Azur Lane(EN) In-Depth Equipment Guide Series: Light Cruiser Main Guns
Light Cruiser Main Gun Overview
Light cruiser(CL) gun choices are less polarizing compared to destroyers. Most light cruisers as of now don't rely too much on their firing trigger-based skills. Light cruisers are usually jack-of-all-trades that care about direct damage output and/or support skills.
Both AP shells and HE shells are usable for CL guns, because the modifiers and shell behaviors make both types favorable. This is in direct contrast with the HE bias seen in DD and BB guns on most maps. Click here to see all gun ammo modifiers.
Scatter shooting pattern is possible with guns CL calibers and above. As a general rule, CL guns that are actually meant to be used on a CL should be locking pattern, and the CL guns meant to be used on BBs/BCs as secondary guns should have scatter pattern(or locking pattern with large spread range). I will discuss this in more detail.
CL guns have 120 degrees of turret rotations(with few exceptions). This is decent coverage but unlike DD guns, these guns can't hit enemies too far to the side or behind.
Regarding range stats:
In-Game Range: Purpose unclear.
Acquisition Range: The maximum distance from an enemy for the gun to rotate and attempt to aim.
Firing range: The maximum distance from an enemy for the gun to fire. If enemy moved outside of firing range after the gun fired, shells can travel up to 10 more distance units to chase it.
Light Cruiser Main Gun Analyses
Twin 150mm Main Gun (TbtsK C/36)
Also known as "Cleveland gun", "tbts", "tabasco gun", "tabasco sauce"...
Often considered the best choice for AP among CL guns that are normally obtainable.
Theoretical DPS ranks at the top portion of the chart along with the Belfast gun below, beating it slightly.
AP gun has good armor modifiers at CL calibers. Just to refresh, AP shells can penetrate the first enemy and hit the second enemy. Actual DPS can be higher than theoretical on crowded maps with many enemies. HE shells have higher modifiers in general while only hitting single targets.
Dispersion is very good for a twin gun at 20 degrees. Shells usually cluster very close together and end up on-target. Noticeably more accurate than the gold triple 155mm below..
Because this is purple, it is much easier to obtain compared to the gold triple 155mm. You can set this gun as a realistic end equipment goal for most of your CLs.
Like the gold triple 155mm, this gun also has great potential as a BB/BC secondary. I will discuss more in the secondary gun section.
Obtainable from: DE boxes, 4-2, 9-3
Triple 155mm Mounted Gun
Commonly known as "Belfast gun".
Currently the top choice for HE among CL guns that are normally obtainable.
High theoretical and actual DPS.
Decent damage output against light armor targets. Extended boss battles against light armor bosses are also favorable due to consistent gun/fire damage.
Ships with skills that support HE(such as Belfast) can benefit a lot from this gun.
Because this is a gold gun, the stat boost is firepower+45 as opposed to the +25 purple guns have. This may or may not be significant depending on the situation. Both ship firepower and gun base damage contribute to the final damage. Ship firepower stat becomes more high-yield when the ships themselves have skills or other factors that scale with firepower. For example, Ninghai and Pinghai have skills that buff firepower by a percentage. Having more ship firepower can increase the yield of those skills. To see a detailed tutorial on gun damage calculation and learn the roles firepower and gun base damage play, click here.
Very strong option as a BB/BC secondary gun against suicide boats.
Obtainable from: JP boxes, 6-2, 8-3
Prototype Triple 152mm Mounted Gun
“Neptune gun”. The best AP CL gun in the game as of now.
Can replace Tbts for the most part. Higher raw DPS, bonus armor modifiers (110%/90%/70% which is 10% higher against all armors compared to conventional AP guns), low dispersion, and the highest CL gun range in the game, both for acquisition and firing, making this gun very efficient.
Even though it fires in a 1x3 pattern the spread is very tight. It is locking firing.
The only downside is that it'll take a while before you can get multiples of these to phase out the Tbts guns.
Obtainable from: Research
Prototype Triple 152mm Main Gun (DP MK17)
“Seattle gun”.Best overall raw stats among all CL HE guns.
More accurate than the Belfast 155mm. Tied with the AP Triple 152mm above for longest range.
Not all stats go to FP like other gold guns. This has +15 of AA specialization.
Like the Neptune gun, it has better armor modifiers. It has +5% for medium and heavy armor compared to normal HE guns.
Performance as backrow secondary is not as good as Belfast 155mm. The tighter dispersion ironically becomes detrimental in the context of area coverage for killing suicide boats. Therefore the best usage is still as CL main guns. Then again unless you play this game a lot you probably won’t have spare copies for your backrow ships anyway.
Obtainable from: Research
Triple 152mm B-38MK5
One of the better HE options for CL guns. Stats are comparable with other top HE guns. Acquisition is better than Belfast 152mm Twin.
Despite minor stat differences the Proto 152mm from research is overall a better option. Access to this gun is limited but it’s probably not worth your time unless you’re a collector as it doesn’t add much.
Obtainable from: Events
Twin 152mm Main Gun (UK)
Even higher theoretical DPS than the Tbts above. Same AP shells.
Higher inherent damage modifier at 110%, vs most CL guns' 105%(to find out what weapon modifiers are, click here and scroll to the bottom).
This is not nearly as popular as the Tbts because it's far less accurate. 28 degrees of dispersion is quite a lot. Although game says it's target lock, it looks like a scatter gun due to the giant spread.
As a result, not all of your shots are going to be on target. Actual DPS is lower.
But on crowded maps this might be fine. Or you can just get closer to the enemies manually so that the shots hit the target before scattering out. You are free to use this as a transitional weapon before Tbts and Neptune 152mm.
Having a large spread is not necessarily a bad thing. This can function pretty well as a BB/BC secondary gun. Big spread coupled with AP shell traveling time makes this a good candidate. More on this later.
Obtainable from: UK boxes, 4-3, 10-1
140mm Mounted Gun
Scatter guns are often not considered good as CL main guns. This gun is not often used.
This gun is actually "true scatter", meaning that it can only fire directly forward, and the spread range is around the midline. Lock guns with large spread ranges(many other guns on this page) are not true scatter because they still attempt to aim at the enemies, and the spread range is around the line from your ship to the enemy. Therefore the "fan shaped" firing dispersions for the false-scatter guns aren't always fixed to your direct horizontal midline.
HE shell is very useful on a CL gun. However 28 degree of scatter is a bit much.
Alpha damage is also not as high as the other T3 purples. This already gives it a mediocre theoretical DPS. Coupled with the scatter shot(i.e. not all shells hit), the actual DPS is even lower.
Has some potential as BB/BC secondary but better options exist.
Obtainable from: JP boxes, 4-4, 8-1, 8-2, 10-4, 11-3, 12-2
152mm Mounted Gun
Another scatter gun similar to the 140mm above. Slightly higher damage and slightly slower reload.
True scatter. Firing is fixed towards midline.
Suffers from all the same problems as the 140mm. Intermediate candidate as back line ship secondary weapons and not recommended as CL main guns.
Obtainable from: JP boxes,
Triple 150mm Main Gun (SK C/25)
This doesn't have much of a reason to exist. It is an AP gun, but it's inferior to Tbts in almost every way.
Same alpha damage, but one fewer shot every salvo. Dispersion is much worse than Tbts's so the accuracy is a lot worse.
The reload is more than 5 seconds. This is highly unjustifiable when the Tbts reloads in 3 seconds. DPS is abysmal.
Looking at the stats, this gun really should not occupy a T3 purple rarity slot. Maybe there is something hidden and special that the gun does. We will need more testing to find out(or it's just anti-Axis bias again +。:.ﾟ٩(๑>◡<๑)۶:.｡+ﾟ).
Obtainable from: DE boxes, 4-1, 11-3
Single 150mm Main Gun (SK C/28)
Rate of fire specialization gun. Very low damage output.
CL gun with the fastest reload. This is analogous to the blue 76mm DD gun.
Not as famous as the 76mm because CLs in general do not depend too much on their firing-triggered skills.
CLs with a superb firing-triggered skills may benefit from equipping this. Neptune’s barrage comes to mind because it does quite a lot of damage every time it gets triggered. However, it is still a little difficult to pick this gun over the normal AP options such as the research AP 152mm.
Obtainable from: DE boxes, 2-4, 8-1, 11-2
Triple 152mm Main Gun
This is really meant to be a BB/BC secondary.
Good alpha damage and good shell number with HE.
But the spread is 42 degrees at true scatter. This is really cumbersome when used as a CL weapon.
The reload is also a little too slow to be used as a CL gun.
All of these disadvantages diminish or become advantages when used as a BB/BC secondary. We'll discuss it more in that section. But if you absolutely have to use this on a transitional CL you probably still can, because the stats are pretty solid despite the funkiness.
Note that the armor modifier against medium armor is 15% less than normal HE guns. But this is probably not all that relevant for what it is being used for.
Obtainable from: US boxes, 4-2, 9-3, 10-2, 10-3, 11-4
Triple 152mm (Mle 1930)
Currently the AP counterpart of the 152mm HE scatter gun above (there is actually a UK AP gun that is closer to the one above that is a stock weapon on some ships, but the T3 purple version does not exist right now).
Similarly large dispersion. Often not considered as a CL main gun but serves well as a backrow secondary.
AP shells have faster shell velocity. This becomes more important for faster moving enemies.
French guns don’t come from boxes so this is not readily available to all players. The existing options get the job done even if you don’t have this gun, though.
Obtainable from: Events
Single 152mm Main Gun
The CL gun with the highest theoretical DPS. Even higher than the research-exclusive guns.
Extremely high alpha damage at 34. Reload is really fast for the alpha at 2.34s.
Dispersion is 40 degrees. Very hard to make all hits land. Actual DPS is much much lower.
You can make this work if you try playing manually, but in most serious battles this is probably not going to be all that useful.
Because this is a Soviet weapon, you can't get it from boxes. You have to farm 3-2 for it. But it shouldn't take long because it's only blue rarity.
For the amount of damage it does this gun is very affordable. You can use this as a transitional equipment if you like.
Obtainable from: 3-2
Single 152mm Auxiliary Gun
Looks like the Soviet 152mm, but it is not nearly as funny.
Straightforward weak gun. Low alpha, slow reload. The game says it fires 3 shots per slavo but it's really 2 shots.
Shell is AP so that's something I guess.
Not much else to say. Beginner weapon. Get better guns to replace this ASAP.
Obtainable from: UK boxes, 2-1
Twin 152mm Main Gun (US)
Actually pretty decent as a blue gun. Reasonable reload for guns of acceptable damage. High-end DPS among blue guns in the game if you don't count the outlier of Soviet slaviboo meme gun.
Dispersion at 28 degrees sort of ruins it. Therefore it doesn't feel like a lock gun and feels awkward on CLs.
The dispersion makes this potentially an introductory BB/BC secondary for beginners.
Obtainable from: US boxes, 2-1
Single 140mm Main Gun
No list is complete without a shitty Japanese weapon on the bottom of it.
This is the worst T3 CL gun in the game.
Low damage with extremely long reload. DPS is abysmal. Shell dispersion is also large.
Inherent damage modifier is a surprising 125%. But all things considered, this is not enough to salvage the gun.
The unique thing about this gun is that it has 360 degree turret rotation, contrasting the 120 degrees most CL guns get.
In practice this probably doesn't mean anything. Gun-specialized CLs have DD guns in their secondary slots, and torpedo CLs have built-in secondary guns. Both of these types of CLs can hit backwards with their respective secondaries. Main gun turning around is not very necessary, especially not when the main gun in question is this terrible.
There was a time in the game when torpedo CLs didn't have built-in secondary guns. But even back then this gun wasn't used for its turret rotation. Simply not worth it.
Obtainable from: JP boxes, 3-1
