Performance:
U-2501 is the tech tree Tier X U-boat for the German submarine branch. She is well equipped in terms of offense, having access to homing and conventional torpedoes, and also has access to Reserve Battery Unit .
Hull:
U-2501’s survivability is low, with an HP pool of 18,900. Her armor is nonexistent, with her entire exterior hull covered in 19mm. Players should be careful not to be spotted on the surface for extended periods of time, as she will suffer heavy damage.
U-2501’s maneuverability and concealment are very good at helping her survive in battle. Her turning circle and ruddershift are good, at 420 meters and 3.26 seconds respectively, which aids in dodging depth charges. Her concealment, at 5.6km, is very good for her tier (outspotting almost every destroyer in her matchmaking spread).
She has a mediocre 27 knot top speed on the surface. However, her underwater speed is fast for her tier, at 27 knots. While her speed is good, careful positioning is vital in order to not be stuck in bad situations where her speed will not bail her out. Her speed is not enough to outrun destroyers and her hull can be vulnerable to depth charges if the player is not careful.
U-2501’s Dive Capacity recharge and depletion rate are standard for her tier, at 1 unit/sec each. Her Dive Capacity reserve is high, at 308 units, allowing her to stay underwater for more than 5 minutes. Her time underwater can be extended with the Reserve Battery Unit consumable which stops the depletion of Dive Capacity for 30 seconds per consumable. This gives U-2501 an extra 90 units of dive capacity time.
Armament:
U-2501’s sonar is a helpful tool for dealing effective damage. While the velocity is slow at 500 m/s, the 14km of range, and fast reload time of 6s is enough to double ping reliably. The double ping lasts 65 seconds which allows ample time for homing torpedoes to arrive.
Homing TorpedoesU-2501’s homing torpedoes allow for long range torpedo attacks. The homing torpedoes have best in tier range at 14km. They deal a respectable 8.6k damage, travel fast at 86 knots, and have a 35% chance of flooding. While her homing torpedoes are good at long range, their fast speed and short arming distance allow them to be used at close ranges against small and agile targets, especially when shotgunning. Shotgunning is the act of closing distance to a target (around 2-3km) and launching torpedoes at it, often heavily damaging or destroying low-health ships. Due to having 6 bow torpedo tubes, shotgun attacks with homing torpedoes can deal crippling damage to cruisers and outright destroy enemy destroyers with a maximum alpha strike of 51,600. Both homing and conventional torpedoes have the same reload time, 51 seconds.
Conventional Torpedoes
U-2501’s conventional torpedoes deal 14,300 per torpedo at the cost of a lower range (8km) and slower speed (65 knots). With 6 bow tubes, a full salvo can cause crippling damage or outright kill large/slow targets with a maximum alpha strike of 85,500. Her torpedoes have a good reload of 51 seconds and all reload at once. Due to having a longer arming distance and slower speed, conventional torpedoes should be used against slow or stationary targets.
Consumables:
U-2501 has a standard Damage Control Party , with three stock charges and a short 5 second duration time. Players should be careful not to quickly exhaust their limited charges or will rapidly lose HP to flood and fire damage.
Her Hydrophone is useful for tracking the location of surface ships while underwater. It lasts 30 seconds, has an 8km range, and has an 80 second reload time
U-2501’s Submarine Surveillance is improved, with a much longer range of 9km. This aids her in detecting enemy submarines from further distances.
U-2501, as a German submarine, gets access to the Reserve Battery Unit.
Gameplay:
U-2501 is a flexible submarine, as it can deal effective damage in any situation to any target. Players should use her speed and concealment to gain advantageous positions to either utilize her homing torpedoes from range or close the distance and “shotgun” targets.When pinging targets from range, it is important to utilize her ruddershift in order to dodge depth charges sent at the approximate locations of pings. Double pings will yield more hits, but exposes the submarine's approximate position from repeated pings. This playstyle can also yield less damage due to players using damage control on pings and dodging homing torpedoes by turning away. Once enemy ships are aware of a submarine's relative location, the submarine players' effectiveness shrinks, as the enemy ships will take evasive maneuvers to avoid taking massive torpedo damage. Due to how deadly ASW damage is at tier 10, it is advised to minimize being spotted or blind dropped by ASW planes.
When closing distances to shotgun targets, players should primarily approach battleships and cruisers. Once at around 6km, players should dive to periscope depth and further close distance. At around 2-3km, conventional torpedoes will arm and deal high damage to targets. Thus, players should quickly launch all torpedoes before proximity detection (2km) and dive quickly to avoid detection. Against maneuverable targets such as light cruisers and destroyers, homing torpedoes can be used as they have fast speed and lower arming distance. Players can also ping destroyers at close range as the homing shut off distance is short for destroyers (240m). U-2501 having all torpedoes on her bow makes shotgun attacks deadly, with most ships unable to survive the burst damage.
Against enemy submarines, her long range Submarine Surveillance consumable helps in spotting targets and her fast homing torpedoes can devastate unaware submarines.
U-2501 is a universal submarine, and her playstyle can be adapted to any game situation. While her characteristics do not particularly stand out, she does not have many weaknesses that prevent her from being effective in any situation. Her biggest strengths are her low concealment and access to the Reserve Battery Unit consumable, which can aid in staying underwater to evade detection during shotgun attacks or when escaping detection range. The combination of her good maneuverability characteristics and low detection aids in the shotgunning playstyle. Players can find success in both long range homing torpedo attacks and shotgunning targets at close ranges.
