Azur Lane Tier List (November 2026): Best Ships by Hull Type
Azur Lane tier list by hull type for November 2026: Friedrich der Große, New Jersey and Musashi lead the main fleet, with Shinano and Hakuryuu as carriers.
The short version of our Azur Lane tier list: build around Friedrich der Große, New Jersey and Musashi in the main fleet, Shinano or Hakuryuu as your carrier, Perseus or Vestal for healing, and a vanguard of Ägir, Azuma or Kronshtadt up front with Plymouth or San Diego behind. Shimakaze and An Shan are the destroyers worth raising first. These rankings are our opinion for endgame PvE on the EN server as of November 2026, after the October 22 Tempesta and the Corridor of Fog update.
Azur Lane has hundreds of ships, and most of them end up as retirement fodder by the late campaign chapters. The useful question isn’t “who is strongest” but “who carries hard stages per oil spent, and how hard is she to get.” That second half is where most tier lists go quiet, so we’ll cover it.
Key takeaways
How we ranked these ships
Tiers here are opinion, the same way a review score is (here’s how we score games if you want the philosophy). We weighed three things, in this order.
1. Endgame PvE value. Damage or support in event EX stages, Operation Siren and hard bosses. Exercises (PvP) only break ties.
2. Cost to field. Gacha-only URs drop half a tier against ships you can earn through research, events or shops.
3. Fleet fit. Ships that work in any comp beat ones that need a specific partner.
Skill effects referenced below come from in-game descriptions and the community Azur Lane Wiki. We don’t publish damage numbers, because they swing hard with gear, limit breaks and skill levels.
Azur Lane tier list: the full table
S ships carry endgame content with almost any partners. A ships are excellent but either narrower or harder to build. B ships are dependable fillers you’ll swap out once better pulls land.
| Tier | Ships | Why |
|---|---|---|
| S | Friedrich der Große, New Jersey, Musashi, Shinano, Ägir, Azuma, Shimakaze, Plymouth | Fleet-defining damage or protection in hard PvE |
| A | Ulrich von Hutten, Bismarck Zwei, Hakuryuu, Perseus, Kronshtadt, Drake, An Shan, San Diego, Noshiro | Top performers with a narrower role or a steeper build |
| B | Vestal, Akashi, Helena, Seattle, U-37, Enterprise, Essex | Reliable support or older carries that still clear most content |
Main fleet: battleships and carriers
The main fleet sits at the back and does the heavy hitting, so this is where your oil budget should go first.
Friedrich der Große (S)
A research battleship, which means you earn her through blueprints instead of praying at the build screen. That alone makes her the best first high-end investment for most accounts, and her salvos have kept her near the top of community rankings for years.
New Jersey (S)
One of the strongest pure damage battleships in the game. The catch is access: she came through limited building, so returning players may have missed her.
Musashi (S)
Huge salvos and strong boss damage. Like New Jersey, she’s banner-limited, so treat her as a bonus rather than a plan.
Shinano (S)
Our top carrier pick. Her air strikes and support skills stay useful from the first wave to the boss, which matters most in long event EX fights.
Ulrich von Hutten and Bismarck Zwei (A)
Both are elite damage dealers that lean on specific setups. Great if you pulled them, not worth chasing over the S picks.
Hakuryuu (A)
A research carrier with strong air damage. She’s slower to build than a gacha CV, but she’s guaranteed, and that counts for a lot.
Perseus (A) and Vestal (B)
Healers. Perseus heals and still launches planes; Vestal is a repair ship that’s easy to obtain. Run one or the other in nearly every hard map.
Enterprise and Essex (B)
Former top carriers that newer ships passed. They’re still fine for clearing story chapters and common to own, so don’t scrap a built copy.
Vanguard: cruisers and destroyers
The vanguard soaks hits and kills mobs before they reach the main fleet. Survival matters more here than raw damage.
Ägir and Azuma (S)
Both large cruisers, both research ships, both built to tank and deal damage. If you only build two vanguard ships this year, these are the two.
Shimakaze (S)
The best destroyer pick for burst. Her torpedo barrages delete mob waves, and destroyers are cheap to field, so she’s oil-efficient on farm runs too.
Plymouth (S)
The light cruiser we’d raise first. She adds sustained damage and fits most vanguards without special partners.
Kronshtadt and Drake (A)
Kronshtadt is a durable large cruiser; Drake is a research heavy cruiser with strong team value. Both slot behind the S picks.
An Shan (A)
A strong destroyer that plays well in any vanguard. A good second DD after Shimakaze.
San Diego and Noshiro (A)
Light cruisers that handle mob clearing well. San Diego’s anti-air also helps against air-heavy event stages.
Helena, Seattle and Akashi (B)
Helena and Seattle are solid light cruisers that are easier to own than the top picks. Akashi is a repair ship worth keeping for her utility.
U-37 (B)
Submarines are their own system with limited deployments. U-37 is a reliable pick when a stage rewards a sub strike, but she won’t fix a weak surface fleet.
A sample endgame fleet, slot by slot
Here’s how the picks above fit together. This is our worked example for a mid-to-late account that has the research ships but only a couple of limited URs.
Why this shape works: two large cruisers in front means the vanguard rarely collapses before the boss phase, Shimakaze clears mob waves cheaply, and Perseus covers healing without giving up a carrier’s air damage. Swap Friedrich for New Jersey or Musashi if you own them. Swap Perseus for Vestal if you don’t.
The real point of the example: four of six slots here come from research or easy sources. You can build a fleet that clears hard content without a lucky banner.
Which Azur Lane ships should a new player build first?
Start with whatever carries story chapters for free, then pivot to research ships as soon as they open up. A practical order: a healer (Vestal), then Friedrich der Große, then Ägir and Azuma. Limited URs from current banners are a bonus, not a foundation.
Don’t spread experience and gear across 30 ships. Six built ships beat eighteen half-built ones in practice, because hard stages punish weak links.
Building more than one roster? Our Arknights tier list, Limbus Company tier list and Epic Seven tier list cover other popular gachas.
FAQ
Is this tier list for PvP or PvE?
PvE. We ranked for event EX stages, Operation Siren and hard bosses. Exercises (PvP) rewards different traits, like burst timing against other player fleets, so a few ships here would move up or down there. We only used PvP results to break ties between ships that were otherwise even.
Are META ships worth building?
Some are. META ships are boosted versions of existing shipgirls that you raise through a separate progression track. A few rank highly, but they cost time and specific materials. Build them after your core six are done, and only if the META version fills a gap your fleet actually has.
Should I retrofit older ships or build new ones?
Retrofit the ones you already use. Retrofits are permanent upgrades to ships you own, so they’re cheap power when the base ship is in your fleet anyway. Skip retrofits on ships you’ll bench, and don’t start a retrofit project just because a guide lists it highly.
Tier lists date fast in a game that adds ships every event. Build the research ships, keep one healer, and let the banners come to you. Download Azur Lane on Google Play if you’re starting fresh.
Cassia Fenwick
Cassia Fenwick is a staff writer at Console Alley, covering console gaming from the latest hardware questions to the games players return to for years. Her work moves across news, practical guides, reviews, gaming gear, and the wider culture around games. Whether she is breaking down a new console feature or explaining a mechanic in a familiar favorite, she writes with a straightforward goal: help readers understand what matters and what to do next. She pays particular attention to the small details that shape the playing experience. A controller compatibility rule, a battery-life setting, a difficult-to-find resource, or a change introduced by a game update can make the difference between a frustrating evening and a rewarding one. Her published coverage includes Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 questions, Terraria, Stardew Valley, and The Sims 4, with explanations that welcome readers who may be discovering a game for the first time or returning after time away. Cassia's style is clear, patient, and grounded in practical examples. Rather than assuming readers already know the terminology, she begins with the question at hand, adds the context that genuinely helps, and keeps instructions easy to follow. She is interested not only in how a feature works, but also why its design matters—especially when a small interaction, interface decision, or unexpected mechanic changes how a game feels. Outside her gaming coverage, Cassia enjoys colorful postcards, making books, and noticing the shapes, colors, and details built into everyday objects. That curiosity carries naturally into her writing, where overlooked features and thoughtful design can provide a fresh way to look at a game. Her aim is for every article to be useful on its own: approachable enough for a newcomer, specific enough for someone looking for a quick answer, and enjoyable enough to leave readers with something new to explore.
