New to is7 and need advice

[kaneaaa 18]

I just got the is7 and trying to work out how to play. Any advice welcome. I particularly struggle against type 5 heavy and Maus (do I have to shoot gold to face it 1-1 frontally and should I avoid facing it in a brawl). Is the is7 a brawler first and foremost? When is it most effective?

[monjardin 1,014]

I carry twice as much APCR as AP in the IS-7. Some people don't carry any AP. So, I'd start with that.

It has the best turret armor in the game. Don't angle your hull. Point it straight and wiggle front-to-back if you can't hide your hull.

[TAdoo87 505]

I would say it is an assault tank. You can use the speed to take aggressive and advantageous positions in the early game. You want to be hull down most of the time. Corner fight/side scraping only works against bad players. If you can't go hull down, you should try to face hug the enemy tank, but be aware, taller tanks can pen your viewport on the top of your turret. If there are lower tier tanks in the battle you should try to bully them, since most of them will even struggle to pen your lower plate. Carry lots of APCR and food, if you can afford it. It is not prone to fire frontally so you can skip the AFE.

Generally you never ever want to fight a type 5 1vs1. He will hit you for 500 every single time no matter what, and you can easily bounce some shells on him. The Maus is a similar story he has more hp and better DPM, you can outplay the Maus, but you can't just simply overwhelm it.

 

[kaneaaa 18]

So therefor in a map where the opposing team has type 5s and Maus, do you go to the brawling points as I guess the type 5 doesn't care if you are hull down and the superheavies will own you. I have the same problem with the fv215b where I'm just not sure where to go if I see multiple superheavies on the opposing team. 

1 hour ago, monjardin said:

I carry twice as much APCR as AP in the IS-7. Some people don't carry any AP. So, I'd start with that.

Yes, the IS-7 is a brawler. It has the best turret armor in the game. Don't angle your hull. Point it straight and wiggle front-to-back if you can't hide your hull.

Ah OK. And against super heavies does hull down brawling still work? 

[Strigonx 442]

selling it and getting a 5A would be a good start

[Copeyhagen 41]

The extra hp shoud help somewhat now,  but it's just outclassed by literally every other heavy. 

[TheChang 186]

I feel it's better against meds than heavies, as long as the meds aren't able to rush you.

[Archaic_One 1,853]

Especially now that its gotten a mobility buff, going with the meds is pretty viable and a really good way to fuck up someones day as long as you can keep your enemy close.

[WhatTheSkara 345]

From my limited experience with it pre buff (ragesold it after 30ish battles):

The gun is complete garbage, 250 AP is terrible and 303 apcr is even worse, I didn't carry any AP, ran it with vstab, vents, rammer and dropped afe for food, with a 5 skills crew it was still worse than a 113 with a dead gunner and the dpm is trash.

It was quite mobile for a heavy and I played it as a fat medium, going hulldown whenever I could, or facehugging stuff if I had no cover.

Only a few people know about the turret top weakspot so the closer you are, the more chances of the enemy panicking and shooting your ufp/turret you have, while you blap them back with 500+ apcr bombs.

It doesn't stand a chance against a non-braindead player in a type 5, it only takes a few degrees of angling to become immune to your shitty apcr while he safely destroys you with HE..

Some players abuse its hulldown potential by using optics over vents, and it makes a pretty good scout on maps like prokhorovka (a lot of dips that make you pretty much invincible if there's no arty)..

Hull armour: vodka style, point towards the enemy and wiggle a little to make sure you bounce shots to the lower plate.. Angling a pike nose usually makes the ufp weaker, but that's not the case because you still need gold to pen it and by wiggling you force the enemy to rush shots hitting you at weird angles. At close range your lfp is quite strong, most people will still aim for that instead of spamming heat at your flat pike.

 

Overall: find something that can't pen you, rape him and then go shit on crippled enemy heavies..

[CraBeatOff 5,741]

Pretty good advice there @WhatTheSkara. Just learn the hulldown spots, learn to find/make them and nom some people. Then either facehug or relocate. Try not to get into dpm fights. It's a pretty good snap shooter now. @BigCheese256 has some nice YouTube videos from years back that demonstrates the proper engagements and positions. The fundamental style of the tank hasn't changed.

[Canadian_Reaper 90]

I'm a scrub compared to the rest of the comments here, but it works best for me if I do go to where the medium fighting zones are, and avoid the bricks. 

Your team will hate you though.

[simba90 100]

1. Go with the mediums.

2. play peak-a-boom until someone dies

3. use newly formed wreck as cover for hull/lfp (seriously digging out an IS-7 that is using a hull as cover is fucking annoying it he has enough support that you can't rush him/her)

4. create more wrecks for more cover as you advance.

5. Profit.

[Tanager 150]

This place has gotten a lot more cordial of late - not a single response pointing out the existing IS7 thread.  @kaneaaa, you love to create you some new threads, doncha? ;-)

I really don't fear IS7s - just too easy to blast through the front with HEAT, and 300-whatever APCR does not really cut it these days (although it doesn't get eaten by tracks, so I guess there's that).  There are a lot of pubbies who really, really don't understand how to hull down at all, and they negate the greatest strengths of the tank.  Don't be those guys.

Ah OK. And against super heavies does hull down brawling still work? 

If they can shoot down at you, they can hit your turret roof, and against a type 5...well, don't take on type 5s.

FWIW, I would wager that the tier 9 RU heavies might actually be more enjoyable tanks than either tier 10.  I know I am greatly looking forward to the next On-Track so that I can repurchase the ST-I, and despite the IS4 have a longstanding rep as a god tier tank, I struggle to win in it.

Edited September 5, 2017 by Tanager