Hello fellow waffle tankers! I'm writing this for those of you who do not know how to side-scrape. Let's kick this off with a nice little scenario...
Lets assume you are on Ruinberg and you are driving down one of the inner streets. A nasty TD has appeared and he just punched through your frontal armor
, angling likely will not work so the best thing to do at this point is to side-scrape.
*Side note* Side-scraping is a relatively easy tactic
(that's best done in the Russian IS, and KV series as well as the German heavy lines and E-50 line) that can be used in cities or in fields to deflect incoming shots off of your side armor and tracks. Now back to our scenario, so you notice he is halfway down your street but you are right next to the corner of a building. Instead of running down that street you should slam your frontal armor into that builing so now you are completely hidden by that corner. Now rotate slightly so that the rear of your tank sticks out slightly into the TD's line of fire. Now if the nasty TD shoots you, his shell will be bounced by the shallow angle of you side armor or be absorbed by your track. Amazingly this can be done in fields...wait for it...... IN THE OPEN!!!!!!.... though I only reccommend doing this in the German heavies or in the Russian KV's... the IS series has a piked frontal plate so the armor is worsended when side-scraping in the open.... the German heavies and Russian KV's get both a frontal armor boost and side armor boost from side-scraping in the open. Alternatively, if you have a rock or a heavily armored friend who is willing to get hit for you, you can side-scrape from that as well while in a field. I should also note that you will more than likely need to back away from your cover to shoot, how far you need to back up is up to you to find as each tank's turret is located in a different spot.
Now to explain why i reccommend side-scraping in the tanks i mentioned above:
KV's- the KV line has incredibly thick side armor coupled with the 80mm side armor buff given by the tracks, these tanks can tank an enormous amount of damage when side-scraping
IS's- the IS series of tanks don't have thick side armor, but what they do have is spaced armor and armor that is angled towards the turret on the sides. This gives a high likely hood of non-penetrating hits, not bounces.
German Heavy Lines- Both the E-100 and Maus lines have tanks that have thick, slab-sided armor
(meaning flat). Flat sides benefit wonderfully from side-scraping. Not to mention the Germans also have thick front armor that can help with open field side-scraping.
E-50 Line- the German medium line that leads to the E-50 are essentially super-mediums
(heavily armored medium tanks...can take the place of heavies if need be). Same side-scraping perks from the German heavies apply here.
*I do not reccommed side-scraping in turretless tanks such as TD's, while they tend to be heavily armored all over, if you are tracked while side-scraping you have no way to defend yourself if you have already used your repair kit and they rush
**Side-scraping takes practice, you may not get it right on the first try
** If you have questions or want to practice this just let me know
Have fun side-scraping, I hope you learned something!!
--Wolfy9815, a.k.a The Heavy Guy
Mon May 19, 2014 4:48 pm
