Jagdtiger

Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Good damage per shot and rate of fire both

• Strong hull-down ability

• Very accurate gun and quick aim time

• Good gun depression

Cons:

• Poor mobility

• Standard lower glacis weakpoint and frontal transmission combination

• Hull armor doesn't resist most guns at tier

• Weak side and rear armor easily penetrated lower tiers

• Easily flanked

Performance

The JT is a one-dimensional tank that uses several facets in pursuit of that. The first and foremost focus of the JT player is one thing: damage. The JT cannot scout and cannot flank other tanks; it's role isn't distraction or spotting or indeed even suppression. It's role is to simply hammer away at the foes' hitpoints, one 128mm shell at a time. Compared to many TDs at these tiers, the JT seems to be a less damaging tank, what with its 490 (later 560) damage-per-shot rating, when many other tier IX (and especially tier X) TDs are doing 750 or more.

However, it is easy to forget that for all the awesome power the 150mm+ class guns have, there is a cost to such damage: long reload cycles. So long, it should be noted, that most large guns don't have any real suppressive power: they take a shot and, regardless of results they are open and vulnerable for enough time for a medium or a group of tanks to push up and ruin their position without any recourse. The JT on the other hand excels at punishing a foe when they make the attempt to push forward. With the shorter reload of the 128mm gun the JT is capable of running sustained fire on targets in the open, and doing so allows it to rake in more damage overall than the single-shot cannons.

There are some drawbacks to the JT though: the mobility and lack of effective armor. Oh, and it has no camo, don't ever think to rely on it. It should be said that the 250mm casemate plate, mantlet, and 8 degrees of gun depression does make the JT quite good when hulldown. However, when attempting to relocate to a location, or in the open without cover, the JT is without question vulnerable. If flanked, the large profile makes it easy to hit. The armor outside of the casemate front doesn't amount to more than 210mm effective, which is less than almost any tier 9 or 10 tank can do anyways. The best way to use the JT is to abuse situational awareness: pay attention to what everyone in front of you is focused on, make sure that you're not the focus of their attention, and then use that time gap to move from cover to cover. Outside of some hills and small rocks, the JT isn't a terribly good tank for abusing cover, but it still can hope to do more damage than it takes even if it gets caught in the open 1-on-1 with its damage-per-minute. The most effective JT either is in the second line sniping what forward spotters see, or immediately in front of an opponent facehugged and overmatching his damage output. The tank is most comfortable at long or zero range; its weaknesses are more apparent in the midrange game where its weakspots are large enough to be targeted accurately and where its often easy to be targeted by more than one enemy at once.

Early Research

With the standard 128mm L/55 not incapable, the first priority should be mobility. If (RNG save you) you haven't first researched any of the engines on another tank, get those first. After that, prioritize the tracks, and then with the ability to mount it now taken care of research the top cannon.