ISU-152
Assault Gun · USSR
The 152 mm: one hit wrecks a medium and badly hurts a heavy. A 12 s reload, 16 rounds and a 6° arc each way: fire from cover, then back off while the gun reloads.
(the vehicle's description in the garage)
At a glance
| Nation | USSR |
| Role | Tank destroyer (TD) |
| Modelled variant | ISU-152 (1944, 152 mm ML-20S) |
| Price | 940 credits |
| Team stock | 1 per five-player team (scales with team size) |
| Hit points | 1210 |
| Main gun | 590 damage per AP shot, 12 s reload |
| Speed | 35 km/h on roads, 17.5 km/h off-road |
| View range | 230 m |
| Ability (B) | Ammo Drop |
| Garage ratings | Armour 3/10 · Firepower 7/10 · Mobility 7/10 · Spotting 7/10 |
History
The ISU-152 was a Soviet heavy self-propelled gun on the IS tank chassis, carrying the 152 mm ML-20S gun-howitzer. Its enormous shell earned it the nickname "Zveroboy" (beast killer) because it could destroy German heavy tanks, but its main job was demolishing fortifications and strongpoints. About 1,900 were built from late 1943.
The ISU-152 was very slow to reload, carried only 20 rounds and had a limited gun traverse, but nothing could stand up to a direct hit. ISU-152s fought in the 1944-45 offensives, including the assault on the Seelow Heights and the street fighting in Berlin.
In Armor Heads
Compared with the other 34 WW2 vehicles, it is bottom 5 for road speed (#33 of 35); top 5 for shot damage (#1 of 35); bottom 5 for reload (#35 of 35).
Survivability
- Hit points: 1210. Damage taken multiplier: 0.99 (effective HP 1222).
- Tracks: a hit on the running gear breaks a track 60 % of the time (the hit does no damage); the crew repairs it in 9 s.
| Zone | Real plate | Damage multiplier (lower = thicker) | Raw shell damage to destroy through this zone | AP of the other 34 vehicles that gets through |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hull front | 90 mm at 30° (104 mm) | 0.59 | 1,295 | 17 |
| Hull side | 75 mm at 15° (78 mm) | 0.67 | 1,140 | 25 |
| Hull rear | 60 mm at 49° (92 mm) | 0.62 | 1,232 | 17 |
| Roof | 30 mm | 1.03 | 742 | 34 |
| Turret front | 90 mm at 30° (104 mm) | 0.59 | 1,295 | 17 |
| Turret side | 75 mm at 15° (78 mm) | 0.67 | 1,140 | 25 |
| Turret rear | 60 mm | 0.75 | 1,019 | 29 |
Real plate: the thickness of the real vehicle's armour there, and its slope from vertical with the line-of-sight thickness in brackets; each zone's multiplier is worked out from it (see how the numbers work). The last column counts square-on hits under 100 m.
Main gun
- Mount: casemate, gun arc ±6° of the hull centreline at 16°/s; turn the hull to aim further.
- Elevation +20° / depression -3°, at 16°/s.
- Reload: 12 s.
- Damage per minute (AP): 2,950.
- Accuracy: 0.06° dispersion when settled, aim time 1.76 s, move bloom 0.09.
- Gunner's sight: TSh-17, 4x (binoculars 6x / 10x / 15x).
| Shell | Type | Damage | Splash | Blast radius | Muzzle velocity | Penetration threshold | Rounds | Crew shock |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heavy Armour Piercing | AP | 590 | 30 | 3 m | 600 m/s | 0.52 | 10 | - |
| Heavy High Explosive | HE | 384 | 295 | 9.6 m | 655 m/s | 0.474 | 6 | 2.11 |
The penetration threshold is the lowest zone multiplier (the thickest armour) the shell still gets through: zones below it stop the shell (10 % damage for AP, 20 % for HE). See how the numbers work.
HE and the crew: every direct hit shakes the crew (slower reload and traverse, a wider aim circle) for about 2.3 s when the plate stops it and 3 s when it bursts through. It is big enough to knock crew members out of their seats even when the plate stops it.
Matchups (AP against the hull front, square-on, under 100 m)
- Its AP gets through the hull front of 28 of the other 34 vehicles. It is stopped by: Panther, M26 Pershing, Tiger II, IS-2, Churchill VII, Jagdpanther.
- 17 of the other 34 vehicles' AP get through its hull front. Safe from the front against: M4 Sherman, M3A1 Stuart, Panzer II Luchs, Panzer III Ausf. L, T-34/76, Cromwell, Churchill VII, KV-1, M32 TRV, M24 Chaffee, Sd.Kfz. 250/9, T-70M, T-60, SU-76M, M3 Lee, 75 mm GMC M3, Stuart V "Honey".
- From the side, 25 of them get through its hull side; from behind, 17 get through its hull rear (every zone is in the table above).
Secondary weapons and equipment
- No working roof machine gun.
- Smoke: 1 salvo, each recharges in 40 s.
Mobility
- Running gear: tracks (pivot turns).
- Top speed 35 km/h on roads, 17.5 km/h off-road (50 %), reverse 7 km/h, acceleration 2.8 m/s².
- Turn rate 29°/s (17°/s at top speed). Mass 46,000 kg. Engine start 3.5 s.
Special ability (B)
Ammo Drop: a supply crate comes down by parachute just behind the tank and lands 8 s later; every tank of the team (this one too) that drives over it in the next 60 s gets 50 % of its full shell and smoke load back, once each. Ready 30 s after the round goes live, once per round; another use costs 150 credits.
Where it appears
Players can take it on all seven WW2 maps, on either team. The AI fields it on:
- Seelow Heights 1945, Blue (Allied side): 1x in an 8-vehicle line-up (first at position 4).
Where it ranks (1 = best of 35)
| Stat | Rank |
|---|---|
| Hit points | 8 |
| Effective HP | 8 |
| Hull front armour (lower multiplier = thicker) | 10 |
| Turret front armour | 9 |
| Road speed | 33 |
| Off-road speed | 29 |
| Shot damage (AP) | 1 |
| Damage per minute | 22 |
| Reload (shortest first) | 35 |
| Accuracy (smallest dispersion first) | 6 |
| Aim time (fastest first) | 29 |
| Turret / gun traverse speed | 25 |
| View range | 25 |
| AP penetration (lower threshold = goes through more) | 12 |
| Price (1 = most expensive) | 5 |
The real vehicle
| Variant | ISU-152 (1944, 152 mm ML-20S) |
| Length with gun | 9.05 m |
| Hull length | 6.77 m |
| Width | 3.07 m |
| Height | 2.48 m |
Sources used for the model: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISU-152 (width 3.07, height 2.48, gun right of centre, 6 road wheels, rear sprocket, external tanks); GlobalSecurity https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/russia/isu-152.htm (length 9.05); OnTheWayModels review https://mail.onthewaymodels.com/reviews/Zvezda/Alexander%20Kolbasov%20Zvevda%20ISU-152.htm (armoured hull 6543 mm, track 650 mm, wheels 550 mm); hull 6.77 m = IS-series hull with fenders
In-game model: 8.37 m long (gun included) × 3.15 m wide × 2.54 m high (antenna excluded), 6,786 triangles, built at true scale.
Images
Renders of the in-game model in a plain nation colour (the game paints its camouflage at runtime).
