T77 mini (well not really) review

First off, let's make it clear that I'm not here to discuss the merits of throwing money at WG for a miniscule chance of getting a bunch of pixels that from certain angles resembles a tank. Instead, what I'll do is evaluate the said pixels based on the trifecta of gun, mobility, and protection, so as to hopefully allow you to form an informed opinion on whether you want to waste more money on a bad game.

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GUN – 8.5/10 ^{(for the sake of comparison, the IS-3A and Renegade are solid 9s})

PROS

• + 1080 burst IN FOUR SECONDS
• + 360 alpha
• + 299 pen HEAT rounds – rip tier 8 'armoured' tanks
• + 8 degrees of gun depression
• + APCR as standard (232 pen at 1143 m/s)
• + fast turret traverse
• + this is a 120mil so although it behaves exactly like WG's new 105mm guns it can overmatch more targets (38.1mm Murican roofs) and cause more module damage

MEH

• = .32 accuracy fully kitted out, balanced by bad bloom – never ever snap unless absolutely necessary
• = 1080 clip can't actually clip same tier TDs without highrolling
• = 'only' 36 shells

CONS

• – 35 second clip reload means you need support and/or hard cover
• – 3 shot clip and loooooong reload means missing/bouncing any one shot will kill your already low DPM, and, speaking of which
• – 1650 DPM
• – BIG BLOOM after shooting and inability to aim fully in between shots
• – derpy gun handling accentuated by lack of armour
• – bad at poking
• – base APCR loses a lot of pen over distance – down to 200 at sniping ranges
• – HEAT has low ish shell velocity at 850 m/s which makes sniping a bit iffy

Basically your schtick is to dump 1080 damage before anyone can react and then jerk off in a corner for 35 seconds. The APCR makes it passable at sniping much like the 3A, and the absolutely massive HEAT penetration of 299 milimetres allows you to lolpen most same tier targets. The downside is that you can't kill anything alone and always need meatshields backup. The tank has trouble killing stuff until the late-game, and even then still needs to avoid 1v1s.

If it had a 25 second reload it would easily be a 9 or above in this department, but as it is, it's objectively worse than something like a Somua SM (1.5k clip + 10 degrees of gundep) or the 3A (1170 clip + ability to defend itself + fear factor), and not much better than the Emils which have the luxury of aiming fully.

Still, it's uniquely strong in its ability to negate heavy armour so it's not completely pointless.

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MOBILITY – 8.5/10

• + 48 top speed that it reaches
• + fast traverse (rip bloom tho)
• = 14 HP/T plus good gear stats
• = decent terrain resistances esp on medium terrain
• – 12 reverse speed wtf WG

The tank feels more like a slow-ish medium than a heavy, which is a good thing given how vulnerable the thing is when reloading (read: all the time). It's also agile and won't have too much trouble against mediums. It's not a Lorraine, but it is at least fast enough to race to most heavy spots faster than everything except maybe an E75 TS, a Nameless, or a WZ-111.

The really ugly thing about the mobility is the -12 reverse speed, which it shares with most American heavies, which is an absolute liability that you will notice because you really want to fuck off after unloading that clip, to the point I feel that a turbocharger is semi-mandatory. This is not a problem on the T57 because of how much damage it can spit out and how quick the drum reloads, but it is very much present here. Other, slower autoloaders at tier 8 don't have this problem either.

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PROTECTION – 4/10 ^{(IS-3A would be a 7.5, the Renegade a 6})

• + upper portion of oscillating turret is decently strong (~230-250 EA)
• + UFP decently strong at ~220 on flat ground, and can be angled further with gun depression to reach 250 EA
• + autobounce strips on turret and hull corners
• + smallish target
• = IS-3 syndrome – armour cannot be angled on flat ground due to aggressive pike/bow (note this is unlike the M48 hull proper or the M103 hull on the T57 or the E5 hull where the base thickness is enough that angling the hull will not result in presenting a weakness to the side closest to the enemy)
• = anything with more than 260 ish pen can basically ignore your armour
• = 1450 HP – normal for an autoloader but less than the 3A
• – large and vulnerable LFP
• – large and vulnerable hamster cheeks
• – cannot sidescrape due to hull shape

Though the thing looks exactly like a T57, the armour of the T77 leaves much to be desired, even for a tier 8. The hull isn't actually an M48 hull, but that of a prototype T48 – the difference being that the T48 hull has a much more aggressive egg shape which cannot be angled – and loses the fucky autobounce angles that you've learnt to love or hate on the T54E1 and the T54E2 (Renegade).

Essentially, what you have is a T57 that's had all the troll bits removed, leaving a soft target that's unable to bounce poorly aimed return fire. In theory, the UFP and turret combo can be leveraged, but this is a burst oriented autoloader which means it largely doesn't matter.

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MISC

• + decent credit earning potential
• + only crew trainer/prem for Murican autoloaders
• – 370 VR
• – heavy tank camo
• – food hungry ^{im so sorry for the pun}

In its first iteration as a medium tank, the T77 could conceivably have used its downtime to scout, much like the T69. As a bursty autoloader these stats don't hold the tank back too much, tho 400 VR would be nifty for lategame carries.

As a credit earner, the decent base APCR and the good mobility means that you can adjust your playstyle to not have to spam HEAT ( – more than you can say for some other recent prems like the CS52 or the T42). However, like most autoloaders, it is very much dependent on food to decrease the magazine reload, and the overall improvement to gun handling is also an immense boon whatwith the shallow clip and the long reload.

It is a fun, if one note, tank, and I'd prefer to play this over the T34 and the Chrysler, so there's that. That said, the Renegade and T26E5 are more engaging to play, at least in my opinion and are slightly better at earning credits.

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EQUIPMENT CHOICES

• stabs and vents are a given
• for 3rd slot, choice between IRM (bloom), GLD (clip dumping), IAU (hard accuracy), turbo (survivability) and optics (VR)
• I prefer turbo as the tank takes too much return fire when retreating to reload otherwise.

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VERDICT (21/30 – good)

• + unmatched burst ability
• + brutalises heavy armour in a way that no other tier 8 autoloader is able to
• = decent platform with a good amount of speed and survivability – but lacks the troll armour that you might expect
• – exceptionally vulnerable in duels due to shallow clip, long reload, and poor reverse speed
• – low DPM limits farming ability in fast games
• – liable to get bullied by firepower oriented heaviums and big clip autoloaders

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TLDR

Historically, heavy autoloaders have always sat in an awkward place because, however good at shitting out damage they might be, MM pits them against proper heavies. For this reason, most of the heavy autoloaders that have been newly addded to the game are armoured autoloaders. In this scheme of things, the T77 is very much an old school autoloader, not exactly armoured, nor as fast as its French counterparts.

What it does bring to the table is an ability to cripple very heavily armoured targets in a very brief span of time. In that niche alone, nothing matches it. That being said, in terms of overall strength, the T77 is a clear downgrade to both the IS-3A and the Somua SM, in that those tanks can either clip tanks better, or defend themselves better, or both. For faster autoloaders, the Lorraine exists. If you are really dedicated, there is the Emil 1951.

If you have any of those tanks, there really is no compelling reason to get a T77 – assuming of course you will get one. It does remind me a lot of the old T54E1 before it got changed into a heavy, so that's one reason to get this thing.

Lastly, if it sounded like I didn't like this tank, I do actually enjoy playing it because it's sort of relaxing with how much downtime it has. I do think it's actually quite strong, and can be thought of as a 2020 take on the 50 100.

^{PS it's actually quite historical, not that it matters}