Well they should change that especially in the turret cheeks its amror definetly needs and upgrade, but it is survivable and can peform well especially the Merkava 4M.
Consult the chart again. You can clearly see the Merkava isn’t the only one.
I feel VERY survivable being vulnerable to 8.0 APFSDS, including that of autocannons, in the largest MBT in-game. Absolutely.
I would trade that reload for useful armor any day of the year. There’s a reason my Leopard 2A7V has a 68% win rate.
There are 3, and with how easily you die, you’re gonna have to spawn all of them. It doesn’t help that they made the HE resistance of the roof identical to that of a Type 10 and removed engine armor almost completely.
And the BVM is still among the strongest MBT in WarThunder to this day because it’s small, fast, and extremely unreliable to shoot at.
Consult the green chart again. NATO tanks are significantly greener and larger. The BVM has heavy ERA capable of stopping all APFSDS in-game, and the vehicle zips around with ease compared to the more sluggish NATO vehicles.
I feel VERY able to retaliate with all these random electronic and traverse blocks in every inch of my turret that ALL disable the ability to fire back when hit at all.
Oh? What’s this?
Russia doesn’t have them?! What a surprise.
“Easy one-hit mechanics” don’t matter if the shell doesn’t pen you to begin with. Got a reason why the BMPT is so strong if it isn’t the armor?
This is SO real. It’s rediculous how little armor Gaijin gave it after people complained on the dev server ages ago.
2 words.
Player Performance. There’s a reason the Ariete, despite being the worst MBT at high tier, still performs as well as it does.
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Alvis, I am not justifying a response to a known forum troll, especially one who called me Anti-Semitic for wanting the Merkava buffed, stated firing missiles on the move was a “gimmick”, and that the Ariete is a Meta MBT. I gain nothing from replying to you, and nothing I say, no matter how much proof I give, will ever convince you.
And I have the screenshots to back this up, so don’t try to play dumb.
The upper part of the turret is quite ok as there is high chance of dart autobounce, there is also a weakspot that could be penned easily by 3bm42/m829 is the area right above the barrel. Overall the tank is still one of the best I’ve ever played, the hull turning speed and engine is very responsive, I also believe it has one of the best protection against atgms.
@Just_Baron
Me: “Ariete is not meta.”
Me: “I want the Merkava buffed.”
You are quite literally agreeing with me on both of those points.
Convince me of what?
You’ve never once argued against me on the matters of Merkava armor issues, and Ariete’s game status, we’ve only ever agreed on those matters.
Cause you know we’re both right about Ariete & Merkava.
You accuse me of being something I am not, knowing you and I agree on most things…
But have you tried pulling your mouse down?
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Have you not understood that NATO tanks are taller and the Soviet tanks have convenient fuel tanks, which eat dart spall fairly often?
NATO tanks don’t have the luxury of that reliable durability anywhere.
So does the Abrams
And unlike any soviet MBT, it’s fuel tanks can’t explode
They do, you just have to
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It’s still very survivable, a lot more than the BVM actually.
A lot of people still don’t know where to shoot it, it’s one of the tanks i survive the most shots in.
An armor buff would be nice, but never ever would i trade that for the 5 sec reload, it’s way too good.
You drive backwards at the same speed as forward though.
Can’t reply to the rest of your crying, my food is ready.
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Look why are you comparing the Merkava to 80BVM only that is not your biggest threat, the Strvs, M1A3s are a much bigger threat than it.
As to shells not pening the BVM that is not true at all, they do pen it. The Ariete is doing well because of precisely the fact that mobility, fire power and reload rate matter more than armor. Nothing to do with player base.
Performace wise it does well its a good tank in warthunder, I am focusing on Soviets and USA line ups will get to the Merkava in due time.
The Abrams also has an additional plate behind its fuel, which regenerates spall lost in the fuel tank. The Russian tanks do not.
Obviously not, because they’re in an armored compartment unlike Russian ones. Some other tanks, like the Leclerc, still will. You’re cherry-picking the Abrams here when you and I both know damn well the Russian tanks have significantly less green area overall.
Where does that durability go when you have to actually cap an objective to win?
I lived btw.
Not getting penetrated is preferable.
Center mass of the hull. Easy 3rd-person snapshot, any level 20 player buying a top-tier premium can manage.
I would, doesn’t mean you need to. I’d much rather have an impenetrable fortress with a 6-second reload like the Leopard 2A7V.
You see every nation, including China, having their tanks in this shitty situation where they have no functional armor, and your response is “stop your whining”. You really have no concept of how balance works.
My favorite MBT is the Merkava, which is why I’m using it as an example. It has to do with my experience playing both the BVM and Merkava tanks. The BVM is playing on easy mode while the Merkava is more like hard mode.
It’s ridiculous.
The side package of a T-90M and a T-80BVM is identical. Both equally void rounds for several reasons, one of which is that the angle of the external ERA bags can ragdoll a shell, which makes it lose all penetration ability.
This view you have isn’t totally crumbling the second you compare the 2A7V in Germany to the Hungarian one in performance. Italy players are objectively better than the average German player. This goes for all minor nations, which is why their MBTs perform so well despite them being objectively worse than major nations’ models.
Whats the point of spouting bs? All fuel tanks eat spall and unlike soviet ones, they dont explode
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goalposting
I’m picking it as it’s the most played NATO MBT.
Was I talking about armor coverage? I get the appeal if you’re bad and need armor to compensate for lack of awareness and strategy, but that doesn’t mean the tank is actually better, it’s just better for you
It’s still there, but you should be trying to clear the area instead of mindlessly rushing and relying on armor and luck
To the T-90M arena that had some of the lowest winrates among all top tier mbts in june 2026?
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If the dart passes through the fuel tank, it won’t regenerate spall unless another plate is behind it. Most NATO tanks have plates behind their fuel tanks, while the Russian ones do not.
This causes a particularly bad issue on the Merkava tanks, as they have a known double spall issue.
No, that was my intention with the original comment, and it makes a huge difference. Long Rod APFSDS spall is only based on residual penetration, so spall won’t generate from a fuel tank, only a plate. The Russian tanks lack a plate behind their fuel tanks, while tanks like the Merkava, Abrams, and such do not, and, as a result, regenerate spall, as seen in the image above this reply.
And I was, at the time, talking about the Leclerc, Ariete, and Merkava when it comes to minor nation tanks. The Abrams is a good tank, but it isn’t a free win condition and takes skill to get kills with. The T-80BVM often will eat a dart at random to its side or rear and fire back unharmed, which is the problem here.
I was. That’s the entire point of the chart I’ve posted 3 times.
I’m a Merkava main. What armor? The rubber modifier composite?
Even with LESS than 300mm of protection against APFSDS on the UFP, I still maintain a 1.5KD or greater in my Merkava 4, even though 10.0 tanks can lolpen it. My Merkava Mk.3 maintains a 2.5KD with so little armor that the 2S38 can lolpen.
Don’t make a statement like that unless you want it to backfire.
I have a 68% win rate in my Leopard 2A7V. You’re making stupid assumptions.
Talking about the BVM, not the T-90M. The T-90M is a good tank, but it isn’t meta.
It’s a mediocre tank and I’m glad people finally can’t deny anymore how much worse it is than the Abrams.
The main exuse was always it’s high winrate, which was because it was being carried to a high winrate by Russian CAS.
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I like it, personally. It hasn’t really done me wrong cause the tank is nutty on durability.
I dropped another nuke with it the other day.
No they don’t. If you haven’t noticed - Gaijin in their infinite wisdom desided to use asymetrical balance for their game - they decided to balance Soviet worse performing tanks by giving underBRd SPAAs and CAS. If you buff Soviet tanks while retaining infinitely better CAS and SPAA you will just throw whatever little balance we have out of the window.
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The only 12.0+ MBTs that I hate more than the T-90M are the Oplot and T-72B3A. I recently came back to spade the T-90M after avoiding it for years and I was instantly reminded why I avoided it to begin with.
Doesn’t help that there are a whole lot of nation mains out there that keep overhyping the hell out of the T-90M, making it out to be the end all be all of powerful MBTs. (just to make sure, I’m not talking about you in this last part).