GamingDiver / WoWs Legends Ships / Hércules

World of Warships: Legends ship guide

Hércules

Beta

Pan-America · Tier I · Cruiser · Tech Tree: Hércules

Utility cruiserFlexible support -- spot, screen, and farm where the team needs it.

Playstyle

Stay near your team; do not push ahead alone
Avoid: Sailing in a straight line

Key characteristics

2 sigma accuracy11 km gun rangeWide dispersion

On this page

Community stats
Playstyle
How to get Hércules
Builds
Cohort position
Stats and specs
Armor
3D armor viewer
Exteriors

Community Data

Hércules Community Stats

Log in to GamingDiver and upload your data to see Community Data for Hércules: community win rate, damage, survival, spotting, and your own comparison.

Playstyle

Overview

Hércules is a Tier I Pan-American 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 torpedo belt percent in T1 CAs (7) and top-decile main battery range in T1 CAs (11.1 km).

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

Strong torpedo belt

7.0% torpedo damage reduction, best of T1 CAs.

Long gun range

11.14 km main battery reach, best of T1 CAs.

Sharp rudder

3.0 s rudder shift, top decile of T1 CAs. Snappy weave.

Fast reload

3.1 s reload, top quartile of T1 CAs. Top-tier salvo cycle.

Wide dispersion

91.0 m max horizontal dispersion, worst of T1 CAs. Long-range salvos are noticeably wider than peers'.

Underpowered engine

5500.0 hp engine, bottom decile of T1 CAs. Less headroom for re-accelerating from a stop and holding speed through turns.

Acquisition

How to get Hércules

Hércules is available in the Hércules branch of the Pan-America Tech Tree as an early line ship. Official source cards below may also show its temporary Early Access window before it became a normal Tech Tree unlock.

Early AccessOfficial WG line/source notes indicate a temporary Early Access window before normal acquisition.

Show Pan-America tech-tree branch diagram

Pan-America Tech Tree

Hércules sits in the Hércules branch. The highlighted path shows the local branch context inside the full Pan-America tree.

1 ships in highlighted branch · scroll to inspect all Pan-America lines.

Pan-AmericaIIIIIIIVVVIVIIVIII

Cruiser

Tier VIIISantanderPVSC109 Tier VIIIgnacio AllendePVSC108 Tier VICoronel BolognesiPVSC107 Tier VAlmirante CochranePVSC106 Tier IVLa ArgentinaPVSC105 Tier IIICórdobaPVSC104 Tier IIVicente GuerreroPVSC103 Tier IHérculesPVSC101

Official WG availability sources

Pan-American Cruisers Are Coming to Early Access Early Access Start: 2026-03-27 · End: 2026-04-29 Official early-access or tech-tree-line article. Tech-tree ships are temporary crate drops during Early Access, then move to the Tech Tree.

Builds Beta

Use a Pan-America cruiser commander focused on reload, range, agility, and survivability. Inspirations that improve dispersion, rudder/steering, concealment, or damage consistency fit the safe mid-range cruiser plan.

Open in Build Tool →

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Cohort position

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Where Hércules sits among Tier I CAs (12 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.

BestRudder shift3 s (1/12) BestMain battery range11.14 km (1/12) BestMain battery reload3.1 s (1 of 2 tied) BestDisplacement1,860 t (1/12) Top 10%Air detection4.66 km (2/12) Top 25%Fires per minute4.65 (3/11) Top 25%Acceleration23.4 s (4/12) Top 25%AA threat89 (3/12) Bottom 25%Turn-speed retention17.2 hp/m (11/12) WorstTraverse-to-turn ratio4.28 × (12/12) WorstMain battery caliber102 mm (12/12) WorstHE shell damage800 (11/11) WorstMain dispersion91 m (12/12) WorstEngine power5,500 hp (12/12) WorstMax armor10 mm (1 of 3 tied) WorstCitadel belt10 mm (1 of 3 tied) WorstDeck armor6 mm (1 of 3 tied)

See 7 mid-pack stats

Not standouts for Hércules -- here's where she sits on every other ranked stat in the cohort.

Hit points12,600 HP(8/12) Max speed20.3 kt(8/12) Concealment8.62 km(8/12) HE fire chance6%(9/11) HE DPM61,935(9/11) HE velocity811 m/s(8/11) Power-to-weight2.96 hp/t(9/12)

Peers in this cohort

Show all 11 peers

Compare every Tier I ship by spec

Stats & specs

Customize in the Build Tool →Shell ballistics chart

Survivability

Hit Points12,600

Displacement1,860 t

Armor range6–10 mm

Plate armor thicknesses6, 10 mm

Armor material/layer entries22

Fire resistance0%

Fire duration30 s

Torp Reduction7%

Magazine HP

The magazine is the module a detonation comes from. Penetrating hits to it raise the detonation chance from 1% toward 30% as its HP is worn down, so a larger magazine pool rides out citadel hits longer before a detonation becomes likely.

3,200

Steering gear HP

Durability of the steering gears. As this pool drops, hits are likelier to jam the rudder; unlike most modules the steering can be knocked out and repaired but is never permanently destroyed.

1,900

Main Battery

ModuleArtillery: 102 mm/45 QF Mk.XVI

Mounts / barrels2 mounts / 4 barrels

Reload time3.5 s

Firing range (base)10.1 km

Firing range (top fire control)11.1 km

Turret traverse8 °/s

Shell Grouping (σ)

Shell grouping (sigma); shown in-game as Shell Grouping.

Max Horiz Disp

Horizontal dispersion ellipse width at max range, from the verified WoWS dispersion model:

σ_{H} = (\frac{R}{30} \cdot \frac{idealRadius - minRadius}{idealDistance} + minRadius) \cdot 30

= (\frac{10130}{30} \cdot \frac{8 - 0.5}{1000} + 0.5) \cdot 30 = 91 m

91 m

Max Vert Disp

Vertical dispersion ellipse height at max range:

σ_{V} = σ_{H} \cdot radiusOnMax

= 91 \cdot 0.6 = 54.6 m

54.6 m

Med Horiz Disp

50%-hit horizontal radius:

σ_{H, 50} = σ_{H} \cdot GetHalfHitsRatio (σ)

= 91 \cdot 0.32 (σ = 2) = 29.1 m

29.1 m

Med Vert Disp

50%-hit vertical radius:

σ_{V, 50} = σ_{V} \cdot GetHalfHitsRatio (σ)

= 54.6 \cdot 0.319 (σ = 2) = 17.4 m

17.4 m

Turret turn time

180 degrees / 8 deg/s traverse speed = 22.5 s.

22.5 s

Base shells/min

4 broadside guns x 60 / 3.5 s base reload = 68.6.

68.6

HE shells

HE Damage800

HE Velocity811 m/s

Fire Chance6%

HE penetration

17 mm ≈ 102 mm caliber / 6 (standard HE penetration ratio).

17 mm

HE full-salvo alpha

800 HE damage x 4 broadside guns = 3,200.

3,200

Base HE DPM

3,200 HE full-salvo alpha x 60 / 3.5 s base reload = 54,857.

54,857

Base fires/min

4 HE shells x 60 / 3.5 s reload x 6% fire chance = 4.11.

4.11

AP shells

Min Ricochet91 deg

Guaranteed Ricochet60 deg

AP overmatch

floor(102 mm caliber / 14.3) = 7 mm (AP auto-penetrates plating this thick or less).

7 mm

AA Defense

AA mount points4

Close-range AA DPS

Sum across every AA aura on this ship of (aura.continuous_damage x 3.5 x aura.hit_probability). Here: (15×3.5×0.85) = 45. 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.

Maximum AA range

Longest-reaching aura across AA-only + dual-purpose auras.

2 km

20 mm Oerlikon Mk44×1 20mm

DPS15

Range2 km

Maneuverability

Engine moduleEngine: 5,500 hp

Engine power5,500 hp

Maximum speed20.3 kt

Turning circle radius320 m

Engine power-boost threshold7 kt

Acceleration 0-90%

Time to accelerate from 0 kt to 90% of top speed (18.3 kt of 20.3). Numerical integration of the WoWS engine model with the inputs decoded for this ship:

maxPower = {(\frac{P}{m})}^{0.42} = {(\frac{5, 500}{1, 860})}^{0.42} = 1.5767

;

d r a g (v) = - \frac{v | v |}{V_{max}^{2}} \cdot maxPower

; piecewise acceleration

a (v) = {\begin{matrix} maxPower \cdot 2 + d r a g (v) & v < 7 kt \\ P (t) + d r a g (v) & v \geq 7 kt \end{matrix}

; the engine ramps over

τ = \frac{T_{up}}{2.61} = \frac{40}{2.61} = 15.3 s

. Euler step

v_{n + 1} = v_{n} + a (v_{n}) Δ t, Δ t = 0.01 s

until

t_{90} = min {t : v (t) \geq 0.9 V_{max}} = 23.4 s

. The 0.42 exponent, quadratic drag and the TimeScale 2.61 are the calibrated game constants (New York's 60/2.61 = 23.0 s spool-up matches in-game); no closed form.

23.4 s

Acceleration 0-99%

Time to accelerate from 0 kt to 99% of top speed (20.1 kt of 20.3). Same integration as the 0-90% row, read where

t_{99} = min {t : v (t) \geq 0.99 V_{max}} = 38.5 s

. 99% (not 100%) because exact top speed is asymptotic - thrust equals drag at

V_{max}

, so the last fraction of a knot is never quite gained.

38.5 s

Traverse-to-turn ratio

How many degrees the turret can swing for each degree the hull turns. Turn rate

ω_{hull} = \frac{180}{π} \cdot \frac{V_{max} (m/s)}{R_{turn}} = \frac{180}{π} \cdot \frac{20.3 \cdot 0.5144}{320} = 1.87 ° / s

, so

ratio = \frac{ω_{turret}}{ω_{hull}} = \frac{8}{1.87} = 4.3 \times

. Below 5 the turrets drag in a turning fight; 25+ keeps up with any rudder.

4.3× drags

Concealment

Detectability by sea8.62 km

Detectability by air4.66 km

Smoke firing penalty2.89 km

Detect after firing main guns

max(base sea detectability, gun-firing bloom range). Firing never pulls your detection closer than base concealment.

8.62 km

Detect Fire Sea10.62 km

Detect Fire Air7.66 km

Guaranteed Detect2 km

✦

Consumables

Damage Control Party∞ charges · 60 s reload · 5 s active

Module options (1)

Stats above use the fully-upgraded modules. These are the research-tree alternatives; trade-offs are flagged.

Fire controlUpgrade

Main battery range10,130 → 11,143 m

See all derived stats

Show ▾

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

Shell Grouping (σ)2

Shell grouping (sigma); shown in-game as Shell Grouping.

Max Horiz Disp91 m

Horizontal dispersion ellipse width at max range, from the verified WoWS dispersion model: $\sigma_H = \left(\dfrac{R}{30}\cdot\dfrac{\text{idealRadius}-\text{minRadius}}{\text{idealDistance}} + \text{minRadius}\right)\cdot 30$ $= \left(\dfrac{10130}{30}\cdot\dfrac{8-0.5}{1000} + 0.5\right)\cdot 30 = 91\,\text{m}$

Max Vert Disp54.6 m

Vertical dispersion ellipse height at max range: $\sigma_V = \sigma_H \cdot \text{radiusOnMax}$ $= 91 \cdot 0.6 = 54.6\,\text{m}$

Med Horiz Disp29.1 m

50%-hit horizontal radius: $\sigma_{H,50} = \sigma_H \cdot \text{GetHalfHitsRatio}(\sigma)$ $= 91 \cdot 0.32\;(\sigma = 2) = 29.1\,\text{m}$

Med Vert Disp17.4 m

50%-hit vertical radius: $\sigma_{V,50} = \sigma_V \cdot \text{GetHalfHitsRatio}(\sigma)$ $= 54.6 \cdot 0.319\;(\sigma = 2) = 17.4\,\text{m}$

HE penetration17 mm

17 mm ≈ 102 mm caliber / 6 (standard HE penetration ratio).

AP overmatch7 mm

floor(102 mm caliber / 14.3) = 7 mm (AP auto-penetrates plating this thick or less).

Broadside guns used for alpha4

All 4 barrels bear on the broadside.

Turret turn time22.5 s

180 degrees / 8 deg/s traverse speed = 22.5 s.

HE full-salvo alpha3,200

800 HE damage x 4 broadside guns = 3,200.

Base HE DPM54,857

3,200 HE full-salvo alpha x 60 / 3.5 s base reload = 54,857.

Base shells/min68.6

4 broadside guns x 60 / 3.5 s base reload = 68.6.

Base fires/min4.11

4 HE shells x 60 / 3.5 s reload x 6% fire chance = 4.11.

AA defense

Close-range AA DPS45

Sum across every AA aura on this ship of (aura.continuous_damage x 3.5 x aura.hit_probability). Here: (15×3.5×0.85) = 45. 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.

Maximum AA range2 km

Longest-reaching aura across AA-only + dual-purpose auras.

AA threat index89

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.

Near aura range2 km

Armor Beta

Hull HP 12,600, 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.

Bow & stern6 mm

Overmatched by 58+ guns across the bracket. Can’t reliably bow-tank; gets bow-citadelled and overpenned.

Farming6 mm

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 ballistics tool →

Section	Plates	HP cap	Threats	Tactic
Bow	6 mm primary (range 6–10 mm)	1,000 (8% of HP)	Overmatched by 127mm+ (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.
Stern	6 mm primary (range 6–10 mm)	600 (5% of HP)	Overmatched by 127mm+ (Farragut)6 mm: HE pens from 127mm+	Mirror of bow. Same fast saturation.
Citadel	10 mm primary (range 6–10 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	300 (2% 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	3,200 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.
AA mount (20 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	1,900 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.

Approximated side profile.

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3D armor viewer

Open in Charting Tool

Acceleration and Ballistics Chart

Exteriors

Skins & permanent camouflages

Every custom exterior Hércules 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.

2026-03-27 · Early access / tech tree line Pan-American Cruisers Are Coming to Early Access Line source 2026-04-30 · Patch notes May Update: From Rome to Edo Patch notes