The M24 Chafee is the tier 5 light tank for the American line in World of Tanks. Being a tier 5 light tank it is actually weighted by the match maker as a tier 6 tank and compared to it’s tier 5 piers it is vastly better. The Chaffee unlike many light tanks is capable of regularly doing a massive amount of damage for it’s small size and light tank designation. While it does make a decent scout if outfitted with a 100% camo crew and camo net(making you nearly invisible until they are within the 50m auto-spot distance) it is not where the Chaffee shines.
As a Chaffee driver the main thing to keep in mind is “shoot and scoot.” While the top speed is 56 km/h and 50+ km/h is easily reached the large turret size and slightly lower top speed compared to the t-50-2 makes the Chaffee an easier target to hit. The speed is high enough to where popping in/out of cover and using hills to your advantage does allow you to scout at mid to long range but “suicide scouting” or very aggressive scouting does not work very well in this tank. While not the fastest tier 5 light tank the overall mobility is top notch and handling this tank is very fun. Making up for the slightly larger profile is the awesome 76mm top gun the Chaffee receives which has 115 damage and 137 average penetration. With a 100% crew with Brothers in Arms and a rammer equiped the reload is an impressive 2.78 seconds……add in the good on-the-move accuracy of the gun and at times you will simple slice through tanks while zipping around them.
The view distance for the top turret on the M24 Chaffee is 400m and a radio range of 745m and both are very good considering the Chaffee also gets the awesome 76mm top gun. Balancing dealing out damage, flanking, and supporting your team overall by scouting is a crucial trait of any good Chaffee driver. The gun depression much like a lot of the other American tanks is above average and using hills to conceal much of your tank while you plunk away at tanks with your machine gun 76mm will frustrate many of your enemies.
Equipment wise I run coated optics, a vertical stabilizer, and a gun rammer. The optics push the view range to 440m at all times while the stabilizer and rammer make that nifty 76mm all the better. One other thing to keep in mind is that due to the Chaffee being a tier 5 light tank it receives different match making than other tier 5 tanks. This means that seeing tier 10 tanks is normal and only a handful of your games will be spent in matches where tier 6-7 tanks are at the top. Although it might sound bad it is the reason the M24 Chaffee is loved by many since it’s gun allows it to still be very deadly to higher tier tanks.
Stationary: 13.89%
Firing While Stationary: 3.26%
Moving: 14%
Firing While Moving: 3.29%
After Shooting: 2.877
Turret Traversing: 0.077
Turret Traversing Full Speed: 2.99
Hull Moving: 0.096
Hull Moving Full Speed: 5.37
Hull Traversing: 0.096
Hull Traversing Full Speed: 4.41
Hard Ground: 0.863
Medium Ground: 0.959
Soft Ground: 1.63
Excellent top 76mm gun
Great on-the-move accuracy
Mobility
Gun depression
View range
Radio range
Lower top speed than other tier 5 light tanks
Larger profile with top turret
“Bad” match maker
Overall I give the M24 Chaffee a 5/5. The “Cons” of the tank are truly minor and this tank is a blast to play.