Scorpiany Posted February 28, 2016 Share Posted February 28, 2016 It is a bear, yet no ordinary Soviet vodka bear. Alas, no. It has none of the unpredictability of the Soviet's drunken bears in their stupors. Rather, as a German Premium, it has all of the reliability and consistency of the German's engineering. For it is a true beast amongst the battlefield. In this guide, I shall cover all of the various Pros and Cons of the Panzer 58 Mutz (German Bear), explain the gun choices and/or performance, equipment choices, give you a general overview of its gameplay (ff,ff,ff) and compare it to other Tier 8 Medium Tanks. Let's get started, shall we? Table of Contents: General overview (Pros and Cons) Equipment, ammo and consumable layout Gun choices and / or performance Gameplay (ff,ff,ff) Comparison to other same-class tanks of its Tier Overall Rating General Overview: Pros: Extremely high penetration power for a Tier 8 medium; especially for a Premium tank Rather nimble with a top speed of 50km/h and a very reasonable traverse speed of 45 degrees/second Incredibly low terrain resistance values; this allows the tank to very reliably reach its top speed in a rather short period of time Reasonable accuracy of .35 Nice shell velocity of 1,000 m/s for the standard AP. Helps make hunting down your targets from a distance rather easy indeed. Good reverse speed of 20km/h allowing you to back out of trouble as necessary Great gun elevation and depression angles, with 25 degrees in elevation and 10 degrees of depression - makes shooting at opponents whilst using the terrain a breeze! Neutrals: Reasonable aiming time of 2.21 seconds Alright hull traverse of 45 degrees / second. Whilst it's not disappointing like the CDC, it's not the quickest to turn either. Decent enough armor on both the hull and turret. Whilst it's not necessarily reliable, there are actually quite a few areas on the front of the tank with auto-bounce angles or unusually high effective armor values. Despite the very low chance of fire of only 12%, your fuel tanks are in the front of the tank. Having them damaged is a rather common occurrence. Luckily they don't get destroyed too often, but it certainly is a threat you have to be aware of. Sometimes, especially if you're lower on HP, using a repair kit on your fuel tanks is a very viable option. Alright View Range of 380m. You'll still be able to outspot a reasonable number of tanks if you have Coated Optics on, but don't rely on this to always be the case. Rather reasonable camouflage values. With a camo crew, you can actually stay hidden very well at longer ranges, or when making proper usage of foliage as concealment. Cons: Mediocre gun handling stats. Whilst still better than the AMX CDC, they're not nearly as good as they are on the Pershing or Patton KR. Due to this tank's increased speed, this isn't that bad of a thing, but it's worth noting that you can't shoot on the move too reliably except at closer ranges. Low HP pool of only 1,300 HP. Luckily, you have rather reasonable armor which will allow the 1,300 HP to last a lot longer than something such as the AMX CDC's 1,400 HP, but it still will run out rather quickly if you're caught out of position. Equipment: Personally, I mount Gun Rammer, Coated Optics and Vertical Stabilizer on the German bear. Recommended: Gun Rammer: If you can mount a Gun Rammer on a tank, you should. Give your German bear enhanced hunting capabilities! Coated Optics: 380m of View Range isn't the greatest, but with Coated Optics and a good crew you can still reach the higher levels of View Range which you'd like. Having good View Range on the Mutz will greatly assist you with playing the longer-distance sniper / support fire role which the Mutz can adapt to. It can also really help with ridge-line peek-a-boom poking if you're doing so at longer distances. Vertical Stabilizer: With a Vertical Stabilizer, the Mutz's gun handling becomes rather decent indeed. It's still not the greatest at on the move snapshots, but at closer to mid-distance ranges, it can still work out rather well indeed. Optional: Binocular Telescope: With 380m of View Range and a vehicle which enjoys longer-distance support fire, having a Binocular Telescope can also be a viable choice if you tend to play your Mutz a bit more passively. Normally I say that Improved Ventilation is a reasonable alternative, however unlike the CDC, I feel as though the Mutz can make much better usage of holding distant ridge-line positions, thus enhancing your View Range very well may come in handy in many, many situations. I really don't feel as though the sight increase to gun handling is worth the loss of such a boost to View Range. Ammo: My ammo layout on the German Bear is 35 AP, 10 APCR and 3 HE. The Mutz's gun is simply glorious to have on a Premium tank. Not only do you have great penetration values with your standard AP rounds, but they come with very nice shell velocities as well. Combine this with a rather nice combination of accuracy, aiming time and gun handling, and you end up with a gun which very rarely will ever need to load Premium shells. In approximately 60% of my battles in the Mutz, I don't shoot any APCR. In approximately 30%, I use no more than 1-3 rounds. In 7%, I don't use any more than 5 rounds. It's very, very rarely, typically in clutch-carry situations where I ever use any more than 5 APCR rounds. I don't think I've ever used the full 10 rounds of APCR I carry - the Mutz simply doesn't need them. If you want to reduce your APCR count, you can very well drop it down to 7 rounds, and that should be more than enough to cover 99% of your battles. Consumables: For Consumables on the Mutz, I use a Small First Aid Kit, Small Repair Kit, and Automatic Fire Extinguisher. Small First Aid Kit: Part of a fairly standard consumable layout, the Mutz doesn't really have any special needs for consumables. I wouldn't necessarily recommend replacing it with anything however, even if you have Jack of All Trades; simply due to the smaller, more compact size of the vehicle with only alright armor. Losing crew is still a possibility, although it won't occur very often. Small Repair Kit: Interestingly enough, unlike most of the tanks in my Garage, the repair kit on the Mutz is not used for my tracks or even for the ammo rack (which can sometimes be damaged on the Mutz; not nearly as often on the AMX CDC, but it still can happen). In fact, the repair kit actually finds very often usage on my Fuel Tanks. The Fuel Tanks on the Mutz are in the front of the tank, and can be damaged every now and then. Whilst this usually doesn't result in a fire, the fact that it is a possibility, I often find myself using a repair kit on my Fuel Tanks when I'm between 20%-40% of my HP, just as a safe-guard. In the 20%-40% range, even with an Automatic Fire Extinguisher, a tick of fire damage has the potential to make the difference between surviving or not. Thus in carry situations, I do use my repair kit on my Fuel Tanks, so long as my ammo rack isn't damaged or that I don't feel as though it will really be needed for my ammo rack or tracks. Automatic Fire Extinguisher: Frontal Fuel tanks means that despite the 12% chance of engine fire, you can still be set on fire if you're caught ouf of position. Typically, the Mutz's play(ff,ff,ff) means that you won't be shot in the front of the hull in the fuel tanks overly often, but the fact that it's a possibility is enough for me to keep an Automatic Fire Extinguisher rather than food. Alternate: Chocolate: Aside from Premium / standard versions of the 3 above consumables, your only possible alternative on the Mutz which is available is Chocolate. If you really feel comfortable with your fuel tanks, you could replace the Automatic Fire Extinguisher with Chocolate. The same could be done to replace the Med Kit with Chocolate, although you have to have Jack of All Trades trained on your Commander as a safe-guard if you choose to do so. Guns: The Mutz's gun is a very reliable 90mm. Personally, I view it as one of the most competitive guns on a Tier Below, I've compared the German Bear's 90mm to the AMX CDC's 90mm. On the left is the German Bear, on the right is the Baguette. A blue value is superior, whilst a green value is relatively tied (Within 5% of the other value). (Please note that all values are "stock", prior to any equipment mounting) Guns: Rate of Fire: 7.82 (8.57) Aiming time: 2.21 (2.11) Accuracy: .35 (.33) DPM: 1,877.14 (2,057.14) Penetration: 212/259/45 (212/259/45) Damage: 240/240/320 (240/240/320) Shell Velocity: 1,000/1,250/1,000 (1,000/1,250/1,000) Soft Stats: .18/.18/.10 (.20/.20/.16) Gun Angles: -10 / +25 (-10 / +20) Ammo capacity: 48 (90) The verdict? The AMX CDC has a slight advantage in DPM and accuracy, whereas the Mutz has a slight advantage in gun handling. The Mutz has significantly more gun elevation, but the AMX CDC has significantly more ammo capacity. Ultimately, the two guns are both equally competitive. However, the Mutz's gun is on a better platform than the CDC's is in order to be put into continual use. The CDC's gun is already one of the best guns at the Tier, the fact that the Mutz's gun is just as competitive but on an even better platform for performance, this means that the Mutz's gun really does stand out amongst its peers as one of the most competitive ones. 9 cm Kanone: A gun name that isn't ridiculously hard to say and actually makes sense? Gasp! The Mutz's gun is extremely reliable and extremely competitive. You are given a vehicle with great penetration, standard alpha damage, great shell velocity, very good accuracy, good aiming time and reasonable gun handling. You also have amazing gun depression and gun elevation values. All of these things combined make you the perfect ridge-line warrior, support vehicle or long-distance sniper. Whatever you need to do, the Mutz has a gun which can help you get the job done. The one thing you won't be able to do is out-DPM or out-trade most opponents. However, if the Mutz is played correctly, you should be able to do far more damage to the enemy than you take in return. Using ridge-lines and putting in a shell each time an enemy is on reload, popping in a shot whenever an enemy moves, turns or is distracted, even peek-a-booming against slower to aim vehicles all can be done very well indeed, especially when your gun elevation and depression angles are put into good usage. You have a wonderfully reliable gun - put it to good use! How to play it: The Mutz is an extremely flexible medium tank. It has everything which the Pershing or CDC dream to have. You have all of the flexibility of the Pershing, but even more mobility. When compared to the CDC, you have all of its ridge-line warrior capabilities, except you have armor which can actually keep you alive, along with better module and crew survivability. Essentially, imagine yourself as a more flexible Pershing, or a more forgiving CDC. With your great gun elevation and depression angles, along with great gun stats and reasonable soft stats, the Mutz is a perfect ridge-line warrior. When you are able to use ridge-lines to peek-a-boom at the enemy, to poke ridges without getting shot at, to provide continual support fire in between enemy's reloads or capitalizing upon any moments in which they're distracted, you will excel on the battlefield. If you can't use ridge-lines as effectively as you'd like, you still have a lot of potential with simply peek-a-boom support fire engagements. The gun is very reliable indeed, and the Mutz has more than enough mobility to be able to minimize its exposure time extremely effectively. Simply wait for your opportunity, poke out and take a well-aimed shot and then pull right back into cover. On the subject of mobility, you have a lot of flexibility on the battlefield. If you need to relocate to a better firing location, push up with your allies or perhaps even cross the map, the Mutz is more than capable of doing so. Make sure that you don't forget about your great mobility advantage over most over vehicles, and put that to good use! All in all, make sure that you're using what gives the Mutz its flexibility to its maximum potential. Make great usage of your mobility, and keep putting your gun into effect whenever possible. The one key thing to avoid doing is allowing yourself to get shot at, or to rely on your armor - even when hull-down, the Mutz by no means has "reliable" armor. In general, except shells which hit you to penetrate when you're playing - by doing as such, when your armor does come into effect, it should be able to surprise you with quite a few lucky bounces. When the tank is played properly, especially when using ridge-lines, the armor can certainly help forgive some mistakes and keep you alive for longer. You can't hull-down like the Pershing can, but you aren't butter as the AMX Baguette is. Comparison to same-Tier Medium Tanks: HP: Good. 1,440 HP is a good value for a Tier 8 medium tank. With some decent armor, especially on the turret & gun mantlet, you can pull off a few good bounces to help preserve your hitpoints throughout the battle as well. You'll make better usage of the 1,440 HP than quite a handful of other mediums would. Armor: Average. The Mutz's armor is not something which should be relied upon by any means, although it does have an abundance of auto-bounce angles as well as patches of thicker values of armor. You can get some nice bounces every now and then, especially when playing the Mutz as it should; a true ridge-line warrior. In comparison to other Tier 8 mediums, the armor is fairly average. Mobility: Very good. The Mutz may not be as quick as the AMX CDC, but it certainly is one of the faster Tier 8 mediums. The top speed is really the only real limiting factor to the Mutz's mobility, aside from the alright hull traverse speed. With the great HP/ton you have, coupled with some really incredible terrain resistance values, the Mutz can certainly get around the battlefield extremely efficiently. DPM: Average. The Mutz's DPM is fairly average for a Tier 8 mediums. Obviously, it doesn't come anywhere close to the Obj. 416's incredible DPM, but seeing as how that's a single, extreme outlier the Mutz's DPM isn't actually all that bad. It ranks 12th out of 23 Tier 8 medium tanks for DPM. Penetration: Very Good. The Mutz has one of the best penetration values for Tier 8, just barely being beat by the STA-1, Centurion 1 and FV4202. You have more than enough penetration power to reliably go through the enemy's armor with standard AP rounds. Alpha damage: Average. 240 alpha damage is standard for a 90mm gun; not much else to say here. Aiming Speed: Very Good. 2.21 second aiming time is tied for 3rd for aiming time, tied with 6 other vehicles. With reasonable gun handling for the mobility, the Mutz can pull of shots in a relativity short period of time. Gun Handling: Good. The German Bear is tied with 2 other vehicles for 8th out of 23 in gun handling. Considering the mobility of the Mutz, the gun handling is actually rather nice indeed. Don't rely on pulling off on-the-move snapshots at long ranges, but at mid to close ranges you can actually have some reasonable success with snap shots as necessary. Your gun handling during turret traverse is incredibly good, which makes switching between targets whilst sniping very quick and effective indeed. Accuracy: Good. .35 accuracy is a pretty good value, also tied for 8th place out of all 23 Tier 8 mediums. You should be able to pull of shots rather nicely indeed at distance, and can easily snipe whenever necessary. Shell Velocity: Very Good. A 1,000 m/s shell velocity is one of the better values for Tier 8 mediums; tied for 4th place with 4 other vehicles. Such a shell velocity should make sniping at targets from a distance rather enjoyable indeed, and you should be able to connect your shells without giving the enemy an opportunity to change their angling / direction of travel, as may occur with some other vehicles with lower shell velocities. View Range: Average. Whilst there are quite a few Tier 8 mediums with 390m or 400m of View Range, there are also quite a few vehicles tied for 380m, and even a few vehicles with less. With Coated Optics or a Binocular Telescope, you should still be able to make great usage of your View Range without too much trouble. Luckily, you're a vehicle which can actually make good usage of your View Range, unlike some other vehicles such as the T69 which have a lot of View Range but don't necessarily need it. Camo Value: Very Good. The Mutz actually has some rather nice camouflage values indeed. Not only is the tank reasonably small, but it comes with a built-in camouflage bonus due to the fact that you cannot apply standard camouflage to the vehicles. If you train your crew in Camouflage, you can remain hidden at many mid to long distances, especially if you're making good usage of concealment. This is yet another nice aspect of the Mutz when comparing it to the AMX CDC; despite your lower View Range, you can typically make just as equal effective usage of longer distance combat as the CDC. Battle effectiveness: Very Good. Personally, I would rank the Mutz as second for battle effectiveness, tied with the Pershing. The only vehicle which I believe can have an even larger impact on its standard battles, Match-Making spread included and factored in, is the Obj. 416. Even then, the Mutz is an incredibly capable vehicle even when comparing it to the Obj. 416. You have everything you could really want from a medium tank. Very good mobility, good gun handling and good gun stats, great penetration, accuracy and shell velocity, fairly good crew and module durability and survivability, great gun depression and elevation and even some armor to work with. The Mutz has a great combination of mobility, gun performance and armor. When comparing it to the Pershing, you sacrifice some armor for enhanced mobility, and sacrifice some gun handling for some penetration power. Thus it only makes sense that the Mutz would be tied with the Pershing for battle effectiveness. You can flank, you can spot, you can snipe, you can provide support fire, use ridges, peek-a-boom, etc. The Mutz can do just about some of everything, which makes for a very wonderful tank indeed; especially when you consider that it's a Premium vehicle. Overall Rating: 9.5/10 (Exceptional) Despite ranking the Mutz approximately in the same place as the Pershing in terms of battle effectiveness, the Mutz has one advantage which the Pershing doesn't - the Mutz is a Premium vehicle! As a Premium vehicle, this is without a doubt one of the best Premiums, if not the best, which you can get at Tier 8. It truly has something for everyone, and is able to print out amazing Credits whilst carrying battles like a boss. In terms of the Mutz's play(ff,ff,ff), the Mutz can do almost anything. It can shift around the map, flank, use ridge-lines, snipe, out-spot opponents, provide support fire, etc. For a support medium, the Mutz does the job better than most other mediums. Regardless of the Match-Making, there is no reason to not be able to contribute rather decently in a battle. As for the Mutz's downsides, the only real issues are the frontal fuel tanks (which aren't as much of a problem as you'd except, as fires are fairly rare in the Mutz), fairly poor hull-armor (although having several auto-bounce angles, the ability to wiggle / angle it against some guns, and even a 200mm ram plate), and mediocre DPM (which is just about entirely made up for by the other great characteristics of the gun). For a Premium vehicle, the Mutz doesn't have nearly as many downsides as you may except it to. The Mutz is a Jack of All Trades. Whilst it may not specialize in any one thing in particular such as some other mediums do, you can do some of everything, just as the Pershing. The one thing you do alternate however, is sacrificing some armor for better mobility without killing the hull-down potential of the vehicle. This allows for an enhanced degree of flexibility of the battlefield, as you can relocate and re-position to a more advantageous position even more easily than the Pershing. As a regular tank, I'd give it an "8.5" rating just as I did with the Pershing. However, when you factor in that it's a Premium vehicle (which typically is worse than top-end tanks of the Tier), it's actually very impressive to see such a competitive vehicle. It certainly isn't over-powered by any means, and isn't "too good" for a Premium vehicle, but it is actually a high-performing vehicle. Now you can carry matches and grind plenty of Credits all in one fun way! Thanks for reading! I hope this guide was helpful! I genuinely wish all of you the very best of luck and fun, both in real life and on the battlefield. This Tank Review was made possible by TheBigBucket [N1NJA]. A massive thank you and shout-out to you for gifting me this vehicle! (The German bear in all of its glorious. Looks like there is Mutz fun to be had! I know, I'm terrible at puns.) 1 Link to comment
bigpacvs Posted June 11, 2017 Share Posted June 11, 2017 Superbe explication, contenue sublime, merci. Cordialement Bigpacvs. Link to comment
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