53TP Markowskiego appreciation thread

[Tarski 341]

 

The tier 8 Polish heavy, which @leggasiini (favorably) reviewed in his Polish tree overview thread, packs a delightful 420 alpha 122mm cannon that has the best rate of fire, accuracy, aim time, and bloom stats of all the tier 8 heavy guns with more than 400 average damage. It is also more mobile than other heavies with comparable alpha. The hull armor is weak but gets the occasional bounce, and the sides cannot be overmatched. The turret is fairly strong, and has a cupola with similar characteristics to its predecessor: prominent but fairly strong for a weak spot. Tier 8 shells will most likely go in, but lower tier shells will sometimes bounce. You get 8 degrees of gun depression, but the turret is at the front of the hull. The standard rounds have 218mm penetration, which is about right for a gun with this alpha at this tier, but the APCR round has a disappointing 245mm penetration. For reference, the VK 100 gets 260mm and the Defender gets 265mm. Shell velocity for both rounds is faster than the VK's but slower than the Defender's. 

I loved this tank. I'm selling it because I'm in the habit of selling tanks and moving their crews up the line when I grind (and of course tier 8 matchmaking isn't super fun in the current patch). But the gun was very comfy and the low APCR pen bothered me way less than I expected it to — though there were definitely games where I had to shoot moderately heavily armored vehicles and laughed at the color of the reticle. The tank overperformed for me over the course of the grind, which was short because of boosters and Holiday Ops bonuses. And I'm not the only one: over 1600 base experience is still only 2nd class. 

 

[Balthazars 210]

I'm on the grind for this currently, and the stock grind is pretty painful for no reason because WG likes to **** with you. Cannot wait to get the top gun, but once you at least have the turret there is some strength that you can leverage. The gun handing of the stock gun with the upgraded turret is pretty good too. Mobility is so-so with stock configuration.

[leggasiini 1,567]

Literally the only tier 8 that is a keeper to me (other than O-Ho for obvious reasons and even then it's just for nostalgia and potential 3x platoon memes, I don't play it solo at all anymore). Let that sink in.

[Tarski 341]

Here are some gameplay videos. 

 

 

 

 

3 hours ago, Balthazars said:

I'm on the grind for this currently, and the stock grind is pretty painful for no reason because WG likes to **** with you. Cannot wait to get the top gun, but once you at least have the turret there is some strength that you can leverage. The gun handing of the stock gun with the upgraded turret is pretty good too. Mobility is so-so with stock configuration.

Yeah, free exp is well spent on the gun for this vehicle. For those who haven't looked: the stock gun is the 105 from the tier 7, with 192/225 pen and 320 alpha. The first upgrade* is an old-fashioned 122 with 390 alpha and 175/217 pen. The top gun is the heavy 122 with 420 alpha and 218/245 pen. 

*In exchange for 70 average damage, the first upgrade loses 17/8 pen, 0.02 accuracy, a full second of aim time, and about 12% dpm. 

[Balthazars 210]

Now finished the grind, it is definitely one of the few keeper tanks at tier 8.

Has a very nice all-rounder combination of mobility, a bit of armour, and an excellent gun with a great combination of of alpha and DPM without completing sacrificing gun handling for it. The turret is very good against same or lower tier tanks and is still competitive against higher tiers without the gold-spam. Penetration is a little on the lackluster side but standard for tanks released in the last two years where they are 'nerfing' gold ammo penetration. It's enough for most situations apart from super-heavies from the front.

As noted however, it is a painful stock grind with the stupid 175/217 122 gun in the middle for no reason apart from WG wanting to screw with you. The stock turret isn't particularly reliable, and mobility while stock is also not particularly good. Improves immensely once you get to elite status but expect it to shorten your lifespan a bit until you get there.

100 games to complete the grind (with a bit of help from Frontline in there, a game-mode the tank does very well in). 1,507 DPG (bang on my average for heavies except for my IS3), 56% win rate. It's also my only tier 8 without a mastery badge in the grind, despite having a 4.5k damage game in there. Keeper for me, especially with Frontline seasons this year.