ERA gives additional protection against CE but is not always capable of stopping CE ammo, depending on angle. For example, 105mm HEATFS against tanks with Blazer ERA can penetrate through the ERA if the angle is perfect. Stronger ammo can go through K-1 ERA at shallow angles too.
The problem with the AGM-65 is just the anemic penetration and disabled overpressure. Both of which were knee-jerk nerfs.
He was talking about the T-90, in which there are 3. I’m going to base this off of the T-90M. It is supposed to have Relickt ERA, which is supposedly twice as effective as Kontakt 5. Kontakt 5 is rated for 600mm of protection from HEAT warheads. So that brings our total ERA protection to 1200mm, which is much more than the 830mm of penetration for the AGM-65D. That means the ERA should always stop a Maverick if the ERA is hit directly regardless of location. Also, if you look in the protection analysis it can stop Mavericks on the turret cheeks without the ERA. I can’t see the T-90M with the ERA package installed and I honestly don’t think I need to. The math is pretty simple.
Please note: This is all Warthunder based, not real life. I don’t care what else does what in real life. The whole reason I said anything was to explain the difference of a Maverick failing to kill a T-90 by hitting the turret ERA and why the S-25O can overpressure in similar situations. All I did was try to explain game mechanics, no more. Not trying to debate anything outside of these mechanics.
1 Like
American tanks have rounded turrets with mediocre side armor that makes it easier to lash BESH onto
1 Like
Honestly, would HESH really be too strong if you pen successfully into the crew compartment with it and overpressure then triggers from the blast force? Say for example you used L7 HESH on a T-54-51 front plate, and because it penetrated the tank, overpressure triggers, and the tank dies (as it rightfully should, given combat reports from Korea of North Korean tankers hit with just 90mm HESH having bleeding ears and thus totally losing combat effectiveness, nevermind 105mm or bigger).
Sure, some things with it like the Vickers MBT and Centurion Mk 10 might go up (again), but I just don’t see how making HESH actually work as intended would truly break anything.
2 Likes
Go to the 3.40 mark of this video from the Tank Museum and you shall see what 183mm HESH does to a tank. https://fb.watch/q8KxaAI7Nl/
2 Likes
HESH being useless is so annoying!
2 Likes
I got a issue in my last game. HESH got a like up last update and the AVRE is more fun to play, but this. If you can see the first video, I take over eastly a M47, but the panther A in the mantlet, did nothing, twice. I thought it was a Skill issue or and Gaijined moment, but no, it’s the Panther A getting a special black hole absorber. Second video you can see Panther G vs Panther A mantlet aren’t the same about ‘taking the shot’
1 Like
Nah, 80-90% of my shot are confirm kills or severe damage (second shot sometime need to be like on T34/T26E5 is I see only the turret):
bonus:
And would a 15kg HE shell have been better? 90% of the time i’d say yes. HESH was largely a replacement for standard HE, but in game HE is more effective.
Try using the Chieftan/challenger/challenger 2’s 120mm HESH with its 7kg HESH shot and you start to see all sorts of wonky no-damage shots on light vehicles.
2 Likes
There’s plenty of times in which the HESH shells and their explosive filler just don’t exist, I think it’s in large part due to “VoLUmEtrIC” and making us all get gaijined because of it. I promise the normal HE shells are much more consistent than HESH is right now.
Well duh doi, if you hit turret fronts and sides then yeah it’s a one hit kill, the AVRE is my best performing vehicle there’s no need to brag. Because it’d be amusing to be half decent at the vehicle and entirely oblivious of the ways HESH doesn’t function right in game.
As we can see here, HESH does not in fact penetrate a fixed amount of armour regardless of obliquity. It’s most effective at intermediate obliquity, and less effective at very low and very high obliquity.

3 Likes
I’m calling it now: HESH will be un-nerfed when they introduce a russian tank that fires HESH. :P
4 Likes
I have started using the FV4005 and I have to admit it is very mediocre. When you see that you are carrying a 75kg HESH you think that it is going to be an instakill against any tank, but soon you realize that everything you can kill with one shot with You can also kill that HESH with one shot with any other cannon that reloads much faster, in short, that HESH does not give you anything except a reload time of 30 seconds.
3 Likes
The good thing about playing a lot with these types of tanks is that it shows you that there is a blatant RNG in the damage of the bullets. Yesterday playing with the FV4005 I had very absurd shots, shot in the rear of the turret of an IS-2 without hurt it, shoot a panther in front of the hull breaking only the transmission, shoot the side of a tiger 2 killing only the charger and in later games a shot exactly the same as another tiger 2 destroys it completely. In total play with That type of tank depends on whether the game’s programming wants you to kill or not, and many times it doesn’t, and the most painful thing is that it happens with a vehicle that would practically be an instakill to almost any vehicle you encounter.
1 Like
HEAT can overpressure. With ~1kg HE. A 7+ KG Hesh round should be overpressuring. Its absurd it it can’t.
2 Likes
This has been known for some time ye, credit to OhSlowpoke our friend from Canada.
2 Likes
I’ve been playing the FV4005 a fair bit lately because I enjoy big guns, and yeah, the damage is very hit or miss. It’s pretty clear that the shell only causes shrapneling, and not even good shrapneling. I hit the top of the haul (not the turret) on a Tiger H1 coming down a slope and killed the turret crew since that was the shrapnel direction. Heck, I’ve shot an AA truck, had the round go through the armor, explode outside, and do absolutely nothing
After a week of playing, I will say it’s the king of 1 shot, 1 kill… that 1 kill being a single crew member. The number of times I hit the front plate on tanks just to kill only the driver or machine gunner is absurd.
But yeah, shooting the track/wheel of a vehicle does seem to insta-kill it. Especially hitting the back of the track on the inside. It’s a lot more consistent than hitting the hull. I don’t think it’s overpressure, but looks more like shrapnel from all over the track is penning the side. Not sure
P.S. The reload is 38.9 seconds :D I wish it was just 30
1 Like
Makes HESH great again, it works like a bad HEAT shell, if only more players would push for it, Gaijin would start to ‘rethink’ their nerf decision.
1 Like