Tech Tree Tuesday – Revival

Tech Tree Tuesday died, but we are bringing it back. It might be a weekly thing, it might be monthly, we’ll see. You can find a list of all of all the previous weeks in the "Links" dropdown or here. If you have any interest in contributing to Tech Tree Tuesday, contact the mod team so we can coordinate who’s writing what and include a link to your stats. Sorry to be a bit stat elitist on this, but we want to make sure that the authors have at least some idea of how to play the line they are reviewing. If you have any suggestions for this post or the format in general, feel free to put them below!

Before we dive into the line, two disclaimers:
(1) – This entry began writing back in June, before equipment 2.0 was announced. I’ve done my best to get everything updated, but the meta hasn’t fully crystallized and I’m not the best theorycrafter, so some of my equipment suggestions may be a bit off.
(2) – I have not actually played tier IV, V, and VI of this line since the tech tree was rearranged. Normally, I’d wait until I got around to playing them; however, with the Manticore being On-track on NA, I wanted to get this out before that ended.

Tech Tree Tuesday – Manticore

The UK light tank line has had a lot of bad press since introduction. The high tiers have some of the worst DPM and ammo count characteristics of any tank, and many a youtuber and player has mocked and derided them for it. Yet somehow, despite it all, this line manages to be (mostly) enjoyable. This line is all about the camo, small size, and making what shots you do take, count. They play very similarly to the ELC EVEN 90. It’s not a line for everyone, but it might be a line for you.

In this post, we will go over every tank in the line from tier IV up and evaluate their strengths and weaknesses. We will also give you advice on what equipment, crew skills, and consumables to prioritize during your grind. We hope you find this helpful.

Tier IV: Cruiser Mk. IV:

Pew pew pew pew – A medium masquerading as a light

Pros
– 15 degrees gun depression
– 240 burst damage, 4 shot autocannon
– Respectable DPM
– Respectable pen
– Good power to weight ratio
– Spaced armor around turret
– Decent health pool

Cons
– Does NOT get the light tank bonus where moving camo is the same as stationary camo
– 340m view range
– Low (48kph) top speed
– Low accuracy
– No appreciable armor

Playstyle
Despite being a light tank in a light tank line, this is a medium. Play this tank as a mobile ridgeline tank. You have a great little gun in the Bofors with a quick, and decent pen clip. The low accuracy means you will have to play this tank moderately close up or spend a bit of time aiming between shots. You have next to no armor in this tank, so try to avoid getting shot, especially with HE.

One final note is that the stock gun has the best gold shell on this tank (121mm vs 112mm on the Bofors), so you may be tempted to use it if you spam gold shells. I would advise against this, however, as it lowers the DPM and removes your clip.

Setting up the tank

Ammo
120/108/12 (max) AP/APCR/HE
Although your pen is decent for tier IV, there are quite a few opponents that you may face that you will want extra pen for

Equipment
Vents, IRM, Optics/Binos
Basically, optimize firepower (no rammer, so vents + IRM) and, to what extent you can, vision. There’s not too much more to say than that.

Consumables
Med kit, repair kit, (auto) fire extinguisher/food
Standard loadout

Crew skills
At tier IV, you may not even have crew skills before moving onto the next tank, so don’t fret it. I strongly recommend a 0 skill or double zero skill crew member for the commander and driver. These are the only two crew members that will continue all the way to Manticore. The gunner will make it to the tier IX, but the driver doesn’t make it past tier V.
– Commander (Radio Op): Sixth sense, situational awareness, BIA, Recon, camo
– Gunner: snap shot, camo, BIA
– Driver: off road driving, camo, BIA
– Loader: camo, safe stowage, BIA

Rating:
7/10

Tier V: Covenanter

I’d like a bigger gun now, please.

Remember that nice gun you had at tier IV? Well, you still have it, and it’s not so nice now.

Pros
– High DPM for a light
– 15 degrees gun depression
– 240 burst damage, 4 shot autocannon
– Decently low profile

Cons
– Slowest of the tier V lights (55kph)
– no armor aside from a few funky ricochet angles
– low penetration
– low alpha
– only 20 more HP than the tier before

Playstyle
This tank tries to reprise the role of the cruiser before it to limited success. Play ridges, flank enemies, and play more like a fragile close support medium than a light. It goes a little faster, aims a little better, and just overall does everything a bit better than the cruiser. Sadly, the relatively small change and low pen really hold this tank back.

Setting up the tank

Ammo
104/128/8(max) AP/APCR/HE
The pen is really quite lacking, so I’d recommend a healthy supply of gold ammunition for when you’re bottom tier against Tiger Is, T-28 HTCs, T29s, and ISes (ISs? IS-es? Plural IS tanks). HE is next to useless in most scenarios

Equipment
Vents, IRM, Optics/Binos
See Cruiser Mk. IV for details

Consumables
Med kit, repair kit, (auto) fire extinguisher/food
Standard loadout

Directives
Use the 6th sense directive if you don’t have the perk yet. Otherwise, it’s unnecessary, but if you really want to use one, go for vents or optics.

Crew skills
I strongly recommend a 0 skill or double zero skill crew member for the commander and driver. These are the only two crew members that will continue all the way to Manticore. The gunner will make it to the tier IX, but this is the last we will see of the driver.
– Commander (Radio Op): Sixth sense, situational awareness, BIA, Recon, camo
– Gunner: snap shot, camo, BIA
– Driver: off road driving, camo, BIA
– Loader: camo, safe stowage, BIA

Rating:
4/10

Tier VI: Crusader

DEUS VULT! DEUS VULT! DEUS VULT

Pros
– 12 degrees of gun depression
– Turret has some troll-y angles
– Good premium shell (180 pen)
– High health (for a light)
– High RoF
– Lots of ammo

Cons
– Slow for a light
– Can get triple overmatched by 30mm guns in some places. The rest of the armor isn’t great either
– Low alpha

Playstyle
As you may have been able to guess from the pros and cons list, this is another light tank that leans a bit towards quick, flanky support. Luckily, this tank actually has some serviceable view range. 370m isn’t a lot, but with equipment and crew skills, it will do.

Take some not too aggressive spotting positions early in the match and watch closely for opportunities to develop that will allow you to use your high amount of gun depression and high rate of fire to pepper the enemy with shells. Because it reloads in around 2 sec, this tank is remarkably adept at keeping enemies tracked in place.

Setting up the tank

Ammo
75/50/5(max) AP/APCR/HE
This tank is blessed with quite a high ammo count, which means you can afford to bring a lot of premium shells and even some of the admittedly quite weak HE shells without inhibiting your combat abilities or credit making potential. Enjoy it while it lasts.

Equipment
Optics, vents, rammer, IRM (pick 3)
Boosting both damage and vision potential of this tank is important. Use the boosted slot for either optics or vents.

Consumables
Med Kit, Repair Kit,(Auto)extinguisher/food
Do I even need to type this out every time?

Directives
Use the 6th sense directive if you don’t have the perk yet. Otherwise, it’s unnecessary, but if you really want to use one, go for vents, rammer, or optics.

Crew skills
– Commander (radio op): 6th Sense, Situational Awareness, Recon, BIA, Camo
– Driver: Camo, Off Road Driving, BIA, smooth ride
– Gunner (loader): Camo, BIA, Snap shot, Safe stowage

Rating:
7/10 (10/10 in the Holy Land)

Tier VII: Setter

A half baked medium

This tank is so close to being an excellent light tank. It’s gun is really nice for a tier 7 scout… if you ignore the terrible DPM and potential damage. 4.7k means you can pretty quickly run out of ammo, and this issue is exacerbated by the fact that the setter has a great selection of shells to choose from.

Pros
– Best in class pen
– Best in class aim time
– 10 degrees of gun depression all around
– HESH shells (75mm pen)
– Good camo
– Small
– Small turret

Cons
– Slow (58kph)
– Mediocre view range (370m)
– Worst in class DPM
– Worst in class potential damage/low shell count (35)
– Joint worst in class alpha
– Frontal engine
– High fire chance
– Only 3 crew
– Worst in class radio range 😛

Playstyle

I find this tank works best playing more like a flanking paper medium that dabbles in passive scouting. This is a quite competent light tank in a ridge fight. It won’t ever bounce anything, and its DPM is still trash, but when it can control the engagement, it works quite well. The good HE shells can also come as a nasty surprise to lightly armored enemies and tanks you find yourself behind.

Setting up the tank

Ammo
20/12(min)/3(max) AP/APCR/HE
There are a lot of great shells to choose from but a limited capacity. You can’t afford to take much HE, and you’re probably going to be firing your APCR a lot when you run out of standard. Bring more APCR/Less HE to your preference.

Equipment
Optics, rammer, vents.
This tank is one of the very small group of vehicles I would say V-stab isn’t necessary. It already has pretty good gun handling, and boosting the DPM and view range is probably more important. If you are more of a passive scouter, you could make a case for binos, but this will neuter your scouting ability on any map without a convenient bush. Use the boost slot for either optics or vents.

Consumables
Med kit, rep kit, fire extinguisher/food

Directives
I personally think it’s a bit of a waste to use directives below tier X, but I’m a bit of a hoarder. Use Camo, vision, or rammer depending on how you play it if you want to use them.

Crew skills
– Commander (radio op/loader): 6th Sense, Situational Awareness, Recon, BIA, Camo
– Driver: Camo, Off Road Driving, BIA, clutch braking, smooth ride
– Gunner (loader): Camo, BIA, Snap shot, Safe stowage

Look at how overworked the commander is. I would highly recommend a 0-skill crew for this line, as they are going to need a lot of skills. Also, be aware that the Commander is a loader all the way up to tier IX, but not tier X, where they become a gunner. This means any loader skills on the commander won’t work in the Manticore.

Rating: 6/10

Tier VIII: LHMTV

David and Goliath

The LHMTV is the dark horse of the line. Looking at the stats, it has a lot going against it. Despite this, it has enough complementary good things going on that it is a surprisingly good light tank and will be often underestimated.

Pros
– Excellent penetrations
– Actually decent alpha for the tier
– 10 degrees of gun depression at all angles.
– Best in class accuracy
– Miniscule size
– Great camo

Cons
– Only 3 crew
– Abysmal DPM (on par with French autoloaders and is only better then the ELC EVEN 90)
– Terrible, worst in class ammo capacity and potential damage (25 shells, 5,750 total potential damage (no HE))
– Terrible gun elevation angles over the sides and rear
– Mediocre aim time and gun handling
– Shares a role with some excellent/OP tanks like the Lt-432, M41(90), and Senlac (wow, these are all premium, shocker)
– Frontal engine with worst in class engine health and 20% fire chance
– Most expensive tier VIII light (by around 100k credits, found that interesting)

Playstyle
The LHMTV player must find a delicate balance between stealth and aggression. Use your diminutive stature and camo to sneak into good early spotting positions. You have about average view range, but nothing special. The true ace up the sleeve, though, is the gun. Despite the gun being labeled at "85mm High velocity", it has the *exact same gun stats as the 20 pounder** even down to the caliber (83.4mm).* Yes, this "85mm" gun is actually 83.4mm, and the "High Velocity" part isn't true either: it has the same 1050m/s shell velocity as the 20 pounder. WarGaming Logic^TM. (Seriously, there are only 2 reasons I can think of for this: 1. WG meant to give it a different gun and used the 20lb-er as a placeholder then forgot to change it or 2. WG always wanted to give it a 20lb-er but didn't want players to already have it unlocked from the british meds or heavies.) 230 alpha isn't bad, but isn't much to write home about either, but 226 standard pen is definitely worth sending a letter. This thing has better standard penetration than the premium penetration of every other tier VIII light tank aside from the germans (250 HEAT) and M41D (which beats it by 1mm). This pen can go up to 258mm if you load gold. This is an amazing gun to have on a light tank despite being held back by low DPM and shell counts. If you aren't using this gun, you are wasting this tank's potential. Knowing when to shoot and when to hide is the key to playing this tank successfully.

Setting up the tank

Ammo
15/10(min)/0 AP/APCR/HE The AP shell on this tank is more than capable, but when you have so few shells, bouncing is not a risk you want to take. This is why I recommend you carry a considerable percentage of APCR shells in this tank.

Equipment:
Optics, Vents/Rammer/V-Stab or IRM or IAU/CVS/LNE (low noise exhaust) (pick 2)
Optics is an obvious choice for a scout, and there's no need to explain why. The next two pieces of equipment depend on your playstyle; I think all are viable. Rammer gives you more DPM which is good, but the DPM is already trash, so one could make the case to not bother polishing a turd. V-Stab helps you with the gun handling letting you poke ridges quicker reducing exposure, but you could argue that you should really be shooting mostly from ambush/you are already hard to hit when poking, so you can afford to aim a little longer to get more somewhere else. IRM trades a bit of the bonus of V-stab in exchange for making the tank and turret rotate faster. IAU synergizes with that best in class accuracy if you plan to try to take shots from stealth at long range using your camo and vision. Vents is always a solid pick and gives smaller benefits to gun handling, view range, and DPM. I haven’t played around with commander’s vision system much yet, but it looks like it could be a split scouting pick. Low noise exhaust could also be useful in a min/max camo loadout. Personally, I'd lean toward Vents + V-stab because the difference in DPM between the rammer and vents is only 130dmg and vents gives you better view range too. I also like to snap shots (a lot, ask Tantalus43), so better gun handling fits me well. Take whatever works for you and feel free to experiment. Use the boost slot for optics.

Consumables:
Med Kit, Repair Kit, Fire Extinguisher/Food

Directives
I personally think it’s a bit of a waste to use directives below tier X, but I’m a bit of a hoarder. Use Camo, vision, or rammer depending on how you play it if you want to use them.

Crew skills
– Commander (Radio Operator, Loader): Sixth Sense, BIA, Situational Awareness, Recon, Camo, Safe Stowage
– Driver: Camo, BIA, Smooth Ride, Off Road Driving
– Gunner (Loader): Camo, BIA, Snap Shot, Safe Stowage
Reminder: Commander is a loader all the way up to tier IX, but not tier X, where they become a gunner. This means any loader skills on the commander won’t work in the Manticore.

Rating: 7/10

Tier IX: GSOR3301 AVR FS

G-sorely lacking

I have no love for this vehicle. It does everything the LHMTV does, but worse. Despite being small, it feels like a big cardboard box on tracks that is just asking for HE shells. Its gun isn’t as good tier for tier, and now it has to regularly deal with EBRs, which eat this thing for dinner.

Pros
– Best in class pen
– 10 degrees of gun depression all around
– 35 degrees of gun elevation all around
– Very good power to weight
– Fairly small
– Good camo
– Gun mounted high in turret

Cons
– Worst in class DPM
– Worst in class potential damage (by a lot)
– Frontal engine
– High fire chance
– 3 Crew members
– Big, flat sides (hello HE pens)
– EBR 90 and 105 exist and are common adversaries

Playstyle

The playstyle here is no different from any other tank in the line. Use your small stature and high camo to passive spot and sneak into advantageous positions. When the opportunity arises, play ridgelines against your enemies to help mitigate the poor DPM and armor.

Setting up the tank

Ammo
15/10/0 AP/APCR/HE
Poor ammo count makes bringing HE a pipe dream. The premium rounds provide a fairly weak pen buff from 232mm to 254mm, but you have to bring a decent number because with only 25 shells, bouncing really hurts.

Equipment
Optics, Vents, Rammer/IAU or IRM/CVS/LNE
Optics is non-negotiable, and I’d recommend vents. Both of these are about maximizing your view range and general performance. The last slot is a bit trickier to nail down. Rammer provides obvious benefits, but it’s not like damage output is the focus of this tank. IAU and IRM both provide small bonuses to aiming and bonus to accuracy or turret and hull rotation respectively. CVS and LNE are both useful for scouting purists, but as I mentioned earlier, I haven’t played around with these much yet.

Consumables
Med kit, rep kit, fire extinguisher/food (shocker)

Directives
I personally think it’s a bit of a waste to use directives below tier X, but I’m a bit of a hoarder. Use Camo, vision, or rammer depending on how you play it if you want to use them.

Crew skills
– Commander (Radio Operator, Loader): Sixth Sense, BIA, Situational Awareness, Recon, Camo, Safe Stowage
– Driver: Camo, BIA, Smooth Ride, Off Road Driving
– Gunner (Loader): Camo, BIA, Snap Shot, Safe Stowage
These are the same skills as the tier 7 and 8. This is the last tier you have a designated gunner. After this, they have to go live in the barracks or another british light. Don’t forget, the commander is a loader all the way up to tier IX, but not tier X, where they become a gunner. This means any loader skills on the commander won’t work in the Manticore.

Rating: 2/10

Tier X: Manticore

The No Man’s Sky of tanks: completely failed to live up to what was advertised, but nowadays quietly makes a niche for itself as quite a solid tank.

The Manticore is one of the small cadre of tanks I classify in the "Not great but Fun" category. The tank is commonly mocked, but only partially deservedly so, as being one of the worst tanks at tier X. It’s pretty middle of the pack as far as lights go. It’s definitely better than the RHM Panzerwagon and WZ-132A but worse than the EBR and T-100. Where it falls in regards to the Sheridan and AMX-105 is up to you. Despite being middle of the pack, This is not a tank you can carry games in. This is not a tank you can pull off a monster 8k or 9k game in. (You are hard capped at 7800 damage due to the limited shell capacity.) Despite this, the tank is still fun. It's sneaky, it's quirky, it grows on you. I think most of the dislike this tank gets stem from the way WG sold it as a "High alpha, great vision, battleship gun light tank" when it didn't surpass any of its competitors in either of these categories. It also had the misfortune of coming onto the scene in the middle of the EBR meta, where the passive scout playstyle languishes. So why should you even consider this tank let alone the whole line?

Pros
– Decent top speed
– Best in class alpha (tied, not counting SheriDerp)
– Smallest tier X light
– Very stealthy
– Gun mounted high in the turret (great for ridges)
– Good gun depression
– Good view range (400m)

Cons
– Worst in class DPM/rate of fire
– Extremely limited shell capacity (20)
– Only 2 crew members. TWO! TWO!
– Does not get access to classic British HESH (My theory is that the French stole it and put it in the EBR.)
– No armor of any sort, overmatchable
– Mediocre accuracy (common on tier X lights)
– Terrible gun elevation (especially over the rear)
– Frontal engine and a high fire chance
– EBR 105 exists

Playstyle

This tank is a combination passive scout and ridge peaker. Use your excellent camouflage to get into sneaky positions early and get some good spotting. Be warned, the presence of EBRs can make passive scouting almost impossible on some maps, so you may have to skip this phase. Always make sure you have an exit strategy, support, or both. This tank cannot 1v1 any other vehicle (aside from ARTY). As the match progresses, use your small size and large gun to take shots of opportunity over ridgelines, ideally from stealth. You may not shoot fast, but you do hit decently hard, so the damage will start to stack up. Keep an eye on your ammunition supplies, as if you miss too many shots, you might not have enough ammo to finish the match. This tank is rewarding in experienced hands, but is absolutely unforgiving if played incorrectly.

Setting up the tank:

Ammo
13/7(min)/0 AP/APCR/HE
You don’t have much ammo, so whatever you're bringing, you have to make it count.

Equipment
Optics, vents, rammer/CVS or LNE/IAU or IRM (pick 1)
You want everything you can to boost that view range, as that is your most important stat in this tank. You could make a case for binos, but I'd personally avoid them for the extra flexibility, especially when you have to run from an EBR about to spot you. The last equipment slot, I’m not entirely sure about. Rammer helps boost the abysmal DPM. CVS or LNE look like they could help min/max a pure scouting build. IAU and IRM both help with aiming while providing a bonus to accuracy or hull/turret rotation respectively. I listed these over V-stab, because with such a low ammo count, gunnery is not always your priority and when it is, you usually have time to aim. IAU helps make sure your very precious shells pen while IRM provides some bonus mobility.

Consumables
Medkit (really can't take any lost crew in this), repair kit, and food/auto extinguisher. You can use large kits if you don't mind the cost. Although, with only two crew, you’re never going to be healing more than one at a time, so only use the big medkit if you want the lower chance of crew death. Food is probably the more competitive option, but I prefer the extinguisher in pubs because I hate being on fire. Buyer beware, this tank has a frontal engine and will get set on fire fairly often when hit there (ymmv).

Directives
Camo, vision, or rammer depending on how you play it if you want to use them

Crew Skills
– Commander (Radio Operator, Gunner): Sixth Sense, BIA, Situational Awareness, Recon, Camo, Snap Shot, Designated target
– Driver (loader): Camo, BIA, Smooth Ride, Off Road Driving
Due to the extremely limited crew size, you are going to have to pack a lot of crew skills on both the members. If you have a zero skill crew or even better, a double zero skill crew (like Santa), this is where you want to use them. Obviously, you want to get 6th Sense, situational awareness, recon, BIA, and camo as soon as possible. I put them roughly in the order I'd go after them, but you can do whatever works best for you. I would not recommend any other skills before these, though. Good skills to consider after this would be offroad driving, snap shot, and safe stowage. I wouldn't prioritize smooth ride as you have so few rounds, firing one on the move is inadvisable. It nevers hurts to have, though. After that, follow your heart. Just be aware, the crew skills get much slower with each new skill, and you have to stack them so high on the Manticore, later skills are going to take a long time.

Rating: 5/10

Concluding Thoughts

The british lights aren’t conventionally good. If you are a relatively new player reading this, don’t go up the British light line yet. Wait until you’ve done another light line or two. They aren’t going anywhere.

If you are a more experienced player and looking for a challenge, the UK Lights might be for you. The key to this line is a solid understanding of the vision mechanics in the game and common scouting locations. You have to play sneaky, but the excellent camo combined with the small size and actually fairly decent (aside from damage output) guns of the line can make for a surprisingly fun playstyle.

Any potential grinders be warned: your mistakes will be punished immensely, You cannot fight your way out of situations, and this line, more than any other, requires massive crew investment to have a fully capable tank. If you are wanting a tank that will commonly be of use in a competitive environment, this is probably not the line you are looking for. But, if you want a surprisingly fun challenge, consider giving the line a shot.

Editor’s note: The entire line fires AP standard and APCR premium shells. This means there is little to no downside to firing all APCR aside from cost.

Don’t sleep on the Manticore.

Manticore vs all the tier X lights

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