World Of Tanks Soviet Union / Characters

Armored fighting vehicles designed by or imported into the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Soviet tanks will often fall into a role-set that each class will excel at, but at the expense of being notably less capable if called into other roles at any time. The USSR designed and fielded several of the most recognizable, and in some cases ubiquitous, tanks in the history of armored warfare.

Soviet Tank Crew Tropes:

The Stoic: The National audio for the Russian tank crews sounds fairly unenthused about everything, from getting shot at, tracks being damaged, up to their engine being on fire. Truth in Television as apparently Russians emote less than other people.

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U.S.S.R Light Tanks

Soviet light tanks are typically the fastest tanks at their tiers. Like most Soviet tanks, they have a small frontal profile and sloped armor. While the recent map and class changes that having shifted the game paradigm to a more brawl-focused ideal and reduced their relative power in general, they're still solid choices.

MS-1

Glass Cannon: Sluggish speed, thin armor, low HP, poor view range... but in exchange, it gets a monstrous 45mm cannon that can punch holes in any Tier 2 machine.
More Dakka: Its 20mm and 23mm autocannons. Penetration is middling, but in exchange both guns spew out lots of bullets, and against thinly armored opponents, it adds up.
Underground Monkey: Notice anything familiar about the MS-1's chassis? It's a Renault FT with a rounded, lighter hull and a bigger gun.

BT-2

Fragile Speedster: The first in a long line of fast but thinly armored Soviet lights. A respectable 55 kph top speed and thin, flat armor that's easily penetrated by even Tier 1 guns. It has over 40 horsepower per ton however, allowing it to rocket up slopes.
Glass Cannon: The same nasty 45mm cannon as the MS-1, and also the respectable 37mm Zis, both of which can poke holes in Tier 3 tanks, but all mounted on a low, thinly armored chassis.
More Dakka: The same 20 and 23mm autocannons as the MS-1, but now firing even faster.

T-26

Glass Cannon: Even more than the MS-1, being larger but still slow with thin armor, but still boasting the excellent 45mm and 37mm cannons.
Long-Range Fighter: Its primary role—its guns have decent accuracy for their tier and its turret and hull both turn quickly, encouraging it to rapidly reacquire targets. It's not much of a brawler due to thin armor and only so-so HP. It's also not the best scout, having a pitiful view range and signal range.

T-60

Master of None: It isn't a badly built tank like some others we could name, but its attributes are average at best, and as a result it doesn't have a role it can fill efficiently like other Soviet lights. This is not helped by its selection of guns being mostly wimpy Tier 1 machine guns. It does has quite good camouflage rating for its tier level, but that's it.
More Dakka: It's mostly armed with machine guns. Even it's starting 12.7 mm DShK gun carries whooping 50 round/clip... not that they do that much good thanks to weak penetration values.

Tetrarch

Blind Weaponmaster: It's got a very low view range, even with the use of binoculars. However it's 2 pounder is one of the deadliest guns at the tier, and it's 121 penetration APCR rounds are dangerous even to tier 5 tanks!
Fake Nationality: It's a British Lend Lease tank. Strangely, there's no version of it in the UK tree.
Fragile Speedster: Tiny and fast thanks to its zippy 64 kph top speed and phenomenal 47 degree traverse, but has armor even worse than the MS-1 and fairly low HP.
It's Raining Men: Designed to be dropped into a combat zone with a glider in Real Life.
Glass Cannon: The result of its Fragile Speedster traits being paired to the very good QF 2-pounder Mk. IX-A gun, which has good penetration, damage, and rate of fire.

BT-7

Fragile Speedster: Has 33 HP/t, allowing it to get to speed and hill climb very rapidly. With a top speed of 65 kp/h, this makes it one of the most nimble tanks in the game.
Truth in Television: Christie (The man who developed the predecessor of the BT tanks and also gave his name to that style of suspension) was obsessed with speed and creating fast tanks. the Real Life tank could even take its tracks off to run on roads with its wheels.

BT-SV

Lightning Bruiser: Very easily capably of hitting 72KPH, with well sloped thick armor for a tier 3. Damaging this thing full speed can be quite difficult. Just don't ask it to turn.
Ramming Always Works: Pick another light tank, hit it at 72 kph, and watch it buckle.

LTP

Always Someone Better: Basically a worse version of the T-127, as it was given out for free.

M3 Light

Always Someone Better: It doesn't get the top 37mm found on US lights, and can struggle even with its premium matchmaking. Compared to the many other low tier soviet premiums, it fails to stand out other than as a collector's item.
Fake Nationality: It's a Lend-Lease US Stuart.

T-127

Normal Fish in a Tiny Pond: Due to its limited matchmaking, decent armor, and punchy gun, it was one of the most often used seal clubbing tanks.

T-46

Elite Tweak: The top three guns are all viable choices. The relatively high penetration values and fast reload on the 45mm VT-42 allow a supporting role, the 76 mm L-10 causes a ton of damage, and the 37 mm automatic SH-37 allows the T-46 to close to knife-fighting range and spray the enemy with 200 damage worth of AP shells. However...
Glass Cannon: ... the frail armor might not permit such aggressive tactics for long.

T-70

A-20

T-50

Developed in October 1940. The design presented by Plant 174 was submitted for consideration. After successful trials in February and March 1941 the vehicle entered service.

Jack of All Trades: T-50 is generally recommended to be played like a support medium tank, relying on its good rate of fire on all its guns and maneuverability to provide flanking support. The only thing holding it back is poor view range for a light tank.
- Lightning Bruiser: Its previous incarnation was notorious for being a crazy-fast scout tank with good gun(s). Later nerfs toned down its infamous acceleration, but increase its already high turning speed further.

T-80

Valentine II

Fake Nationality: A UK Lend-Lease tank.
Normal Fish in a Tiny Pond: Can only see tier 4 matches thanks to its lousy gun. However it's good armor allows it to club seals with the best of them.

T-50-2

MT-25

Fragile Speedster: One of the fastest tanks in the game, with exceptionally good HP/t ratio.
Flipping Helpless: However, you have to be VERY careful driving, as the newER physics make it very easy to land on your sides/roof, making you easy prey.

LTG

Cute Machines: Averted. It's widely considered to be one of the ugliest tanks.

LTTB

Flipping Helpless: Averted. Due to its hull shape, when it rolls over it tends to land on its feet most of the time.
Hunter of His Own Kind: The tough armor and high speed make this tank excellent for ramming other light tanks, and they'll struggle to penetrate you without reaching for the premium ammo. you do NOT want an LTTB chasing your LT.
Lightning Bruiser: Surprisingly good armor for a light tank, with good sloping and decent firepower. It only really loses out with atrocious gun depression.

T-54 ltwt.

Complacent Gaming Syndrome: Considered the best tier 8 light tank, the teams in the 2014 Grand Finals consisted almost entirely of this tank.
Lightning Bruiser: While not as fast as the LTTB, it gains usable gun depression and has a tough turret for a light tank.

T-100 LT

Power Up Let Down: The standard ammo is APCR, with the gold being AP. However, it only gains 18 penetration, and loses a massive 410 m/s shell velocity.

U.S.S.R Medium Tanks

Soviet medium tanks are fast and maneuverable, and equipped with accurate guns with excellent dispersion values, unlike the other lines in the Russian tree (and get even better in high tier). Most are jacks of all trades and very versatile. Unfortunately, most suffer from poor gun depression, limiting their ability to go hull down and make use of their strong frontal turret. They also have excellent soft stats such as ground resistance and camo, allowing them to perform the roles of scouting, damage dealing, and flexing across the map adequately. There are two medium lines that split after the T-34 at Tier V. One line has forward or center mounted turrets with average guns but the better chassis allows them to be more flexible. The mainly rear mounted turret line has superior firepower, but at the cost of having less gun depression and inability to take advantage of many hull down positions.

A-32

T-28

The T-28 is a Soviet tier 4 medium tank.

Designed and adopted for service as a breakthrough tank. The T-28 was manufactured at the "Krasniy Putilovets" Plant in Leningrad, with a total of 503 vehicles built from 1934 through 1940.

The T-28 leads to the KV-1.

Acrofatic: The T-28 is absolutely huge, and yet, in part due to its extremely thin armor, is remarkably fast.
Fragile Speedster: It barely has any armor that's adequate for its tier. But it's also the fastest Tier 4 medium in the game.
Lethal Joke Character: The T-28 was this in the first few years of the game. Despite being the size of a house and having all the armor of a soda can, a player with a bit of skill and the 85 or 57 gun could wreak havoc on the opposing team even if they were in a match with Tier 6 tanks.
More Dakka: The top weapon for the T-28 is the rapid-firing, high-penetration 57 mm ZiS-4 cannon that is also often used in the T-34.
Target Spotter: Due to its somewhat limited firepower, substandard armor thickness, and unmatched speed, the T-28 often becomes the team's scout rather than fighting directly.

T-28 with F30

BFG: For it's tier, the 85mm from the KV-1 is a devastating weapon. It pays for it in gun handling however.
Mighty Glacier: Compared to the normal T-28, it gains some armor but slows down massively. It only goes up to 50mm however, so you still don't want to be taking hits from anything bigger than a 37mm.
Powerful, but Inaccurate: The 85mm gun hits like a truck for tier 4, but the accuracy and aimtime suffer.
Unexpected Gameplay Change: The standard T-28 is a Fragile Speedster with limited firepower. This tank is much slower and hits like a truck for a tier IV. It performs more like a turreted tank destroyer than a medium tank.

Matilda IV

Fake Nationality: A UK Lend-Lease tank.
Joke Character: A tier higher than the regular Matilda, with WORSE standard penetration, and a gold round that barely matches it.
Stone Wall: Averted. Definitely can't deal it out, but fails to take it either due to being uptiered.

T-34

The most mass-produced tank of the Second World War and the ancestor of all modern Main Battle Tanks, the T-34 was first introduced in 1940 and had a fantastic mix of firepower, armor protection and mobility that placed it far ahead of all other tanks at the time. Built in Kharkov by factory no. 183, the tank also featured a powerful diesel engine and wide tracks, was simple to maintain and when properly built, unfailingly reliable. During operation Barbarossa, a large number of early vehicles with inferior engines and poor production quality (factory no 112 was notorious for poorly built tanks) were present, and the Soviet Army's command and communications were jumbled, leading to a large number of losses. Individual tanks excelled, however, and even General Guderian was impressed by how advanced the design was. Improved versions of the T-34 remained in service to the end of the war, and almost every tank that followed was influenced by one aspect or the other of the T-34 design.

Jack of All Stats: One of the definitive balanced medium tanks, frequently likened to its US counterpart, the M4 Sherman.
More Dakka: The rapid firing 57mm ZiS-4 boasts insane DPM for a tier 5 tank, being higher than most tier 6 tanks. In fact, the DPM is so high that it isn't beaten by another Soviet medium tank until the Object 416 at tier 8.

A-43

More Dakka: Can mount the same rapid firing 57mm gun as the T-34 or a 76mm that trades some of the DPM for better penetration.

T-34-85M

Stone Wall: Until it got buffed in 9.17, it had pathetic penetration in exchange for improved armor. Now it uses the same gun as the Rudy.

T-34-85

Fragile Speedster: It does get an improved turret, but you still have the same hull armor as the tier 5. But you also get a punchy 85mm gun with more alpha damage than the 75/76mm guns that other mediums of the tier are using.

Rudy

Canon Immigrant: Based on a Polish TV show about 4 tankers and their dog.
Moveset Clone: It's a slightly slower T-34-85.
Team Pet: In place of the radio man, there's a dog. While he doesn't help fight, he does bark if you click on him!

A-44

BFG A 107mm gun is huge on a medium if it's not a howitzer, and this one isn't. It's the same gun found on the T-150. Most mediums wont see a gun this big until tier nine.
Do Not Run with a Gun: Yeah, don't. The A-44 has horrible reticle bloom when moving.
Lightning Bruiser: Reaches a respectable 55 Kp/h with that big gun. It's armor might not be that tough straight up, but get it sidesraping and you'll be quite bouncy.

KV-13

Lightning Bruiser: Combines the mobility and firepower of the T-43 with an armor layout reminiscent of the IS, an equal tier heavy tank.

T-43

Motherland

A prototype version of the T-54, this premium tank has a weaker gun but is fast and well armored.

Cherry Tapping: The Tier VII 100 mm gun it mounts is fairly weak at its tier, so it has to hit a lot to bring down a target. Unfortunately, it also has a shallow ammunition bin.

T-44-122

Object 416

Unexpected Gameplay Change: Plays more like a TD due to its accurate punchy gun, good camo, and relatively weaker armor compared to the A-44.

T-44

Object 430 Version II

T-54

In Real Life the most mass-produced tank in history with upwards of 86,000 vehicles of all variants and derivatives built. The original T-54 concept came out in 1945, and the definitive T-54 variant came into being in 1951, combining a powerful mix of armor, firepower and mobility that made it one of the world's best tanks for years to come, and was versatile enough to be modified, upgraded and adapted into a host of roles by nations within the Warsaw Pact and beyond.

Bribing Your Way to Victory: If you mount the more accurate, but lower penetration 100m, you'll often bounce due to the 200mm or so of pen. But if you use HEAT rounds, they have a whopping 330mm of pen and will easily tear though almost any target. Unsuprisingly, people bring alot of HEAT and tend to spem it even when the pen isn't needed.
Lightning Bruiser: The in-game T-54 reflects its historical counterpart's excellent mix of values by being fast, heavily armor and mounting a selection of 100mm guns with high damage per minute values. Even after repeated rebalancing and the introduction of a large number of tier 9 and 10 medium tanks, this is an immensely powerful medium tank.

Object 140

Object 430

One of the prototypes that led to the Object 432 (the legendary T-64), and famous in-game for basically not having a stock grind.^note

Object 907

T-62A

Object 430U

U.S.S.R Heavy Tanks

Soviet heavy tanks have good guns, are fast, and have strong armor; their frontal armor thickness makes them quite difficult to penetrate from the front unless weak-spots are targeted, and their sloping can lead to bounces even from high penetration guns. There are two lines: the KV line which offers thicker armour and standoff potential at the cost of mobility, and the IS line which has armour more reliant on angles, but better agility. They tend to lose out in gun handling, accuracy, penetration, and Damage Per Minute compared to other heavy tanks, but their prolific alpha make them excellent at peek-a-boom and side-scraping fights.

Churchill III

Fake Nationality: It's a Lend-Lease British tank.
Infinity +1 Sword: Not weapon wise, but for crew training: It has an additional crew training modifier on top of its premium tank modifier, making it the best crew trainer in the game.
More Dakka: The 6 pounder is quite capable of ripping apart same tier tanks in short order, and does ok vs most tier 6's.

KV

They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: It used to have access to the 107mm Zi S-6 or the KV-2's 152mm M-10. Then again, it used to have to fight the MAUS. So maybe that was a welcome change when they split it into 3 tanks...

KV-1S

A further modification of the KV-1 heavy tank series developed in the summer of 1942. It passed into Red Army service on August 20, 1942. Compared to its predecessors, KV-1S had several design features which allowed for the tank’s weight to be reduced to 42.3 tons. Also, the KV-1S had increased top speed, maneuverability, and durability. However, the 76-mm ZIS-5 gun remained. This, coupled with reduced and inefficient armoring, made the new vehicle basically equal to the Т-34 in terms of battle performance. A total of 1,083 vehicles of this modification were manufactured. This tank was widely used on all fronts of the Great Patriotic War.

Note that the KV-1S was previously a tier 6 heavy, but in an effort to balance the tank was moved to tier 5 and the KV-85 was introduced to the game.

Infinity Plus One Gun: The 122mm gun it had while it was a tier 6. The penetration and damage was the same as the guns mounted on the IS and KV-3, but against tier 5 and especially tier 4 targets it proved way too powerful. The claimed weakness of being able to punish the KV-1S during its reload was difficult as its speed let it pull back into cover or allied support. It took adding an entirely new tank and a heavy-handed nerf to bring that gun in line.
Magikarp Power: The KV-1S back when it was still Tier 6. When elited it was the monster of tier 6, but the gun selection before unlocking the 122mm was a bit... wanting.
Shed Armor, Gain Speed: Loses side and turret armor for a better top speed than the KV-1.
Weaksauce Weakness: Sometimes, it feels like the entire side of the KV-1S is made of fuel tanks.

KV-220

Stone Wall: Has a piddly 76mm gun, but has the Hull armor of the KV-3, a heavy tank 2 tiers higher!

KV-220 Beta Test

KV-1

The KV-1 is a Soviet tier 5 heavy tank.

Development was started at the end of 1938. A prototype was produced in August 1939. First saw action in December 1939 at the Mannerheim Line. The vehicle was mass-produced from March 1940 through August 1942, with a total of 2769 manufactured.

The KV-1 leads to the KV-2, the KV-1S, and the T-150.

Elite Tweak: Can mount either a fast firing 57mm gun, a jack of all trades 85mm, or a slow firing but hard hitting 122mm howitzer. All of them are viable options.
Mighty Glacier: Fully upgraded, the acceleration is unreliable and sluggish, but it's got good frontal and side armor for its tier and a good health pool. The guns that it can uses ranges from the fast, accurate, and reliable 57mm gun; to deadly, but inaccurate 122mm howitzer; and the 85mm cannon, which strikes an balance between the previous two.
Noob Bridge: Often the first heavy tank that new players tech to, due to its all-around decent stats. It is a forgiving vehicle on which to learn the Way of the Heavy, and as such, is one of the most commonly seen tanks at its tier.
Theme Naming: Named after the Soviet defense comissar and politician Kilment Voroshilov.

KV-2

The KV-2 is a Soviet tier 6 heavy tank.

Heavy assault tank. Developed on the basis of the KV-1 in January 1940, with a total of 334 vehicles manufactured from 1940 through 1941. The KV-2 tanks were used in action in 1941, with most of the vehicles lost the same year.

The KV-2 leads to the S-51, and the T-150.

Awesome, but Impractical: Due to how inaccurate the gun is, the lack of mobility this tank has, and the reputation that it carries; it'll be safe to say that the odds are stacked well against you... unless if your crew is sufficiently trained, but even then it's at the mercy of the Random Number God.
BFG: Oh hell yes. A larger gun on an actual tank can't be found, unless you count the FV 4005's 183 on a turret (That's on a TD).
Difficult, but Awesome: Has an extremely inaccurate, slow-firing, yet powerful gun, less-than-stellar yet useful armor and mobility , and a reputation that causes people to shit their pants at the sight of an upgraded KV-2 facing them. The KV-2 is an machine that demands fear, respect, and skill from both sides of an given match... because it takes an considerable amount of time to overcome the many drawbacks of this tank to become an living roadblock that slowly kills off the enemy.
The Dreaded: Many players will hesitate to challenge a KV-2 that is loaded and pointing the gun in their direction, even if the person driving it is a complete imbecile, because he might get lucky and score a direct hit into a weakspot with the BFG.
Glass Cannon: THE Glass Cannon of tier 6, with the tremendous damage of its 152mm cannon but sporting the same hull armor and weaker turret armor (and a huge fridge of a turret) compared to the KV-1, and a reputation that gets it shot at even more than would be prudent.
One-Hit Polykill: If 2 low health tanks are next to each other, it can get 2 kills for the price of one due to its large Splash Damage.
Powerful, but Inaccurate: While nearly all of the KV-2's available cannons trade accuracy for high alpha damage, the 152mm M-10 takes the cake by being the least accurate of the three and bearing an reputation of killing the majority of Tier 6 heavy tanks with one hit.
Taking You with Me: Although it's an rare sight, it's possible for an KV-2 to invoke this by firing an 152mm High-Explosive shell at point blank-range, causing the death of both tanks under the right circumstances.
Unskilled, but Strong: Zero finesse, but devastating power. A near-miss is still damaging, a direct hit is crippling, and a penetrating hit is usually game-ending for whatever poor sod is on the receiving end. It is one of a small number of tanks able to fight well above its tier rating out of sheer overwhelming firepower (yes, you can take this thing into a tier 9 or 10 match and still be useful).

KV-2 (R) Valhallan Ragnarok

The KV-2 (R) Valhallan Ragnarok is a Soviet tier 6 premium heavy tank.

Grim darkness descends from the far future with the KV-2 (R) Premium heavy tank draped in the Valhallan Ragnarok camo style. In the Warhammer 40,000 universe, the Ice Warriors of Valhalla are known throughout the galaxy as one of the toughest and most determined of humanity’s armies. Now you can fly their colors on the deadly KV-2!

A cross promotion with Games Workshop and Warhammer 40,000 released in 2018. Essentially the exact same vehicle as the KV-2, but with Premium status (so better credit earning and lower repair bills).

BFG: It comes with the 152mm hotizter.
Bribing Your Way to Victory: It's a KV-2, with the 152mm howitzer, which already makes a decent amount of credits on a victory. Now add Premium credit earning.
Palette Swap: In an unusual manner, unlike the Primo Victoria, Skorpion G or the Black Premiums, the unique camouflage for the KV-2 (R) is able to be turned off. Without the unique camo, it looks exactly like a regular KV-2 with the 152mm howitzer. And in fact, it has the exact same stats as the regular KV-2. The only difference between the two is the The KV-2 (R) has Premium credit earning, and the cheaper repairs that all premium tanks have.

KV-85

BFG The 122mm.
- Necessary Drawback: However, in order to keep it from being OP like the old KV-1S was, every single stat on it besides penetration/alpha damage was nerfed. It's so bad that you're probably better off using a KV-2 than a 122mm armed KV-85.
The Computer Is a Lying Bastard: The in-game stats claim that it's as durable as the T-150. This is absolute baloney: the KV-85 isn't anywhere close to being as tough a tank as the T-150.
Death or Glory Attack: The 122mm gun has alpha damage that's roughly the same as some equal-tier artillery. Unfortunately, it's also got an artillery-like reload time, so if you don't kill the target, or the target has friends, you're probably going to die before you can reload.
Glass Cannon: The KV-85 has a very, very powerful gun for its tier, but the armor is closer to what you'd expect on a tier V medium tank, giving it really low survivability.
Obvious Rule Patch: Nearly everything about this tank's existence in World of Tanks is aimed at the 122mm gun: The new tank is a bit slower and has much less gun depression, and the 122mm given to the KV-85 has much worse soft stats than the KV-1S version. Thankfully, a 100mm gun was given to the KV-85 as an alternate option.

T-150

An upgraded KV-1, it's pretty much the same only with boosted armor, firepower, and speed. Considered one of the best heavy tanks of its tier.

Jack of All Stats: Compared to other Tier VI heavies it's a very well rounded machine, with great armor and, when fully upgraded, good speed and an absolutely brutal 107mm gun that can allow it to take on heavy tanks a tier higher than it is and win.
Lightning Bruiser: Almost as fast as some medium tanks once the engine upgrade has been researched and both faster and better armored than the KV-85 and KV-2.
Made of Iron: It's sufficiently well armored that it's common to see Tier VII tanks bounce shells off it.
Stone Wall: When first acquired and none of the weapon or engine upgrades have been researched, it's a very sluggish tank with weak 76mm or 57mm gun. Loses this trait once the engine upgrade and 85mm gun have been researched, see Lightning Bruiser above.

IS

The IS is a Soviet tier 7 heavy tank.

The IS ("Iosif Stalin"), with its 122 mm gun, was an unpleasant surprise for the Wehrmacht. Produced from October 1943 through June 1945, with a total of 107 of the IS-1 vehicles and 3,483 of the IS-2 version manufactured.

The IS leads to the IS-3 and IS-M.

Do Not Run with a Gun: Unfortunately played horribly straight- the 122mm cannon it mounts has absolutely horrid accuracy on the move and takes a very long time to aim after stopping, which seriously hurts its Lightning Bruiser status.
Lightning Bruiser: Its acceleration is fast for a heavy tank. And the guns that it can equip poses a valid threat to just about anything it faces. It loses out on raw armor compared to some other same tier heavy tanks, its still a very terrifying thing to see in lower tier tanks.
Strong, but Unskilled: The 122mm cannon the IS mounts has excellent alpha damage, but it's horribly inaccurate and has very weak penetration compared to the guns that other nations' Tier VII heavy tanks mount. Against thin-skinned opponents it's a terror, but it struggles to damage well-armored enemies at all.
Theme Naming: Its the first in a series of tanks that were named after the Soviet leader, Joseph Stalin, in the Russian form of his name, Iosif.

KV-3

Hard Head: The upgraded turret is extremely well armored and has the same armor thickness in every direction. When combined with the turret's shape it has, shooting this tank there becomes an exercise in futility.
Mighty Glacier: It's quite well armored for its tier, especially compared with the somewhat thin-skinned IS. Enforced by a balance patch shortly after it was moved to tier 7 that took away its best engine that it had initially been given as part of being moved up a tier, which briefly made it a Lightning Bruiser.
Strong, but Unskilled: Like the IS, its 122mm gun has high alpha damage but weak penetration, horrible accuracy, and a long reload time.

KV-122

One of the two tier 7 premium Soviet heavies, the KV-122 is a modified KV-85 that has been moved up a tier and given better gun handling stats. Lacks the toughness of the IS, but is faster and handles better.

Because of its unusually good speed and big gun, it resembles the old KV-1S before it was nerfed.

Always Someone Better: Loses out in toughness to the IS, which tends to be more desirable in Soviet heavies than speed. Also, you don't have to pay money for it. In turn, it is this to the KV-85 because of its speed and gun handling.
Difficult, but Awesome: It's not as tough as the average Soviet heavy tank, but it's much faster and packs the same big, powerful gun with better handling stats. Therefore, a player who is able to take advantage of its speed and turn it into a lethal flanker can deal huge amounts of damage and pull away unseen.
Do Not Run with a Gun: Horrible bloom and no ability to mount a stabilizer. Put simply, don't fire on the move.
Glass Cannon: It uses the KV-85 hull and turret, but it has a solid 122 gun that does a lot of damage at close range.
Shed Armor, Gain Speed: Scarily fast for something with a 122mm gun at tier 7 (better than some mediums!) but armored about as well.
Unexpected Gameplay Change: With its high speed and unreliable armor, this tank plays more like an upgunned medium than a true heavy.

IS-3

Jack of All Stats: Fully upgraded, the IS-3 is an excellent blend of speed, durability, and firepower.
Lightning Bruiser: Much more so than its predecessor, combining excellent frontal armor with spaced side armor that soaks up shots. In addition, it mounts the powerful BL-9 122mm cannon as its top gun, which turns it into a full-out assault tank.
Pint-Sized Powerhouse: The IS-3 is quite small when compared to Tier VIII heavy tanks of other countries (or the KV-4), but this in no way means that it's less powerful than a Tiger II or T32.

IS-6

Lightning Bruiser: Has sloped armour all around the tank along with a sturdy turret, which leads to plenty of bounces, good mobility for a heavy, and a hard-hitting 122 mm gun.
Awesome, but Impractical: Sports a 122mm gun with 390 damage per shot and a decent rate of fire, but it's horribly inaccurate and has poor penetration.
Weaksauce Weakness: Strangely enough, the weakest part of the front is the upper glacis plate, a place which is the last place you would choose to shoot on a tank. Even the driver's hatch (which is usually a weakspot) is stronger than the glacis itself. Finally averted when the upper glacis plate along with the turret face is buffed.

KV-5

Breast Attack: The machine gun turret and commander's hatch on the front of the tank are nicknamed "the boobs" and are the weakest points on its frontal armor.
Weaksauce Weakness: Has a machine gun turret and the commander's hatch rising from the front glassis; both are very poorly armored and take up a good deal of the front of the tank, meaning that despite the tank's 180 mm of frontal hull armor it's extremely vulnerable to shots from the front.
Ramming Always Works: A 100 ton tank that can hit 40 km/h going down a hill can lead to an unfortunate fate to anyone in its path.
Stone Wall: The 107mm is very inadequate at this tier, with a heavy compliment of APCR being a must.

KV-4

Artistic License – History: It is rather inaccurate to just call the vehicle featured in game "KV-4", as there was no one single KV-4. Rather, over a dozen designs were submitted in response to a design request for a vehicle to counter a rumored German "Type VII" tank that supposedly weighed 90 tons and had a 105mm gun. The KV-4 was requested to have both a 107mm gun (specifically the ZiS-6 gun) and a 45mm gun, as well as to be armored against its own guns, and how to mount these guns was left to the designers. Some suggested putting the 107mm gun in a casemate and the 45mm gun in a turret, some suggested two entirely separate turrets, some suggested mounting the 45mm gun like a hull machine gun and the 107mm gun in a turret, and at least one had an odd turret-casemate hybrid. The relatively conventional design with the 45mm gun in a parasite turret on top of the main turret that Wargaming used in-game was N. L. Dukhov's proposal, and as such, it might be more accurate to call it the "KV-4 Dukhov". Aside from the issue of there being several different KV-4 designs, there was also never any proposal to mount the 122mm D-25T gun or the long-barreled 107mm ZiS-24 prototype gun to any KV-4 proposal.
Do Not Run with a Gun: Played straight with the 122mm D-25T, just like every other tank that mounts it, but averted once it upgrades to the 107mm ZiS-24, which actually has extremely good handling for a Soviet heavy tank's gun. With a vertical stabilizer and the right crew skills, this tank is capable of very accurate shooting while on the move.
Mighty Glacier: It's referred to as the KV-4tress for a reason. Slow, but it's tough to penetrate when angled properly.
Ramming Always Works: Same deal with the KV-5; it's a massive, heavily armored 100-ton tank that can go 40kph going downhill.

Object 252U

Bribing Your Way to Victory: Often accused of being this, due to being a Lightning Bruiser combining good mobility, excellent alpha damage, and a practically impenetrable front especially against Tier 6 and 7 tanks.
Hard Head: It's esentially an IS-7 hull at tier 8. The only real weakspot from the front is the lower plate, and it's not even that weak. Flanking from the sides or rear is almost a must when dealing with this tank.
Powerful, but Inaccurate: Has a nasty 122mm gun with an average 440 damage and 225 penetration, but it's horribly inaccurate, takes forever to aim, and reloads slowly.

IS-M

Early Game Hell: Has an absolutely miserable stock grind, starting off with a pathetically-weak turret and a gun that struggles even at its own tier.
Magikarp Power: However, once the second turret and top gun are mounted it becomes a deceptively-strong heavy that can even give some Tier 10s a run for their money.
Unexpected Gameplay Change: Is the first Soviet Heavy to feature a rear-mounted fighting compartment, rendering its overall playstyle quite different from the other Soviet T8s.

T-10

Last of His Kind: In Real Life, the T-10 is the last heavy tank to see combat, being used by Egypt in the Six-Day War in 1966. The rising capabilities of anti-tank guided missiles, which can pack crazy amounts of firepower and has better range than most tank guns, while being much cheaper to produce and use, led to the decline of heavily-armored and armed heavy tanks like the T-10.
Lightning Bruiser: Combines decent frontal armor and a powerful tier 10 gun with a power to weight ratio and top speed that edge into medium tank territory.

ST-I

Hard Head: Its turret is nearly impenetrable when hull down. even the "weak spot" of the cupola is still over 200mm think and well rounded.
Mighty Glacier: Oh hell yes. Very durable armor all around, a very punchy but slow reloading main gun with great alpha damage.
Unexpected Gameplay Change: Much faster and more agile than the sluggish KV-4 that precedes it, but still very durable and hard hitting.

Obj. 705

A Taste of Power: Can mount the same 130mm S-70 gun as the IS-7 a tier lower.
Hard Head: Has a whopping 250mm of rounded frontal armor on its turret, and while thinner the rounded armor on the sides and rear can also prove quite difficult to penetrate.
Mighty Glacier: More sluggish than its other Tier 9 brethren, but compensates with very strong armor and an excellent selection of guns.

IS-4

Mighty Glacier: the IS-4 has good top speed but sluggish acceleration, and easily gets outmatched by the IS-7 in mobility. However, it packs a good 122mm gun and sports significant armor to boot.
Overshadowed By The Awesome: Due to it's more historically accurate, (and some would say, balanced) armor layout, the IS-4 falls short of the blatant imaginary tank that is the in-game IS-7.

IS-7

Artistic License – Engineering: The real IS-7 has large flatter sections on it's turret around it's two hatches, both of which visibly protrude out the top of the tank, neither of which are accurately modeled on the tank.
Lightning Bruiser: Mobility equalling or exceeding that of most medium tanks with a powerful gun and superb thick sloped armor that is nearly invincible from the front. A properly angled IS-7 with its lower front plate hidden will flatten enemies while bouncing shot after shot. The only downside to this tank is its small health pool for a heavy tank and relatively poor accuracy.

Object 260

A version of the Object 260 heavy tank. The design plans were completed in September 1945, but no prototypes of the vehicle were manufactured.

Earned by completing the fourth set of Personal Missions.

Bragging Rights Reward: Go look at the fourth set of personal missions, and remember that only one tank type can be skipped by completing the final mission of the other four tank types with honors.

Obj. 705A

Achilles' Heel: Its notable lack of side armor, along with its mid-mounted fuel tank and ammo rack, means keeping its sides covered and not overangling is vital to the 705a's survival.
BFG: Mounts a monstrous 152mm M-51 AP gun which can dismantle other heavies in record time.
Hard Head: Has 330mm of frontal armor on its turet, all rounded as well so it has even more effective armor. It also lacks an easily-penetrated cupola or periscope.
Mighty Glacier: Like the Obj. 705 before it, it is slower than the other Soviet Tier 10s but has insanely strong frontal armor with an easily-concealed lower glacis, making it a nightmare to fight from the front.

U.S.S.R Tank Destroyers

Soviet tank destroyers generally have poor armor, but they have some of the best camouflage values in game. They're ideal for damage farming and sniping early game, and occasionally acting as makeshift assault guns later on. There are two Soviet TD lines. The more popular Object 268 line favors alpha damage, but traverses very slowly and has sub-par view range. They also have very weak armor anywhere besides the gun mantlet, though it is strong enough to prevent penetrating hits from most non-artillery HE shells. The Object 263 line which favors mobility and some of the fastest aim times on tank destroyers. The armor is somewhat better but lucky bounces from same tier tanks are relatively rare still. Both require patience in their game-play, and like the light tanks, have also received some harmful changes, but continue to remain relevant.

AT-1

SU-76

SU-76I

Bribing Your Way to Victory: Only sold for 1 day, and accidentally at that. Apparently there was a miscommunication between WG HQ and the branches.
Lightning Bruiser: VERY thick armor for the tier, comparable to tier FOUR heavy tanks, good speed, and VERY high dpm for the tier. It's no wonder it quickly became one of the highest winrating tier 3's.

SU-85B

BFG 85mm is a large gun at tier 4, and this TD is terrifyingly effective at punching above it's weight class.

SU-85

Fragile Speedster: It's faster than it's successor (55km/h versus the SU-100's 50km/h) but the armor is nearly half as thick.
Power-Up Letdown: While it's a good TD, it's 85mm is actually slightly weaker than the tier 4's!

SU-85I

SU-100

The SU-100 is a tier 6 Soviet tank destroyer.

BFG The 122mm option is a huge gun for tier 6, and unlike the KV-1S it didn't get nerfed. While its less reliable than the 100m, it's got a huge knockout punch.
Elite Tweak: Has a choice of two guns to choose from; a 100mm that has better accuracy and aiming time but less alpha damage and a nasty 122mm cannon that packs massive alpha damage for it's tier but has worse accuracy and longer aiming time.
Fragile Speedster: It can easily reach and maintain a top speed of 50km/h, but the thin 75mm of sloped armor isn't enough to protect it.
Glass Cannon: Has a wide array of excellent guns (bar the stock gun) to choose from, all of which pack a nasty punch. Unfortunately, its frontal armor is merely average, and the side and rear portions don't really offer a lot of protection at all.
Weaksauce Weakness: Has a frontal ammorack, and the loader will usually not have Safe Stowage by this time, meaning a little bad luck can lead to a premature exit from the match.

SU-100Y

BFG:If you thought the 122mm on the SU-100 was big for tier 6, why not mount a 130mm?
Military Mashup Machine: Shades of this, due to its massive 130mm cannon being a Soviet Navy destroyer weapon.
Stealthy Colossus: Averted, the huge size of the SU-100Y appropriately gives it terrible concealment.

SU-152

Elite Tweak: The stock 152mm howitzer is what most players will use, as it comes with the tank and is not a bad gun as both standard HE ammo and premium HEAT ammo are effective with it. However, there is the option of a 122mm cannon^note that may require a good stock of gold or credits (for gold ammo) due to the middling penetration for its tier but possesses an insane rate of fire for a 122mm cannon.

SU-100M1

SU-122-44

War for Fun and Profit: One of the most popular Premium Vehicles out there. It's a decently-priced, easily-obtainable vehicle with amazing credit and EXP income if played properly.
Lightning Bruiser: Reaches over 40km/h, has a gun with excellent alpha damage and rate of fire, and the frontal armor is able to cause major headaches to weaker guns as shot after shot bounces off it.

ISU-152

The powerful but fragile soviet Tier 8 tank destroyer.

BFG: Gets the mighty BL-10 152mm cannon as its top gun, a weapon that can tear through anything except the glacis plate of the Maus or the front of a T95 with ease and inflict whopping alpha damage as well.
Glass Cannon: Gets an excellent selection of guns including the aforementioned BL-10 but has below-average armor and hitpoints.

SU-101

Object 704

Lightning Bruiser: Closer to this than to a Glass Cannon, having the same BL-10 as the ISU-152 (but with slightly better performance), with 60% greater hitpoints than its predecessor, more and better sloped armor and better mobility.

SU-122-54

Object 263

Achilles' Heel: Its open top makes it extremely vulnerable to SPGs.
BFG: While it has less alpha than the other Soviet TD line, the 263's own 152mm enjoys greater accuracy and quicker reloading while still doing tremendous damage per shot.
Mighty Glacier: VERY tough to damage if it covers its lower plate, with a punchy gun.

Object 268

BFG: One of the most infamous in the game, having nearly 400mm of penetration on its premium HEAT rounds rendering most armor useless.
Do Not Run with a Gun: Suffers from terrible reticle bloom while on the move.
Lightning Bruiser: Is incredibly quick for such heavily armed and armored vehicle, reaching 48 km/h forward and with good acceleration.

Object 268 Version 4

Achilles' Heel: When faced exactly head on, the V4's upper frontal plate is sloped enough to reliably force ricochets on any shell that hit it, and it's lower plate is unreasonably small. Unfortunately for it, any slight downwards slope, being attacked from a superior elevation or by tall tanks in close quarters, can negate it, turning the entire section into swiss cheese for all but the weakest guns at it's tier.
Artistic License – Engineering: Perhaps one of the most flagrant examples in the game, the 268 has at places, an entire 110mm of extra armor added in-game without impacting it's mobility at all.
Attack Its Weak Point: The 268-4's frontal armor can approach the durability of much slower "spearhead" tank destroyers like the Badger and T 110 E 3, but pays for it with some very noticable weakpoints besides the universal lower frontal plate, namely a pair of cupolas, the one on the right in particular being very easy to take out.
BFG: Like the Obj. 263 before it, the 268-4 sacrifices some alpha damage and penetration in return for superior gun handling which can put some mediums to shame while still hurting a lot.
Lightning Bruiser: Even after the nerf it has absurd speed and acceleration, easily reaching its top speed of 50 km/h even over rough ground. As for the bruiser part, it has even better armor than the Obj. 263 which itself is an infamously tough tank.
Nerf: It was absolutely broken on its initial release in patch 9.22, leading it to receive minor nerfs to its gun handling and mobility in patch 1.02 which only somewhat mitigated the controversy around it.

U.S.S.R Self-Propelled Guns

Soviet self propelled guns are generally quite accurate but don't do much damage. although not so much as the French. However, they also generally fire their shells in a very high arc, making their flight time long, but able to hit tanks hiding behind rocks and small buildings. They also tend to have higher firing rates than their foreign counterparts. This changes from about Tier 7 to 9, where they become much more alpha-centered, while retaining the high arcs that only the British SPGs really beat.

Lines: (Tier 2) SU-18—> SU-26—> SU-5—> SU-122A—> SU-8—> SU-14-1—> SU-14-2—> 212A—> Obj.261. The S-51 is only accessible from the KV-2, and leads to the SU-14-2.

SU-18

SU-26

Unexpected Gameplay Change: Has a turret and is the only SPG in the Soviet artillery line to have it. This allows it to shoot around the map without having to turn the hull.

SU-5

SU-122A

SU-8

S-51

BFG: Has a choice between two of them. It has a 203mm that can easily cause monstrous amounts of damage in a single shot, or a 152mm that trades alpha damage for better gun handling. This is to be expected, however: this SPG can only be reached from the KV-2, another tank infamous for also using a BFG.

Characters / World Of Tanks Soviet Union

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