J35XS should be 10.3 alongside with Mig-21MF/SMT.
You trade survivability aka more flares and RWR with 2 more missiles, plus recent FM changes made this plane really hard to play against any 11.0-11.7.
Before the changes and constant uptiers this plane was really good but now? It just a shadow of former itself.
Mig 21’s got a .2° turning nerf this patch but the SMT is probably still the strongest 10.3 in the game or a close contender with the F8E. Very fun jets
None of the premiums are pay to win.
J-35XS has a sustained of 13.0 with full fuel [which is as much fuel as an F-4 Phantom’s AB time], equivalent turn rate to Mig-21SMT and F-5C.
And 1 degree lower per second than F-5E, which has less weapons as well as a slower speed.
This stat is completely misleading. J35XS does not retain its energy and therefore cannot sustain the turn rate you are quoting. An F5c at 10.3 will easily be able to maneuver away from the Draken simply by retaining energy in high speed turns. The F5e is a far superior aircraft from what I can tell having flown both (granted many more hours in the F5e at this point).
Best 10.3s go to Mirage 3E, F-8E, and AMX.
21SMT is good, as good as Mig-21MF, and that’s where it stays really.
While SMT dogfights as well as Mirage 3E and F-5C, it lacks the guns to match F-5C, and it lacks the missiles and guns to match Mirage 3E.
@HammerSickleTime
That’s not how physics works.
Sustained is literally defined as not bleeding speed.
The F-5E is only superior in dogfight, not weapons.
You are talking to someone that flies both, and your post is dismissing reality.
My post is not dismissing reality. Reality is that the draken does not sustain its energy in any type of meaningful turn fight. Maybe on paper there is a 2-circle fight where a F5c and a draken rate identically… but come on man. You claim to fly them both and you cant honestly tell me that a draken will keep up with an F5c in a turn fight. Draken has one shot at focing a 1-circle before it is down to 500kph.
Dude is claiming flight performance is paper now.
And I did my test with 6 missiles attached full fuel.
I gave the J-35XS a handicap by setting F-5C to 30 minutes, a popular fuel amount players give it.
30 mins popular?
20 mins is plenty for usual ARB match
Im really comparing the fuel capacity to the similarly tiered jets I’ve flown: SMT, BIS, Mirage IIIe, Mirage F1, and F5e. I take 30mins of fuel in each… Draken feels like it gets one burst of AB in before im down to fumes. Alas, the fuel capacity seems to be the least of its issues.
20 minutes is less AB time than 15 minutes of J35XS, so no, I doubt that’s popular among F-5C pilots.
On top of that, just ran the test with 2 missiles to match F-5, and J35XS matches F-5C’s 20 minute fuel sustained turn when the player expended 4 missiles.
So yeah, J35XS is obviously 0.3 superior to F-5C due to better missiles, and 6 of them.
@HammerSickleTime
J35XS gets 8 minutes of AB time, equivalent to F-4E’s internal fuel.
It’s also delta
I think giving it one circle is generous
Half of circle and it’s pretty much over
One giant airbrake if you will
I never ran more than 20 mins in both F-5C and F-5E, there’s just no need.
Unlike some other planes with afterburners, F-5s can do quite good mileage
By the time you arrive to battle, you’d be around 13mins of fuel, bit on heavy side but enough for turnfights
Dude, fly the thing in an air RB match and let me know if you still think it can keep up with 10.7/11.3/11.7. Its possible that I’m treating it like the SMT or F5e where full elevator is fine… but on the J35 the insane AoA is a drag shute. But… that does appear to be its one advantage, that is getting nose on first.
lol yup
I only have the tech tree one, but given it’s the same as the premium…
The Japanese F-4EJ has been and is in much more of a rough spot nowadays. 11.0 for some reason despite a barely working radar and rear-aspect-only missiles on a hardbody phantom chassis l o l
In my opinion it should be moved to 10.3
Alright. So I’ve played the J35XS a bit more in air RB and as promised I’ve returned with a better review.
The Good:
The missile counts had me taking shots and getting lucky when I otherwise wouldn’t with fewer stores. Mind you these are 3rd party kills in furball fights where the opponents failed to flare.
Its extreme AoA makes for one really tight turn to get nose-on or cause an overshoot. I would often survive dive bomb attacks from superior planes in this manner.
Related to the last point, the nose is very responsive in all speed regimes making head’ons and strafing gunshots easier to aim.
IR tracking with a lock was somewhat helpful for off-bore missile shots provided, again, I catch the opponent not using flares.
The J35XS’ large caliber flares are actually really good at fending off any non-IRCCM IR missile.
The Bad:
Most matches are at 11.3 or 11.7 as expected. It can’t turn fight against F4’s as its energy bleed is too extreme. It can’t beat Mirage-F1’s for similar reasons. It has no chance against the AIM-7F and R-24R spam. Because of the low flare/chaff count, surviving at 11.3 is extremely difficult. The fact that it can face Mirage-2000’s and F-14’s is hilarious. I have the Mirage-2000 and when I play it, J35XS’ are free kills. It cant detect my SARH missiles coming and it’s flight model makes it easy prey for magic 2’s (large caliber flares lol).
When its top tier (10.7) its completely mid. I won one dog fight against an F5e who was on lower energy at the outset. I lost all the rest. The F5c and F5e essentially do everything the J35XS wishes it could do. Its a worse plane than the F5c period.
The IR scanning is comically not useful. You will see the enemy plane with your eyes before it gets picked up on IR.
The radar is equally useless with a very course readout even in square radar display.
The fuel really is an issue. Because of the J35XS’s energy bleed, you are very slow after any significant maneuvering. This requires afterburner more than usual just to get the jet back to an offensive/defensive state. Meaning… the 20 minute fuel supply is actually not very good. Many instances I was on fumes if I managed to survive the match (which I mostly didn’t). I noticed many players forgoing weapons to add drop tanks. I didn’t want to do this because I viewed the 6-missile count (which SMT gets at 10.3 BTW) as one of the J35XS’s only advantages.
Anyhow, I’m just bitter because I remember dogfighting this thing pre-nerf and it was always a fun opponent for the SMT, F8e, or F5e. Its also a truly historically cool aircraft with its unique double delta. Its sad that its now lost at its current BR.
And yes yes IM sure in some test-tube environment it can rate with an F5… But in my matches I got into exactly… wait for it… zero rate fights. I mean come on, its IR missile dogfighting all-aspects. 2-circle fights are never really an option.
And before I get the “skill issue” replies… Ive been playing air RB since F86F and 15bis were top. Im really not that bad at the game.
There is something kind of hilariously cool about it essentially being a pay-2-lose premium. Challenge accepted I guess.
End Rant
I’d say that uptiers to 11.3/11.7 are especially problematic considering that it doesn’t even have RWR.
Enemy could be locking you and even firing Sparrow or R-24R and you would never know until its too late.
Even when I did manage to notice SARH missiles incoming, the energy bleed required to notch made me a sitting duck for any follow-up attack.
Hi, I’ve never posted before. I’ve just done the same thing, dropped some coin on a J35XS to get my air capabilities up.
I agree with the OP on all these points. It’s up-tier every game, the J35XS has no advantages against any aircraft it comes against. 8 out of 10 air battles, I’m hit with a missile from 10-15 km out. No warning, just radar lock missiles that knock you out of the sky from many many km’s away.
How is it that I need to be within 2km on the rear for my missiles to hit, can be flared off, while i am up against planes that can missile from the stratosphere.
I literally need to stay 25km from the actual fight, circle around, catch someone off guard and maybe get them before they can flare or dodge.
HOW is this thing anywhere near the BR of these other aircraft I seem to come up against.
This thing either needs a lower BR, or to never be up-tiered.
