DTH-STR

DTH-STR is a tier 8 tank destroyer from Season 4 “Anniversary” based on the FV 183. It has amazing accuracy, aim time, handling, camo rating, good mobility, and a 3 shell autoloader with HESH shells. It also has decent enough armour.

Click the table of contents below to access the section you want:

Armour

(The DTH-STR in the images is using Enhanced Armour)

Drag slider right -> to view 180mm AP
Drag slider <- left to view 235mm APCR

When flat and facing head-on:
Upper plate 195-200mm
Lower plate 100mm

Turret face 85-140mm
Angled turret cheeks 195-210mm
Angled roof 215mm

Side armour:
The side armour of the DTH-STR is decent, at 64mm thick. This isn’t enough to sidescrape but it helps to protect the tank from lower penetration HE rounds. The tank also has large 4mm thick sideskirts covering the tracks.

Armour vs tier 7 enemies:
Facing tier 7 enemies, the DTH-STR actually has pretty good armour. As shown above, if using enhanced armour you can easily bounce up to around 185mm of AP penetration on the hull, still with multiple red areas on the turret.

Against lower penetration levels the turret will have more red areas.

Despite this armour, it shouldn’t be relied on in battle, as enemies can still aim for the weakpoints, but considering the great gun and mobility that this tank also features, having this armour does help.

Armour vs tier 8 enemies:
Against tier 8 tanks it will be much harder to bounce shots on the upper plate or turret, as the majority of tier 8 tanks have 190mm penetration or more.

The only shots you’ll bounce in tier 8 are from low penetration enemies who shoot the upper plate or turret roof.

Armour vs tier 9 enemies:
Against tier 9 enemies the DTH-STR has no armour at all, all tanks you face can easily penetrate any area of this tank’s front without issues.

Gun

The DTH-STR mounts a 105mm autoloader in its top configuration.

-Alpha damage is 310 on AP, 370 on HESH, and 420 on HE
-It has a 2.2s intra-clip reload, and a 17.2s magazine reload.
-The clip has 3 shells, so in 4.4s it can deal a 930 damage burst (or 1110 on HESH)
-DPM is 2385 on AP; or 2847 on HESH.
-Penetration on AP is 244mm, HESH is 165mm, and HE is 60mm.
–Estimated aim time is 2.7/2.9s
–Base aim time is 1.75s, but it can get down to 1.3s.
-Dispersion is 0.299/0.254
–Gun handling is 0.16/0.16/0.16, or 0.14/0.14/0.14 with Vertical Stabilizer.
-Gun depression is -6 degrees.
-Gun traverse arc is +/- 45 degrees to the left/right.
-After-shot-dispersion is 4.000

This is an incredible gun, every aspect of it is good. Gun handling is great for a TD, aim time and dispersion are both incredible, intra-clip and magazine reload are both fast, and standard penetration is good.

HESH penetration is quite low, however due to the amazing accuracy this isn’t usually an issue. The ability for this gun to deal huge damage quickly and accurately is very impressive and makes it a very deadly and effective gun.

Mobility

-Top speed is 46km/h forwards, and -14km/h in reverse
-Traverse speed is 48.5 deg/s on hard terrain, and 32.3 deg/s on medium terrain.
-In game acceleration rate is shown as 18.9 hp/t, it has a very strong 1058hp engine for its 56 ton weight.
-Actual acceleration rate is 18.9 hp/t on hard terrain, and 12.6 hp/t on medium terrain.
–Terrain resistances are 1/1.5/2

Overall this is an amazing mobility profile for the DTH-STR, with a great top speed and decent reverse speed, along with incredible acceleration and traverse speed on hard terrain.

Due to terrible medium terrain resistances, the mobility on medium terrain is much less impressive, but nonetheless its still pretty decent, especially combined with the fast turning turret of this tank (32.8 deg/s).

Equipment, provisions, & consumables

The DTH-STR doesn’t have any special provisions or consumables.

Calibrated Shells:
Due to the DTH-STR having HESH shells, calibrated shells is basically a must-have equipment piece.

The tank only has AP as its higher-penetration shell, so its essential to give this as much penetration as possible to deal with heavier armoured enemies. Calibrated shells is also necessary to improve the penetration of both HESH and HE shells, as these shells massively boost the DTH-STR’s DPM when you can use them in battle.

While vents are useful, for the type of autoloader and playstyle that the DTH-STR has, calibrated shells are better.

Calibrated shells would increase penetration on AP from 244mm up to 264mm, HESH from 165mm to 178mm, and HE from 60mm to 65mm.

Enhanced Armour:
Use enhanced armour on the DTH-STR. The reason for this is that the tank does have some armour which can bounce same and lower tier enemies. If you can make the enemy bounce off that armour, or at least aim for slightly longer, it gives you more chance to reload/shoot your magazine, and could save you HP.

Improved assembly only adds 48 HP, which is much less of a benefit compared to enhanced armour.

Enhanced armour would improve:

Upper plate from 195mm to 200mm
Lower plate from 100mm to 103mm
Turret face from 85/140mm to 90/150mm
Angled turret cheeks from 195mm to 202mm
Angled roof from 215mm to 222mm

Vertical Stabilizer:
Refined gun does not benefit this tank as much as vertical stabilizer. The stabilizer will help reduce the after-shot-bloom from 4.000 to 3.520, which is a huge difference since the DTH-STR has a very shot 2.2s intra-clip reload.

Vertical stabilizer will help the tank to unload its magazine more accurately and effectively, but also help to reduce the amount of bloom from moving the tank (which is also helpful considering the great mobility of the DTH-STR).

Gameplay advice

The DTH-STR has very unique gameplay. While you may think its comparable to the GSOR or FV4005 as a “turreted autoloading tank destroyer”, its only partially the case.

Due to having incredible accuracy, gun handling, & intra-clip reload, along with some decent armour and great mobility, the DTH-STR is much more flexible in its gameplay. In many cases it starts as a “sniper TD”, but ends the battle as flanking medium support tank.

General gameplay:
Much like most tank destroyers, you should start the battle by finding a concealed sniping position to take early shots at enemies who are crossing into position or contesting points on the map.

Later in the battle when you have more information on the enemy positions and the battle has progressed, you can push forward and play more actively. In the case of the DTH-STR, try to use the magazine to ambush enemies from the side or behind to output the maximum amount of damage with HESH or HE shells. Often during later stages of the battle, lost enemies can be destroyed with one penetrating HESH magazine.

Try to stay on hard terrain where possible, and avoid relying on the tank’s armour. The armour will occasionally bounce shots, but its not reliable in bouncing any enemy, so shouldn’t ever be relied on as part of your gameplay.

Drive on hard terrain:
Due to the terrain resistance being a terrible 1.5 on medium terrain, its best to try and stay on hard terrain (roads & paved areas) whenever possible.

The mobility difference between the two terrain types on this vehicle are night and day. On hard terrain, the DTH-STR accelerates very quickly for a tank destroyer, with great hull traverse speeds. Its able to be very agile and mobile on hard terrain.

On medium terrain, the tank moves more like a mobile heavy. It accelerates significantly slower and has fairly average hull traverse speed. While not “slow”, its much less mobile than when driving on hard terrain.

Make use of different ammo types:
-AP with great penetration, can penetrate spaced armour, and can overmatch & normalize.
-Premium HESH shells with fairly low penetration, but great alpha damage and burst damage.
-HE with good penetration, these deal even more damage than HE, and should be used against lightly armoured targets. A full magazine of HE deals 1260 damage on average.

Use bushes for camouflage:
The DTH-STR has great camo rating, and using bushes will help to amplify this, making the tank essentially impossible to spot unless you shoot. This is really helpful for getting into positions or running away, as you can use bushes to spot enemies, yet use the bush to remain hidden.

Load HESH as default:
HESH is your lowest penetration but highest damage round ( out of the 2 main rounds you use in battle).

When you start the battle, load HESH. This way when you use sniper mode to look at an enemy, you won’t have to mess around switching shells. If its yellow, then load AP to penetrate the enemy, if its grey, then shoot the enemy with the HESH that you’ve already loaded.

Overall the DTH-STR’s gameplay is essentially that of a support TD, starting the battle by being a sniper or 2nd line tank, but then playing more actively towards the later stages of the game. the DTH-STR’s gameplay mainly revolves around using its great camo rating and mobility to put its autoloader into positions which will let it clip out enemies.

Tank gameplay:

Overall

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

Overall the DTH-STR is an incredible tank.

Armour is decent, weak hull sides, lower plate, & turret front. Upper plate, turret roof, & turret cheeks are decently armoured.
Gun is incredible, with amazing accuracy, aim time, gun handling, DPM, quick intra-clip & magazine reload, great burst damage, & great ammo types. Gun depression is a poor -6 degrees.
Mobility is good, with amazing hard terrain acceleration & traverse speed. On medium terrain traverse & acceleration are just average. Reverse speed is average, -14km/h
Speed is great at 46km/h.

Is it worth it?

This tank can be earned for free in Season 4 “Anniversary”, though you cannot fully upgrade it without spending money for season currency.

The DTH-STR is worth 10,500 gold. Its arguably the best tier 8 tank destroyer in the game. It has some armour (though by far the weakest point of the tank), it has great mobility (incredible on hard terrain, decent/good on medium), and it has the most devastating firepower on a tier 8 tank, being accurate, aiming fast, with great handling, fast intra clip, great penetration, alpha damage, and a fast reload.

Camo cost:

DTH-STR has a permanent appearance which can’t be adjusted.

Its shown here in the stock configuration.

Stock grind

As you upgrade modules, the stats of each module improves slightly, improvements are not large, they are very gradual.

If you want to check the stats of each module, you can view the tank in-game, or use gamemodels3d or Blitzstars.

Important:
-Only the top turret improves turret armour, all the stock and intermediate turrets have the same armour.
-Stock and top turrets/guns have the same gun depression.
-Tracks only upgrade traverse speed (not terrain resistances or gun handling).
-The hull doesn’t upgrade, the armour is the same throughout.

Gun:
This tank starts with a 100mm gun that does 280 alpha on AP, 340 on HESH; each gun after it gradually increases by 10 alpha per shell. Each gun also improved in aim time, reload time, penetration, and accuracy.

Turret:
The stock turret has more armour than the top turret, however it has much worse angling, so its still much weaker than the top turret. This stock turret cannot bounce anything, even from the lowest penetration tank you face against.

Engine/tracks:
Engine power, traverse speed, and acceleration are much worse when stock, with slower acceleration and traverse. Keeping to hard terrain helps to combat the worsened mobility, as the tank still has that 1/1.5/2 terrain resistance, so its mobility on hard terrain is still pretty good.

The tank below has enhanced armour equipped.

Drag slider right -> to view 180mm AP
Drag slider <- left to view 235mm APCR

Turret face 160mm
Angled turret cheeks 160mm

Upgrading:
As said above, upgrading each module improves it slightly. In total there are 4 of each module on this tank. 1 stock module, 2 intermediary modules, and 1 top module for each turret, gun, engine, and tracks.

Each gun upgrade makes it slightly more accurate, higher penetration, quicker reload, better alpha.
Each turret upgrade gives better HP and turret turn rate.
Each engine upgrade improves traverse speed and acceleration rate.
Each track upgrade improves traverse speed sonly.

Eventually you get to the top modules, these are the only modules which change in appearance.
-The top gun has by far the best accuracy, penetration, DPM, alpha damage, and reload.0.
-The top turret improves in armour due to its better angling, though the base thickness goes down.
-The engines and tracks are also in their best configuration, so also output the best possible mobility for the tank. Terrain resistances don’t change.

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