Micropositioning is, as the name sort of implies, one of those habits that seems so small, but can have a real impact. How much difference would it make if you bounced just one more shot a game? Living those extra seconds gives you a chance to get another shot of damage, maybe finish capping, maybe you spot the shooter and a teammate kills them?
This is the third in our series of Tankers Workshops inspired by the article "5 Things Good Players Do More Often Than Average Players." If you missed the first two you can find them here:
How do you Microposition?
Micropositioning is not about what bush you go to, or which corner you hold. It's about how you position your tank once you get there. It's primarily about angling (and to a lesser extent about cover). Most average players tend to be so focused on what's on the other end of their gun, that they barely know if they're facing forwards or backwards.
Micropositioning is about being aware of the ANGLE that your tank is sitting at. Don't wait until you're getting shot to start angling. Try to anticipate where the shot is most likely to come from, and angle before it arrives.
Exercise 1 - Know your armor
Before you click "Battle" next game check your vehicle's armor model by going to https://tanks.gg, look up your tank, and choose "3D Model".
Move your mouse around to rotate the model so you can see what the optimal angles for your tank are. Notice the difference between sitting directly head-on, and being rotated even a few degrees left or right? See the difference between the turret armor and the lower plate? See any obvious weak spots?
Don't worry about memorizing every inch of the tank. There are hundreds of tanks in the game and you'll probably never learn every bit of all of them, just get a basic idea of it. Over time you'll know more and more.
Advanced players tend to have excellent tank knowledge - not just of the tanks they're driving but of the tanks they're facing. It's how they know they can pen a particular tank in the cupola with silver ammo, but not in the upper plate, and so forth. That's just experience.
Once you have a feel for where your optimal angles are, let's move on to Exercise 2.
Exercise 2 - Which Way is Up?
You're in the battle. You've pulled up into a bush, or rock, or corner and you're ready to shoot. Get in the habit of observing the position of your tank's hull and turret relative to where the enemies are (or you think they are). Are you just facing them straight on? That might not be the optimal position for your armor.
TIP: It may be helpful to zoom your camera out to get a better perspective on your angle relative to nearby cover and where the enemy may be.
Depending on what you learned about your tank in Exercise 1, you may want to tap the A or D keys to turn your hull very slightly, 15-20 degrees at most, to the left or right, presenting more of an angle to the enemy. Be careful not to OVER angle, that's often worse than not angling at all.
It's not just your hull though. If your turret has a flat face, you may want to ALSO present an angled view of your turret (until you're ready to turn and shoot) to the enemy so they don't have as easy a time penetrating you.
Develop the habit of always understanding how your tank sits on the battlefield. Are you angled or not? Are you in cover or not?
When you're comfortable with that, let's work on the third and final exercise.
TIP: It may be helpful to zoom your camera out to get a better perspective on your angle relative to nearby cover and where the enemy may be.
Depending on what you learned about your tank in Exercise 1, you may want to tap the A or D keys to turn your hull very slightly, 15-20 degrees at most, to the left or right, presenting more of an angle to the enemy. Be careful not to OVER angle, that's often worse than not angling at all.
It's not just your hull though. If your turret has a flat face, you may want to ALSO present an angled view of your turret (until you're ready to turn and shoot) to the enemy so they don't have as easy a time penetrating you.
Develop the habit of always understanding how your tank sits on the battlefield. Are you angled or not? Are you in cover or not?
When you're comfortable with that, let's work on the third and final exercise.
Exercise 3 - Do a Little Dance
Average tankers tend to sit still more often than good tankers. If you're in a brawl with an enemy, it's helpful to make your tank's weak spots harder to hit. You can do that just by wiggling your turret a bit and perhaps moving the hull a bit forward and back, or side to side. Doesn't make you impervious, but it's harder to hit a wiggling target than a moving one.
So, next time you've taken your spot, you've angled to where you think the shots are coming from, consider moving just a little bit - a meter or so forward and back may be enough - and/or wiggling your turret back and forth a bit while you're reloading. Make your weakspots harder to hit.
Learn more
This video from Wargaming does a nice job of explaining how to block damage by angling and using your armor.
Hope you found this useful. In a week or so we'll move on to Tankers Workshop #4 - Spend Your Hit Points.
Got some additional tips for armor angling and blocking damage? Share it in the comments below!
Stay bouncy my friends! GLHF.
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