T26E5

The T26E5 is an American tier 8 heavium tank. It has an excellent gun, great turret armour, and good mobility. Its hull armour is still decent, but is less than proper heavy tanks.

Armour

(The T26E5 in the images is using Enhanced Armour)

vs 225mm AP (head-on vs angled)
When facing head on:
Upper plate 205mm
Lower plate 202mm
Turret cheeks 238-340mm
Gun mantlet 280mm
Cupola 260mm

vs 265mm APCR
Using -10 gun depression

Upper plate: 250mm

Turret cheeks 252-360mm

Gun mantlet 280mm

Cupola 330mm

Armour vs tier 7:
The T26E5 has very good armour against tier 7 tanks.
Enemies will need at least 180mm penetration to go through the lower plate (un-angled). If the tank is angled then most enemies will have to use premium ammo.

To penetrate the upper plate (un-angled), enemies will need at least 200mm AP penetration, if using HEAT, enemies will need around 215mm of penetration.
If the tank is angled than only very few tier 7 tanks have enough premium penetration to deal with the upper plate.

The turret is impenetrable to all tier 7 tanks.

Armour vs tier 8:
Lower penetration tier 8 MT and LT will face the same issues as tier 7, needing premium ammo for either the upper or lower plates.

Higher penetration tanks (215-225mm) will be able to penetrate the upper plate with relative ease when the tank is on flat ground.
Against 215mm AP, the T26E5 can angle to get bounces, but against 225mm AP, it would need to be over-angled.

To penetrate the turret, enemies will need 255-265mm of penetration, and will have to hit the bar on the right of the gun mantlet.

Armour vs tier 9:
Tier 9 tanks will very easily penetrate the hull armour of this tank. The turret will still be very strong, as enemies have to aim for the narrow bar weakpoints on the left and right of the gun mantlet.

Enhanced armour:
Note that this equipment is very important on the T26E5. Its what is making the upper plate red against 265mm APCR. Without enhanced armour on, 265mm APCR can easily cut through the upper plate when using gun depression.
It also makes the upper plate just slightly stronger on flat ground, to a point where you only need to angle slightly and enemies bounce off. This easily baits many players into shooting standard ammo at the upper plate, and then bouncing off when you angle and turn.

Gun

The T26E5 mounts a 90mm gun

-Alpha damage is 240 on APCR, 200 on HEAT, and 270 on HE
-It has a 5.7s reload giving it 2515 DPM
-Penetration on APCR is 221mm, HEAT is 265mm, and HE is 45mm.
–Estimated aim time is 3.2s/3.4s
–Base aim time is 1.9s, but it can get down to 1.55s.
-Dispersion is 0.308/0.277
–Gun handling is 0.2/0.22/0.1, or 0.17/0.19/0.09 with Vertical Stabilizer.
-Gun depression is -10 degrees

Overall this gun is extremely good. Its alpha damage is decent, reload is quick, penetration is good, gun depression is amazing, aim time is very fast, accuracy is very good. Only its gun handling is a bit poor, but the rest of the gun stats more than compensate for that.
Its a very nice type of gun to have on a heavium tank.

Mobility

-Top speed is a great 40km/h forwards, and -15km/h in reverse
-Traverse speed is 37.3 deg/s on hard terrain, and 32 deg/s on medium terrain.
-In game acceleration rate is shown as 17.8 hp/t, it has a strong 824hp engine for its 46 ton weight.
-Actual acceleration rate is 14.8 hp/t on hard terrain, and 12.7 hp/t on medium terrain.
–Terrain resistances are average, at 1.2/1.4/2.1

Overall the T26E5 is a fairly mobile heavy tank. It has a very good top speed, and great acceleration. Its traverse speed is also decent, but compared to its other mobility stats, its not as impressive.

Equipment, provisions, & consumables

The T26E5 has no special consumables or provisions.

Gun Rammer:
The T26E5 is a DPM focused heavy tank, so it definitely can’t sacrifice its reload and DPM for higher penetration. The penetration the tank has is already very good, with 221 APCR and 265mm HEAT.

Having that quicker reload and good DPM is essential to the playstyle of the T26E5, so using gun rammer really benefits the tank in its gameplay.
Gun rammer gives the T26E5 a 5.7s reload with 240 alpha, for 2515 DPM; one of the better DPMs for a tier 8 HT.

Improved Assembly/Enhanced Armour:
Enhanced armour and improved assembly can both work well on this tank.
Improved assembly will take this tank’s decent 1800 base HP, up to a very good 1908 HP.

Enhanced armour’s main benefits will be:
Upper plate from 205mm to 213mm
Lower plate from 202mm to 210mm
Turret cheek from 238mm to 247mm

The tank still has a good 1800 HP if it uses enhanced armour, and the armour will be able to withstand more hits from same tier tanks.

Vertical Stabilizer:
The only lacking aspect of the gun on this tank is its gun stabilization. It has great accuracy of 0.308, so it definitely should not use refined gun.

Use vertical stabilizer, which will let the tank be far more consistent and accurate in its playstyle, which involves constant movement on frontline brawls and fights.

Gameplay advice

T26E5 is a typical heavium tank which can work well both on the medium side and on the heavy side. Its main gameplay revolves around using its great gun and turret armour to grind down the hitpoints of enemies.

Use gun depression.
The turret armour of the T26E5 is far stronger than the hull, so using gun depression and going hull down will make it almost invulnerable. To penetrate the turret, enemies can only really shoot premium ammo, and will have to hit a very narrow bar of armour on the right of the turret cheek.
Keep moving back and fourth, and enemies will likely bounce off the gun mantlet or turret edge.

Angle the hull.
Due to the hull armour being decent, but not extremely strong, angling it is quite effective. On flat ground, if you angle it by 20 degrees (away from the enemy, this is the auto-ricochet angle for your side armour), the upper plate thickness will be around 225-230, so tanks with around 215mm and less penetration will bounce off.
Its also good to angle when using gun depression, if you don’t angle, then 255mm penetration can still sometimes go through the upper plate. When angled, it becomes far harder for all tier 8 premium rounds to penetrate.

The T26E5 can be played quite aggressively.
Against heavy tanks, it has a DPM and accuracy advantage, against medium tanks, it has an armour and HP advantage.
Whichever flank you play this tank on, it can work very well.
Against mediums, you should try and push quite aggressively. You have more armour than many mediums can deal with, and you still have high DPM and relatively high alpha by medium standards. Play aggressive, win the MT flank, then support your heavies by flanking around the enemies.
Against heavies you should try to put in 2-3 shots every time the enemies shoot once. Your alpha damage is lower than most other tanks, but you reload quicker than them. Use your turret armour to grind out enemies on a ridge or in hulldown.

This tank’s playstyle is that of a proper heavium. Its able to be effective on both the MT side and the HT sides of the map, and its gun and armour can work well against any type of enemy it faces. This tank thrives on hulldown and DPM gameplay.

Overall

Armour – 7/10
Gun – 7.5/10
Mobility – 7.5/10
Speed – 8/10

T26E5 is overall very good tier 8 tank.

Armour is very strong on the turret, with a large mantlet and good turret cheek thickness. Hul upper plate is weak for a heavy, but can be angled. Side armour and HE protection are decent.
Gun has great accuracy, aim time, DPM, reload, and gun depression; but mediocre gun handling and alpha damage. Penetration is decent
Mobility is good, a strong engine and good acceleration rates, with similarly good traverse speed. Reverse speed is decent.
Speed is good for a heavy, 40km/h.

This tank is the perfect blend of heavy and medium stats, and is a very comfortable and flexible heavium tank.

Is it worth getting?

The T26E5 is definitely worth considering when it comes for sale. Both medium tank players and heavy tank players will be able to enjoy this tank.

You do need to somewhat know what you’re doing in this tank, as the hull armour isn’t the most reliable, and the traverse speed isn’t the most impressive. It should be a fairly easy tank to play for players who are good with MT or HT gameplay though.

The T26E5 is worth 9,000 gold. The tank is very good, and its basically never in a scenario where it doesn’t have the ability to do well. This tank is just suited to any map, both medium and heavy gameplay, it has some armour whether its on flat ground or not, and its generally pretty fast for a heavy.

Most recently sold for:

5,000 gold (Full Bundle) – July 2023

Camo cost:

“Sheriff” camo: 2D, costs 1,450 gold

Historical info:

T26E5 is basically the USA recreating what they did with the M4A3E2 Sherman Jumbo. Taking a “medium” tank and giving it much stronger armour.

The T26E5 was intended to be able to reach the same speeds as a M26 Pershing, however it was noted that such mobility performance would seriously damage the front of the suspension, and new components were designed for this, and the top speed of the tank was forcibly reduced as to not damage the suspension.

The historical designation of the M26/T26 Pershing was a heavy tank, for the time that the M26 entered WW2, it had armour stronger than a Tiger 1, a more capable gun, and better mobility. Its weight was also higher than heavy Churchill tanks.
In game it has been placed at tier 8, and thus classed as a medium, if facing actually WW2 tanks (tiers 5-7), it would perform more as a heavy.
Thus the T26E5 was not taking a “medium” and giving it stronger armour, it was actually further enhancing the armour of the M26 Pershing heavy tank.

This is pretty clear to see even in game, as the T26E5 has a near identical model to the T26E3 Eagle 7, the M26 Pershing, and the T26E4 (where its not covered by the spaced armour)

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