The SU-85A is the big brother of the SU-76M, featuring the same strengths and weaknesses but at a much higher Battle Rating. Unlike the SU-76M, it is armed with the 85mm D-5S cannon and has access to a wide variety of very potent ammunition types that excel at both short range and long range. The armor of the two vehicles is the same, with the only exception being a thin armor plate that covers the crew from the rear from low calibre machine guns.
Main Armament
The main armament of the SU-85A is the D-5S, a very familiar gun for players of the Soviet tech tree. It features very potent ammunition that is able to deal with any threat that it may face with ease, even in a full uptier! Be careful however because the main gun has very limited traverse angles. While the reloading speed of the vehicle isn’t bad, having 9.6 seconds with an untrained crew and 7.4 with an Ace crew, most other vehicles at this Battle Rating will easy outreload you so it’s better to retreat into cover if you miss a shot.
- BR-365 APHEBC — The main shell that you will be using. It features excellent performance against angled armour and packs a big punch with 164 grams of TNT filler.
- BR-365K APHE — An overall downgrade over the BR-365, offering very little increase in penetration of flat plates but trading a lot of performance against angled armour.
- BR-365P APCR — A very powerful APCR shell that can take out even a King Tiger from the front from a distance of 500 meters. Not advised to be brought in large quantities when playing this vehicle at its proper Battle Rating since the BR-365 is more than enough.
- O-365K HE — A decently powerful High Explosive shell that will destroy any open-topped vehicle it hits.
Armor and Survivability
The SU-85A has essentially no armor to speak of. It can be penetrated from all sides by even heavy machine guns. The crew layout is pretty simple, driver in the front and three crew in the rear. Unlike the SU-76M however, the crew in the rear are protected from light machine gun fire by thin armor plates surrounding the entire rear crew compartment. Additionally, the ammunition placement is quite safe so even bringing a full ammo load into battle would not drastically affect your chances of surviving a hit or two.
Mobility
The mobility of the SU-85A is rather sub-optimal but on par with its contemporaries. Its powerpack is essentially two 70-horsepower truck engines stuck together, developing a total of 140 horsepower for an empty mass of 12.2 tons. Its top speed is 40 kilometers per hour with four forward gears and it can reverse with a single gear up to 5.3 kilometers per hour. The acceleration of the vehicle is decent, especially on paved surfaces, but once you get off-road, the weak engine will become very noticeable.
Conclusion
The SU-85A is a glass cannon with a very powerful main gun, similar to vehicles like the German Marder III and Nashorn. It can confidently use its strengths to lay ambushes and score a few frags before having to retreat or alternatively it can utilize its excellent gun at range, taking advantage of the high penetration and good ballistics of its armor-piercing rounds. However, the weaknesses of this vehicle will limit how it can be used with the main threats being artillery and aircraft, able to destroy your vehicle with little effort because of the open crew compartment.
