Heavy Tanks

 

IS-3: The Russian Prince

 

The IS-3 is the mainstay of many teams, and is the most commonly used tank in Team Battles.

 

Strengths

• Powerful 390 alpha damage and 1500 HP.

• Extremely thick frontal turret and side (spaced) armor.

• Relatively high mobility for a heavy tank.

• 0.40m accuracy and high penetration allow it to snipe effectively, as Team Battle maps are not large.

 

Weaknesses

• Frontal armor is weak for a heavy, only able to reliably bounce 175mm penetration guns when faced head-on.

• Frontal pike means it can’t angle well and is vulnerable when engaged from multiple angles (which neutralizes the pike)

• For similar reasons, the IS-3 is also poor at taking corners

• Slow reload makes for a low DPM, which can work against it in brawling situations

• Rather middling depression

• Terrible view range at 350m.

 

Why it works

This tank is the bread and butter of a heavy force. It possesses a brutal combination of alpha, speed and armor, making it one of the most versatile heavy tanks. Versatility is especially important in Team Battles when you won’t know what map you’ll have to play on.  Its strengths help it play two major roles, both of which are major components of a successful  [eam:

• Quick thrusts into the enemy

• Area denial via deterrent factor

 

IS-3 Area Deterrence

Area denial can happen in situations such as the middle hill on Mines: an AMX 90 can easily rush up to control mid, with supporting IS-3s parking at the base of the hill to fire at anything that tries to intercept the light. The IS-3s do this best simply because of their superior 390 alpha.

 

Similarly, in town maps such as Himmelsdorf, the IS-3 can become a nearly immovable force turning an alley into a death trap. It has superb sidescraping ability due to the spaced armor on its side, which it can use to effectively to hold a position.

 

Note that due to the strong spaced armor, the thin angle of the front armor pike, and the far frontally-mounted turret, the IS-3 is actually better reverse angling backwards with its rear against the wall. This works the same way as the more popularized method on the KV-5.

 

Please read this guide for more information on reverse sloping.
http://wotlabs.net/articles/angling-armor/

 

T32: The Turreted Titan

 

The T32 is a more specialized heavy tank that excels on certain maps and stumbles on others. For this reason, it is less favored than the IS-3 as the primary heavy tank, instead serving as a support heavy.

 

Strengths

• Decent  alpha damage (320)

• 1550 HP: This is 50 more than the IS-3, but it’s also the difference between an almost-certain 4-shot and just under a 50% chance of avoiding being 4-shotted by a BL-9

• Extremely thick turret armor with 10 degrees of gun depression, this allows for supreme hull-down defense and offense.

• 400m view range is a large asset over the IS-3.

 

Weaknesses

• DPM only slightly better than the IS-3’s and the lack of alpha is less desirable.

• Hull armor is overall much worse than the IS-3’s, particularly on the sides.

• Mobility, though decent for a heavy, isn’t good enough for rapid repositioning.

• Its low alpha/speed/armor combination makes it weaker than the IS-3 on maps where it cannot hull-down with good firing lanes.

 

Why it works

Put alongside the IS-3, this is more of a defensive heavy tank. It excels on certain maps like Steppes and Prokhorovka where it can go hull-down with clear lines of fire on the enemy and use faster tanks to spot for it; in such situations, it can be difficult to damage, and even harder to dislodge.

 

On maps more suited to aggressive play, a T32-heavy team will be overwhelmed by an IS-3 heavy team. I would never use more than two of these on a team, and any team planning to use these as main line tanks must complement them with either heavy support fire to suppress enemy advances (AMX 50 100) for aggressive play or good vision (AMX 13 90) to further increase your field of vision and allow for more distanced and defensive play.

 

AMX 50 100: The Glass Autoloading Cannon

 

The AMX 50 100 has been a favorite for competitive play since its release. It has one of the largest clip damage totals of any non-TD autoloader and the fastest speed of the tier 8 heavy tanks, which help it excel at quickly taking a flank and unleashing its unparalleled destructive power.

As is generally the case with autoloaders, it plays a support role and competes primarily with the T69 and AMX 13 90.

Compared to these tanks, it has…

 

Strengths

• More HP at a healthy 1400, 100 less than the IS-3 and 50 more than the T69.

• A massive clip of six rounds at 300 damage, for a total of 1800 damage burst.

• More mobility than the T69, and much more than any other heavy tank.

• Much more staying power than either the T69 or the 1390 because of the huge clip and the HP pool

• Reliable, high penetration AP and APCR rounds.

 

Weaknesses

• Nearly complete lack of useable armor only slightly better than the 13 90, and can even be penetrated by tier 1s

• Nearly useless camouflage values combined with a very large profile.

• Almost non-existent gun depression

• The longest magazine reload time of ~47 seconds.

• Poor gun handling characteristics, though better than the 13 90

 

Why it works

This tank is most commonly paired with IS-3s because they share the abilities to quickly push a flank and overwhelm it with firepower.

Despite its many flaws, the massive and reliable burst damage, high agility and fair HP pool more suited for engaging main forces.  Non-autoloader support tanks do not offer damage output quickly enough to help decide an engagement; the AMX 13 90 lacks the hitpoints and damage output needed in a close engagement against heavy tanks; the T69 has half the clip size and unreliable penetration, which often means a death sentence of an autoloader. A couple of AMX 100s behind a couple of tough heavy tanks absorbing enemy fire gives any good team the ability to go into a heavy engagement with the upper hand.

 

Second Choice Tanks

 

These tanks are less-commonly seen than the three main ones, but can still play a role in team battles.

 

IS-6

Second choice to the IS-3, the two tanks have a lot in common, the main difference being that the IS-6 has significantly worse accuracy (0.46m vs 0.40m at 100 meters) and is slower. It also requires APCR to reliably pen IS-3s from the front where the IS-3 does not. The greatest asset the IS-6 has is a faster reload time with the same alpha damage (essentially, higher DPM), which can make it better in close-range brawling situations if you use APCR, but in the majority of situations it is not as good.

 

110

Like the IS-6, it’s a worse IS-3. It lacks the Russian side invulnerability to the T69’s HEAT rounds and has lower alpha. It’s a fine tank to bring, but simply isn’t as general purpose as the IS-3 is.

 

KV-5

This wonderful tank in pub matches is second class in Team Battles. This is chiefly due to its speed, which makes it unsuited for the fast-paced action that is often seen in successful Team Battle play. It cannot keep up with an IS-3 or AMX 50 100, making flanking and responding to threats (especially cap pressure) much more difficult. The smaller alpha, low penetration and frontal weak spots also makes it worse at fighting on any of the more open maps in rotation.

 

On the other hand, what the KV-5 does have is DPM; the IS-3’s DPM is 1780, the KV5 has 2100(!), and a huge HP pool of 1780 hit points, which make it excellent in close quarter fighting. The KV-5 is a viable tank to use but restricts your team’s mobility and adaptability in exchange for raw HP and DPM, a tradeoff that must be considered very carefully.

 

Tanks you shouldn’t even bother with

 

T34

Just bring a T32 instead. You get better protection and much more mobility.

 

Tiger II

Poor all-around armor, lack of alpha and slow speed make it an inferior choice to the IS-3 on nearly all maps.

 

Caernarvon

Extremely low alpha is a deal-breaker in Team Battles for this guy, who doesn’t have the speed or all-around armor to make up for it.

 

KV-4

Slow speed and thick armor left the meta in pubs long ago, and this is exacerbated in the fast-moving play style of organized Team Battles. The KV-4 is a liability that will allow its teammates to fall and then get swarmed.