I have been playing top tier for a while and decided to get back to low tier jets. I was doing fine at 8.0 and even got 3kps on one plane. But when I got to 8.3 it just started to go downhill. The improvement between the 8.0 and the 8.3 planes are minimal but the matchmker is just so much worse. 70% of my matches are uptiers where I am hopeless even with very good plane like the mig15bis. I started the russin grind for the mig17 which is 8.7. If 8.3 is this bad I cant imagine how horrid 8.7 gets. Is it worthy buying he mig 17 ?
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i At 7.3, the matchmaker is basically a 75–25 split between props and early jets, so if you’re not playing Germany or France, you’ll often end up fighting their Sea Hawk Mk.50/100. It’s a strong jet for the BR, but it only has AIM‑9B (Fox‑1) missiles. If you’re paying attention, they’re easy to dodge — but if you’re flying a bomber and not watching your six, good luck.
Bombers also have to deal with two extremely effective bomber hunters:
- S.O.4050 Vautour IIN (Late) — the French “bomber killer,” very fast and armed with Fox‑2 radar‑guided missiles.
- Javelin F.(A.W.) Mk.9 — the British counterpart, also excellent at deleting bombers with radar missiles.
At 7.3–8.3, you’ll constantly see the Swedish premium SAAB‑105OE, and honestly, you can’t blame players — it’s a very strong strike aircraft. It carries two AIM‑9Bs, has great acceleration, and does its job extremely well. There are two tech‑tree versions:
- SAAB‑105A (7.0) — similar performance, also has two AIM‑9Bs.
- SAAB‑105G (8.3) — worse than the premium OE because it carries fewer bombs and rockets, but still has the same missiles.
The U.S. also brings a strong option at 8.3: the F‑9F‑8 Cougar. It carries four AIM‑9Bs, and overall it’s a solid jet. In a pure turn fight against a MiG‑15, the Cougar can actually win — but only if you keep the fight tight and deny the MiG its energy advantage. The key is simple: never let any of these missile‑carrying jets get behind you. Stay close, stay unpredictable, and force gunfights.
At 8.3, roughly half the nations have jets with air‑to‑air missiles, and half don’t. The Soviets are one of the unlucky ones — they don’t get missiles until 9.3, which makes the mid‑tier grind rough.
Once you hit 8.7, things get even worse. You start seeing between 9.0-9.7 Mach‑2 jets but mostly 9.3 -9.7 with the radar part tbh but with radar and rear‑aspect missiles. It’s not as brutal as it was two years ago, when you had to deal with all‑aspect missiles from the A‑10 and Su‑25, but it still sucks if you don’t know how to dodge or notch properly.
So yeah — you’re going to struggle a bit at these BRs. But in close‑quarters gunfights, especially 1v2 or 1v3, you can outperform most nations if you play smart, stay low, and force enemies into your strengths.
Over all u are goin to have a interesting time grinding man
My main concern is that 8.7 puts me into 9.7 territory which has the hunter and the harrier with the sraams. After the buffs to the sraam it can go like 2km and has 45g pull so I dont think there is any counterplay against that
7.0 - 10.3 is a total balancing mess. I tried to do the same, play some 8.7-9.3 stuff, I gave up
