World of Tanks Update 1.13 digest: the HE shell rework and the new artillery

Written from Update 1.13 as it shipped in June 2021; later updates, including the mass rebalance of Update 2.0, have changed individual vehicles since, so check the in-game values before relying on specifics.

Update 1.13 is old, yet two of its systems still define every battle you play: how high-explosive shells deal damage, and how artillery works and how you defend against it. If you returned to the game after a long break, or never understood why a 152 mm HE shell tickles a Maus, this is the update to understand. This digest covers what changed, who gained and lost, and the habits worth adopting.

What changed at a glance

System	Before 1.13	From 1.13	Practical effect
HE damage	A non-penetrating hit could still reach weak armour nearby through its blast	Damage is worked out at the point of impact against the armour there	Big HE guns stopped deleting armoured tanks from the front
HE and obstacles	Detonated on the first thing it touched	Passes through screens, tracks and small destructible objects and carries on	Fewer shots wasted on tracks and fences
SPG ammunition	Essentially one HE shell with stun	Three shell types with different roles	Artillery players choose a shell per target
Warning of incoming fire	None	Sound Detection warns a tank inside the impact area of an SPG shell	A moving tank has a moment to react
Artillery visibility	Hard to tell where an SPG fired from or at	Brighter tracers and impact markers on the minimap	Easier to track which SPG is loaded and where it is aiming
Intuition perk	A chance of an instant shell swap	Speeds up changing the loaded shell type	Useful to SPGs and to anyone who swaps shells often

The three SPG shells

Shell	Stun	Blast	Flight	Use it on
Standard HE	Yes	Widest	Slowest, highest arc	Groups of tanks, targets behind cover, supporting a push
Alternative HE	No	Narrower	Faster	A single tank you can hit reliably and want to damage harder
AP	No	None	Fastest, flattest	Stationary or slow targets where a direct hit is realistic

Only the standard shell stuns, which was the point: stun uptime across a battle dropped, and an artillery player now trades crowd control for damage each time they load.

Winners and losers

Who	Verdict	Reason
Superheavy and well-armoured tanks (Maus, E 100 and similar)	Winner	Frontal HE hits do far less than they used to
Tanks with spaced armour and thick tracks	Winner	Screens absorb HE that would previously have splashed onto the hull
Light and medium tanks on the move	Winner	Sound Detection gives time to brake or turn out of the impact area
Everyone standing next to a stunned ally	Winner	Fewer stuns overall, and the non-stunning shells have a narrower blast
Howitzer “derp” guns: KV-2, O-I, the 105 mm howitzers at mid tiers	Loser	Their one-shot potential against armour is gone; they need thin plates to do full damage
British 183 mm HESH guns	Loser	Same reason: armour they once ignored now eats the shell
SPGs that lived on stun assistance	Loser	Stun comes from one shell of three, and targets are warned
Slow tanks in the open	Loser, relatively	The warning helps little when you cannot leave the circle in time

What it means for the grind and for credits

• HE-only grinds got slower. Tanks whose stock or top gun is a large howitzer earn less damage per battle against armoured opponents. If a line forces one on you, plan to research the alternative gun early or accept that the tank works only against thin armour.
• HE became a reliable finisher instead of a coin flip. A non-penetrating HE hit still does some damage almost every time, which makes it the right shell for resetting a base capture or finishing a low-health tank. That is a cheap habit: standard HE costs credits, not gold.
• Artillery missions changed shape. Missions that ask for stun time need the standard shell and grouped targets; missions that ask for damage are easier with the alternative and AP shells. Loading the wrong shell for the mission wastes the battle.
• Carrying a mixed SPG loadout costs nothing extra to learn, yet most of the class’s income now comes from picking correctly. An SPG player who fires only the stun shell leaves damage, and credits, on the table.

What to do differently in your next session

1. Turn Sound Detection into a reflex. When the indicator fires, change speed or direction at once. Reversing a tank length is often enough to turn a direct hit into a near miss.
2. Stop firing HE at frontal armour. Aim HE at thin sides, rear and roofs, or at lightly armoured vehicles. Against a superheavy, load AP or premium and aim for weak spots.
3. Keep a few HE shells anyway. Use them for capture resets, for finishing one-shot targets and for open-topped or paper-armoured tanks.
4. Watch the tracers. After an SPG fires you know roughly how long it needs to reload; cross open ground in that window.
5. Spread out. The standard shell is the only one that punishes clumping, so two tanks side by side are the target every SPG player hopes for.
6. In an SPG, decide the shell before you aim. Standard for groups and hidden targets, alternative for a single exposed tank, AP for a stationary one. Train Intuition so the swap costs less time.
7. Treat derp guns as specialists. A KV-2 still wrecks lightly armoured tanks. It no longer wins a frontal trade with a heavy.

Why it still matters

Vehicles have been rebalanced many times since, and exact damage and reload values are not what they were in 2021. The rules are the same: HE is judged where it lands, artillery warns before it hits, and only one SPG shell stuns. Play around those three facts and the remainder is detail.