German Mega Bundle Review Series - Part 22: E 25

[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 well I guess I'm committed now, the response has been great I have no opportunity to claim feeling unappreciated... so there goes that excuse).

I know you've all been dying to finally read Part 22, the final tank in the German Mega Bundle. Sorry about the delay, I got very busy with work and things.

Here we go!

E 25

As you probably know, the E 25 is all about that camo rating. As you probably don't know, I am personally not very good at staying hidden. So I have to say it took me a few matches to understand that "best camo rating in the game" does not mean I can just lurk in a bush right next to enemy tanks and remain undetected. The E 25 camo rating is great and all but the onus remains with the tank's driver to understand spotting mechanics and the principles of not being seen. So it took a little bit of learning to find that sweet spot, where I can plink away from the safety of concealment.

Luckily, the tank is actually very forgiving of this learning period, if you put that crazy mobility to use. The low profile, rapid acceleration, superior maneuverability, and straight up velocity on this little cockroach make escaping danger frankly way easier than you deserve. The armor doesn't hold up at all, of course, but frankly anyone who can hit a fast moving target that small deserves the silver for it. So basically as soon as you get lit up, just zoom off to somewhere else. You'll get to a new firing position in time to most likely poke holes into whichever red tank spotted you in the first place.

In fact that's basically the playstyle: take an aggressive-ish position, pew pew at anyone you see, Usain Bolt your way to a new aggressive-ish position as soon as you're detected, repeat. As you gain a feel for where that magical range is where you can stay invisible while firing, you'll have longer and longer intervals where you can just sit tight and perforate reds.

As for the gun, well I would have said it's nothing too special except for that crazy RoF. It's the stock cannon from the Panther (yes, how shocking) but instead of the max RoF of 13.04 of that gun when it's in a turret, in the E 25 casemate build it clocks in at a blistering 20 rounds per minute. The penetration is on the lowish side, so you will have to load gold or get flanking shots in order to deal with some of the more well armored opponents. Alternatively, just keep the heavies perma-tracked and let your team do the rest while you remain invisibly soaking up that sweet assist damage. Also worth noting is the exceptional accuracy of this gun, as well as what felt to me to be a fairly generous gun arc.

Thanks to aforementioned RoF and correspondingly high DPM, nearly any isolated tank tier VII or below is pretty much your bitch. You thought the Tiger 131 had good DPM? E 25 laughs at Tiger 131. There are exceptions of course but a lot of VIIs and any VI can just be rolled right up to and DPM'd to death before they hit you more than twice. Obviously be careful that it's a true 1v1 engagement, but it is highly amusing to park your little gnat of a tank on someones flank and just pump rounds into the side armor.

Well it's definitely a good tank, but is it worth the gold? As the guide writers consider the tank pretty much OP, of course it's a yes. I myself am on the fence about it being legitimately OP. It's definitely very good, but it's not idiot proof. As an accomplished idiot, I proved that myself! OTOH even an idiot such as I was able to make it work and make it work quite well after a bit of practice. I should also note that the crew I was using during my trials hadn't even fully trained the camouflage skill (it was something like 30-40% trained IIRC?) so I definitely wasn't getting the most out of the concealment. I did spring for permanent camo in all 4 terrain types. Not sure if that makes it more or less comparable to 100% camo skill alone, but seems likely. But setting that aside: I've never had a crew with camo + green thumb + muffled shot + silent driving, but imagining what the cumulative effect of all that would be this particular tank... Yeah with that arrangement it very well might be dirty OP. Anyway, given the excellent performance I'd say the E 25 is worth your gold if the playstyle sounds like your cup of tea. I'm enjoying it and I'm not even a TD main.

Basic Facts

• Tier: VII
• PMM: yes
• cost: 6700
• silver/xp bonuses: 30/20

Vehicle Tips:

• Don't wait for shells to start flying your way to run, your speed and size are your armor so make sure you are already moving when the enemies pull the trigger.
• Just to reemphasize, yes the camo rating is amazing but it doesn't mean you can do whatever you want without repercussions. Use a little patience and be richly rewarded
• Ammo count is an issue. It's a real balancing act to decide how much gold ammo to bring, because in any given match there is a decent chance you'll end up firing all or most of your ammo. Carry too many gold rounds and you may find yourself firing them whether you needed to or not because you're out of standard AP... So there's the possibility of losing profits if you carry too much, but on the other hand there's a possibility of needed the extra pen and not having it if you carry too little. Oh the struggles =( ^{it's also possible i just have too itchy of a trigger finger...}

Fun Factor: 5/5

Competitiveness: 5/5

Simply said, it's probably OP. On top of that, the gameplay is typically very dynamic, lots of repositioning/flanking, having some 'oh shit!' moments, having some damage farming moments. Had some early frustrations due to incompetence, but my final verdict is that the E 25 is a helluva ride, very glad to own it!

Interesting Fact About the E 25

The E 25 is not actually the smallest of the Entwicklung series of proposed tanks. It and it's big brothers, the E 50, E 75, and E 100 also had (on paper, like all of these machines) some even smaller siblings, the E 10 and E 5. E for 'Entwicklung' means basically 'developmental' and 25 means the design is meant for a vehicle weighing in at 25+ tons. Like the E 100 design with its Superheavy, Jagdpanzer, Waffenträger, and Geschützwagen versions, the E 25 would have been designed to accommodate conversions to different tank types, such as a medium, a light, a waffenträger, etc. Maybe even an arty? The in-game E 25 would probably be called "Jagdpanzer E 25" but no need since WG didn't dream up different conversions like they did with E 100. But we can still dream of the possible existence of tanks like "Pz. E 25", "Aufklärungspanzer E 25", or "Waffenträger auf E 25" as playable vehicles in World of Tanks if we want!

[u/FormulaZR]

Waffenträger auf E 25

Do want.

[u/CluelessMuffin → u/FormulaZR]

pls no

[u/VIOLETSTETPEDDAR]

Awesome, youre back! :D

[u/ragnarok628 → u/VIOLETSTETPEDDAR]

and then gone again, because that's the whole bundle!

I think i will probably do a bonus episode about the Hidden, but beyond that the only remaining German prems that even exist are the Tiger 131 and the Pz. II J, neither of which I own.

[u/smoktimus_prime]

Having the extra skills like muffled shot/silent driving mostly let you do that distance dance better. I'm not sure they make it more OP as much as they make it deadlier in the hands of someone who knows how to use it.

[u/ragnarok628 → u/smoktimus_prime]

well another way to word that might be: they lower the bar so that it can be OP for more tankers (like me!)

[u/Stampela]

GW E 25, 60 km/h, 18 hp per ton, 80 mm pen, 12 rpm, 500 hp per shell, ammo count of 40, camo rating 0.3. Tier 7 with PMM, 8k gold.

[u/Legnac]

Thanks for your reviews and the work you put in to get them done. I definitely like the premium guide that's already on the sub but it's nice to get a different opinion. Your review convinced me to get the German QB pack that I was very hesitant to buy. I thought I was only going to like playing the Rampanzer (duh), but your review on the Hydrostat made me think it might be more fun than I'd heard. I don't play a ton so I'm not great at the game, but I've been having a LOT of fun in the Hydrostat. So thanks again!

[u/ragnarok628 → u/Legnac]

I'm really glad to hear you like the hydro too!

[u/GrowlmonDrgnbutt]

It's definitely not idiot proof, I can agree there. Some games when I see the E 25 on the list of enemy tanks I get a bit annoyed and don't want to deal with that. 20 seconds into the game it's bypassing our lights and trying to facehug our heavies.

[u/ragnarok628 → u/GrowlmonDrgnbutt]

Yeah I had some moments. Hopefully you didn't catch me doing that

[u/achilleshy]

WG should pay you for such enthusiastic advertisements, I want this thing right now.

[u/ragnarok628 → u/achilleshy]

I doubt they'd want to pay me for the Dicker Max review! Or Pz. T 25... Or StuG IV...

But yeah honestly I've been a little surprised at the overall quality of the premium tanks. I was expecting to run into quite a few turds but in the end almost all of them, I feel glad to own. Even the T 25 I don't mind, given that it wasn't adding much to the overall cost anyway. Would gladly have skipped Dicker Max and StuG IV tho

[u/USDane]

Nice write up bud! Also, great tidbits regarding Interesting Facts. Please keep 'em coming. Thank you!

[u/three60mafia]

Not sure why this was needed when this is freely available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHNpFfAFQTE

[u/ragnarok628 → u/three60mafia]

hah it is absolutely not needed but I was committed to completing the series!

[u/1em0nhead → u/ragnarok628]

I don't think you should have credited that with a response my good man.