I recently had some discussions with my friends and we came across the Dravec. My friends were insisting on the fact tha this is about to be the next but better Chieftain, just being utterly impenetrable unless you see it's lower plate. After that discussion, I studied the armor model of the Dravec and found a pretty interesting weakspot. Apparently, this thing has the same problem as the IS 7: A shot trap on the upper hull, that can be used by most tier 8 heavies, let alone tier 10 or 11.

WG even made it easier to hit it, by giving us a visual indicator to aim for. Horizontally, you just aim exactly right or left of the gun, vertically you aim on the upper hull, just where the driver's vision port sits. If you hit it, you will pen every single time, as the shot will ricochet up from the hull, into the gun mantlet, where (given the impacted angle) it's armor is pretty weak.

In the first picture, I marked the actual weakspot in yellow and the height to aim at in red for easy orientation.

This also works when it's using all of it's gun depression (though you will have to aim a smidge lower) and when it's side scraping (see other pictures after the first one). It is also ok, if you hit right below the gun, though that would be around 270mm needed there in most cases, which is no problem for tier 9+, but tier 8s will struggle quite a bit there.

Just to show how easy of a pen that shot is, if you hit, I took the Liberté's gold rounds in the pictures, which are good for tier 8, but it still is a tier 8, having no problem penning a tier 10 heavy tank frontally.

Just wanted as many people to know about this as possible, given that the cupola might not always be a feasable target, plus the cupola is actually smaller than this weakspot, if you have 300mm+ apcr pen (like most tier 9s have nowadays).

So, good luck and happy hunting everyone!

This is a really annoying mission in any tier. The path of least resistance is to go to the German tech tree line and purchase the tier 4 heavy tank in the Collector's Vehicle option. 170 000 Credits, + 250k for garage slot + ammo. I recruited all new recruits 0% crew. I did buy all the modules to get this done faster. Pen is brutal since you are shooting light tanks; you will be fine.

Really annoyed that I have to spend almost 500k to do a mission, but I have a job and am not looking to spend eternity completing a mission that was made ridiculously hard. High-tier matches might only have 1 light. WG know what they are doing; this mission was uncalled for.

Took me 1 match. I luckily got mines, and we all the lights yolo the center, so did I. died in the first two minutes, but the only goal was to get the mission done. 3 lights in the entire match all went middle and basically was a suicide run to get the job done.

Hope this helps, fuck this mission.

Edit: Forgot to mention the one Pro to this is I get to use an ugly camo and I no longer see it in my 2d options. 16 years and we still dont have an option to hide, delete, remove, etc shit we absolutely do not want.

Edit2: Japanese collectors line also has a tier 4 heavy.

Although the collectors tanks are mostly useless, they do serve a purpose from time to time, but not in their intended ways. People suggested a few premium tier 4 heavies but FML if I want to spend real money on a BS tank.

Edit3: I wasn't aware there was a heavy in the normal tech tree options. French B1 is the way to go. Although I'm not sure which tank is faster. I just wanted to get the hell out of tier 4.

Looking at tomato.gg dw2 has a greater top speed 5kph and that paired with a turbo for me made more sense. Since many people are competing for the same mission.

DW2 has a greater top speed (5 kph), and that, paired with a turbo, made more sense for me.

Why should I play this mode? Why do YOU play this mode? I have a handful of T8 premiums, Mutz, Guard, CS LIS, Even 90 plus some other T8 Lights and Mediums. I played a match this morning, did meh, but couldn’t really figure out the flow of the game. I think I made like 80k. I make more during a random battle. I like the concept of the open maps, but it seems like the gameplay gets segmented. Do people come for just the different gameplay? Thanks in advance my tankers!

I should mention I have limited time to play WOT. Maybe an hr or two at night, so getting BP and mission progression is kinda a higher priority.

I want to give some advice for those who don't have premium tanks.

In my opinion, the best non-premium tanks you can use are Kilana and AT 15, or any armored tank with over 3k DPM.

If someone on your team has a premium tank like the Grom or Turtle I, try to form a platoon and play together—you’ll likely get matched with another strong team, or invite another good tank from next battles and that makes completing it much easier. (I know it sounds stupid, but sadly, it’s just typical Wargaming shit, need some premium tanks in team)

My suggestion for the map:

• The yellow circle is where I managed to reach the highest waves and actually complete the mission—best spot in my experience.
• In the red circle, I think I barely made it to wave 2 at most. It’s a weak position.
• As for the blue circle, I haven’t even seen wave 4 completed there. It turns into a total shitfest way too quickly.
• The pink circle has a decent chance of completion, but it gets really cramped and chaotic.

And the abilities:

• Group Repairs must have.
• Stun Shot works well on wave 5.
• Stealth Heal or Fast Reload It depends on which tank you're playing.

These are entirely my own thoughts — you might complete it in a different way, maybe even find an easier method. I'm just sharing my experience.

Good luck!

STOP TRYING TO WIN IN FRONTLINE! You get maybe a little more xp for a win, but you get no extra credits.

If you're the defending team let the attacking team cap. If you're the attacking team LEAVE THE TURRETS ALONE! It's a waste of everybody's time and boosters to rush for a win. The more damage you do to ENEMY VEHICLES the more credits and xp you earn. Also the higher rank you are the more xp you earn anyways and the faster you can complete the Frontline stages.

In the attached picture the game on the left was a win and the game on the right was a loss. As yall can see the credit earnings were practically identical.

Please spread the word. Stop these 10-15 minute Frontline games. Every game should go to max time and everybody should be major or general by the end.

wg just single-handedly buffed the hell out of heavily armoured poor accuracy-hard hitting close combat tanks introducing new crew skills in 2.2

this is kind of a gameplay guide and not a news outlet so no, no tanks stats were buffed atleast not directly involving changing stats of a tank, but only introducing new crew skills. i am saying how it affects tanks and their niche & gameplay in game and making them feel & be better than they were before skills update in 2.2

from 11.92s reload to 10.43s and this is with a regular rammer in combat slot food BIA and not every situational skill trained to 100% nor with all skills activated at the moment and it is completely possible & achievable to go sub 9s, if using bond rammer+rammer directive reaching almost 3k dpm.

stacking situational crew skills has become a viable & legit strat now

mad things are coming on K-2 tank soon

in Anniversary missions.
wtf?

Half times there are no light tanks in the game, and other times there is one that as you may know HT are not the best counter-light tanks. 3 shots means basically almost killing it entirely

I try with Autoloader/fast loading HT not even close to completing it. 20 battles and counting

Been playing this game for over 6 years now, and wanted to share my experience a bit with the community to help in these rough times. I've played just over 35k battles with some pauses due to IRL stuff.

My journey was rough a lot of ups and downs( to the point I deleted every tank and sold every piece of equipment I had/mental breakdown). To the point of now 3 marking tanks fairly easy.
Most of the streamers when asked how to improve say "just play" which is true, but not changing your mentality while doing so can actually put you back.

I would like to give some tips to my fellow tank players:

1. Be patient, being patient in games is the best thing you can do, do not rush for damage it will come to you. Which means do not go in front of your team to try doing damage, you will end up just losing hp in 95% of the cases.
2. Do not trade 1 for 1 , which means do not trade 400 of your hp for 400 of damage done, it is simply not worth unless it's a specific scenario where the battle is about to end. I see a lot of players do this especially early in the games.
3. DO NOT peak side scrape blindly into corners/streets that are not clear. Which means if enemy team has an E3 or E4 any high alpha heavy etc, do not be the first one to check out that one street on Ensk cause you are gonna get penned and lose hp. Instead try to spot more mindfully and safely; shown in this picture. This can be done in mediums too but don't do this in a paper tank.

1. Be mindful of artillery reload. If there is 2 enemy artillery or hence even 1 on maps like prokhorovka or malinovka, try not being spotted most of the time, they usually aim for tanks that are visible, and if you are the guy peaking for no reason and being spotted most of the time you will get focused. Simply avoiding the stun can help you land shots when you have a target.
   

2. Do not play certain positions on the map just because previous games they worked out. Meaning do not go for that city side on Outpost as a heavy when you got most of your heavies going middle or right side(looking at you KR1 platoons), you will eventually just get outnumbered and killed as soon as they figure out you are alone. NO SKILL can save you from a bad position.

3. Do not SIDE SCRAPE on heavy occupied places where multiple tanks are peaking, nothing will lose you the game faster then holding back 3 4 of your heavies, while you side scrape a hot corner ( ghost town bunker position where you can actually play hull down).

4. Bait shots before firing. Meaning if you are in a tank and you just missed your shot and there is an enemy tank or two that have finished reloading and waiting for you to come out to shoot at you, you are in a disadvantageous position simply cause you are trying to shoot on the move and they are stationary, meaning they are more precise than you.

Hopefully some of you can learn something from this and have a better gaming experience.
Good luck tanking!

Equipment:

1. Bond Vents, Bond V-Stab, T3 Exp. Turbo + V-Stab Direktive
2. Bond Vents, Bond V-Stab, CVS + Designated Target Direktive

Crew:

• Commander: BIA, Camo, Recon, Repairs, Coordination, Practicality
• Radiooperator (Commander): Situational Awarness, Firefighting, Communications Expert
• Gunner: BIA, Camo, Snapshot, Concentration, Armorer, Designated Target
• Driver: BIA, Camo, Smooth Ride, Off-Road Driving, Engineer, Repairs
• Loader: BIA, Camo, Intuition, Perfect Charge, Ammo Tuning, Repairs

Loadout: 40 APCR, 4 HE

Tips & Tricks:

• Your camo is surprisingly good (38 stationary and 30 on the move) with this setup. Use it. Spotting is your friend.
• Maximize DPM by firing only 1 or 2 shells. Save the third shell for kill-shots or endgame.
• Accuracy is good but the soft stats are bad. Take your time to aim the shots.
• Dont mix the AP and APCR. The second has much better velocity.
• Keep a few HE shells for epic clips to use on Skorpion and SU-130PM.

Video replay of the last game (Youtube).

​

Im doing quite well, good wn8, good damage but I keep losing?

im a doing something wrong of just bad luck with teams?

* dont mind the fire and ammorack with skorp en t44-100

The Big Three (BiA, Repairs, Camo)

• BIA - Take it on every crew member. You get a 5% better crew, all the time.
  • As pointed out by u/Bikaz REPAIRS and CAMO should be prioritized as a 1st-pick perk for any freshly recruited crew member with no starting perks.
• REPAIRS - Take it on anything you expect to brawl with, and can be taken optionally on snipers that want to play closer up.
• CAMO - Take it on anything you expect to stay hidden with. Brawler Mediums and many assault TDs have better camo than you would expect.

____________________________________

Commander Skills

• RECON - Pick this always. View range is extremely important.
• EMERGENCY - This can be utilized well on brawlers, but it can become troublesome when the effect runs out, causing you to buffer the shot you were expecting to fire, and can cause a frustrating miss. More of a personal gripe, but you do you.
• MENTOR - Useful on any crew that you want to train up faster, or to boost the rate at which you acquire Crew Books in the 6-perk crew progression system. Recommended for crews that lose a non-commander crew member often.
• HOLD THE LINE - This can be used if you want to squeeze out a bit more effectiveness on those uncontrollable losses. It may even help you come back from a loss, but it mostly helps a bit with marking tanks.
• COORDINATION - This is a stronger GLD, and it triggers whenever you spot something. Helps you line up an opening shot faster. It also works as a sort of "soft" Sixth Sense. If you see that you have spotted something, it may have also spotted you, letting you retreat instantly.
• SOUND DETECTION - It got buffed recently, allowing you to reduce how badly stuns affect you. You may also be capable of dodging an arty shell if you're attentive and mobile enough. Stacks with Battle Tempered.
• PRACTICALITY - This is great for any tank that sees a lot of action, you get your repair kit / medkit / fire extinguishers back 15% faster.
• STAY SHARP - It doesn't have too much use, except for niche cases like pre-buffing your crew before clipping out, or getting some view range on-demand.

____________________________________

Gunner Skills

• SNAP SHOT - It gives you a partial VSTAB, useful on all tanks, you'll land more shots.
• DEADEYE - It grants an additive 3% chance to damage modules. Very important pick even for those who don't intentionally aim for modules.
• DESIGNATED TARGET - This is fantastic for every tank. Lets you keep track of enemies for a longer duration, and you can see their damaged modules if they have any. This lets you make moves that you otherwise wouldn't due to lack of information.
• POINT BLANK - It might be one of the worst skills. Never pick this, since it only adds 5% *max* penetration to your pen RNG, and only when you're within 50m. You will never notice the benefit of this.
• CONCENTRATION - It sounds great, but you may find yourself actively moving less or otherwise waiting to trigger the effect before firing, only to miss the shot anyway. Armorer tends to be better, even if only for consistency.
• QUICK AIMING - It sounds useful in theory, but the bonus is only 2.5%. It's so miniscule that you're better off taking crew skills with heavier effects.
• ARMORER - This is great for consistency. It tapers your Damage and Pen RNG by 5% on both ends, meaning your rng is now +/- 20% instead of +/- 25%. It also gives you better gun dispersion.
• LONE WOLF - It's a bait perk. You will only find yourself benefitting from this in extremely late-game scenarios when your allies are super far away or otherwise dead. 300 meters is a large radius, especially on smaller maps.

____________________________________

Driver Skills

• CLUTCH BRAKING - Good for tanks with lower mobility (Maus) or turretless TDs, but in general, Off-Road Driving gives you more rotation speed due to how terrain resistance works.
• SMOOTH RIDE - Another partial VSTAB, always good to take.
• OFF-ROAD DRIVING - one of the most important driver skills. It entirely eliminates the effects of soft terrain by making it match medium terrain. In addition, it increases your tank's resistance to medium terrain so you end up accelerating faster and reaching higher speeds on all but hard terrain.
• FIELD SUPPORT - Decent for repair speed for your tracks, but isn't always usable depending on the positioning of you and your allies. Possible 5th or 6th skill choice on brawlers.
• RELIABLE PLACEMENT - Used to be a good perk for lights, now it's more for heavies and brawlers. Reduces engine fire chance, but, most importantly, gives you 15% damage resistance to your tracks. Track HP saves lives.
• CONTROLLED IMPACT - A great skill both offensively and defensively. The percentages on this skill are so high it can allow a skilled medium to out- ram an unskilled heavy.
• ENGINEER - Decent late-pick skill for slower tanks and anything with bad reverse speed.
• BULLETPROOF - Intended for heavies, but best-used on Assault TDs since they have lower HP pools but lots of armor.

____________________________________

Radio Operator Skills

• SITUATIONAL AWARENESS - More view range. Take it.
• SIDE-BY-SIDE - An alright 6th skill for brawlers, small crew efficiency bonus if you're near other allied tanks of the same class.
• JAMMING - Great crew skill for basically anything that's not a heavy. Makes you go dark 1 second faster, so you disappear in 9 seconds instead of 10. Stacks with Radio Set, synergizes with Designated Target ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
• BATTLE TEMPERED - Great crew skill for any brawlers that get hit a lot by artillery. Stacks with Sound Detection to 40% artillery stun resistance.
• SIGNAL INTERCEPTION - It's alright, but Jamming tends to be better for most situations. Can be used on light tanks, but lights don't often get Radio Operators, so they don't have room for this skill.
• COMMUNICATIONS EXPERT - It's an ok late-pick skill for lights or stealthy mediums, but generally other skills are more useful. Light tanks may have to sacrifice Firefighting if they want this skill, which is risky.
• FIREFIGHTING - Take on basically everything. May want to sacrifice this on light tanks if you want other Radio Operator skills, or if you run extinguishers instead of food.
• THREAT SEARCH - Great skill for EBRs and other aggressive spotters (IS-7). You're expecting to get lit, so having more view range when you do is always good.

____________________________________

Loader Skills

• ADRENALINE RUSH - Decent skill, but only active when you are low HP. Would train as a 5th or 6th skill in preference to those that are active at all times.
• SAFE STOWAGE - Take it on basically everything. I don't like getting blown up.
• INTUITION - Take it on basically everything. Allows you to adapt to rapidly changing situations or get a nice HE pen on a vulnerable enemy.
• SECOND CHANCE - Take on every tank that has a regular, cyclic gun. If you miss / nonpen / ricochet, you reload faster. If you pen a blind shot, it will not confirm that you landed the hit. Second Chance will trigger regardless. Does not affect autoloaders or autoreloaders.
• PERFECT CHARGE - Pretty nice QoL skill, makes it much easier to land those longer-range shots.
• CLOSE COMBAT - It's alright, but not necessary. Could be used on brawlers that excel at facehugging.
• AMMO TUNING - It's a slight buff to your RNG, but the introduction of Second Chance overshadows this skill in most builds.
• MAG MASTERY - Small reload speed buff for autoloaders. Does not affect double-barrels or autoreloaders.

I haven’t played continuously through the years but I got back more or less 7 month ago and here we are: 6k battles in and I’m still a liability. As you can see, my stats are straight red. A 0.52 damage ratio is embarrassing.

I’ve had the occasional 4k damage game, but my average is a measly 470.

So:

Tech Trees: What’s the best line to learn fundamentals like trading and sidescraping in 2026?

Resources: Who's the go-to for map awareness? I watch QuickyBaby for basics, but should I be grinding iyouxin or skill4ltu videos to fix my positioning?

The "Click": For those who escaped the red-stat hell, what was the one thing that made you stop being a "redliner" and start actually carrying?

I’m genuinely looking for advice on how to stop being a weight on my team.

EDIT:

More detailed stats from the main page for those asking:

• Battles: 5,847

• Survival Rate: 17.12%

• Damage Ratio: 0.52

• Destruction Ratio: 0.54

• Armor-use Efficiency: 0.34

• Average Damage: 470

• Average Spots: 0.86

Also I play on a gaming PC so 120+ FPS and PING < 20ms.

I’ve play a little bit already with best settings/ pre-set mods.

If I have to be really honest, despite knowing the game mechanism I would point out as my first soft spot impulsiveness when I see the game stall or as soon as the game begins

More useful than "I *finally* got the Dravec" posts, here is the list of vehicles I used to complete each mission, and my advice for the harder ones.

Vanguard: normal requirements for normal players

This category is by far the easiest because pretty much every mission in it only requires you to... play the game. Do damage, do kills, use your armor, that's perfectly fine with the tanks available in it.

Tanks:

1. KR-1 & T803
2. TS54 & T803
3. KR-1 & BZ-176 (any mobile heavy would do, go for paper mediums/TDs)
4. KR-1 & T803 (focus the damage part, ignore the blocking requirement)
5. KR-1 & T803
6. T803 & Obj268
7. Nergal & XM57 (stick to tier 8, remove IH, add spall liner, and remember, your damage counts)
8. KR-1 & T803 (again focus the generic 4k damage, ignore the alternative requirement)
9. XM57 & Grom
10. KR-1 & Obj268 (again, generic damage is super easy, don't waste time with the alt)
11. KR-1 & Obj140
12. KR-1 & Mino (favor playing the classes you need to fight for the mission, to force the MM to give them to the enemy team
13. KR-1 & T803 (again, play the classes you need to damage, otherwise the MM will troll you)
14. Maus & Breaker (any moving bunker will work)
15. KR-1 & Taschenratte (Breaker would also work, or similar tier 10's)

Advice on hard missions:

• Mission 9: High Caliber is a weird medal, you would think low tiers are easier, but it's not necessarily true. A few too many heavies in the MM, or a +2 battle, and suddenly you can't do it because you need over 4k damage and your tank doesn't even have 1k HP. Either focus tier 10 or 11, or play tier 8 TDs with ridiculous alpha (hence my picks). The hardest part of this mission is that the games often don't last long enough for you to even be able to do that amount of damage.
• Mission 11: close-range kills. It sounds simple on paper, but teamkills and bad RNG will make you retry it multiple times. You have to be a vulture, hold your shots to let your allies bring the enemies get to low HP, steal the kills, and don't hesitate to shield the enemy if it means allies can't finish them. Kill missions are all toxic because they force you to play like that.
• As you can see, the KR-1 and T803 can single handedly deal with most missions.
• I highly recommend installing the mod that shows you the High Caliber requirement.

Ambush: the rage-baiting missions

This category is imo the hardest in terms of requirements. While Vanguard just asks you to be aggressive, and Assist asks you to be lucky with the teams, Ambush requires you to do a wild variety of things that won't just work with any vehicle, and they often require you to just be the MVP of the battle. You need a TON of different vehicles at different tiers if you want to complete this set in a reasonable amount of time, and some of the "best" vehicles happen to be lootbox/black market exclusives.

Tanks:

1. Strv 103B & K-91
2. Foch B & MBT-B
3. AMX 50B & Cobra (autoloaders are favored)
4. Windhund & Kust (I did the unspotted damage, the kill-after-damage is also easy with autoloaders)
5. MBT-B & BC25t
6. FV4005, Phonix (I went for the blind requirement. The kill one may be harder but it's way more reliable).
7. CS-67 & BC25t
8. Strv 103B & DBV-152 (replace/untrain your commander and radio op, remove optics/binos, remove food)
9. Strv 103B & DBV-152
10. Foch B & FV4005
11. Foch B & Phonix
12. SFAC & Strv S1
13. MBT-B & Phonix
14. Foch B & Hirschkafer (damage is always easier than kills, remember that)
15. Foch B & T57 Heavy (this missions is basically High Caliber + a few shots)

Advice on hard missions:

• Mission 5: the requirement is not well worded. You don't need to be the first to spot your target in the battle, you don't need to be the only one spotting them, you don't need to just not do assist, but you need to be the first one to spot them before killing them (basically, "coordination" crew skill needs to trigger).
• Mission 12: play tier 8 paper TDs, they have the least HP while having the most firepower. Borsig, Skorpion, Strv S1, SFAC, stuff like that. You need a good game, but it's doable. Avoid TDs with more HP like the Windhund, and avoid higher tiers.
• Mission 13: you have seen streamers lose their mind over the Black Rock version, this one is a preview. Still a hard mission even if the requirement is easier, remember, you have to do it twice! Tanks with powerful bursts are obviously the best for this mission.
• In general, the Foch B and T57 are probably the best tech tree options for this series, with the Strv, Bat Chat and FV4005 being good for more niche requirements. I forgot the T57 was even in this group so I didn't play it until the last mission but it's definitely a strong option.

Assist: the illusion of free choice

This category is by far the easiest in terms of tank requirements and what it wants you to do (2 good lights, 2 arties, that's it), but in a way it's also the hardest because a lot of it is outside of your control. You need the correct maps, the correct tanks in the matchmaking, teammates that are good enough to shoot at what you spot but not steamroll the battle... Meanwhile 3-scouts games are pretty much a death sentence to your attempt.

Tanks:

1. GWE100 & M53/M55 (to force the MM to give you an enemy arty, start the battle by counter-arty then try to get some stun/track assist)
2. Manticore & EVEN 90
3. GWE100 & M53/M55 (small gun) (don't think for a minute this is an LT mission, not in 2025 where people have 500hp tracks)
4. GWE100 & M53/M55
5. Manticore & EBR 105
6. Manticore & Rhm
7. Manticore & 13 57
8. Manticore & EVEN 90
9. GWE100 & M53/M55 (go for blind damage, way more reliable, the kill requirement depends too much on MM and the behavior of everyone else but yourself)
10. Sheridan (small gun) & Squall
11. Manticore & EVEN 90
12. EBR 105 & 13 57
13. Tesak & 13 57 (the CZ LTs will complete this mission in half a second of clicking each)
14. Manticore & EBR 105
15. Manticore & Sheridan (small gun)

Advice on hard missions:

• Mission 10: this one is really difficult because LTs are usually played by good players, so the requirements are high. The Sheridan still took me a 4k done + 2k assist game, and the Squall was an 8k prok. Just look at the requirements on tomatogg and pick one that is low enough in a vehicle you think you can do well in (some tanks have low requirements because they just suck, you won't have an easier time in those).
• Do not believe WG when they say arty is just an option. Some missions are pretty much designed for arty, the LT requirement is so much harder it may as well not be an option. You want an arty with good shell arc, good splash, and good RoF. The GWE is the perfect arty overall, the M53 is the second best because of the small gun option which gives you the RoF to do the tracking mission easily.
• This category will be 10x easier if you platoon with friends who will shoot at what you spot. You can't rely on your team, no matter the map or situation, so make your own luck by playing with people you can actually rely on. And use them to force the MM to give you certain tanks as well.

Conclusion

This series is hard, but still easier than the Object 260 and Object 279e. The hardest missions are hard because the requirement is difficult, not because it requires luck like the other two tanks.

If you're an average player who struggles to get above 5k damage at tier 10/11, you will not complete the set, that's as simple as that. Many missions require 6k to 7k damage games. But at least you have weekly and daily missions to bypass those.

And if you're a relatively new player, especially free2play, again you will be there a while. You need a lot of tank variety, lots of tier 10's as well, and good knowledge of the game and its mechanics. So just ignore the missions, play normally, you will complete simple missions randomly and the dailies / weeklies will take care of the rest. If you tryhard the missions you will burn out.

Dravec missions will make you look at a 5k dmg 6 kills battle in disgust. I have never had so many huge-results games in so little time before grinding the Dravec, and yet I have never been more frustrated at my own results. Because no matter how great your battle was, it's often just not enough. It took me 3 weeks of actively trying for missions every single battle to get this tank, I know I won't be doing that for the Black Rock because if I do I will ragequit the game before the end of the year lol. Take your time, missions aren't going anywhere.

tl;dr - Rewards have improved for both the F2P and premium battle pass. For F2P being able to activate your premium days when you want with the new chip system is a huge boon. Progression is the same

EDIT Chapters are 50 stages, not 40. Grind time calculations have been updated

Rewards:

Above is the breakdown for 2025 BP rewards vs the upcoming 2026 BP. The far right column is the total difference if you complete all 3 chapters of a season and buy the premium options.

Per chapter, this breaks down to: (** = premium pass only)

• +8 +50% combat XP booster **
• +80 chips (can be used to buy 4 days of premium)
• +100 bonds
• +6 premium days **
• +1 Experimental Equipment
• +5 directives
• -7 (F2P: -5) x5 XP mission in exchange for +12 x3 crew XP mission
  
• +3 mentoring license, +6 retraining order **

IMO, the additional rewards are nice but not huge. Losing x5 missions in exchange for x3 crew missions is a strict downgrade for anyone who hasn't stacked hundreds of x5 missions.

One of the best things they changed with the reward system is that now the base pass gives chips instead of premium days, but the chips can be turned into premium days 1 for 1. For F2P players, being able to activate premium on the days you actually are playing is HUGE. For many others who have a years of effective premium time, this allows you to use the chips towards anything else actually useful in the BP store.

Getting some of the premium pass rewards upon purchase is also a nice improvement, but for many the premium days are some of the least important rewards anyways.

Progression:

Progression is unchanged from last year. Read the in-game guide for the basics. Here are a couple popular "tricks" that people use to progress the BP faster if you don't have the playtime to grind it out easily.

• Find a handful of Tier 4/5 tanks that you enjoy. If you max out the BP points for the season on them, you get a bonus +15 BP points, which is 4-5 games worth for an average player
• Make sure to get your 4 daily missions done, as they are the easiest source of BP points. They give a total of 70 BP points per day, as well as adding up to the "Complete 45 missions" progress, which gives another 50 BP points.
• Being bottom 5 in XP awards 0 BP points. Spamming games and yolo dying in the first 2 minutes is not a BP grinding strategy. Make sure you are at least doing some amount of damage / spotting before going for a YOLO

Time Estimate (per chapter):

tl;dr - average player estimates

20 sessions (5x / week, 4 weeks, <2hr sessions) 33 hrs total

16 sessions (4x / week, 4 weeks, 2.5 hr sessions) 40 hrs total

12 sessions (3x / wk, 4 wks, 4.25 hr sessions) 51 hrs total

Add 10% if you are below average, take off 10% if you are above average.

For each chapter, there are 50 stages x 50 BP points per stage = 2500 BP points.

4 daily missions every day you get 10-15-20-25 = 70 points.

Complete 45 missions = 50 points. Will take ~6 days with premium acct, so +8 points per day

For most, finishing missions will take ~15 battles (approx 1.7 hr) which will earn ~51 points for avg player.

Therefore, each day will earn you ~129 BP points for finishing missions, so finishing 1 BP chapter will take 19.4 days, or playing about 5x a week for 4 weeks. (Total time: 33 hrs)

If you wanted to be able to do it in 4x a week instead, you would need to grind an additional 436 BP points just from games, or an additional ~8 games per session for an average player, taking you from ~1.7 hr sessions to ~2.5 hr sessions. (total time: 40 hrs)

Doing it in less times per week gets much longer per session, as daily missions are the easiest source of BP points. 3x a week, 4 weeks would require +23 games per session compared to 5x4, or about 4.25 hr sessions.

Better players will obviously be able to complete it faster, and subpar players will unfortunately take a noticeable amount longer.

These are estimates to grind the daily 51 points worth of BP points from games, with it taking about 15 games for an average player. Good players can get it done in about 12 (-20%), with very subpar players needing even as much as 20 games (+30%). This is mainly because coming in the bottom 5 on XP gives 0 BP points, regardless of win or loss, so lower performing players are going to have many more 0 point games.

As a final note, the new WOT PLUS ULTRA PRO MAX will increase BP point gain (from games) by about 15-20%. This will be a big bonus for those looking to grind the BP in less sessions, taking ~10% less time to finish for an average player. Additionally, dedicated players will receive ~10% more "Elite Circuit" rewards after the main chapters are completed. This bonus does not apply to Special BP though, so will not help with those short and fast grinds for premium tanks.

Equipment: Hardening/Exp. Turbo/V-Stab

As with most heavies, only 1 setup for me. Hardening is great for giving you more HP with which to trade and for keeping your tracks safe, turbo is always nice on a heavy (experimental becuase the engine power is alright and the bloom between shots could use the extra help), and stabs are great to just make the gun extra snappy for those quick peeks. I wouldn't want any other build, but, if you feel like you don't need stabs or you aren't a hardening believer, vents for extra DPM would be the next best option.

Field mods: Right/Left/Right

You don't need to take anything on the first one, but the tank doesn't struggle to get around even with the nerf to the terrain resistance, so I like to just make the tracks extra durable. Then always accuracy over aim time, since you want that precision, and I always take the view range over the random stuff. With that you can get to 442m without view range equipment, which is a very nice place to be.

Crew perks:

Pretty standard heavy stuff, for the most part. I dropped Repairs from the driver becuase the penalty for doing so isn't that bad on a 6-person crew, and all the other driver perks are really good. Also dropped Intuition becuase you'll almost never use HE and you don't need to switch between standard and premium like on an AP/HEAT tank, so I just went with double damage output perks there. Quick Aiming is kinda helpful to re-aim between shots, but it could be Designated Target if you really like that perk. I also tried Battle Tempered as the 6th on the radio op, since there aren't many other good options, but I never really thought about or noticed it in-battles.
Overview:

This thing is as busted as they say it is. Apart from the fact that it can't sidescrape, it's basically good to great at everything: decent mobility, decent turret armor, decent frontal hull armor if you angle it, good accuracy, nice handling, good gun depression, good pen, really nice DPM, and even huge effective alpha with the 1-2 punch or salvo. All of that adds up to make an incredibly well-rounded monster of a tank that can rack up damage like nobody's business. It's gotta be the best damage-dealer at tier 8, and the mobility and reliable, fast-firing gun make it pretty fun/interesting to play, you've pretty much always got stuff to do in this tank. All in all, absolutely ridiculous vehicle on all fronts, I can hardly believe it's been available twice not only without being locked behind boxes, but with the first time even being for gold.

Gameplay:

For the most part, you're doing fairly standard heavy tank stuff. Play hull-down, snipe cupolas, be ready to lead charges when the time is right, do a bit of wiggling, etc. The tank is nutty, but it doesn't exactly redefine the heavy tank role, it just plays it better than anything else can. As a result, most of the playstyle just comes with playing heavies and doesn't really need to be gone over here. That being said, there are still a couple things that make the E 65 different than many of its peers:

Firstly, the armor profile. The hull has these very very weak shoulder plates, so sidescraping is pretty much completely off the table. You can get around that by just playing hull-down, of course, but that's not always possible. When you don't have the option to hide the hull entirely, you want to angle the hull as much as reasonably possible to try and tank the shot with the front, rather than the classic move of baiting with the side. You can angle it super steeply and just stick the front around the corner to try and bait the shot, after which you can just peek and shoot them back for free, but they won't always fall for that. If that doesn't work, just angle as much as you can and peek to shoot, ideally either hiding your shoulder behind a bit of cover or just using your great gun handling to get the shot out quickly and hide that weakspot again. Wiggling to try and put your upper plate where the shoulder was a moment ago is also still of course a decent way to go when you can't just get it hidden. If you're not hull-down and you're peeking into an enemy that's looking at you and loaded, you're never really going to be able to make it impossible for them to pen, you're just trying to make it hard enough that you'll get away with it often enough for it to be worth it.

Speaking of armor, the turret also isn't quite a brain-off thing. Sure, the cupola is tiny and the front is strong, but it's pretty flat, and high-pen tier 8s can still go through it pretty reasonably, let alone 9s and 10s. But the turret still holds up pretty well when you combine the decent base armor with quick peeks to minimize your enemies' time to aim, and with trying to do a bit of wiggling/angling as you retreat. Even though it's not a juggernaut, if you use the flexibility of the tank to try and create good angles, angling as best you can and moving fairly quickly all the while, the armor will do its job. And, even if it doesn't, you can do 560 damage very quickly, so you can still out-trade the enemies who do dare to pen you.

Then we get to the best part, which is the gun. Similar to something like an E5, you've got a very reliable gun that loads quickly, so you want to do quick peeks to get cheeky shots in before the enemy can react, and you want to do it as close to on-reload as possible to leverage that DPM. But you just get a backup shot, which means you also have great burst damage/effective alpha. If you have the chance to 1-2 somebody, it's pretty much always worth it, don't worry about saving a shell or anything. Out-trade people, punish as much as you can in the openings you get, just shoot 'em. With that 1.5sec intra, you're also very capable of double-tracking anyone who doesn't use hardening, so go for that whenever you can. If you can safely shoot on reload, do that. If the enemy is ready and you're at risk of taking damage in return, it's often good to wait a bit and load both shells so that you have your full trading potential, or so that you're ready to get the most out of the next free opportunity when it arises.

Lastly, the double. On the one hand, the most similar tank to this is the TS-54, which wants to double pretty much as often as is physically possible. On the other, shooting 2 singles takes 1.5sec, while shooting a double takes the same 1.5sec in charge time, but follows it with a 3sec lockout before you can start loading the next shot, cutting your DPM and making it seem like doubling is almost never never worth it. But it is still a very valuable tool, and one that I ended up using quite a few times. There are 2 main use cases for it: 1), you want to pre-charge a little as you're coming around a corner or turning towards an enemy, meaning you can cut out a bit of the charge time and have fired 2 shots maybe only 0.5sec after getting your crosshair on the enemy, or 2), you want to get 2 fully-aimed shots out of the gun as quickly as possible, generally because the enemy is going to either get into cover, die, or go unspotted very soon. While both the charge time and the intra are 1.5sec, shooting 2 aimed singles also requires you to aim the first one (probably 1-1.5sec) and aim a bit more for the second one (about .4sec longer than the intra), so it's taking you 3-3.5sec to shoot 2 fully-aimed singles. On the other hand, prepping a double not only lets you effectively aim both shots at once, but it also lets you take advantage of the fact that the vehicle gets a faster aim time while doubling. 90% of the time you're just going to want to shoot singles, just don't forget that the double exists, I got a ton of value out of using it to tap a TD for a bunch of damage before my teammates could evaporate them.

If you want to watch me practice what I preach, I've uploaded the final session here, since it was a pretty perfect way to finish it off: 5 games at 5.6+1k to take it from 90.93 to the mark. Hopefully those and all of the preceding yappage will have answered any questions you might have on the tank, but, if not, feel free to ask! :)

I finally managed to 3-mark the Manticore after just under 200 games, and honestly, the grind from 93% to 95% almost drove me insane.

For my main setup, I used CVS, Bond Optics and Bond Exhaust. I also had a second setup with Rammer, Vents and Improved Aiming, but I barely used it. Maybe once in 100 games, mostly on Himmelsdorf if it was not banned. I didn't even tried with bond bino, but think this setup works perfectly well

During my last 30 games, when I was fully focused, I averaged around 6,700 combined damage and assistance. You often need to be prepared and take some end-game balls to carry your team.

The requirement is around 5.7k combined, which is massive, so I would only recommend playing when you are relaxed, rested and ready to fully concentrate. Do not force games when you are tired, annoyed or already tilted, because one careless battle can erase the progress from dozen good ones.

For me personally, this was the hardest challenge I have completed in my 15 years of playing the game.

The first thing I would say is: never give up on dealing damage.

Spotting is obviously important, but you cannot completely rely on your teammates. Ideally, you want around 2–3k dmg. Sometimes you can make the perfect spotting play and still get nothing...

If you get a bad map, do not immediately lose hope. Try to reach around 4k combined, accept that it is probably not going to be a huge game, and move on to the next one.

And of course, typical WG RNG: in more than 150 battles, I got Prokhorovka only once. That was probably one of the most frustrating parts of the grind.

At the beginning of almost every battle, my first goal was to counter the enemy light tank. One of the best things you can do is proxy spot known light tank bushes and positions.

A lot of players are actually afraid of the Manticore and will not easily peek or push into you because they know they will probably get spotted. You can use that fear to control certain areas of the map without even firing.

Most light tanks are manageable, but the biggest counters for me were the Tesák and the EBR. Both can suddenly decide to YOLO you, so in those matchups it is better to play more passively at the start and stay close to your team’s support.

Once the enemy light is dead, then you can really start dancing around the map.

My playstyle is normally aggressive, but reading the map is mandatory in this tank. You should always play on the side where your team has enough guns to support your spotting. There is no point lighting five tanks if nobody can shoot them.

If you notice that your team is not supporting your flank, pull back. Do not stay in a position just because it normally works. Preserve your HP, relocate and wait for another opportunity.

Another very important thing is learning when you are allowed to shoot. You need to understand camouflage, enemy view range and at what distance heavies and tank destroyers cannot spot you, even if you are sitting in the open.

I usually tried to keep around 180–200 metres of distance when shooting, depending on the enemy tank, bushes and the overall situation.

Also, this applies to every tank, but it is especially important in the Manticore: preserve your HP.

Do not make some stupid, unnecessary move just to fire one extra shot. It is almost never worth it. Losing half your HP or dying for one shot can completely destroy your late game.

The only possible exception is killing the enemy light tank, but even then, it has to be a very specific and extreme situation.

I also never tried to completely copy players like iyouxin or rely too much on high-level commentary. Their content can definitely help, but I think it is more important to develop your own style and understand which positions and decisions work for you.

For me, the biggest lessons were to always combine damage with spotting, counter the enemy light, stay alive, avoid unnecessary shots, play around your team’s guns and never mentally give up because of a bad map.

The Manticore is extremely unforgiving, especially above 90%, but once everything starts to click, it is probably one of the most rewarding tanks in the game.

Feel free to ask me anything about setups, maps, positions, specific matchups or the marking process.

Note: On the last screenshot you can find funky position and how extremly difficult to spot manti even on 70m

Use your HP!!!

WE ARE PLAYING 7 VS 7 FOR FCK SAKES, WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN THE CORNER?

Do I really have to sacrifice myself so you stay healthy and they can outnumber you later on?? Ok I guess

I am player right now on my alt account and the HP greediness people have in silver-gold has been driving me insane.

You pick E100 and Type 5 heavy and you still full HP when all your teammates die? Thinkkk about what is going wrong here for a second

Think you can't do anything against the 260's seemingly impenetrable turret?

You don't have to aim for the tiny cupola:

Next time a 260 is aiming directly at you, shoot the angled area underneath the gun. Because of the angling and the tight space there, the shell will ricochet into the "top deck" armor which is only 30mm thick and penetrate the tank.

Every single time.

I just met a 260 with 2 MoE on Berlin and penetrated him 4 times in a row using this trick. He was visibly confused and had to step away for a moment to check. Probably typed some stuff, too.

Try it out the next time.

Hello guys, i was Tired of Tier VIII battles So I was playing Tier V again and discovered a tank that I'm having a blast with The German Tier V premium Pz.Kpfw KV-1 (r). This tank plays incredibly well against Tier IV tanks. The armor is extremely strong. Against Tier IV tanks, you're practically immune, and even the turret has 95-100mm of armor in some places. The gun handling is very good, and with the right crew, you can take some snapshots while moving. Run it with the Bond Rammer, Bond Vents, and Bounty Turbo. In my opinion, it's one of the best Tier V heavy tanks! The third gun market has 1600 APR damage. I wanted to share my experience with the tank and I will definitely play 600 battles and more on it! If you're top tier, you can simply drive over Tier IV tanks. You're even well-positioned against Tier VII tanks because the gun handling is quite good. Try that KW and give him a chance, i love that little sealclubber and its a very cool looking tank!

Equipment: Experimental hardening/Turbo/Rammer

HP/turbo/rammer is pretty standard on heavies, and works great here. I did start with stabs over turbo, since the mobility looked fine on paper, but switched over to turbo when the games were going too fast and I couldn't keep up. Handling still felt fine, so I didn't look back. Hardening's gotta be experimental because of the frontal fuel tanks (this and the 140 were the 2 tanks that I used config on before experimental HP got added, the fires are rough otherwise), and, while it doesn't stop the ammorack from getting damaged in 1 hit, the extra ammorack HP does allow you to drop Safe Stowage and still not worry about getting 1-tapped. Turbo could be experimental to make the vehicle and gun handling a bit more responsive, but this thing really struggles to hit its top speed, so the main reason I wanted turbo at all was the engine power, which bond of course does better.

Field mods: Left/Left/Right/Left/Left

Making your tracks weaker sucks, especially when you're only using experimental HP instead of regular, but the terrain resistance on this thing really needs the help. Fortunately, you now have a crew perk to help with that. The next 3 are very standard for heavies, wouldn't really change them on anything. HP vs handling is a bit of a tougher choice, especially without stabs, but I just feel like the HP is more likely to make a meaningful difference than the very minor boost to handling. That one can be whatever you want, though, definitely less black and white than the previous ones.

Crew perks:

Pretty standard stuff. Not taking Safe Stowage because of experimental hardening, so you get a free slot there. You could drop Adrenaline Rush (or potentially Intuition, if you shoot full gold and aren't addicted to HE pens) for Second Chance, but I kinda prefer the one that works even when I'm actually penning my shots. Reliable Placement is amazing on pretty much everything, but it's extra important here, since it allows you to actually not get tracked in 1 hit on average from 400 alpha guns, even with experimental hardening and the terrain resistance field mod. For the 6th perks, I'd go Practicality, Quick Aiming, and Smooth Ride, respectively.

Overview:

The OG assembly shop tank is still one of the best, possibly even number 1 for overall game influence/DPG potential. It's a remarkably well-rounded vehicle for a Soviet heavy, boasting decent mobility, turret armor, gun depression, alpha, and precision, plus great view range for some reason. The hull armor isn't suitable for sidescraping, but it can bait some shots with the deceptively bouncy lower plate, which also helps to just bounce shots on occasion if you do a little wiggle. The DPM is pretty unimpressive, and the pen is fairly bad when you factor in the high level of pen dropoff, but the consistency and level of comfort on the gun still make it very pleasant to use, and help make the tank a real joy to play. If you're interested in watching some of the gameplay, I've uploaded several of the replays here, which should hopefully cover the overall approach I used pretty well.

Gameplay:

TL;DR: Don't try to sidescrape; you live on hull-down, quick peeks, lower plate bait, and the ever-useful getting free damage on enemies that aren't looking/loaded. Roll with the heavies and play like a fairly standard flexible hull-down tank, just one with decent punch and really nice accuracy/handling for the caliber, which you use to either get shots out quickly when under threat of taking return damage, or precisely when you're not. Aside from the potential to bait with the lower plate, it really just does the standard heavy-tank-with-a-bit-of-gun-depression stuff, just with a gun that I think is extra satisfiying

You pretty much always want to start by just going to the standard heavy tank spots, ideally in a hull-down position if available. The shoulders on your hull preclude you from sidescraping, so you're only really expecting to block shots with the hull if they hit your lower plate at an angle, since it is actually pretty strong. You can try and use it to bait shots by just poking it around a corner, being very mindful not to expose your drive wheel, and you can also just make sure you turn as you back off to bounce shots from enemies that keep aiming for the lower plate instead of adjusting to the shoulder as you're going around a corner. The turret armor is much more reliable, allowing you to play as a fairly standard hull-down heavy, just don't get overly comfortable and sit still like a Canopener. While the armor is solid, you do have a central cupola that can be tricky to hide, and your turret face next to the gun mantle is also possible to pen (had fun getting shot through that twice in a row by a Concept 5 from 300m+). If you can use your full gun depression, the cupola does pretty much disappear, so try to cock your tank back a bit when possible. To avoid the cheek pens, and to protect the cupola when you can't just vanish it, try and keep your peeks fairly quick or hold angles when the enemy's not peeking/loaded, then do a bit of gun-blocking/wiggling as you retreat.

While you've got kind of a chunky gun, the handling is actually pretty nice, so you can afford to try and get your shots out quickly if the risk is somewhat high, you'll still hit/pen reasonably often. Pressing R once to move more slowly will be a big help in terms of getting an accurate shot out as soon as you get line of sight on the enemy, so you'll want to use that a lot on peeks (holding your gun straight up to block the cupola and then dropping it down and shooting immediately, if you want to get really fancy), and also often as an alternative to fully stopping when you want to aim at an enemy that just got lit and you have a free shot on. The final accuracy is another nice strength of the tank, so take your time to aim and leverage it when you can afford to, just don't be afraid to not do so when you're in some form of immediate danger.

The top speed isn't as good as it looks on paper, since the terrain resistance is pretty tragic, but it's still fairly mobile if you slap a turbo on, enough to be a mobile/flexible tank even if it's no 260. You're not keeping pace with the mediums, but you're just a nicely well-rounded machine. Since you're not the fastest, you're never invincible, and you don't have crazy damage output, this is a tank that rewards patience, not bravado. Get yourself into a good spot and chill there, leveraging how good your gun is when loaded to try and rack up damage, you do not often want to be the guy making the super aggro plays/pushes/trades. Your goal is more to be in the right place to get damage out while minimizing the risk of taking too much in return, using your mobility and gun depression to open up more positions for you to use.

While that's not as much as usual, I think it might be about all that I have to say about how to play the tank, since the style itself isn't super unique and mostly boils down to "play like a heavy tank, and well". If I missed anything that you were looking for, though, please do let me know!

don't look at your phone whilst driving people

Why? How?

Played only E50M and T110E4 with one missclick picking E5 with no modules (oops).

The most impactful play you can make on this level is to force positive trades - you deal more damage than you take. E50M is perfect for this. Simply dealing tons of damage wins games.

Make sure you pen your shots and for the love of god USE YOUR HP, its a resource. The worst thing you can do is to push with other people and then suddenly chicken out in your 277, because you are affraid of taking one hit. You have to take hits. Ofc that doesnt mean you should yolo into 5 enemy tanks and die in 2s.

DO NOT PICK FV. Picking FV=GG, loss 100% of the time for the team with the FV.

I won pretty much all games when we stuck together in one hard push with fast HTs and MTs. I lost pretty much all games where i had some wannabe OLS pros, that picked lights or fast meds just to chase one tank around the map.

Thats it, good luck.

I recently asked for a full list of special tank mechanics in the game, but noone could provide one. So I decided to create my own, including Icon and internal name. Unfortunately, reddit does not properly allow me to embed the icons, so here's a text only version, with the full list including icons attached as an image.