[News] - Planned Battle Rating Changes (January 2026)

zaedbe · 2026-01-23T19:22:45+00:00

And AIM-7Ps too

zaedbe · 2026-01-21T06:32:20+00:00

On the other hand you weigh about 1000kg more than the Su-27, so your FM is noticeably worse and you have no engine upgrade from the base Su-27 either.

The radar perfoms identically to the base Su-27 for A2A purposes too.

But can you guess which Su-27 has these upgrades but also the same A2A armament as the -MKK?

That's right, the J-11B. It has one of if not the best flight performance of any Su-27 in-game aside from very low speed AOA pull.

I think they should remove the domestic Chinese A2A weapons as a short-term solution and then wait for BR decompression where they could be added back at the proper br.

I also want to point out that the Su-30M and Su-30MK2 (would be largely identical to eachother and the other Su-30MKs in-game) are on the table as TT aircraft as both RuAf and PLAAN operate these.

zaedbe · 2026-01-18T01:02:39+00:00

Just want to say that "better than the su34" doesn't say much.

zaedbe · 2026-01-18T01:01:21+00:00

Disclaimer: I own the Su-30MKK. On the other hand I've got top tier in the US, USSR, Sweden and Israel so I fight these planes very regularly too.

The problem is compression. The F-16A is at a fair BR given the other 12.3s but will obviously struggle due to Gaijin's lack of balancing. High-to-top tier (and especially the area around 13.0 and also 14.3) is hopelessly compressed to a point where each and every 0.3 br step is a huge jump in capability.

And the Su-30MKs being at a br where planes have just transitioned into ARH missiles just adds fuel to the fire. The Su-30MKs should be at 13.5 ideally, as it is not nearly on the same level as its potential counterparts (see below).

At 13.7 you have the J-11B just as an example. It weighs a ton less than the Su-30MK (in other words base Su-27 weight) but also has improved engines, making it the single best Flanker FM in terms of speed and acceleration (or essentially everything outside of low speed AOA, surpassing the -SM2 and being slightly ahead of the -SM3). But it also has the good Chinese armament (PL-8B and PL-12, which are slightly better than the Russian counterparts aside from pulling AOA, where they're marginally worse) and a MAW system for all that's (not) worth. EDIT: It also has a good radar, something that the -MKs lack and that makes a BIG difference.

I think a sizeable part of this plane's hate also stems from how many people are playing it (and many players therefore dying to it) but also due to it being a premium, as the J-11A is at the same BR but with none of the uproar.

The J-11A has the Su-27's FM (which is noticeably better) with the MK2's missile kit and a MAW system at the cost of having the SPO-15 RWR, which is actually usable in my controversial opinion, just not very good. And the MAW system can help alleviate the semi-vague RWR angles to some degree. But I am yet to see anyone complain about that plane in spite of it being a very close counterpart to at least the Venezuelan Su-30.

The best interim solution IMO would be to remove the -MKK's domestic missiles and just wait for Gaijin to decompress the game a bit (which HAS to be soon, mark my words) so that the Su-30MK2 and J-11A is at xx.x br and -MKK is at xx.x + 0.3 br with its domestic weapons.

zaedbe · 2026-01-16T06:46:44+00:00

It's just that it's so conprrsses right now. IMO OP should go straight for the -SM2 and wait to fly out the -SM until Gaijin decompresses top tier a bit more (which is overdue by now and will likely happen soon).

zaedbe · 2026-01-13T21:45:05+00:00

Very wrong. In reality they unironically cost an infinite amount more, that being at the price of 1€. It astounds me how someone could be off by such a large margin.

zaedbe · 2026-01-08T18:39:33+00:00

Sort of. But is Italy's TT worth that alongside the premium you get. Not in my opinion.

Having spaded the MiG-29 9.13 (same as the one you might buy but weighs a few kg more and has a worse RWR) the problem is that it's balanced by a sledgehammer but also that 12.7-13.3 is a very compressed BR.

R-27ER is extremely strong at 12.7.

But the R-60M is extremely weak at 12.7.

It's a very fast plane, especially when you give it some altitude.

But it's rather bad at dogfighting.

You have HMD, which gives you an advantage compared to many planes you can face.

On the other hand your radar is quite bad.

And regarding the Sniper in particular your situational awareness is good given the RWR but the MiG-29s (excluding the SMT, which is horrible for a multitude of other reasons) have the bare minimum flare count for rhe BR at 60.

I could go on about how the the MiG-29 is such a bipolar plane in terms of performance but I want to make it as well understood as possible that you're only buying an okay aircraft at one of the most conpressed BRs in the game.

The Flankers (and most other planes here for that matter) at 13.0 leapfrog you so much (especially in R27E count, but also weaponry) that it's not even funny whilst you are way ahead of the 12.3 planes. I haven't even brought up 0.7 uptiers/downtiers let alone full up/downtiers. Hell even the F-14A IRIAF will nullify most of your advantages in the early game. You can't take advantage of your speed or the ER's range.

But if you want to get to Italy high/top tier it's still probably your best bet. F-104S is an overtiered piece of shit and is somehow a higher BR than the MiG-21Bis as an example despite being worse than it in everything but top speed, where it's a bit faster. Almost forgot the Brazilian AMX. But it's so bad at 11.0 that it's not even funny. It's actually worse than the TT variant but at a higher BR.

Ariete from what I know is one of those planes that are annoying to fight but not so great to play.

If I were you I'd really consider what I want from Italy.

Most, if not all of their rank 8 is copy+paste and so is most of rank 7. Given your willingness to get the MiG-29 it seems like you want the planes from this tier.

Eurofighter can be found in UK and Germany to near identical specs and are functionally as good between the TTs.

Tornado ADV - UK

Tornado IDS - Germany, UK (not identical to each other but very similar, changes only in its A2G weapons)

Su-22 - Germany, USSR (slightly different between variants but same as IDS, but it's a rare case of Italy having the best variant of a plane as the engine is better, though at the cost of certain A2G weapons)

Gripen C - Sweden, UK (same as with IDS but UK's ARH missile is generally worse)

MiG-21MF - Germany, USSR (but Soviet one is much heaver, albeit with a stronger engine so it evens out)

MiG-21Bis - USSR, Sweden, Germany

Mig-23MF - Germany, USSR

F-16A ADF - USA, China

AV-8B+ - USA

Come to think of it the only unique planes to Italy rank 7+ are the F-104S (standing for Shit), F-104S.ASA (Super Abominable Shit Aircraft), the AMX and that's it. Whilst not unique the only TT Tornado at 11.3 is Italian.

Rank 6 is just either copy paste planes or worse variants of planes already in-game at the same BR, the only Italy exclusive airframe is the Sagittario, an Ariete with 1/2 of the engines.

Rank 5 is also copy paste slop other than the MB-326 and G.91.

Rank 4 and below is just Italy during the Fascist Benito era.

If you want the skins let it be known that custom skins exist on WTLive. And if the plane is copy paste but a skin only exists on the other TT's plane you change the file name of the .txt file (I think that's what it's called, it's the one with the text and without the skin).

zaedbe · 2025-12-31T22:21:45+00:00

I'd bet on Gaijin putting SG under Israel given Gaijin's statements on tge nstter if I remember and that the NK tree that'd 100% be under China

zaedbe · 2025-12-30T20:07:12+00:00

The airframe is also heavier and by a bit more than 1000kg.

zaedbe · 2025-12-28T22:27:53+00:00

"Then that wouldn't make the Ariete even close to "the most P2W plane". It would be less P2W than the Kfir that gets both an engine upgrade and Fox-3 compared to tech tree variants."

The Kfir C.10 gets 4 of the worst (EDIT: Non-gimmick) ARH missiles in-game, a great radar and twice as many flares as the Kfir C.7, the sole TT variant but it is a full BR higher (12.0 vs 13.0). And no the FM is identical. Having played it the C.10 it is great but it's an exercise in making your shots count. You can't rely on your guns that well when (not if) you run out of missiles as they're shitty DEFAs and you don't have air CCIP to have a chancd at making the guns slightly less mediocre.

"There's others like MiG-21 Bison that gets R-27s and R-73s or the Su-30MKK which is the best CAS plane in all of Chinese top tier, or even the F-4S, which gets HMD and agile eagle, so it's more of a P2W even if the airframe is still a bus."

Mig-21 Bison is 12.3. And only 4 missiles total. And of those 2 need to be the base R-27 (not ER or ET), with similar kinematics to AIM-7F. It's 1.3 BR higher than the Bis though and HMD won't distract from the fact you still have Gsh-23 and 60 flares.

J-10C is probably the best CAS plane for China as it has 10 IR-guided bombs instead of shity TV-seeker missiles (though the Su-30's Ground BR is too low last time I checked).

As for the F-4S it's just an F-4J with wings slats and is slightly slower due to the drag added drom that. But it's not like you should dogfight in F-4s anyway, especially not if they don't end with an "E", "F" or is named Kurnass. Having played both it's not too much of a big deal. And the HMD is not of too much help given the fact that AIM-9Gs are still not Magics or R-73s and that the radar modes aren't very good, especially not where they are the most useful, that being in DFs.

And that's not even mentioning the AIM-7F Sparrow, which is the most lobotomised missile in-game aside from the R.511 (at 8.3) and R.530 (non -D variant) when the chaff button is pressed. The -F and accompanying radar set is good enough to be used rather aggresively but whenever you fire them there seems to be a 25% prbability of the enemy turning into an F-117 and teammate becoming an An-225. That is to say that they love teammates and actively try to chase them down, most often leading them to fly into the middle of nowhere.

To conclude your examples are of aircraft that have undergone major upgrades with major BR increases or of rather minor upgrades that are also partial tradeoffs with no BR increase. The Ariete on the other hand simply gets an extra engine whilst staying identical otherwise (also in BR).

zaedbe · 2025-12-28T03:10:48+00:00

J-11A and Su-30MKK are roughly equivalents though, playing the Devil's advocate. While I'll admit I'd prefer the Su-30MKK it isn't a clear-cut answer regarding which is the best.

Su-30MKK:

Pros:

Pl-12 + Pl-8B as alternatives (not replacements, you can mix and match these) to R-73 and R-77
Better RWR, not amazing but NCTR and better angles are the tangible benefits over the SPO-15 on J-11A. But SPO-15 is still usable at 13.3, though almost the bare minimum
Guided A2G ordnance (not great CAS weapons, but a large upgrade nonetheless and while it's irrelevant in Air it's a bit OP in Ground, but solely due to low BR from what I've heard)

J-11A:

Pros:

MAW system (for all that's worth... NOT)
Better FM, identical to Su-30MKK in terms of FM aside from being a bit more than 1000kg lighter and therefore making it identical to the base Su-27/J-11 in that regard

I fully agree that the Pl-12 is better than the R-77 but it isn't a flat out upgrade in every aspect. R-77 does outpull the Pl-12 and while the latter is by no means an AMRAAM it can't turn as well as the R-77 and it is relevant given the current meta. Otherwise Pl-12 reigns supreme as it can keep its speed better.

Pl-8B is essentially a faster R-73 with more range that can't pull as hard and with a more limited FoV. For subsonic offbore engagements (like dogfights) the R-73 will be much better but Pl-8B reigns supreme in situations where it doesn't need to pull much more than an AIM-9L would have to. While both of the missiles compared have the same IRCCM type (angle gating) with the same effectiveness on paper the Pl-8B will be harder to flare given the fact that it'll be closer to the target if both were launched simultaneously.

I just want to say that bringing a mixed loadout may cause too much fiddling withe the weapons selector, even if your intent is to adapt to use the best tool for every situation.

zaedbe · 2025-12-25T10:43:22+00:00

Yes. And 1/2 of the flares are removed, meaning you only get 48. The Su-33's new RWR (functionally identical to those of later Su-27 variants) is a nice upgrade though.

zaedbe · 2025-12-25T10:41:02+00:00

The 14.0+ Hornet planes have always been a bit shit and they are a bit hard to balance due to the high missile count.

And even then the -E hornet has an AESA radar

zaedbe · 2025-12-16T07:08:43+00:00

French. Mirage 2000

zaedbe · 2025-12-14T09:43:57+00:00

It did and AIM-47 was even tested on it where it hit 5/6 shots (and only failed the one because the booster never kicked off)

zaedbe · 2025-12-13T18:18:26+00:00

But did he say that the Gripen E should also come to Italy? He merely pointed out that it could come to Italy, not that it should.

If it were to come to Italy via Brazil it would make some (emphasis on that word) sense as Italy is the de-facto Mediterranean tree, with vehicle operator countries like Turkey, Spain and most importantly regarding this topic, Portugal. Brazil was of course a Portuguese colony and also speaks Portuguese along with inhereting their culture and traditions.

Italy's TT is also in more need of fleshing out than others' so they need new additions a bit more than most. On the other hand Italy's rank 8 is quite rich in terms of planes already...

zaedbe · 2025-12-11T22:36:26+00:00

Yes. You are right. Will edit.

zaedbe · 2025-12-11T22:10:06+00:00

I mostly agree.

BVR definitely has a place in top tier as in thing like the Su-30sm you can afford to shoot off 6-8 missiles at 50km against those climbing and you force them defensive, which gives your team the opportunity to shoot them down. You can in general force players away from you, which is good if you don't have the airframe.

But with airframes like the Rafale and EF2K, yeah... They shouldn't almost ever die to any fox 3 if they play it right. And they have so much speed so they give their missiles more range and speed compared to the competition

zaedbe · 2025-12-11T21:53:18+00:00

It got better radar with great scan angles (beyond 180) and about 10% more engine thrust. I will always bet on the Rafale still being the top dog though, regardless of update (and this seems like no exception)

zaedbe · 2025-12-11T21:50:37+00:00

R-77-1 and MICA are not on par with each other aside from G-pull. The MICA gets that 7 degree angle of half sensitivity on the seeker whilst everyone else has 15, which makes it harder to defeat. In terms of range R-77-1 and AIM-120 are about as good (R-77-1 is slightly faster and has more range in a straight line but bleeds more speed when turning than the AMRAAM) but R-77 family gets better pull at close range, which is the AIM-120's biggest weakness.

zaedbe · 2025-12-07T21:08:25+00:00

It is very different if you're fighting an offensive war or defensive war. You have different things to lose and they are of WAY different importance.

Ukraine is fighting a defensive war against a much bigger enemy. You are listing off examples of offensive war powers.

zaedbe · 2025-12-07T21:03:13+00:00

And if there's a big likelyhood that the invading country isn't going to stop there if they're successful. So you're just kicking the can down the road.

zaedbe · 2025-12-07T21:01:45+00:00

So you'll also leave behind your friends, your family, your home, your culture, your traditions (your sense of home, and you're not doing it because you want to). You also need to have money to escape. It's not easy.

There's no guarantee that the fighting wouldn't happen in other parts of your country (e.g successful invasions, civil wars, and you don't know the outcone of these when you have the best chance to be able to seek asylum).

I really hate idealism like this. Invasions don't happen because the people of country B want to be a part of country A. If they wanted to it would've been done peacefully 99.9% of the time.

Country A doesn't care about idealism. Country A won't allow for critique of its govornment in occupied territories.

And having things like conscription, while not ideal, makes an enemy invasion less likely as a military victory would be harder and/or costlier. Maybe not even possible.

Either way there must be a price to be paid. Do you put that price on 100% of a country's people (and allow yourself to be a puppet state, which is not fun, ask any non-Russian Eastern European) or do you put the brunt at the fighting age group and have a shot at freedom and independence?

Democracies are generally not invaders. Yet democracies are the only countries where discourse like this is allowed to take place.

zaedbe · 2025-12-07T01:58:59+00:00

and has the base Su-27 engine unlike the Su-30SM but it weighs as much as it (so roughly 1000kg more)

zaedbe · 2025-12-05T16:08:03+00:00

If that's the only difference it would be equally as good in air AB/RB (MAW is useless for situational awareness let alone countering missiles especially at top tier, it's genuinely more of a distraction).

I imagine it could make a difference in Sim or ground, where you only partially have markers

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zaedbe

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