There are eight tier VI heavy tanks (by patch 9.12):
KV-2
KV-85
T-150
VK 36.01 (H)
M6
ARL 44
Churchill VII
O-I
Note: I have not yet played the O-I, so it will be kept “out of the equation” for now, so to speak.
There are several good tanks here. In fact, only the Churchill is bad / very bad. Some might claim that the VK 36.01 is rather weak, but it actually has almost as good armor as it’s bigger brother, the Tiger I.
The KV-2 has the (in-)famous derp gun, and is sort of a different beast than the others. Therefore it is kind of difficult to compare it with the others, but it is perhaps the funniest one to play. Continue reading →
I have covered equipment for heavy tanks, for tank destroyers and for light tanks and artillery earlier. Now, it’s time for medium tanks. It is kind of difficult to choose one set of equipment for all medium tanks, both because not all tanks can fit all equipment, and because it depends on your play style. But I’ll give it a try.
First: If your tank can fit a vertical stabilizer, use it. Your gun will be much more accurate, and your aim time will decrease. However not all medium tanks can fit one.
All medium tanks can fit ventilation, and it is a good all round equipment to fit.
These two are easy to choose. But what about the rest? Here, I can only suggest you choose from the following:
Coated optics, which increase your view range by 10%, to give you an advantage compared to especially heavy tanks.
Or you could choose binocular telescope. I have mounted them on my Cromwell, and it works quite well, especially in the beginning of a match.
A gun rammer will come in handy, to reduce your loading time by 10%.
Last, you can also consider an enhanced gun laying drive, especially on some russian mediums with a long aim time, like the A-44.
On a lightly armored medium you may actually find that a camo net can be useful, be not very often, since mobility is a strength that medium tanks should take advantage of.
There are nine tier VI tank destroyers in the game (by patch 9.22):
SU-100
Jagdpanzer IV
Nashorn
M18 Hellcat
M36 Jackson
ARL V39
Achilles
AT 8
Churchill Gun Carrier
WZ-131G FT
I am not a fan of the slow british fortress TD line, where you find the AT 8. The Jagdpanzer IV looks good, but it’s gun has to low penetration. The Churchill Gun Carrier is nothing but a joke, even if the gun has great penetration. The ARL V39 is the worst tier VI TD. This leaves the SU-100, the Nashorn, the Hellcat, the Jackson, the WZ-131G and the Achilles. Many of these are quite good. The Hellcat would have been the clear winner before it was nerfed in patch 9.3, because it was overpowered before the nerf. It’s still quite good, but now you have to choose between three different play styles to identify the best tank.
If you are a mobile or aggressive player, the Hellcat is the best one. The Achilles have a higher damage per minute, but since the gun has a lower alpha damage, you need to find a position where you can fire multiple shots without recieving return fire. It also has only 5 degrees of gun depression. On some maps it will do very nice, but on city maps it can be a challenge. I think the Jackson is better than the Achilles, but why choose the Jackson instead of the Hellcat? It’s slower, and even though it’s hull armor and the damage per minute is better, the Hellcat wins in the “mobility TD class”.
The remaining three TDs (WZ-131G, SU-100 and Nashorn) are very different from these. The SU-100 has a monster gun, if you can hit your target AND penetrate. 175mm of penetration is very good in a tier VI battle, but not so great in a tier VIII battle. The WZ-131G has slightly better penetration, but less alpha damage. The DPM is better. The gun mantlet armor on the SU-100 is great, but the rest of the front armor is only slightly ok. The WZ-131G hasn’t got a lot of armor. Basically, the WZ-131G is ok, but not great. It cannot win here, even if the camo rating is quite good.
The Nashorn has an excellent gun, with the best damage per minute and high penetration. Both the aim time and accuracy are excellent. The drawbacks are it’s armor and mobility. It is a “glass canon”, meant for sniping from distance. With a good crew, camo net and even camo paint, it can do the job. However; fewer and fewer maps are suited for sniping.
If you are an aggressive player, choose the Hellcat. If you are more of a second line player, following your heavy tanks at some distance, choose the SU-100. I recommend the SU-100, since I have a lot of turret-less TDs and is familiar with the play style of these.
Pros:
Very high alpha damage at 390 hp.
Good penetration at 175 mm
Can bounce some shots from the front
Cons:
Long aim time (2,8 seconds)
Low accuracy (0,41)
Low rate of fire
No turret makes it vulnerable if it gets tracked
Have look at an Ace tanker battle where you can see the strengths and weaknesses of the gun:
I have covered equipment for heavy tanks and equipment for arty and light tanks earlier. Here, I will cover equipment for tank destroyers (“TDs”). There are basically to different types of TDs, and equipment choices will vary between the two types. Let’s do the TDs with a turret first.
TDs with a turret
TDs with a turret have less armor than those with a fixed gun (no turret), at least in the mid tier range. (Compare the two tier V British TDs AT 2 and the Archer, or the tier VII american TDs T25 AT and T25/2.) Some, like my favorite tier V TD, the T67, have absolutely no armor, and therefore, they should remain unspotted for as much of the battle as possible. TDs generally have a low view range. These factors have an impact on my recommended equipment choices for low and middle tier TDs with a turret.
A camouflage net is a must. Take the T67 as an example: It is very mobile, but the turret traverse speed is very low. You should not use it for close combat, but should keep your enemies on a distance, and remain unspotted. Choose camouflage for your first crew skill, and use a camouflage net. Since you can rotate your turret, you don’t have to move your tank to aim at the enemy tanks, and your camouflage net will remain active until you move your tank.
If your TD can fit ventilation, use it, especially on tanks you plan to keep. Ventilation improves almost all of your crews skills by 5 percent, like aiming and loading faster, for instance. Only a few turreted TDs can fit ventilation, however.
Binoculars improve your view range by 25 percent, after your tank has been stationary for at least 3 seconds, and is quite useful, obviously. I even use them on my tier 8 TD, the Charioteer, due to it’s almost non-existent armor. If your play style is more aggressive, consider coated optics instead, which gives you 10 percent increased view range at all times, also when you are on the move. You can also use coated optics in combination with binoculars.
If you cannot mount ventilation, you should choose between enhanced gun laying drive and a gun rammer. If the rate of fire is high, I would recommend a gun laying drive to decrease your aim time. Again, the T67 is a good example. It fires quite quickly, and aims quite quickly, but since the turret rotation speed is so slow, I think it’s important to decrease aim time. Since it can take a while to get your enemy in sight, I think it’s vital to aim as fast as possible. However, if your gun has a high alpha damage, but low rate of fire, you should consider the gun rammer, to increase your rate of fire. The Hellcat (tier VI american TD), is an example.
TDs without a turret
TDs without a turret have one serious flaw. If the tracks are damaged so they cannot rotate, they are defenseless. Since they (often) have more armor, the consequences of being spotted may be lower than for the turreted TDs. In my opinion, these are the best alternatives:
Ventilation is perhaps the best all round equipment to fit. Besides the advantages mentioned above, your crew’s repair skill is increased by 5 percent.
Mounting a tool box is actually a valid option, since it increases your repair speed by 25 percent. The longer you can wait before you have to use your repair kit, the better, since it can be the difference between a victory and a defeat in the final phases of the match.
Quite a few TDs without a turret have a narrow gun arc. The gun arc is the angle you can turn your gun from left to right without turning the whole tank. The shitty ARL V39 has only 14 degrees, while it’s predecessor, the S35 CA, has a whopping 44 degrees. When you have to rotate your tank, you have to re-aim to hit with your next shot. Therefore: On tanks with a narrow gun arc you should mount an enhanced gun laying drive to increase the accuracy.
The Hetzer is a popular German tier IV TD. The funniest way to play this tank is with the “derp gun”, the 10,5 cm gun. It has a low rate of fire, so you should use a gun rammer to decrease the reload time. This is also a valid choice on all tanks with a low rate of fire, like the Russian tier VI TD SU-100.
Depending on your play style, you can also consider using binoculars instead of some of the equipment mentioned above.
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