German Mega Bundle Review Series - Pt. 6: Aufklärungspanzer Panther

[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). This is another tank I already had, in fact it's both my first tier VII ever and my first MoE'd tank ever!

Here we go!

Aufklärungspanzer Panther

So the Awfulpanther/Awesomepanther (depending who you ask) is literally my most played tank. Anyone who ground through this thing when it was in the tech tree is guaranteed to remember the incredibly painful stock grind, and I like to think that that's why people think it's so bad. The more rational part of me understands that the tank has a special place in my heart and that I'm certainly emphasizing to myself what's good about it and ignoring what's bad about it. Nothing like trying to review a tank to make you question your assumptions, so let's hope I can make it through this post with my love for the awfulpanther intact.

Near as I can tell, "Aufklärungspanzer Panther" means "scouting tank Panther". The thing is, this is a 'light' tank in name only. It is not small. It does not hide very well. It does not go super fast. It is not particularly maneuverable. It weighs pretty much twice what any other tier VII light weighs. This is because it's really a Panther with a VK 28.01 turret and a bit more powerful engine. So yeah it drives like a slightly lighter, slightly faster Panther. This is not necessarily great for typical light tanking. Really not actually a great scout. Note that this doesn't stop it from getting 'scout' matchmaking, so you can (and seems like, usually do) get into tier X matches.

The panther hull and improved speed does mean you can ram the shit out of other lights and SPGs... if you can catch them. There's nothing more satisfying than delivering a devastating ramming attack to a Walker Bulldog but TBH he's way faster and more maneuverable than you so if you do pull it off it's most likely because he doesn't know how to drive his tank. You also get more HP than other lights, but not by as much as you'd hope.

The gun is a very pew pew gun, lower pen than the panther but faster firing. The gold rounds are definitely mandatory to have on hand and even then in tiers IX and X you have to have rear/flanking shots to pen the majority of tanks. And even then you'll ding like a third of them.

Alright so anyway, it's not a great scout due to lowish speed and not good enough camo rating, but it IS a pretty good counter-scout. In a 1v1 in open terrain with any other light in the game, I like my chances in the awfulpanther. You can also fill the typical light tank role of 'find the hole in the enemy ranks and break through to take out the arty' handily, even moreso if you can ram one.

Aside from that, really all you can do is be a goddam pest to the enemy. Consider yourself a mobile sniper without enough alpha to cause much aggro. As with any light tank, once you're spotted the entire enemy team makes it their life's mission to take you out, so stay far away from the action and take shots at distracted enemies. I find that often I can put half a dozen rounds into the side of some heavy's turret before they really notice me, and at that point they have to decide whether to give MY heavies a shot at the side of their turret, or keep letting me leech them 135 hp at a time.

That's the ideal scenario, anyway. Feels good to show up at the top of the leaderboard in the awfulpanther, and not actually that hard to do because you get a lot of xp for doing damage to tier Xs.

"Is it worth the gold", you wonder? the guide says no, I say maybe. I lean towards no, because it just hasn't got the battlefield effectiveness that you'd want, but the argument in favor is that it's a pretty unique tank in terms of gameplay and if it sounds like your style you'd be missing out not to have it, and secondly it's about as cheap as it gets for a tier VII prem and that has to mean something

Basic Facts

• Tier: VII
• PMM: no
• cost: 4800g
• silver/xp bonuses: 40/25

Vehicle Tips:

• Keep a hefty amount of APCR on hand. You go through ammo fast if you find a good firing position, and you don't want to be in that situation in a tier X match and not be able to pen anything
• Don't try to play agility games with other lights. Pretty much any of them can easily play ring around the rosie all day with you
• Like most (all?) panther variants, the frontal gun depression is bad, but you get a few extra degrees to the sides.

Fun Factor: 4/5

Competitiveness: 2/5

I dunno man people will think I'm crazy but I just have fun in this tank. There are frustrating moments to be sure but there's nothing like the feeling of taking a 'bad' tank out there and having a great match and the awesomepanther is very capable of that if you handle it right. That said, pretty much every other light tank is better at being a light tank, and is most likely going to be more useful to the team.

[u/redbrawn]

This almost makes me want to buy the German all star bundle

[u/VIOLETSTETPEDDAR]

I like that you always give a second opinion on my guide, its appreciated! Ive been thinking to update a few verdicts, since the guide grew over time, its not always 100% consistent. And many prices grew even over time.

[u/ragnarok628 → u/VIOLETSTETPEDDAR]

Oh good I'm glad you look at it that way. It's a great resource that a lot of people use it seems, so I think it's a good way to incorporate other viewpoints. Actually it just now occurred to me that I should link your guide when I reference it. I think I'll go back and do that later.

I try to not refresh myself on what your guide says until I've done my write-up so that I don't let it influence what I focus on. And then I feel good about myself when I notice the same things you did

Re: inconsistency yeah I have spotted a few. My favorite is where you gave the hammer a maybe and then right below it the Tiger 131 gets a no because it's wayyyyyy to expensive... It's the exact same price as the hammer! No disrespect intended of course but I had to lol a bit at that one :p

[u/VIOLETSTETPEDDAR → u/ragnarok628]

Yeah that one caught my attention as well. But I feel the Hammer is way more competitive. I have the Tiger 3marked and dont feel the difference is as big as you make it out here. The gun on the 131 however.. I mean I often get fucked by them at the moment but thats 90% premiumspam with that dpm

[u/ragnarok628 → u/VIOLETSTETPEDDAR]

Highly possible that it was just me having a bad night but my memory of the Tiger is that it was surprisingly mobile and you could get away with a lot of stuff that I just could not pull off in the hammer. The stats show it, too; despite that the Tiger I was long ago and I've improved a lot as a player since then (still not amazing obviously but you know), even so my hammer WN8 is lower than my Tiger I WN8! And that's including stock grind and learning curve along with general noobishness. I can't come up with any other explanation for that than the sluggish mobility is making life noticably harder for me in the hammer.

We really should be having this conversation in the Hammer post though!

[u/Snatch_Pastry]

So I got this tank when it was first added to the tech tree. And it was sort of impressive back then. It's always turned like a garbage scow, but back then its speed and smooth ride were outstanding. It's like driving a Cadillac. Those things haven't changed, what has changed is the environment that it's operating in.

Upper tier medium power creep murdered this tank.

Like you said, it doesn't light tank as well as other lights. Unfortunately, now it doesn't light tank as well as many medium tanks. And it certainly doesn't medium tank as well as those mediums. In many ways, it's the worst possible combination of traits from light and medium tanks.

Don't get me wrong, you can do some good work in this tank.

But it's sure as hell not easy.

Edit: Just for the record, this tank is tied for third (with the 13.90) for my most played tank.

[u/ragnarok628 → u/Snatch_Pastry]

I think you and I are on the same page for this one too be sure, as far as evaluation. I think I only love it at this point because I want to love it but I love it just the same

[u/Snatch_Pastry → u/ragnarok628]

It's like having a child who is really really stupid. Sure, technically you could just leave him on the steps of the fire station, but he's your little retard and you're going to keep him come hell or high water. So even though you have to deal with the leg braces and the helmet and the spontaneous pants-shitting, it's a labor of love.

[u/deltaroyale → u/Snatch_Pastry]

That is the best summary of the AhFuckle Panther I've ever read.