I tend to find that I do very well via Dead Reconing or Intuitive Aiming, whichever school you would like to call it. I imagine that many of us are skilled at long range gunnery through just the way our brains work. Similar to how someone can be a basketball or hockey prodigy, there will be WOWs players that are just wired to compute an accurate firing solution on the fly, with just a quick glance at the target. There are certainly excellent means by which a player can compute the provided data to make the shot, but I think that also, just like sharpshooting, long range gunnery in wows will come very easily to some of us, and others will have to work hard to perfect the art. Chase provides a thurough tutorial here, but don't be afraid to take chances, and snap shots. Often your instinct will do the math for you. And always lead the Furutaka more than you think you will need to.

Chase, this is an example of why I value your vids. This one was much more comprehensive than the last one on aiming. Some of these techniques I've managed to learn on my own but it's still highly valuable to see them put to use in a comprehensive format. I hadn't made the connection between smoke positioning and speed though. Very helpful and thanks. I also occasionally use a single fire technique when target ships are in a turn. I try to envision the ship's path in the curve and adjust for the range. Then I key one shot at a time and adjust as I see the rounds land. It can be VERY rewarding to see a series of shots land on target, one after another as the target ship is proceeding thru a turn. I am imagining that it's probably going to have an effect on the morale of the target ship's captain too lol. Have you ever used this technique yourself? Though I appreciate these, I also know that the randomization mechanics in the game can throw the seemingly perfect shot into the wind so skill will always help but there's no guarantees. Thanks again man. Looking forward to more like this one.

THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT Captain's Academy Episode you, iChase have ever made. After watching it i have scored massive games in both USN and IJN BBs. This saved the BB gameplay for me!

Thanks for sharing. The smoke from the stack info is particularly useful.

I play german cruiser a lot and this video took me from hitting around 20% shots to something like 85%! Amazing, now everyone burns thanks to you!

I had no idea what the increments represented, thanks for filling me in! I had been doing ok based on practice but I have been hitting significantly more now and enjoying the game much more as a result. Thank you!

"Just started yesterday haven't died in 20 battles," ... God I really hate those people who have to brag about how awesome they are with no practice at all. What is it, lack of attention in childhood? Great video, anyway! Good insight.

I played my Kongo after viewing this Episode, and it turns out more citadel-hits on the following battles!!! it really works to me. Thank you, Chase.

Thank you for the video. With your advice in my first battle with my Wyoming after watching your vid I first shot a Kuma and then a Funutaba. Then with three rounds sunk an Omaha, also sunk another Wyoming with about 6 rounds, all with full health. I then went on to sink a half health Konigberg. Highest score I ever had. You are so right about waiting for the broadside before releasing your shot.

Again, great vid. On a whim I started climbing the USN BB ladder, up to T5. Your vid made it so clear how to aim, I'm getting citadels in every engagement. Using your method, I patiently wait for that ship to turn, shoot where he's going to be, and BOOM! Kill. I am now using the alternate reticle...wow, that's so cool. Put it on the ship, calculate lead, shoot. It works!

Awesome video! Now I'm getting atleast two citadels every match and I'm deleting cruisers in one salvo! You're an awesome teacher!

Cheers mate, needed this video to get better at aiming with my battleships, I couldn't hit the wall from inside the barn lol. I came from a cruiser where you are far closer to the target to a battleship. I got very bad results hitting (about only 5-10 hits per game). After watching this vid this went up to 27 hits the first battle I applied your basics. Thanks a lot for making me a better player. Keep up the good work :)

This is exactly what i needed. Battleship gameplay has been so aggravating to grind through because i could just never land those shells i thought i had aimed just right. Now that i know there is a lot more to it, i can get to work practicing. Also, i had no idea that the vertical ticks actually worked on the reticle line. Thanks so much for the tutorial!

i have played this game so long and never realized that the seconds were there and the numbers on the reticle are soarilated X_X. I have done well learning the ship but omg THANK YOU.

Thanks for the videos. Watching some of them i learned a lot. After shell type and this I got a match in my Chikuma: 37 hit, 1 incapacitation, 3 destroyed, 5 set on fire. 1058 xp with 1.5. Great improvement. And I was between ariok and a hard place in a tier 3 match.

Very good. Some small details even I neglect some times when aiming my shots, I've been in since the Closed weekend tests, and its really an endless process. Because not only are the way the guns handle on the nations different, but individual ships have their own qwerks. Like higher firing archs and trajectories result in different leads and flight times, also what you can shoot over as a result. I'd started taking into account the angling of my ships recently, and have been seeing an immediate change to the way shots are hitting. Have to give you some serious props for the work you're doing chase.

When I saw the title on my subs list, I was like "Really? A tutorial on how to aim after that many episodes?" Turned out I really underestimated the content of this vid, never thought about the smoke thing, I always rely purely on the movement of the models... There's always something to learn from your vids in the end...

Excellent instruction. I remember having not a clue as to how to objectively instruct when you mentioned it in the stream. I was just "uhhhh experience and gut feeling." So many thanks for this. Interestingly it even gave me a few pointers to improve my own aiming. And it told me quite effectively what it is I'm doing, something I couldn't really put into words before. Your teaching background seems to have come in handy here. :)

I never noticed the numbers (5,10,etc) on the reticule. This helped to improve my accuracy a lot. Thanks for showing this.

Watching this actually improved my aim. I can hit things now!

thanks for the great video, just now knowing that the shell time matches up with the tick on the aim recital and not the distance has made my accuracy so much better!

Actually I made a little more simple way to find the right aiming spot. For a 10 second shell time travel and assuming ships are at full speed, the point of impact is: - for battleships: 1 length of the ship; - for cruisers: 1,5 length of the ship; - for destroyers: 1,5-2 lengths of the ship; You aim in the direction it sails. For other shell time travel values or different enemy ship speed you need to aim respectively.

As a Sniper in ArmA3, experience of how to lead shot makes shooting in wows easier, I don't need any calculate, I shoot at where I feel it would hit, and it works out well. IMO, you dont have time to do math before you shoot. "shoot true. Never miss"

Always wondered what the 5 and 10 on the scope meant, thanks for that small tidbit in a wealth of valuable information :P

I've learned quite a bit from your videos. I'm new to the game, and while I find these videos instructive, much of what I see is geared for the upper tiers, some isn't, but most seems to be. So, I have a request, please make Captain's Academy videos for beginners (in tier 1-3 ships) and videos for intermediates (Tier 4-6 ships). These videos can concentrate on the abilities and limitations of those ships, and help us beginners. It would prevent much frustration by us newbees. Just a thought, thanks.

Thankyou for the video. Just started playing the game a couple days ago and hadn't really known how too aim so I mostly just would guess and hope too hit. I'll try this out and hopefully can learn it soon.

I haven´t though on seeing the minimap for referencing the enemy heading. Very good video.

Great video. Just one remark - not only the targets are moving but you are moving too - so slight vertical/horizontal adjustment is needed according to your possition to the target - closing in or going away and from what angle. Keep the good work.

I think I was pretty decent at aiming but after watching the video the tips have helped me improve my aiming a lot. Great video and explanation.

Hey just wanted to say thank you for the great tips and the added tip on the alt interface in the control panel. It is to bad there is not much info in game on the control keys and what exactly each one does. keep up the good work. Thanks again

i have watched this vid now several times and I think I learn alil bit more each time I watch. ty for vid and keep up the good work.

Excellent tutorial, thanks! The best I have seen on aiming.

Brilliant Chase. Thanks mate.... I am confident of improving heaps due to this video!

as always - great video. I spend a lit of time in co-op just to practice my aiming. Boring but it really really helps.

Massive help. Watched this, next game owned at range. Ty

OMG Chase thank you so much this helped ALOT on my aiming!!!! Thanks to you i now citadel most of the targets that show me their broadside!!! Glorious Bliss and thank you again good sir :)

Again nice video Chase... i hope it make my day on WoWs more interesting. GJ keep up

I will have to say that practice is indeed key. I now instinctively just know which ranges I need to fire at (10+ for DDs and some cruisers, 5+ for BBs and CVs are a mixed bag of 5~10) depending on distance and speed.

Chase, I followed your instructions and it works. But there is still some guess work to do as I can't determne exactly how fast the target ship is going. I got some pretty decent hits and more than a half dozen citadels on BBs and CAs tonight. Thank you very much for this tutorial.

Great vids mate, I tried using the techniques you described earlier as a friend told to do that as well, but I found it only worked on battleships for me...Almost everything needed a great deal more lead to account for the higher speeds of cruisers and especially destoyers... Oh yeah and the smoke thing is excellent, I wouldn't have caught on to that if it wasn't for you :)

@IChaseGaming You got the best Wows tutorial channel ! Amazing shot at 8:10 , just taught me how to lead turning targets thanks. But you forgot the Spotter plane aiming , maybe a next video ?

gj m8,..as usual i learn something new every time i watch your vids,....even when i think i know it all about it

Almost 25k subs chase. I remember when you still had 5k. Good job since then chase, good job

Always love your tutorials, iChase, Thank you for giving me so much fun in game!

WG sometimes change the shell speed slightly at each battle. They done it to a player who they deem advance too fast up the tier. Have you ever have a moment when you think you already figured out your ships shell flight profile, but suddenly you shot just doesn't fly the way it used to be? I've already confirm this with my Pensacola. I was close at getting the New Orleans when my average damage went from 30K to 6K practically overnight.

Thanks mate. Really good videos. You are a natural born instructor. The way you teach is actually very good. Keep up the good work. You are awesome at it :) cheers

They should show the target speed in the sights, rather than the target distance. The distance is shown above each ship anyway, which makes it redundant information. Determining ship speed by interpreting smoke from the stacks is too cumbersome.

iChase, are you going to do a vid on shooting with a spotter plane? I'm getting better at it, but it's a slow process. I usually only use it for the extra range. As always, this was a great video. Thank you for all the captains academy vids. They made learning this game a lot easier.

As a BB player this is an awesome video !!!

Wow, thanks for the video. Helped me getting my first citadel hit in my tirpitz lol

Excellent tips Chase, i really needed this for my BB shooting. Now to try it out!

Chase, what about the desync that goes on for long range shooting? The visual model appears to be behind the actual hitbox of the ship. You can sort of see this happen with the Myoko 20km out from you. Just after you kill it, it sort of "warps" forward by about half a ship length. I find that shots that look like they should hit the aft section of the ship just go through it while shots that should miss forward actually get hits. It even happens with torpedoes if you follow them with the Z key camera.

loved this video, too bad I didn't watch it sooner or my gaming stats might be better, but as they say "better late then never". Thanks.

Great Video, I like the face chase you point out that mini map is the key to observer the movement of enemy ship related to you, instead of just looking them from the scope. That will help a lot of players improve their skills since it's actually a blind spot for many players. Still I remain my doubt on the reference point since you set it according to the shell travel time, and if my memory is right you can zoom the scope, since the scope marks won't change with your zoom in/out, won't that make the reference number on the scope meanless?

Great info buddy. That helps everyone to be better at this game. Thank You

Great video about somewhat vague techniques for newbies:) That said, I do have a couple of questions, which I think would be interesting to other not so experienced players as well. 1-what is the "default speed" used for sights grid calculation? In other words, what speed should the enemy ship sail at in order for you to reliably apply the 5secs-5tics "rule" of leading your shots (excluding the rng spread factor, of course). 2-You haven't mentioned it, but I've seen it being mentioned. The relative speed between you and the enemy ship. Let's say you are both sailing full broadside to each other. Does your aim change if you are going in the opposite direction/sailing with him? Do aiming mechanics in the game account for the inertia and similar factors in situations like these. Or would you simply aim at the exact same spot, regardless if your ship was sailing along the enemy ship or in the opposite direction? Thanks and again, great educational videos:)

nice job, I learned some useful info here (smoke, and what the damn retical numbers mean!)

well done sir..another great ship mechanic video... keep up the good work sir!!!

Fantastic explanation, iChase, thank you!

You monster! Where have you been all my life.

Chase there is another factor in calculating lead on a target and that is the communication response or as some call the Lag time. I have found that the shorter your time the less lead you need. I usually have 120 to 130ms so I need to lead more than someone with 56 ms connection.

Great info Chase. However i hope we could find out more on doing high experience score. I am struggling to get to the higher tiers. But i guess we would earn rather more if we survive the battle. So as a Captain, tactics plays a crucial role......... LOL. Still learning here. Sometimes i just can't help it playing aggressive. Anyway always, always enjoyed the Vids. Keep it up Cap.

Seconds for Close fights. The Distant for Long range? Got it!

Ohhh so thats how ppl always gets on my citadel. Damn thanks man, I'll put this into good use!

Great vid Chase. Thank you.

Hahaha, thank for the heads up about the alternative aiming method, because I knew nothing about it. I am in battleships now, and since the start, I have used my own intuition, and judgement to guess. I have been pretty accurate too, but not accurate enough in tight situations. This guide has been a big help, and I should improve even more. Do you have any tips on what is the best sight to use? I am thinking type 7 might be best. Keep up the good work.

bravo chase great job. I learn so much from your videos. keep it up! LOST BoyZ for life!

Big help. Thank you iChase.

Suggestion: Next episode ~ How to aim on the ship which stay at the blue line?

Hey. First of all: nice tutorial series. Very well explained. But I got a question about aiming. I just played a match with a BB and allmost all my shots missed, but not because I didn't aim exactly enough, instead it happend because of spread. In one situation I was only 4.5km away from a Cruiser and ALL my shots flew over the ship or landed right in front of him in the water. If would only hit him with 2 shots, I would have killed him and this was really frustrating, as it seems like I can't do anything about it. Is there any way to do better in such situations, or is spread something completly random?

Huh, I thought the tick marks were just for show because it doesn't change when you zoom in or out, I just use them as arbitrary reference points. I already hit some pretty crazy shots just on experience and instinct but Ill try this method too. Other than that, you covered every other variable I can think of. Ill never be Unicum but your videos have definitely helped me reach my present level. Thanks.

My word of advice - never fully trust the notches on your reticule, they don't seem to be fully properly scaled and they do not scale at all with zoom levels. They seem to be adjusted for maximum zoom, more or less. Another thing to take into account is your own course - if you sail in the opposite direction to your target, it effectively doubles the speed in relation to your ship. If you sail in the same direction, the relative speed is going to be lower.

Just a quick side note to the need of practice, after having enough decent matches against all kind of players, you should learn the average player's mindset so that you could predict his movements like the DDs zigzagging all the time.

Wow..I wasn't looking at the shell hang time number at all. I have just been guesstimating ..firing one and adjusting lead and distance based on the first shell strike. That will really help me get more 1st salvo hits. I was finding myself being stuck a bit at 16K + shots.....(missing the first shot more and having to adjust 1 or 2 times to get on point. That is a great tip. Now take this video down immediately! We cant have everyone knowing this..... seriously..nice work

I have a question for you Chase. I don't know how much you've played since patch 0.4.1 came out, but I've been wondering if you have found it easier or harder to get citadels? I've watched a vid by Jingles, and he was seeing that he was getting fewer Citadels (he also said it could be just that he's not aiming right), and I know I can't aim for the life of me beyond around 6km.... but I'm curious to see what your experience has been. On a different note, I love your Academy videos. I think they are helping me, and I'll probably be re-watching a few of them to remind me what I should be doing. Thank you very much! :)

Great video as always. Raises one question for me though. What is the reference speed, for which the horizontal indicator shows where to aim? From the myoko shot at 10:30 it looks like the shell lands where the indicator would show about 20s, considering the shell travel time of 12s and his speed at that time I presume its gotta be between 17-20 knots reference speed.

Very informative video, thank you!

for your instruction on the time, it doesnt work if the target is not perfect horizontal to you

I usually just assume that AT FULL MAGNIFICATION, 1 second on the reticle = 1 second of travel for a medium speed BB like the Wyoming. Maybe ~22 knots. A fast DD - ~39 knots, so nearly double the lead is needed. I really have trouble with angled ships, judging the point of impact, near/far. Some nights I'm bang on, others, miss by a country mile. Lastly, and I know this is a knit-pick, but the word is "reticle", not "reticule". Pronounced kind of like "reh-tickle". It's, not "re-tick-yule". :)

I have to mention that, different resolutions of games will lead to different formulas for aiming. So it is important to summarize you own formula under your own game resolution instead of using other people's formula directly.

I hope you do both torps and guns aiming

Noo our delicious advanced player skills - how could you :P Anyway - did you run into any of those pax open account players, wow was that some high tier seal clubbing or what - 2 tier 7 BB's taken out by my itty bitty Pensa -BlackNight12

Don't the shells from Japanese battleships move a lot slower than US BB's?

Great video and so helpful for a new player like myself that wants to understand quickly what it takes to player better. I am curious about the vertical reticle markers on the left.. are they used in anyway to determine vertically where you will place your gun reticle?

Hi Ichase this was a really great and helpful video along with the updated version u added, however since last patch 5.5 and the dynamic scope every thing has changed. I find that when firing on BBs with almost no regard to distance I lead around 5 to get ok hits. do you have any information on how this dynamic scope works?I would appreciate a new video on this two as I'm sure a lot more people. thx for you great work and keep it up

This one helped me to like my Furutaka. :)

Don't forget DD captains, you can use the same lead principles with torpedoes!

You just changed the game for me in a big way. For some reason my brain was using the sight hash marks to estimate enemy ship speed instead of shell flight time, DOH! Noting that many shots are made beyond the existing shell flight time scale, why isn't the scale broad enough to show the full fight time scale for the given distance?

in my st. Louis I had the reload time down to 7 seconds, so I could fire salvo after salvo of He at ships and by the time my shells land I can fire again, and if necessary I adjust

This is the most helpful video on aiming that I have come across. Does the type of gun make a difference? Small to large and slow to fast loading?

Another great video. Thanks man.

Interesting, thanks for the tips.

I need a question answered. How can you be sure that the meter on either side of the reticle is zeroed; because the meter does not scale with you zooming in and out, being half zoomed the "5" is on the same distance as is when fully zoomed in? The meter can't be used reliably and I've learned not to use it. How am I wrong?

I never use shell flight time as a factor? I sort of automatically lead with a single shot, then fire the rest, or just fire the entire salvo depending on the speed of the enemy ship and often the class.

thank you of telling me i can just enable alternative view. I was so tired of accidentally hitting the windows key in the heat of battle

very very good video Chase

I can't seem to figure out scout plane view aiming. Could you do an aiming guide using the scout plane view?

Great tutorial. Thank you!

Is it me or does the aim reticle tick marks adjust for speed by changing the zoom. full zoom for 20kt targets (BB), zoom out 2x kinda works for 30kt (CC) targets

You just shot the heck out of me from beyond my visual range. Couldn't even see you and didn't detect while you rained about 12-15 shots down on me.