Weak Spot Guide: Type 5 Heavy - World of Tanks Guru

The tier 10 Japanese heavy tank Type 5 Heavy is a behemoth on the battlefield weighing in at 150 tons and having the armor to allow it to withstand a beating from the majority of tanks the Type 5 Heavy faces.  Being a large, slow, high hit pool, and well armored tank the Type 5 Heavy will be expected to soak up a lot of damage as it trudges across the battlefield.  Knowing how to defeat a Type 5 Heavy by focusing on its weak spots will not only help you face enemy Type 5’s but also will improve your own performance in the Type 5 Heavy.  This World of Tanks Type 5 Heavy weak spots guide will break down the tank into areas based on effective armor values.  Green areas are the easiest places to penetrate, followed by yellow/orange, and the red areas are places with the strongest armor.  Purple areas are places where there is either no hull armor behind them(track area) or small external modules that can cause zero-damage critical hits.

World of Tanks Type 5 Heavy Frontal View

Frontally the Type 5 Heavy is a tough nut to crack due to the frontal armor being covered by armor primarily 260mm and 280mm thick.  While the armor isn’t sloped as well as other tanks due to the sheer thickness the Type 5’s armor still stands up head on against most tier 10 tanks shooting non-premium ammunition.  The red areas are at minimal 291mm effective armor which makes it hard for non-tier 10 tank destroyers to penetrate the Type 5 head on with standard ammunition.  However, since the Type 5 Heavy relies on sheer thickness in many places it does not make it immune to many shells seen in tier 10 matches when compared to its closest twin the Maus.  The yellow and orange areas are examples of this since they fall at or below 287mm effective armor which allows any tier 10 to penetrate these areas head on(no additional angle) with standard ammunition with some success.  Overall the frontal armor is extremely tough, especially if the Type 5 driver angles horizontally, and the only true “weak spot” is a small 0 armor driver view port slit located below the turret.

World of Tanks Type 5 Heavy Side View

With the sheer thickness of the armor on the front of the Type 5 Heavy the side armor pales in comparison since the tank focuses so much of its armor/weight on the front.  The Type 5 Heavy does have good side spaced armor with a 35mm plate running along most of the side and also tracks that count as 50mm of armor.  However, outside of the small areas on the front/hatch highlighted in red, and the turret that is slightly better protected than the hull the armor across the side is very weak.  As a Type 5 Heavy driver keeping your front pointing towards the enemy while angling to keep your sides as an auto-bounce angle will be a very important tactic to employ.

World of Tanks Type 5 Heavy Rear View

Like the side armor the Type 5 Heavy’s rear armor is nothing special since it doesn’t have great angles nor the thickness the frontal armor has.  Avoid the edges on the turret and also on the commander’s hatch and you will have no trouble with penetrating the Type 5 Heavy’s rear armor.