Looking for the Ultimate Full-Premium Setups: Skill vs. Chill

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Hi everyone,

I’m looking to optimize my hangar for two specific goals: high-efficiency Silver Lion (SL) farming and consistently completing Wagers (10-kill wagers, Best Squad, etc.). I am looking for Full-Premium setups only (Tanks + CAS).

A quick note on Naval (Before you suggest it):

I’ve tried the Naval grind, and frankly, the “5-minute match” stories are a myth. On average, matches last 20 minutes for maybe 150k SL. In Ground RB, I can finish a 7-minute match and walk away with 70k+ SL. The hourly rate is roughly the same, but GRB is actually engaging and doesn’t feel like a “left-click simulator.”

My Requirements:

  1. CAS above 10.7 is Dead: In the current 2026 meta, CAS at top-tier is a 10-second lottery before a SAM sends you back to the hangar. I’m looking for lineups in the BR range where aircraft can actually survive and influence the match to help finish off those wagers.
  2. Mid-Tier Superiority: I prefer BRs where people actually use their lineups. Top-tier is plagued by 1-death leavers in premium packs. I need “multi-respawn” matches because more enemies spawning equals more potential kills for my wagers.
  3. Strictly Premium: Looking for 2-5 tanks plus a strong CAS/Fighter-bomber option.

I need two types of setups:

1. The “Hardcore Skill” Setup (For Wager Grinding)

A lineup that allows for aggressive, carry-style gameplay.

2. The “Pure Chill” Setup (For Relaxed Farming)

Something for those days when I just want to listen to a podcast and print money.

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Nice post. I appreciate your formatting and well laid out sections, bravo 👍

I love digging into SL grinding infos, I enjoy burning all of my SL’s during each SL crate event 💸

One of my favorite tools to use for SL grinding is Statahark, I will dig into it when I’m back home. And also show you a couple easy things I do on Statshark to help find some of the best SL grinders per HOUR 😉 Glad you already mentioned that, it’s hard for some players to focus on the metric witch actually matters instead of a simple SL total at the end of a match.

I’ll be back home in a bit, chat with you guys more soon 🍻

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I don’t run lineups that are pure premiums, as most don’t seem to align CAS and tanks that make it work (same level BR).

Mid tier:

Rusia: Su-11 but I have it paired with two vehicles that are non premium to take advantage of it’s BR, which are a BTR-80, and T44-100. Su-11 is still a capable CAS but can hold up against most jets at those BRs.

USA: A2D-1, but again the comparable in BR tanks are lacking. You could pair it with the T29 though, although I use the standard T26-E5

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I checked your vehicles, but it seems to me you have not tried playing battleships yet. So this is a “Pure Chill” SL grinding way. Get a top-tier GOOD battleship, and you can get up to 600k per hour without premium. With premium, you can get up to 1.2 million SL per hour. But if you have a premium battleship, then you probaly can get around 2.4 Million SL per hour (with premium). The SL over here is for Arcade, relastic might give even more.

Well since you got really good Stats way better then mys then I assume you can get even more in a hour.

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2.4 million SL per hour sounds like a legal cheat code, I have to admit. Those numbers are hard to ignore, even for a dedicated tanker. If that’s the reality of high-tier Naval, I’m willing to give it a shot just to fund my Ground RB habits.

Since you clearly know your way around the heavy fleet, what specific battleships would you recommend as the ‘Gold Standard’ for this kind of farming? Which ships offer the best balance of survivability and SL multipliers for a Naval beginner? I’d love to hear your personal Top 3 picks for a ‘Pure Chill’ battleship grind

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Let’s say if you’re capable of getting premium, then the German Gneisenau or Japanese IJN Nagato will be the best option in my opinion.

If your not able to get premium then you can try get the Sovetsky Soyuz on the soviet tech tree or the USS IOWA both of this ship are extremely powerful and great for grinding; both of these ships are currently the best of the best.

All this ship are basically great for grinding and SL farming but for the TT one you might have to suffer a bit to get up there.

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My recommendations, if I may, in no particular order:

USSR 10.7

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I plan to eventually add premium BMD-4 and Su-25K and use it with S-250 rockets in low alt pass. 10.3/10.7 SAMs have large deadzones (ith only hybrid system being russian) and cant effectively deal with low-flying Su-25s, you have enough flares to never worry about Stingers so only real threat are gun based SPAAs. Chances of facing Terminators are small if nonexistent.

US 10.7

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KVT is nuts if you have skill to match, Wolfpack has some nice firepower to bring on open maps. You can swap TT A-10 with premium one, I just prefer to have IR AGM-65s. I will likely replace M60 AMBT in the future with Booker. Tho I will admit I havent properly played it since BMPT release and that wont likely change until BMPTs are 12.0.

USSR 5.7
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T-34/85s are nuts, you can reinforce the premium potential further by getting the May 45 pack. Im not a fan of IS-1 but to each their own I suppose. You could also slap the lend lease soviet Sherman in there in case you want it.

UK 4.7
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Another extremely good lineup, if you have Crocodile youre set for some great earning potential no matter what you spawn. Tho Id recomend against premium Typhoon since it has worse flightperformance.

US 5.7

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Prolly my most favorite. Sherman (Hell) is abolute beast, Cobraking slaps in downtiers and Jacksons make uptier a breeze.
To prove my point further:
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Its relatively easy to get nukes - and for that you need to be in full uptier against King Tigers.

French 7.7

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Somua SM, whats there to say. Just play it around caps since its scarily easy to run out of ammo in drum.

One premium lineup I dont have but you might is UK 7.7.
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You could get premium attacker once its aviable, but I dont see point. However the potential strength lies in ability to field aussie Cent and Centurion MT (in game called Action X). Standard centurion is great medium and Scimitar is absolute beast.

All of these lineups can be used for both hardcore farming and chill gameplay tbh. Ive regularly completed wagers this way (10 kill wager requires only 5 kills in GRB in case you didnt know).

Now I would advise against 12.0 premium lineups you could make with either Leo2A4M, Clickbait and T-80UE-1+ their Senrai Maidens variant. While they might seem good on paper, theyre within 1 BR spread of LDIRCM helis and KH-38MT which makes them unplayable currently, at least in my opinion.

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Quick bit of info! SO, you might want to consider the Su-25BM | War Thunder Wiki instead of the Su-25K. Biggest reason is because it can carry 2x GREAT fire and forget missiles! It is 10.7 in GRB, matching your max BR of that lineup.

I have the Su-25K and the Su-39. I love them both. I plan on putting all of the TT ones into my air arcade lineups 😄 I do not have the Su-25BM, but would love to have it too.

The Su-25BM caries the same fire and forget Kh-29TE missiles that the Su-39 does, so you can test them out in a test drive with the Su-39 if you like. I LOVE them. I don’t really play GRB, however, I do use them in Air all the time, and imo, they get better and more consistent locks, at better ranges, than even the good IR mavericks (like the ones the A-10C can carry, and the premium US AV-8B (NA) )

It ALSO gets 2x R-73 IR missiles! IRST baby! Not only does the Su-25K only have R-60MK’s, but you only get 2 AA missiles total.

You can decide to not take the R-73’s and take another set of rockets, but eeeeeh, imo the R-73’s are totally worth it. Lock further, and obviously IRST. If you are behind, they are rarely able to flare them off.

Oh! It also has double the number of countermeasures as the Su-25K, 256 total. Holy, even more than the Su-39.

I know it’s a marketplace vehicle, buuuut the price will come down a bit when they drop from the SL crates again.

Last thing: if you want its digital camo from the marketplace, get it BEFORE the SL crates drop, the prices on camo’s for the SL crate vehicles spike once the crates drop 🤑

OH OH, lol! Double last thing, it has a GREAT cockpit HUD, even shows CCRP point if you play Sim. The Su-25K only has the super basic one.

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I aware of it, but eh. Not a fan of spending GJN on this specific plane. OP might consider it tho.

For OP, I also failed to mention you can add the A-6E Intruder instead of A-10. The unique rocket boosted LGB Skipper nukes tanks if it connects, but being laser guided it has some tactical limitations (you need to climb well within AA effective range to get range yourself, the weapon itself isnt fast so you have to keep lock etc. I much more prefer to just dump my payload and start defending).

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Germany 5.7

1 & 2 & 3 Prem: Two Fronts pack → 2 Tiger Prems & 1 Ostwind Prem
4 Prem: Pz.Bef.Wg.VI P
5 Prem: Tiger (tiger)
6 Prem: IF you can afford or have Sturmmörser
7 Prem Plane: Do 335 B-2

There you have 4-7 Premiums, for a OK price in the store.
And you can add some nice TT vehicles like Waffenträger, Panther D and Panzer IV/70.

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Huge thanks for such a detailed and well-thought-out response! This is exactly the kind of “insider” info I was looking for.

Regarding your suggestions:

  • USSR 10.7: You hit the nail on the head. I actually already have the BMD-4 and Su-25K, and I absolutely love playing them. The Su-25K with S-25O rockets is a beast; coming in low to exploit the SAM deadzones is a game-changer. It’s one of the few high-tier setups that actually feels rewarding rather than frustrating.
  • UK 4.7 & US 5.7: I’ll be honest, I hadn’t fully considered these for serious farming, but looking at the lineups now, they look incredibly promising. The Crocodile’s earning potential and the Sherman (Hell) / Cobra King combo seem like the perfect “Chill” way to stack SL while still being competitive.
  • Top Tier (12.0): I totally agree with your warning. The LDIRCM and Kh-38MT situation makes 12.0 premiums feel like a trap right now. Avoiding that “missile rain” is priority number one for my sanity.

One more question for you: What’s your take on a Germany 9.3 premium setup? I was looking at the Leopard 1A5NO paired with the TAM 2IP and maybe the G.91 R/4 or Alpha Jet for CAS. It seems like it sits just below the 10.3/10.7 “Premium Black Hole” (and the Pantsir), but I’m curious if it holds up in terms of win rates and overall “chill” factor compared to the 10.7 US/USSR lineups you mentioned.

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WOW! I just checked the specs for the Su-25BM, and it looks absolutely incredible!

Honestly, I hadn’t looked closely at the BM version before, but those Kh-29TE fire-and-forget missiles at 10.7 sound like a total game-changer for a “Chill” CAS playstyle. Being able to fire and immediately break away without having to babysit a laser lock is exactly what I need to stay alive in that SAM-dense environment. And 256 flares? That’s insane! It’s practically a flying fortress at that BR.

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Thanks for the suggestion on the A-6E Intruder, but I have to admit — I’m a bit biased here.

I remember playing the Intruder back when it was 10.3 and you could just rain down an absurd amount of GBUs on the battlefield. It was glorious. Compared to those “golden days,” the Skipper setup feels a bit underwhelming now. While I get that it’s still a solid option, it’s hard to settle for the current performance once you’ve experienced what the plane was capable of at a lower BR with a full guided-bomb loadout.

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I don’t have those specific 5.7 Tiger premiums, but your suggestion is still great because I have the VFW!

One more thing—what’s the verdict on Germany 6.7?
I’ve been eyeing the Tiger II (H) Sla.16 and the Elefant. Does that 6.7 premium core still hold up well in the 2026 meta?

How would you rank 6.7 vs. 5.7 vs. 9.3 for pure SL efficiency?

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Leo 1A5NO2 is in the Swedish Tree.
Good Vehicle.
In the German Tree is the Leo A1A1 (L/44).
I think they would perform similar, but i only played the 1A5No2.

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TURMS will give you some decent sniper for the BR (but be aware that outside of turret face the armor is bleh). T-80UD is nuts for aggresive play where you can exploit the armor and small weakspots but punishes mistakes severely since it has no reverse gear. But I do perform in it better than in PzBtl 123 so take that as you will.
2S38 requires some nuance but its also absolutely worthy multirole vehicle. Best used in urban/semi-urban maps.

Well i have to warn you, bulk of the “heavy lifting” will be done through fireflies and avenger. Churchill VII is fun to play in a downtier due to armor but the 75mm AP is horrendous. Dont overextend and deny sightlines with smoke.

Outside of churchill VII tho I have yet to meet a tank within Firefly BR range that cannot be dealt with 17pndr.

While my stats on Cobra King seem low, I had that tank since 2017 so the stats are affected by my rookie mistakes. Tank itself is fine, absolute beast in downtiers, but you need to learn how to deal with Panthers. And dont bother spawning it in full uptier.

As for Sherman (Hell) Ill tell you to look at how I perform with it and judge for yourself. I believe its self explanatory.

Thats swedish TT IIRC.

I suppose you mean the Leopard A1 L/44. I dont have it but its practically the same as Leopard 1A5 and I do play that one a lot. Its fun vehicle but requires some nuance, you have to move a lot. Way id describe it is playing a marksman in ghillie suit in ARMA. You can do lot of damage but pray the enemy doesnt find you.

I regards to TAM 2IP, I mean theoretically yeah? Ill admit I havent played TAM or TAM 2C in a while so I cannot comment properly. I believe others might give you better info.

What I can however advise is considering to uptier the lineup to 9.7 for two very important reasons.

First, you get access to both Ozelot and Gepard with stingers.

Second is the swiss squadron hunter which for some godforsaken reason has two mavericks + flares + RWR at 9.7.

Uptiers to 10.7 dont matter as much since you have enough pen to deal with them and you have no armor to begin with so playstyle doesnt change at all.

Only thing that needs to be taken into account is presence of 2S6 but if both you and 2S6 start your attack at 7km, since mavs are FnF you can start defending immidiately after launch and 2S6 wont likely intercept you. And if 2S6 decides to intercept your mavs instead, you can adjust by making your next sortie low alt approach instead and launch the mavs at closer range, giving it less time to react.

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Oh thats good. I forgot about the VFW. Which makes it 8 premiums in that rank.

6.7 also strong and nice tanks.
But you only would have 2 prems (3 if you upgrade the Jagdpanther from 6.3), no SPAA, no plane (but you can still use the Do 335 B-2 here)

Therefore i prefer the full 5.7 lineup.
Angle the Tigers at 5.7 and you will have fun with that lineup.

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T29, m46, a2d1
A6e, m1kvt
Rest is just uptiering either cas or tanks like 10.7 ussr premiums to su25tm, leo2a4 to prem su22m4, bmd4m to su25k or su25k to 10.7 ussr lineup.