Introduction:
Rank 4 features late WW2 and post-war machines, whose gameplay start being different from previous experience. In this post, I will compare IS-2 series tanks with Tiger 2(P) and T34
Armament:
USSR tech tree features IS-2 series tanks at rank 4: IS-2 and IS-2(1944), which have BR of 6.3 and 6.7 respectfully. Those tanks have huge 122 mm main gun, with moderate penetrating ability, compared to Tiger ||(P) and T34 tanks. Moreover the reload speed of soviet beast is significantly lower that T34 and Tiger 2 with Kwk-43 gun(27.1 vs 19.4 and 9.7! respectfully)
Armor:
When it comes to the armor, IS-2 have strong armor, however there are much weak spots present, so that it won’t be hard to eliminate it using tanks from 5.7 BR. At the same time 85mm BR-365 that is used by soviet medium tank T-34-85(both versions in the tech tree) can’t penetrate front armor of Tiger 2 tank, since there are no weak spots that you can aim for sure. Situation is a little different with american T29 and T34 tanks: it is possible to hit it in the machine gun section of the tank, yet when the hull is hidden behind obstacle, the same 85mm ammo cant penetrate the front armor of it. Moreover even ASU-85 cant penetrate its turret using APHE shells, though it can kill Tiger 2 with it.
Mobility:
In terms of mobility IS-2 does not have serious advantage over its counterparts: 11.3 HP/t vs 10.0 of Tiger 2 and 12.3 of T34.
Conclusion:
Putting IS-2 tanks at 6.3 and 6.7 is implying that they are as good as their german and american counterparts, however lots of weak spots in armor and penetrating ability of the gun give huge disadvantage to IS-2. While IS-2 may be a little more agile or roughly the same, it is safe to say that at least heavy tanks from another 2 main nations outperform it. Moreover, there are another types of vehicles that can easily destroy it without even flanging it. What I am suggesting is to move regular IS-2 to 5.7 and IS-2(1944) to 6.0. If they were on the same BR as late Tiger 1 and late Panther modifications it would not significantly change the gameplay, as even most of 4.7 tanks will be able to penetrate it.