Elefant

; Elefant
Role	Heavy tank destroyer
Unit Cost	720 20; 245
Upkeep per Minute	30
Prereq.	Fortified Armor Doctrine; Jaeger Armor Doctrine
Produced By	Call-in
Primary armament	88mm Pak 43
Secondary armament	1x 7.92mm MG 34
Health	1,040
Armor	Front: 400; Rear: 110
Max. Speed	3.3m p/s
Abilities (3)
	Target Weak Point Loads and fires a Gr. 39 high-explosive anti-tank round that immediately stuns the enemy vehicle crew.; Requires: Veteran 1; Cost: 35; ; Prioritize Vehicles Attacks vehicles freely, but holds fire against infantry and structures unless given an explicit order to fire.; Toggle ability; ; Panzer Tactician Conceals the tank in smoke, allowing it to avoid damage from enemy units.; Doctrinal ability; Cost: 30;
Upgrades (1)
	Spotting Scopes Adds spotting scopes to the vehicle, doubling sight radius when stationary.; Doctrinal ability; Cost: 30;

“Ferdinand, Elefant, that doesn't matter. To the enemy we are simply: DEATH!”

The Elefant Heavy Tank Destroyer has a massive armor envelope and one of the most potent guns ever mounted on a fighting vehicle: the 88mm Pak43. Weighing 65 tons, it is slow to react.

Effective against all armor. Weak to infantry anti-tank, mobile tanks.

Overview

In the competition for the Tiger 1 Chassis Ferdinand Porsche produced some beforehand to sell them later to the Wehrmacht as the Tiger P(Porsche). After Henschel won the competition he had to use them so he was ordered to mount them with an 8,8mm gun. This first variant was called Ferdinand. After its first use it proved to be very effective against enemy armour but very vulnerable against infantry because it had no MGs.To handle this problem they built MG 34s in the Front this version was called Elefant.

Weapons

Armed with a 88mm Pak43, the Elefant is the Wehrmacht's ultimate solution in destroying even heavy tanks from a long distance and is in many ways equivalent to the Soviet ISU-152, having roughly the same cost and immobile gun. Its cannon and its MG are forward-facing and it moves very slowly, making it very vulnerable to flank attacks despite its strong armour. The Elefant is best used to support attacking forces against enemy vehicles and structures with its extreme range.

Compared to the Soviet ISU-152, the Elefant is more specialized against armor as it only fires armor-piercing shells, making it ineffective against infantry. But its front armor is perhaps one of the strongest in the game; even heavy cannons can have difficulty penetrating it.

Abilities

Target Weak Point

Requires Veteran 1
Cost 35 35 to activate
Activation: Select Vehicle
Cooldown: 30 seconds

Info here.

Prioritize Vehicles

Activation: Toggle Ability

Waiting with text for the next patch where this ability is likely to change. Now it holds all fire, after the patch the main gun will hold fire but the machine gun(s) will still fire at infantry.

Panzer Tactician

Requires Fortified Armor Doctrine
Cost 30 30 to activate
Activation: Direct
Active for 8 seconds
Cooldown: 30 seconds

The Panzer Tactician ability comes with quite some commanders and is automatically unlocked on (almost) all vehicles when the necessary command points are reached. Smoke can be a powerful tool, especially in defensive manoeuvres. One of the great strengths of this ability is that it doesn't need a lot of micro like the Mortar or the USF Sherman. When your vehicle is in danger, press the button and for eight seconds the vehicle will spew smoke out of its canisters and conceal your vehicle immediately.

Activation of this ability does not interrupt any move commands, so use it when the time is just right. Be aware that enemy guns can still use the attack-ground command and fire through the smoke. If the terrain is flat and the path of your vehicle doesn't change, enemy guns can still deliver the final blow to your vehicle this way. Nevertheless, the Elefant is the most expensive Wehrmacht Ostheer unit in the game and the smokescreen can occasionally save it from destruction and a major setback in resources.

Upgrades

Spotting Scopes

Requires Jaeger Armor Doctrine
Cost 30 30 to upgrade
Requires friendly and connected territory
Upgrade time: 20 seconds

When choosing the Jaeger Armor Doctrine, you get acces to the Spotting Scopes upgrade. This upgrade arrives in the mid-game at 5 Command Points, where your light vehicles (if kept alive) and the first tanks can start to profit from the extra sight radius it gives. The scopes doubles the sight radius on the vehicle that upgrades them.

Keep in mind that the scopes only grant extra vision when the vehicle is stationary, it can't even rotate in place.

Spotting Scopes are a very powerful tool in combination with the Elefant. Its 88mm gun has a range of 70, outranging all medium tanks and even most other tank destroyers. Upgrading the scopes not only on your Elefant but also on your other vehicles will make a deadly combination.

Veterancy

	Level 1 Veterancy: Unlocks the 'Target Weak Point' ability
	Level 2 Veterancy: -20% reload time +20% maximum speed +20% rotation speed +20% ac/de-celeration
	Level 3 Veterancy: +30% accuracy -30% reload time