Ranking every KV tank

Machinery of War Discussion Ground Vehicle
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These are my opinions.

S Tier -
KV-1E/B - At a ripe 4.0 in RB/4.3 in AB, this is by far the best KV-1 variant for a number of reasons that brings dread in all the enemies it faces.

  1. The armor is thicker on the KV-1E/B overall than the KV-1 ZiS5 with 25mm applique armor on the lower hull and on the sides for extra side protection.
  2. You don’t face too many tanks that can just flat out rip through your armor while angled at 4.0/4.3.
  3. Your gun is the stock L-11 so you struggle against heavy tanks and sloped fronts, but it’s good enough to pen everything else. Post-pen damage is also good.
  4. This tank absolutely seal clubs in a downtier.

A Tier -
KV-1S - More like a fast heavy tank. It’s decently well protected, and has a gun with similar performance to the T-34 STZ/E. I would say its slightly worse in overall performance than the T-34 STZ/E, but it does have amazing reverse speed. It doesn’t get access to APCR rounds which makes it tough to pen some tanks, but not impossible.

SMK - The grand daddy of the KV1. For 3.7 its pretty fun and better than the regular KV-1 imho. Twin guns, decent mobility despite the size, and decent survivability with 7 crew members. The main weakness is the armor rack below the main turret that can be shot at even frontally.

KV-220 - S-tier when it was 5.7, but no longer as good at 6.0. 6.0 is a bit of a dead space in the BR ratomgs so you’re often fighting 6.3-6.7 tanks. Amazing all around armor (100mm), but sluggish mobility, and an inadequate shell for its BR. It can bully 5.0-5.7 tanks very hard, but against 6.3-6.7 tanks you aren’t going to do that well unless you play it like a flanker.

B Tier -
KV1 ZiS5 - Less armored than the KV-1E, but with a better gun that can fire APCR round. The main issue with this tank is its BR being a whole 0.7 higher than the KV-1E and you start facing 5.0+ tanks that can just rip through you like butter. Clubs in downtiers, but struggles in uptiers far worse than the KV-1E. This tank can bully jumbos and Tigers if you play it right.

KV1 L11 - The OG KV-1 at 3.7. It’s a beast if you’re facing 2.7-3.7 tanks, but it struggles against 4.0+ tanks because every country can one shot you from the front by hitting your lower hull or drivers port.

KV-122 - This tank is a baby IS-2 at a whole -1 BR lower. The 122mm gun can rip through basically everything it faces at its BR and can frontally pen Jumbos. It has the same armor as the KV-85 which is pretty inadequate, but can bounce some shots off the turret. It’s also pretty sluggish to accelerate, turn, and it’s reverse speed is worse than the KV-85. The gun depression is an issue so this tanks only good on mostly flat maps. However, if you play to its strengths (the gun and reverse speed) you can be a terror on the battlefield.

C Tier -
KV-85 - This tank is kinda mid. It has fairly underwhelming armor for its tier, sluggish mobility and turning, but has access to an 85mm gun and the amazing reverse speed from the KV-1S. You can’t push aggressively with this tank like the KV-1E/B or KV-1 ZiS5 because your armor isn’t great and you’re basically a glass cannon.

KV-2 ZiS6 - The ZiS-6 gun has amazing pen and post-pen damage and can frontally penetrate cocky Jumbo drivers from the front. The main issue with this tank is its basically a 3.7 upgunned KV-2 facing against 5.0+ tanks that have guns that well overmatch you. The reload speed is still long, but much better than the regular KV-2. It still suffers from the same issue as the KV-2 in that if you lose any loaders the reload time is punishingly bad. Definitely a good TD though, but I think the SU-85M is better.

D Tier -
KV-2 - This tank is just well… bad. It has good armor for its BR and a big derp gun, but the biggest draw back is the 35s+ reload time which is just awful. If you miss a shot or get a non pen its crippling. Also most players know you have a long reload time so they’ll just rush you after you fire. Fun for the laughs, but the SU/ISU-152/122 are far better tanks IMHO.

1 Like
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Thoughts on the SU series based on the KV chassis (includes ISU as well).

A Tier -
ISU-122 (5.3) - The best overall SU series imho. 200mm of pen, decent shell velocity, and a gun that can frontally pen everything but a Tiger 2 at its BR. Armor is acceptable and can bounce some hits, but won’t tank Panthers and Tigers.

B Tier -
ISU-122S (5.7) - It’s the ISU-122, but with a 4s faster reload and a +0.4 BR increase. I’d rank this A-tier, but at 5.7 you’re starting to face off against 6.7 tanks where your gun starts to struggle a bit and your armor is worthless.

C Tier -
SU-152 (4.3) - At 4.3 this TD is pretty mid. The gun is overmatch against most 4.0-4.7 tanks and your armor is weak. It suffers from the same issues as the ISU-152 with a low velocity shell and unreliable damage. However, if your shell lands, and don’t hit a periscope you can derp everything you face.

ISU-152 - At 4.7 it’s fairly well placed for its BR, but the main issue with this tank is the 152mm’s low velocity and unreliability compared to the 122. I get far more bounces, non-pen damage, etc. with the ISU-152 than with ISU-122. The 152MM shells also pack less pen and can struggle to frontally pen jumbos. Also, the ISU-152 reloads 2s slower than the SU-152.

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You are missing a couple of the KV’s, The KV-220 and KV-122

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Nah the SU-152 is the best TD in the entire game (personal bias) xD
It’s overkill to use it against 4.3 medium tanks but when used to kill Panthers and Tigers it’s very effective due to its good mobility.
The armor is not great but protects it from SPAA so you can just focus on ambushing mediums and heavies that think they can just rush in thanks to their armor.
If you use the BR-540B, it can easily penetrate a Jumbos front armor from any range, due to magic slope overmatch modifier.

In that regard it’s kinda like an IS-2, slow reload but massive damage. You don’t have a turret but better mobility than the other heavy Soviet SPGs.

S Tier 😁

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The problem I have with any of the 152mm Soviet derp guns is they’re way more RNG compared to the 122mm guns. With the ISU-122 it penetrates and derps about 90% of the time with the AP shell, but with the ISU/SU-152 about 1/3rd of my shells just non-pen off periscopes or don’t do anything at all. It has to do with just how big the shell is and that makes volumetric troll it even harder.

Also, the SU-152s armor is thin and all the 4.0 mediums can easily penetrate you frontally. I personally find the SU-85A to be a better derp TD for its BR because it has the same relative performance.

Also, at 4.3 the SU-152 is way overmatch for what you face. The only heavies you’ll face are KVs, Churchills, and the occasional ARL… which you can penetrate easily with any 4.0 T-34 if you hit the weakspots. And those tanks have <7s reload speeds.

It’s different then being at 4.7-5.3 where you’re running up against Panthers, Jumbos, Tigers, etc. that are real menaces. At 5.7 you can be uptiered against tanks that have 300mm+ of armor and the HE shell ends up being better.

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Like I said, there is no point in using the SU-152 at 4.0. It used to be like 5.0 and fought Panthers and Tigers, where the SU-85 would be way inferior.

It’s in general much better suited to take out heavy and slow vehicles like the whole German 5.7-6.7 WW2 tanks.