[Tank Guide] The M4A3E8 Thunderbolt VII

Imagine having to take on Tigers and Panzers, with their superior guns and armor, in a Sherman!

Few tankers dared to take on these reckless missions. Colonel Creighton Abrams, however, engraved the words “Thunderbolt” on his M4A3E8 Sherman and bravely entered the battlefield, where he was eventually awarded two medals.

The VI M4A3E8 Thunderbolt VII is a replica of the very tank commanded by Colonel Abrams in 1945. Used by the US Army in World War II, the Thunderbolt is essentially a better-armored version of the VI M4A3E8 Sherman , and is visually similar to the VIII T26E4 SuperPershing .

Read on to learn more about this truly-American tank!

VI M4A3E8 Thunderbolt VII

Strengths

Superb frontal armor
Excellent aiming speed
High shot accuracy
Great gun handling
Good view range

Weaknesses

Low acceleration and hull traverse speeds
Several frontal weak spots: cupola/roof, turret ring, and machine gun port
Low signal range

Gameplay

Armor & Survivability

If you've played an M4A3E8 Sherman before, you know that this vehicle does not rely on its armor but on its mobility, depression angles and rapid-fire gun. The Thunderbolt has all those features and additional spaced armour at the front, which changes its gameplay drastically from the original tank. Even though the Thunderbolt is classified as a medium, it no longer plays like one.

Mobility

The tank becomes way heavier; the mobility drops significantly and is now on par with a fast heavy tank. Keep in mind that the spaced armour only applies to the front and the turret, the sides are still weak–don't show them if possible. What you can do now is either go with your heavy tanks and serve as a support vehicle (especially when you're not one of the highest-tier tanks in the battle), or go with your medium tanks and play a central role in pushing the enemies back. Your spaced armour deflects quite a lot of incoming fire, so use it to keep pushing and destroy them with your high damage per minute.

Use the gun depression, paired with the strong gun mantlet, and hide behind hills or debris. The M4A3E8 Thunderbolt VII is suitable either as an aggressive or defensive unit.

Firepower

Your armament is the same as its predecessor: a 76 mm gun. It's slightly different from the other Shermans; the rate of fire went down a bit, but in return the accuracy and aiming time improved. The damage per minute is still high, but now that you're playing a different role on the battlefield, you might need to adapt your strategy somewhat. Our best advice is to keep the enemies close to you and don't give them time to reload, and you'll most likely come out on top. Avoid trading shots at all costs!

Camouflage & View Range

Camouflage values are slightly lower than other medium tanks, but view range is slightly better. Overall, it's decent for its tier.

Equipment

Recommended Setup

The M4A3E8 Thunderbolt VII is one of the very few vehicles in its tier that is able to have a Vertical Stabilizer mounted, which is a big advantage when it comes to gun dispersion. The two other pieces maximise its damage per minute.

Crew Skills

Commander
Gunner
Driver
Radio Operator
Loader

Even though it plays differently from conventional medium or heavy tanks, the crew skills that work best on it remain the same. Aside from essential skills like Repair, the others, like Sixth Sense and Brothers in Arms, grant bonuses to the vehicle's overall performance.