T-54 Mod. 1

T-54 Mod.1 is a heavily armoured tier 8 medium tank. It has the hull armour of a T-54, but down at tier 8. Its turret is strong, but the gun is very poor, and the mobility is unimpressive.

Armour

(The T-54 Mod.1 in the images is using Enhanced Armour)

Drag slider right -> to view 185mm AP
Drag slider <- left to view 240mm APCR

Armour when faced flat and head-on:
Upper plate 215-230mm
Lower plate 190mm
Turret 180-400mm

Side armour:
T-54 Mod.1 has 90mm side armour, so it can sidescrape very well for a medium tank. Angling also means that essentially every tank in tier 8 will need premium ammo to penetrate the upper plate.

Armour vs tier 7 tanks:
Tier 7 tanks will only be able to penetrate the lower plate and turret hatch. The upper plate will only get penetrated by some premium ammunition, or in a facehug.
Angling the hull means that the lower plate will also be very strong and could bounce most standard ammo.

Armour vs tier 8 tanks:
Tier 8 tanks won’t have any trouble against the lower plate. If the upper plate is not angled, then only tanks with about 230mm+ AP penetration can go through (such as the T34 with 248mm AP, or Somua with 232mm AP).

Most premium ammo will easily go through the upper plate, even if its angled. Only very low penetration guns (such as the one T-54 Mod.1 uses) will bounce off it with premium ammo.

The upper plate will bounce most standard ammo, and the turret will hold up to nearly anything, given that they don’t hit the hatch, roof, or 180mm gun mantlet.

VS tier 9:
The turret is the strongest part of the armour against tier 9 enemies, though they will still penetrate easily if hitting the gun mantlet or turret face. Keeping the tank moving makes it much harder to aim for.
The upper plate will only bounce stock tanks, or lower penetration mediums (like the T-54, WZ-120, or M46 Patton). All tanks with fully upgraded guns will easily penetrate the hull armour of the tank.

Gun

T-54 Mod.1 has a 100mm gun

-Reload time is 8.0s for 280 alpha, giving it 2100 DPM.
-Penetration is 175mm on AP, 237mm on APCR, and 50mm on HE.
-Aim time is 3.9/4.2s
-Dispersion is 0.335/0.301
-Gun handling is 0.14/0.14/0.06, or 0.12/0.12/0.05 with Vertical Stabilizer.
-Gun depression is -5 degrees

The gun on this tank feels like it misses many shots it should be hitting. Its got terrible penetration, the DPM is low, and its accuracy is average/poor. The gun on this tank is definitely one of the worst on any tier 8 medium, and its really quite frustrating to use just due to being so unreliable.

Mobility

-Top speed is 44km/h forwards, and -18km/h in reverse
-Acceleration rate is 18.1 hp/t on hard terrain, and 15.1 hp/t on medium terrain.
-Traverse speed is 72 deg/s on hard terrain, and 60 deg/s on medium terrain.
–Terrain resistances are decent, with 1/1.2/1.5

The mobility isn’t as bad as it may look. Though the top speed is low, the tank is very mobile. Its acceleration is decent for a medium, and it has amazing traverse speed (which helps with maintaining speed when turning).
It can keep quite a good average speed, and its mobility really isn’t a disadvantage.

Equipment, provisions, & consumables

T-54 Mod 1 has no special consumables or provisions.

Gun Rammer:
Though penetration of the T-54 Mod. 1 is not high, its still usable in its tier. The DPM is low though, so it needs improving. Since the T-54 Mod. 1 is a medium tank, it will be fighting on the medium flank, and since most other mediums have more DPM, this needs all it can on that front.

Enhanced armour:
Enhanced armour greatly benefits this vehicle. The biggest difference is that it adds about 10mm of armour to the upper plate, which is very noticeable for bouncing shots form same tiered enemy tanks.

Improved assembly can work on this tank, taking its decent 1400 HP up to 1484, but the tank will bounce less.
Not taking a hit in the first place will conserve your HP much better than actually having higher HP to begin with.

Vertical Stabilizer:
The aim time and dispersion of the T-54 Mod. 1 are actually decent, same for the gun handling. As this is a frontline tank though, its better to improve the gun handling. Dispersion is already quite decent for its alpha damage, so it won’t struggle to hit when it is fully aimed in; but getting fully aimed in can be made easier by the vertical stabilizer.

Gameplay advice

T-54 Mod.1 has quite an awkward playstyle.
It lacks many of the comfort factors that you want on a tank: gun depression, penetration, and overall reliability in the gun. Due to this, you have to be careful with positioning.

Stick to flat ground:
Try to stay on flat ground wherever possible, the poor gun depression makes it very hard to use any hulldown positions on hills or uneven terrain.

That being said, this tank is very strong in hulldown, so find positions where you can stay on flat ground while exposing only the turret.

Treade with alpha, not reload or DPM:
Try to avoid all-in DPM fights with enemy tanks, as most enemies have more DPM. Its best to stay behind cover on its fairly lengthy 8 second reload.

Other than this, the T-54 Mod.1 plays just like many other medium tanks, but its good to keep in mind during gameplay, that the strength of this tank is in its armour, and its weakness is its gun.

Overall

Armour – 7.5/10
Gun – 3.5/10
Mobility – 6.5/10
Speed – 4.5/10

T-54 Mod.1 is overall a very mediocre tank.

Armour is very good for a medium tank, strong upper plate, turret, and side armour. Good HE protection, and few weakpoints. Lower plate is weak to same and higher tier tanks. Armour easy to angle.
Gun has poor DPM, penetration, & gun depression. Aim time & accuracy are mediocre. Alpha damage and gun handling are decent.
Mobility is good, a decent engine and acceleration rate, with very high traverse speeds. Reverse speed is mediocre.
Speed is mediocre, 44km/h.

Unfortunately the gun is the part of the tank that makes the damage, carries and wins games, and helps your tank do well in battle. Due to the gun on this tank just not being good at all, it just makes the tank not at all enjoyable to play, and makes using the armour and mobility difficult, as even if these 2 aspects work, you can’t effectively rack up damage.

Is it worth getting?

This tank can still work, and is still decent at being a medium, but there are just are a lot more interesting and exciting tanks that compete with this tank (such as Obj.274a, WZ-122TM, and Titan-54d). Hence its often sold at a very low price to compete with the newer and often better tanks. This tank is not really worth buying, other tanks can do what it does but better, or in a more exciting/fun playstyle.

The T-54 Mod.1 is worth 4,000 gold. The tank isn’t very fun, its not very good, and its quite frustrating to play. It has everything for you to hate and nothing to love. The only real good aspect is its armour, but enemies can still easily penetrate the lower plate, or just use premium ammo on the upper plate.

Most recently sold for:

5,000 gold (Tank only) – September 2022
5,500 gold (Full bundle) – March 2023
4,600 gold (Starting price), 3,400 gold (Final price) in Auction – August 2023

“Origin” camo: 2D, costs 1,450 gold

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