The fact that the ISU can potentially be flanked and overwhelmed has no bearing on the fact that it is too strong against both infantry and armor for its extreme range. Squad wipes should be reduced across the board, but the ISU is simply game-breaking in its current state.
The ISU has always been a bit of a gamble unit pre- patch. It costed a huge amount of resources to call in and could go down to a single close in flank by a P4. If it went down while doing little damage it was often the road to GG. If supported well and used correctly, it was a beast. I found the unit overpriced due to the risk factor and how it interfered with my offensive playstyle. It worked better on some maps (like minsk or steppe) and worse on others.
The key change this time around is the penetration and the rear armor buff. It's a bit of a double bonus IMO. I would have thought that one of the two would have sufficed to make it a fair unit.
The rear armor buff (155) now negates the P4's penetration (120) so the usual 'fix and flank' tactic that many players used doesn't work so well now. Currently, only the Puma, Tiger, and Panther that have the pen to do a decisive flanking run against the ISU.
The Puma is doctrinal and the heavies are in the same expense range as the ISU.
Relic Entertainment
cblanco ★ 
보드카 중대 
VonManteuffel 
Heartless Jäger 
