211 replies to this topic

[Dionater]

Just got this thing, but im falling victim to the 'fail team' syndrome

please tell me fully upgraded i can carry lol, cause im actaully liking it so far and its a different playstyle than the KV and my tiger2

Oh yeah i should of asked for some tips instead of a little whine
Got the 1st 122 gun, should i go tracks engine then last gun?

[WarStore]

I think you should go for tracks and engine first, because the last gun only fires a bit faster.
I used this tank like a medium, flanking the enemy while they were too busy exchanging shots with my team, so mobility is very important.
Once fully upgraded, this tank is a beast, and fun to drive.

[Superform]

IS is very OP

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=5qtrydcLyeY

[supershutze]

IS tank will almost always win at close range against either the Tiger or the T29. The IS has one of the highest DMP in the game, which offsets the tiger's higher rate of fire and higher HP. And the T29 has the same DMP as the tiger, with much lower accuracy and slightly lower penetration. And you can forget about facehugging an IS, it doesn't work. IS tanks have a low enough profile to be able to fire shells downward through your hull at point blank range. T29s perform worse at close range than Tigers do, simply because Tigers have a ~200HP advantage.

The IS has the best overall armor of any tier 7, The turret is not as thick as the T29's, but it's smaller, and made of slopes, which means thats it's really hard to score a clean hit on it. The front hull is also superior when facing head on due to the way the armor slopes backward at the sides, meaning a hit on anything other than the lower hull plate or the fairly small centre is likely to bounce.

Tiger will wipe the floor with most other(usually non-german) tanks at long range, don't try to outsnipe one, And the T29 will only really stand a chance of victory one on one if it can go hull-down and the IS driver is too stupid to flank, close the distance, and circumvent the T29's cover.

Edit: Guess some people(possibly T29 drivers) take offense to the truth, seeing as I got negged over this. I own both the TigerH and the IS and I find T29's incredibly easy targets.

[Nikolai_Mikoyan]

After months of grinding in the KV-1S, I've finally got the IS last night during the sale. I actually planned to buy the IS after I got 1.5M credits to cover for the turret, (which I have dumped free exp for,)  another D-2-5T (can in fact take it from the KV-1S, but then what will my KV-1S play with?) some 122mm AP round which is expensive, and substitute crews for the KV-1S as I have to move its crew to the IS. But now that I got it, I was quite happy with it. It has reasonable speed with the stock engine, though a little slower than the KV-1S but it did bounce more shots (though less than a KV-3) But I noticed it have a lot of module damage in the game, I got tracked quite easily (good things I almost maxed out repair skill)

I have played only a few battle with it and it already encourage me not to lose, as its repair cost, if lose, exceed the amount of credit it gain (provided that it didn't fire a shot) and if it fired and missed or bounced with that 122mm shell, it will further reduce my income.  

I plan to go for Rammer, Vent and either GLD or ETB later in the game.

[Rackminster]

Picked up my IS last night.

I tried a few rounds with the best guns I could equip with the stock turret, but I wasn't helping  the team out - I was averaging 300-500xp per round and struggling to get that much.

I decided to splurge on the turret from my free experience pool and equipped the 122mm D-2-5T.

Having spent almost 140 battles in my KV-1S using this gun, I instantly felt at home and found that the IS with this gun plays almost exactly like the KV-1S does but with better armor and more health.  It's just great.  My typical rounds now net me 1000+xp and 15k-20k credits (after reload/repair).  It's not a cash cow, but it's not stinkin' up the garage bay either.

I've also noticed the IS gets a lot more module damage than I'm used to - particularly the gun.  I've had 13 rounds with it, and I think in 3-4 of those my gun got knocked out.  Until then, I think I had lost my gun in maybe 1-2% of matches.  The issue might just be that the gun mantlet takes up 60% of the front of the turret and I'm facing down enemies that can hit me harder than I'm used to.

[Johnny_Mars]

Only 15 games with my IS so far, but I'm liking it. 100mm gun, improved suspension, 90% crew, vents, gun rammer, binoculars; stock turret, stock engine.

[Legedi]

I love this tank. In 44 games I'm at a 64% win rate with 945 average exp per game and 66,000 damage. When it is top tier it is a beast, and even when it is not it can do well. I got my ace badge in a tier 9 game where I almost took out an IS-8 that was capping our base (got defender) and really used to mobility to get me where I was needed.

After playing the Tiger (H) I was waiting to buy the Tiger II when I got the credits, but I bought the IS when it was on sale. We'll lets just say I sold the Tiger (H) and am working on unlocking it IS-3 now .

[RuthlessBastard]

Dinoman1111, on Sep 07 2011 - 02:37, said:

I went

      1. Turret(You gotta know why.)
      2.Engine(For mobility)
      3.Tacks(To increase mobility remember, this tank was made for mobility)
      4.122mm(Read turret description )
      5.Radio(Not worth all the Xp when you first get it, trust me)
From what i learned from this tank is all that it really is, it's just an oversized medium tank. It reminds me alot of my much preferable IS-3 just alittle more well, crappy. Make sure to flank, don't try get get caught in the open and, please don't take on other teir8+ without backup...

The whole point of heavy tanks is that they are not medium tanks. If my heavy tank is just a medium tank with the name changed then why not stop the lies and just call it a big medium tank.

[RuthlessBastard]

Legedi, on May 16 2012 - 16:39, said:

I love this tank. In 44 games I'm at a 64% win rate with 945 average exp per game and 66,000 damage. When it is top tier it is a beast, and even when it is not it can do well. I got my ace badge in a tier 9 game where I almost took out an IS-8 that was capping our base (got defender) and really used to mobility to get me where I was needed.

After playing the Tiger (H) I was waiting to buy the Tiger II when I got the credits, but I bought the IS when it was on sale. We'll lets just say I sold the Tiger (H) and am working on unlocking it IS-3 now .

Is3 low hull armor and your turret is greatly armored the problem is that it's tiny and so people will hit your hull and penetrate it easy. Your sides will ammo rack cause your ammo is in the weak hull. Overall it has ok speed not that it can outrun a med tank or anything. So the play style you should have is to stick to towns and villages and try to hit the enemy from the back or the shots will bounce. Oh and it will take you a long time and allot of frustration to unlock the bl.9 the final and finally slightly usefull gun. I have an ok win rate and for some reason still like is3. The Is I have to be truthfull was a great improvement over kv3 it was like a breath of fresh air with the speed it had . But that was before the new update and the new kv3 is better then the is .
For some reason I never had issues killing tigers in the IS in my mind for some reason the tiger is a weaker tank I was even able to run circles around them with is but possibly non upgraded tigers. The thing is you can and will eventually adapt your play style to exploit the good parts of the tank and you will start wining . This applies to all tanks in this game, even the crapiest tank can be lethal in the hands of an ace.

[Johnny_Mars]

I've just played a half-dozen games with the D-25T, and damn is it inaccurate. The difference between 0.42 on the D10T and 0.46 on the D-25T doesn't look like a lot on paper, but it's completely screwing me up. It's like I have to learn to play the tank all over again.

Edited by Johnny_Mars, Jun 06 2012 - 13:37.

[fsjd]

I love my IS. it feels like a big medium.
I nearly soloed a M103 when he let me get behind him.
Another time i peek-a-boomed a T34 to death.
175 pen isnt great, but it gets the job done, and at 300+ damage per shot, is a real threat to everything it CAN pen, which is most of the tanks in-game.

Tiger wins in long range engagements as it can whittle down the IS before the IS can effectivly respond. (this applies to many tanks the Tiger can pen frontally)
IS wins in close up duels with the Tiger and T29, it can go through the front armor of both, and has the mobility to dance with them.

Edited by fsjd, Jun 09 2012 - 02:28.

[Nikolai_Mikoyan]

fsjd, on Jun 09 2012 - 02:25, said:

I love my IS. it feels like a big medium.
I nearly soloed a M103 when he let me get behind him.
Another time i peek-a-boomed a T34 to death.
175 pen isnt great, but it gets the job done, and at 300+ damage per shot, is a real threat to everything it CAN pen, which is most of the tanks in-game.

Tiger wins in long range engagements as it can whittle down the IS before the IS can effectivly respond. (this applies to many tanks the Tiger can pen frontally)
IS wins in close up duels with the Tiger and T29, it can go through the front armor of both, and has the mobility to dance with them.

added 2 things.

"and the scary damage output"

"however, it very close range (I mean in Face-Hug range) it may have a problem with a T29, but then again, everyone know not to go Face Hug with American heavies.

[Johnny_Mars]

I think I got the hang of the D-25T, in terms of timing and range, and my IS is a beast once again.

[Nikolai_Mikoyan]

Good bye, My dear IS-2

Yes, as the name implied, I've decided to sold my IS in favor of the IS-3. I still feel that I might have to regret this.

It has always been a pleasure riding on it. I have 2 tier 7 heavies in my garage, the IS, and the KV-3. While I run the IS with great confident and rarely frustrate with its performance, the KV-3, on the other hand was a pile of concentrated frustration. I even go as far as to insult it as a 'piece of shit' KV-3 (which I never did with any tank before) I am glad I sold my KV-3 after I've researched the KV-4, but the money is not enough to cover the cost I will have to sustain in the early days of the IS-3 without the BL-9, so I decided to sell my IS... I will miss it fondly.

Lastly, I want to express my gratitude to this great tank, and to all fellow tankers who played it and shared tips and tactic, both in and outside of this thread, and in game. Thank you, all of you.

[Erazai]

I too, had to sell my IS to buy an IS-3. I do plan on buying it back when I get the money. In top tier battles, I almost always seem to completely dominate. 1-shot enemies, take on their tier 7's without breaking a sweat, and then marching straight into their base. I don't ever seem to be able to do that when I'm top in my Tiger.
Now to spam tier 5's in between battles with my new IS-3 to gain the credits back. At least I didn't have to retrain my IS crew, since I still had lots of 100% Soviet crews from the KV split.

Also, the D25T treated me very nicely, despite being 0.46 accuracy and terrible aim-time, I always seem to be able to hit the mark unless I get too hasty. Then that's my fault, not the gun's.  That said, the road to the BL-9 won't seem so bad.

Edited by FailWins, Jun 17 2012 - 05:50.

[Krasnoarmeetz]

Hey guys, just wanted to display a game that shows that the IS is actually capable of performing decently even against higher tier tanks. I love mine! I do have an issue with the name translation, though. As everybody knows, the tank is named after Stalin. Now, nobody has translated Stalin's first name to english as "Iossif" since at least the 50s. It's always translated as "Joseph". That's why 99% of the military history books call this tank the "JS-2", sometimes "JS-2/122", but never IS. There's a lot of poor translations in this game (wth is PZIII/IV, it's the PzIIID). I would at least switch to JS-1.


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[Nikolai_Mikoyan]

Krasnoarmeetz, on Jul 29 2012 - 17:47, said:

I do have an issue with the name translation, though. As everybody knows, the tank is named after Stalin. Now, nobody has translated Stalin's first name to english as "Iossif" since at least the 50s. It's always translated as "Joseph". That's why 99% of the military history books call this tank the "JS-2", sometimes "JS-2/122", but never IS. There's a lot of poor translations in this game (wth is PZIII/IV, it's the PzIIID). I would at least switch to JS-1.

Yes, we all know that Stalin's first name since he was born can be transliterated to "Joseph" but there is no letter J in russian. In fact, Stalin's name is written "Иосиф Сталин" that "И" is the letter "I" in English, hence, the tank "ИС" can be translated to "IS", not "JS". Also, many Russian documentaries about WWII weapons ("Oruchie Probediy-Weapons of Victory" is one such) quoted the name of the IS tank as IS (not "ai-es" just "ees") that "ees" can in no way be a pronounciation of the JS, can it?

Since the game developers are Russians (some claims them to be Byelorussian, but that's not the matter) It is reasonable to call it by the Russian version of its name.

About the versions of tanks name, we know that the Soviet in the Great Patriotic War has their version to refer to some specific tanks, such as the Panzerjager Tiger (P) or "Elefant" is named in game after its designer as "Ferdinand" as such

[ViniDowns]

this tank gets a lot of hate but I really like it. It has no real weaknesses and can absolutely steamroll when you get top dawg. It doesn't really shine till you get a rammer and gun laying drive but oooohhh man it is amazing with those 2. The sloped rear armor is hilarious when you someone flanks you, bounces it, and complains saying you should be dead.

[coalminer]

this tank needs some love, the repair costs and ammo costs is ridiculous and barely breaks even especially in high tier games where the gun repeatedly bounces or gets stupid hits dealing 0 damage

the IS2 production model sloped glacis will also help alot