Hércules
Also called: 赫丘利 Beta- Stay near your team; do not push ahead alone
- Avoid: Sailing in a straight line
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Hércules Community Stats
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Hércules Community Stats
Record History
Playstyle
Overview
Hércules is a Tier I Pan-American cruiser - a tutorial-tier ship. The kit is for learning basic mechanics: movement, aiming, shell travel time, gun rotation, and reading the minimap. Match impact comes from making fewer mistakes than the other Tier I players, not from gear advantages. Notable: best torpedo belt percent in T1 CAs (7) and best main battery range in T1 CAs (11.1 km).
Positioning
Stay near your team; do not push ahead alone. At Tier I the goal is practicing the basics, so pick a teammate to follow and learn how to lead your shots while their ship is in your field of vision.
Potato Avoidance
Sailing in a straight line
Even Tier I players will lead a predictable target; learn to make small course changes between salvos to break enemy aim. This is the single highest-impact habit to build at this tier.
Signature Traits
- Strong torpedo belt · 7.0%
- Torpedo belt specialist
11.14 km main battery reach, best of T1 CAs.
3.0 s rudder shift, top decile of T1 CAs. Snappy weave.
91.0 m max horizontal dispersion, worst of T1 CAs. Long-range salvos are noticeably wider than peers'.
5500.0 hp engine, bottom decile of T1 CAs. Less headroom for re-accelerating from a stop and holding speed through turns.
How to get Hércules
Hércules is available in the Hércules branch of the Pan-America Tech Tree as an early line ship. Official source cards below may also show its temporary Early Access window before it became a normal Tech Tree unlock.
Show Pan-America tech-tree branch diagram
Hércules sits in the Hércules branch. The highlighted path shows the local branch context inside the full Pan-America tree.
Official WG availability sources
- Pan-American Cruisers Are Coming to Early Access Early Access Start: 2026-03-27 · End: 2026-04-29 Official early-access or tech-tree-line article. Tech-tree ships are temporary crate drops during Early Access, then move to the Tech Tree.
Builds Beta
Pair with a commander whose unique skill complements her main armament; check the build tool for current recommendations.
Have a build you swear by? Open it in the Build Tool and hit Save build to share it here.
Cohort position
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Where Hércules sits among Tier I CAs (12 ships). Notable standouts are shown first; the rest of the cohort-ranked stats are in the expand below. Acquisition variants (Black Friday, Founders Edition) are counted once with their base ship, not as separate peers.
See 7 mid-pack stats
Not standouts for Hércules -- here's where she sits on every other ranked stat in the cohort.
Peers in this cohort
Stats & specs
Customize in the Build Tool →Shell ballistics chartƒ
Horizontal dispersion ellipse width at max range, from the verified WoWS dispersion model:ƒ
Vertical dispersion ellipse height at max range:ƒ
50%-hit horizontal radius:ƒ
50%-hit vertical radius:ƒ
180 degrees / 8 deg/s traverse speed = 22.5 s.ƒ
4 broadside guns x 60 / 3.5 s base reload = 68.6.HE shells
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17 mm ≈ 102 mm caliber / 6 (standard HE penetration ratio).ƒ
800 HE damage x 4 broadside guns = 3,200.ƒ
3,200 HE full-salvo alpha x 60 / 3.5 s base reload = 54,857.ƒ
68.6 shells/min x 6% fire chance = 4.11.AP shells
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floor(102 mm caliber / 14.3) = 7 mm (AP auto-penetrates plating this thick or less).ƒ
Sum across every AA aura on this ship of (aura.continuous_damage x 3.5 x aura.hit_probability). Here: (15×3.5×0.85) = 45. Covers AA-only mounts plus dual-purpose secondaries (Bismarck 105mm, USN 5"/38 cruiser secondaries) and dual-purpose main batteries (Sumner-class 5"/38, Akizuki-line 100mm). Formula validated against in-game captures on California, Sumner, Manfred von Richthofen, Dante Alighieri (exact) and within +/-17% on the remaining verified ships.ƒ
Longest-reaching aura across AA-only + dual-purpose auras.ƒ
Time to reach 90% of top speed (18.3 kt of 20.3 kt), from our in-house acceleration model.ƒ
Time to reach 99% of top speed (20.1 kt of 20.3 kt). 99% rather than 100% because true top speed is asymptotic (thrust meets drag), so the last fraction of a knot is never quite gained.ƒ
How many degrees the turret can swing for each degree the hull turns. Turn rate , so . Below 5 the turrets drag in a turning fight; 25+ keeps up with any rudder.ƒ
max(base sea detectability, gun-firing bloom range). Firing never pulls your detection closer than base concealment.
Damage Control Party∞ charges · 60 s reload · 5 s active
See all derived stats
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All values are ship base stats with modifications and upgrade changes denoted inline.
Numbers the spec table cannot show directly: alpha-strike math, DPM, dispersion, AP penetration. Click the formula chip on any row to reveal how it is calculated.
Main battery formulas
Horizontal dispersion ellipse width at max range, from the verified WoWS dispersion model: $\sigma_H = \left(\dfrac{R}{30}\cdot\dfrac{\text{idealRadius}-\text{minRadius}}{\text{idealDistance}} + \text{minRadius}\right)\cdot 30$ $= \left(\dfrac{10130}{30}\cdot\dfrac{8-0.5}{1000} + 0.5\right)\cdot 30 = 91\,\text{m}$How wide your shells scatter at 10 km, from the same dispersion model as the max-range figure above. Picking a fixed range makes this number directly comparable from ship to ship: max-range dispersion makes a longer-range gun look worse even when it's tighter at any common range. The interactive Dispersion tab on the Charts card plots the full curve from 0 to max range.Vertical dispersion ellipse height at max range: $\sigma_V = \sigma_H \cdot \text{radiusOnMax}$ $= 91 \cdot 0.6 = 54.6\,\text{m}$How tall the same scatter ellipse is at 10 km. Comparable from ship to ship for the same reason as the width value above.50%-hit horizontal radius: $\sigma_{H,50} = \sigma_H \cdot \text{GetHalfHitsRatio}(\sigma)$ $= 91 \cdot 0.32\;(\sigma = 2) = 29.1\,\text{m}$50%-hit vertical radius: $\sigma_{V,50} = \sigma_V \cdot \text{GetHalfHitsRatio}(\sigma)$ $= 54.6 \cdot 0.319\;(\sigma = 2) = 17.4\,\text{m}$17 mm ≈ 102 mm caliber / 6 (standard HE penetration ratio).floor(102 mm caliber / 14.3) = 7 mm (AP auto-penetrates plating this thick or less).All 4 barrels bear on the broadside.180 degrees / 8 deg/s traverse speed = 22.5 s.800 HE damage x 4 broadside guns = 3,200.3,200 HE full-salvo alpha x 60 / 3.5 s base reload = 54,857.4 broadside guns x 60 / 3.5 s base reload = 68.6.68.6 shells/min x 6% fire chance = 4.11.AA defense
Sum across every AA aura on this ship of (aura.continuous_damage x 3.5 x aura.hit_probability). Here: (15×3.5×0.85) = 45. Covers AA-only mounts plus dual-purpose secondaries (Bismarck 105mm, USN 5"/38 cruiser secondaries) and dual-purpose main batteries (Sumner-class 5"/38, Akizuki-line 100mm). Formula validated against in-game captures on California, Sumner, Manfred von Richthofen, Dante Alighieri (exact) and within +/-17% on the remaining verified ships.Longest-reaching aura across AA-only + dual-purpose auras.SUM over AA auras of (aura DPS x aura range km). A plane crossing the AA bubble is exposed to each aura for a time proportional to that aura's range, so long-reach DPS is worth more than the same DPS in a short bubble. Units: DPS*km; used to rank overall AA threat across the cohort.Armor Beta
Hull HP 12,600, distributed across 5 hull zones, each with its own plate thicknesses, saturation cap, and pen thresholds. HP caps are the exact in-game values, not estimated.
Overmatched by 59+ guns across the bracket. Can’t reliably bow-tank; gets bow-citadelled and overpenned.
Superstructure and extremities take HE pens and AP overpens from nearly any gun: steady chip damage. Fire resistance 0%, fires burn 30s. Range-by-range in the ballistics tool →
| Section | Plates | HP cap | Threats | Tactic |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bow | 6 mm primary (range 6–10 mm) | 1,000 (8% of HP) | Overmatched by 127mm+ (Farragut)6 mm: HE pens from 127mm+ | Bow-tank fits behind this exterior plate. Saturation is FAST here; the cap is often only a few thousand HP. |
| Stern | 6 mm primary (range 6–10 mm) | 600 (5% of HP) | Overmatched by 127mm+ (Farragut)6 mm: HE pens from 127mm+ | Mirror of bow. Same fast saturation. |
| Citadel | 10 mm primary (range 6–10 mm) | ≈ 165,500 (effectively no cap) | Citadel pen: full damageOver-pen: ×0.10 damage | Effectively no cap; citadel pool sits at ~165k HP on every ship. An AP citadel penetration deals the shell's full damage, the biggest single hit available; only over-penetrations are damped, to ×0.10. |
| Superstructure | 6 mm | 300 (2% of HP) | Any HE ≥16 mm pens at full damage | Any HE ≥16 mm pens at full damage. HE-spam target, and the section saturates fast (often only a few thousand HP). |
| Turret (module, per magazine) | separate HP pool, does not drain ship HP | 3,200 magazine HP | Magazine detonation1–30% chance · below ~75% HP | Per-turret powder-magazine HP. Detonation chance scales from 1% (no mag damage) to 30% (full mag damage); this range is the in-game value. Detonation can't roll while the ship is above ~75% HP (the standard detonation-protection threshold, not a per-ship stat). Smaller magazines saturate to the 30% ceiling faster. |
| AA mount (20 mm mount) | separate HP pool, does not drain ship HP | 200 per-mount HP | Destroyed at 0 HP | Per-mount HP for the heaviest AA on this ship. An AA mount destroyed at 0 HP stops shooting down planes for the rest of the battle; DCP does not repair destroyed mounts. HE shells specifically target AA mounts since the small-caliber HP pool falls fast. |
| Rudder (module) | separate HP pool, does not drain ship HP | 1,900 module HP | Incapacitated at 0 HP | When module HP reaches 0 the rudder locks at its current angle until DCP repairs it. Repair via Damage Control Party. |
Saturation cap = HP a section can absorb before further damage to it is reduced (the "bow-tank" effect). Citadel pool is ~165k on every ship (effectively no cap); damage is gated by pen/over-pen multipliers instead. Superstructure saturates fast but HE always pens regardless of the plate thickness. Rudder (and other module HPs) are a separate pool from ship HP: damaging a module doesn't drain ship HP. Incapacitated modules like the rudder and engine are restored by DCP, but secondary and AA mounts destroyed at 0 HP stay out for the rest of the battle.
3D armor viewer
Acceleration and Ballistics Chart
Skins & permanent camouflages
Every custom exterior Hércules can equip, from in-game data.
DefaultThe ship’s standard exterior
Primary official WG sources
Filtered to official World of Warships: Legends pages where this ship is a focus, reward, line member, or high-context variant mention.
