One of the first few videos I produced for my fledgling KZfaq channel back in 2017 was a game in the IS-6. The replay was also featured by QuickyBaby about a week later. The player did a wonderful Kolobanov by creating a box area of enemy wrecks around him which would protect him whilst it channeled the remaining enemy heavies into a killing zone where he could shoot up at them as they approached, penetrating their lower plates. I have to say that I thought the IS-6 was incredibly powerful after that, but i was let down when I obtained one which was gifted to me by a streamer. I thought it was the worst premium Soviet heavy. No armor so to speak (a tier 5 Excelsior has more armor at the front!) and a very weak gun that demands premium ammo just to make a dent! Why anyone would want to buy two of them by getting the 'Black' version as well was beyond me.

the secret to the IS-6 these days is shooting basically everything with HE shells

That rng for the river road shot tho... I had a game just a few moments ago where a fully aimed shot against a Jackson went straight into the air

Morning Kellerman......Watching you with a hangover is great your voice is so soothing, it's making my head pound : ) .....Rock on man.

So true, the meta has changed drastically from when this tank was introduced.

in comparison, I remember SirFoch made a video criticizing the Chrysler for having a terrible gun with too low penetration and that thing has 198 standard pen. Gold spam is a requirement to have a chance at consistency in the IS-6, and even the gold pen is pretty bad compared to most tanks of its tier so good luck killing tier 9s.

They come out with 10 new tanks a month but can't even make a new map

I still remember the moment I clicked that button to exit and never came back... Excellent outro Señor Claus

Early on in my playing experience, bought Super P and then the IS-6. Both, I was told, would be great earners. Yes, when Tier 7s would roll up to you and not angle. When the M49 rolled in, I realized its time was over. nostalgic use only now.

I bought my first T8 premium tank the IS-B from black market, sold it after playing 20/25 games. Again I rebought it after they buffed a bit and again I sold it after playing 8/10 games.

Hi,Kellerman...i have 2500 battles and 2 marks on IS6 and i win it at the marathon (play for one month) years ago,i used to loved it as much as i loved this game but that was back in the day...recently is exactly how you showed in the vid but with much more curses (at least from my side),this is one of the tanks from RNG black list (IS B) i think for that that B stands for :)

Wait, you can meet Tier 7s in this tank? I've not had that happen in years...

doing that capture heavy quest is a pain. Keep rushing the circle with an overpowered side. Then say, while capturing, "Don't rush them, I'll get off the circle before we win". Then don't. Be sure to say, "I lied." Before the win goes through.

The Matchmaker can also be changed by the weighting value of the tank. If the tanks with "Preferential" matchmaking are increased in weight, they will be matched on average into higher Tier battles. Have fun fighting against more Tier 9's and overpowered Tier 8's.

Thank you Claus! I was waiting for this review before spending my 8,000 bonds!

I got my IS6B from missions. Never spend bonds on a tank that you can get for free. Mine just sits in the garage.

*Claus slaps the engine deck of IS-6* "It's only shit like 80% of the time, I can wholeheartedly recommend it!" Great sales pitch mate! :D

The same second game with a T26E5 or a AMX M4 Mle49 ( 8000 bonds too ) , it was a carnage

i have the is 6 never seen a tier 7 tank in matchmaker. must shoot gold

thank you...all true, one by one they tweak twist and take away, for me it all started with the hated 18.1 patch.

I agree 100 percent with you my experience with the preferential matchmaking is garbage . Your spot on Claus

the old is6 only had 175mm pen

I also don't get any tier 6 tanks in my Defender games anymore, rarely some tier 7s. Mostly all tier 8 or tier 10 games. BTW, most of my Defender games are now like that second game.

The only preferential matchmaking tank I have is the Type 59 G. Same 186mm of pen, but a much nicer 241mm of premium. This combined with the medium maneuverability makes the low penetration usually not that big of an issue in tier 8 matchmaking. The most common matchmaking is, however, pure tier 8 or half tier 8, half tier 9, with very few tier 7 and even less tier 6 games sprinkled in. The whole appeal of PMM tanks right now completely depends on how well they can fare against equal tier or above as literally any premium, especially the more recent ones, can bully bottom tier opponents, but will outperform the PMM tank against equal tiers. If the PMM tank doesn't do well in those cases, there's just no point in playing it.

Brother you make my day while i am driving at speedway and watching your videos at the same time until you get me into an accident of traffit hahahahah

Hey Claus I love my preff MM T-34-3 and I see tier 7s as much as tier9s.

I loved my IS-6. The perfect premium. The armour still works sometimes, but the gun is near useless nowadays. Towards the end, my once mighty IS-6 was reduced to loading out HE just to do SOMETHING.

Like, just buff the standard pen to like 220mm and give it 260 HEAT, it's that simple....

Kv5 driver here. Meet tier 7’s about 60% of the time I would say. Not bad at all

My T8 Premium vehicles that do not have the improved matchmaker end up in T10 battles half the time...literally.

My therapist said start small do one positive thing a day, thank god for your vids everyday :) @Claus Kellerman

I was waiting long for this one

I cant remember when i was top tier in my T-34-3,.! The IS6 i have, just collect dust in the garage.

This is the only "real" premium I have. I got it last fall. I find that I get a good match once every 10 rounds or so. Most these days are straight t8 matches. I do enjoy this tank though, even now the armor is still very troll.

Thats why, while i still played i loaded mostly HE in my IS6 so that i could make any credits.

False, IS-6 had existed long before 3-5-7 was introduced. Back then matchmaker didn't really have a pattern and it was very possible to be thrown in tier 9 games where you'd be the only tier 8 on your team. 3-5-7 was actually what made bottom tier match-ups for preferential tanks more playable.

I'm playing is 6 b and it's soo good if you stay at good position, won't regret buying it

They could improve the HE round if it has one a little. I never heard you mention the wz 122 tm.. i guess most players don't like it much, but look at the pen. Awesome medium if you don't want to shoot premium ammo all the time. That premium ammo though.. here high pen for it's tier

Honestly, the introduction of new matchmaking is amazing. I hardly see players complaining about mm as they used to. It is better for every tank (other than preferential) as you can get top tier more often and not be bottom tier. Last time if you played a normal (un-preferential ) tank you will get 3 5 7 and you would be bottom tier with a bunch of tier 8s and have to deal with tier 9s and 10s. The introduction of more templates was a major buff to all tanks except preferential. Like claus said what basically used to happen is there were 2 templates for matchmaking, 3 5 7 or all same tiers. So if you were in a is6B or any other tier 8 preferential tank you at worst you will have 3 tier 9s above you and 4 other tier 8s with you and 7 tier 6s. Now with the new template, you can get 8 7 matchmaking where you have 8 tier 9s to deal with. RIP preferential tanks. you sacrificed for the majority.

I bought this thing, because I already had all the other "Black" tanks. It's a good tank against tier 6-7 enemies, but it can't compete with any other tier 8 premiums that were released after 2015.

Love aim at this tank with my SPG :-)

I may be doing something wrong, but I'm getting pretty consistent 2k+ games without premium ammo usage on this thing. I don't know why, but somehow this tank works for me (obviously with exception of tier 9 zombie rushes or middle finger from rng, when I can't pen event light tanks' rears). I don't play this tank too often, I don't think I'm seeing a lot of tier 6, but there is enough tier 7 to be content. That 2nd game was typical rng fart combined with not aiming fully on distant targets and bad positioning (due to map mostly) - he was lower than liberte, thanks to which liberte has no problems penning him through flatter (for him) armor.

In the 2nd replay it would help to fully aim your shot in a tank that has bad dispersion...

OBJ-703-2 is literally like an extremely powerful tank.

Imagine getting a M6A2E1 Tier VIII and the guy in the Tiger P Tier VII owns your ass. When I see a M6A2E1 in some of my Tier VII tanks I laugh

Kreslavsky next ?

Claus having Vietnam flashbacks from the Black Market with the Black Market key

What you say 100% true i barely play my jagdtiger 8,8 which, when bullying tier 6, and 7 is a lot of fun with the dmp and armor, but when fighting tier 8 and 9 the armor is inadequate

They could have no-cap-killed-them-all in the first battle :D

Hell in my RECENT experiences - the E-25 has even become trash - like there is almost nothing I can pen anymore, armor is just too thick.... WOT needs to keep armor, gun, and overall power creep in check somehow...

Oh Claus. This bring back memories. It (IS-6) was my first premium tank. I recall it precisely, that I only get, probably 2 out 10 as a top tier, and the rest of them was full-blooded tier 9s. That was back in the day when the pen was still 175 AP/217 APCR. So yeah, it is a solid tier 8 premium tank, but not as solid as nowadays meta. I once had a 1v1 situation with a sidescraping E-75. And you know what? I can't do shit, even when I spamming APCR like a motherfucker. Also not to mention those superheavy TDs, like T95 or Tortoise. IMHO, it's the gun handling. You can't hit weak spots very often. As you said, it's troll-ish.

I'm on the fence on getting the IS-6 or IS-5

Hi Claus some time i have good matchmaking but al lot are tier 9

i traded mine in years ago but the one's i face when playing in better heavy tanks like to shoot HE which can be annoying and maybe be a good strategy, not sure how effective it is to derp in it.

I agree the new MatchMaker sucks for these good ol' preferential MM tanks but, man that 3-5-7 was atrocious for all the other tanks. I'm not saying MM is fixed now, but it's better than it use to be for majority of the vehicles

some 85mm cannons have better standard pen than this 122mm cannon with premium ammo!!

my name is bonds, spent bonds. for to say good day to you, claus.

I like your commentary and agree with most of your analysis. I wish wargaming would knock off the power creep, but they won't. When do the 3-gun tanks made of titanium, or the four-gun tanks with depleted uranium armor get released?

Has he reviewed the FV215b?

These bond tanks look like a graveyard of premium tanks WG can't be bothered to buff.

so this is why they are a rare sight these days

i was going to get this tank, but not now. ill wait for future bond tank reviews. maybe the american heavys are better.

Bought the IS6 pretty late. Aced it when blowing up a Defender on the way (with special ammo). Traded it in the russian way (paying extra) for the S1 which is superb. KV-5 at least has armor and weight but this thing is a turd right now.

the trouble is all the old premiums have been forgotten now there's a lot that need a buff to make them competitive again or at least fun to play unfortunately as claus puts it there's no fun for you lol

The Is-6B doesnt meet tier 10 but the regular Is-6 does. IS-6B isn't too bad in most situation but in some situation like pen it sucks

Every time I've played my formerly beloved IS-6 I've bounced about two thirds to three quarters of all the shots that I managed to make hit. Plus it's still got the bad handling and now HE is of little practical use. After a while of trying and failing over and over to pen other vehicles of your tier while they have no such trouble doing so to you, it starts to become really disheartening. I was never good at World of Tanks, but I still fun with the IS6 even when I was sucking. Now it's just sad. They should at least make it equal to the other Comblock heavies.

is6b has a better XP Bonus than the other tanks

225 pen max at tier 8 won't cut it...

The IS-6 is better than the “B” or Black. You are spot on about the tank being a lamer. The IS-6 is an auto loader and a Premium that doesn’t see a Tier 10. It doesn’t mean it’s a cake walk to play it because the matchmaker is a harsh task master. Don’t get the IS-6B ...DON’T!

Its so rare on any of my preferred tanks....I can't even remember....so I hate playing them its a t8 tank made at tier 7.5

Can u give it another colour or cant i Change

It's a good crew trainer and an alternative way to make credits, nothing more. As far as spending bonds for this, absolutely not an smart investment.

I consider myself lucky when it is only full tier 8 these days and r.i.p trying to play anything with standard mm given that NA is almost permanently bottom tier. What pisses me off is the bot infested teams where for days at a time I can no longer maintain 50% win rate were a few years ago I had no problem maintaining 56% in high tiers for months at a time to like two years straight.

here in my garage, got this Lamborghini here

The best part about this tank is bouncing APCR and knowing you made them pay 100k + credits to kill you... Also putting a bond loader on it and surprise the stat muppets...

Not true and not all Premium tanks with limited MM are bad. It depends on the tank and players. T26E4 SuperPershing is really good now and you see a bunch of them on the MM. The Type 59 was never be bad, M6A2E1 is also not bad etc. 112 or even IS6 you have to deal with your options and you have to simple don't facing direct a Type 4 or Mäuschen you could play on the medium flank or be a support tank from the second line or shoting HE when no other option is possible. Be a little bit usefull and don't be stupid.

WG should remove the B variants and the skinned variants like defender and patriot and give players the skin and compensate ppl who have both with gold or bonds.

as they don't like the preferential MM and want to remove it, why do they still sell pref MM tanks like this in the store?

Well damn, here I though my is6b game was going to be displayed. oh well.

no need to waste bonds on this if you already have an IS6 . the only difference is the permanent paint job. . but if you don't have an IS6 and are not able or not willing to spend real $$ for it , this might be a worthwhile option. your call .

Lots of things wrong with the MM currently IMO. Played the SU85i last night in a tier 5/6 game. I did 2.9k damage. The player who came second did 490 damage in my team. 2/3 of the game I have nowadays are like that. Teams so unbalanced is unreal. Lost over 1% WR in the past 3 months. Great video though Claus 😅

Nothing you get from WG ,if you have to spend credits gold or real money is any good.It will start out fine and then ,you start low rolling,ghost shells etc....

In my opinion even after the buffs, that 0.44 dispersion at 100 m is where this tank fails miserably. There is really no reason to run this tank, when you have the renegade that can do it better.

if you buy the tank, will you ever lose it in like further updates?

I'm thinking it would take about 53 cans of rustoleum to paint the IS6 with one coat.

God damn, I haven't played much at all lately, but last I played my OLD FAVORITES - IS6 and KV-5, I found myself frustrated and annoyed more than anything. I feel like the ONLY good Tier 8 premium I have is the Lorraine 40t - T-34 is okay, but still bad.

At this point how many dont have an IS-6 in their garage?

Mostly tier 8 games...but still IS 6 is my most played tank, almost 1k games in it with nearly 68% wins... dont know how as im a mediocre player,it just works when im in my IS6

the only premium tank from back in the early days that holds up is love, i got that and my bro got kv-5, let me tell you kv-5 is the worst

Just use moře He ammo. Better than no dmg

imo kampfpanzer 50t best tier 9 medium

Hey, Claus! Watch you every day! I think if you play mainly premium tanks, you are missing out on the challenge. I have reward tanks, but don't play them very often. My two tier 10s are bond tanks, the M60 and the Chinese medium, one on each account. I also rarely use premium ammo, at most I have 20% load of #2. Play as you want, and enjoy the game!

In most cases I would rather be in a IS-3 in a tier 10 match than in this thing in a tier 9 match...

Yes you're right men thats right that is the WG way.. The Russian Reach Arround at its best!!! But actually there are some preferencial MM tanks that still are quite good these days.. Super Pershing and the FCM they are Nice to play even today. And a most of the lower tiers are still great!! I believe that IS6 is the worst on that regarde.. it would need better gun handling In general specially penetration and better mobility

I got the "Defender" and mostly play in SA server, cuz I live in SA, and the tanks gun sucks and almost never get to be top tier, and the tiers 9 and 10 just pen me in a sec. When top tier is very fun, BUT the IS-3 is better and forking free!!!

I think last time I played my IS 6 was about 3 years ago 🤪😂😂😂 Buy a Liberte if you reahihihilly want to spend 8k bonds.

This tank is just like my 112 the good thing in 112 that it's faster

Claus ''Russian heavies are supposed to rush around the battlefield like mediums'' My KV-5 crew ''can we have what ever you are smoking?''

I must have played 100 games in is6 since new match making system and I saw tier 6 tanks 0% of the time and never played is6 again, waste of money, a trickery and forgery, that's what I think it is now and it used to be my favourite 1st premium tank

They should add options to choose between the current state of the tank and another, e.g. tank will no longer have a preferential mm and will increase its penetration to e.g. 225/250 and the player would have a choice, as it is in t34-85 Rudy, where you can change nations