27 replies to this topic

[AnakinSkywalker1218]

Hi. I am a newbie, just started playing little less than a week ago. Anyways, so assuming I studied in History last year, when I just started this game, I was like “German tanks are the best right? Panzers dominated the battlefield.” Well actually I didn’t really study because I thought American tanks were trash (I guess there not). No offense America. Anyways, I need to know something. For the past few days, I’ve been working on German Branch. I have Panzer IV D, the Tier IV one, trying to get to a Leopard (V).  But then my friend told me American tanks are great. He specifically said T1’s are the best. But my other friend and some forums say Shermans are better. Another friend says Shermans are trash. My history teacher said Sherman Tanks suck. So now I’m extremely confused. My friend convinced me to start in the American branch, so I currently have a Tier III M5 Stuart. People say that the Kv1 and 2 is good though, even though my friends say Russian tanks are trash. Please, can someone help me here because I am confused. Thank you for reading (I hope you didn’t get bored of me). Yeah, so...bye!

[originalmadkilla]

Luckily, I'm an extremely helpful and knowledgable player who tells it like it is.

 

Here is my answer:

 

The reason one friend told you that Shermans are good and another friend told you that Shermans are trash is because there is no one size fits all tank.

 

Both of those players could be correct, and neither is wrong, because they are basing their answers on how they do in that tank and how they like the tank.

 

Different players have different play styles, so it's fully possible for two different players to have different opinions on a certain tank.

 

Some players like to drive lights, some players like mediums, some players like heavies, some like TDs.

 

Here's the deal.

 

If you've only been playing for less than a week, then you obviously have a lot to learn, a whole lot.

 

But the fact that you came to the forum and asked this question after only playing for a week shows that you are smarter than the vast majority of nubs that play this game, so there is hope for you.

 

There is no easy answer or easy solution for you or for anybody else who is a complete beginner. You will simply have to get to know different tanks for yourself, and as you get better you will start to know which tanks you like and what kind of tanks suits your play style and your preferences.

 

And no, Russian tanks are not trash. Some of them are the strongest in their tiers. Don't listen to that friend anymore.

 

Drive what you currently have. Eventually you will buy new tanks. Some of them you will end up liking. Some of them you will not. The only way to know that is to actually drive them for yourself.

 

You have a lot of experimenting to do. There are no easy answers. There are no easy solutions. It will take you a long time before you will become experienced at this game.

 

You will regret some tanks that you buy and you will like others. You will die a lot. You will lose a lot. If you're lucky, you'll kill some enemies along the way too and win sometimes too.

 

The most important component in this game is not the tank, but it is the player. 

 

Good luck.

 

Edited by originalmadkilla, 12 February 2020 - 11:49 PM.

[plsdontkillmexxx]

AnakinSkywalker1218, on 13 February 2020 - 09:22 AM, said:

Hi. I am a newbie, just started playing little less than a week ago. Anyways, so assuming I studied in History last year, when I just started this game, I was like “German tanks are the best right? Panzers dominated the battlefield.” Well actually I didn’t really study because I thought American tanks were trash (I guess there not). No offense America. Anyways, I need to know something. For the past few days, I’ve been working on German Branch. I have Panzer IV D, the Tier IV one, trying to get to a Leopard (V).  But then my friend told me American tanks are great. He specifically said T1’s are the best. But my other friend and some forums say Shermans are better. Another friend says Shermans are trash. My history teacher said Sherman Tanks suck. So now I’m extremely confused. My friend convinced me to start in the American branch, so I currently have a Tier III M5 Stuart. People say that the Kv1 and 2 is good though, even though my friends say Russian tanks are trash. Please, can someone help me here because I am confused. Thank you for reading (I hope you didn’t get bored of me). Yeah, so...bye!

 

All tanks have their strenghs and weaknesses. it will take you time to work out and decide which tanks you prefer. you need to understand the basic differences between the tank types tho. there are four- light, medium, heavy, and tank destroyer. avoid tank destroyers. they will be too hard for you to play. light tanks are fast and easy to kill. heavy tanks have strong armor, are harder to kill, but slow moving, and medium tanks are the 'all rounders'. they have moderate speed and armor. then there are the guns. some guns fire rapidly but don't do much damage, while others do more damage but take longer to load. since you're a beginner I would suggest that you play heavy tanks first. they will allow you to take more hits without being killed. as for the tanks themselves, I would suggest to stick with the german line. don't go for the KV-1 and KV-2. they are not easy tanks to play. but if you want to play the American line then the T1-1 is a good heavy tank. good luck on the battlefield!

[Posit1ve_]

Firstly, welcome to the forums!

 

So, regarding your question, welcome to game tanks and not historical simulator tanks. World of Tanks Blitz isn't super historical, so if you came here for historical realism, and expecting tanks to hold up to their historical reputations, prepare to be sorely disappointed, since WG (aka Wargaming, the company that makes this game) balances tanks at will.

 

And as for the actual historical reputation of tanks, real life American tanks are hated on a lot more than they deserve. Shermans get a bad rap that they don't really deserve, but that's a debate for another day

 

In game, on the whole American tanks are all pretty solid. With the exception of a few stinkers here and there, Americans are generally quite nice at all tiers. American medium and heavy tanks are overall well rounded, generally with average armor, mobility, and firepower in almost all aspects. American light tanks start out small, but at high tiers feature rather large guns. US TDs are a little bit of a mxed bag, with the turretless tank destroyer line leading to the T110E3 focusing on armor while sacrificing mobility, while the turreted tank destroyer line leading to the T110E4 drops the armor for the advantage of having a turret

 

As for the Germans, well, their tech tree can be pretty inconsistent in how it plays. In general, German tanks are known for their accurate guns with high penetration values, but there are 2 distinct styles within the German tech tree however. The lines leading to the Jgpz E-100, Maus, E-100, and E-50M generally feature stronger hull armor, large hitpoint pools, and lower mobility for their classes, and mediocre turret armor. The lines leading to the Grille 15 and Leopard 1 are the opposite, focusing primarily on mobility, accuracy, and damage per minute statistics, while having close to no armor.

 

The Soviet tech tree also has its own distinct flavor. In general, Russian tanks are known for stronger raw stats such as damage per shot and armor, but this comes at the expense of poor accuracy and a general inability for Soviet tanks to point their guns downward (a characteristic known as "gun depression" ). Both Russian medium and heavy tanks generally feature above average mobility for their classes, and strong turrets. Russian tank destroyers, like the other nations have two distinct flavors; with the line leading to the Obj 268 focusing on guns with large damage per shot, and the line leading to the Object 263 featuring higher mobility at the expense of damage per shot.

 

Other nations have their own quirks too, like the British featuring fast firing accurate guns with low damage per shot and low mobility, or the French, known for having more mobile tanks with far less armor than other nations, and featuring autoloaders at the top tiers. Chinese tanks are pretty similar to the Soviets, and the Japanese line kinda sucks. 

 

Other than nations, you should also consider how you prefer to play. You may have noticed that there are 4 major tank classifications, lights, mediums, heavies, and tank destroyers. Light tanks usually emphasize mobility and faster firing guns at the expense of armor, while heavies have more armor and bigger guns less armor. Medium tanks generally fall somewhere in-between. Tank destroyers on the whole emphasize firepower in general, with more gun stats, but in exchange, lack turrets making them less flexibile. You'll have to experiment around to determine what tanks suit you best, and since there's very little variety below tier V (most tanks all play roughly the same at tiers I-IV), you'll discover what works best for you later.

Edited by Posit1ve_, 13 February 2020 - 12:12 AM.

[GentleNova]

Pantoufleee made a video showing the basic strengths / weakness of each nation below. Basically Russian and American tanks are the easiest for new players, while the other nations require more skill. The big difference between Russian and American tanks is gun depression, with American tanks having better gun depression than Russian tanks.

 

[AnakinSkywalker1218]

Wow, well thanks for all the help! According to all I’ve read, I’d say I’m in favor of the American tanks, but we’ll see. I see this game has a lot of trial and error in it. I’ll also watch that video later. Now I wonder if there’s a tank that’s fast firing and heavy armored? That would sound ideal, because I often miss shots (plz don’t call me a nub) and I need good armor because sometimes I just am not thinking and stand in t middle of nowhere.

[boris55555]

AnakinSkywalker1218, on 12 February 2020 - 08:09 PM, said:

Wow, well thanks for all the help! According to all I’ve read, I’d say I’m in favor of the American tanks, but we’ll see. I see this game has a lot of trial and error in it. I’ll also watch that video later. Now I wonder if there’s a tank that’s fast firing and heavy armored? That would sound ideal, because I often miss shots (plz don’t call me a nub) and I need good armor because sometimes I just am not thinking and stand in t middle of nowhere.

Tier 5 American heavy t1

[DeathInTanks]

There's nothing much that hasn't been said that I can say. Go lights if you want some ludicrous speed, but for a beginner, I would recommend going down the Russian heavy line (specifically the kv line, even though I hated the kv2 I know the kv3 and on have absolutely beautiful armor). You play the commie line like try not to show the hull (just because that gives more area to potentially be shot at) but when you do show it, angle it so they can see a small-ish portion of your side to the enemy (see: angling, this it to increase the effective thickness of your armor because the shell would have to go through more armor to reach the insides of your tank, but do not angle it too far or you will make your thinner side armor shown in such a way that you can be penned easily). So, to reiterate: Soviet line is beginner friendly. But, if you want thick armor and good gun get the british tank destroyer line, the AT-2 is what you want exactly.

Edited by DeathInTanks, 13 February 2020 - 01:25 AM.

[superfly29erguy_1]

Ok...ok, the joke is up, I fell for it. Who is really posting for this version of OMK?

Edited by superfly29erguy_1, 13 February 2020 - 02:49 AM.

[ZebraUp]

Here's a suggestion for the original poster...    far more important at this stage of your Blitz career than individual tanks is learning the basics & important stuff. So, in that subject i recommend you watch 2 YouTube video series by 2 of our very own forumers: 

 

How NOT to suck. by Littlefinger

and

Unicum training. by e___18989

 

You will get better much faster and learn more by watching a couple of hours of videos than you will by playing hours and hours everyday for a month!

 

* as for tank selection I suggest as a new player going down the German & Russian heavy tank lines. More armor to protect you when you make dumb newb mistakes (which we all did, and some of us still do lol) and the tanks don't go so fast that you can easily yolo and get yourself in trouble.

Edited by ZebraUp, 13 February 2020 - 12:54 PM.

[Vacazion]

Few tips:

1.  Search the forums.  Dark Magician Girl (“DMG” does great periodic rating of tanks.  
2.  Get to know the basics.  Spotting - you camo is impacted by movement, camo net equipment, hiding behind cover, proximity and shooting. Armor - can your tank “sidescrape.”  Does it have a strong turret and or great gun depression so that it can go “hull down.”  Learn the stats of the tanks you have and the tanks you go against.  You’ll really want to know where to shoot the enemy and how fast an enemy tank can reload and how much damage (“alpha” they can do.  Learn tactics like circle of death “COD” when you are driving a  fast tank against a slow tank.  Learn the differences between the ammo types.  Note you don’t need to use gold to buy premium ammo, there’s a button to click on to use credits.  
3.  Watch YouTube videos on tank reviews, tactics, and map guides.  Positive has a “blitz university” series that teaches you “meta” or the general ways to approach a map.  Little finger, Bushes on Blitz, Meadsy69, Martin Dogger and Tommie Twenty are great YouTube contributors.   
4.  Be patient.  There are a lot of older dudes that play blitz.  We play because finger dexterity, while important, is not as important as knowing the game, knowing the maps, and knowing the tanks.  
5.  Don’t go town.  It’s kind of a joke, but you’ll understand it.

6.  Think about joining a clan that uses discord.  Running around with some experienced players on voice chat will really accelerate your gameplay.

7.  Ignore the hate trolls.

edit:

8.  Don’t forget the high ground Vader.

Edited by Vacazion, 13 February 2020 - 07:06 AM.

[Absolute_Sniper]

Listen to the advice listed above. This is an easy game to play and an extremely difficult one to master. A common mistake many new players make is rushing up the tiers. It’s natural to think, “I’d do better with a higher tier tank.” This is not true. Higher tiers typically have better competition making it harder, not easier. Tiers 1-5 are great for learning the basics and how to play different tank classes. Here is a quick video that will teach you the basic fundamentals for playing your tanks effectively. These skills are crucial to have as you advance beyond tier 5. I would not recommend venturing into tiers 6-10 until you can do these things and do them without even thinking about it. 
 

 

Welcome to the forums and Blitz. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. Most of us here are happy to help. The ones that aren’t will be obvious. Just ignore them. 

[Popcann]

I’ve been playing a few months, most important point mentioned by many is don’t rush up the tiers. Higher tiers tanks are cool, and we all want um, but as said, there hard to play with zip experience. It was my biggest mistake in the game. It’s really no fun getting spanked over and over again. And if your a stat freak, racing up the tiers will destroy your numbers, lol. 
 

rolling out in a KV2 can be loads of fun, that big derpy gun laying waste to your enemies, but if you can only manage 30% win rate, your not helping your team.

 

i play mostly American and German line, american tanks are well rounded machines. M4 Sherman is a good tank, just don’t get hit, peek a boom, or keep er moving. I enjoyed the Tier4 M7, and currently enjoying the T1 heavy, pretty strong tank and angled up will bounce.

 

keep your tank moving, don’t sit still, move from cover to cover, DONT sit out in the open, you get perma Tracked and your wrecked.

 

Another point is, don’t move up in tier till your at least doing 150 hps in damage x your tier, so if your in tier 5 ya want to at least be doing 750 hp of damage per game consistently, some say 200 so 1k damage per game. Others ya have to do at least your HP count per game.

 

ima 40%er, currently around 46%, at first I was 38%, which is pretty bad, but chilled and went back to lower tiers. Find yourself a tank your comfortable in and dominate, hang out in tier4/5 and try different tanks from different lines, see which suits you, it’s much cheaper to bounce around lower tiers and find your fit, then down the road in the higher tiers.

 

good luck it’s a great game

[RonaldusMaximus_]

originalmadkilla, on 12 February 2020 - 06:43 PM, said:

Luckily, I'm an extremely helpful and knowledgable player who tells it like it is.

 

Here is my answer:

 

The reason one friend told you that Shermans are good and another friend told you that Shermans are trash is because there is no one size fits all tank.

 

Both of those players could be correct, and neither is wrong, because they are basing their answers on how they do in that tank and how they like the tank.

 

Different players have different play styles, so it's fully possible for two different players to have different opinions on a certain tank.

 

Some players like to drive lights, some players like mediums, some players like heavies, some like TDs.

 

Here's the deal.

 

If you've only been playing for less than a week, then you obviously have a lot to learn, a whole lot.

 

But the fact that you came to the forum and asked this question after only playing for a week shows that you are smarter than the vast majority of nubs that play this game, so there is hope for you.

 

There is no easy answer or easy solution for you or for anybody else who is a complete beginner. You will simply have to get to know different tanks for yourself, and as you get better you will start to know which tanks you like and what kind of tanks suits your play style and your preferences.

 

And no, Russian tanks are not trash. Some of them are the strongest in their tiers. Don't listen to that friend anymore.

 

Drive what you currently have. Eventually you will buy new tanks. Some of them you will end up liking. Some of them you will not. The only way to know that is to actually drive them for yourself.

 

You have a lot of experimenting to do. There are no easy answers. There are no easy solutions. It will take you a long time before you will become experienced at this game.

 

You will regret some tanks that you buy and you will like others. You will die a lot. You will lose a lot. If you're lucky, you'll kill some enemies along the way too and win sometimes too.

 

The most important component in this game is not the tank, but it is the player. 

 

Good luck.

 

 

Jeezus OMK I think that is the best post I have ever seen from you!

[_Cletus]

RonaldusMaximus_, on 13 February 2020 - 06:25 AM, said:

 

Jeezus OMK I think that is the best post I have ever seen from you!

 

OMK has great potential.

[originalmadkilla]

I apologize for that post. 

 

I must've been in an extra helpful mood yesterday.

 

I was obviously not thinking very clearly and maybe I woke up on the wrong side of the bed yesterday, causing me to act erratically and unlike my usual self.

 

But don't worry, I'll be back to my usual self today I'm sure, and I'll try to ensure that such atrocities wont happen too often in the future. 

 

I have a reputation to maintain.

[_Cletus]

originalmadkilla, on 13 February 2020 - 09:48 AM, said:

I apologize for that post. 

 

I must've been in an extra helpful mood yesterday.

 

I was obviously not thinking very clearly and maybe I woke up on the wrong side of the bed yesterday, causing me to act erratically and unlike my usual self.

 

But don't worry, I'll be back to my usual self today I'm sure, and I'll try to ensure that such atrocities wont happen too often in the future. 

 

I have a reputation to maintain.

 

I dunno OMK.  Life is change, we should embrace it.

[dindincf]

I highly recommend using Tank Compare at Blitzstars: https://tank-compare.blitzstars.com/

 

Blitzhangar also has an armor inspector: https://blitzhangar.com/en

 

Pay attention to the attributes of tanks you are successful in and it will help you learn your strengths and weaknesses.

[superfly29erguy_1]

Absolute_Sniper, on 13 February 2020 - 06:56 AM, said:

Listen to the advice listed above. This is an easy game to play and an extremely difficult one to master. A common mistake many new players make is rushing up the tiers. It’s natural to think, “I’d do better with a higher tier tank.” This is not true. Higher tiers typically have better competition making it harder, not easier. Tiers 1-5 are great for learning the basics and how to play different tank classes. Here is a quick video that will teach you the basic fundamentals for playing your tanks effectively. These skills are crucial to have as you advance beyond tier 5. I would not recommend venturing into tiers 6-10 until you can do these things and do them without even thinking about it. 
 

 

Welcome to the forums and Blitz. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. Most of us here are happy to help. The ones that aren’t will be obvious. Just ignore them. 

So that how you really sound? What nationality is that? ENIAC?

Edited by superfly29erguy_1, 13 February 2020 - 07:56 PM.

[ShootinSabot]

OK did hell just freeze, who saw that flying pig? OMK wrote a thoughtful, intelligent response that should be copied and pasted to every new player. Hang on a sec, I need to get my equilibrium back.