I'm a 700 WN8 overall player with ~1.5k WN8 recent. I was on track for ~2k WN8 yesterday, but had this brought down by playing the two tanks below. The winrate issue for these tanks was caused by platooning with much worse players than myself, but the WN8 issue remains.
How do you play the VK 30.01 (H) and the VK 36.01 (H) without hurting your stats?
Posted May 11, 2015, 1:33 PM UTC
First, use the 7.5/5.5 Waffe on both. The penetration loss on the top gun for the 3601H isn't worth the increased alpha most of the time. Also the squeeze bore Waffe has phenomenal shell speed.
Second, learn to poke around corners so that you angle your front armor as much as possible but expose none of your side armor. I have troll bounced shots from Tier 7 and 8 tanks doing this, because they see "oooh, Tier 6, I'll pen that easy!" and then they don't and I laugh.
You can do something similar with the 30.01 H but it's slower so you need to be more careful. In both cases the tanks aren't fantastic but they get the job done. If you find yourself less than top tier swap into a fire-support role when you run into those higher tier tanks. Let someone else take (or preferably bounce) the hits and then poke out and shoot once or twice. The gun on these tanks is good, and that's what you really want to take advantage of.
Angling!
The VK36.01(H) has amazing armour but it's the same boxy shape as the Tiger. Learn how to angle to get more out of your armour and you'll perform much better right away.
I found the 30.01h a little difficult due to its speed and ineffective armor but it gets a great gun for its tier. Try to leverage that as much as possible by staying behind the front line heavies and providing fire support.
The 36.01h, while a shade of its former self, is still pretty OK and is great training for how to play the Tiger I when you eventually get it. Don't let the armor values fool you, even when angled, you will get penned by just about everything unless you are trolling for a bounce by angling around a corner. I played with the 7.5 Waffe - that thing is a tack driver. Play as either a second line heavy or a support sniper. People will yell at you for having a heavy not on that front line; ignore them as you have neither the alpha or the armor to play peekaboom. The trick is to know when you should be functioning as a TD, when to play a support heavy, and when to use your hp pool to bully your opponents. See which of those roles your team is light on and fill in as needed.
You have to angle the VK36.01, it's a big box and the armor is ok, but utterly flat. You'll easily be penned by even lower tier tanks if you give them a flat side in it. Second, don't try to brawl. Again, your armor isn't great so getting stuck in isn't a good idea. The squeeze bore and the 88 are both excellent and very German guns. Sit back and mail it in with them but try and stay off the front line. It's good practice for once you get your Tiger as the play style is identical, you just get a better gun and more health.
Just getting the hang of the VK 30.01H myself. I think the key is to play it like it's a turreted tank destroyer. It's a heavy-tank-in-name-only. It has a really good, accurate gun (if you use the Waffe), but it's armor is just shit.
Just sit back, let the other members of your team spot for you, and blast away. Try to avoid brawling.
VK 36.01H owner. Used to hate this tank until someone pointed out the penetration benefits of the 7.5 Waffe. Now, easily one of my favorite T6 tanks to pub and toon with. Waffe is truly something to be feared with its laser accuracy and nasty pen. YMMV.
Grab the Konish/Waffe and snipe, at least for the 3001. This made it real fun to me.
According to the wiki, the 3601 has guns that'll allowed to snipe and/or brawl. Personally, I would snipe at the beginning to preserve my HP pool.
How do you play the VK 30.01 (H) and the VK 36.01 (H) without hurting your stats?
You don't. They're crap grind-through tanks.
WG backpedaled on their early statements that they wouldn't make major changes to the 3601 when they turned it into a heavy; they nerfed the mobility into the ground. It's not an utterly awful tank, but it's definitely not a "good" tank either.
The 3001 has the same problem; it's slow as crap. It also has no armor worth mentioning. Having access to the Konisch or L/70 doesn't make up for the speed you lose compared to the Pz 4; the Pz4 is a much better tank.
VK 30.01 H
Drop any pretense of bouncing anything, regardless of angling.
Just sit really still with as much camo as possible and snipe. the long 75mm has amazing accuracy and pen, and youre usually a low priority target. So keep as much company as possible.
IIRC the side and front hull armor are both ~50mm, so you can angle at over 30 degrees (or more) and try to bait shots into your tracks.
You won't bounce tier 6+ guns, but you will bounce a fair number of sells from tier 4 tanks.
Better yet, sidescrape when you can.
You should always angle, of course. But even by angling, you should have no expectation of bouncing anything reliably, is what I mean.