Soviet balance issues like IS-2 and Inf vet 1 abilities

Hey everybody,

I'm very new to Company of Heroes 2 community, but very experienced in CoH series.

I made few topics about soviet balance issues and posted them to CoH2 official forums.
But i like to also discuss about them in here. Below is links to my topics.

IS-2 underperformance:
http://community.companyofheroes.com/forum/company-of-heroes-2/coh-2-balance-feedback/224751-su-all-is-2-underperforming-in-everyway-compared-to-tiger

Soviet Inf vet 1 abilities:
http://community.companyofheroes.com/forum/company-of-heroes-2/coh-2-balance-feedback/227816-su-all-useless-infantry-vet-1-abilities

What do you guys think about IS-2 underperforming compared to Tiger and missing distinct role, which i think would be heavy assault tank?

How about soviet infantry vet 1 ability, which is worst skill the game Trip Wire flares? Should they have more interesting ability like "Fire up"-like suppression redusing skill or Guard having vet 1 AT-nade?

Ouughf off to an auspicious rip roaring start in the coh2, community...

The reason they changed IS2 was because it was overpreforming compared to the tiger in every way, it was more mobile, had more armor, better pen etc compared to the tiger. But now tiger is more viable since it has more range than the IS2 and the penetration chance against IS2 is a little better. IS2 and Tiger are about equal now, Tiger has more at/ai power and the IS2 can take more beating and is more mobile.

Vet 1 Sov Abilities: Trip wire is a somewhat useful ability but seems a little dumb to have on all the infantry. Having for example a sprint ability as vet 1 for shocks, vehicle stun for guards (these are just examples and might be batshitop) might be fun to see. For cons and engies the tripwire is ok but for almost all of the other inf units it seems a little dull

First of all, welcome aboard to (hopefully) a less egregious forum.

Regardign the IS2, it's more of a damage soaker and defense smasher, the problem however beign that often in COH 2 you don't see lots of defensive structures unless a game goes an hour, and even then they're often cheap and spammable, meaning the IS2's role as a spearhead and bunker buster is often redundant and reduced to aiming blindly at infantry and bouncing off tanks. As far as being a tank goes, it soaks up damage like an IS2 sized sponge to a bath of water, but dealing damage it could be tweaked to be more consistent.

Vet 1 capping: Possibly redundant, but it's saved me a handful of games. Really good for stopping caps whilst crushing stuff, or preventing them with mortar smoke to cover your vehicle (won a 1 hour 1v1 with a smoke covered IS2 in secure mode stopping enemy capping.

Regarding trip wire flares, they're my favourite Vet 1 ability in the game. Place three close together and it's the same cost as a mine, each will kill 1-2 models and give recon, plus all your troops give or take can put them down. Fantastic piece of kit you can lure blobs into and combo with demo charges; see the trip wire give vision, watch blob walk over demo... kaboom.

Hope this helps.

Trip flare mine ability is pretty useful, but it should only be on Conscripts. Pretty stupid how almost every single Soviet infantry has it.

I made thread about the vet 1 abilities a while back too

The IS-2 is fine I think, it only should get a more usefull vet ability.

First of all, welcome aboard to (hopefully) a less egregious forum.

Regardign the IS2, it's more of a damage soaker and defense smasher, the problem however beign that often in COH 2 you don't see lots of defensive structures unless a game goes an hour, and even then they're often cheap and spammable, meaning the IS2's role as a spearhead and bunker buster is often redundant and reduced to aiming blindly at infantry and bouncing off tanks. As far as being a tank goes, it soaks up damage like an IS2 sized sponge to a bath of water, but dealing damage it could be tweaked to be more consistent.

the is2 deal 160 damage with a lengthy reload, and by "defensive structures" it's really down to mg bunker and the flak truck.

classifying the is2 as a "bunker buster" is really shoehorning it into a niche role.


the vet 1 capping ability would be useful on the t34 76 if the tank itself wasn't so bad. When I'm using an actually decent medium tank (pz4, cromwell, sherman) I often spot opportunity to cap after clearing out the enemies.

If there's an enemy trying cap at a relatively far away point, your medium can quickly response and then recap the point without needing to wait for your infantry.

more health is welcome and IS2 need a look at the vet1 ability

the is2 deal 160 damage with a lengthy reload, and by "defensive structures" it's really down to mg bunker and the flak truck.

classifying the is2 as a "bunker buster" is really shoehorning it into a niche role.

But it doesn't hit infantry reliably enough and can't take on vehicles larger than medium in most cases, so that's kind of my experience of what it does.

and the main reason is2 fell in favor again is due to the recent buff to the tiger and tiger 2.

I feel like we are going back and forth with these buffs.

But it doesn't hit infantry reliably enough and can't take on vehicles larger than medium in most cases, so that's kind of my experience of what it does.

the is2 used to be excellent for taking on tiger and panther. it's only due to the recent buff to the tiger that the is2 seems a lot weaker.

and I've heard people complaining about the occasional grenadier wipe despite the is2's poor accuracy. Rng is a bitch.

Yeah, generally why I'm not particularly motivated to use Shock Rifle, it just doesn't hit, then it does hit and deletes all your men.

First of all, welcome aboard to (hopefully) a less egregious forum.

Regardign the IS2, it's more of a damage soaker and defense smasher, the problem however beign that often in COH 2 you don't see lots of defensive structures unless a game goes an hour, and even then they're often cheap and spammable, meaning the IS2's role as a spearhead and bunker buster is often redundant and reduced to aiming blindly at infantry and bouncing off tanks. As far as being a tank goes, it soaks up damage like an IS2 sized sponge to a bath of water, but dealing damage it could be tweaked to be more consistent.

Vet 1 capping: Possibly redundant, but it's saved me a handful of games. Really good for stopping caps whilst crushing stuff, or preventing them with mortar smoke to cover your vehicle (won a 1 hour 1v1 with a smoke covered IS2 in secure mode stopping enemy capping.

Regarding trip wire flares, they're my favourite Vet 1 ability in the game. Place three close together and it's the same cost as a mine, each will kill 1-2 models and give recon, plus all your troops give or take can put them down. Fantastic piece of kit you can lure blobs into and combo with demo charges; see the trip wire give vision, watch blob walk over demo... kaboom.

Hope this helps.

Well, the problem is that Axis do have very high penetration AT, so even if it has good frontal armor, axis will penetrate constantly. And IS-2 have horrible moving accuracy, like all soviet tanks. That mixed with slow RoF makes too many times RNG againts you.

For vet 1 capping, you realize that USF have that passively in all tanks at vet0. So in my opinion it is many times worst than all faction vet 1 ability. I suggested that somekind of "Oorah"-like ability to soviet T-34 would be cool, especially if speed bonus is increased by more soviet tanks in close vicinity.

Your the only one i heard that says it is his favorite vet 1 ability. I feel like it's so uninteresting and only goes nice with engineer role. Conscript should have something else, that feels unique to core infantry.

I suggested that somekind of "Oorah"-like ability to soviet T-34 would be cool, especially if speed bonus is increased by more soviet tanks in close vicinity.

Sounds like 'Flanking Speed' from M10 Wolverine

For vet 1 capping, you realize that USF have that passively in all tanks at vet0.

I know what you mean, but it's an exaggeration. Dismounting the crew to cap a point is vastly more risky than just having the weapons disabled; if you're not monitoring it, a canny opponent could even thieve your empty tank right from under your nose.

To put it simple:
Veterancy overhaul is needed.
IS2 is fine.

Welcome to the jungle.

To put it simple:
Veterancy overhaul is needed.
IS2 is fine.

Welcome to the jungle.

Agreed. I would like an overhaul on the vet of a lot of units:

Russian vehicle vet 1 should make the tank immobile/slower but still able to shoot. Then it would be used more often to hold/secure a point.

I think flares on conscripts and combat engineers are fine. Other units should get theirs changed. Also cap point with heavy tanks is worthless.

As for is2, the issue is that relic fucked up its scatter and refuses to fix it. Is2 also just acts like an overgrown t34/76. It needs to do 240 damage with a 9 second reload and damage on deflection with normalized scatter. But AOE far damage would have to be heavily nerfed to help with one shots.