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First, let's look at the advantages and disadvantages of American mediums as a whole. We'll look at the individual tanks later on.

Manoeuvrability. The Americans have some of the most agile tanks in the game. You have the ability to turn on the spot without moving backwards and forwards, and your traverse rate is extremely high. Also, you lose very little speed when making a turn. These attributes make it very easy to obtain superior positioning with your tanks.



The Americans have some of the most agile tanks in the game. You have the ability to turn on the spot without moving backwards and forwards, and your traverse rate is extremely high. Also, you lose very little speed when making a turn. These attributes make it very easy to obtain superior positioning with your tanks. Gun depression. American tanks have the best gun depression in the game, bar none. This means you can shoot over slopes no other tank would be able to shoot over without exposing their entire hull. Firing with just your turret showing is called "hull down", and if done effectively in combination with peekaboo, makes you extremely difficult to hit, especially by heavy tanks.



American tanks have the best gun depression in the game, bar none. This means you can shoot over slopes no other tank would be able to shoot over without exposing their entire hull. Firing with just your turret showing is called "hull down", and if done effectively in combination with peekaboo, makes you extremely difficult to hit, especially by heavy tanks. Rate of fire. The Easy 8 has some wicked rate of fire, but the T20, Pershing and Patton still maintain excellent rates of fire, especially for the amount of the damage their guns do. The Patton does a full 390 damage (same as BL-9 on the IS-3) per shot and still shoots once every seven seconds. Despite what people say, rate of fire and DPS are very important attributes for a medium tank, much more so than for a heavy.



The Easy 8 has some wicked rate of fire, but the T20, Pershing and Patton still maintain excellent rates of fire, especially for the amount of the damage their guns do. The Patton does a full 390 damage (same as BL-9 on the IS-3) per shot and still shoots once every seven seconds. Despite what people say, rate of fire and DPS are very important attributes for a medium tank, much more so than for a heavy. Accuracy on the move. A very good natural accuracy on the move, combined with the ability to fit a vertical stabiliser from tier 6 where other tanks can only fit them from tier 8, means that American mediums can fire while moving at full speed with good accuracy. This is especially important when trying to circle a heavy, playing peekaboo, or trying to deal some damage while moving from cover to cover.



A very good natural accuracy on the move, combined with the ability to fit a vertical stabiliser from tier 6 where other tanks can only fit them from tier 8, means that American mediums can fire while moving at full speed with good accuracy. This is especially important when trying to circle a heavy, playing peekaboo, or trying to deal some damage while moving from cover to cover. View range. American mediums, especially the Patton, have some of the longest view ranges in the game. This makes you an excellent scout for artillery.



American mediums, especially the Patton, have some of the longest view ranges in the game. This makes you an excellent scout for artillery. Speed and acceleration. I've mentioned this last because I feel as though American mediums don't really have any speed advantage over the other medium tanks. Their top speeds are often capped at around 45-50 km/h whereas German and Russian tanks can do almost 60. However, acceleration is very good, and the speed cap is often an advantage because it keeps the reticle smaller when you're moving. Overall, speed and acceleration are an advantage for you.

Hull armour! American mediums have terrible hull armour for the most part. Pretty much anything above perhaps two tiers below you can penetrate you easily. This means you have to adapt your gameplay to make sure they don't get a chance to shoot at your hull. Obviously there are some exceptions to this (Jumbo), but this guide will focus on the main medium line for the most part.

Turret armour You can actually bounce shots here! The Patton can sometimes bounce tier 9 or 10 shots, depending on where it gets hit. The Pershing has some sort of a magical mantlet that allows it to absorb ridiculous hits.



You can actually bounce shots here! The Patton can sometimes bounce tier 9 or 10 shots, depending on where it gets hit. The Pershing has some sort of a magical mantlet that allows it to absorb ridiculous hits. Module damage and fire. It's not too bad. I haven't experienced any more module damage or fires on American mediums than I would on any other tank. By that, I mean you won't get set on fire from the front like in German tanks, and you won't get your driver knocked out all the time like on Russian tanks.

Okay, so now I know the strengths and weaknesses of my tank - how do I play it?

Give me an example?

Conclusion

Do not engage a heavier target head on.









Use your speed and agility to flank.









Use your viewing range to scout.









Use your gun depression to not get hit.

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Okay, so you're grinding up the American medium line because you really like the look of the tanks. Let's face it, they are REALLY nice looking tanks, all the way from the Sherman right up to the Patton.However, you're a bit disappointed because you can't take a hit to save your life. What kind of tanks can you engage? It seems like even the smallest, crappiest tanks are dealing hit after hit to you.Here's a short article to give you some ideas on how to play your American medium effectively.The main roles of American mediums are toand. When possible, you shouldandYour main role is ALMOST NEVER to take the hits, even when you're at the top of the list.When you have heavy tank teammate on 50 HP with you, you should probably go first and take some hits for him. If you're going up against a smaller tank that doesn't do nearly as much damage as you, you should probably trade some shots and take a few hits.Your ROF and superior positioning makes you the perfect tank for hit and run. As such, if you find yourself in a position where you're facing a heavier enemy tank head on, you should extract yourself from that situation as soon as possible (in most cases). You need to always be trying to look for ways to flank and deal damage from the side and rear.You excel at putting yourself to the side or to the rear of enemy tanks. This can really help your team out. If you're in a heavy tank and you're taking hit after hit from the side, you're going to want to try to eliminate that secondary threat. You'll be turning your turret, trying to get a shot on them. This will allow your teammates to get some good hits in from the front. In this way, you can effectively take down several heavier tanks and save your teammates from getting steamrolled, all without facing the enemy directly.People will always be gunning for you because they know you do a lot of damage, and they can penetrate you easily.A lot of people will go and try to circle enemy heavies. In my experience this doesn't work most of the time. A good heavy driver will still be able to keep up with you, and you'll end up running into something and getting screwed. To me, trying to circle an enemy heavy out in the open is a last resort. Flanking and letting the enemy focus on something else is a much better move.Sure. I'll tell you about a game I played the other day that was the perfect example of how to use the Patton's advantages effectively. The same tactics apply with lower tier American mediums.The map was Steppes. Very little artillery cover, but lots of good slopes to use to go hull down. Lots of open space as well. This is the perfect map for an American medium.First stop:This position is an excellent one to go hull down on and cover the area I've highlighted in blue. Three E-75s were rolling through that area trying to get to the island of cover to the west of me. This is a perfect chance to pop some shots into them or track them as they try to make it to arty cover. I tracked one of the E-75s, allowing arty to get some good hits on him. Got three or four solid shots on the the others.The way I did this is to quickly drive forward, take my shot, then back up. You only show your turret for a second or two - too short a time for a heavy (especially a moving one) to get an accurate hit on you.Next stop: the plateau.The yellow dot to the north shows a Tiger peeking out from the rocks there. The three dots to the west are the E-75s. My team had started moving up and trading shots with them amongst that rock formation.I moved up onto the plateau to start putting shots into the sides and rear of the E-75s as they focused on my team. This is a perfect opportunity to use the Patton's high DPS to really dish out some damage. The trick to this is to watch which way the turrets of the enemy heavies are facing. Move forward over the edge of the plateau and fire as many shots as you can until they start to try to focus on you. Then move back into cover and wait for them to focus on your team again.Pretty soon all the E-75s were dead, mostly from my shots. The Patton is one of the highest DPS tanks in the game - take advantage of this.Now to go for their artillery. The first thing I did was use my excellent view range to spot one of the artillery before even getting close to their position. Next, I used the accuracy on the move of the tank to keep moving while destroying the other two artillery. Here is where other tanks cannot do the job of an American medium. You can land all of your shots even while moving at full speed, making you extremely hard to hit.Finally, it seemed like three of their tanks had almost made it to our base and were about to cap. After taking out their artillery, I was the only tank on the team fast enough to make it back to reset cap. While the rest of my heavies slowly went for the enemy cap, I raced back.The position I put myself in was close enough that I could spot all of the enemy tanks on the cap. There is also a nice spot where you can go hull down. This makes it almost impossible for them to stop you resetting cap. Always look for those nice hull down spots on maps, then remember them!I loaded HE first up so I didn't risk any bounces. My job was not to destroy them right away, but to reset cap. Watch your minimap to try to work out which one has the most cap, then shoot that one first.With some peekaboo and my high ROF, I successfully reset the cap long enough for my team to cap.Victory!Notice that I did not engage an enemy heavy head on at any point during this match. Only at the start were the E-75s face to face with me, but since they were mostly moving they could not get a shot on my hull-down Patton.I used my speed and manoeuvrability to flank the enemy and provide a threat from a 2nd direction. This is the true strength of a medium tank!Here are the main lessons to take away with you:American mediums are fantastic all-rounders. Do what your team needs you to do, whether it be scout, deal damage, reset cap or destroy artillery.Anyways, hope this helps some people out there! Feel free to add your own comments or questions below.Serene Coast - 2050 XP, 9000 damage and 10 kills. In this match I show how to use camo and hull down to basically be a ninja tank. I take out several of their tanks without even being hit, then flank around the back to finish off the rest of their team.Lakeville. One of my best matches ever in the Patton. Took a route I don't usually take - the cliff. Took out a T-54 and Ferdinand along the way, before killing two of their arty and an E-50 that tried to waylay me.Lakeville. I went to town as I usually do. Some good examples of how to take down other mediums using terrain as an advantage. I took out two E-50s in the town, then went back and stopped the enemy from capping. After that, I rushed their base - during which I made the mistake of not being patient and waiting for an enemy heavy to face away from me. 5 kills, 1290 XP loss!Redshire. 4 kills, 1800 XP match, with heaps of spots. This is another really good example of how to use the view range and gun depression of the Patton to really make a difference.Mountain Pass. Another 2000+ XP game. Myself and a T32 successfully defended against about seven tanks pushing into our base. I sniped from the hill. Good example of the power of American gun depression.Malinovka. 10 kills, ~2300 XP. My best match ever kills-wise. A great demonstration of the devastating firepower of the Patton. I take a LOT of sniping shots as well. Goes to show that the low accuracy numbers don't mean a thing. There is a hidden value that makes certain tanks more accurate even if the numbers don't reflect that (eg. Patton > Bat Chat for sniping).I'll upload more gameplay vids as I get them!