GW Panther Guide

Main characteristics:
- Hit Points: 350
- Cost: 109.500 XP, 1.500.000 silver
- View range: 350m
- Signal range: 310m with stock radio, 415m with second radio, 710m with top radio

Crew:
1: Commander, which also acts as a radio operator
2: Gunner
3: Driver
4: Loader
5: Loader

Mobility:
- Top Speed: 48km/h (able to achieve up to 64km/h)
- Power to Weight ratio (when fully upgraded): 16.16 hp/t
- Traverse Speed: 26°/s with stock suspension, 28°/s with upgraded suspension
- Gun Traverse Speed: 13°/s
- Gun Traverse Arc: -26°/26°
- Engine power: 330hp with stock engine, 380hp with second engine, 460hp with top engine
- Comment on mobility: Very agile for an artillery. It features excellent top speed, decent acceleration, coupled with decent traverse speed. This allows it to get in firing positions many other SPG's can't get to so easily. The fact it has a halfturret allows its gun to cover an extremely wide area without actually traversing the hull, which greatly benefits accuracy when changing targets or trailing moving targets. It's agility also makes it very difficult to counter-arty when spotted, though it's not agile enough to avoid direct fire. It is agile enough however to effectively defend itself from enemy light tanks that get through defenses and attempt to strike from its side or from behind. Overall, this artillery has good enough mobility.

Armor:
-hull: 50mm in the front, 30mm on the sides, 20mm in the rear
-turret: 30mm in the front, 16mm on the sides and in the rear
-comment on armor: Although frontal armor might cause an occasional ricochet from an unlucky light tank with a low penetration gun, armor of this artillery is mostly useless and will rarely stop any AP round from penetrating, while most HE rounds will almost certainly penetrate as well and deal full damage, usually oneshoting GW Panther in the process. Key to survival in this artillery is staying out of sight, and avoiding hits if spotted

Armament:
This artillery is able to mount 2 guns

1: 15 cm sFH 18 L/30
- Penetration: 85mm with HE, 228mm with HEAT
- Damage: 950 HP with HE 750 HP with HEAT
- Rate of Fire: 2.84 shells per minute
- Accuracy: 0.48m
- Aim Time: 6.9s
- Depression/Elevation: -3°/+45°
- Cost: Stock gun, no XP cost, 86.730 silver, acquired for free upon purchase of tank
- Comment: Top gun from the previous artillery unit, Hummel. It deals decent damage and has a relatively good Rate of Fire, but suffers from poor Accuracy coupled with high Aim Time. However, it's still good enough, deals decent damage, and it makes grinding the top gun an ok experience, which is something not many other vehicles in the game have.

2: 15 cm sFH s36 L/30 Ausf. 1943
- Penetration: 88mm with HE, 240mm with HEAT, 88mm with premium HE
- Damage: 1200 HP with HE and premium HE, 900 HP with HEAT
- Rate of Fire: 2.55 shells per minute
- Accuracy: 0.43m
- Aim Time: 6.3s
- Depression/Elevation:-3°/+45°
- Cost: 16.010 XP, 110.300 silver
- Comment: Top gun, a notable improvement from the stock gun, with higher damage per shell, and much better Accuracy and Aim Time, making this one of the most precise artillery guns in the game. It also features a minor improvement to penetration values of HE and HEAT shells, as well as addition of premium HE shells that have higher splash radius than standard HE shells. The only drawback compared to the stock gun is a slightly lower Rate of Fire. Overall, it's a very decent artillery gun, able to hit targets quite well, and deal significant damage once it hits.

Review:
"Sit back, relax, have a coffee, bombard from a safe distance" - all the things you won't be doing with a GW Panther. As an artillery, its job is to deal as much damage as possible to the enemy team, hit any exposed tank, and support its team to victory. You can't do these things while being relaxed in this artillery, you can in many others, but not in this one. The reason for that is its vulnerable armor coupled with its agility. Constant repositioning is a key to survival, along with being a key to dealing damage. Add to that the fact it has a very high rate of fire for an artillery and ability to track moving targets with ease, and the result is playing this arty will make your adrenaline go up, rather than down like is the case with many other artillery units.

As a damage dealer, this artillery is quite decent. It has low damage per shot compared to some of its peers, coupled with poor splash radius, but what it lacks in those areas, it certainly makes up for with speed. Both with high rate of fire, and good agility it features, allowing it to get to best firing positions, and dealing massive damage scoring direct hits on weak sides of its targets. Its accuracy also greatly helps with dealing damage, after all, when artillery misses its target, it doesn't deal damage, or it deals low damage in case of splash. GW Panther does not miss as often as other artillery units, and even when it does, it's not such a big issue thanks to its high rate of fire, and the fact it has a large ammo capacity. Of course, achieving sniper medals is extremely unlikely, but still, it hits its targets often enough allowing it to deal constant damage.

When it comes to self defense, GW Panther excels in case when its attacked by light tanks, being able to quickly dispatch of any that got through defenses on its own, and relocating before opposing artillery manages to bombard it. However, while defending from medium tanks that get through can still be successful, most heavy tanks will obliterate it easily, even if GW Panther manages to take a shot at them, it's likely to hit their frontal armor and unlikely to deal any significant damage, while most of the heavies it will face are fully capable of oneshoting it. However, most scenarios in which a heavy tank got through to the artillery tend to be those when the artillery is the last one standing in its team, and in those cases, it's usually a certain defeat no matter how successful arty is at self defense, so the inability to combat heavy tanks head on is not a major drawback.

General tips about playing GW Panther successfully:
- Relocate after every shot you make, move as soon as you fire your gun. You'll live longer
- As game progresses, change firing position according to location of friendly / enemy tanks, preferably while reloading your gun. You'll increase your damage output and reduce the chance of being counter-artied
- On urban maps, do not play a tank destroyer unless in emergencies, at the best case, you'll fire one shot before you're eliminated, and that one shot will hit someone's front armor. Instead of this, use your mobility to quickly get to a good firing position which a slower arty wouldn't be able to get to, every urban map has such positions
- On large open maps, feel free to fire blind shots at known good sniping positions at start of the game. You might get a lucky hit this way, and at the very least, you'll make the enemy think twice about taking this important position.
- Always target enemy artillery as soon as it's spotted and in case you're paired with slower artillery units, notify them that you're aiming at the spotted arty, so they don't waste their time aiming at it for nothing.
- Do not rely on splash damage

To sum it up, GW Panther is a decent artillery, able to deal damage consistently to the enemy team. It requires very active playing, constant relocation and target changing, coupled with taking shots often. All of this makes it one of the most fun artillery units in the game, although not the most effective one out there. It's effective enough, and very few ever regretted playing with it.

Advantages of tank:
- High agility gives it options many other arties do not have
- Very accurate for an artillery
- Able to self-defend against scouts/light vehicles
- It's very hard to destroy it without spotting it and eliminating it with direct fire
- Good ammo capacity
- Has a turret (though with limited functionality)
- Excellent at counter-artillery

Disadvantages of tank:
- Can't be used as a tank destroyer effectively
- Has low damage per shot
- Can't rely on splash damage from missed shots
- Quite vulnerable to direct fire
- Has a large silhouette, meaning it's camouflage properties are rather poor

Suggested crew skills:
1: Commander
first skill: Brothers in Arms
second skill: Sixth Sense
third skill: Signal Boosting
fourth skill: Situational Awareness

2: Gunner
first skill: Brothers in Arms
second skill: Snap Shot
third skill: Camouflage
fourth skill: Repairs

3: Driver
first skill: Brothers in Arms
second skill: Clutch Braking
third skill: Camouflage
fourth skill: Repairs

4: Loader
first skill: Brothers in Arms
second skill: Camouflage
third skill: Intuition
fourth skill: Adrenaline Rush

5: Loader
first skill: Brothers in Arms
second skill: Camouflage
third skill: Intuition
fourth skill: Safe Stowage

Suggested equipment:
First two slots should be filled with a Gun Laying Drive and Artillery Gun Rammer as both of these will allow you to fire faster. The Third slot can be filled by either a Camouflage Net, or by a Spall Liner. Camouflage Net allows you to stay undetected a bit longer, but doesn't have much effect due to low camouflage properties of this artillery. On the other hand Spall Liner reduces damage received from HE rounds, often fired by most Artillery and some light tanks, so it could help you survive a bit longer while under fire. Out of the two options, Camouflage Net still seems as better one due to the fact it's always better not to be seen

Extra notes:
- Although it's classed as tier 6, it's effectively a tier 8 vehicle, having a similar matchmaking to tier 8 tanks
- No GW Panther was actually produced in reality




Originally written by FoxWMB

I've always wondered, are these side and back plates actually removable? If yes, it could have a real turret, just like that BatChat arty.

Vampir_Kifla wrote:I've always wondered, are these side and back plates actually removable? If yes, it could have a real turret, just like that BatChat arty.

I'm sure they are. One way or another