In World of Tanks, not all maps are perfectly symmetrical.
There are maps resembling real-life locations
with varied terrain and rough shorelines…
It's harder to provide equal opportunities to both teams on such maps.
But it doesn’t mean you can’t take advantage of them.
Let’s look at Fjords.
This is a map with several routes, all completely different from each other.
Some of them seem to be interlinked,
while others look totally isolated at first glance.
This doesn't make life easy for light tanks.
They have very few opportunities to spot the enemy from the safety of a bush.
Any attempt to actively spot may be their last.
And in general, there are not many positions
where you can play scout for more than a couple of minutes.
Let’s look at the trajectories of the best battles played.
You can see the tanks on the left were that bit luckier.
Position number one.
From here, you can control one of the favorite routes for enemy scouts.
You can make things difficult and prevent them from climbing the hill.
Also, you can see the edge of the forested slope
where the enemy TDs like to nest.
If you spot them, they’re free game.
Just be careful—those who want to take you out can appear on the opposite side.
If you're more agile and can expose only a small part of your turret to fire,
you are more likely to win such a duel.
But as there are no quiet spots for light tanks on Fjords,
there’s always a risk.
If you can’t spot here, and the central hill is free of enemies,
you can try to take this position yourself.
Yes, it's very dangerous—your tank will be in range of half the enemy guns.
But if you survive,
you'll get a precious opportunity to fire at enemy heavy tanks.
It'll take them some time to realize why their HP has started draining.
Again, don't try and take this position in the first seconds of battle.
Give the enemy a few minutes to get distracted by other targets.
You can also shoot at the central hill from above on the other side.
But when a light tank reaches this position,
it discovers the enemy vehicles are already on the defensive.
You can dish out a lot of damage from here.
But you can take some as well.
This position may be more suited to medium tanks.
But, it doesn’t mean light tanks can’t set up here and impact the battle.
The next spot suits those
who have their concealment and view range skills well-trained.
From the upper side, roll to a house, choose the most promising bush,
sit there, and wait for targets to pop up.
Just hope your allies don’t push a bypass.
If they stay on route, you will spot the enemy peeking carefully
and frighten them when their Sixth Sense activates,
all while your allies’ shells fly from behind you.
By the way, in low-tier battles
you can always take shots at vehicles with poor view range.
Another similar area for a fast and stealthy tank
is the left slope of the highest mountain,
right under the nose of the enemy TDs.
You have a chance of getting there unspotted at the very start of the battle.
If you do so, you can occupy one of the bushes here.
From here, you can see the central hill, the end of the upper bypass,
and even your closest neighbors from time to time.
The risk of exposing yourself here is very high though.
And your chances of survival will be slim after that.
But you shouldn't rule out this position.
But light tanks playing from the right
have slightly less options at the start of battle.
In fact, there are two: a pool in the map's center and the hill above it.
Yes, both are dangerous to get to and hold.
But don't rush in and lose your precious hit points here.
Look around carefully on approach, evaluate the risk,
and only then take advantage of this position.
As a reward, you'll get excellent visibility and lines of fire from here.
There are also some bushes to aim safely from and rocks to hide behind.
However, you'll have to look around constantly
and expect an enemy attack from any direction.
Competition for this hill is no joke.
But you're playing a scout, right? It's something you're used to.
You can perform passive spotting on the left slope of the closest mountain,
hiding among the trees.
If you have good view range,
and your teammates are firing from the central hill or the northern bypass,
you can earn heaps of assisted damage.
We don't recommend getting spotted here.
After all, this slope is well-exposed to enemy fire.
And the last route for light tanks that performed the best on Fjords
goes from the eastern base to the upper right corner of the map along the bypass.
This route is not for helping your allies by spotting the enemy.
Here you need to do damage yourself and play like a medium tank.
The heavy tank commanders who achieved the best results on Fjords,
rolled along one of these routes, didn't wait for,
and actually didn't really expect, the results of the initial recon.
As you can see, the overwhelming majority of them had great results
if they started the battle at the bottom of the map, on the southern cape.
If you have a reasonably dynamic vehicle,
you can make a short stop on your way
to take out some enemy light and medium tanks.
Let's move on.
The battle at the bottom is fought at close range, nose-to-nose.
Tanks with significant amounts of HP and good armor
will feel most confident here.
You can block damage using your tracks and hull armor,
as well as your turret here.
With no real fear of return fire, you can dish out damage from this hollow.
At least until the enemy artillery from sector E7 decides to ruin your day.
After you've pushed through, proceed with reasonable caution.
TD nests in sectors H9-J0 might not be so popular anymore,
but you can still take a pretty painful hit from there.
Tanks at the eastern base play in a similar way.
Using their hull or turret,
they try to trade their durability for enemy hit points gradually,
until the number of red icons on the minimap in this area is reduced to zero.
Don't huddle together in this narrow bottleneck.
You’ll just get in each other’s way. It's the best way to get destroyed fast.
By the way, if there's artillery in battle, try to keep to the right.
They often go to sectors A5-A6 and can conveniently lob shells at your rear.
Although clashes on the south cape of Fjords
are the most popular pastime among heavy tanks,
fast heavy tanks can go up to the central hill from the western base.
Or even take a detour.
We'll talk about the detour later, when we come to medium tanks.
Similarly, some heavy tanks on the eastern base
prefer driving to the pool under the central hill.
Epiс battles often unfold there.
Also, they can go to the upper right corner along that bypass.
Heavy tanks achieve outstanding results quite often here:
usually, without much worry about artillery fire,
they can cause damage to close targets first,
and then to the distant targets as well throughout the battle.
There's still a lot to tell about Fjords, but let's take a break.
In the second part of our research,
we'll find out how medium tanks play on Fjords,
how the tank destroyers can complete their hardest Personal Missions,
and what positions SPGs should occupy and why.
See you soon.