VK 45.02 (P) Ausf. B

Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Good frontal armor when angled.
• Almost no frontal weak spots.
• Excellent high alpha gun.
• Very capable side scraper.

Cons:

• Rear mounted turret makes playstyle difficult.
• Slow without engine upgrades.
• Very vulnerable to flanking and circling.
• Mediocre lower plate strength.

Performance

The VK 45B is an excellent true heavy tank in WoT Blitz. After a recent improvement, its' 200mm of upper frontal armor is exceedingly thick for most encounters. Like all German heavy tanks, the VK 45B benefits greatly from armor angling. When angling, the simplest method for properly angling is to point the cannon at the potential incoming fire, and rotate the hull underneath the barrel so that the front corner is directly beneath the barrel. This will maximize lower plate thickness and take as much advantage of side armor as possible. While higher penetration weapons can still penetrate the lower plate at this attitude, it's still not an easy shot. Further, if a slightly nose-down position can be adopted, this will increase lower plate armor significantly. No other armor is reliable on the VK 45B, so take note to adopt this front-first attitude at all times.

The VK 45B shares a gun with the E75 as a high alpha, long reload weapon. Unlike many of its' peer tier IX tanks however, the top gun is not purely required and the 10.5cm L/62 armament is quite sufficient for this tank. Instead of spending piles of free XP on the 12.8cm gun, owners should consider playing enough battles to earn the normal experience for the module, saving the free for later. The high alpha/penetration 12.8cm gun is the way to go on this tank. Beware, the reload is long, so take care to position yourself properly during reload. Concentrate on armor angling during this time, even if behind cover. Practice the angle to make it second nature. VK 45B drivers rejoiced during the latter half of 2015 when the tank received numerous buffs to gun handling and especially depression. These improvements make the weapon quite accurate and flexible. Like many german tanks, the gun depression is increased over the sides, so if that's needed, wait till a shot is baited, rotate the hull past the gun to get an extra couple degrees of gun depression.

As good as the armor and gun are on the VK 45B, drivers must take care to manage encounters. This tank is far from quick. It had its' ground resistance buffed but it still is slow and turns slow. A VK 45B is very vulnerable to circling or even short flanking maneuvers as the side armor is quite thin. Analyze team compositions before battle and plan to take beneficial positions where the battle is expected to unfold. Plan ahead, keep the battle at medium range, and don't get overwhelmed attempting to maximize armor values and the VK 45B will reward with excellent performance.