Call to Arms - Gates of Hell: Ostfront Equipment Guide: Best Equipment Ranked

Q: Which factions are in the base game?

Germany and the Soviet Union, with the German Ostfront campaign and the Soviet Za Rodinu campaign. Finland comes with Talvisota, the United States with Liberation and Airborne, and Britain, Scotland, Canada and Poland with Finest Hour.

Q: Is this a real-time strategy game or a tactics game?

Both, and you switch freely. You can play it top-down like a conventional real-time strategy game, or drop into first or third person on any single soldier or vehicle crew position and aim manually, which the game calls direct control.

Q: How does armour damage actually work?

There is no hitpoint bar. Vehicles carry historical armour layouts and shells carry historical penetration values, so the game resolves impact angle, range and shell type, then applies the result to whatever component or crewman sits behind that plate.

Q: Can the campaigns be played in co-op?

Yes. The historical singleplayer missions support cooperative play, and the game also carries a PvE Dynamic Campaign, Conquest, and multiplayer matches from 1v1 up to 4v4 across more than 30 maps.

Q: Do I need the DLCs to play multiplayer?

No. Germany and the Soviet Union in the base game are fully playable in multiplayer and the Dynamic Campaign. The DLCs add their own factions, campaigns and unit rosters rather than gating the base modes behind a purchase.

Complete Call to Arms - Gates of Hell: Ostfront equipment guide. Every equipment option ranked with stats, best builds, and how to get them.

EarlyGuides Editorial Team

Researched and editorially reviewed. Updated August 12, 2026.

Barbedwire Studios and Digitalmindsoft released Gates of Hell: Ostfront on 11 June 2021, covering the Eastern Front from 1941 to 1945 with more than 250 vehicles and 100 heavy weapons. Armour is modelled plate by plate with real thicknesses and angles, so an 85mm round can bounce off a Tiger's mantlet, kill the loader without setting the tank on fire, or cook off the ammunition depending on exactly where it lands. You can command it as a top-down real-time strategy game or take direct control of one rifleman or one tank gunner at any moment.

Your choice of equipment defines your damage output and playstyle. This guide ranks every major option, explains what makes each one strong, and tells you which builds they pair best with.

Equipment Rankings

Equipment	Tier	Best For	Notes
Tiger I	S	German long-range defensive overwatch on open maps	An 88mm gun behind roughly 100mm of flat frontal armour.
T-34/85	A	Soviet armour that has to be numerous rather than individually superior	The 85mm ZiS-S-53 gun in a three-man turret gives the Soviet mainstay a real chance against German heavies at closer ranges, and its sloped hull front bounces rounds that would defeat the same thickness laid flat.
StuG III Ausf. G	A	German ambush and overwatch positions where you never need to turn a turret	A turretless assault gun mounting the 7.
MG 42	B	Pinning German defensive frontages and covering open approaches	A general purpose machine gun firing at roughly 1,200 rounds per minute, which produces so much suppression that an advancing squad simply stops moving.
PPSh-41	B	Soviet close assaults in Stalingrad-style street fighting	A 7.

S-Tier: Tiger I

An 88mm gun behind roughly 100mm of flat frontal armour. At long range it is close to untouchable from the front, but the flat plates mean angling does little for it and its slow turret traverse makes a flanking T-34 genuinely dangerous.

Attribute	Detail
Tier	S
Best For	German long-range defensive overwatch on open maps
Key Mechanic	Plate by plate armour penetration
Recommended Build	Germany

How to get it: Available from mid-game onward. See our walkthrough for the exact progression point.

Best builds using Tiger I: Pairs naturally with Germany thanks to how their stat scaling lines up.

A-Tier: T-34/85

The 85mm ZiS-S-53 gun in a three-man turret gives the Soviet mainstay a real chance against German heavies at closer ranges, and its sloped hull front bounces rounds that would defeat the same thickness laid flat.

Attribute	Detail
Tier	A
Best For	Soviet armour that has to be numerous rather than individually superior
Key Mechanic	Direct control of any unit
Recommended Build	Soviet Union

How to get it: Accessible in the early-to-mid game. Check our maps guide for the location.

Best builds using T-34/85: Pairs naturally with Soviet Union thanks to how their stat scaling lines up.

A-Tier: StuG III Ausf. G

A turretless assault gun mounting the 7.5cm StuK 40 L/48 behind 80mm of frontal plate, sitting far lower than any turreted tank. Hull-down in a fold in the ground it is extremely hard to spot, and it costs far less than a Panther for similar gun performance.

Attribute	Detail
Tier	A
Best For	German ambush and overwatch positions where you never need to turn a turret
Key Mechanic	Individual crew and seat swapping
Recommended Build	Finland (Talvisota)

How to get it: Accessible in the early-to-mid game. Check our maps guide for the location.

Best builds using StuG III Ausf. G: Pairs naturally with Finland (Talvisota) thanks to how their stat scaling lines up.

B-Tier: MG 42

A general purpose machine gun firing at roughly 1,200 rounds per minute, which produces so much suppression that an advancing squad simply stops moving. It burns through belts fast, so a team without an ammunition carrier stops being useful within a couple of minutes.

Attribute	Detail
Tier	B
Best For	Pinning German defensive frontages and covering open approaches
Key Mechanic	Soldier inventories and looting
Recommended Build	United States (Liberation and Airborne)

How to get it: Found in later areas. Our walkthrough covers when you can access this.

Best builds using MG 42: Pairs naturally with United States (Liberation and Airborne) thanks to how their stat scaling lines up.

B-Tier: PPSh-41

A 7.62x25mm submachine gun with a 71-round drum and a very high rate of fire, worthless past about 100 metres and devastating inside it. Whole Soviet squads carry it, which is why urban and forest fighting flips in Soviet favour.

Attribute	Detail
Tier	B
Best For	Soviet close assaults in Stalingrad-style street fighting
Key Mechanic	Dynamic Campaign unit persistence
Recommended Build	Britain and Commonwealth (Finest Hour)

How to get it: Found in later areas. Our walkthrough covers when you can access this.

Best builds using PPSh-41: Pairs naturally with Britain and Commonwealth (Finest Hour) thanks to how their stat scaling lines up.

Equipment Progression Path

The order you should acquire equipment as you progress:

Starting gear → Enough to clear The Siege of Sevastopol
T-34/85 → Your first real upgrade, available early
StuG III Ausf. G → Mid-game upgrade with good scaling
Tiger I → Best-in-slot, aim for this by late game
Upgrade to max → The power spike from max upgrades is enormous

Equipment Tips

Always upgrade your primary equipment before diversifying. One strong option beats three mediocre ones.
Match your equipment to your build's stat priorities for maximum scaling.
Angle your hull before you fire, not after. The armour model uses real thickness and impact angle, so a Panzer IV sitting at roughly 30 degrees to an incoming shot presents far more effective plate than one facing square, and that difference decides whether a 76mm round penetrates.
Check our tier list for how equipment rankings affect overall build effectiveness.

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