The only thing that makes IS-2 good is its armor.
Its AT DPS is bad, but at least penetration chance is reliable, its AI is, exactly like KT, a slot machine of hit and miss(mostly miss).
And no, panther is not best axis AT option, its best STOCK AT option, there are at least 3 doctrinal options that have 100% chance to penetrate IS-2, KT also does not struggle in any way against IS.
Tiger have LONGER RANGE, higher penetration(stat wise its 10 lower, but all of allied vehicles, short of IS-2 and arguably comet when put on the same shelf as panther have lower armor then their axis counterpart, so at the end it just has easier time against all the allied armor then reverse), much better scatter and rate of fire, access to better survival tools depending on doctrine(however plain old blitz is also vastly superior to capping a fucking point).
IS-2 will beat Tiger 1v1, but Tiger is overall much stronger and better tank that actually inflicts massive damage instead of just taking it.
If we accept the "the higher penetration" argument (which should actually be better chance to penetrate since penetration is a basic stat and IS-2 has a better penetration value) (and that is a very big if, since there are a many allied units with high armor value) then Tiger, applying the same logic, has sorted range because it generally facing 60 range TD (out ranged by 15) while the IS-2 is facing 50 range TD (out ranged by 10).
You simply can have it both way, so lets avoid the mental gymnastics. Is-2 simply has better penetration and Tiger simply has better range.
Finally both unit get range bonus with veterancy reach the same range of 50
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cblanco ★ 
Heartless Jäger 
