IS-3 Guide

On today’s menu we have the IS-3 (AKA Object 702, the Pike). This is a tier 8 soviet heavy tank that packs a punch powerful enough to shake those Tier 10 tanks. With this machine using the 122mm BL-9 you will finally be a threat to everything, even IS-7s and Maus tanks.

Stock Tank Specs:


Upgrade tree:


Overview:
You start off with the 122mm D-2-5T gun, which you bring back from the KV-1S. Besides its decent damage, the gun doesn’t have enough penetration for a T8 tank and is so inaccurate that chances are you will hit the sun rather than what you were aiming for. After getting the BL9 you will have a dependable gun with decent penetration and good damage. The accuracy is improved a lot and you now have an actual chance of hitting even the moon. The IS-3 has decent frontal armor and since it’s sloped at a good angle it will deflect a relatively large amount of stuff. It side and rear are quite weak and will rarely bounce shots. Turret is well armored and the tank has a low profile, which makes it a harder target at range. Unfortunately, that means that at close ranges, bigger vehicles can hit the vulnerable roof of the IS-3. A good thing to note is that this is one of the fastest heavy tanks in the game. With its top speed of 38 km/h it can very well be used as a medium tank hunter, or an effective brawler.
Being a tier 8 heavy, IS-3 is your first Elite tier tank. It can penetrate and kill EVERYTHING in the game if given the chance.
Price: 2 568 500
Camouflage: Decent
Gun Depression: -5 / +25  

Pros:
- Good damage, penetration and decent accuracy on the main gun.
- Decent frontal armor.
- Good turret armour.
- Great speed and maneuverability for a heavy tank.

Cons:
- Bad starting guns.
- Exploding ammo rack.
- Slow aiming and reload time.
- Bad gun-depression.

Designation:
1. Warrior 2. Brawler 3. Steel Wall  4. Medium Tank Hunter 5. Sniper

Crew:
1. Commander (also a radioman)
2. Gunner
3. Driver
4. Loader

Use your IS-2 crew, it will save you some brain cells.

Modules:

Hull:
Armor scheme currently in use

Spoiler:

The frontal armour is 110mm, but huge slope increases it greatly. Most tier 6,7 and even some tier 8 guns(except 88L71, it usually can penetrate you) will have problems going through this part of the tank. Weak spot is the belly bellow the tip of the pike. Its small, but can lead to an ammo rack explosion. Do know that you are gonna have to keep it PERFECTLY straight to the enemy, in order to achieve maximum protection. Dont slope yourself even further like the KT and T32 should, as it will make one of your plates much weaker.

Suspension:
1. IS-3 (stock) / Max.capacity 50.56 / Turn speed 27 degrees per sec.
2. IS-3M / Max.capacity 53.9 / Turn speed 30 deg per sec.
The suspension is not the first thing you need to get, but do consider it for an elite IS-3 as it does make a difference!

Engine:
V-11 – 650 h.p. – 15% chance for fire on impact
V-2-54IS – 700 h.p. – 12% chance for fire on impact
Overall, you have a pretty powerful and reliable engine. Unlocking it will help unlocking the rest of the Soviet line.

Radio:
10RK – range 440m
12RT – range 625m
R113 – range 730m
Suprisingly, getting a better radio soon is advisable this time. 440m is just not enough sometimes. Best radio is credit to the team tough.

Turrets:
1. Kirovets-1 (stock)
Armor 150/90/80
Rotation 28 deg / sec.
Review of 332 meters.
2. IS-3
Book 220/110/110
Rotate 26 deg / sec.
Review of 350 meters.
I suggest getting the better turret ASAP. Its much tougher and can deflect quite a lot of shells from its front. The improved view range also helps. Unfortunately, both turrets suffer from OMG AMMO RACK syndrome. The entire side and parts of its rear contains ammo, meaning that a powerful hit there may turn you into a wreck. Another problem, is that since your IS-3 is so small, (which also makes you a smaller target) any tank larger than you can shoot the top of your turret and penetrate easily when in CQC. Never believe you are safe when facehuggin a bigger tank.

Guns:
122mm D-2-5T and 122mm D-25T
RoF: 4,07-4,86
Penetration: 175/217/61
Average damage: 390/390/465
Accuracy (100m): 0,46
Aim time: 3,4
The first two 122mm guns are pretty similar, they only differ in the rate of fire, with the second one firing about 1 more round per minute. Do equip the D-25T as its 1 round that sometimes decides the outcome of a battle!

100mm D10T
You also have the 100mm D10T gun, which is basically worthless for this tank as it has the same penetrations as the 122mm ones and has a lower damage per minute ratio. Good for a tier 7 medium tank or the IS-2, but not here.

122mm BL-9
RoF: 4,53
Penetration: 225/265/68
Average damage: 390/390/465
Accuracy (100m): 0,40
Aim time: 3,4
The damage and cost is the same as the other 122mm guns, BUT you get 50 more penetration and 0.06 accuracy (that's a lot). This gun makes fighting T32 and Tiger 2 tanks much easier. You can finally penetrate their front as long as it aint too sloped. All tier 9 meds can be damaged and so can all tier 9 heavies if hit in the weak spots, usually lower hull. When confronted by something heavy like a Maus or an IS-7, try to hit their weak spots or load HE rounds. Researching this gun here and now will make the IS-8 and the ST-I an easier grind.

Proposed upgrade path:
1. Suspension  
2. BL-9
3. Turret
4. Engine
5. Radio (can also be number 3 or 4)

Comparison with its peers:

IS-3 vs KV-4
The IS-3 does more damage per shot and is also smaller. KV-4 has more health points and a more accurate gun. The KV also has more armour, though mobility is inferior compared to the IS.

IS-3 vs Panzer VI Tiger ausf B
Both tanks have 225mm of penetration. IS-3 does more damage per shot than the Tiger, but fires slower and is not as accurate or as fast in aiming. The KT has better gun depression, more health points and is better at ramming. IS-3 has a slightly tougher turret and side armour, but weaker frontal and rear armour. It does have slightly smaller weak spots but cant angle itself as much as the Tiger 2.
In short:
IS-3 is better vs smaller tanks than KT, thanks to its all around armor.
King Tiger has a better frontal plate than the IS-3. It can be sloped too.
IS-3 is a faster vehicle, but the bigger KT can ram better.
IS-3s turret may be vulnerable up close, but its harder to damage than the KT at long range.
IS-3 has worse gun depression, accuracy RoF and aim time than KT, but superior damage and HE shells.

IS-3 vs VK 4502 (A)
Both tanks offer similar styles, but the IS-3 has better overall armor, though the VK can slope itself. The VK is slightly more agile and is a much better medium tank hunter than the IS-3. Its gun is more accurate, fires faster and aims faster, but loses in penetration and damage per shot. Its gun depression is slightly better.

IS-3 vs T32
T32 and IS3 are about equal in hull armor, but T32 has an invulnerable turret. IS3 has a superior gun in all stats except RoF and aim time. T-32 has better gun depression and is also not a slouch either.
In short:
IS-3 is again better vs small tanks thanks to side armor.
T32 can turret-hug Tier 10 tanks into submission.
T-32 has much better gun depression.
IS-3 gun is better than T-32 gun on almost all fronts.

Historical IS-3
Mounts the D-25T and IS-3 turret. The tank never saw action in Europe. However several of these beasts were shown on the Victory-Day Berlin Parade. Rumor is a regiment of IS-3’s was unleashed against the Japanese in Manchuria during the summer of 1945 and I think you get the rest...the word “meat-grinder” should go in there somewhere. The tank remained in service with the soviet army for about two more decades and a modernized version called the IS-3M appeared in 1960.

WoT Armory report: http://wotarmory.com/2012/05/22/full-contact-sport-the-is-3-protection-report/

WARGAMING Official IS-3 review:



Originally written by Charcharo

I wonder why he chose the suspension first in the proposed upgrade path. Both the BL-9 and the upgraded turret can be mounted without upgrading the suspension and I feel both of them do more to increase it's combat effectiveness than the suspension does. You carry over the best engine and third radio from the IS.

My personal proposed upgrade path is:
1. BL-9 gun
2. Turret
3. Suspension
4. Turret
5. Radio

For a long time I wanted to get my hands on this tank. I'm currently ready to buy an IS (when i got the silver for it). It was this tank, the IS-3 that stomped my for many battles in tier 6, tier 7 and back in the day tier 5 games.
Right now I'm getting my concerns on this tank. It's turret armor looks great, but I'm not so sure about the hull armor. It's a pike nose, so it can't be angled. I'm afraid every shot of a tier 8 TD or tier 9 tank will go straight trough it. Is this true? How is it's armor compared to the Tiger II whose armor seems more easy to angle?

It is hard to compare it to the Tiger II, since they both were built with such a different approach to armour.

I am still trying to get used to the pike nose. Every other tank you have to round a corner at an angle, to increase the effectiveness of the armour of the part that sticks out from the corner. This does not work for the IS-3, because most angles actually decrease it's effectiveness. That said, the front is very bouncy and you only need a tiny bump to hide the LFP. The sides aren't amazing and the tank definitely does not suit itself to sidescraping as much. They are almost completely covered in spaced armour though, now that tracks are treated as such. The small angled plates on the sides are actually covering an empty space with a flat plate behind them like so: /| |\

All in all, the IS-3 is more survivable than it's predecessors (with the exception of the ammo rack. I ended up with a damaged ammo rack literally every game, until I retrained the loader to safe stowage).

nilzatron wrote:It is hard to compare it to the Tiger II, since they both were built with such a different approach to armour.

I am still trying to get used to the pike nose. Every other tank you have to round a corner at an angle, to increase the effectiveness of the armour of the part that sticks out from the corner. This does not work for the IS-3, because most angles actually decrease it's effectiveness. That said, the front is very bouncy and you only need a tiny bump to hide the LFP. The sides aren't amazing and the tank definitely does not suit itself to sidescraping as much. They are almost completely covered in spaced armour though, now that tracks are treated as such. The small angled plates on the sides are actually covering an empty space with a flat plate behind them like so: /|       |\

All in all, the IS-3 is more survivable than it's predecessors (with the exception of the ammo rack. I ended up with a damaged ammo rack literally every game, until I retrained the loader to safe stowage).

Yep safe stowage is big help for less ammo racking incidents. Not only the front belly is weak, but when you are close to enemy and show him your side, he can success to shoot beneath the spaced sides and over the suspension and ammo rack you there (did so few times successfully before suspension = space armor patch). From that comes ... always face enemy frontally, to make most of your angled bouncy armor ... if you get the front belly covered by some debris or a bit angled by terrain, even better. Secondly if you reload, move your turret from side to side, your command copula is small and angled, but the accuracy raised a lot lately, so people shoot it even more then your belly.

Is it smart to wiggle the hull when you are in combat on even grounds?
How does overmatch effect the 20mm top armor? get it penned easily?

I know some competitive players who advocate going Wet Ammo Rack on the IS-3 instead of something else like the EGLD or Ventilation, because the ammo rack is that weak.

CountOfTuscany wrote:Is it smart to wiggle the hull when you are in combat on even grounds?
How does overmatch effect the 20mm top armor? get it penned easily?

In general I would say no. Wiggling too far would effectively unangle the armour on the pike nose, giving your opponent a chance to penetrate more easily. A slight wiggle however might help prevent people putting shots into the tiny driver port in the middle however.

The rectangular top of your turret is pretty much the only flat surface. From even ground the angle is steep enough that this is not an issue, but when someone is above you (or you are on a slope facing down, for example), you present it at an angle that makes it fairly easy to penetrate.

Wen90 wrote:I know some competitive players who advocate going Wet Ammo Rack on the IS-3 instead of something else like the EGLD or Ventilation, because the ammo rack is that weak.

So far Safe Stowage seems to work well in pubbies, so it seems like a good alternative depending on crew skill level. TC/CW's may be different, as there is a lot more premium ammo going around, but I haven't played enough of those yet in my IS-3 to comment.

CountOfTuscany wrote:Is it smart to wiggle the hull when you are in combat on even grounds?
How does overmatch effect the 20mm top armor? get it penned easily?

Always, always wiggle if you can in any tank if you know you are about to be shot!

According to FTR the model of the IS-3 will change.
http://ftr.wot-news.com/2013/09/18/storm-shows-new-models/#more-3292

The pike nose might get more effective due to the increaesd frontal slope. Yet to see what will really change. I'll keep an eye on FTR if there will be more known about changes.

Edit: update>
http://forum.worldoftanks.eu/index.php?/topic/299456-new-is-3-model-in-089-compared-to-088-model/