Deep Dive: THE NEW TANK SHELLS AND YOU

[h3]Soldiers![/h3]
A lot of changes have been made to our armor system in 2021. Earlier this year we introduced the first set of changes, where we increased the power of AP shells, made armor more sturdy and reworked HE shells. All done to make sure the biggest tank doesn't always have the strongest explosive power. Last month we completed the reworked tank combat by adding tons of new ammo types.

In this blog post we are going to take a deep dive into the new shells while highlighting our earlier changes. Which shells should be used against which opponent, what are the strengths and weaknesses? Find out by reading the information below!

[h3]Community links![/h3]
Not all tanks will have access to every type of shell, you can take a look at the images below or look ingame at the 'Specialist Ribbons' for each tank.
You can also take a look out our community-driven Gamepedia here:
Gamepedia - Vehicle details

Another useful link is the community created calculator below. This tool contains details on both vehicles and infantry weapons.
Heroes & Generals Calculator vehicles

Please note that both websites are community created, and we cannot guarantee all the information is 100% accurate or up-to-date.
[h3]Video tutorial![/h3]
Are you more interested in a video tutorial?
Be sure to check out the tutorial made by Thakard

[previewyoutube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qa2N427lFbQ[/previewyoutube]

[h3]The eight types of shells[/h3]
The game now has 10 types of shells, this includes 6 types that are specialized to take on enemy armor, 2 that are specialized to take on enemy infantry, 1 that can do both and finally a shell that creates a smokescreen. Below we will briefly talk about each of these shells and what they can do.



[h3]AP-shells[/h3]
Each tank you buy comes with the standard AP shells. Also known as Armor-Piercing shells. They are the standard shells for each tank, one should certainly not underestimate their capabilities. The AP-round lacks penetration power, but can do a lot of damage. It is especially effective against lower-class tanks.

[h3]APCR-shells[/h3]
The second available shell is the APCR shell. The Armor-piercing, composite rigid, which is also often called the HVAP; High Velocity Armor Piercing shell is a shell available to almost all tanks ingame. This shell specializes in penetrating the enemy vehicle, however this comes at a cost of damage. The APCR shell is the shell with the lowest damage-output. The performance drop over range is quite significant for APCR shells and are therefore most effective on shorter ranges. This shell is best used against strongly armored vehicles, or simply higher-class vehicles.

[h3]APHE/API/APC-shells[/h3]
Next up we have a combination of three shells. The APC (or APCBC), or the Armor-piercing capped ballistic capped shell, the API Armor-piercing incendiary and the APHE Armor-Piercing High-Explosive. These shells are a direct improvement on the AP shell. They have better penetration values and do more damage, however they still cannot penetrate as much armor as the APCR shell can. These shells are excellent in a fight against lightly armored vehicles and tanks.



[h3]HEAT-shells[/h3]
HEAT-shells also known as High-Explosive Anti-Tank shells, do not excel on either damage or penetration values on first glance, but the HEAT shells doesn't lose any penetration or damage over longer ranges. If you can penetrate it at 10 meters, you can also penetrate it at 1000 meters. This is a strength a lot of the other shells doesn't have. The fact it won't lose any damage due to range, this shell is excellent for longer range combat! The shells also produce a small blast on impact, doing significant damage to infantry.

[h3]HE-shells[/h3]
High Explosive shells are available for each and every tank. As the name suggests, these shells are the best way to get rid of infantry quickly. They don't do much damage against tanks, but can be used against lighter vehicles. In most cases, HE shells are better on lower tier tanks than on higher tier tanks, this is especially visible in the medium tank category. For example, the American 75mm cannon (found on the M3 Lee, M4 Sherman and the Chaffee) has HE shells almost twice as powerful as the 76mm cannon used by the E8 Sherman!

[h3]SHR-shells[/h3]
SHR, standing for Shrapnel is the second form of anti-infantry shell. It can only be used by a limited amount of tanks, but has some unique properties to set it apart from the other HE shells. The Shrapnel shell is unable to kill infantry with 1 shell (unless you hit the enemy directly), but the range of the explosion is double that of the HE shell! This allows it to damage enemies in a much larger radius.



[h3]DPHE-shells[/h3]
The DPHE, Dual purpose HE shells is the least specialized shell in the game, it does not impress in penetration values, damage is low and it also doesn't excel against infantry... Then why would you use it? Well, because it can do all three. The DPHE is especially powerful against light vehicles and for example Armored Personal carriers. It also allows you to take on smaller tanks and infantry, without having to change ammunition in between.

[h3]WP-shells[/h3]
Last but not least we have the WP-shells, White Phosphorous, which just like the DPHE shells can only be found on a very limited amount of tanks. These shells don't do any damage to tanks, but briefly explodes into an area of smoke around the target and do a limited amount of damage to infantry. The smoke only lasts a short duration, but is enough to make an enemy tank or soldier blind to your location. When facing an enemy tank that is superior to yours, firing some smoke shells on the enemy tank will make it much more difficult for him to put his sights on you which allows you to escape from the hostile beast. Not only that, but with teamwork, you can cover the enemy tank in smoke and allow your infantry to push or create space for a friendly tank who can bring it down!

See you on the battlefield!
RETO MOTO