Heavy tanks (HT)
Standard heavy tank:
The average heavy tank has good upper plate and turret armour, good alpha damage with a decent reload, and fairly average speed of 32-38km/h. These are the most forgiving tanks, with more armour and hitpoints than most MT, LT, and TDs, but less maneuverability and DPM.
T110E5, Vz.55, Super Conqueror, Tiger II, Chi-Se, T32, etc. are all standard heavy tanks.
Playing this class:
These tanks have some of the easiest gameplay in the game, basically you just need to take them to the heavy flank, or positions that suit them well. Some standard heavies will have gun depression to use, others will be good at angling or sidescraping. You just have to brawl with other heavies and whittle down their HP, while trying to use your armour to conserve your own HP.
Heaviums:
Heaviums are a mix of medium and heavy traits, generally these are much quicker than regular heavy tanks, but have less armour, often have less HP, and often have smaller gun calibers for a heavy tank type. Some have good penetration, but most are on the lower end of penetration for heavy tanks,
Tanks such as the T95E6, Chieftain/T95, Emil 1951, WZ-111 5A, Obj.260, Strv K, or Concept 1B are all heaviums.
Playing this class:
These tanks are very flexible with how they play, the good mobility allows them to move to the medium side and spearhead a push or play aggressively with their high HP and good alpha (compared to mediums); or you can remain on the heavy tank side of the map and play more of a support or flanking role (this is harder to do since you are at an armour disadvantage, and mobility isn’t that much of strength in a heavy tank brawl).
Some heaviums have strong turrets which can hold hulldown positions very well, others have turret weakpoints which make them less effective in such a role.
These tanks are harder to play than standard heavies due to lacking armour and being quite ineffective at being a frontline heavy. A general rule to go by is that they work well playing with or against mediums.
Super heavies:
Super heavies by definition are either very extremely large or extremely heavy by weight. By this definition, the IS-7, Super Conqueror, Vz.55 or Mitsu 108 could all count as super heavies.
However super heavies are defined by their gameplay, so none of those above tanks are superheavies. Super heavies characteristically are extremely well armoured, not just on the front, but generally even on the sides and rears of the tank. These tanks are also usually much slower than a “standard heavy”, and often mount bigger guns with more alpha damage but less DPM or accuracy.
Tanks such as the KV-4, KV-5, Maus, VK 168.01 (P), VK 72.01 (K), VK 90.01 (P), VK 45.02 (P) B, E 100, Tankenstein, or VK 100.01 (P) are superheavy tanks.
(There are also some tanks which are half superheavies, with some traits of both a superheavy and a regular heavy. Usually they’re a bit more mobile but a bit less armoured than a true superheavy, some examples would be WZ-114, E 75, Keiler, 114 SP2, 60TP, Groundtank, etc.)
Playing this class:
Superheavies are usually restricted to the heavy tank side of the map. They work best in town environments and on flat ground. Even if they have good gun depression, they don’t work as well in hilly terrain just due to their awkward size and poor mobility.
These tanks usually just need to trade damage with enemy heavies, since often the alpha damage of superheavies is higher than regular heavies. Some superheavies can also employ special armour angling tactics to absorb more shots and bounce damage, such as sidescraping or angling the turret. Try to be around allies, since superheavies don’t do well when being rushed by other tanks.
Support heavies:
Support heavies are the rarest heavy tank type with the most odd and/or difficult playstyle. These tanks often lack a trait which makes heavy tanks able to brawl well with other vehicles, either DPM, armour, mobility, accuracy, or all of these. Alternatively they might just have extremely good guns but a poor platform, so work better from a 2nd line or flanking position.
Some support heavies are AMX 50 B, Caliban, Conqueror, FV215b, BZ-75 (with 152mm gun), Obj.452K.
Playing this class:
These tanks all play fairly differently, since they are “support” for different reasons. Their gameplay is covered in each review.
–AMX 50 B is support due to terrible armour and a very long magazine reload, but it has great mobility and burst damage.
–Caliban is support since it has poor speed, armour, accuracy, and reload time, but very a high alpha HESH gun.
-Conqueror is support since it essentially mounts a railgun which could fit in tier 11, but has terrible armour, huge size, and fairly average speed.
-FV215b is support for similar reasons to the Conqueror, but it does work in hulldown. This tank has more awkward turret positioning with weak hull armour, but a perfect gun for farming damage.
–BZ-75 is support due to its lacking penetration and sustained DPM. It has decent armour, mobility, and HP, but its 152mm gun isn’t suited to frontlining.
–Obj.452k is support due to it being unable to use armour. This tank has to be played focussed around gun and mobility use.
Medium tanks (MT)
Standard medium tank:
Most mediums are all-rounders, they are a halfway point between heavies and lights, having more armour and HP than light tank, but more mobility and accuracy than heavy tanks.
Mediums are very varied, some have no turret nor hull armour, some only have turret armour, and others have armour similar to a heavy tank. Some mediums are almost as fast as light tanks, others are almost as slow as heavy tanks.
The “standard” medium has fairly average speed, 48-55km/h, usually with a decent turret, and a decent gun with average alpha for its tier.
Tanks such as 121B, M48 Patton, T-62A, AMX 30B, Type 59, M26 Pershing, Centurtion 7/1, etc. are all fairly standard mediums.
Playing this class:
These are fairly all-rounder tanks, and most mediums have a fairly similar playstyle. Most are good in hulldown positions and have good view range for spotting enemies. Mediums have a fairly active tank role since they are mobile and flexible with how they play.
A fairly generic gameplay for mediums would be to push to the front of the MT side flank, get spotting info or cap the base, then fight with enemy mediums on that flank. If there are no enemies, then wait either push forward and flank enemies (if you know that most have been spotted), or go back and support allies from a different side.
Gameplay of mediums is very flexible and is constantly changing with every situation since they are just all-rounders and play slightly differently depending on what matches and enemies they face.
A subclass of the standard medium would be autoloader or auto-reloader mediums, these still play basically the same role as a standard medium, just use their guns in a different way due to a different reload mechanism. These tanks usually play a bit more passively to reload, but trade in damage bursts.
Support medium:
A support medium is a tank which is more fragile or careful in its gameplay than other mediums, usually due to a weak armour profile or poor DPM. These tanks are not really suited to frontline gameplay, and generally have good mobility, perfect for providing 2nd line or flanking support.
Tanks such as the Leopard 1, Lansen C, Obj.140, Char Futur 4, STG, T-34-3, etc. are support mediums.
Playing this class:
These tanks don’t rush the frontlines like other mediums, due to either weaker armour or their low DPM. Low DPM is poor for frontline use, since there’s usually quite a lot of pressure to reload quickly so that you can take down the enemy tanks on the frontline. While tanks like the STG or T-34-3 have strong turrets, they have very poor DPM and long reloads, so are very vulnerable to being rushed or out-DPM traded once they shoot.
Support mediums work well to start the battle in a 2nd line position, where they wouldn’t be the first target for enemies to shoot. Later in the battle they can either push forward with allies or change flanks to support a different area of the map, or just flank around enemies to shoot their sides or rear.
Medium Heavium:
Similar to the heavy class heavium, the medium heaviums are a combination of heavy armour and medium mobility, often with a heavy tank gun as well.
Tanks such as 122TM or Chimera could count as medium heaviums due to their good armour and big guns.
Playing this class:
These tanks still play a medium role, since their armour, alpha damage, and HP advantages disappear if you play with and against heavy tanks. The heavier armour of these tanks and the bigger alpha damage stand out much more as advantages when played against mediums. The generally low DPM requires you to have allies who can support you on the long reload.
Light tanks (LT)
Standard light tank:
Most light tanks fit these requirements:
-Very fast
-Terrible armour
-Mediocre to decent DPM
-Decent to good camo rating and view range
-Decent accuracy
These are quick tanks with very little armour and quite low HP, they are often vulnerable to being penetrated with HE shells, but usually are good at scouting enemies and remaining hidden.
Playing this class:
Standard lights often play as initial scouts, then as support or flanking tank.
At the start of the battle, find a bush or a ridge to hide your tank behind, and try to spot the enemies for your team. The light tank’s job is to get info for the team by using the good view range and mobility to see where enemies are moving to at the start of the battle.
Don’t remain in one position during the battle, use the mobility to your advantage and flank the enemies, get to their sides or rears, or find isolated enemies which you can focus. If you aren’t either spotting an enemy or dealing damage in a position, then relocate so that you can. Generally in a light, if you aren’t either doing damage, spotting, or moving, then you’re not helping the team.
Support light:
T49 (and the Fearless version) is the only true support light, since it just has an extremely team-reliant playstyle with its 152mm gun.
Technically all light tanks are support to the rest of the team due to their lacking armour and often mediocre DPM, but they can generally hold themselves at least a decent amount against most enemies, however the T49 can’t.
T49 is the only light that is completely helpless against the majority of tanks it faces alone, and its fully reliant on allies to help it. This is because the T49 has the 2 most inflexible ammo types in the game, HEAT and premium HE, it also has very poor penetration, a maximum of 167mm on HEAT, or 83mm on HE, its the least accurate light tank in the game, and also has a very long reload. On top of this it still has terrible armour, and its among the slower tier 8 light tanks.
Due to all these negative traits, the T49 heavily relies on other tanks to help it through situations, making it truly a support-only tank.
Playing this class:
There’s a full section on how to play the T49 in this review.
Autoloader light:
Autoloader lights differ from a “standard light” in the fact that they deal damage in bursts. Its a completely different way of using the gun, which often makes autoloader lights much more deadly than a light tank with a cyclic gun.
Playing this class:
Autoloader light tanks play similarly to regular light tanks in general gameplay, but when dealing damage they trade in bursts, and then use the good mobility and camo of the light tank to run away and reload.
Light tanks can easily create time for themselves in battle by using their mobility to hide and escape the frontline, so don’t just sit at the frontline and reload unless its the only option. Autoloading light tanks are really effective with a hit-and-run style of damage dealing.
Tank destroyers (TD)
Standard tank destroyer:
There is no such thing as a “standard tank destroyer”, since all TDs fall into at least one of three categories, there’s no general “standard” type. The three categories are below.
Support TD:
Support TDs are tank destroyers which can play both a sniper role and either a support HT or support MT role at later points in the battle. The majority of TDs in the game are support TDs, since most either have enough armour, mobility, or flexibility to be able to play a more active role, while still being able to snipe well.
Tanks such as the SU-130PM, Conway, Obj.268, Ho-Ri, Foch 155, Jpanther II, WZ-111-1G FT etc. are all support TDs.
Playing this class:
Support TDs usually start off the battle by finding a sniping position and playing a sniper role. This helps to conserve HP at the start of the battle (TDs are often characteristically lower HP than other tanks in their tiers) while still helping the team and getting early shots off.
Once the battle stagnates, or the situation changes, you can leave the sniper position to support the 2nd line or frontline with the support of allied MT/LT or HT who are on that line. At this point you can use the HP and basically play more similarly to a medium or heavy (depending on the traits of your tank).
Sniper TD:
These are tanks that are only good at sniping, and are much less effective when in closer ranges due to either a poor gun platform, poor camo rating, or very poor armour.
These tanks can still play actively, but are much less suited to it, often lacking a turret, mobility, gun depression, or armour.
Tanks such as Grille 15, Skorpion G, Rhm.-B. WT, Steyr WT, T-34-2G FT, ISU-152, WT Ritter, etc. are all sniper TDs.
Playing this class:
Sniper TDs are the tanks which want to be far from the frontline, in an elevated and concealed position, behind a bush with some hard cover nearby. Since these tanks usually have poor armour, they get damaged easily, so you want to be far away from the enemies to avoid being spotted.
Once the battle slows down or a flank falls, then you’ll need to reposition, but still try to avoid being spotted or shot by the frontline tanks. Flanking can sometimes work to surprise enemies (due to sniper TDs having great guns), but will go poorly if you face multiple high HP enemies alone, so check the battle situation.
Assault TD:
These are often heavily armoured tank destroyers, with as much if not more armour than heavy tanks at their tier, and often also having high HP. Compared to the sniper and support TD types, Assault TDs often have worse accuracy, gun handling, DPM, mobility, and traverse speed.
tanks in the Minotauro tech tree, AT-2, AT-8, AT-7, AT-15, Tortoise, T110E3, T95, T28, FV217 Badger, Jg. E 100, Jagdtiger, Obj.263, 113G FT, Obj.268/4, T110E4, XM66F, etc. are all Assault TDs.
(Note the commonality between these, they are all fairly slow, very heavily armoured, and not as accurate as other TDs.)
Playing this class:
These tanks basically play as heavy tanks, they go to the frontline, some can use gun depression positions, some can sidescrape, some just have very few frontal weakpoints. These tanks usually fight with and against heavy tanks since they are slower and more armoured, also usually lacking a turret.
Some assault TDs have very high DPM to bludgeon through the enemies, but others have long reloads which will have to be managed, since many heavy tanks could out-reload them (such as the Jg. E 100 or Minotauro).
With some of these tanks you just have to turn off your brain and not over-think the gameplay, such as for the ultra slow T95, Tortoise, AT-15, Turtle Mk.I, the gameplay is literally drive and shoot, no stopping.
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