HMS Minotaur

Wonderfully challenging to master but in return is splendidly rewarding

Written by

Captn_Thatch

HMS Minotaur

Spicy Heal
Phenomenal AP
Great Torpedoes
Utilitarian

Scope:

Welcome back, and welcome to the New Year. It's now v 3.10 which feature's Theseus' Bane for the campaign which yields this review's Legendary Tier Headliner, HMS Minotaur. Minotaur hails from one of the oldest lines in World of Warships on the whole, despite her recent addition to World of Warships Legends under the Royal Navy. Minotaur is a GREAT ship, though she has a HIGH skill floor, she has an EXTREME skill ceiling.

I acquired Minotaur by purchasing the first 40 levels of the campaign, then completing the other 80. This ship was not given to me by Wargaming for review.

Legendary Tier ships are not considered Premium Ships, and as such, are subject to balance changes. This review is a time stamp of her current statistics upon release in her campaign and may not reflect changes made to the ship in later updates.

Captains, below you will see a unique list set up which will incorporate 2 basic sets of comparison, the shorter lists compare all the Legendary Ships of the same class directly, and the second larger list which incorporates all of the ships of the same class, pairing Legendary and Tier VII.

Rating Matrix:

[BAD, WEAK, AVERAGE, GOOD, GREAT]
{LOW, MODERATE, HIGH, EXTREME}

History:

In 1946, the First Sea Lord requested a rework of the current designs focusing on improving the well-known habitability issues plaguing the cruiser designs of the era. The Director for Gunnery and Anti-Air Division proposed the design should be armed with dual purpose 6" and 3" gunnery, learning and incorporating the design of the then in construction USS Worcester. The Director of Naval Construction then developed several designs.

Formed in the later years of World War 2, Design Z, was named the Minotaur Class and was a planned design that incorporated several such variations of a Light Cruiser Design with a very profound Anti-Air armament, improved crew habitability, while incorporating lessons learned from the War and increase international cooperation with the United States. The design featured an upgraded, Mk 26 Turret saw vast improvements in automatic reloading and full Remote Power Control. The gun reloaded considerably faster, with an improvement of 9-12 shells per minute over the existing Mk 24 and saw the Mk 26 entering service under different but completed designs such as the HMS Tiger (C-20).

The design was never completed, as in 1947 during post-war analytics, was suspended due to an unfavorable budget, and a lack of threat. The design was cancelled before construction began.

The design was succeeded by the Tiger Class.

Strengths:

Phenomenal EHP
Excellent AA
Useable Torpedoes
God-Tier AP

Weaknesses:

16mm Plating
Large Above Water Citadel
Sluggish Rudder Shift
Nonexistent Armor

The Basics:

Minotaur chalks up to be the first Legendary Tier review and presented herself as a welcome challenge. Make no mistake, Minotaur is a ship that lives on the specialist cusp of "Kill or Be Killed" mentality. Fortunately, Minotaur is kind of ship that brings a Gattling Gun to a knife fight, though, notably she leaves her body armor at home. Varying in builds that start as fairly complex and ranging to playstyles that triumph with base levels in the extreme rating category, Minotaur is certainly a safe example of a ship that is both extremely influential and timelessly reliable; sort of like some lab experiment gone horribly, horribly right.

Minotaur has probably the strongest AP flex in the game and arguably sets the standard that all others strive for; owing to wonderful ballistic properties which include improved ricochet angles, and short fuse times allows Minotaur to flex her muscle onto any ship she may face. Minotaur also can work down to wonderful concealment values, and paired with her 16 longer range torpedoes, Minotaur is comfortably able to stealth torpedo in most builds. Paired now, with all of the above and best in game AP DPM, Minotaur's offensive values are downright scary.

This review will break down a couple different types of builds, with their advantages, disadvantages, predators and prey.

Offense:

Best

In terms of an offensive package, there's really a lot to love here. Minotaur, lacking HE entirely, rolls out the best AP DPM in the game, whilst sporting some of the most effective shells, Minotaur has an almost unrivaled offensive potential. Coupled with some of the most efficient gunnery found on any ship, Minotaur also brings 16 torpedoes, 8 per side in 4 separate quad launchers and outstanding arcs: with the ability to stealth fire these torpedoes.

In terms of playstyles, most of the Radar focused Minotaur Builds, like AL Belfast or AB Hot Rod, will tend to have a more offensive mindset and will target lighter ships, while being more vulnerable to larger ships. Here, the ability to stay concealed rests on the ability to root out and remove anything smaller than you that could out spot you. That being said, a Minotaur which is left uncontested on its smaller detection and then left up to its own initiatives could be one of the single scariest threats in the game, period.

Before I start gushing so much over how wonderful this gunnery system is, let's provide some statistical context.

AP Alpha Strike

Alaska: 8900
Stalingrad: 8500
Minotaur: 3200
Worcester: 3200

AP Alpha Strike

Sigfried: 11,600
Alaska: 8900
Stalingrad: 8500
Azuma: 8150
Hipper: 6000
P. Eugen: 5900
Riga: 5750
Baltimore: 5300
AL Balti: 5000
Martel: 4900
Amalfi: 4800
Mogami: 4700
Atago: 4700
Bagration: 4550
Albemarle: 4500
Wichita: 4000
Mainz: 3900
Chapayev: 3400
Suzuya: 3300
Cleveland: 3300
Kutuzov: 3300
Ochakov: 3300
Worcester: 3200
Minotaur: 3200
Edinburgh: 3100

With 3200 Alpha strike, Minnow has some slightly* anemic alpha. It can't all be perfect.

AP Broadside:

Alaska: 81,100
Stalingrad: 76,500
Worcester: 38,400
Minotaur: 32,000

AP Broadside:

Alaska: 81,100
Stalingrad: 76,500
Azuma: 73,350
Sigfried: 69,600
Riga: 51,750
Suzuya: 49,500
Hipper: 48,000
Baltimore: 47,700
P. Eugen: 47,200
Mogami: 47,000
Atago: 47,000
Mainz: 46,800
AL Balti: 45,000
Martel: 44,100
Amalfi: 43,200
Bagration: 40,950
Chapayev: 40,800
Albemarle: 40,500
Kutuzov: 39,600
Cleveland: 39,600
Worcester: 38,400
Edinburgh: 37,200
Wichita: 36,000
Minotaur: 32,000
Ochakov: 26,400

With 32k AP Alpha Strike and only 10 guns on the broadside, Minnow sits second to last here. Don't worry, I'm pretty sure the worst is over now. Woe be the ship. Oh, another "drawback" is her 15.3km stock main battery range, though I'm not sure I'd call that a weakness with a class/tier spread average of 15.5km to be entirely honest.

Some ships can do quite well flinging their shells, importantly Minotaur is among them with her ballistics, though Captains should be warned that long range firing, generally means long range detection which makes maintaining concealment upon firing more difficult; and all the while your opponents will be able to overmatch and critically strike Minotaur. This same argument is found prevalently in Orkan, and other ships of the like which prefer concealability and close-range engagements.

AP Damage Per Minute

Minotaur: 600,000
Worcester: 384,000
Alaska: 240,300
Stalingrad: 229,500

Minnow straight up makes Worcester look like a chump. There's no other way to put it.

AP Damage Per Minute

Minotaur: 600,000
Mainz: 468,000
Cleveland: 415,800
Worcester 384,000
Edinburgh: 337,900
Kutuzov: 336,600
Chapayev: 306,000
Suzuya: 297,000
Hipper: 285,148
AL Balti: 278,000
Ochakov: 270,600
Baltimore: 270,000
Martel: 264,600
Alaska: 240,300
Stalingrad: 229,500
Bagration: 222,950
Wichita: 216,000
P. Eugen: 212,400
Riga: 200,322
Atago: 197,400
Albemarle: 194,400
Azuma: 191,525
Mogami: 188,000
Amalfi: 183,360
Sigfried: 160,615

600k stock AP DPM. Granted, Minnow's Armor Scheme gets over matched by pretty much anything firing a projectile, but we can save that argument for later.

Shells Fired per Minute

Minotaur: 188
Worcester: 120
Alaska: 27
Stalingrad: 27

Sparing the bulk of what would be just driving another nail into the coffin of how absurd this ship is in terms of her potentials. Stock 188/min is nothing to scoff at. Now, we can start getting into just how juicy this ship is in terms of her efficacy.

600k AP DPM is just laps ahead of the pack. Mainz, sits second on the list here due to her forgiving reload and high alpha strike, make no mistake, Minnow's AP flexes much greater in areas Mainz did not even know existed. This is why I largely ignored Mainz AP as I had with Kutuzov and Suzuya; Mainz has improved HE characteristics, and AP characteristics that follow the typical norm of her tier...along with Suzuya and Kutuzov.

It's not to say that Mainz AP is unusable, but rather, there are entire arguments in which Mainz cannot hold a candle to, and then Mainz quickly falls silent in some of the most important ballistic properties beyond reload and alpha strike.

Now that's out of the way, let's get back to talking about just how juicy these AP shells actually are.

Ricochet Angles (^(o)) (Guaranteed/Potential)

Worcester: 45/60
Stalingrad: 55/65
Alaska: 60/67.5
Minotaur: 60/75

With a 60^(o) Potential Ricochet angle, Minnow's AP rounds don't even bother to check for ricochet where the vast majority of ships shells will automatically ricochet. Instead, the shells will just penetrate. 75^(o) Guaranteed Ricochet angles are quite forgiving, meaning, in order to be considered angled enough to "auto-bounce" a Minotaur, leaving just 15*^(o)* yielding in exactly 2 results: your target will forgo angling to literally anything else, and Minotaur will still be able to dump her shells over the ships belt and score pens to her superstructure and decking.

But wait, there's more!

Fuse Arming Time

Minotaur: 0.005
Worcester: 0.025
Alaska: 0.033
Stalingrad: 0.022

This is la creme de la creme. This super short fuse time and 12mm arming threshold means that Minnow will arm into and will not over-penetrate, literally not figuratively, anything she can sink her shells into. Who needs HE when you can genuinely full AP penetrate just about all of the opponents you will encounter?

Other Ballistic Notes

768m/s Muzzle Velocity
12mm AP Arming Threshold
Decent Drag Values

Fire Damage and HE Shells are simply not needed and will result in Captains learning how to deplete armor schemes and Health Pools using almost abusive penetration mechanics. Minotaur is one of the very few ships which are quite reliably able to dev strike ships of all classes.

Let's take about half a second to absorb all that, and then realize that Minotaur also carries 16 torpedoes and in so, is now the only current Legendary Tier Cruiser to even carry torpedoes to begin with.

Torpedo Alpha Strike

Minotaur: 16,767
Worcester: 0
Alaska: 0
Stalingrad: 0

This is almost a joke.

Torpedo Alpha Strike

Chapayev: 17,933
Mogami: 17,233
Suzuya: 17,233
Minotaur: 16,767
Martel: 15,833
Edinburgh: 15,533
Albemarle: 15,533
Atago: 15,300
Ochakov: 15,100
Kutuzov: 14,400
Bagration: 14,400
Sigfried: 13,700
P. Eugen: 13,700
Mainz: 13,700
Hipper: 13,700
Amalfi: 12,667
Stalingrad: 0
Worcester: 0
Alaska: 0
Azuma: 0
Baltimore: 0
Cleveland: 0
AL Balti: 0
Wichita: 0
Riga: 0

The even funnier part, pound for pound these are actually very decent torpedoes.

Torpedo Range

Minotaur: 10
Worcester: 0
Alaska: 0
Stalingrad: 0

Torpedo Range

Amalfi: 12
Mogami: 11
Suzuya: 11
Minotaur: 10
Edinburgh: 10
Albemarle: 10
Martel: 10
Atago: 8
Kutuzov: 8
Ochakov: 8
Bagration: 8
P. Eugen: 8
Mainz: 6
Hipper: 6
Sigfried: 6
Chapayev: 4
Baltimore: 0
Cleveland: 0
AL Balti: 0
Wichita: 0
Azuma: 0
Riga: 0

...and then you keep laughing, right up until that moment when you then realize Minotaur's torpedoes have down-right vicious reload, and she also sports the best Torpedo DPM of any cruiser.

Torpedo Damage Per Minute

Minotaur: 167,670
Worcester: 0
Alaska: 0
Stalingrad: 0

Torpedo Damage per Minute

Minotaur: 167,670
Mogami: 151,776
Suzuya: 151,776
Mainz: 146,133
Atago: 145,425
P. Eugen: 145,058
Hipper: 145,058
Edinburgh: 103,533
Albemarle: 77,665
Sigfried: 73,066
Ochakov: 69,160
Kutuzov: 65,954
Bagration: 65,954
Martel: 63,332
Chapayev: 43,620
Amalfi: 32,000
Stalingrad: 0
Alaska: 0
Worcester: 0
Azuma: 0
Baltimore: 0
Cleveland: 0
AL Balti: 0
Wichita: 0
Riga: 0

The kicker is that the Japanese Torpedoes tend to have a longer reload. While Minotaur's Torpedoes are quite good and well-rounded, they will tend to trail the Japanese 610mm in terms of Alpha Strike and Flood Chance.

Torpedo Broadside Weight

Mogami: 137,864
Suzuya: 137,864
Minotaur: 134,136
Atago: 122,400
Mainz: 109,600
P. Eugen: 82,200
Hipper: 82,200
Ochakov: 75,500
Kutuzov: 72,000
Bagration: 72,000
Edinburgh: 62,132
Albemarle: 62,132
Sigfried: 54,800
Chapayev: 53,799
Amalfi: 50,668
Martel: 47,499
Azuma: 0
Baltimore: 0
Cleveland: 0
AL Balti: 0
Wichita: 0
Riga: 0

This above category reflects more of the expressed previous sentiment. 134k Broadside Alpha is still well enough to send anything wayward readily back to port.

Torpedo Concealment

Atago: 1.8
Mogami: 1.7
Suzuya: 1.7
Hipper: 1.3
Mainz: 1.3
Edinburgh: 1.3
Albemarle: 1.3
Chapayev: 1.3
Martel: 1.3
Sigfried: 1.3
Minotaur: 1.3
P. Eugen: 1.2
Kutuzov: 1.2
Ochakov: 1.1
Bagration: 1.1
Amalfi: 1
Baltimore: 0
Cleveland: 0
AL Balti: 0
Wichita: 0
Riga: 0
Azuma: 0

Let's recap on the torps, then the guns. The torps have good range, alpha, concealment, excellent reload. The guns have below average range, best in game DPM, efficacy, with weaker alpha values, but puts up more shells per minute than any other by a considerable margin, owing to her reload.

This is a ship that has been seemingly blessed by King Midas's touch on her offensive package where she is buy-in-large able to capitalize and utilize her weaponry effectively due to her capabilities. Minotaur walks away with the BEST offensive system currently in game, hand over fist. It's quite hard not to gush a bit over this weapons system. The tricky part of mastering this ship rests exclusively in HP/EHP management, concealment, and positioning. The vast majority of Minotaur's engagements will be within 10km, meaning concealability is paramount.

Defense:

GOOD

There's Coke in the Midas Touch. Minotaur would be an utterly disgusting ship if not for her one critical drawback, her armor scheme. This armor scheme will unquestionably drag Minnow down in the rankings, and she will be inarguably floated back up due to her HP, Conceal-ability, Heal-ability, Anti-Air Aura, and consumable load out; all of which are fantastic means of mitigating detection, and simultaneously, mitigating damage.

In practice, the smoke generator focused builds will generally tend to be more of a defensive mindset, which includes both Tyrwhitt, Fraser, and any funky Double Rudder/Mod Build. These builds tend to be weaker to smaller ships, as the build lacks Radar, which would be used to out-spot the destroyer. Make no mistake, Minotaur with a smoke build will still reliably deal with destroyers, but without radar lacks the ability to dispose of things that will out spot her, at her own will. One of the greatest weaknesses of Minotaur is being detected, and this is something a destroyer is quite adept at doing.

16mm plating is not forgiving, Minotaur will be hit in her very large and very exposed citadel. Position and reading the map is critical in this ship, and when done correctly, by far among the most influential. However, an almost overwhelming majority of players will succumb to this main weakness. It's almost so bad, it's not worth brushing into the numbers beyond a certain point. Minotaur will be penetrated. To drive this point home, Minotaur has a pale 101mm main armor belt, without any spaced armor voids, and a large above water citadel which abuts the hull plating directly.

Base HP

Stalingrad: 65,000
Alaska: 54,720
Worcester: 45,400
Minotaur: 43,300

It's not all doom and gloom though. Really. I promise.

Base HP

Stalingrad: 65,000
Sigfried: 55,500
Alaska: 54,720
Azuma: 52,500
Worcester: 45,400
P. Eugen: 45,000
Hipper: 43,800
Minotaur: 43,300
Amalfi: 42,800
Mainz: 42,500
Baltimore: 42,400
AL Balti: 42,400
Bagration: 42,000
Riga: 42,000
Kutuzov: 40,700
Atago: 40,100
Albemarle: 39,400
Mogami: 39,100
Suzuya: 38,000
Martel: 38,000
Wichita: 37,900
Chapayev: 37,000
Cleveland: 36,900
Edinburgh: 36,400
Ochakov: 34,730

At 43.3k Minnow is sitting pretty high up on the list especially for a light cruiser.

Effective HP

Alaska: 91,428
Stalingrad: 83,144
Minotaur: 77,900
Worcester: 58,056

This is part of what really helps Minnow shine, her EHP is literally 20k north of Worcester despite having lower base HP. Minotaur has access to improved heal rates and improved healing percentages. Minotaur will heal back 100% of fire, flood, and ramming damages, but will regenerate about 50% lost from Citadel Damage. (The normal values are 100% Fire/Flood/Ramming, 50% Penetration Damage, 10% Citadel Damage) This is important, generally anything that penetrates Minotaur will greatly reduce the efficacy of her heal potential.

Effective HP

Alaska: 91,428
Azuma: 86,184
Stalingrad: 83,144
Minotaur: 77,900
Sigfried: 73,980
Albemarle: 70,880
Baltimore: 65,624
AL Balti: 65,624
Edinburgh: 65,480
Amalfi: 60,692
P. Eugen: 60,120
Hipper: 58,472
Worcester: 58,056
Mainz: 56,780
Bagration: 56,112
Riga: 56,112
Atago: 54,440
Kutuzov: 54,364
Mogami: 52,204
Chapayev: 51,504
Suzuya: 50,768
Wichita: 50,612
Martel: 48,584
Cleveland: 47,204
Ochakov: 46,378

77.9k EHP is quote good, especially for a Light Cruiser. Though, it should be well noted that number is highly limited by the captain's ability to position Minotaur out of harm's' way. A Minotaur which is allowed to be shot at quickly depletes her EHP values, which in turn greatly reduces her efficacy in engagements.

Let's recap, awful armor, decent HP, excellent EHP, and god-tier AA, with access to Hydro, Smoke/Radar and wonderful concealment values. The armor profile knocks down quite substantially what would otherwise be a near glorious defensive category. Defensively, Minotaur's argument breaks down into 2 very precise trains of thought; first, concealment control (with smokes), and second, vision control (with radar).

Minotaur will generally out-spot most other cruisers, and as such is generally able to conceal at will with her smoke generator, and, as she can stealth radar, can control her own detectability by the use of surveillance radar. The first playstyle is by far the more forgiving, the second, the more influential. The end result here, is that Minotaur's defensive index is very heavily tied into the skill of the commander, levelling off on the lower portions of the GOOD rating held largely due to the forgiveness of the smoke-based playstyle, and floated by her skill ceiling and vision control-ability.

Anti-Air Suite:

BEST

Before we delve into another likely and hotly contested point, Minotaur > Worcester AA, there I said it. Reason being, in their stock form Minotaur has better long-range AA DPS, marginally. Sure, Worcester can run Defensive AA, but this requires sacrificing hydro-acoustic search on a radar equipped ship. Carriers are neither of these ships' biggest issues by a considerably wide berth, and both are quite well equipped to deal with incoming Airborne Pests. Both Minotaur and Worcester have the ability to stealth fire their AA, both with values more than adequate to handle the incoming threat.

On their stock value, Minotaur narrowly edges out Worcester in her long-range aura and air concealment, by an almost insignificant margin. Yes, the DPS is one unit lower /s, the reason for this is they have different values in their close-range auras, resulting with Worcester performing marginally better inside 2km, with Minotaur performing marginally better between 2-6km. For the purpose of this matrix, the better damage further out will generally translate to better damage output overall.

Anti-Air Damage per Second

Worcester: 495
Minotaur: 494
Alaska: 436
Stalingrad: 375

Anti-Air Damage per Second

Worcester: 495
Minotaur: 494
Alaska: 436
Stalingrad: 375
Baltimore: 365
AL Balti: 365
Cleveland: 363
Mainz: 357
Sigfried: 354
Azuma: 342
Hipper: 288
Bagration: 280
P. Eugen: 279
Kutuzov: 264
Edinburgh: 263
Riga: 262
Amalfi: 240
Wichita: 217
Albemarle: 211
Chapayev: 207
Martel: 204
Ochakov: 196
Mogami: 127
Atago: 90
Suzuya: 67

Maybe it's a bit closer to a tie, but it's inarguably close and only one can have the top spot. Arguing with Worcester over AA is not a bad spot to be, all things considered.

Anti-Air Suite Range

Minotaur: 6
Worcester: 6
Stalingrad: 5.7
Alaska: 5

Maneuverability:

GOOD

This rating is kind of more flexible in a sense than the others. Let's chalk this down to simple terms, Minotaur has a slightly above average top speed, below average rudder shift time, and an excellent turn radius.

Minotaur cannot equip the second slot propulsion module, due to her stock improved acceleration, more or less naturally has this built into the ship. While Minnow has tons of get up and go, it will still take her roughly 20s to reach her top speed; the vast majority of the acceleration is in 1/4 speed from a dead stop.

Naturally, this will leave the choice between damage control systems, or steering gears which is frankly an obvious choice and helps dent that awful 10s stock rudder shift. Otherwise, Minotaur handles pretty well.

Stock Top Speed

Stalingrad: 35
Minotaur: 33.5
Worcester: 33
Alaska: 33

Stock Top Speed

Amalfi: 38.1
Ochakov: 36
Chapayev: 35.5
Atago: 35.5
Bagration: 35.5
Stalingrad: 35
Azuma: 35
Riga: 34.5
Mogami: 34.5
Suzuya: 34.5
Minotaur: 33.5
Martel: 33.5
Sigfried: 33.5
Wichita: 33.5
Worcester: 33
Mainz: 33
Albemarle: 33
Alaska: 33
Cleveland: 33
Kutuzov: 33
Edinburgh: 32.5
Baltimore: 32.5
AL Balti: 32.5
P. Eugen: 32
Hipper: 32

At 33.5 knots, Minotaur is just ever so slightly ahead of the average.

Rudder Shift (s)

Worcester: 9.2
Minotaur: 10.4
Stalingrad: 12.5
Alaska: 13

This 10.4s rudder shift is what pulls this rating down for this category.

Turn Radius

Minotaur: 660
Worcester: 750
Alaska: 850
Stalingrad: 1130

Turn Radius (m)

Stalingrad: 1130
Azuma: 920
Riga: 920
Bagration: 890
Chapayev: 890
Sigfried: 880
Alaska: 850
Atago: 790
P. Eugen: 770
Kutuzov: 760
Mogami: 750
Suzuya: 750
Ochakov: 750
Worcester: 750
Hipper: 740
Baltimore: 730
AL Balti: 730
Mainz: 720
Albemarle: 720
Martel: 690
Edinburgh: 680
Amalfi: 680
Wichita: 680
Cleveland: 660
Minotaur: 660

660m turn radius is actually quite good. All things considered, Minotaur is not exceptionally agile, but is agile enough to make it count. Be prepared to turn before you fire, though, that 10s rudder shift will get you killed. Fortunately, Minotaur readily accepts most things which help improve her handling, and they are easy enough to access.

Concealment:

GOOD

Most of Minotaur's critical skills lay very directly in this category, specifically. Minotaur has thinner armor plating than most of the destroyers found this tier and the tier below, and as such, with the added vulnerability with an exposed citadel; Minotaur lives and breathes, literally, by her concealability.

Stock Concealment

Stalingrad: 14.4
Alaska: 13.3
Worcester: 12.8
Minotaur: 12.1

Fortunately, Minotaur has very good concealment.

Kit Surface Concealment Radius (Camo + Concealment Mod)

Riga: 13.1
Stalingrad: 13
Chapayev: 12.9
Kutuzov: 12
Sigfried: 11.8
P. Eugen: 11.7
Mainz: 11.8
Hipper: 11.6
Martel: 11.6
Ochakov: 11.4
Alaska: 11.4
Cleveland: 11.3
Mogami: 11.1
Worcester: 11
Azuma: 10.9
Albemarle: 10.9
Bagration: 10.8
Edinburgh: 10.8
Atago: 10.6
Baltimore: 10.5
AL Balti: 10.5
Minotaur: 10.4
Wichita: 10.4
Suzuya: 10.2
Amalfi: 9.2

10.4 with equipment only (everything here is running the (camo + concealment mod)) is not bad and is quite workable. Only a couple ships here will out-spot a Minotaur, anything else is in a different class.

Maxed Surface Concealment Radius

Minotaur: 8.8 (Tyrwhitt)
Worcester: 9.4
Alaska: 9.8
Stalingrad: 12.7

The Tyrwhitt Smogathon Build is quite interesting and sports a very handy maxed 8.8km concealment ring.

Kit Air Concealment Radius (Camo + Concealment Mod)

Riga: 8.2
Sigfried: 8
Kutuzov: 7.8
Chapayev: 7.7
Ochakov: 7.5
Bagration: 7.5
P. Eugen: 7.4
Mainz: 7.4
Hipper: 7.3
Martel: 7.3
Alaska: 7.2
Azuma: 6.9
Worcester: 6.9
Baltimore: 6.8
Cleveland: 6.8
AL Balti: 6.8
Atago: 6.6
Mogami: 6.6
Suzuya: 6.6
Minotaur: 6.6
Edinburgh: 6.5
Albemarle: 6.5
Wichita: 6.5
Amalfi: 5.8

Minotaur also has pretty good Air concealment values. While most CV's will readily abandon the area due to Minotaur (or get wiped out), Minotaur can also readily equip AA mod in slot 1, which will push her AA reach out to 7km. This will effectively keep Minotaur immune from aerial detection, if not, will help minimize the time until she can return to concealment.

Maxed Air Concealment Radius

Minotaur: 4.9 (Hot Rod)
Worcester: 6.2
Alaska: 6.4
Stalingrad: 8.3

Hot Rod sports an interesting take on Minotaur which buffs her radar and helps enhance her air concealment, resulting in a combination that will be detailed further down. Just know, 4.9km Air Conceal is very good, especially with Minotaur's AA Aura.

On the whole, Minotaur has very GOOD, bordering on great concealment values.

Consumables:

GREAT

Slot:

Damage Control
Repair Party
Sonar
Smoke/Radar

Like most cruisers, Minotaur is pretty much equipped with all the goodies. Unlike most cruisers, Minotaur has an incredible heal, the choice of smoke or radar with a separately slotted sonar.

Smoke Generator

Minotaur: 15s deployment with a 113s duration. Comes with a 240s reload and 2 charges.
Worcester: —
Alaska: —
Stalingrad: —

Minotaur has such a spicy heal, Alaska needs to use her full 3rd stock repair party charge to overtake Minotaur.

Stock Repair Party Effective Values

Alaska: 437/s-28s. 50sr x3 (36,708)
Minotaur: 865/s-20s. 80sr x2 (34,600)
Stalingrad: 324/s-28s. 80sr x2 (18,144)
Worcester: 226/s-28s. 80sr x2 (12,656)

Stock Repair Party Effective Values

Alaska: 437/s-28s. 50sr x3 (36,708)
Albemarle: 875/s 20s. 60sr x2~~ (35,000)
Minotaur: 865/s-20s. 80sr x2 (34,600)
Azuma: (33,684)
Edinburgh: 727/s 20s. 60sr x2~~ (29,080)
Sigfried: (18,480)
Stalingrad: 324/s-28s. 80sr x2 (18,144)
P. Eugen: (15,120)
Hipper: (14,672)
Chapayev: (14,504)
Mainz: (14,280)
Baltimore: (14,224)
AL Balti: (14,224)
Riga: (14,112)
Bagration: (14,112)
Kutuzov: (13,664)
Atago: (13,440)
Mogami: (13,104)
Suzuya: (12,768)
Wichita: (12,712)
Worcester: 226/s-28s. 80sr x2 (12,656)
Amalfi: (11,928)
Ochakov: (11,648)
Cleveland: (10,304)
Martel: (10,080)

With a heal potential over 30k, Minotaur has wonderful capacity to keep herself afloat even after receiving heavy damage.

Hydro-Acoustic Search

Minotaur: 3.4km torp/4.9km ship 100s duration. 180s reload x2
Worcester: 3.1km torp/4.4km ship 96s duration. 180s reload x2
Alaska: 3.1km torp/4.4km ship 96s duration. 180s reload x2
Stalingrad: --

Surveillance Radar

Minotaur: 9.9km reach, 40s duration. 180s reload x2
Worcester: 9km reach 30s duration. 180s reload x2
Alaska: 9km reach 30s duration. 180s reload x2
Stalingrad: 11.7km reach 20s duration. 180s reload x2

Pound for pound, Minotaur has both the best Radar and Sonar in the game. Minotaur's Radar is both capable of reaching beyond her concealment radius, and long enough duration for Minotaur to capitalize on targets spotted within her radar.

Furthermore, Minotaur's Sonar pushes to a nice 4.9km which will generally catch most destroyers off guard. I've written this before, that gap between 4.4km and 4.9km in close-range engagements is a massively important zone; and Minotaur is capable of covering that gap. As a hidden bonus, AL Belfast's inspiration when maxed produces a 4.8km smoke firing bloom, which means that Minotaur will be able to spot anything by her sonar that dares wander close enough to proxy-spot Minotaur in her smoke. All the other commanders will rest with 5.9km smoke firing bloom which would allow Minotaur to be spotted in close.

Minotaur has an excellent consumable load out. There's genuinely no other way to put it.

Commanders:

Here's where all the flavor really comes, Minotaur has a nice choice of commanders, which change her playstyles quite nicely. Generally speaking, these builds will focus heavily on concealment for their inspirational slots. Concealment is important, as this will allow Minotaur to gain the positional advantage on her targets, and coupled with her absurd potential values, can very decidedly force engagements into Minotaur's favor.

However, a long range, spamming and kiting Minotaur is not unheard of, but on the rarer side of the playstyle spectrum and tends to be fairly skill locked in terms of open water gun-boating. While this build will perform excellently against battleships, forgoing concealment on a Minotaur means forgoing any sort of push what-so-ever, as Minotaur's narrow margin of out spotting Alaska is now gone, and Alaska is very capable of overmatching, and dev-striking a Minotaur.

Bruce Fraser: Fraser is probably the best place to start in terms of ease of access and ease of use. His skills will help push Minotaur where she needs to go and will add extra consumables along the way. While this build is quite basic, it is quite functional and well-rounded and can be used with either a Smoke or Radar build.

Make Haste: +3% Speed
Beyond Range: +10% Gun Range
Punch Through: +10% AP Alpha, +6% AP Pen
Fixated: +5% Sigma, -5% Dispersion
Fully Packed: +1 Consumables, -5% Consumable Reload

AL Belfast: As funny as it sounds, she's the winner for Radar Minnow and is one of the builds I lean on most. The big hidden gem here is the maxed 4.7km smoke firing concealment, which allows Minotaur to dive into allies' smoke, undetected, bringing Radar and Sonar sufficient to well cover the cap or contested area. The lack of access to Fully Packed is technically a downside, though most captains, including seasoned veterans can struggle to save their effective health pools long enough to make that 3rd heal substantially count.

Out of Nowhere: -20% Smoke Firing Concealment
Ingenious: +1.6^(o)/s Turret Traverse, -7% Splash Damage, Number of Main Guns Aiming at you
Full Speed Ahead: +5% Speed, -10% Rudder Shift
Punch Through: +10% Ap Alpha, +6% AP Pen
Fixated: +5% Sigma, -5% Dispersion
Refill Station: -10% Gun Reload

Reginald Tyrwhitt: This is one of the rarer and more hidden gems following a slightly weird game of switch-a-roo. Normally a destroyer commander, Tyrwhitt has some skills which work quite well on Minnow overall. The end result here is a Minnow with 8.8km Concealment, slightly reduced gun range of 15.3km keeping her 2.8s gun reload and in turn pushing her torpedoes into an excellent position. Coupled with an 81s reload, improved to 66 knots, and now pushed out to 11.6km, Minotaur becomes excruciatingly abusive to deal with in short range, and long-range situations. This build has a lot of phenomenal quirks to explore, including roughly 8 minutes of continuous smoke; however, will be generally outpaced by things that will greatly out-spot her. Pair with Mikawa's Clandestine (-6% Cruiser Concealment) and Swirski's Hide 'n' Seek (-4% Concealment) to create a pub stomping monster that makes for a surprisingly adept torpedo focused ship. Perceptive, bear in mind, may help deal with destroyers, but a Minotaur without Radar will be very hard pressed to catch, or spot destroyers.

True Grit: -30% Steering Gear Impairment, -3% Torpedo Reload
Subsurface Ventrure: +4knots Torpedo Speed, -12% Torpedo Reload
Look at Me Now: -5% Concealment
Torpedo Safari/Perceptive: +16% Torpedo Range, -7% Gun Range/ +5% Torpedo Detectability
Smoke on the Water: +8% Smoke Deployment, +8% Smoke Dispersion
Smogathon: -50% Smoke Reload, +2 Smoke Consumable, -50% Smoke Deployment

AB Hot Rod: This commander came from the second Transformers Collaboration and has perks which buff Radar and air concealment. He is somewhat tacky in the sense that he does not have access to the improved Smoke Fire Concealment perks, which keep Minotaur hidden in smoke during early contests. 4.9km air concealment helps the rest of the time and especially during CV matches, which are not really a threat to Minotaur. 44s of Radar and a shorter reload is a nice touch, but not necessarily my go to for Minotaur.

Cognizant: -10% Radar Reload
Ingenious: +1.6^(o)/s Turret Traverse, -7% Splash Damage
Full Speed Ahead: -10% Rudder Shift, +5% Speed
Prescience: -20% Air Concealment, +10% Radar Duration
Steer Clear: -7 Rudder Shift, -7% Rudder Repair
Fully Packed: +1 Consumables, -5% Consumable Reload

Upgrades:

Minotaur is a Legendary Tier ship and has no researchable upgrades.

Modifications:

Slot 1: AA Guns Mod 2/Aiming Systems Mod 1

Normally, you'll read here all about how the +7% to dispersion is a must have, and normally, this would be right. However, Minotaur fires off 188 shots/min, and furthermore, the AA mod will add 20% to Minnow's AA range, which pushes her AA Aura beyond her Air Concealment Radius.

Slot 2: Steering Gears Mod 2

This is really the obvious choice; Minotaur has a sluggish rudder shift and has Propulsion Mod built in. Skip Damage Control Systems: if your Minotaur is on fire, you are doing it wrong.

Slot 3: Concealment Mod

-10% to concealment is generally the only other argument here is unless you're going for that ultra-rare kiting Minnow.

Slot 4: Main Battery Mod 3

Let's start by ruling out the others, AA Guns Mod while hilarious and predatory to CV's, isn't particularly needed as Minotaur has amazing AA stock values. Torpedo Reload Mod is probably an interesting spin for the Tyrwhitt Build, but Minotaur will still tend to fire her gunnery much more frequently than her torpedoes. Gun Fire Control Mod (which adds 5% range) is useable on some builds more than others, though given most of my engagements are well within my stock gunnery range, I opted for Main Battery Mod 3 (-12% Gun Reload, -13% Turret Traverse) as this will shave off .6s of her reload, (which adds nearly 5 full salvos a minute) and with the addition of Punch Through, translates to over 800k AP DPM. 800k. You read that correctly.

Research:

To date, I have not seen any legendary tier ships featured in the Research Bureau. However, that could change.
Also, be aware that this review was written and published before the completion of the campaign and her subsequent release into the Bureau, meaning, this ship is very new.

Summary:

GREAT

Minotaur is just delightful to play. She's wonderfully challenging to master but in return is splendidly rewarding. Minotaur has a weapon for every situation, then consumables to match and help her become even more influential. In terms of defense, Minotaur has wonderful vision control in terms of concealability or spotting, coupled with a strong AA Aura, brilliant heal potential, Minotaur serves up interesting options to work around a lack of armor. When you start factoring in her offensive capabilities, including wonderfully flexible and effective AP, 8 torps per side with forgiving arcs and useable parameters, which allows Minotaur a notable exception of being able to deal with a vast array of targets in her tier spread.

A well-played Minotaur of any playstyle is capably a marvel in its own right, and the results can be downright derpy, one way or the other. Alaska should be rightfully noted as one of Minotaur's top predators, and while ships like Azuma, Stalingrad, and Sigfried exist; they are on the whole much rarer and each individually have their own unique obstacles to overcome when dealing with Minotaur.

Whether you acquire Minotaur from the succeeding Bureau, or earn her in the campaign, she is a wonderful addition to the port of any captain willing to learn her quirks. Mastering Minotaur might be a worthy challenge for even the seasoned player, though Minotaur's influence is certainly nothing to scoff at and the numbers certainly speak for themselves. This is a ship I almost gleefully accepted as a challenge, and rightfully so as the first Legendary Review as she was my very first Tier X on PC all those years ago.

The developers hit the nail right on its head with Minotaur. I don't think there is a ship currently in my mind, that calls home a better translation from either World of Warships PC or World of Warships Blitz.