Azur Lane(EN) In-Depth Equipment Guide Series: Anti-Aircraft(AA) Guns
AA Gun Overview
All the AA guns equipped on your ships function as a single entity, as an "AA circle" centered on your front row ships. They do NOT function centered on the individual ships on which they are equipped. EVERY SHIP, front AND back rows, contributes to the same, single AA circle that you see centered on your front row ships. Please remember this.
Let's go over a few equations regarding the fleet AA circle:
AA Circle Fire Rate = (Sum of all AA gun fire rates)/(Number of AA guns equipped) + 0.5
AA Circle Range = (Sum of all AA gun ranges)/(Number of AA guns equipped)
Damage is calculated on single AA guns and then calculated together for the actual AA circle damage:
Single AA Gun Damage = (1+Ship AA stat*Attribute Modifier/100)*Weapon Damage*Weapon Modifier*Weapon Efficiency*Armor Modifier*Damage Skill Buff*Enemy Debuff*Level Suppression
This is very similar to the main gun damage equation. To see the definition of the variables, click here.
Some of these might not apply in the AA context. For example, we are not sure if planes actually have armor modifiers, since all AA guns as of now fire "normal' shells. Also inherent weapon modifier might not exist for AA guns as they do for main guns.
Bottom line, the factors that affect single AA gun damage output are rather intuitive: ship AA stats, AA gun slot efficiency and weapon base damage(and any skills that may apply).
The actual damage received by the enemy planes is calculated as follows:
AA Circle Damage(the damage enemy planes actually receive) = Sum of all single AA gun damage * 0.05
Note that this equation only applies when you are hitting <20 enemy planes at the same time. For attacks >20 enemy planes, the damage is lower. Equations are rather complex and unverified as of now.
Based on these equations we can conclude that:
1. Range, damage and fire rate are all important in forming the AA circle. Because most of the AA guns only excel at one or two of the three attributes and that AA circle takes their averages, you need to play a three way "tug-of-war" with balancing these stats.
2. Single AA gun damage scales with AA stat with many multipliers. Therefore it is a good idea to maximize that number by putting AA guns with the highest AA stat buff (gold AA guns with AA+45) on your ships with the highest AA stats/AA slot efficiencies.
Caring equally about range, damage and fire rate will likely result in a half-assed AA circle that is mediocre at everything. It's usually better to pick 2 out of the 3 attributes to maximize. As a general rule:
1. In auto mode, pick range and damage
2. In manual mode, pick rate of fire and damage.
The rationale is that range is more forgiving if you are controlling the ships yourself because you can just tell them to move to where the planes are.
The following AA guns are somewhat "ranked" by overall performance AS SINGLE GUNS. Keep in mind that AA circle is a fleet-effort, not a simple collection of 6 copies of the AA gun that has the "best" theoretical single-gun performance. You need to balance the triangle in the figure above for the best results. Although guns on top of this list are generally better, do NOT use this listing order as some sort of a tier list and brainlessly pick the top ones for everything.
Final note: AA gun stats are rather straightforward so equipment tiering (T3 better than T2 and T1) are not always strictly followed. Some T2 guns can perform very well, but I didn't list all versions of the same gun in the discussion. I'm only going to talk about unique guns(at T3) but you can compare the stats yourself in game.
AA Gun Analyses
Twin 113mm AA Gun
Also known as "the roomba". High damage, slow reload, long range. Stereotypical hard hitting, low ROF gold gun. This gun has the highest single-round damage and the longest range.
All the AA guns equipped on your ships function as a single entity, as an "AA circle" centered on your front row ships. They do NOT function centered on the individual ships on which they are equipped. EVERY SHIP, front AND back rows, contributes to the same, single AA circle that you see centered on your front row ships. Please remember this.
Let's go over a few equations regarding the fleet AA circle:
AA Circle Fire Rate = (Sum of all AA gun fire rates)/(Number of AA guns equipped) + 0.5
AA Circle Range = (Sum of all AA gun ranges)/(Number of AA guns equipped)
Damage is calculated on single AA guns and then calculated together for the actual AA circle damage:
Single AA Gun Damage = (1+Ship AA stat*Attribute Modifier/100)*Weapon Damage*Weapon Modifier*Weapon Efficiency*Armor Modifier*Damage Skill Buff*Enemy Debuff*Level Suppression
This is very similar to the main gun damage equation. To see the definition of the variables, click here.
Some of these might not apply in the AA context. For example, we are not sure if planes actually have armor modifiers, since all AA guns as of now fire "normal' shells. Also inherent weapon modifier might not exist for AA guns as they do for main guns.
Bottom line, the factors that affect single AA gun damage output are rather intuitive: ship AA stats, AA gun slot efficiency and weapon base damage(and any skills that may apply).
The actual damage received by the enemy planes is calculated as follows:
AA Circle Damage(the damage enemy planes actually receive) = Sum of all single AA gun damage * 0.05
Note that this equation only applies when you are hitting <20 enemy planes at the same time. For attacks >20 enemy planes, the damage is lower. Equations are rather complex and unverified as of now.
Based on these equations we can conclude that:
1. Range, damage and fire rate are all important in forming the AA circle. Because most of the AA guns only excel at one or two of the three attributes and that AA circle takes their averages, you need to play a three way "tug-of-war" with balancing these stats.
2. Single AA gun damage scales with AA stat with many multipliers. Therefore it is a good idea to maximize that number by putting AA guns with the highest AA stat buff (gold AA guns with AA+45) on your ships with the highest AA stats/AA slot efficiencies.
Caring equally about range, damage and fire rate will likely result in a half-assed AA circle that is mediocre at everything. It's usually better to pick 2 out of the 3 attributes to maximize. As a general rule:
1. In auto mode, pick range and damage
2. In manual mode, pick rate of fire and damage.
The rationale is that range is more forgiving if you are controlling the ships yourself because you can just tell them to move to where the planes are.
The following AA guns are somewhat "ranked" by overall performance AS SINGLE GUNS. Keep in mind that AA circle is a fleet-effort, not a simple collection of 6 copies of the AA gun that has the "best" theoretical single-gun performance. You need to balance the triangle in the figure above for the best results. Although guns on top of this list are generally better, do NOT use this listing order as some sort of a tier list and brainlessly pick the top ones for everything.
Final note: AA gun stats are rather straightforward so equipment tiering (T3 better than T2 and T1) are not always strictly followed. Some T2 guns can perform very well, but I didn't list all versions of the same gun in the discussion. I'm only going to talk about unique guns(at T3) but you can compare the stats yourself in game.
AA Gun Analyses
Twin 113mm AA Gun
Damage
|
130/wave
|
Stats
|
AA+45
|
Base Fire Rate
|
1.36s/wave
| Attribute | AA |
Range
|
35
|
Firing Angle
|
360°
|
Spread Range
|
0°
|
Ammo
|
Normal
|
Has a lot of value because as mentioned earlier, range is important for auto play.
The slow reload is a downside. To have a comfortable AA circle you probably don't want to use more than 3 or 4 of this gun in your fleet.
Because this is a gold gun, you should take advantage of its high AA stat buff and put it on a high AA ship for higher AA damage(equation above).
The purple T2 version of this is still highly recommended as it's not too much worse and beats most of T3 purples.
Obtainable from: UK boxes, 7-2, 11-4
Twin 105mm AA Gun (SK C)
Plays similarly to the Twin 113mm. Slightly less damage, slightly faster reload and slight shorter range.
Damage
|
122/wave
|
Stats
|
AA+45
|
Base Fire Rate
|
1.24s/wave
| Attribute | AA |
Range
|
32
|
Firing Angle
|
360°
|
Spread Range
|
0°
|
Ammo
|
Normal
|
Mostly interchangeable with the Twin 113mm with some stat tradeoffs.
Put this gold gun on high AA ships for higher damage.
The purple T2 version is also very good.
Obtainable from: DE boxes, 9-1, 10-1
Quadruple 40mm Bofors Gun
Highest AA gun DPS in the game. Shorter range than its peers but makes up for it with fast reload. The damage actually isn't much lower than the two guns above.
Damage
|
120/wave
|
Stats
|
AA+45
|
Base Fire Rate
|
1.04s/wave
| Attribute | AA |
Range
|
28
|
Firing Angle
|
360°
|
Spread Range
|
0°
|
Ammo
|
Normal
|
The range is somewhat of an issue, but if you use a fleet with 3-4 Twin 113mm guns/Twin 105mm guns and use this gun to supplement them it will help a lot.
Gold gun, put on high AA ships etc etc.
The T2 purple version of this is still considered a good AA gun. It can be used as a transitional.
Obtainable from: US boxes, 5-4
Twin 40mm Bofors Gun STAAG
Even faster reload than the Quad gold Bofors but also at lower damage. Still high DPS. Range is a little better.
The reason this gun is important is that on top of being a functional gold AA gun, it adds +10 accuracy to the ship carrying it, making it BB's best friend.
Damage
|
96/wave
|
Stats
|
AA+45
Hit+10 |
Base Fire Rate
|
0.80s/wave
| Attribute | AA |
Range
|
30
|
Firing Angle
|
360°
|
Spread Range
|
0°
|
Ammo
|
Normal
|
The reason this gun is important is that on top of being a functional gold AA gun, it adds +10 accuracy to the ship carrying it, making it BB's best friend.
Obtainable from: Research
100mm Mounted AA Gun
Damage
|
126/wave
|
Stats
|
AA+45
|
Base Fire Rate
|
1.28s/wave
| Attribute | AA |
Range
|
32
|
Firing Angle
|
360°
|
Spread Range
|
0°
|
Ammo
|
Normal
|
Obtainable from: Research
127mm Mounted AA Gun
Really decent as a purple gun. Damage is almost gold tier. Range is tied with the gold Twin 133mm as the longest in the game.
Damage
|
116/wave
|
Stats
|
AA+25
|
Base Fire Rate
|
1.52s/wave
| Attribute | AA |
Range
|
35
|
Firing Angle
|
360°
|
Spread Range
|
0°
|
Ammo
|
Normal
|
Reload is a slight downside, so this is one of those AA guns that focus on single-round damage over DPS.
It is a budget version of the gold roomba. The T2 purple roomba is also a budget version of the gold roomba. You can use either of them as they play very similarly.
Obtainable from: JP boxes, 4-4, 12-4
Octuple 40mm Pom Pom Gun
Second highest DPS among AA guns. A more extreme version of the gold Quad Bofors. higher per-round damage, similar(slightly slower) reload and even less range.
Damage
|
128/wave
|
Stats
|
AA+45
|
Base Fire Rate
|
1.17s/wave
| Attribute | AA |
Range
|
25
|
Firing Angle
|
360°
|
Spread Range
|
0°
|
Ammo
|
Normal
|
Overall DPS actually isn't as good as the Bofors so it is in a awkward place now, but it's still a decent DPS gold AA gun. You can either try to solve the problem with range by supplementing it with other AA guns or ignore it and play manually.
Gold AA gun's high AA stat buff makes this suitable for high AA ships.
The purple T2 version shares similar characteristics and is also decent.
Obtainable from: UK boxes, 7-1
Twin 40mm Bofors Gun
Twin version of the Bofors. Reloads a lot faster but the damage is almost cut in half. Same range.
Damage
|
62/wave
|
Stats
|
AA+25
|
Base Fire Rate
|
0.79s/wave
| Attribute | AA |
Range
|
28
|
Firing Angle
|
360°
|
Spread Range
|
0°
|
Ammo
|
Normal
|
The shorter reload doesn't really justify the huge cut to damage though. If you want a Bofors I'd recommend the T2 purple version of the gold Quad Bofors instead. At least that one still does 100+ damage a shot with a reasonable reload.
Obtainable from: US boxes, 5-3, 9-4, 10-2, 10-3
Quadruple 40mm Pom Pom Gun
Analogous to the Twin Bofors above. This is the quad version of the gold Octet Pom Pom.
Damage
|
84/wave
|
Stats
|
AA+25
|
Base Fire Rate
|
1.04s/wave
| Attribute | AA |
Range
|
25
|
Firing Angle
|
360°
|
Spread Range
|
0°
|
Ammo
|
Normal
|
Shares the same fate as the Twin Bofors vs Quad Bofors. Slight improvement of reload at a huge cost of damage while retaining the same range as the gold octet.
Similarly, you're probably better off using the purple T2 octet Pom Pom instead of this quad version.
Obtainable from: UK boxes, 4-2, 8-2
102mm AA Gun
Very high range. Otherwise not too great. The gun doesn't hurt that much and the reload isn't spectacular. Comparable to the purple Quad Pom Pom above, with slightly lower damage but longer range.
Damage
|
63/wave
|
Stats
|
AA+25
|
Base Fire Rate
|
1.06s/wave
| Attribute | AA |
Range
|
32
|
Firing Angle
|
360°
|
Spread Range
|
0°
|
Ammo
|
Normal
|
Can be used to supplement range of your AA circle.
Obtainable from: UK boxes, 5-3, 11-1
76mm AA Gun
High range, high ROF and mediocre damage.
Damage
|
54/wave
|
Stats
|
AA+25
|
Base Fire Rate
|
0.88s/wave
| Attribute | AA |
Range
|
30
|
Firing Angle
|
360°
|
Spread Range
|
0°
|
Ammo
|
Normal
|
Similar to the 102mm above. Use as range supplement before you get the gold guns.
Obtainable from:
40mm AA Vickers Gun
Short ranged gun with fast firing and moderate damage. Reload is very good and is tied with the purple Twin Bofors.
Damage
|
65/wave
|
Stats
|
AA+25
|
Base Fire Rate
|
0.79s/wave
| Attribute | AA |
Range
|
24
|
Firing Angle
|
360°
|
Spread Range
|
0°
|
Ammo
|
Normal
|
Can be used as rate of fire supplement for your AA circle.
Obtainable from: JP boxes, 6-1
Quadruple 28mm Chicago Piano
Very damaged-focused with fast reload among purple guns. Range is very small.
Damage
|
72/wave
|
Stats
|
AA+25
|
Base Fire Rate
|
0.87s/wave
| Attribute | AA |
Range
|
21
|
Firing Angle
|
360°
|
Spread Range
|
0°
|
Ammo
|
Normal
|
Damage output can be decent if you did something about the bad range and/or played manually.
Obtainable from: US boxes, 3-3, 9-2
Triple 25mm Mounted AA Gun
Very fast reload. Faster than most purples.
Damage
|
54/wave
|
Stats
|
AA+25
|
Base Fire Rate
|
0.64s/wave
| Attribute | AA |
Range
|
20
|
Firing Angle
|
360°
|
Spread Range
|
0°
|
Ammo
|
Normal
|
Damage isn't great and range is very short.
Mostly used as ROF supplement.
Obtainable from: JP boxes, 4-3, 9-1, 10-4, 12-2
Twin 37mm AA 70K
Fast reload, low damage, low range.
Damage
|
50/wave
|
Stats
|
AA+25
|
Base Fire Rate
|
0.79s/wave
| Attribute | AA |
Range
|
23
|
Firing Angle
|
360°
|
Spread Range
|
0°
|
Ammo
|
Normal
|
This is similar to the 40mm purple Vickers but actually strictly worse. Same reload, lower damage and worse range. Not that the Vickers is a great gun or anything but this is kind of a bad design.
Obtainable from: DE boxes, 7-2, 8-3
Twin 40mm Pom Pom Gun
Very hard-hitting blue AA gun. Reload is kind of bad and range is average(though still the highest among blue guns).
Damage
|
45/wave
|
Stats
|
AA+12
|
Base Fire Rate
|
1.71s/wave
| Attribute | AA |
Range
|
25
|
Firing Angle
|
360°
|
Spread Range
|
0°
|
Ammo
|
Normal
|
The high alpha damage makes this not too bad as a transitional gun.
Obtainable from: UK boxes, 2-2
Twin 20mm AA Oerlikon Design
The fastest reloading purple in the game. Damage is pretty bad and the range is abysmal. The only purple with a <20 range.
Damage
|
45/wave
|
Stats
|
AA+25
|
Base Fire Rate
|
0.52s/wave
| Attribute | AA |
Range
|
18
|
Firing Angle
|
360°
|
Spread Range
|
0°
|
Ammo
|
Normal
|
Not sure what you can really use it for. If you really want to improve reload maybe you can use this as transitional supplement. But then the range will get tanked like crazy. Not recommended.
Obtainable from: US boxes, 5-2, 9-2
25mm Mounted AA Gun
The second fastest reload among purple guns.
Damage
|
40/wave
|
Stats
|
AA+25
|
Base Fire Rate
|
0.61s/wave
| Attribute | AA |
Range
|
20
|
Firing Angle
|
360°
|
Spread Range
|
0°
|
Ammo
|
Normal
|
Not as good as the triple mounted version of this gun. Sure it reloads 0.03s faster than the triple but it does so at the cost of 14 damage per shot. Just no.
Range is the same so there's no advantage there either.
Obtainable from: JP boxes, 4-1, 12-1
Quadruple 20mm Machine Gun
Highest alpha damage among T3 blue guns(the T1 blue Octet Pom Pom still beats it, sadly).
Damage
|
46/wave
|
Stats
|
AA+12
|
Base Fire Rate
|
0.79s/wave
| Attribute | AA |
Range
|
18
|
Firing Angle
|
360°
|
Spread Range
|
0°
|
Ammo
|
Normal
|
Reload is also very decent, but the range is going to make you cry.
In early game you can still use this to build AA circle for damage though. The damage per round is higher than quite a few purples.
Obtainable from: DE boxes, 2-1
37mm Machine Gun
Blue T3 guns from here on out are all pretty depressing. This has decent range for a blue. Fast reload but low damage.
Damage
|
24/wave
|
Stats
|
AA+12
|
Base Fire Rate
|
0.63s/wave
| Attribute | AA |
Range
|
23
|
Firing Angle
|
360°
|
Spread Range
|
0°
|
Ammo
|
Normal
|
In early game you can just play mix and match with these blue guns and find the best combo. The principles described in the overview of this page apply to all stages of the game.
Obtainable from: DE boxes, 2-2
25mm AA Gun
Even lower damage than the 37mm. Faster reload but worse range. Overall performance probably even worse.
Damage
|
21/wave
|
Stats
|
AA+12
|
Base Fire Rate
|
0.53s/wave
| Attribute | AA |
Range
|
20
|
Firing Angle
|
360°
|
Spread Range
|
0°
|
Ammo
|
Normal
|
The only somewhat decent AA gun in the Japanese 25mm series is probably the triple T3 at purple. But their ranges are all sort of inexcusable.
Obtainable from: JP boxes, 2-2
20mm AA Oerlikon
The blue and single version of the Oerlikon. Very fast reload with almost no damage or range.
Damage
|
20/wave
|
Stats
|
AA+12
|
Base Fire Rate
|
0.47s/wave
| Attribute | AA |
Range
|
18
|
Firing Angle
|
360°
|
Spread Range
|
0°
|
Ammo
|
Normal
|
You can try with some niche build for manual play where you don't care about range, but it's usually not worth it.
Obtainable from: US boxes, 2-2
12.7mm AA Gun
The fastest firing AA gun in the entire game.
Damage
|
15/wave
|
Stats
|
AA+12
|
Base Fire Rate
|
0.33s/wave
| Attribute | AA |
Range
|
15
|
Firing Angle
|
360°
|
Spread Range
|
0°
|
Ammo
|
Normal
|
No damage or range to speak of.
You can attempt to use the equations described in the overview section of this page to try to build a highly min-maxed AA circle. Get some high damage guns and cut down the reload time with this gun. You will likely have no range left but if you want to play manually it's probably fine in some cases.
There is always a build in animation delay for all gun firing(AA guns included). So the 0.33s on this gun in reality isn't going to be lightning fast. So do take that into consideration.
Obtainable from: US and UK boxes, 3-1
Twin 100mm AA Gun
The often forgotten AA gun from the research feature. It is actually very good as a blue gun.
Stats are solid and the range is very unusual for an early-game AA gun. Good for increasing your AA range in early game.
Twin 100mm AA Gun
Damage
|
44/wave
|
Stats
|
AA+12
|
Base Fire Rate
|
1.30s/wave
| Attribute | AA |
Range
|
32
|
Firing Angle
|
360°
|
Spread Range
|
0°
|
Ammo
|
Normal
|
Stats are solid and the range is very unusual for an early-game AA gun. Good for increasing your AA range in early game.
Obtainable from: Research
References: Chinese Azur Lane Wiki: http://wiki.joyme.com/blhx/%E9%A6%96%E9%A1%B5
References: Chinese Azur Lane Wiki: http://wiki.joyme.com/blhx/%E9%A6%96%E9%A1%B5
