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Earlier this day, I got a PM asking for help on the VK3601(H). Here it is, I forgot who asked because my inbox is 99% full at all times it seems. But whoever it is, here you go.




The VK3601 is the King Tiger of tier 6 and lower. It is a great all around tank when fully equipped with all the good stuff, such as the Maybach 230, 88mm, Upgraded turret and the upgraded suspension. I just got out of a match in mine where I bounced 6 shots from a Tiger. No he wasn't stock, and yes, he had the long 88. I find that the bouncy frontal armor is good for trolling lower tier and under-gunned tanks. The "bins" on the side however, seem to be a widely used weakspot. The 3601 has nice acceleration and move fairly quick at 40KM/H.

Armor...Oh boy!-The armor on the VK3601 is great for its tier. 100 frontal and 60 on the sides/rear. If you angle it correctly, you can get upwards of 175mm of armor. If you get someone punching you in the side, its quite easy to block those shots with your frontal armor due to the fact you have a "true pivot" in your tank. This means you can turn around without moving forwards/backwards. This edge also gives you a great advantage when dealing with pesky T-50's and such. I find it best to go out and hit the flanks of enemy tanks, while still being able to take a hit back.



Le guns.-The 88mm. Undoubtedly the best gun on the 3601. In second place comes the long 75. Third place is the Konsich, AKA, "The Needle Gun". The Konisch was given the name The Needle Gun due to its high penetration, but low damage. It fires at 11RPM and deals out an average of 65-70 damage per shot. Its penetration is a little under 170mm and is great fun if you are stock. The long 75 is like the baby 88. A lot more damage than the Konisch, but not as much as the 88. It has less pen than the Konisch and 88, but shoots faster than both and has higher damage than the Konisch. Sonofab*tch...Got tornado sirens going off as I type this. Oh well, i'm in the basement anyways lol. The 88 is the big daddy of all tier 6 tanks. I don't care what the hell you think you got on the 88, you aint' got shit on it. The 88 is the best gun for the 3601 and has the most "fear factor" of them all.



Onto the tactics.-The best tactic in the VK3601 is probably the rush. Run in, pop off a shot, find cover + reload, pop out and shoot again until enemy dies, then continue onto the next one. Another good tactic is going sniper. You have a decent camo rating and should be easily hidden behind a bush. I find that the best tactic in the VK3601 is to be coordinated. Get hooked up with a heavy and another medium, take the high ground while still in reachable cover. Pop out of the cover all at once, pound your enemies face(s) in and go back into cover before they turn around. Its even better when facing a heavy tank. He cant turn around as quickly, and is more susceptible to damage.



Der equipment.-Equipment that should be mounted is the GLD, Vents and a rammer. These are all pretty much the basics for any tank, but if you wish to sniping, i'd say take out the rammer and put on a camo net. If you're doing the "up close and personal" way, keep that rammer and GLD on. I don't really care if you take the vents out and put a spall liner on instead, but whatever you do, KEEP THE GLD ON. I cannot count how many times iv'e died because I took it off. Yes, every bit of aiming time helps when its cut down. Especially if you are using the 88 in close quarters. You really should keep the distance at about 100m with the 88 but every now and then you're forced into a "face rape" situation.


Overall review.-Great tank. Sometimes I feel its OP when i'm driving it. Iv'e shot the front of an IS-3 and penetrated. Total "dafuqnhellwasthat?" moment for me. The VK3601 is fast, maneuverable, thick skinned and very deadly. The best part about it is that I use it as my credit farming tank. I make about 20-25k on a good win, and the resupply/repair costs around 10k if I had shot too many times and missed. The repairs are from 5-7k and usually don't spread out that much. On a loss I make about 14-17k and still tend to get a steel wall or sniper medal. Nice tank, fun to drive and looks pretty bad ass.



If this helped, throw out a +1 or send over some gold. Seriously. I do NOT want to have to buy back the B1 and play it for the BDR-G1B. I am in no way begging for it, but still would be nice to have to not put the BDR guide off for a week.



KV-5 guide-> http://forum.worldof...-5-small-guide/
Matilda+Churchill guide-> http://forum.worldof...-matilda-guide/
T14 guide-> http://forum.worldof...1-t14-kv-guide/
KV guide-> http://forum.worldof...108236-kv-guide

If you have a request for a guide on a certain tank, feel free to leave a page comment, send a PM or e-mail me.


Good luck and happy hunting!

skorpion777, on Apr 15 2012 - 07:01, said:

well i can do a small thing for the BDR for yah,im on the ARL.

weapons: the beginer gun sucks hard, it doesnt do much damage and its a night mare for pen,the long 75 is like a mini 90mm with less damage, and the 90mm is pretty much kinda a french 107mm

tactics: sniping if you have the 90mm is ok s,but like the 107mm on the kv, the shell will trail off a bit,if you doin CQB,i either support heavier tanks, or just do the clasic shoot and hide . you should try to avoid close range though since everything and anything can pen your armor like butter.also stay away from KVS unless they have the kv1 tureet, cause they are a nightmare

armor:make sure you do the hull down position on that BDR,since you already have that gentle slope on your frontal armor it  makes it all the better,other wise, HIDE!

equipment: the gun rammer helps cause that 90mms reload will get you killed,also, a repair kit and or the gun laying drive helps

credit making: like any other tank, it does ok if you dont miss many shots and dont take to many hits,but a average good battle i made bout 9-10 k creds

over all:the BDR is a french KV with less armor and not as good guns/gun choice, and is a better improvment to the B1 (the bar wasnt set very high gl and see yah on the battle field



( a quik plug) like skorpion says, a +1 or some gold will help lol)

TPpower, on Apr 15 2012 - 09:12, said:

Not bad for a quick BDR guide. However, I think I gotta do mine now because it requires full detail, however, if you wanna take it for me i'd have no arguments...

skorpion777, on Apr 15 2012 - 09:22, said:

lol i havent played the BDR for ever so lol it was just a quiky lol

skorpion777, on Apr 15 2012 - 07:01, said:

Can you stop writing guide to teach people how to be bad at tank?

1. VK3601 is neither fast or nimble. The only heavy you probably can out turn is KV and KV3.

2. You never ever rush to the front line and act like heavy especially if you are the bottom of the barrel.

3. Don't suggest stuff like getting high ground. VK3601 has terrible gun depression comparing to other tier 6 mediums.

4. Bring Fire Extinguisher and Kits since you may fire yourself catching fire somewhat often.


If you want to farm positive reps, that is fine with me. But writing guide to mislead people on playing certain tanks is just terrible. And yes, I am fairly competent at my VK3601H

Finally a guide on our favorite tier 6 German medium tank! Well said! +1

MagicPony, on Apr 15 2012 - 15:19, said:

I'm fairly certain 40KM/H is faster than most of the heavies you will see, and it is very nimble given its ability to pivot in place.

If you even read what was said, you would have easily seen "Find cover". That usually means hiding behind a building while you're reloading.

When I say on high ground, and with other guys being coordinated, its possible to go on the ledge of a hill, have your hull far down enough so you can hit the guy, and pull back in.

I don't usually talk about consumables, but its pretty obvious on what should be brought, Repair kits, First aid pack and the Extinguishers.



Oh, and as a last note, if I am not doing any good with these guides, why don't you ask all the people that use them if they are good. I'm fairly certain that they will say it works.

I disagree.  The MM for this tank is so bad its about 80% with tier 8-9s.  Sure you can "OMGLOL" I penned an IS-4! for your 100 damage, but over all you are fodder in most games.  I actually want to feel I make a difference in the match and not a lot of hiding.

The needle gun is the best for the tank because of all the bad mm it gets. Need that armour pen to pen the IS-3's you get

easy8tanker, on Apr 19 2012 - 00:05, said:

I'd never use the needle gun against an IS-3. Your DPM is too little and by the time you do significant damage he's already putting shells that do 400+ damage into you. The 88 is better. You can hit weakspots and do much more damage.

skorpion777, on Apr 19 2012 - 00:15, said:

When will an IS-3 driver give you his weak side? I know you can flank but at 40 km/h you are not as fast as an E8. The 88 would just bounce off all the higher tiers. Yes, I know that the needle gun doesn't deliver that much punch put if you use gold rounds that tank could take on much more heavier tanks then itself. I suggest using gold rounds because it is one of the few tanks where gold rounds actually increase pen and dmg at the same time. Just use golds with the needle gun and it is better then the 88.

BTW we are in the same clan if you haven't noticed that.

easy8tanker, on Apr 19 2012 - 04:31, said:

Look at the clan tag in my sig.

The 3601 used to be a very useful, fun, and effective tank to play, but with the addition of the new tanks to the game and armor normalization it just doesn't see the same match ups it used to and suffers because of that.  MM is pretty unfriendly for the 3601 these days, it's gotten to where I use the 75/L70 or Konish when I find myself on a bad streak just so I can annoy the higher tier tanks with penetrating hits.  

Strengths  
Armor                                
Handling                                
Flexibility                            

Weakness
Gun Damage
Match Maker Value  
German Tank in a Ruskie game

I agree with the OP in many cases, although I choose to go with Rammer, Vents, and Spall Liner (got tired of Arty liking a "soft target").

The VK has been my go to for quite awhile and is the only tank I did not sell when I moved to the next tank (granted, I repurchased the Marder II for the lols). I have 273 battles in it with a 54%. I have played it badly; I have played it well.

When top tank, you can act with near impunity. As others have said, you can pen nearly anything on the map with the short 88 and you are fast enough to respond to early rushers, face off with heavies, and get from cover to cover as needed. Not that you need to do this. I have been able to do well hanging just behind the Tier IVs and Vs (letting them find the enemy), drop into a comfortable hide, and trash the enemy from distance.

When in a Tier VII or VIII battle, I definitely hang back. I protect flanks and unprotected (sneak through) areas - ie. hide along the east side of the center lane in Karelia. I shoot at the tank if I know I can pen. I shoot at/through the tracks if I know I can't pen. when in doubt, I carry a few HE rounds for good measure.

Not a lot of XP in tracking, but many of your hits will cause damage. And if tracking helps your target get whacked by other tanks/TDs/Arty, more the better. It doesn't matter if you get the kill, it matters if you win. Win = 2x XP.

As for the speed, regardless of where you are in the battle tier, you are fast enough to move in and exploit gaps, flanks, and other enemy mistakes. If the enemy is mostly accounted for - look at the map and do the math - go for it. Get the arty, go for cap, or swing around and get the enemy in their six.

My opinion - I think it's the best Tier VI Medium. e8s have speed, e2s have armor (and both have better gun depression/elevation), 34-85s have speed and a comparable (but slower) gun. VK36 is the best all-around.

T_Bo, on Apr 19 2012 - 14:15, said:

MM hasn't changed since 7.1 - and it has been barely modified since 6.3. If anything, the MM tiering has gotten better. Arty has been pushed higher and fewer tier VII lights are put against us.

As for switching out equipment, you are hamstringing yourself. Matchmaker does not care about the modules and equipment, the W/L, or the ammo you carry. It looks at what your tier and tank type (lt, med, heavy, td, spg) you are. That is it.

Quote

Yep, this.

Quote

Compared to other Tier VI mediums, the gun damage is second only to the T34-85's 100mm (230 damage to 220 damage).  The match maker value is the same as all of the other Tier VI Mediums. As for Russian bias, there is none, in this case. Tank-for-tank, the VK should stomp the other Tier VI Mediums.

Siphor4738, on Apr 15 2012 - 19:42, said:

My BEST Matches with the 3601, my FAVORITE TANK! are when i'm in the bottom third of MM.  Frequently I walk away with 2, 3, and 4 or more Tier 7-8 heavies.  This is NOT a brawler tank, its a flank.support/ nimble-for-its-tier heavy hitting Tier 6.

You are only Fodder if you play fodder bait...   by leading the rush or sticing your face directly into the business end of a IS3, Tiger II or T29.

skorpion777, on Apr 15 2012 - 07:01, said:

It's a little late but I wanted to say a quick thank-you to Skorpion for putting this together and getting a good conversation started.  I was the person who requested info on the 3601, now one of my favorite tanks.  My hit rate is now 68% and although my win % is only 48%, it continues to improve.  Very reliable tank and much enjoyment playing it over these last few months.