KV-220 – is it worth it?

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Hello everyone,

as you probably know, both the US and the EU server have a special event, where you can (for limited time only) buy the KV-220. For those who don’t know, KV-220 is a tier 5 heavy tank, previously exclusive to the Russian server. It’s main advantages are thick hull armor and the fact that it has a limited MM (it will not see tier 7 vehicles). Please note that the fact EU wikipedia doesn’t mention this fact means only that EU wikipedia has it wrong. It does have limited MM.

So, what IS the KV-220? Basically, it’s a KV-3 hull with KV-1 turret and a rather poor 76mm gun. If you are interested in its real life history (yes, this vehicle actually existed and fought), have a look at Ensign Expendable’s KV-220 article. It’s worth reading.

On European server, KV-220 is offered as a part of the “Collector’s Delight” for 49.95 EUR (along with a garage slot, 30 days of premium and 10500 gold). As you can see, that’s a lot of money for a tier 5 tank, especially for hardcore players, who usually don’t need gold or premium account time. It’s an obvious moneygrab, aimed at people, who want to have something special – and that’s fine, in real life you also pay for exclusivity. To me the price feels really steep (30 EUR with adequate gold/premium would be IMHO more adequate). But that’s not what this post is about. This post is about its performance.

Yesterday, a bunch of guys with access to special accounts that have this tank took this vehicle for a spin to test what it can do. First, let’s have a look at its basic parameters. Here is the wikipedia page about it, you can see the basic parameters there.

Armor

As you can see here, the frontal hull armor is 100mm thick and somewhat sloped. This is one of the rare instances where the lower frontal plate is actually better armored (due to the slope) than the upper part of the plate. The upper plate also has driver’s hatch and the MG shield 80mm weakspots, so aim for the upper plate (it is better sloped):

T220

The turret however is quite thin: 75mm only, so unless you hit the mantlet, you have a fair chance of penetrating. Therefore, if you encounter this tank, your best bet is to aim around the mantlet. Most of the shots will pass through. Don’t be fooled by the paper “90mm” turret front thickness, that’s basically just the red area behind the mantlet.

Firing tests conducted against KV-220 by Churchill III tank (6pdr, 110 pen), T1 Heavy (76mm M1A1, 128 pen) and KV-1 (85mm F30, 120 pen) have shown that the vehicle is quite resistant to the upper and lower plate armor shots (100mm red areas). The 6pdr and 76mm gun had issues dealing with the hull armor (especially when angled), with only a part of shells penetrating (roughly 50 percent on average). Mantlet area of the turret is almost impossible to penetrate by tier 5 and 6 weapons, but the turret plate (orange area) proved to be very vulnerable. In case you don’t want to waste gold ammunition, I suggest aiming there. Needless to say that against Dicker Max shells, even the hull armor cannot stand (at roughly 250 meters, practically every shell penetrated and only 2 bounced during tests – again, the lower frontal plate proved to be tougher).

Last thing worth noting is the fact this vehicle is quite susceptible to engine damage, when hit from sides into the rear area. In our tests it did not star burning immediately after 1st shot (the engine has 120 hitpoints, KV-1 engines have 85, 90, 140 hitpoints, with 75-80 module damage being the usual for the guns of that tier).

Gun

The gun is not actually historical and quite poor to boot. It’s the 76mm ZIS-5 – KV-1 stock gun. Its parameters are:

DAM: 110/110/156
PEN: 99/121/38
ROF: 14 RPM
ACC: 0,46
AIM: 2,29
ELEVATION: -8/+24

This gun is adequate for tier 5 battles, but somewhat lacking for tier 6′s. Its main issue however is the accuracy, the shells fly all over the place and you won’t be hitting anything, unless coming up close. The elevation/depression are sufficient and the turret turn rate is practically identical to KV-1.

Firing tests of the gun were conducted using regular ammunition against KV-1, T1 Heavy and Churchill III tank, at the distance of 100 meters, with no hull angling. At this distance, KV-220 already has huge issues with accuracy, with roughly 30 percent of shots flying wide. Of those that hit, T1 proved to be penetrable well in front armor, KV-1 turret proved to be invulnerable to KV-220 shots, while frontal hull got mostly penetrated. Churchill proved to be almost invulnerable to this gun, mostly again because poor accuracy did not allow proper aiming for weakspots. Second test was conducted against armor angled 30 percent degrees. When angled as such, all three tanks (KV-1, T1 Heavy and Churchill III) proved to be completely invulnerable to regular AP shots of KV-220.

Mobility

Unlike the KV-1, this vehicle has (actually, again unhistorical) 650 horsepower engine (compared to real life, 700hp and even 850hp supercharged engines were available). That is… not that much, given the fact this tank weights 62 tons. Surprisingly, this vehicle is fairly mobile. During the tests, it proved to be a tiny little bit faster than an elite KV-1 on hard terrain and also on soft terrain. Same goes for turning rate.

This is how a “race” between tested KV-220 (without camo), elite KV-1 (with camo), T1 Heavy and Churchill III ended up. The mobility is practically identical (KV-220 proved to be a tiny little bit faster).

shot_044

Conclusion

The tank itself isn’t bad, but the armor won’t save it. Not when everyone is carrying gold ammo around and even when regular shells can penetrate it at close distances (and it has to close in in order to make the bad accuracy work). In tier 6 battles against 88mm guns, it will be completely outmatched. If you want a new vehicle you will enjoy playing and not simply a rare collectible, it’s not worth it. However, high price will ensure that there won’t be many of those around, so if you are indeed a hardcore collector, it’s probably worth acquiring.

39 thoughts on “KV-220 – is it worth it?”

  1. it’s not worth in a combo with 10500 gold and 30 day premium!

    only at a price of 1500 gold and garage slot!

  3. Can you do one of these for the M4A2E4? I only ask because the SEA server is getting that instead of the KV-220.
    They are charging $95 for the cheapest bundle and I’ve very tempted to get it but then again $95 for a tier 5 tank seems a little high. :/

    • It’s like a T14 but it trades armor for speed and agility. It has the same gun as T14 and preferential MM too.

  4. Well, this case proves that playstyle of 220 will be somewhat similar to Church III. Sure it has bouncy mantlet , but rest of it + flat surfaced ( KV1 stock?) sides are no protection. Also, having KV3 hull provides large target when looking from a side.

    Spall liner would be good for future owners, to protect gunner + commander, while not hampering mobility much.

    • Funny thought , you would have to look for ripped off turret somewhere to identify it as kv3 or 220 wreck , in future when HAVOC kicks in.

      Tank for itself : 6/10

      Tank in bundle : 2/10 (would not feed WG)

      • the bundle limits the number of players buying it.

        for 1500gs a lot of people would buy it and t5 would be awful to play since you would be forced to carry a lot of gold ammo to kill them.

  5. 10500 gold and 30 days of premium… AND a KV220.

    No thx. Collector item or not… That is simply to much.

  8. Pingback: [Sammelthread] World of Tanks [3] - Seite 1361

  9. Note: a wiki is not a ‘wikipedia’. Wikipedia is a famous wiki, but it is not the origin of the wiki system, nor synonymous. It’s like referring to all hamburgers as a ‘big macs’.

  10. Well, as 220 owner. It not that bad, most of people you gonna encounter don’t know is weak point.
    (There are a lot of battle where I receive around 20-30 shot. and still going. some time even 100.)
    Just rush ahead, get close and shoot while they are panic.

    This tank is great, or maybe it just player in SEA sever are pathetic.

    Anyway, I just say this tank is quite good but not a must buy tank.
    It great for me because it was free, but I don’t see it worth 50$.

    • consider also in the bounces the guns that you are up against are not that powerfull and thaaaat accurate(T1 heavy top gun and Kv1 top gun ) also it is a tier 5 with 100mm hull the other most armored at tier 5 is the AT 2 and ofc has to do with the knowledge of players
      at tier 5 battles you dont exept many skilled players or players knowing the basics
      and last thing the it’s a kv which mean pretty much they are the same weakspots
      thx god WG did put the brain to work and put a riddiculous amount of money cause tier 5\s would be ruined

  11. “Please note that the fact EU wikipedia doesn’t mention this fact means only that EU wikipedia has it wrong. It does have limited MM.”

    If drunken EU Wiki admins would unlock the database for editing once in a while, I could correct that information, as I already found, where is the typo..

    • Jeeze, one friggen mistake on a tank no one uses (what, there were 5 tween NA and EU before?) :D

      Anyway, the MM chart has it correct, if not the actual tank – http://wiki.worldoftanks.com/images/a/a0/Matchmaking_Chart.png
      - and as soon as the Admins in >MINSK< unlock the wiki we'll be back in business.

      And no idea how long that will be, the only official info released is what's on the RU portal about it – http://worldoftanks.ru/ru/news/2/tech_works_wiki_04_11/

      Технические работы на сайте Wiki-энциклопедии World of Tanks
      03.11.2013 Уведомления

      Уважаемые игроки, 4 ноября в 11:00 (МСК) на сайте Wiki-энциклопедии World of Tanks начнутся долгосрочные технические работы, в связи с чем редактирование статей будет невозможно. При этом все материалы остаются доступными для чтения. О точной дате завершения технических работ будет сообщено дополнительно.

      Technical work on site Wiki-encyclopedia World of Tanks
      03.11.2013 Notification

      Dear players, 4 November at 11:00 (CET) online encyclopedia Wiki-World of Tanks will begin long-term technical work in connection with which it will be impossible to edit articles. Moreover, all the materials are available for reading. The exact date of completion of the technical work to be announced.

      FYI, the NA and EU wiki are the same. It's just the address that looks different depending on what you typed in.

      Lead WoT Wiki (soon to be WoWP and WoWS also?!?!) Editor, Jiri_Starrider

  12. I bought it earlier, played a few matches at lunch time, I agree largely.

    The armour is fine against Tier 5′s and 6′s though not against things like Nashorns. Angled I bounced 4 KV-1S shots in a close range engagement and I had to switch to gold for reliable penetration. Against tier 5′s it was ok, but the BDR can pen you frontally (may of been gold) even when angled.

    As a Low tier Russian heavy Premium it’s fine, nothing special. Useful with my KV5 for crew grinding. In both games Arty homed in on me but with a heavy spall liner I took much less damage in the second game.

    The tank does feel much more sprightly than the KV-1 track rotation was freer and with removed speed governors kept up with heavier mediums to about 40kph.

  14. The EU wiki is why i thought this wouldnt get special MM, thanks for clearing that up.
    Still, I won’t buy that tank.

  15. Nice detailed review from that tank, GJ!

    BTW, unikums will still do medals with the KV-220

  16. would buy it but…..50 euros is lotta money.i dont think i have to buy gold for the next couple months or more. then again, i’ve grown to like the tank in SEA (im a beta tester so i have the ultra-rare Beta version :3 ) that i DO know how to play it. let’s see if it stays the same with the idiots here :D

  17. If you want gold and premium, then this is a very good pack indeed, as is the M3 light pack
    In that pack, you even get more gold than you would normally! the light tank and garage slot are completely extra!

    • Yeah in a tier 5 game it’s just not fair, It’s like a AT-2 with harder to hit weakspots and a turret. 5k potential damage is the norm if you feel like having a laugh and just sit there taking hits.

  20. Between this, the Churchill III, KV-5 and IS-6, I’ll be all set for crew training on Soviet Heavies! XD

  21. i love I love tocollect…but good and funny tank ..stats make this tank OP ..but i dont like it..the gun is horrible..same t44-85 premium tank