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ORP Orkan [G-90] "Windstorm"

Orkan can either be a breeze or a hurricane; this is almost entirely locked behind the skill of the captain
Captn_Thatch

ORP Orkan [G-90] "Windstorm"

  • Radar Destroyer
  • Extreme Skill Ceiling
  • 360^(o) Turrets

Scope:

Orkan represents her namesake as a Tier 6 European Union Premium National Destroyer, currently available in shop for 12,5k dubloons. Orkan is a difficult ship to master, and inarguably one of the highest skill locked ships in the game. Orkan has a cousin if you will, HMS Lightning. Despite how tricky she may be to learn and master, Orkan is extremely adept for most circumstances and is excruciatingly painful to try to overcome when guided by a well-studied captain. Orkan is a GREAT ship, with a HIGH skill floor and an EXTREME skill ceiling.

What caps off as the final Tier 6 review for this pass under this current metric; readers can look forward to future reviews featuring Udaloi, Friesland and Lo Yang; with a return to Tier 7 that will culminate in the first cruiser reviews.

Rating Matrix:

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

History:

HMS Myrmidon was laid down in December 1939 by Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company in Govan, Scotland. This ship represents an M-Class Destroyer; a further development of the L-Class Destroyer. The design featured a commonplace A-B-X layout of 6x120mm (4.7in) QF Mk XI rifle in 3 twin turrets, one pair super-firing forward and the third turret mounted aft. After construction and due to lessons learned from the war, some M-Class Destroyers had removed the aft set of 4x533mm torpedo tubes, and replaced with Anti-Air battery which helped protect the ship more favourably than the dual purpose 120mm, which had limitations on their ability to engage enemy aircraft. Compared to the L Class, there are very minor differences mostly focused on torpedo armament and Anti-Air Suites.

HMS Myrmidon was launched in March 1942, and then given to the Free Polish Navy in November 1942. The ship was renamed ORP Orkan and primarily served in the Arctic. In 1943, the ship was hit with a single (GNAT) Homing Torpedo by German U-378 with heavy loss of life.

Pros:

  • Radar
  • 360^(o) Turrets
  • Excellent Handling
  • Good DPM
  • Versatile

Cons:

  • Poor Torpedo Alpha
  • Anemic Torpedo Broadside
  • Smokeless
  • Slow top speed
  • Unforgiving

The Basics:

Orkan represents a monster of a ship hidden in plain sight. Locked behind a massive skill wall, Orkan may be one of the strongest ships in the game in her ability to control a match, simply by her staunch ability of controlling key map areas. She’s one of the very few Radar ships available and she happens to be a destroyer; which allows her to have a utility far beyond the capability of other classes. Orkan has 3x2 dual purpose 120mm main battery, which can rotate 360 degrees. Orkan however does not come with a smoke generator, and has mediocre speed with excellent handling. This, coupled with Orkan’s lone 1x4 533mm torpedo launcher, brings forth a kill or be killed mentality. With mediocre base HP, no heal, no consumables focused at disengaging coupled with decently above average DPM, Orkan is not very forgiving to play while being a capable monster under a well guided hand. This is not a ship for most captains, and will generally find herself in very compromising situations unless careful calculation and execution are prioritized.

Offense:

  • GOOD

Lets start from the top... Orkan's primary weaponry is all about her gunnery with her noted sole quad-torpedo launcher. Fortunately, her gunnery no slouch. Orkan features 120mm rifles which then have the capacity for greater utility amongst some of the other larger calibers; with slightly lower penetration values which will unlock AP penetrations on destroyers though this is gated by a higher skill value than most armament. Describing this process details an understanding of how much penetration capacity a shell will lose during flight, while maintaining enough force to penetrate the armor on the receiving end. Unlike most ships of higher caliber, 120mm has the ability to "lose" enough penetration to avoid over-penetrations, generally varied by target, and angle between 5-8km.

For this exercise, lets use our minds. Imagine a Kidd vs an Orkan, gun dueling about 6km apart broadside and parallel heading with a flush (180^(o)) angle of engagement. Let's importantly note for a second here that Orkan has 162k AP Dpm. For those of you like me, who enjoy the breakdown: theoretically it takes Kidd 8.75s to drain Orkan's HP while it would take Orkan 9.8s on the other foot. I remember making an argument about how devastatingly important DPM values are on destroyers recently. The reality of this argument is that it would likely take both destroyers around 15s to kill each other which just goes to show how close these two really can be. The difference is almost exclusively locked behind the situational awareness and knowledge of the captain of the Orkan. Unlocking this AP is tricky to use due to its lower than average pen values but then is all things considered is arguably more efficient...there's just no way in hell Kidd is going to reliably *not* lead to over-penetrations on Orkan in the same inverted situation with Kidd's AP. Kidd has to stick to HE in this situation.

One final note about Orkan's gunnery is that it has average fire starting capabilities, which are somewhat hampered by a lack of a smoke generator consumable. This leaves captains more so at the mercy of the map and combat situational awareness. While Orkan is adept at ambush tactics, lacking a Smoke Generator effectively derails the ship's ability to stop and fire off a few quick salvos looking to start some perma-fires.

HE DPM

  • Kidd: 154,286
  • Cossack: 136,00
  • Sims: 130,909
  • Orkan: 126,000
  • Hughes: 123,428
  • Le Terrible: 120,000
  • Z-35: 118,421
  • Leningrad: 114,000
  • Blyskawica: 109,846
  • Benham: 108,000
  • Yukikaze: 103,200
  • Ognevoi: 91,200
  • Kiev: 84,816
  • Asashio: 81,000
  • Z-39: 70,400

Next up is the Torpedoes. Orkan falls into the EU National Tree, despite being a premium follows the niche of the EU premiums (except Blyskawica). EU torpedoes are known for being fast, with a narrow spread, above average DPM, balanced by low individual alpha strike. Okran's base reload of 70s on her sole Quad Launcher is quite a bit faster, but not so much faster that it becomes incredulously advantageous. This does not mean Orkan will suddenly rank well among other torpedo-boats, but rather, that Orkan has a more steady stream of torpedoes, albeit just 4 of them.

One critical advantage of Orkan's Torpedoes is their single-fire capability, which means Captains may fire individual torpedoes hoping to spark a flood which provokes Damage Control Party, only to fire the last of 1-2 torpedoes in the launcher, striking and landing a permanent flood. It should be said, there are very few ships that can survive more than 1min of flooding without any such skills reducing the damage over time accrued. Captains, once your target is perma-flooded, this is almost a promised kill in such a situation. However, mind that some national classes reload Damage Control Party sooner than others.

Does this mean that Orkan somehow has the best torpedo armament in the game?

-No.

Yukikaze has a higher alpha strike with 2 of her torpedoes than you do with all 4, with better range, better speed, better quantity. Orkan is more situational, and can have the same devastating effect minus the raw punch, considering Orkan's ability to force damage over time, this is a skill locked behind a massive skill wall, with the exceptional feat of being more difficult to overcome when established by a well guided hand. Despite Yukikaze's well reasoned torpedo prowess, Orkan is quite adept at locating, catching and killing that same threat presented by Yukikaze.

Single Torpedo Alpha

  • Yukikaze: 21,367
  • Le Terrible: 18,400
  • Asashio: 17,233
  • Cossack: 16,767
  • Kidd: 16,633
  • Ognevoi: 15,100
  • Leningrad: 15,100
  • Kiev: 15,100
  • Z-39: 14,400
  • Blyskawica: 14,400
  • Z-35: 13,700
  • Hughes: 11,733
  • Sims: 11,600
  • Orkan: 10,700
  • Benham: 9,233

All in All, Orkan has a few things to work around. She is quite capable and adept at working around significant threats to the team. With Orkan equipped with the lone radar of her class so far, this provides significant advantage in weeding out those nasty little buggers. Orkan provides a near perfect kit to counter these threats. Short of hydro-acoustic Search and a Smoke Generator, or a Repair Party, Orkan becomes far less forgiving than other ships, with a far greater polarity in regards for her ability to control the match. Captains, Orkan may perhaps be one of the strongest ships in the game, while being one of the least forgiving ships, in game. Orkan has too many strengths to ignore a GOOD rank, but is generally so unforgiving that ranking her GREAT is also similarly out of the question.

Defense:

  • GOOD

Let's start from the top here, in the sense that on par with most destroyers, Orkan's ability to mitigate damage is quite weak. The reason for her rating is mostly centered around a just above average Base HP, average armor scheme, and that Orkan is the sole destroyer with access to Radar. Surveillance consumables such as Radar and Hydro-acoustic Search are in theory defensive more-so than offensive, though this allows Orkan to spot many of those tiny torpedo boats that out spot her, and furthermore, she's offensively able to wither an average of about 2/3s of most opposing destroyers health in that time. Once spotted, crippled, Orkan is often more than adept at pushing in for the finishing salvos than her same tier rivals.

Observe below, the classic Base HP chart.

Base HP of Tier 6 Destroyer Premiums

  • Z-39: 19,600
  • Z-35: 19,10
  • Le Terrible: 18,600
  • Kidd: 16,400
  • Ognevoi: 16,100
  • Orkan: 15,700
  • Leningrad: 15,200
  • Yukikaze: 15,100
  • Asashio: 15,100
  • Blyskawica: 15,000
  • Cossack: 14,800
  • Benham: 14,500
  • Hughes: 14,300
  • Sims: 13,800
  • Kiev: 13,500

For a GOOD rating, Orkan has surprisingly little in the ways of mitigating incoming damage, apart from her 9km radar. Radar Destroyers comprise of a very rare niche in which occupies a strong fleet defensive tactic and mindset, and thus equate into this rating matrix. Orkan's defensive strength lays heavily in the fact that she is an excellent escort and team player.

Anti-Air Suite:

  • AVERAGE

Orkan settles in with somewhat average Anti-Air for a destroyer, which means it's pretty terrible by anything else's standards. While I cant really say that it's because some destroyers don't try, and some really do...but mostly they just don't put enough lead into the air to warrant anything better. There are some destroyers which can put up a valiant fight, but most cannot. Observe below.

Stock Average AA DPS From 1km.

  • Kidd: 157
  • Z-39: 81
  • Z-35: 67
  • Sims: 65
  • Kiev: 59
  • Orkan: 53
  • Benham: 52
  • Ognevoi: 51
  • Leningrad: 44
  • Jervis: 39
  • Cossack: 37
  • Yukikaze: 36
  • Blyskawica: 36
  • Le Terrible: 19
  • Asashio: 10

With most Tier 7 carrier planes averaging near 3k HP, and most Tier 5 north of the 2.5k mark, it'll take an awful long time to whittle those airborne bugger down. Orkan is one of the ships that tries, but doesn't quite hit the mark.

Maneuverability:

  • AVERAGE

Orkan faces the grim outlook of being one of the slowest destroyers in her tier spread. She does have access to the speed boost consumable, but this only partially compensates her ability to catch many such targets and as such is forced into controlling critical areas. Fortunately, Orkan handles quite well and accelerates quite well is only really handcuffed by her low top speed. Observe below.

Rudder Shift/Turning Radius

  • Blyskawica: 5.8/610
  • Ognevoi: 4.8/610
  • Kiev: 4.8/690
  • Z-35: 4.4/670
  • Le Terrible: 4.3/690
  • Z-39: 4.1/670
  • Kidd: 3.9/620
  • Leningrad: 3.7/690
  • Asashio: 3.6/640
  • Cossack: 3.6/610
  • Benham: 3.4/560
  • Orkan: 3.1/590
  • Sims: 3/500
  • Hughes: 2.7/570
  • Yukikaze: 2.7/640

Kit Base Top Speed

  • Leningrad: 46.9
  • Le Terrible: 45.6
  • Blyskawica: 40.2
  • Sims: 39.7
  • Cossack: 39.3
  • Kidd: 39.1
  • Asashio: 38.2
  • Yukikaze: 38.2
  • Ognevoi: 38.1
  • Benham: 38
  • Hughes: 38
  • Z-39: 37.1
  • Orkan: 36.0

Orkan is bound here by an average rating and just does not have the speed to be more competitive.

Concealment:

  • AVERAGE

Orkan has several "good" qualities, one of them being her concealment. At 5.1, captains you will out spot more ships than will out spot you. The difference is that you lack any sort of Smoke Generator, unlike the majority of the other destroyers in the tier. This means that Orkan relies almost excruciatingly so on her commanders knowledge, insight and anticipation of the battle. Orkan is not forgiving, and one wrong step will result in being detected. Orkan may be somewhat more respectable in HP than her competitors, however lacks any such way to effectively disappear beyond sinking her opponent.

Maxed Concealment of T6 Premium Destroyers

  • Leningrad: 5.6
  • Kiev: 5.6
  • Sims: 5.3
  • Le Terrible: 5.2
  • Kidd: 5.2
  • Blyskawica: 5.2
  • Benham: 5.2
  • Ognevoi: 5.1
  • Orkan: 5.1
  • Hughes: 5.0
  • Z-39: 5.0
  • Cossack: 4.9
  • Z-35: 4.9
  • Yukikaze: 4.8
  • Asashio: 4.8

It's per say not that Orkan is poorly concealed is to her average rating, but rather she has issues with concealment on the whole, not related to her detection radius. This relies heavily on the captain's map knowledge and anticipation. Some ratings aren't always about purely the stats, but rather, the picture they paint on the whole. Orkan is only very good at hiding situationally, not generally.

Consumables:

  • GREAT

This is the real meat and potatoes of this ship here, the Radar consumable. The problem with Orkan is such that she's not overly forgiving while being one of the most influential ships in terms of contesting and controlling key areas. This is a ship so dreadful, it essentially has the power to mute any other destroyer in a 9km radius, including the mighty Yukikaze, or Kidd.

  • Damage Control Party: This consumable has a duration of 5s with a cooldown of 38s, which is very standard.
  • Radar: This is where Orkan shines. At 9km range and 15s duration, Orkan is able to shell out over 30k during that 15s. Comes with a 171s reload and 2 charges.
  • Speed Boost: 8% over 120s with a reload of just over 130s. Average in terms of boost and duration, with a better recharge than most.

Commanders:

  • Jerzy Swirski

You only have the one choice here, and no premium commanders to date. Swirski is the base national commander for the European National Tree, and comes heavily tilted with destroyer focused perks.

  1. Hide'n'Seek is one of the inspirations that has so heavily devoured the maximum concealment meta. There are two things that generally cannot be replaced on a battlefield, speed and concealment. If you can out run everything, or are generally invisible; this makes fighting against you very difficult. This inspiration is near perfect for most destroyer builds and as such frees up an inspirational slot for other benefits while still holding onto the double concealment perk.
  2. Observant Rage is almost a must. Orkan lacks hydro-acoustic search and as such, this skill helps spot them sooner.
  3. Look at Me Now for the obvious additional boost to concealment. Mortar is just not a smart skill unfortunately and almost universally goes against the current meta.
  4. Perceptive. Twist and Track is another solid choice, though with the nod towards perceptive for increasing that torpedo detection ring.
  5. Cloudy Daze. Orkan lacks a smokescreen, which makes this row skill a bit confusing.
  6. Unstoppable in the legendary slot to prevent "Sitting Duck Syndrome".

Upgrades:

  • Orkan is a premium ship and does not have any researchable upgrades.

Modifications:

Captains, as far as kitting your Orkan you will not find any major surprises. The arguments here are generally very straightforward.

  • Slot 1: Aiming Systems Mod 1
  1. This is pretty straight forward. Your other options just don't give the same level of completion and Orkan is not so terribly different that she warrants anything special.
  • Slot 2: Propulsion Mod 2
  1. Captains, you have some wiggle room here with the caveat being that Damage Control Systems is the only obviously wrong choice. Orkan handles relatively well with her weaknesses more to do with speed than handling.
  • Slot 3: Concealment Mod 1
  1. Another straightforward argument, most destroyers tend to live by their concealment and die by detection.

Research:

  • Orkan is not currently used in any research bureau projects.

Summary:

  • GREAT

Windstorm is a fitting name. Either Orkan can be a breeze or a hurricane; this is almost entirely locked behind the skill of the captain.

Orkan is great. This ship is however, almost excruciating to learn and is painfully unforgiving. Orkan lives on the edge of prowess on an average to somewhat effective platform with the holy grail of consumables which is Radar. Radar is phenomenal for rooting out those hidden predators lurking in concealment and this prowess, along with her excellent close range gunnery are remarkable for eliminating those tiny torpedo focused pests that wipe out all your capital ships. This is not a ship for the novice captain and very few will succeed; the challenge is quite steep and this ship just may be one of the more controlling ships in the sense that the captain will both feel the polarized ability to either control the match, or fall victim to it. She's so unforgiving perhaps that it could almost be dissuaded from competitive play, but the numbers are there to say she should hold on to that desperate podium grab between Kidd, Yukikaze and herself.

An Orkan with a heal would be a formidable ship. Now with the prevalence of heals in destroyers to make them more appealing...*ahem*, Tashkent, Udaloi... this is a ship that is desperately looking for some effective health to keep her in the fight. As of now, Orkan falls in just short of Kidd and Yukikaze in the sense that Orkan just does not have the HP to negotiate with either of them. A gunfight with a Yukikaze can almost cripple an Orkan in the sense that even losing just half her health makes her far less forgiving the rest of the match. While this mechanic works great for some of those French Destroyers, they also out pace Orkan by nearly 20 knots in some cases, as well as thousands of points in HP and Km better reach and performance in their gunnery. Orkan claws her way into the ranks, and generally does not let go of her rankings until she's literally knocked out.

This is a ship that is desperately difficult and unforgiving to use, but undoubtedly has the ability to dictate a match. The numbers are just there, in both the sense of the good and the bad.

The question one must ask oneself, is this all worth the lone access to Surveillance Radar that Orkan can provide?