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★ ★ ★ Tip of the Day #2: Shot Trapping ★ ★ ★


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The path to becoming an Unicum begins here. Tip of the day offers detailed guides to many over-looked gameplay mechanics to allow you to excel in combat. Let's begin, shall we?


"Hacks! There's no way you can penetrate my T32's gun mantlet!" "My IS-3's turret is stronger than that!"

 

True, true... but it wasn't your mantlet or turret that was penetrated. Welcome to the rarely discussed, hardly known and strange world of shot trapping.

 

Before Patch 9.4, shells which bounced off of a tank would disappear as soon as they stopped contact with said tank. Even then, mysterious seemingly impossible penetrations were occurring. Post 9.4, shells may keep travelling into other tanks if they bounce their original target. Yet some of these penetrations remained un-explained. The answer? Shot trapping.

 

Shot trapping is ricocheting a shell off of an enemy tank in such a manner that the bounced shell hits the same tank a second time, except now in a much weaker location. The word "trap" comes from the fact that you are essentially trapping a shell in a very small, confided area within the enemy tank; typically between a tank's gun mantle and hull, although it can occur in other situations as well (Bouncing the hull roof of a Cromwell, into its exhaust release).

 

Why should you shot trap? Easy - if you're facing a hull-down T32, IS-3, etc., your options when it comes to penetrating the target become very limited. A T32 only has one weak spot - the commander's hatch. The IS-3's turret roof is much weaker, but lower caliber guns will still struggle to penetrate, and low accuracy also may cause a problem. Shot trapping allows you to hit an angled, yet armored part of the enemy tank in such a way that the shell bounces upwards or downwards into the tank's turret ring or hull roof.

 

Now the question is how does one accomplish a successful shot trap? Simple - shoot part of the hull roof from straight on so your shell goes into the turret ring, or more easily, shoot the lower part of the gun mantle of a tank with a hull roof directly below the mantle. If you shoot correctly, your shell will bounce off of the mantle and into the hull roof. *Hint: The sides of the lower part of the mantle are more reliable than the middle - typically due to flatter angles.

 

 

Image references are below. The green mark is a ricochet off of the enemy armor. The red mark is a penetration.

 

Spoiler 
wQDL4Rb.jpg

 

 

 

See how this works? You hit the lower part of the mantle, and the shells enter into the upper hull roof of the tank.

 

 

This is a close up of my aim when trying to shot trap.

 

Spoiler 

 65cU7Da.jpg

 

 

 

It works on any tank too! Even against an FCM 50 t (although honestly, FCM's are easy to penetrate regardless). Even the strange shape of the IS-3's mantle / turret allows for shot trapping!

 

Spoiler 

 yBj6aTO.jpg

 

 

 

yyiTzKj.jpg

 

 

 

 

uX8n8yw.jpg

 

 

 

Last but not least, it works on strange areas of a tank as well where there really isn't room for a shell to be "trapped". Rather, you're simply encouraging the shell to hit a weakpoint by bouncing it at an angle on a flat part of armor (However, at this point you shouldn't be trying to shot trap - if you have a direct shot, take it. I just did this as a demonstration to show that it was possible, and to show how the basic mechanics of shot trapping work). See the magic below.

 

Spoiler 

 k8N6PDn.jpg

 

 

 

I hope this helps! If you'd prefer to see shot trapping live, send me a P.M. and I'll take you to a Training Room and show you exactly how it's done!

 

 

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