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Recently, I've been going down on the American medium tanks. Got through my Lee fairly quickly, and recently got into my Sherman. Pretty much got all the upgrades, though I haven't decided on which Sherman to go onto, the only difference I know is that one has faster speed, and less armor, and one has more HP and more armor. So which one do you recommend?

It really depends on your play style and preferences.  Are you more of a heavy tank guy or are you a medium fan?  If you like heavies, the E2 likely be more to your preference.  But if you prefer speed and mobility, the the EZ8 would be the one you want.

they're both good. I like the E2 more and sold the E8, but the E2 is a keeper.

Why not try them both.

The Sherman Jumbo and the M4E8 share the same guns, If You want speed and maneuverability then go for the E8, If You want good frontal armor and higher durability then go for the Jumbo.

I've played both, I enjoy the M4E8 because it fits more to My play style.

Marauder99, on Feb 05 2012 - 03:34, said:

Not exactly. I like heavy tanks, and I don't like the E2.  The gun is simply lacking for the speed that it has.  E2 is for people who like slow, undergunned tanks with a lot of armor, like the low-tier French lights such at the AMX 40.

E8 is a true medium, and excels at things mediums are supposed to do.  But you need to pay for a vertical stabilizer to unlock its true potential.

They are both great tanks.  E2 has significantly more armor - but is far less manueverable than E8.  The E2, hull down is formidible and competitive with higher tier tanks.  

Same firepower.  I have both and will probably never get rid of them.

If you want a true medium, the medium all others look up to, then get the E8. It's a great tank with a machine gun.

If you want a hybrid, go E2. Good frontal armor, good choice of guns.

Personally, I'd advise you to go E8 first, but get the E2 sometime during your virtual tanking career. The E8 with rammed, vents, vertical stabilizer, 100% crew, and all modules researched is a joy every tanker should experience at least once. Besides, it will give you good training for the grind ahead with the T20 and later, the Pershing.

Thompson153, on Feb 05 2012 - 06:49, said:

t20 and pershing grind?? At least they can penetrate other tanks .

Yeah, I'm more of a heavy tank guy, speed is nice and everything. But I'd rather be protected more, than just to go fast. Guess I'll go with the E2 then, thanks for all the help.

Thompson153, on Feb 05 2012 - 06:49, said:

I'd actually disagree, and suggest the Jumbo first. At stock, the Jumbo's slower than a pig and has not much teeth, but at least it can still depend somewhat on its armour to let it last longer in matches. The E8, stock, is nowhere near the force of nature that its upgraded version is.

The thing is, if you go Jumbo first, by the time you get around to accumulating the EXP for the E8, chances are you've researched almost everything that makes on the E8 great on the Jumbo, and got enough free EXP to get the tracks. Thus, you start off with an almost fully upgraded E8, and can have fun with it right off the bat, instead of grinding it up all the way to make it useful.

garmeth, on Feb 05 2012 - 07:08, said:

And at times, they can do it from the front!

I think you should go e8 mainly for this reason: although both tanks often get into tier6 or 7 battles, where they both pwn, they also often get into tier8 and 9 battles. Now here's the problem for the E2: its a heavy-like tank. This means it's main strategy is face on 1v1 old school brawling. However, when your looking down the barrel of a King Tiger, your armor means less than dog poop. And you don't have the maneuverability to flank him. This is where the E8 excels: it can run around higher tier tanks and piss the hell out of them as they try to keep up their turret with you.

I liked the E2(with 105mm derp) more pre-patch 7.0 but after HE changed I prefer the E8.. Its not that fast but still its kinda fun on city maps. If you like playing mediums I'd say go easy 8.

I personally like am a speed player and like the E8, it makes great money btw.

Go get the E8 it is so much better then the E2. I have both so i should know

I don't have a Jumbo so I can only speculate based on my observation. The Jumbo, against what it fights, armor means jack squat. I rarely bounce any shells off of them. Since armor doesn't really matter, the Easy 8 would be better due to its ability to flank thanks to its mobility and because they have the same guns, mobility is simply more important than armor as i the armor is dead weight for what you fight.

The Easy 8 is unique in that it is the only medium that can be used as a pure flanker in its tier. The other mediums on the tier tend to lack one thing or more that make a tank a pure flanking tank.

- T-34-85 for example, has a super-thin hull armor, terribly inaccurate gun, but more importantly, not enough speed and maneuverability to pull off a flanking maneuver.
- VK3601 and Jumbo pretty much plays like a heavy medium, due to their sluggishness but awesome armor for a medium.
- VK3001P has decent speed, but its track traverse rate is very, very bad. You can drive straight in a line rather fast, but you can't barely turn at all. Your long posture also makes it easier to hit.
- VK3001H is actually quite fast, agile, and maneuverable. In fact this thing has better agility stats in general than Easy 8 (even worse armor than Easy 8 though). Its downfall however, is the abysmal turret traverse rate of its upgraded turret, meaning that even though you are very agile, your gun can't keep up with your agility. In one space MMO's term, you can overwhelm the "tracking" of your opponents' guns, but your gun turns so slowly that you can't "track" them either.

Easy 8 however, has all these qualities without a major flaw unlike any of those mediums. It has a decent acceleration, decent speed and maneuverability, and equipped with a gun whose RoF can keep up with your agility. Your armor, even though it's rather thin, is actually enough to bounce some lower-tier guns that can keep up with your agility. Driven properly, you can keep up and actually dogfight an AMX 12t and an AMX 13 75 for example, while other tier 6 mediums may be outmaneuvered by one of those speedy burst damage demons.


Jumbo however, is almost like a heavy in that it has very thick and rather sloped front armor that is enough to bounce and withstand a lot of enemy shells. Your side and especially rear however, is rather thin and must not be exposed at all costs. Another drawback is your guns. You get a choice of 105mm derp, which has been affected negatively somewhat by the HE nerf, and the fast-firing 76mm M1A2 as the one used by Easy 8. The 76mm have nice DPM, but rather inadequate penetration to pen very high tier enemies you will be facing. Easy 8 can overcome this by flanking with its superb agility, shooting the guns at enemy's rear and sides where their armor is the weakest. Jumbo however, does not have the luxury of this maneuverability as it is rather slow and sluggish, and would often be forced in a position to shoot enemy's front only.


I personally prefer Easy 8 for the sole reason that due to high-tier enemies you will be facing, armor doesn't matter as much. Whether it's a very-thickly tier 6 medium or it's a paper-armored tier  6 medium, all will crumble in front of monster guns carried by tier 8s and 9s such as US 105mm, USSR BL-9, and German long 128. As such, with tier 6, I personally prefer a mobile platform with good gun compared to thick-armored (for its tier, but not so much vs higher-tiers) slugs but with average gun. This is also the same reason I prefer KV-1s over KV-3. Yes, KV-3 has very awesome armor vs other tier 6s but against those tier 8 monster guns, no amount of tier 6 armor will help you. Mobility however, will help you get to places where you can land opportunistic shots on those tier 8 and 9's weak spots.

Against same tier opponents however, armor matters much more significantly. For example, against almost every guns in your tier, Jumbo's front armor is barely penetrable except for the biggest of tier 6 tanks' guns such as 100mm in T-34-85 or the 122mm in KV-3 and KV-1s (oh and of course, the ARL 44's very-high-pen gun), against which your thick armor will still reduce much damage if angled properly. Either of your guns would still hurt most other tier 6s significantly while your impenetrable armor outlasts theirs. You will love Jumbo in tier 6 battle in city maps where you are much harder to be flanked. Unfortunately however, tier 6 tanks don't get the luxury of being put into top rank position very often. This doesn't mean that I support many players' wishes to put the 90mm cannon on Jumbo however, as doing this will obsolete both the M6 and the Slugger.

In a nutshell it come down to armor or mobility. The E2 has excellent armor, but its mobility is pretty average-if that. The E8 on the other hand is one of the most mobile tanks in the game, with great acceleration, turning speed, and a good top speed. The only downside is its armor isn't going to stop much. Both have the same offensive potential, with the same gun and depression rates.

I picked the E2 when I was going down the tree, and I really didn't like it.  Played a dozen matches, free xp'd my way out of it ASAP.  I wish I went with the E8, it would have certainly prepared me better for the T20.

Problem with the Jumbo is that it's armor is only useful (aside from its turret) against tier 6 tanks and lower, and even then still vulnerable to some tier 5s and 6s. That would be fine except this tank will often see tier 7 and 8 tanks and yea, good luck with your "Heavy" armor then. Take into account that the gun is a pretty big let down since you have to rely on the 76 now, I really did not enjoy the short time I ran the Jumbo. I ran the E8 from stock and it was amazing through and through. Really though, in this game you either have armor or you don't and unfortunately for the Jumbo, it loses speed for a negligible increase in armor.