Hey guys! So, I finally maxed out USSR (ground + air). It was my first ever full nation and I honestly loved it. The lineups feel deep, and top tier just feels complete.
Now I’m trying to pick my next nation, and I’m stuck between USA, China, and Japan. I’ve played all three a bit, but I can’t decide what’s actually worth committing to long-term.
🇺🇸 USA (tempting, but…)
US air feels really nice overall.
I also have the Click-Bait Abrams and the F-18, so grinding the tree is definitely doable.
My main hesitation is top tier ground: Abrams feels strong, but the turret ring weak spot can feel super punishing when everyone knows exactly where to shoot. Overall, I feel like I never get to tank the first hit in an Abrams, as opposed to T series tanks in Russia.
🇨🇳 China (I want to like it, but people scare me off)
I own Al-Khalid and Su-30MKK (MKK has been amazing for me).
Air seems “okay” overall, but the big thing that worries me is top tier sentiment:
People constantly say VT4A1 is dogwater and that Chinese MBTs are underwhelming in general, or just not worth it compared to other nations.
And the J-10C situation confuses me even more. It’s the only unique design at top tier and I keep seeing people say it’s a weak as hell right now and could really use some buffs / adjustments.
Basically: I’m worried I’ll grind China and end up feeling like I picked the “almost good” nation instead of a truly good one.
🇯🇵 Japan (most interesting, but the grind looks rough)
Japan is honestly the one that interests me the most for both ground and air.
But I have no idea how people are grinding its air tree right now. The F-2A ADTW (13.0) feels like it’s struggling hard in the current 13.3 FOX-3 spam environment, and using AIM-7Ms in that meta has to be painful as hell to put it mildly.
So yeah, after USSR, I’m trying to pick a second “main” nation, but I don’t want to invest months into something that ends up feeling disappointing.
If you were me, which would you commit to next? USA, China, or Japan, and why?
Also, if you main any of these:
Is the Abrams getting one-shot issue “just deal with it” or genuinely tilting long-term?
Are Chinese top-tier MBTs actually as bad as people say (VT4A1 etc.), or is it exaggerated?
What’s your honest take on the J-10C right now?
And how are people grinding Japan air in this FOX-3 meta without losing their minds?
China would just be the same all over the again so dont bother.
the abrams issue is more trash players, american mains are abhorrently bad nowadays its annoying.
japan has some rough spots but theres some gems in there too
if you want a kick in the teeth from rank 2 onwards after playing USSR britain ground is a top pick, air will be great until jets and then the remaining teeth from the ground experience will be kicked out too.
Take this with a grain of salt as I dont have top tier ground, only top tier air, but I play top tier ground through premiums and event vehicles. I only have up to 9.3 for GRB through the tech tree.
In short, it’s decent. They have the best top tier ARH, worst top tier IR, with fairly good FMs
M1A1HC is the best 12.0 in game, the US has the best top tier lineup although a few Russian tanks are just straight up the best (I’m looking at you BMPT). The US top tier has a completely different playstyle to the USSR. Much more passive.
Dont bother
Go for it then.
Its been a while since I grinded their air tree, but I got to the F-16AJ completely F2P and it was a pain. Not due to the grind, but rank VI back then had 0 aircraft with flares. Nowadays I can recommend the Hawk 209, its a rough vehicle but once you get used to it it works well. 2x 9P-4s and fire them at flareless aircraft like the F-105, and take the FFARs for ground pounding after. With a premium account easily 10,000RP per match. Dont know what the actual grind length was like after they added the Thai sub tree though.
Their ground is truly amazing as well, with their 4 sec reloads its absolutely insane. I cant really speak for it though as I only have 4.7 ground for Japan.
Out of all of them, go for what YOU want. The country I enjoyed grinding the most was definitely the UK. I’m in the middle of grinding my ground tree for them right now and up till 8.3 (where I’m at) its really fun!
no sweden mention? Sweden Air i cant say anything, but if you want to expreiance leopards, then sweden is your choice! having the better leoaprd, swden has teh best toptier MBTs! and their IFV wont upset you!
Play the US; in my opinion, they got some of the best props in the game. The early jets are awesome too. Top tier is a little mess but there is still some very great planes.
Ground is fine… the Abrams is great, just have to play in a different play style. WW2 is very fun. Cold war is OK.
Naval low tier may be a little painful, but once you get a light or heavy cruiser, it’s going to be much easier to grind. Top-tier US Naval is just the best.
I didn’t use the F.2 and I have no intention of getting the F.2 either. The only Fox-1 missile user I use at 13.0 is the Su-33 and that’s because the R-27ER is the best Fox-1 missile in the game as it also happens to be fastest missile bar none in the game too, Aim-7s at 13.0? No thanks. I instead opted to sort of hop with the Premium planes a bit, I bought the A7M1 on sale, and used it grind all the way to the Jet BRs, and then from there I played a few tech tree Jets until I bought the F-86F-40 JASDF on sale over Christmas, have been using it to through the Japanese jets, although I am now spading the Alpha Jet TH at 10.7 so I can have some CAS for when my ground lineup finally gets there.
For Japan ground, honestly I just used Premium to basically skip to the Chaffee, and then used the Chaffee + whatever 3.7 CAS plane I had to grind through to the STA line of tanks which I am now using. Chaffee is goated yo. I played it more than the Chi-Nu/Chi-To cousins lol
Only tank I used more than the Chaffee IIRC was the Chi-Ri before they nerfed its reload and bumped it up in BR, now its painful to play.
My first tech tree was Britain. So after grinding Britain I am struggling to find a secondary nation but whats funny is that I have Germany ground out to 8.0 ground and Japan to 10.7 air lol.
After that I dabbled in the USA a bit which I took to 6.3 ground and 7.0 air.
And also USSR which I took to 5.3 ground and 9.3 air (researching the Yak-38 right now, I barely play Russia because its so easy to stomp with so I get bored.).
I’m thinking of going up Sweden next because I have the J35XS and also intend to get the Swedish 10.0 Cancer 40mm Autocannon lineup. (No I have no interest in the Leos, I just want to spam 40mm IFVs lmao)
Other than that? China I have zero interest in, it boggles my mind how anyone can get excited for that TT, Italy is weird but can be fun and I also have about as much interest in Israel as I do watching paint dry, the Merkava Mk.IV is cool IRL but it doesn’t warrant being bored going through a TT to get to it.
My default answer is whichever interests you most, getting through a tree based on someone elses recommendation doesn’t always work out, not to mention BR changes and additions to the game; anything can change on a whim
If Japan interests you most, go Japan
I mean, a lot of top tier tanks end up melting on the first hit (Type 10 especially), it’s probably more tilting surviving the hit only for the engine and turret basket horizontal drive to be dead
VT-4s are indeed bad, but they’re not really a top MBTs, no one knows why these things are above 12.0, they’d be fine otherwise
99A is quite good imo, you can also double dip tech trees since you get an M1, J-10C keeps up with CAS along with the Z-10ME or 64E, they’re solid at high tier, you aren’t hobbling yourself like a Challenger 2 or something
not really a top jet player by any means, but that is a low amount of Countermeasures and Fuel
maybe new patch is huge buff with new engine and PL-12As but idk, seems unlikely it’ll be meta defining