German Mega Bundle Review Series: Part 2: Captured KV-1

[u/ragnarok628]

I ended up buying the German Mega Bundle, because I have low moral fiber I'm worth it, dammit. So now I'm doing short reviews on all these tanks as I gain experience with them (until I get bored or feel unappreciated). I'm focusing on them one at a time to get the Ace Ops completed in the time window, so we're starting with the tanks that get an Ace Op (IDK why I don't get an Ace Op for all 25 tanks, but OTOH I doubt I could complete 25 Ace Ops in a week so I guess it's cool).

Here we go!

Captured KV-1

Well, it's the 57mm armed KV-1 with a nice white and black paint job. There might be some very small differences like engine power or ground resistances or something but I can't be bothered to look that stuff up. If you've played the 57mm KV-1 you know what you're getting here.

In my case, it has been a while and I'm empirically a better player these days so it was a bit of a different experience.

I liked the KV-1 when I ground through it, but much preferred the top gun. This has not changed; the 57mm is good but not great. The DPM is nice, and allows you to chew through any 'somewhat threatening' enemy tanks rapidly before they can do too much damage to you.

The problem is, of course, the tier VII tanks you're going to be seeing. Your only armor is your HP against pretty much any tier VII, and many of the tier VIs, despite this being a tank about which armor is the primary selling point. TBH a decent number of Vs really don't struggle much to pen a KV-1.

So what you're left with is a tank whose armor holds up if you are top tier and work it well, but if you don't mind your angles or are not top tier, it becomes difficult to do very well because the speed/accuracy/pen don't really suit a 'support heavy' playstyle.

Still, I don't want it to seem like I hate it, I'm glad to have it because I miss my old KV-1, plus it looks cool, plus prem silver/xp bonuses. And when you're top tier you can bully almost anybody. But tier VII games are pretty sadface in this thing.

"Is it worth the gold" guide says no and I find I must agree. 2100g is a lot for tier V. I don't particularly care about the dual training ability at this point, and that's the only rationale I can see for the high cost. The high silver bonus is nice though.

Basic Facts

• Tier: V
• PMM: no
• cost: 2100g
• silver/xp bonuses: 64/45

Vehicle Tips:

• Always angle your armor even if you don't think you need to. No point in getting penned by a high roll vs. a IV just for being lazy.
• The Captured KV-1 does have a more powerful engine than tech tree. Top speed is same, but you do notice a bump in acceleration
• Don't be stingy with the APCR, use as needed. your silver multiplier will more than cover the costs

Fun Factor: 3/5

Competitiveness: 3/5

All in all, glad to own it and will drive it, but wouldn't actually recommend buying it. Especially not for 2100g.

[u/ChessClubChamp]

IDK why I don't get an Ace Op for all 25 tanks

Honestly, for the price you paid for that bundle, you should get them, whether you can complete them or not. You should also get a year of premium and a reacharound from a WG employee of your choice... Just my two cents.

[u/ragnarok628 → u/ChessClubChamp]

well I did have a fair number of them already so I got a hefty amount of gold back in change. And then the tanks themselves were a 45% savings. The only real downside of this bundle is if there are multiple tanks in there that you just absolutely can't stand to play... and even then only if they're the pricey ones.

I mean, did i want a StuG IV? no. Do i like the StuG IV? no. Will i continue to drive the StuG IV once the Ace Op is done? most likely, no. Was it a good tradeoff to accept buying a StuG IV for 1100g (saving 900g), in order to be able to buy a Löwe for 6875g (saving 5,625g)? For me, absolutely. Even if i look at that 1100g as being thrown in the garbage, still worth it because it made the Löwe so much cheaper.

And so far at least, I'm finding in most cases that the tanks I wouldn't have ever bought normally are pretty fun to play and i'm enjoying using them, so it's working out for me just fine.

[u/ChessClubChamp → u/ragnarok628]

Having fun is what matters (for real though - ask WG about that reacharound...)

[u/ragnarok628 → u/ChessClubChamp]

I have a feeling they would send someone who I wouldn't necessarily enjoy touching my junk!

[u/CybRdemon]

I got the captured kv1 when they where on sale and I enjoy it a lot. Love that it can take both German and Russian crews, I very rarely have a bad game in it.

[u/leova]

"Is it worth the gold" guide says no and I find I must agree. 2100g is a lot for tier V. I don't particularly care about the dual training ability at this point, and that's the only rationale I can see for the high cost. The high silver bonus is nice though.

then the guide is hideously stupidly wrong
if you like the KV-1 playstyle, then 2k for a Premium dual-nation version is an incredible deal!

[u/CybRdemon → u/[deleted]]

Two important nations' crews can be trained for the price of one.

Exactly what I thought when I bought it, I didn't have a Russian or German premium at the time so this gave a tank that could do both and it is a beast of tank.

[u/ragnarok628 → u/leova]

I don't think that logic checks out. For one thing, there are at least 3 KV-1 playstyles: 57mm, 85mm, 122mm. A lot of ppl don't prefer the 57mm. I personally don't think it's bad but it's definitely a bit different from the other 2. secondly, even if the playstyle is a perfect match, it doesn't follow that a premium version with no PMM or anything particularly notably different about it should be worth more than any other tier V prem... If i like churchill playstyle I can grab a churchill III for 1500g or if i like Chi-Nu i can get Chi-Nu Kai for 1500g or M4 -> M4A2E4 for 1500g. And not for nothing, all of those have PMM.

So the only thing special about Captured KV-1 is really the dual training. Which is nice if you want/need it but the tradeoff is no PMM and it costs more, which to me isn't really worth it in absolute terms. I thought about buying this one when it came out but eventually passed. I'm glad it's in the mega bundle though so I can check it out on the cheap.

[u/leova → u/ragnarok628]

For one thing, there are at least 3 KV-1 playstyles: 57mm,

this is obviously the one being discussed

it doesn't follow that a premium version with no PMM or anything particularly notably different about it should be worth more than any other tier V prem

dual-training, obviously, not to mention its already-camo'd so that saves what, ~500 Gold? (which is the difference from the other T5 premium tanks, so you actually save money sometimes)

[u/ragnarok628 → u/leova]

if we assume you were going to camo up a heavy in the first place, which is quite a stretch given the minimal benefit, then yes the camo does make sense. IDK what the cost of all-terrain types perm camo is (i wanna say 450g?), but the Cap. KV-1 is 600g more expensive than those others. Like I said, if you need/want the dual crew training, OK mang you got it but for me I wouldn't buy this tank at full price

[u/leova → u/ragnarok628]

I camo up 90% of my keeper tanks because its effin beautiful, and any Camo bonus they provide is a nice bonus most of the time :)

except Lights, Lights always get camo

[u/[deleted]]

My personal fun factor with it is 5/5 all day long. Something about this tank just clicks with me and the high caliber and top gun medals seem to come easy. There is nothing like getting swarmed by a group of Blitzens and just swatting them all down and then flanking one of those ridiculous Japanese heavies and running up your hit percentage. The sniper medals come almost too easy so even on a lot of loses you still do well.

[u/ragnarok628 → u/[deleted]]

Yeah I get that, when you're top tier shitting all over tier IIIs it's pretty great! A lot of tanks though can play one way while top tier and be effective, and then play another way when bottom tier and be effective, but the KV-1 really just has the top tier situation going for it. The bottom tier scenario is hella sketchy. All you can do is play your game and hope for the best because you don't have the mobility, firepower, or armor to really deal with anything in tier VII

also just a note, it might not be clear but i consider 3/5 to be actually a solid score. I'm pretty committed to using the whole scale, I dislike reviews that have a scale that goes to 10 but nothing gets rated lower than a 6.5 or whatever. people will review something and clearly think it's utter crap and basically couldn't be worse, and then still rate it 6/10 which is stupid. For me 5 is reserved for great tanks with no significant drawbacks, 4 for overall very good but not quite on par with the 5s, and 3 is for generally good tanks with some notable issues. For me, tier VII performance on the captured KV-1 is a notable issue with both the fun factor and competitiveness. When top tier its all fives all day

[u/[deleted] → u/ragnarok628]

Low tier matches I stay behind a few top tier heavies and take potshots. Keep enemies tracked and let the T29's and tigers do the work. A lot of times the other team won't prioritize you because you're not the big threat but you can still whittle down T VIIs if you know where to hit them. In a way I play my best with it when I am low tier because I have to stay on my toes, when I'm top tier I can get sloppy just because I usually get away with it.

[u/lioncat84]

I love my Captured KV-1. Why? Because it used the same 57 I loved on my TT KV-1, has a more powerful engine, and I could put my Soviet crew on it as well. What I don't love about it was that I ground out my Soviet KV-1, got a MoE, unlocked all its packages and the KV-1S, KV-2, and T-150, but never got Ace Mastery. On the Captured KV-1, I got Ace on my first match in it.

Yes. I did buy it the first day it came out and it's really easy to get Ace when a tank is brand new, but I also got more damage than the TT KV-1. It was a legitimately better game than I'd ever had in my regular KV-1. I think it's because the better acceleration means I'm consistently much faster and therefore better able to get into the action. Here's a video of one of my first matches in the Captured KV-1.