The Lion 1 has many more options for useful setups.

It can use front turrets only to go 44 knots OR AW at 37 knots. It's still reasonably fast with all 3 turrets, which give it excellent firepower. All around, it's a good ship whose only weakness is low range, and is in line with other UK ships.

The Vanguard is a KM ship in disguise. While the 15" twins have more range than the 16" trips, they're rather light on the damage (a 2-turret L1 can often dish out more), and the Vanguard can't effectively SW or AW like the L1.

Now, the UK does get a nice, well-buffed, version of the Vanguard for its EBB4, which fixes the weak firepower. My advice would be to get the L1, which will serve you well for a long time with its flexibility and utility, and get the EBB Vanguard when you get the chance. That way, you get the best of both worlds.

I used both and in the end I much prefer the Vangaurd. When I went throught this lvl of the QV grind i was seemingly getting BO resets a couple at a time from events so I switched back and forth a couple times as my crew progressed. 

The Vanny @ lvl is not much fun as the spread is atrocious. I couldn't seem to use it effectively so I switched my BO to the L1 line and tried it. What a world of difference the spread was. I was able to get 6 shells of a full volley on target with regularity and the damage was quite nice. The drawback was that  your range is so much shorter that you take a beating getting ini position to utilize this firepower.

Back to the Vanny I went gunners lvl'd up some from being hauled around on a moltke for a while. The spread had improved a small bit but my support was still crap so I was slow and still not enjoying myself. After talking to a friend (who had aparently not played since the infamous patch that neutered the "Vangod". He suggested and armor-whore set-up.

Back to the L1 I go (thankyou free BO resets) and on goes the armor to the tune of about 8 million credits If I remember correctly. First few games I was impressed. The rediculous ammount of armor let me wander into range to deliver salvos with not much care for my lack of range. At this point I am feeling like i have finally found a playabler nitch to get on with my QV grind.

But wait....apparently there had been nobody on the opposing side who I ran into who was either smart emough to just switch to AP or who had guns 16" or larger shooting max angle. Either situation defeats this set-up with no problem. To make matters worse, with all that armor, once you are in trouble it's all over but the crying, as you are too slow to even imagine running away.

After several months of playing other nations and lines I come back and decide to give the vanny one more try. from leveling another BO and using various EBB's and premium ships my gunners are about lvl 103 now and the vanny has an actually useable spread. the range is like a revalation compared to the L1. The lack of damage is offset by the low gun angles and being able to keep my enemy at a distance and run the hell away if I want to.

TL/DR -
If you have a good crew ( few lvls above the ship), especially the gunners (above lvl 100, preferably at least 107) use the Vanny.

Thanks very much guys.This helped me alot.

Hey Sarsippius, 

What were your thoughts on the EBB Vanguard? 

Vanguard. Anyone that says otherwise hasn't played both properly.

Oh and if you can get EBB Vanguard OMG go for it.

L1 has fantastic hitting power, typical of UK, but with pretty crappy range in-battle, also very typical of UK.

You can front gun it but again, if you haven't played UK properly, you really are noobing out for something that UK isn't designed for. It does speed well in the ships it is supposed to (POW or maybe Nelson if you decide to go for speed)

UK hits well. Play for that advantage. You don't play to be the fastest, but speed is an added extra at time. You play to devastate.

Vanguard gives you the in-battle range equivalent to a H39, which allows you to take on most things, with extremely good accuracy with high gunners, which along with 30 degree guns is unstoppable (ask anyone that owns QV)

Lion 1 gives you around half an inch (zoomed out) less range, which can be important but hits like you wouldn't believe.

Once you get to BB4, you don't play for speed, and shouldn't play to take a hit either.

Vanny will manage around 40 knots I believe, and L1 maybe 44 knots. This is unarmoured. Couldn't even bring myself to tell you what the numbers are for armoured.

You dodge in range and smash like Hulk, or you stay at arms length and hit like Naseem.

Faster reload, lower angle (more crits = more damage) and more shells

BTW I took Revenge up to L1 (gunners roughly 8-10 levels above BO as should be) then switched to Renown which quickly turned to Repulse and then all the way through Vanguard. This was 2 BOs of course, which is customary of me.

Of course it's up to you, but if you have sense you would choose Vanguard and have more fun in L1 once your engis are higher level so you can go fast for a while, and your gunners are even higher to allow you to smash people.

And play gradual on L1 if you can. You'll be pleasantly surprised :)

Enjoy :)

Vangaurd is more of a ship desighed for Lv120 crew...

If your purpose of using BB4 is to level up your at-level crew, then defiintely choose L1.

Reasons:
1) Speed limit is easier to be reached for L1 than Vanguard, given at-level crew.

2) AW L1 can go 37 knts, which is very useful.


Without a doubt, at Lv120, given same player skills, Vanguard has a higher winning chance than L1 mainly because of its advantage in gun range and gun degree. However, with at-level crew, Vanguard is just food food food because of its horrible spread, low speed, weak turning force and lack of armor.