The usefulness of Soviet heavy tanks.

[Emjay]

Hey guys.

Im curious on what you guys think the usefulness of the soviet heavy tanks are.

The IS-2 tends to be the most common option for people to go for, its a decent tank and probably the best the allies have at their disposal. Good armour and good weapon damage. Its a a good tank all over.

After this however they seem to fizzle into being absolutely rubbish.

For example.

KV-2 Heavy Assault gun is incredibly poor. It has somewhat good armour but the damage output is ridiculously poor and fails against anything that isnt a building. Coupled with an incredibly low rate of fire its use on the field is questionable.

The KV-8 flame tank is actually fairly decent. It has good armour and is awesome against infantry, or at least its ok. The fact that it has good armour is the only thing that keeps it useful. There are infantry units such as the shock infantry that are much better at killing enemy infantry. Even conscripts with PPSH are better, so the expense does kind of make it useless.

Next we have the KV-1 which is again a tank with good armour. It has a ridiculously poor damage output and your better off using T34/76 tanks in its place. 2 of those are not only faster but they do more damage. Another useless tank.

Lastly we have the ISU-152. Admittedly I have only used this tank once but that alone should note its usefulness. Its very similar to the KV-2 and generally is a poor tank yet again. Good armour and low damage output. It does have a fairly good ability for a long range shot but as a tank in the field its just a big target for the German tanks to kill ultra quick.

What are your thoughts?

Maybe im using them wrong?

Feedback is much appreciated :)

[Revy106]

To sum it up in short

IS2

is yes the best all rounder

ISU-152

Best long ranger its like a russian attempt of the elephant tank in ways just keep it back and let it do its job from a distance

KV-2

is incredibly powerful vs infantry if you put it behind your front line point where most of the battles are acuring that KV-2 can literly AoE snipe the hell out of all infantry ive had some shots where it has wiped almost 3-4 squads in one hit just dont use this for tank vs tank

KV-8

is great when it is working with other tanks since the KV-8 will keep any infantry from coming close to your other tanks its also a real fear weapon to use against would be shrek harrasers


KV-1

Is utter utter UTTER ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ lol or as relic would like me to say since you know we can kill and murder each other just aslong as we dont sware <.< .....its utter utter dog pudding...



hope this helps :)

[Revy106]

Originally posted by ╬OKW╬ MoreDryThanaNunsNasty.:

L2P

Reported this by the way to....not in the least bit helpful to someone <.<

[Emjay]

Thanks for the feedback Revy. Really insightful stuff.

I just tried out the ISU-152 again and it felt like a long range SU-85. It was pretty useful to be honest, and I was quite nicely surprised. It was however outmatched with ease by simple ZiS guns. That again could be down to my play style.

The KV-1 im yet to find a use for. Everything jumps on the big tank and it dies pretty quick. But even if it didn't its damage is rubbish. I don't see why its in the game as it is atm.

I don't tend to use the IS-2 because im not a fan of the commanders other abilities. I tend to pick commanders who I will use the most abilities of rather than just pick one because its got 1 good ability. Maybe thats a flaw.

Ill be sure to use the KV-2 and KV-8 with those summaries in mind next time. The issue I find I have when fielding those however is that A: They are extremely expensive and B: Im unsure what I should be 'backing them up' with. I could field T34/76 tanks but they are limited in their use. They tend to do little damage to tanks and none at all to infantry unless they get a lucky cannon shot, the mg's on it are useless.

The Soviet light tank, I guess like all light tanks is rubbish. It does next to no damage to both enemy tanks and infantry. I don't see a use in getting one.

I could use SU-85's but then they aren't really soaking up damage as they need to be behind things.

I guess ive answered my own question here. A squad of 2 T34/76 tanks and KV-8 flame tank could be a nice spearhead to a couple of conscripts and a KV-2 assault gun.

Ill have to try it out :)

Thans again!

[Kaiser Waffles]

Just player Oberkommando and get the King Tiger, works for me :)

[DILLIGAF]

the kv1 is not totally useless.......if you combine that and the b4 bomber (same doc) by finishing off the tanks hit by the b4. they are not so bad after all.

L2P

[Maschinengewehr]

I personally find the IS-2 kinda meh nowadays. It used to be an unstoppable behemoth driving and mowing down the fascists before it! Now its got p iss poor accuracy and cant 1v1 a Tiger let alone a well microed Panther.

I have yet to use the KV-2 but I've heard its does "alright" when its locked into stationary mode but meh.

KV-8 is good but situational.

The KV-1 is interesting however. Using it in a duo with a SU-85, they synergise really well with the KV soaking up damage and the '85 sniping safely from behind. I've even managed to get a few up to vet 3 and they seem to one shot squads a fair bit then.

And the ISU-152 is toast if there is a turreted TD around (looking at you Panthers). But its fun watching it obliterate OKW blobs every now and then :)

Btw the T-70 is still a freakin beast early game. Just takes a bit of micro to use it to its fullest.

[Puppeteer]

ISU152 is absolutely deadly in a team fights ( you being a support of another player ). It can help decimate infantry quickly, but it can also help kill big targets that are busy shooting at your friend's tank. Alone it might be too easy to flank, but as a support for another force, it's excellent.

KV2 is just sad. It has a hard time hitting moving infantry, and its armor is not that great, making it just worthless. I wish they would change it up a bit to make it at least a viable option against infantry.

[ShodaN]

ISU 152 is the best long range squad wiper there is. If used well it shuts down almost anything infantry based completely. The response is therefore extremely predictable aswell. Prepare for Panthers and you are set to destroy.

[tom23456]

Now that the ISU152 has AP and HE rounds rather than the 1 round it used to have it's far more effective! Particuarly and taking out OKW buildings and vehicles and infantry and everything on the map

[Emjay]

Originally posted by tom23456:

Now that the ISU152 has AP and HE rounds rather than the 1 round it used to have it's far more effective! Particuarly and taking out OKW buildings and vehicles and infantry and everything on the map

Thats useful to know. I didn't experiment with the HE attack as I figured it was more to be used as an AT gun but ill certainly try it out on the innevitable sturmpioneer/schreck blobs.

Ive always just used katyushas for that so its a new strategy to try out.

[RedT3rror]

Originally posted by tom23456:

Now that the ISU152 has AP and HE rounds rather than the 1 round it used to have it's far more effective! Particuarly and taking out OKW buildings and vehicles and infantry and everything on the map

No, it has in fact become far less effective. Instead of nerfing it into oblivion, they should have fixed the squad wipes by slightly reducing its AoD or make a better infantry ai that doesn't clump together.

[Benedetto]

Think of the ISU-152 as a super tank destroyer. The only time I ever build one is to counter someone producing tigers.You can't put the ISU straight up against a Tiger, but if you can distract it while the ISU snipes from far back, the German armor won't be able to do anything. It's always going to take you more than one unit to kill a tiger comfortably, but that's what makes it interesting. Just today, I killed a tiger with an SU-85, a Zis (killed by it), and an SU-76, causing my opponent to surrender.
Long story short, I guess, the ISU-152 is the best anti-tank/anti emplacement tool, but if you put it anywhere near the front lines, you're doing it wrong.

[i guess it's different for me (b]

im going to have to agree with everyone saying is2 is the best soviet heavy tank.

isu comes second its actually pretty good. but requires a lot of micro. good support unit though. isu supported by su85s will stop a lot of axis threats,guaranteed. the constant need to switch between shells can be overwhelming. its not what it was before when it used to be a lot better.

yes,kv2 is ♥♥♥♥. its not the unit itself its the timing and cost.

kv1 is not good unless it catches the opponent unprepared. it has trouble beating a panzer iv. it will probably lose to an okw panzer iv. its the funniest thing where it faces a panzer iv both tanks will keep bouncing lol. it needs to be supported, unfortunately its not as good as the other heavy tanks. however it does come a bit earlier.

[drumroll]

IS-2 is the best of the bunch.

ISU152 is good but seems....inconsistent to me.

KV-2 is pretty much stuka 50Kg'd the moment you set it up and its minimal fire range while stationary is terrible. Very expensive too in both fuel and MP.

KV-8 is meh these days, better getting a katyusha imo.

KV-1 used to be great because the 203mm arty took care of the heavy stuff. These days its rarely seen for good reason.

[Fornax The Lazy]

Kv-1 used to be good supporting B4s+inf with FMR,but since both of them were nerfed,the commander isn't that well anymore(which is really sad because I used it ALOT)