So there is a class of tanks I have a bit of a soft spot for; the 105 mm tier VIII premium Heavy tank. I’ve been a Löwe driver for years, and before I was, I aspired to be one.
That had a lot to do with Löwe mystique and not so much with playstyle, but today I feel differently. The AMX M4 49 or E 75 TS are worthy competitors to the venerable Löwe, and getting your first credit grinder I really don’t think you can go wrong with either one of them.
Still, even though I really like it, I haven’t actually bought an E 75 TS. I’m haven’t been sure it would add that much to my collection except the looks.
Now, it turns out I may not have to pay for it at all.
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Starting Friday, you can grind out a free E 75 TS. Yes, you heard me – this is a straight grind event. You collect tank parts for every mastery badge class M, I, II or III you recieve, and you need 415 of them to get a free tank. That means if you play really well, you can grind it out in fairly short order, and if you don’t, you can still get one only it will take longer. The event runs from Sep 25 through Oct 6, and there is also the option to pay your way, of course.
I think that’s great. A free tank from a straight grind, and it’s a worthy prize too. I’m going to try to get one myself, and by the looks of it, that shouldn’t be impossible.
Since you get more tank parts for higher class mastery badges, there are a few things you can do, like play Supremacy and make sure you cap bases to get more XP, drive tanks not a lot of people drive, or tanks you know how to play really well. You get two parts for class 3 masteries, 3 parts for class 2, 4 parts for a class 1, and 5 parts for the golden M. That’s all there is to it.
Not the tank parts are delivered directly to your storage, there is no event ladder or anything like that.
But what is the prize tank all about? And is it worth grinding over 200 class 3 mastey badges to get it?
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The E 75 TS is not an actual E 75 at tier VIII, but it’s close enough. It has thicker armour than a Löwe but not quite the front plate of an AMX M4 49, but because of the angling, the upper plate of the Baby E 75 is much stronger than the M4 49 on flat ground. Overall, I would say it’s the most well armoured of the three.
Outside of your 120 mm upper sides, there are two massive sideskirts, and angling up you’ll easily present over 400 mm of effective, spaced armour. The turret front is 235 mm, but that’s the end of the good news, because it’s almost entirely flat, and you’ll clear up the turret sides long before you angle it enough to bounce. All in all the Baby E 75 has a formidable armour profile, especially considering it has 10 degrees of gun depression.
Your main armament is the stock L/52 off the Tiger II with a few upgrades; it reloads faster, aims faster, and has better accuracy. It’s also more stable on the move. The Löwe is even more accurate and has better penetration, but lower DPM. Löwe also has much higher shell speed.
The E 75 TS in turn has a higher top speed than the Löwe, and so it should be faster. But the Löwe has better hull traverse, so the difference isn’t all that noticeable.
Oh, and the Löwe is still the Bank of Deutschland with a 10% higher credit coefficient.
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Fine. But any tier VIII premium tank that isn’t completely worthless is a good deal if you get it for free, even if it takes you a few hundred games to do it. Why should you care about this one in particular?
Well, it’s not that the Baby E 75 isn’t useless, it is in fact a competitive tank. Unless you have something specifically against it, you’ll be glad to have one. And everyone needs a bit of 105 mm iron in their collection; no matter who you are, the E 75 TS has things to teach you. I’m excited to see it as a prize, not so much because I want one myself, but because I like the tank a lot, and I think it deserves to be driven.
I am not in the least concerned about flooding tier VIII with the Baby E 75, because it’s not a tier VIII Smasher. It’s just an ersatz Löwe, and no one is concerned about the Löwe affecting game balance, are they? And you know how tier VIII premiums are. They are seldom infinitely fascinating, and tend to lose a bit of their new tank smell after a while.
But the Baby E 75 is a workhorse; a very German drive with all the characteristics we associate with German tanks including a weak lower plate, although it has to be said 170 mm effective on flat ground isn’t all that weak.
A robust tank, then. It’s almost like driving a SuperHeavy, only not quite as sluggish. A German weapon, meaning accurate and dependabe. And you have both gun depression and sturdy armour plating to help you mitigate incoming damage.
There really is a lot to like about the E 75 TS.
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Actually driving the E 75 revolves around getting the most out of your armour profile, and after spending the day on the press account, I can tell you that’s not all that difficult. The tank is a formidable side scraper, a competent brawler, and it can tank all kinds of damage; it really has everything it needs to do Heavy tank jobs.
The 105 mm is an excellent weapon. It puts the shells where they need to go, and I don’t actually use a lot of APCR. I’ve found it hits a lot of snap shots on the move too.
Not that it moves all that fast, but if you keep it moving, you can really go places. It reminds me of nothing so much as the D.W. 2; the little tier IV trooper, clattering forward with an authority that belies its diminutive stature. The Baby E 75 doesn’t have that problem, it’s a huge slab of German metal, and it definitely looks the part.
The drive is however more reminiscent of other German SuperHeavys. It’s all about the angles; even angling up on flat ground can get you a few bounces. At a mere 15 degrees your lower plate is fast approaching 200 mm effective, your side is around 400 mm, upper plate over 300 mm, and the turret front 235 mm as usual. That means a same tier Heavy tank will really only go through the lower plate. If they switch to premium rounds they will go through the turret face, but you still have more than 50% armour coverage.
At a 20 degree side angle, both the turret face and turret side are around 250 mm. That’s not enough to stop a Heavy tank premium round. What you can do is angle the turret outwards when side scraping, just like you would in an M6A2E1 or EXP. Otherwise the angling is easy to learn.
In a favourable matchup, you can push forward and be a real bully. That’s what the E 75 TS does best. In a less favourable one you can still be a hard nut to crack for the enemy team, but watch out for tanks with high penetration. Nothing about the tank is complicated, and if you’ve driven a Löwe, Tiger II, or M4 49, you basically already know how to drive it.
Incidentally, I checked my last 10 games to see what sort of progress I would have been doing, and counted 3 class 3 and one class 1 Masteries, so 10 tank parts that would have been. I would have to drive a little over 400 games to get a free tank at this rate, that’s tough, but no worse than grinding out a tier X tank.
If you were to grind out a new E 75 TS in your existing E 75 TS, you will get 1.5 million credits as compensation.
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Spending the day with the E 75 TS has been great, and I really want one for myself. I’ve been running about a 60% winrate, and have no complaints at all about the vehicle; on the contrary this is a very likeable tank.
I therefore offer my heartfelt recommendation you go out and try to grind yourself one; not because it’s a free tank, but because it’s a good tank. If you are tired of your aging IS spam, this is just the ticket. If you don’t have any IS spam, you could get some German iron instead. And if you have been eyeing the Baby E 75 like I have, this is the perfect opportunity to pick one up for free, or at least at a discount.
I would say this tank is worth paying regular tier VIII prices for, anything less than that is a good deal.
But getting it for free is of course always both cheaper and more satisfying, and I will be making an honest attempt. I have a few tanks you don’t see a lot out there, I don’t have any other projects going on, and I like Supremacy.
Let’s do the math. If you get all Masteries, you only need 83 games. If you can get first classes, you need 105 games, and then 139 or 208 for classes 2 and 3 respectively. If you only manage third classes, you need to get 19 of them every day during the event, and then multiply that with how often you get one. One every three games, that’s 57 battles a day.
Wargaming weren’t joking when they said this was a skill based event. It does look like quite a task, and I actually don’t know how often I get various kinds of masteries, because you only really notice the M and 1 class. That’s one of the reasons I want to do the event myself; to see how I measure up. My previous calculation comes out to around 40 games per day.
So:
Is the E 75 TS worth is? Yes, most definitely.
Should you try to get one? Yes, absolutely.
And is it even possible to get one for free? Yes, it’s possible. This is a skill based event, and you may have to no-life it for a few hundred games in order to do it, but it can be done.
So there was a time when I truly believed there would never ever be a Russian Heavy tank in my garage. In fact now that I think about it there still isn’t; my IS spam tank is Chinese.
But I did get one. IS spam is as much a fact of life as Russian bias. And I have to say I enjoy having the option to grind credits at tier VIII in all vehicle classes.
And it’s not like I hate Russian Heavy tanks anymore. The IS-5 made me a believer all those years ago, and I still think it’s great you can grind your way to getting it for a pittance of gold. It’s still my IS-spam benchmark.
But the real reason the IS-5 is the best is that it’s the cheapest. You just can’t argue with the price. But if you want the best meaning the most powerful, then you’re going to have to pay a little more.
8500 they want for a plain jane Object 252u with no air conditioning and the bench seat interior. You have to call that competitive. But what exactly is it you are getting for more than five times the gold?
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The 252u is essentially an IS-6 variant, only you wouldn’t think so because the front plate is different. The gun is also different; this is the most powerful 122 mm at tier VIII, and you have more modern, wedge shaped spaced armour along the sides instead of side skirts.
Otherwise, this is a big tank. It looks low and wide because of the flat turret, but it’s the same size as an IS-5 or 6. Because Russia, the 252u has an armour profile that would have been good if it relied on autobounces, but thick enough armour that it doesn’t have to. The armour is one reason this is the best.
Just like the IS-7, one of the tradeoffs of having the bigger gun is you get APCR instead of HEAT. Standard penetration is however excellent, and with the higher alpha, you will consistently put out more damage for the same amount of shots. The reload is about the same as other 122 mm weapons, and with the formidable armour, you can also mitigate incoming damage really well, so another reason this is the best is it makes better trades.
Even if you get the cheaper bundle, you should definitely get all nine slots for your 252u. This tank positively oozes Russian bias, and every little upgrade you can pile on it will make a difference when making those trades.
Six degrees of gun depression is what you’d expect, and the mobility is comparable to other IS spam, meaning good for such a well armoured tank. The turret hatches can be penetrated by a tier VII Medium, but they’re not exactly prominent, and the roof is thick enough it won’t get overmatched by any gun it will face. On flat ground you are presenting between 250 and 400 mm of armour everywhere except the lower plate, which is the only meaningful weakspot.
You can get hit through the turret ring, or the area around the driver, and of course a pike nose flattens out when you angle it. But those upper plates are 130 mm, that’s 10 mm thicker than an IS-8.
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The only thing that’s holding the 252u back is speed, and so I run my speed boost as usual. No calibrated shells, although there is an argument for doing so. First of all if you can control your engagements by tanking damage, even a 5% increase in standard penetration may be worth it for more consistent penetration. And even though your HE shell doesn’t do more damage, i has higher penetration than a regular D-25, so a 10% increase on that is definitely worth it.
The gun handling is atrocious, naturally. It’s actually worse than an IS-5. But with all that armour, it’s not like you have to sit at the back and snipe. It’s more of a shoot from the hip kind of weapon, and I run both Vstab and GLD.
Durability being a main asset of Heavy tanks, I run the extra hitpoints. Double repair kits, double rations and super fuel.
30 rounds capacity isn’t massive; I run a 19/7/3 loadout.
So what’s it like to drive?
It’s much like any other IS spam. The fact you can rely on your armour in most situations, and the satisfying alpha strike makes it a little more comfortable than others, perhaps. The thing is, you don’t really have to drive the 252u very well at all, and you can still be fairly effective. You can basically just drive forwards and power through a lot of situations, or the enemy will concentrate their forces on taking you down, giving the rest of your team free reign.
Let’s not beat around the bush; the 252u is fun to drive because it’s strong. It’s not one of those underdog tanks you hear about. It really doesn’t take any finesse at all to drive it, and only about half a brain; the thing basically has training wheels it’s so noob friendly.
And the Bias? Oh yeah, lots of it. Even moving at full speed, the shells tend to go towards the middle of the bouncing circle, and you sometimes get away with the most mindless yolo manoeuvre getting several once in a lifetime bounces in a row.
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So it’s powerful, it’s easy to drive, and accessible to almost any driver. Should you get one?
I’m going to start by reiterating that if you have one or two IS spam tanks already, you really don’t need any more. That said, one may still fit you better than another.
If you are a newer player, then yes: this is the best of the bunch. The pick of the litter. The king of IS spam. If you have been thinking about getting one of those Russian credit grinders, then this would be a good opportunity. You can get the cheaper bundle and the tank will pay for its own equipment in short order.
If you have enough experience to be driving difficult tanks, then driving an easy one will of course make you perform better. The Object 252u is still fairly slow, the gun is derpy, and if that bothers you about IS tanks, then this is no upgrade. But it does have better armour and it hits harder than almost anything else out there, and you will notice the difference in results.
Me, I’m not getting one; I just like to drive it on the press account once in a while to see if it’s still the best, and so far it always has been. Among the dozen or so of IS spam tanks available, one has to be the best, and until something radical happens, it’s this one. But for me, having an IS spam tank isn’t all that important, and I’m quite happy with my WZ-111.
If you are looking for a cheap credit grinder, then the IS-5 is still the best bargain out there.
But if you are looking for the most powerful, it’s the Object 252u. Hail to the king, baby.
So from today you’ll be able to pick up quite an interesting vehicle from the shop, and even though this is a brand new premium tank, it’s a straight up bundle.
We are talking about the T26E3 “Eagle 7”, which is known for taking part in a famous tank duel during the battle for Cologne in 1945, knocking out a Panther and having the whole thing caught on camera.
A historical vehicle, in other words. The T26E3 is the production model, later designated the M26 Pershing, so this is a “ProtoPershing” you might say. In Blitz terms, it’s a 90 mm hull down Medium tank at tier VII.
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American Medium tanks are known for being jacks of all trades, and I don’t thing there’s a single one of them that stands out from that. This one certainly doesn’t.
You get virtually the exact same 90 mm M3 as the M26 Pershing has, but where 160 mm of pen is lacklustre at tier VIII, it’s perfectly fine at tier VII. Overall, the gun stats are actually slightly superior on the Eagle 7.
The armour doesn’t look all that impressive on paper; 76 mm sides and 102 mm upper plate and turret front, and of course your rear is weak like on all American tanks. But you do get a sturdy gun mantlet that covers a lot of the turret front, presenting upwards of 300 mm in most places.
Curiously, the T26E3 gets two types of AP rounds instead of APCR or HEAT, meaning you’ll have better normalisation and the same shell speed. But the penetration is only 202 mm, so the best you’ll ever do is 212 mm with calibrated shells on your premium rounds. That’s a standard round from a French 90 mm.
With everything maxed out, I get about a 6.4 second reload, and the Eagle 7 also gets the improved speed boost, which certainly livens it up a little.
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But what is it like to drive?
Well, it’s not unlike a Pershing, of course. It’s a very generic Medium tank except it has a 90 mm gun at tier VII and a fancy consumable.
And really, I think the game has moved away a little from this type of vehicle. I would have loved this tank in 2015. But in 2020? I’m not so sure.
It looks great, and the drive isn’t bad at all. The improved speed boost certainly makes a difference; you get to first position quickly, and with ten degrees of gun depression you should be able to do some hull down work when you get there. But having a 90 mm at tier VII isn’t all that anymore, you can get one at tier VI now. And the influx of more and more powerful vehicles with bigger and bigger guns I feel has kind of left the Eagle 7 in the dust before it even got here. I mean, why would you drive a 90 mm Medium tank when you can drive a 1000 damage Heavy tank at the same tier instead? What is the rationale for a Medium in a world of Smashers?
So it’s fair to say I have a few misgivings as I roll out in the press account Eagle 7. The tank drives well; very reminiscent of other US tanks of the same tribe, and I don’t have a lot of problems landing shots and doing damage.
After about a dozen games, I take a break with mixed feelings. I like the Eagle 7, I really do. It’s a nice little tank, it goes hull down and bounces off the gun mantlet, and the intermittent bursts of speed make it more versatile. But there’s no question it feels a little out of meta, and I wouldn’t say I’m looking to buy one.
I don’t believe it will end up being all that popular either. Unless you are a tank collector, a history buff, or you like US Medium tanks for some reason, I didn’t really feel there was a whole lot to recommend it. You want to drive a 90 mm at tier VII? Just grind the T20, the P.43 ter, or why not the AMX M4 45. You want to drive an American Medium? Get the Pershing, or SuperPershing if you want to make credits.
So yeah. A tad underwhelming, that’s my initial impression of the Eagle 7. And it’s a bit of a shame too, because I think the tank deserves better.
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In fairness, the general state of tier VII is not the fault of the T26E3, nor are things like the hated Smasher particular to this one tank. You have no idea how much I love my old Panther/M10, but I wouldn’t say it has a lot to recommend it these days either. Same with the the T23E3. It’s not like I drive the Cosplay Panther a lot. I love it, but I don’t drive it.
But then you have to consider things like the Type 62. I always made fun of people who said it was overpowered because of the high HEAT penetration, but I agree the tank does work really well. It may in fact be the best and most worthwhile premium tank in the game, I drove it just the other day.
So the Hype 62 proves playing tier VII isn’t hopeless; it’s just frustrating. It’s not broken. There are still possibilities. There is hope.
And with this happy thought in my head, I gave the new Eagle 7 another go. Ended up on Vineyards, it’s a tier VI game, and we don’t necessarily have a Medium advantage.
But I have a 19 second speed boost that makes my tank faster, so I call out “B”, meaning I’ll go spot the middle from the Encounter cap area. Our BP44 answers affirmative, and when I type to ask that someone grab A, an MT-25 actually goes there.
I didn’t know it at the time, but these are both 42% players.
I get some spots, and the red team starts taking hits. But the BP44 charges over the road beside me, heading straight for B cap, and I think I better go help so it doesn’t end in disaster, because there are like three TDs on the shelf behind the cap.
But I mean, the BP44 is a strong tank. You shove that frontal armour at someone, and they’re going to struggle with it. We quickly clear the cap, and I try to shield the BP44 while it turns around, after which we basically charge their campers, keep them spotted, flank around, and clean them up:
That’s a good game. Sure, it’s top tier, but it still counts. That BP44 clan tag didn’t say “R2K”, it said “R2R”, and as I mentioned neither that driver or the MT-25 were super unicorns. But they did their job, stuck with the plan, and working together we came out on top.
It makes me happy when things come together like that. And having a game like this may not tell us a lot about the Eagle 7 in particular, but it did make me feel a little better about its chances out there in the wild.
Because this is not a bad tank at all. A 90 mm at tier VII may not be impressive, but it’s definitely effective. A tier VII premium Medium may not in itself be something new, but this one is new, and it has all the latest gadgets factory installed.
IF you are going to be driving a Medium tank at tier VII, there are definitely worse options out there than the T26E3.
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So is that an endorsement?
Yes; of sorts. I just don’t want anyone to get their hopes up that this will be anything other than a fairly standard jack-of-all-trades Medium tank. It’s not as pushy as a SuperPershing. It’s not as skittish as a T23E3. But it does have a lot in common with those tanks, not least the accessible playstyle and comfortable drive.
Before I forget; yea, it makes credits. No complaints there.
You will struggle a little against tier VIII opponents, but what else is new. I’m sure if you’re looking to buy a tier VII premium tank, you realise that.
It would have been great if we had seen the Eagle 7 introduced a few years ago when the game meta was different. But maybe that’s being reactionary; did I not just write this tank is the newest thing? Perhaps I should be looking forwards instead.
I think that for precisely the right driver, this tank will turn out to be a real gem. If you like tanks like the Comet or the T23E3, then give this one a look. It’s the same deal only upgunned to a 90 mm. If you think the Eagle 7 looks really cool, and you don’t mind playing second line, then likewise give it a look. Also perhaps if you just love an underdog tank, or you like playing with the odds stacked against you. For everyone else, my guess is this tank will be forgettable.
But it’s like this: the fact that the golden age of Mediums has passed doesn’t mean Medium tanks have now become useless. In a way they are more important now, because they still have capabilities other tank classes don’t and if you manage to put those capabilities into play, you’ll have given your team a great advantage.
Naturally, you don’t need specifically the Eagle 7 to do that. But it is a nice tank, and it’s capable. It’s new, it’s shiny, and if you are reading this, I probably forgot to update the text with the actual prices.
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The great thing about having access to new tanks a little early is you have time for reflection, and on reflection, I realise I’ve already been told the price; it’s 10.000 gold.
That’s not cheap, but then the tank is brand new. As long as you understand you are paying for novelty rather than outright strength, it’s nota bad a price.
I woke up Saturday morning thinking I’m liking the Eagle 7 more than I expected. Drove a couple of games with mixed results, but the tank does show promise. It’s definitely growing on me a little.
For executing the classic hull down Medium playstyle, the T26E3 has everything it needs. In fact it has more; a higher alpha strike and a special consumable. To compensate, you have a lower top speed, low DPM, and mediocre armour plating; you’re not going to be fighting tier VIII Heavy tanks frontally. The more I think about it, it’s like the Eagle 7 represents an updated style of Medium tank, with some carefully balanced strengths to face new challenges.
That may sound a little bit like sugar coating, but the T26E3 really is a likeable tank. It doesn’t feel like driving a tired, generic old Medium, it feels like driving something new and fresh; a contemporary interpretation of classic design philosophy.
I am viewing the Eagle 7 in a favourable light, but I am not I think overstating its potential. It’s easy to learn how to drive it, because it pretty much relies on two simple gimmicks that you want to get the most out of: making good trades with your higher alpha, and maximising mobility with the speed boost.
That’s me driving the Eagle 7 with my usual setup, but there are other options available. You can boost the shell speed to 1100 m/s and get your accuracy down to just a hair over 0.3, which should make long range fire support easier. My only problem with that is it makes the tank more specialised and dependent on circumstance; this being a jack of all trades after all.
But yeah, I would definitely trade my old T23E3 for the new T26E3 given the chance. I have to give it the tank philosophy seal of approval.
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So if you do end up with a new Eagle 7 in your garage, here are a few thoughts on setup.
I think the armour is either too thin or too thick for the armour upgrade to be relevant, so I run the extra hitpoints. Speaking of armour, my driver and gunner tend to get knocked out, so you might consider running an extra medkit.
Do run the improved speed boost; I know it’s expensive, but it offers an important advantage, and it is one of the main selling points of this tank.
You get a massive shell capacity, so you don’t have to worry a lot about your ammo loadout. Do remember you have a slightly higher alpha than other Medium tanks, so pack a few HE shells. You have low DPM for a tier VII Medium already, so I run the gun rammer, and aim assists like the Vstab since the gun handling is already good.
Engine power versus traverse I think is a toss up, let your preferred playstyle guide you. But if you run the speed boost like you should be doing, boosting the engine power a little does make sense.
Use your speed to get into position quickly, but don’t get ahead of yourself. With well under seven seconds of reload and a gun mantlet you can hold a position, but your armour isn’t that great, so make sure you don’t get caught out or flanked. Also use the boost when brawling and when trading shots, but make sure you don’t blow it just before you need it to make a quick getaway.
Otherwise, this is your standard fire support Medium. You gauge your level of aggression against the team setup, you don’t fight tougher tanks frontally, move away from bad engagements, and make good trades to build your damage.
Perhaps I’m not being completely fair saying the Eagle 7 is out of meta. Medium tanks are still relevant, and on reflection, this one is actually really well suited to the current game environment.
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After a few dozen games, I have become convinced the Eagle 7 is a sound design. It’s not unlike a “Rudy” or Type 62; just a basic, workhorse beater built for daily driving. And viewed from that perspective, the capabilities start looking better and better. If the Eagle 7 strikes you as unimpressive, maybe that’s because it wasn’t intended to impress, but simply to do everyday jobs a little bit more efficiently.
And I like that. It’s a careful act of balancing, and it works really well. The intermittent boosts of speed give the Eagle 7 a slightly different feel, and we know from the Black Dog and the Progetto 46 that small differences in alpha damage have a greater impact than you might think.
I’ve mentioned two existing US premium Mediums already; the T23E3 and the T26E4 SuperPershing, and the Eagle 7 fits in neatly somewhere between them. It’s a little more robust than the T23E3 and has a 90 mm, and it’s faster than a SuperPershing but doesn’t quite have the armour.
Compared to both of those, the Eagle 7 feels more modern. The T23 is perhaps the closest comparison; it’s faster and has over 800 more DPM, but has less armour, and needs to stay more exposed to do damage. The main difference between them isn’t capability so much as playstyle, and for me, I think the Eagle 7 would be a better fit.
But what about the future? Will the T26E3 have lasting appeal?
I think it might. You don’t need extravagance for that, all you need is comfort and utility. Perhaps the Eagle 7 is the T-34-85 “Rudy” of today? That’s a bold prediction, but I have been genuinely impressed with the tank.
Not everyone will agree. The Eagle 7 may not be your style, and when I say I think the tank may prove to have lasting appeal, that doesn’t mean I think it will appeal to everyone.
But if you think it looks interesting, I have to take back what I said about there not being a lot to recommend it; in fact there are several things to like about it. If you don’t mind paying a little extra because it’s new, I have no problems endorsing it.
So if you decide to pull the trigger, I want to wish you the best of luck with your new Eagle 7, and if you don’t then the best of luck taking them down in the field.
Oh, and speaking of taking one down, there is one more thing you should know. The lower plate on the T26E3 is 76 mm. But on either side, there are moldings covering I suppose parts of the transmission, and where the lower plate angles back maybe 50 degrees, the rounded shape of these covers means they flatten out the armour, and you are only showing something like 80 mm effective armour in those two spots. They’re not huge targets, but it does mean you could take a high penetration HE shot for full damage from the front.
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With one more day before release, I thought I’d try to focus on some negatives. Yes, the tank is better than I thought it would be, but remember my expectations weren’t very high to begin with.
First of all, it’s kind of expensive for tier VII. You could get a tier VIII tank for the same price, so the Eagle 7 will become more and more attractive as the price starts dropping.
Second, my first game today I drove straight into two P.44 Panteras and got Deleted with a capital D, reminding me that this is still a tier VII Medium tank, and it’s not nearly overpowered. The strength of the Eagle 7 is versatility, not brute force, and it’s not going to give you a lot of things for free. It’s one thing to pay tier VIII prices for a confirmed powerhouse, but in the grand scope of things, this tank isn’t all that powerful. I’d rather call it effective, meaning it’s strength relies on you doing something right in the first place.
Taking big hits really is the worst, and if that bothers you a lot then perhaps look elsewhere. The Eagle 7 is riddled with weakspots, the turret roof is 25 mm and will get overmatched, the front plate only works when angled and it’s not very steep; the only piece of armour that’s really solid is the gun mantlet. In addition this is originally a tier VIII chassis, so it’s a big target.
I’ve made a big point about the improved speed boost, and that is a key asset. But it’s important to understand it doesn’t really add power to the tank so much as bring it into balance. Without it, the Eagle 7 would be truly mediocre.
The penetration values do become a problem at tier VIII. Facing something like a Tiger II from the front, you’re just not going to go through. There is no way. You can’t just switch to the gold rounds and solve the problem, you need to get a different angle.
This ties in to another issue. Being a support vehicle means you rely on what the rest of your team does. Unless you are top tier in a favourable matchup, there isn’t always a lot you can do when things start going south. That’s when stuff like low DPM, low penetration, and mediocre armour plating will start becoming more noticeable.
In the end, the T26E3 is just a tier VII Medium, no matter how historically authentic and in tune with the demands of todays battlefield meta it may be. And however charming, that is still the charm of a small town girl next door; not an international fashion model.
But that is also the reason I have some hope the Eagle 7 may turn out to be a diamond in the rough in the end. I don’t think it’s a tank you fall for, I think it’s a tank that grows on you over time. In my experience, the latter bond is also the stronger one.
*
It is now mere hours until the T26E3 Eagle 7 drops, and I am taking it out for a few last games.
After six pages, where does this all leave us? Should you buy the Eagle 7 or not?
If you know the original and you collect tanks, then sure. It does everything it’s supposed to. If you are a new player looking for your first premium tank, I think you could find something a lot cheaper to cut your teeth on.
That said, within its limitations the Eagle 7 is a quite powerful vehicle. It’s easy to learn, easy to get along with, and once you know a few tricks, you should be able to be quite effective. If you like Medium tanks, and you grind credits at middle tiers, this tank may be worth a look for you. It doesn’t look like much, but it’s definitely capable.
If you are a jet setting super unicorn looking for the latest thing, then this tank may be slightly underwhelming for you. The Eagle 7 is not a fire breathing dragon; I would say it’s barely a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
Look, it’s a nice tank. I put more than 50 games on it over the weekend, and I like it better now than when I started. I’m maintaining around a 60% winrate with 1200 average damage, which is about what I do in my Dracula, Rudy, or Type 62, so quite obviously there’s nothing wrong with the tank in terms of performance.
But is it going to be worth a fair amount of gold? IrmaBecx says definitely maybe.
So I’ve been talking about Heavy tanks quite a bit of late. The IS-7, the IS-4, and the WZ-113.
If you’ve been here before, I am sure you know my feelings about them. I wrote about all three a while back in relation to the WZ-111 5A.
My top tier Heavy tank of choice was always the WZ-113; that’s the first one I felt would be right for me. But I felt the same attachment to the 111 5A, especially since the WZ-111 is my IS spam of choice, and the WZ-111 1-4 is one of my favourite tanks in the game.
It’s not super popular, the 113, but it does have its proponents: Not least in tournaments on account of the DPM and straight line speed. I always liked it because it’s really not very complicated, it’s a comfortable drive, and it does what it’s supposed to.
The question, then, is how does my old 113 compare to my new 111 5A.
Or is it? I said in my 5A review that none of these tanks is really any better than the others. Small differences, I wrote. Tradeoffs back and forth. I also wrote I always wanted the 111 5A, but that I don’t actually need it. Certainly it’s an extravagance of the highest order. There is no teleological justification for choosing the 5A; meaning it serves no actual purpose.
I chose the 5A because I want the 5A.
And as justifications go that could be quite sufficient, frivolous as it may be.
*
The 113 has more than 800 DPM over the 113, better aimtime, better dispersion, and since it’s five tons lighter, also better specific power. In return the 111 5A get a 130 mm gun with one more degree of gun depression, a little better traverse, slightly thicker armour, and a Chinese pike nose.
Small differences.
If you think that sounds underwhelming, then I suppose you’re right. But it’s also in line with my expectations; I also chose the 5A because it’s really nothing special, and I chose it because I know it already. All I want is a 130 mm and a Chinese pike nose.
So the 5A is not some kind of monster. It’s a perfectly reasonable tank, that’s all. A big, brawly, Chinese bruiser.
I drive a couple of games in the 113, and I remember why I like it so much. The straight line speed. The firepower. The sturdy wok pan turret. Then I drive a couple of games in the 5A, and I like it too. The higher alpha. The forward mounted turret and gun depression. It does much the same jobs, only it does them a little differently.
It’s like with the IS spam tanks. On the one hand, if you have one IS spam tank you don’t really need another. But the fact there is like a dozen of them to choose from now, also means that one of them is likely to be a better fit for you than all the others.
A lot of what makes me like the WZ-111 5A has to do with similarities rather than differences. I don’t like it because it’s faster than an IS-4. I don’t like it because it has more gun depression than an IS-7. I don’t like it because it has higher alpha than a WZ-113. I like it because it reminds me of those others; it’s the same style of tank.
It’s just that this particular expression of that style seems to be the best fit for me.
And it is the best fit. The 5A was the one I really wanted to come to Blitz, and although I ended up a huge fan of the 113, the 5A would have been my first choice. When it finally came along, I felt a kind of relief because now I could finally hope to have both one day.
I will say there is a bit of mythology involved also. The 5A is a legend on PC, and a tier X premium does of course carry a certain prestige, even a blue one.
*
I’ve been talking to people about big guns too lately, and I was never really a massive fan of those. But I do enjoy a 130 mm gun, because it’s a little bit bigger while still being perfectly reasonable; it provides a bit of variety. I also think running a 130 mm is good for my playstyle, because the longer reload forces me to slow down my gameplay, and I end up making better trades.
The 113 has a much shorter reload and 420 alpha. You may not think the latter makes a lot of difference, but it does. Your damage rolls are more often comfortably over 400, making the damage output more reliable. As 122 mm guns go, this could be a candidate for the best in the game. The only real competitor would be the Russian M62 C2 or T2 off the IS-4 or SU-122-54; they have a touch higher penetration, but the Chinese gun is more accurate.
460 alpha on the 5A may not sound like a huge increase either, but again it does make a difference. And there aren’t that many other 130 mm guns in the game.
But the point here is still about similarities. I’ve heard people initially say they think the 111-5A is boring because it’s just not that different, only to find themselves having been won over by the comfort and familiarity of the drive. It’s not about precisely how the 5A differs from the 113 or the IS-7, but about the fact that it doesn’t differ all that much.
Everything about the WZ-111 5A is just… nice.
That is perhaps not a very philosophical conclusion, but it is the simplest one, and I feel also the most truthful. “Nice” may sound like “average” in your head, and there is some truth to that. But everything about something being average means nothing about it is downright bad. Therefore, the word isn’t so much “average” as “balanced”.
Everything about the WZ-111 5A is inbalance.
So what’s special about it is there’s nothing special about it. Incidentally, that’s the same thing I wrote about the WZ-113 when I first drove it; the fact that is’s such a basic Heavy tank is actually a pretty rare thing, and driving such a basic vehicle accentuates the Heavy tank playstyle and the Heavy tank role.
Driving Heavy tanks isn’t facile or uninteresting; there’s a lot more to it that just rolling forward and tanking damage. I used to think Heavy tanks were for beginners, and sure; new players often do better in Heavy tanks. But I’ve found that doesn’t mean they won’t have anything to offer once you start finding your feet as a tank driver; quite the contrary. The more you play, the more you learn from driving different vehicle classes, and the better you can apply knowledge from one class to another.
I drive a few more games in my old 113 and my new 5A, and the question of comparison feels less and less relevant. Other than the main armament and the armour layout, they’re practically the same tank.
And in the end that is precisely what I enjoy about them.
*
I’ve been working on this paper for over nine weeks now, and it’s been slow going. Partly because I feel like I’m writing a bit of a puff piece, and partly because I have come to feel the 5A versus 113 comparison is missing the point.
My friend Xeno said these tanks all have a bit of Medium tank DNA, and someone else said they are the perfect crossover vehicles for Medium drivers looking to get into Heavy tanks. But any of the tanks mentioned so far can accomplish that; it still doesn’t say a lot about the 5A specifically.
And so I am starting to suspect the reason I prefer the 5A has more to do with base Elitism than anything else; that I like the 5A because it’s a blue tank at tier X. Not because it has a 130 mm or a Chinese pike nose, but because it’s such an obvious extravagance; a tank I don’t need but drive anyway, and enjoy driving precisely because I don’t actually need it?
You can do all the bench racing you want, and that still won’t explain the deep and lasting connection I’ve made to my 111 5A. It’s not about numbers or capabilities; it’s about feeling, and enjoyment, and philosophy.
*
So is there any sense to be made from these ramblings?
Well, there is the idea that no one actually needs a tier X collectible tank. I think that’s a fair point, and it means you have to justify to yourself why you want one anyway. As pointed out initially, that justification doesn’t have to be very complicated.
If you do choose to get one, you are likely not actually gaining a lot in terms of performance, but you are also not risking anything. If you know how to drive a tier X Heavy tank, you won’t have any problems adapting to the 111 5A.
But that also touches on a different point, which is that the best customer for a tier X collectible Heavy tank is someone who drives tier X Heavy tanks already. The reason is that those players will be in a better position to understand and appreciate subtle differences in playstyle engendered by small tradeoffs.
In that sense, the WZ-111 5A is; again, a perfectly reasonable proposition. If you’ve been driving your old IS-7 for years, you can get a Chinese version to change things up a little. If you like the WZ-113, the 5A is going to be same-same-but-different.
What I wouldn’t recommend is for newer players to pay their way into tier X by getting a top tier premium or collectible. It’s your money, and I’m not going to stop you, but I do think it’s kind of a waste, because grinding out your first tier X tank is a process of learning, exploration, and accomplishment, and I don’t think you should deny yourself that.
Also; if it’s not apparent by now, the 111 5A is a really good fit for me. That’s not surprising since I already like tanks of this style, and it doesn’t mean it’s going to be a good fit for anyone else.
I still think the 5A should have been a tech tree tank. It would have made the Chinese tech tree a lot more interesting to have two top tier Heavy tanks to choose from.
As it is, the only conclusion I can draw for myself is I am much happier having both to complement each other than I would be with either one on its own.
*
So if you are curious about the WZ-111 5A, the best thing you can do is grind out the WZ-113, or the IS-7, or the IS-4, and see what you think about it. If you enjoy their playstyle, and you like driving Heavy tanks at tier X, then very likely you will also enjoy the 5A.
Personally, I would choose the 113, because the 111 1-4 at tier IX offers a very similar experience to the 5A, and if you feel you miss the 130 mm or the Chinese pike nose, then you know where you can get them. If you don’t, then you’ll still have your 113; one of the best tier X Heavy tanks in the game.
I’m spending more and more time driving my 111 5A. It’s nice having a tier X premium; it doesn’t make all that much credits, but it also doesn’t lose me any. In that sense, I guess you could say the 5A is an “investment”; I’m getting a lot of mileage out of it, and working on my tier X gameplay like I’ve been wanting to.
But that’s me, and besides I didn’t actually pay for my 5A; it was a gift from Wargaming. If you want a WZ-111 5A, there is a chance you could get one right now, but the odds, as usual, are firmly against it. First of all there’s a 4% chance you will get a tank, but then there are several to choose from, and you may not be interested in all of them. If you manage to get lucky, there’s only a ten percent chance you’ll get the tank you were wanting.
So not a great deal for someone looking for the 111 5A specifically. Personally, I would definitely save my cash and grind out something from the tech tree instead of gambling for pipe dreams.
So if you were watching the stream Friday night, you may already be aware of the latest developments, and I have to say I’m excited. I should state my Swedish bias up front, but also, the high tier Swedish Heavy tanks are going to add something completely new to the game: auto reloader Heavy tanks.
Ribblestripe explained the thinking behind the balancing of the Kranvagn, which I think made sense, and I was excited to see the improved speed boost as a consumable. That’s really going to make the tank come alive. Short bursts of speed between hull down positions where you can use the formidable turret armour.
My feeling is the Kranvagn will be in balance; not unlike a few other tanks with strong turrets and fairly weak hulls. The Chinese come to mind. Also these tanks aren’t all that big, practically the size of Medium tanks only with taller turrets.
I’m also hopeful about the tier VII Leo. That’s actually going to be the highest caliber Medium tank in tier; the Chinese tier VII has a 100 mm, and even 90 mm is fairly uncommon at that tier. 105 mm is basically a tier IX caliber for Mediums.
Fortunately, Wargaming have once again provided us with access to the test server, and I am downloading it as I write this. In a little while, it’s off to the land of cyrillic letters and lopsided matchmaking to take a look at the new tech three branch and try to get a feel for their performance.
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First of all, an auto reloader is a game changer. The top three tiers will never be the same after the update. You’ll have these auto reloading hull down beasts at tier IX and X, and at tier VIII there’s a three shot 105 mm.
Compared to an autoloader like the T57 Heavy, not only do you get hundreds of millimetres of effective turret armour, you will also never get caught out on a reload the way a 50 B or T57 will.
The reload isn’t all that fast; this is not a DPM monster. But with a full clip you can dump 1200 damage in well under eight seconds, and you’ll never do worse than maybe a 12 second reload unless you have module damage. That’s about the same as a 130 mm weapon.
If you heard the Kranvagn is going to be overpowered, I’m not so sure about that. Any tanks with a gimmick like that hull down turret will to some degree be dependent on making that gimmick work, and therefore becomes situational. In other situations, the gimmick is either ineffective, or possibly even a burden.
But there is every reason to expect these tanks will be strong. Any tank that can hide the hull and basically not be penetrated through the turret front is going to be strong, and with the benefit of burst damage potential without the long clip reload, that’s going to be a potent recipe.
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The new Emil I at tier VIII is basically an AMX 50 100 that trades speed for turret armour, and the 105 mm also has slightly higher alpha damage than you would expect for the caliber, which is an interesting touch.
It’s fairly mobile for being so slow, you might say, but as expected the speed boost helps with getting into position. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if the Emil I ends up being a tier VIII favourite, the hull down autoloader playstyle isn’t difficult to learn, and it’s highly effective.
Fully upgraded I get a 21 second reload, and the gun is accurate with very reasonable gun stats. Playing tier VIII on the test server is basically hopeless, but I did get in a couple of games, and the Emil drives nice and seems to do what it’s supposed to.
The real payoff is of course the auto reloaders, starting with the Emil II at tier IX. This is pretty much a baby Kranvagn; the gun is the same, turret and chassis are very similar, and the tier X Kranvagn is really just a slight upgrade; more engine power, more hitpoints, more armour, and slightly better gun stats.
The conclusion to draw from that isn’t that the Kranvagn is going to be disappointing as an upgrade, but that the Emil II is going to be a powerful tank. You have to feel a little bad for those future tier VIII tanks staring into that bright red turret face with no hope of going through.
The Emil II does well against tier X opponents too; it doesn’t really care about the matchmaking.
But before we go on, I did actually drive a couple of games in the tier VI and VII Medium tanks. Both are fairly mobile, with mediocre armour, and good weapons. The 105 mm on the Leo gives you 280 alpha, which is less than you’d expect, but still a potent punch at the tier. The Leo also turns well, making it feel more mobile than the 45 km/h top speed would suggest.
A future tier VII classic? Or will it enjoy the same low key success as the T-34-1 has?
*
But yeah, I’ve been spending most of the the afternoon driving the Emil II and Kranvagn. I love the auto reloader gameplay, and the hull down playstyle isn’t at all hard to figure out.
I run the speed boost on both tanks, and it really wakes them up. These aren’t quick tanks, but those bursts of speed mean I have zero complaints about mobility.
I don’t think there is a gun in the game that can penetrate the turret front of these two vehicles in a hull down situation. I did however learn the hard way the turret roof is really, really thin, and can be overmatched by all tier X guns. All of them. You actually only need 76 mm to do it. That means you can take a thousand damage hit frontally, even if the hull is completely hidden. What you do is point your gun upwards, and the turret front will cover the weak roof and hatches completely.
Remember that. A face hugging Kranvagn raising the gun barrel isn’t giving up, it’s just covering its weakspots.
The hull looks a little French, and has that duck bill-looking pike nose some of them have. It’s not very thick, but it works well hull down and gets some troll bounces. I can tell you that yes; a Kranvagn can hit the front plate of another Kranvagn when facehugging.
It takes quite a while to load all three rounds in the clip, but this is a 120 mm, and the reload isn’t very different from a regular gun. I think with a shorter reload, the thing would become much too powerful. In fact, there are several ways the Kranvagn could easily become overpowered.
You want to try and keep your clip topped up as much as possible. The last shell takes over 11 seconds to reload, and the DPM isn’t amazing to begin with.
Or is it? You can dump 1200 damage in 7.06 seconds; that’s like 3400 DPM. Look at the Italian auto reloaders; they all have bad DPM too, and have no problems putting out the damage.
The reload times fit the tempo of the rest of the tank, that’s my feeling. You have some fairly obvious tradeoffs, like the strong turret and weaker hull, but none of it is rocket science. Early game, you try to use the first shot only, taking chunks of hitpoints off your opponents. You don’t empty the clip unless you can take a gun out of the game. As the game progresses, you start looking for clipping opportunities and try to isolate targets.
The Kranvagn or Emil can be either force multipliers or frontline tanks, depending on your team setup. If you can place yourself in a good hull down position, you will be very difficult to dig out. Have you ever had that happen? Both teams circling around the map, and then your whole team gets stuck trying to take down one, single enemy tank that’s dug in, and then the rest of their team take you down one my one. These are that kind of tank; you can be the fulcrum, or the anvil against which your team hammer your enemies to pieces.
You can also be fairly weak in some situations. Taking a big hit to the side or the turret roof, fighting enemies on the flat from different directions, or being pushed on my a fast tank with your clip empty. Most any top tier Medium will do three shots in twelve seconds; that should be trading over 1000 damage for 800.
But with a full clip, the tables have turned. With time, you will learn to keep your cool in these situations, and try to wait those crucial seconds for another shell to reload. At 400 alpha a pop, getting one more in makes a substantial difference; remember you are only a DPM god for six seconds and change at the most.
You see people making that mistake all the time. If they had waited just one second, they would have loaded another round, and come out on top. If you’ve been driving the aforementioned Italians, you will hopefully know about this already.
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So what’s the verdict?
Having familiarised myself with the Kranvagn especially, I am feeling very confident about the new EU branch. I have my resources lined up, and I’m getting them all as soon as the update drops.
If you are a seasoned player with a well stocked garage, you might want to pay attention, because as I said this is a new mechanic being introduced into the game. I’m 100% sure you will see the Kranvagn in tournaments, and the Emil II will be bossing around IS spam at tier VIII. We have auto reloaders of course, even at tier VII. But we’ve never had one this high a caliber, and we already know auto reloaders are highly effective in and of themselves.
Add to this the virtually impenetrable turret front, and those are two things even fairly new players can make good use of. 225 mm doesn’t sound like all that much, but you are showing like 370 mm on flat ground. Angle it back, and you are quickly over 400, using the full nine degrees of gun depression, the turret face will stop a 17 cm calibrated HEAT round. That’s some serious armour to be carrying around.
I was a little concerned about the mobility. Really, I wanted the Kranvagn to be fast like the 50 B but that would have put the latter out to pasture. But with the genius introduction of the improved speed boost, it now has everything it needs to make a new place for itself in the game.
The 50 B is much faster, and it’s a bigger target with super weak sides. The T57 likewise is a little faster; or it would have been if it had the improved speed boost like the E5 does, but specific power is better, and both these tanks have like a thousand DPM on the Kranvagn.
The comparison is obvious, but it’s also a little pointless, because you can’t really compare an auto reloader to regular autoloaders. The point is, the Kranvagn is something different from these existing vehicles, and I think that is the best we could have hoped for.
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It’s the same with the Emil I. We have an autoloader Heavy tank already, but this one is different. Because you have solid turret armour, you also have other gameplay opportunities than the AMX 50 100 has.
So, here’s the rundown. The tier VI I think will be forgettable, but it seems to have really good gun handling, and the mobility isn’t bad at all. It gets a participant ribbon. Tier VII Leo is a gem; a slightly de-tuned 105 mm, only one in tier, and you get excellent mobility and troll armour with that. Top marks, and a suspected future classic.
I wouldn’t be surprised if you keep seeing a lot of Emil I at tier VIII, even after people grind through it. 105 mm autoloader; slightly up-tuned this time, in a strong hull down turret on a nimble chassis. Literally nothing not to like about this tank, again top marks.
Tier IX Emil II is a capital “B” Beast; a baby Kranvagn let loose on unsuspecting tier VIII tanks with 120 mm auto reloader power. Also doesn’t care a whole lot about tier X matchmaking; your turret front isn’t a whole lot thinner than an actual Kranvagn, and you have the same weapon. Top marks.
The Kranvagn I already like. Perhaps I was destined to. But despite any cultural bias I may be exhibiting, this is something completely new to the game, and it does work like it says on the box. It needs measured gameplay to get the most out of the auto reloader and hull down turret, but these are advantages that are very easy to understand, and relatively easy to use. I mean, I hope everyone knows to hide the hull by now? Top score again, not that anyone is surprised.
Should you grind them?
Most definitely. The auto reloading system is the most versatile in the game; more effective than both autoloaders and regular guns. This one is a high caliber mounted on a Heavy tank; it’s going to be effective. And since the auto reloader gives you more gameplay options, the playstyle is also more fun and engaging than your regular old Heavy tank.
So yeah; this is one of the best things about my “job” as a community contributor, getting to try out new tanks early. They’re not always quite as novel as the Kranvagn, which makes this particular testing opportunity even better. Driving the Kranvagn has been a treat, and the entire line is something to be excited about, because it’s full of novel and potent vehicles.
It’s quite possible we’ll see some balance changes before these tanks find their place in the ever changing game meta, but as it is, I think they are in a good place for introduction. These things are sometimes a little hard to predict, but the introduction of a well proven mechanic in a slightly new way really strikes me as virtually impossible to fail.
Wargaming haven’t given us an actual release date; I don’t believe it’s been set yet. But they did say “October”, so it will be a few weeks yet.
Personally, I can’t wait. The hype is real; Swedish steel is coming your way, and you might want to think very seriously about getting yourself some if you want to keep up with the competition.
So there has been a lot of interest in the Chimera Phantom, and it shouldn’t surprise you. It’s a strong performer, and a lot of people call it their favourite tier VIII tank. It’s also priced competitively, so you may have thought it’s a good time to get in on the action.
If so; Congratulations. You have just purchased a fantastic vehicle.
But it does take a bit of insight in order to get the best out of your new Chimera. It’s not a very complicated design, but the better you understand it, the more successful you will be out on the battlefield!
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In The Garage
Let us first talk about the setup. You should have all nine slots open from the current offer, and your first consideration is calibrated shells. I’m a little on the fence about them still, so I’ll just say let your playstyle decide. I get a 13.1 second reload fully maxed out with a rammer, and just pay for the APCR.
There is a point to running the calibrated shells, namely it makes you hold back more and play cautiously, which you already have to do in the Chimera. This is a second line tank. But in terms of penetration, I don’t feel they are necessary.
The crew does get knocked out, so you could run a protective kit. As the Chimera does 50, I run the one that gives less ramming damage.
Standard aim assists, meaning GLD and Vstab, make a lot of sense to sharpen up the gun handling. If you like using adrenaline, the best you are going to do is a little over 10 seconds reload, meaning you’ll almost get two shots on a 19 second burst. I prefer the speed boost, as the engine is already powerful.
Two more choices to make. Either 4% more bounces, or 85 more hitpoints. This is a tough one, because a lot of your armour is around 200 mm effective, and so the upgrade will be effective at tier VIII. But if you are hesitating, just go for the extra hitpoints. And then repair kit or improved tracks. I run the latter, but go with your preference.
Your Chimera does have a good camo rating, but there’s no real point running a camo net unless you are going camping.
I don’t find the Chimera uses a lot of APCR, but it does have an effective HE round, so bring a few of those. My loadout is 21 AP, 11 APCR, and 7 HE.
The Chimera is a brute. Note how the comparison is always Heavy tanks, and the Chimera does have a lot of Heavy tank DNA. This, combined with the overall versatility, means you have a wide range of options, and even if you try something singular, the rest of the tank is still going to work pretty dam well. In the end, I think my friend DwarfNZ said it best: your intended role dictates your equipment setup.
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Chimera In Theory
After kitting out your Chimera, let’s take a quick look at what we are working with here, and the first thing you need to understand is that the Chimera is not actually a Medium tank. It has so much Heavy tank DNA it’s practically dragging its knuckles, and no tier VIII Heavy tank has higher alpha except the German 12.8 cm carrying ones, so the comparison is relevant. The slow turret traverse also means it moves very much like a Heavy tank does.
The Chimera is a strong tank, but you may not be entirely clear on in what way, exactly. There are in fact several:
One way the Chimera is strong, is that is doesn’t really have a lot of downsides. That is perhaps the most important one. You can drive it past its limitations and it will still perform relatively well because it’s so versatile. It’s simply good at doing a lot of useful things, and so it will power through your hare brained scheme by brute force. Unless you do the exact things you’re not supposed to, you’ll make out all right.
One way it’s strong is it has high alpha. You are trading 2200 average damage against 2000 for a regular 120/122 mm over five shots. The long reload may feel like a curse in a tight spot, but most of the time it just means you have to play defensively, which helps keep you alive longer. Also high alpha will never be out of meta; it’s a reliable advantage.
One way is that it has good mobility for what it is; which is practically a Heavy tank. It’s not really all that speedy for a Medium tank, but it’s very agile for a Heavy tank, and it has Medium tank specific power.
The downsides are easily counted, and they also always have something to balance them out. The turret doesn’t turn all that fast, but the gun is stable, and it packs a punch, plus the turret front is well armoured. The armour isn’t really that thick for a Heavy, but it’s all right, and it’s really good for a Medium tank. Your effective armour thicknesses will be around 200 mm in a lot of situations And yeah; it has a long reload, about what you get on a 120 or 122 mm gun, but of course you have that higher alpha damage.
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Some tactical considerations
With all these upsides, you have a lot of options when you roll out into battle. Bearing in mind your few limitations there isn’t a lot you can’t do, but here’s a look at a few things to think about ahead:
Mid range dictates your playstyle
The long reload means you have to adapt your playstyle to staying at medium range, but that could still include a lot of things. You can be a big gun Medium, you can be a light, fast Heavy, or a mobile, armoured Tank Destroyer. But the only time you should be up close is when you are very confident, or when forced to. The Chimera can brawl up close, but you shouldn’t base your playstyle around that; whichever playstyle you choose must also be mid range.
Which push to support
So this leads us to the second consideration, which is how to deal with your current team setup. You want to be a force multiplier, but which force should you support? Basically, that comes down to if you want to be an Ersatz Heavy, support the scouting force, or you want to stay back and try to get some shots.
Positioning and cover
The 1000 hp engine means you can get into position fast, but make sure you the position is suited to the role you intend to fill. The Chimera does a few things better than a Heavy tank, but there is one thing it does much worse, and that is tank damage. Just as mid range dictates playstyle, it dictates positioning. You position yourself at at least medium range, with some cover that can help enhance your armour by either going hull down or sidescraping, and with a plan of escape if things get too hot.
What fights to pick
Sometimes you don’t have a choice who or when to fight, but certainly initially this should be the case. Consider the way the Chimera does damage; it chews off relatively large chunks at around 15 second intervals. Where could that be useful? You always wan to pick the unfair fight, especially at first. A single hit can make all the difference for a teammate in a 1v1 situation and you do have the speed to help gang up on people. As a force multiplier, again the consideration is which force to support; or which teammate.
Solo efforts and opportunistic gameplay
The more you drive your new Chimera, the better you will come to know your abilities, and start experimenting with your gameplay. As long as you remember to think “Heavy tank”, the Chimera can do Medium tank jobs like spotting and flanking. Like high alpha, speed is an advantage that never goes out of style, and it means you always have options. You can always do that lightning push to try to break a deadlock.
Towards the endgame, the capabilities of the Chimera make it a particularly dangerous opponent. It has everything it needs to make a heroic last effort. But the real danger is when you start seeing opportunities everywhere snd not simply staying in place throughout waiting for the endgame.
The key to this is experience. You will be able to determine the viability of these opportunities better and better over time, and that is also why the Chimera becomes more and more engaging the more you drive it.
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When it all goes wrong
The way I most often get knocked out in my Chimera is getting ahead of myself. Thirteen seconds can be a long time in Blitz, and you really want to save your up close brawling for the endgame.
The long reload does make it team dependent in some manner, but this is compensated by the mobility. If you find your Chimera team dependent, then perhaps you are relying too much on your team? Playing from the back means others have to do things like spotting, and being a Medium in designation, your viewrange is excellent.
The Chimera lures you in to playing too aggressively because it’s so agile for such a big and brawny tank. You’ll be tempted to push forward all the time to land a juicy shot or finish off a low health opponent. That means you have to balance your aggression very carefully. You want to fill your role without taking unnecessary risks or getting too close.
The great thing about filling your role is there are several roles you can choose, and your enemy will never know which one, making you an unpredictable opponent. You can be a Heavy, a TD, or a Medium; they can’t tell until you go into action. The problem arises when you have chosen to fill the wrong role for the situation you find yourself in, and you wind up being ineffective.
But the slightly curious nature of the Chimera means you always have to make this choice, because it’s not immediately apparent what role it was designed to fill in the first place, other than taking down the IS-3 as specified by the design study. And the disparity of your options means if things aren’t working out for you, you can try something radically different.
If you take too much damage, then remember 200 is the magic number. That is the thickness of most of your armour when pointing it at someone. So if you know your penetration values, you can judge whether you should rely on it against a particular opponent. Turning your side against someone at a 20 degree angle will show like 400 mm of effective armour, but your turret front can’t keep up with that by angling.
The versatility of the Chimera also means it responds well to the standard tactics of several vehicle classes, so you can always try going back to basics and your performance should stabilise. Remember the Chimera is strong because it’s not really bad at doing anything.
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Chimera In Practice
After your first few games, you may be feeling a little bewildered. It can be tricky to get your head around the Chimera at first; you can feel all the strength and potential, but you don’t quite know how to harness it yet, so it doesn’t go all that well.
Do not despair. Go back to simple tactics and get more comfortable. If you don’t know what to do; do nothing. Mosey on behind the biggest part of the pack, wait for the reds to get spotted, and then see if there is somewhere you could go to get some shots.
But the Chimera will install in you a curious sense of adventure, and you will want to push the limits of what it can do. Chase the damage. Go for the throat. And that is perfectly reasonable; no point in keeping your head down all the time in such a powerful vehicle; it’s tearing at the reins. It wants to go. The choice you are making is between greater security and greater reward, but also greater risk. You stick your head out, and you either get smacked or you get away with it.
You get some extra consumables for the Chimera; sandbag armour, reactive armour, and reticule calibration. Running double sandbags you can get just over 1600 hitpoints, the reactive armour means you take less damage, and the reticule calibration means you temporarily get much better accuracy.
I will say the Chimera doesn’t really need any of these fancy accessories, but they are there, and you might want to play around with them; some of them may fit your playstyle. If you do a lot of Heavy tank jobs, the armour upgrades could make sense, and of course if you take a lot of shots at range, the reticule calibration will enhance an accuracy build.
Speaking of equipment builds, if you run the calibrated shells, don’t forget to pack a few extra HE rounds, and make sure you use them. They’re not “Cheap HESH”, but a little over 70 mm HE pen at tier VIII is nothing to be scoffed at.
I’m still not sure about my own build. I run the rammer because I don’t feel I need calibrated shells, I run the improved tracks because they break less often, and I run high end consumables to get a 19 second speed boost. Also I think the aim assists make sense, because I don’t shoot a lot at long ranges.
But the rest of the modules are pretty much up for discussion, and I think that’s a good thing because it means the Chimera has more to offer.
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In Closing
Your new Chimera is one of the most powerful tanks of its tier, but it can sometimes take a little work in order to get the most out of it. It may not feel super powerful if you are getting swarmed by faster tanks, but driven within the constraints of mobility, armour, and firepower, you shouldn’t have too many problems with it.
The Chimera is also one of the most versatile tier VIII tanks, and there are a lot of things to experiment with when setting it up. Since you don’t really have a lot of weaknesses, there are several strong points to try to improve on.
But it should work fine straight out of the box. If you find you are struggling and can’t get it to work, try staying further back; maybe switch up your equipment loadout to improve your accuracy, and go back to the basics until you feel you are more comfortable with the vehicle.
Always remember the key to successful Chimera driving is making good trades, and there are several ways to do this. Proper positioning, proper ammunition selection, proper use of armour, cover, and terrain.
Congratulations once again on choosing the mighty Chimera for your premium tank driving and credit grinding needs. We wish you the very best of luck out on the battlefield!
IrmaBecx School of Tank Philosophy 