"Who Beats Who? Ship Line Counters Explained"
No line in Dovion dominates all the others — and that's by design. The ship tree is built like one big game of counters: every power has its antidote, every predator has its own predator. Knowing these matchups means winning fights before the first cannonball flies: you know who to engage, who to avoid, and how to neutralize the enemy's ability. Here's the map of the balance of power.
The "hard" counters: when one ability cancels another
Two matchups are carved into the design itself, because one ability answers another EXACTLY.
Mortier beats Pièges. Estacades block ships and cannonballs alike — that's the whole strength of the Pièges line. But the Mortier's shell fires in an arc: it sails over obstacles and lands right at the cursor. Against a Bombarde or a Titan cuirassé, log walls stop protecting nothing at all: the architect gets bombarded right over their own ramparts. Details from the gunner's side in our Mortier guide.
Pièges beats Spectre. The Vaisseau Fantôme's Dead Sails make it vanish from enemy screens — except for one: the Forteresse flottante carries the Fanal (Beacon), a beam that pierces fog and reveals invisible ships. A ghost that runs into a Fanal turns back into a slightly-upgraded clipper. That's exactly why every Spectre-line player needs to count how many Fortresses are in the match.
Notice the neat little loop along the way: Mortier punishes Pièges, which punishes Spectre — nobody sits on the throne without a rival.
Logical counters: geometry decides
Other power dynamics fall out naturally from the mechanics.
- Estacades trouble Narval. The Charge is a straight-line rush; a log wall that blocks ships and damages on contact is exactly what a rammer doesn't want on their path.
- Orage punishes anything that groups up. The Storm Chain bounces from hull to hull: the escort under an Armada Banner (Flottille), melees, hunting packs — the tighter the pack, the further the lightning travels. Against a galleon, you spread out.
- Torpedoes find the slow ones. The Torpilles line's fan (3 projectiles, 5 at level 45) covers a whole arc: big, poorly maneuvering hulls — Dreadnought, Titan, Léviathan — eat a good chunk of every salvo.
- Mobility punishes the Charge. Charging into empty water stuns the rammer itself: nervous small hulls dodging at the last instant turn the Narval's own weapon into a trap for the Narval.
How to use all this in a match
- Identify before you engage. Every line has its own recognizable silhouette and masts — learn to read an enemy from a distance to know which active is waiting for you.
- Count the counters present. A Spectre player checks for Fortresses; a Pièges player watches for Mortiers; an escorted merchant keeps an eye on galleons. Your threat list depends on YOUR line.
- Don't play a losing matchup. A counter isn't a life sentence, but it is an uphill battle. If the geometry is against you, change the terrain — the sea is big.
- Flip the logic around. Every counter you suffer, someone else suffers against you. Hunt down what your line naturally punishes — the complete guide to the 9 lines will help you map out your prey.
The best lab is still the sea itself: every match is a full-scale matchup experiment. Play Dovion for free and go find out who really beats who.