IS-6
IS-6
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[Client Values; Actual values in
10,600 Cost |
1550310 HP Hit Points |
51.5/59.927.22/59.9 t Weight Limit |
- Commander (Radio Operator)
- Gunner
- Driver
- Loader
700700 hp Engine Power |
35/14 km/h Speed Limit |
2626 deg/s Traverse |
13.5925.72 hp/t Power/Wt Ratio |
NoNo Pivot |
// mm Hull Armor |
150/150/100150/150/100 mm Turret Armor |
AP/APCR/HE
AP/APCR/HE Shells |
1025/4800/608
1025/4800/608 Shell Cost |
390/390/530390/390/530 HP Damage |
196/225/61196/225/61 mm Penetration |
r/m ▲
5.13 r/m Standard Gun ▲
5.13 Rate of Fire Standard Gun |
▲
Standard Gun
▼
Standard Gun
▲
2000.7 Standard Gun ▲
Standard Gun
▼
Standard Gun
▲
2000.7 Damage Per Minute Standard Gun |
m ▲
0.44 m With 50% Crew: 0.545 m ▲
0.44 Accuracy With 50% Crew: 0.545 m |
s 2.8 s 2.8 Aim time |
2424 deg/s Turret Traverse |
360° Gun Arc |
-6°/+20°-6°/+20° Elevation Arc |
3737 rounds Ammo Capacity |
1515 % Chance of Fire |
m 350 m 350 View Range |
m 730 m 730 Signal Range |
VIII
10600
The IS-6 is a Soviet tier 8 premium heavy tank.
Plans for this vehicle were drawn up in the construction bureau of the Chelyabinsk Kirov plant from December 1943 to the summer of 1944. Further development and the construction of the first prototype took place at the Uralmash plant. However, the vehicle had no advantages over the other heavy tank designs under consideration, and its armor was seen as inferior to the IS-4 (Object 701), so the IS-6 was not selected for production.
The IS-6 replaced the KV-5 as the Soviet Tier 8 premium heavy tank available through the ingame store from patch 0.7.3. It is also currently available from the gift shop as a bundle with a garage slot all year-round. It is the cheapest of the Tier 8 premium heavy tanks, and the third cheapest of all the Tier 8 premium tanks currently available in the ingame store, after the T26E4 Super Pershing and the 8.8 cm PaK 43 Jagdtiger. It has good armour and decent mobility, but an inaccurate gun with fairly low penetration.
Modules / Available Equipment and Consumables
Modules
Tier | Gun | Penetration (mm) |
Damage (HP) |
Rate of fire (rounds/minute) |
Dispersion (m/100m) |
Aiming time (s) |
Weight (kg) |
Price ()
| |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
VIII | 122 mm D-30 | 196/225/61 | 390/390/530 | 5.13 | 0.44 | 2.8 | 2590 | 135140 |
Tier | Engine | Engine Power (hp) |
Chance of Fire on Impact (%) |
Weight (kg) |
Price ()
| |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
IX | V-12 A | 700 | 15 | 750 | 84000 |
Tier | Suspension | Load Limit (т) |
Traverse Speed (gr/sec) |
Rmin | Weight (kg) |
Price ()
| |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
VIII | IS-6 | 59.9 | 26 | B/2 | 11000 | 27920 |
Compatible Equipment
Compatible Consumables
Player Opinion
Pros and Cons
Pros:
- Second best damage-per-minute of the Tier 8 premium heavy tanks, after the KV-5.
- Good alpha damage.
- Preferential matchmaking (Tier 9 maximum).
- Thick, well-angled armour from the front and sides.
- Good credit profitability.
Cons:
- Low ammunition capacity.
- Expensive ammunition.
- Below average gun penetration.
- Terrible accuracy and aim time.
- Crew slots do not match those of the IS-7.
Performance
Most Soviet heavy tank players who went to the IS line should feel right at home with the IS-6. In many ways, the IS-6 is essentially an IS that has been moved up to Tier 8, but still meets the same opponents. It plays quite similarly, but trades a little mobility for much better armour.
The 122 mm D-30 is for all intents and purposes the same as the IS's top gun, the 122 mm D-25T (and in fact, the D-30 was historically a modified version of the D-25T). It has the exact same penetration (175 mm), the exact same accuracy (0.46 m), and the exact same aim time (3.4 s), all of which are quite below average. Using the gun at ranges above 300 m requires a lot of patience in allowing the gun to fully aim in, and even then the gun can and will miss. It works best at medium to close ranges. The rate-of-fire and alpha damage are quite good, however, and at shorter ranges the IS-6 can use its superior damage output to its advantage, especially against the Löwe and T34. An Enhanced Gun Laying Drive and a Vertical Stabiliser are highly recommended. The limited ammunition capacity of only 30 rounds coupled with the high rate-of-fire means that running out of ammunition is a very real possibility, and shots should be taken with care.
The IS-6 is among the best overall-protected of the Tier 8 premium heavy tanks, with better hull armour than the T34 and the Löwe. Unlike the KV-5, which depends on raw armour thickness and high HP to absorb hits, the IS-6 relies on its very well-sloped armour to bounce incoming enemy fire. It also lacks the distinct weak spots that the KV-5 has, although the driver's hatch can be considered a weak spot. While not nearly as thick as the T34's turret front or as well-shaped as the Löwe's turret front, the IS-6's turret is quite reasonably well-protected, and has better side armour. Angling and sidescraping will really boost the IS-6's survivability, especially since the side armour is just as thick, and almost as well-angled as the frontal armour. There is also a piece of spaced armour covering the lower hull sides, which helps to protect it against hits that might otherwise penetrate and damage that area. The rear of the turret and hull are significantly weaker than the other sides, however, and one should be very careful about enemy tanks getting behind the IS-6.
Probably more than any of the other Tier 8 premium heavy tanks (with the distinct exception of the very mobile FCM 50 t) the IS-6 is better at reacting to changes of the battlefield. It has very decent mobility for a heavy tank, which gives it the flexibility that some of the other Tier 8 premium heavy tanks lack, although the IS-3 is superior in overall mobility. The mobility combined with the good armour allow the IS-6 to get in close, where it can make the best use of its gun.
As a Tier 8 premium tank, the IS-6 is very good at making credits. However, the expensive ammunition, particularly when shooting APCR, will quite noticeably cut into its profits, especially if many of the shots miss.
In the game's files and in official matchmaking charts, the IS-6 is known by its Ob'yekt (Object) designation: Object 252.
Suggested Equipment
Gallery
Historical Info
Between the 13th and 17th of November 1943, the OGK NKTP, along with the VAMM (Voennaya Akademiya Mekhanizatsii i Motorizatsii - Military Academy of Mechanisation and Motorisation) and the NATI (Nauchniy AvtoTraktorniy Institut - Automobile and Tractor Research Institute), began work on further increasing the IS-2 heavy tank's firepower and protection by developing a heavy assault tank. The project was originally intended to produce a tank with a rear-mounted superstructure and an electromechanical transmission similar to that of the Ferdinand, and was led by Deputy Chief of the GBTU (Glavnoye Bronyetankovoye Upravleniye - Main Tank Directorate) I. Lebedev. Early the next month, the design bureau of the Experimental Plant No. 100 in Chelyabinsk, under the leadership of Zhosef Kotin, designer of the KV and IS heavy tanks, began work on a new heavy tank project. Eventually, two designs for the IS-6 were submitted, both in the "classical" tank configuration.
On 8 June 1944, the NKTP ordered the Experimental Plant No. 100, along with the Uralmashzavod (Ural Machine Plant) to begin design and construction of the two IS-6 designs as the Ob'yekt 252 and Ob'yekt 253 respectively. Preliminary design work had already been completed by the Experimental Plant No. 100 under A. Yermolayev, and most of the remaining design work would be the responsibility of Uralmashzavod, as the ChKZ (Chelyabinsk Kirov Zavod - Chelyabinks Kirov Plant), with which the Experimental Plant No. 100 was associated, was also preoccupied with the production of existing tank designs, as well as with work on the Ob'yekt 701 heavy tank (the prototype of the IS-4). The Experimental Plant No. 100 would be resposible for construction of the prototypes, while the Uralmashzavod would be responsible for assembly and testing of the prototypes.
Strictly speaking, there were two different tanks which received the same designation IS-6: the Ob'yekt 252 and the Ob'yekt 253. The IS-6 featured ingame is the Ob'yekt 252. It was manufactured in October 1944, and can be easily distinguished from the Ob'yekt 253 by the large-diameter roadwheels and lack of track support rollers. The suspension had previously been tested on the IS-3 experimental heavy tank (Ob'yekt 244, not to be confused with the IS-3). It was armed with the 122 mm D-30, an improved version of the 122 mm D-25T (not to be confused with the later 122 mm 2A18 howitzer, which also had the name of D-30). The D-30 was equipped with a shell rammer for increased rate-of-fire, and also had a compressed gas system to purge the barrel of gun fumes after firing. It was fitted with a 700 hp V-12U diesel engine and a conventional mechanical transmission, while the Ob'yekt 253 was fitted with the new electro-mechanical transmission. The Ob'yekt 252 underwent factory testing from 8 to 27 November 1944 before being sent, along with the Ob'yekt 253, for further testing at the NIIBT (Nauchno-Ispitatyelniy Institut BronyeTekhnika - Research and Testing Institute for Armoured Vehicles) testing grounds in Kubinka.
Comparative testing with the Ob'yekt 701 showed that both IS-6 prototypes were broadly equivalent to it in firepower and mobility, but were inferior in armour protection. Neither IS-6 design was eventually selected for production; the Ob'yekt 252, with its mechanical transmission, was found to offer no significant advantages over existing heavy tanks, while the Ob'yekt 253's electrical transmission was found to be too bulky, too unreliable, and required too much space for the cooling units. The increased weight of the electrical transmission also reduced the vehicle's maneuverability, eliminating any advantages in handling the electrical transmission would have provided. Further development of both IS-6 designs was thus halted.
Historical Gallery