Azur Lane(EN) In-Depth Equipment Guide Series: Auxiliaries

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Auxiliaries Overview

Auxiliaries usually are the last two equipment slots of your ships. Their functions vary greatly, giving your ships various buffs.

The order in which I discuss them is NOT a "tier list" of any kind because that would be comparing apples to oranges. Most of them do drastically different things so do not try to figure out which one is "better" than the other.

Auxiliaries Analyses

SG Radar

Hit	+35	Evasion	+15
Skill	Ambush encounter -12%. Ambush escape chance +12%. Similar skills can't stack(take max effect).

Often considered a must-have for each fleet. In later maps there is a lot of requirement for recon values so the chance to encounter ambushes is very high. The equipment skill can significantly help with that.
The purple T2 version is also very useful as a transitional substitute.
Accuracy buff and evasion buff are also very nice.

Obtainable from: US boxes, 6-1, 10-2

Steam Catapult

Aviation	+100	HP	+75
Skill	N/A

Straightforward brutal aviation buff for CVs and CVLs. Not much to say here.

Double catapult setup on damage-oriented CVs is a great boost.

Obtainable from: All boxes

Repair Toolkit

HP	+500
Skill	+15 HP every 5 seconds for friendly ships with the lowest HP percentage. Similar skills can't stack.

A repair crane named a "toolkit". EN localization team go kill yourselves.
Only repair ships can use this equipment. Because the skill can't stack(not even with purples btw) so you don't really need more than one of this for each repair ship.
But you will get FAR more than what you need because this thing is a cockblocker in every nation's box.

Obtainable from: All boxes, 9-2

Type 93 Pure Oxygen Torpedo

Torpedo	+100	Reload	+10
Skill	N/A

The "rainbow dildo". This is not actually a torpedo. It takes up auxiliary slots to boost torpedo stats.

It's very analogous to the steam catapult, giving 100 of a raw stat for a relevant ship.

Often used on DDs and CLs that can use torpedoes efficiently. This can greatly boost their damage.

Obtainable from: Events

Beaver Squad Tag

Evasion	+35	HP	+75
Skill	Fleet speed +20%.

The single-most OP evasion buff and sailing speed buff. The ship carrying this will gain enormous evasion and everyone in your fleet will move 20% faster. The single-ship evasion buff makes a difference on low evasion ships like CAs.
Sailing speed buff is skill-based (in other words, it triggers after battle begins). Therefore it is not activated on maps. You will not get a movement-per-turn increase on event maps as a result of equipping this.

Obtainable from: Collection reward. Charles Ausburne, Thatcher, Aulick, Foote and Spence at 17 stars.

Pearl's Tears

HP	+500
Skill	+10% HP to all members of the fleet when the ship equipping this sinks.

Decent single-ship HP buff and a useful group heal ability upon death.
Most often used in PvP, because it is a relevant effect and that ship sinking rarely occurs in PvE.

Obtainable from: Collection reward. Arizona, Oklahoma, Cassin and Downes at 13 stars.

Air Radar

AA	+70
Skill	N/A

A simple AA buff maxing at 70. Useful for increasing backrow survival in later maps and event maps with heavy air pressure. Otherwise not often needed.

Obtainable from: All boxes, 2-3, 2-4

Advanced Boiler

HP	+245	Speed	+8
Skill	N/A

Moderate HP buff but increases ship sailing speed.

Unlike the Beaver badge, this is useful for increasing movement per turn on event maps where fleet movements are limited by total sailing speeds. Not a common choice for normal maps.

You can max these out and put on all your front row ships in your PvP defense fleet for spite. Triple-BB backrow fleets will have a field day hitting nothing all day.

Obtainable from: All boxes, 5-1, 9-1

Fire Control Radar

Hit	+24	Firepower	+21
Skill	N/A

Limited usage in early game, but sees more play in later maps where enemy light ships have increased evasion. Suitable for BBs and gun CAs.

Obtainable from: All boxes, 4-3, 10-3

High Standard Fire-Control Radar

Hit	+36	Firepower	+30
Skill	Reduces cooldown for first main gun volley by 15%.

Highly desirable equipment for back row guns.

Very big buff to accuracy. Strict upgrade to the normal purple fire control radar.

The skill convenient. It makes your back row guns enter the battle faster faster, making farming runs shorter and saving you time. You can also use this to pull off various PvP shenanigans. Cheating out the barrage faster is also very nice even on PvE.

This radar is worth your time.

Obtainable from: Events

Repair Tools

HP	+500
Skill	+1% of ship's total HP every 15 seconds. Similar effects can't stack(take max effect).

Very useful equipment for the survival of your ships. Almost always used for auto play.

HP buff is very significant. Passive healing makes the fleet much more durable.

Easily obtained as a side effect of 3-4 Akagi/Kaga farming. Probably the auxiliary equipment with the widest usage in the game.

Obtainable from: All boxes, 3-4, 10-3

Aviation Oil Tank

Aviation	+70	HP	+60
Skill	Plane HP+120. Similar effects can't stack(take max effect).

Decent aviation buff(and minor HP buff) with a useful skill that supports your plane survival. Plane survival isn't likely an issue for most of the PvE maps so this can give you the extra edge in those big PvP CV battles.

The purple T2 version of the Steam Catapult is exactly the same as this equipment except it doesn't have the plane HP buff skill. The Aviation Oil Tank is therefore strictly superior. Do not waste your time on the purple catapult.

Obtainable from: All boxes, 5-3

Anti-Torpedo Bulge

HP	+350
Skill	Damage from torpedoes -30%. Similar effects can't stack(take max effect).

Moderate max HP buff with a very useful skill. In PvE torpedoes aren't usually an issue but it excels on specific maps/against specific bosses. In PvP this is usually always relevant because of the frontrow opening torps. It's worth it to invest in a few of these.

Obtainable from: All boxes, 4-1, 7-4, 10-2

Gyroscope

Hit	+35	Speed	+8
Skill	N/A

Similar to the Advanced Boiler, replacing the HP buff with accuracy buff. The increase in accuracy is actually pretty decent, but accuracy has limited use in early normal maps so there's is no rush in enhancing this equipment.

The sailing speed buff is static just like the Advanced Boiler(and unlike the Beaver badge). Therefore it will help in max movement per turn on event maps where speed determines map movement range.

Mostly CAs and BBs like to have their accuracies buffed, but just know that sailing speed doesn't do anything on backrow ships(they don't move). Also, the value of sailing speed is probably up to the individual player. The pairing of accuracy and sailing speed is a little odd. For CA and BB purposes most people would opt for the Fire Control Radar instead for the accuracy and firepower buff, a pairing that makes more sense for these ships. But feel free to try this out.

Obtainable from: All boxes, 6-2, 10-2

Autoloader

Reload	+35	Firepower	+7
Skill	N/A

Once a great equipment. After reload equation revamp, this got a lot worse.

The effect of +35(or even +70 with double loaders) is very limited. It is somewhat significant on backrow ships with bigger and slower-reloading guns. It really isn't too noticeably on fast-firing front row ships.

The best way to decide whether this is worth it is to try to equip this onto the ships you are using and watch the reload time change on the equipments the ship carries. Reload is still an important stat so this can definitely still be useful, but it's not longer an "auto-include" on every ship.

Obtainable from: All boxes, 6-3, 10-1, 11-3

Fuel Filter

HP	+350	Evasion	+5
Skill	N/A

Moderate HP buff and very little evasion buff. Even at +10 it's only an evasion+5.

There are far better options for max HP boosts, and they come with far more relevant other buffs/skills.

Ignore this and move on.

Obtainable from: All boxes, 3-1, 9-2, 10-4

Fire Suppressor

HP	+266
Skill	Ignition chance against equipped ship -30%. Fire time -6 seconds. Fire damage -20%. Similar effects can't stack(take max effect).

Great equipment for light armored ships against enemy HE. The buffs are very significant. Each fire damage-over-time lasts 15 seconds for 5 ticks at 3 seconds each. You are taking away 2 ticks, and decreasing 20% of the damage the remaining 3 ticks do. Not to mention that you're decreasing ignition chance in the first place.

The HP buff is moderate but because ships using this often have low HP pool, even a moderate buff is very welcome.

This along with Repair Tools can greatly enhance the survival of lightly armored front row ships.

The blue rarity is kind of misleading. But by now you should be aware of equipment tiering system and know that this equipment's T3 rating is significant.

Obtainable from: All boxes, 2-3

Hydraulic Steering Gear

Evasion	+17	HP	+44
Skill	N/A

Another blue equipment that people often ignore.

This is the best normally obtainable evasion buff in the game. It beats the gold SG radar and loses to the Beaver badge(which is unique and not normally obtainable).

On CAs and other ships with low evasion this can greatly increase the effect HP/tankiness of those ships. Using two of these fully maxed can more than double the evasion of many CAs. The minor HP buff isn't too significant but you can just view that as a tiny bonus.

This is very cheap to upgrade as well. It's very worth investing in these.

Obtainable from: All boxes, 2-1

Navy Camouflage

Evasion	+17	HP	+44
Skill	N/A

This has identical effects as the Hydraulic Steering Gear. Dropping location is different. Not sure why they felt the need to make two identical equipments with different names/images.

Great evasion buff as described above. Maybe in the future they will make these two equipments different?

Obtainable from: All boxes, 2-2

Rammer

Reload	+17	Firepower	+5
Skill	N/A

Weaker version of the T3 purple autoloader.

Slightly better (1 more firepower) than the T2 blue autoloader.

Increases reload for your early game. The reload stat buff's effect is likely limited though. See the discussion for the purple Autoloader.

Obtainable from: All boxes, 1-4

High Performance Steering Gear

Evasion	+40	HP	+60
Skill	20% chance to trigger every 30s: Evade all attacks for 2 seconds. Can't evade damage from fires/collisions etc.

An upgrade from the blue camo and sterring gear. Useful on low evasion ships. The skill grants extra survival bonus.

Obtainable from: Research

High Performance AA Radar

AA	+100
Skill	Ambush rate decreased by 12%. Can't stack with similar skills.

An upgrade from the purple AA radar with a useful skill similar to that of the SG radar. Useful on maps with many planes.

Obtainable from: Research

Healing Cat's Paw

HP	+300
Skill	HP recovery +20% when used by Akashi.

Self-explanatory character-specific equipment. Should be used on Akashi for the bonus.

Obtainable from: Akashi Quest

Type 1 AP Shell

FP	+55	Hit	+15
Skill	Main gun crit damage +25%.

Pretty much the ideal BB aux, for the most part replacing the BB aux used before this was introduced. All main-gun relevant stat boosts and a useful buff skill. Pairs nicely with super heavy shell.

Obtainable from:Core Data

SHS

FP	+70
Skill	Main gun crit chance +8%.

Another great BB aux. Different stat boosts compared to the AP shell (-15 Hit +15 FP). Instead of boosting crit damage this boosts crit chance. It is good to use both on your backline main gun users.

Obtainable from: Core Data

Certificate of Sponsorship

HP	+150	Evasion	+12
Skill	When equipped by U-556: increases the time she can stay in combat after resurfacing by 4s and increases her ASR by 1. When equipped by Bismarck: decreases the effect of Out of Ammo DMG debuff has on the Main Fleet.

Another character-specific equipment. The Bismarck effect can be useful for extended grinding or long maps.

Obtainable from: Event