T-34 Guide 2

T-34 tier V Soviet medium tank



Basic historical and ingame de​sc​ri​ption:

T-34 is one of the tanks in the game which doesn’t differ so much from its real life counterpart in terms of performance. During the war years this was probably the most optimal tank to be seen on all battlefields. It had easy maintenance and was rugged and reliable. It had some groundbreaking features for the time like its sloped armor and one of the first mass produced tank diesel engines. It derived from the BT series of tanks and used a Christie suspension which was improved for it. It had a powerful 76,2 mm gun that could knock out most other tanks at the time. Its sloped armor was very hard to be penetrated by any German tank in the beginning of the war, and was sufficient to the middle stages of the war when more powerful tanks appeared on the German side, but by then the T-34 was beginning to get replaced by the improved T-34/85.

The ingame T-34 is a Jack of All Trades as they say. T-34 is nowhere excellent. But it's nowhere failing.

Pros are:
-good speed
-good acceleration
-good manoeuvrability
-decent gun (thinking of the 57mm! )
-inclined armor
-Good camouflage value for a medium tank.

As any other tank this one has its cones too but they are nothing too catastrophic :
- Somewhat sluggish acceleration.
- Somewhat vulnerable fuel tanks on the hull sides.
- Extremely poor vision range with stock turret.
- The turret is prone to jamming

Main characteristics (fully upgraded with 100% crew):

Tier: V
Price: 356,700 Credits (stock)
Experience needed: 11 500 Xp (stock)
Hitpoints: 450
Weight: 28,74 tones (with no additional modules)
View range: 350 Meters
Radio signal range: 525 meters
Tank hull traverse: 40 deg/second
Tank turret traverse: 49 deg/second

Crew:

1. Commander( who is also a gunner, so if he dies you loose a lot of accuracy)

2. Radio Operator

3. Driver

4. Loader

Mobility:

Engine power of top engine is 500 h.p. which gives the tank a power to weight ratio of roughly 17,39 h.p per ton. In terms of mobility, the T-34 has the best top speed of the four main Tier 5 mediums (the M4 Sherman,the Crusader and the PzKpfw IV being the rest).The Type T-34 has the same top speed, as it is identical to the T-34 in everything else too. The acceleration and turning are not quite as good as that of the M7 MT or PzKpfw III/IV, but they are good enough to allow the T-34 to perform well as a flanking medium and even circle most heavy tanks. Additionally, the Zis-4 has a very high rate of fire and this allows for an easy way to spam shots at an enemy's tracks, allowing you to circle without reprisal.

Armor with best turret:

Hull Armor 45/45/40 mm
Turret Armor 52/52/45 mm
The T-34's sloped 45 mm hull armor is fairly reliable at bouncing rounds from most Tier 3 or 4 vehicles especially when angled. It should not be relied upon against Tier 5 or higher vehicles. While it will occasionally deflect rounds from such tanks, the T-34 will be very quickly destroyed under concentrated fire. The second turret has slightly better armor at 52 mm, but not quite enough to make the T-34 a good tank to go hull-down in. The tankhas average healthpool for a medium in its tier (450 points), but beware of US and German 105mm short trollguns (M4, Wolverine, Pz4, Hetzer, Stug 3) as they can easily get you one-shot.

Armor schemes:

Hull armor of the T-34


Weakspots of the T-34

Front hit zone:


Side hit zone:


Rear hit zone:


Red - easy to penetrate zones.
Violet - ammo rack.
Green - engine.
Blue - fuel tank.

- Driver

- Loader

Armament(with 57mm Zis 4 gun):

First of although this might seem odd at first, the long 76 mm S-54 gun is not the right choice to use with the T-34. You have to research it in order to get to T-34/85, but trust me (and thousands of other tankers) on this and use the 57mm Zis 4 gun. Why?

Gun: 57mm Zis4
Damage: 85 hp with AP and APCR and 95 with HE
Average Penetration: 112mm with AP, 189 with APCR and 29 with HE
Rate of Fire: 26,09 r/m
Accuracy: 0.34m
Aim time: 2.3s
Turret Traverse: 49 deg/second

What it lacks in damage per shot, it compensates with high penetration - thus allowing easier fighting against higher tiers- as well as a rate of fire beeing close to that of a machinegun....with a tank gun. How to play this gun? If you encounter head on lower/same tier tanks, angle your tank if facing frontaly, and just kill them easy. If you're encountering heavy, run away, cover, hide -unless killable. Wait till he starts targetting any other ally, and fire 2-4 shots! Then do that again, and again. Or you could just circle a lone heavy and drive it insane. Basically you will feel like a French revolver tank with a never ending drum of shells.
The gun is also kinda accurate so you can try to snipe too. Just don’t expect every shot to hit, but that’s no problem with such a high rate of fire.
Any other gun is pure torture, and should not be used if possible.

Personal opinion on the T-34 and its use:

Well if it hasn’t become clear yet, my personal opinion of the T-34 is as a balanced tank that is relatively good in mostly all possible roles that a medium tank can take. First of all when you buy the tank stock, you should already have the V-2-34 engine researched from the A-20. Install it immediately. If you don’t have the 57mm Zis4 researched on the T-28, prioritizing it will be a good idea. You need the second turret to mount it though. The tank is relatively playable when stock, but starts to shine only when fully upgraded and with 57mm mounted on it.

My advice is to keep moving, and try to hit your enemies where they don’t expect you. The good mobility of the tank makes it possible to get to key points of the maps quickly. Surprise a KV-1 in the rear and by the time it has managed to turn and react you’ll have almost killed it. Think of this tank as a stormtrooper armed with a SMG. Surprise your enemies and shower their weakspots with 57mm shells. As with all guns aim mostly for the rear and sides, because that’s where it hurts them the most, but the gun has good penetration and frontal armor of most tier 6 and even some tier 7 vehicles shouldn’t be too hard to crack. This tank is about pressing ALL the juice at the given time against the given opponent at the given situation. There is no specific tactic, it's about knowing your opponent: he's slow? outmanoeuver him. His turret is slow? circle him. He's fast? Slaughter him with your great machinegun. He's a TD? Flank him. You're spotted and can't do anything? Escape! Your mobility is the key.

Don’t stay stationary out in the open t, as your enemies will make short work of you. When you are being showered by enemy fire move in zig-zaging maneuvers. Getting used to do this is important if you want to play the later tiers Soviet mediums like the T-44 and 54. Side armor is weak but can bounce shots if hit under a large angle and that will frequently save your life when on the move. Shots you receive in your turret can often kill the commander or the loader which in this tank is almost certain death. The tank has a relatively reliable ammo rack compared to other Soviet mediums. It can be damaged if you get shot in the back of the turret or the lower frontal plate. The second is quite hard to happen as the lower plate is not too large.

Crew skills:

There are two options for first skill I can think of:

First: Take Brothers in Arms for all members of the crew. It will combine well with Improved Ventilation module http://wiki.worldoftanks.com/images/7/76/ImprovedVentilation.png" alt="" /> , and for a tank with no obvious strengths and weaknesses like the T-34 BiA is a good choice because it improves all of your characteristics.

Second: Take 6th sense for commander and repairs for everyone else. For a fast tank that uses the element of surprise it’s good to know when you are detected and when not. Repairs can save your life when you have a broken track, since you don’t want to sit out in the open stationary for a long time with this tank.
Whatever combination you pick as first skill I suggest picking the other one as second.

As third skill pick Repair for the commander, Off-Road driving for the driver, Safe stowage for loader and Situational awareness for radio operator.

After that I’d go for camo on all crew members.

Modules:
In any occasion take the Gun Rammer and the Improved Ventilation They help a lot, mostly since they increase your already high rate of fire. As third module I’d choose from either the Toolbox or the Enhanced Gun-laying driveor the Enhanced Gun-laying drive http://wiki.worldoftanks.com/images/7/71/EnhancedAimDrives.png" alt="" /> The first might save you when tracked and the second helps you with your aiming, which is important for a tank which has to use speed and surprise and cannot afford staying still for long.

Consumables:

If you do intend to use any on such a low tier tank I'd suggest the Small repair kit , the Small first aid kit and the Manual fire extinguishers as on most of the tanks you probably use.

Extra notes:

This vehicle is excellent for farming credits. It's repair cost rarely goes above 3000 and it can easily make a profit of 10 000 in a single match, while also being fun to play. Also the T-34 seems to be underesimated by many players. Make use of this and prove them wrong!


Originally written by izroda