FV201 (A45)

The FV201 is a tier 7 British heavy tank. It features a strong turret, high DPM, decent mobility, but poor hull armour and low top speed. Its gameplay is similar to a Caernarvon if it was moved down to tier 7.

1. Armour
2. Gun
3. Mobility
4. Provisions, & consumables loadout
5. Equipment loadout
6. Gameplay advice
7. Overall
8. Is it worth getting?
9. Most recently sold for:
10. Camo cost:
11. Historical info:

Armour

(The FV201 (A45) in the images is using Enhanced Armour)

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

When flat and facing head-on:
Upper plate 145mm
Lower plate 115mm

Weakpoint under mantlet 152mm
Gun mantlet 304mm+
Turret cheeks 200-250mm

Armour vs tier 6: 
Against tier 6 tanks, this tank’s hull will have some armour if its angled. Though its still not very thick, so don’t rely on it often. If you are in a desperate situation against a tier 6 enemy and they have about 145mm of penetration, you can angle slightly to try and get a bounce.
It can angle up to the 70 degree auto-ricochet point and still bounce AP and APCR shells, but it can’t angle past that point. The tank’s side armour is 50mm thick, with a 6mm spaced sideskirt.

The turret is strong and will be very reliable against tier 6 enemies.

Armour vs tier 7: 
Against same-tier enemies (and higher tier) the FV201 has no hull armour at all, don’t try to angle even in the most desperate situations, as the tank won’t bounce anything.

The turret can bounce standard ammo when its not using any gun depression, and if it is using gun depression, only heavy tanks will have enough premium penetration to go through the weakpoints on the outer cheeks.

Armour vs tier 8: 
Tier 8 enemies will be able to penetrate the turret, but they will need to take time to aim for weakpoints. The best way to get bounces is to only push out when you have a shot ready, and always move back and fourth on a ridge so its hard to hit the weakpoints.

Tier 8 enemies will have enough penetration to go through the outer turret cheeks, and the turret roof if the enemies are taller than the FV201.

Hulldown weakpoints:
-The FV201 has a small machine gun port on the top right area of the hull. It sticks out when the tank is using its -8 gun depression. This part is only 120mm thick and is a reliable weakpoint.
The way to hide this weakpoint is my turning the hull to the left when driving up to a ridge, or just putting the hull sideways.

-There is also an area right under of the gun mantlet that is 152mm thick, this is also a reliable weakpoint, but it is very thin and can be hard to hit.
This weakpoint can be hidden by not over-exposing the turret, and keeping the gun as low to the ground as possible. 

Gun

FV201 (A45) mounts a 17pdr (76.2mm) gun

-Alpha damage is 160 on AP, 135 on APCR, and 200 on HE
-It has a 3.3s reload, giving it 2937 DPM
-Penetration on AP is 191mm, APDS (APCR) is 239mm, and HE is 20mm.
–Estimated aim time is 2.8/3.0s
–Base aim time is 1.9s, but it can get down to 1.46s.
-Dispersion is 0.308/0.262
–Gun handling is 0.16/0.16/0.08, or 0.14/0.14/0.07 with Vertical Stabilizer.
-Gun depression is -8 degrees.

The gun on the FV201 is very good, its got amazing DPM, great accuracy, good penetration, & good gun handling. Overall you really can’t get a better gun with this level of DPM, as the most similar, Black Price, is far less accurate than this tank.

Mobility

-Top speed is 31km/h forwards, and -16km/h in reverse.
-Traverse speed is 38.1 deg/s on hard terrain, and 32.6 deg/s on medium terrain.
-In game acceleration rate is shown as 16.5 hp/t, it has a good 920 horsepower engine for its 56 ton weight.
-Actual acceleration rate is 13.8 hp/t on hard terrain, and 11.8 hp/t on medium terrain.
–Terrain resistances are 1.2/1.4/1.8

Overall this mobility is decent. While the traverse and acceleration are both good, the top forward speed is quite limiting, so be aware of this when repositioning in battle. The tank is fairly mobile, but not super quick.

Provisions, & consumables loadout

FV201 (A45) has access to improved engine power boost, reactive armour, & tungsten shells (+ the standard adrenaline).

There are many combinations you could try on this tank, and your personal preference may differ from what other players recommend so its best to try them yourself. Below are some recommended combinations.

Adrenaline + Tungsten shells:
This combination plays right into the FV201’s strength, which is its very high DPM/fast reload time. Adrenaline would decrease the reload time from 3.27s down to 2.79s, and increase DPM from 2937 to 3441. Tungsten shells would increase the alpha damage from 160 up to 184.
(If you combine them, the total DPM you would have is 3957, a 2.8s reload with 184 alpha damage.)

Adrenaline + Improved engine power boost:
This combination emphasizes on the FV201’s strength, its DPM, but also mitigates one of its weaknesses, which is its limited top speed. This speed boost consumable is very useful in many situations, but mainly for climbing hills quickly, increasing the top speed (to 35km forwards), or for reversing out of bad positions before being rushed by enemies (increases reverse speed to -22km/h).

Reactive Armour:
Reactive armour is a viable option on this tank, however its by far the least useful out of these 4 consumables, and there are a few reasons for this:

1- Adrenaline is mandatory on the FV201 (A45). This is a tank where the main strength is its fast reload and high DPM, adrenaline is the perfect consumable for this tank to take advantage and really amplify that DPM. If you aren’t using adrenaline on a tank with as much DPM and quick reload as this, you may as well just play a different tank entirely.

2- Tungsten shells pairs very well with adrenaline for the same reasons, its a high DPM tank with a fast reload. Improved engine power boost works very well to help the low speed of the tank. Both of these consumables play right into the tank’s strengths/mitigate its weaknesses.

3- Reactive armour lasts only 10s, while its very good in a brawl or when you’re exposed, its short duration can be a real downside sometimes, and definitely makes it less useful than the other 3 special consumables on this tank.
While arguably reactive armour is more useful on this tank than many other tanks (since often you’ll be exposing yourself fully to put in that high DPM with fast reload), it just isn’t as useful as adrenaline, tungsten shells, or the improved speed boost.

Equipment loadout

Gun Rammer:
With the 2nd highest DPM on a heavy tank in tier 7, it would be completely pointless to use calibrated shells on this tank, especially as this tank already has very good penetration on APCR.

Gun rammer is what gives this tank its 2937 DPM and 3.3s reload, and that’s the main special aspect to this tank, don’t waste it by using calibrated shells.

Vertical Stabilizer:
Due to how quickly this tank fires and its relatively low alpha damage, it needs to use vertical stabilizer to improve the after-shot-bloom and dispersion-on-movement.

It already has very good dispersion (0.308) for a heavy tank and doesn’t need to shoot enemies from long range, so refined gun is generally not needed, however it can still work well, especially in hulldown situations where you aren’t moving the tank much.

Gameplay advice

The gameplay of the FV201 (A45) is fairly similar to the Caernarvon or Caernarvon Action X due to its fairly strong turret, fast reload, and good gun depression.

General gameplay:
Due to weak hull armour and low top speed, the FV201 is mainly focussed on being hulldown, rather than active gameplay. Similar to the Tier 8 Caernarvon tanks the FV201 works best when using a gun depression position where it can hide its large and weak hull, just using its DPM to grind down the enemy HP.

Low top speed makes it quite awkward to use on the medium flank, though it can work if you play right and don’t get caught out by enemies. The high DPM and fast reload mean that the FV201 can actually hold itself against mediums fairly decently.

Always go hulldown:
That’s the most important gameplay aspect of this tank. It has no hull armour at all, so you can’t rely on the upper plate. The hull sides are weak as well, so you can’t angle or sidescrape either.

The only armour you have is on the turret, so always prioritize using hulldown and gun depression positions in battle.
When using these positions, don’t just sit still, you have good enough gun handling & accuracy to be able to move back and fourth and still accurately hit shots, so do this. Such movement makes it harder for enemies to aim in on your weakspots, as they are right next to the 300mm thick gun mantlet, giving a higher chance that they miss and bounce off the gun mantlet.

Trade in DPM:
Your tank has a low 160 alpha, all other heavy tanks will out-trade you in terms of damage per shot. Try to put in 2-3 shots for every time an enemy shoots. Since the reload of this tank is so quick, quite often the enemies won’t even have a chance to put in a 2nd shot into your tank.

If you know the reload of the enemy tank, then you know how many times you can shoot them.

2 shots take 3.3s
3 shots take 6.6s
4 shots take 9.9s

So for example, you could shoot an enemy T29 3 times while it reloads for 9.0s. You would have done 480 damage to the T29, whereas they would only have done 310.

Shooting multiple times while enemies shoot once is an essential part to playing this tank. If you only shoot once every time, you will lose HP quickly and get low damage, since basically every tank has higher alpha per shot, and every tank can penetrate your hull armour.

Don’t angle or sidescrape:
Due to the very weak upper plate, and weak side armour, there is no point in angling the hull against most enemies. You can see in the below image that the weak 51mm side armour is easily penetrated when angling.

The only tanks which you should angle against are low penetration tier 6 medium tanks, since if you don’t angle, they can penetrate your upper plate anyway, so exposing the weak (but red) sides to improve the upper plate does actually make a difference in that scenario.

Use your consumables:
Depending on which consumables you decide to take on this tank, there will be different scenarios where you should use them.

Adrenaline is good when you have an opportunity to put multiple shots into enemies, since the faster reload lets you put in more shots while they’re exposed. If using tungsten shells, activate it with adrenaline, since it boosts your damage output more. On most tanks tungsten works well when used separately, but due to the FV201’s low alpha and fast reload, its often best to pair it with adrenaline.

Speed boost should be used when you need top speed, such as when going along flat ground and you need to reach a position quickly; or when you need engine power, such as climbing a steep hill. This consumable is also extremely useful for reversing out of bad situations, as it increases the -16km reverse speed up to -22km.

Reactive armour works well paired with adrenaline, since you can expose your tank and have an increased reload for damaging enemies. Due to how fast you reload, having to pull back into cover is awkward, so activating reactive armour will let you absorb 27% damage from enemy shots, while you’re able to very quickly whittle down their HP. Other situations where reactive armour is good are if you get rushed by multiple enemies, face a fast reloading tank (such as an FV201, M41D, Black prince, Comet, etc), or face an autoloader. Since you’ll be taking multiple shots of damage in quick succession, the short 10s duration of reactive armour would effectively reduce a lot of the damage you would take.

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Overall the FV201 (A45)’s gameplay is focussed around its DPM use and being hulldown. Its armour is weak and speed is low, so it has to adapt to the map and situation accordingly. Using consumables is essential to boost your performance in this tank, as they offer some big advantages offer enemies when used correctly.

Overall

Armour – 5/10
Gun – 6/10
Mobility – 5/10
Speed – 3/10

FV201 (A45) is overall a good tank.

Armour is average, its hull is very weak, but its turret is quite strong with a large mantlet. Easy to use hulldown, bad for sidescraping. Poor HESH protection, sides weak to HE.
Gun has amazing DPM, quick reload, great accuracy, good gun handling, good penetration, & decent aim time. Alpha damage is low, gun depression is a good -8 degrees.
Mobility is average, with decent acceleration, traverse speeds, and average resistance. Reverse speed is good at -16km/h.
Speed is mediocre at 31km/h.

Is it worth getting?

The FV201 is worth buying if you like the Caernarvon or the Caernarvon AX and you want similar gameplay in tier 7, alternatively if you don’t have those tanks, then this one is a cheaper option which still gives a similar taste of gameplay. Its usually quite cheap, and it has quite an exciting gameplay due to its quick reload and ability to out-DPM essentially every tank it faces.

FV201 (A45) is worth 4,500 gold, though its usually sold for less. Its a fun tank and is definitely worth considering, as no other heavy in game has quite a gun like this, with very fast reload and high DPM. It also has a wide choice of consumables which most tanks don’t have access to.

Most recently sold for:

3,000 gold (Tank only) – September 2021
3,500 gold (Tank only) – February 2021

Camo cost:

Historical info:

The FV201 (A45) Universal tank was a British MBT prototype, intended to mount the 20-pdr gun. The project started in 1944 after the development of the Centurion tank.

Designed to be a “Universal tank” MBT like the Centurion, it used the hull of the A45 Infantry tank with the turret of a Centurion Mk. II, but as Centurion development progressed, the tank was moved away from the “Universal tank” project to the FV200 series of tanks after WW2.

The FV200 series became better classed as heavy tanks, with a requirement to mount a 120mm gun. Due to delays in development for such a requirement, the FV200 tanks were given essentially placeholder turrets and guns until the 120mm gun requirement was met. This resulted in the FV201, the prototype tank on the A45 hull with a Centurion Mk. II turret & gun (17-pdr); the FV221 Caernarvon Mk. I & II, which were FV200 series hulls with Centurion Mk. III turrets & guns (20-pdr), and finally the FV214 Conqueror Mk I & II, which met the 120mm gun requirement.

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