World of Tanks Choosing a Tank Guide

World of Tanks Choosing a Tank Guide by Diastant

How should I decide which tank to choose?

So you’ve downloaded the game, signed in, and now you are in your own little garage. You notice you have 3 tanks, a Leichtraktor, an MS-1,and a T-1 Cunningham. There are lots of main tank types. The heavy tanks,medium tanks, light tanks, Artillery/SPG’s, and Tank Destroyers.

Light tanks:

Firepower

These tanks are really bad when it comes to firepower, but they have guns range from, 20mm to 80mm. Though these may seem weak compared to the bigger tanks guns, they are great when fighting against other Light tanks.They have good stats. Light tanks really can’t damage heavies however, and theycan maybe do 1-20% on any medium.

Armor

When it comes to armor, these tanks have decent armor for their class, but not too much. Sometimes your guns may bounce an enemy light tank’s, either it is sloped, or it’s thick. Not much I can say about armor,other than its pretty thin but it will last pretty good in a heated light tank battle.

Maneuverability

Light tanks are masters of this. They have very hightraverse speeds and most can go up to in excess of 40 km/h. That’s fast, for a tank. These make lights the perfect scout. They are able, with their speed to go in, reveal enemy locations, and get back out alive, even taking an ain the process.

Summary

These are tanks that are, light. They usually have good maneuverability and although they have weak guns and really bad armor,nevertheless, they are the building block of your World of Tanks foundation.The L. Tractor, MS-1 and T-1 all lead to numerous tanks, each of which is special. Light tanks are often used for scout missions, which mean that you help reveal enemy locations to your own team. They are pretty fast, and theyare common but teeny. Even experience players drive light tanks. I drive a V.K.1602 Leopard, which is perfect for scouting missions, goes up to 68 km/h, andhas 390 armor points. Light tanks usually get placed into low tier battles,with other light tanks, but occasionally you may find yourself in a battle with mediums.

Medium tanks:

Firepower

Mediums can wield big guns, from the tiny 20-30mm, to thevery dangerous 122mm. They usually use a gun based on another tank, such as theT-44 with the 122mm gun. Because of this, Mediums have the firepower of a Heavywith the speed and armor, of a Medium. In wolf packs their firepower makes themespecially dangerous. They have higher DPS and ROF than most heavies so you also have to be wary of that factor.

Armor

Medium tanks have good, often sloped armor in the highertiers. I bounce on T-54’s/Panther II’s/ M26 Pershing’s so be wary of that. It’snot the most armor, 4 hits and one is dead usually, however their speed makesup for their little lack or armor, but they can still take lots of punishmentthough. Watch out. While it’s not that strong, their speed makes it hard to aim, so most of the time you will have to auto-aim which aims for the turret and that is the strongest.

Maneuverability

These have great maneuverability, because of their powerfulengines and their average armor. The T-54 can go up to…um…51 km/h? Yeah,that’s 40-something miles per hour. Their good turning and traverse speeds makethem a heavy, without the thick armor.

Summary

These, in wolf packs, are very dangerous. They are themulti-role ground version of the airplane. They pack a good punch with a nicecombination of speed, armor, and firepower. What they lack in survivability,they make up for with potentially fatal kills on heavies when they team up anddestroy stuff. When you are in a medium tank, you will often find yourself withother mediums, teaming up together. They are almost unstoppable in a group.Alone, however, mediums also offer great potential. There are 2 kinds of mediumtanks, which are separated into 2 separate lines on the tech tree. The first kindis the light one. This includes the T-34, the Pz III, and numerous other types.The other kind is the heavy mediums. These are often right before the heavytanks, and they include the VK 3601(H), and the T-28, etc. Mediums are dividedinto 2 lines, the ones right before heavy tanks, and the medium pure lines.Take the Soviet tech tree. The T-28 goes to the KV, which proceeds to go on inthe end to an IS-7 (tier 10). The T-34 goes to the T-34-85, then the T-43, thenthe T-44, and then the T-54 (not exactly medium because it was an MBT for God’ssake). The Soviet T-series is a good example of these. So are the GermanPanther line and the American Pershing line. These are good if you want to be asort of multi-role kind of tank, good for all sorts of skills, they excel atflanking. They are fast and dangerous.

Heavy tanks:

Firepower

These heavies can wield the tiny 90mm, to the super-powerful155mm. That’s why it takes so long for a high tier battle to finish; one hitfrom my IS-4 to an IS-7 only does 12%. 155mm is used by the T-30, 122mm/130mmare used by the IS series, and the KV is the only heavy that has the unique152mm gun. These pack a huge punch.

Armor

They have thick armor, able to withstand multiple directimpacts, especially the Maus. It’s a Lego block! Anyways, the Soviet ones, andthe German ones in the higher tiers have sloped armor, basically if it’s morethan 65 degrees, you bounce. You will often find yourself not hitting or doingl ittle damage. They have thick armor that often bounces a lot, that’s it.

Summary

These, are the big (fits on my computer screen, so I don’tknow about thatJ),fat (well, not that fat), well-armored (in some), giant gunned monsters (Sovietversion only). They are slow (exception of IS-7 that can go up to 50 km/h), andthey are the mainline attackers, taking hits. They have average maneuverabilityand they have nice guns (Not nice enough for me to get in front of it). Theyinclude the IS-7, Tiger, Tiger II, IS, IS-3, etc. They have very good armor andcan take lots of hits. Be cautious though, unless you have a decent heavy withgood maneuverability, you are prone to being circled by smaller mediums. Evenif you do have a turret, I once circled a Maus with my Leopard, it washilarious. This is recommended if you enjoy the play style of being the mainbattle force. By the way, be wary, these cost a lot to repair in the later tiers, especially Tier 7+. Get premium or get yourself another cheap tank to fund it with.

Artillery/SPG:

Firepower

The SPG’s have huge guns and they can range from 100+ to200+. The M40/43, for example, has a 240mm cannon. The Soviet S-51 has a 203mm.The artillery has huge cannons that can deal massive damage if they hit yourtank. They underwent an accuracy nerf that reduced their accuracy. Be careful,because if you are out in the open, then it’s very likely that you are going toget hit.

Armor

I’m not even going to talk about armor because they seem tohave none. With my IS-4, a GW Tiger can survive 2 hits, anything below it cansurvive one, and scouts can kill it within 3-20 hits. That’s easily said.

Maneuverability

As for maneuverability, they have average maneuverability,but because the Hummel is rather fast and good, it acts like a TD sometimes.Artillery can fire directly sometimes. So, mostly, they sit there and wait, somaneuverability isn’t the best. However, it does allow them to get around.

Summary

When you first start the game and battle, you might noticewhat appear to be shells raining down from the sky. These are called Artilleryshells (more like ninja shells, sheesh.) Artillery is able to fire anywheretheir firing trajectory allows them to go, within their range limit. So don’tbe surprised if you get tracked in the middle of the map, with no tank insight. Respect thy holy artillery, they protect thou from thy bigger tanks. Theyoften have very large guns, such as the S-51 with its 203mm gun, and theupcoming T-92, with a 240mm gun. The Sturm-tiger, planned for release, had a380 rocket mortar! However, with great firepower/mm-caliber comes great decreasedarmor (Yes it’s bad I know). You have very weak and sometimes scouts candestroy you when conditions are right. However, if you make it to the hightiers, it will be worth it because not only do you rain 240mm of death upon badguys, you do it with style and finesse. Higher tier arty can kill high tiertanks in 1 hit, talk about bouncy armor. They are brown in the loading screenwith their guns facing up. This is recommended if you like to kill people fromthe sky with stuff (otherwise known as atomic bombs because of the massivedamage they do).

Tank Destroyers/Anti-Tank Self Propelled Guns:

Armor

As for armor, theyhave very good frontal armor, because of their position and task in combat.They aim their guns at the enemy and since they have no turret, where they aimtheir gun is often where the front is. Now, their side armor and back armor isa little weaker compared to the front because their main job is support and notactually frontline fighting. If they get tracked, then they can’t move anythingother than their gun and that’s not good.

Firepower

As for firepower, these often wield guns that are slightlyhigher for their tier. Without a turret, the guns that are mounted can be stronger.They have excellent firepower overall. The Jagd-tiger has a 128mm gun, the StuGIII can wield a 105mm, and even the Hetzer, a tier 4, can use the 105mm.

Maneuverability

Maneuverability mostly depends on the nation in this game.The Soviet TD’s favor speed and firepower, and while the Germans are fast andnice during the lower tiers, it starts getting slow from the Ferdinand and theJagd-tiger. Your maneuverability should be enough to retreat in a hurry so Iwouldn’t worry so much about it.

Summary

These are mainly defensive, and they pay supporting roles incombat. They usually have bigger guns for their tier, and they have goodfrontal armor, but weaker side and back armor. They don’t have a turret, well,the American TD’s do, but anyways, this allows them to basically sit back andrelax as they rain powerful shells on the enemy. Tank Destroyers are the sniperof the tank world. They have an improved camouflage bonus so sometimes I don’tdetect them until close up. These include the Jagd-tiger, the ISU-152, the Jagd-panther,the SU-100, etc. They have decent maneuverability. This is recommended if youlike to hit people and make them go “where the heck did that come from?” Keep Imind though, if you are in a slow tank destroyer, you are very prone to beingcircled, where a tank, well…see, the light tank, um, the medium? No wait,Circle of Death. Self Explanatory-You circle the T.D. which has no turret and can’tkeep up with your circle and you hit it repeatedly.

Conclusion

It all comes down to you; do you favor the speed of lighttanks? The armor? Maybe the gun? Remember, what you like on paper isn’t alwayswhat you will favor in combat.