ISU-130

The ISU-130 is a very unique tank destroyer, it has both high DPM and high alpha, along with amazing accuracy, gun handling, and quite impressive mobility.
Its not at all like the ISU-152, and provides a completely different gameplay experience due to its slower reload and worse accuracy. The ISU-130 offers a far more accurate and quick firing gun, along with far better mobility and hitpoints.

Armour

vs 225mm AP
Upper plate 103mm
Lower plate 110mm
Gun mantlet 160mm

(The ISU-130 in the image is using Improved Assembly)

VS tier all 7-9 tanks:
Facing against any enemy, the ISU can be easily penetrated, it has the same armour as the tech tree ISU-152.
The tank won’t bounce any shells, so if an enemy shoots you, it will penetrate.

Gun

The ISU-130 mounts a 130mm gun

ISU-130 should be played by using its premium AP as standard ammo. It has less penetration but more damage than the standard ammo. Use the standard AP like a premium shell (when your premium AP doesn’t have enough penetration for an enemy).

Ammo Types:
Premium AP:
-Penetration 215mm, damage per shot 530, DPM 3597

Standard AP:
-Penetration 245mm, damage per shot 460, DPM 3122

-HE has 65mm penetration for 600 alpha

–Estimated aim time is 3.3/3.5s
–Base aim time is 2.5s, but it can get down to 2.04s.
-Dispersion is 0.308/0.277
-Gun handling is 0.12/0.12/0.1, or 0.1/0.1/0.08 with Vertical Stabilizer.
-Gun depression is -6 degrees
-Gun traverse arc is 2 degrees to the left, and 10 degrees to the right.

ISU-130 has by far one of the best TD guns in tier 8 in terms of its overall stats. Its very accurate, has quick aim time, extremely high DPM on both of its main shells, great alpha damage, and some of the best gun handling on any TD in the game.
The only area which it slightly lacks is penetration, as its highest penetration round is 245mm; though this is still not terrible since it is AP, and it definitely doesn’t struggle in battle, especailly with such good accuracy.

Mobility

-Top speed is very nice 43km/h, and a slow reverse speed of -11km/h.
-Traverse speed is a great 41.5 deg/s on hard terrain and 35.1 deg/s on medium terrain.
-In game acceleration rate is shown as 16.1 hp/t, it has a strong 761 horsepower engine for its 47 ton weight.
-Acceleration is 14.6hp/t on hard terrain, and 12.4hp/t on medium terrain.
–Ground resistances are decent, with 1.1/1.3/2.1

The mobility of the ISU-130 is quite impressive considering its based on a heavy tank hull. Its able to easily reach its top speed, and turns quickly for a turretless TD. The mobility doesn’t feel lacking in any way.

Ammo loadout

The ISU-130 carries a limited 25 shells. With only an 8.8s reload, its not a huge amount of ammo.

Standard AP:
Take 8 of these shells. These are your “premium ammo” as they have increased penetration. You won’t need them very often in battle, but its always good to have enough in case you have to brawl with an E75 (for example).

Premium AP:
Take 14 of these shells. These are your “standard/default ammo” as they deal more damage. This will be the most commonly used shell in battles, so you should take a lot of them.

Note that though this ammo is “premium” its credit cost is cheap, 530 alpha for only 3,600 credits is a very low cost. Other guns with similar alpha premium ammo generally cost 4,400-5,200.

HE:
Take 3 HE shells. HE only deals 70 more damage than your 530 alpha AP shot, so often its not really worth firing. Sometimes these may be needed to clutch a kill against an enemy with 600 HP and light armour, so take a small number of HE.

Ammo usage in battle:
Premium AP should be your default ammunition, its “mechanics” are the same as standard ammo on other tanks: it deals more damage but has less penetration.

If you are not using premium AP as your default ammunition, you may as well not buy the ISU-130. The whole point of this tank is its insane DPM with very high 530 alpha shots and a quick reload.

Equipment, provisions, & consumables

ISU-130 has no special consumables or provisions.

Gun Rammer:
ISU-130 has sufficient penetration. Even though you may think: “Well its highest penetration ammo is only the same as standard ammo on other TDs”, consider how often you actually need premium ammunition on a tank with 245mm of penetration. Its not often, especially when your tank has great accuracy and can actually snipe weakpoints. Premium ammo is often just an excuse to not aim carefully, especially on tank destroyers.

Gun rammer is what gives the ISU-130 its amazing 3.6k DPM and 8.8s reload. Not using gun rammer defeats the purpose of this tank, which is to put out enormous amounts of DPM with huge 530 alpha shots and a quick reload. Use gun rammer.

Camouflage Net:
ISU-130 is a tank that should start off the battle by sniping, so it should use the camo net. It also terrible view range, even with improved optics, so don’t use that equipment.
With a camo net and a level 7 camouflage crew skill, the ISU-130 has 67% camouflage when stationary, 49% camouflage when moving, and 10% when it shoots.

For quite a large and boxy tank, its camouflage is quite impressive. Though it loses almost all of it when shooting due to the large caliber of the gun

Improved Assembly:
Since the ISU-130 has effectively no armour, there isn’t any use to enhancing it.

Instead use improved assembly, it improves the HP of the ISU from an already impressive 1250 up to 1325, which is one of the highest HP pools for a tier 8 TD (one that isn’t a heavily armoured assault TD).

Refined Gun:
The ISU-130 does have a sniping playstyle, so it does benefit from having a smaller aim circle. It also already has amazing aim time and the best gun handling of any TD in the tier, so it does not need vertical stabilizer.
Using refined gun gives the ISU-130 a dispersion of 0.277, which is very good for its alpha damage.

Gameplay advice

ISU-130 plays most similarly to the WZ-111-1G FT, if you’ve played that tank, then you should have a good idea of how to play the ISU-130.

Its a sniper TD, but with good enough capabilities in other areas to play a more active role a bit later in the battle.

General gameplay:
The ISU-130 starts the battle by sniping, use the good mobility of the tank to find a good sniping position behind a bush and at long distance from the enemy.

Relocate during the battle if your position can no longer get shots on the enemy, don’t just stay in the same spot if you can’t get damage. Your only purpose as a TD is to help the team by dealing damage.

Later in the battle, you can start taking up 2nd line positions, support allied HT or MT, flank enemies, etc. Use the HP of your tank and its good mobility to progress the battle with your allies. Don’t stay sniping for the whole battle, often more active play is needed to win or get good damage.

When you do you push the tank to the 2nd line or frontline, let your allies take hits. Even though the ISU-130 has a decent amount of HP for a TD, it won’t last long if its taking hits for the team. The ISU should only use its HP to trade in a 1v1 situation where it can out-DPM and/or out-trade an enemy.

(Don’t take 2nd line or frontline positions at the start of the battle, always start by sniping from a long distance. Only when there are few tanks remaining should the ISU-130 take a more aggressive role in the battle.)

Be wary of your tank’s mobility limitations:
The ISU-130 reverses slowly, and has very limited gun traverse to the left (only 2 degrees).

This can mean that you get circled by an enemy, or they catch your side. The slow reverse speed and poor traverse arc to the left can cause it to be hard to shake the enemy off.

If an enemy does circle you, try to drive forward then traverse around. The acceleration and traverse speed of this tank are both good, making it easy to move forward and away from the enemy, then get turned around to shoot them (just make sure you have cover behind you so they can’t circle you again).

Similarly, when you play this tank actively, it can be easy to get carried away with the mobility. Going forwards, its a pretty mobile tank, but its very slow in reverse. Be careful not to over-turn your tank when going around a corner, because you won’t be able to reverse quickly, and enemies may be able to take advantage of this and hug your side.

Ammo use:
Always use premium AP.

Do not ever load standard AP as your default shell, its the complete reverse logic of playing WoT Blitz. Loading standard ammo in this tank is the equivalent of using premium ammo in any other tank.
It deals less damage, but has more penetration.

You should always use premium AP as your default shell. It deals the most damage and is by far the most effective shell in battle, as its penetration is still perfectly fine for a tier 8 tank.
With its sniping gameplay and good accuracy, you often won’t need very high penetration, as most tanks won’t face their armour in your direction (due to being unspotted in a bush).

If you can’t penetrate an enemy with your premium AP, then load standard AP.

Overall

Overall the ISU-130 is a very good tank. Its better than the ISU-152 due to its ability to output damage so much more effectively, along with much improved mobility and hitpoints.

The ISU-130 is a very accurate vehicle with an extremely effective gun, with both high alpha and DPM. Its camouflage rating and mobility are both good, though it lacks armour.

Is it worth getting?

ISU-130 is worth getting if you like the type of tank that it is. It has the role of a sniper TD, but is very accurate and quite mobile, and is capable of playing a more active role later in the battle.

Players who will really appreciate this tank are players who enjoy accurate and reliable guns, and are able to play both a sniper playstyle and active playstyle during the same battle.

It is not a tank that’s friendly to newer players or players not used to the tank’s playstyle, and it requires a decent amount of skill to play it well; though, its more forgiving than the ISU-152 due to its better accuracy and higher rate of fire.

ISU-130 is worth 8,000 gold, its a good tank and has a unique playstyle for a premium tank in tier 8, and is overall a very enjoyable tank.

Most recently sold for:

5,500 gold (Full bundle) – October 2022
4,500 gold (Tank only) – June 2023

“Forest Shadow” exclusive rare camo:
2D, costs 750 gold

Doesn’t change name in battle as its not a legendary camo

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