Type 5 Ka-Ri

Last updated 03 June, 2024.

Ka-Ri is a tier 8 Japanese tank destroyer. It features decent hull armour, decent speed and mobility, and a 440 alpha gun with good accuracy but mediocre DPM.

Armour

(The Ka-Ri in the images is using Enhanced Armour)

vs 210mm AP (left image), 259mm APCR (right image)
When facing head on:
Upper plate 220mm
Lower plate 115mm

Superstructure front 200mm
Gun mantlet 200-250mm

Armour vs tier 7:
Facing tier 7 enemies the Ka-Ri has decent armour, its upper plate is strong, and the superstructure front will bounce most standard ammo (with exception to German & USA heavies).

The lower plate is weak to all enemies, and all enemies can use premium ammo to penetrate the superstructure front.

Armour vs tier 8-9:
Against tier 8-9 tanks the armour is very weak. The only tanks that will bounce off the superstructure or upper plate are low penetration tier 8 medium/light tanks. All other tanks can easily penetrate any area of the Ka-Ri’s front.

Gun

The Ka-Ri mounts a 127mm gun.

-Alpha damage is 440 on AP, 425 on premium AP, and 570 on HE
-It has a 10.2s reload giving it 2579 DPM
-Penetration on AP is 246mm, premium AP is 290mm, and HE is 65mm.
–Estimated aim time is is 3.2/3.4s
–Base aim time is 2.01s, but it can get down to 1.55s.
-Dispersion is 0.317/0.269
–Gun handling is 0.18/0.18/0.12, or 0.16/0.16/0.11 with Vertical Stabilizer.
-Gun depression is -6 degrees.
-Gun arc left/right is +14/-14.
-Shell velocity is 800/910/430 m/s on AP/AP/HE.

Overall this is a good gun, it has standard penetration for a TD, with good aim time, accuracy, and gun handling. DPM is quite low for its alpha damage. Gun depression is average for this type of tank, with quite a flexible gun arc.

Another aspect to note is that Ka-Ri has poor shell velocity, which is notably worse than other tanks of a similar type. While not terrible overall, its still noticeable.

The best trait of this gun is not its standard alpha damage, but its premium & HE alpha. Premium AP only loses 15 damage per shot, or an 88 DPM decrease.
HE does a large amount of damage for a 440 alpha gun (570 instead of a more normal 530 alpha) with great penetration. Unfortunately due to abysmal shell velocity, the HE is almost unusable unless in close range.

Mobility

-Top speed is 38km/h forwards, and -15km/h in reverse
-Traverse speed is 44.9 deg/s on hard terrain, and 32 deg/s on medium terrain.
-In game acceleration rate is shown as 17.4 hp/t, it has a strong 782hp engine for its 45 ton weight.
-Actual acceleration rate is 17.4 hp/t on hard terrain, and 12.4 hp/t on medium terrain.
–Terrain resistances are 1/1.4/1.8

Mobility on the Ka-Ri is very mediocre. On hard terrain its quite good, with a decent acceleration rate and good traverse speed. However, due to bad terrain resistances, its significantly slower on medium terrain, with its mobility feeling more like that of a mobile heavy tank. On top of this its top forward speed is very mediocre, especially considering the tank’s poor armour.

Provision & consumable loadout

The Ka-Ri has access to reticle calibration & improved gunpowder.

Consumables:
Multi-purpose restoration pack is needed for repairing modules & crew members. The engine on this tank seems to be fairly weak since enemies often shoot the lower plate.

Adrenaline is needed to boost the low DPM of the Ka-Ri, it helps to reload your gun faster and improve DPM.

Reticle calibration isn’t necessary as the Ka-Ri already has good accuracy & aim time, however since you can take it, use it. Reticle calibration is very useful for when you don’t have any time to aim and have to quickly snap a shot at an enemy target. Its also good for penetrating HE shells on smaller weakpoints.

Provisions:
10% food is mandatory since it just improves all the most important stats on the tank. DPM, aim time, accuracy, traverse, etc. all benefit from this provision.

10% fue l is also mandatory on this tank due to its poor mobility. It improves both acceleration and traverse speed by 10%, which is a massive difference.

The final provision choice should be improved gunpowder to boost the poor shell velocities of the tank. Improved gunpowder would boost the shell velocities from 800/910/430 m/s up to 1040/1183/570m/s.

Alternatively you could use:
-3% food to further improve DPM, accuracy, aim time, etc.
-3% fuel to further improve acceleration & traverse.
(These aren’t recommended due to the playstyle of the Ka-Ri, and just its poor shell velocity. Higher shell velocity is very important on a mid to long range tank destroyer, which the Ka-Ri is).

Equipment loadout

Gun Rammer:
Due to being a TD, the Ka-Ri already has amazing penetration for its tier. The shell types it uses are also AP, making it easy to penetrate even higher tier heavy tanks on their turrets.

Calibrated shells are completely unnecessary on this tank due to this great penetration and especially due to its already low DPM (for its alpha).

Use gun rammer, this will improve its reload time from 10.8s to 10.2s, and DPM from 2450 to 2579.

Improved Control:
Due to the poor medium terrain resistances of the Ka-Ri, its traverse speed becomes quite slow when not on hard terrain. On a turretless TD its much more important to be able to turn quickly than it is to accelerate faster, as you lack a turret.

Using improved control only lowers acceleration rate by 0.7 hp/t on hard terrain, and 0.5hp/t on medium terrain, but boosts traverse speed from 44.8 deg/s to 47.4 deg/s on hard terrain, and from 32 deg/s to 33.8 deg/s on medium terrain.

Enhanced Armour:
Since the Ka-Ri has some usable armour against tier 7 tanks, and since improved assembly only adds a meagre 48 HP, its worth using to increase the amount of bounces you can get against low penetration enemies.

Enhanced armour improves:
Upper plate from 220mm to 229mm
Superstructure front from 200mm to 206mm
Gun mantlet from 200mm to 206mm

Vertical Stabilizer/Refined Gun:
Both of these can work, however for a sniper TD playstyle, the refined gun is generally better due to improved long range accuracy.

Refined gun will improve gun dispersion from 0.317 down to 0.269, which is very accurate. Paired with great penetration it makes the tank very effective at long range.

Gameplay advice

Ka-Ri is a sniper TD, similar to tanks such as the ISU-130 or Jpanther II, just with a bit of a different gun and much worse mobility.

General gameplay:
Ka-Ri should start the battle by going to a sniping spot and using bushes as camouflage (for this type of gameplay, improved gunpowder is necessary due to the Ka-Ri’s poor shell velocity). Make sure to use the reticle calibration consumable where necessary, as it can help to snap shots or aim in on even small weakpoints at long ranges.

Also don’t hesitate to use premium AP, it does 425 alpha and very high 290mm penetration, it also has one of the best penetration drop-off rates in the game, only losing 0.75mm penetration every 100m. If you really wanted to you could just use this for as “standard ammo” and be just as effective as with the 440 alpha AP with less penetration.

If the battle progresses in a way where you can push forward or flank, then take that opportunity. Still try to remain hidden and at long range, as the Ka-Ri is a fairly large target (especially from the sides) and isn’t well armoured. Even its decent 1200 base HP will disappear fairly quickly once the tank is spotted as its just weak and easy to hit.

Angle & wiggle the hull:
Despite the tank having essentially no armour against tier 8-9 opponents, wiggling the armour is still worth doing, as it increases the armour thickness and makes it harder to aim. Sometimes you can also use this to bait shots into the tracks which will deal no damage.

Stay on hard terrain:
Due to poor medium terrain resistances, Ka-Ri needs to stay on hard terrain to maintain a good level of mobility. On hard terrain (roads & paved areas) the Ka-Ri accelerates at a good rate, but importantly has good traverse speed, which helps it to turn quicker to get its gun on target due to lacking a turret.

On medium terrain the Ka-Ri moves more like a fast heavy, with very mediocre acceleration and slow traverse speed. This slow traverse makes it hard to react quickly to multiple enemies or fast enemies as you’ll struggle to turn the hull fast enough.

Use the different shells:
AP & premium AP, its debateable which one you should use as “standard”.

While AP has got the “best” DPM out of these 2 shells due to its 440 alpha, its arguable that the effective DPM of the premium AP is better due to higher penetration, even though its actual damage is lower. Higher penetration means you can “aim less”, it means you can penetrate more, higher shell velocity also means you won’t miss at long range as easily, so for 425 alpha damage, the “effective DPM” is just as good, if not much better.

(If you do decide to spam premium AP only, note there are some situations where you need standard AP. For example if there’s an enemy left on 420 HP, you are much more likely to kill them in one shot with the 440 alpha shell than the 425 alpha shell.)

Also make use of HE shells. These have great penetration with a very nice 570 alpha damage, giving a great boost to the DPM of the tank. Along with the great accuracy, its easy to hit and penetrate HE in close range. In mid to long ranges, trying to use HE isn’t recommended, the shell velocity is extremely poor, one of the worst in tier 8, making it very hard to hit shots, let alone penetrate shots.

Ka-Ri has sniper TD gameplay. Due to its mediocre armour and mobility, it has to stay far from the enemies to let its accurate gun farm damage without getting hit in return. While it can push forward later in the battle, the tank needs to try remain hidden due to its boxy shape which is easy to hit, and its 1200 HP which disappear quickly when enemies start shooting you.

Tank gameplay:

Overall

Armour – 4/10
Gun – 4.5/10
Mobility – 4/10
Speed – 4/10

Ka-Ri is overall an unimpressive tank.

Armour is average, its superstructure & lower plate are weak, though upper plate is decent. Its armour only works against tier 7 enemies. Terrible HESH protection, decent HE protection.
Gun is mediocre for a TD. Accuracy, aim time, & gun handling are good, DPM is low for its 440 alpha. Gun depression is also mediocre with -6. Shell choice and premium/HE damage are both great, but shell velocity is unimpressive.
Mobility is mediocre. On hard terrain it has good traverse and decent acceleration, but poor terrain resistances make the tank very sluggish on medium terrain, with mediocre acceleration and traverse speed. Reverse speed is average, -15km/h. Gun arc is good with +/-14 to the left/right.
Speed is mediocre at 38km/h.

The big issue with the Ka-Ri is that it loses 20 alpha on standard ammo compared to the other tier 8 TDs with similar guns, but it doesn’t gain anything for that lower alpha. Its reload isn’t faster, its accuracy isn’t better, its armour is much worse, DPM is much worse, shell velocity is much worse, penetration is slightly worse (despite having more normalization, 290mm AP is still worse than 311mm APCR or 325mm HEAT), and mobility is slightly worse than the similar tier 8 TDs, and much worse than ones with similarly weak armour (such as the Jpanther II or Ho-Ri I).

The gimmick of barely losing alpha damage on premium ammo just isn’t enough to make up for any lacking areas of the tank.

Is it worth getting?

No, Ka-Ri is not worth getting at all. If you compared this tank to any other tier 8 TD with 400-460 alpha, every one of them is just better. Most of them can do exactly what the Ka-Ri does, but much more effectively.

If you’re considering this tank, ignore it completely, go play the Jpanther II, WZ-111-1G FT, or Ho-Ri T.I in the tech tree. If you really want a collector/premium version, then buy the ISU-130, which performs the same role as this tank but with much better stats in all regards.

The Ka-Ri is slow, it has weak armour, and its DPM is low for its alpha. Its not enjoyable to play and importantly, its weaker than all other tier 8 TDs with similar alpha damage.

The Ka-Ri is worth 6,000 gold. Its not a great tank. Its slow, it has relatively weak armour, its gun is extraordinarily mediocre, and its worse than all other tier 8 TDs which are similar to it. Why spend gold on this tank when the free tanks in the tech tree are just much better tanks?
While overall its not a terrible or unusable tier 8 tank, its just very pointless, and is much weaker than the tanks it competes with.

Most recently sold for:

New release crates – June 2024
Auction – January 2025

Camo cost:

“Morinoko-Ju” camo: 3D, costs [3,550] gold

Back to homepage