Review of the new tier 9 premium, the DZT-159, in world of tanks, which on paper seems like a very solid tank, but not as good as the best tier 9 premium, Object 752. A bit lower DPM compared to WZ-120, but with great turret armor and rocket boosters, it poses a threat to same and lower tier vehicles. It brings a new way of playing medium tanks and you can have a lot of fun with it.
Wargaming is not stopping with releasing new tier 9 premium tanks, just in the contrary, they are picking up the pace.So, this is the new Chinese tier IX medium tank with rocket boost mechanic. Compared to the rocket boosters equipped on the heavy tanks, these packs are shorter in duration, but there are more of them avaliable for use, 7 pops at 5 second duration.
List of content:
Firepower
| Spec | DZT-159 | WZ-120 |
|---|---|---|
| DPM | 2,353.44 | 2,503.20 |
| Penetration | 260 mm | 249 mm |
| Damage per shot | 440 | 440 |
| Rate of fire | 5.35 | 5,69 |
| Reload time | 11.22 | 10.55 |
| Caliber | 122 | 122 |
| Shell velocity | 1,150m/s | 950m/s |
| Ammo capacity | 40 | 40 |
| Shell cost | 1,205 | 1,065 |
We’ll grab the tech tree WZ-120 as a guide, so it seems like there are some characteristics that are better such as the penetration and the shell velocity on the DZT and there are those that are worse such as the DPM, but not by much.
I would tho prefer this kind of gun from the DZT since I value the penetration much more then the DPM and also shell velocity of only 950m/s feels clunky to snipe with on longer ranges.
Overall the DZT’s gun is a very reliable one, hits hard, DPM is not the best in class, but you can definitely make it work.
Gun Handling
| Spec | DZT-159 | WZ-120 |
|---|---|---|
| Aim Time | 2.59s | 2.59s |
| Dispersion | 0.38 | 0.36 |
| … moving | 0.2 | 0.14 |
| … tank treverse | 0.2 | 0.14 |
| … turret treverse | 0.08 | 0.12 |
| Depression | 7 | 3 |
Gun handling is fine for a tier 9 with such a hard hitting gun, while the dispersion values are not quite as good as on the WZ, aim time is reasonable and the best thing about this tank is the gun depression at great 7 degrees. It allows you to work a ridge line quite a bit easier and overall to be a lot more flexible.
Quite an unusual thing that the chinese tank has a good amount of gun depression, but I guess WG thought I could be a good idea since the tank has great turret armor.
Mobility
| Spec | DZT-159 | WZ-120 |
|---|---|---|
| Forward speed | 40 km/h | 60 km/h |
| Reverse speed | 15 km/h | 20 km/h |
| Power/weight | 15.61 | 17.05 |
| Turret treverse | 26.07 | 43.81 |
| Tank treverse | 41.72 | 47.98 |
Quite of a slow medium actually at the today’s standards, only 40 km/h top speed and also the reverse speed is not great at only 15, makes pulling back quite slow. Turret treverse is very bad at only 26 degrees, almost half as slow compared to something like the WZ-120, tank treverse is not bad tho.
With such a mediocre treverse you might get into the situation where other mediums can easily outmaneuver you and shut you down.
This is all true, but let’s not forget about the tank’s main feature and that is the rocket boost mechanic. It helps you a lot to get into the position at the start of the game, or boost around the battlefield to relocate. Be aware tho, only 7 charges, each lasting 5 seconds, but they boost your speed up to 68 km/h, quite a bit more then when used on heavy tanks.
Armor
This is the highlight of this vehicle, it is a lot more heavily armored then a standard other medium tank.
Turret effective thickness is around 310 mm, even tier 10s will have a hard time going through your turret with standard ammunition, but with gold they will find a lot more success, so keep an eye at which ammo the enemy is using. Turret is very solid for hull down positions, but you have 2 commander hatches that can be penned even by tier 7s.
Hull armor is not that great, around 190 mm of effective armor, it can pull of some bounces against lower tiers, but it is nowhere reliable.
Sides and rear are quite poorly armored, 80mm on the hull’s side and 50mm on the rear. Side of the turret has around 200 mm of effective armor, it can pull off some bounces.
Use the terrain as cover as much as you can do hide your mediocre hull and show only a very thick turret. 7 degrees of gun depression will help you out with using different types of terrain to your advantage. If you are using your gun depression you even hide your turret’s hatches, meaning you don’t have any weakspots in that situation.
Crew skills and equipment
Skills
Commander
- Repairs
- Brothers in arms
- Concealment
- Recon
- Emergency
- Coordination
Gunners
- Brothers in arms
- Repairs
- Concealment
- Deadeye
- Designated target
- Armorer
Driver
- Brothers in arms
- Repairs
- Concealment
- Off road driving
- Engineer
- Controlled impact
Loader
- Brothers in arms
- Repairs
- Concealment
- Safe stowage
- Intuition
- Ammo tuning
Equipment
- Turbo
- Vents
- Gun rammer
Tips
At the start of the game rush into the position before your enemies using the rocket boosters and catch them by surprise, but don’t use all of them at the start, leave at least 4 rocket charges for later stages in the game.
Use rocket boosters to run away or relocate on the battlefield more quickly. Another use can can be to ram the vehicle with the less weight then you, this will also make use of the controlled impact crew skill.
Your DPM is not high, in most cases you will lose a 1v1, stick to your teammates where they can support you while you reload.
While you don’t have full 10 degrees of gun depression, you can’t really work every ridge line, but try to hide your hull as much as you can with the terrain, as well as your turret weakspots to deal damage effectively.
Conclusion
A very capable tank at tier 9, one of the best premiums at this tier and probably the best tank from 2024 christmas lootboxes. As every tier 9 premium, it earns a lot of credits, but keep in mind the shell cost is quite high at over 1,2k per shot. With the great turret and rocket booster, it add a new way of playing mediums and it is hell of a fun.
Check out our review of another 2024 lootbox premium tank at tier 9:
