Scorpiany Posted October 26, 2015 Posted October 26, 2015 No Mr. IS-3! I didn't mean to hurt you! Please don't shoot me! Haha, got ya! I wasn't scared of you at all... now to feast on those delicious tracks. Your measly repair kit shall do nothing to save you! Feed me your HP... feed me your tracks! Bwahahahahaha! In this guide, I shall cover all of the various Pros and Cons of the Sherman Jumbo, explain the gun choices and/or performance, equipment choices, give you a general overview of its gameplay style and compare it to other Tier 6 Medium Tanks. Let's get started, shall we? ***Please note that from this point on in the guide, I shall refer to the M4A3E2 Sherman Jumbo as the "Jumbo"; it's easier to type than "M4A3E2 Sherman Jumbo".*** Table of Contents: General overview (Pros and Cons) Equipment, ammo and consumable layout Gun choices and / or performance Gameplay style Comparison to other same-class tanks of its Tier Overall Rating General Overview: Pros: Very thick armor for a Tier 6 tank, let alone a medium Stock turret is the most armored turret you can find on any Tier 6 tank, and best all-around turret up to Tier 7 with a consistent 152mm all around Lower plate is actually incredibly thick, if someone tries to shoot at it, they'll bounce off Cupola is not a weakpoint on the stock turret; in fact, it's just as thick as the rest of the turret with great angling - it will auto-bounce almost any Tier 8 gun Very good gun depression of 10 degrees all around the tank Very reasonable DPM with either gun Very high ammo capacity with either gun, you should never run out of ammo even in the most intense battles Good gun elevation of 25 degrees, usually more than enough for any standard engagement Decent aiming time and accuracy stats for the 76mm Great aiming speed for the 105mm howitzer Reasonably quick for such an armored vehicle Good view range with the upgraded turret Very good radio range for a Tier 6 tank; it will prevent you from losing contact with allies with poor crews or radios (which can be a problem for some tanks, especially for lower Tier allies) Very dynamic gameplay, and great options available in terms of turret and gun combos; multiple playstyles are possible with the tank Neutrals: Decent HP pool of 760. With the stock turret you only have 730 HP, although the significant armor increase makes the 730 HP last much longer than the 760 HP of the upgraded turret Mediocre terrain resistance values. The tank still gets around reasonably quickly for such an armored vehicle though O.K. side armor at 76mm. It's not great by any means, but it's enough to get some rudimentary side-scraping done, and can still bounce shots (especially from same Tier or lower Tier vehicles) Stock turret has a mediocre view range of 330m. However, the gameplay of a Jumbo with the stock turret does not require much view range, so it balances out Mediocre penetration with either gun. The guns do have redeeming features, but they're just "decent"; nothing special about them O.K. gun dispersion values on the move considering the aiming speed. It shouldn't take too long to aim in Cons: Upgraded turret is actually fairly weak, still reasonable when top Tier, but really won't stop shells from same or higher Tier guns Very thin rear armor of only 38mm; can be penned by some HE shells Very thin turret roof armor (which isn't really a problem because of how tall the tank is; no one will practically be able to shoot at it) Very tall tank, can be fairly easy to hit for artillery (although thick armor helps negate some of that damage) Upper plate is actually the weakest part of the hull (whilst still very thick at 140mm effective armor without angling); which means hull-down would need to hide the entire hull. Hiding the lower plate only is actually counter-intuitive, as your lower plate is the thickest part of the hull Very low shell velocity with the 105mm howitzer Ineffective HEAT rounds on the 105mm howitzer 76mm needs to hold quite a few APCR rounds Equipment: Personally, I mount Improved Ventilation, Gun Rammer and Vertical Stabilizer on the Jumbo. A Medium Spall Liner can be put in place of Improved Ventilation, as deemed necessary. Optics may be used as well, if the 76mm gun is preferred with the upgraded turret. Recommended: Improved Ventilation: The 5% boost to crew skills (2.5% to tank performance) is always a nice touch. Jumbo doesn't have any kind of great necessity for other equipment, so Ventilation as a standard (especially if you can't afford other equipment) will be just fine. Gun Rammer: If you can mount a Gun Rammer on a tank, you should; regardless of the vehicle. Jumbo is no exception. Vertical Stabilizer: A Vertical Stabilizer will greatly help you get your reticle aimed in on the target as necessary, and may allow for some close-range snapshots. It's a very nice piece of equipment to have on the Jumbo. Optional: Medium Spall Liner: The Jumbo is a very armored vehicle for its Tier, and as such, may benefit from a Spall Liner; especially when people switch to HE or arty begins firing at you. When using the stock turret, the Spall Liner will be most useful, as it will almost entirely negate any artillery damage from Tier 4-6 fluffy sky clicking piggies of artillery death rain. The increased crew survivability will also be helpful when it comes to engaging another howitzer, especially another Sherman Jumbo. If a Spall Liner is used, it should replace Improved Ventilation. Coated Optics: Coated Optics should only be used if you choose to mount the upgraded turret with the 76mm gun. The 10% increase in View Range will allow you to easily out-spot a lot of targets, and may be very useful when sniping is necessary. If you use the stock turret and howitzer, there is no reason to use Optics, as the gameplay will no longer require it. If Optics are used, they should replace Improved Ventilation. Ammo: My ammo layout on the Jumbo with the 105mm is 55 HE, 15 HEAT. With the 76mm, it's 60 AP, 34 APCR, 10 HE. With the 105mm, you should primarily be firing HE. Even though the HEAT isn't very useful, there are times when it is a good shell to use (against Togs, M4's, T-25's, etc.). 55 HE will still be plenty if you need to fire solely HE, and the 15 HEAT will provide you as much HEAT as you could possibly need in a battle as well. The large ammo capacity of the Jumbo truly allows you to have all of the ammo of each shell type which you may need. When using the 76mm, you can hold 104 shells. That's an absolutely ridiculous number, and allows you to really be generous with your APCR and HE counts. 60 AP rounds is already more than enough ammo for most battles. Seeing as how the 76mm on a Tier 6 tank is lacking a bit of penetration, having a healthy number of APCR rounds for higher Tier opponents will come in handy. And since you can carry so many shells, why not put on 10 HE for those Scorpion's and Hellcat's which have been invading the battlefield recently? Consumables: For Consumables on the Jumbo, I use a Small Med Kit, Small Repair Kit and Automatic Fire Extinguisher. Small Med Kit: Standard with practically every tank in the game. Jumbo doesn't have any special needs, so a small medical kit should suffice. Small Repair Kit: Once again, standard consumable. Jumbo doesn't really have any reason to use anything else. Its modules do a good job at staying intact, so one kit should be enough; especially if you have Repair skills for your tracks. Automatic Fire Extinguisher: The Sherman Jumbo isn't necessarily flammable, but with all of the HE and artillery which may end up flying at you, it's always nice to have that reassurance. If you feel very comfortable with your Jumbo's resistance, you could replace the Automatic Fire Extinguisher with a Case of Cola. If you do so, I would consider training your crew in Firefighting though; every now and then a Bert (FV304) may end up hitting your engine deck. Guns: The Sherman Jumbo not only has two guns to choose from, but also two turrets. You can either choose to use the stock turret with the 105mm or the upgraded turret with the 76mm. Personally, I recommend the stock turret and 105mm; although either combo can be used depending on playstyle. Below, I've compared the two guns and turrets. On the left is stock turret and 105mm, on the right is the upgraded turret and the 76mm. Blue is a superior value, whereas green is an approximately tied value. Guns: Rate of Fire: 8.89 (18.96) Aiming time: 2.16 (2.21) Accuracy: .52 (.38) DPM: 3,643.63 (2,180.52) (Keep in mind that the 105mm's effective DPM will be far less than the listed one) Penetration: 53/101 (128/177/38) Damage: 410/350 (115/115/185) Shell Velocity: 472/381 (792/990/792) Soft Stats: .24/.24/.16 (.24/.24/.12) Ammo capacity: 70 (104) Turrets: Armor: 152/152/152 63/63/63 HP: 730 760 Turret traverse: 32 39 View Range: 330 370 One of the combos focuses around heavy armor and competing against Tier 8's. The other combo focuses more on plowing through top Tier and some mid Tier matches. Both combos are very viable, although I feel as though the stock turret + 105mm gun is the most consistent and reliable regardless of the Match-making, map, etc. Stock turret + 105mm gun: The stock turret on the Sherman Jumbo is the best turret on any Tier 6 and below tank, and is the second-best all-around turret even against Tier 7 turrets (only T29 being superior). This already gives you a great armor advantage, which allows you to even reliably hull-down against Tier 7's and 8's. 152mm of armor all around means when top Tier, you don't even have to worry about which direction your turret is facing. The 152mm however, has a large gun mantlet covering most of it, with great angling in almost every area where the gun mantlet is absent. The Jumbo's turret's effective armor values range from 152mm to 1,088mm; with the majority of the turret ranging from 182mm to 338mm. This essentially means that unless you're a Charioteer, don't shoot at a Sherman Jumbo's turret... and even then, half of the shells would bounce off. As for the gun, the 105mm may not be all that powerful at Tier 6, but it allows you to damage Tier 8's regardless of angling, hull-down, etc. If you're being rushed by a Tier 8, all what you need to do is shoot at its track. Even if they have repair skills, most of the time they'll be far from able to fix their track on time before you can put another shell in. With your great ammo capacity, you can keep any tank permanently tracked, and do bits of damage to it with each shot. If you're facing a hull-down tank such as a T29 or T32, all what you need to do is shoot at it's turret roof of ring, and the splash damage can do up to 150 damage a shot. If you're facing a KV-4 or something of the sort, you can put shells into it's hull roof to do 100 damage a shot to it consistently. Essentially, tanks which the 76mm could never even dream of damaging, the 105mm is capable of punishing. All in all, the stock turret with the 105mm allows you to compete with higher Tiered opponents, and essentially gives you no fear of the MM. Hull-down, you can even give the Tier 8's a run for their money. It's also a great combo for working together with allies, as you can keep opponents immobolized, provide armor support, and help weather down tanks which non-howitzers may not be able to damage. Upgraded turret + 76mm: The upgraded turret on the Sherman Jumbo sacrifices practically all of its armor to gain turret traverse, view range, a 76mm gun and a bit of HP. With all of the benefits of the upgraded turret, you may wonder what the point of the stock turret is, but then you have to realize - the upgraded turret only has 63mm of armor all around, and even the gun mantlet only increases it to 88m. This is 2 and a half times worse than the stock turret. The thickest effective armor you can possibly reach in a tiny sliver of the edge of the gun mantlet on the upgraded turret is only 156mm thick, and thickest consistent part is only 115mm. A 76mm gun can penetrate practically any part of the turret with no chance of bouncing. Even Tier 5's and 4's can go through it. Essentially, the upgraded turret is butter. On point of what the upgraded turret allows you to do however, is mount the 76mm gun. Whilst the 76mm may struggle competing with Tier 8's and some Tier 7's, it can output incredible DPM which will tear apart any opponent it can penetrate. This essentially means that when top Tier, so long as people don't shoot at your turret, you can easily roll through the enemy. When bottom Tier however, you'll need a good amount of APCR and a few allies with you; as you can't hull-down against anything. The hatch also becomes a weakpoint, which is something to keep in mind. The view range, especially with Optics, can make the tank seem like a sniper, but you'd then be putting the hull-armor to waste. Having a butter turret also counteracts the usefulness of such thick armor at the Tier. This is why I find the combination awkward and in general inferior to the stock turret + 105mm combo. How to play it: The way the Sherman Jumbo is played will depend on the turret and gun combination. Stock turret + 105mm: When using the stock turret with the 105mm, you want to play a front-line support tank, or a front-line, hull-down steel wall. Essentially, you want to get as close to the enemy as possible, hull-down to laugh off their return fire, and put HE shells into their turret roofs or hull roofs whenever possible. If the tank is side-scraping, you can shoot it between it's tracks, immobilize it and do damage. You'll reload quickly enough to put another 105mm HE shell in the same spot, so the enemy won't be able to repair the tracks; thus being effectively permanently immobilized. When a dangerous opponent is advancing on you, it's very easy to track it and completely shut-down it's approach. If an enemy is wiggling to avoid or bounce allied shells, you can be of great service by once again immobilizing the vehicle. You not only will be able to do a fair amount of damage to any kind of opponent, but will also gather incredible amounts of assisted damage, which will easily help you make XP and Credits at minimal cost. Upgraded turret + 76mm: With the upgraded turret, you can no longer hull-down. In fact, hull-down would only make you easier to penetrate, as you'd then be hiding your significantly stronger hull. Using the 76mm will essentially be a DPM support tank. Against higher Tier vehicles, you'll need to position yourself in a way to try to get side-shots, or simply avoid engaging higher Tier vehicles entirely. The 76mm will maximize your damage output when top Tier, but still affects your carry potential, as without that amazing armor of the stock turret, you simply cannot reliably bounce shells anymore. A Sherman Jumbo with the upgraded turret and 76mm gun is like a slower M4 Easy 8 with a stronger hull. This combo is an awkward one, and is a lot more situational than the stock turret + 105mm. In general, the stock turret with the 105mm is the superior combo simply due to its consitency and competitiveness against higher Tier vehicles. The stock turret + 105mm howitzer is kind of like having a Tier 6 T29 with a howitzer. However, if you're looking for something like a more armored Easy 8, rather than a Tier 6 T29, then the upgraded turret + 76mm may be what you're looking for. The stock turret can mount a 76mm gun, but it loses its DPM advantage, which would render the gun far less effective; and wouldn't make it better or worse than the 105mm when top Tier. However, against Tier 7's and 8's, the 105mm will go a lot further. Comparison to same-Tier Medium Tanks: Mobility: Very bad. The Sherman Jumbo isn't actually that slow when you consider the amount of armor it has, but in comparison to other Tier 6 mediums, it's one of the slowest; barely surpassing the Firefly.Alpha damage: Average. The 105mm's alpha damage per shot tends to be around 150 if used properly, which puts it right in between Tier 6 mediums. The 76mm only has 115 alpha, but that's fairly standard for a 76mm gun.Armor: Best in class. The armor on the Sherman Jumbo with the stock turret is absolutely incredible. It's not only the best armor on any Tier 6 medium, but it's the best armor you can get on any Tier 6 tank at all. In fact, the hull on the Sherman Jumbo is about as effective as the T29's hull, and the turret Tier for Tier is just as good as well. A Tier 6 medium with very good Tier 7 heavy tank armor... absolutely amazing. HP: Average. 760 HP with the upgraded turret is average for the Tier. With the stock turret, it's only 730 HP, but the armor makes the HP go a lot further than the 760 with the upgraded turret could ever dream of doing. This average is blue because it ranges from average to good, depending on the turret choice.Penetration: Average. The penetration on the Sherman Jumbo with either gun are absolutely average. For a 76mm and 105mm gun, they're perfectly average, and they're also right in the middle of the various Tier 6 mediums. Nothing special, but not bad either. View Range: Good. With the stock turret, 330m View Range is actually fairly poor. However, the playstyle of the Sherman Jumbo with a stock turret does not need any more view range. Also, the upgraded turret offers a very nice 370m View Range. Camo Value: Bad. The Sherman Jumbo doesn't have all that much camo. Even if you use the upgraded turret with the 76mm, there's no reason to be playing the tank in such a manner which it may need camo. You should usually be fairly close to the enemy, thus camo shouldn't matter all that much.Accuracy: Very bad. .38 with the 76mm is nothing special and .52 with the 105mm is a very bad value. Since the tank is more of a closer range tank, it shouldn't actually matter that much. Neither gun feels more accurate than the other in effective combat though - the 76mm needs to aim at weakpoints a good deal, thus needs better accuracy. The 105mm on the other hand simply needs to hit the tank, thus doesn't need as much accuracy.Aiming Speed: Good. The aiming time on the 76mm gun is 2.2 seconds, which isn't a bad value on it's own. However, interestingly enough, it's actually worse than the 105mm's aiming time, which is only 2.1 seconds. The less accurate howitzer aims more quickly than the more accurate 76mm. Having a 2.1 second aiming time on a howitzer is a very good value. Shell Velocity: Depends. With the 76mm, it's average. With the 105mm, it's fairly bad; although that's expected from a howitzer.Battle effectiveness: Very good. The Sherman Jumbo is one of the few Tier 6's which can maintain very competitive even against Tier 8 vehicles. When top Tier, nothing can touch you if you play the tank properly. When bottom Tier, you can still give Tier 8's a run for their money. The stock turret + 105mm gun is a very effective combo, and is something to fear regardless of which tank you're in; assuming the Jumbo is playing properly. The upgraded turret with the 76mm is still fairly good, but isn't nearly as great against higher Tiers. The gun is better against same Tier and lower opponents, but isn't nearly as consistent or effective as the 105mm. All in all however, the Sherman Jumbo is a very competitive tank, and is a must-have Tier 6 vehicle. Overall Rating: 8/10 (Very good) The Sherman Jumbo is a tank which not only stands out amongst its peers, but can still take quite the stand even when greatly out-Tiered in battle. The armor on the Sherman Jumbo with the stock turret is beyond ridiculously good, it's honestly like having a Tier 6 T29. The tank also boasts quite a surprising amount of mobility for the level of armor protection it has. The gun is nothing special, but it's consistent and effective. The 105mm won't have very good DPM, but certainly will be a very prominent part of an engagement. The manner in which it can damage hull-down tanks, keep vehicles permanently tracked and damage modules and crew is very important to have for the Jumbo to do effective damage against Tier 7's and 8's. As for the HP the tank has, 730 is actually plenty when you have the kind of armor which the Jumbo has. In the right hands, this vehicle is an absolute beast; and is something to be feared on the battlefield. It's also a pleasure to play, and a very enjoyable tank as a whole. Definitely a keeper. 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. (Sherman Jumbo flaunting its ludicrous armor values. Don't worry though, the Jumbo is actually very friendly!)
Recommended Posts