HWK 30

HWK 30 is a German tier 8 premium light tank. It has great top speed with decent mobility and nice gun flexibility. The gun has amazing aim time and accuracy, but the armour is lacking. A highlight of this tank are the HEP shells, with high penetration.

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Armour

(The HWK 30 in the images is using Improved Assembly)

Drag slider right -> to view 225mm AP
Drag slider <- left to view 61mm HE

Armour on flat ground:
Upper plate 70mm
Lower plate 45mm
Turret 35-75mm
Gun mantlet 77mm

Side armour:
The hull sides are 30mm thick, and there’s no spaced armour protection, meaning any tank can easily HE the sides of the HWK 30.

Armour vs all tier 7-9 tanks:
The HWK’s armour performs the same against any enemy you face.

All standard ammo can easily penetrate the tank anywhere, even on the gun mantlet.

Most HE will struggle to go through the tank’s upper plate, and of course be absorbed by the gun mantlet’s spaced armour. The only tanks that can penetrate the upper plate with HE will be tanks with over 75mm of HE penetration (so 150mm+ guns, or tanks with HESH/HEP).

If at an angle, the side armour can also hold up decently to HE, but its easily penetrable if it becomes angled too far.

Gun

The HWK 30 mounts a 90mm gun.

-Damage per shot is 225 on AP, 190 on HEAT, and 270 on HEP
-Reload time is 5.6s, giving it 2428 DPM
-Penetration is 185mm on AP, 255mm on HEAT, and 102mm on HEP
–Estimated aim time is 2.6s/2.8s
–Base aim time is 1.5s, but it can get down to 1.22s.
-Dispersion is 0.308/0.277
–Gun handling is 0.14/0.14/0.08, or 0.12/0.12/0.07 with Vertical Stabilizer.
-Gun depression is -9 degrees over the front of the tank, -10 degrees over the sides.

Overall this is a good gun. Its aim time and accuracy are both great, and penetration is also good for a light tank. The DPM isn’t impressive for a 90mm, but its also not bad. Only the gun handling is lacking, as most light tanks in this tier have much better handling.
Gun depression is very good at -9 degrees, which makes this a flexible tank, more so than the RU 251, and better than the leKpz M41 90mm. The fairly low profile also helps with this.

HEP on this tank is very nice to have, and gives the gun quite a lot of chances to increase its damage against the sides and rears of enemy tanks. This HEP penetration is the same as on the other German light tanks.

Mobility

-Top speed is 70km/h, reverse is -24km/h
-Traverse speed is 73.4 deg/s on hard terrain, and 66.7 deg/s on medium terrain.
-In game acceleration rate is shown as 28.9 hp/t, it has a strong 713 horsepower engine for its 25 ton weight.
-Actual acceleration rate is 28.9 hp/t on hard terrain, and 26.2 hp/t on medium terrain.
–Ground resistances are 1/1.1/1.3

Overall this is decent mobility, but for a light tank its really lacking. The HWK is the slowest accelerating tier 8 light tank, and this is noticeable in battle. It makes it harder to utilize that great 70km top speed.
The engine itself is strong, but terrain resistances aren’t great for a light tank, though the traverse speeds are very good.

Equipment, provisions, & consumables

HWK 30 has no special provisions/consumables.

Gun Rammer:
The penetration of the HWK 30 is by no means bad, and it has incredible accuracy and aim time to easily hit enemy weakpoints. There isn’t too much benefit to be gained from calibrated shells, as this tank’s DPM is already lacking for a 225 alpha tank at tier 8.

Calibrated shells are a viable choice, as your HEAT and HEP shells gain a significant amount of penetration, but it would mean lowering your already below-average DPM.

Gun rammer will increase the DPM from 2259 up to 2429, and reload time from 6.0s down to 5.6s.

Improved Optics:
Its better to use improved optics over camo net, as the HWK already has a good camo rating for a light tank, and can very easily increase it by using bushes or the terrain to its advantage.

Improved optics are necessary since they increase the view range of the tank up to quite an impressive amount, 302m, which is the most any light tank can achieve in tier 8, and makes the HWK quite a proficient scout tank.

The only other light tanks at tier 8 with 302m view range are the FV301 and RU 251, and having such good view range on a light shouldn’t be understated, its a very nice stat to have.

Improved Assembly:
HWK 30 is a light tank, and has no notable armour, so enhanced armour doesn’t benefit this tank.

Its better to take improved assembly, which will allow you to take more hits during the battle and let your tank survive for longer. Improved assembly increases the good base HP of 1300 up to 1378.

HP is another stat not to be understated, the HWK has as much HP as a low HP medium tank (such as Type 59), so can survive longer than most lights.

Vertical Stabilizer:
Due to the HWK 30 having already amazing aim time and accuracy (0.308), there isn’t any need to improve it with refined gun.

Its mediocre 0.14/0.14/0.08 gun handling does need improving though, as for the 225 alpha and its active and mobile gameplay, such gun handling isn’t ideal.

Its best to use vertical stabilizer, as it will help this tank to quickly snap shots without needing to aim much, even if it was moving quickly. It also helps the tank to shoot on-move more accurately, which is sometimes necessary in a light tank.

Gameplay advice

The HWK plays a similar role to the RU 251, as it has good camo rating with a fairly low profile. The most notable difference in gameplay will be how easy it is for the HWK to use positions, thanks to that great gun depression.

General gameplay:
Play the HWK as a scout/damage tank. This tank does better on more open flanks where it can use the terrain and its mobility to its advantage (generally the more open sides of the map are on the MT flank).

You can take early positions and caps, but sometimes you may need to use the engine power boost consumable if you want to reach those positions before other tanks, as the HWK is the slowest accelerating tier 8 light tank.

The rest of the game is just typical light tank gameplay, use the tank’s mobility and great accuracy, get around enemies and flank, create crossfires or distractions, or go for unguarded bases in Supremacy mode.

Use gun depression:
Using the gun depression on a ridge reduces your tank’s size profile, an make it harder to hit. Try to also use peek-a-boom tactics, even though your alpha isn’t high, you have to pull back into cover after each shot, since your armour is so weak.

Similarly, you shouldn’t sit out in the open once you get spotted, keep moving. Even though your HP is good for a light tank, its still not very high overall, and you don’t have armour to bounce shots. The tank also isn’t quite as small as the RU 251, so its easy for enemies to aim at and hit.

Utilize bushes in gameplay:
HWK 30, just like the RU 251, has a good camo rating, with great view range of 302 meters. Using bushes will greatly help you to spot enemies proficiently, while still remaining hidden yourself.

This is also particularly effective in this tank due to its frontally mounted turret and good gun depression. These make it easier to use bushes on uneven terrain, and also to shoot enemies if needed.

Overall the HWK is a fairly generic light tank with standard gameplay. It uses speed, camo and view range, along with great accuracy, to spot, take positions, flank, and distract. Its gun depression is very flexible, but its acceleration isn’t high for a light.

Overall

Armour – 2/10
Gun – 7.5/10
Mobility – 5/10
Speed – 9/10

HWK 30 is overall a good tank.

Armour is weak, since its a light tank, but frontal and side protection from HE are decent against most usual HE rounds (38-65mm penetration).
Gun has decent DPM & mediocre gun handling. Accuracy and aim time are great, and penetration is good. Gun depression is flexible with -9 degrees.
Mobility is mediocre for a light tank. Engine power is good, but effective acceleration is slow due to mediocre terrain resistances. Traverse speed is good, and reverse speed is average.
Speed is very good at 70km/h.

Is it worth getting?

No, the HWK 30 isn’t worth getting. It offers nothing interesting, unique, or better than any of the other German tier 8 light tanks.

Though this tank has a very nice gun, especially with its unique -9 gun depression and great accuracy and ammo choice, its not special enough to make it worth getting. Especially since its mobility is quite lacking for a light tank.

This tank is only really worth getting if you just wanted an RU 251 with -9 gun depression over, since this is the main thing that the HWK offers over other light tanks. The tank’s accuracy is also really enjoyable, so maybe consider it if you like accurate tanks.

The HWK 30 is worth 6,000 gold. Its not a bad tank, but its quite pointless as the RU 251 exists, and it has fierce competition in the form of the leKpz M41 90mm.

Most recently sold for:

New release crates – September 2023
12,000 gold (Tank & equipment) – Black Friday November 2023

Camo cost:

“Digitized” camo: 3D, costs 2,000 gold.

Comparison to RU 251

Since they look so similar (and are statistically similar), the comparison between these tanks is necessary.

Armour:
RU 251 has much worse armour than the HWK 30, its far easier to penetrate it with HE on its turret, upper plate, and side armour.

Armour performance against AP is the same across both tanks.

Size also factors into armour, and the HWK is larger by a noticeable amount. It makes the tank easier to hit, and especially easier to HE on its sides.

Armour shown against 53mm HE penetration.

Gun:
RU 251 has better gun handling, 335 more DPM, and a 0.67s quicker reload than the HWK.

HWK has better base aim time, dispersion, and 5mm more penetration on both AP and HEAT.

HWK has -9 degrees of gun depression over the hull front, RU 251 only has -5.8 degrees. Both tanks have -10 over the hull sides.

Mobility:
RU 251 has better top speed by 10km/h, better traverse speed by 6 degrees/s, better acceleration on hard terrain by 8hp/t, and better acceleration on medium terrain by 6.6 hp/t.
RU 251 also has far better terrain resistances, with 0.8/0.9/1.3, compared to the HWK’s 1/1.1/1.3

Overall:
The RU 251 is generally a better tank. Even though its armour is worse, these are light tanks and aren’t expected to have any decent armour, and the HWK can only resist HE slightly better.

The RU has much higher DPM, which lets it either use calibrated shells to increase penetration (and still have better DPM than HWK), or just give it a huge advantage in outputting damage. Its worse aim time and accuracy are compensated by better gun handling.

The mobility profile of the RU 251 is just flat out better than the HWK 30, there’s no competition in this aspect.

The only real big and noticeable advantage of the HWK is that frontal gun depression, making positional gameplay very comfortable. However, this single aspect cannot outweigh what the RU has in other areas.

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