Call me Steel Wall – The E-75 protection report

Armor in its purest form

The E-75 is the heaviest among Tier9 heavy tanks, and that plus is all armor. But the heaviest means not the most sluggish. The hangar numbers do not tell this, but in practice, the turn rate of the E-75 surpasses even the american M103. This is a serious tactical advantage, the survival of the heavy armor hugely depends on the timely facing of the frontal armor towards the opponents. The good agility compensates for the slow speed of the upgraded turret, experienced players use to aim with the hull and turret at once. The armor of the E-75 is all welded, except the gun shield.

The german tank bears the heaviest frontal armor of all Tier9 heavies. The 160mm/60 degree from vertical welded upper front plate has 260mm WoT-equivalent armor against AP, 320mm against HEAT, and the front turret is 254mm with an impregnable gun shield.

The front hull armor of its much lighter rivals usually do not exceed 220-230mm. This is Tier10 level frontal armor, even the highest penetrating Tier10 guns struggle with, if the tank is angled a bit. If you face Tier10 guns with 260+ avg penetration, you have to angle your hull, but 20 degree does the trick already, even the most powerful guns will bounce harmlessly.

WoT-equivalent means, that you have 50 percent chance to penetrate it with the same avg pen gun at short range

Facehug is tricky

There is an exception though, at extreme close range, Tier10 guns with 260+avg penetration will usually pierce your armor, because they are shooting downwards, thus negating some slope of yours. Guns with 240+ avg can penetrate the UFP this way, too, but less often. Even if you go aggressive and  facehug your opponent, don’t forget to “break the  contact” time and again, and angle your armor continuously from side to side. Fast reverse back and sideways helps to protect the vulnerable cupola on the turret, too. Upper hull penetrations still occur, if you are fired upon from above.

The lower front plate effectiveness exceeds the same for the rest, too. The LFP has about 200mm WoT-equivalent, whereas  the second best armored ST-I has to do with about 170.

Besides the commander’s cupola (we will talk about this later) the only valid weak spot is the LFP, but weak is a relative term. The vulnerability is significant only from Tier10 gun point of view, 200mm effective armor is actually little more, than the UFP of the T-54 or the E-50. A determined E-75 driver with good angling can pretty much immunize his tank against the frontal fire of Tier9 tank (not TD though) guns, whereas the other heavies of the same tier still have worries.

Better armor, than T110E5

The effectiveness of the LFP armor can be increased with daring rushes towards the opponent (260+ Tier10 guns will still pen you). The closer you are, the higher the impact angle for the incoming projectile is. If you don’t forget to angle your armor with about 30 degree, tops, you are mostly safe from ~220 avg guns and Tier8 heavies/Top tier mediums. This is quality protection, no causal weak spots, no mixed weak and stronger zones, even the hull roof protects reliably.

In some cases very-low built TDs with ~240 pen will penetrate your angled UFP better, than high tanks with 260+.

Immunizing the E-75 hull

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