Her health pool is generous for a Tier VII battleship, and she can soak up a lot of punishment, though her torpedo protection is not that great. She also has a very surprising quick-firing secondary battery with a respectable firing range with a commander equipped with the Level 4 commander skill Manual Fire Control for Secondary Armament (which requires active targeting to use) that greatly reduces their dispersion, they can be lethal to destroyers that linger around her for too long. However, these guns make her a serious threat to the heavily-armored American dreadnoughts that were tough nuts to crack with only 14-inch guns, and she can also easily maul higher tier battleships that are not too careful around her. The number of guns she carries is a drastic reduction from the broadside of Fuso, and their slower reload and narrower spread means that aiming properly is critical to success. Her guns change from the 14-inch guns of Kongo and Fuso into 16.1-inch (410mm) guns she carries in four dual mount turrets, and her handling is quite impressive for a dreadnought, enabling her to be a functional firing platform and ship of the line. Nagato is the end stage for all the dreadnoughts of the Japanese battleship line.

World of warships iowa mod