Sidescraping
Sidescraping Technique
Defensive position where the tank's side is angled ~25° toward the enemy behind cover, exposing only the rear corner and front of the side armor.
What it means
Sidescraping is the inverse of front armor angling — instead of facing the enemy with an angled hull, you turn 90°+ away and present your side at an extreme angle behind a wall, building, or rock. The enemy sees only a small slice of your front-side junction. The effective armor of the angled side becomes higher than the unangled front, while the wheels/tracks of the exposed half soak hits without damaging the hull.
Main techniques
Approach: park parallel to cover with cover on your enemy-facing side. Reverse to expose ~25° of your hull's side around the corner, gun pointed at the enemy. Fire, then reverse back fully behind cover during reload. The exposed track soaks shells; the angled side ricochets penetrating shots.
Tanks that excel
Sidescraping rewards tanks with thick side armor (90mm+) and a strong rear turret traverse. Best vehicles: IS-3, IS-7, T110E5, Type 5 Heavy, Maus. Worst: tanks with thin sides (Cromwell, AMX series) or front-mounted turrets that can't peek effectively.
Example
Why it matters
Sidescraping converts mediocre-armor tanks into impenetrable fortresses by leveraging spaced armor and angled geometry. A tank that gets penetrated frontally at 50% rate may become immune when sidescraping correctly. It's the single highest-value defensive skill at Tier 8+.
Common pitfall
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Related terms
- Armor angling — Tilting your armor to multiply its effective thickness against enemy shells.
- Hull-down — Hiding the hull behind a ridge or wall, exposing only the turret.
- Ricochet — When a shell deflects off armor instead of penetrating — typically at impact angles over 70° from the perpendicular.
- Normalization — How much a shell's impact angle is 'corrected' toward perpendicular when striking sloped armor — making penetration easier than pure geometry suggests.