Annihilator

Page last updated on 05 January, 2025.

The Annihilator is a post-apocalyptic themed tier 7 hybrid nation heavy tank. It has poor mobility, but a strong turret armour profile. Its main feature is its triple barrelled rotating gun, with a total burst of 630 damage, and very high DPM.

1. Armour
2. Gun
3. Mobility
4. Equipment setup
5. Gameplay advice
6. Overall
7. Annihilator reputation & matchmaking
8. Is it worth getting?
9. Most recently sold for:
10. Camo cost:

Armour

(The Annihilator in the images is using Improved Assembly)

Drag slider right -> to view 180mm AP
Drag slider <- left to view 220mm APCR

Armour on flat ground:
Upper plate 155mm (185mm on edges)
Lower plate 118mm
Turret 345-550mm (210mm next to gun)
Turret roof weakpoint 200-225mm

Side armour:
Annihilator’s sides are a well angled 55mm above the tracks, and a relatively thick but flat 80mm behind the tracks.
The spaced armour plates that run between the top & bottom of the tracks are 10mm.

Note that the turret armour doesn’t change when using gun depression, as the turret oscillates. 

Armour vs tier 6 tanks:
Tier 6 tanks will generally struggle to penetrate the upper plate of the Annihilator, and the turret roof weakpoint isn’t weak unless facing a high penetration enemy.

Most enemies will also be unable to penetrate the turret face weakest area.

The lower plate is the weakest point to tier 6 enemies.

Armour vs tier 7 tanks:
Against tier 7 tanks, most will be able to penetrate the upper plate of the tank, and the turret roof weakpoint can be penetrated by most enemies and most ammo types.

The turret front (around the gun) will be penetrable to most heavy tanks’ premium ammo, but most like tanks will be unable to penetrate, even if using premium ammo.

Armour vs tier 8 tanks:
Tier 8 enemies won’t struggle against the hull at all, same goes for the turret roof weakpoint, and the turret front weakpoint against premium ammo.

The turret front can also be penetrated by most heavies and some mediums with their standard ammo, as 210mm is not that strong against tier 8 enemies. The other areas of the turret are strong and impenetrable.

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Overall the hull armour is unreliable, the turret armour is very good and reliable, but some enemies can penetrate the area around the gun. The turret roof weakpoint can be hidden by raising the gun, this is discussed in the gameplay advice section of the review.

Gun

Annihilator mounts a 3 barrel 80mm gun. This gun is a burst-fire autoloader.

-Alpha damage is 210 on AP, 180 on APCR, and 250 on HE.
-It has 3 shells in the magazine, with a 0.33s intra-clip reload, so in 0.66s it can burst out 630 damage.
-It has a 13.6s reload, giving it 2653 DPM.
-Penetration is 170mm on AP, 220mm on APCR, and 45mm on HE.
–Estimated aim time is 3.6/3.8s.
–Base aim time is 2.1s, but it can get down to 1.62s.
-Dispersion is 0.362/0.308
–Gun handling is 0.22/0.22/0.1, or 0.19/0.19/0.09 with Vertical Stabilizer.
-Gun depression is -8 degrees

Overall this is a good gun. It has good aim time, huge burst damage in a very short time, decent penetration, and a fairly quick magazine reload for a 630 alpha burst. Gun depression is also very comfortable, which is so nice to have with the quick turret traverse, low hull profile, and strong turret armour.

Where this gun sort of fails is in the accuracy department. The gun handling is very average for a tier 7 heavy, so it blooms out quite a lot when moving.
Though 0.362 dispersion is better than most tanks with 310-640 alpha in tier 7, those tanks shoot 1 shot, they don’t have to deal with the consequences of after-shot-bloom. This 0.362 “limit” is much higher than on that of the Helsing, so after you shoot the first shot, the aiming circle gets much larger (also unlike Helsing, you have 3 guns, so both shots after the first are much less accurate, reducing your effectiveness and damage in mid to long range).

Dispersion-after-shot is another rather mediocre area of the accuracy. Its 3.000, which is much better than most tanks, but considering that unlike other tanks, you don’t have time to aim, 3.000 is not actually that good.

Mobility

-Top speed is 35km/h, reverse is -15km/h.
-Traverse speed is 38 deg/s on hard terrain, and 29.9 deg/s on medium terrain.
-In game acceleration rate is shown as 12.2 hp/t, it has a decent 690 horsepower engine for its 57 ton weight.
-Actual acceleration rate is 11.1 hp/t on hard terrain, and 8.7 hp/t on medium terrain.
–Ground resistances are 1.1/1.4/1.9

Overall this is a poor mobility profile. The acceleration is very slow on both medium and hard terrain, and the tank really struggles to reach its top speed. Traverse speed is good, which helps to maintain speed once you do finally accelerate to it. Overall mobility profile is below average, just due to that poor acceleration rate.

Equipment setup

Annihilator has no special provisions or consumables.

Improved Ventilation/Calibrated Shells:
Either equipment piece will work on this tank, since its penetration isn’t low, but it also doesn’t lack so much that it needs vents.
Generally, calibrated shells is the better choice, since the difference in reload is so minimal, and calibrated shells will let you penetrate more tier 8 heavies.

Vents would very slightly increase view range, improve aim time, DPM, reload time, terrain resistances, and traverse speeds.

Calibrated shells would increase the AP penetration from 170mm to 184mm, APCR from 220mm to 231mm, and HE from 45mm to 49mm.

Improved Assembly:
With how strong the turret of the Annihilator is, and how weak the hull is, enhanced armour doesn’t provide a noticeable benefit to the tank.

Improved assembly is more useful, as would increase the HP from 1500 up to 1560, letting you trade damage with enemies more effectively, and survive longer in battles.

Vertical Stabilizer:
The Annihilator has to fire off 3 shots with only a 0.33s delay between each of them. This gives you no time to aim between each shot, so the only way you can improve accuracy while the gun is firing, is to reduce the after-shot-bloom.

With stabilizer, you can reduce this bloom from 3.000 down to 2.550, and with the “soft recoil” crew skill, it be reduced even further to 2.340.

Vertical stabilizer also helps the tank’s general accuracy and consistency when its moving, and when its stopped to aim in, which is very useful as the Annihilator is hardly ever sat still for long periods of time.

Gameplay advice

The Annihilator has fairly generic heavy tank gameplay, which is to brawl, use HP, trade damage, and use hulldown positions. There are a few caveats, but if you’ve played any heavy tank before then this tank is fairly easy to get used to.

General gameplay:
Take the Annihilator to the heavy tank flank. Its far too slow and cumbersome to fight against mediums, and it also has quite a long reload (even though its DPM is high).

This tank is better suited to the close range brawls of heavy tanks, as it has high DPM and a great burst damage to be able to out trade enemies with lower alpha (which is every tank except the Smasher).

Always try to use gun depression to make use of that turret armour. You can also sidescrape, since its better than just driving out sideways with your weak hull front.

Favour close range fights:
If you can choose your target/fight (often you can’t but sometimes there’s the chance to), always choose the closer range one, or the enemy that is a larger and weaker target.

Annihilator’s gun is very prone to missing, especially with increased range. So if there’s an enemy, always shoot the one that’s closer to you, or the one with a weaker armour profile. You have the highest chance of dealing the most damage to these enemies, as your subsequent shells after the first shot are most likely to penetrate.

Hide the hull:
The hull armour of this tank is generally weak. Even against same tier tanks, many will be able to penetrate the upper plate.

However, the turret is strong, and you have good gun depression, so try to use hulldown or gun depression positions whenever possible, since it will help to bounce more shots.

You can also raise the gun (shown below), or turn the turret left/right to make it harder for enemies to penetrate.
Turning it left/right utilizes the fast turret traverse speed, and the constantly changing angles make it harder to aim for the front weakspot.

Raise the gun:
Look at the images below, it shows a good side-by-side comparison of how the weakpoints differ in each image.

The turret roof weakpoint is angled at 67 degrees, so you only need to raise the gun by 3 degrees to make it an auto-ricochet to all tanks which use AP and APCR.

You only need a very small amount of gun elevation to remove the roof weakpoint, if you raise the gun too much, then the weak area on the turret’s underside will become penetrable.

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Overall the Annihilator has a very easy playstyle. Brawl with heavies, use gun depression, try stay in close ranges, and raise the gun to hide weakpoints.

Due to how strong this tank is, its just extremely easy to dominate other players, and hence its playstyle is fairly simple. The only thing to note that makes this different to other heavies is its very weak frontal hull armour, and its terrible acceleration rate.

Overall

Armour – 6.5/10
Gun – 7/10
Mobility – 4/10
Speed – 5/10

The Annihilator is overall a great tank.

Armour is good. The upper plate is weak, but turret is very strong, and side armour is effective. HE resistance is good, but not on the rear. Very usable with gun depression & hulldown.
Gun is great, with great burst damage, extremely high DPM, decent accuracy, good aim time, and -8 gun depression. Penetration is decent, and gun handling is average. Shot effectiveness is low, rarely hits 3/3 shots unless in close range or against a large & weak target.
Mobility is poor. Engine power is weak, and acceleration is very slow. Hull traverse is good, and reverse speed is average. Turret turns very quickly.
Speed is average with 35km/h.

Annihilator reputation & matchmaking

The Annihilator has a reputation of being overpowered. It is, as this tank just has far too much DPM, alpha damage, and turret armour to be balanced. Yes, its mobility is terrible, in fact its one of the least mobile tier 7 heavy tanks; however, its strengths far outweigh this, and despite its mediocre mobility, its still not a “slow” tank.

As its a collector tank, WG is a bit more hesitant to outright nerf the tank. However, they do seem to have given this tank “special matchmaking”. This has never been formally announced or confirmed, but the Annihilator takes longer to queue for battles, and most of the time, there is an Annihilator on the enemy team.
Hence, it seems to have matchmaking where the game will try to put you against an enemy Annihilator, so even odds of both teams.

Is it worth getting?

Considering the above, that this tank is completely OP, is it worth it?

In some ways yes, its the only tank in game with a 3 barrelled gun (though arguably the mau5Tank works in the same way), hence it has a very unique feel for firing the gun. However other than the gun, and the fact that this tank is extremely strong, its not that worth it.

Note that just because a tank is super strong or OP doesn’t necessarily mean its always fun to play. In the case of the Annihilator, the consistency of shots is low, which can be very frustrating, often only 1 or 2 out of 3 shots deal damage. You also have to constantly face other Annihilator players (due to special matchmaking), and playing against an OP tank just isn’t fun, even if you’re also in an OP tank.

The Annihilator is worth 7,500 gold. Its an OP tank, its very strong, but it can be quite frustrating to play, and its also extremely hard to obtain. This tank won’t suit every player, due to its poor mobility, often frustrating gun, the fact that the tank is extremely easy to play, and its special matchmaking.
Though, many players will enjoy the big burst damage and good turret armour.

Most recently sold for:

Annihilator was obtainable in the 2020 Halloween event for $/£9.99.

Since then it has never been sold outright in store, the only ways to get this tank are in “Bad Company” crates, sold at Halloween each year.

Its also one of the Snowglobe rewards at Blitzfair every year, and can be obtained in various other crates (note that this tank always has a reduced drop chance compared to other vehicles).

This tank has been sold once in auction with a starting price of 12,500 gold and 3,000 tanks available, which all sold out within an hour.

Camo cost:

Halloween tanks often have special built-in features, sometimes they are intentional, sometimes they aren’t; some are visual, some are in statistics.

-Annihilator’s intended special feature is its 3-barrelled gun, firing 3 shots in very quick succession. However unlike the Helsing, this is actually a bit of a disadvantage, as the Annihilator has worse after-shot-bloom, and has a much very higher chance of missing at range. It also has reduced alpha on its HE.

-The exhausts of the tank shoot black smoke when you use either engine boost consumables. This smoke only happens for 15s, so if you use equipment to increase consumable duration, the smoke will end before your speed boost runs out.

-Annihilator’s original name was “Falcon Fire”, it was changed just before release.

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