Valentine II: A Steel-fisted Lover
This is my review of the Valentine II, the “Made-in-Britain” Soviet tier 4 “light” tank. Along with many other American/British vehicles, a version of the Valentine was hurried to Stalins Red Army which was frantically trying to stop the incoming Germans during World War 2. In game, the classification of a “light tank” is wrong; the Valentine is one of the most heavily armored tanks in game which is further supported by its unusually great matchmaking.
This review will cover the following aspects of the Valentine II:
- Durability and Armor
- Mobility
- Firepower
- Gameplay
- Equipment
- Crew skills
- Should I buy it?
Durability and Armor
The Valentine 2 has an amazing chunk of hit points for a tank classified as a light. With 380, it has more hit points than its counterparts, the AMX 40 (300), the Matilda (340) and its non-premium version, the Valentine (310). Coupled with great all-round armor, this allows it to take a great beating before it goes down. However, as with all tanks, manage your hit point pool well and do not take any unnecessary damage.
On paper, the Valentine 2 has an armor thickness of 60mm on the front, sides, AND rear.
The upper frontal glacis, the highly sloped area, is where you can expect the most bounces. This is where tier 3 and 4 lights and mediums will find themselves unable to penetrate, especially if the front is angled properly. Tier 4 TD’s, and some tier 3 TD’s present the biggest threat to the Valentine 2 as their either high-penetration guns or high alpha cannons (known also as derps) will rip through the armor with relative ease.
Keep in mind, though, that the armor layout resembles the IS-3’s “pike-nose” a bit, with the two sides of the upper armor sloping both downward and sideways. What does this mean?
Well, basically, if you’re facing the Valentine 2 frontally, you will find that these two areas have increased protection to armor-piercing, armor piercing composite-rigid or high explosive anti-tank rounds when compared to the midsection of the upper frontal glacis. But when angled, an known and useful method of increasing frontal armor effectiveness, these two areas’ armor effectiveness actually DECREASE, as they now lose their sideways-sloping feature. It’s hard to explain it without diagrams, and I apologize for not being able to put up a picture of it.
The side armor is flat 60mm of steel. Unangled, many tanks will penetrate it with ease. However, one can use it to great effectiveness when using the “sidescrape” technique, which will be explained in the “Gameplay” section.
The rear armor is stated as 60mm thick, but that only applies to a thin block of armor which, as you might soon find out, rarely gets hit. Most of the rear armor is barely worth mentioning- tug it away, keep it hidden and prevent it from getting hit at all times. It will get penetrated by almost any tank you encounter.
The turret armor is very similar to the hull armor, with solid 65mm of armor on the front, sides and rear. You will receive bounces from hits to the turret from nearly any direction. When expecting to get shot, angle your turret at around 40 degrees to one side to increase the turrets armor effectiveness.
Mobility
As with many heavily-armored tanks, mobility will always be a downside. With just under 9 hp/ton, you will find yourself at times struggling to keep up with the pace of the battle or returning to your base to reset. To- at least partially- make up for that, it has a simply astounding traverse speed of 50 degrees. Hell, true scout tanks would damn happy if they were given that traverse speed. The Panzer 2 Luchs itself, known to be extremely agile, has only 33 degrees traverse on paper. The Valentine 2’s agility should never be underestimated. Similarly to the Excelsior, circling tanks will soon find themselves in trouble to outmaneuver the Valentine, while the fast firing cannon will shred it to pieces.
The top speed of 32 km/h does not help either as you will find yourself crawling downhill. On flat or moderately soft terrain, forget about reaching that speed.
Firepower
Pewpewpew! Let’s take a look at the 45mm 20KL guns’ statistics.
- 51mm average penetration
- 47 alpha damage (hit points)
- 26.26 rounds per minute (or roughly 2.2 seconds reload time)
- 0.41m dispersion at 100m (accuracy)
- 1.71 seconds aim time
This gun is essentially a modified, slightly improved version of the tier 2 BT-2’s top gun, the long and fast Soviet light tank. The low damage of about 47 hit points per shot is acceptable, considering the extremely quick reload speed of just over 2 seconds. This is helped by the excellent aim time of 1.71 seconds. In CQC (close quarter combat) situations, you will be able to fire immediately after each reload is completed. At mid-range, you might have to wait a split second longer before each shot which is pretty standard for such a gun.
Now, as with the Excelsior (British tier 5 heavy tank), the problem lies with the penetration. 51mm average penetration is not bad for tier 3, but soon becomes a problem at tier 4. Luckily, it only sees tier 3 to tier 4 tanks- yes, it WON’T see tanks a tier higher. If I remember correctly, this tank is the only one with this special special-matchmaking (yes, other tanks, for example the B1 or IS-6 have so-called ‘special-MM’ too, but they see tanks a tier higher), which is arguably one of the best features of the Valentine 2. Anyway, back to the gun penetration. You will have to place carefully aimed shots when faced with moderately armored tanks. With AP, forget about penetrating Matildas and AMX 40’s.
As for gold rounds, well... they really aren’t worth it. Firing too much gold will weigh down on your wallet, and they really should only be used for emergency purposes (when nobody else can damage a tank). I suggest not loading any more than 15 rounds of gold rounds.
Gameplay
The combination of great armor, low overall speed (but great traverse speed) and light-tank shredding gun leaves the Valentine II as a support tank, with the ability to lead a push at the right times. Its role depends on the line-up of enemy tanks, and their positioning. Its speed is extremely slow, and once committed to one area, it will find it very inconvenient if forced to change direction. The Valentine II will find itself at home in mid-range to close quarter combat as its gun has higher chances of landing penetrating shots.
With 60mm of solid side armor, the “sidescraping” technique can be applied to great effect for the Valentine 2. It basically consists of hugging a solid object (a rock, stone or wall) and hiding the frontal armor and its weak spots, while exposing a highly-angled side toward the enemy gun. It does take a bit of practice, and when you find your window clustered with grey arcs, you will know you’ve got it right. I’m unable to post pictures for some reason on the site, so here is the link to the World of Tanks wikipedia site which explains sidescraping in great detail:
http://wiki.worldoftanks.com/Tactics#Other_Tactics
As the Valentine II has a forward-mounted turret, I usually use the “reverse-sidescrape” position. This is done by, instead of facing the front of the tank toward the solid object, facing the REAR toward the object and angling the side out. This allowed me to turn my turret backward and actually fire back without having to move out to shoot. Keep in mind that your turret might also be easily penetrated, so angle that well too. Experiment and practice the sidescrape position, then the reverse-sidescrape position and use it to maximum effect.
As with many tanks with low penetration guns, it is dependent on teammates to get rid of highly armored tanks. But no worries, you can help with that. Use your high rate of fire to blast their tracks off, and keep them permanently detracked. As an artillery player myself, words cannot express the joy at seeing a nice target, sitting out in the open, unable to move. Tank destroyers will also grin in delight as they take carefully aimed shots from a distance to blast the annoying tank to hell.
Another, more risky way of dealing with tanks with high frontal armor but weaker sides and rears (such as the Valentine II itself), one can simply blow its tracks off while make its way, slowly, around the enemy tank. The traverse speed will allow you to turn tightly around the enemy tank, while your rate of fire can alternately detrack the tank and fire punishing shots into the sides/rear. Keep in mind that in this case, the enemy tank needs to be alone (if he’s not, make sure his support is dead).
In conclusion, like every tank, learn what the tank can do and what it can’t. Learn which areas the Valentine II can reach with its speed, learn the terrain it can abuse. While your gun depression, at -6 degrees, isn’t particularly good, with proper positioning you will be able to find some hulldown positions. Furthermore, learn what guns will bounce (ricochet off its armor) and what will penetrate. Most importantly, know what you can penetrate and what you can’t- it will be a deciding factor in your strategies and decisions.
A small note- while I’d usually recommend joining a platoon, in this case, I would not. For the simple reason being that the gun is simply that ineffective against higher tiers and relies on its one of a kind special matchmaking to make that difference and impact on the battle. The problem is, even platooning with tier 3 tanks, you run the risk of bumping into KV-1’s, Pz Sfl C’s and other tier 5 monsters against which the Valentine II stands no chance. The only platoon I’d join in would be a joint or triple Valentine II. The downside, of course, is that all share the same firepower weakness.
Equipment
Ventilations are always a good choice, as they improve every aspect of the tanks performance. In addition, they are cheap. After that, it’s up to you on what you feel the tank needs. A toolbox is always a useful tool, especially for brawling tanks like the Valentine II to repair its tracks quicker and utilize its amazing traverse speed. The Gun-Laying Drive is rather unnecessary as the Valentine’s gun already possesses one of the fastest aiming times in World of Tanks. If you like sitting in ambush, waiting for enemy tanks to cross your path and need that extra view range and camo, take a combination of Camo net and Binoculars.
Crew Skills
This, again, depends largely on your preferred style of play. As with nearly every tank, I prefer to train up a skill- either Camo or Repairs- up to 100% first, then drop it and replace it with perks. My recommendation is as follows:
Commander: 6th Sense, Recon, Repairs
Driver: Offroad Driving, Clutch Breaking, Repairs
Loader: Safe Stowage, Situational Awareness, Repairs
Commander
For any tank, 6th Sense is a helpful tool in finding out that the enemy team knows where you are. Recon, in addition with Situational Awareness on the loader, is helpful in increasing your view range. If you’re not loaded up with a Toolbox, I recommend that you either have repairs on all three crew members as 2nd skill.
Driver
Offroad Driving decreases terrain resistance on soft terrain, improving your horrid cross-country mobility. After that, it really is your choice- Clutch Breaking is, in my opinion, the best out of the other skills but that really depends on your preference. You won’t need any skills improving firing on the move, as the Valentine II travels so slowly with such a small aiming circle that it’s completely unnecessary.
Loader
Getting your ammo rack destroyed is rare, but damages to it, although not often, do occur. After that, Situational Awareness to increase your view range- the rest is your choice. Brothers in Arms (BiA) can also be useful, especially since with a small 3-man crew it will come into effect sooner. But I personally feel that BiA’s a waste of space, so that really comes down to personal preference.
Should I buy it?
Sick of getting placed against tanks a tier or two above? Like “sealclubbing”, or playing against less experienced players? Enjoy tier 4? Are able to carry (to make a big impact and win the game) in slow, heavily armored beasts?
If so, then of course! The Valentine II guarantees that, in every match, you will be top tier, a feature that should not be ignored. However, I wouldn’t recommend this tank to newbies to avoid utter frustration of not knowing where to shoot (hint: surfaces with less sloping will generate less bounces in general; common weaknesses include the lower area of the frontal armor, the commanders hatches on top of the turrets and the small but noticable machine-gun ports and driver viewports.)
Well, once again, thanks for reading my wall of text. I hope you’ve learned something new.
Happy Sealclubbing Hunting!
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Pros:
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Crew Skill recommendations
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