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So I`m about to hit tier 7 mediums and have been playing both the -85 and the KV-1S and could unlock either the KV-13 or the T-43 but the KV-13 leads to the T-43 but I want to keep a tier 7 medium in my garage and was wondering which one I should get first? The T-43 looks like an uparmored T-34-85 while the KV-13 on paper has more armor for about the same weight but the gun kind looks wimpy and was wondering which one everyone thinks is better? I generally play kind of an aggressive defense, if someone gets past our front line, i`ll hunt them down as long as I can catch them. Which one is better for this play style?

If you want to play anti scout than the kv-13 is better (has better gun to kill lights and better armor to fend them off plus a little better speed).  The t-43 is a better overall tank because of 100mm though and can help in more situations.

 BigWaagh, on Apr 09 2012 - 00:17, said:

I guess i`ll use the KV-1S to get to the KV-13... and then to the T-43 just play which ever one I feel like...

I really like my KV-13 better than the T-43.  Its got great speed in a straight line, and I've gotten plenty of kills by ramming due to its weight.  The 85mm is kinda small for some of the fights it gets into, but it can do pretty well if you aim for weak spots.  It's also more than adequate for taking on scout tanks.  The armor is great against most of the scout's small cannons, and it seems to have similar survivability to my IS.  The KV-13 is a lot of fun to play and I really recommend it.

The t-43 is kind of painful to play because of all that it lacks - maneuverability, speed, armor, and every time you get hit your mods light up like its xmas but it does have a cannon that can get you some kills and make decent matches every once in a while.

I would say that in general the KV-13 is just the opposite.  The gun on the KV-13 can be very....very...frustrating and will probably make you hate the tank.  Both the IS-3 (king of t8s IMO) and the t-44 (really fun and a bad ass tank too) are good to branch off into.

The 43 is a better tank, but If you haven't crossed over to the IS line you might be able to get an IS4 before 7.3.  The VK13 was the best ramming tank I ever had.

 waffenwolf, on Apr 09 2012 - 20:48, said:

T-43 is a nightmare tank compared to the KV-13. It gets modular damaged, catches on fire from frontal hit, and has its engine knocked out so easily it's not even funny. Also, you can get ammo racked fairly easy and its so sluggish its hard to scout and get away. I would rate it as one of the worst tanks I've played, but somehow I got ace with it. I dumped it so fast once I unlocked the T-44 and won't look back.

The KV-13's only weakness is with its tracks which can be augmented with high repair skill.

 ComeAndSee, on Apr 09 2012 - 20:56, said:

How about the fact that the KV-13 is one of if not THE most painful grinds of any tank out there?  

It has the most completely inadequate stock gun in the game (86mm pen ROFLMAO), with an upgrade to a gun that is barely adequate for its tier and requires an extreme grind to achieve (various guns, track, and turret IIRC).   In fact, the KV-13s best gun is barely an improvement on the T-43's stock gun.   You also start off with essentially no gun depression whatsoever, at a mere -5o, a full 3o less than the stock T-43, so forget strategic hulldown fighting.  

And don't be deceived by the KV-13's top speed compared to the T-43, as the KV-13 can only achieve that speed down hill even with the upgraded engine.  It is otherwise good, except for maneuverability with its lower track and turret traverse, but again the biggest deal for some players is the fact that its undergunned.

What this means is that in higher tier battles, it can no longer reliably bounce shots of the guns its likely to encounter, its not fast nor maneuverable enough to dodge them, and it will bounce most frontal shots since even its best gun is low pen.  

So if you're a banzai spaz attack race around in the open kind of guy, the KV-13 is the way to go.   If you like to peakaboo, hull down, and generally survive the battle longer and do more damage the T-43 is superior.   I prefer the latter playstyle, and my stats between the two show this.

With my KV-13 I had a miserable 41% win rate thanks in part to the terribly long and painful grind, compared to 58% win rate in the T-43 which IMO is a boss tank if you drive it right.  And btw, the T-43 is not as fragile as some claim, here's a steel wall performance bouncing a KV and others.   You just have to angle the front.   More importantly, because it has so much more pen and so much more alpha damage, you don't have to expose yourself to enemy fire as much in the first place.

I would go with the T-43. It's a really nice tank. I think it's second after the T20, overall, due to the fact that it cannot hull down like a T20 and the aim time of the 100mm gun is higher than the T20's. But don't let these slight downsides discourage you, the T-43 can mix it in the wolf-pack with the best of them, it has the speed, the turn rate(hull and turret) and the penetration to be a worthy wolf-pack contributor.

If you're alone and can't wolf-pack, it's good as a sniper too, where, again, the 175mm pen of the 100mm gun helps a lot.

For equipment, I run Vents, Rammer and Binocs, since I can't put a VStab on it yet(it's a Russian Tier 7 )
I have to emphasize again, don't let anyone tell you that you can't run with the wolf-pack in a T-43, they're very, very wrong.
My W/L is 65% in it, precisely from prioritizing running with the wolf-pack, or if you're alone or very low in the roster, snipe or guard the back of a TD.

Having played around 200 battles in each tank (KV-13 & T-43) and having a comparable win rate between them both (55% & 56%) I would say that once fully upgraded KV13 is much better tank and more fun to drive than the T-43. So much so I sold my fully upgraded T-44 (LB-1 & new engine) and re-bought my old KV13 I sold a while back.

KV13 is vastly better armored, 10-30mm more turret armor, 15-45mm more hull armor, it has the same armor values as IS-1/2 Heavy Tank minus 10mm on the turret sides. It has better top speed and more accurate top gun, faster turret traverse than the T-43. Its a fun scout tank that can zip by enemys, ram arty in 1 shot, and brawl with low to mid teir heavy tanks who have no experience fighting KV13's and think your an easy target only to bounce multiple 122mm rounds in a row.

Its funny that Ducman69 mentions hull down fighting is better in T-43 yet its a much bigger target AND has less armor. If the KV13 had 100mm gun it would be the most OP tank in the game.

We may have different playing philosophies for fast mediums then.
Since the KV-13 is classified as a medium, I think its wasted if you use its speed for scouting or ramming arty, both of which are likely to see you dead.
The added 30mm penetration of the 100mm gun allows for more flexibility in battles, when you can't form a wolf-pack.

 Helios_7, on Apr 10 2012 - 17:44, said:

Because it has a better gun, with far more alpha and pen (less exposure time and far less likely to bounce), and more gun depression.   How is it a much bigger target in a hull down scenario?  The frontal profile of the turrets are about the same size, and greater gun depression often means less of the tank needs to be exposed.

If the KV-13 had the 100mm it would be OP, and my IS-3 would be OP if it had the top speed of a T-50-2... but it doesn't.  

Coming from someone who has played 180+ battles in the T-43 and 280+ in the KV-13, the KV-13 is the more fun tank, by far. It can flank, it can bully your own tier and lower mediums and occasionally bouce tier 8 heavy shots. It has the IS's hull, which allows you to play it as a heavy against mediums of your own tier and has enough pen to pen any of the mediums of your own tier that you happen to be fighting. It only turns 2 degrees slower than the T-43, but because it's power to weight ratio is higher, the difference is unnoticeable or in fact makes the KV-13 feel more agile than a T-43.

The T-43 is essentially a 34/85 with WORSE hull down potential and more hitpoints and for the most part a useless increase in hull armor. You're not going to be bullying anyone in your own tier unlike the KV-13.

KV-13 is a tank that will forever hold a place in my garage, the T-43 was an instant-sell once I got to the T-44.

 Ducman69, on Apr 11 2012 - 00:54, said:

Its gun has more alpha and pen but is also MUCH less accurate, much slower ROF, than the 85mm. To your second question the T-43 turret is larger than the KV13, KV13 turret is smaller, has more armor, has better slopped armor so it can hull down much better. Besides that going hull down in a T-43 is pointless because everyone can pen your turret.

I was comparing 2 different tanks in the same class, within the same country, within the same tier to make a point about people complaining about its small pen gun. Comparing IS-3 speed to T-50-2 speed is just plain dumb and doesn't counter my point in any way.

The KV-13 IMHO is the best of the soviet Tier 7's when elite. It is a well balanced tank.
You can run the tier 5 122mm on it and it is a bear, but mm will show you tier 9 &10's when you do.
The tier 7 gun reloads quickly and with it's handling it can peek a boo well. Also see more 8's & 7's with it.
Has the speed to flank and run up hill nicely; I use the cyclone filter with the governor removed.
You can go +10% engine power a long time without engine damage.
I seldom loose credits while running it.
I like it better than my T54 which costs too much to run and has trouble penning it's own tier.
If I had to sell one or the other, the 54 would go. The KV-13 is just a fun medium.

Hey look an argument over T-43 and KV-13.Im going to play on the T-43's team

1:Good alpha
2:Amazing turret transverse
3:Good speed
4:Helpful frontal armor

All of us have the right to express our opinions, so to be honest this conflict doesnt really matter. T-43 has nice 100mm gun which helps alot in the high tier matches. More accurate? I can snipe with the D10T gun, not that hard. Rate of fire? Fine the rof is slower, but thats to balance out alpha damage. I did not use the 85mm so idk about it. Angle the armor right and you can bounce shots easily, even the feared Lowe and T34 shots bounce off my armor. KV-13 might have better armor, but the gun's lack of pen negates the pros of this tank. If you wanted a tank that has good armor and an ok gun, I will go back to the AMX 40 thank you   ROF and accuracy doesnt matter when you cant even penetrate the target. Speed is good, cruising around high 30s-40s and 50-51 when in a hurry(flat ground). I dont understand why people hate the tank so   After several games, my ammo rack exploded occasionally and fires were not much of a problem.

 AznTank7, on Apr 12 2012 - 02:45, said:

It's hard to legitimately recommend one tank when you haven't played the other. I'd recommend playing the KV-13 before you decide to recommend the T-43 over it, at the very least.

 EatingDirt, on Apr 12 2012 - 02:52, said:

Yet people do it all the time

I like the KV-13, but I really wish I could mount the d-10t on it.  As others have stated, it is fast, but not quick.  The armor is up to brawling, but the gun is rarely a good match up for same tier and higher vehicles.  ROF is good and I can do damage, but if I'm against something that can pen mine, I wouldn't kill them first with the top gun.  

The most common scenario I find is that when I'm the top tank in the match, I'm against a Tiger on the other team and IMO the KV-13 is no match for it since the gun doesn't pen unless you hit certain spots.  You have to be on the move so you can't pick your shots as well, so you just bounce and don't damage them, or you park and brawl and lose on HPs and gun damage.  I've never been matched against a t-43 that I recall nothing head to head from me.  

I've never played the t-43, and I honestly plan to skip it to the t-44.  Being that every tank around the KV-13 runs the 100mm, I'm hoping we might see it added to the KV-13 in a future patch.  Until then I'll keep rocking the heavy scout and 49% win rate.

I have played both tanks and would highly recommend the KV-13 over the T-43. I played through the T43 until I unlocked the t44 then sold it immediately. I enjoy playing my t34/85 far more then the t43 mainly because of how fragile and expensive the T43 is. The 1100hp don't mean a thing when your crew is killed two at a time and set on fire very regularly. I thought that it was nice at first, but after playing many games with it, I found it almost comical how the tank would be crippled regularly by the first hit it took. Its costs more to fix then my Tiger P or my KV13 not to mention the cost of all the repair kits and med kits I would have to replace.

KV-13 bounces rounds a lot more then my t43 ever did and I am not afraid to go and brawl with tanks up close. I only run the 122mm on my KV13 and it is very fun(maybe because of all the soft armored tanks/td's wot has been adding to the game). I can hurt everything and love to circle a lone heavy or pin a TD by pushing on their side while I take them apart piece by piece. I have two tanks in my garage that I really don't mind being put in the highest tier matches. This would be my KV/152mm and my KV13.

It may be the fact that I like playing with the howitzer type guns or the fact that I played the t43 all the way through that I like this tank so much. I did not have to get this tank, had already bypassed it on the tech tree. I went back for it and bought it just for a fun tank and have no complaints. This tank is very versatile, can be a good scout that can hit when spotted and a great support tank. It is a little sluggish on the get up and hills, but once up to speed it really cooks... the remove governor helps with this.

I run mine with Binos, Rammer, GLD.