Dresden
Also called: 德累斯顿 Beta- Stay near your team; do not push ahead alone
- Avoid: Sailing in a straight line
On this page
Dresden Community Stats
Across 580+ Standard battles from 160+ players, Dresden averages a 67% win rate, 16,800 damage and 1.3 kills per battle, and survives 52% of them.
Dresden Community Stats
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Dresden Community Stats
Record History
Playstyle
Overview
Dresden is a Tier I German cruiser - a tutorial-tier ship. The kit is for learning basic mechanics: movement, aiming, shell travel time, gun rotation, and reading the minimap. Match impact comes from making fewer mistakes than the other Tier I players, not from gear advantages. Notable: best HE DPM in T1 CAs (126,000, 1st of 11) and best heavy citadel belt in T1 CAs (80 mm, 1st of 12).
Positioning
Stay near your team; do not push ahead alone. At Tier I the goal is practicing the basics, so pick a teammate to follow and learn how to lead your shots while their ship is in your field of vision.
Potato Avoidance
Sailing in a straight line
Even Tier I players will lead a predictable target; learn to make small course changes between salvos to break enemy aim. This is the single highest-impact habit to build at this tier.
Signature Traits
- HE DPM machine · 126000 HE
- Fast turret traverse · 10°/s
- Heavy citadel belt · 80 mm
- Heavy belt
8.9 km surface detect, bottom decile of T1 CAs. Visible before you can react; position early.
4% fire chance per HE shell, bottom decile of T1 CAs. AP carries more weight.
How to get Dresden
Dresden is available in the Dresden branch of the Germany Tech Tree as an early line ship.
While you save up, check active promo codes for free doubloons, camouflages, and other rewards.
Show Germany tech-tree branch diagram
Dresden sits in the Dresden branch. The highlighted path shows the local branch context inside the full Germany tree.
Builds
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, or browse the Ship Builds guide for proven loadouts across the fleet.
Cohort position
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Where Dresden sits among Tier I CAs (11 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 11 mid-pack stats
Not standouts for Dresden -- 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
Compare Tier I CruisersStats & specs
Customize in the Build Tool →ƒ
How far each mount can train, in degrees to either side of the mount's own facing. A rear turret with ±150° leaves a 60° blind wedge over the bow; one-sided arcs are wing mounts that cover a single side. The data does not say which way each mount faces, so the arcs are listed per mount without bow/stern angles.ƒ
In practice: 12% tighter (better) horizontal dispersion and 12% less vertical spread at max range (9.9 km) than a standard cruiser: about 90 m wide × 54 m tall, against 102 m × 61 m. Also on this curve (225): AL Avrora, AL Yukikaze, AL Z24, Acasta, Achilles, Adriatico, Aigle, Akatsuki, Akizuki, Albany, Allen M. Sumner, Attilio Regolo and 213 more.ƒ
Horizontal dispersion ellipse width at max range, from the dispersion model:ƒ
Vertical dispersion ellipse height at max range:ƒ
50%-hit horizontal radius:ƒ
50%-hit vertical radius:ƒ
180 degrees / 10 deg/s traverse speed = 18 s.ƒ
7 broadside guns x 60 / 4 s base reload = 105.HE shells
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18 mm ≈ 105 mm caliber / 6 (standard HE penetration ratio).ƒ
1,200 HE damage x 7 broadside guns = 8,400.ƒ
8,400 HE full-salvo alpha x 60 / 4 s base reload = 126,000.ƒ
105 shells/min × 0.04 (4% fire chance) = 4.2.ƒ
Longest-reaching family on the in-game AA card. Base AirDefense aura max range is 1 km; dual-purpose mount auras extend it.ƒ
Effective DPS: 5 raw aura damage × 3.5 × 0.85 hit probability = 15 - the same in-game units as the Close-range AA DPS headline.ƒ
top speed / 4 + 4.9 = 25 / 4 + 4.9 = 11.2 kt. Base value; speed modifiers scale it.ƒ
Seconds from top speed to a dead stop after ordering full reverse: reverse power winds in over the reverse spool-up while water drag does most of the braking, using the ship's own reverse-power ratio. The full curve is on the acceleration chart. Full reverse stops about a quarter faster than a plain Stop order from top speed.ƒ
Speed below which the engine's built-in power boost applies in reverse.ƒ
Time to reach 90% of top speed (22.5 kt of 25.0 kt).ƒ
Time to reach 99% of top speed (24.8 kt of 25.0 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
With the rudder hard over the hull turns 5.3°/s, so a target drifts across the bow at that rate. Turret traverse minus hull turn: 10 − 5.3 = +4.7°/s, so the guns hold the target through the turn. Main Battery Mod. 2 (+20% traverse) and Mod. 3 (−15%) move this line.ƒ
Base value, no camouflage. With a Grade IV permanent camo (or any disposable camo): 8.86 km x 0.955 = 8.46 km. Camouflage does not change detectability by air.ƒ
Detectability by sea 8.86 km x 0.955 (Grade IV permanent camo or any disposable camo) = 8.46 km.ƒ
max(main battery range, sea detectability 8.86 km) = 9.94 km. Equal to the ship's main battery range (never below base detectability): firing makes you visible to everyone you can reach.ƒ
Air detectability 5.32 km + gun-firing bloom 2.1 km = 7.42 km. The bloom tracks main-battery caliber 105 mm × 0.020 = 2.1 km.ƒ
Sea detectability 8.86 km + 2.0 km while burning = 10.86 km.ƒ
Air detectability 5.32 km + 3.0 km while burning = 8.32 km.
Damage Control Party∞ charges · 60 s reload · 5 s active
Under the hood
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All values are ship base stats with modifications and upgrade changes denoted inline.
The constants behind the formulas and the long tail: shell and dispersion inputs, fixed-range anchors, salvo math, layered AA. Click the formula chip on any row to see how it is calculated.
Main battery formulas
H = horizontal, V = vertical spread. This ship's curve against the standard cruiser curve, both evaluated at this ship's max range (9.9 km) with the same model as Max Horiz/Vert Disp: horizontal 90 / 102 m − 1 = -12%, vertical 54 / 61 m − 1 = -12%. Shell grouping (σ) is separate: it sets how shells bunch toward the centre of this ellipse.(166.7 × (8 − 0.5) / 1000 + 0.5) × 30 = 52.5 m. Horizontal scatter at a fixed 5 km, from the same dispersion model as the rows below - a knife-fight-range anchor comparable across ships.Counted from each mount's firing arc: most barrels that bear at once: 7 of 12, on the beam; casemate/wing mounts only fire one side.Model inputs
Starting speed of the HE shell; sets its flight time and lead.Horizontal dispersion growth per idealDistance of range, in 30 m units; the slope of the scatter-width line.Horizontal dispersion at zero range, in 30 m units; the intercept of the scatter-width line.Range step over which horizontal dispersion grows by idealRadius.Inside this range the scatter width tapers toward minRadius instead of following the line.Vertical scatter as a share of horizontal at zero range.Vertical scatter as a share of horizontal at the delim point.Vertical scatter as a share of horizontal at maximum range.Where the vertical-scatter curve bends, as a share of maximum range.AA defense
Only families that reach 1 km contribute at the outer edge of the AA bubble. In-game families: MachineGunMaxim 7 62 4x1 -> 15 DPS @ 1 km.@ 1 km: 15 from one family. Cumulative AA DPS at each family range threshold. Inner ranges stack the outer families, so a target closing the distance hits stronger AA bubbles as it crosses each band.15 = 15 DPS: the sum of every family's average DPS, achievable only inside the closest-range family (1 km).15 × 1 = 15. 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.Ship Charts
Background
A typical German protected cruiser of the early 20th century. Dresden could serve as a scout or raider, or cover a ship squadron from enemy destroyers. She could boast a high speed for her time and very good armor protection. Compared with the majority of her contemporary enemy cruisers, she was fitted with numerous, yet less efficient guns.
Armor Beta
Hull HP 11,900, distributed across 5 hull zones, each with its own plate thicknesses, saturation cap, and pen thresholds.
Overmatched by 60+ AP guns across the bracket. Can’t reliably bow-tank; gets bow-citadelled and overpenned.
Thin belt: battleship AP citadels straight through it broadside. Rely on angle, speed and concealment, never sit flat.
Superstructure and extremities take HE pens and AP overpens from nearly any gun: steady chip damage. Fire resistance 0%, fires burn 30s. Range-by-range in the Compare tool →
| Section | Plates | HP cap | Threats | Tactic |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bow | 6 mm primary (range 6–100 mm) | 1,000 (8% of HP) | Overmatched by 127mm+ AP (Farragut)6 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) | 9 mm | 9,900 (83% of HP) | Overmatched by 150mm+ AP (Celebes, Königsberg)Angle bounces 127mm9 mm: HE pens from 127mm+ | Largest HP pool. Citadel sits behind these plates; thinner deck and side plating absorb the rest. |
| Stern | 6 mm primary (range 6–10 mm) | 1,000 (8% of HP) | Overmatched by 127mm+ AP (Farragut)6 mm: HE pens from 127mm+ | Mirror of bow. Same fast saturation. |
| Citadel | 80 mm primary (range 6–80 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 | 6 mm primary (range 6–50 mm) | 300 (3% 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 | 8,600 magazine HP | Turret knocked out | Per-turret powder-magazine HP, a separate pool that does not drain ship HP. As it is worn down the turret is likelier to be knocked out, and a smaller pool gets there faster. |
| 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 | 5,100 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.
Skins & permanent camouflages
Every custom exterior Dresden can equip.
DefaultThe ship’s standard exterior
Primary official WG sources
GamingDiver has not indexed a focused official WG source card for this ship yet. The guide still uses balance history and community data where available.
