Tank Guide: M3 Lee - World of Tanks Guru

The M3 Lee is an infamous tank in World of Tanks in being that it is hated by many players since it is acquired early on and is difficult to grasp.  The M3 Lee is not a medium tank although it is classified as one, but rather it is a tank destroyer in a sense.  You do not have a fully rotating turret like many tank destroyers and overall you are not that durable unless you are one of the few tier 4’s in a match.  Although many people speak ill off the M3 Lee it is a great tank once you learn it’s downsides and exploit it’s upsides.  Below is a video containing a quick M3 Lee overview that goes over some of it’s features as well as it being played in two battles.

Firepower

For a tier 4 medium tank the M3 Lee gets a very good top gun and it’s stock gun isn’t that shabby either.  The top 75mm packs a decent punch for tier 4(110 damage per shot) and also has a very high 20 rpm.  The penetration being at 92mm with AP allows you to tear through any medium tanks/lights tanks up to tier 6 and for tier 5 heavies/tougher opponents the premium rounds give you a chance to penetrate from the front.  The gun is one of the M3 Lee’s best assets since it does not have a fully rotating turret it gets a nice boost to it’s firepower.

Armor

Armor wise the M3 Lee does not stand out with it’s listed 51/38/38 values but for a moderately mobile tank with a great gun and this armor it could be worse.  While the armor will not stop most tier 5 tanks it will give you decent protection against tier 4’s and great protection against tier 3 tanks.  One downside of the armor/tank set up is that the two top turrets that you have no control over will stick up above any hills/bumps you crest before your gun does.  While this does let you spot people quickly it allows them to shoot you before you area able to shoot them back.

Mobility

Mobility wise the M3 Lee is not the fastest “medium tank” but it certainly is not a slouch compared to other tanks.  The mobility allows you to imitate a speedy heavy tank when you are a top tank against tier 3’s/4’s, and also allow you to stay hidden/safe when you are further down the list.

Misc.

With the view range being a paltry 320m you will want to equip coated optics to cover up this slight negative.  The gun depression being -9 degrees is helpful….if you did not have those two unusable turrets on the top of your tank

Camouflage Values

Stationary: 8%

Firing While Stationary: 2.3%

Moving: 6%

Firing While Moving: 1.73%

Aiming Circle Spread

After Shooting: 3.836

Turret(Gun) Traversing: 0.153

Turret(Gun) Traversing Full Speed: 6.44

While Moving: 0.211

Hull Moving Full Speed: 8.02

Hull Traversing: 0.211

Hull Traversing Full Speed: 9.07

Terrain Resistance

Hard Ground: .959

Medium Ground: 1.055

Soft Ground: 2.205

Tactics

As stated in the armor section I cannot point it out enough that the two top turrets will stick up above hills before you crest.  Keep this in mind since you will often find yourself being destroyed very quickly before you are able to get any damage in.  The M3 Lee as covered in the video should be played very carefully if you are not the top dog in a match(and even then watch your sides).  Many make the mistake of moving to far up or out of cover and then in 1-2 shots they are vaporized.  The M3 Lee’s strongest attribute is it’s gun followed by it’s good mobility to back it up.  Use this to your advantage and let others on your team set up shots for you as you use your excellent DPM to dish out the damage.

Below are several other M3 Lee videos containing replays of matches in World of Tanks.

This World of Tanks M3 Lee guide will be updated with new videos I post as well as new information if anything relevant comes up.