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Welcome back to another update in the BEST series! Today I will be going over the the unfortunate meta of tier 8 TD's.
I will provide my own thoughts on the "best" tier 8 TD's and I apologize in advance if your favorite tier 8 TD is at the bottom of the list. This is purely my opinion, and you are free to put in your input. Hope you enjoy! (See spoiler)
See how things have changed! Found below is the original list for this specific topic, written over a year ago!
http://forum.wotblitz.com/index.php?/topic/86635-best-tier-8-tank-destroyer/page__fromsearch__1
*Note: Reviews are done in the style of WoTLabs.
What do you think is the best tier 8 TD? Let me know!
~DMG
Full Potato Division
T28 - One of the worst tanks in the whole tier, the T28 manages to have more DPM than a JP2, but lacks the ability to use it. 20kph, terrible traverse speed, atrocious terrain resistance make this vehicle unenjoyable to drive as the fight is usually over when you get there. A progressive learning experience, this tank is purely WG lubing you up for the T95. The tank is easily outplayed by faster tanks and will suffer against the growing caliber of weapons in tier 8 and tier 9. The front profile isn't even effective with a lower plate that is easily penetrated by gold, as well as weaker cupolas. The sides and rear succumb to HE quickly. This is a tank meant for free XP. Pay to keep your sanity.
AMX AC mle. 48 - The French have made another terrible mistake with this vehicle. The Foch is much better tier for tier than it's predecessor. The cupola's on the AMX mle. TD are bulbous, meaning it has no frontal reliability. The sloped structure is not angled well enough to achieve many bounces against tier 8 vehicles. Another candidate for a full free XP pass, the AMX's weapon is not enough to make up for poor armor that hamper its ability to play an assault TD role. The french should retreat now and just stick to autoloaders.
AT-15 - Similar to the T28, this British TD is plagued by slow syndrome. While it does not matter as much for destroyers as they are almost expected to sit at the back, the AT has some armor which should allow it to brawl and burn down enemy heavies with massive DPM. Thing is, it is atrociously slow so it does not reach the battlefield in time to make a significant impact. Even if the fight does get to you, you will get 1-2 shots off. Low alpha does not compliment the AT-15, and cripples the vehicle despite the high DPM. Alpha matters. The AT lacks alpha and it lacks speed. Well, at least the armor profile is wonderful right? No. Not exactly... the weakpoints of this tank are quite visible, and I've noticed over the months that more and more people that are non-uni's understand and abuse these weak points. This TD is a walking death trap and is only ranked higher than the T28 for it's better gun arc and handling.
SU-101 - Most players can't work below -6 degrees of gun depression. I was that way too, but then I learned the beauty of the 62A and working with -5. The buck stops there. I refuse to go below -5. This tank has -4. If most players can't work with -6, how the hell are they supposed to work with -4? I don't think so WG. Let's compound that poor gun depression on a rear mount tank, so every time you poke you are exposing first to the enemy before you shoot. The tank has little side armor so it can't pseudo side scrape around corners. The gun penetration is good and the DPM is just OK. The mobility is above average, but the mobility does not compensate the poor ability to manufacture shots with limited arc and depression. As a sniping TD, it is ineffective for these reasons. As a brawling TD, it lacks the armor and profile design to perform the role effectively.
Play For Fun Division
T28 Defender - A IS-3D concept applied to a Destroyer, the T28D was supposed to bring a new concept to tier 8, The first autoloading TD in the game, the T28 Defender is able to clip out mediums and lower tier heavies. That being said, it lacks the mobility to do this effectively. While better than the tech tree 28 Proto, the mobility is not as good as a defender, and the clip potential is identical. More importantly, the intraclip reload of the T28D is not too far off the regular single shot reload of the tech tree Proto. What really pissed me off was that you go on a 20s+ reload just to gain a slightly better intra for 3 shells compared to the tech tree variant. Additionally, the tank received a roof, meaning it received some pen-able cupolas as compared to the T28 Proto in the tree. The tank looks interesting enough, but there is a reason why it stayed in concept stage and didn't make it to the battlefield. Do NOT buy.
T28 Proto - Not too much different than the Defender variant, the regular Proto carries a single shot gun with -10 degrees of gun depression. This gun is able to chew through most targets with ease, but it lacks the mobility to use it. However, what makes this better than the T28 (leading to E3) is that it has a turret and gun depression to be able to use the gun more efficiently. A turret requires less movement of the hull. -10 degrees of gun depression allow for less relocation to manufacture shots. I'm surprised to say that the tank is OK to play, but still has glaring weaknesses in the armor department, specifically in the cheeks to high penetration rounds. Even though this tank does have some redeeming qualities, the amount of them are too few and the redeem-ability of said qualities does not give enough return to consistently perform in tier 8 matchups.
ISU-130 - The first thing I notice about the tank is that it has -2 degrees of arc to the left, but -12 to the right. That's odd, and really awkward to play around. Frankly, it's so goddamn annoying that God forbid that anything drive left because you will end up breaking camo to shoot. What can I say, it looks like it hangs a little to the right? Jokes aside, the 130 does 460 alpha, which is very good, but there are other TD's at the tier that do the same alpha strike but with other redeeming qualities. Most notably, why pack a 130 when you pack a 152? I find the 130 lacks a place given the presence of the tech tree ISU-152. Again, this is a premium I would not invest any money in, until WG buffs the gun arc to be equal on both sides for added flexibility compared to the tech tree ISU-152.
Ferdinand - The elephant is quite a difficult tank to play. A Tiger P armor profile is adequate in tier 7/8 matches, but falls a little flat in tier 8/9 matchups. The tank has a pennable superstructure, and the mobility is mediocre. The gun is fantastic and can really put the hurt on any tank you engage, but the armor profile you receive for the mobility you trade is not favorable. The HP pool is inadequate for the armor, and the tank feels fragile despite being the bulky armored brother of the JP2.
JG.88/Snowstorm - A baby, credit making Jagdtiger, the JG 8,8 does not live up to the standards of the high DPM tech tree variant a tier higher. A recently added gun option allows the JG8.8 to play a more updated TD role in the 2019 meta, and the armor is good hull down bar gold rounds. I will say though, the tank is difficult to set up due to below average mobility, and really needs a 128 to be effective. A 105 is nice, but you can find that on the tier 7 Jpanther, where 310 alpha means a lot more. That request is quite a tall order, and the tank does make good credits. If this tank could be set up more often, then it would be higher on the list, but the meta trends currently do not allow it to perform its role as well as it should. Therefore, it remains in the play for fun division.
Stat Padder Division
Skorpion G - The Skorpion G bring the handy German 128 to the field... with a twist. A turret and decent speed allow the Skorpion to fly around the battlefield seamlessly and manufacture shots that would be simply unavailable to the Ferdinand or JP2. The gun is stereotypically German, sporting heaps of penetration and gun handling. I did enjoy this tank, but it is not a true TD as the profile is enormous. In more cases that I would like to admit, the tank gets spotted after it fires. I personally don't like having to relocate if I have a good opportunity to manufacture multiple shots. The G's turret is pretty awful, being able to be reliably HE'd by a comet. The hull profile is the size of a Panther, but with less armor. The G will take damage easily, and it's not hard to find a shot into the barn size profile. That being said, it is still good for all the redeeming qualities it brings to the table.
WZ-111-1G FT - FT, meaning Fake Tank, is the whole premise of the Chinese TD line. That being said, fake tanks allow more room for fake stats. This tank is good. 660 HE alpha is quite good in a tier where you see tier 7 lights, tier 7 mediums, tier 8 lights, and the sluggish tier 9 BC. The HEAT pen is quite solid, and the DPM is acceptable. The armor is troll, and reminds me of an Obj. 268 two tiers lower. The gun arc is quite nice, and even outclasses the JP2 by -2 degrees on each side. Definitely a worthwhile tank, and I think this ranking might be too low, but because of a lack of information, it will stay here.
RHM.-Borsig Waffentrager - A TD that once twisted the face of the tier 8 meta, the Borsig still ranks high as a consistent derp machine. While the gun is not as ideal as the ISU-152's the Borsig sports 2 traits that the ISU lacks. The first being a turret, the RHM is capable of placing multiple shots across the field without breaking camouflage. This is extremely important on maps like Canal or Castilla, where you may need to place shots in multiple areas that would require a 90° turn from a non-turreted TD. The second trait the Borsig has is superior camouflage. Firing unspotted is key for TD effectiveness, and the Borsig is able to do perform this action extremely well. Being able to fire at tanks from mid distance without being spotted is simply the best for mitigating damage and creating more shot opportunities. That being said, the armor is poor and the gun is not ideal. The accuracy could use some improvements, and the shell velocity is not the best. However, the invisible death machine still ranks high as these weaknesses can be alleviated by using equipment such as calibrated shells, supercharge, and vertical stabilizer.
JPanther II - The JP2 has consistently remained at the top for tier 8 TD's. The 460 alpha strike hurts, the mobility is superb, the superstructure is nigh impenetrable when hull down. The gun handling (which is better than the Ferdinand) compliments a hull-down spray play style given excellent penetration, and the mobility/camouflage allow the tank to zoom around the battlefield with ease. Through 4 years of Blitz, this remains one of the most consistently reliable vehicles in the game. The side armor is lacking, but name a TD that is built around having side armor bar the T95.
ISU-152 - One of the oldest vehicles in the game, the ISU-152's consistent performance can be attributed to one asset. The BL-10's massive impact on any match it is used in can decimate teams quickly. This is the best TD gun tier for tier in the game. All tier 7's are easy penetrations. All tier 8's are easy penetrations. Any tier 9 you see should be an easy penetration given some aiming against E75's and ST-1's. For 640 alpha and fantastic penetration, the ISU has superb DPM that clocks over 3100+. The HE penetration is also very high, and is immensely helpful at the tier to engage light tanks. Unfortunately, there are two massive shortcomings to the tank. The first of these are that the camouflage is not as good as the Borsig's. This is in part because it is larger, meaning it has a lower base camo rating. More notably, it is because the ISU lacks a turret, which translates to breaking camo more often to manufacture shots. The camo isn't poor, more so just not as equipped as the Borsig. The second shortcoming of this tank is the profile. It doesn't have great armor, which is greatly compounded upon with a boxy profile. Having this profile means opponents with strong turrets or knowledge of side scraping will be able to ALWAYS beat you on corner fighting as they will see a corner of your tank without you being able to see any exploitable areas of theirs. While this bad trait can be seen on many maps, the map I am personally most reminded of is Himmelsdorf, where you can go hull down against a redline camping ISU and shoot the corners of their hull while you barely poke the turret. All this being said, the ISU is a classic TD, and is designed best for maps that have long distance corridors. Some good examples that come to mind are Mayan Ruins and Dead Rail. Castilla is also viable, but beware of breaking camo.
Purple Division
WZ-120-1G FT - This is the pinnacle, without argument. I hate crowning a premium tank as king of the litter, but this tank is statistically way too strong. It busts through WG's charts of win rate and damage. While I would personally rather drive a JP2 or a Borsig, or maybe even an ISU, the WZ is so damn powerful at flexibly playing any role the driver wishes I personally believe this tank should not have a class designation. The armor is good, up until you fight a Lowe, or something with massive penetration. I mean to describe the profile like the WZ-113 heavy tank at tier 10. You either bounce or you don't. I know that sounds silly as that describes every tank, but there really is no manipulating this armor to achieve bounces. You can angle a little, but you expose weaker sides. Really, there is a penetration threshold with the tank, where no matter the angle most tanks will bounce. There is also a certain penetration number where no matter the angle you will receive damage. It is more about learning the penetration of other tanks and knowing what you can bully is what will make this premium fake tank shine. The camoflauge is penultimately superb and is most likely only surpassed by the Borsig. The mobility is similar to the JP2, bringing a lower slung, armored profile that in a certain way powercreeps the JP2 out of the game. The gun only hits for 400 alpha, but the ROF makes the weapon a healthy armament given the good penetration and acceptable gun handling. From the stats, the tank can play a pocket heavy, a pocket medium, or a classic destroyer. Sometimes I see 5v5 tournament training rooms and I will take a peek to unsurprisingly see the WZ spammed more than the IS-5 because it has the ability to play the role of a heavy. To a more general point, tanks like this break the tier, and should have never been sold. Tanks like this are why I rarely play tier 8, as it is not about ability anymore but rather who can shove their wallet junk in your face. Unfortunately, the WZ is so strong, that it has dwarfed any other destroyer in the tier. It is just that good that by comparison even the ISU is a full division step down.
