There are eight tier VI heavy tanks in WOT (patch 9.14):
KV-2
KV-85
T-150
VK 36.01 (H)
M6
ARL 44
Churchill VII
O-I
I have already stated that the T-150 is the best tier VI heavy. It was a tough decision, but it is very easy to single out the worst tier VI heavy. It is actually the one with best frontal armor and highest DPM. You might ask why, but it is down to two factors: Penetration and speed. And the winner (loser) is the Churchill. The VK 36.01 (H) has even worse penetration, but it has got the speed to cope with it, either to escape from a highly armored tier VIII or flank and get around. The Churchill is to slow to do any of those things.
There are twelve tier VI medium tanks in WOT (patch 9.13):
A-43
T-34-85
VK 30.01 (D)
VK 30.01 (P)
VK 30.02 (M)
M4A3E2 Sherman Jumbo
M4A3E8 Sherman
Cromwell
Sherman Firefly
Cz08 T 25
Type 58
Type 4 Chi-To
A lot of these tanks are really good, and a couple are “not so great”. They differ a lot in play style, even more than you should think. I believe the Cromwell is the best one, but which one is worst? There are four clear candidates, but let us get rid of the best ones first: The Cromwell is out, and so is the T-34-85. I also believe we can rule out both of the american ones, and both the VK 30.01 (D) and the VK 30.02 (M). I have not played the T 25 yet, but it is doing quite well in the battles I have played where I’ve seen them in action. The Sherman Firefly has a great gun, even if it’s slow, so it is also out.
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 →
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:
There are ten tier VI tank destroyers in the game (by patch 9.2.2):
SU-100
Jagdpanzer IV
Nashorn
M18 Hellcat
M36 Jackson
ARL V39
Achilles
AT 8
Churchill Gun Carrier
WZ-131G FT
In my opinion, the ARL V39 is the absolutely worst of these. I’ve postponed my grind on the french TD line, simply because it’s reputation is so bad. It’s slow, has a narrow gun arc, and a low rate of fire. I hated every game I had in it. The tier IX and X french TD’s are good, but the ARL is a big bump in the road to get to the higher tiers. (EDIT: See bottom of this page for a list of changes on the ARL V39 since this post was created.)
Pros:
Very high penetration with the 90 mm AC DCA 45 gun, with 212 mm penetration. (It works very well even in a tier VIII match.)
Acceptable alpha damage with the 105 mm AC mle. 1930 S gun: 300 hp
Cons:
Very narrow gun arc (+/- 7 degrees)
Low rate of fire on all top guns
Long aim time on all top guns (EDIT: See bottom of this page for a list of changes on the ARL V39 since this post was created.)
Actually, everything else than the pros above is bad about this tank
The only way to get this tank to work, is if you have a long straight and flat piece of terrain in front of you, and can fire without being spotted. Good players can make any tank work well, I guess:
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