You’re staring at the Armory. There’s a shiny new destroyer with a weird name and a price tag that looks suspiciously like a week's worth of groceries. You want it. The marketing says it’s a "versatile brawler," but the forums say it’s a "port queen" that explodes if a cruiser sneezes in its general direction. Welcome to the polarizing reality of world of warships premium ships.
Let's be real for a second. Wargaming doesn't make this easy. They've built a system where some ships are basically legal cheats, while others are just expensive ways to frustrate yourself. If you’ve been playing for more than a week, you know the feeling of getting dev-struck by a ship you can’t even see, only to realize it’s some rare premium that isn't even for sale anymore.
It’s annoying. It’s also exactly why people spend hundreds of dollars on this game.
The Economy of Greed (and Efficiency)
Most people think buying a premium ship is about winning. It isn't. Well, it shouldn't be. If you’re buying a Tier VIII Atago because you think it’ll magically make you a better player, you’re in for a very expensive wake-up call. You’ll just die faster in a prettier boat.
The real reason world of warships premium ships exist is the "grind." It’s the silver. If you play Tier X tech tree ships without a premium account, you lose money. You can have a "Great" game and still end up with a negative credit balance because of service costs. Premiums fix that. They have built-in modifiers that vomit credits into your account even on a mediocre win.
Then there’s the Captain retraining. This is the underrated superpower of premium ships. You can take your 21-point Kremlin commander and shove him into a Borodino without spending a single doubloon or elite commander XP. He’s instantly effective. That’s the loop: grind credits, train captains, repeat until you’re broke or bored.
The Tier IX Gold Mine
For a long time, Tier IX was the sweet spot. Ships like the Missouri (before they nerfed its credit earning) or the Musashi were legendary. They were basically ATM machines with 16-inch guns. Nowadays, the meta has shifted. With the introduction of Tier XI Superships, Tier IX premiums often find themselves as "XP pinatas" for ships that are vastly more powerful.
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Yet, ships like the Kearsarge—that weird hybrid battleship-carrier monstrosity—still dominate the credit-earning charts. Why? Because they can do damage in ways the game struggles to calculate. You aren't just a battleship; you're a battleship that can spot for itself.
Power Creep is a Monster
If you bought the Tirpitz in 2016, you felt like a god. You had torpedoes on a battleship! It was revolutionary! Today? The Tirpitz is... fine. It’s okay. But compared to a Schlieffen or even some of the newer premiums like the Brandenburg, it feels sluggish.
This is the "Power Creep" people complain about in world of warships premium ships. Wargaming rarely nerfs premiums directly because people paid real money for them. Instead, they just release newer, slightly better ships that make the old ones obsolete. It’s a soft nerf. It’s sneaky. It works.
Think about the Smolensk. That ship was so toxic they had to pull it from the shop. It was a light cruiser that felt like a machine gun nested inside a cloud. If you own it, you’re a pariah. If you don't, you hate it. But even the Smolensk has to deal with the fact that modern radar and sub-surface threats have changed the ecosystem it used to rule.
The "No-Fly Zone" Myth
Remember when buying a premium American cruiser meant you were an anti-air god? Those days are mostly gone. Ever since the CV rework, and more recently the addition of support carriers, AA is a deterrent, not a wall. You can spend 19,000 doubloons on a ship thinking you’ll be safe from planes, only to realize a skilled Hakuryu player is going to drop you anyway.
Don't buy for AA. Buy for the main battery. Or the gimmick.
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The Gimmick Trap
Every premium needs a "thing."
The Mainz has insane 1/4 HE penetration.
The Belfast '43 has smoke and radar (sorta).
The Georgia has speed boost because someone decided a 30,000-ton battleship should move like a Ferrari.
These gimmicks are fun until they aren't. A lot of players fall into the trap of buying a ship for one specific trick, then realizing the rest of the ship is trash. Take the Marco Polo. On paper, 406mm SAP shells sound terrifying. In practice? The accuracy is so wonky you couldn’t hit the broadside of a barn from inside the barn.
You have to look at the "hidden" stats. Look at the sigma (accuracy). Look at the dispersion curve. Look at the plating. If a ship has a "gimmick" but 25mm of nose plating at Tier IX, you are going to get overmatched and sent back to port by every battleship you face.
Why People Still Love the Classics
Despite the flashiness of new releases, some of the best world of warships premium ships are the old reliable ones.
- Massachusetts: The "Mass" is still one of the most fun ships in the game. It’s got accurate secondaries and a fast-reloading heal. It’s comfortable.
- Warspite: At Tier VI, this thing is a sniper. It doesn't need fancy gimmicks because its guns just work.
- Alaska: Often cited as the best "Large Cruiser" ever released. It’s tanky, has improved bounce angles, and punches way above its weight.
The Ethical Dilemma of Loot Boxes
We have to talk about Santa Crates and Black Friday. This is where most people get their world of warships premium ships these days. It’s gambling. Let’s call it what it is. You want a Benham—a ship that can literally fill the water with so many torpedoes it looks like a wall—but you can’t buy it. You have to roll the dice.
The community is divided here. Some say it's the only way to get "removed" ships. Others point out that spending $200 to get a Makorov and some signal flags is a bad deal.
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If you're a new player, stay away from the crates. Buy a ship you actually like. Research it. Watch a YouTube review by someone like The Mighty Jingles or Sea Lord Mountbatten. See how it actually plays when a normal human is at the helm, not a pro-level player who can make a bathtub look like a meta-breaker.
How to Actually Choose a Ship
Stop looking at the Tier X ships for a minute. If you’re learning, Tier VI and VII are where the real game happens.
- Identify your playstyle. Do you like sitting in the back and sniping? Get a Slava (well, that's research bureau, but you get the point). Do you like being a nuisance? Get a Paolo Emilio and yolo-charge people with exhaust smoke.
- Check the Captain synergy. If you have a high-level German commander, buy a German premium. Don't start from zero with a Pan-Asian destroyer if you don't have the points to make it viable.
- Wait for a coupon. Wargaming gives out 25% off doubloon coupons in the Armory regularly. Use them. Never pay full price for a digital boat.
A Word on Submarines and Hybrids
The game is changing. Whether we like it or not, submarines and hybrid battle-carriers like the Nebraska and Kearsarge are here. Buying a "traditional" premium ship now carries the risk that it might not be equipped to handle these new classes. A ship with poor depth charge range or a massive, unarmored flight deck is a liability.
If you are buying a ship today, look for versatility. Ships with hydroacoustic search are becoming mandatory. You need to be able to see the torpedoes coming, or you’re just a very expensive target.
Actionable Next Steps for the Smart Captain
Before you drop any currency on world of warships premium ships, do these three things:
- Test in the Public Test Server (PTS): Wargaming often lets you try ships for free on the test server. Use this. See if the shell velocity feels right to you. Some people hate the "floaty" shells of USN cruisers; others love them.
- Analyze Your Credit Needs: If you are consistently broke, a Tier VIII or IX premium is a tool, not a toy. Pick a "workhorse" ship like the Mainz or Azuma that can farm damage consistently. Damage equals credits.
- Ignore the "Rare" Hype: Just because a ship is "Limited Time Only" doesn't mean it's good. The California is a beautiful ship, but it's slow as a brick and often a struggle to play in the current fast-paced meta.
Don't buy into the FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out). There will always be another ship. There will always be another event. The best ship in the game is the one that you actually enjoy playing after the 50th match. Everything else is just pixels and wasted money.
Stick to the ships that fit your hands. If you’re a brawler at heart, don't buy a glass-cannon sniper just because a tier list said it was "S-Tier." You’ll hate it. Play your way, and let the credits follow.