When playing World of Tanks, the incredible free-to-play online tank battle game set during the World War II era, you have five choices of vehicle type. The king of the battlefield is the heavy tank. Learning to use one of these heavily armed and armored behemoths can help you win decisive victories.
What is a heavy tank?
Heavy tanks are the largest maneuvering units in the game. They tend to have more hit points, stronger armor, and more impressive weaponry than other vehicle classes. Their top speeds and traversal (turning) rates are usually slow. Repair and ammunition costs are high. Care should be taken when using a heavy tank to minimize damage and make every shot count.
Why choose a heavy tank?
Heavy tanks are for those players who enjoy lining up shots and taking a very deliberate, thoughtful approach to battle. They inflict enormous damage since they mount the heaviest guns on any tank-class vehicles. Unlike self-propelled guns (SPGs), they let the player take a more aggressive role in battle, matching wits with other maneuver elements. Heavy tanks are enjoyable for players who pay attention to the terrain and think ahead about how to use it to their best tactical advantage.
If you’re the type of player who likes to plan an assault and lead the attack you should drive a heavy tank.
What roles do heavy tanks play in battle?
Heavy typically fill one of three roles depending on your chosen vehicle, where that given tank falls in the team roster and the map being played. The roles are spearhead, blocker, and support.
Spearhead – this role revolves around being the lead element in your team’s advance. Your goal is to move ahead, supported by teammates, and inflict heavy damage while breaking through enemy defensive lines.
Choose this role when driving a tank that sits at or near the top of the team roster. Ideally your tank will be outfitted with the hardest hitting weapon available to its class. This allows you to crush light and medium tanks you encounter so you can make steady progress.
A secondary but critical item is a top end radio. As a lead element you will provide targeting data on the mini map for your team’s SPG players. The longer the range of your radio the further from your backfield you can be while still being supported by artillery.
Spearhead players enjoy a greater chance of earning experience points by participating in base capture than their blocker or support role counterparts.
Blocker – when playing this role your job is to soak up damage to give other members of your team the opportunity to maneuver and inflict damage without suffering return fire. It is also important to position your tank to block access to key tactical locations.
Only choose this role when playing a vehicle that has high armor values relative to the other tanks in the game, and when you know your vehicle can handle sustained fire from the low to medium range enemy vehicles.
One example is when playing a fully upgraded American T-32 while you are the top-end vehicle in the game. You would be able to use its incredible front turret armor to assume a hull-down position at an important point on the map. Leaving your turret exposed invites enemy fire, while the tank’s durability renders it nearly immune to damage from conventional attack.
A little-used but extremely effective additional tactic is to use the tank’s frame as a physical obstacle to impede enemy progress. Certain maps have critical access points. The bridges in Erlenberg, for example, are the only approaches by which a team can cross the central river. If you are fighting near or on one of the bridges and are certain your tank is going to be destroyed, you can block the enemy attack.
Just turn your tank sideways on the bridge and center it. Properly positioned enemies cannot drive around you. When your tank is destroyed it will have to be pushed out of the way before enemy tanks can cross the bridge. This slows their progress or makes them waste time traveling to an alternate approach.
Other locations where this can be effective include the center road on the Lakeville map and the eastern trench on the Abbey map. More such locations will be discussed in map-specific strategy guides.
Support – when you are using a tank with substantial offensive punch but lacking in durability you should consider this role. There will be times when your tank is low on the roster and is outclassed by enemy tanks. There will also be times when enemy tanks are of the same tier but are more durable than yours, such as when driving a German Tiger and being faced with American T-29s.
In this situation you should still be part of the spearhead if you are a top-rank vehicle on your team roster. Travel along with and slightly behind a better armored teammate. Let him be the true lead element while you use him as mobile cover, adding the weight of your fire to his.
If you are a mid-rank or low-end vehicle on your team then you should fight as a second-line tank. Try to move with another similar heavy tank or a pair of medium tanks as a reserve element. You can throw long-range fire ahead to assist the spearhead and move as a unit to plug gaps in your line or exploit holes in enemy defenses.
When filling this role it is important to select an appropriate gun. Your shots are likely to take place at long range so you need high accuracy and armor penetration values. Remember that armor piercing (AP) ammo loses penetration value over range, so the higher it is at the muzzle the greater the effect at a distance.
It’s also important to carry some high explosive (HE) ammo for those really long range shots or to attack targets you simply cannot score penetrating hits against. HE ammo is also useful as a primary choice against open-topped vehicles like some SPGs and tank destroyers (TDs).
What are the disadvantages of heavy tanks?
Heavy tanks are slow. It takes them substantial time to cross the map or to move from one tactically important location to another. They don’t climb hills well either, making them extremely vulnerable to enemy SPG fire and attacks from hidden enemy TDs. They just cannot maneuver to make themselves into challenging targets.
Another problem with heavy tanks is that their weapons, while powerful, are slow to aim. Since the ammunition is also very expensive, players are prone to stop entirely so they can take well aimed shots. They stand still and wait as their targeting circle shrinks to its smallest size, called maximum aiming (max aim), and then fire. Doing otherwise increases the chance of a miss, incurring a large expense for a wasted round.
This same set of issues (long aiming time and expensive ammo) typically makes the player wait, frozen like a statue with crosshairs on target, to observe the effect of the shot. They do this to help determine if they need to put another round into the target. Remember, aiming takes a long time, and movement resets the aiming cycle, so the player stays still in order to loose the next shot the instant it is ready without having to wait to reach max aim again.
The problem is that a stationary heavy tank is a very large, easily attacked target for enemy SPGs. If you are engaging an enemy you should only stand still long enough to aim and fire. As soon as you send the shot down range you should begin maneuvering again to throw off the aim of enemy artillery.
There are only two exceptions. The first is in games when no SPGs are alive on the enemy team (either because they have all been destroyed or, more rarely, because none were in the game at all). The second is when your firing position is absolutely shielded from enemy SPG fire (such as having a terrain feature like a hill or cliff between you and enemy SPGs).
Two more weaknesses are lack of maneuverability and slow turret traverse speed. This combination makes heavy tanks extremely vulnerable when dueling one-on-one against smaller, faster and more nimble enemies. Top-flight scout tanks and medium tanks are often so much faster and more agile than a heavy tank that they can literally run rings around it.
With enough speed and a tight turning radius then can stay ahead of your gun’s ability to swing onto them. Using auto-aim (via right click) or having good manual aiming skills allows them to hit your heavy tank repeatedly while you cannot return fire. If the opposing player is using HE rounds he can inflict long sequences of critical hits on your tank and cripple you. You can neither respond to his attacks nor can you afford to ignore them.
The simplest defense against this is to fight in tandem with at least one other teammate. If he sees a fast enemy circling you he can destroy it while its attention is fixed on you. Traveling in groups is always to your advantage and is your surest method of avoiding this. Light and medium tanks typically won’t even make the attempt to perform an orbiting attack if you are traveling with allies.
If you are caught alone your best defense is finding the nearest hard cover (something large and solid that enemy tanks cannot drive through, like a large rock or building) and place your rear armor against it. This limits your exposure to only 180 degrees of arc and keeps your strongest armor facing enemy fire. It also forces the enemy to break off the attack after one half of an orbit. He cannot afford to stop by crashing into the terrain feature you are using as a shield.
The cardinal rule of heavy tank use:
You are not invulnerable.
That sounds obvious but if you watch several games you will frequently see heavy tank drivers rush ahead, unsupported, as if they were suicide scouts. Avoid this mistake. Although heavy tanks are hammers you should remember that not every tactical situation is a nail. Your damage-dealing and damage-soaking powers are substantial but you cannot win the game alone.
Ramming
Ramming enemies – Heavy tanks make excellent ramming weapons. Always be prepared to ram enemy vehicles. This is particularly true against SPGs and TDs. With very few exceptions they have no turrets. If you can ram them from the side and stay there they cannot turn to engage you, letting you fire shell after shell into their vulnerable side armor. This is called pinning.
To cause damage when ramming you should outweigh your target and be moving at no less than speed 20 at the time of impact. This makes downhill charges a perfect time to ram due to the natural speed bonus you receive when traveling downhill.
When you anticipate receiving a ramming attack you should attempt to turn your strongest armor to face the enemy. This presents your best defense to his weapons and eliminates the catastrophic situation of enemies pinning you.
Ramming light terrain – Heavy tanks moving at full speed can plow through light landscape features with little or no loss of speed. Don’t worry about speed reduction from maneuvering through trees, low walls and the like; stay focused on the enemy.
Keep in mind that just because your tank can mow down light terrain does not mean it should. Even light terrain like small stone walls can absorb enemy shots, giving you more time to maneuver or return fire.
Ramming heavy terrain – Some medium buildings and houses can be demolished by driving or pivoting through them. This results in substantial speed loss.
It can give the opportunity for a devastating surprise attack or pinning move. When an enemy is broadside to your and behind a heavy terrain feature you can sometimes rush through it at full speed and ram him from the side. This pins him, give you an unobstructed shot into his side armor, and usually catches him off-guard with his gun facing away from you.
Heavy tanks also make short work of iron-cross tank traps, those defensive barriers on either access point to the central peninsula (often incorrectly called “the island”) on the Komarin map. Without a heavy tank crushing them to provide a path it is very difficult to penetrate the peninsula and gain access to its advantageous firing locations.
How should I research heavy tanks?
In the Russian tech tree you can unlock all the heavy tanks by starting with the T-26 and working downward. You can also unlock the tier seven through ten heavy tanks by starting with the BT-2, advancing to the tier six T-34-85, and researching laterally to the KV-13. From there you can reach the tier seven IS.
In the German tree you can unlock all the heavy tanks, which includes two branches of them, by starting with the PzKpfw 35 (t). This branch leads all the way to the tier ten Maus. You will need to branch laterally at either the PzKpfw4 and then research the VK 3601 (H) to reach the Tiger, or branch from the Tiger (P) directly to the standard Tiger. Alternately you can start with the PzKpfw II and branch to the E-100 heavy line at tier five, six or seven.
In the American tree you must start with the T2 Medium to reach heavy tanks. You can unlock all of them by branching from the M3-Lee to the T1-Heavy. You can also forego the T1-heavy for the M6 by branching laterally from the new M4A3E2 Sherman Jumbo directly to the heavy tank branch of the tree. This option misses one heavy tank but allows you to branch directly to the tier 7 medium tank line as well, lending flexibility to your research.
How should I train my crew?
Always start by training them to 100% basic skill competence. Train the repair skill next. This covers the greatest number and most frequent kinds of tank damage. Train the fire fighting skill second. Fires are devastating but not as common as other forms of damage. Train the camouflage skill last. Of the three tank weights it is most useful for heavy tanks as they are the most likely to have a reason to stop (for long aiming time.) If you are fortunate enough to be able to take aim from within bushes it can be a nice advantage to be hard to detect.
What consumables should I use?
Use a small first aid kit in slot four. Use a small repair kit in slot five. Remember to use slot five for repair kits because when you activate a repair kit you must choose which system to repair, and tracks are the fifth item on that list. If you are immobilized by track damage you can get under way immediately by tapping 5 twice in quick succession. Use a manual fire extinguisher in slot six.
If you use gold to buy consumables use a large first aid kid, large repair kit, and automatic fire fighting system. Place them in the same slots as described above.
What equipment should I use?
Always start with improved ventilation system. This adds to the skill of every crew member, making ever function of your tank work better. Add a tank gun rammer to reduce reload time. Some people like the enhanced gun laying drive in the third slot to increase aiming speed while others prefer the vertical stabilizer. Both are excellent.
Another school of thought recommends using the ventilation system, the vertical stabilizer, and a spall liner. This is another excellent combination and works better for a more aggressive driver. The stabilizer makes the most difference when aiming on the move and the spall liner makes your tank more resistant to damage from ramming and HE hits.
How should I use gold to improve my experience?
Start by getting a premium account. It always helps by making research go twice as fast since you get twice as much experience from all battles. It also helps pay the bills for your tanks because heavy tanks are very expensive to operate. Premium account holders earn twice as many credits per game.
If you use premium consumables you’ll be more effective in battle. The large first aid kit revives all injured crewmen simultaneously. The large repair kit fixes all damaged tank systems at once. In addition to being more effective they are both faster to use than the non-premium versions. They do not require a second key press (the one for choosing which crewman to revive or system to repair) before they take effect.
The automatic fire extinguishers are an amazing help because you don’t need to activate them at all; they just work. This is critical because there are many cases when fire is caused by a hit that affects multiple systems. When that happens you often won’t hear the call “We’re on fire!” until after all other damage has been reported. The fire is still burning, though, so you keep taking damage before you realize the need to activate the manual extinguishers. The automated variety removes that problem.
Premium ammo also makes your gun hit harder – sometimes a lot harder. Some people like to bring between two and five gold rounds with them just in case they are presented with situations where that extra power will make a big difference. If you do this make sure to change the order of ammo in your service screen. Change from AP, Gold, HE to AP, HE, Gold.
Which vehicle should I use?
If you are a fan of a particular nationality, and you play the Russian or American lines, your choice is easy. Just use whichever heavy tank happens to be the most effective you have researched.
If you play the German line then you have two lines to choose from. The Tiger line starts with the weakest of their heavies but offers the hardest hitting heavies. The Tiger (P) line starts with a well armored tank with a line that tends to have more hit points.
Heavy Tanks by Nation and Tier
Russia Tier 5 – The KV is incredibly heavily armed for its tier. The two top-end guns are so powerful that this tank is slated to be moved to a higher tier in an upcoming patch. One of them is the legendary DERP gun, an SPG-class weapon mounted on a maneuvering tank. IT can destroy most vehicles of tier five and lower with a single hit. Tier 6 – The KV-3 is powerfully armed, though not as well armed as the KV. It has significantly more armor and is a very hard target for a tier six vehicle. The KV-1S can be equally well armed. It’s faster but carries less armor and has fewer hit points. Tier 7 – The IS only a slight improvement over the KV-3. It has more hit points. Its gun is a slightly faster-firing version of the same one used by the KV-3. It has more hull armor but less turret armor than the KV-3. Tier 8 – The IS-3 is a major improvement. It has more hit points and enormously improved turret armor. Its top end gun adds improved armor penetration. Tier 9 – The IS-4 continues the trend of armor improvement and offers a quantum leap in cannon strength. The gun gets improved armor penetration again, but at this tier it gets a much-needed boost in the damage characteristic as well. Tier 10 – the IS-7 is the pinnacle Russian heavy tank. It’s considered the least powerful of them three nations. Surprisingly it carries less armor than the IS-4 on both hull and turret. It uses the same gun as the IS-4, so it gets no improvement in firepower. Its radio range is shorter. The real bonuses it receives are an extra 500 hit points or so, and an unbelievable top speed of 50, making it by far the fastest heavy tank in the game. This is a tier 10 heavy tank that plays like a super-medium. Germany Tier 7 – The Tiger is the weakest of the German heavy tanks. IT carries a decent top-end gun but has low armor values for a tier 7 heavy tank. The Tiger P is similarly armed but enormously more heavily armored. It’s also a little bit faster than the standard Tiger. Tier 8 – The Tiger II descends from the standard Tiger. It is an improvement in every important respect. It has more armor, better weapons and more hit points. The VK 4502 (P) Ausf. A follows the Tiger (P). It has less hull armor than its predecessor but much more turret armor, so it can be counted as an overall improvement. It also carries a harder hitting gun. Tier 9 – The new E-75 follows the Tiger II. It has more hit points, more armor by far, and a much better gun than anything before it in this line. The VK 4502 (P) Ausf. B follows suit by improving armor, hit points and weaponry by substantial amounts over the Ausf. A.
Tier 10 – the German tanks of this tier are generally considered the best in the game. The new E-100 is a beast of a tank. It has amazing amounts of armor and a top-end gun that is the hardest hitting of any heavy tank weapon. The Maus, while offering no weapon improvement over its predecessor, is overall the best armored vehicle in the game and offers the most hit points. It’s also very ponderous. It has the lowest heavy tank speed in the game and the worst traversal rate. It’s a lumbering juggernaut that is incredibly difficult to kill. USA Tier 5 – The T-1 Heavy carries less armor than some German medium tanks and the same gun carried by the M4 American medium tank. It is widely regarded as underpowered and ineffective for its class and tier. Tier 6 – The M-6 offers significantly improved hit points and armament over the T-1 Heavy. Its armor is approximately the same as the tier five vehicle, making it the most fragile heavy tank of this tier. Tier 7 – the T-29 is widely regarded as the best tier 7 heavy tank in the game. It offers frontal turret armor that borders on impregnable and a substantial improvement in firepower over the M-6. Add the increased hit points and you have a very solid entry in the heavy tank arena. It’s one flaw is the weak hull armor, making hull-down combat not only effective but essential. Tier 8 – the T-32 is essentially a slightly beefier version of the T-29. It has better hull and turret armor and more hit points but uses the same gun, same radio, and has the same top speed as the tier seven tank. Tier 9 – The T-34 backslides a bit in armor, being essentially identical to the T-29. That’s not entirely bad, since the turret armor is still incredible. An interesting quirk is that sneaking up behind this tank is not very helpful because the rear armor on its turret is incredibly thick as well. It provides improved hit point totals and a drastic improvement in firepower. That’s important because the American heavies are somewhat anemic in firepower compared to the equivalent tier vehicles from other nations. This vehicle’s weapon is on par with those of its colleagues from Russia and Germany. Tier 10 – The T-30 is the pinnacle American heavy tank. The armor on it remains similar to the T-34. It offers much better hit points and a huge improvement in firepower. It’s probably the ultimate hull-down fighter in the game. This tank can able to absorb huge punishment on the front of its turret while dealing damage like a stock tier six artillery piece.
Enjoy your battles in a heavy tank. You’ll be the crushing juggernaut of your team and plow through enemies, leading the way to victory.
Also written by Andrew
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