Map Analysis: El Halluf

Each map in World of Tanks has some optimal places for tanks to go. No strategy is perfect and often times player skill rules, but a good strategy followed by a platoon can often times swing things in your favor. This series will hopefully lay out some ground work and give ideas on how best to tackle a map by analyzing the standard game play for each map.

Our third map that we will cover is El Halluf. A large valley filled with rocks, vegetation, and a small village surrounding a dried out river bed separate the two teams. The large hills on either side of the valley offer many firing positions, and very little cover in the valley will protect a large tank completely against all positions. Regardless of approach, attackers will face a long climb into the enemy's camp, and effective use of the cover en route is essential. The northern approach offers plentiful protection to attack either hill, but the southern approach makes up for lack of protection with shorter distances and better concealment.

This map is considered to be one of a handful of "Standoff Maps" or camper maps. Plenty of open ground in the middle provides very few means of attack: take shots from a distance at tanks that mistakenly give their positions away, run through no-man's-land, or commit to either flank. Both sides have similar enough flanking positions, but typically the North is the most often assaulted.

The North section of the map will see the most combat and will be the primary focus of SPGs. The Southern team will follow the red line to get up the hill on the North corner and peak over the edge and roll down, or push all the way up and take cover in the different nooks. Using the lip of the hill for cover provides some protection from incoming artillery fire and most tanks will have to come over the lip to return fire. If things do get difficult, there are mini flanks to other sections of the hill, but they are open to direct fire from anyone watching the No-Man's-Land. The Northern team can defend this flank by pushing to the top of the hill and taking cover in the different nooks in the rock out-cropping. This will stop most SPG fire from reaching you and any tanks pushing up the hill will have to crest it in order to fire.

The Southern flank sees mediums and scouts trying to poke up through the small narrow path, accessing the South base and others camping along the North rock wall spotting tanks sniping from the hill. This area is generally patrolled by scouts with the occasional medium or heavy looking for a fight. This area can easily be exploited by the North if forces get tied up in the North hill as it generally is lightly guarded and can quickly be overrun giving access to where the South artillery usually reside.

No-Man's-Land in the center, represented in Lime, goes without much explanation. Traveling in or through this area is dangerous and should rarely be risked. There are multiple camping perches, represented in Red, on both sides of the map that often times cannot be seen until it is too late. Entering No-Man's-Land should only be done when most of the opposing force has been eliminated and clean up operations have begun. Otherwise, charging through here can be expected to end rather quickly.

Effectively plan around this analysis, use the route to your advantage to best take on what tanks to expect in each area, and always support where areas are lightly defended but be ready to reenforce as needed. With a good platoon at your side, and now knowing this map better, you should be able to to sneak past in this Sniper Valley.