PzKpfw V Panther Guide

Overview
The PzKpfw V Panther is a German tier 7 medium tank. This famous tank was produced from January 1943 through April 1945, with a total of 5,796 vehicles built plus eight vehicles built on the F series chassis. Upon reaching the Panther, you will quickly find that you must change your play style from a close-in brawler to a specialized sniper. At stock, the Panther is armed with the 7.5 cm KwK 42 L/70 which, although a bit low on damage, has sufficient penetration and accuracy for its tier. Its lack of firepower, added to the weak hull sides, make this tank an easy victim in firefights. Once the Panther is fully upgraded and sporting the long, accurate 7.5 cm KwK 45 L/100, it's best to use it as a sniping tank. While the gun has very low damage for its tier it has a great rate of fire and can penetrate virtually all lower tier tanks from any range, as well as higher tier opponents with well aimed shots. The Panther shines as an excellent mobile-sniper.



Pros:
- Its final gun (7,5cm L/100) has adequate penetration for its tier
- Weight - ramming is an option as a last resort, though consider your opponent
- 7,5 cm KwK 45 L/100 is one of the most accurate cannons in the game

Cons:
- More unwieldy than other tier 7 mediums
- Guns lack alpha damage
- Easily targeted and weakly armored ammo rack
- Large silhouette for a medium
- Engine can get damaged or burn from frontal hits

Tank specs(stock)


Price 1,380,000 Cr
Hit Points 1,200 HP
Weight Limit 44.9/45 t
Engine Power 610 hp
Speed Limit 48 km/h
Traverse 25 deg/s
Power/Wt Ratio 13.59 hp/t
Hull Armor 85/40/40 mm
Turret Armor 45/45/45 mm
Damage 101.3-168.8 HP
Penetration 113-188 mm
Rate of Fire 11.76 r/m
Accuracy 0.35 m
Aim time 2.3 s
Turret Traverse 41 deg/s
Gun Arc 360°
Elevation Arc -6°/+17°
Ammo Capacity 81 rounds
Chance of Fire 20 %
View Range 350 m
Signal Range 415 m

Best Specs:

Spoiler:

Crew
Commander
Gunner
Driver
Radio Operator
Loader

Modules

Radio
Tier Name Range XP Price Weight
VI FuG 7 415 m --- 8,160 70 kg
IX FuG 12 710 m 7,200 43,200 150 kg


Suspension
Tier Name Load Limit Traverse Speed XP Price Weight
VI PzKpfw-V-Ketten Ausf. 1943 45 t 25 d/s --- 15,000 12,050 kg
VII PzKpfw-V-Ketten Ausf. 1945 49.3 t 28 d/s 8,200 18,200 12,500 kg


Engine
Tier Name Power Fire Chance XP Price Weight
VI Maybach HL 174 610 hp 20 % --- 26,250 670 kg
VII Maybach HL 210 P 30 650 hp 20 % 11,000 36,000 720 kg
VIII Maybach HL 230 P 45 750 hp 20 % 18,800 55,000 750 kg


Gun
Tier Name Damage Penetration Rate of Fire Accuracy Aim Time Elevation XP Price Weight
V 10,5 cm KwK 42 L/28 350/350/410 64/150/53 7.5 r/m 0.55 m 2.3 s -6°/+17° 3,800 28,000 2,100 kg
V 10,5 cm KwK 42 L/28 42 350/350/410 64/150/53 7.5 r/m 0.55 m 2.3 s -6°/+17° 3,800 28,000 2,100 kg
VI 7,5 cm KwK 42 L/70 81 135/135/175 150/194/38 11.76 r/m 0.35 m 2.3 s -6°/+17° --- 53,000 1,740 kg
VI 7,5 cm KwK 42 L/70 80 135/135/175 150/194/38 13.04 r/m 0.35 m 2.3 s -6°/+17° --- 53,000 1,740 kg
VII 8,8 cm KwK 36 L/56 60 220/220/270 132/171/44 8.96 r/m 0.38 m 2.3 s -6°/+17° 9,500 66,000 2,050 kg
VIII 7,5 cm KwK 45 L/100 80 135/135/175 198/244/38 12.5 r/m 0.32 m 2.3 s -6°/+17° 16,100 128,570 2,100 kg


Turret
Tier Name Armor Traverse Speed View Range XP Price Weight
VI PzKpfw-V-Turm Ausf. G 45/45/45 41 d/s 350 m --- 13,500 9,600 kg
VII PzKpfw-V-Schmalturm 120/60/60 26 d/s 380 m 10,100 22,300 10,800 kg

Guide
Starting with stock Panther will be very painful at first. You're likely to lose money but that won't be much of a problem since grinding for it with VK3001H was quite profitable. First upgrade you should aim to get is suspension because you will need that to get the turret upgrade and therefore a proper gun. First you should use 7,5 cm KwK 42 L/70. You will have hard time penetrating but its still better than the second gun avaliable for stock turret. Second gun is only good for flanking but your tank is not so fast at first and only decent later so you won't be flanking much. After you get the turret upgrade you will be able to use 8,8 cm KwK 36 L/56 60 if its already unlocked from VK3001H. This gun has good accuracy and decent damage. Its up to you to keep using this gun and use experience for other upgrades or work for the L/100. L/100 can penetrate almost everything you get in matchmaking(which is quite fun) and it has a good rate of fire and accuracy. Its only disadvantage is damage. You can't kill tanks who have 1500HP by brawling them and hitting 135 so don't brawl. Your armour is good in front and well sloped. You can deflect most hits from same tiers by angling your tank but be careful agianst TDs and other tanks with high penetrations. What you have in front armour, you lack in sides. Almost anything will damage you from side and might break your tracks. You have 1270HP which makes you able to take a few hits but if you don't be careful you will be dead in no time.Panther is not so fast and agile. Its top speed of 48 km/h will help you get to your position fast enough but you're not agile. You can't flank heavies and light tanks can flank you .As long as you're careful not taking damage you will have a lot of fun with Panther with all upgrades. Especially against Russian tanks with low accuracies don't forge to use your accuracy advantage. Skills and equipment you will use is dependent on your playstyle. If you prefer to use Panther as static sniper better use equipment like camo net. But if you prefer to use covers more than bushes you should use skill which increase the stability of tank like Jack of all Trades. Know your strengths and weaknesses and you will do wonders with Panther.




Originally written by TheArtisan

Camo net is horrible for a medium tank that's bigger than IS. A 25% cano boost to a very low alpha high rof huge size sniper is pointless as you lose camo when you shoot (camo is good on burst alphas) and panther is too big to utilize the camo net anyway.

Jack of all trades is by far not a sniper skill, if you ever want to snipe, 6th sense is a must have, as you must know if your bush camo is blown.

also, u might want to adjust the armor values, since 8.4 will hit our servers this weak and the armor has been altered.

I think at this stage I'll point out I did not write any of these guides..just reposting them. The accuracy of these guides are up for discussion...like what you guys are doing now

So carry on!

Just as a foot note - essential equipment is a gold fire extinguisher, to reduce brewing up chance.

Over the last 15 games I've been brewed up in well over 1/3rd of them. The statistics are somewhat optimistic at 20%.

Consider that I know how to angle, to protect my LFP - these are from almost any hits on me, fuel tank, engine etc.

Finally, safe stowage - cannot recommend that you get this skill enough. That way, when you finally sell the panther, you won't suffer quite as much pain in the panther II as you otherwise would. You WILL be ammo racked with about every third shot otherwise.

Other skills:

Clutch braking - it turns like a pig
Repairs - you WILL get broken modules constantly.

I run rammer, GLD and optics. But 135 damage average per shot shows just how poor this tank actually is in a stand up fight.

Assuming I can shoot constantly, and with penetrations (oh, you'll fail to pen more than you'd think), I'd need 10 shots to kill an IS. The IS would need 3? And if that first shot of his cripples anything vital on the panther, this is only going to go one way.

And weirdly, this is even at range, with EVERYONE now ridiculously accurate (especially those russians) and the panther's main benefit is now completely negated. And the panther is such a ridiculously huge target.

One final option is to run the baby 88 and spam gold. You'll do more damage, but you'll equally damage your wallet.

Sadly, my beloved (60% wr) panther is now defunct. And the forthcoming "rebalancing" - dropping HP, increasing track friction - will likely only make it worse. It already climbs hills with all the speed of an asthmatic obese pensioner - I got overtaken by two M103s the other day.

If you are serving up over 2k damage in it, you'll know you've had a great game.

Preventative Maintenance - get this as soon as you can!
Safe Stowage - same deal

The Panther and the Panther II really need these survivability buffs and I recommend retraining to get them as soon as you second skill allows (30-70%).