Worcester
Also called: 伍斯特 Beta- Hold 12-15 km from a contested cap with an island close enough to break sightline when focus shifts
- Avoid: Using radar like a destroyer hunter rather than a position tool
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Worcester Community Stats
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Worcester Community Stats
Record History
Playstyle
Overview
Worcester is a Legendary American light cruiser whose 152mm guns farm HE fires and sustained DPM. Surveillance Radar (9 km) is the cap-control consumable on top, so she sets fights as well as winning them. Both shells run cohort-strong (top-decile AP at 561,951 AP DPM and top-decile HE at 386,341 HE DPM), making her a dual-threat gunship: keep AP up against broadsides and citadels, and switch to HE against bow-in ships, superstructures, and the thin or angled targets AP over-penetrates or bounces off. AA (689 AA DPS at 6 km, +100% 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: best fires per minute in Legendary CAs (21.1) and end-plate armor (32 mm).
Positioning
Hold 12-15 km from a contested cap with an island close enough to break sightline when focus shifts. Push the radar forward only once the destroyer fight is yours; burning the drop to fish for a lone DD kill leaves the next push with no answer to smoke or vision.
Potato Avoidance
Using radar like a destroyer hunter rather than a position…
The consumable's value is locking down a cap your team can take, not stealing a single salvo on a lone DD. Burn it early to fish for a kill and the next push has no answer to smoke or vision.
Signature Traits
9 km range, 30 s duration. Detects all enemy ships within a fixed radius regardless of line-of-sight. Controls caps and punishes smoke-firing DDs.
- High fire pressure · 21.07 fires
- HE DPM machine · 386341 HE
- AP DPM machine · 561951 AP
- Long-reach AA · 6.0 km
- Top-tier AA · 689.0 AA
32.0 mm bow and stern plating, both in the top bracket of Legendary CAs. Same-tier guns can't overmatch the ends.
No stat falls into the cohort's bottom decile across Legendary CAs. Stable baseline in every category, no glaring weakness to play around.
How to get Worcester
Worcester is a Premium ship and not available to unlock in the Tech Tree. Acquisition path: Premium/Event.
Official WG availability sources
- U.S.A. 250: History-Inspired Event & New Alternative Destroyers Event/store source Start: 2026-06-26 · End: open/unknown end Official ship/event post that can indicate store, collaboration, event, return, or limited availability.
- April Update: Blossom in Gold Store price varies 2023-04-06
Builds Beta
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.
Cohort position
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Where Worcester sits among Legendary CAs (22 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 21 mid-pack stats
Not standouts for Worcester -- 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
Stats & specs
Customize in the Build Tool →Charting Toolƒ
Horizontal dispersion ellipse width at max range, from the verified WoWS dispersion model:ƒ
Vertical dispersion ellipse height at max range:ƒ
50%-hit horizontal radius:ƒ
50%-hit vertical radius:ƒ
180 degrees / 25 deg/s traverse speed = 7.2 s.ƒ
Zero upgrades: 12 broadside guns x 60 / 4.6 s base reload = 156.5. All upgrades (Main Battery Mod. 3 = -10% reload): 12 broadside guns x 60 / 4.1 s all-upgrades reload = 175.6.HE shells
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In-game data: 30 mm = 152 mm caliber / 5.07 (non-standard HE penetration ratio).ƒ
2,200 HE damage x 12 broadside guns = 26,400.ƒ
Zero upgrades: 26,400 HE full-salvo alpha x 60 / 4.6 s base reload = 344,348. All upgrades (Main Battery Mod. 3 = -10% reload): 26,400 HE full-salvo alpha x 60 / 4.1 s all-upgrades reload = 386,341.ƒ
Zero upgrades: 156.5 shells/min x 12% fire chance = 18.78. All upgrades (Main Battery Mod. 3 = -10% reload): 175.6 shells/min x 12% fire chance = 21.07.AP shells
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floor(152 mm caliber / 14.3) = 10 mm (AP auto-penetrates plating this thick or less).ƒ
Canonical community AP formula (jcw780/wows_shell), evaluated at muzzle velocity: . Matches the in-game spec card.ƒ
Same formula at the ship's max firing range (19.2 km), where the shell has slowed to 321.7 m/s: .ƒ
3,200 AP damage x 12 broadside guns = 38,400.ƒ
Zero upgrades: 38,400 AP full-salvo alpha x 60 / 4.6 s base reload = 500,870. All upgrades (Main Battery Mod. 3 = -10% reload): 38,400 AP full-salvo alpha x 60 / 4.1 s all-upgrades reload = 561,951.ƒ
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.ƒ
Sum across every AA aura on this ship of (aura.continuous_damage x 3.5 x aura.hit_probability). Here: (157×3.5×0.9) + (40×3.5×0.85) + (24×3.5×0.9) = 689. 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.ƒ
Longest-reaching aura across AA-only + dual-purpose auras.ƒ
Effective DPS in in-game units (raw aura damage × 3.5 × hit probability, summed per contributing aura) - matches the Close-range AA DPS headline's currency. Includes 76 from dual-purpose main battery firing as AA in this range band.ƒ
Effective DPS: 157 raw aura damage × 3.5 × 0.9 hit probability = 495 - the same in-game units as the Close-range AA DPS headline.ƒ
Far 76 + Medium 495 = 571ƒ
Effective DPS: 40 raw aura damage × 3.5 × 0.85 hit probability = 119 - the same in-game units as the Close-range AA DPS headline.ƒ
Far 76 + Medium 495 + Near 119 = 690ƒ
Each ~2 s wave fires 2 quick salvos of 4 clouds ahead of the attacking squadron, plus 1 stray cloud farther out that appear off-beat between waves - up to 9 clouds per wave × 240 damage each. Planes that fly into a cloud take its damage; clouds dissipate before the next wave lands. Defensive AA Fire, where fitted, multiplies the salvo repeats within each wave.ƒ
Damage a plane takes for flying into one flak cloud, before any reductions.ƒ
Each cloud in the pattern rolls this chance to spawn, so waves average fewer clouds than the maximum. Often called flak 'hit chance', but spawned clouds always damage planes that fly into them - the roll is on spawning.ƒ
A flak wave spawns roughly every 2 s - timed frame-by-frame from gameplay footage and consistent across ships.ƒ
Flak keeps firing while at least one main battery mount is operational - even losing every other AA mount does not stop it.ƒ
The activation band: flak fires while attacking planes are inside it. Clouds are placed ahead of the planes' path, so bursts can land short of 2.5 km or past 6 km - once planes get inside the band, new waves stop.ƒ
Time to reach 90% of top speed (29.7 kt of 33 kt), from our in-house acceleration model.ƒ
Time to reach 99% of top speed (32.7 kt of 33 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
How many degrees the turret can swing for each degree the hull turns. Turn rate , so . Below 5 the turrets drag in a turning fight; 25+ keeps up with any rudder.ƒ
max(base sea detectability, gun-firing bloom range). Firing never pulls your detection closer than base concealment.
Damage Control Party∞ charges · 60 s reload · 5 s active
Sonar2 charges · 180 s reload · 96 s active · 4.44 km ship detect ƒ
Derived from the consumable's 30 m grid-unit range (km = grid units x 30 / 1000):ƒ
Derived from the consumable's 30 m grid-unit range (km = grid units x 30 / 1000):
Defensive AA Fire3 charges · 140 s reload · 25 s active · ×2 flak burst boost ƒ
Repeats the flak burst pattern ×2 within each wave - more clouds in the air over the wave, at the same spots.
Surveillance Radar2 charges · 120 s reload · 30 s active · 9 km radar range ƒ
Derived from the consumable's 30 m grid-unit range (km = grid units x 30 / 1000):
Catapult Fighter4 charges · 80 s reload · 90 s active · 5 km patrol radius ƒ
Derived from the consumable's 30 m grid-unit range (km = grid units x 30 / 1000):
Repair Party2 charges · 80 s reload · 28 s active · 6,356 HP (14% of max HP) total heal (per charge) ƒ
Heal per second (0.5%) x effective active time (28 s) = up to 14% of max HP restored per charge.ƒ
14% per charge x 2 charges = up to 28% of max HP if the whole Repair Party loadout is used.ƒ
0.5% of max HP (45,400 HP) per second = 227 HP/s. WoWS heals a flat percent of MAX HP each second, so this rate holds at any health level.
See all derived stats
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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
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.How wide your shells scatter at 10 km, from the same dispersion model as the max-range figure above. Picking a fixed range makes this number directly comparable from ship to ship: max-range dispersion makes a longer-range gun look worse even when it's tighter at any common range. The interactive Dispersion tab on the Charts card plots the full curve from 0 to max range.Horizontal scatter at a fixed 15 km, from the same verified dispersion model - the long-range anchor. Only shown when the ship's guns reach 15 km.Vertical dispersion ellipse height at max range: How tall the same scatter ellipse is at 10 km. Comparable from ship to ship for the same reason as the width value above.50%-hit horizontal radius: 50%-hit vertical radius: Standard cruiser 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 (19.2 km), where the shell has slowed to 321.7 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.AP penetration at a fixed 15 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.In-game data: 30 mm = 152 mm caliber / 5.07 (non-standard HE penetration ratio).floor(152 mm caliber / 14.3) = 10 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 12 barrels bear on the broadside.180 degrees / 25 deg/s traverse speed = 7.2 s.2,200 HE damage x 12 broadside guns = 26,400.3,200 AP damage x 12 broadside guns = 38,400.Zero upgrades: 26,400 HE full-salvo alpha x 60 / 4.6 s base reload = 344,348. All upgrades (Main Battery Mod. 3 = -10% reload): 26,400 HE full-salvo alpha x 60 / 4.1 s all-upgrades reload = 386,341.Zero upgrades: 38,400 AP full-salvo alpha x 60 / 4.6 s base reload = 500,870. All upgrades (Main Battery Mod. 3 = -10% reload): 38,400 AP full-salvo alpha x 60 / 4.1 s all-upgrades reload = 561,951.Zero upgrades: 12 broadside guns x 60 / 4.6 s base reload = 156.5. All upgrades (Main Battery Mod. 3 = -10% reload): 12 broadside guns x 60 / 4.1 s all-upgrades reload = 175.6.Zero upgrades: 156.5 shells/min x 12% fire chance = 18.78. All upgrades (Main Battery Mod. 3 = -10% reload): 175.6 shells/min x 12% fire chance = 21.07.AA defense
Sum across every AA aura on this ship of (aura.continuous_damage x 3.5 x aura.hit_probability). Here: (157×3.5×0.9) + (40×3.5×0.85) + (24×3.5×0.9) = 689. 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.Armor Beta
Hull HP 45,400, 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 7 guns here: Incomparable SE 25IncomparableYamato and 4 more. Angling still helps against the rest.
AP can citadel a flat broadside even at range. Stay angled and avoid showing the full side.
Superstructure and extremities take HE pens and AP overpens from nearly any gun: steady chip damage. Fire resistance 40%, fires burn 30s. Range-by-range in the Compare tool →
| Section | Plates | HP cap | Threats | Tactic |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bow | 32 mm primary (range 32–40 mm) | 1,400 (3% of HP) | Overmatch not possible in its bracketAngle bounces 410mm32 mm: HE pens from 203mm+ | Bow-tank fits behind this exterior plate. Saturation is FAST here; the cap is often only a few thousand HP. |
| Hull (midship) | 25 mm primary (range 6–102 mm) | 34,100 (75% of HP) | Overmatch not possible in its bracketAngle bounces 356mm25 mm: HE pens from 150mm+ | Largest HP pool. Citadel sits behind these plates; thinner deck and side plating absorb the rest. |
| Stern | 32 mm primary (range 6–102 mm) | 3,600 (8% of HP) | Overmatch not possible in its bracketAngle bounces 410mm32 mm: HE pens from 203mm+ | Mirror of bow. Same fast saturation. |
| Citadel | 127 mm primary (range 25–127 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 | 16 mm | no cap | 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 | 22,700 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 (76 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 | 13,600 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.
Ship Charts
Balance History
Balance updates affecting Worcester. Cards are condensed; use each source link for full context.
February update: fortes fortuna adiuvat
- Main battery reload time decreased from 6 to 4.6 s.
- Fire-setting chances for HE shells increased from 10 to 12%.
- HE shell penetration increased from 25 to 30 mm*.
- Turning circle radius decreased from 750 to 740 m.
- Radar reload time decreased from 180 to 120 s.
- Shell grouping increased by 2.5%.
- *These represent raw penetration values, which must be greater than the armor you’re hitting by 1 mm to penetrate. This means that Worcester is now able to effectively penetrate 29 mm of armor with her HE shells.
Skins & permanent camouflages
Every custom exterior Worcester can equip, from in-game data.
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.


