HI everyone, I thought I’d write a short, highly opinionated piece on tanks that I believe are a bit weak, but if you buffed them, they would be quite strong. Most likely too strong. As I said, many of you might disagree with some of these more controversial choices, but here goes anyway.
Glacial 112
I have watched numerous gameplay replays of this tank and have played it myself for hours on end. I have tried countless times to make this Chinese knockoff of an a tier 8 IS tank work, but it is so hard to find success driving this distant cousin of the IS-6. The most popular shortcoming everyone points to is update 3.9, where gold rounds were nerfed across the board in terms of the alpha, but the general DPM of the vehicle is lackluster and the mobility is mediocre. Who knew a near impenetrable front would result in such a poor package? I really wanted to like this tank, because it does have some respectable qualities, but the shortcomings are just too abundant.
T34 (Clown Car included)
Before you rush to defend your T34 from my verbal scrutiny, hear me out. While this vehicle has the standard -10 depression of an American tank, the turret is deceivingly mushy, negating the whole play style. 3 notable weak points exist. The cupola is the most noticeable, and is actually more pronounced on the Independence version of the T34, despite them having the same turret module by name. Second, the cheeks are reliable penetrations, so know that anytime that you are aiming at an enemy in your T34, they can most likely trade with you right back. Third is the mantlet issue. Whether this was by design or not, Bushka highlighted the deceptive nature of American mantlets, showing their susceptibility to high penetration weaponry despite showing red on the hitskin. This has yet to be fixed, given it was not by design. Another note to add about the T34 and its clown car twin, wiggling only makes the cheek weak points more pronounced, so it is not a smart tactic to use. The hull armor for these vehicles is quite bad except for the situations where they are maximizing their gun depression, and despite thick tracks side scraping is not advised as most can still penetrate reliably.
T30
A T34, but more so. This vehicle has all the problems of the previous vehicles listed above, but it now gets an extra problem. Derp factor. Now equipped with a 155mm gun, this vehicle is increasingly prone to miss key shots. Things may have gotten better with the introduction of vertical stabilizers to this vehicle, but it’s flexibility is limited even though it is a turretless TD because of the inability to engage targets effectively at long range and short range.
T43
I can’t believe i’m advocating that Russian mediums are becoming obsolete, but the T43 has difficulty performing adequately. In a 1v1, this tank is the bee’s knees, but in a 7v7, there are much better team play options. Tanks like the Comet and T6 Dracula are notable competitors to the 43 that have power-crept it into oblivion. In lower tier matches it is quite the respectable tank, however in higher tiers it struggles. A lot.
IS8
Every mobile heavy tank with acceptable handling deserves a look, but the IS8 still does not make the grade in terms of performance. The only remarkable thing about this vehicle is the troll side armor, which is most likely a flaw with the collision model that should have been fixed along with the IS-7’s collision model in update 3.10. Otherwise, I’d rather just drive a medium tank. Terrible camo and mediocre gun depression for it’s size make this tank difficult to succeed in. Horrid front armor automatically places this tank in the medium bully category, but at that point why not just drive an E50 or a T-54? Or if you are into heavies, why not an M103, that can also adequately play a heavy role on the field?
For you, what tanks do not cut it? Tanks that are on the brink of being great vehicles, but something holds it back?
DMG
Edited by Dark_Magician_Girl, 02 August 2017 - 05:04 AM.