Tank Review: Leo

It was the best of guns, it was the worst of guns. The Leo is a Tier 7 Swedish tech tree medium tank and it's an example of where the gun choice makes a significant difference. 



The Leo leads to both the UDES mediums and the Emil Swede heavies so you may end up grinding it for a while. The question is....will you enjoy it?

Spoiler alert: Probably not that much.

It's a bit pudgy, the view range and camo aren't amazing, the armor is paper, and none of the guns are very exciting. It's not as bad as the Comet, but it's not a tank you're likely to love. It's just ok.

Equipment

The equipment you choose on this tank really matters, especially the gun.

Guns and Turrets

There are two guns to choose from and I implore you not to be seduced by the nominal DPM. The middle gun has a much higher rate of fire, and much better accuracy. However, 150 alpha and the truly awful pen and gun handling will make you want to free XP past this tank. It's really painful.

The top gun has much lower DPM, worse accuracy, poor shell velocity, and an aim time you can measure with a sundial, but the alpha is much better and the pen just seems a lot better than the stats suggest. With the top gun the tank may not quite be fun, but it's at least playable.

The turret choice is pretty easy too, though not that important. Neither turret has meaningful armor, but the top one is better and has better view range. That said, the view range on this tank isn't brilliant either; 370m base.

10 degrees of gun depression is very good.

Engines and Tracks

The Leo doesn't feel as mobile as its stats suggest it should be. It's not slow, but it just feels a little mushy to me. You can get where you need to go, but it doesn't push you back in your seat.

That said, get the top engine and tracks. The engine gives you 25% more power than the stock engine and the tracks will improve your traverse.

Additional Equipment

This tank won't run Vstabs so the optional equipment choices are pretty easy: Vents, Optics and Rammer.

Crew

The Leo has a 4-person crew and unfortunately the commander is also the Radio Operator. So the usual MT crew skills apply.

  • Commander - I'd run Situational Awareness until you get it to 100%, then retrain it with gold to Sixth Sense and restart Situational Awareness. Switch that to BIA as the second, and restart Situational Awareness. I'd get Recon as the fourth skill, and Concealment as the fifth. Of course if you run the Leo long enough to get that many skills you might want to rethink your life decisions.
  • Driver - Smooth Ride, BIA, Off-Road Driving, Concealment. 
  • Gunner - Snap Shot, BIA, Concealment, Repairs...
  • Loader - Concealment, BIA, Safe Stowage, Repairs...

Survivability

It really isn't very survivable. The armor is worst in class, and 1100 hit points is pretty normal.

Versus Tier 8 and 9 (and I've been getting a LOT of Tier 9 battles in it lately) you're basically a 3-shot and you won't bounce much of anything. Worse if one of the big TDs manages to hit you.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Will you keep it?
A: I kinda doubt it.

Q: Is it competitive?
A: When it's top tier, it's fine. You can even have some pretty good games with it. When you're not top tier...you need to be a sneaky cat, skulking around the periphery and playing support. If you get spotted and caught out you can be back in the garage pretty quick. Leo is a big target with no armor.



Comments