Main page

I don't have the best gun yet nor best engine. I'm always last tier (I'm not exaggerating).

And worse of all, the tank has horrible matchmaking. I am always in horrible teams. By that I mean that if with some other tank I AFKed every battle, I'd have higher win-loss ratio than in KV-1S.


I've even seen people who praise this tank. Is this when you buy 100% crew with gold, buy top gun with free XP or through KV3? Do you then start winning in 60% of matches?


I don't need tips for playing this tank because in most of the battles I'm merely a spectator anyway, much like how it is with AMX38 when it's not top tier.

have u tryed the french?

tomas_praha, on 10 January 2012 - 11:44 PM, said:

I'm at tier4 with french tanks so can't tell.

kv1s is not so good tank but it have nasty 122mm
well you must use that tank as medium because of his thick armor
when you get 122mm you will see the true power of that tank
i suggest use him and medium to close range sniper avoid head on rush and chest to chest battels

I think you have simply bad luck.

Dont give up, make a break and try again !

Hackbraten, on 10 January 2012 - 11:51 PM, said:

It's not a bad luck after 54 battles. It's a pattern. I hope that with best gun it's drastically better.

Even when you do have the best gun, you still tend to miss (122mm ftw XD) and when that happens, you're screwed. Because of the bad armor values. I have one myself and what you just said there happened to me aswell. Also, it seems to suffer from worse MM than the KV-3! I mean, I've met IS-7's and E-100's in my KV-1S but never in my KV-3 (max tier 9) Isn't that a little weird?

Still going to keep this tank though, collect ALL the KV's!

It's epicly good in top condition even though it does suck balls before 122mm DT gun. Some people can't play and some can. Nothing more to add.

e: 1S is a lot more comfortable in tier 8-9 battles than KV-3. Which is a big plus considering the MM these days.

I remember when I was excited about that tank, and I never liked it. Agile and fast, but that is all. 122mm gun is expensive here as you get a nasty repair cost too, plus matchmaking is really bad for this tank. After more than 200 battles I finally sold it with rammer and gun laying drive on it and it was worth it. It would be good but you have to learn to chill when waiting for reload as it is the worst on this tank with 122mm, but MM is killing this. On the other hand I still play KV and KV3, these are my 2 favorites and moneymakers, plus waiting for 2 garage slots.   But don't you ever mention KV1S with a french tank involved. French tanks are so terrible, I stopped grinding at tier4, only doing 1-2 battles a day with the amx40.

FYI - 223 battles with 98 victory, that's how bad is the MM for this tank.

i like kv-1s. i play whit him but in lust battle i shoot 2 time in kv/3 and only do critical without damage whit my 122mm! something is wrong in this game!  

Your fault.

You should have taken the KV-3.

It really depends on your playstyle. If you wanted a heavy unpenetrable fortress then you shoud've taken the KV-3. Unfortunately you have to pass 2 more tanks(IS and IS-3) before you get another one(IS-4). KV-1S is more like a medium tank - fast and agile, but with weak armor, and so is the IS-1/2. IS-3 have better armor but is still away from the "Steel wall" tank.

I have the KV, KV-3 and KV-1S and I like playing all 3 now that I've got them to the their top guns.

I play the 122mm on both the KV-3 and the KV-1S and don't find them too expensive, even if I die a horrible death (quite often!). Until the 122mm the KV-1S sucked balls. It just bounced all it's shots on the big tanks and its armour meant you survived just long enough to watch another shot bounce.

With the 122mm the KV-1S can brawl with the best of them. Last 2 games I got 3 kills and 4 kills. I've led a pack charge in it quite a few times, taking 70% off tanks like the M6 and T-34-85, scaring them into retreat and foolish action, dying myself but cracking that blockade or hill capture.

I wouldn't say I love this tank but I'm very very fond of it. The early stock games made me hate it but it's growing on me now.

Depends upon your playstyle.  I've decided I hate the KV3.  Sure it's got pretty good armour, but it's dog slow and in higher tier battles is an arty magnet, closely followed by the first thing killed (cos it can't hide and is the easiest thing to blow up).
For me it's a slow mobile coffin that only really works when it's top of it's group.  Even then, it's so slow that it's hard to assist your team.  You either guess right in the direction you travel, or you're stuffed.

The KV1S is much more expensive to run because of the ammo for the top gun.  It's also got armour more comparable to a medium tank.  Making up for that, it can reposition to a different map area (great when you're trying to help a collapsing flank) and has a gun that usually puts the willies up an enemy tank (of similar/lower) when they've seen how much damage you've just done to them.  Once you're worked out how to use it (it's NOT a breakthrough tank, as the KV3 can be), how to ensure you can snipe and re-load whilst in cover, it can be VERY effective.  Try driving it like a big medium and you'll be fine.

I started playing yesterday with KV-1s. I still need to research engine and the top gun.

I am using the 122mm derp gun from KV and it is working very good. Whenever I managed to hit side and rear armor of german and us tanks I did 500 damage with each shot (soviet heavy tanks are not that easy to penetrate from the sides/rear). I oneshotted a T-34 and a Stug and some french tanks with that gun (french tanks are easy victims of high caliber HE ammo). But yes, against strong-armored opponents I do something like 150 damage per shot.

I think it's a good tank and when elite it will be a nice outflanker. It's not a true heavy tank, it feels more like a medium tank.

I had KV-1S and I combined it with 122mm HE as soon as I could (I had 122mm HE from KV so it was immediate). Bought crew with 75%. My opinion, the most fun T6 tank! 122mm HE before patch was very useful but now not so much (experienced the difference on KV-13). I had a luck to play in this combination before patch and I liked it so much.
Good armor and decent speed and agility made this tank very versatile in both the heavy and medium matches - KV-3 couldn't do sh*t as well as E8 or T-34-85...

Wont ask you to agree with me but my stats do confirm most of what I said - ~180battles ~170kills, decent amount of medals including 2 Top Gun (6 and 7 kills) and several Sniper... Don't forget that all of this was with 122mm HE (check the stats for that gun) so, for me, that was sweet I even destroyed both E-100 and Maus with this tank

some people should stick to low tiers.

Had both KV-3 and KV-1S

I have to agree with others that up until you have the best gun it is a problematic tank to drive as you can hardly damage anything.

Once you do it is (to me) a better tank then a KV-3.

Here's a quick comparison

Sniping
KV-3 is better as it can mount a more accurate gun (107). KV-1S on the other hand has only 1 good gun and the 122mm is horribly inaccurate at range

Brawling
KV-1S is vastly superior. It excels in city maps with the high damage in and decent speed/agility enabling it to run from what it can't fight. KV-3 on the other hand is so slow that runnng is not an option. Furthermore the slow turret is a liability when it comes to close range as anything faster then a KV or a KV-3 can flank it.

Top tank
KV-3 is better at being the top tank due to its armor. Lover tiers have a hard time killing it if it's supported.

Mid range or bottom tank
KV-1S is better due to its agility. Armor is a non issue as all enemies can easily penetrate you and it is better to have the ability to retreat to a different position then just stand there and fight (which is about the only thing a KV-3 can do)

My conclusion
KV-1S is a better overall tank as it is more versatile and can handle higher tier matches better. Due to its mobility it's  more fun to play and can respond to threats on different side of the map.

KV-3 is a better assault tank especially if it's a top tank. A group fo them rolling towards you can be a nasty thing (which is why they get used in tier 6 company battles). Once a KV-3 is commited that's it. There's no fallback as it lacks mobility to do anything but roll forward and destroy or be destroyed.

Note:
I'll buy back the KV-1S once I have the money for it because I like to play it.
KV-3 will be re bought only when russian heavy tree is updated. That way I can get am extra new tanks and a free tier 7 tank at the same time.

stop playing standards and get your ass in medium team companys. that is where all the fun is.
standards are only ment for t8 as that is the tier where you can pen anything and your never at the bottom of the list.

i have a kv1s and its a perfect "med" tank in tc. same speed as a 3601 whit same cannon as kv3, cant go wrong whit that.

First of all: all tanks can only be judged when fully upgraded. KV-1s is one of those that can be quite horrible in stock or half upgraded conditions. It really needs the big 122mm and speed from tracks and engines.
I won (slightly) more than 50% of my games in KV-1. I won a lot more medals and kills with it than with KV-3. Only steel wall is something you won't get often. But in the matches tier 6 are thrown into today a KV-3 won't win it often too.

TekumzeWolf, on 18 January 2012 - 11:00 AM, said:

This sums it up for the KV-3. Beeing in high tier matches (tier 8+) and with several artys it is a very painful tank too. In addition the 175mm penetration dings a lot in those games. KV-3 means crawling around and not beeing able to help capping or defending base on time when in the middle of the map. It also means beeing a bouncy monster in tier 6 company battles (until it will be moved to tier 7 in some month).

TekumzeWolf, on 18 January 2012 - 11:00 AM, said:

That's the only point I totally disagree. BOTH guns are fail in sniping. I mean it's about 0.39 (Zis) versus 0.40 (122) accuracy. Both not having enough penetration at longer range. If I speak of sniping I'm talking of something like german guns with <0.33 accuracy. One of the main problems in this game are players that "snipe" with tanks not made for that and forcing the real snipers to hold positions in front of them. If it's about "sniping" I would prefer KV-1s in any way. Relocating after shots is a lot easier and if I remember correct is has at least a little camo value.