Type 71

Type 71 is the top tier Japanese superheavy. It has very solid armour on both its hull and turret, and a decent gun. The mobility is good considering its armour, and the Type 71 has special equipment to improve its mobility or to improve its gun depression.

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

Armour

(The Type 71 in the images is using Enhanced Armour)

Drag slider right –> to view 252mm AP
Drag slider <– left to view 330mm HEAT

When flat and facing head-on:
Upper plate 320mm
Upper mid bar 298mm
Lower mid bar 700mm
Lower plate 255mm

Turret 335-900mm+ (weakest points 280mm)
Cupola 135-280mm

Note: Even though the lower plate’s effective thickness is high, the situation in battle is different.

The lower plate is 100mm thick, angled at 67 degrees, this means that it is NOT an auto-ricochet. Due to its low thickness of 100mm, AP’s normalization greatly decreases the effective armour, from around 255mm down to 212mm, which most tier 9-10 tanks can penetrate easily.

vs 255mm AP (top image), 330mm HEAT (bottom image)
Using -9 gun depression:

Upper plate 425mm
Upper mid bar 325mm

Turret 275-730mm
Cupola 335-400mm (mostly auto-ricochet)

Armour vs tier all 9-10 tanks:
Type 71 has a very solid frontal armour profile, its upper plate is completely impervious to all standard ammo from any non-TD tanks, and the lower plate is extremely well angled.

Lower plate:
To bounce off the lower plate, the Type 71 only has to angle slightly, either by turning the hull, or angling the hull down a slope (or getting close to enemies, when you are closer, you have to aim down more, increasing the effective thickness of inverse-angled plates like the lower plate).

Most standard rounds and all premium rounds can fairly easily cut through the lower plate.

Upper plate:
Enemies with about 320mm HEAT (or 310mm APCR) can reliably penetrate the Type 71’s upper plate if its NOT angled. If the Type 71 is angled, the upper plate is far harder to penetrate, as it is a high nominal thickness. The upper plate can be easily angled without over-turning the side armour, and can easily reach over 340mm in thickness.

Side armour:
The sides are very thick, 105mm base, with 25mm spaced armour as side skirts, and the tracks themselves are a very thick 40mm.

These thick tracks can bait enemies and absorb shots, as often when enemies can’t penetrate the upper or lower plate, and the Type 71 is angled, enemies shoot the tracks. The front track wheels also have an enhanced 178mm armour plate behind them, so they are actually thicker than the rest of the side armour, allowing the Type 71 to angle its armour comfortably.

Note that the Type 71 does have shoulders, which can be penetrated quite easily, even if the other parts of the side armour can’t

Playing against a Type 71

This is Type 71’s cupola, it has 2 sections, each with different angles. On flat ground, tanks with at least 250mm AP penetration can go through due to normalization.

When using gun depression, the areas highlighted in red cannot be penetrated, and the green 160mm area becomes hidden.

Cupola:
When on flat ground, the cupola is a viable weakpoint, however if the Type 71 uses gun depression, the weakest points (shown in green) become either hidden or too small to hit reliably.
Even when only using -6 degrees, the red area (280mm part in the image) becomes over 360mm in thickness, and it will be at an auto-ricochet angle.

Don’t be baited into shooting the cupola when the tank is using gun depression, the lower turret cheeks are generally a more reliable weakpoint.

Turret ring:
The turret ring on the Type 71 is only about 205-245mm thick, and its an exploitable weakpoint in a facehug. This area is always visible in a facehug, as long as your tank isn’t too tall or lacking in gun depression.

The enemy Type 71 may try to block your shot with their gun, at which point you could either shoot the cupola on the roof, or just aim for a different part of the turret ring.
Avoid shooting the driver’s hatch, this area is 274mm thick, so it can’t be penetrated with AP, and as it protrudes from the hull, it does cover the turret ring when the hull is turned.
(This is shown in images both above and below).

Dealing with Type 71’s frontal armour:
A Type 71 will either have slow traverse or average traverse depending on its equipment choice; this is important as it affects how the enemy might play against you.

Type 71s with quicker traverse may try to wiggle the hull and continuously turn left/right (this is actually not very effective since the tank’s nerf). With these enemies, you just have to wait for a clear shot into the lower plate, or shoot premium ammunition into the upper plate. Try to hit the flattest possible angle, as the armour is thicker when the angle is higher.

Type 71s with slower traverse will have better gun depression, and will use hulldown positions more effectively. With these enemies, don’t be baited into shooting the cupola when its using gun depression, instead shoot the lower turret cheeks.
On flat ground, the slower Type 71s generally won’t wiggle, as their traverse is too slow for it to really be effective. If the Type 71 is angled, just try to shoot the hull’s shoulder plate, if it can’t be penetrated with standard ammo, use premium, same goes for the lower plate.
Shooting the side armour or upper plate of a Type 71 is not effective when the tank is angling, and you need high premium penetration for it to be effective.

Note how little angling is needed to make the lower plate red, and how far the side armour can be over-angled.

This is against 255mm AP.

In the top image, the upper plate requires between 320-330mm HEAT penetration to go through even semi-reliably.

In the bottom image you would need between 345-370mm HEAT penetration to have a chance of penetration on the upper plate.

Gun

The Type 71 mounts a 120mm gun

-Alpha damage is 420 on AP, 360 on premium AP, and 530 on HE
-It has an 9.6s reload, giving it 2625 DPM
-Penetration on AP is 255mm, premium AP is 330mm, and HE is 60mm.
–Estimated aim time is 3.8/4.1s
–Base aim time is 2.85s, but it can get down to 2.32s.
-Dispersion is 0.344/0.310
–Gun handling is 0.15/0.15/0.12, or 0.13/0.13/0.1 with Vertical Stabilizer.
-Gun depression is -6 degrees base. It can be improved to -9 with Improved Vertical Stabilizer.

This gun is not great for tier 10, however it still works fairly well thanks to the great armour and durability of the Type 71. The DPM is low, accuracy is mediocre, aim time is long, and its base gun depression is poor.

What is good is its penetration and its gun handling, which do somewhat compensate for the lacking accuracy and aim time. Alpha damage is also respectable.
Standard ammo penetration is good, and premium ammo is extremely high, due to the additional normalization of premium AP shells (compared to APCR or HEAT).

Mobility

Type 71’s top speeds are not affected by its equipment choice, and remain the same at 37km/h forwards, -15km/h in reverse.
The raw acceleration rate is also not affected. Shown as 12.9 hp/t, it has a decent 1006 horsepower engine for its 78 ton weight.

Mobility stats when using Improved Vertical Stabilizer:
-Traverse speed is 28.6 deg/s on hard terrain, and 25.3 deg/s on medium terrain.
-Actual acceleration rate is 11.2 hp/t on hard terrain, and 10.3 hp/t on medium terrain.
–Terrain resistances are average for tier 10, with 1.2/1.3/1.6

Overall this mobility is ok for a tier 10 heavy. Its acceleration rate and top speed are actually respectable, only its traverse speed is really lacking.
Considering the armour of this tank, this level of mobility is by no means bad.

Mobility stats when using Improved Suspension:
-Traverse speed is 35.7 deg/s on hard terrain, and 32.8 deg/s on medium terrain.
-Actual acceleration rate is 14 hp/t on hard terrain, and 12.9 hp/t on medium terrain.
–Terrain resistances are extremely good, with 0.9/1/1.3

Overall this mobility is good for a tier 10 heavy. Its acceleration rate and traverse speeds are both quite good, and its top speed is still decent. If you consider Type 71’s armour profile, this is great mobility for this tank.

Equipment, provisions, & consumables

Gun Rammer:
Type 71 has good penetration on both standard and premium ammo. 255mm on AP, and 330mm on premium AP are both perfectly adequate in tier 10, and can easily cut through most enemy plates.
There is no reason you should use calibrated shells on this tank, especially with its very low DPM.

Use a gun rammer, the Type 71 severely lacks DPM, and it cannot at all afford to lower it. Gun rammer will give this tank a 9.6s reload time for 2625 DPM, which is still low considering that other tanks with similar DPM generally have 450-470 alpha.
This level of DPM sill still work just fine on this tank though, as its great armour and HP really prop up its other areas.

Enhanced Armour:
The Type 71 is an armour focused tank, while it does have quite impressive HP at 2550 base, this is already very good and doesn’t really need to be improved.

Enhanced armour will take the Type 71’s amazing overall armour profile to a truly beastly level, even the side armour benefits from it. Most plates on the frontal armour increase by 8-15mm, and the sides increase by 4mm.

Enhanced armour will increase:
Upper plate weakest point from 320mm to 333mm
Upper mid bar from 298mm to 311mm
Lower plate from 255mm to 265mm
Turret weakest point from 280 to 292mm
Hull sides from 105mm 109mm
Armour behind drive wheel from 127mm to 132mm

vs 330 mm HEAT
Drag slider right -> to view Improved Assembly
Drag slider <- left to view Enhanced Armour

Vertical Stabilizer/Refined gun:
Refined gun works very well on this tank due to its great gun handling. The majority of all heavy tanks are unsuitable to use refined gun, however it works on the Type 71, as often its longer reload time and just extremely solid armour give it time to aim in fully and become accurate.

Vertical stabilizer is also still just as good of an option on the Type 71. Though its accuracy will be 0.344 (which is fairly poor in tier 10, but still not terrible), it will have extremely good handling, and as the tank is a close range brawler, its accuracy will matter less.

Try out the tank with vertical stabilizer first, as its the equipment piece that suits most heavy tanks the best. If you feel that its dispersion is poor and making you miss, switch over and try refined gun, as it does actually work on this tank.

Gameplay advice

Though the Type 71 is a huge 78 ton superheavy tank, it should be played as a regular, standard heavy tank. It has got decent mobility and a fairly small gun (compared to other superheavy tanks), so its gameplay is more akin to tanks like the IS-4, T110E5, or Super Conqueror.

If using improved V-stabs (extra gun depression):
In this setup, your tank is a bit less mobile than the alternative setup (though its not that big of a difference).
For this version of the Type 71, focus on using the incredible turret and hull armour in gun depression positions.

Type 71 is one of the strongest armoured tanks for its mobility and it should put that to good use, especially with -9 gun depression. This version of the tank plays more similarly to the Super Conqueror or T110E5, both tanks with similarly strong turret armour, upper hull armour, and gun depression. Try to use hulldown positions wherever possible.

If using Improved Suspension (better mobility):
In this set up, your tank can turn much faster and accelerate slightly faster.

For this version of the tank, you should avoid positions that require good gun depression. Instead just try to utilize that great mobility and armour in brawls and on flatter terrain

Don’t wiggle the hull:
An old Type 71 tactic was to wiggle the hull (which is turning left/right in place), but that only worked previously due to the tank having an insane 52 deg/s traverse speed before its nerf. Now it can only achieve 35deg/s in the same setup, and wiggling the hull is just not as effective.

The reason to not wiggle is due to that slower traverse, since the tank turns slower, it leaves more time for enemies to aim at the Type 71’s weakest areas (as in, the time/point in its traverse where its armour is weakest), this would be when its not angled at all.

This means that it takes longer for your lower plate change angles, thus giving more time and more chance for enemies to penetrate.

Angle the hull:
Rather than just turning the hull in place and spamming the L/R directions over and over, its far more effective to just take an angle and slightly wiggle within that angle.

By keeping an angle, you don’t give enemies that chance to aim for the weakest point in your traverse, as you simply don’t turn your hull to face them.

Keep the hull faced away from the enemy slightly, and make small and unpredictable movements; it will make the Type 71’s armour extremely hard to deal with. Enemies will have to deal with your armour at its strongest, as the angling will make both the upper and lower plates stronger, but your small changing movements will also make it hard for enemies to find a penetrable spot, as the angles keep changing.

Don’t rush shots:
Due to the gun of the Type 71 not having great accuracy or aim time, you shouldn’t rush your shots. The low DPM also means that if you do rush, and miss, you’re at an even bigger DPM disadvantage compared to enemies.

The Type 71’s good handling means it doesn’t have to aim for too long when it does stop; and its great armour does usually hold up just fine and gives you time to aim.

Play like a standard heavy:
The Type 71 doesn’t really seem like the most “standard” tank, but that’s the playstyle it has. It just goes to the heavy flank, goes hulldown, trades damage with its gun, blocks damage by using its great armour.

Just play it like any other heavy and it works out very well in battle. Don’t worry about its low DPM or its poor traverse speed, as the great armour and HP of the tank truly do help to mitigate the downsides in other areas of the tank.

Gun depression or mobility?

There isn’t much reason to improve the mobility by using improved suspension. Think about it this way:

Improved suspension will give the Type 71 “average heavy tank mobility”, but will keep the tank with poor -6 gun depression. In this set-up, its essentially an IS-4 but with better lower plate armour and a slightly different gun and mobility profile.
Sure, its arguably slightly stronger than the IS-4, but do you really want to just be a copycat IS-4?

Having improved gun depression at least offers notably different gameplay when compared to similar tanks (T110E5 and Super Conqueror), as it has a far better armour profile than both of these tanks, and far higher base HP.

Ultimately, this choice depends on you as a player, take the piece of equipment that suits your playstyle the best. Try out both pieces to make the best choice, and don’t just listen to other player’s opinions. You own the tank, you should play it how you want, the only way you can do that is by trying out the 2 choices.

Overall

Armour – 10/10
Gun – 5.5/10
Mobility – 4/10 (6.5/10 if using improved suspension)
Speed – 5.5/10

The Type 71 is overall a great tank.

Armour is very strong on the upper plate, lower plate, turret, and hull sides. The cupola is small and well armoured. HE/HESH protection is very good. Armour is easy to use and angle.
Gun has poor aim time & mediocre accuracy, but great gun handling. Gun depression can either be mediocre or great (depending on equipment). DPM is low, but penetration is high.
Mobility is mediocre, acceleration rate is decent, but traverse speeds are slow. With improved suspension, acceleration is good, and traverse speeds are average. Reverse speed is average.
Speed is fairly average, 37km/h.

The Type 71’s main selling point is that armour, no matter whether you have improved mobility or improved gun depression, the solid armour profile is what makes the Type 71 so different in its feel and gameplay from most other heavies in tier 10. Its one of the few tanks which can just be extremely confident in constantly bouncing shots, even when its lower plate is exposed.

Is it worth grinding?

The Type 71 is worth grinding for if you just want a tank with incredible frontal armour, but still decent mobility.

This tank is not worth grinding for if you don’t like tanks that are not gun-focused. The Type 71 is an armour and mobility focused tank, the combination of its good top speed and decent engine power with its extremely strong hull and turret armour are what make this tank; its not about the gun.
The Type 71’s gun is ok, but its not special, and if you were to put it on any other tank, it would probably perform quite poorly.

Camo cost:

“Sankai” camo: 3D, costs 2,550 gold

Tech tree overview

To get to the Type 71, you have to first grind through Japanese mediums, then move onto the heavies starting from tier 5. All tanks in this tree are very good, however when stock, they can be quite a challenge to grind due to low mobility and weak turrets.

Note: Every single tank in this line has a very weak stock turret, only the upgraded turret has armour. None of these tanks have many modules, each only has 1 turret, gun, tracks, and engine to research.

Tiers 1-4 are a fairly simple and easy grind. These are tanks with very little armour, decent mobility and decent guns. All have great -15 gun depression, and all are fine to play when stock.

Tier 5 is the Mitsu 108, a very strong tank when top tier, decent when bottom tier. Its slow and large, and severely lacks gun depression, however it mounts a high alpha gun with good DPM and has great armour. The stock gun is fine, but the stock turret, engine, and tracks are all weak and slow.

Tier 6 is the Ju-Nu, an incredibly strong tank with amazing armour, a good gun, and good mobility. When stock its quite slow, but actually has a great stock gun.

Tier 7 is the Ju-To, this is the first tank with special equipment in the line. This tank has less armour than others in the line, but has great mobility and insane penetration with a great 105mm gun. When stock its mobility is still ok, and it has a good gun, but a very weak turret.

Tier 8 is the Chi-Se, this tank is completely overpowered when its fully upgraded, having great mobility, great armour, great DPM, aim time, penetration, handling, and gun depression (using the equipment, Chi-Se should never use mobility equipment as its already very good). When stock, the tank is very slow and has a weak turret, but the gun is quite decent.

Tier 9 is the Type 68, a very strong all-round vehicle with great hull and turret armour, a great gun, and decent mobility.

The stock grind of this tank is very painful, as its acceleration and traverse will both be extremely slow, the turret will be weak, and the gun will be inaccurate. When fully upgraded, the Type 68 is a beast, but when its stock its completely terrible.

Tier 10 is the Type 71, compared to the Type 68, it got a mobility and gun downgrade, as its top speed and acceleration are both worse, and the only gun stats that have improved are its gun handling, the DPM is roughly the same. The big difference with this tank compared to any other tank in the line is its armour, which is so much better than every tank before it, and you will really notice the difference when finally unlocking this tank.

Back to homepage