KV-2 (ZiS-6)

KV-2 (ZiS-6)

KV-2 (ZiS-6)

USSR

III Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
5.0	5.0	5.0

Class:

PREMIUM

Heavy tank

Purchase:3 850

Show in game

This page is about the gift Russian heavy tank KV-2 (ZiS-6). For other versions, see KV-2 (Family).

Description

The KV-2 (ZiS-6) is a gift rank III Russian heavy tank with a battle rating of 5.0 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update 1.59 "Flaming Arrows" as a gift vehicle and was available on the Gaijin store for pre-order prior to the update. It is an up-gunned KV-2 featuring the new 107 mm ZIS-6 cannon.

The KV-2 (ZiS-6) is a heavy artillery tank. It is an experimental up-gunned variant of the KV-1 and KV-2 models built with an emphasis of destroying fortification, bunkers and enemy armoured vehicles. Although the armour thickness is the same as the KV-1 and KV-2, this vehicle is notable for having a more powerful cannon; although smaller in calibre to the KV-2, has much higher armour penetration values. In fact, the tank fires Armour-Piercing High-Explosive (APHE) shells with the highest penetration value out of all USSR tanks both at and below its battle rating. With about 190 mm of penetration in normal combat conditions and with 19 grams of explosive filling carried by the default B-420 shell, this tank will obliterate all enemy vehicles upon penetration with the exception of some light-armoured vehicles of which the contact fuse may fail to detonate. Despite its significantly powerful armament, the KV-2 (ZiS-6) is plagued by inherited weaknesses shared within the KV lineage of tanks. At its battle rating, the tank's armour will be of little protection against other hostile vehicles it will face. With just 75 mm armour all around and including the largely slat and exposed turret, almost all tanks and the ammunition they fire (a significant number of which have double the penetration value of the thickness of the KV's armour) will penetrate with little to no difficulty. Tightly packed and strewn ammunition both within and at the base of the turret will more than likely turn the entire vehicle into a erupting volcano upon being struck by stray shells, if not outright cripple the crew to the point the fire-rate is reduced to virtually a standstill. This tank is a spiritual successor of the original KV-2 in combat operations. Although a high crew count of 6, the rate of fire is relatively slow but faster than its predecessor with a higher velocity and flatter trajectory. The same is unfortunately to be said for its slower turret traverse, reverse and acceleration speed and heavy weight.

Operational and visual characteristics of the KV-2 (ZiS-6) retain the visual and operational similarities to the KV-2 which it is upgraded from. Players experienced in operating previous models of the KV-2 or Soviet SPGs should have little to no difficulty in adjusting to this vehicle. The ZiS-6 can be distinguished from its KV and KV-2 predecessors by its enlarged and tall rectangular turret and longer barrel. A quick glance at this vehicle may be mistaken for similar looking tanks such as the KV-2 in which shares the same turret shape.

The KV-2 (ZiS-6)'s closest and most popular competitor of the same battle-rating is the KV-85. The KV-85 when compared, is free to unlock with currency spending, is lighter in weight, more manoeuvrable, faster in fire rate and turret traverse at the expense of fewer crew members. What the ZiS-6 lacks in these qualities may be compensated by its firepower comparable to 'a mini IS-2' as well as the added Premium talisman RP and SL increase bonus of which the KV-85 will lack on the get-go. These detail and information should be considered by the interested user when deciding whether to purchase this tank and incorporating it into their existing arsenal, or when taking into battle. The KV-2 (ZiS-6) will reward those who are patient, and a boon to those seeking increased premium firepower unmatched by any other USSR vehicle at its rank.

General info

Survivability and armour

Armour type:

• Rolled homogeneous armour

Armour	Front (Slope Angle°)	Sides	Rear	Roof
Hull	75 mm (31°) Front plate 70 mm (71°) Front glacis 75 mm (25-74°) Lower glacis 45 mm (1-50°) Machine gun port	75 mm	60 mm (3-86°) Top 70 mm (11-58°) Bottom	35 mm Front 30 mm Rear 35 mm Hatches
Turret	75 mm (1°) Front turret 70 + 70 mm (1-62°) Gun mantlet	75 mm	75 mm (1°) 45 mm (1-50°) Machine gun port	30 mm

Notes:

• Suspension wheels are 20 mm thick, torsion bars are 20 mm thick, and tracks are 30 mm thick.
• Front belly armour is 35 mm thick, rear belly armour is 30 mm thick.

Mobility

Write about the mobility of the ground vehicle. Estimate the specific power and manoeuvrability, as well as the maximum speed forward and backwards.

Game Mode	Mobility characteristics			Engine power (horsepower)		Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton)
	Max Speed	Weight	AoA Weight	Stock	Upgraded	Stock	Upgraded
Arcade	36	52.4	N/A	775	954	14.79	18.21
Realistic	34			531	600	10.13	11.45

Armaments

Main armament

107 mm ZIS-6					Turret rotation speed (°/s)					Reloading rate (seconds)
Mode	Capacity	Vertical	Horizontal	Stabilizer	Stock	Upgraded	Full	Expert	Aced	Stock	Full	Expert	Aced
Arcade	36	-5°/+12°	±180°	N/A	4.86	6.72	8.16	9.02	9.60	21.7	19.7	17.7	16.7
Realistic					3.57	4.20	5.10	5.64	6.00

Ammunition

Penetration statistics
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm)
		10 m	100 m	500 m	1,000 m	1,500 m	2,000 m
B-420	APHEBC	163	161	150	138	127	117
OF-420	HE	27	27	27	27	27	27

Shell details
Ammunition	Type of warhead	Velocity (m/s)	Projectile Mass (kg)	Fuse delay (m)	Fuse sensitivity (mm)	Explosive Mass (TNT equivalent) (g)	Normalisation at 30° from horizontal	Ricochet
								0%	50%	100%
B-420	APHEBC	830	16.6	1.2	19.0	440	+4.0°	48°	63°	71°
OF-420	HE	720	17.2	0.4	0.5	2,150	+0.0°	79°	80°	81°

Ammo racks

Ammo racks of the KV-2 (ZiS-6)

Full ammo	Ammo Part	1st rack empty	2nd rack empty	3rd rack empty	4th rack empty	5th rack empty	6th rack empty	Visual discrepancy
36	Projectiles Propellants	34 (+2) 33 (+3)	31 (+5) 18 (+18)	16 (+20) 12 (+24)	12 (+24) 7 (+29)	6 (+30) 4 (+32)	1 (+35) 1 (+35)	No

Turret left side empty: 18 (+18)

Optics

KV-2 (ZiS-6) Optics
	Default magnification	Maximum magnification
Main Gun optics	X1.9	X3.5
Comparable optics	___

Machine guns

7.62 mm DT
Mount	Capacity (Belt capacity)	Fire rate (shots/minute)	Vertical guidance	Horizontal guidance
Coaxial	1,890 (63)	600	N/A	N/A

Usage in battles

At its Rank and Battle Rating, the KV-2 (ZiS-6)'s armour is no longer up to par against newer and more powerful weapon systems of opposition vehicles it will face. Although unlike the IS-1 successor of which is unable to protect itself by angling due to the rounded turret mount causing a vulnerability, the KV-2 has less of this issue as the entire front potion of the front and lower-plate is designed to be straight and rectangular and allowing it to deflect or ricochet some shots when angled optimally but the large turret is extreme exposed and vulnerable to head-on fire.

Due to its unsatisfactory manoeuvrability, fire-rate and traverse speed, close-quarters engagements against multiple enemies in small-spaced environments are highly discouraged unless absolutely necessary. The tank is too large and slow to escape or retreat from what would be overwhelming situations, and too large to hide. Should the need to enter tight alleyways and streets if towns or cities, escort either by or with other friendly units are of utmost importance and should best serve in a support capacity should more heavily armoured opponents are encountered. This tank excels best at long to medium range engagements on largely open areas. Due to its poor 3 degrees of gun depression - a trait inherited by all USSR armoured vehicles, engaging hostiles by cresting over the tops of hills are highly discouraged unless absolutely necessary. Should clusters of multiple hostile vehicles are encountered in combat, the optimal tactic is to wait for them to split up before engaging them one-by-one if the opportunity presents itself.

Lightly armoured vehicles where the contact fuse may not activate upon penetration such as the Waffentrager or Nashorn are of the most concern as the default B-420 APHE shell has the tendency of penetrating from the front to rear dealing less damage than what is expected. Follow up shots may be required. Although the HE OF-420 shell is an excellent solution, the 16 seconds of shell swap may not warrant enough justification for use when few seconds are only available to determines survival.

Another class of vehicles of significant threat are fast-tanks such as the M18 GMC or T-34 tanks capable of running circles in ways the KV-2 (ZiS-6)'s slow turret traverse rate and poor manoeuvrability will be unable to cope in close-quarters engagements. The last type of vehicle of concern are low-chassis tanks such as the ASU-57, ASU-85, PT-76B and even some German tank-destroyers are so small to the point they safely drive up to the vicinity of KV-2 and be immune from retaliation due to the 107 mm gun situated on a high turret and only 3 degrees if traverse up and down.

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Excellent firepower
• Greatly improved reload speed over previous KV-2 models
• High crew capacity (6)
• High velocity and powerful munition
• Premium talisman with RP and SL increase bonus

Cons:

• Slow rate of fire
• Insufficient armour protection
• Poor gun depression of -3° (common trait of all USSR tanks)
• Large profile
• Poor manoeuvrability and slow speed
• High weight
• High risk of internal ammunition explosions by penetrating shells

History

Describe the history of the creation and combat usage of the vehicle in more detail than in the introduction. If the historical reference turns out to be too long, take it to a separate article, taking a link to the article about the vehicle and adding a block "/History" (example: https://wiki.warthunder.com/(Vehicle-name)/History) and add a link to it here using the main template. Be sure to reference text and sources by using <ref></ref>, as well as adding them at the end of the article with <references />. This section may also include the vehicle's dev blog entry (if applicable) and the in-game encyclopedia description (under === In-game description ===, also if applicable).

Media

Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.

See also

Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:

• reference to the series of the vehicles;
• links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.

External links

• [Devblog] New additions to the KV-2 series