WoWS Legends Progression

Daily and weekly playbook on top, the full arc below. Built for the lobby on Xbox.

Hours played isn't the constraint. Bad sequence is. The Playbook below is the routine that compounds; the Arc is the long path from a fresh account to a Legendary tier ship.

Two rules that drive everything

Part 1 · The Playbook

Daily and weekly routine

What to do every time you sit down. The first 80% of the acceleration is here.

Per session

Every time you log in
  1. Claim your daily login reward if it hasn't been collected. It lives in the Store under Offers.
  2. Queue your highest-priority ship first. That's a Bureau patron ship if you have an active project, or your tech tree research target. First-win-of-the-day still applies per ship; capture it while you're working the priority.
  3. After each battle, switch to another priority ship if its first-win bonus is still live. The bonus is per ship, so rotating across your project's required ships double-dips.
  4. Check the active campaign's weekly missions. If a Heroic Effort mission is one battle from done, close it before logging off.
  5. If Weekly Havoc is running, slot one or two battles into it during the week. Don't displace the priority ships.

Daily target

Short session
  • Daily login reward claimed (Store → Offers).
  • At least one battle in each of your active priority ships (Bureau patrons or current tech tree target), so per-ship first-win bonuses are captured.
  • Commander XP awareness. If your main commander is one battle from leveling (especially Rank 7 or Rank 11 for the inspiration unlocks), run that ship at the end of the session so you trigger the level-up before logging off.

Weekly target

Reset is Monday
  • All Heroic Effort missions finished. The bonus is +25 Renown on top of the 200 base, so a clean week is 225 Renown; five clean weeks across a campaign banks 1,125 Renown plus the base milestones.
  • Weekly Havoc mission cleared (when running).
  • Any time-limited event missions (Brawl rotations, Arena rounds, holiday events) cleared.
  • One commitment check: confirm your XP and resources are flowing toward the country and ships your active Bureau project needs, not scattered across nations.

Campaign cycle

35 days, 100 milestones
  1. Before Week 1, read the campaign breakdown on the Legends website or in-game news tab. Note the final ship and the milestone-by-milestone currency yield.
  2. Decide Admiralty Backing yes or no (~2,500 doubloons). Yes if the final ship is one you want and the locked rewards include premium time or a meaningful currency stack. No otherwise.
  3. Run weekly missions for 5 weeks. The 100th milestone delivers the campaign ship.
  4. After milestone 100, the Daily Endless Trials and Weekly Endless Trials open until the next campaign starts. Each milestone past 100 awards 5 Steel; this is the main free Steel window between campaigns.

What this game actually costs

A traditional Xbox game charges $70 once. WoWS Legends prices each friction point separately, and an engaged player can clear $200 to $400 a year without setting out to. These are the meters that bill you:

The Currency Map below is built for someone choosing where to deploy real money intentionally, not where to drip it. The page never tells you to buy anything; it tells you what each currency is actually for so you can decide where your dollar earns the most ship.

Part 2 · The Currency Map

What to spend what on

Five currencies in this game. The hard part is knowing which one to deploy and which to hoard.

Doubloons

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Spend on Premium time during active campaigns. Mid- and high-tier premium ships in the Armory that match the country of your active Bureau project. Admiralty Backing when the final campaign ship is one you want.

Credits

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Spend on Tech tree ship purchases, module upgrades, ship servicing. Recruiting commanders for your main lines.

Global XP

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Spend on Skipping the one painful ship in a line you otherwise enjoy. Unlocking a new line at Tier IV directly to bypass Tier I to III.
How it accrues Every battle generates a small Global XP slice (the "free" portion). Premium account adds a +50% multiplier on that slice. Ship XP earned on premium ships, on fully-researched tech tree ships, and on any ship with no successor sits as Elite XP and requires doubloons to convert (~25 Elite XP per 1 doubloon, ~35:1 during sales).
Ship XP boosters Only earn out when they shorten a tech tree grind toward a new ship. Burn boosters on the line you're currently researching. Skip them on premium ships, on fully-researched tech tree ships, and on Bureau patron ships that only need one AI battle a day. In all those cases the amplified Ship XP becomes Elite XP and sits stuck unless you convert with doubloons. Also: activate boosters in Standard or Arcade, not in Versus AI. Versus AI pays less base XP per battle, so the multiplier earns out smaller there. Standard vs Arcade isn't documented officially; community wisdom is that Arcade battles are shorter so more fit in a booster window, but treat that as untested.

Commander XP

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Spend on Leveling one main commander to Rank 12 / Legendary 2 fast. That's where inspirations unlock and the skill set starts to matter.

Steel

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Spend on Steel-exclusive premium ships in the Armory. These rotate slowly and are usually top-tier strong. Save Steel for ships that align with the country of your active Bureau project. Main source: 5 Steel per Endless Trials milestone in the window between campaigns. Competitive modes (Ranked, Arena) also award Steel.
Part 3 · The Progression Arc

Account level 1 to Legendary tier

Nine levels in three stages. Run them in order. The Playbook above is what you do each session; this is what you build over months.

Stage 1 · Foundation

Before you commit serious time
1

Survey the Bureau before you commit a country

The biggest, most common, most expensive new-player mistake is grinding a country (usually USN, because it's the default-recommended starter) before looking at which Legendary tier ship you actually want. The Bureau ship dictates the country; the country dictates the lines, the commanders, and the premiums you should be funding. Get this wrong and you'll burn doubloons, Steel, and months of grind on ships you'd never have picked if you'd looked first.

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Research before play
The drill Look at every Legendary tier ship available through the Bureau, in every nation. Compare each one to the Tier VIII tech tree ship in the same line, and to the other Bureau ships in the same class across nations. The question to answer: of all the Legendary ships available, which one do you actually want to play? The Bureau Picker on this site has all 24 current projects with verified specs side-by-side.
Then commit Pick one Bureau ship. The country it belongs to becomes your primary country. Every line grind, every commander you level, every premium you buy, and every Steel ship offer you take should support that country until the Bureau project is done.
Common trap Following beginner guides that say "start with USN cruisers because they're easy." If the Legendary ships you'd actually enjoy are German or Japanese, USN is a long detour. Class beginner-friendliness only matters if it's in the right country.
2

Pick a starter class within your committed country

Within the country you committed to in Level 1, pick a class that's reasonable to learn on. Cruisers and battleships are more forgiving than destroyers; destroyers are more forgiving than aircraft carriers. Start gentle, but stay in the country.

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Cruiser or BB recommended
The drill Pick one line in your committed country, in cruisers or battleships. Grind it ship by ship. Mount every module before moving up. Don't sell low-tier ships; you'll need them for early Bureau patron assignments and daily bonus trials later.
Skip for now Destroyers as a first line (torpedo timing has a learning curve), aircraft carriers (separate skill set, limited per-match), and any line outside your committed country.
Common trap Skipping straight to Tier IV or V with Global XP. The mechanics you'd learn at Tier II and III (positioning, angling, gun arcs) are what carry your survival rate later. Pay the XP price now.
3

Hit account level 10, unlock the Bureau, start your project

The Bureau is the only free path to Legendary tier ships. It unlocks at account level 10. The introduction project is mandatory; everything else opens after that.

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Account-level milestone
The drill Account XP comes from every battle regardless of ship. Run the Bureau introduction project the moment it unlocks; it rewards Campbeltown (Tier II UK premium destroyer) and opens every other Bureau project. Then start the project you decided on in Level 1.
Done when The Bureau project for the Legendary ship you want is active, and your daily play is feeding it.

Stage 2 · Build the flywheel

Same country, every ship
4

Lock the daily and weekly routine

The Playbook in Part 1 is the engine. Until you're running it on autopilot, every other piece of progression is slower than it needs to be.

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Habit-building
The drill Every session: daily login, queue priority ships, capture first-win bonuses while you're at it. Every week: all Heroic Effort missions cleared, Weekly Havoc cleared when running, weekly chest opened. If you skip a week, the campaign 100-milestone target gets harder; if you skip two, you're done.
Done when You can complete a full daily routine without checking a guide.
Common trap Skipping a short session because "only 15 minutes isn't worth it." The per-ship first-win bonuses and the campaign milestones you'd capture in those 15 minutes are exactly the part you can't get back later. A short session is better than no session.
5

Finish your first 35-day campaign end-to-end

A full campaign delivers a premium ship and a stack of currencies. Skipping or partial-completing campaigns is leaving the biggest free reward in the game on the table.

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35 days Plan before Week 1
The drill Hit every weekly mission set for 5 consecutive weeks. The 100th milestone is the campaign ship. Aim for the Heroic Effort bonus each week so you're banking Renown for the locked rewards.
Admiralty Backing call 2,500 doubloons unlocks the premium track. Pull the trigger if the final ship is one you want and the locked rewards include premium time, a strong commander, or a meaningful currency stack. Skip if the final ship doesn't excite you.
Common trap Falling behind in Week 2 or 3 and trying to "burn doubloons" to catch up at the end. The doubloon cost to buy milestones is brutal and the math never works. Either commit to weekly cadence or take the L on that campaign.
6

Add a second line in the same country

Bureau projects need ships in specific classes from specific nations for daily bonus trials and patron assignments. A single-line player can't feed those requirements; a multi-line player in the wrong country wastes resources. The fix is to add a second line in the same country as your Bureau project, in a different class than your starter.

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Diversify class, not country
The drill In the same country you committed to in Level 1, add a second line in a different class. If you started with a cruiser line, add a battleship or destroyer line in the same nation. If you started with battleships, add a cruiser line. The goal is class coverage within one country, not country diversity.
Why same country Bureau daily bonus trials reward you for playing specific ships of specific classes from the project's country. Two lines in your committed country gives you a deeper pool of qualifying ships; two lines in different countries means half your fleet is dead weight for the project.
Common trap Starting a "fun line" in a second country because someone in chat said it was strong. Save that for after the Bureau project finishes. Until then, resources are too scarce to spread.

Stage 3 · Endgame execution

Long-game work
7

Push your main line to Tier VIII

Tier VIII is the top of the tech tree. Past that, ships come from the Bureau or premium offers. Owning a Tier VIII in your committed country's main class is the marker of "no longer a new player," and the Tier VIII ship is a useful Bureau patron once you have it.

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Main line in committed country
The drill Ship by ship, fully modded, no Global XP skipping past Tier IV. Tier VII and VIII matches feel different from lower tiers; pace yourself and learn each step.
Currency check High-tier ships and modules cost meaningfully more credits than lower tiers. If your credit reserve is thin, rotate through your premium ships more often, or ease back on tech-tree purchases below Tier V.
Common trap Rushing Tier VIII in two lines simultaneously. You'll dilute your XP and end up with two under-modded ships you can't afford to run. Finish one main line first, then the second.
8

Level your main commander to Rank 12 / Legendary 2

Below Rank 12 the inspiration slots are gated and the commander barely matters. At Rank 12 you can stack a base trait, two inspirations, and four skills, which is where ship builds actually start to differentiate.

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One commander from your committed country
The drill Pick a commander from the country you committed to in Level 1, with a base trait that improves a consumable or gun behavior you actually use. Run every session with that commander assigned to a ship of their nation; commander XP banks across hulls.
Inspirations First slot unlocks at Rank 7, second at Rank 11. These are extra base traits and are often more impactful than the skills. Plan both inspiration choices before you spend the XP.
Common trap Leveling commanders from multiple countries. Commander XP is a scarce resource and a Rank 12 commander in your committed country out-earns four mid-rank commanders across nations. Concentrate first, diversify only after the Bureau project is done.
9

Execute the Bureau project: daily trials > patrons > fleet

Inside a Bureau project, the three feed mechanisms (daily bonus trials, patron assignments, and fleet contributions) don't advance you equally. Daily bonus trials advance the fastest, patrons next, fleet last. Optimizing for the fastest feed compounds the project's completion timeline more than any other single choice. This is also where the most common rookie mistake hides: scattering resources across countries instead of doubling down on the project's country.

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Premium time accelerates
Priority order 1. Daily bonus trials first. Look ahead through the project segments and identify every ship the upcoming daily trials will require. Each segment names a specific ship or two, not "any ship of your nation," so grind or acquire the named ones before you need them. Some projects lean on a single off-nation premium for the trial feed (Des Moines wants the French Flandre in every one of its 12 segments); owning that one ship keeps the fast feed from stalling. The Bureau Fast-Track page lists the recurring trial ships per project.
2. Patrons second. Patrons are specific commanders the project names per segment. Many are from the Bureau ship's nation, but the lists routinely include other nations, so check the upcoming segments and level the recurring names ahead of time.
3. Fleet third. Fleet, like trials, draws from a specific list of named ships the project sets each segment, and those lists regularly include other nations. Staying in your committed country gives you the deepest qualifying pool, but expect a few off-nation ships, sometimes a premium, on the list. The two lines you grew in Stages 1 and 2 cover most of it.
Stay in one country Your standing investment, the lines you grind and the commanders you main, should stay in your committed country; that's where the deepest qualifying pool lives. The exception is the specific named ships and patrons a project calls for, which often span other nations. Acquiring one off-nation ship the segments demand is worth it; spreading your general grind across countries is not.
Don't switch projects Bureau progress doesn't refund if you change your mind. Switching mid-project means starting over and burning the resources you'd already committed. Pick once in Level 1, stick with it through completion.
Premium accelerates Premium account lets you run two Bureau projects in parallel. Useful only if you've already finished one project and know the system; new Bureau players should run one at a time even with premium active.
Parallel-slot strategy If you do run two projects, the right pacing depends on whether they share a country.

Same country (e.g., Venezia + Cristoforo Colombo, both Italian): run them in lockstep. Your Italian commanders feed both projects' patron requirements; your Italian fleet satisfies both projects' fleet requirements; daily bonus trials in Italian ships advance whichever project's trial is calling for them. Every battle in your committed country counts toward both projects in some form.

Cross country (e.g., Venezia (Italian) + Schlieffen (German)): stagger them. Start the second project when the first is roughly half done. Lockstep across countries forces each project to advance at half pace (a battle in an Italian ship does nothing for a German project). Pure serial (waiting until the first finishes before starting the second) leaves your premium second slot idle for months. Staggered threads the needle: both slots are productive during overlap but at different segments, so you're rarely competing for the same trial ships or patron commanders. As a bonus, the first finished Legendary ship enters your port partway through the second project's grind and starts contributing as a fleet member.
Part 4 · Premium Account

When premium time pays for itself

Premium adds +50% XP and +50% credits per battle. That multiplier only earns out if you're playing enough to compound it.

Buy premium when

  • You're playing 4+ hours a week minimum (under that, the multiplier doesn't compound).
  • A campaign is active and you're targeting the final ship.
  • You're mid-Bureau project (premium runs two projects in parallel).
  • A double-XP weekend, Clan Battles week, or Arena event is live.
  • Stack a 30-day window with Admiralty Backing during a campaign you want to finish.
Doubloon cost reference. 30 days: 2,625 doubloons. 180 days: ~11,000 doubloons (best per-day rate). 360 days: ~20,000 doubloons. Bundle deals on Xbox store rotate; the 30-day-plus-doubloons-plus-boosters bundle is often a better dollar-per-doubloon rate than buying doubloons standalone.

What this page doesn't do

Future pages

This page is sequence and routine. It doesn't cover per-ship builds, commander skill trees, or class-specific play. Those are coming under Naval as separate references. If you're following this page and want to dig into a specific ship, ask in Discord; we'll build the next page based on what the crew actually plays.

Line Picker →

Pick a tech-tree line by playstyle, with the commander that fits.

Bureau Picker →

Choose which Legendary to chase, by class and playstyle.

Bureau Fast-Track →

How to grind a project: must-have ships and which patrons to level.

Bureau Matcher →

Choose a bureau by the ships and captains you own; see which project is closest.