Some words about classes of tanks

When you have played a number of battles, you will start to move up through the different tech trees of various nations. At tier V you will unlock your first heavy tanks, even if there are some at tier IV also. (And even one at tier III.) You have probably have noticed what characterizes a heavy tank:

• High alpha damage, but slow rate of fire
• Better armor than other classes
• Slower than all other classes (except artillery/SPG)
• Worse camoflage rating than the other classes

But every now and then, you will find that some medium tanks check one or more of these boxes. The Matilda is one of these, by having great armor for it’s type and tier.

VK 30.01 (p), German tier VI medium

The VK 30.01 (P) is another example, as it’s 220 alpha damage is (almost) twice that of other tier VI medium tanks. Therefore, it is meaningful to characterize some mediums as “heavy medium tanks”.

In other cases, you have some heavy tanks that could be characterized as “medium heavy tanks”, like the KV-1S, at least when compared to it’s brother, the KV-1.

Best and worst tanks by tier and type – worst tier V heavy tank

There are six tier V heavy tanks in the game (by patch 9.13):

• KV-1
• KV-1S
• VK 30.01 (H)
• T1 Heavy tank
• Churchill I
• O-I Experimental

Notice: I have not played the O-I yet, but I do believe it is among the best heavy tanks on tier V, so it really doesn’t affect my verdict.

Since I believe the BDR is the best tier V heavy tank, of course it can not be the worst. The KV-1 and the KV-1S are both good (enough) for this tier, and the T1 is actually ok. This leaves us with two candidates: The Churchill I and the VK 30.01 (H). I really don’t like the Churchill, but I do believe it is superior to the VK. The Churchill is much slower, but it is better in almost all other aspects. (The gun has slightly worse penetration, but the damage per minute is better.) It’s armor is significantly better.  So the worst tier V heavy tank has to be the VK 30.01 (H). It is basically only a tank you have to play to grind for better tanks, not a tank you play because it is great fun.

Pros:

• Good gun depression, by 8 degrees
• The grind leads to “important” tanks, and you can unlock a lot of modules
• Penetration is quite decent, compared to the Russian tanks
• It might be an easy tank to get an Ace tanker in?
• Not a lot more?

Cons:

• Long and hard grind
• Long aim time, even if it is better than the Russian tanks
• Bad armor

Take a look at this replay for how an ace tanker game in the VK 30.01 (H). The match starts at 6:25 in the video.

See all best/worst tanks here.

Understanding free experience (“XP”)

As you already know, in World of tanks experience (“XP”) is very important. However, understanding how to use your XP efficiently, isn’t easy when you are new to the game.

There are basically three types of XP:

• XP related to your crew
• XP related to your tank
• Free XP

In this post we will look at free XP. The other two types will be explained in other posts. 5% of the XP you earn in a match will be added to your pool of free XP. You can not increase or reduce this amount. Free XP can be used on any tank and module. You can use free XP to open a new tank, or in opening a module. You can use free XP in combination with XP earned on a tank.

Let’s look at an example. You are playing a T-28, a Russian tier IV medium tank, and want to play the next tank, the KV-1:

T-28 leads to KV-1

To unlock the KV-1 you need to have earned 10.650 XP on the T-28. Let’s say you have only earned 9.000 XP on the T-28, but that you also have 2.000 free XP. Then you can use all of the T-28’s 9.000 XP and 1.650 of the free XP to unlock the KV-1. (9.000 XP + 1.650 free XP = 10.650 XP needed for the KV-1.) But be sure you have chosen the right moment to unlock the KV-1.

If you want to use the free XP for modules instead, you can do it like this:

• Play the T-28 until you have earned the necessary 10.650 XP
• Unlock the KV-1 using only XP from the T-28
• Use 2.350 of your free XP to unlock the 122 mm gun (for example) on the KV-1 BEFORE you start playing it

Converting XP to free XP

You can add extra free XP by playing a tank after you have unlocked every module on it and you also have unlocked every tank it leads to. To continue with the example with the T-28: The T-28 only leads to the KV-1. Once you have unlocked all modules on the T-28 and you also have unlocked the KV-1, you will continue to earn XP on the T-28 that will be added to this tank, but that you will not be able to use on anything. However, it need not be “wasted” XP. If you have bought gold and are willing to use it, you can convert XP from a tank to free XP.

The exchange rate is 1 gold for 25 XP, so if you have earned 1.000 “wasted” XP on your T-28, it will cost you 40 gold to convert it to free XP.

So if you can afford it, you really should pay for XP conversion. Some of my clan members never play any tank on higher tiers unless they have unlocked all modules on it by using free XP. On some tanks this is not necessary, but on most, especially the stock guns are simply to weak to be any good. (On a lot of tanks you need to unlock a turret to fit a better gun, and before you can mount a better turret, you often need to mount tracks that are better than the stock tracks.)

If you do not have the money to buy and use gold, you can change the strategy in the opposite direction to avoid earning any “wasted” XP on a tank. Take a look at your average XP earned on a tank, and once you realize that in the next battle you will earn more XP than you need to unlock the next tank, use free XP instead.

Last notes

• On one occasion there was a possibility to use free XP on crew skills, but I am not sure if this will be possible again any time soon.
• On the RU server in march 2015, players earned 10% free XP instead of 5% for a few days.
• I have only seen a discount on the exchange rate to convert free XP once (on the EU server), so don’t wait for it. I believe the discount rate was 1 gold for 50 XP.