VK 30.01 H Guide

Ding760 Fri Jun 21, 2013 7:16 am

Introduction

Today I will try to review VK 3001 H, tier 6 medium tank in German tree. I will try to explain the basic gameplay of this tank, along with various tips and stat overview as well.

Stats overview

The tank starts out with 670 Hitpoints. Once you upgrade your turret it will grow to 750, a really nice number for a tier 6 medium tank.

Weight is more like a light tank - you have around 35 tons with 36,3 max. weight limit. Tank isn't good for ramming, so forget about that unless it's an artillery.

As for mobility, this is where this tank really shines. It has 650 horsepower top engine with 55 km/h top speed limit. Traverse speed is very good, 40 degrees. It is great for zooming around the battlefields.

Armor isn't really its forte. It has poor 50 mm armor on front and side, and even worse armor at sides - 30 mm. Don't expect to bounce anything with your hull. Even autocannons can pen your sides.
Turret armor, however, is a bit better. 120 mm on front, and 60 mm side and rear. You might have a lucky bounce here and there if you're hulldown. It isn't sloped, so don't rely on it against anything bigger.

View range is pretty nice, 370 meters. Standard number, and not as blind as KV-1S for example. Radio range is 710 metres, nothing to add here.

Armament

You have a choice of five guns. I'll summarize them shortly and try to explain their use in the clearest way possible.

7,5 cm KwK 40 L/43 - Stock gun. It is very poor for tier 6 and, since it's stock, there's no point in playing it at all. With AP shells it has 103 penetration value and 110 dmg. Do not use.
7,5 cm KwK 40 L/48 - Slightly better version of stock gun. It only gets a minor penetration buff, rising it up to 110. Use only if grinding to other guns.
10,5 cm KwK 42 L/28 - Derp gun. Actually can be effective when grinding for turret and other guns. 410 dmg with HE and 53 penetration value. Can be used efficiently.
7,5 cm KwK 42 L/70 - Sniper gun. Low alpha, high accuracy, good rate of fire. Best alternative for the upcoming gun. 135 dmg and 150 penetration value with AP. Recommended.
8,8 cm KwK 36 L/56 - Battle gun. Lower penetration, RoF and accuracy, but bigger alpha. 132 penetration value with 220 dmg on AP. Recommended.

How to play this tank and brief stat explanation

As you could've read from text above, you noticed this tank has some obvious weaknesses and advantages. It means this tank can't be the true Jack of all trades since it's always lacking something that might be useful in specific situation. However, you can use the tank the way it should be used to prevent those situations in the first way.

This tank is all about mobility. You have rubbish armor, so you make it up with your ability to switch positions, circle tanks etc. Here is a list of things you should follow if you want to be efficient with this tank.

Tactics

Never lead an assault or go first unless it is crucial

Leave scouting to light tanks. You are pretty light and can do their job okayish, but still, don't push to much or you'll get stomped. Only do so if your TC, Clan or whatnot needs some scouting ahead when you are the only mobile tank.

Provide decoy fire or use the opponent's reload time to advance

This is VERY important. You are the ultimate medium range support. If you see an ally that needs to advance or retreat, use your mobility to peek out and draw their attention on yourself. Take a shot if needed. But most importantly, do not hesitate to use your opponent's reload time. Move and take crucial positions to push your enemies and make them more awkward. Make some room for your allies to shoot them. This is, however, often mistaken for suicidal scouting because, eh, people just go out there in open and die.

Occupied tanks are your primary targets

You aren't so good one-on-one. You will most likely lose if the enemy gets the first shot on you and if he ain't dumb. Your best bet are bigger tanks that are bullying your smaller ones. Or bigger ones, does not matter. What you have to do is simple: circle that dude who thinks he'll kill your friendly tank and just be pain in the ass. Literally. Get to his rear and shoot him. He HAS TO respond, or else he'll get his ass owned quickly. Imagine IS-3 battling a friendly IS. Our fellow IS isn't doing so good alone, he is dealing some damage but not enough to get out alive. This is where YOU come in, jumping on him from the back and chipping away some of his HP. He has to deal with two guns now. And he has to decide which one should die first. People get confused a lot here, and instead of finishing their low HP opponents, they damage those with 100% and do just nothing for the benefit of team. Even if you stand alone after some time, you still have good chances of beating him up, unless the odds are extremly off.

In group battles and slugfests, try to avoid combat and approach the loneliest tanks

If you see a lot of tanks battling each other, like 3 on each side or more, and you are forced to stay at that flank for some reason, try not to draw attention if you aren't ahead of your team. Stick behind and choose the loneliest opponents, with least cover available. If you notice enemy who tries to slip inside a hole in your defences, get there. Stall him and make him think twice - that hole isn't empty any more and his tactic needs to change spot-on if he wants to live. This is where you take advantage of that. After that's done, you can go back to good old flanking. Making use of every mistake that enemy team makes is crucial.

Try to stop enemy scouts from spotting and possibly destroying friendly artilleries

You have the mobility needed for this. If those high-tier meanies don't one-shot them because they zoom around too fast, go after them. Try to rpedict their movements and always take the shortest route possible. If there is a light tank alive in late-game trying to breach your defences, do everything to stop him. Big threat to your base and artilleries.

Have fun

Don't be too judgemental about all your movements. Sometimes you can just drop all the tactics and rush wherever you want if you see the battle is ending in your favor. Even I end up hesitating too much, and screwing up everything. Sometimes having balls and making the daring movement can allow your teammates to take over a whole flank, whereas they'd still all be camping without your crazy, suicidal movements. Not that I encourage Malinovka field-rushes, just saying that sometimes it is needed to make a daring advancement to the enemy territory, even if it costs everything. By everything I mean full repair bill.

As for more specific tactics, I always recommend being a true medium tank with a dose of light. Flank, go for enemy sides and rear, never stop for nothing, try not to get tracked, use your gun wisely. While not the best, 8,8 L/56 has good RoF and alpha making it a decent damager with some serious penetration problems later up in-game, especially on 3002 DB. I DO recommend you use this tank with L/56 instead of L/70, purely because of alpha dmg. You need that. You have the necessary mobility to flank, so penetrating shouldn't be a problem. L/70 is more like a sniper, and that ruins the style of this tank. It is meant to zip around, not sit in bushes and deal dmg slooooowlyyyy... you have Panther for that kind of stuff. This, this is for daring people. You get there and mop up stuff with. again, alpha dmg.

There is one important thing here, however. People say it is bad for circling, mostly because of poor turret traverse speed. That's not true. All you had to do is move your turret earlier. You can practise it and bring it to perfection. It ain't THAT slow in the first place, so with some early rotating it can keep up just fine - you get used to it while driving it for a longer time. Forget about hulldown with this turret - gun depression is bad.

Recommended research order

This is the perfect tank for starting a grind on all other VKs. Sure, 3601 H has armor but this one has mobility. And armor won't always save ya, while mobility will. Mostly.
So I propose first getting the 10,5 derp gun and engines.
Why? Because running around with mobile derp gun is pretty damn effective, no matter what you think at first glance. Being MOBILE, MOBILITY, the key word, will grant you more chances to get behind and deal more damage, raking in more experience and credits to get the next upgrades.

After that, take the turret but don't mount it if you don't have L/70 or 88 L/56 somehow. No point in less traverse speed at this point. When you DO get the L/56, mount it all.
Tracks are not needed for all this, I believe, so take them last. I believe this is an enjoyable grind.

Recommended equipment and crew skills

Ventilation is always good for that small bonus with everything.
Additional grousers are awesome. You are even more mobile, very noticable on west flank at Lakeville and other swampy places.
Gun rammer is always welcome for that small bit that can be crucial sometimes.

For secondary choices, I'd recommend a Laying drive for better aim, especially if you just want to use L/70. Toolbox might come in very handy if you have a free spot in mean time, for when you don't have a repair kit any more.

For first skills, this is what I recommend. You may disagree, but what the heck.

Commander: Eagle's Eye (need I say more... this tank is just made for using opponent's crippled modules, crew etc. in your favor)
Gunner: Snap shot (you will do lots of drive-by shooting)
Driver: Off-road driving (mobilityyyyyy)
Radio Operater: Situational Awareness (enough to say)
Loader: Safe Stowage (same)

VK 3001 H against other tanks

VK 3601 H and 3001 P

Tanks so different, and yet so similar. Most probably your opponent will have the same gun as you. HOWEVER. They can bounce your shots rarely. You can not. Keep it in mind, especially from distance. They'll never bounce you. Aside from that, not a big threat but still can do major dmg in the same way as you, only less directly (3001 P) or totally directly (3601 H). Flanking recommended for 3601 H if you can't pen him from front for some reason.

Cromwell

Cromwell is rather soft. It's totally mobile, I think even more than 3001 H. But he's not that dangerous. Not armored. Nothing much to say, really. Deal with it like with an average opponent.

T-34-85 and Type 58

If you end up in a dogfight with this one, don't go for risky shots at sloped armor. Shoot where you are guaranteed to pen, and be swift. End it before he ends you. Type 58 might go here as well

Shermans

Two of them, don't know the numbers right now, can be real pain in arses. They are very bouncy from front, and they can make your life hard since they rarely move alone. If you do happen to stumble upon one, retreat, try to circle him if possible. If not, you can run too and return when he's occupied or so.

M6

Don't go frontally. Period. He can and will bounce, you might get zero dmg on sides if you are unlucky. Beware of his gun. When occupied, however, is a really easy prey.

Churchill VII

Try not to get hit repeatedly. He isn't that well armored at all so you just have to aim a bit more careful, flank him perhaps and own him. But don't strike him from obvious locations, or from open, where he might unleash a big laod of shells on you before you're in range.

ARL 44

Good gun, but aside from that, not a big threat. It's a Frenchie, they're not a big threat unless you totally ignore them.

KV-2

You know the drill. While he reloads... rape him with every tool around. But when that 30 sec period passes, either retreat behind some hard cover or be prone to being one-shot by the mgihty Russian 152 cannon... very dangerous at chokepoints. Big juicy target otherwise.

T-150

Hard nut, but not that hard. For some reason I penetrate his turet all the time from sides. Again, never take it on alone. 107 can make you suffer. You shouldn't fight those frontally anyways...

KV-1S

The mighty "overpowered" tier 6 heavy with mighty 122 mm gun. This is your bane. He's mobile. He's sloped. Great gun. Low RoF. You literally have to use all tools to defeat those, especially in Tank Companies. Your mobility can be negated by theirs, so be very careful. Use their long reload to your advantage. Never shoot the sloped lower front, only the upper front plate with commander's hatch etc. Top of the cupola on turret too. A skilled 3001 H can beat it, but still, be extremely careful.

Tier 7 and above

Treat 90% of them as KV-1S, however don't sweat it so much if you die, you're a tier 6. Your skill is what matters and what brings you victory.

Originally written by PanzerRage

Opa_Apo Fri Jun 21, 2013 8:23 am

You found a nice guide. I especially like the part "This is, however, often mistaken for suicidal scouting because, eh, people just go out there in open and die."
I have never played this tank but i suppose it can't pen ARL44's hull so i would suggest shooting at the turret.

Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
		1	2	3	4	5
6	7	8	9	10	11	12
13	14	15	16	17	18	19
20	21	22	23	24	25	26
27	28	29	30	31

VK 30.01 H Guide

VK 30.01 H Guide

Re: VK 30.01 H Guide