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Laffey is a Tier VIII American destroyer with a Repair Party, a consumable most DDs in the cohort do not get. The heal lets her sustain trades and stay in the cap contest after the first detection cycle; that is the kit, not a panic button. AA (272 AA DPS at 5 km, +300% Defensive AA flak burst) is heavy enough to make her the team's air-defense anchor on top of the lead role; CV strikes route around her, not through. Standout traits: end-plate armor (20 mm).
Hold concealment edges around the contested cap and lean into trades the heal can recover. The Repair Party means you survive the first detection cycle other DDs do not, but it does not let you brawl open-water; stay near cover or smoke when the heal is on cooldown.
The heal is part of the kit, not a save: most charges should land after a clean trade in cover, not mid-spotting cycle in open water. Used reactively, it covers one cap fight; used proactively, it covers two.
Repair Party heals 1.5%/s, best of T8 DDs. Restores more HP per active second than peers.
+300.0% Defensive AA flak damage, best of T8 DDs. Each activated burst deletes more aircraft.
43.2° impact angle at max range, best of T8 DDs. Lobs over island cover.
44.6° HE impact angle at max range, best of T8 DDs. Lobs over cover.
4.0 s rudder shift, top decile of T8 DDs. Snappy weave.
98.6 m max horizontal dispersion, worst of T8 DDs. Long-range salvos are noticeably wider than peers'.
Laffey is a Premium ship and not available to unlock in the Tech Tree. Acquisition path: Campaign.
William Halsey is the official recommended commander direction, with I Mean Harm increasing destroyer AP shell damage. Build for concealment, main-battery reload, survivability, and AP/gun performance.
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Where Laffey sits among Tier VIII DDs (25 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.
Not standouts for Laffey -- 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.
All values are ship base stats with modifications and upgrade changes denoted inline.
Damage Control Party∞ charges · 40 s reload · 5 s active
Repair Party2 charges · 120 s reload · 20 s active · 1.5% heal per second · 30% of max HP total heal
Smoke Generator∞ charges · 120 s reload · 15 s emit / 60 s cloud active
Defensive AA Fire3 charges · 140 s reload · 20 s active · +300% flak burst boostNumbers 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.
Shell grouping (sigma); shown in-game as Shell Grouping.Horizontal dispersion ellipse width at max range. (R/30·(idealRadius−minRadius)/idealDistance + minRadius)·30 = (11150/30·(8−0.5)/1000 + 0.5)·30 = 98.6 mVertical dispersion ellipse height at max range = max horizontal × radiusOnMax = 98.6 × 0.6 = 59.2 m50%-hit horizontal radius = max horizontal × GetHalfHitsRatio(σ) = 98.6 × 0.319 (σ=2) = 31.5 m50%-hit vertical radius = max vertical × GetHalfHitsRatio(σ) = 59.2 × 0.319 (σ=2) = 18.9 mCanonical 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 × 2598 × 25^0.69 × 0.127^-1.07 × 792^1.38 = 218 mm. Matches the in-game spec card.Same formula at the ship's max firing range (13.9 km), where the shell has slowed to 248.6 m/s: 1e-7 × 2598 × 25^0.69 × 0.127^-1.07 × 248.6^1.38 = 44 mm.21 mm ≈ 127 mm caliber / 6 (standard HE penetration ratio).floor(127 mm caliber / 14.3) = 8 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 6 barrels bear on the broadside.180 degrees / 25 deg/s traverse speed = 7.2 s.1,800 HE damage x 6 broadside guns = 10,800.2,100 AP damage x 6 broadside guns = 12,600.10,800 HE full-salvo alpha x 60 / 3.5 s base reload = 185,143.12,600 AP full-salvo alpha x 60 / 3.5 s base reload = 216,000.10,800 HE full-salvo alpha x 60 / 3.1 s installed reload (Main Battery Mod. 3 = -10%) = 209,032.12,600 AP full-salvo alpha x 60 / 3.1 s installed reload (Main Battery Mod. 3 = -10%) = 243,871.6 broadside guns x 60 / 3.5 s base reload = 102.9.6 broadside guns x 60 / 3.1 s installed Artillery reload = 116.1.6 HE shells x 60 / 3.5 s reload x 5% fire chance = 5.14.6 HE shells x 60 / 3.1 s installed reload x 5% fire chance = 5.81.detectability / (speed kt x 2.6 community game-speed factor).range / (speed kt x 2.6 community game-speed factor).2 launchers x 5 tubes.10 (centerline launchers train across - full salvo to either side).tube count x per-torpedo simulated damage (all torpedoes hitting).per-side salvo x per-torpedo simulated damage.Sum across every AA aura on this ship of (aura.continuous_damage x 3.5 x aura.hit_probability). Here: (32×3.5×1) + (28×3.5×0.95) + (19×3.5×1) = 272. 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.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.Hull HP 18,500, 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 | 20 mm primary (range 19–20 mm) | 2,100 (11% of HP) | Overmatched by 305mm+ (Cherbourg, Brandenburg)Angle bounces 283mm20 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) | 19 mm | 13,900 (75% of HP) | Overmatched by 283mm+ (Scharnhorst '43, Schill)Angle bounces 203mm19 mm: HE pens from 127mm+ | Largest HP pool. Citadel sits behind these plates; thinner deck and side plating absorb the rest. |
| Stern | 20 mm primary (range 19–20 mm) | 1,600 (9% of HP) | Overmatched by 305mm+ (Cherbourg, Brandenburg)Angle bounces 283mm20 mm: HE pens from 127mm+ | Mirror of bow. Same fast saturation. |
| Citadel | 20 mm primary (range 13–20 mm) | ≈ 165,500 (effectively no cap) | Citadel pen ×0.60 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 (×0.60 direct pen, ×0.10 over-pen). |
| Superstructure | 19 mm | 1,800 (10% of HP) | Any HE ≥16 mm pens at full damageDamage multiplier ×0.6 | Any HE ≥16 mm pens at full damage. HE-spam target, and the section saturates fast (often only a few thousand HP). |
| AA mount (40 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 | 5,600 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.
Every custom exterior Laffey can equip, from in-game data.
Filtered to official World of Warships: Legends pages where this ship is a focus, reward, line member, or high-context variant mention.