GamingDiver / WoWs Legends Ships / Kolberg

World of Warships: Legends ship guide

Kolberg

Beta

Germany · Tier II · Cruiser · Tech Tree: Fire-Support Cruisers

HE fire-spam cruiserSustained HE and fires from range or island cover.

Playstyle

Hold under 10 km with islands tight enough to break vision on demand
Avoid: Open-water broadside trading

Key characteristics

2 sigma accuracyHigh HE / fire outputHigh AP DPMFragileNo AA

Community Data

Kolberg Community Stats

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

Playstyle

Overview

Kolberg is a Tier II German light cruiser with 105mm guns at 11 km, 3.6-second reload. Her damage profile is HE fires and sustained DPM rather than picking AP citadels. Standout traits: best turret traverse rate in T2 CAs (10) and best AP DPM in T2 CAs (230,000).

Positioning

Hold under 10 km with islands tight enough to break vision on demand. The HE pressure rewards a steady firing arc more than rotation play; pick a corner of the map you can hold and work fires from there.

Potato Avoidance

Open-water broadside trading

Her 105mm shells citadel cruisers on the wrong frame, and her 18,300-HP hull does not recover from a punished salvo. Pick rotations and angles deliberately; the chip-damage role pays better than the trade-blow role on a cruiser of this profile.

Signature Traits

AP DPM machine

230000 AP DPM, best of T2 CAs. Punishes broadsides.

High-arc HE shells

54.5° HE impact angle at max range, best of T2 CAs. Lobs over cover.

Fast reload

3.6 s reload, top decile of T2 CAs. Top-tier salvo cycle.

High fire pressure

5.0 fires/min, top decile of T2 CAs. Keeps DCP on cooldown.

Low fire chance

5.0% fire chance per HE shell, bottom decile of T2 CAs. AP carries more weight.

Slow AP shells

715.0 m/s AP muzzle velocity, bottom decile of T2 CAs. Lobby trajectory, more lead, easier to dodge at range.

Acquisition

How to get Kolberg

Kolberg is available in the Fire-Support Cruisers branch of the Germany Tech Tree for 13,000 credits after researching it in the branch. Known module upgrades cost up to 2,600 credits.

Show Germany tech-tree branch diagram

Germany Tech Tree

Kolberg sits in the Fire-Support Cruisers branch. The highlighted path shows the local branch context inside the full Germany tree.

7 ships in highlighted branch · scroll to inspect all Germany lines.

GermanyIIIIIIIVVVIVIIVIII★

Destroyer

Destroyer Split

Cruiser

Battleship

Battleship Split

Carrier

Tier VIIIF. SchultzPGSD209 Tier VIIIP. RupprechtPGSB209 Tier VIIG. J. MaerkerPGSD208 Tier VIIZietenPGSB208 Tier VIZ-31PGSD207 Tier VIP. HeinrichPGSB207 Tier VMackensenPGSB206 Tier IVDerfflingerPGSB205 Tier ★Z-52PGSD110 Tier ★Großer KurfürstPGSB110 Tier ★Manfred von RichthofenPGSA110 Tier VIIIZ-46PGSD109 Tier VIIIRoonPGSC109 Tier VIIIFriedrich der GroßePGSB109 Tier VIIZ-23PGSD108 Tier VIIHipperPGSC108 Tier VIIBismarckPGSB108 Tier VIIAugust von ParsevalPGSA108 Tier VIMaassPGSD107 Tier VIYorckPGSC107 Tier VIGneisenauPGSB107 Tier VGaedePGSD106 Tier VNürnbergPGSC106 Tier VBayernPGSB106 Tier VWeserPGSA106 Tier IVT-22PGSD105 Tier IVKönigsbergPGSC105 Tier IVKönigPGSB105 Tier IIIV-170PGSD104 Tier IIIKarlsruhePGSC104 Tier IIIKaiserPGSB104 Tier IIIRheinPGSA104 Tier IIKolbergPGSC103 Tier IIV-25PGSD102 Tier IDresdenPGSC002

Builds Beta

AL Graf Spee, AL Hipper, and AL Roon are useful German cruiser commander directions. Inspirations usually support accuracy, reload, concealment, agility, or survivability so the ship can keep influencing fights without giving up easy citadels.

Open in Build Tool →

Commanders frequently paired with this ship AL Graf Spee AL Hipper AL Roon

Have a build you swear by? Open it in the Build Tool and hit Save build to share it here.

Cohort position

Hide ▾

Where Kolberg sits among Tier II CAs (19 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.

BestMain battery reload3.6 s (1/19) BestAP DPM230,000 (1/18) Top 10%Fires per minute5 (2/18) Top 10%AP arming threshold18 mm (2/18) Top 25%Rudder shift7 s (4/19) Top 25%HE DPM120,000 (4/18) Top 25%Main dispersion101.8 m (4/19) Top 25%Displacement4,915 t (4/19) Top 25%Citadel belt80 mm (5/19) Bottom 25%Hit points18,300 HP (18/19) Bottom 25%AP fuse timer0.01 s (15/18) WorstMain battery caliber105 mm (19/19) WorstNo secondaries (8 of 19 in cohort) WorstAP velocity715 m/s (18/18) WorstHE velocity715 m/s (18/18) WorstNo AA (6 of 19 in cohort) WorstNo torpedoes (14 of 19 in cohort) WorstStern armor10 mm (1 of 7 tied)

See 15 mid-pack stats

Not standouts for Kolberg -- 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.

Max speed27 kt(8/19) Concealment9.39 km(12/19) Air detection5.63 km(12/19) Traverse-to-turn ratio5.91 ×(7/19) Main battery range10.97 km(15/19) Sigma2(9/19) Acceleration8.3 s(12/19) Engine power31,000 hp(7/19) Turn-speed retention66 hp/m(7/19) Power-to-weight6.31 hp/t(6/19) Max armor100 mm(11/19) Bow armor19 mm(9/19) Deck armor50 mm(12/19) NormAP ricochet start45°(17 of 18 tied at this value) NormAP auto-bounce angle60°(17 of 18 tied at this value)

Peers in this cohort

Show all 18 peers

Stats & specs

Customize in the Build Tool →Shell ballistics chart More tools in the WoWS Legends Data Lab

All values are ship base stats with modifications and upgrade changes denoted inline.

Survivability

Hit PointsInitial: 17,200 → 18,300

Displacement4,915 t

Armor range6–100 mm

Plate armor thicknesses6, 9, 10, 19, 50, 80, 100 mm

Armor material/layer entries38

Fire resistanceInitial: 0% → 3.3%

Fire duration30 s

Torp Reduction0%

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.

9,200

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.

5,500

Main Battery

ModuleArtillery: 105 mm L/45 MPL C/06

Mounts / barrels12 mounts / 12 barrels

Reload time4 s

Firing range (base)10 km

Firing range (top fire control)11 km

Turret traverse10 °/s

Shell Grouping (σ)

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

Max Horiz Disp

Horizontal dispersion ellipse width at max range. (R/30·(idealRadius−minRadius)/idealDistance + minRadius)·30 = (9973/30·(8−1.1)/1000 + 1.1)·30 = 101.8 m

101.8 m

Max Vert Disp

Vertical dispersion ellipse height at max range = max horizontal × radiusOnMax = 101.8 × 0.6 = 61.1 m

61.1 m

Med Horiz Disp

50%-hit horizontal radius = max horizontal × GetHalfHitsRatio(σ) = 101.8 × 0.319 (σ=2) = 32.5 m

32.5 m

Med Vert Disp

50%-hit vertical radius = max vertical × GetHalfHitsRatio(σ) = 61.1 × 0.319 (σ=2) = 19.5 m

19.5 m

Turret turn time

180 degrees / 10 deg/s traverse speed = 18 s.

18 s

Base shells/min

6 broadside guns x 60 / 4 s base reload = 90.

HE shells

HE Damage1,200

HE Velocity715 m/s

Fire Chance5%

HE penetration

18 mm ≈ 105 mm caliber / 6 (standard HE penetration ratio).

18 mm

HE full-salvo alpha

1,200 HE damage x 6 broadside guns = 7,200.

7,200

Base HE DPM

7,200 HE full-salvo alpha x 60 / 4 s base reload = 108,000.

108,000

Base fires/min

6 HE shells x 60 / 4 s reload x 5% fire chance = 4.5.

4.5

AP shells

AP Damage2,300

AP Velocity715 m/s

Min Ricochet45 deg

Guaranteed Ricochet60 deg

Fuse Timer0.01 s

Fuse Threshold18 mm

AP overmatch

floor(105 mm caliber / 14.3) = 7 mm (AP auto-penetrates plating this thick or less).

7 mm

AP Pen Close

Canonical community AP formula (jcw780/wows_shell), evaluated at muzzle velocity: 1e-7 × Krupp × mass^0.69 × caliber_m^-1.07 × v0^1.38 = 1e-7 × 1870 × 18.2^0.69 × 0.105^-1.07 × 715^1.38 = 134.1 mm. Matches the in-game spec card.

134.1 mm

AP Pen Far

Same formula at the ship's max firing range (13 km), where the shell has slowed to 236 m/s: 1e-7 × 1870 × 18.2^0.69 × 0.105^-1.07 × 236^1.38 = 29.1 mm.

29.1 mm

AP full-salvo alpha

2,300 AP damage x 6 broadside guns = 13,800.

13,800

Base AP DPM

13,800 AP full-salvo alpha x 60 / 4 s base reload = 207,000.

207,000

AP AOE Radius

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.

Maneuverability

Engine moduleEngine: 31,000 hp

Engine power31,000 hp

Maximum speed27 kt

Turning circle radius470 m

Engine power multiplier speed threshold7 kt

Traverse-to-turn ratio5.9× slow

Concealment

Detectability by sea9.39 km

Detectability by air5.63 km

Smoke firing penalty3.32 km

Detect after firing main guns9.39 km

Detect Fire Sea11.39 km

Detect Fire Air8.63 km

Guaranteed Detect2 km

✦

Consumables

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

Module options (2)

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

HullUpgrade

Hit points17,200 → 18,300
Rudder shift9.7 → 7 s

Fire controlUpgrade

Main battery range9,973 → 10970.3 m

See all derived stats

Show ▾

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 Disp101.8 m

Horizontal dispersion ellipse width at max range. (R/30·(idealRadius−minRadius)/idealDistance + minRadius)·30 = (9973/30·(8−1.1)/1000 + 1.1)·30 = 101.8 m

Max Vert Disp61.1 m

Vertical dispersion ellipse height at max range = max horizontal × radiusOnMax = 101.8 × 0.6 = 61.1 m

Med Horiz Disp32.5 m

50%-hit horizontal radius = max horizontal × GetHalfHitsRatio(σ) = 101.8 × 0.319 (σ=2) = 32.5 m

Med Vert Disp19.5 m

50%-hit vertical radius = max vertical × GetHalfHitsRatio(σ) = 61.1 × 0.319 (σ=2) = 19.5 m

Dispersion familyCruiser Disp.

Standard cruiser dispersion baseline.

AP Pen Close134.1 mm

Canonical community AP formula (jcw780/wows_shell), evaluated at muzzle velocity: 1e-7 × Krupp × mass^0.69 × caliber_m^-1.07 × v0^1.38 = 1e-7 × 1870 × 18.2^0.69 × 0.105^-1.07 × 715^1.38 = 134.1 mm. Matches the in-game spec card.

AP Pen Far29.1 mm

Same formula at the ship's max firing range (13 km), where the shell has slowed to 236 m/s: 1e-7 × 1870 × 18.2^0.69 × 0.105^-1.07 × 236^1.38 = 29.1 mm.

HE penetration18 mm

18 mm ≈ 105 mm caliber / 6 (standard HE penetration ratio).

AP overmatch7 mm

floor(105 mm caliber / 14.3) = 7 mm (AP auto-penetrates plating this thick or less).

AP AOE Radius3

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.

Broadside guns used for alpha6

Barrels that can bear on one beam (6 of 12); casemate/wing mounts only fire one side.

Turret turn time18 s

180 degrees / 10 deg/s traverse speed = 18 s.

HE full-salvo alpha7,200

1,200 HE damage x 6 broadside guns = 7,200.

AP full-salvo alpha13,800

2,300 AP damage x 6 broadside guns = 13,800.

Base HE DPM108,000

7,200 HE full-salvo alpha x 60 / 4 s base reload = 108,000.

Base AP DPM207,000

13,800 AP full-salvo alpha x 60 / 4 s base reload = 207,000.

Base shells/min90

6 broadside guns x 60 / 4 s base reload = 90.

Base fires/min4.5

6 HE shells x 60 / 4 s reload x 5% fire chance = 4.5.

AA defense

Close-range AA DPS0

Continuous AA damage summed across AirDefense module auras (no usable per-aura data available, so the formula prediction couldn't be applied on this ship).

Maximum AA range0 km

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

Armor

Hull HP 17,200 → 18,300 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.

Section	Plates	HP cap	Threats	Tactic
Bow	19 mm primary (range 6–100 mm)	1,000 (5% of HP)	Overmatched by 283mm+ (Nassau, Von Der Tann)Angle 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)	10 mm	13,700 (75% of HP)	Overmatched by 150mm+ (Celebes, Königsberg)Angle bounces 127mm10 mm: HE pens from 127mm+	Largest HP pool. Citadel sits behind these plates; thinner deck and side plating absorb the rest.
Stern	10 mm primary (range 6–80 mm)	900 (5% of HP)	Overmatched by 150mm+ (Celebes, Königsberg)Angle bounces 127mm10 mm: HE pens from 127mm+	Mirror of bow. Same fast saturation.
Citadel	80 mm primary (range 9–80 mm)	≈ 165,500 (effectively no cap)	Citadel pen ×0.10 damageOver-pen: ×0.10 damage	Effectively no cap; citadel pool sits at ~165k HP on every ship. Damage is gated by pen/over-pen multipliers instead (×0.10 direct pen, ×0.10 over-pen).
Superstructure	6 mm primary (range 6–50 mm)	400 (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	9,200 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.
Rudder (module)	separate HP pool, does not drain ship HP	5,500 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.

Shell ballistics chart

AP penetration, impact velocity, flight time and impact angle vs range. Click to load the interactive chart.

Exteriors

Skins & permanent camouflages

Every custom exterior Kolberg can equip, from in-game data.

DefaultThe ship’s standard exterior

Primary official WG sources

GamingDiver has indexed official WG mentions for this ship, but none are focused enough to show as a primary source card here. Low-context list, crate, comparison, or passing mentions are intentionally filtered out.

Source status No high-context source card yet Filtered for precision