the tailpipe IRCM and the 104% thrust and the incredible offensive weapons combined with a BR of only 11.3 (F-16C, F-15E are 12.7 in GRB. even A-10C, a far slower and less useful aircraft, is 12.0) and ALWAYS BEING ON THE SAME TEAM AS THE PANTSIR is an incredibly powerful combination.
You’ll have to make sacrifices with the weapons, because it’s a Su-25 variant and they refuse to plumb every pylon for everything
the targeting pod and the radar pod are really heavy and both are dubious. you don’t have thermals.
it’s a shockingly good aircraft for what it looks like. tis all
fighting in a leo 2 with more armor than the baseline 2a4 (so, for instance, a 2pl or a 2a4m or a 2a5+) basically requires no thought. you just kinda win
to be clear, this isn’t an accusation against german/swede tree players, this is my experience from the 2pl and 2a4m
the uparmored leos are uparmored enough that you won’t immediately die all the time.
when i said “fighting in a leo 2 … requires no thought” i meant playing it, not killing it
their turret rings are minimal and especially some of the hulls on these things are great and trolly. they’re the best tanks in war thunder*
(japanese 4 sec autoloader tanks can be better as they allow more lethality in less time ofc, abrams also shoot faster but have far less effective armor and american teams just crumble, but on balance, leo2a7/strv122a/pso/whatever are the best tanks in the game currently. honorable mention to the challenger ii black knight as its aps can shoot down apfsds and that lets the vehicle act VERY silly for a short time)
id recommend getting the T80/ SU39 combo since its pretty good at cas and you never have to deal with the pantsir, tho if you intend to grind air rb id recommend getting a fighter like the mig23 instead.
The Leo2s are not all created equal.
Leopard 2A4s have meh armor. it’s there, but they’re not particularly survivable tanks.
The various upgraded Leo 2s that are BEYOND the 2A4 standard in some way (specifically including the Leopard 2PL, the Leopard 2A4M (Canadian), the Leopard 2A5, the Leopard 2A6, the Leopard 2PSO, the Leopard 2A7V, the Leopard 2A7HU, the Leopard 2A5NL, the Leopard 2A6NL, the Strv122A, the Strv122B PLSS, the Strv122B+, and the Finnish Leopard 2A6) are far more survivable tanks and are survivable enough that your armor will troll people far more than the armor of any other tank at top tier that I have used.
Tanks that are NOT super well armored, do NOT have the trolly armor, etc:
Finnish Leo2A4
Strv121
Strv121B Christian II
Leo2A4NL
Hungarian Leo2A4
Leopard 2A4
Leopard 2AV
Leopard 2K
Leopard 2A4 PzBtl 123
Though, if you want to go for Sweden for the sake of going Sweden, and you want a Leopard 2, you don’t have another choice. If you already have the 90105, and you want something to go along with it, the Christian II is your only at or above BR choice.
So long as you’re aware it’s not one of the Good Leo2s, but just one of the baseline ones that’s kinda meh.