Log in to GamingDiver and upload your data to see Community Data for Lightning: community win rate, damage, survival, spotting, and your own comparison.
Lightning is a Tier VII British smoke destroyer with 6 smoke charges on a short cooldown: the many smokes are the kit, setting up aggressive and defensive plays that one-smoke DDs cannot. Hold cap edges and trade gunfire from cover, then re-smoke before the next window closes. Standout traits: best Sonar duration in T7 DDs (180 s) and top-decile quick acceleration in T7 DDs (6.7 s).
Anchor near a smoke cycle on a contested cap and trade gunfire from inside the cloud. The smoke is your sustain tool; rotating mid-smoke wastes the cycle for the next contest. Your guns lose penetration at range, so aim AP at broadsides you can still citadel and put HE into superstructures and upper-hull sections, rather than the bow-in or belt armor your shells bounce and shatter on.
The smoke is a static firing position; if you leave it before the cycle ends, you give up the trade you set up and the next contest opens without a smoke to fall back on.
180.0 s Sonar duration, best of T7 DDs.
~6.7 s to 90% of top speed, top decile of T7 DDs. Rebuilds speed quickly after a turn or stop, and sustains acceleration through the mid-range.
Lightning is a Tech Tree ship. The normal acquisition path is researching and purchasing it in its nation/class line.
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.
Where Lightning sits among Tier VII DDs (34 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 Lightning -- 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.
Damage Control Party∞ charges · 40 s reload · 5 s active
Smoke Generator6 charges · 60 s reload · 10 s emit / 40 s cloud active · 450 m radius
Sonar3 charges · 120 s reload · 180 s active · 3.5 km ship detect 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.
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.Vertical dispersion ellipse height at max range: 50%-hit horizontal radius: 50%-hit vertical radius: Standard destroyer dispersion baseline.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 (13.5 km), where the shell has slowed to 290 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.20 mm ≈ 120 mm caliber / 6 (standard HE penetration ratio).floor(120 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 / 20 deg/s traverse speed = 9 s.1,700 HE damage x 6 broadside guns = 10,200.2,200 AP damage x 6 broadside guns = 13,200.Zero upgrades: 10,200 HE full-salvo alpha x 60 / 4.5 s base reload = 136,000. All upgrades (Main Battery Mod. 3 = -10% reload): 10,200 HE full-salvo alpha x 60 / 4 s all-upgrades reload = 153,000.Zero upgrades: 13,200 AP full-salvo alpha x 60 / 4.5 s base reload = 176,000. All upgrades (Main Battery Mod. 3 = -10% reload): 13,200 AP full-salvo alpha x 60 / 4 s all-upgrades reload = 198,000.Zero upgrades: 6 broadside guns x 60 / 4.5 s base reload = 80. All upgrades (Main Battery Mod. 3 = -10% reload): 6 broadside guns x 60 / 4 s all-upgrades reload = 90.Zero upgrades: 80 shells/min x 9% fire chance = 7.2. All upgrades (Main Battery Mod. 3 = -10% reload): 90 shells/min x 9% fire chance = 8.1.detectability / (speed kt x 2.6 community game-speed factor).range / (speed kt x 2.6 community game-speed factor).2 launchers x 4 tubes.8 (centerline launchers train across - full salvo to either side).All tubes hitting one target: tubes x per-torpedo simulated damage = 8 x 14,433 = 115,464.One side firing, all torpedoes hitting: per-side tubes x per-torpedo simulated damage = 8 x 14,433 = 115,464.Sum across every AA aura on this ship of (aura.continuous_damage x 3.5 x aura.hit_probability). Here: (37×3.5×1) + (9×3.5×1) + (7×3.5×1) = 186. 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.Hull HP 13,000 → 15,900 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 136+ guns across the bracket. Can’t reliably bow-tank; gets bow-citadelled and overpenned.
Superstructure and extremities take HE pens and AP overpens from nearly any gun: steady chip damage. Fire resistance 37%, fires burn 30s. Range-by-range in the Compare tool →
| Section | Plates | HP cap | Threats | Tactic |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bow | 19 mm primary (range 19–20 mm) | 2,500 (16% 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) | 19 mm primary (range 16–19 mm) | 11,900 (75% of HP) | Overmatch not possible in its bracketAngle bounces 203mm19 mm: HE pens from 127mm+ | Largest HP pool. Citadel sits behind these plates; thinner deck and side plating absorb the rest. |
| Stern | 19 mm primary (range 16–20 mm) | 1,200 (8% of HP) | Overmatch not possible in its bracketAngle bounces 203mm19 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: 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 | 19 mm | 1,100 (7% 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 | 8,000 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 (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 | 4,800 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 Lightning 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.