I got some great feedback on my previous post "Five Things Good Players do More Often Than Average Players" and some of that feedback included suggestions for MORE habits that good World of Tanks players have.
If you're in, or just behind, a bush (so that the bush looks transparent to you) and you shoot the bush loses its camo value and you may be spotted. If you're 15m back so that the bush is opaque (meaning you can't see through it) you can shoot and the bush retains its camo value; so you probably won't get spotted (at least not by the tank you shot).
So, I've started gathering them and thought I'd share the next five habits with you here in this follow-up. Let's jump in!
6. Shoot Tracks
Good players shoot tracks, A LOT. Skill4LTU even has a "Traaaack" emote for his stream. We've all experienced the feeling of getting tracked out in the open; and the despair of not having a repair kit or....worse...getting double-tracked. You're hung out to dry, at the mercy of all who have shots on you.
Tracking enemies is a powerful way to give your team an edge, so shoot those tracks unless the enemy tank is a 1-shot.
Tip: Since you don't really need to pen you can often track people more easily with HE. If you plan to go for a track shot, and it's convenient, try loading HE for that shot.
You accrue assisted damage for any damage your team does to an enemy you have tracked. Tracking is also an effective way to affect an enemy that you might struggle to pen otherwise. The other day on Siegfried I found a Maus when I was in my T92 light tank. I can't really pen a Maus frontally with a T92, but I can take his tracks off and let my team punish him. So that's what I did.
It works best when you shoot the front, or rear, drive wheel as opposed to shooting the middle of the tracks.
To Do: Set a goal to track at least one enemy per battle.
To build this habit see: Tankers Workshop #6 - Shoot the Tracks.
Tracking enemies is a powerful way to give your team an edge, so shoot those tracks unless the enemy tank is a 1-shot.
Tip: Since you don't really need to pen you can often track people more easily with HE. If you plan to go for a track shot, and it's convenient, try loading HE for that shot.
You accrue assisted damage for any damage your team does to an enemy you have tracked. Tracking is also an effective way to affect an enemy that you might struggle to pen otherwise. The other day on Siegfried I found a Maus when I was in my T92 light tank. I can't really pen a Maus frontally with a T92, but I can take his tracks off and let my team punish him. So that's what I did.
It works best when you shoot the front, or rear, drive wheel as opposed to shooting the middle of the tracks.
To Do: Set a goal to track at least one enemy per battle.
To build this habit see: Tankers Workshop #6 - Shoot the Tracks.
7. Use the Bushes
New players to World of Tanks almost always rage about getting shot by "invisible tanks!" I did it too before I understood how spotting mechanics worked. Want to be invisible when you shoot? You can be.
If you're in, or just behind, a bush (so that the bush looks transparent to you) and you shoot the bush loses its camo value and you may be spotted. If you're 15m back so that the bush is opaque (meaning you can't see through it) you can shoot and the bush retains its camo value; so you probably won't get spotted (at least not by the tank you shot).
If you're in, or behind, a bush and you can see through the bush, back up until the bush goes opaque before you shoot. That's sometimes called "Double-bushing" (even if it's just one bush). You will rarely get spotted by somebody you shoot through an opaque bush (If they're close enough to the bush you might still get spotted, but they have to be VERY close).
Note: Just because the tank you shot can't spot you, an enemy who has a line of sight to you that isn't blocked by the bush COULD still spot you when you shoot, so keep that in mind.
To Do: Next time you're in a bush and ready to shoot...pull back until the bush is opaque. Get in the habit of not shooting through transparent bushes unless you don't have the time/chance to pull back.
To build this habit see: Tankers Workshop #7 - Use the bushes
8. Don't Stare Down The Straw
This is one that I struggle with quite a bit myself. There's a tendency, especially when the shooting starts, to zoom in and to focus too much on a single target; especially in "sniper mode".
The problem with this is that you lose situational awareness. I can't tell you how many times I've gotten flanked while I was "staring down the straw" at a target I was trying to shoot. When you watch good players play you'll notice that they very often pull back their view, if not all the way to 3rd person, at least part of the way back. They may also, especially if they have a long reload, check their minimap and even pan their camera left or right (with the right-mouse button).
This is entirely about maintaining situational awareness, recognizing if something is happening they need to take action on, or even if they need to switch targets. There is no rule that says you have to shoot one tank until that tank is dead; you CAN switch targets if it makes sense to. In fact...that's our next habit.
To Do: Next time you're in battle practice zooming back out between every shot. Don't worry, yet, about panning left or right, but get in the habit of pulling back and get the bigger view more often. Once you're more comfortable you can start doing more advanced things between shots. You should be able to easily zoom back in for your next shot.
To build this habit see: Tankers Workshop #8 - Don't stare down the straw
9. Prioritize Targets
Good WoT players don't assume that the first tank they see is the most important tank to shoot. You'll often see good players prioritize targets based on the other team's lineup or who can be eliminated.
Generally speaking if you can take a gun out of a game, that's a high priority target. If none of the tanks you can hit are a one-shot for you then you should probably prioritize the most dangerous target. If you have a choice between shooting a Tiger 131 or a SkorpG...shoot the SkorpG unless you can one-shot the Tiger 131. The SkorpG is a tier 8 and more dangerous than the tier 6 Tiger 131 heavy tank.
To Do: When you can choose between multiple targets try using this quick decision tree:
- Are any of the tanks a one-shot for you? If one is, claim it. If none are, or more than one is, go to step 2....
- Which tank is the more dangerous? Usually this will be the higher tier tank, but sometimes one of the tanks is just a better tank or more key to the enemy winning the battle due to the map and situation. If there are multiple one-shot tanks for you, claim the one with the higher remaining hit points.
- If all of the above is still equal, take the best shot. Which tank can you pen most easily?
The advanced play you'll also see good players make, is to prioritize tanks that their teammates can't easily hit - counting on their teammates (always dangerous in pub matches) to kill the tank they have shots on while they prioritize the tank their team might not have shots on.
You'll even see good players drive right past a wounded enemy to finish off a different red tank, expecting the teammates behind to finish off that wounded enemy.
You'll even see good players drive right past a wounded enemy to finish off a different red tank, expecting the teammates behind to finish off that wounded enemy.
10. Go Back to Base
When you win your flank the instinct is to push directly to the enemy base, and that's exactly what you see a lot of players do. Good players do something first though...they check the minimap again. What they're looking at is what has happened on the other flank. Often if you won your flank, the other team has won the other flank. If that's what happened, you should usually double back and go home to base.
One of the things I always try to do on any map is identify the places where I can defend our cap from. Even as I'm driving to my initial position I'll make a mental note of what hill, rock, or bush I think I can use if I need to come back to defend base.
Good things happen when you come back to base. First of all the enemies who arrive there are hopefully beat up from fighting their way through your teammates on that flank. That makes them easier kills. I once went back to base and found 3 enemies who were all one-shots there. Three shots later I had four kills and we'd won the game.
Second, they've probably seen that you helped win the other flank (and they may see that your teammates have pushed to their cap) so they won't be expecting to find you there - that should give you at least first shot advantage and if you can stay unspotted you'll get a lot more than that. Plus the enemies pushing to cap are often looking for arty and not expecting to find a regular tank that has doubled-back.
Third, if they get on cap you can get base defense points for resetting the cap - not to mention helping your team win the game if it comes down to your teammates capping vs their team capping.
To Do: Next time you win a flank, check the minimap. If the other flank lost (or is about to) go back to base rather than pushing on to the enemy cap. Set up and look to ambush the enemies as they come in.
In the coming weeks I'll create Tankers Workshop articles for each of these habits. But don't wait, get started mastering these habits now!
Want more habits to become a better tanker? See Another 5 things good players do more often than average players.
Got more habits we haven't talked about yet, or tips on how to get better with these habits? Let us know in the comments below.
Good discussion on this article here:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.reddit.com/r/WorldofTanks/comments/cw4lei/five_more_things_good_players_do_more_often_than/