AT 8 Guide

AT 8 Guide



Vehicle Characteristics

Research cost – 29,000 XP from AT2
Vehicle cost – 940,000 Credits
Hit Points – 800HP, this is the highest pool of health for any Tier 6 TD, the next nearest being the SU-100Y with 700. Average HP for a Tank Destroyer of this tier is ~600
Crew – Six Crew comprised of; Commander, Gunner, Driver, Radio Operator, Loader #1, Loader #2
Mobility: Top speed 20 k/ph; Traverse speed 20 degrees per second (18 degrees with stock tracks)
View Range – 330 Metres
Radio Range – 550 Metres
Armour – Front 203mm, Sides 101mm (spaced), Rear 101mm, layout below;







Armament – Four weapons available, in order of unlocking (left to right);



Gun Arc: -7.5°/+7.5°
Gun Elevation/Depression: -5°/+7.5°

The strengths of the AT 8's cannons lie in their incredible rate of fire, fantastic aimtime (1.7 seconds) and good to excellent accuracy. The weaknesses are the Depression, Elevation, with mediocre Arc.

Engines

Spoiler:

Suspension

Spoiler:

Radios

Spoiler:

Review

Upgrade Path

The upgrade path of the AT 8 mixes the good with the bad, firstly the good; The 41.5 Ton limit with the stock suspension allows for a good combination of Guns, Modules and Equipment to be mounted to the tank without the need for the upgraded suspension. This is in contrast to it's German counterpart the Jagdpanzer IV which needs upgraded suspension before fitting practically anything outside of a camo net or binoculars.

However, the bad news is that a) The stock gun is extremely limited b) the 2nd gun actually has LESS penetration than the stock gun while offering an extra 35 average damage per shot. This second gun will set you back 4000 XP to unlock it. Worst of all, you will need a further 14500 XP to move onto the third gun, the 77mm. Thats 18500 XP required before obtaining a reliable cannon. This is where we get back to the good

The 77mm is quite simply monsterous for tier six and below due to it's rate of fire, adequate against many tier sevens, but lacking penetration against tier 8's.

Moving on to the 17 pounder, this gun is a great all rounder, high rate of fire mixed with 171mm of penetration (AP) and fantastic (0.32) accuracy. This is the Top Gun of the Black Prince tier seven heavy, except with better RoF, aimtime and accuracy on the AT 8!

For the AT 8, I would highly recommend gaining enough Free XP (18500) to unlock the 77mm gun before taking to the battlefield, as you will find the vehicle highly frustrating with the first two gun choices.

Suggested Upgrade path: Gun → Suspension → Engine → Radio

Tactics

Positioning, and making effective the extreme rate of fire/DPM of the AT 8 is often key to success.

Positioning: Dont basecamp, but also be mindful of your poor speed and how that will hamper you should your other flank fold and the enemy push for the cap. No point in bossing an entire flank but finding yourself too far forward to reset cap. Identifying 'last stand' locations on maps that make it difficult for enemies to shoot/flank you from multiple angles is also beneficial. Additionally, you should always look to cover up the right hand side of your tank, this will cover the machine gun port on the right side (a weak spot) and potentially cover your commanders cupola depending on the position of the enemy.

Effective DPM: A lot of talk within the WoT community is about how DPM (damage per minute) either is or isn't an effective trait or way to measure the value of a tank/cannon. With the  AT8 it absolutely is! and thats down to two things.

1. Reload time: With the 17 pounder, a rammer, vents and 100% crew, your reload time will be 3.63 seconds. Adding BIA to crew skills will reduce this further.
2. Your armour and HP for the tier

Even if the enemy has full repair skills on their crew, your aimtime and RoF will be able to track the them and keep them tracked while inflicting damage all the time. This is how you make your DPM count, if the enemy cannot move back into cover then you can make that insane reload time count. Permanently tracked enemies often panic and put 'just firing back' over aiming for your weak spots. Your armour offers far greater license to trade shots than that of other fast firing TD's; Wolverine at tier 5 and SU-152 (with 122mm cannon) at tier 7 as examples, both of which are easily penetrated frontally by tanks of the same tier and lower. In the AT 8, the enemy is far less of a threat stationary in front of your gun than he is if he is mobile and able to flank you. Enemies who'se tanks are sitting at a 45 degree angle in front of your cannon are in a perfect position to put a shot through the front drivewheel and into the hull, this will both detrack the enemy AND inflict damage upon them.

With continued practice of detracking enemies, you will find yourself on occasions able to keep two enemies permanently tracked and taking damage at the same time, switching targets back and forth to deliver the detracking blows will also make your weakspots harder to hit.

The 8.6 update offers the chance for this mid tier fast firing British TD to hoover up XP using these tactics, as there is 'assisted damage' for any damage inflicted on a tank that you have detracked, as well as removal of the -30% XP penalty placed on all TD's prior to 8.6.

Weaknesses

Like all tanks, the AT 8 has it weaknesses, the most obvious of these is it's mobility, 20 k/ph and 20 degrees per second traverse does not make for a nimble tank. Therefore, your greatest concern is getting flanked. Good positioning and travelling with teammates can negate this to a large extent, but there will be times where someone gets round you. If you are flanked while engaged with another enemy tank, take cover and deal with the flanker. If this is not an option, you should keep your frontal armour (and gun) pointed at the enemy with the highest alpha damage, as turning to shoot the flanking light or med (who may well bounce off your sides and rear anyways) will simply expose your weaker armour to the high alpha cannon, as well as the likelyhood of getting tracked while turning and having no target at all.

A further weakness to this TD is it's incredibly poor gun depression/elevation, this makes the terrain on some maps virtually unusable.

Below is footage of some of the above tactics in action (particularly near the end with the T34)



Suggested Crew Skills

Below are my recommended crew training tactics for the AT 8

Commander: Repairs -> Mentor
Gunner: Repairs -> Camo
Driver: Clutch breaking - > Repairs
Radio Operator: Repairs -> Situational Awareness
Loader 1: Repairs -> Camo
Loader 2: Repairs -> Camo

When you reach 51% on 2nd set of skills, consider retraining for

Commander: Sixth Sense -> Repairs
Gunner: Deadeye -> Repairs
Driver: Clutch Braking -> Repairs
Radio Operator: Repairs -> Situational Awareness
Loader 1: Safe Stowage -> Repairs
Loader 2: Repairs -> Camo

For third set of skills I would recommend reaching 51% and reseting skills as follows

Commander: Sixth Sense -> BIA -> Repairs
Gunner: Deadeye -> BIA -> Repairs
Driver: Clutch Braking -> BIA -> Repairs
Radio Operator: Repairs -> BIA -> Situational Awareness
Loader 1: Safe Stowage -> BIA -> Repairs
Loader 2: Repairs -> BIA -> Camo

Suggested Equipment

Rammer (-10% to reload time) and Vents (+5% to all crew skills) are pretty much essential, and will provide you with a reload time of 3.63 seconds with a 100% crew. The use of vents will also assist with many other of the tank/crews capabilities including traverse speed, which is always a concern for Tank Destroyers.

For the third slot, I would recommend Binoculars (+25% to view range when stationary) the only other item i'd recommend would be a toolbox (+25% to repairs) until you have your crew skills trained on repair, and switch the toolbox out for Binos when they are at an acceptable level. Binoculars not only help you spot enemy tanks, but your team too, enemies damaged upon your spotting (whether you even notice them or not) will earn you XP.

While many TD's utilise Camo Nets to great effect, I dont beleive that this offers such a great gain on the AT 8 in comparison to others. Due to the AT 8's poor gun Depression and Elevation, along with mediocre Gun arc, you will often find yourself adjusting the hull to aim at targets, while this isn't a great problem with such fast aimtime, it means that any benefits of a camo net will constantly be negated trough movement of the hull.

Pack a Repair kit, First Aid Kit and Fire extinguisher as standard. For premium consumables, you may wish to consider Pudding & Tea to boost crew skills by 10%. The fire extinguisher would the most replaceable consumable as fires seem to be rare with the AT 8.

Summary

In summary, the AT 8 when fully upgraded is an incredibly imposing tank for it's tier when played to it's strengths, and is more than capable of contributing within higher tier battles. While the grind to reach Elited status can be a long one without free XP, it is an immensly worthwhile one in the long run as this is one of the few tanks in the game that can actually make DPM count against enemy tanks with skilled crews.


Originally written by Vladivar

Excellent guide, and a very good overview of the AT 8.

The setup suggested is very similar to my own, however on the consumable side, as well as having both small first aid and repair kits, I also take along a large repair kit, which is purely there for the passive skill of the additional 10% to repair speed.

The one thing you don't want in any of the heavier British TD's is to be caught stationary, especially in the open, so any help in being able to get your tracks repaired as quickly as possible is a must for me. It also comes as a surprise to some of your lesser experienced opponents, at how quickly you can get back up and running, when they think they have you at their mercy.