 27,200 HE full-salvo alpha x 60 / 26 s base reload = 62,769. All upgrades (top hull shells): 28,000 HE full-salvo alpha x 60 / 26 s all-upgrades reload = 64,615.Zero upgrades: 64,000 AP full-salvo alpha x 60 / 26 s base reload = 147,692. All upgrades (top hull shells): 64,800 AP full-salvo alpha x 60 / 26 s all-upgrades reload = 149,538.8 broadside guns x 60 / 26 s base reload = 18.5.18.5 shells/min x 23% fire chance = 4.25.AA defense
Sum across every AA aura on this ship of (aura.continuous_damage x 3.5 x aura.hit_probability). Here: (37×3.5×0.7) + (11×3.5×0.75) = 120. Covers AA-only mounts plus dual-purpose secondaries (Bismarck 105mm, USN 5"/38 cruiser secondaries) and dual-purpose main batteries (Sumner-class 5"/38, Akizuki-line 100mm). Formula validated against in-game captures on California, Sumner, Manfred von Richthofen, Dante Alighieri (exact) and within +/-17% on the remaining verified ships. Flak is NOT included: flak stops triggering once planes are inside 2.5 km, and its avoidable burst damage is shown separately in the Flak bursts section.Longest-reaching aura across AA-only + dual-purpose auras.SUM over AA auras of (aura DPS x aura range km). A plane crossing the AA bubble is exposed to each aura for a time proportional to that aura's range, so long-reach DPS is worth more than the same DPS in a short bubble. Units: DPS*km; used to rank overall AA threat across the cohort.Secondary battery dispersion
Max dispersion = range (km) × 57 + 30. Each dispersion type sets its own slope; this is not a percentage applied to a standard baseline.5 km × 57 + 30 = 315 m.Secondary battery firepower
Sum across all secondary families of (per-side barrels × 60 / reload_s × alpha), where per-side barrels = mounts × barrels-per-mount / 2 (the guns that bear on one broadside target). Per-family: 12×1 150 mm (6/side) × 60/8.57 × 1800 = 75,613 + 8×1 88 mm (4/side) × 60/4 × 1000 = 60,000. Assumes every shell hits (real hit rate is lower; the Brawl matchup tool on the Compare page folds in dispersion + target armor).Maximum HE damage per shell across secondary HE families. Best on this ship: 1800 from the 150 mm family.Maximum per-shell fire chance across secondary HE families (before target fire resistance is applied). Best on this ship: 10% from the 150 mm family.Maximum HE armor penetration across secondary HE families (caliber × 1/6 for most nations; 1/4 for German/UK BBs). Shells whose pen falls under a plate's armor thickness shatter for 0 hull damage though fire chance still applies. Best on this ship: 38 mm from the 150 mm family.Armor Beta
Hull HP 41,400 → 47,600 with hull upgrade, distributed across 5 hull zones, each with its own plate thicknesses, saturation cap, and pen thresholds. HP caps are the exact in-game values, not estimated.
Overmatched by 76+ guns across the bracket. Can’t reliably bow-tank; gets bow-citadelled and overpenned.
Citadels come from a flat broadside at close range; held past ~30° of angle, AP shatters or bounces.
Superstructure and extremities take HE pens and AP overpens from nearly any gun: steady chip damage. Fire resistance 17%, fires burn 60s. Range-by-range in the Compare tool →
| Section | Plates | HP cap | Threats | Tactic |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bow | 19 mm primary (range 19–120 mm) | 2,600 (5% of HP) | Overmatch not possible in its bracketAngle bounces 203mm19 mm: HE pens from 127mm+ | Bow-tank fits behind this exterior plate. Saturation is FAST here; the cap is often only a few thousand HP. |
| Hull (midship) | 150 mm primary (range 19–300 mm) | 35,700 (75% of HP) | No common caliber overmatches150 mm: no common HE pens | Largest HP pool. Citadel sits behind these plates; thinner deck and side plating absorb the rest. |
| Stern | 19 mm primary (range 19–100 mm) | 1,500 (3% of HP) | Overmatch not possible in its bracketAngle bounces 203mm19 mm: HE pens from 127mm+ | Mirror of bow. Same fast saturation. |
| Citadel | 300 mm primary (range 19–260 mm) | ≈ 165,500 (effectively no cap) | Citadel pen: full damageOver-pen: ×0.10 damage | Effectively no cap; citadel pool sits at ~165k HP on every ship. An AP citadel penetration deals the shell's full damage, the biggest single hit available; only over-penetrations are damped, to ×0.10. |
| Superstructure | 13 mm primary (range 13–300 mm) | 1,700 (4% of HP) | Any HE ≥16 mm pens at full damage | Any HE ≥16 mm pens at full damage. HE-spam target, and the section saturates fast (often only a few thousand HP). |
| Turret (module, per magazine) | separate HP pool, does not drain ship HP | 23,800 magazine HP | Magazine detonation1–30% chance · below ~75% HP | Per-turret powder-magazine HP. Detonation chance scales from 1% (no mag damage) to 30% (full mag damage); this range is the in-game value. Detonation can't roll while the ship is above ~75% HP (the standard detonation-protection threshold, not a per-ship stat). Smaller magazines saturate to the 30% ceiling faster. |
| Secondary mount (150 mm mount) | separate HP pool, does not drain ship HP | 800 per-mount HP | Destroyed at 0 HP | Per-mount HP for the heaviest secondary on this ship. A mount destroyed at 0 HP is out for the rest of the battle; DCP does not repair destroyed mounts. Smaller (lighter-caliber) secondaries typically share the same HP value. |
| AA mount (8 mm mount) | separate HP pool, does not drain ship HP | 200 per-mount HP | Destroyed at 0 HP | Per-mount HP for the heaviest AA on this ship. An AA mount destroyed at 0 HP stops shooting down planes for the rest of the battle; DCP does not repair destroyed mounts. HE shells specifically target AA mounts since the small-caliber HP pool falls fast. |
| Rudder (module) | separate HP pool, does not drain ship HP | 14,300 module HP | Incapacitated at 0 HP | When module HP reaches 0 the rudder locks at its current angle until DCP repairs it. Repair via Damage Control Party. |
Saturation cap = HP a section can absorb before further damage to it is reduced (the "bow-tank" effect). Citadel pool is ~165k on every ship (effectively no cap); damage is gated by pen/over-pen multipliers instead. Superstructure saturates fast but HE always pens regardless of the plate thickness. Rudder (and other module HPs) are a separate pool from ship HP: damaging a module doesn't drain ship HP. Incapacitated modules like the rudder and engine are restored by DCP, but secondary and AA mounts destroyed at 0 HP stay out for the rest of the battle.
Ship Charts
Skins & permanent camouflages
Every custom exterior Derfflinger can equip, from in-game data.
DefaultThe ship’s standard exterior
Primary official WG sources
Filtered to official World of Warships: Legends pages where this ship is a focus, reward, line member, or high-context variant mention.
