I’ve seen a lot of disagreement on the A6M5 Hei’s performance. Some say it’s just fine or even good, most likely thanks to its armament - the only really good characteristic of it. The Type 3s complement the Type 99-2s perfectly.
Many will say it’s bad because of the climb rate, as it’s much heavier than the other Zeros; but its rarely-mentioned much lower turn performance is a big factor too and I wanted to find out exactly how much worse it gets.
Behold:
note: disregard the big dips as those were needed to stop my pilot from blacking out. Higher is better.
It turns worse than the other A6M5s. It turns worse at any relevant speed than a Ki-61… and that’s not even the lightest Ki-61 either! I didn’t include the A6M3s here, but they easily come out on top, well above the shorter-winged A6M5s.
Now, you can argue that the high speed pull is ridiculous for a Zero and it should be fixed - and I agree! However… I don’t see their BRs being affected by that at all, as the Ki-43-III Otsu has not moved a single BR step lower despite losing 400hp overnight years ago and now having an identical FM to a 2.7 plane.
Regardless, THAT’S NOT THE POINT OF THIS POST, the topic is that this plane fucking sucks and 5.0 is too high for something that can’t climb, can’t go fast, can’t accelerate, and now the last remaining advantage of the high tier Zeros - turn performance - isn’t quite there anymore.
Unlike every other Zero, dodging other people approaching you is a chore in this. If you’re slow and someone gets close behind you, it’s over. If someone is in a plane with a good P/W ratio and decides to vertical loop you, you’re done for. If you ever have to climb up to, say, intercept a freshly spawned Pe-8 in Ground RB… It’s not happening and you’re not gonna make it unless you were already climbing and most of the way there.
The ONLY thing you can count on is that the guns will work. That’s it.
In comparison, the A7M1 is 5.0 as well, has far better performance, and only loses one Type 3 in return for much greater ammo capacity.
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I love the A6M5 Hei, but I always have to remember its limitations. In ground combat it’s a real monster, and in air combat it’s a fun plane (unless you have to climb)
But why would you play it over one of the other A6M5s, or even the A6M3 Model 22 Ko? The Type 3s just aren’t worth it. Like sure, you can click on people and they die very quickly, but the Type 99-2s are still perfectly capable of doing that; you’re arguably wasting more ammo on missed shots due to the noticeably worse handling, and wasting time due to not being able to get opportunities to shoot as often as the other, earlier Zeros.
The A6M5 Hei has (I think) better structural durability, which is useful. Honestly, it’s the only Zero I enjoy playing. I’m not a perfect flyer, I often waste missiles, so more of them is very useful. Additionally, the ground attack armament is also great. I don’t know why, but the A6M5 Hei requires the least skill to fly.
You can really do a lot playing A6M5 Hei from cover. Once when I was flying and attacking partially occupied enemies I managed to shoot down 5 planes before I ran out of ammo.
Might be more durable, but not getting hit is still better and the self-sealing tanks will prolong fires. The climb rate is so low that you’d fall out of the sky more often while trying to RTB due to damage.
I agree the guns are good and that’s probably why its the easiest, but it’s very very limited in what it can actually do.
You know, in the historical assumption, the A6M5 Hei was not created to fight other fighters. It was not used for maneuver combat, only as an interceptor or attack aircraft. However, in the game it is classified as a regular fighter, not a multirole aircraft.
Alot of the late Zeroes are overtiered strictly because people kept trying to engage in turnfighting with them and losing, thus their KDRs got overblown and Gaijin in their infinite ignorance took that as Zeroes being OP and needing a BR raise.
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That may be, but the added weight is too much of a handicap for a plane that was already subpar. After spading it, I won’t ever be returning to the A6M5 Hei.
