Pros:
- Excellent armor
- Good viewrange
- Acceptable alpha damage

Cons:
- Underwhelming gunhandling
- Low penetration and dpm
- Limited mobility

Overall this tank is a very noob friendly tank due to it's boucy hull and perfect turret armor. However the gun is just bad by 2022 standards and the limited mobility (due to high ground resitance) makes this tank feel very outdated. I would advise every experienced player to take the Obj 277 instead.

Still somewhat meta. The gun isn't the best but it's russian, so it will hit pixels even on the move lol. Top-speed and Armor are amazing and the turret has no weakspots, which makes this tank very chill to play and one of, if not *the* best first tier 10 tank for beginners.

3/5, maybe 4/5 on better days.

Still relevant due to its strengths relevant to the present meta, but there way better tech tree tanks out there depending on what you want. Most recommended heavy as a first heavy tank for beginners, although I think the IS-4 is better for them due to its more conventional armor shape. The overall power level is similar anyway.

Pros:
-Very good armor profile. Thick frontal hull and turret armor, spaced armor on the sides, very trollish side armor on the turret. It relies both on thickness and angles for protection. It has a pike nose, so it favors looking straight at the enemy. Sidescraping is possible with very great care and if the enemy is shooting standard ammo with lower penetration (mostly non-TD's), but it's a very situational tactic and not recommended; may still work against lower tiers. Reverse sidescraping is more reliable strategy, but hard to pull off. Overall survivability is good.
-Decent top speed.
-Good alpha damage.

Cons:
-Gun handling is subpar, accuracy is bad. Although you will play mostly in close quarters and that negates this weakness, you will notice that this tank starts struggling at greater distances.
-Underwhelming shell selection. Penetrations are quite bad, the shell velocity on the premium APCR is bad, HE is nothing special. The tank is one of the OG's from the stone age of the game and it shows. It was good back then, now it's below average. Spamming APCR is nothing outrageous, it is better than the standard AP in every aspect. For example, the APCR of the S. Conqeuror is superior in every way.
-Limited mobility. Agility is nothing special, the high top speed exists only on paper and downhill, ground resistance values are bad. Turbo/Grousers can be used to negate this.

Overall, the IS-7 is a solid pick for randoms. Thanks to its excellent survivability, you can stay in the game and the tank is forgiving to mistakes. You are generally expected to lead a push, absorb enemy fire and dictate the tempo of the combat. If you hide the lower plate, you are a very tough nut to crack. The tank is a classic piece of "low skill floor, low skill ceiling" unit. It's easy to master, but doesn't offer anything special. I advise newer players to research, learn the basics with then see what kind of heavy they like, based on what they liked/lacked in the IS-7. For example, the 277 offer excellent mobility, a great gun and turret, the Vz. 55 offers epic burst in an overall good package, the 5A offers good DPM and strong HEAT shells on a similar platform to the Vz. and so on.

The IS-7 can be rated from anywhere from a 3 star, to a 5 star. It entirely determined by the skill level of the player. The tank is very forgiving to newer player, with a near impenetrable turret, decent upper hull, incredible mobility, and fantastic sidescraping potential with its spaced side armor. However, the tank does have its drawbacks that need to be noted. Like most heavies, the tank has horrendous gun handling and accuracy, do not expect to snapshot. The penetration is also lackluster for a tier 10 heavy, and struggles to pen lower plates of other heavies, firing gold is almost necessary while skirming against heavier armored tanks, causing the IS-7 to be expensive to play. The crew layout is also odd, requiring a driver, gunner, commander, and 2 loaders, causing you to need 2 russian heavy loaders to have intuition work properly. The tank also has a glaring weakspot that is sometimes difficult to work around, its large and thin lower plate. Your driver will die a lot btw. If you're a new player looking to get a heavy tank that will give you a fun time, while also still learning the game, the IS-7 is for you.

Tips I can give you are the following:
-You can slightly overrangle your sidescrapes, your tracks are thick and the spaced armor will troll shells and will bait shots out for easy trades.
-If caught out in the open, keep moving and always angle your frontal plates towards the enemy, the upper hull is thicker this way. Adding a side to side wiggle to this will cause your lower plate to become thicker and a near auto bounce angle since most tanks have to aim a few degrees down to aim at your lower plate. Making your lower plate harder to pen also makes your upper plate thinner, causing enemies to have to choose between rolling the dice of bouncing your lower plate or upper, and wiggling will more often than not mess up their shot and bounce. This tactic also opens an angle into your track that seems pennable but will result in a crit and a non pen, that will bait a lot of shots.
-Never flatten the left side of your turret cheek, there is a viewport weakpoint, and flattening it out will make it very easily pennable with gold. You can bait good players into shooting your right side cheek if you have a camo that covers the viewport.
-Try not to raise your gun up to cover the micropixels of your turret that are visible, doing so will weaken your mantlet armor and expose you to HEAT.
-Keep in mind you have fuel tank hitboxes that are hittable through the very bottom left and right of your lower plate, along with your driver.
-Remember that you are fast, and that you can cover crossings by wiggling and showing your angled sides, you will bounce many shells and will be healthy in a good position.
Personal Preferences:
I enjoy bringing the tank into med lines on most maps, most meds will cry looking at your upper plate and turret, and your lackluster pen does not come into effect against meds, making them lambs to the slaughter.
I personally enjoy a DPM setup on the IS-7, Bond Rammer, Bond Vents, and Bond Turbo, along with Extra Combat rations.

I hope this review helps you with your journey on to the IS-7 (or even convince you to get this absolute bundle of power.)

First ever 3 mark