Grille 15

## General

The Grille 15 in-game icon

The Grille 15 is a Tier 10 German tank destroyer. It is preceded by the WT. auf Pz. IV. It is referred to simply as "Grille". It is pronounced with an accent on the E, like "Grilleh".

The Grille 15 generally requires above-average skill to do well in due to its poor camo rating (although, with equipment, provisions, and a camo, the Grille 15 has better concealment), poor soft gun stats (dispersion when moving, gun depression, etc), and effectively no armour. It is generally considered a downgrade from the WT. auf. Pz. IV, but is still reasonably well-liked. Players that didn’t do well in or disliked the WT are ill-advised to continue to the Grille 15.

## Historical Reference

In the summer of 1942, Waffenamt (the German Army Weapon Agency) concluded an agreement with the Krupp and Rheinmetall companies for designing a tank destroyer on the chassis of the Panther tank. It was planned to mount either the 128-mm K 43 gun or the 150-mm sFH 43 howitzer. The projects were designated Grille 12 and Grille 15, featured rear placement of the fighting compartment, and differed only in the artillery system type. Later, the Grille 15 received a 150-mm gun with a length of 63 calibers, which could penetrate 200 mm of armor at 4,000 meters. However, development was slow, and the Grille 15 remained only in blueprints.

## Strategy/Tips

There are two main strategies for this tank: sniping, and playing as a second-line support tank with hard cover nearby.

The most obvious choice, and the safest, is sniping. With level 7 camo skill, actual camo installed, and a camo net, your camo level reaches 53% while stationary, 40% while moving, and 7% upon firing when stationary. These values definitely aren't the best, but they aren't the worst either. Pick the most stereotypical or obvious sniping spots on each map and move there at the start of the game. Your tank has the mobility to easily relocate, so make use of it. **Don't just sit in one spot the entire game unless you can farm damage at that spot**. If you cannot get shots off from your location or you get spotted and shot at, relocate your tank to a better location. You have the mobility to do so, having the hull and engine of the legendary Panther tank.

The second strategy, although requiring a above-average skill level to avoid getting torn to pieces, is playing as a second-line support tank and "shotgunning" nearby tanks, similar to how one could have chosen to play the WT. auf. Pz. IV. This doesn't rely on not getting spotted, instead relying on your situational awareness, teammates, and timing (i.e. when are your enemies not looking, etc). The idea is to have hard cover nearby, and shoot distracted reds that are focusing on those in front of you instead of you. Shoot and then return back into cover. Only shoot tanks that aren't looking at you, and don't come out of cover if a tank's looking at you or your general position. Waiting the full reload time after shooting is generally enough time for your camo to reset, hiding you from enemies and giving you the element of surprise. More experienced players can take advantage of the Grille’s amazing dispersion and aim time to shoot tanks that are aiming at you and retreat into cover before they can aim and shoot you back.

**Tips**

* While your gun only has 5 degrees of gun depression in the front, moving the gun far enough to the left/right gives you 7 degrees, more than enough to utilize most standard TD sniping spots.
	+ Unfortunately, due to your relatively poor camo and gun depression, many spots that you would have been able to use with the WT auf Pz. IV are completely off-limits for the Grille.
* Your gun is a HE magnet, which will result in 0 damage taken if it is hit from the front. Use this to your advantage and quickly move the turret left/right when someone is aiming at you. More often than not they will aim for your gun shield rather than your equally weak hull, and this will allow you to absorb more shots than you would expect, including HE shots from 150mm+ guns.
* Due to recent updates, the Grille 15 has reasonable AP and HEAT penetration (300 and 360, respectively), allowing you to penetrate the majority of tier 10 tanks; use this to your advantage, and don't be afraid to use gold shells to get damage.
* While the Grille 15 has only 15mm of HE penetration, its accuracy makes up for this, allowing you to easily hit HE weak spots from distances that other tanks can only dream about. Aim carefully for HE weak spots and watch the enemy's HP drain away.
* It is highly, highly recommended that you do not shoot on the move. Your dispersion while moving is one of the worst in tier 10 and you will not be able to hit tanks without a fair amount of luck. However, if there is a snapshot available or if you need to shoot to stay alive, then, of course, try your luck.
* If at all possible, do not ram tanks. The Grille 15 has the least weight of all tier 10 TDs, and is one of the lightest tanks in tier 10 as a whole. Only do this if extraordinary circumstances (for example, a 1hp light tank that you, at full health, can only ram, or, in the event of having no ammo and being the last tank left on your team) require it. Having no armour means that ramming is likely to get you killed, by the enemy team, and perhaps the tank you rammed.
* It is highly recommended not to trade shots with high-alpha guns, or really any guns for that matter. You don't have the HP nor the armor to win.
* Your speed makes it easy to overextend and immediately die. Assuming they aren't AFK or camping, let your mediums and lights spot while you stay at the back.
* Be prepared to move forward when the enemy team is being overrun by your team. Try to anticipate this so that you can get some shots in. However, only do this when it is safe.

**Recommended equipment**

 **II** | Enhanced Gun Laying Drive
 **III** | Vertical Stabilizer

**Recommended Consumables**

* Multi-Purpose Restoration Pack
* First Aid Kit/Reticle Calibration
* Adrenaline

**Recommended Provisions**

* Chocolate
* Spall Liner
* Improved Fuel

## Specifications

The following specifications represent those achieved by the tank without enhancements from consumables or equipment.

### Modules

 **Turret Armor** | Front: 20 mmSides: 14 mmRear: 0 mm
 **Max AmmoRack Size** | 30 shells

 **Terrain CrossingCapacity** | Road: 95% Ground: 87%Water: 52%

Note that the radio module is not currently implemented, and that the following specifications have no effect on the tank during gameplay
 Module HP
 Weight Change
 Distance Covered

## Trivia

* The Grille 15 is noted to be one of the most accurate tanks in the game.
* Although there is no turret listed in the in-game stats, there is still a turret on the tank, which can take damage like any other module and even get jammed.
* The PC version of the Grille 15 has 750 average damage on its AP shell, but only 950 on its HE shell.
* Following the tank rebalance reveals of Update 10.3, some players began to believe that Wargaming specifically hated the Grille 15 in particular because its alpha damage has been nerfed from 640 to 600 in Update 9.1 and from 600 down to 580 in Update 10.3

## External Links

https://na.wotblitz.com/en/news/updates/update-9-6/