User:InterconKW
Tenative Title: Update 15.9
Update 15.9: Pacific Front
Update 15.9 delivers a new strategy event, a haul of Halloween rewards, and fresh additions to the Black Friday fleet:
Pacific Front
Starts: Oct 08, 03:00 AM (UTC+8)
Ends: Dec 03, 03:00 AM (UTC+8)
Update 15.9 brings a new Strategic Event (The core Gameplay will be similar to that of the Dunkirk 1940 event in Update 14.4)
Take the role of a commander on the Pacific Front in this PVE Card Game!
- Select an Operation from several options on your "desk"
- Operations consist of chains of engagements that build toward a final showdown with a primary target
- Every engagement puts your cards, representing your units, with strategic tactical characteristics, up against four enemy cards
- Each engagement your units win will earn you rewards, including Fleet Supplies (the main resource for adding new units to your fleet)
- Progress Tokens are awarded for a successful defeat of the primary target, as well as occasionally for regular engagement victories
- Progress Tokens take you through a reward track that ends with U.S. Premium Destroyer VI Monaghan!
Mechanics
- Operations are divided into stages, and each stage is divided into several battles (key points) to fight through.
- You don't need to clear every key point to advance through a stage: You can simply defeat the required number of enemy units to move on. However, if you stick around and defeat every enemy unit in the operation, you'll earn the Perfect Completion bonus and extra rewards.
- You'll pick one operation at a time to play through. Once you start an operation, you can complete it, abandon it, or reset your current run.
- Not feeling your run in an operation? You can abandon it and keep everything you've earned so far, but you won't be able to replay it—only choose a different one.
- Or you can do a total reset for a clean slate, wiping your progress and gains from the run but letting you play the same operation again or choose another one if you prefer. A reset will also return any resources spent during that run, including consumed modifiers and unit HP.
- Every unit has three HP segments. You lose one segment per battle, and fewer segments mean less Total Power.
- Within an operation, damage carries with you from battle to battle, and a unit at zero HP can't be used again.
- You can restore a unit's HP by using a repair modifier before it reaches zero.
- Your fleet is fully restored automatically at the start of every new operation.
- In each stage, a unit can be assigned to only one key point; however, the same units can be reused in later stages of the operation as long as they have HP remaining.
- Pacific Front will be playable straight from your browser, as well as in the game client.
Want to know more about mechanics and rewards for this event? See our dedicated article!
Black Friday
Starts: Oct 29, 03:00 AM (UTC+8)
Ends: Dec 03, 03:00 AM (UTC+8)
Black Friday kicks off in the fourth week of Update 15.9!
- Four new ships join the Black Friday Fleet, with a new feature that tracks the number of enemies they destroy!
- Pan-Asian Cruiser X Incheon B, Spanish Battleship IX Victoria B, American Carrier VIII Hornet B and French Battleship VIII Flandre B are Black Friday Counterparts to existing Premium and Special ships ingame
- The counter is supported in Random, Ranked, and Co-op Battles. ** Each battle type tracks separately, so ships destroyed in Ranked Battles only count toward the Ranked counter on that ship.
- A ship's enemy destruction counter updates dynamically during battle. If you leave a battle early, either by quitting or by clicking “Battle On,” the ship's enemy destruction counter resets to the count it had at the start of that battle. Once the battle finishes, the enemy destruction counter updates again to show the ship's true total once you're back in Port.
- The counter stops updating once a ship reaches 99,999 enemy ships destroyed.
- If you would prefer to hide it, you can disable it in the Camouflage section of your ship's Exterior customization.
- This is an experimental feature, so it may be refined over time. Further plans for its development will be shared later, after analyzing how it performs.
- Other Black Friday ships from previous years also make their return in a variety of bundles and containers, including IX Jean Bart B, IX Alaska B, VIII Asashio B, and VIII Massachusetts B
- These four ships will also be available in their own bundles for real money, containing just the ship and a Port slot.
Black Friday Squadron
Starts: Oct 29, 03:00 AM (UTC+8)
Ends: Jan 03, 03:00 AM (UTC+8)
The "Black Friday Squadron" mechanic returns!
- Assemble matching pairs of Standard and Black Friday versions of ships to receive combat missions that reward you with Doubloons and other resources
- To be eligible for a ship's combat mission, you must meet both of the following conditions:
- Obtain the standard version of the ship in the current Black Friday cycle, either before the event starts or during the event.
- Obtain the Black Friday version of the same ship during the 2026 event. The only exception is IX Marlborough B, which will be counted even if you have obtained the ship before the event starts.
- Black Friday ships obtained in previous years do not count toward this year's missions.
With the start of the Black Friday event, the daily free bundles will return in a refreshed form and contain Black Friday containers.
Marlborough B: Dockyard Continues
Starts: Sep 10, 04:00 AM (UTC+8)
Ends: Nov 05, 03:00 AM (UTC+8)
The construction of IX Marlborough B continues in Update 15.9!
The shipbuilding process consists of 28 phases, 23 of which can be progressed through by completing Dockyard combat missions that unlock in 6 sequential sets over 6 weeks.
To obtain Marlborough B, the remaining two stages must be purchased individually or in starter packs (available until you complete four phases with combat missions)
The smallest of the two starter packs will cost 
4,500 Doubloons, requiring completion of all Dockyard Missions. The 10-phase starter pack will cost 8,500 Doubloons (Allowing for Dockyard Completion after the first 5 out of 6 Mission Sets). Additional individual phases cost 1,400 Doubloons
Combat missions will be available throughout Update 15.8 and the first 3 weeks of Update 15.9. During the last week, players will still be able to complete phases with Doubloons. The Dockyard will be removed completely when Update 15.10 arrives.
More information about Dockyards is available in a seperate article
Halloween Treats Event Pass
With the release of Update 15.9, an Event Pass featuring a Halloween Haul awaits across both progression lines, with Jack-o'-Lantern containers, Infernal permanent camouflages, and a famed historical British Battleship
Halloween Treats
Halloween Treats Event Pass
Starts: Oct 08, 03:00 AM (UTC+8)
Ends: Nov 05, 03:00 AM (UTC+8)
A season of tricks and treats! Update 15.9's Event Pass is Halloween-themed, bringing the following spooky-season rewards and cosmetics as you progress through it:
- The first progression line rewards 3 Jack-o'-Lantern containers, 1 Jack-o'-Lantern Premium container, the Rust permanent camouflage, and the Infernal permanent camouflage for Tier IX ships (final reward).
- The second progression line, unlockable for 2,500 Doubloons, contains the Telesto permanent camouflage, VI Warspite, the nationless version of Commander Max Strauss, and the Infernal permanent camouflage for Tier X ships (final reward).
- The second progression line, unlockable for
- More Signals Containers and Rare Bonus Containers are awarded for extra levels in the first and the second lines, respectively.
More information about Event Pass Rewards and Compensation will be available in a [separate article].
Pan-American Destroyers Leave Early Access
Ends: Oct 08, 03:00 AM (UTC+8)
The full release of all 8 new Pan-American Destroyers comes in Update 15.9! Welcome the following into full commission:
- III Almte.Villar
- IV Serrano
- V Antioquia
- VI Cervantes
- VII Marcílio Dias
- VIII Cuauhtémoc
- IX Nueva Esparta
- X 20 de Julio
Pan-American Destroyers bring the following traits:
- Strong main guns with powerful AP shells featuring favorable ricochet angles that are good at hunting down anything showing broadside
- Branch-wide accesss to a Repair Party
for improved survivability - Access to a timed Main Battery Reload Booster
consumable from Tier VI onwards - Lower top speed but access to an improved Engine Boost
from Tier VIII onwards - No access to Smoke Generator
Holiday Convoy Continues
Starts: Aug 13, 04:00 AM (UTC+8)
Ends: Feb 11, 03:00 AM (UTC+8)
Note: Tokens can be earned until Feb 2, 03:00 AM UTC+8 - Captains will have 1 extra week to utilise them
Holiday Convoy, a special event that started its run over 6 updates in Update 15.7, offering Captains an opportunity to unlock various difficult-to-obtain ships for free through earning Holiday Convoy Tokens, continues into Update 15.9
Ocean Map Rework
With Update 15.9, the Ocean map is getting a weather makeover
- As a map with no islands, Ocean plays differently from most others, especially for ships that rely on terrain and concealment early on
- To preserve its uniqueness, weather effects to help with concealment will be added instead of island cover
- A Cyclone sweeps across the Ocean, opening up new tactical options!
- This map-wide weather event will be active very early in the battle, reducing visibility and detection range to 15 km (typical cyclone reduction is 8–12 km)
- This will let ships close in more before the action begins and give them somewhere to retreat to on an otherwise wide-open map if needed. The cyclone dissipates after 7–9 minutes and the map then plays as it previously has.
We're planning to add more weather additions to the Ocean map: Namely, thunderstorms in Update 15.10 and snowstorms in Update 15.11. You can read more about this in our [Development Blog Post]
Matchmaker Changes
Matchmaker changes will be made in Update 15.9, aiming to reduce the number of battles that start with fewer than 12 players during quieter hours.
- This change will affect Tier VI+ ships.
- Some short-handed battles will still occur, though testing data showed that their number reduced to 0.04% of all battles per day, while the average queue times for most ships and tiers remained essentially unchanged
- However, in some cases, such as with aircraft carriers, queue times may increase by around 10 to 15 seconds.
You can read more about this in our [Development Blog Post]
Armory
New Ship: La Spezia
Starts: Oct 15, 03:00 AM (UTC+8)
New Italian Cruiser IX La Spezia will be available in the armory for 
43,000 Research Points in Update 15.9.
- A hypothetical development of the Ansaldo cruiser design of 1940, serving as a testbed for experimental long-barreled 203 mm guns.
- Studies into the possibility of creating heavy guns with a barrel length of 96 calibers were conducted in Italy in the late 1930s, though it can be assumed that if the project were implemented, the barrel length would be reduced to more practical values.
- The new Italian cruiser packs a powerful main battery; like her tech-tree counterpart IX Brindisi, she wields 203 mm artillery.
- She has a reduced barrel count of 8 guns, arranged in four twin-gun turrets. However, La Spezia has excellent ballistics and a faster reload.
- Her AP shells offer improved penetration and alpha damage, and the Burst Fire mode lets her deal even more damage in important situations.
Early on, hang back at mid-to-long range and support your team with SAP salvos. Enemy destroyers are prime targets, as they're especially vulnerable to this shell type. Once the enemy line breaks and gaps open up, shift into a flanking role—swap to your improved AP shells and go after enemy cruisers. She can also utilize her Burst Fire alternative fire mode to output two salvos and finish off targets or deal impressive damage, though at the price of a longer reload.
Uncharted Seas Armory Event
Starts: Oct 15, 03:00 AM (UTC+8)
Ends: Nov 05, 03:00 AM (UTC+8)
This Armory Event brings two new Premium Destroyers, the Dutch VIII Ph. van Almonde and Pan-Asian VIII Datong
- VIII Datong is a versatile hypothetical ex-Soviet destroyer (Project 30bis) rearmed with experimental 100 mm BL-127 quadruple-gun mounts. She has two firing modes, one with high firestarting and damage per minute and another that compensates for her low HE penetration at a price of a longer reload time. She also carries solid torpedoes, though they are rather short-ranged
- VIII Ph. van Almonde is a Dutch Gerard Callenburgh-class destroyer, that was historically demolished on her slipway to prevent German capture in WW2. This destroyer comes equipped with a wide array of consumables, all in separate slots. Her combination of Smoke Generator and Hydroacoustic Search
lets you defend and contest Key Areas. Main Battery Reload Booster can give you the upper hand when trading fire. She also carries Engine Boost to help you tactically reposition faster or retreat if needed, and a single flight of Dutch HE Airstrikes, similar to that of X Utrecht, with a fairly short cooldown but a limited number of planes. However, her base damage output is limited and the range on all her weaponry is short.
- Grab Random Bundles with Doubloons and you'll score Seafarer Tokens along the way, alongside Free XP, Elite Commander XP, and the Polygonal Gray permanent camouflages
- Seafarer Tokens can be used to purchase:
- VIII Datong (plus a Port slot and Commander J.G. Mephisteufel with 10 skill points)
- VIII Ph. van Almonde (plus a Port slot and Commander Doctor Linebelly with 10 skill points)
- The Infernal permanent camouflage for Tier VIII ships, the Pink Explosion enemy destruction effect, and more!
- Datong and Ph. van Almonde are also available for direct purchase in Admiral Packs
Blue Archive
The Blue Archive collaboration sails back into Port, ready to enrich your fleet once more. Familiar faces and their unmistakable ships are available again for captains eager to add them to their collection:
- VIII BA Tirpitz
- IX BA Takahashi
- X BA Montana
- VIII BA Binah
- IX BA Utnapishtim's Ship
- IX BA Hovercraft
- X BA Arona's Whale
Ship Rotation
In Update 15.9, a scheduled rotation of Premium Ships will occur:
IX Velos, VIII Constellation, VIII Tone, VIII Indomitable, VI Warspite, VI Arizona, VII Hood, VI Béarn, VI Mutsu, VII Florida, VI Monaghan, VII Weimar, V Exeter, VII FR25, V Krasny Krym, VII Toulon, VII Leningrad, VI Duca d'Aosta, VIII Hampshire, VI Novorossiysk and X Sibir are leaving the armory in Update 15.9
Replacing them are: VII Atlanta, VIII Gascogne, VIII Belfast '43, VI Ark Royal, VIII Irian, VIII Saipan, VII Sims, VIII Loyang, VIII P. Bagration, VI W. Virginia '41, VI K. Schönberg, V Genova, V Viribus Unitis, VII Yukon, V Murmansk, VII Boise, VIII Ochakov, VII Nueve de Julio, IX Navarin, VIII Picardie, IX Minegumo, VII Jupiter '42, X Incheon, IX F. Gonzaga, X Seal, X Monmouth, as well as VIII M. Colonna and IX Aberdeen
Recruiting Station: Santa's Crew—the Campaign Begins
The Recruiting Station's winter campaign opens in Update 15.9 with refreshed newcomer and winback missions, a new set of Division missions, and updated Recruiting Supplies. This update starts a three-part run that finishes with the main event in Update 15.11, and everything you do from here counts toward it.
Complete the full Division mission chain this update and you'll bank your first Recruiting Tokens as a head start—they stay on your account and carry straight into December. From this update onward, every new recruit you bring in who becomes an accomplished Shipmate also earns you Recruiting Tokens automatically, with no limit on how many friends you bring aboard.
The full reward ladder for the finale will be available with the start of this update, so you can see exactly what you're working toward from day one. Stay tuned for a dedicated article with the full details.
Balance Changes and Gameplay Improvements
Ship Balance Changes
Balance changes have been applied to certain ships based on player feedback and long-term analysis of their ingame performance.
- IX Gustav den Store had her AP shell parameters changed:
- Maximum damage increased: 12,100 to 12,850
- Ballistics and armor penetration capability are slightly improved
Detailed information about these balance changes is available in a seperate Development Blog publication
Brawls
First Brawl Starts: Oct 12, 09:00 AM UTC+8
First Brawl Ends: Oct 19, 02:00 AM UTC+8
Update 15.9 brings three themed Brawls, all playing out on specially designed maps based on our Transylvania Halloween event. Some of the Brawls will have special recalibrations. Each brawl lasts 1 week, with the first week starting on October 12 and ending on October 19
| Brawl | Format | Features |
|---|---|---|
| Brawl 1 | 5v5; Tier VIII, no aircraft carriers or submarines allowed |
|
| Brawl 2 | 3v3; Tier IX, no aircraft carriers or submarines allowed |
|
| Brawl 3 | 4v4; Tier X destroyers only |
|
The maximum size of a Division is equal to the maximum size of a team in the respective Brawl. More information is available in the dedicated article on Brawls
Content Additions and Changes
Take a look at some of the additional content that we are preparing for Update 15.9:
- The Dark Horse permanent camouflage for X San Martin was added
- Added a new King of the Sea XIX flag pack:
- King of the Sea XIX Participant
- King of the Sea XIX
- King of the Sea XIX Viewer
- Achievement: King of the Sea XIX Finalist
- Patch: Chinese Character “Dao”
- Two new flags:
- Pacific Front Fleet
- Veteran of the Pacific
- With Update 15.9, Italian Superbattleship ★ Affondatore leaves Early Access, becoming available for everyone via the Tech Tree.
- Contents of the Black Friday 2025, Black Friday 2025 Premium, Jack-o'-Lantern and Jack-o'-Lantern Premium containers have been changed, and you can check their contents on our [Development Blog]
- As part of preparations for the New Year and Update 15.11, the Golden Gift containers will be automatically opened for all players who have them on their accounts with the start of Update 15.10.
- With the start of Update 15.10, the Europe, Submarines, and Contributor containers will receive content changes. You can read more about this in our [Development Blog]
- Ships: European cruiser Dragon (Tier IV), European cruiser Kralj Petar I (Tier V), American cruiser Honolulu (Tier VII), Japanese aircraft carrier Akagi (Tier VIII), Japanese cruiser Ōta (Tier IX), and Soviet battleship Rodina (Tier X) were added to the game for testing by developers, volunteers, and Community Contributors.
Other changes
- The Ship Status menu (key H) now clearly shows the icon with current Concentrated AA Fire charge progress as a percentage.
- The AA Defense Priority countdown timer will tick down smoothly instead of seemingly skipping fractions of a second.
- New in-battle notification: “Hold [O] to activate” prompt now appears when Concentrated AA Fire is ready and enemy planes are in range.
- Asymmetric battles will receive the following adjustment: Tier VIII battles will have slightly stronger enemy bot ships, while Tier IX battles will have slightly weaker enemy bot ships.
- Fixed an issue where secondary guns took too long to start firing after switching between control modes. The delay is now shorter when switching from manual to automatic mode, and there's no delay at all when switching to manual mode.
- Fixed a UI bug with the secondary gun lock-on icon that caused the icon to stay visible on an enemy ship even after your ship had sunk.
- Fixed a bug with unique Commanders Luigi Sansonetti, Joaquim Marques Lisboa and Günther Lütjens that caused hitting buildings to count as progress toward talent activation.
- Fixed a bug that caused submarines to not receive some of the intended buffs when near a flagship in low-tier Operations.
- Fixed a bug that caused the Repair Assistance consumable deployed from squadrons to miss a tick—and as a result, not deliver full-value repairs—when used to repair your own ship.
- Fixed a bug that caused the UI to show the wrong reload times for all Modified Shells alternative firing modes.
- Fixed an issue that caused the main battery dispersion on IX Friedrich Carl to be marginally worse than standard for the type at very close ranges.
- Fixed a UI bug on ★ Kurama that did not properly show AP shell damage on the Burst Fire mode description.
- Fixed Commander skill recommendations for X Taejong
For a complete list of changes, please refer to Player Support.
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