Hey Tankers!
Checking out the other new entrant to the pool of Battle Pass vehicles, we have the Tier IX Soviet Tank Destroyer K-91-PT. By all appearances it looks like a casemated version of the Tier X Soviet Medium Tank K-91, but this about where the commonalities end. K-91-PT is its own beast with its own playstyle for tier.
Firepower
K-91-PT's 122mm main armament gives it one of the best damage outputs among the Tier IX Casemated Assault Tank Destroyers (CATDs for brevity in this article), with 2,870DPM. This is eclispsed only by the Tortoise, which has only earned its phenomenal 3,525DPM at significant cost to its mobility. Penetration values of K-91-PT's Standard AP shells are near the bottom of the pile at 259mm, but can get a decent improvement to 315mm by switching up to its APCR shells where the situation requires.
Gun handling is among the worst in show for Tier IX CATD's, with base dispersion and aim time of 0.38m/100m and 2.50s respectively. With these values you're unlikely to win any sniping contests, but as an assault tank destroyer that isn't exactly playing to its role either.
With a BiA Crew and Gun Rammer, I have been able to crank K-91-PT's damage output up to 3,279DPM without the use of premium consumables, or Bond/Improved Equipment. The trick is then staying in the fight long enough to use it.
Armour
K-91-PT's casemate is well protected by 260mm of frontal armour plate, angled to provide 320mm of effective armour to whatever is in front of it. This thins out to 155mm on the sides of the casemate which will auto-bounce pretty much anything provided you've at least made an attempt to angle it. Even the 60mm plate on the sides of the upper hull need only fear overmatching by 183mm calibre AP rounds of FV4005 Stage II.
Beyond the casemate however, K-91-PT is rather squishy. As a rear-mounted casemate your engine deck is forward of the gun, and its low profile leaves the 40mm plate of the roof and engine deck open to over-matching and catastrophic damage by guns of calibers over 120mm.
While the casemate and upper hull of K-91-PT are highly reliable while angled, the lower hull is not. Shots to this area from ANYTHING IT FACES will either hit the tracks and immobilise the vehicle (not ideal for a turretless vehicle!) or overmatch the 20mm plate. Fortunately in the event of an immobilisation, the signature Free Large Repair Kit on Battle Pass Reward Tanks is also a feature on K-91-PT.
Both upper and lower frontal plates are poorly-angled weak areas, constructed of 140mm and 120mm plate respectively, and can be readily penetrated frontally by guns with 200mm+ penetration (i.e. most Tier VII HT's and TD's and pretty much anything else at Tier VIII+).
Hiding the large frontal plates is crucial to surviving in this tank, however with its long chassis and only 5.5 degrees of gun depression the opportunities to use the terrain to your advantage are limited. More often than not, you will need to rely on the charred hulks of dead enemies (or friends) to protect you once you're in the fight.
Mobility One of the key features of K-91-PT is its phenomenal mobility, with 52km/h forward speed and one of the best Power-to-Weight ratio of all Tier IX CATD's. While these characteristics are on par with Foch, K-91-PT beats Foch on the mobility stakes with a dizzying hull traverse rate of 46.93deg/sec.
To further aid this mobility, I have equipped a Turbocharger and Improved Rotation Mechanism which grants my K-91-PT a forward speed of 56km/h and hull traverse of 54.63deg/sec. This is aided by a BiA Crew and a Driver who has completed 54% of the Clutch Braking skill.
While this insane rate of hull traverse will prevent you from being circle-jerked by LT's, it does have its downside when you're trying to round a corner and use auto-aim to lay the gun on target. In this situation, the tank will have a strong tendency to over-correct the hull traverse, leaving your 20deg arc of fire pointing at air. Correcting the hull and reacquiring the target will cost you precious seconds when you are potentially exposed.
Battlefield Role
This combination of mobility, DPM and situational armour layout cements K-91-PT into a very specific kind of role as "breakthrough support". There is way too much easily-penetrable armour for it to work as a solo linebreaker like Object 268 v4. Instead you want to use your forward mobility to follow up a push by heavy tanks, your rotational mobility to bring the gun online and your DPM to start tearing hitpoints from them.
Facehugging is a somewhat reliable tactic, particularly in a 1v1 fight, as you can hide your vulnerable frontal plate while relying on the frontal armour of your casemate to protect you. If penetrable armour is not immediately apparent, you can use the breathing space between shots bouncing off your casemate to reverse and shoot a lower plate before re-engaging to bounce the next shot.
As a support tank however, your ability to succeed in this vehicle and make a mark on the battlefield is entirely dependant on your friendly heavy tanks to start the assault and create the necessary openings for K-91-PT to play to its aforementioned role as "breakthrough support". Finding this sort of battlefield initiative as a solo player is frustratingly rare, so it is recommended that this tank doesn't leave the garage without a platoon of other Heavy Tanks to work with. K-91-PT is otherwise a mediocre sniper and lacks the complete frontal armour to be a linebreaker in its own right.
Obtaining K-91-PT
Like the Kunze Panzer reviewed earlier, K-91-PT is a Battle Pass Reward Tank, and is only available by redeeming Battle Pass tokens. The cost of Battle Pass reward tanks are as follows: - Kunze Panzer - 18 Tokens
- K-91-PT - 12 Tokens - Char Futur 4 - 9 Tokens
- AE Phase I - 9 Tokens - Object 777 Version II - 9 Tokens
Battle Pass Tokens are among the many rewards available from progressing through Battle Pass Stages. There are 50 Battle Pass Stages per Battle Pass Chapter, and a total of 3 Battle Pass Chapters (so a total of 150 Battle Pass Stages for the Season). Each Battle Pass Stage is progressed through by collecting 50 Battle Pass Points. Battle Pass Points can be earned by: - Top-10-by-XP placements in Random Battles (Tier VI+ Only) - Top-10-by-XP placements in Ranked Battles - Top-10 placements in Steel Hunter (Or Top-5 in a platoon) - Completing Daily MIssions in Random Battles and Steel Hunter Battles The higher your placement, the more Battle Pass Points you earn. Additional Battle Pass points are available from playing the "Core Vehicles" of this Battle Pass Season, which are Object 705A, 121 and T110E3.
With the Basic Battle Pass that everybody gets by default, there are a maximum of 9 Battle Pass Tokens available by completing 145/150 Stages. Purchasing the Improved Battle Pass for 2,500G per Chapter (7,500G for the whole season) significantly improves the rewards available and doubles the yield of Battle Pass Tokens
Unfortunately this means that obtaining K-91-PT in this Season requires you to complete 110/150 Battle Pass Stages on an Improved Battle Pass. This will require an initial outlay of 2500G per Chapter x 3 Chapters = 7,500G. From there, if you don't feel like grinding the 5500 Battle Pass points required to complete the required 110 Stages, you can skip through the Stages at a cost of 250G each x 110 Stages = 27,500G. Therefore depending on your appetite for grinding, K-91-PT will cost you anywhere between 7,500G and 35,000G to obtain in this Season. Edit: Note that the Tokens will expire on 19th of December 2021, which still gives you time to accumulate them with subsequent Seasons. There were 3 Battle Pass Seasons in 2020, so if the precedent continues then you should theoretically be able to collect enough Tokens between Season 4 and Season 5 on a Basic Battle Pass to collect K-91-PT.
Gameplay Review
For more information on the Battle Pass, please visit: