Azur Lane Tier List - Best Destroyers (April 2024)
Get ahead of the game in Azur Lane with the latest and most comprehensive best destroyers tier list! This thrilling side-scrolling shoot ‘em up mobile game for Android and IOS allows players to command a fleet of moe anthropomorphic characters based on real-life warships of World War II. As a captain, knowing which destroyers are the best for their roles and skills can help determine your fleet composition.
With our exclusive tier list, you can easily identify the top destroyers and develop a winning formation for PvE and PvP. Join the millions of fans already playing Azur Lane and stay on top of your game with our best destroyers tier list. Start your journey today and emerge victorious on the high seas!
Disclaimer: Please be reminded that Tier Lists are not definite measures of the character's strength and potential. There are a lot of factors to be considered like the character's availability, their synergy with your team, their utility, equipment, etc. As such, please use our tier lists as what they're meant to be - a guide. Use tier lists to help you decide whether you'll want to invest resources and time to build a character. At the end of the day, it's you who will decide which ones you'll use based on preference and performance.
Azur Lane Ship Classification (DD, DDG)
DD, and DDG are ship classifications used in naval terminology and in the game. In Azur Lane, they are positioned in the Vanguard (frontline) slots in a fleet formation. Here are the definitions for each of them:
- DD (Destroyers): These are agile frontline (vanguard) units, specializing in potent torpedo attacks. Destroyers can also attack rapidly, perfect for dealing with smaller and softer targets. Destroyers have low HP and defense but they make up for it with their exceptional speed and evasive abilities to avoid getting damaged.
- DDG (Guided-missile destroyers): These are destroyers capable of launching guided missiles. DDGs' torpedo slots will be replaced by missiles which will be fired automatically. During battles, when a DDG is in the fleet, a special AoE missile strike will be fired, reducing the HP of all enemies hit. So far, there are only two DDGs in the game, An Shan and Chang Chun.
Azur Lane Destroyer Tier List
As of April 2023, Azur Lane has a total of 522 regular ships, 90 of which can be retrofitted. These ships are divided into four major classes, each with their own specialty, position, and role in the game so compiling them into a single tier is almost impossible and won't do any shipgirl justice. That's why we have decided to create separate tier list pages for each major category to make it easier to compile and grade them fairly and accordingly the best we can.
In our tier list below, we will be covering all the destroyers in the game. There are only two DDG (guided-missile destroyers) in the game, namely An Shan and Chang Chun. These two will start as DDs but can be retrofitted to become DDGs. As such, they'll be listed here in their DDG/retrofitted version.
SS Tier
An Shan, Chang Chun, Kitakaze, Shimakaze, Yuudachi
S Tier
Allen M. Sumner, Ayanami, Jervis, Kagerou, Kazagumo, Kiev, Marie Rose, Suzutsuki, Tashkent, Wakatsuki, Z46
A Tier
Bristol, Ingraham, Janus, Javelin, L'Indomptable, Laffey, Le Malin õ, Le Terrible, Naganami, Pompeo Magno, Tashkent õ, Yukikaze, Z23
B Tier
Carabiniere, Charles Ausburne, Hanazuki, Harutsuki, Kasumi, Kawakaze, Le Malin, Le Triomphant, Shirakami Fubuki, Yoizuki, Z1, Z24, Z28
C Tier
Ariake, Eldridge, Eskimo, Fu Shun, Gremyashchy, Gromky, Hammann II, Hatsuharu, Hunter META, Shirayuki, Shigure, Stephen Potter, Stremitelny, Tai Yuan
D Tier
Cassin, Cooper, Downes, Fletcher, Fortune META, Hibiki, Kiyonami, Le Mars, Le Téméraire, Libeccio, Minsk, Nicholas, Niizuki, Shiranui, Soobrazitelny, Tanikaze, Vincenzo Gioberti, Yuugure, Z25, Z26, Z36
E Tier
Acasta, Akatsuki, Alfredo Oriani, Amazon, Arashio, Ardent, Asashio, Aulick, Aylwin, Bache, Bailey, Beagle, Benson, Blanc, Bulldog, Bush, Comet, Crescent, Cygnet, Dewey, Echo, Forbin, Fortune, Foxhound, Fubuki, Fumizuki, Glowworm, Grenville, Grozny, Hamakaze, Hammann, Hardy, Hatsushimo, Hazelwood, Halsey Powell, Hero, Hatakaze, Hobby, Hunter, Icarus, Ikazuchi, Inazuma, Isokaze, Jenkins, Jersey, Juno, Jupiter, Kalk, Kamikaze, Kimberly, Kisaragi, Kizuna AI, Kuroshio, L'Opiniâtre, Maestrale, Maillé Brézé, Makinami, Matchless, Matsukaze, Michishio, Mikazuki, Minazuki, Morrison, Mullany, Musketeer, Mutsuki, Nagatsuki, Natsuiro Matsuri, Nicoloso da Recco, Nowaki, Oite, Ooshio, Oyashio, Prototype Bulin MKII, Radford, Shiratsuyu, Sims, Smalley, Specialized Bulin Custom MKIII, Spence, Stanly, Tartu, Thatcher, Umikaze, Universal Bulin, Uranami, Urakaze, Vauquelin, Vampire, Wakaba, White Heart, Yamakaze, Z16, Z18, Z19, Z2, Z20, Z21, Z35, Bailey
Best Azur Lane Destroyers Description
Unfortunately, we won't be able to give a description to all shipgirls in the game so we will just provide the description for the SS and S-tier units for your perusal.
An Shan
Construction: Can't Be Constructed (Event-exclusive reward)
Rarity: Elite
Faction: Dragon Empery
By default, Anshan increases the firepower, accuracy, and evasion of herself and other An Shan-class destroyers like her (Chang Chun, Fu Shun, Tai Yuan) as well as triggering All-Out Assaults after a certain number of times her guns are fired. Once retrofitted, all An Shan-class destroyers in the fleet will receive the three buffs mentioned above plus enhanced torpedo rating. This ship also gains a Missile Strike charge, reduces Burn duration by 3s and Burn DMG taken by 5% (15%). She also fires a special barrage every 15s that inflicts Armor Break for 6s.
On top of that, she can be set to either vanguard (front) or main fleet mode (rear) positions. When in Vanguard mode, every 16 main gun firings will trigger an All Out Assault. In Main Fleet mode, launching a Missile Strike will trigger an All Out Assault. She performs excellently in Vanguard mode but has subpar use in main fleet mode so it's better to stick with her destroyer role instead of replacing one of your main fleet ships with her.
Chang Chun
Construction: 00:32:00
Rarity: Elite
Faction: Dragon Empery
Chang Chun's default version provides FP, RLD, and ACC buff to Northern Parliament and Dragon Empery ships in the vanguard position in the fleet and trigger All Out Assault after a certain number of times her main gun is fired. Upon retrofitting, Chang Chun will be able to provide the same buffs to Northern Parliament and Dragon Empery ships in the vanguard position while also being able to apply FP, TRP, and AA buffs to those factions' ships in the main fleet position.
Similar to An Shan, this ship also gains a Missile Strike charge, reduces Burn duration by 3s and Burn DMG taken by 5% (15%). She also fires a special barrage that increases the enemies' Torpedo DMG taken hit by the attack.
Like An Shan, Chang Chun can also be set to either vanguard (front) or main fleet mode (rear) positions. Her main fleet mode ability isn't really exceptional so it's better to keep her in vanguard mode so that you don't waste a vital main fleet slot.
* In Vanguard mode, every 16 main gun firings will trigger an All Out Assault.
* In Main Fleet mode, launching a Missile Strike will trigger an All Out Assault.
Kitakaze
Construction: Research
Rarity: Priority
Faction: Sakura Empire
Kitakaze is an excellent offensive destroyer, capable of dishing out reliable damage using her main gun and a barrage of torpedoes. Her main gun has a special modifier that ignores enemy armor type; giving her a Sakura Empire gun further increases her main gun efficiency. She can also unleash an all-out assault after a set number of times her guns are fired,
When sorteing as a lead ship, Kitakaze launches a torpedo barrage 10 seconds after the battle begins. Additionally, every time the ship's torpedoes hit 10 times, excluding the initial barrage, it launches the same barrage again. This ability is further improved once she gains the Fate Simulation improvement. On top of launching a torpedo barrage, she also gains damage reduction buff for almost a full minute. The second barrage can now be triggered after every 8 hits with this ship's torpedoes, excluding those from the barrage.
Shimakaze
Construction: 00:30:00
Rarity: UR (Ultra Rare)
Faction: Sakura Empire
Shimakaze is an amazing frontline damage-dealer, capable of launching powerful torpedo barrages, as well as a follow-up Slashing attack that debuffs enemies by increasing the damage they take from Shimakaze, as well as a Flooding ailment that deals a fixed amount of damage every second for a limited amount of time.
She's also quite sturdy, thanks to the various self and fleet-wide buffs that get activated at the start of battle or after reloading her torps. Additionally, if another fleet that she's not part of enters battle, as long as Shimakaze is afloat, the TRP value of all DDs in that fleet will be buffed a bit for the entire battle. Shimakaze also launches a support barrage 30 seconds into the battle.
This amazing utility and tactical advantage makes Shimakaze easily one, if not the best destroyer in the game.
Yuudachi
Construction: Not constructed; dropped only in normal/hard map 6-4
Rarity: SR (Super Rare)
Faction: Sakura Empire
Yuudachi is an outstanding destroyer that has the chance to trigger a stack of self buffs like increased firepower, torpedo stat, reload, and evasion whenever she fires her main gun. Her full potential gets fully unlocked once she gets retrofitted. In her retrofitted version, these buffs will be passively applied and she'll gain additional buffs like increased damage to burning enemies, and boosting her fleet's vanguard's torpedo crit rate and crit damage by a considerable amount 30 seconds after the battle starts.
Also, as another retrofit ability, Yuudachi's evasion rate is increased and her damage from enemy shelling is also reduced by a set amount. Finally, 20s after the battle starts, she fires a special barrage that inflicts a unique burn status on all enemies (which she'll deal bonus damage, based on her passive buffs mentioned above)
There you have it, some of the best destroyers in the game. We don't see the meta changing that drastically anytime soon but if it does, we'll be sure to update this tier list as well.